Artist letters, papers, signatures and photographs

This collection consists primarily of the materials Carl Zigrosser began to compile in 1942 about American artists, which he called the Archives of American Art. Comprised of correspondence, as well as photographs, signatures and other papers that Zigrosser intended for his archives as well as similar material that was added by his successors at the museum, this material makes up the first series, "Artist letters, papers, signatures and photographs." The second series, "General Reference" consists of various materials Zigrosser did not classify specifically but decided to retain. Most of the material is now arranged by genre, with periodicals comprising the bulk of the group. The "Writings" series consists of only a few of the articles Zigrosser published. The last series is "Memorabilia.”

The “Artist letters, papers, signatures and photographs” series includes correspondence collected by Carl Zigrosser, with many of them addressed to Leila Mechlin, Hudson D. Walker, Henry Schnakenberg, and R. Sturgis Ingersolll. Notable correspondents include John Taylor Arms, Cecilia Beaux, Julius Bloch, Charles E. Burchfield, Paul Cadmus, Mary Cassatt, Marc Chagall, Royal Cortissoz, Kenyon Cox, Thomas Eakins, Wanda Gag, Angela Gregory, Childe Hassam, Jacques Lipchitz, Alice Trumbull Mason, Reginald Marsh, Henry McCarter, Mary Augusta Mullikin, José Clemente Orozco, Horace Pippin, Orovida Pissaro, John Sloan, Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones, and many others.

Please see the descriptions at the folder level in the "Artist letters, papers, signatures and photographs" series for more specific information about the correspondents represented in each folder.

Additional descriptive information is available through the Archives of American Art for the microfilmed material.