Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America

Archives related to: Kahn, Otto Hermann, 1867-1934

titleDuveen Brothers Records, 1876-1981, bulk 1909-1964
repositoryThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
descriptionThe records provide an detailed view of the Duveen Brothers business activities in London, Paris, and New York. Although the archive extends from 1876-1981, the bulk of the material dates from Joseph Duveen's tenure as president of the firm, 1909-1939, and the period from 1939 to 1964 when Edward Fowles directed the firm (with Armand Lowengard until 1943). The mass of documents, such as cables and letters, invoices, and ledger and stock books, give a day-by-day account of art dealing, business strategy, and the individuals involved

NOTE Series I (ca. 112 linear feet) contains the firm's business records. Stock books indicate where objects were sent for repair, to whom objects were sent on approbation along with the date of sale and the price realized. Invoices include receipts, sales invoices sent to clients, lists of cablegrams and shipment of stock from each branch of the business

Series II (ca. 155 linear feet) consists of papers and correspondence which broadly cover the interaction between the Duveen Brothers firm and its clients, business associates, and the public. The correspondence describes art collecting trends among museums and individuals, the availability and purchase of art, art research and authentication, and the firm's general business practices. Eleven boxes of correspondence with Bernard Berenson detail his business relationship with the firm. Also included are records of lawsuits, correspondence between branches (some written in code), correspondence with museums, papers regarding galleries, Edward Fowles' papers, papers concerning exhibitions and loans, and papers regarding major art collectors and consultants. Some records of Kleinberger Galleries (apparently the papers of Harry G. Sperling, president) form a subseries within this series, and contain correspondence

Series III (c. 127 linear feet) includes some photographs, indices, negatives, and x-rays. This series represents the Duveen Brother's stock of images. Indices are available for the majority of the negatives in cold storage

("X Book" (Berenson transaction) is the only unique Duveen document not transferred to the GRI. It has not yet been photocopied. The "X Book" details, for a limited number (about 250) of Italian paintings in which Berenson had a financial interest, precise dates of purchase and sale, primarily in the years 1910-27. There is no index.) AAM

LOCATION
Watson Library Reference

CALL NUMBER
Microfilm Cabinet
extentCa. 394 linear ft. 584 boxes, glass negative cabinets, and 18 flat file folders. 422 microfilm reels : positive ; 35mm
formatsPhotographs X rays Correspondence Financial Records Inventories
accessMicrofilm of the archive is available for use by qualified researchers. The originals are held at the Getty Institute in CA.
record sourcehttp://library.metmuseum.org/record=b1334527~S1
finding aidUnpublished finding aid available in the repository (the Getty Research Library): folder level control. Online finding aid, Watson Online, Metropololitan Art Museum.
acquisition informationThe Metropolitan Museum of Art donated the Duveen archive to the Getty Research Library in 1996. Edward Fowles had donated the archive to the Metropolitan in 1968
updated03/16/2023 10:29:52
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titleOtto H. Kahn Papers ©2007 Princeton University Library
repositoryPrinceton University
descriptionConsists primarily of correspondence (over 400 boxes) of Kahn during the last twenty-five years of his life when he was prominent as an international banker (with Kuhn, Loeb & Co.), a philanthropist, and a leader in the cultural life of both New York City and the nation. Much of the collection is related to Kahn's business interests in the financial community and in the arts, such as the Metropolitan Opera House where he was chairman of the board. The correspondence reflects not only his generosity as a philanthropist but also the active interest he took in the many groups he supported by serving on administrative and policy-making boards. The scope of Kahn's influence can be seen in the many letters, telegrams, and statements of sympathy from all over the world expressed at his death. As a patron of the arts and an international banking figure, he was often called upon to speak, and the collection contains many pamphlet copies of such public addresses and published opinions, as well as 25 bound volumes of correspondence and clippings regarding them. There is also material assembled by John Kobler while preparing his biography Otto the Magnificent: The Life of Otto Kahn (1988), with the manuscript of his text.

Included among Kahn's correspondents are the world leaders Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Winston Churchill; and the well-known composers and performers Cleofonte Campanini, Enrico Carusco, George Gershwin, Alma Gluck, Lee Shubert, Jacob J. Shubert, and Arturo Toscanini.

Biographical and Historical Note
Otto Hermann Kahn was born in Mannheim, one of the eight children of Bernhard and Emma (née Eberstadt) Kahn. His father was a banker who took part in the German revolution of 1848, was condemned to death, and escaped to America. He remained in the U.S. for ten years, becoming a naturalized citizen, but returned to Germany after an amnesty for revolutionary refugees had been declared. His fiancee's parents would not consent to his taking their daughter to America, so Kahn stayed in Germany and raised his children with a good deal of exposure to things cultural. The Kahn children grew up surrounded by valuable works of art. Otto learned to play the cello and violin as a youth, and by the age of seventeen had written two five-act tragedies in blank verse (though they were never performed). When Kahn was in his teens, his father had him apprenticed to a bank in Karlsruhe as an office-boy and general handy-man. Otto showed the same talent for finance as his father, and at seventeen was promoted to the level of a clerk. [See online finding aid for complete Biography]

Notes:
The primary language of the collection is English, but there are also materials in French and German, and a small amount in Hungarian and Italian.

Location: Special Collections
Call number: TC032
extent191.2 linear feet (459 archival boxes, 8 record center cartons, 1 oversize flat box)
formatsCorrespondence Ephemera Business Records Photographs Clippings
accessContact repository for restrictions
record linkhttp://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/3t945q793
bibliographySome correspondence in the collection was published in Otto the Magnificent: The Life of Otto Kahn, edited by John Kobler (New York: Scribner's Sons, 1988).
record sourcehttp://catalog.princeton.edu
finding aidOnline and in repository. Finding Aid Published in 2002, ©2007 Princeton University Library
acquisition informationThe collection was a gift from Gilbert W. Kahn in 1951.
updated11/12/2014 11:29:53
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titleLehman Brothers. Records, 1868-1986 (inclusive)
repositoryHistorical Collections, Baker Library
descriptionExecutive records, personal papers, correspondence, photographs, and mementos comprise a smaller but significant portion of the Lehman Brothers Inc. Collection.

These records are of historical interest but are not comprehensive. For the most part, the collection remains organized as it was originally by major Lehman Brothers figures such as Robert Lehman, the Kahn family, the Warburg family, and John Schiff. These papers deal with both business and personal matters, and include newspaper clippings, information about Robert Lehman's art collection, and correspondence among Lehman executives. The collection also includes a selection of papers from Lehman Brothers' clients, showing how they did business.

Biographical and Historical Note
The investment banking firm Lehman Brothers was founded as a cotton brokerage in Alabama in 1850. Lehman Brothers quickly evolved from a general merchandising business into a commodities brokerage, eventually becoming a merchant banking firm offering sizable securities trading and financial advisory services. In 1977, Lehman Brothers, Inc. merged with Kuhn, Loeb & Company, another noted investment banking firm. The merged company was called Lehman Brothers, Kuhn, Loeb.
extent204 linear ft. (157 v., 370 boxes)
formatsBusiness Papers Correspondence Personal Papers Photographs Clippings
accessAppointment necessary to consult collection.
record linkhttp://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HBS.Baker.EAD:bak00042
record sourcehttp://hollis.harvard.edu/
finding aidCollection finding aid available in the repository and electronically at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HBS.Baker.EAD:bak00042
acquisition informationGift of Lehman Brothers, 2002
updated11/12/2014 11:29:56
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titleMary Fanton Roberts papers, 1880-1956.
repositoryArchives of American Art
descriptionBiographical material, correspondence, photographs, articles, lists and printed material, reflect Fanton's associations and interests in the arts, primarily in the first quarter of the 20th century.

The bulk consists of files containing correspondence, clippings, invitations, and printed material, arranged into three categories: art; dance and theatre; and literary and musical.

Among the files/correspondents in the art category are: Elizabeth and John W. Alexander, the Armory Show, George G. Barnard, George Bellows, Gutzon and Mary Borglum, Mrs. Solon H. Borglum, Alfred and Emily Bossom, Mrs. William B. Bracken, Charles Caffin, A. Stirling Calder, Harold & Rhys Caparn, Edward Caswell, Robert W., Mary and Elise Chambers, Robert W. Chanler, Royal Cortissoz, the Craftsmen, Ralph A. Cram, Frank Crowninshield, Randall Davey, Benjamin De Casseres, Edwin and Therese Deming, Frederick Dielman, Paul Dougherty, Daniel C. French, Maurice Fromkes, Arnold Genthe, C. Allan Gilbert, William, Edith & Ira Glackens, Belle da Costa Greene, Ben Ali & Bonnie Haggin, Gardner Hale, Childe Hassam, Robert Henri, Oliver & Peggy Herford, Albert Herter, Eugene Higgins, Edward A. Jewell, Robert E. Jones, Joseph A. Judd, Leon Kroll, Charles R. Lamb, John Lane, Sir John Lavery, Mary Lawton, Florence Levy, Jonas Lie, Will H. Low, George Lynch, Edward Lyons, F. Luis Mora,
Jerome & Ethel Myers, Hildegarde H. Oskison, Joseph Pennell, Van Dearing Perrine, James Preston, Howard Pyle, Frederic Remington, W. Goodridge Roberts, Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Nicholas Roerich, Eloise Roorbach, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Everett Shinn, John Sloan, Pamela C. Smith, Eugene Speicher, Alfred Stieglitz, Marie Sterner, Lorado Taft, Ida M. Tarbell, Joseph B. Thomas, the Touchstone, Pierre & Amelie Troubetzkoy, W. Francis Ver Beck, Robert W. & Bessie Potter Vonnoh, Horatio Walker, Mary Hoyt Wiborg, Russel & Mary Wright, and John Butler Yeats.
In the Dance and Theater section can be found: Winthrop Ames, John Murray Anderson, Louis K. and Kathryn Anspacher, George P. Baker, Don O. & Elizabeth Becque, Edward L. Bernays, Edward E. Bowes, Irene Castle, Charles D. & Ivah Coburn, Constance Collier, Anna G. & Agnes DeMille, Muriel Draper, Isadora Duncan and relatives, Maxine Elliott, Angna Enters, William & Julie Faversham, Mary Garden, Edna Guy, Cosmo & Julia Hamilton, Walter & Mabel Hampden, Isabel Irving, Otto H. Kahn, Lincoln Kirstein, Eva, Richard, Irma and Julie Le Gallienne, Cecilia Loftus, Tilly Losch, Alfred Lunt, Percy MacKaye, Pilar Morin, Romola Nijinsky, Louis N. Parker, Arthur Row, Mary Shaw, Otis & Cornelia Skinner, Ruth St. Denis, Ellen Terry, Charles H. Towne, and Samuel and Minnie Untermyer.
Literary and musical files include: Gertrude Atherton, Bambino, David Bispham, Van Wyck Brooks, Gelett Burgess, Frances H. Burnett, Witter Bynner, Bliss Carman, Irvin S. Cobb, Will L. Comfort, Walter Damrosch, Coningsby Dawson, Mary Desti, Theodore & Helen Dreiser, Max & Eliena Eastman, Havelock Ellis, Edwin Emerson, Teuila Field, Zona Gale, John Galsworthy, Hamlin Garland, Yvette Guilbert, Samuel and Edith Hoffenstein, Fannie Hurst, Joyce Kilmer, Khalil Khayat, S. S. McClure, David & Clara Mannes, John Masefield, Hudson Maxim, Marguerite Namara, Lloyd & Ethel Osbourne, Gifford Pinchot, Mrs. George C. (Kate D. Wiggins) Riggs, Jacob A. Riis, Sir Charles G. D. Roberts, Ernest T. Seton, May Sinclair, Paris Singer, Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson (Fanny Van de Grift), Leopold Stokowski, Austin and Mary Strong, Sara Teasdale, Mary H. Vorse, Rebecca West, Margaret Widdener, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Marguerite Wilkinson, and Stark Young.

Notable items among the correspondence are 11 watercolor sketches of Indians and western scenes by Edward Deming to "Aunt Mary & Uncle Bill"; a birthday card to Mary painted by Edward Caswell; and photographs of Isadora Duncan in "Marche Slave," taken by Arnold Genthe, Doris Humphrey in "Variations on a Theme of Handel-Brahms," taken by Edward Moeller (in "Dance" file), and of Frederic Remington taken by Notman Photographic Co., ca. 1900.

Other material, arranged separately, includes correspondence with Belle Fanton, Mary's sister; with and about Fanton's husband, the naturalist William C. Roberts; and a group, "Miscellaneous," arranged alphabetically; and photographs, many unidentifed, of people and places, incluging one of John Twachtman with others taken by Gertrude Kasebier, ca. 1910.
A few items not appearing on microfilm are four photographs of unidentified male models taken by Nickolas Muray, three photos of Roberts' mother, one tintype of an unidentified woman, eight stereographs of Deadwood, South Dakota, possibly for an article in "Motor Travel," and a pencil sketch of Roberts by John Butler Yeats, 1906.

Bio / His Notes
Writer, editor, critic; New York City. Wrote for Herald Tribune, Journal, the Sun, editor for the Craftsman, 1906-1916, the Touchstone, 1917-1921, Arts & Decoration, ca. 1922-1934. Wrote occasionally under the name Giles Edgerton.
extent3.8 linear ft. (on 4 microfilm reels) reels D161-D164
formatsMicrofilm Correspondence Photographs Printed Materials Clippings
accessUse requires an appointment.
record sourcehttp://www.siris.si.edu/
acquisition informationDonated by Phoebe DuBois and Violet Organ in 1957. Location of Original: 4 Ira Glackens letters, 1946-1947, reel D162, fr. 971-982: Originals returned to Ira Glackens after filming.
updated11/12/2014 11:29:56
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titleLewis & Valentine Collection, 1918-1970
repositoryArchives of American Gardens
descriptionBrochures, photographs, books, trade catalogs, company papers, and letters from clients, dating from 1916 to 1970. Lewis & Valentine customer list and history of company written by Harold Carman Lewis. Photographs include properties of Hugh D. Auchincloss, Eugene duPont, Walter P. Chrysler, Otto H. Kahn, F. W. Woolworth, Pierre S. duPont (Longwood Gardens), Charles M. Schwab, Edward T. Stotesbury, the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, PA, and estates in Long Island, New York.

Bio / His Notes:
Gift from Hewlett Withington Lewis, former owner of Lewis & Valentine Co.
extent366 photographs, 1 linear ft.
formatsPhotographs
accessAccess to original images by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. For information or study purposes only. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens.
record sourcehttp://www.siris.si.edu/
acquisition informationGift from Hewlett Withington Lewis, former owner of Lewis & Valentine Co.
updated08/25/2017 14:53:12
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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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titleOtto H. Kahn Autograph Album, 1921.
repositoryThe Frick Collection and Frick Art Reference Library
descriptionAutograph album with entries by French artists, composers, and cultural figures given to Otto H. Kahn on the occasion of his Légion d'Honneur decoration in 1921. The album includes drawings by Émile Bernard, Hugues de Beaumont, Marcel Bloch, Pierre Vaillant, Gaston Boucart, Georges Barrière, Pierre Ladureau, Roger Deverin, Eugene Antoine Borga, Jean de Gaigneron, Lucien Ott, Gaston Prunier, William Malherbe, Edmonde Champon, Camille Beltrand, Guillaume Dulac, Magdeleine Dayot, Franc oise Alaux, Louise Ochsé, Pierre Lenoir, and Eugène Franc oise Deshayes among others. Also included are musical compositions by Marcel Samuel-Rousseau and Walther Straram; dedications by Roger Boutet de Monvel, Bernard Boutet de Monvel, and André Mabille de Poncheville; and poems by Julien Ochsé and André Riviore. The binding of the album is by René Kieffer.
extent1 volume
accessThis item is currently not open to researchers due to it's fragile condition. Please contact the Archives Department at archives@frick.org for more information.
record sourcehttps://library.frick.org/permalink/01NYA_INST/1qqhid8/alma991010038929707141
finding aidNot available.
acquisition informationGift of Elliott Galleries, 2015.
updated09/20/2022 09:58:14
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