The
The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and
Printed Ephemera
OVERVIEW OF THE
COLLECTION
Creator: Helen Comstock
Title: Papers
Dates: 1959-1965
Call
No.:
Acc.
No.: 82x364
Quantity: 6 boxes
Location: 17 I 1
BIOGRAPHICAL
STATEMENT
Helen Comstock
was born in
Comstock began
her editorial work on the staff of the International
Studio magazine in about 1926, rising to Associate Editor by 1931 when it
combined with Connoisseur of
SCOPE AND
CONTENT
This collection
consists mainly of correspondence generated in the course of research for Ms.
Comstock's books American Furniture
(1962) and The Looking Glass in America
(1968). Correspondents include Alice Winchester, Charles Montgomery, Ima Hogg,
Milo Naeve, and other representatives of most of the important collections in
the American decorative arts. The collection also includes a great number of
photographs showing furniture, period rooms, and art work. Many of the photographs indicate the name of
the institution that provided Comstock with the image.
The collection
also came with about one cubic foot of publications, clippings and auction
catalogs which are listed on the last pages of this finding aid, but which were
removed from the collection and offered to
ORGANIZATION
The
materials arranged in alphabetical order.
PROVENANCE
Gift
of Alice Winchester,
ACCESS POINTS
People:
Montgomery, Charles
Franklin, 1910- - Correspondence.
Hogg, Ima -
Correspondence.
Naeve,
Topics:
Furniture -
Mirrors.
Women
authors.
Correspondence.
Letters.
Drafts.
Photographs.
Articles.
Editors.
Writers.
DETAILED
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Location: 17 I
1
American Furniture, Correspondence
post publication, 1962-63
Animals:
clippings file
Antiques style sheet
Art: clippings
Art criticism: clipping
Articles and Correspondence
for Antiques, part 1, 1962-65
Articles and Correspondence
for Antiques, part 2, 1960-63
Articles and Correspondence
for Antiques, part 3, 1942, 1959-61
Articles and
notes, various, ca. 1949
Birds:
clippings file
Catalog, Standun
(
"Collectors
Notes": correspondence, photographs
Correspondence:
Antiques, 1960-65
Correspondence:
Atwill, Sanger, 1960-62
Correspondence:
Barbour, Frederick K., 1960-61
Correspondence:
Beds, 1960
Correspondence:
Beirne, Rosamund R. (Mrs. F. F.), 1960-61
Correspondence:
Correspondence:
Correspondence:
Bulkeley, Houghton,
Correspondence:
Carpenter, Ralph E., 1960-64
Correspondence:
Correspondence:
Christopher, Tom B., 1961
Correspondence: Cogan, Lillian B. (re: Hempsted House,
Correspondence:
Colonial
Correspondence:
Correspondence:
Currier Gallery of Art (Charles E. Buckley), 1960-61
Correspondence:
Correspondence:
Essex Institute,
Correspondence:
Essex Institute: publications from file
Correspondence:
Franklin, C. Ray, 1960-61
Correspondence:
Ginsburg & Levy, Inc., 1960-61
Correspondence:
Hogg, Ima, 1960-61
Correspondence:
Hughes, Mrs. W. Gordon, 1964-65
Correspondence:
Independence Hall, and miscellaneous, 1960-61
Correspondence:
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1960-65
Correspondence: Miscellaneous [includes: correspondence; Yale Alumni Magazine, January 1962, with
article on the Mabel Brady Garvan Collection of Furniture; articles from the New York Historical Society Quarterly; a Christmas card from Brown's Hotel in
London; some photographs; a 1954 press release from the Pierpont Morgan Library
in New York; etc.]
Correspondence:
Miscellaneous and permissions, 1960-62
Correspondence:
Correspondence: Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute (re:
Fountain Elms, etc.), 1961
Correspondence:
Museum of the City of New York, 1960-61
Correspondence:
New Hampshire Historical Society, 1961
Correspondence:
Newark Museum, 1960-61
Correspondence:
Correspondence:
Parke-Bernet miscellaneous and others, 1960-65
Correspondence:
Shelburne Museum, 1960-64
Correspondence:
Sleepy Hollow Restorations, 1960-65
Correspondence:
Smithsonian Institution, 1960-64
Correspondence:
Society for the Preservation of
Correspondence:
Taradash, Mitchell, 1960-61
Correspondence:
Vetter, Robert M., 1965
Correspondence:
Walton, John S., photographs, 1960-61
Correspondence:
White House, 1961
Correspondence:
Correspondence
and photographs: Winterthur Museum, 1960-62
Correspondence:
Woodlawn Plantation, photograph, 1961
Henry Ford
Museum, 1961-66
Kosmos-Natur-Kalender,
1954
Mirrors: correspondence,
research, and photographs (2 folders)
Notes and
Smithsonian photographs, ca. 1960
Pennsylvania
German: clippings
Personal publicity
Photographs (around
100, in 2 folders)
Photographs: mostly American subjects; identified for use
(around 55 photos)
Photographs: not specific to
Photographs,
Southern furniture (2 folders, continued in
Photographs:
Southern furniture (continues from
"Portraits
of American Craftsmen," article by Comstock, 1959-60
Publications about
List of publications from the Helen Comstock
papers which were, according to policy, offered to the Printed Books and
Periodicals Collection at the end of October 1990:
Loengard, John,
photographer, "Serene twilight of a once-sturdy sect; the Shakers,"
[no date or publication name given, but looks like Life or Look.]
Naeve,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, March 1943, June
1943, October 1943, March 1954 (2 copies), March 1955, November 1955, February
1962, October 1962 (two copies), December 1965 (2 copies)
The
Wolf, Edwin 2nd
and Smith, Robert C. "A press for Penn's pump," Art Quarterly, Autumn 1961
a pair of
conjugate leaves from Cleveland Museum of
Art Bulletin, Dec. 1960, showing illustration of 17th century table
Swan, Mabel M.
"
Torrey, Julia
W., "Ancestors of the turned chair" Antiques, September 1937
Old-Time
The Month at Goodspeed's, May-June
1953, November-December 1953, April 1954, October-November 1954, March-April
1956, December 1956, March-April 1958
Education as an Art; Bulletin of the Rudolf
Steiner School Association, ca. 25 issues between 1958 and 1966, and Education as an Art, published by the
Waldorf Schools of
Thomas, Milton
Halsey, "The King's
Vail, R.W.G.
"Unknown views of old
The Old Print Shop Portfolio, December 1954,
November 1955, February 1956 (two copies), November 1959
Wallace, David
H., ed. "Diary of J.B. Dunlop,"
Philadelphia Museum Bulletin, Spring 1953
[issue consists of article on Henry Connelly and Ephrain Haines,
Victoriana; an exhibition of the arts of the Victorian
era in America; April 7-
Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin, January 1956,
April 1957, April 1958, January 1960, October 1965 (Ammi Phillips exhibition
catalog)
George Dudley Seymour's Furniture Collection in
the
Bulletin of the
American Processional; 1492-1900.
"Published by The National Capital Sesquicentennial Commission on the
occasion of AMERICAN PROCESSIONAL, a special exhibition held at The Corcoran
Gallery of Art from July 8 through December 17, 1950....", 1950.
(exhibition catalog)
Bulletin of the
Bulletin of the Art Institute of
Halsey, R.T.H.,
Benjamin Franklin: his interest in the
arts [apparently an offprint from an
exhibition catalog]
Early Prints and Drawings of
Asa Stebbins House 1799,
Museum of the
Old English Pine Woodwork; its decorative value
to interior decoration.
Museums of
Loyalist House; Saint John, New Brunswick,
Canada
[brochure]
Exhibition of Chippendale Furniture for the
benefit of St. Luke's Hospital Social Service
Gaines, Edith.
"Quillwork: American paper filigree" Antiques n.d.
Bulletin of the
American-Anderson News, January 1934
[pub. by American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, Inc.]
Museum News;
Bury,
Waldman, Emil. The Little Masters,
The
Bulletin of the [
The Journal of the
Parke-Bernet
Galleries, Inc. auction catalogs:
Early American Furniture... The Andrew V.
Stout Collection....Public Sale Saturday, April 5...1941 (priced) (catalog
274)
The Notable American Collection of Mr. and
Mrs. Norvin H. Green...Public Auction Sale November 29 and 30 and December
1 and 2...1950 (catalog 1202)
Important American and English XVII Century
Furniture & Decoration....Public Auction
XVII & XVIII Century American Furniture
and Paintings.... Public Auction
Important American Furniture... Public
Auction
Important American Eighteenth Century
Cabinetwork.... Public Auction March 24 and 25...1961 (catalog 2026)
Important Early American Cabinetwork...
Public Auction...October 19...1963
(catalog 2215)