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Evan H. Turner Records, 1964-1978 (inclusive)

Extent:
146.0 linear feet (146 containers)
Abstract:
Evan H. Turner (born 1927), an art historian and scholar, was the Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) from 1964 to 1978, leading the Museum through a period of significant growth and transformation. He created new art departments for American and 20th Century Art, and the innovative Department of Urban Outreach (DUO) to promote art across the City of Philadelphia. These progressive activities were matched by a groundbreaking exhibition in 1973, the Marcel Duchamp retrospective, which drew upon significant scholarship and assembled virtually the entire oeuvre of one of the most important artists represented in the Museum. In 1975, Turner led the Museum in a major construction project to install a new climate control system in the building, and in 1976, he helped plan the United States’ Bicentennial and the PMA’s Centennial celebrations. Turner was an active member of a number of professional organizations, as well as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. The...(see more)

Held at: Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives [Contact Us]

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Board of Trustees Records, 1875-1998 (inclusive)

Extent:
20 linear feet
Abstract:
These records consist primarily of meeting minutes of the Museum's Board of Trustees and Executive Committee, from the time of the institution's incorporation to the 1990s. Reports presented at Trustee meetings, resolutions and minutes of meetings of a few of the earliest Standing Committees are also included. Gifts, loans, membership and finances are the most frequently discussed topics. Other material pertains to the exhibitions of 1888 and 1889, held to promote American industrial arts, and the Museum Fund, a fundraising and publicity campaign introduced in the late 1920s. Indexed correspondence from exhibitors documents the former. The latter consists primarily of correspondence, proposal and summary reports, and ephemera.

Held at: Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives [Contact Us]

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Conservation and Technical Research Collection, 1932-1969, undated (inclusive)

Extent:
39 linear feet
Abstract:
The collection documents the establishment and early operations of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's conservation laboratory and the use of photographic technology in conservation and curatorial work. While the majority of the material pertains to the activities of Henri Marceau, Curator of Painting and Sculpture, and of the John G. Johnson Collection, and of David Rosen, who served as an adviser to the Museum's conservation and technical research projects, the collection also includes some records of Theodor Siegl, who was hired as the Museum's first full-time conservator in 1955. In addition to correspondence, technical brochures, and educational materials, the collection includes extensive files of prints, negatives, and lantern slides documenting works of art in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and John G. Johnson collections, as well as works sent to the Museum for restoration and/or exhibition purposes.

Held at: Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives [Contact Us]

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Daniel M. Williams Biographical Collection of George Grey Barnard, 1863-1969, undated (inclusive)

Extent:
8.5 linear feet
Abstract:
This collection documents the tireless efforts of journalist Daniel M. Williams to refine and publish a biography of the American sculptor and collector George Grey Barnard. While the project never came to fruition, the collection represents approximately 30 years of Williams's accumulated research and writings, and consists of correspondence, including some of Barnard's personal letters to his family, as well as clippings, ephemera and photographs regarding the artist's life and career as a sculptor and important collector of Medieval art and architecture. Works by Barnard documented here include his celebrated commissions, such as the monumental figural group for the Pennsylvania Capitol at Harrisburg, as well as his controversial depictions of Abraham Lincoln and the god Pan. References to Barnard's excursions to the French countryside in search of artifacts include his sale to John D. Rockefeller, Jr. of more than 600 pieces, which would collectively be housed and referred to as...(see more)

Held at: Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives [Contact Us]

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Marcel Duchamp Research Collection, 1933-2003, undated (inclusive)

Extent:
9 linear feet
Abstract:
The Marcel Duchamp Research Collection is comprised of ephemera, photographs, clippings, writings and correspondence related to the artist Marcel Duchamp, his life, work, and legacy which was collected and compiled by the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Held at: Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives [Contact Us]

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Arensberg Archives, 1905-1957, undated (inclusive)

Extent:
33 linear feet
Abstract:
Art collectors Walter and Louise Arensberg amassed a seminal collection of Modern and pre-Columbian art between 1913 and 1950, when they presented it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Arensberg Archives contain correspondence, ephemera, clippings, writings, personal and art collection records, and photographs documenting the couple's 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. The collection also includes some material related to Walter Arensberg's study of Francis Bacon and the founding of his research institute, the Francis Bacon Foundation.

Held at: Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives [Contact Us]

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Rodin Museum Records, 1892-1991, undated (inclusive)

Extent:
4 linear feet
Abstract:
The Rodin Museum, located on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, houses Philadelphian movie theater magnate and philanthropist Jules E. Mastbaum's exceptional collection of works by French sculptor Auguste Rodin. Mastbaum amassed the collection between 1923 and 1926 for the expressed purpose of founding a museum for the citizens of Philadelphia. The buiding was designed by noted architects Paul Philippe Cret and Jacques Greber between 1926 and 1929. The Rodin Museum is administered by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Records in this collection document the administration, maintenance, and renovation of the Rodin Museum.

Held at: Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives [Contact Us]

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Anne d'Harnoncourt Records, 1973-2008, undated (inclusive)

Extent:
216.75 linear feet
Abstract:
The Anne d'Harnoncourt Records correspond to the quarter of a century that Anne d'Harnoncourt (1943-2008) served as the George D. Widener Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), assuming the additional responsibilities of Chief Executive Officer in 1997. During her tenure, d'Harnoncourt led the Museum through milestones that transformed its collections, exhibitions, curatorial and educational missions, and physical environment. The records she compiled during that time provide the framework for those transformations and underscore the attention to detail, encyclopedic intellect and interests, community commitment and contagious enthusiasm for the arts that characterized d'Harnoncourt's styles of leadership and life. D'Harnoncourt maintained most of her files in large groups of alphabetically arranged names and subjects. Her exhibition records, however, were kept separate, implying an affinity for a subject she learned well during her earlier curatorial years. Other topics...(see more)

Held at: Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives [Contact Us]

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