Estate of Marguerite Kimball (d. 1954?). Correspondence, 1955

This subseries consists of materials that highlight several aspects of Kimball's private life--from his young ideas on improving the image of the scholar to his choices in automobiles and stocks. Most of the documentation pertains to Kimball's "European travels." Kimball made several overseas trips for a variety of reasons that were often combined into one tour. He came as a scholar, museum director scouting for acquisitions, and with his wife, as a couple of tourists. This material primarily documents the travel arrangements, expenses and sometime cancellations of Kimball's trips, rather than describe his activities and dealings. Based on the amount of correspondence in these travel records, Kimball made most of his travel arrangements through the Philadelphia agency, Geylin & Frank, and he and Marie were frequent guests at the Hotel Lotti in Paris. Also included are passports and foreign driver's licenses for Kimball and his wife, as well as printed material regarding the importation of art objects. One folder of correspondence and other papers documents their preparations to host a cocktail party while in Paris in 1949 and 1952.

Other substantially-documented subjects are "Estates" and "Student Records." Affairs relating to the estates of several relatives, as well as of Marie and Fiske, make up the "Estate" files. Kimball served as executor of his parents' estates and that of his sister. In addition to his correspondence with the family attorney, there are also several drawings for the gravestone inscriptions for his mother and father. Most of the material documenting Kimball's own estate consists of memorial tributes, including resolutions made by the museum's Board of Governors, obituaries, and magazine clippings. Marie Kimball's estate documentation consists of a program from her funeral services. Kimball's successor at the museum, Henri Marceau, apparently drew the layout for the gravestone inscription for Kimball and his wife. Documentation of Kimball's school years, filed here as "Student records," begins with his elementary school days and the commencement program of the Class of 1900 from Belcher School in Milton, Massachusetts. At that graduation, Kimball, not quite 12 years old, presented "The Progress of the World in the Last Decade." Also documenting Kimball's early scholastic ability are three postcards notifying him of winning small prizes in competitions sponsored by the St. Nicolas League, a one-time popular children's magazine. These are followed by a few records of his high school years. Most of the remaining papers pertain to Kimball's studies at Harvard College and University, as an undergraduate and graduate student. Material includes notices of scholarships, architectural problems and exams, student portraits, and Kimball's thesis design of a palace for the governor of the Panama Canal. There are also files pertaining to architectural competitions sponsored by Harvard and other institutions, notes for writings on various architectural and academic topics, a play put on by the students of the Architecture Departments, and a few papers pertaining to Kimball's 1911 appointment as a Sheldon Fellow for travel and study in Europe. During his tenure as an instructor and assistant professor at the University of Illinois, Kimball also pursued graduate studies. A folder of architectural assignments, which appear to pertain to those studies, is included. There are no records here of his doctoral studies at the University of Michigan, although some description is provided in Kimball's letters to his parents, which are included in the "Family Correspondence." Kimball's work from 1916 to 1917 as a Sachs Fellow for the study of Early American architecture is also described there and in the "Harvard University' files in the "General Correspondence" series, 1911-1919 subseries.

More than half a document case of files pertain to Kimball's "Insurance" matters. With the number and types of claims documented, Kimball's insurance files give an overview not only of that industry, but a hint as to the personality of a man incapable of staying idle. Whether reckless and headstrong or merely accident prone and unlucky, Kimball submitted more than 20 automobile accident claims in as many years. In most of these cases, he insinuated that the other party was at fault. The other driver was either a "wretched cowboy" or an "old maid" who had "suddenly shot out" while Kimball was "barely crawling around the corner." His wife Marie was also involved in at least two auto incidents, not including the one in which her parked car was hit by another or the times she was run down as a pedestrian--once by a car in Philadelphia and years later by a checkered cab in New York City. Kimball was also fastidious in the claims he submitted for loss or stolen property. Some pertained to the smallest of items, such as two ties, valued at $6, a cigar lighter from his car or a flashlight worth $1.50. Others were more valuable, such as pieces of silver and pewter as well as the bronze medal he received as recipient of the distinguished Bok (Philadelphia) Award, all lost when his Lemon Hill residence was burglarized. Although filed with the architectural projects, correspondence with Hanckel-Citizen, the insurance carrier for his Shack Mountain home in Charlottesville, Virginia, documents similar claims. For example, with the kitchen fire that damaged the countertops, Kimball also requested and received $25 as compensation for a toaster. In another claim resulting from an alleged break-in, Kimball was reimbursed not only for the broken doors and windows, but also for the 9 bottles of whiskey and carton of cigarettes he reported as stolen. In addition to giving glimpses into Kimball's life style, these papers also make reference to related social issues, such as the availability of residential bombardment coverage offered in 1943 by the War Damage Corporation, and the 1946 rate increase for automobile insurance resulting from the lifting of gas rationing.

Other subjects documented include the Kimballs' art collections and finances, the latter of which includes papers regarding their banking and investments, tax returns and miscellaneous receipts. "Genealogy" folders consist of materials collected by Kimball and his sister Theodora to document their family history. Their most prolific source of such information was their aunt Harriet Ripley Kimball. According to Kimball's notations made on the reverse of a photograph of Harriet as a young woman, she not only was sister to Kimball's mother Ellen Leora, but was also married to Frederick Gray Kimball, the brother of Kimball's father. That photograph is included in the "Photograph" subseries. In addition to her letters, "Aunt Hattie" also sent Kimball a few artifacts, including two buttons from the coat her father wore as a captive northern soldier at Libby Prison in Tennessee during the Civil War. According to Kimball's aunt, Theodore Ripley sold some of the buttons while in prison in order to buy bread made from corncobs. A certified copy of Kimball's birth certificate and several versions of his curriculm vitae are also included. Most of the material filed under "Residences" pertains to Lemon Hill, the historic home offered by the Fairmount Park Commissioners when Kimball accepted the position in 1925 as director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and in which the Kimballs resided for the next 30 years. Most of these papers pertain to later improvements Kimball made to the house, specifically the installation of an elevator, which was necessitated by Marie's ill health. Much of his correspondence is with Erling Pedersen. Other residences documented here include the Kimballs' first home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, "The Cutting," which was a rental house, and their later home on East 61st Street in New York City, purchased in 1923. Photographs document the former address, while the latter is referenced in several letters. In 1946, Kimball purchased the Rose Lane property, which they used as a seasonal getaway from their Philadelphia home. Sketches and floor plan drawings document the extensive renovations Kimball, again with the assistance of Erling Pedersen, made to the 1928 structure. Documentation of Shack Mountain, the one residence Kimball designed and built for himself in Viriginia, is processed in the Architectural Projects series.