Below is a current list of archival holdings that relate to art collectors and art collecting, each with a brief description and links to the finding aid or catalog record when available.
Art Collectors and Collecting
Art Collectors and Collecting
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Art Collecting Files of Henry Clay Frick, 1881-1925
Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), a Pittsburgh coke and steel industrialist, began forming his art collection in 1881, and continued to acquire works of art until his death in 1919. He bequeathed his New York City residence, furnishings, and art collection to be established as a public art gallery called The Frick Collection, which opened to the public in December 1935. This collection contains correspondence, invoices and financial records, catalogs, inventories, registers, notes, narrative descriptions, and printed material documenting the selection, purchase, exhibition, and disposition of art works in his collection from the years 1881 to 1925, with the bulk of the papers documenting purchases.
Online finding aid
Series I: Purchases - Digital images
Series II: Catalogs and Works Exhibited - Digital images
Series III: Inventories and Lists - Digital images
Series IV: Correspondence - Digital images
Series V: Art Not Purchased - Digital images
Series VI: Printed Material and Miscellanea - Digital images -
Alfred Moir Papers, 1939–1990
Papers and research files of art historian and collector Alfred Moir (1924–2010), containing photographs, research notes, correspondence, writings, and documents relating to his personal art collection. Art collecting content emphasizes Old Master drawings, while research content focuses on Italian baroque art, particularly the work of Caravaggio and his followers.
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American Art Association Records, 1877–1924
Correspondence, approximately 1,000 photographs, notes, and printed material documenting selected auction sales conducted by the American Art Association.
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Byers Family Art Collection Inventories, 1900–1977
This collection includes a handwritten volume, circa 1900; a 1935 typed inventory; and later lists that document the art collection of A.M. Byers, a prominent art collector and iron manufacturer in the Pittsburgh area, and his family.
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Catalog of the George Jay Gould Collection, 1945
The album catalogs the contents of the art collection of George Jay Gould, the railroad executive. Included are photographs and accompanying typed information for thirty-seven paintings. The artists represented are from the seventeenth through the nineteenth century and are mainly French; two works are by Dutch artists.
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Downham Hall Inventories
Two inventories completed in 1880 and 1881 listing the contents of Downham Hall, an estate that was located in Suffolk, England. The first, "An Inventory of the Household Furniture, Books, Pictures, and Effects at Downham Hall," details the contents of fifty rooms and spaces within the house as well as outbuildings and gardens. The second, "List of Furniture at Downham Hall belonging to Edward Philippe Mackenzie," details Edward Philippe Mackenzie's furniture, rugs, pictures, linens, and other furnishings found in eighteen rooms.
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Helen Clay Frick Papers, Series V: Art Files, 1900-1991, undated
Correspondence, invoices, inventories, catalogs, photographs, research materials, and printed matter documenting the acquisition and administration of artwork in Helen Clay Frick's personal collection and her research interests in various areas of art history. It also gives information about works of art she declined to purchase either for herself or on behalf of The Frick Collection.
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Henry Clay Frick Furnishings Files, 1913–1920
Correspondence, primarily with White, Allom & Co., invoices, and lists concerning the interior decoration and furnishings of the Fricks' New York residence. Additional materials concerning furnishings in the Frick residences can be found in the Frick Family Papers.
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Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series II: Correspondence, 1882–1929, undated
Henry Clay Frick (1849–1919), a Pittsburgh industrialist who made his fortune in coke and steel, was also a prominent art collector. This series consists largely of Frick's incoming correspondence, with some outgoing letters, on matters relating to business and investments, art collecting, political activities, real estate, philanthropy, and family.
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One East 70th Street Papers, 1907–1931
Consists of correspondence, estimates, contracts, construction specifications, bills, vouchers, and inventories chiefly detailing the construction and furnishing of the Frick residence at One East 70th Street in New York. Post-construction materials relate to daily life in the house, proposed alterations to the residence, and contents of the house on the death of Henry Clay Frick.
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Stanford White Collection
Collection of materials related to Stanford White (1853–1906), American architect, art collector and dealer, and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White. The collection includes a 1942 typescript inventory of works of art at Box Hill, the former Stanford White estate in Long Island, as well as a scrapbook on works of art collected by Stanford White, including paintings, sculpture, rugs, tapestries, and other decorative arts. The scrapbook was compiled by Lawrence Grant White, son of Stanford White, and contains photographs and reproductions of works of art, clippings and excerpts from sales catalogs, and photographs of interiors, with many pages annotated by Lawrence Grant White.
Catalogue of Works of Art at "Box Hill," St. James, Long Island, 1942.
Works of Art from the Collection of Stanford White, circa 1935-1955.
Digital images