Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
Archives related to: Seligman, Germain
| title | Jacques Seligmann & Co. records, 1904-1978, bulk 1913-1974 | repository | Archives of American Art |
| description | The records of art gallery Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., include extensive gallery correspondence files, reference files on American and European collectors and their collections, gallery inventory and stock records, financial records, exhibition files, auction files, and the records of subsidiary companies, including de Hauke & Co., (later Modern Paintings, Inc.), and Gersel Corporation (records for firms Tessa Corp. and Georges Haardt & Co. are not found). Included within the collection are Germain Seligman's personal correspondence, writings, and records relating to his private art collection. The records primarily document the gallery's business after becoming established in New York under the direction of Germain Seligman, but also include records of the Paris office, providing a comprehensive view of the activities and transactions of collectors and art dealers in the years leading up to and following World War II. The largest series, Correspondence (80 ft.), includes general correspondence of Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., primarily when Germain Seligman directed the firm and the New York office. Correspondents include U.S. and European clients, artists, collectors, museums, dealers, galleries, shippers, U.S. and foreign government agents, bankers, and insurance firms. Also found are personal correspondence of Germain Seligman; legal correspondence and other documentation concerning specific and general legal affairs (including attempts to recover Seligmann family and gallery artwork stolen in Paris during WWII); abstracts of letters sent; a small group of outgoing correspondence; correspondence of staff and agents Theresa D. Parker, Clyfford Trevor, and Rolf Hans Waegen; and inter-office memoranda. Series 2, Collector's Files (35 linear ft.), document the firm's extensive system of tracking important clients and collectors in the art world. Files contain descriptions or artwork, sale prices, locations, and photographs of work owned by individuals as well as major American and European museums. Included in this series are files documenting the firm's involvement with the Duc d'Arenberg Collection, the Clarence H. Mackay Collection, Mortimer L. Schiff Collection, and the Prince of Liechtenstein Collection; and additional files and notebooks relating to collectors and collections. Auction and Exhibition Files trace the sales and exhibition activities undertaken by the firm. Reference Files includes a card catalog to books and catalogs in the firm's library, and a photograph reference index to works. Financial Files and Shipping Records consists primarily of records of the New York office, and includes purchase receipt files, credit notes, invoices, consignment invoices and books, invoices, consular invoices, sales and purchase account books, ledgers, and tax records. The De Hauke & Co. Inc. records, 1925-1949, contain records of the firm's largest subsidiary. Included are correspondence, administrative and legal files, and financial records. The records of the firm established to incorporate most of de Hauke & Co.'s stock, Modern Paintings, Inc., include legal and financial files. Germain Seligman's Personal Papers series includes scattered family and biographical material; research and writing files for his books, Roger de La Fresnaye, with a Catalogue Raisonne (1969), Merchants of Art, 1880-1960: Eighty Years of Professional Collecting (1961), The Drawings of Georges Seurat (1947), and Oh! Fickle Taste; or, Objectivity in Art (1952), and other writings and articles, including those co-authored with his wife, Ethlyne J. Seligman; documentation on his personal art collection, photographs of family members, and the Paris gallery. |
| extent | 203 linear ft. |
| formats | Correspondence Financial Records Inventories Photographs Notes |
| access | Use of original papers requires an appointment |
| record link | https://sirismm.si.edu/EADpdfs/AAA.jacqself.pdf |
| record source | https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/jacques-seligmann--co-records-9936 |
| finding aid | Published finding aid available (279 p.): Finding Aid to the Records of Jacques Seligmann & Co., 1904-1978. Electronic finding aid available at http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/findingaids/jacqselc.htm |
| acquisition information | Donated 1978-1979 by Mrs. Germain Seligman, daughter-in-law of Jacques Seligmann. Additional material was acquired in 1994 through the Estate of Mrs. Seligman. The Paris archives of Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., were destroyed by the Seligmann staff in 1940 to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Nazis. |
| updated | 06/08/2023 16:42:15 |
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| title | Henry Sayles Francis papers, [ca. 1924-1983] | repository | Archives of American Art |
| description | Biographical information, correspondence, subject files, notebooks, photographs, clippings, price lists concern Francis' work at the Cleveland Museum of Art, his friendship with George Kates, and his interest in painter William Sommer. REELS 881-882: Primarily research material compiled by Francis and his wife Frances Merriman Francis for the Ten Thirty Gallery Sommer retrospective in 1946 and the Cleveland Museum of Art's William Sommer Memorial Exhibition, held November 1-December 10, 1950. Included are biographical material; correspondence of Henry Sayles Francis and other museum staff regarding Sommer, and copies and transcripts of Sommer's correspondence (including a few letters from Hart Crane); reminiscences of Sommer from friends and colleagues; exhibition catalogs; notebooks of information on Sommer's works; and a bibliography. REELS 3838-3841: Biographical information; correspondence, arranged chronologically, with colleagues, friends, dealers, collectors, and others; and subject/correspondence files, arranged alphabetically, on colleagues, dealers, exhibitions, and various art topics; photographs of Francis, juries (Charles Sheeler is in one), Matisse in his studio, Somerset Maugham, Frits Lugt, and his wife; and clippings relating chiefly to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Subject/correspondence file titles include: Jere Abbott, Sir Geoffrey Agnew, Winslow Ames, Harry W. Anderson Collection, R. Kirk Askew, Bernard Berenson (ca. 50 letters received), John Bergschneider, Walter Blodgett, Rowland Burdon-Muller, David Carritt, Charles Chetham, Cleveland Museum of Art, John I. Coddington, Ralph Tracy Coe, Contini Collection, Cooper Union, Richard S. Davis, Robert Tyler Davis, Harold S. Ede, Ross Edman, Everett Fahy, Julia Feininger, Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Howard C. Hollis, Charles Hopkinson, Michael Jaffeé, Harold Joachim, Lincoln Kirstein, Henry Adams LaFarge, Viktor Langen, Nicky Mariano, William Mathewson Milliken, Agnes Mongan, William Mostyn-Owen, Roger Hale Newton, Benedict Nicolson, Luisa Nicolson, Harold Woodbury Parsons, John Pope-Hennessy, Alan Priest, John Rewald, Marvin C. Ross, Henry Preston Rossiter, Paul Joseph Sachs, Meryle Secrest, Germain Seligman, Peter Shepherd, Theodore Sizer, William Sommer (exhibitions), Frederick A. Sweet, Daviel Varney Thompson, Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, Gertrude Underhill, Peter Vanderbilt, Langdon Warner, Nancy and William Wixom, and Richard H. Zinser. UNMICROFILMED: Primarily letters from and material on George Norbert Kates, an authority on pre-communist China and Francis's lifetime friend and additional material on William Sommer. Kates material consists of ca. 1000 letters to Francis, ca. 1924-1984, concerning personal affairs, financial ventures, their research efforts and careers, and Kates's research on the 15th century Duchess Eleanor of Scotland. A significant number of letters from 1953 refer to Bernard Berenson and his art research and collection. Also included are a subject file on Kates' interest in Herman Hesse; and a file of Kates' research material on Duchess Eleanor of Scotland. Unmicrofilmed Sommer material includes a letter fromSommer to C.P. Marsh, 1931; a Christmas card from Josephine and Theodor Braasch to Sommer; a page of writings by Sommer; photographs of Sommer and of a studio; several sketches and drawings; and printed material. REEL 440 AND SCANNED One photograph of Sommer, microfilmed under Photos of Artists I, and scanned. The remaining unfilmed material consists of Francis's notebooks (4 v.) primarily about the history of European paintings, drawings and prints, including notes about individual works of art; financial records, including price lists of European works of art, ca. 1930-1969, price list, insurance values and appraisals of two collections from the Cleveland Museum of Art, ca. 1923-1957; and minutes from two accessioning meetings at the Museum, 1930 and 1931. Biographical/Historical Note: Art museum curator; Cleveland, Ohio. Francis worked at the Cleveland Museum of Art from 1927 to 1929, leaving for a position at the Fogg Museum as assistant to directors Edward Forbes and Paul Sachs. He returned to the Cleveland Museum in 1931, remaining there as Curator of Paintings and Prints until 1967. |
| extent | 5.0 linear ft. (partially microfilmed on 6 reels) |
| formats | Correspondence Subject Files Printed Materials Photographs Financial Records |
| access | Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information. |
| record link | http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/henry-sayles-francis-papers-8855 |
| record source | http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/henry-sayles-francis-papers-8855 |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:16 |
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| title | Roger de la Fresnaye research photograph collection. | repository | The Museum of Modern Art |
| description | Forms part of: Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.). Museum Archives. Records. The collection consists of photographs collected by Germain Seligman in preparation for his 1969 catalogue raisonné on Roger de la Fresnaye (Paris: La Bibliotheque des Arts and Neuchatel: Editions Ides et Calendes). Most of the images are those which were eventually published in that volume. Extensive notes are frequently written on the verso of the photographs. Biographical Note: Germain Seligman (1893-1978), art dealer and writer, joined his father's company, Jacques Seligman & Co, Inc., in 1920 as a partner and president of the New York office. Upon the death of his father in 1923, Germain took over as president of both the Paris and New York offices. His 1969 Roger de la Fresnaye catalogue raisonné follows from his earlier 1945 monograph on the artist. The 1969 version added more detailed information about the artist and his works and included many illustrations. Cite as Roger de la Fresnaye Research Photograph Collection, [catalogue number], The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York. |
| extent | 173 black and white photographs, 11 negatives, 2 color slides. |
| formats | |
| access | The records are open for research and contain no restricted materials. |
| record link | http://www.moma.org/learn/resources/archives/EAD/Fresnayef |
| record source | https://library.nyarc.org/permalink/01NYA_INST/ai54l4/alma991007941879707141 |
| finding aid | Available online and in repository. |
| acquisition information | Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Germain Seligman, 1974. |
| updated | 11/29/2022 15:49:51 |
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| title | Papers of John Coolidge and Agnes Mongan, 1909-2006 | repository | Harvard Art Museum Archives |
| description | The papers in this collection document John Coolidge and Agnes Mongan's respective careers at the Fogg Museum and in Harvard's Department of Fine Arts. The bulk of the collection dates from 1948 to 1971; most of Coolidge's papers were created during his administration of the museum, from 1948 to 1968, and most of Mongan's papers are from her tenure as acting director and then director, from 1968 to 1971. The papers consist primarily of sent and received correspondence, including a series of Coolidge's correspondence with art dealers, and also include photographs, memoranda, newspaper clippings, reports, meeting minutes, blueprints, letters of recommendation, printed material, page proofs, invitations, invoices and other financial documents, lists, catering menus, sketches, drafts of published works, membership cards, surveys, fabric samples and grant proposals. All materials in the collection have been re-housed into archival folders and boxes. Folders and their contents have been kept in their original order, and overstuffed folders have been divided among several folders for the sake of preservation and numbered to indicate that they represent a part of a larger whole (for example: "folder 1 of 2"). The original folder titles have been retained; any added information has been enclosed in square brackets by the processing archivist. The folders are arranged alphabetically by title, and in most instances the items within each folder are filed either in chronological or reverse chronological order. Occasionally the papers in a folder are filed alphabetically instead of chronologically. Some folders contained notes of unknown origin and documents clearly added after Coolidge's or Mongan's death, including archivists' memoranda. These added materials have been removed from the papers and maintained in separate files in the archives; they may be consulted upon request. The dates of these materials have been preserved in the folder titles, as a cue to researchers that added materials from a given folder can be found in a separate location. Researchers should also note that folder titles are not always entirely accurate or reflective of content. In cases where the folder title and content differ significantly, a note has been added at the folder level of the finding aid. Many folders contain correspondence with individuals not mentioned in the folder title. For this reason, the processing archivist has made notes about various individuals' correspondence in the collection; these notes are held in the archives and may be consulted upon request. While they are not exhaustive, they may be helpful in locating materials. Acidic documents have been isolated with archival paper and in some cases enclosed in mylar. Fragile materials have been enclosed in mylar. Oversize materials have been filed in an oversize box and cabinet; separation sheets indicate their removal. These oversize materials may be consulted upon request, and their location is indicated in the detailed container list that follows. Some of the collection suffered water damage in a flood of the archives in 1998; as a result, many of the papers are wrinkled, some ink has run, and some are stuck together and in need of treatment by conservators. Biography: John Coolidge John Phillips Coolidge was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in December 1913, on either the 15th or 16th; his parents disagreed about the exact date of his birth. His father, Julian Lowell Coolidge, was a professor of mathematics at Harvard and the first master of Lowell House, and his mother, Theresa Reynolds, was a linguist. One of his uncles, Archibald Cary Coolidge, was a history professor at Harvard and also the first director of the Harvard University Library. Coolidge had one brother and four sisters. Following family tradition, he studied at Harvard as an undergraduate and received a B.A. in 1935. He married Mary Elizabeth "Polly" Welch the same year; they would have one child, Mary-Elizabeth "Penny" Coolidge Warren. Following graduation, Coolidge moved to New York to study architecture at Columbia University, but after a year of study decided he did not have the requisite talent to succeed as an architect and instead took up the study of art and architectural history. In 1936 he enrolled in graduate school at New York University, where he studied under German émigré scholars Erwin Panofsky, Karl Lehmann, Richard Krautheimer and Walter Friedlaender. He also taught at Vassar College from 1937 to 1939. Coolidge received an A.M. in 1939 and published a book based on his research for the degree in 1942: Mill and Mansion: A Study of Architecture and Society in Lowell, Massachusetts, 1820-1865. The book is still widely considered a classic social and economic history of American architecture and urbanism. Coolidge was also one of the co-founders in 1940 of the Society of Architectural Historians and served on the society's board of directors and as its first vice-president. By 1940, Coolidge's academic focus had shifted to Italian Renaissance architecture. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on sixteenth century architect and theorist Jacopo da Vignola. The Second World War interrupted his academic work, however, and he entered the Navy as an ensign in 1943. He was stationed in Washington, D.C. and near London, working in communications until his discharge in 1946. He returned to academic work that year, teaching art history at the University of Pennsylvania for academic year 1946-1947. In the fall of 1947, Coolidge accepted a position at Harvard as assistant professor of architectural history; his dissertation was completed and accepted the same year. In 1948, at age 34, he was named director of the Fogg Museum and associate professor of art history. He was promoted to full professor in 1955 and served as director of the museum for twenty years, until 1968. Coolidge was involved in a range of ambitious endeavors at the Fogg: the museum's collections of Islamic and contemporary art were greatly strengthened during his tenure, and Coolidge encouraged students to organize exhibitions of modern and contemporary art and to write publishable catalogues for those exhibitions. He also continued his predecessors' work training future curators and other museum professionals through a program known as the Museum Course. Coolidge retired in 1968, took a sabbatical year, and returned to teach at Harvard in academic year 1969-1970. He continued teaching until 1984. In addition to his work at Harvard, Coolidge was active as a trustee of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts from 1948 until 1974; he served as that institution's President from 1973 to 1975. He was also an active member of the Society of New England Antiquities. He was appointed Bingham Professor at the University of Louisville in 1985 and Samuel H. Kress Professor at the National Gallery of Art's Center for Advanced Study in Visual Arts for the academic year 1991-1992. Coolidge published numerous articles on American and Italian architecture and Baroque sculpture while he was at Harvard and published two books in his retirement, Patrons and Architects: Designing Art Museums in the Twentieth Century in 1989 and Gustave Doré's London in 1994. John Coolidge died in Boston, Massachusetts on July 31, 1995. Biography: Agnes Mongan Agnes Mongan was born in Somerville, Massachusetts on January 21, 1905 to Charles Edward Mongan, a family physician, and Elizabeth Teresa O'Brien Mongan, a former school teacher. She had two brothers, Charles Edward and John Anthony, and a sister, Elizabeth. Mongan attended Somerville High School and the Cambridge School for Girls and went on to study art history and English literature at Bryn Mawr, where she received her B.A. in 1927. She spent the following year abroad studying Italian art in Florence, Paris and other locations through a Smith College seminar and then returned to Massachusetts in 1928 to complete degree requirements for an A.M. from Smith. She received this degree in 1929, after completing a year of course work at Harvard, rather than Smith; she was designated a special student at Harvard and allowed to study under Edward Forbes, Paul Sachs and Arthur Pope. In 1929 she began work as a research assistant for Sachs, and spent much of the following decade researching and compiling a catalog of the Fogg Museum's collection of drawings. This catalog, Drawings in the Fogg Museum of Art (2 vols.), was co-authored by Mongan and Sachs and first published in 1940. It was the first comprehensive scholarly catalogue of a drawing collection to be published in the United States. In 1937, Mongan was named Keeper of Drawings, a title she held until 1947 when she became Associate Curator of Drawings; this change in title came about when Harvard altered its policy banning female curators. Mongan was the first female curator at the Fogg and kept the title through her retirement in 1975. From 1960 to 1975 she also held the title of Martin A. Ryerson Lecturer in the Fine Arts at Harvard. Mongan taught courses and seminars on drawings, curated museum exhibitions, and - with a remarkably small acquisitions budget - managed to build an astonishing collection in both quality and quantity during her tenure at the Fogg. In addition to her teaching and curatorial responsibilities, Mongan also served in a range of administrative capacities at the Fogg Museum. From 1951 to 1964 she was the museum's assistant director, and in 1964 she became associate director. When John Coolidge retired as director in 1968, Mongan became acting director of the museum, and from 1969 until her retirement in 1971 she was its director. Mongan's career also included stints as acting director of the Timken Art Gallery in San Diego, California, and as visiting professor at several institutions, including the University of Texas at Austin. She wrote and co-authored several books and edited or otherwise contributed to myriad other books and exhibition catalogues. Mongan's final publication, David to Corot: French Drawings in the Fogg Art Museum, was published in 1996, the final year of her life. Mongan was the recipient of seven honorary degrees: L.H.D.s from Smith College in 1941, Wheaton College in 1954 and the University of Massachusetts in 1970; and D.F.A.s from LaSalle University and Colby College in 1973, the University of Notre Dame in 1980 and Boston College in 1985. Mongan was named Samuel H. Kress Professor at the National Gallery of Art in Washington in 1977 and was honored by Harvard in 1994 when the Fogg Museum named a study center in her honor: the Agnes Mongan Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs. She remained actively involved with the museum into the last years of her life. Agnes Mongan died in Cambridge, Massachusetts on September 15, 1996. |
| extent | 152 file boxes + oversize materials |
| formats | Correspondence Subject Files Ephemera Clippings |
| access | Access to most of the papers is unrestricted. Access to files containing information on personnel matters, student academic records and other materials deemed confidential is restricted. These restrictions are noted at the file level. |
| record link | http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:art00017 |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/?itemid=|library/m/aleph|012061363 |
| finding aid | Available online and in the repository |
| acquisition information | These papers were left at the Fogg Art Museum by former director and professor John Coolidge and by former director, curator and professor Agnes Mongan. |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:16 |
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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 | 11/12/2014 11:30:16 |
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