Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
Archives related to: Bliss, Mildred, 1879-1969
| title | Papers of Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Barnes Bliss, ca. 1860-1969 (inclusive), 1900-1967 (bulk). | repository | Harvard University Archives |
| description | This collection contains documents relating to the whole of the Bliss’s lives: their personal and family lives, their philanthropic endeavors, their art collecting, and Robert Woods Bliss’s Foreign Service career. Due to the Bliss’s social standing and activities, the collection includes correspondence with many prominent twentieth-century figures. These include musicians (Nadia Boulanger, Blair Fairchild, Doda Conrad and Samuel Dushkin), political figures and government officials (Gifford Pinchot, Herbert Hoover, Louise, Queen of Sweden, Frank Kellog, William Henry Hunt and Charles Warren), and art critics and art historians (Bernard Berenson, Royall Tyler, William Tyler, Fitz Roy Carrington and Henri Focillon). Biographical and Historical Note Robert Woods Bliss (1875-1962, Harvard AB 1900) and his wife, Mildred Barnes Bliss (1875-1969) were prominent art collectors and the founders of Dumbarton Oaks, an estate which they developed and conveyed in 1940 to Harvard University as the Center for Byzantine Studies, a research center and museum. Robert Woods Bliss served in the U.S. Foreign Service from 1903-1933. He was Minister to Sweden from 1923-1927 and Ambassador to Argentina from 1927-1933. Location : Harvard Archives Harvard Depository HUGFP 76.12 [War relief, charities, patronage, 1905-1969 (14 boxes)] Location : Harvard Archives Harvard Depository HUGFP 76.14 [Diplomatic, 1908-1960 (7 boxes, 3 folders)] Location : Harvard Archives Harvard Depository HUGFP 76.16 [Dumbarton Oaks, 1924-1969 (4 boxes, 12 folders)] Location : Harvard Archives Harvard Depository HUGFP 76.32 [Social affairs papers, 1908-1968 (16 boxes)] Location : Harvard Archives Harvard Depository HUGFP 76.36 [Scrapbooks and school papers, 1892-1940 (9 boxes)] Location : Harvard Archives Harvard Depository HUGFP 76.74 [Photographs, ca. 1860-1969 (21 boxes)] Location : Harvard Archives Harvard Depository HUGFP 76.78 [Medals, badges, citations, 1900-1968 (6 boxes, 6 portfolio folders)] Location : Harvard Archives Harvard Depository HUGFP 76.8 [Personal, 1878-1967 (63 boxes, 1 folder)] Location : Harvard Archives Harvard Depository HUGFP 76.82 [Passports and travel documents, 1910-1919, 1953-1965 (1 box)] Location : Harvard Archives Harvard Depository HUGFP 76.86 [World War I memorabilia, ca. 1913-1926 (8 boxes, 2 portfolio folders)] Location : Harvard Archives Harvard Depository HUGFP 76.88 [[Photocopy] Specifications for residence of Robert Woods Bliss, 3101 R Street, Washington, D.C., 1920 (1 folder)] Notes : The Harvard University Archives also holds a collection of correspondence between Mildred Barnes Bliss and her lifelong friend, Royall Tyler. See the Papers of Royall Tyler: Personal Correspondence series (HUGFP 38.6). |
| extent | 58.22 cubic feet (174 containers) |
| formats | Correspondence Personal papers Photographs |
| access | Access may be restricted. Details available at repository. |
| record link | http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.ARCH:hua26003 |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/ |
| finding aid | Detailed inventory available on paper in the Harvard University Archives or electronically: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.ARCH:hua26003 |
| acquisition information | Gift of Dumbarton Oaks. The Papers of Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Barnes Bliss came to the Harvard University Archives from Dumbarton Oaks in 1982. They apparently were transferred to Dumbarton Oaks after Mrs. Bliss's death in 1969. |
| updated | 03/16/2023 10:29:51 |
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| title | Garden Library collection, ca. 1500-1900 (inclusive). | repository | Dumbarton Oaks |
| description | Holdings of the Garden Library pertain to the history of landscape architecture, garden design and ornament; to the history of horticulture, botanical illustration, and plant importation; and to early botanical science. Types of material include bound volumes and individual drawings and paintings, primarily by English and European artists from the 16th to 19th centuries; photographs, slides, and microfiches; and drawings from the office of Beatrix Farrand (landscape architect for Dumbarton Oaks) of Dumbarton Oaks gardens. There are also holograph letter and music manuscript collections, assembled by Mildred Barnes Bliss; as well as departmental records and correspondence between Bliss and Farrand. Materials are in various languages, including French, Latin, and English. History notes : Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Barnes Bliss donated their home Dumbarton Oaks and its library and collections to Harvard University in 1940 to serve as a research center in Byzantine studies. In 1969, upon the death of Mildred Bliss, her Garden Library collection of rare and modern materials was willed to Harvard, to become a part of the over-all institution of Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University. |
| extent | ca. 32 linear ft. and ca. 900 drawings. |
| formats | Printed Materials Manuscript Correspondence Drawings Ephemera |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/ |
| acquisition information | Gift of Dumbarton Oaks, received with the papers of Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Barnes Bliss. |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:29:51 |
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| title | Records of Dumbarton Oaks, 1970. | repository | Harvard University Archives |
| description | Includes records of Committee on the Future of the Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies. History notes : Dumbarton Oaks, given to the President and Fellows of Harvard College in 1940 by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wood Bliss as a research center for study in the Byzantine and Mediaeval Humanities, is held by the Trustees for Harvard University. It was subsequently enlarged to include Pre-Columbian art and the Garden Library. |
| extent | 3 containers |
| formats | Administrative Records Correspondence |
| access | Access may be restricted. Details available at the repository. |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/ |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:29:51 |
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| title | General correspondence and other records concerning Dumbarton Oaks, 1970-1974 (inclusive). | repository | Harvard University Archives |
| description | General correspondence and other records concerning Dumbarton Oaks, 1970-1974 (inclusive). |
| extent | 6 containers |
| formats | Correspondence |
| access | Access may be restricted. Details available at the repository |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/ |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:29:51 |
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| title | Administrative records of Dumbarton Oaks, 1940-1965 (inclusive). | repository | Harvard University Archives |
| description | Administrative records, consisting primarily of the correspondence of John Thacher, Director of Dumbarton Oaks from 1940-1969, and dealing with collecting issues, personnel and appointments, financial matters and with Dumbarton Oak’s relationship with Harvard University, the Fogg Museum and its faculty, including Edward Waldo Forbes, Paul Sachs and Agnes Mongan. Also included is correspondence with Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Barnes Bliss, founders of Dumbarton Oaks. |
| extent | 1.5 cubic feet in 4 containers |
| formats | Administrative Records Correspondence Financial Records |
| access | Access may be restricted. Details available at repository. |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/ |
| finding aid | Finding aid available in repository. |
| acquisition information | Gift of Dumbarton Oaks, received with the papers of Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Barnes Bliss. |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:29:52 |
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| title | Census of Objects of Early Christian and Byzantine Art in North America Collection | repository | Dumbarton Oaks |
| description | The collection, begun in 1936 by Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss to provide visual and documentary reference material for the study of objects in their art collection, contains over 11,000 mounted black-and-white photographic prints filed by medium, stylistic and chronological characteristics, and region of origin. The collection was updated in the 1970s and in the mid 1980s. Documentation sheets for each object are located in loose-leaf notebooks and are filed alphabetically by city of present location, collection, and accession number. |
| extent | over 11,000 mounted black-and-white photographic prints |
| formats | Photographs |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.doaks.org/library/special_photograph_collections.html |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:02 |
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| title | Photographs of the Board of Overseers meeting, Washington, D.C. May 13 and 14, 1963 | repository | Harvard University Archives |
| description | Photographs include those taken at a dinner at the White House May 13, 1963; several photographs of J.F. Kennedy with Nathan M. Pusey, Charles A. Coolidge (Fellow of Harvard College) and Deveraux C. Joseph (President of the Board of Overseers); also includes photographs of Board of Overseers meeting at Dumbarton Oaks in which Mildred Bliss is pictured. Notes : These appear to have been taken by the News Office. |
| extent | 86 photographs |
| formats | Photographs |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/ |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:02 |
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