Albert Mathias Friend Papers

Friend, Albert Mathias, Jr. (1894-1956)

Albert Mathias Friend, Jr., was an officer and a scholar. After his undergraduate years (Princeton Class of 1915) and a few semesters of graduate study at Princeton, Friend served a tour of duty in the first World War. As a graduate student, he was permitted by the University to remain in Europe, studying and salvaging the great works of art and architecture that may have been damaged by the fighting. After he returned, Friend often spent summers or years abroad, studying manuscripts in the National Libraries of France and Italy. When he had completed his graduate studies, President Dodds offered him a research-intensive professorship in Art and Architecture. Concurrently, he was offered the Directorship of Harvard University's Dumbarton Oaks Research Library, where he had contributed immensely to their Byzantine research and collections. With ties to both Princeton and Dumbarton Oaks, it was a difficult decision. Friend chose the professorship but continued his relationship with Dumbarton Oaks, where he was later appointed Chairman of the Administrative Committee. In this position, he tried to strengthen the research relationship between Princeton and Harvard, putting special emphasis on the annual Dumbarton Oaks symposia.

Consists of personal papers of Friend, ranging from 1914 to 1955, the year before he passed away. These include his undergraduate and graduate notebooks, course plans and lecture outlines for seminars and classes he gave at Princeton, correspondence and souvenirs from all aspects of his life (military, academic, and personal), papers he delivered at Dumbarton Oaks symposia, research notebooks from his time abroad, and his scholarly notes, drawings, photographs, and negatives. Professor Friend's notes and papers are primarily on the subjects of medieval iconography and the architecture of cathedrals and theaters in ancient Greece, Rome, and other Mediterranean cultures. The notes also cover medieval painting and mosaic, classical Greek sculpture, and Byzantine art and architecture. Negatives show Byzantine and Latin manuscripts; art and architecture from Greece, Rome, and medieval France; as well as some personal travel photographs.

Roughly sorted.

Transferred from Department of Art and Archaeology in 2002 (2003-19). Negatives were transferred in 2013 (2014-49).

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This collection was processed in 2002. Finding aid written in 2002.

Nitrate negatives (Dovai Negatives, Stuttgart Psalter Negatives, Greek Manuscripts and Art Negatives, and Greek Manuscripts Negatives, as well as 36 scattered negatives from boxes 1, 4, and 7) were deaccessioned and destroyed in 2026.

No prior appraisal information is available.

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Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Albert Mathias Friend Papers, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Publisher

Manuscripts Division

Date

2002

Creator

Friend, Albert Mathias, Jr. (1894-1956)

Subject

Architecture, Byzantine

Architecture, Classical

Art, Byzantine

Art, Medieval

Church architecture -- Mediterranean Region

Manuscripts, Medieval -- Study and teaching -- New Jersey -- Princeton -- 20th century

Mosaics, Medieval

Theater architecture -- Greece

Theater architecture -- Rome

Language

English

Form

Drawings

lecture notes

Notebooks

Photographs, Original