Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
Archives related to: May, Saidie Adler, 1879-1951
| title | Saidie A. May papers, ca. 1880-2002, bulk 1924-1972. | repository | Baltimore Museum of Art |
| description | The Saidie A. May Papers contain the correspondence, art collection related papers, financial papers, and photographs of Saidie Adler May and document her art purchases and donations to the Baltimore Museum of Art as well as other museums. A significant amount of correspondence, research notes, and other material relating to Mrs. May and her collections that was created by BMA staff is also included. The staff continues to add to this collection as materials are found or created that relate to Mrs. May. Series 1, Art Collection, contains correspondence, lists, notes, research materials and other documents relating to Mrs. May's art collections. The Baltimore Museum of Art staff created a significant portion of this material after Mrs. May's death. Series 2, Financial Papers, contains documentation relating to Mrs. May's art purchases from 1919 until her death. A large part of the material consists of receipts and invoices from art dealers. This material is first divided into American Museums and Galleries and Foreign Galleries. Those dealers from whom Mrs. May purchased numerous items are filed separately. A few general receipts for book purchases are filed at the end of the subseries. Series 3, Correspondence, contains correspondence between Mrs. May and various museums, galleries and artists mostly relating to her purchases of artworks and their exhibition and donation to museums. A large amount of the correspondence relates to Mrs. May's dealings with the Baltimore Museum of Art, particularly her donations of the Renaissance Room and the Members' Room for Modern Art and the particulars of their installations. Series 4, Photographs, contains photographs of works in Mrs. May's collection, several of the rooms she donated to the BMA, artists, and Mrs. May herself. Series 5, Paintings, contains three copies by Mrs. May of paintings in the Louvre. |
| extent | 3.2 linear ft. |
| formats | Correspondence Financial Records Photographs Ephemera Digital Collection |
| access | The collection is open for research./ |
| record link | http://cdm16075.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15264coll4 |
| record source | http://www.artbma.org/library/finding_aids/MayPapers.html |
| finding aid | Unpublished guide available from the Archives and Manuscripts Collections,Baltimore Museum of Art. |
| acquisition information | Bequest of Saidie A. May on her death in 1951. |
| updated | 03/16/2023 10:29:52 |
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| title | Saidie May Artist file: miscellaneous uncataloged material. | repository | Baltimore Museum of Art |
| description | The folder may include announcements, clippings, press releases, brochures, reviews, invitations, small exhibition catalogs, and other ephemeral material. |
| extent | 1 folder |
| formats | Artist Files |
| access | Contact repository for further details. |
| record source | http://www.worldcat.org/ |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:16 |
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| title | Renaissance Room Exhibition | repository | Baltimore Museum of Art |
| description | The Renaissance Room at the Baltimore Museum of Art was donated by Saidie A. May. The panelling and fireplace of the room were taken from a seventeenth century house in Shrewsbury, England. Mrs. May purchased it from the collection of William Randolph Hearst. The installation of the room into the museum was supervised by architect John Scarff and was designed according to Mrs. May's wish that it looked like a room designed and decorated by a man of the Jacobean age. It opened to the public on October 18th, 1940. The room was originally installed on the main floor of the museum with high, vaulted ceilings and exposed wooden beams. In 1963, it was moved to the third floor where it still remains today, and the design changed to include stained glass windows and a much lower ceiling. The Renaissance Room Exhibition collection contains photographs, correspondence, and press. It includes, for example, a letter from Mrs. May to Gertrude Rosenthal in 1938 questioning the price she is being charged for installing the room in the museum. After much wrangling over the cost of installing the room, Mrs. May settled for the estimated $8,604.13 by John H. Scarff. The photographs include views of the room in the New York warehouse for the William Randolph Hearst sale as well as the first installation of the room in the Baltimore Museum of Art. |
| extent | See repository for further details |
| formats | Photographs Digital Collection |
| access | Online digital collection |
| record source | http://cdm16075.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15264uw |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:16 |
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| title | BMA Building and Exhibitions Lantern Slides | repository | Baltimore Museum of Art |
| description | The Building Exhibition and Lantern Slides contains a collection of nearly 1,000 glass lantern slides that document the exhibitions and interior and exterior of the Baltimore Museum of Art from its opening in 1923 through the 1950s. The collection also includes images of works in the BMA's collection, regional architecture, and decorative arts. Donations from scholars, organizations, and schools helped build the slide collection beginning in the 1920s. To reach out to the community, the slides were circulated to the public through the Museum's Library. A 1939 BMA Membership campaign brochure listed the slides as one of eight major services offered by the Museum. According to the brochure, "The Museum places at the disposal of Baltimore its collection of some 6,500 slides- illustrating great works of all ages and countries. This collection of slides is in constant use. Groups, clubs, and organizations of every type throughout the city draw on the collection for material for their lectures. Teachers in the schools and professors in colleges borrow the slides and use them before groups that total thousands every year." Clearly these were an important resource for the community at the time, but with the increasing availability of cheaper and less fragile transparencies and 35mm slides by the 1960s, they were moved to storage and eventually transferred to the BMA's Archives and Manuscripts Collections in 2003. Significant images in the collection include: views of the Museum's first home in the rarely photographed Garrett Mansion which was torn down in 1930; views of the 1929 building designed by John Russell Pope around the time of its construction; views of interior areas of the museum such as the Sadie A. May Young People's Art Center, Julius Levy Memorial Room, and the Renaissance Room that have since been moved or changed extensively. |
| extent | See repository for further details |
| formats | Digital Collection Photographs |
| access | Online digital collection |
| record source | http://cdm16075.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15264coll5 |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:16 |
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