The Philadelphia Museum of Art announces the launch of its Mellon Archives
Project website
(http://www.philamuseum.org/resources/mellon-archives/index.shtml).
Currently in its third year, the Mellon Archives Project is a four-year
initiative funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to provide increased
scholarly access to several of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's most
historically significant manuscript and record collections through an
integrated program of cataloging, digitization, and encoding for Internet
distribution.
The website includes the first four of eleven planned detailed finding aids,
or inventories, for the collections being processed as part of the grant.
In addition, the site includes an overview of the project, a timeline, staff
and contact information, and a link to the Museum's digital copyright
policy. Over the next year, additional finding aids will be added, as well
as digital images of selected archival material, including the daybooks of
John Raphael Covert, personal photographs of Marcel Duchamp, and object
files compiled and maintained by former Museum Director Fiske Kimball.
Finding aids are currently available for the Arensberg Archives, the Francis
Bacon Foundation Records, the John Raphael Covert Papers, and the Beatrice
Wood Collection.
The Arensberg Archives (1905-1957) document the life of Walter and Louise
Arensberg, the well-known collectors of modern and pre-Columbian art who
presented their seminal collection to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in
1950. The archives include correspondence, ephemera, clippings, writings,
personal and art collection records, and photographs related to their art
collecting activities as well as their friendship with many important
artists, writers and scholars, including Marcel Duchamp, Charles Sheeler,
Walter Pach, Beatrice Wood, and Elmer Ernest Southard.
Closely related to the Arensberg Archives are the Francis Bacon Foundation
Records (1936-1997). Walter Arensberg formed the Foundation in 1938 to
promote study in science, literature, religion, history and philosophy with
special reference to the works of Francis Bacon. The records consist of
correspondence, administrative and financial records that illustrate the
organizational aspects of the Foundation, the Baconian research conducted by
its staff, and the art historical research conducted by outside researchers
using the Francis Bacon Foundation Library and Arensberg Archives.
A cousin of Walter Arensberg, John Raphael Covert (1882-1960) was a painter
who played an integral role in the American avant-garde art movement between
1915 and 1923. His papers (1935-1976) consist of correspondence, word and
number puzzles (such as anagrams, acrostics, and riddles), financial
records, photographs, and a few sketches. Approximately half of the papers
are in code, and thus are cryptic in both intent and meaning.
The Beatrice Wood Collection (ca. 1921-2001) includes archival material
documenting the life and artistic work of Beatrice Wood, a noted ceramicist
and friend of Marcel Duchamp. The collection includes documentation of
several ceramic exhibitions and events, including personal photographs of
her 96th birthday.
The finding aid for each collection includes a detailed biographical note of
the collection's creator(s), a summary description of the collection's
content and history of its formation, information about how and when the
collection was arranged and described, information about related collections
housed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and elsewhere, and most
significantly, a folder-level inventory. For more information about the
Mellon Archives Project or its website, contact Katherine Stefko, Mellon
Archives Project Manager at 215-684-7642 or [log in to unmask]
Researchers interested in using the collections should contact Susan
Anderson, Museum Archivist, at 215-684-7659 or [log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lilah J. Mittelstaedt
Reference Librarian
Philadelphia Museum of Art
26th St. & the Parkway
P.O. Box 7646
Philadelphia, PA 19101
~~~
(ph) 215.684.7652
(fax) 215.236.0534
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
__________________________________________________________________
Mail submissions to [log in to unmask]
For information about joining ARLIS/NA see:
http://www.arlisna.org//membership.html
Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc)
to [log in to unmask]
ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance:
http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html
Questions may be addressed to list owner (Kerri Scannell) at: [log in to unmask]
