The Thomas Warren Sears Photograph Collection documents examples of the design work of Thomas Warren Sears (1880-1966), a landscape architect and amateur photographer from Brookline, Massachusetts. Sears, who was based for most of his career in Philadelphia, designed a variety of different types of landscapes ranging from private residences, schools, and playgrounds to parks, cemeteries, and urban housing developments located primarily in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York. In addition to some of Sears' design work, images in the collection document Sears' domestic and foreign travels, design inspirations, and family. The collection includes over 4,800 black and white negatives and glass lantern slides dated circa 1899 to 1930. While most images show private and public gardens, there are a significant number of unidentified views and views photographed in Europe during two trips he took there in 1906 and 1908. Few images are captioned or dated. In addition, there are over 50 plans and drawings, most notably for Balmuckety in Pikesville, Maryland and Reynolda in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and 3 monographs by or about Sears.

These papers document Preble's personal life and careers with the Bureau of Biological Survey and the American Nature Association, and include general correspondence, primarily incoming; published and unpublished manuscripts for scientific and conservation work; addresses and reports by others; field notebooks, diaries, lists and checklists for his field explorations and …

These papers document the history of the agrostology section of the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture (1901-1939), and the Section of Grasses, United States National Herbarium, United States National Museum (1912-1963) at the time Albert Spear Hitchcock and Mary Agnes Chase worked for the USDA and the USNH …

The American Art Association records measure 27.8 linear feet and date from circa 1853-1929, with the bulk of the material dating from circa 1885-1922. The records include auction and sales files, general financial and legal files, inventory and stock records, client files, printed materials, photographic materials, artwork, and the personal papers of founder Thomas Ellis Kirby.

The papers of caricaturist and illustrator Alfred J. Frueh measure 7.7 linear feet and 3.18 GB and date from circa 1880-2010. These papers consist of biographical information, including a sound recording of reminiscences about Frueh by his children; correspondence that includes many illustrated letters and greeting cards; notes and writings; numerous caricature sketches, cartoons, and 25 sketchbooks by Frueh; printed and digital material; and photographs of Frueh and his artwork. There is a 2.3 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated 2020 that includes bound and unbound scrapbooks and loose newspaper and magazine clippings of caricatures by Frueh from the New Yorker and other publications, circa 1920-1940.

The C. J. (Clarence Joseph) Bulliet papers measure 34.6 linear feet and are dated circa 1888-1959. Biographical materials, correspondence, writings, subject and artist files, printed material, photographs, and artwork document the career of the influential Chicago art critic and writer. The records contain extensive information about art and artists in Chicago and the Midwest from the early to mid-twentieth century.

The Frank K. M. Rehn Galleries records measure 21.8 linear feet and are dated 1858-1969 (bulk 1919-1968). The records consist mainly of business correspondence with collectors, artists, museums and arts organizations, colleagues, and others. A small amount of Frank K. M. Rehns personal correspondence and a few stray personal papers of individual artists are interfiled. Also included are financial records, scrapbooks, printed matter, miscellaneous records, and photographs documenting most of the history of a highly regarded New York City art gallery devoted to American painting.

The records of the New York City gallery James Graham & Sons measure 103.6 linear feet and date from 1815, 1821, circa 1896-2011 (bulk 1950s-1980s). The collection generally documents the gallery's contemporary art department during the time in which Robert Claverhouse Graham, Sr. worked at the gallery (1940-1979); records prior to 1954 are sparse and scattered. Gallery records include artist files; correspondence; exhibition files; financial records; inventory records; printed materials; sales, loans, and consignment records; scrapbooks; and photographic materials. Also found are records from Coe Kerr Gallery regarding exhibitions.

The records of the Howard Wise Gallery in New York, and its predecessor the Howard Wise Gallery of Present Day Painting and Sculpture in Cleveland, Ohio, measure 11.4 linear feet and date from 1943-1989. Records consist of correspondence, artist files, exhibition files, business records, writings, and video recordings that document the activities of Wise's gallery in Cleveland from 1957-1961 and, to a lesser extent, his gallery in New York City from 1960-1970. Wise's activities following the closing of the Howard Wise Gallery are also found among the correspondence, artist files, business records, writings, and video recordings.

The papers of Chicago art conservator, Louis Pomerantz, measure 34.2 linear feet and date from 1937 to 1988, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1950s-1980s. The papers document two principal aspects of Pomerantz's professional life: his conservation work for institutions and individuals, and the development of his professional expertise as documented through his writings and teachings, his continued conservation training, and his involvement in professional organizations. Files include scattered biographical material, professional correspondence, interviews, writings, project and client files, teaching and reference files, printed material, and photographic material primarily documenting conservation treatments and techniques.