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Archives of American Art
Isabella Stewart Gardner papers
Summary
- Collection ID:
- AAA.gardisab
- Creators:
-
Gardner, Isabella Stewart, 1840-1924
- Dates:
-
1760-1956
- Languages:
-
English.
- Physical Description:
-
40 Microfilm reels
- Repository:
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
Letters, business records, diary, and photographs.
Scope and Contents
REEL 380-413: Primarily correspondence, mostly Gardner's own, but including family correspondence and Gardner Museum correspondence.
Scope and Contents
REELS 631-632: Personal papers of Gardner and some records of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum including dealers' files containing invoices, notes, cancelled checks, and letters; a record book, "Prices Paid for Paintings," 1917; a record book, "Prices Paid for Works of Art"; 118 installation photographs of the museum as arranged by Gardner, 1924; a diary kept in Egypt, 1874, with sketches; a diary kept in Shanghai and India, 1883-1884; "Directions for my funeral," 1912; and "Suggestions for Running a Museum," 1913.
Scope and Contents
REELS 696-698: Letters from Bernard Berenson to Gardner, 1887-1924. Letters contain references to literary topics, Berenson's impressions of Europe, various paintings and artists, advice to Gardner on the purchase of paintings and information on their sale.
Scope and Contents
REEL 846: Checklist of Gardner's letters to Bernard and Mary Berenson, 1894-1924; typescripts of personal and official correspondence (originals found on AAA microfilm reels 696-698), 1887-1924.
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
Isabella Stewart Gardner was an art patron, collector, and museum founder in Boston, Mass. Immediately after graduation from Harvard, Bernard Berenson was hired by Gardner to travel throughout Italy collecting Italian Renaissance art for her recreated Venetian palazzo in Boston. She established her palazzo as a museum of fine European art with stipulations that after her death none of the exhibited works was to be moved or rearranged, but left as she had designed during her lifetime.
Administration
Existence and Location of Copies
35mm microfilm reels 380-413, 631-632, 696-698, and 846 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Existence and Location of Originals
Originals in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Mass.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Microfilm lent by Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for duplicating, 1972-1975.
Using the Collection
Conditions Governing Access
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Keywords
Archives of American Art
750 9th Street, NW
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions