Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
Archives related to: Porter, Arthur Kingsley, 1883-1933
| title | Paul J. Sachs Papers, 1900-1994. |
| repository | Harvard Art Museum Archives |
| description | These personal papers of Fogg Art Museum associate director Paul J. Sachs document his involvement with the Fogg, his academic career, publishing projects, collection of art objects, philanthropic endeavors, and personal life. The bulk of the collection dates from 1915 to 1958. Included are: financial records, correspondence, certificates, diplomas, object lists, photographs, newspaper and journal clippings, valuations and speech transcripts. History notes : Paul Joseph Sachs, the first associate director of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University and a Harvard professor, was born in New York City on November 24, 1878. Sachs graduated from Harvard University in 1900 and entered the family firm Goldman,Sachs & Co., becoming a partner in 1904. In 1915, Sachs became the assistant director of the Fogg Art Museum. In 1923, Sachs became associate director, and he remained in this position until his retirement in 1948. Sachs was an avid collector of art and assembled a tremendous personal collection. He donated many objects to the Fogg Museum during his lifetime, as well as upon his death. Sachs’ career also included teaching; he first lectured at Wellesley College in 1916 and then became an assistant professor of fine arts at Harvard in 1917. Ten years later he became an associate professor, and in 1933 he became chairman of the Harvard department of fine arts. Sachs was involved in a wide range of philanthropic endeavors throughout his life. He was actively involved in the American Red Cross during World War I and in aid to refugee scholars displaced by World War II. His philanthropy continued into the last years of his life. Paul J. Sachs died on February 18, 1965 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Location : Harvard Art Museum Archives HUAM HC3: Personal HOLLIS Number : 011414754 |
| extent | 2.5 linear feet and 7 oversize folders |
| formats | Personal Papers Photographs Financial Records Correspondence Inventories |
| access | Unrestricted |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/ |
| finding aid | Electronic finding aid available http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:art00003 |
| updated | 02/14/2025 10:07:44 |
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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 | 02/14/2025 10:07:44 |
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| title | Bernard and Mary Berenson Papers, 1880-2002 (bulk 1880-1959) |
| repository | Biblioteca Berenson, Villa I Tatti |
| description | Includes Bernard Berenson and Mary Berenson's published and unpublished manuscripts, notes, diaries, letters, offprints of articles, surplus volumes of published books, biographical material, and personal photographs. The bulk of the correspondence consists of letters to Bernard Berenson, but also some letters by the Berensons and Nicky Mariano. Among the correspondents included are: Baroness Alda Anrep, Margaret Scolari Barr, Robert Woods Bliss, Jacqueline Onassis, Kenneth Clark, Cass Canfield, John Coolidge, Duveen Brothers, William G. Constable, Charles H. Coster, Katherine Dunham, Max Eastmen, Henry Sayles Francis, Edward Waldo Forbes, Felix Frankfurter, Helen C. Frick, Isabella S. Gardner, Martha Gellhorn, J. Paul Getty, Bella da Costa Greene, Hamish Hamilton, Learned Hand, Ernest Hemingway, Philip Hofer, Robert Lehman, Walter Lippmann, Mary McCarthy, Agnes Mongan, Walter Pach, Harold W. Parsons, Carlo Placci, Arthur Kingsley Porter, Paul J. Sachs, Jacques Seligmann, King Gustaf Adolf VI of Sweden, Grenville L. Winthrop, and Edith Wharton. Cite as: Cite as: Bernard and Mary Berenson, Papers, 1880-2002, Biblioteca Berenson, Villa I Tatti - The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. |
| extent | 72.0 Linear feet |
| formats | Correspondence Notes Photographs Subject Files |
| access | Contact Ilaria Della Monica the archivist at the Berenson Library for restrictions and appointments. |
| record link | http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:VIT.BB:ber00008 |
| bibliography | Published finding aid: The Berenson archive : an inventory of correspondence. Compiled by Nicky Mariano. Florence : Villa I Tatti, 1965. |
| record source | http://discovery.lib.harvard.edu/?itemid=|library/m/aleph|000603714 |
| contact information | Fiorella Superbi Gioffredi: Agnes Mongan Curator of the Fototeca Berenson; Curator of the Berenson Collection and Archive |
| finding aid | Available in the Berenson Library: Bernard and Mary Berenson, Papers (1880-2002, bulk 1880-1959) : A Finding Aid. See also The Berenson Archive : An Inventory of Correspondence, compiled by Nicky Mariano (Florence : Villa I Tatti, 1965). |
| updated | 02/14/2025 10:07:47 |
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| title | Goodyear Archival Collection 1874-1940 1890-1923. |
| repository | The Brooklyn Museum Libraries and Archives |
| description | The Goodyear Archival Collection documents the professional life of the Brooklyn Museum of Art's first Curator of Fine Arts and, according to some, America's first architectural historian. The collection provides information on his curatorial responsibilities at the Museum and traces the progress of his architectural research - research that was partly funded by the Museum but was separate from his role as curator. Materials stem almost exclusively from the years of his tenure at the Brooklyn Museum (1890-1923) although there is some earlier material relating to his scholarly work as well as records created after his death by friends and colleagues regarding posthumous publication of Goodyear's writings and a memorial to Goodyear. There is very little personal information regarding home life and nonprofessional or nonscholarly activities. A few references can be found to family in the collection, such as to his father Charles and his legacy, and obituaries of his wife Kate and cousin Nelson. The collection is comprised of a wide variety of materials, including correspondence, expedition diaries, notes, lectures, plates of photographs, reports, writings (both published and unpublished), photographs, lantern slides, clippings, scrapbooks, and artifacts. The artifacts consist of a surveyor's rod and a tripod, instruments which helped Goodyear record measurements of architectural construction during his survey expeditions. Correspondence makes up the bulk of the collection and discloses fundamental information on Goodyear's work. Goodyear's institutional responsibilities are reflected in letters exchanged with museum personnel, trustees, and donors of collections. These records reveal both his administrative responsibilities and his impact on the development of the museum's mission and collections. Goodyear also corresponded with many colleagues and supporters who were often good friends, among them archaeologist and art historian A. Kingsley Porter, artist Wilford Conrow, American Architect editor William Crocker, and patron Emma Lewis. In these letters he expresses interest and support for others' work in addition to discussing his own professional activities, frustrations with his career, and plans for his research on architectural refinements - an area of study that he was devoted to throughout his career. Goodyear's scholarly pursuits on refinements are revealed throughout the entire collection. Correspondence, notes, typescripts, articles, expedition diaries, and scrapbooks all provide a detailed account of the development of his research. In addition, there are numerous photographs of cathedrals and mosques (many taken by Goodyear himself), illustrating his theory of architectural refinements and providing a record of medieval church architecture as it appeared at the turn of the century. Biographical/historical note William Henry Goodyear (1846-1923) was an art and architectural historian and the Brooklyn Museum of Art's first Curator of Fine Arts from 1899-1923, an appointment he accepted soon after serving as curator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1881-1888). In addition to his responsibilities of developing and maintaining the fine arts collection at the Museum, Goodyear published extensively on art history and pursued research in architectural history. He developed a theory, based on direct observations, that medieval churches, cathedrals, and mosques displayed curved lines, concave walls, widening naves and other asymmetries that were not accidentally created by settling stone or poor construction, but were the original architects' deliberate inventions. Goodyear called these irregularities, 'architectural refinements' and spent many years traveling abroad meticulously noting measurements and taking numerous photographs of these details. He published his findings in periodicals and exhibited enlargements of his photographs here and abroad. Arrangement Collection organized into six series: 1. General correspondence, 1887-1923, n.d.; 2. Research and writings, 1874-1920, n.d.; 3. Department of Fine Arts, 1895-1922, n.d.; 4. Scrapbooks, 1891-1928; 5. Posthumous, 1923-1940, n.d.; 6. Visual materials, 1893-1914, n.d. Cite as Brooklyn Museum of Art Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection. Location: Brooklyn Archives Call Number: S03 |
| extent | 67 linear ft. |
| formats | Correspondence Research Files Writings Scrapbooks Ephemera |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record link | http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/archives/goodyear_archival_collection/finding_aid |
| record source | https://library.nyarc.org/permalink/01NYA_INST/ai54l4/alma991013187079707141 |
| finding aid | Online and in repository. |
| updated | 02/14/2025 10:07:47 |
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| title | Papers of Edward Waldo Forbes, 1856-1971 (inclusive). |
| repository | Harvard University Archives |
| description | These papers document the personal and professional life of Edward Waldo Forbes (EWF) and the lives of members of the Forbes family. They include EWF’s personal and professional correspondence and papers, diaries and calendars, writings, acccount books, school papers, lecture notes, and memorabilia. Of note are the manuscript of EWF’s history of the Fogg Art Museum, papers relating to Gerry’s Landing (a riverfront site in Cambridge), papers relating to Harvard Riverside Associates, and papers relating to EWF’s World War I Red Cross service. Included are diaries belonging to Margaret Laighton Forbes and Sarah Forbes. History notes : Edward Waldo Forbes (1873-1969) was director of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, an accomplished artist, and a world traveler. He was born into a prominent family (his parents being William Hathaway Forbes and Edith Emerson Forbes, his maternal grandfather being Ralph Waldo Emerson) in 1873 on the family-owned Naushon Island in Massachusetts. In 1907, Forbes married Margaret Laighton, a notable watercolorist and gardener; they had five children. Forbes relationship with Harvard and the arts began when he earned his Harvard A.B. 1895. He continued his studies at Oxford University, and returned to Massachusetts to form the Charles River Association, an organization dedicated to preserving Harvard’s landscape. He became a trustee of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1903 and served in that capacity for 63 years. He acquired art, particularly Italian paintings; his gifts and loans to the Fogg Art Museum contributed significantly to the museum’s eventual rise to worldwide prominence. In 1909, Forbes became Director of the Fogg Art Museum. During his 35 years there, he and his assistant director, Paul Sachs, oversaw the impressive growth of the Museum’s collections, staff, property, and reputation. Forbes also served as a lecturer in Fine Arts at Harvard from 1909 to 1935. He was named the Martin A. Ryerson Lecturer in Fine Arts. From 1945 to 1957, Forbes was a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers. Notes : Collection re-organized and re-numbered in 1998; it contains material formerly numbered HUG 4401.xx and HUH 403. Cite as : Edward Waldo Forbes Papers, Harvard University Archives. Notes : In the Harvard University Archives: Records of Harvard Riverside Associates (HUD 3748), Records of the Fogg Art Museum (HUF 401.xxx), and historical records relating to Harvard’s curriculum (HUC 8xxx). Location : Harvard Archives Harvard Depository HUGBF 656.x Location : Harvard Archives Harvard Depository HUGFP 139.xx |
| extent | 38 cubic feet in 111 containers. |
| formats | Personal Papers Business Papers Correspondence Diaries Financial Records |
| access | Access may be restricted. Consult reference staff in the Harvard University Archives for details. |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/ |
| updated | 02/14/2025 10:07:47 |
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| title | Papers of Arthur Kingsley Porter, 1863-1957 (inclusive), 1863-1933 (bulk) |
| repository | Harvard University Archives |
| description | Includes personal and family correspondence; lecture outlines and notes for courses at Harvard and in France and Ireland; student papers; biographical material; letters concerning the death of Porter; photographs; blueprints and printed descriptions of Elmwood residence; and diaries and correspondence, 1918-1957, of his wife, Lucy Wallace Porter. Family papers include correspondence, 1880-1933, of Porters, including Joanna Krom, Lucy Wallace Porter and Louis Porter, and letters and papers relating to the Porter estate in Donegal, Ireland. Also includes correspondence with William H. Goodyear, Art Studies journal, AE (George Russell), and Bernard Berenson. Correspondence of Walter M. Whitehill and Berenson, 1949-1956, relates to the publication of Berenson's letters to Porter. Also contains manuscripts, lecture outlines and notes for courses on medieval and Byzantine art and sculpture, architectural drawings; biographical material including diplomas, certificates, and papers relating to Porter's Harvard appointment. Also includes photographs of the Porter family; from a world tour takenby Porter while at student at Yale; and a student room at Yale. Also includes manuscripts of Porter's literary works: Pope Joan, Columcille Goes, Conchobar's House, and Mephistopheleia. Related publications and reference material also available in repository. History notes: Porter taught fine arts at Harvard. Cite as: Arthur Kingsley Porter Papers, Harvard University Archives. |
| extent | 23 cubic feet |
| formats | Business Papers Personal Papers Correspondence Writings Photographs |
| access | Access may be restricted. Details at the repository. |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/?itemid=|library/m/aleph|000604356 |
| finding aid | Unpublished shelflist available in repository. |
| updated | 02/14/2025 10:07:47 |
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| title | Papers of Arthur Kingsley Porter : correspondence, 1910-1925. |
| repository | Harvard University Archives |
| description | Correspondence with members of the Fine Arts Department, 1917-1921 (chiefly letters from Edward Waldo Forbes, Box 1) -- Letters from F. M. "Tim" (Frederick Mortimer) Clapp and Maud Clapp, 1915-1922 (includes Clapp's descriptions of his experiences in Europe as a member of the 17th Aero Squadron during World War I, Box 2) Letters from Fiske Kimball, 1917-1922 (includes one possibly unrelated letter in French from Josep Puig i Cadafalch, 1919, Box 1) -- Letters from Joanna Krom (Box 1) -- Letters from Louis H. Porter, 1917-1921 (2 folders, Box 1) -- Miscellanea, 1908-1920 (publishing contracts, copyright regulations, household inventories, Joanna Krom's will and estate accounting, Box 2) History notes: Porter taught fine arts at Harvard. Location: Harvard University Archives Call number: HUG 1706.199 |
| extent | .33 cubic feet |
| formats | Correspondence |
| access | This item may be available to use inside the library, but non-circulating. If the item is part of a series, HOLLIS may provide availability information under the alternate title. Check the shelves, or contact Harvard University Archives for more information. |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/?itemid=|library/m/aleph|008560434 |
| updated | 02/14/2025 10:07:47 |
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| title | Postcard collection of the Fine Arts Library, Harvard University [graphic]. |
| repository | Harvard University Archives |
| description | Postcards and souvenir viewbooks, dating from the 1890s to the present, acquired from faculty members and other sources for the study of art and architecture at Harvard University. About 80 percent of the images relate to architecture, documenting various styles, from vernacular to contemporary, in more than 3,000 locations throughout the world with an emphasis on Europe, the United States, and Asia. They include views of cities and towns, street scenes, monuments and memorials, relief sculpture, parks and gardens, historical and archaeological sites, war damage, churches, mosques, temples, palaces, government and commercial buildings, houses, and other structures, some of which no longer exist or have changed significantly over time. Reproductions of paintings, drawings, and prints, along with images of carvings and sculpture, textiles, and decorative arts, represent the work of over 2,500 European, American, Islamic, and Asian artists. Through the years the content of the collection has broadened to include postcards of landscapes and natural landmarks, ethnographic photographs, rural and village scenes, ships and maritime views, historical figures, and other subjects; also, some holiday, novelty, humorous, and other types of postcards. Arranged: Organized into 10 groups: (1) art reproductions, (2) architecture, (3) Asian art, (4) Islamic world postcards, (5) Kenneth John Conant postcard collection, (6) Arthur Kingsley Porter postcard collection, (7) Edward Jackson Holmes Jr. postcard collection, (8) Charles Rutan Strickland postcard collection, (9) postcard albums, and (10) other postcards. Art reproductions arranged alphabetically by artist or school; architecture, Islamic world postcards, Kenneth John Conant collection, Arthur Kingsley Porter collection, Edward Jackson Holmes Jr. collection, and Charles Rutan Strickland collection arranged geographically; and other postcards generally arranged by subject. Notes: Collection title devised. Some notable publishers and commercial photographers among the more than 1,000 represented include: Neurdein Frères, Lévy Fils et Cie, Stengel & Co., Valentine & Sons, F. Frith & Co., Albertype Co., Raphael Tuck & Sons, Detroit Publishing Co., E.C. Kropp Co., Curt Teich & Co., and Tichnor Bros. Postcards are chiefly collotypes, halftone photomechanical prints, and gelatin silver prints (photographic postcards). The collection also includes some photographs and ephemeral items. Some postcards include handwritten correspondence, annotations, and postal stamps on versos. Printed captions in various languages. |
| extent | ca. 189 linear ft. |
| formats | Ephemera |
| access | Open collection; future additions are expected and the catalog record will be updated as new accessions are processed. |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/?itemid=|library/m/aleph|000601583 |
| finding aid | Arranged by artist and by site |
| updated | 02/14/2025 10:07:47 |
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| title | Arthur Kingsley Porter photograph collection [graphic]. |
| repository | Harvard University Archives |
| description | General and detail views chiefly of Byzantine and medieval architecture and sculpture photographed by Arthur Kingsley Porter. Also includes images of Celtic crosses and sculpture. History notes: Medieval architectural historian Arthur Kingsley Porter was a professor in the Fine Arts Department at Harvard University from 1920-1923. After taking a leave to teach in France, he returned to Harvard in 1925 and was appointed William Dorr Boardman chair of art history. Linking notes: Forms part of: Arthur Kingsley Porter study and teaching collection. Notes: Associated materials: Papers of Arthur Kingsley Porter; located in Harvard University Archives. Call number: HUG 1706.1xx. Location: Fine Arts Library Collection: Harvard DepositoryHarvard Depository Call Number: VSCO 229 |
| extent | ca. 11,710 negatives |
| formats | Photographs |
| access | Please consult Special Collections for restrictions on use. |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/?itemid=|library/m/aleph|000601589 |
| finding aid | Inventory and card index available in repository. |
| updated | 02/14/2025 10:07:47 |
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