Descriptive Entry

The Olga Zatorsky Hirshhorn Interviews were conducted during nine sessions between 1986 and 1998. Judith Zilzcer of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and Pamela M. Henson of the Smithsonian Institution Archives conducted the first eight interviews between 1986 and 1988. An additional interview was conducted by Sidney S. Lawrence, III, Head of Public Affairs, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and Judith K. Zilczer, Curator, Hirshhorn Museum in 1998. The interviews consist of approximately 13.5 hours of audiotape recordings, 474 pages of transcript, and occupy 1.00 cubic feet of shelf space.

These interviews of Olga Hirshhorn by Judith K. Zilczer, Curator, Hirshhorn Museum, and Pamela M. Henson, Smithsonian Institution Archives, discuss her youth; education; child-rearing years; careers in day care and business services; marriage to Joseph H. Hirshhorn; their travels; art collecting; meetings with S. Dillon Ripley; and the decision to donate the collection to the Smithsonian. Included are reminiscences of such art figures as Willem de Kooning, Henry Moore, Pablo Picasso, and Man Ray. The interview of Hirshhorn by Sidney S. Lawrence, III, Judith K. Zilczer, and Meghan Tierney, Intern, discusses a photograph collection of portraits collected by Olga Hishhorn and includes reminiscences of artists and other important figures in the art world. Appended to the interviews is Hirshhorn's 1986 lecture entitled, "My Life with Joe." Box 1 contains transcripts of the interviews and cassette copies of the original recordings, which are in security storage.