Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America

Archives related to: Johnson, John Graver, 1841-1917

titleJohn G. Johnson papers, 1882,1917, 1927-1949, 1973-1993, n.d.
repositoryPhiladelphia Museum of Art
descriptionWhile building a reputation as one of the country's preeminent corporate lawyers, John Graver Johnson also began, by the 1880s, to amass what would become an esteemed collection of European art. By the time of his death in 1917, he acquired 1,200 paintings primarily from the fourteenth- through nineteenth-centuries, hundreds of pieces of sculpture and textiles, as well as an art library of approximately 2,500 books, journals and auction catalogs.

The John G. Johnson Papers consist of correspondence, photographs, invoices and legal documents that make evident Johnson's process in building his art collection, as well as the disposition of these acquisitions and other personal belongings after his death. The collection also includes a significant number of photographs Johnson compiled in oversized albums to commemorate his travels to Europe with his wife, Ida, as well as formal portraits of each.

The first series, "Correspondence" contains Johnson's communications primarily with dealers and other art experts who advised him and sometimes negotiated purchases on his behalf. Well represented in these files are letters from Bernard Berenson and W. R. Valentiner. Both noted scholars compiled the three-volume catalog privately published by Johnson of his art collection in 1913 and 1914. Also included are photocopies and transcriptions of many of Johnson's letters held by other repositories, as well as original invoices and shipping instructions issued for many of his purchases.

The second series, "Photographs and other images," illustrates three components to Johnson's life. Portraits of Johnson and his wife Ida make up the "Personal" subseries along with an oversized print of the drawing room to Johnson's center city home. Their summer trips to Europe are captured in seven oversized photograph albums comprising the "Travel" subseries. Images of the couple's stops at various cities in Europe in 1878 and 1881 each comprise three volumes.

An additional single volume documents an undated trip to Norway. The third subseries, "Works of art" consists of hundreds of photographs and prints that were likely included in Johnson's extensive library and attest to his disciplined and exhaustive study of art. While the categories in which the images are arranged and certain annotations suggest the handiwork of curators, most of the images appear to have been compiled by Johnson.

Inventories and appraisals of Johnson's estate taken between 1917 and 1918 make up most of the documentation of the "Estate" series. Both inventory and appraisal are combined in one document, and at the time these documents were executed, duplicates were made of those pertaining to his "paintings and other artistic property." Some of those duplicates were later annotated by curatorial staff, Trustee representatives and an appraiser who served as the official court examiner. (Because these documents contain valuations, access is restricted and at the discretion of the archivist.)

Also included in this series are bound copies of Johnson's will, with photocopies of same, and miscellaneous papers pertaining to Johnson's residuary property (items unrelated to art) and investments.

The items processed under the "Other subjects" series are two family bibles, a photocopy of an art travel guide written by Johnson and published in 1892 and two documents that likely stemmed from his legal practice.

Historical Note
Born, raised and educated in Philadelphia, John Graver Johnson became one of the city's preeminent citizens, noted not only for his long and successful practice as an attorney but also for his extensive collection of European art. Johnson was born in Chestnut Hill, an area just outside of the city proper, on April 4, 1841. He was the eldest of three sons of David, a blacksmith, and Elizabeth Graver, a seamstress. An earnest student, Johnson attended Philadelphia's prestigious Central High School. Upon his graduation in 1857, he began his legal studies through entry-level jobs at various law firms.

While working, Johnson attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School and upon receiving his LL.B. degree, he was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1863. After a brief stint in a voluntary artillery company during the Civil War, Johnson returned to Philadelphia and began his legal practice at the office of William F. Judson. Realizing a need for specialization in corporation law, Johnson devoted his practice to that field and became one of the country's best-known lawyers. He argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and in several antitrust cases represented some of the country's industrial leaders, including Standard Oil, American Tobacco Company and the Delaware and Hudson Railroad Company. He turned down two presidential offers to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as a cabinet position as attorney general.

Apparently no less ardent than his devotion to law was Johnson's interest in art, particularly painting. Beginning in the late 1880s, Johnson often traveled during the summer to Europe, acquiring works of art of the fourteenth- to nineteenth-centuries. He also purchased from art dealers in Philadelphia and New York City. Johnson's showcase for his art was his residence at 510 South Broad Street, in the center of the city. Purchased in 1915, it was the house next door to his previous home, which could no longer accommodate his continued acquisitions. Johnson's art library was no less burgeoning. Even in the larger home, he needed to store a significant number of volumes in his basement, as well as parlor office, library (including its secret closet), a small room on the south side of the house, a linen closet, and various spaces on the third and top floors.

Upon Johnson's death in 1917, his collection of 1,200 paintings, approximately 400 pieces of sculpture and textiles, and 2,500 volume art library, came to the City of Philadelphia in fulfillment of his bequest. As stipulated in his will, the collection was to remain displayed in his home "unless some extraordinary situation should arise making it exceedingly injudicious to keep [it] in the house." The stipulation set off decades of litigation as the residence, as early as 1919, was determined to be unsafe for housing art. After years of court petitions and filings, the Museum became the Johnson Collection's permanent home.

Although attributions to many paintings have been revised over the years, the Johnson Collection remains a showcase for many important artists, such as Botticelli, Rubens, Constable, Corot, Rousseau, Sargent and Whistler. In addition to maintaining his own private collection of art, Johnson, as a member of the Fairmount Park Commission, oversaw the W. P. Wilstach Collection, another major collection of art bequeathed to the City. As director of the Wilstach Committee, Johnson administered the fund that allowed for additional and significant purchases. He also served on the board to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Notwithstanding his devotion to the practice of law and the collection of art, Johnson did make time to marry when he was thirty-four years old. In 1875 he took as his wife Ida Powel Morrell, a widow and mother of three young children. She met Johnson as a client, seeking his legal advice after the death of her husband Edward. Unlike Johnson's humbler heritage, Ida could trace her lineage to several prominent American families. On the paternal side, she descended from some of Philadelphia's important Revolutionary families, namely Powel and Willing. Her mother's family traced back to the Van Courtlands and Beekmans of New York and the de Veaux of South Carolina. Her son Edward also made a name for himself, serving four terms as a U.S. Representative (for Pennsylvania as a Republican). Born in 1840, Ida predeceased her husband by nearly a decade, having died in 1908 at the age of sixty-seven. She and Johnson had no children.

Works Consulted
Dictionary of American Biography, s.v. "Johnson, John Graver."
Hare-Powel, Robert Johnson, comp. "Hare-Powel and Kindred Families Notebook." n.d. Powel House, Philadelphia, Pa.
Johnson Collection Curatorial Records. Writings series. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Archives. Includes untitled essay re history of the Johnson Collection.
Winkelman, Barnie F. John G. Johnson: Lawyer and Art Collector: 1841-1917. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1942.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. Handbook of the Collections. (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1995).
Strehlke, Carl Brandon. Italian Paintings: 1250-1450: in the John G. Johnson Collection and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2004).
Adams, Bertha, comp. An Enduring Legacy: the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Its Benefactors. (February 2013). An electronic resource available on the Museum Library's online catalog.

Processed By
Bertha Adams and Courtney Smerz (2003). Bertha Adams (2013).

extent26.5 linear feet
formatsCorrespondence Photographs
accessThe collection is open for research with the exception of valuations. Such documentation is restricted, with access at the discretion of the archivist
record linkhttp://www.philamuseum.org/archives/findingaids.html
record sourcehttp://www.philamuseum.org/
finding aidOnline Finding Aid
acquisition informationThe collection includes some reference material, particularly photocopies of Johnson's outgoing letters, which curators of the John G. Johnson Collection compiled from a variety of archival repositories and other sources between 1927-1993.
updated03/16/2023 10:29:49
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titleAline and Eero Saarinen papers, 1906-1977
repositoryArchives of American Art
descriptionPersonal papers of Aline and Eero Saarinen, and Aline Saarinen papers relating to her unpublished biography of architect Stanford White, her published book The Proud Possessors, and her work as an NBC Television correspondent. Papers relating to Stanford White and to Proud Possessors contain primary source material gathered by Saarinen during her research on White and collectors Edward Wales Root and John Quinn.

REELS 2074-76, and 2064 (photos): Biographical material; Eero Saarinen's sketches, notes and letters; correspondence between Aline and Eero; Aline Saarinen's correspondence, including letters from John McAndrews, Clifford Odets, Robert Osborne, Frank Lloyd Wright, Joseph Louchheim, and her children; awards; files on her involvement with the Fine Arts Commission, Yale University, and the Design Advisory Committee of the Federal Aviation Agency; speeches, articles on art and architecture; television scripts; clippings and printed material; notes; and photographs and slides of the Saarinens (2 copyprints are also microfilmed on reel 1817 fr. 1054-1058), Charles Alan, and other family members, friends, works of art, and architecture.

REELS 2069-2072 and 2084 (photos): Research material, 1903-1960, relating to Saarinen's book The Proud Possessors (1958). Included are notes, manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, and printed material on art collectors Dr. Albert C. Barnes, Dr. Claribel and Etta Cone, Katherine Sophie Dreier, Charles Lang Freer, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Thomas Gilcrease, Peggy Guggenheim, Mr. and Mrs. Henry O. Havemeyer, Joseph Hirshhorn, R. Sturgis Ingersoll, John G. Johnson, J. Pierpont Morgan, Mrs. Potter Palmer, John Quinn, the Rockefeller family, Edward Wales Root, Gertrude, Leo, Michael and Sarah Stein, and Electra Havemeyer Webb. Among the correspondents is Bernard Berenson.

The material on Edward Root contains letters to Saarinen from Grace Cogswell Root; correspondence between Root and his father Elihu, 1903-1936; one or more letters to Root, 1909-1936, from Charles Culver, Robert De Forest, Frederick James Gregg, Ernest Lawson, George Luks, Duncan Phillips, and Grace Root; copies of 2 letters to Edward Christiana, 1949; a catalog for a Root memorial exhibition, 1957; Saarinen's notes; and a photograph of Root, one of his home, and photographs of works of art in his collection. Copyrpints also available.

Material on John Quinn includes correspondence between Saarinen and Jeanne Robert Foster; letters to Foster from Quinn and his sister, Julia Anderson; a copy of a letter to Foster from William B. Yeats and a drawing of Quinn possibly by Yeats; material relating to Roger Casement; and photographs of Quinn and Foster, and Quinn with Constantin Brancusi, Picasso and Mme. Picasso, Henri Pierre Roche, and Erik Satie.

REELS 2072-2073 and 2064 (photos): Research material for Saarinen's unpublished biography of Stanford White. Included are: notes, drafts; correspondence with her publisher, scholars, friends and relatives of White, architects, and others; printed material, 1896-1968; McKim, Mead and White memoranda and correspondence, 1887-1906, much of it with Whitelaw Reid; a letter from Charles Lang Freer, 1900; contracts; architectural descriptions and copies of blueprints; a record book; and miscellaneous letters and documents. Letters from White's father, Richard Grant White, to his daughter-in-law Bessie, Bessie White's reminiscenses of Stanford, and her scrapbook on the Washington Centennial and White's Washington Arch are also included.

Photographs include over 300, 1878-ca. 1970, of White, his wife; his father and mother; Evelyn Nesbit; his clients, Anne, Louise and Robert Cheney; and 280 photographs of buildings and residences designed by White or McKim, Mead and White, many photographed by Wayne Andrews.

UNMICROFILMED: Primarily papers kept by Aline Saarinen while a NBC television correspondent reporting on mainly art related topics. Included are correspondence, printed material, notes, scripts, clippings, kinescope motion picture film, including "Eyes Opening", transferred to VHS, and photographs. Also included are printed material on Eero Saarinen, and photographs of his work.

ADDITION: Notebooks containing Aline Saarinen's notes on architecture, art collectors and Stanford White; printed material; Saarinen's journal, 1928-1932; a guest book; photographs; scripts for Venus in Venice (1964), The American Image and other writings. Three phonograph recordings (33 1/3) of a discussion on opera between Eero Saarinen, Professor H. Ingham Ashworth and Professor Leslie Martin on the Australian Braodcasting Commission, January 29, 1957 are not available for research use.
extent13.5 linear ft. (partially microfilmed on 10 reels)
formatsCorrespondence Notes Sketches Photographs Clippings
accessCollection is being processed and digitized, and is closed to researchers. Access is to microfilmed material only. NBC TV material: Authorization to quote from scripts or film prepared for television must be cleared for rights with: NBC Studios, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, N.Y.
record linkhttps://sirismm.si.edu/EADpdfs/AAA.saaralin.pdf
record sourcehttps://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/aline-and-eero-saarinen-papers-5589
acquisition informationDonated in 1973 by the Aline Saarinen estate via Charles Alan, art dealer and brother of Saarinen. The NBC TV material was donated 1974 by NBC Studios. Additional material donated 1991 by the Parrish Art Museum, who had received it from Aline Saarinen.
updated06/08/2023 16:42:08
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titleFranklin Spencer Edmonds Collection
repositoryThe Historical Society of Pennsylvania
descriptionPapers of Franklin Spencer Edmonds, lawyer, educator, and author, containing an essay on "Progressive Education in the Nineteenth Century," and correspondence and notes relative to his papers on Albert H. Smyth, George Davidson, John G. Johnson, and Ulysses S. Grant.

Call Number: (PHi)1461
formatsCorrespondence Writings Notes
accessContact repository for restrictions and policies.
record sourcehttp://discover.hsp.org/
acquisition informationGift of Mrs. Franklin Spencer Edmonds, 1947.
updated11/12/2014 11:29:57
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titleJohnson Collection curatorial records, 1917-1973, n.d.
repositoryPhiladelphia Museum of Art
descriptionThe John G. Johnson Collection is comprised of more than 1,200 European paintings and sculpture amassed by corporate lawyer John Graver Johnson between the early 1880s and his death in 1917. The collection is owned by the City of Philadelphia, but administered by and housed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Johnson Collection Curatorial Records document the administrative and curatorial activities of Henri Marceau and Barbara Sweeny, curators of the collection from 1926 to 1972, and includes correspondence, attribution research, writings, and photographs. The bulk of the material was generated after the move of the Johnson Collection from its original location at 510 South Broad Street to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1933.
extent14 linear feet.
formatsArtwork Correspondence Research Files Photographs Writings
accessContact repository for restrictions and policies.
record linkhttp://www.philamuseum.org/resources/archives/findingaids/ead.asp?c=JCC
record sourcehttp://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/
updated11/12/2014 11:29:57
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titleHampton L. Carson papers, 1715-1941; bulk 1870-1930.
repositoryThe Historical Society of Pennsylvania
descriptionA diverse amount of materials related to the legal profession and to Carson's many personal interests are contained in this collection. Legal practice correspondence and dockets extend from 1871 until 1941; beginning around 1920, however, the materials in this series increasingly pertain to the legal work of his son, Joseph Carson.

Documents exist from Hampton Carson's tenures as attorney general of Pennsylvania, as president of the American Bar Association, and as president of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. His work with the 1887 Constitutional Centennial Commission and with the Pennsylvania Commission on Constitutional Amendment and Revision are also represented, as are his affiliations with many law and historical organizations. The nearly one thousand political cartoons in this collection, which were clipped from newspapers and span the years 1863-1904, primarily depict Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker, Senator Matthew S. Quay, and Senator Boies Penrose. Carson's portrait collection of lawyers, judges, and statesmen contains images of well over one hundred notable men, and his letters and ephemera collection contains handwriting samples, newspaper clippings, and other materials related to many of the same men.

Hampton Lawrence Carson was born on February 21, 1852, in Philadelphia to Joseph Carson (1808-1876) and Mary Hollingsworth (1813-1868). He married Anna Lea Baker 1854-1933) in 1880 and with her had five children. Hampton graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1874 and taught there from 1895 to 1903. He was also a partner in several private laws firm and dealt primarily in estate law. In 1903 Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker appointed him attorney general of Pennsylvania, a post which was held until 1907. From 1919 to 1921 Carson was both president of the American Bar Association and chairman of a sub-committee of the Pennsylvania Commission on Constitutional Amendment and Revision. He was a member of several other law organizations throughout his lifetime, as well as several historical associations including the American Historical Association Endowment Fund and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP). He was HSP president from 1921 until his death in 1929. His interest in history is also reflected in his major published works, History of the Supreme Court of the United States and History of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Carson was also an avid collector of manuscripts, autographs, political cartoons, and portraits.
extent62 boxes, 19 vols. (31.5 lin. feet)
formatsCorrespondence Legal Papers Ephemera
accessContact repository for restrictions and policies.
record linkhttp://www.hsp.org/files/findingaid0117carson.pdf
record sourcehttp://discover.hsp.org/
finding aidFinding aid available.
acquisition informationGift; Hampton L. Carson; 1929. Gift; Joseph Carson. Miscellaneous news clippings; Gift; Mrs. Evan Randolph; 1935.
updated11/12/2014 11:29:57
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titleCorrespondence with Edgar Fahs Smith, 1913-1915.
repositoryUniversity of Pennsylvania
descriptionArchival/Manuscript Material

Contained in: Edgar Fahs Smith Papers, ca. 1870-1940. Folder 1313

Location: Rare Book & Ms Library Manuscripts

Call Number: Ms. Coll. 112
extent2 items (2 leaves)
formatsCorrespondence
accessContact repository for restrictions and policies.
record sourcehttp://www.franklin.library.upenn.edu/
updated11/12/2014 11:29:57
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titleCorrespondence with Henry Charles Lea, 1880-1912.
repositoryUniversity of Pennsylvania
descriptionArchival/Manuscript Material

Contained in:
Henry Charles Lea Papers, ca. 1830-1935. Folders 672-673.

Summary:
Correspondence concerning legal matters and political matters. Includes 5 items from Lea, those dated 1906 concern H. C. Lea’s will. Also includes 2 letters to Arthur H. Lea regarding memorials to H. C. Lea.

Other Contributors: Lea, Arthur H.

Location: Rare Book & Ms Library Manuscripts
Call Number: Ms. Coll. 111
extent58 items (60 leaves).
formatsCorrespondence Legal Papers
accessContact repository for restrictions and policies.
record sourcehttp://www.franklin.library.upenn.edu/
updated11/12/2014 11:29:57
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titleThe Fototeca Berenson (Villa I Tatti Photo Archives)
repositoryBiblioteca Berenson, Villa I Tatti
descriptionThe 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.

extent300,000 + photographs
formatsPhotographs Reproductions Microfilm Artist Files
accessContact Ilaria Della Monica the archivist at the Berenson Library for restrictions and appointments.
record linkhttp://via.lib.harvard.edu/via/deliver/advancedsearch?_collection=via
record sourcehttp://itatti.harvard.edu/
finding aidCurrently, 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 informationOriginally formed by Bernard Berenson the Library continues to add to the file.
updated11/12/2014 11:30:10
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titleHenri Gabriel Marceau Director Records, 1955-1964
repositoryPhiladelphia Museum of Art
descriptionHenri Gabriel Marceau, an internationally known scholar, art historian and architect, was the Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1955 to 1964. Prior to that appointment, he served nearly thirty years at the museum in a curatorial capacity and beginning in 1937 as well as Associate Director.

Marceau's Records consist mainly of correspondence with individuals, corporations, museums and universities, as well as subjects, and they are arranged chronologically by calendar years. Museums are filed under M (for Museum) and then by name for the larger Museums and, alphabetically by individual name for the smaller ones. There are several folders on the installation of the Japanese Tea House and the Kramrisch Collection of Sculpture (1955), as well as a file of condolences for Fiske Kimball in 1955 and 1956. There is a small Object File.
extent56.5 linear feet
formatsCorrespondence
accessThe collection is open for research.
record linkhttp://www.philamuseum.org/pma_archives/ead.php?c=MAR&p=hn
record sourcehttp://www.philamuseum.org/archives/findingaids.html
finding aidAvailable online
updated11/12/2014 11:30:15
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titleEvan H. Turner Records, 1964-1978
repositoryPhiladelphia Museum of Art
descriptionEvan H. Turner (born 1927), an art historian and scholar, was the Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) from 1964 to 1978, leading the Museum through a period of significant growth and transformation. He created new art departments for American and 20th Century Art, and the innovative Department of Urban Outreach (DUO) to promote art across the City of Philadelphia. These progressive activities were matched by a groundbreaking exhibition in 1973, the Marcel Duchamp retrospective, which drew upon significant scholarship and assembled virtually the entire oeuvre of one of the most important artists represented in the Museum. In 1975, Turner led the Museum in a major construction project to install a new climate control system in the building, and in 1976, he helped plan the United States’ Bicentennial and the PMA’s Centennial celebrations. Turner was an active member of a number of professional organizations, as well as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. The Evan H. Turner records document Turner’s tenure as Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) from 1934 to 1978 (bulk: 1964-1978). A mix of correspondence, inter-office memoranda, reports, minutes and other records provide ample evidence of Turner’s leading position in the Museum’s growth and transformation during that time, as well as exhibition and event planning, and the daily operations of the Museum. The collection also documents Turner’s work with professional organizations, his efforts to help the City plan the 1976 Bicentennial celebrations, and his professorship at the University of Pennsylvania.
extent146 linear feet
formatsCorrespondence Memoranda Reports
accessThis collection is open for research use.
record linkhttp://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/pacscl/PMA_PMA004
record sourcehttp://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/pacscl/index.html
finding aidAvailable as a PACSCL finding aid on the Penn Libraries Web site.
updated11/12/2014 11:30:15
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titleAnne d'Harnoncourt Records, 1973-2008, n.d.
repositoryPhiladelphia Museum of Art
descriptionThe Anne d'Harnoncourt Records correspond to the quarter of a century that Anne d'Harnoncourt (1943-2008) served as the George D. Widener Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), assuming the additional responsibilities of Chief Executive Officer in 1997. During her tenure, d'Harnoncourt led the Museum through milestones that transformed its collections, exhibitions, curatorial and educational missions, and physical environment. The records she compiled during that time provide the framework for those transformations and underscore the attention to detail, encyclopedic intellect and interests, community commitment and contagious enthusiasm for the arts that characterized d'Harnoncourt's styles of leadership and life. D'Harnoncourt maintained most of her files in large groups of alphabetically arranged names and subjects. Her exhibition records, however, were kept separate, implying an affinity for a subject she learned well during her earlier curatorial years. Other topics for which she held on to her records for extended time periods were the artist Marcel Duchamp, the Museum's Board of Trustees, and a few major projects concerning PMA and other institutions. Documentation consists primarily of correspondence, notes, press clippings, ephemera, reference materials, reports and draft writings. Photographs, phone logs, appointment calendars, floor plans and other drawings are also included.

extent206 linear feet
formatsCorrespondence Clippings Writings Reports Legal Papers
accessThe collection is open for research as follows. Records created before 1997 are open, with exceptions noted at the subseries or folder level. Folders containing some items requiring further restriction are noted as "permanently restricted in part" or "restricted in part." Access to the latter is at the discretion of the archivist. All press clippings, photographs, and transcripts of remarks and lectures are open for research. Records created after 1996 will be subject to a 15-year closure calculated on the last year of designated date spans. Accordingly, 1997-1999 records will become available Jan. 1, 2015; 2000-2003 on Jan. 1, 2019; and 2004-2008 on Jan. 1, 2024.
record linkhttp://www.philamuseum.org/pma_archives/ead.php?c=ADH&p=ifr
record sourcehttp://www.philamuseum.org/archives/findingaids.html
finding aidAvailable online
updated11/12/2014 11:30:15
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titleDalton Dorr Records, 1876-1904
repositoryPhiladelphia Museum of Art
descriptionDalton Dorr played a key role in the beginnings of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, now known as the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Dorr was elected Secretary of the corporation in 1880. In 1888 he is listed as both Secretary and Curator. By 1892 he performed the duties of Secretary, Director, and Curator. In 1899 William Platt Pepper took over as Director, although Dorr continued as Curator and Secretary. Dalton Dorr died on February 26, 1901. Shortly after, Edwin Atlee Barber took over Dorr's roles as Secretary and Curator. This collection contains letter books dating from 1876-1904 of Dorr, Pepper, and also Edwin Atlee Barber. The correspondence pertains to Museum collections, acquisitions, exhibitions, staff, Memorial Hall repairs, and overall information regarding the establishment of the Museum and associated schools.
extent4.5 linear feet
formatsLetterbook
accessThe collection is open for research
record linkhttp://www.philamuseum.org/pma_archives/ead.php?c=DOR&p=cs
record sourcehttp://www.philamuseum.org/archives/findingaids.html
finding aidAvailable online
updated11/12/2014 11:30:15
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titleEdwin Atlee Barber Records, 1901-1916
repositoryPhiladelphia Museum of Art
descriptionBarber's correspondence is arranged in two alphabets, 1901 to 1911 and 1912 to 1916. Some Barber correspondence with Museum people was kept separately. Extensive correspondence with John T. Morris, Board of Trustees Vice President and a collector; John Story Jenks, also a collector and a Vice President of the Board; Leslie W. Miller, Principal of the School; and James L. Allan, Assistant Treasurer make up a series.


extent19 linear feet
formatsCorrespondence
accessThe collection is open for research
record linkhttp://www.philamuseum.org/pma_archives/ead.php?c=BAR&p=cs
record sourcehttp://www.philamuseum.org/archives/findingaids.html
finding aidAvailable online
updated11/12/2014 11:30:15
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titleLangdon Warner Records, 1917-1923
repositoryPhiladelphia Museum of Art
descriptionLangdon Warner, a scholar in Oriental Art and an Archeologist, was the Director of the Museum from 1917 to 1923. He was often away from the Museum working in China. In 1923 he left to accept a position at Harvard. In addition, he was the Curator of the Wilstach Collection, a city-owned collection housed in Memorial Hall.

Warner's correspondence mainly concerns the collection, Memorial Hall, exhibitions and purchases. There is some correspondence with corporate officers including President, John D. McIlhenny.

From December 1917 through January 1919 E. Hamilton Bell was Acting Director while Warner was away in China. Some of Bell's correspondence is in this record group as a separate series. Bell also was the Curator of the John G. Johnson Collection, another city-owned collection, from 1917 until his death in 1929 (3/25/1929). Henri Marceau was his Assistant Curator for the Johnson Collection. Bell was Co-Editor of a journal, Eastern Art, along with Horace H. F. Jayne and Langdon Warner.
extent4.5 linear feet
formatsCorrespondence
accessThe collection is open for research
record linkhttp://www.philamuseum.org/pma_archives/ead.php?c=WAR&p=hn
record sourcehttp://www.philamuseum.org/archives/findingaids.html
finding aidAvailable online
updated11/12/2014 11:30:15
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titleM. Knoedler & Co. records, approximately 1848-1971
repositoryThe Getty Research Institute
descriptionThe 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.

extent3042.6 linear feet (5550 boxes, 17 flat file folders).
formatsAuction Catalogs Business Records Correspondence Financial Records Ephemera
accessOpen 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 linkhttp://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2012m54
record sourcehttps://primo.getty.edu/permalink/f/19q6gmb/GETTY_ALMA21129976460001551
contact informationContact gallery's archivist
finding aidAt the Getty Research Institute and over their website.
acquisition informationAcquired in 2012.
updated07/28/2023 16:33:46
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