Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America

Avery, Samuel Putnam, 1822-1904

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role Scholar/Critic/Expert Collector Dealer/Gallery
dates 1822-1904
city New York City
stateNY
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 03/22/2024 12:09:28
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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, 1825-1971. 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...

see also:
Vanderbilt, William H. (William Henry), 1821-1885
Lucas, George A., 1824-1909