The records pertain to the administration of David W. Scott, director, 1965-1968, Robert Tyler Davis, interim director, 1969, and Joshua C. Taylor, director, 1970- . Some records, most noticeably correspondence with Smithsonian Art Commission members, have been pulled up into the files from previous administrations. Also included are Smithson...

The papers of art historian, curator, and professor Robert Rosenblum measure 38.3 linear feet and 1.17 GB and date from circa 1927 to 2009, with the bulk dating from 1950 to 2006. They include biographical material, extensive personal and professional correspondence; lectures, writings, and writing project files by Rosenblum and others; exhibition files; research reference files; teaching files; personal business records; printed and digital material; photographs; and artwork.

These records were created between 1974 and 1995 by Stephen E. Weil during his tenure as Deputy Director, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (HMSG). The records consist of correspondence with other international and national museums and art institutions; correspondence concerning policies and legal questions raised by the public and ot...

These records document an important change in the scope of the Smithsonian's concerns. Four of the bureaus and offices represented in these records existed in some form prior to 1964: the National Museum of American History, the Freer Gallery of Art, the National Museum of American Art, and the National Portrait Gallery. All the others we...

The papers of Aleš Hrdlička, curator in the Division of Physical Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, United States National Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, offer considerable insight into the development of physical anthropology in the first half of this century. The papers include honors bestowed on Hrdlička, autobiographical notes, correspondence with many of the leading anthropologists of the day, anthropometric and osteometric measurements and observations (forming most of the collection), extensive photographs of Hrdlička's field work, manuscripts, research materials, and "My Journeys" (essentially a diary Hrdlička kept of his field work). In addition, there is material of a personal nature. The papers date from 1875 to 1966, but the bulk of the materials date from 1903 to 1943, the time of Hrdlička's career at the USNM.

The papers of art historian and museum curator W.G. (William George) Constable measure 25.7 linear feet and date from 1905 to 1981, with the bulk of the material from 1920 to 1976. The papers include biographical material; professional and personal correspondence; extensive lectures, writings, and notes; exhibition and book research files; printed materials; and photographs, glass plate negatives, and slides. There is substantive correspondence related to Constable's participation in the American Defense Harvard Group and about the formation of the Roberts Commission, including correspondence with Ralph Perry, Hugh Hencken, Paul Sachs and George L. Stout. There are numerous official reports prepared by Constable after World War II for the U. S. Office of Military Government for Germany.

These papers document much of the career of Wilcomb E. Washburn (WEW), the greater part of it spent on the staff of the Smithsonian Institution as a curator at the National Museum of American History and as director of the Office of American Studies. The papers include correspondence, draft and finished scholarly and popular articles, and...

The administration of the United States National Museum required curators to submit regular reports on the activities of the departments, divisions, and sections. Prior to about 1900 these reports were often made monthly and semiannually as well as annually. The reports were traditionally submitted to the Director of the National Museum to ...

The Archives would like to thank Frederick J. Collier and Martin A. Buzas for their assistance in the transfer of these records to the Archives.

The Freer Gallery of Art Central Files are comprised mostly of the documentation of routine office procedures. Included in the daily routine were: filling orders for facsimiles of photographs, responding to reference requests seeking information about art and artifacts falling under the domain of the Freer's expertise, the Freer granting ...