Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America

Frick, Henry Clay, 1849-1919 print view role Collector dates 1849-1919 city New York City state NY other cities Pittsburgh, PA; West Overland, PA; Mt. Pleasant, PA; Pride's Crossing, MA; sex M historical notes Born in southwestern Pennsylvania, Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist, financier, and art collector. A grandson of the owner of the prosperous Overholt whiskey distillery, Frick, two cousins, and a friend started a small partnership in 1870, using a beehive oven to turn coal into coke for use in steel manufacturing. Thanks to loans from the family of lifelong friend Andrew Mellon, Frick bought out the partnership. The company was renamed H. C. Frick & Company; at its peak, it became the largest producer of coke in the world, operating 12,000 coke ovens and producing 80 percent of the coal output in Pennsylvania. In 1882, Frick joined forces with the Pittsburgh steel manufacturer Andrew Carnegie, which ensured their dominance in the industry, with Carnegie acquiring an interest in Frick & Co. and Frick obtaining an interest in Carnegie's steel company. In 1889, Henry Frick became chairman of the Carnegie Company, at the time the largest steel producer in the world. He also financed the construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Company. After Frick's partnership with Andrew Carnegie began to fray, he moved from Pittsburgh to New York, where he became one of the directors of J. P. Morgan's newly incorporated United States Steel Corporation. In 1906, he purchased the site of the Lenox Library on Fifth Avenue between 70th and 71st Street. The building housed the private collection of the philanthropist James Lenox and was designed by the New York architect Richard Morris Hunt in the néo-Grec style. After all its books were transferred to the New York Public Library Main Branch in 1911, the building was demolished, and Frick immediately began construction on its successor. The Henry Clay Frick House, a Beaux-Arts mansion enclosed by a famed elevated garden and three magnolia trees, was built in 1912–1914 by Thomas Hastings of Carrère and Hastings. Frick had started to collect paintings seriously, especially by Old Masters, in his late forties and began to focus on his collections even more after his move to New York in 1905. Hastings designed the house to accommodate Frick's paintings and other art objects. Even the earliest plans for the residence took into account Frick's intention to leave his house and his art collection to the public. Upon his death, Frick left his house and all of its contents, including art, furniture, and decorative objects, as a museum to the public. His family continued to live in the house until his wife, Adelaide, died in 1931. The collection opened to the public in 1935. decades of activity 1880-1890 1890-1900 1900-1910 1910-1920 website http://www.frick.org/ updated 10/31/2024 13:33:16 bibliographic search Search Frick Art Reference Library Catalog Search Photoarchive Search Worldcat Search Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) Search Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) Search Wikidata Entry Archives/Repository Collection Title Collection Details The Frick Collection and Frick Art Research Library 10 East 71st Street Art Collecting Files of Henry Clay Frick, 1881-1925, undated. see details... The Frick Collection and Frick Art Research Library 10 East 71st Street Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series I: Art Files, 1881-1925 see details... The Frick Collection and Frick Art Research Library 10 East 71st Street Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series II: Correspondence 1882-1929, undated. see details... The Getty Research Institute Research Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Duveen Brothers Records, 1876-1981, bulk 1909-1964 see details... University of Pittsburgh, Libraries Archives Service Center Papers of James Bonar, 1886-1924 see details... New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Rm 328 John Powell Lenox collection, 1887-1924 (MssCol 3448) see details... Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200 August Jaccaci papers, 1889-1935 (bulk 1904-1914). see details... Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200 Oral history interview with William Milliken, 1974 Dec. 27-1976 Mar. 13. see details... Archives of American Gardens Capital Gallery Building, Suite 3300 Eagle Rock 1917-1986. see details... Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz History Center Carnegie Steel Company records 1853-1912 (1869-1912) [manuscript] see details... Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz History Center Will of Henry C. Frick, 1919 see details... Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz History Center James Waldo Fawcett papers 1847-1968 [manuscript] bulk 1963-1968 see details... Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz History Center Junta records 1882-1984 [manuscript] see details... Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz History Center George Dilworth papers 1861-1892 [manuscript] see details... Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz History Center Robert D. Christie papers 1889-1967 [manuscript] see details... Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz History Center Henry C. Frick Educational Commission records 1909-1993 [manuscript] see details... Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz History Center Mothers Organizing Mothers collection includes minutes, correspondence and membership lists also materials on Clayton, the Henry Clay Frick house. see details... Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz History Center Catalogue of the Frick Collection (Photocopy) see details... Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz History Center Booklet on the Frick Building, 1905 see details... Birmingham Public Library Archives Department Erskine Ramsay Papers, 1886-1953. see details... Library of Congress Manuscript Division Papers of Philander C. Knox, 1893-1922 (bulk 1901-1921). see details... Library of Congress Manuscript Division Papers of Andrew Carnegie, 1803-1935 (bulk 1890-1919). see details... Minnesota Historical Society Division of Archives and Manuscripts Materials relating to Helen C. Frick vs. Sylvester K. Stevens, 1967. see details... The Getty Research Institute Research Libraries, Archives and Special Collections D.H. Burnham & Co. Records, ca. 1891-1912. see details... University of Michigan Library UNIV OF MICHIGAN LIBR ANN ARBOR, MI 48109-1205 United States Indictment, (no. 340) in the Court of Quarter Sessions, County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, of September Sessions, 1892. see details... University of Pittsburgh, Libraries Archives Service Center Correspondence of Charles M. Schwab, 1891. see details... New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Rm 328 John Powell Lenox collection, 1887-1924 (MssCol 3448) see details... The Historical Society of Pennsylvania 1300 Locust Street James Moore Swank Papers, 1785-1898 (inclusive), 1785, 1871-1898 (bulk). see details... Nevada State Historical Society Museum-Research Library George Wingfield Papers, ca. 1900-1958. see details... The New-York Historical Society Manuscript Department James Hazen Hyde Papers, [ca. 1891-1941]. see details... Hagley Museum and Library Manuscripts & Archives Dept. Virginia Coal and Iron Company Records, 1880-1981. see details... Hagley Museum and Library Manuscripts & Archives Dept. Bethlehem Steel Corporation Records, 1714-1982. see details... Hagley Museum and Library Manuscripts & Archives Dept. Research notes for Conquering Gotham, 2001-2006. see details... Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library and Archives Papers of William J. Collins, 1902-1958. see details... The Frick Collection and Frick Art Research Library 10 East 71st Street Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series V: Subject Files, 1848-1966, undated see details... The Frick Collection and Frick Art Research Library 10 East 71st Street Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series III: Voucher Files, 1892-1929. see details... Nevada State Historical Society Museum-Research Library George Wingfield Papers. 1900-1958. see details... The Historical Society of Pennsylvania 1300 Locust Street James Moore Swank Papers, 1785-1898 (inclusive), 1785, 1871-1898 (bulk). see details... Birmingham Public Library Department of Archives and Manuscripts Erskine Ramsay Papers, 1886-1953. see details... University of Pittsburgh, Libraries Archives Service Center James Bonar Papers, 1886-1924 see details... The Getty Research Institute Research Libraries, Archives and Special Collections M. Knoedler & Co. records, approximately 1848-1971 see details... Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200 Jacques Seligmann & Co. records, 1904-1978, bulk 1913-1974 see details... Frick Art Research Library and Brooklyn Museum An exhibition of paintings from the collection of Mr. Henry C. Frick [electronic resource]. see details... The Frick Collection and Frick Art Research Library 10 East 71st Street One East 70th Street Papers, 1907-1931 see details... The Frick Collection and Frick Art Research Library 10 East 71st Street Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series IV: Receipts, 1900-1926 see details... The Frick Collection and Frick Art Research Library 10 East 71st Street Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series VI: Accounts 1880-1942. see details... The Frick Collection and Frick Art Research Library 10 East 71st Street Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series VIII: Letterpress Copybooks, 1881-1923. see details... The Getty Research Institute Research Libraries, Archives and Special Collections M. Knoedler & Co. records, approximately 1848-1971 see details... King's College Archive Centre, Cambridge CB2 1ST The Papers of Roger Eliot Fry, 1873–1969. see details... see also: Frick, Helen Clay, 1888-1984 «  back