Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
Archives related to: Whitney, Harry Payne, 1872-1930
| title | Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney papers, 1855-1975 (bulk 1888-1942). | repository | Archives of American Art |
| description | Papers 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). |
| extent | 35.8 linear ft. (partially microfilmed on 23 reels) reels 2356-2375; 2288-2289 and 4861 |
| formats | Diaries Sketchbooks Works of Art Photographs Correspondence |
| access | Use 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 source | http://www.siris.si.edu/ |
| finding aid | Online and in repository. |
| acquisition information | Donated 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. |
| updated | 03/16/2023 10:30:04 |
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| title | Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney papers, 1855-1975 (bulk 1888-1942). | repository | Archives of American Art |
| description | Papers 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). |
| extent | 35.8 linear ft. (partially microfilmed on 23 reels) reels 2356-2375; 2288-2289 and 4861 |
| formats | Diaries Sketchbooks Works of Art Photographs Correspondence |
| access | Use 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 source | http://www.siris.si.edu/ |
| finding aid | Online and in repository. |
| acquisition information | Donated 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. |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:29:59 |
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| title | The Harry Payne Whitney collection of William Collins Whitney correspondence, 1757-1942 | repository | Library of Congress |
| description | Correspondence; business, legal, and financial records; genealogies; scrapbooks; printed matter; photographs, and other papers pertaining chiefly to William C. Whitney’s service as corporation counsel in the New York (N.Y.) Law Dept. and as U.S. secretary of the navy in the first Grover Cleveland presidential administration. Documents his work in the modernization of the U.S. Navy and his fight against political corruption and fraud in New York, N.Y., primarily in relation to Tammany Hall and the Tweed Ring. Subjects include New York city and state politics; the Democratic Party (N.Y); national politics; and foreign relations. Other subjects include Grover Cleveland’s nomination and election as New York state governor and U.S. president; presidential campaigns, 1884-1896; bimetallism; silver question; tariff; social life in New York, N.Y., and Washington, D.C.; horse racing: yachting: and Whitney family affairs. Includes six scrapbooks containing photographs from the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (1881-1884) led by A.W. Greely. Biographical/Historical Data: U.S. secretary of the navy, financier, and sportsman. Organized/Arranged: Arranged in 4 series. Series 1: Bound Correspondence, 1757-1904; Series 2: Letterbooks, 1883-1904; Series 3: Office Papers-Legal, 1838-1896; and Series 4: Miscellany, 1845-1942. CALL NUMBER: Oversize 0116B Request in: Manuscript Reading Room (Madison, LM101) CALL NUMBER: 0320M Request in: Manuscript Reading Room (Madison, LM101) |
| extent | 148 containers plus 16 oversize |
| formats | Correspondence Business Papers Legal Papers Financial Records Photographs |
| access | Open to research. |
| record link | http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms006007 |
| record source | http://lccn.loc.gov/mm81045468 |
| finding aid | In repository and repository's Web site. |
| acquisition information | Gift, William C. Whitney's heirs and others, 1942-1979 |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:11 |
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| title | Zoological photographs, 1903-[ca. 1926] | repository | American Museum of Natural History |
| description | Photographs recording amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals from around the world and in zoos. Some were collected by the New York Zoological Society. Photographs were taken by Rollo H. Beck, G.M. Vevers, A. Radclyffe Dugmore, Harry Payne Whitney, Herbert Lang, H.S. Drucker, Ewing Galloway, Elwin R. Sanborn, Robert T. Natt, George M. Nelson, Vernon Howe Bailey, O.J. Murie, William L. Underwood, Rowland Ward, Hilda Hempl Heller, A.L. Brickett, and H.H. Pittman. Photographs are identified. |
| extent | 1 photonegative : b&w glass. 1 photonegative : b&w. 2 albums (311 photoprints) : b&w. 137 photoprints : b&w. 12 photoprints : b&w. |
| formats | Photographs |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:11 |
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| title | Whitney South Sea Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History [microform] : extracts from the journal of Ernest H. Quayle, assistant field naturalist. | repository | American Museum of Natural History |
| description | Very detailed journals documenting the expedition as it left from San Francisco in September 1920 until November 1922 when Quayle resigned his position on the expedition. Islands visited include Tahiti, Marquesas Isles, and Austral Islands. Journals describe his collecting of birds and general observations of bird behavior, expedition life, observations of the inhabitants of the islands visited, geology, and natural features of the islands, as well as the flora and fauna. Location Special Collections Call Number Archives Microfilm #54 Note Rare Book Collection. Silver original shelved in the Negative Storage Room. |
| extent | 5 v., 1 microfilm reel |
| formats | Microfilm Journals |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://libcat.amnh.org |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:11 |
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| title | John C. Hemment Photographic collection, 1885-1908. | repository | Keeneland Association Library |
| description | This is a collection of over 1,000 black and white photographs by John C. Hemment. The primary subject of the collection is horse racing and racetracks with a strong emphasis on events at New York and Maryland tracks. Subjects documented in the photographs include thoroughbred horse racing, harness racing, hunt meetings, steeplechase events, and horse sales. The collection is particularly rich in photographs of crowd scenes, and in individual and group shots of jockeys, trainers, bookmakers, horse breeders or owners, and track patrons at a variety of tracks in New York around the turn of the century. Tracks represented include Belmont Park, Empire City, Aqueduct, and Saratoga in New York; Pimlico in Maryland; the Savannah Jockey Club in Georgia; Point Breeze in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Bennings in Washington, D.C. Sponsors of events pictured include the Coney Island Jockey Club, the Brooklyn Jockey Club, the Brighton Beach Association, the Westchester Racing Association, the Queens County Jockey Club, the Maryland Jockey Club, the Savannah Jockey Club, and the United Hunts Racing Association. Also present are views of horse breeding farms, including the Robert Bonners Stock Farm in Tarrytown, New York; a variety of conformation shots of prominent horses of the period; numerous racing action shots; and views of harness racing on ice at Lake Saranac, New York. Prominent people connected with horse racing, among them August Belmont, Harry Payne Whitney, Foxhall P. Keene, James R. Keene, Joseph E. Widener, and William C. Whitney, are also shown. Biographical note: John C. Hemment was particularly active as a turf photographer. He also photographed other sporting events and provided photographic coverage of the Spanish-American War, which resulted in a book, CANNON AND CAMERA, published in 1898. Hemment was reportedly a recognized leader in "instantaneous" photography and photographed the most difficult athletic events with his own specially designed camera. |
| extent | 7 v. |
| formats | Photographs |
| access | Restrictions on access: Consultation permitted. Duplication of prints permitted only for use in published magazine articles or books. |
| record source | http://kdla.kyvl.org/index.html |
| acquisition information | The collection originally belonged to Joseph E. Widener, prominent in the American horse industry and developer of Hialeah Park. |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:11 |
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| title | Oceania field photographs, 1921-1940. | repository | American Museum of Natural History |
| description | Photographs documenting the Whitney South Seas Expedition depict a wide range of subjects including animals, people, and landscapes. Locations include Oceania, Galapagos Islands, Marquesas Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and New Hebrides. The photographs were taken by Beck, George E. Petersen, Hamlin, Jose G. Correia, and Robert C. Murphy. Photographs are identified. Also included are maps showing expedition locations. |
| extent | 2427 photonegatives |
| formats | Photographs |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:11 |
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| title | Alteration to house for H.P. Whitney, Esq. Newport, R.I. | repository | Columbia University Libraries |
| description | Drawings lack dates. Date supplied by cataloger: in 1903, Codman's office was moved from Fourth Ave. to the Windsor Arcade Bldg. Cf. Ogden Codman Forms part of the Ogden Codman architectural drawings, Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library. This set consists of: 9 drawings, graphite on tracing paper; 3 drawings, ink on drafting linen. Scales vary. Responsibility: Ogden Codman Jr., Archt. 281 Fourth Ave., New York; Windsor Arcade [i.e. 571 Fifth Ave.], N.Y. Location (guide): Avery Drawings & Archives - By appt. (Non-Circulating) Call Number: NYDA.1000.009 |
| extent | 12 drawings |
| formats | Drawings |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| bibliography | Pauline Metcalf (Thesis--MS, unpublished, Columbia University, N.Y., 1978). |
| record source | http://clio.cul.columbia.edu:7018/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=3460396 |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:11 |
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