Archives Directory for the History of Collecting

Frick, Henry Clay, 1849-1919

type

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

history

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

1880-1890
1890-1900
1900-1910
1910-1920

website

http://www.frick.org/

updated

10/31/2024 13:33:16

research links

Search FRESCO (Frick Research Catalog Online)
Search Worldcat
Search Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF)
Search Virtual International Authority File (VIAF)
Search Wikidata Entry

Repository	Description	Links
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...