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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Am 1857

Beaumont Newhall papers

Overview

Papers of American art historian, writer, photographer and curator, Beaumont Newhall.

Dates

  • Creation: 1947-1969

Creator

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research. Collection was formerly restricted until the deaths of both Newhall (died 1993) and his wife, Nancy Newhall Wynne (died1974).

Extent

.25 linear feet (1 box)

The bulk of the collection is correspondence between Newhall and his friend and colleague Ferdinand Reyher. The Newhall-Reyher correspondence discusses their research and writing on photography and early photographers. The compositions include articles and drafts for photography magazines, and bibliographies and notes on photography. Also contains an article by Berenice Abbott, "Photography today and tomorrow," correspondence of Newhall in his position as curator at the George Eastman House, a few letters to Reyher from third parties, a poem, and printed material. Includes one typescript 1969 letter from Beaumont Newhall to Ernst Halberstadt, concerning these papers and a typescript photocopy of a 1969 letter from Newhall to Houghton Library about the gift of these materials to Harvard.

Biographical / Historical

Beaumont Newhall (1908-1993) was an art historian, writer, photographer, and curator 1948-1958, then director 1958-1971, of the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, and a visiting professor of art at various universities. Ferdinand Reyher (1889?-1967) was a novelist, newspaper correspondent, and playwright.

Arrangement

Arranged in the following series:

  1. I. Correspondence
  2. II. Compositions
  3. III. Other material

Physical Location

b

Immediate Source of Acquisition

69M-112. Gift of Ernst Halberstadt; received: 1969 August.

Processing Information

Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt.

This collection was recataloged in December 2013. When recataloged, the order of these papers was altered.

Title
Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-1993. Beaumont Newhall papers, 1947-1969: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou01033

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

Contact:
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440