Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America

Archives related to: Miller, Flora Whitney

titleFlora Whitney Miller papers regarding Kay Sage, 1915- circa 1982.
repositoryArchives of American Art
descriptionIncluded are 79 letters written to Miller from Sage; four letters written to Miller about Sage after Sage's suicide, and one reply letter; typescripts of 63 poems written by Sage; one handwritten poem by Sage; two Sage exhibition catalogs; and 18 snapshot photographs of Sage, Miller, and their friends. Documentation of Miller's career is not found within the papers.
extent168 items
formatsElectronic Resource Correspondence Photographs Exhibition Catalogs
accessCollection has been digitized and is available via the Archives of American Art's website.
record linkhttp://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/flora-whitney-miller-papers-regarding-kay-sage-10848/more#inventory
record sourcehttp://www.siris.si.edu/
finding aidOnline and in repository
acquisition informationDonated 1990 by Flora Miller Biddle, Miller's daughter.
updated03/16/2023 10:29:56
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titleGarden Club of America Collection
repositoryArchives of American Gardens
descriptionGertrude Vanderbilt Whitney commissioned the retreat for a place to work on sculpture and as an entertainment pavilion for friends. The axis of the site is north and south. The rear of the studio was developed as an intimate garden with swimming pool and sunken parterre. The garden incorporates many statues created by Whitney and her students. In 1982, it was adapted for use as a residence.

Persons and organizations associated with the garden include: Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (former owner, 1914-1918); Barbara Whitney Henry (former owner, 1942-1960s); Flora Whitney Miller (former owner, 1960s-1986); William Delano and Chester Aldrich (architect and garden designer, 1914-1918); Raleigh Cottnek (landscape designer, 1914-1918); and Charles G. Meyer, Jr. (architect, 1982).

Co-Creator:
Whitney, Mrs. Harry Payne, former owner.
Delano & Aldrich, architect.
Miller, Flora Whitney former owner.
Whitney, Gertrude Vanderbilt, 1875-1942 former owner.
Aldrich, Chester Holmes, 1871-1940 architect.
Delano, William Adams, architect.
extent2 folders+ 11 35 mm. slides.
formatsClippings Photographs Ephemera
accessAccess to original images by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. For information or study purposes only. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens.
bibliographyGarden featured in Linda Nochlin, "High Bohemia," in House & Garden (September 1985), pp. 180-189.
record sourcehttp://www.siris.si.edu/
updated08/25/2017 14:53:14
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titleGertrude Vanderbilt Whitney papers, 1855-1975 (bulk 1888-1942).
repositoryArchives of American Art
descriptionPapers documenting the life and work of the art patron and sculptor, especially her promotion of American art and artists, her philanthropy and war relief work, her commissions for memorial sculpture, and her creative writing. Papers include correspondence, journals, writings, project files, scrapbooks, photographs, art work, printed material, and miscellaneous personal papers.

Material relating to more personal aspects of Whitney's life include school papers, a paper doll book dating from her childhood, financial material, interviews, awards and honorary degrees, address and telephone books, committee files, and other items. Correspondence consists of incoming and outgoing letters concerning both personal and professional matters, including her patronage of the arts and sponsorship of artists, her sculpture commissions and exhibitions, and her war relief work and other philantrophic activities. Also found are family correspondence and correspondence received by Flora Whitney Miller and the Whitney Museum of American Art after Whitney's death. Journals include personal ones that she kept periodically from the time she was a child to near the end of her life, in which she recorded her travels, her impressions of people, her experiences with friends, and her thoughts on art, among other topics; and social ones, in which she recorded dinners and dances attended, and people invited to different social gatherings, and in which she collected invitations received and accepted.

Scattered files can be found that relate to the Whitney Studio Club and the Whitney Museum of American Art, consisting of notebooks, catalogs, a financial report, and other material. Files relating to Whitney's own sculpture projects are more extensive and consist of correspondence, contracts, printed material, notes, financial material for proposed and completed commissions for fountains, memorials, and monuments. The Whitney Museum of American Art, rather than Whitney herself, seems to have kept these files. Files relating to Whitney's philanthropic activities span from the time just before to just after the First World War and consist of correspondence, minutes, reports, and printed material stemming from her contributions to charities and war relief organizations, her sponsorship of the war hospital in Juilly, France, and her support of the Greenwich House Social Settlement.

Whitney's writings include extensive drafts, and handwritten and typed manuscripts and copies of novels, plays, and stories, as well as some autobiographical and early writings, notes and writings on art, and clippings of published writings, documenting her principle means of creative expression towards the end of her life. Also found are some writings by others. Scrapbooks consist of clippings, photographs, letters and other material, compiled by Whitney, Flora Whitney Miller, and possibly others, documenting Whitney's public life, her sculpture commissions and exhibitions, exhibitions at the Whitney Studio, the war hospital in Juilly, France, the death of Harry Payne Whitney in 1930, and the sickness and death of Whitney in 1942.

Photographs include ones of the Whitney and Vanderbilt families, ones of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (including portraits taken by Baron Adolf de Meyer and Count Jean de Strelecki), ones of various Vanderbilt and Whitney residences and of Whitney's studios, ones of Whitney's sculpture exhibitions as well as exhibitions at her studio, and ones of her sculptures, as well as some miscellaneous and unidentified ones. Art work consists of sketchbooks and sketches by Whitney (including sketches for sculptures) and art work by others (including a sketchbook of Howard Cushing's containing a sketch of her and albums of World War I lithographs) collected by Whitney. Also found amongst the collection are printed material (clippings, exhibition catalogs, programs, and publications) and blueprints (including drawings for Whitney's studio on MacDougal Alley and various of her sculptures).
extent35.8 linear ft. (partially microfilmed on 23 reels) reels 2356-2375; 2288-2289 and 4861
formatsDiaries Sketchbooks Works of Art Photographs Correspondence
accessUse requires an appointment. Any citation of this collection must include the following title designated by the donor: Whitney Museum of American Art, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney papers. Gift of Flora Miller Irving.
record sourcehttp://www.siris.si.edu/
finding aidOnline and in repository.
acquisition informationDonated 1981 by Flora Miller Irving, Gertrude Vanderbilit Whitney's granddaughter and president of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Portions of this collection were previously lent for microfilming in 1964 and 1967 as the Whitney Museum of American Art papers, reels NWH 4 and N587-N591. Irving turned over a few additional items in 1991, which were microfilmed on reel 4861 in 1994. Researchers may also wish to consult the Flora Miller Irving papers which contain research material for the book GERTRUDE VANDERBILT WHITNEY by B.F. Friedman (1978) and microfilm reels 1903-1904 which contain typescripts of selected correspondence, journal entries, and writings found in the Whitney Museum of American Art, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney papers.
updated11/12/2014 11:29:54
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titleThe Studio 2001-2003.
repositoryArchives of American Gardens
descriptionThe folders include a work sheet, features plan, slide view plan, copies of photographs, and copies of articles.

General Note:
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney commissioned the retreat for a place to work on sculpture and as an entertainment pavilion for friends. The axis of the site is north and south. The rear of the studio was developed as an intimate garden with swimming pool and sunken parterre. The garden incorporates many statues created by Whitney and her students. In 1982, it was adapted for use as a residence.
Persons and organizations associated with the garden include: Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (former owner, 1914-1918); Barbara Whitney Henry (former owner, 1942-1960s); Flora Whitney Miller (former owner, 1960s-1986); William Delano and Chester Aldrich (architect and garden designer, 1914-1918); Raleigh Cottnek (landscape designer, 1914-1918); and Charles G. Meyer, Jr. (architect, 1982).
extent2 folders+ 11 35 mm. slides.
formatsPhotogravures Printed Materials Notes
accessAccess to original images by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. For information or study purposes only. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens.
bibliographyGarden featured in Linda Nochlin, "High Bohemia," in House & Garden (September 1985), pp. 180-189.
record sourcehttp://www.siris.si.edu/
updated08/25/2017 14:53:12
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