Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
Archives related to: Kress, Samuel H. (Samuel Henry), 1863-1955
| title | The collection of French and Venetian drawings of Mr. Samuel H. Kress, New York. | repository | National Gallery of Art, Library |
| description | Scrapbook of mounted xeroxed plates with typescript descriptions facing each; some leaves blank. Cover title. List and Supplementary list, January 1938 inserted. |
| extent | 62 leaves : ill. ; 32 cm. |
| formats | Scrapbooks |
| access | See repository for restrictions. |
| record source | http://library.nga.gov/ |
| updated | 03/16/2023 10:29:46 |
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| title | Contini-Volterra Photographic Archive | repository | Vanderbilt University |
| description | The Contini-Volterra Photographic Archive was organized by art connoisseur Count Alessandro Contini, with assistance by art historian Evelyn Sandberg-Vavala and later augmented by antiquarian Gualtiero Volterra and art scholar Mina Gergori. This research collection of more than 60,000 photographs was created between the 1930s and the 1960s by Florentine art experts who helped assemble the Contini and Samuel H. Kress Collections. These photographs form a distinctive visual resource with an emphasis on the Italian art schools but also include examples from other European traditions. It provides important support materials for scholars and advanced students who undertake research in these areas. More than 300 leather-bound volumes contain photographic images of paintings, sculpture, and architectural monuments from the 13th through 20th centuries, many of which are no longer in existence. |
| extent | ca. 60,000 photographs |
| formats | Photograph Album Photographs |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/speccol/contini_volterra.shtml |
| finding aid | Index to collection available online |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:29:53 |
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| title | Papers of David E. Finley, 1921-1977. | repository | Library of Congress |
| description | Correspondence, subject files, financial papers, drafts of speeches and writings, family material, printed matter, and scrapbooks relating chiefly to Finley's duties as special assistant to Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew W. Mellon, his role in the founding and his subsequent service as director (1938-56) of the National Gallery of Art, and his activities with numerous artistic and cultural organizations, including the Commission on Fine Arts, the People-to-People program, the National Portrait Gallery, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Specific topics in the papers include the controversy between Mellon and Senator James Couzens over a tax reduction plan; the National Gallery's participation in the art program of UNESCO; architectural development of Washington, D.C.; the furnishing of the White House; and the preservation and restoraton of Cooper Union, Decatur House, and the Wayside Inn. Correspondents include Marie Beale, George Biddle, James Biddle, Helen Bullock, Huntington Cairns, Leonard Carmichael, Clement Conger, Royal Cortissoz, Chester Dale, Lewis W. Douglas, Harry F. du Pont, James Earle Fraser, Edgar W. Garbisch, Gordon Gray, Theodore Francis Green, Walker Hancock, Herbert Hoover, Lady Bird Johnson, Jacqueline Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Lincoln Kirstein, Samuel H. Kress, Wilmarth S. Lewis, Paul Manship, Andrew W. Mellon, Richard K. Mellon, Charles Nagel, Duncan Phillips, S. Dillon Ripley, Eleanor Roosevelt, Lessing J. Rosenwald, Harlan F. Stone, Francis Henry Taylor, Harry S. Truman, Joseph E. Widener, and Andrew Wyeth. Bio/History: Museum director and lawyer. |
| extent | 31,000 items. 92 containers. |
| formats | Correspondence Financial Records Printed Materials Writings Scrapbooks |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions. |
| record source | http://catalog.loc.gov |
| finding aid | Finding aid available in the Library of Congress Manuscript Reading Room |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:29:53 |
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| title | Duveen Brothers Records, 1876-1981, bulk 1909-1964 | repository | The Getty Research Institute |
| description | The records provide an detailed view of the Duveen Brothers business activities in London, Paris, and New York. Although the archive extends from 1876-1981, the bulk of the material dates from Joseph Duveen's tenure as president of the firm, 1909-1939, and the period from 1939 to 1964 when Edward Fowles directed the firm (with Armand Lowengard until 1943). The mass of documents, such as cables and letters, invoices, and ledger and stock books, give a day-by-day account of art dealing, business strategy, and the individuals involved NOTE Series I (ca. 112 linear feet) contains the firm's business records. Stock books indicate where objects were sent for repair, to whom objects were sent on approbation along with the date of sale and the price realized. Invoices include receipts, sales invoices sent to clients, lists of cablegrams and shipment of stock from each branch of the business Series II (ca. 155 linear feet) consists of papers and correspondence which broadly cover the interaction between the Duveen Brothers firm and its clients, business associates, and the public. The correspondence describes art collecting trends among museums and individuals, the availability and purchase of art, art research and authentication, and the firm's general business practices. Eleven boxes of correspondence with Bernard Berenson detail his business relationship with the firm. Also included are records of lawsuits, correspondence between branches (some written in code), correspondence with museums, papers regarding galleries, Edward Fowles' papers, papers concerning exhibitions and loans, and papers regarding major art collectors and consultants. Some records of Kleinberger Galleries (apparently the papers of Harry G. Sperling, president) form a subseries within this series, and contain correspondence Series III (c. 127 linear feet) includes some photographs, indices, negatives, and x-rays. This series represents the Duveen Brother's stock of images. Indices are available for the majority of the negatives in cold storage ("X Book" (Berenson transaction) is the only unique Duveen document not transferred to the GRI. It has not yet been photocopied. The "X Book" details, for a limited number (about 250) of Italian paintings in which Berenson had a financial interest, precise dates of purchase and sale, primarily in the years 1910-27. There is no index.) AAM LOCATION Watson Library Reference CALL NUMBER Microfilm Cabinet |
| extent | Ca. 394 linear ft. 584 boxes, glass negative cabinets, and 18 flat file folders. 422 microfilm reels : positive ; 35mm |
| formats | Photographs X rays Correspondence Financial Records Inventories |
| access | Microfilm of the archive is available for use by qualified researchers. The archive is restricted because of extreme fragility |
| record link | http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa960015 |
| record source | https://primo.getty.edu/permalink/f/19q6gmb/GETTY_ALMA21124730440001551 |
| finding aid | Unpublished finding aid available in the repository and on the repository's Web site: folder level control. See the following web page digitization information: http://www.getty.edu/research/institute/development_partnerships/2011_kress.html |
| acquisition information | Edward Fowles donated the Duveen Brothers records to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1968. The Metropolitan gave the records to the Getty Research Library in 1996. |
| updated | 07/28/2023 16:33:44 |
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| title | The Samuel H. Kress Foundation Archive | repository | Samuel H Kress Foundation |
| description | The archive is organized into seven series, beginning with materials associated with the Kress Collection and its distribution to nearly 100 cultural institutions within United States. While this comprises the largest part of the archive (50.46 linear feet), there are also materials related to the early history of the Kress Foundation, the Kress Family, and the S. H. Kress & Company Stores. The first section of the archive encompasses documents related to the formation of the Kress Collection (primarily 1927 – 1961) and the individual works within it. The files for the unique works are organized by medium, and may contain photographs, attribution and provenance information, conservation history, acquisition details, catalog entries, correspondence, and other materials related to the object. Each object is assigned a number, most often beginning with a “K,” as is the case for all paintings. Other mediums are sometimes assigned numbers beginning with other letters. Also in this series are the correspondence files from Samuel H. Kress and his associates to various specialists, conservators, and dealers regarding aspects of the Kress Collection, most often focused on attribution and acquisition. Correspondence and bills of sale from the dealers that Samuel H. Kress, and then later the Kress Foundation, worked with are also in this series. As the collection was formed, inventories and valuations were created, and certain works were loaned to museums for exhibitions; these records also appear in this series. The final section of the series, Off Inventory, contains photographs, x-rays, and memos associated with works that were under consideration for acquisition, or were acquired, but ultimately did not remain in the final collection. The Kress Collection was distributed to nearly 100 cultural institutions in the United States between 1941 and 1961. The Kress Foundation oversaw the distribution, and series 2 (13.55 linear feet) includes files for each recipient institution, which contain correspondence, object and exhibition information, photographs, press clippings and other material related to each gift. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. received the largest number of works and makes up a third of this series. The other Kress Institutions are organized by size into four types: Regional Collections, Study Collections, Special Collections, and Gift Locations. This series also contains correspondence and memos related to institutions that were under consideration to receive Kress works of art, but ultimately did not. The last section in this series contains gift indentures, the agreements between the Kress Foundation and an institution, conveying ownership of the itemized works of art, organized by institution type. There are 3.13 linear feet of materials focused on exhibitions and publications associated with the Kress Collection. In the 1930s, Kress selected 55 works of art from his collection to tour 25 cities in the United States. The papers associated with this traveling exhibition include administrative documents, correspondence with the various institutions that hosted the show, press clippings, photographs, an exhibition catalog, and other ephemera. Also in this series are the contracts and correspondence associated with the development and publication of the Kress Collection Catalogs, published by Phaidon Press for the Kress Foundation in nine volumes (1964 – 1977). Other publication materials in this series include features about the Kress Collection and its distribution found in Life, National Geographic, and Time magazines. The Foundation also commissioned the reference book Signs and Symbols in Christian Art and documents (correspondence and memos) related to this volume are also in this series. Section 3.4 contains correspondence, research documents, and photographs used in the 1994 volume A Gift to America, the catalog for the 1994-95 traveling exhibition of works from the Kress Collection. There are a limited amount of administrative papers connected to the creation of the Foundation (established in 1929) in Series 4. This series (5.84 linear feet) also includes correspondence to and from the staff and associates of the Foundation, the Foundation’s nonprofit tax status application, trustee photographs, information about the Foundation’s office properties and equipment, and general (historic) press releases. The second section of this series contains the grant records from the early days of the Foundation before there were formalized grant and fellowship programs. Early funding supported a wide range of causes including health care (cancer research, hospital facilities) and restoration of cultural heritage sites primarily in Italy, with projects in Germany and Israel. The annual reports from 1962 to the present are also found here. A very limited number of audio visual assets are also included in this series. These digital files include footage from a tribute dinner held at the National Gallery of Art in honor of longtime President Franklin D. Murphy, a Kress family reunion, and short films associated with Kress Collection at the University of Arizona and the North Carolina Museum of Art. There is also an audio file of an interview with Mario Modestini, the Foundation’s longtime conservator. Series 5 (1.46 linear feet) includes a wide range of information about the Kress Family and the Kress apartment at 1020 Fifth Avenue in New York City: genealogical information, general correspondence and photographs, photographs of the family apartment, documents related to the Kress Family Mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery, Samuel H. Kress’s tax returns from the 1930s, and general press clippings. Series 6 (0.83 linear feet) includes information about the S. H. Kress & Company stores, including press clippings, information about the flagship Fifth Avenue Store in New York City, building photographs, correspondence, lists of employees, an employee oral history, and annual reports from the stores. Note: more information about the S.H. Kress & Company stores may be found in the archive of the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. The oversize materials (approximately 100 linear feet) consist of dealer reports and photographs of Kress Collection works too large for the standard archive boxes in Series 1. The remaining subseries contain scrapbooks and photographs associated with the distribution of the Kress Collection, the 1930s traveling exhibition, publications, and restoration grants. The scrapbooks are organized by the focus of the content and contain press clippings, telegrams and correspondence, and photographs that have often been glue mounted on board. For preservation purposes, the scrapbooks have been deconstructed: the pages removed from their original leather bindings, and the boarded pages interleaved with archival paper to protect the fragile clippings damaged from the glue. The last section in the series contains materials related to the Kress family and stores including portraits of Samuel H. Kress, photographs of Kress & Co. store trustees, press clippings about S.H. Kress, and stock certificates. Many of the scrapbooks are very delicate and difficult to access. Page level descriptions are available at the Kress Foundation. History of Samuel H. Kress and the Kress Foundation Samuel H. Kress was a self-made man who came from modest, rural roots. Descended from German and Irish immigrants, he was born in 1863, during the middle of the Civil War, in Cherryville, Pennsylvania, the second of seven children. There was very little in his early childhood, or indeed the early part of his professional life, to suggest he would become one of the most singular collectors and art philanthropists in the United States. Kress worked as a school teacher in the 1880s and quickly saved enough money to open a “notions” store in 1887 in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania. Less than ten years later, in 1896, Kress opened the S.H. Kress and Company Store in Memphis, Tennessee, the first of the eventual chain of Five & Dime stores bearing his name. Within another ten years, Kress would incorporate the business in New York, where he oversaw his growing retail empire, ultimately comprising 264 stores across the nation. Like other American fortunes made during the Gilded Age, Kress’s benefited from opportunity. He understood the utility of selling quality merchandise at low prices and he made his profits by selling at volume. He developed, not only an inventory of distinctive merchandise, but also a distinct merchandising environment. Over time he created an architectural division for his retail empire, adopting in the late 1920s an art deco building style that maintained stringent standards for the design and decoration of his stores. This calculated consumer experience undoubtedly contributed to the chain’s success, as did the inclusion of lunch counters which transformed the department stores from the local go-to for an encyclopedic range of consumer goods to de facto social centers, deeply integrating the stores in communities throughout the United States and further distinguishing them from Kress’s competition. It has been suggested that Kress’s position as a vendor of bulk consumer goods influenced his early approach to art collecting, buying pictures en bloc and at bargain prices, but one could also argue that Kress’s rigorous attention to the aesthetic detail of his stores revealed a nascent visual sensitivity that would fully bloom through his art collecting. Kress had no formal higher education and was not raised to be a worldly man, and it was not until the 1910s that Kress visited Europe, and even then it was primarily to receive spa treatments for his abidingly poor health. New York City, where he had established his headquarters at age 37, was his home, but he seems to have preferred to maintain a distance from the public eye and elite New York social circles. At some point in the 1920s Kress’s trips to Europe came to include not only health cures, but also visits to museums and gallery exhibitions. On one of these trips, Kress was introduced to Count Alessandro Contini-Bonacossi (1878-1955), his first and most formative dealer. It was this collector–dealer relationship that defined the course of Kress’s collecting and the eventual shape of the Kress Collection. From the purchase of his first painting in 1927, until his last in 1955 (the year both men died), Kress, and subsequently the Kress Foundation, purchased no fewer than 900 works from Contini-Bonacossi, more than from any other dealer. With the help and guidance of Contini-Bonacossi, Kress sought to build an encyclopedic collection of Italian Renaissance painting, with at least one work by every painter – major or minor – mentioned in Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (first edition, 1550). The Kress Collection grew ultimately to include more than 3,000 objects. Kress was unique among collectors not only for the scale and encyclopedic nature of his collecting, but for the distinct spirit of generosity beneath his collecting practice and his desire to share his collection with the public at large. Kress was a business man whose wealth was built from his Five and Dime emporiums; and his stores’ success depended on their relationship to the communities they served. Kress knew it was the people of these small towns and cities, scattered through-out the United States that had made him a wealthy man. In a gesture at once savvy and generous, Kress set out to share his collection with these communities. Throughout the 1930s Kress routinely gifted single pictures to regional museums and educational institutions in cities across the United States, fostering local pride and often providing the only Old Master paintings in a given town. In the depths of the Great Depression, Kress built upon these initial gifts by conceiving and launching a traveling exhibition. He selected 55 of his prized Renaissance works of art for the tour, initially intending to stop in only eight cities over a period of nine months. Kress wanted to share his pictures as a point of pride but also to educate. A small catalog was produced for each venue, the images were organized chronologically by “school,” and the tone of the accompanying text was didactic. The tour became so popular that it ended up lasting nearly three years and stopping at 25 venues, starting at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia in the Fall of 1932 and finishing in the summer of 1935 at the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, North Carolina. Kress was thus not only a collector but also a populist, and this adds another shade of distinction to his style of philanthropy. He believed that great works of art enrich life and that the opportunity for this enrichment should be available to everyone – not just the educated or those citizens of wealthy, coastal cities. By the mid-30s Kress had collected more than 700 objects, including hundreds of paintings and many works of decorative art and sculpture. By the time the traveling exhibition concluded, Kress, having turned 72 in 1935, was not in good health. His collection was destined to become the property of the Foundation Kress had established in 1929, but it was not until June 1936 that the Foundation was empowered to make purchases on the founder’s behalf and under the keen eye of his brother, Rush Kress. While Kress must have surely been thinking of his legacy, there can be no doubt that it was, above all, his populist spirit that wanted to offer his paintings and objects of art to the American public. Simultaneous to this, plans for the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. were moving apace. Andrew W. Mellon (1855-1937), the great financier and former Secretary of Treasury, had also created an exceptional, though comparatively modest, collection of paintings and sculpture. Mellon bequeathed his works to the National Gallery of Art, which he had endowed in March 1937, several months before his death. But this grand neo-classical building had vast galleries, and Mellon’s collection, however important, was comprised of only 152 works. There were dozens of galleries to be filled before the museum was to open in 1941. In 1938, just as Kress seemingly reached the conclusion that building a museum in his own name was not in his or his collection’s best interest, he was approached by David Finley, the director of the nascent National Gallery of Art, and encouraged to consider donating his collection to the new national art museum. On March 17, 1941 at the opening dedication of the National Gallery of Art, presided over by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Samuel Kress gave remarks which revealed his unique approach to collecting, the public spiritedness that animated him as a collector, and the educational aspirations he held for his collection. Over time, and by working closely with the Duveen firm, the Kress Collection at the National Gallery was refined, with some lesser pictures being returned to the Kress Foundation and replaced by superior works. Many masterpieces were purchased expressly for the National Gallery at the recommendation of its curators, and the focus of the Kress Collection was expanded to include an important body of 18th century French paintings. By the fifth anniversary of the Gallery in 1946, there were more than 700 works in its Kress Collection. Most were on permanent display and remain so to this day. Even after the initial gift to the National Gallery of Art and Kress’s continued donations to the Gallery, hundreds of works remained in the hands of the Kress Foundation. This surplus of works and their eventual distribution illustrates what ultimately distinguished Kress as a collector whose philanthropic, populist, and educational aims were closely intertwined. In 1945 Kress suffered an incapacitating stroke at the age of 82 and his younger brother Rush assumed responsibility for the Kress legacy. The Foundation continued to build the Kress Collection, professionalizing the collecting activities of the Foundation. Those activities were now driven purposefully by the understanding that the collection would be distributed to museums and galleries throughout the United States. The spirit behind this ambitious program was that of Samuel Kress, but the regional gallery program was Rush’s inspired idea. This process of building and distributing the Kress Collection would last until 1961, culminating in what Time Magazine called The Great Kress Give-Away. The Foundation began consulting with museum directors and community leaders in cities throughout the United States to discuss a Kress “gift” of artworks, intended to enhance some museum’s European art holdings and to become the European art collection of other museums. Gifts of thirty or more art works were ultimately promised to eighteen regional museums in cities including: El Paso, Allentown, Kansas City, Denver, Seattle, San Francisco, New Orleans, Houston, Tucson, and Tulsa. The promise of this gift, whose only stipulation was that the works remained on permanent display in fire-protected and climate-controlled environments for the education and enjoyment of the community, inspired diverse responses. In some instances, the pledge of the gift led to fundraising efforts for a new museum building, in others it impelled older facilities to be modernized. By 1955, the year Samuel Kress died, the Kress Collection had grown to more than 2,000 objects, and while the largest portion of the collection remained in Washington D.C. and the eighteen regional museums, there remained still other paintings, drawings, sculpture and decorative objects in search of a home. Eventually, and through another deliberate program of art philanthropy, these remaining pieces were given to university and college museums and galleries as “study” collections – works of the Renaissance that served as teaching tools rather than merely as exhibition pieces. The Collection would continue to grow for the next several years, to nearly 3,100 objects, more than a third of which were paintings. By 1961, twenty years after the opening of the National Gallery, the building and distribution of the Kress Collection was complete. And on the 20th anniversary of the National Gallery, the Kress Collection was honored again, this time with President Kennedy expressing his admiration, and Rush Kress representing his brother’s remarkable vision. The Kress Collection and its distribution throughout the nation was the culmination of a personal passion and a deeply American gesture. Samuel Kress’s democratic approach to the distribution of his collection and his insistence on access to and education about art for everyone separates him finally from his Gilded Age predecessors. He was not a cultural imperialist but a cultural philanthropist and representative of a new breed, one that remains singular and inspiring to this day. Related Material More information about Samuel H. Kress and his collection may be found in dealer-specific archives (see especially the Duveen Archive available online via the Getty Research Institute; the Bernard Berenson archive at Villa I Tatti; the Contini-Volterra Photographic Archive at Vanderbilt University; and the Knoedler & Company Records at the Getty Research Institute) as well as the institutional archives at museums which steward part of the Kress Collection (see especially the Archives at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.). Preferred Citation Published citations should take the following form: Samuel H. Kress Foundation Archive [Series, Box, Folder Name], New York, New York |
| extent | Approximately 175 linear feet |
| formats | Business Records Correspondence Scrapbooks Clippings Printed Materials |
| access | The Samuel H. Kress Foundation Archive is open for research by appointment only. Note: the archive only includes the early grants of the Foundation, prior to the formation of its formal grant programs. The grant records from 1961 to the present are not open to researchers, but the complete list of awards made annually are published in the Foundation’s ongoing series of Annual Reports, available in the Archive and online (for fiscal years 2004 thru the present). The Minutes from the meetings of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation Board of Trustees are not open to researchers. |
| record link | http://www.kressfoundation.org/archive/finding_aid/default.htm |
| record source | http://www.kressfoundation.org/archive/finding_aid/default.htm |
| finding aid | Finding aid available on repository's Web site. |
| acquisition information | The Samuel H. Kress Foundation Archive was built by the founders and administrators of the Foundation and the Kress Collection. |
| updated | 09/14/2016 13:37:03 |
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| title | Photo Archives: Samuel H. Kress Collection | repository | National Gallery of Art, Image Collection |
| description | A complete set of all Kress Collection paintings and sculptures before deposit in museums throughout the United States (5,000 photographs and negatives) |
| extent | 5,000 photographs and negatives |
| formats | Photographs Negatives |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.nga.gov/resources/dpacore.shtm |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:29:55 |
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| title | M. Knoedler & Co. records, approximately 1848-1971 | repository | The Getty Research Institute |
| description | The records of M. Knoedler & Co. document the business of the prominent American art dealer from the mid-19th century to 1971, when the Knoedler Gallery was acquired by Armand Hammer. The archive traces the development of the once provincial American art market into one of the world's leading art centers and the formation of the private art collections that would ultimately establish many of the nation's leading art museums, such as the Frick Collection and the National Gallery of Art. It brings to the foreground the business side of dealing as artworks shuttled back and forth among Knoedler, fellow dealers, and collectors, documenting developments in art connoisseurship, shifting tastes, the changing role of art in American society, and the essential role of private collectors in the formation of public American art collections. The records provide insight into broader economic, social and cultural histories and the nation's evolving sense of place in the world. The Knoedler Gallery became one of the main suppliers of old master and post-Impressionist paintings in the United States. Financial records of the firm provide crucial provenance information on the large number of artworks in American museums that were sold by the gallery. The archive includes stock books, sales books and commission books; correspondence with collectors, artists, art dealers and other associates; photographs of the artworks sold by the gallery; records from the firm's offices in London, Paris and other cities; exhibition files; framing and restoration records, and records of the firm's Print Department. Selected portions of the archive have been digitized and made available online. Connect to selected digitized portions of the archive. Arranged in 14 series: Series I. Stock books; Series II. Sales books; Series III. Commission books; Series IV. Inventory cards; Series V. Receiving and shipping records; Series VI. Correspondence; Series VII. Photographs; Series VIII. Exhibition files; Series IX. American Department records; Series X. Framing and restoration records; Series XI. Print Department records; Series XII. Other financial records; Series XIII. Library cards, scrapbooks, and research materials; Series XIV. Knoedler family papers Biographical/Historical Note: M. Knoedler & Co. was a successor to the New York branch of Goupil & Co., an extremely dynamic print-publishing house founded in Paris in 1827. Goupil's branches in London, Berlin, Brussels, and The Hague, as well as New York, expanded the firm's market in the sale of reproductive prints. The firm's office in New York was established in 1848. In 1857, Michael Knoedler, an employee of Goupil and a manager for the firm, bought out the interests in the firm's New York branch, conducted the business under his own name, and diversified its activities to include the sale of paintings. Roland Knoedler, Michael's son, took over the firm in 1878 and with Charles Carstairs opened galleries in Paris and London. In 1928, the management of the firm passed to Roland's nephew Charles Henschel, Carman Messmore, Charles Carstairs and Carstairs' son Carroll. In 1956 Henschel died, and E. Coe Kerr and Roland Balaÿ, Michael Knoedler's grandson, took over. In 1971 the firm was sold to businessman and collector Armand Hammer. The gallery closed in November 2011. |
| extent | 3042.6 linear feet (5550 boxes, 17 flat file folders). |
| formats | Auction Catalogs Business Records Correspondence Financial Records Ephemera |
| access | Open for use by qualified researchers, with the following exceptions. Boxes 77, 262-264, 1308-1512, 1969-1974, 3592-3723 are restricted due to fragility. Box 4468 is restricted until 2075. |
| record link | http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2012m54 |
| record source | https://primo.getty.edu/permalink/f/19q6gmb/GETTY_ALMA21129976460001551 |
| contact information | Contact gallery's archivist |
| finding aid | At the Getty Research Institute and over their website. |
| acquisition information | Acquired in 2012. |
| updated | 07/28/2023 16:33:46 |
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| title | The Kress Collection Digital Archive | repository | The National Gallery of Art, Archives |
| description | The Kress Collection Digital Archive, a project of the National Gallery of Art Gallery Archives that was generously funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, promotes understanding of the history and development of the Kress Collection in the larger context of the history of the National Gallery of Art and culture in the United States. The Kress Collection encompasses more than 3,000 works of European art, particularly Italian Renaissance paintings, amassed by businessman and art collector Samuel H. Kress and his foundation. By 1961, the collection had been dispersed and donated to over 90 art museums and educational institutions throughout the United States. The largest gift went to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. By bringing early European art to millions of Americans where they lived, the Kress Collection has been significant to the cultural history of the United States. The Kress Collection has also been vitally important to the National Gallery of Art. When the Gallery opened in 1941, nearly three-quarters of the works on view were gifts or loans from the Kress Collection. For the next two decades, the Foundation developed, honed, and ultimately distributed the collection in close cooperation with the museum. The history of the Kress Collection and the development of the National Gallery are fundamentally linked. The Kress Collection Digital Archive virtually unites objects in the Kress Collection and illustrates their history, acquisition, condition and care, and distribution. Gallery Archives staff compiled data about objects, related archival materials, object history (acquisitions and distributions), and associated people and organizations (artists, institutions, dealers and collectors, and historians and conservators). High-quality digital images of objects were obtained, and over 10,000 historical and conservation documents and images from the holdings of the Gallery Archives, the National Gallery of Art painting conservation department, and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation Archive have been digitized so far. The significant scope of this resource will support new, complex art historical studies benefiting researchers from various disciplines. Objects form the core of the platform. Records for each Kress Collection work of art contain basic data (e.g., title, artist, date, medium) and other identifiers, and historical attribution data when available. Provenance information on all Kress Collection paintings is included through the work conducted by the National Gallery of Art Kress Provenance Research Project. Most objects have an image available; more images will be added as they are obtained. The images are IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) compliant and users can study a single image or compare multiple images side by side and zoom, pan, and rotate images. Relevant Archival Item, Acquisition, and Distribution records are linked to each Object record. We provide links to related content when they are available. For example, current owner collection records provide access to current object data. The Kress Collection of Historic Images records, maintained by the Gallery's department of image collections, provide additional digitized images of objects. National Gallery of Art Online Editions include detailed narrative information on the condition and conservation history of objects. Archival Materials are selected digitized historical and conservation documents and images that relate to Kress objects. These include art object records, expert opinions, condition and restoration records, reports and shadowgraphs by conservator Alan Burroughs, photographs, work summary logs, conservation reports, and dealer and collector correspondence. These materials were selected from the holdings of the National Gallery of Art Gallery Archives, the National Gallery of Art painting conservation department, and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation Archive, and date from around 1910 to 2015. Related Object records are linked. See Archival Materials Description for more details. Object History documents the acquisition and distribution of the Kress Collection. Acquisitions record the purchase of Kress Collection objects and consist of digitized documentation and parsed data. Each object associated with an Acquisition record is detailed—whether it was a purchase, credit, or return; its attribution; and the dollar value—and linked. For most objects known to have been purchased by Samuel H. Kress and the Kress Foundation, we have located and digitized documentation; however, for some objects, only the last name of the seller and year may be known. Distributions consist of information relating to the distribution of Kress Collection objects to over 95 institutions, mainly through gifts to Kress regional collections, study collections, the National Gallery of Art, and other gift locations. (A small number of loans, deaccessions, and transfers is also recorded.) Each object associated with a Distribution record is linked. People and Organizations associated with the Kress Collection records are categorized by Artists, Institutions, Dealers and Collectors, and Historians and Conservators. Records contain authoritative data for the name entities derived from and linked to VIAF (Virtual International Authority File), LCNAF (Library of Congress Name Authority File), and/or ULAN (Getty Union List of Artist Names) records. Some records contain links to Wikipedia articles. Name records are linked to relevant records throughout—Artists to Objects, Institutions to Objects and Distributions, Dealers and Collectors to Acquisitions and Archival Items, and Historians and Conservators to Archival Items. PROJECT CREDIT We give heartfelt thanks to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for their generous support of the project and enduring patience and enthusiasm. Current project staff include archivist Shannon Yule Morelli and chief of Gallery Archives Kathleen Williams. We wish to acknowledge the contributions of Lauren Algee, Julie Blake, Chelsea Cates, Elizabeth Concha, Maygene Daniels, Joanna Dunn, Rebecca Fasman, Sarah Fisher, Anne Halpern, Jennifer Henel, Jay Krueger, Melissa Lemke, Mason McClew, Sarah Osborne Bender, Janice Reyes, Angela Salisbury, Marta Staudinger, Elizabeth Walmsley, Michele Willens, Nancy Yeide, and Fulvia Zaninelli. Object images are courtesy of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the National Gallery of Art, unless noted otherwise. This site was developed in collaboration with the team at Whirl-i-Gig using a custom configuration of CollectiveAccess. |
| extent | See website for more details. |
| access | See project website for more details. |
| record link | https://kress.nga.gov/ |
| record source | https://kress.nga.gov/ |
| finding aid | See project website for more details. |
| updated | 02/22/2021 17:36:03 |
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