Archives of American Art

James S. Plaut papers

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.plaujame
Creators:
Plaut, James S. (James Sachs), 1912-1996
Dates:
[ca. 1929]-1980
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
1.4 Linear feet
2.2 Linear feet
Addition
4 Volumes
Reels 581 and 5139: Scrapbooks
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
Correspondence, business files, academic papers, photographs, clippings, sketchbook, sketches, and miscellaneous notes.
Scope and Contents
REEL 581: Selected items from 2 family scrapbooks, 1933-1943 and 1946-1956; including clippings, photographs, correspondence, invitations and awards. Most material pertains to Plaut's work as director of the ICA and advisor to the government of Israel. Also included are correspondence from Georges Rouault, Carl Milles, and Oskar Kokoschka; and 6 drawings by Waldo Peirce.
Scope and Contents
REEL 5139: Two family scrapbooks, 1956-1959 and 1960-1980, containing clippings, invitations, photographs and miscellaneous material from Plaut's work World's Fairs at Brussels, 1958, New York, 1964 and Japan, 1970. Also found are family snapshots of the Plaut's travels, their children and grandchildren and include 7 earlier photographs of Plaut and his parents, ca. 1906-1932, and one photograph of Eleanor Roosevelt, 1959.
Scope and Contents
UNMICROFILMED: Travel sketchbook of Rome; term papers, honors thesis, and sketches for an architectural history course; files relating to Plaut's positions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the ICA, the World Crafts Council, and other professional and personal concerns; correspondence, including letters from Eugene Berman, Carl Milles, Lincoln Kirstein, Paul Sachs and others; personal and work related photographs; lecture notes; slides from the World's Craft Fair Council, 1974; 2 untranscribed sound tape reels of an interview made by Plaut for Alfred Auerbach concerning the Brussels World's Fair 1958 and typed list of questions for the interview; and miscellaneous papers.
Scope and Contents
ADDITION: Resumes and obituaries; correspondence; the book, Waldo Peirce, by Margit Varga, 1941, with insertions of a caricature by Peirce, illustrated postcards, and a letter; photographs of Walter Gropius House, Lincoln, Mass. and 7 photographs of Plaut with Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, Konrad Adenauer, Indira Gandhi, Leonard Bernstein, and Dwight David Eisenhower; scrapbook and slides pertaining to Plaut's work for the World's Fair, Brussels, 1958; writings and publications; publications of the ICA and the WCC; the book, The Overcoat, by Nikoli Gogel, presented to Plaut upon retirement from the WCC; publications by others on art and design; and a file on James and Mary Plaut's personal art collection, ca. 1935-1990s.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Art administrator and museum director; Boston, Mass. Plaut was born to a wealthy family in Cincinnati, Ohio, graduated from HarvardCollege, and received an M.A. from Harvard University. His uncle was Paul Sachs, a connoisseur and influential museology professor at Harvard andsor. Plaut held curatorial positions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and became Director of Boston's Institute of Modern Art in 1939 (later the Institute of Contemporary Art or ICA) where he staged early exhibitions of contemporary design and European avant-garde paintings and sculpture until his resignation in 1956. Plaut was also involved in many international exhibitions and expositions, serving as Deputy U.S. Commissioner to the World's Fair in Brussels, 1958, and was Secretary General of the World Crafts Council, 1967-1976 and a consultant on industrial design in Israel.

Administration

Existence and Location of Copies
35mm microfilm reel 581 & 5139 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Existence and Location of Originals
Reel 581: Originals returned to James Plaut after microfilming.
Existence and Location of Originals
Reel 5139: Originals in the possession of Plaut's children, Susan P. Reed and Thomas S. Plaut.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Scrapbooks on reel 581 lent for microfilming by Plaut, 1973; his estate, via the executor Edward M. Condit, Jr., lent those on reel 5139 in 1996. Plaut donated the unmicrofilmed material in 1985 and 1992, and additional papers were received as a bequest in 1996 via the executor of his estate.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Israel Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scrapbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sketchbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Arts administrators -- Massachusetts -- Boston Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Museum directors -- Massachusetts -- Boston Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art museums -- Massachusetts -- Boston Function Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Adenauer, Konrad, 1876-1967 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bernstein, Leonard, 1918-1990 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Breuer, Marcel, 1902- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gandhi, Indira, 1917-1984 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gropius, Walter, 1883-1969 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Peirce, Waldo, 1884-1970 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ruckstull, F. W. (Fred Wellington), 1853-1942 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sachs, Paul J. (Paul Joseph), 1878-1965 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Berman, Eugene, 1899-1972 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kirstein, Lincoln, 1907- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kokoschka, Oskar, 1886- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Milles, Carl, 1875-1955 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston, Mass.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Institute of Modern Art (Boston, Mass.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
World Crafts Council Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Expo 67 (Montréal, Québec) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Exposition universelle et internationale (1958 : Brussels, Belgium) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Archives of American Art
750 9th Street, NW
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions