Gone but not forgotten! October was American Archives Month at the JOCL

Happy (belated) American Archives Month! Our Library has several archival collections containing everything from personal letters between Moses Myers and his loved ones to pictures of Walter Chrysler Jr. at his parents' estate. It is important to preserve primary sources like this to better understand our history and be able to provide first-hand facts about certain situations. Archivist Lisa Lewis provides us with a short and sweet explanation of what archivists do for a living:

"Archivists bring the past to the present. They're records collectors and protectors, keepers of memory. They organize unique, historical materials, making them available for current and future research."

Here at the JOCL we make sure the Museum's history lives on by carefully preserving our own institutional archves. Here are some fun pictures from the Walter P. Chrysler Jr. collection:

Walter Chrysler Jr. at his parent's estate

Jean in her 'basement' Library

Walter and Jean's drawing room at the North Wales Estate

A View From the Stacks: Jamie's Journal Week 4

Our Library Interns have headed off for the summer. They are missed and certainly not forgotten. They've left us with some great journal entries written during the course of the summer. I hope you'll enjoy reading about their adventures and efforts over the next few weeks. - L. C.

Walter P. Chrysler Jr. with former Museum Director Dr. David Steadman and an unidentified woman.

 

For Whom in Which Will?

        Continuing on my journey through Walter P. Chrysler Jr’s records, I came across another interesting bump in the road: his will. After a life filled with the constant buying and selling of art, by 1988 Walter had accumulated quite a distinguished personal collection.  Upon his death in September of 1988, it was assumed that he would donate most, if not all, of this collection to the museum he worked so hard to build and maintain.

          In his will, Walter named the Chrysler Museum as beneficiary of over 75% of the Chrysler family trust fund along with $1.6 million for endowment and 17 of his remaining personal works of art.  Also in the will, of the 785 works of art from Walter’s personal collection on loan to the museum, 768 were named to Jack, Walter’s nephew.  Many people, including the Chrysler Museum’s director at the time, Dr. David Steadman were surprised by this decision.  It was reported that before his death, he led his closest friends to believe that he would leave the majority of his artwork collection to the museum.  So, what did he truly want?

       Here is where it gets really interesting.  There was a second, unsigned will that emerged months after his death.  If signed, this will would have given most of Walter’s personal collection to the museum instead of to his nephew, Jack.  751 works, on top of other money given to Jack, would have gone to the museum.  Walter died two days prior to an appointment designated for signing the will.  If the contents of this will were what he truly wanted, why wouldn’t he have taken care of it already? Was his death just unfortunate timing?

           And another thing. Thomas H. Willcox Jr., board of trustees president, said that Walter was an “avid writer of wills” and had made lots of unsigned wills in his life (Daily Press, 4/11/89).  So was this unsigned will just another one of those? We are fortunate enough to have a draft of this controversial, unsigned will in the Chrysler’s archives.

 

 - Jamie Sawyer, Summer 2011  Library Archives Intern

A View From the Stacks: “The Controversial Century”

The building that formerly held the Chrysler Museum at Provincetown, today.

         Walter Chrysler’s exhibition titled “The Controversial Century” was quite the controversy itself.  It began as a show at his Provincetown museum in 1962, showcasing works by extraordinary artists like Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh, and Matisse. It moved to Ottawa, Canada a few months later, as a traveling exhibit.  One problem.  Experts declared many of these works to be forgeries.

This week, after finishing the processing of Garbisch-related archives, I began work with archival material having to do with Walter, himself, I found most interesting his involvement in the 1962 scandal mentioned above.  It raised many questions in my mind.  How could such a distinguished art collector have fallen into this trap?  What can be said about standards on ethics in the art world (both past and present)?

At the time of “The Controversial Century” exhibition, the Art Dealers Association of America was just forming.  This organization was formed in order to ensure higher ethical standards in the art world.  The ADAA caught wind of certain rumors pertaining to the authenticity of a good number of the paintings in Chrysler’s 1962 show.  Teaming up with Canada’s Parliament, U.S. income tax officials, and the New York County’s district attorney’s office, the ADAA found that some of the paintings in the exhibit had no “pedigree” and were stylistically unlike the work of the pronounced artists. The works that were pronounced fake were then removed from public view.

A painting’s “pedigree” is a listing of all of its progressive owners, traced back to the original buyer.  The authenticity of a painting can be guaranteed by its “pedigree”. Most of the questionable art came from a New York gallery, known as Hartert Galleries.

Reading headline after headline about this incident made me begin to feel bad for Chrysler.  For someone who had the reputation of being a wonderful art connoisseur, striving to educate the public about art’s importance to society, Chrysler was hit hard by many harsh words in and out of the art world.

Walter P. Chrysler Jr. c. 1970

Fortunately, despite this controversy in the early 60’s he was able to bounce back, becoming one of the most distinguished art collectors in America.  Yet, it still makes you wonder: how could he have made such an outrageous mistake?  It still remains a mystery.


 -Jamie Sawyer, Summer 2011 Library Archives Intern

Intern Projects - Walter Chrysler Jr. Research

This summer, we asked the Library interns to write a short paragraph about their favorite assignment this summer. In a post on September 4, we told you about Emma, Gabrielle and Jessica's favorite task. This week it's Brendan Higgin's turn. Here's what Brendan said he enjoyed the most:

"Our second to last week here at the Jean Outland Chrysler Library, the other interns and I assisted with an ongoing project to trace Walter P. Chrysler Jr.’s life as an art collector and key figure in the Museum’s history. Ultimately the research will be compiled into a database that contains detailed information on Chrysler’s possessions and purchases/sales/donations at different points in his life. Each of chose a decade and, after poring over the Library’s collection of biographies, scrapbooks, and files of newspaper clippings pertaining to Chrysler, constructed a timeline of everything relevant we could find about that period. I researched the 1930s, a period in history and the arts that I find particularly interesting, and became immediately absorbed in the work. The name Walter Chrysler had been somewhat of an enigma to me all summer, and it was fascinating finally to learn some of the details of his life—sometimes controversial, often inscrutable, but always active and aware. His tastes in the '30s were ahead of his time, and thanks to a keen business sense, he built up one of the finest collections of modern art in the world, containing supposedly hundreds of Picassos, as well as pieces by Matisse, Cezanne, Braque, Leger, and Gris (among many other big names of the 20th century). This task, probably more than anything else I did this summer, really deepened my understanding and appreciation of the Chrysler Museum and its art; specifically, I realized the impact Walter Chrysler’s voracious buying during this period has had on the wonderfully varied collections housed in the Museum today."

Interesting Facts on the History of the Library you may not know!

In 1901, educator Annie Wood founded the Irene Leache Library to honor her friend and fellow teacher and began to display rare books. The books were moved to the newly-constructed Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, created through the efforts of the Norfolk Society of Arts, in 1933. In 1971 Walter P. Chrysler Jr. and his wife, Jean, came to the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences and renamed it the Chrysler Museum of Art, bringing with them not only a well-rounded collection of art but a large library. The library had been previously stored in the basement of the original Chrysler Museum structure, a converted Methodist Church in Provincetown, Mass. In 1977 the 140-year-old, 60,000 volume Knoedler Library was purchased for the museum, and added major art reference books and extremely rare annotated sales catalogues to the collection. The library collection's expansion needed $150,000 to create a suitable space. Fundraisers were planned, and a grant appeal was made to the National Endowment for the Arts. In the interim before the completion of the library, the collection was stored in the Norfolk school administration building and functioned under the care of Mrs. Chrysler. The 6,000 square foot library was named for Mrs. Chrysler as the Jean Outland Chrysler Library and opened within the walls of the Chrysler Museum on April 4, 1989. Over the years the collection has continued to grow and now contains 106,896 volumes!