Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Henry Plumer McIlhenny

Summary

(Sound Recording)

Oral history interview with Henry Plumer McIlhenny, 1974 Oct. 28, Digital Sound Recording (Excerpt)
Collection ID:
AAA.mcilhe74
Creators:
McIlhenny, Henry P.
Cummings, Paul
United States. Works Progress Administration
Dates:
1974 Oct. 28
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
56 Pages
Transcript
Repository:
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
An interview of Henry Plumer McIlhenny conducted 1974 Oct. 28, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
McIlhenny speaks about his parent's interest in collecting; his own collecting; studying with Paul Sachs at Harvard; his interest in 19th century art, travels to Europe, purchasing works by Seurat, Degas, Ingres, and Chardin; dealers he worked with including Paul Rosenberg and Valentine Dudensing; his tenure as decorative arts curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, staff, and exhibitions; the completion of the museum building by the WPA; and commissioning paintings from Franklin Watkins.
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
Henry McIlhenny (1910-1986) was an art collector, curator, and arts administrator from Philadelphia, Pa.
Administration
Sponsor
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This interview is part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Digital Content

(Sound Recording)

Oral history interview with Henry Plumer McIlhenny, 1974 Oct. 28, Digital Sound Recording (Excerpt)
More Information
General
General
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hrs., 4 min.
Keywords
Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Pennsylvania -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Watkins, Franklin Chenault, 1894-1972 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sachs, Paul J. (Paul Joseph), 1878-1965 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rosenberg, Paul, 1881-1959 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Philadelphia Museum of Art Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
United States. Works Progress Administration Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Repository Contact
Archives of American Art
750 9th Street, NW
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions