Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
Archives related to: Payson, John Whitney
| title | Midtown Galleries records, 1904-1997. | repository | Archives of American Art |
| description | Records of Midtown Galleries consist of administrative correspondence, exhibition files, inventories and sales records, financial records, miscellaneous items, photographs, printed matter, personal papers of Alan D. and Mary J. Gruskin, and papers of Francis C. Healey. Administrative correspondence, 1927-1989, is arranged alphabetically in separate sub-series: General Correspondence, Artists Correspondence, and Artists Applications. General correspondence concerns routine business matters, and is with clients, collectors, museums and galleries, arts organizations, collections and universities, and businesses providing services to the Galleries. Artists Correspondence includes both personal and business letters with artists represented by Midtown Galleries. Among the many artists found are Edward Betts, Julien Binford, Isabel Bishop, Paul Cadmus, Charles T. Cointer, Gladys Rockmore David, Stephen Etnier, Emlen Etting, Ernest Fiene, Maurice Freedman, Philip Guston, Nathan Cabot Hale, Dong Kingman, Henry Koerner, Renee Lahm, Ethel Magafan, Oronzio Maldarelli, Peppino Mangravite, Fletcher Martin, Richard Mayhew, Fred Meyer, Hans Moller, Edith Nagler, Fred Nagler, William C. Palmer, Betty Parsons, Waldo Peirce, Anatol Shulkin, Simka Simkhovitch, Robert Sivard, Miron Sokole, Isaac Soyer, Frederic Taubes, William Thon, Margit Varga, Robert Vickrey, and Arline Wingate. Exhibitions, 1932-1982, includes exhibition schedules, correspondence about cooperative exhibitions and traveling shows, and exhibition files, arranged alphabetically by title. Inventories and sales records, 1946-1980, consists of inventories arranged by artist as well as by warehouse location; lists of paintings on consignment and paintings returned to artists; loan/shipping log, and "traffic cards." Sales records include "group totals," artists account ledger, and sales slips, arranged alphabetically by artist. Financial records, 1933-1957, consist of bills paid, banking records, accounting records, and tax returns with related documentation. Photographs, ca. 1925-1980, are arranged into subseries: People, arranged alphabetically, and including the Gruskins, Francis C. Healey, and artists (both Midtown and others); Works of Art, arranged alphabetically by artist; Exhibitions, arranged alphabetically by title or location, including Midtown Galleries exhibitions as wells as shows elsewhere featuring Midtown artists; photographs of illustrations used in Alan Gruskin's book Painting in the U.S.A.; photographs of the work of Waldo Peirce, ca. 1925-1930, (2 v.), possibly compiled by Peirce; and miscellaneous photographs, including Gruskin's Dept. Store (Pa.); models used by artists Julien Binford, Henry Koerner, Doris Rosenthal, properties owned by Binford and Hans Moller; Anatol Shulkins's travel photographs of the Soviet Union; window displays featuring Midtown artists; and fashion models at Midtown Galleries. Printed matter, 1932-1990, includes exhibition catalogs, news releases, Midtown News; as well as files of printed material on artists and on exhibitions, containing newspaper clippings. The series Personal Papers of Alan D. and Mary J. Gruskin, 1931-1990, consists of biographical information, correspondence, financial records, calendars, writings, address books business cards and miscellany. The Papers of Francis C. Healey, 1932-1935, contains personal and gallery correspondence, scripts and drafts for radio broadcasts, printed material, and miscellany. Miscellaneous items include mss. of Isabel Bishop Catalogue Raisonne and Biography by Karl Lunde, and The Art of Philip Guston by Lester D. Longman; legal documents, such as Act of Incorporation, partnership agreement, leases, guest registers (32 v.), 1924-1985, and 15 samples of artist-designed fabrics produced by Onandoga Silk Co., 1946-47. ADDITION (Reels 5436-5438): Scattered records found after the gallery closed in 1995, and not incorporated into the main records as microfilming had already begun, including: Administrative records, 1934-1995, including general correspondence, correspondence with clients, correspondence regarding sales, gifts, and purchases, Gruskin and Payson inventories; documents relating to the sale of Midtown Galleries to John Payson; and a gallery history; photographs, including those of the Gruskins, their friends, and country house; of Midtown exhibitions, artists, and openings; and of works of art; artists greeting and holiday cards, with original art work; artists files, containing mostly printed matter; files on exhibitions, 1958-1996, some dated after Payson's purchase of Midtown Galleries, including announcements, news releases, catalogs, and a guest book; and videotapes, 1977-1988, of William Palmer, Isabel Bishop, and Robert Vickery. |
| extent | 86.8 linear ft. (on 117 microfilm reels) reels 5322-5438 and 5475 |
| formats | Correspondence Inventories Photographs Financial Records Clippings |
| access | Microfilmed portions must be consulted on microfilm. Use of unmicrofilmed material requires an appointment. |
| record source | http://www.siris.si.edu/ |
| finding aid | Finding aid prepared by Catherine Gaines available at AAA offices and online at http://aaa.si.edu/findaids/midtgall/midtgall.htm |
| acquisition information | Donated by Mary J. Gruskin, Alan Gruskin's widow, 1972-1997. |
| updated | 03/16/2023 10:29:53 |
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| title | John Muench Papers 1945-1993 | repository | University of Maine, Special Collections |
| description | Included are correspondence, personal letters, exhibition catalogs, reviews, and articles about his work. Biographical Information: John Muench was born in Medford, MA, on Oct. 15, 1914. He was the son of James Adams Muench and Marjorie Davie Muench. On Sept. 6, 1941, he married Barbara Davey and they had four children, Robin, Anthony, Katherine, and Jon. A painter and lithographer, he was largely self-taught, with some training at the Art Students League in New York and Academie Julien in Paris. He served as Director of the School of Fine and Applied Art in Portland, Maine from 1958-1965 and as Associate Professor of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design from 1965-1976. He ended his academic tenure as director of the Maine Printmaking Workshop and as artist-in-residence at Westbrook College in Portland, Maine. His paintings and prints have been exhibited in galleries around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, The National Museum in Jerusalem, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Locally, his work has been displayed at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, and at the Joan Whitney Payson Gallery in Portland. Several of his works are included in the University of Maine art collection. He died August 13, 1993 at the age of 78. LOCATION ORO Special Coll CALL NO. SpC MS 356 |
| extent | 3 ft. |
| formats | Correspondence Printed Materials Clippings Ephemera Photographs |
| access | No restrictions |
| record link | http://www.library.umaine.edu/speccoll/FindingAids/Muenchjo.htm |
| record source | http://ursus.maine.edu |
| finding aid | In the repository and on the repository's Web site. |
| acquisition information | Gift of Katherine Muench (daughter), Oct. 21, 1994. |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | The Fototeca Berenson (Villa I Tatti Photo Archives) | repository | Biblioteca Berenson, Villa I Tatti |
| description | The collection contains about 300,000 photographs, many of them collected by Berenson himself from the 1880s until the time of his death in 1959. Many have notes on the back in his handwriting. Many show works of art before restoration, and others show images since destroyed. An important section, "Homeless paintings", contains photographs of works whose current location is unknown. The photographs are almost exclusively black and white in a variety of photographic media, such as albumen, gelatine, or carbon. About 3000 large-format photographs are stored separately. In addition, there is a considerable amount of documentary material in the form of clippings, notes and printed reproductions. The photographs are arranged according to Berenson's original scheme, by school: Florence, Siena, Central Italy, Northern Italy, Lombardy, Venice, Southern Italy. Within each school they are arranged by artist, then by topography, followed by homeless. Paintings and drawings are arranged separately. The main focus of the collection is on Italian painting and drawing from the mid-thirteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries. This part of the collection continues to be developed through the acquisition of new materials and through photographic campaigns. Later periods are also represented but in smaller scale, without systematic updating. There is also material on medieval painting, arranged topographically; manuscript illumination, arranged according to present location; archeology; Byzantine art and architecture, arranged both by artist and by location; and non-Italian art, arranged by country. Finally a section of 8000 photographs is devoted to the art of the Far East, India and Islam. In addition to the original Berenson nucleus, collections of prints, glass plates, negatives and transparencies have entered the Fototeca. These include the collections of Emilio Marcucci (nineteenth-century projects for the completion of various Florentine monuments), George Kaftal (representations of saints in Italian painting of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries), Henry Clifford (painting thirtheenth to seventeenth centuries), Giorgio Castelfranco (Italian art thirteenth to twentieth centuries), Giannino Marchig (restoration), Frederick Hartt (Michelangelo, Giulio Romano), Giuseppe Marchini (Italian art and stained glass), and Craig H. Smyth (Renaissance painting and drawing). There is a small collection of micropublications and microfiche (162,386 frames): L=index photographique de l'art en France (95,648); Sotheby's Pictorial Archive - Old Master Paintings (45,472); Christie's Pictorial Archive Italian School (9,898); Christie's Pictorial Archive - New York 1977-95 Old Master Paintings & Drawings (11,368). The microfilm of the Bartsch Corpus comprises about 42,000 frames. Notes Most photographers not identified. |
| extent | 300,000 + photographs |
| formats | Photographs Reproductions Microfilm Artist Files |
| access | Contact Ilaria Della Monica the archivist at the Berenson Library for restrictions and appointments. |
| record link | http://via.lib.harvard.edu/via/deliver/advancedsearch?_collection=via |
| record source | http://itatti.harvard.edu/ |
| finding aid | Currently, there is no catalog of the photographs at Villa I Tatti. In some cases, Artist Files, can be found school (i.e. Venetian, Lombard, Northern Italy, Central Italy, etc. . .) and some are cataloged in Harvard's online catalog, HOLLIS. |
| acquisition information | Originally formed by Bernard Berenson the Library continues to add to the file. |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:10 |
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