Call Number:

C0269

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 54 boxes
• 27.2 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Citations should be as follows: Allan Marquand Papers, Box #, Folder #, Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1858-1951 (inclusive) and 1878-1950 (bulk)

Creator:

Marquand, Allan, 1853-1924.

Form:

Correspondence., Manuscripts., and Notebooks.

Abstract:

Consists of the papers of Allan Marquand, Princeton art professor, founder of the University's Department of Art and Archaeology, and first director of its Art Museum.

Allan Marquand was born on December 10, 1853, the son of Henry Gurdon Marquand, a prominent New York banker who was an original benefactor and co-founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Marquand became the salutatorian and president of the Princeton Class of 1874, and studied theology at the Princeton Theological Seminary for three years following graduation. He later received a Ph.D. in philosophy from Johns Hopkins University. During his time at Johns Hopkins, Marquand studied logic and was introduced to "logical machines," mechanical devices built to follow logical algorithms which are often considered precursors to modern computers. He constructed his own logic machine, on display in Fine Hall library, during his early years as a professor at Princeton.

As a professor at Princeton, Marquand founded Princeton's Department of Art and Archaeology. He shares with Charles Eliot Norton of Harvard the distinction of being the first to introduce the serious study of art into the curriculum of the American college. Marquand also became the first director of the Princeton Art Museum and made numerous important gifts to its collection. His own life work was an eight-volume catalogue raisonné of the works of the ateliers of members of the Robbia family, 15th- and 16th-century Florentine sculptors and ceramists.

The collection contains the personal papers of Allan Marquand--including manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, miscellaneous material, and printed matter--reflecting his career in the art world, especially as an expert and cataloguer of the works of the Robbia family. Included are manuscripts for Decoration of the Ceppo Hospital at Pistoia (1902), Della Robbias in America (1912), "Some Works by Donatello in America" (1913), and Strzygowski and His Theory of Early Christian Art (1910). There is also material dating from his earlier years as a student when his interests were in the field of theology and philosophy, specifically, logic.

The papers as a whole contain material for historians of Princetoniana, for there is material both direct and tangential which deals with the life of Marquand the student, founder of the Department of Art and Archaeology, chairman of the department, director of the art museum, and founder of the library that was later named for him. Related material includes the manuscript for "Painting by Hieronymus Bosch in the Princeton Art Museum." Marquand's interests extended into the greater Princeton community, and the collection chronicles the history of the Princeton Battle Monument, culminating in its dedication in 1922.

Included in the collection are the papers of Eleanor Cross Marquand, wife of Allan Marquand and an authority in her own right on the identification of plant symbolism in art. Many of the notes, manuscripts, photographs, and slides she used for her articles and speeches can be found here. There are also papers of Marquand's father, Henry Gurdon Marquand, one of the founders and original benefactors of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.