Avery, Samuel Putnam, 1822-1904

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role

Scholar/Critic/Expert Collector Dealer/Gallery

dates

1822-1904

city

New York City

state

NY

sex

M

historical notes

Samuel Putnam Avery was an art collector, copper and wood engraver, art dealer, connoisseur and advisor to important collectors.

Eventually Avery gave up commercial engraving and devoted himself exclusively to collecting and dealing art; particular specialty being old Dutch paintings and romantic French landscape painters.

A founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, many of the paintings in that collection were selected by him. He gave notable collections of architectural books to Columbia University, and of engravings and etchings to the New York Public Library.

Works of art once owned by Avery were lent to the American Paintings section of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, 1909:
Portrait of George Washington - William Birch

Samuel Putnam Avery was married to Mary Ann Ogden and together they had two sons: Samuel P. Avery, Jr. (1847-1920) who also became an art dealer and collector; and Henry Ogden Avery (1852-90) who studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1852-90) and worked as an architect.

decades
of activity

1850-1860
1860-1870
1870-1880
1880-1890
1890-1900

updated

10/31/2024 13:33:16

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Archives/Repository	Collection Title	Collection Details
Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200	Samuel Putnam Avery papers, 1857-1902.	see details...
Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200	Weitzel letter collection, 1863-1931.	see details...
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Please see individual record for location	Samuel Putnam Avery Diaries, 1871-1882	see details...
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Please see individual record for location	Samuel Putnam Avery Papers, [ca. 1850]-1905	see details...
New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Rm 328	S. P. Avery Collection	see details...
The Brooklyn Museum Libraries and Archives 200 Eastern Parkway	Avery Family Collection, 1891-1966 (bulk 1939-1940).	see details...
Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200	Paul Wayland Bartlett papers, 1887-1925.	see details...
Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200	William Trost Richards papers, 1848-1920.	see details...
Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200	Albert Rosenthal papers, 1860-1940.	see details...
Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200	Thomas Prichard Rossiter and Rossiter family papers, 1840-1961.	see details...
Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200	Charles M. Kurtz papers, 1843-1990 (1884-1909).	see details...
Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200	Frank Weitenkampf letters, 1889-1942.	see details...
Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200	Evert Augustus Duyckinck papers, 1809-1878.	see details...
Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200	Lilly Martin Spencer papers, 1828-1966	see details...
New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Rm 328	Charles Alexander Nelson papers, 1850s-1930s (MssCol 2114)	see details...
New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Rm 328	Francis Seymour Haden correspondence, 1864-1902 (MssCol 1276)	see details...
The Brooklyn Museum Libraries and Archives 200 Eastern Parkway	Mount family papers, 1823-1900	see details...
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Please see individual record for location	Samuel Putnam Avery Scrapbooks, 1861-1902	see details...
The New-York Historical Society Manuscript Department	James Oliver Account Books, 1865-1868, 1872-1890.	see details...
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Please see individual record for location	Office of the Secretary records, 1870-[ongoing].	see details...
The New-York Historical Society Manuscript Department	Daniel Huntington Study Portrait Collection, ca. 1870-1890	see details...
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Please see individual record for location	Scrapbook of reproductions of photographs of paintings	see details...