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Phyllis Pray Bober papers

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Held at: Bryn Mawr College [Contact Us]Bryn Mawr College Library, 101 N. Merion Avenue, Bryn Mawr 19010

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Bryn Mawr College. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Call Number:
2004-08
Repository:
Bryn Mawr College
Extent:
6 linear ft.
Language:
English
Preferred Citation:
Cite as Papers of Phyllis Pray Bober, Record Group 3H, College Archives, Bryn Mawr College, Special Collections.
Date:
1940-2002 (inclusive)
Creator:
Bober, Phyllis Pray
Form:
manuscripts (documents) and Correspondence
Abstract:
Phyllis Pray Bober (b. 1920) received her B.A. from Wellesley College in 1941. In 1973 she accepted the position of Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Bryn Mawr College which she held until 1980. Bober's life long interest in culinary history led to courses, "historical banquets", and a book: Art, Culture, and Cuisine: Ancient and Medieval Gastronony. The collection consist of miscellaneous materials on Bober's career, miscellaneous research notes, typescripts, materials course notes, lecture scripts, correspondence (organized by subject matter), miscellaneous correspondence filed chronologically, tapes and disks for her talks, and materials from her own graduate and undergraduate education.

Born in Portland, Maine in 1920, Bober received her B.A. from Wellesley College in 1941 with a major of her own creation: Art History with a concentration in Archaeology and a minor in Greek. She completed her graduate work at the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University. She received her M.A. in 1943 and her PhD. in 1946. In 1946 she went abroad with her husband Henry Bober where she conducted independent research, including the beginning of one of her life's projects: the Census of Classical Works of Art Known to the Renaissance. She held a number of teaching appointments at Wellesley College, the school of architecture at MIT, and NYU where she created the Department of Fine Arts at NYU's University College.

In 1973 she accepted the position of Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Bryn Mawr College which she held until 1980. she also held the position of professor at Bryn Mawr and became a professor emerita upon her retirement in 1991.

Bober had a life long interest in culinary history and developed a number of undergraduate courses, graduate seminars, lectures, and articles, not to mention her "historical banquets" presented at many institutions, including Bryn Mawr College. In 1999 the University of Chicago published her book: Art, Culture, and Cuisine: Ancient and Medieval Gastronony. At the time of her death she was at work on a sequel.

The Phyllis Pray Bober papers consist of miscellaneous materials related to Bober's career, including research notes and course notes and materials. The collection, which ranges from 1940-2002, also includes correspondence and material from her own graduate and undergraduate education.

The collection consists of ten series: "Series I: Miscellaneous Materials on Career," "Series II: Miscellaneous Notes," "Series III: Typescripts," "Series IV: Census Materials," "Series V: Course Materials," "Series VI: Lecture Scripts and Related Materials," "Series VII: Correspondence by Subject Matter," "Series VIII: Miscellaneous Correspondence Filed Chronologically," "Series IX: Notes and Materials from Bober's own Undergraduate and Graduate Courses," and "Series X: Tapes and Data."

"Series I: Miscellaneous Materials on Career" consists of Bober's vitae and information about her appointments as Dean of the Graduate School and at Smith, and her tenure at Florida State. "Series II: Miscellaneous Notes" contains miscellaneous bibliographies, notes on culinary history and catacombs, and notes collected for Prospective Volume II, Art, Culture, and Cuisine. "Series III: Typescripts" is comprised of typescripts on a large number of topics, most of which are related to art history and archaeology or historical cuisine. "Series IV: Census Materials" contains materials related to "Census of Antique Works of Art and Architecture Known in the Renaissance". "Series V: Course Materials" consists of materials related to art history and historical cuisine classes taught by Bober, including Roman Architecture and Roman Humanism, Antiquity in the Renaissance, and Culture and Cuisine. "Series VI: Lecture Scripts and Related Materials" consists of lectures given by Bober, including ones on the American education system, Renaissance cuisine, a commencement speech for Bowdoin, and a 1977 convocation speech. "Series VII: Correspondence by Subject Matter" includes miscellaneous correspondence, most of which is related to various art institutions, conferences, and lectures given. Correspondence concerning her Guggenheim proposal and the Smithsonian Symposium on "Power Dining" is notable. "Series VIII: Miscellaneous Correspondence Filed Chronologically" contains correspondence arranged chronologically, from 1942 to 2002. "Series IX: Notes and Materials from Bober's own Undergraduate and Graduate Courses" contains a sizable collection of Bober's class notes and her NYU graduate school transcript. "Series X: Tapes and Data" consists of a number of tapes and disks for Bober's talks, including three on the Roman era, three on the Medieval period, and two on the Renaissance. Additionally, it contains an undated NPR interview, another unidentified interview, the "Perelli" lecture and the "Kennedy" lecture.

In addition to being an influential art historian, Bober was a pioneer in the field of culinary history. This collection is useful as a tool for understanding Bober and her many academic interests, and for the unique insights Bober provides into the art history and culinary history disciplines.

Most materials were received from the estate of Phylis Pray Bober in 2004. Special Collections staff members personally removed them from her former home prior to its sale. A small amount of material (less than one document box) had been personally presented to the college archivist by Ms. Bober in 1998; those items were incorporated with the materials from the estate.

Organization
Subject

Publisher
Bryn Mawr College
Finding Aid Author
Lorett Treese, Melissa Torquato
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

The Phyllis Pray Bober papers are the physical property of Bryn Mawr College's Special Collections Department. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns.

Collection Inventory

Vitae.
Box 1
Re: Appointment as Dean of Graduate School.
Box 1
Re: Tenure as Appleton Eminent Scholar at Florida State.
Box 1
Re: Appointment at Smith.
Box 1

Miscellaneous Bibliographies.
Box 1
Notes on Catacombs.
Box 1
Notes on Culinary History.
Box 1
Notes on Research on "Copyright Matters".
Box 1
Notes, Reprints, and Materials Collected for Prospective Volume II, Art, Culture, and Cuisine.
Box 1

The Age of Enlightenment.
Box 1
Ancient Art: Its Survival and Revival.
Box 1
Ancient Figured Capitals.
Box 1
Antiquity in the Renaissance.
Box 1
Apicius.
Box 1
Appreciation of Antique Art in Antiquity.
Box 1
Architectural Ecology.
Box 1
Arsinoeion or the Rotunda.
Box 1
Bacchic Imagery.
Box 1
Beauty.
Box 1
Before and After the Census of Antique Works of Art Known to Renaissance Artists.
Box 1
Black or Hell Banquet.
Box 1
Campanile Hexagons.
Box 1
Census of Antiquities Known to the Renaissance: Retrospective and Prospective.
Box 1
Comparison of Recipes from the Catalan.
Box 1
Convivial Renaissance.
Box 1
Cuisine as Architectural Invention.
Box 1
Dionysos, Bacchus, Leber.
Box 1
England in the Eighteenth Century.
Box 1
Feasts.
Box 1
Hercules Dracones Strangulans.
Box 1
Hierarchy of Milk in the Renaissance.
Box 1
Identity with Mycenaean Ancestors in Cult Meals at Ancient Greek Sancturaries.
Box 1
Ingredients: A Comparative Guide to Ancient Roman and Modern Italian Usage.
Box 1
Legacy of Pomponius Laetus.
Box 1
Mesopotamia.
Box 1
Politics and Ancient Roman Gastronomy.
Box 1
Position Paper on Beauty.
Box 1
Reproduction Rights in Scholarly and Educational Publishing.
Box 1
Restaurants.
Box 1
Search for Meaning: Collecting Antiquities in the Italian Renaissance.
Box 1

Three sets of cards titled "Census of Antique Works of Art and Architecture Known in the Renaissance".
Box 1
Miscellaneous Materials Relating to "Census of Antique Works of Art and Architecture Known in the Renaissance".
Box 1

Antiquity in the Renaissance.
Box 1
Classical Tradition in Western Art.
Box 1
Culture and Cuisine.
Box 1
Fine Arts 3.
Box 1
Fine Arts 4.
Box 1
History of Art 101.
Box 1
History of Art 102.
Box 1
Renaissance Art.
Box 1
Renaissance Sketchbooks after the Antique.
Box 1
Roman Architecture.
Box 1
Roman Humanism.
Box 1
Survival and Revival of Antiquity in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Box 1
Topics in Roman Sculpture.
Box 1

The American Educational System.
Box 2
Archaeology's Cradle: The Earliest Printed Bokos in Humanist Italy.
Box 2
Beauty in Civilization.
Box 2
Bowdoin Commencement Speech.
Box 2
Census of Antiquities Known to the Renaissance.
Box 2
Convocation Speech, 9/8/77.
Box 2
Culture and Cuisine.
Box 2
The Educated Person.
Box 2
Panel discussion: The Future of the Graduate Degree in Graduate Education .
Box 2
Gods and Heroes.
Box 2
KYW Radio on Women in Higher Education.
Box 2
Legacy of Popmponius Laetus.
Box 2
Pharos of Scholarship.
Box 2
Phyllis Pray Bober Presents a Renaissance Feast.
Box 2
The Renaissance Uses of Antiquity in the Realm of Minor Arts.
Box 2

Alsop, Joseph.
Box 2
Architectural Ecology Project.
Box 2
Art History Lecture Series, 1985.
Box 2
Cambridge University Press.
Box 2
Census of Antique Works of Art Known to Renaissance Artists.
Box 2
Clement VII Conference, 2000.
Box 2
College Art Association.
Box 2
Cyprus.
Box 2
Guggenheim Proposal.
Box 2
Historical Dictionary of Classical Archaeology.
Box 2
Institute of Advanced Study.
Box 2
Italian Renaissance Banquet Recreation.
Box 2
Merrimack College.
Box 2
NEH Grant, 1970s.
Box 2
PhD Program Survey, c. 1983.
Box 2
Publication of Renaissance Artists and Antique Sculpture.
Box 2
Re: Other Publications.
Box 2
Renaissance Scholarship in the Twentieth Century Conference.
Box 2
Renaissance Society of America.
Box 2
Smithsonian Symposium on "Power Dining".
Box 2
Society of the Humanities Fellowship.
Box 2
University of Chicago Press (re: Art, Culture, & Cusine ms).
Box 2
V&A Musuem Issues.
Box 2
Warburg Conference, 1999.
Box 2
Warburg Institute, 1950s.
Box 2
Warburg Institute, 1990s.
Box 2
WNET History of Art Production.
Box 2

Correspondence 1942-1945.
Box 2
Correspondence 1946-1949.
Box 2
Correspondence 1950-1953.
Box 2
Correspondence 1954-1959.
Box 2
Correspondence 1960s.
Box 2
Correspondence 1970.
Box 2
Correspondence 1971.
Box 2
Correspondence 1972.
Box 2
Correspondence 1973.
Box 2
Correspondence 1974.
Box 2
Correspondence 1975.
Box 2
Correspondence 1976.
Box 2
Correspondence 1977.
Box 2
Correspondence 1978.
Box 2
Correspondence 1979.
Box 2
Correspondence 1980.
Box 2
Correspondence 1981.
Box 2
Correspondence 1982.
Box 2
Correspondence 1983.
Box 2
Correspondence 1984.
Box 2
Correspondence 1985.
Box 2
Correspondence 1986.
Box 3
Correspondence 1987.
Box 3
Correspondence 1988.
Box 3
Correspondence 1989.
Box 3
Correspondence 1990.
Box 3
Correspondence 1991.
Box 3
Correspondence 1992.
Box 3
Correspondence 1993.
Box 3
Correspondence 1994.
Box 3
Correspondence 1995.
Box 3
Correspondence 1996.
Box 3
Correspondence 1997.
Box 3
Correspondence 1998.
Box 3
Correspondence 1999.
Box 3
Correspondence 2000.
Box 3
Correspondence 2001.
Box 3
Correspondence 2002.
Box 3
Correspondence nd.
Box 3

NYU Graduate School Transcript.
Box 3
Antiquity and the Renaissance.
Box 3
Baroque Painting.
Box 3
Flemish Painting.
Box 3
General Character of Hellenistic Art.
Box 3
Gothic Art.
Box 3
Gothic Sculpture.
Box 3
Greek and Roman Painting.
Box 3
Greek Sculpture of the Classical Period.
Box 3
History of Research in Art.
Box 3
Music 206.
Box 3
Roman Portraiture.
Box 3
Romanesque and Gothic Architecture.
Box 3
Romanesque and Gothic Sculpture.
Box 3
Art 209.
Box 3
Art 325.
Box 3
Greek 202.
Box 3
Greek 301.
Box 3

Ancient Near East and Beginning Greek.
Box 4
Greek II.
Box 4
Roman I.
Box 4
Roman II.
Box 4
Roman III.
Box 4
Carolingian.
Box 4
Medieval I.
Box 4
Medieval II.
Box 4
Medieval III.
Box 4
Renaissance I.
Box 4
Renaissance II.
Box 4
Seventeenth Century.
Box 4
Discussion.
Box 4
"What Matters," NPR interview, n.d.
Box 4
Unidentified interview on Bober's career.
Box 4
"Perelli Lecture" for Guild of Food and Wine Writers, 1992 (2 tapes).
Box 4
"Kennedy Lecture," 10/3/2000.
Box 4

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