Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers, circa 1920-1991, bulk 1946-1983

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A Finding Aid to the Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers, circa 1920-1991, bulk 1946-1983, in the Archives of American Art, by Kathleen Brown and Jennifer Meehan

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Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by Terra Foundation for American Art

Table of Contents:

• Biographical Information
• Overview of the Collection
• How to Use the Collection
• Detailed Description and Container Inventory

Biographical Information

Betty Parsons (1900-1982) was one of the leading art dealers in New York City specializing in modern art, particularly the work of the Abstract Expressionists. She opened Betty Parsons Gallery in 1946 at 11 E. 57th St., later moving to 24 W. 57th St.

The history of the Betty Parsons Gallery is inextricably bound to the life and experiences of its founder. Betty Parsons was born Betty Bierne Pierson on January 31, 1900 in New York City. She enjoyed a privileged childhood, which included vacation homes in Newport and Palm Beach. Her only formal education was a five year stint at the prestigious Chapin School from 1910-1915, where she met many of the women who would become life long friends and supporters. In the spring of 1920, she married Schuyler Livingston Parsons from one of New York's oldest families. The marriage ended after only three years and the couple traveled to Paris where they could obtain a divorce on the grounds of incompatibility. She retained her married surname and purchased a house on the rue Boulard in Paris, where she remained for ten years, pursuing studies in painting and sculpture.

Financial constraints forced Parsons to return to the United States in 1933. She first traveled west to California, but it was her return to New York in 1935 that marked the start of her career as an art dealer. Her first opportunity to connect with the New York art world came after a successful exhibition of her watercolors at the Midtown Galleries where the owner, Alan Gruskin, noted Parson's faithful and wealthy group of supporters and offered her work installing exhibitions and selling paintings on commission. Her work for the Midtown Galleries led to a second position in the Park Avenue gallery of Mary Sullivan, one of the founders of the Museum of Modern Art. Here, Parsons learned the business of running a gallery. By 1940 Parsons was ready to take on more independent responsibility and agreed to manage a gallery within the Wakefield Bookshop. In this job, she exercised full curatorial control by selecting artists and organizing exhibitions. She championed then unknown contemporary American artists and the gallery's roster soon included Saul Steinberg, Hedda Sterne, Alfonso Ossorio, Joseph Cornell, Walter Murch, and Theodore Stamos. Although the majority of the exhibitions were solo shows, there were a few group shows and themed exhibitions, such as Love in Art (1941) and Ballet in Art (1942). Under Parson's direction, the gallery hosted an important exhibition of Pre-Columbian sculpture, curated by Barnett Newman.

When the owners of the Wakefield Bookshop decided to close the gallery late in 1944, Mortimer Brandt, a dealer who specialized in Old Master paintings and drawings, offered her a position as head of the newly created contemporary section of his gallery. Many of the artists who had shown with Parsons at the Wakefield Gallery followed her to her new gallery, where they were joined by Ad Reinhardt, Boris Mango, and Hans Hofmann. While the exhibitions garnered attention from the press and the interest of contemporary artists, the contemporary section was not a financial success and Brandt opted to close his gallery in 1946.

Using $1000 of her own money and an additional borrowed $4000, Parsons sublet the space that previously housed Mortimer Brandt's contemporary section, on the fifth floor of 15 East 57th Street, and opened the Betty Parsons Gallery.

In many respects the early years of the Betty Parsons Gallery were the most vital, as it was during the period of 1947-1951 that the gallery became linked with the Abstract Expressionists and the history of post-WWII American Art. In an unpublished history of the gallery, noted art critic Lawrence Alloway stated that the significance of the gallery's early exhibitions ranks with Durand-Ruels Impressionists exhibitions or Kahnweiler's shows of the Cubists. Betty Parsons Gallery quickly became one of the most prestigious galleries in New York City associated with new American Art of all styles. Her close friend Barnett Newman organized the gallery's inaugural exhibition of Northwest Coast Indian Art and he soon began to exhibit his own work at the gallery. When Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century Gallery closed, Jackson Pollock, Clyfford Still, and Mark Rothko joined Parsons' growing stable of artists. Although Parsons continued to promote and exhibit many of the artists whom she had previously discovered, these four artists dominated this period. Newman, Pollock, Still, and Rothko worked closely together, holding themselves apart from the other artists somewhat. They were actively involved in the curatorial process and often hung their own shows. For these artists, the exhibition itself was an artistic act of creation.

Parsons provided a supportive environment and allowed her artists enormous freedom in planning and designing their exhibitions. She was not, however, an aggressive salesperson. During this early period the gallery ledgers document sales to an impressive array of museums including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as important collectors such as Edward Root and Duncan Phillips. Nevertheless, the art that the gallery promoted was not yet widely accepted. Sales were few, prices were low and the business would not turn a profit for several years. Meanwhile, there was mounting pressure from Pollock, Newman, Still, and Rothko to drop some of the other artists from Parsons' stable and focus all resources on them. They wanted to be promoted to a larger audience and have their work sold at higher prices, but Parsons enjoyed discovering new artists and did not want to be restricted in this endeavor. The year 1951 marks the last time that Pollock's drip paintings or the monumental works of Newman, Rothko or Still were shown at the Betty Parsons Gallery.

In the following years the Betty Parsons Gallery continued to attract a diverse group of talented artists. Ellsworth Kelly, Richard Tuttle, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jack Youngerman had their first New York exhibitions at the Betty Parsons Gallery. Parsons opened Section Eleven in 1958, a short-lived annex to the main gallery, so that she could promote younger, less well-known artists. It closed in 1960 due to the administrative difficulties in running two essentially separate galleries.

In 1962, Sidney Janis, another prominent art dealer, started proceedings to evict Parsons from the floor that they shared on 15 East 57th Street. The Betty Parsons Gallery moved to 24 West 57th Street in 1963, where it remained until it closed in 1983, following Parsons' death the preceding year. Throughout the gallery's history, Parsons continued to promote faithful artists such as Hedda Sterne and Saul Steinberg, who had been with her from the beginning and to seek out new talent, both for her main gallery and for other venues, such as the short-lived Parsons-Truman Gallery, which she opened in 1974 with former Parsons Gallery director Jock Truman to show works on paper by emerging artists.

In addition to being an art dealer, Betty Parsons was a respected artist and collector. With her connoisseur's eye and connections, Parsons amassed an impressive private collection of art. She bought her first piece while an art student in Paris in the 1920s, a small gouache by Zadkine, but did not begin acquiring works in earnest until she was established as an art dealer. Partial inventories of her personal collection show that the majority of her collection contained works by artists associated with the gallery. Mark Rothko, Hans Hofmann, Ad Reinhardt, Agnes Martin, and Kenzo Okada were among the artists represented. Many were gifts from the artists, such as an ink drawing by Jackson Pollock, inscribed "For Betty." Selections from her collection appeared in small museums across the United States, including a traveling exhibition organized by Fitch College, New York, in 1968. In her role as a promoter of contemporary American art, Parsons lent generously from her collection, particularly to the federal Art in the Embassies Program. Throughout her life she also donated works to a variety of museums, most notably, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark.

Parsons frequently claimed that her desire to pursue a career as an artist stemmed from a visit to the Armory Show when she was thirteen. In her late teens, after pressuring her father for art lessons, she studied with the sculptor Gutzon Burglum of Mount Rushmore fame. In Paris, she continued her studies first with Antoine Bourdelle, whose sculptures she had admired at the Armory Show, and later with Ossip Zadkine. The first exhibition of her work, figurative watercolors and sculptures, took place in Paris in 1927. As she matured as an artist, her art became more abstract. Her late works were painted wood sculptures that she pieced together from wood that she found near her studio in Long Island. Parsons' work was exhibited in more than thirty solo exhibitions, including, Betty Parsons; Paintings, Gouaches and Sculpture, 1955-1968, at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. During her lifetime, she would not allow her works to be shown in her own gallery. Shortly after she died of a stroke in 1982, In Memoriam, Betty Parsons: Late Sculptures, opened at the Betty Parsons Gallery.

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Overview of the Collection

Scope and Contents

The Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers measure 49.6 linear feet and date from 1928 to 1991, with the bulk of the material dating from 1946-1983. Records provide extensive documentation of the gallery's operations from its inception in 1946 to its closing in 1983 and of the activities of Betty Parsons as one the leading art dealers of contemporary American Art in the latter half of the twentieth century, particularly the work of the Abstract Expressionists. Over one third of the of the collection is comprised of artists files containing correspondence, price lists, and printed materials. Additional correspondence is with galleries, dealers, art institutions, private collectors, and the media. Also found are exhibition files, exhibition catalogs and announcements, sales records, stock inventories, personal financial records, and photographs. Betty Parsons' personal papers consist of early curatorial files, pocket diaries, personal correspondence, and evidence of her own artwork, including sketchbooks, and files documenting her personal art collection.

Artists files, the largest and most extensive series, consist of a wide variety of documents, including biographical materials, correspondence with or related to the artist, exhibition catalogs and announcements, sales and expense invoices, clippings, price lists, and photographs of the artist, exhibitions, and artwork. The files reflect Parsons' close personal relationships with certain artists, particularly Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, and Barnett Newman. Extensive documentation is also found for Forrest Bess, William Congdon, Paul Feeley, Thomas George, Alexander Liberman, Seymour Lipton, Richard Pousette-Dart, Jesse Reichek, and Jack Youngerman. Historians and researchers will find these files to be an invaluable resource both in tracing Betty Parsons' role in promoting Abstract Expressionism and researching individual artists.

Exhibition files primarily document the gallery's infrequent group or themed exhibitions. Of particular note are the files on The Ideographic Picture, which was organized by Barnett Newman and included his work, as well as that of Pietro Lazzari, Boris Margo, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Theodoros Stamos, and Clyfford Still. Price lists, artist biographies and exhibition schedules are housed in the general exhibition files. Loan exhibition files provide documentation of artwork borrowed by other galleries or institutions for exhibitions, as well as shows outside of the gallery that were organized by Betty Parsons. Also found are gallery exhibition guest books, and announcements and catalogs.

Gallery correspondence is primarily with galleries and dealers, museums, arts organizations, and collectors. Scattered letters from artists are also found, although the bulk of the artists' correspondence is filed in the Artists Files. Also found here are memoranda and letters between Betty Parsons and her staff that contain detailed information concerning Parsons' schedule and gallery activities. Similar correspondence is found amongst the correspondence files within the series Betty Parsons papers.

Appraisal and conservation files include correspondence, appraisal invoices, forms, and appraisal requests and other information from the Art Dealers Association of America, and conservation invoices and reports. The majority of the appraisal records contain information about the specific works of art, including artist, title, date, current owner and the estimated value at the time of the request. Conservation records document conservation treatments undertaken by outside conservators to gallery stock.

Sales, purchases, stock and inventory are well documented in the sales and inventory records. The records provide detailed information about individual sales, prices of individual pieces of artwork, consignments, and loans. Most sales records also include detailed information about the buyer and are a valuable resource for provenance research. Files documenting the general administration, routine business operations, and financial transactions (not individual sales) of the gallery are housed in the general business and financial records. These records include ledgers, receipts, tax records, and banking records. There is some limited information about works of art scattered amongst the receipts and in the "in/out slips" files. Legal records house general legal documents and those concerning specific lawsuits. Of particular note is the file detailing the lawsuit between Betty Parsons and Sidney Janis over the fifth floor of 24 West 57th Street.

The remainder of the collection consists of Betty Parsons' personal papers which document Parsons' career prior to opening her own gallery, her work as an artist, and her personal art collection.

Some information about Parsons' work prior to opening her own gallery is found in the early curatorial files she retained from her curatorial and administrative work at the Wakefield Gallery and the Mortimer Brandt Gallery. Clippings, correspondence, announcements, exhibition lists and exhibition files are found. For both positions, she kept only the exhibition files for a small group of exhibitions organized around a specific theme, the most notable being the exhibition of Pre-Columbian Sculpture at the Wakefield Gallery.

Biographical materials include copies of her biography, family genealogies, photographs of Parsons, interviews with Colette Roberts and WYNC radio, memberships, photographs, and ephemera, including a collection of programs and invitations from events that she attended. Throughout her life Parsons gave generously of her time to various cultural and charitable institutions and was awarded for her contributions. There are also a number of files that document her speaking engagements, her participation as a juror in numerous juried exhibitions, charitable work, and awards that she received.

Parsons' personal correspondence files reflect how deeply Parsons' life was intertwined with the gallery. There are letters from museum directors, dealers, artists seeking representation, and personal letters from artists with whom she had close personal relationships, most notably Larry Bigelow, Alexander Calder, William Condon, and Ad Reinhardt. There are also letters from the English artist Adge Baker, with whom Parsons was romantically involved. Correspondence also includes several files of postcards and Christmas cards.

Pocket diaries and engagement calendars, spanning from 1933-1981 (although the 1950s are notably missing) record social engagements, meetings, vacations, and telephone numbers. Also found are three notebooks, and three sketchbooks, two of which are annotated. Writings by others include writings about Betty Parsons or the Betty Parsons' Gallery, such as Lawrence Alloway's unpublished typescript titled "An American Gallery" and other topics.

Printed material consists of exhibition announcements and catalogs, art magazines, and newspaper and magazine clippings about Betty Parsons, her family and acquaintances, artists, and other art related topics, coupled with a miscellaneous selection of clippings on topics that presumably captured Parsons' attention.

Personal art work records document Betty Parsons' career as an artist through inventories, group and solo exhibitions files, price lists, appraisals, sales and consignment invoices. Photographs are primarily reproductions of her works of art, although there are scattered photographs of exhibition installations.

Betty Parsons private art collection files document Parsons extensive personal collection of art that included works by Jackson Pollock, Agnes Martin, Romare Bearden, Barnett Newman, and Mark Rothko, in addition to Amlash sculpture from ancient Persia and primitive sculpture from New Hebrides. These files include inventories, lists, exhibition records, sales and purchase invoices, and photographs. There are also files for donations and loans from Parsons' personal collection to museums and fund raising auctions for several non-profit institutions.

Finally, the personal financial records provide information about the Parsons' family finances and her personal financial success as an art dealer. In addition to her own investments, Parsons inherited shares in family investments through the estates of her parents, J. Fred Pierson, Jr. and Suzanne Miles Pierson, and younger sister, Emily Rayner. Real estate files include correspondence, utility bills, receipts, area maps, and land plots for houses in Sheepscot, Maine and St. Maartens, Netherlands Antilles. Tax returns, ledger worksheets, receipts, banking statements, deposit slips, and cancelled checks are among the other financial records.

Arrangement and Series Description

The collection is arranged into seven series:

• Series 1: Artists Files, 1935-1983(Boxes 1-18, 51, OV 53; 17.8 linear feet)
• Series 2: Exhibition Files, 1941-1983(Boxes 18-21, 51, OV 54; 3.6 linear feet)
• Series 3: Correspondence Files, 1941-1983 (boxes 21-24, 52; 3.7 linear feet)
• Series 4: Appraisal Files, 1935-1983(box 24; 0.6 linear feet)
• Series 5: Sales and Inventory Records, 1941-1983(boxes 25-28, 51; 2.9 linear feet)
• Series 6: General Business and Financial Records, circa 1956-1983 (boxes 28-38, 51; 9.6 linear feet)
• Series 7: Betty Parsons Papers, 1928-1991 (boxes 38-51; 11.5 linear feet)

Many of the series are further divided into subseries.

Subjects and Names

Provenance

The gallery donated some records in 1974, many of which had been loaned earlier for microfilming. The bulk of the collection was donated in 1984 and 1986 by William Rayner and Chrisopher Schwabacher, executors of the Estate of Betty Parsons. Additional material was donated by William Rayner in 1998.

Separated and Related Materials

Some of the material originally loaned for microfilming in 1968 and 1969 was not included in later donations and can be viewed on microfilm reels N68/62-N68/74 and N69/105-N69/106. Loaned materials are not described in the container listing in this finding aid.

Also found in the Archives of American Art are oral history interviews with Betty Parsons, June 4-9, 1969, by Paul Cummings, and June 11, 1981 by Gerald Silk.

How the Collection was Processed

Portions of the collection were loaned for microfilming on reels N68/62-N68/74 and N69/105-N69/105, much of which was included in later gifts. Many, but not all, of the records donated in three later gifts were microfilmed on reels 4087-4129, which are no longer in circulation. All donations were merged and the collection was fully processed, arranged, and described in accordance with archival standards by Jennifer Meehan and Kathleen Brown between 2007-2008, fully digitized in 2009, and made available on the Archives website in 2010 as part of the Terra Foundation for American Art Digitization Project.

How to Use the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Ownership & Literary Rights

The Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Available Formats

The bulk of this collection was digitized in 2009 and published online in 2010 on the Archives of American Art's website.

Materials that generally have not been scanned include duplicates, blank pages, slides, transparencies, unannotated photographs of works of art, routine financial transactions that do not document sales of artwork, and income tax records. Only the covers and title pages for many publications, such as catalogs, pamphlets, etc., have been scanned. Materials not scanned are noted at the folder headings and available by appointment.

How to Cite this Collection

Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers, circa 1920-1991, bulk 1946-1983. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

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Detailed Description and Container Inventory

Series 1: Artists Files, 1935-1983 (Boxes 1-18, 51, and OV 53; 17.8 linear feet)

At least one-third of the collection consists of Artists Files stemming from the the gallery's business relationships (and Betty Parsons' personal relationships) with numerous artists. The correspondence focuses primarily on representation, promotion, exhibitions, and sales. Files contain correspondence with artists, museums, curators, collectors, and dealers, as well as with insurance agencies, and shipping and storage companies. Also found in the files are price lists, sales and expense records, shipping records, exhibition announcements and catalogs, biographical material, clippings, photographs of artwork and artists, writings by and about artists, and related material.

The files provide extensive documentation of the gallery's activities on behalf of individual artists, as well as Betty Parsons' role in the rise of Abstract Expressionism in American art and her close personal relationships with certain artists. Of particular note are the files on Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, and Barnett Newman, who were among the artists shown in the early years of the gallery. The Pollock file contains letters to and from the artist and his wife, Lee Krasner, as well as correspondence between Peggy Guggenheim and Parsons concerning Pollock's work and career.

Extensive documentation can also be found on the artists Forrest Bess, William Congdon, Paul Feeley, Thomas George, Alexander Liberman, Seymour Lipton, Richard Pousette-Dart, Jesse Reichek, and Jack Youngerman. Other artists of note include Hans Hofmann, Ray Johnson, Lyman Kipp, Robert Murray, Agnes Martin, Alfonso Ossorio, Eduardo Paolozzi, Anne Ryan, Ad Reinhardt, Hans Richter, and Theodoros Stamos.

Correspondence with artists can also be found amongst the gallery correspondence files, as well as in Betty Parsons' personal correspondence. Artists Files are arranged alphabetically by artist and further subdivided if needed by format. Files described as "General" typically include records in a wide variety of formats, such as correspondence, sales and expenses records, and shipping records.

This series has been scanned in its entirety, except for duplicates, and slides and photographs of artwork.

Series 2: Exhibition Files, 1941-1983 (Boxes 18-21,51, OV 54; 3.6 linear feet)

Exhibition files primarily document the gallery's infrequent group or themed exhibitions, and the general administration of exhibitions. Also found are files for exhibitions Parsons organized for other galleries and institutions, and for the short-lived Section Eleven Gallery, an adjunct to the Betty Parsons Gallery that focused on new artists. While some exhibition material related to solo exhibitions can be found here, most of the exhibition material related to one-man/person exhibitions are found in the artists files.

Exhibitions of particular note for which there are files in this series include The Ideographic Picture, which was organized by Barnett Newman and included his work, as well as that of Pietro Lazzari, Boris Margo, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Theodoros Stamos, and Clyfford Still.

The Exhibition Files series is arranged into six subseries:

• 2.1: Group Exhibitions, 1944-1983
• 2.2: Loan Exhibitions, 1949-1979
• 2.3: Section Eleven Exhibitions, 1958-1961
• 2.4: General Exhibition Files, 1941-1983
• 2.5: Announcements and Catalogs, 1943-1983
• 2.6: Guest Books, 1969-1983

This series has been mostly scanned in its entirety, except for duplicates and photographs of works of art. Photographs of exhibition installations have been scanned.

2.1: Group Exhibitions, 1944-1983

Files consist of correspondence, notes, lists, schedules, loan receipts, shipping invoices, press releases, announcements, catalogs, clippings, and photographs, related to group exhibitions at the Betty Parsons Gallery, beginning with the first one, Northwest Coast Indian Painting in 1946 and ending with the planned memorial exhibition, "Betty Parsons and Her Artists/Works on Paper," which was ultimately cancelled.

Files are arranged chronologically according to the year of exhibition, represented by the first date listed for each file entry. The span dates at the end of each file entry represent the date range of material within the folder(s).

2.2: Loan Exhibitions, 1949-1979

Files consist of a wide variety of materials, such as correspondence, notes, lists, schedules, loan receipts, shipping invoices, press releases, announcements, catalogs, clippings, and photographs, relating to exhibitions in other galleries or institutions organized by Betty Parsons and/or for which the gallery loaned artwork.

Files are arranged chronologically according to the year of exhibition, represented by the first date listed for each file heading. The span dates at the end of each file heading represent the date range of material within the folder(s).

2.3: Section Eleven Exhibitions, 1958-1961

Files consist of correspondence, notes, lists, schedules, loan receipts, shipping invoices, press releases, announcements, catalogs, clippings, and photographs, relating to various group exhibitions held in the Section Eleven Gallery, which operated for a short time, from 1958-1961, as an adjunct to the Betty Parsons Gallery and showcased the work of new artists.

2.4: General Exhibition Files, 1941-1983

Files consist of materials relating to the general planning, production, and administration of exibitions, as well as sales relating to exhibitions. Includes are artists biographies, exhibition schedules, price lists, and other lists. The bulk of the documentation relating to solo exhibitions of particular artists can be found amongst the artist files.

2.5: Announcements and Catalogs, 1943-1983

Found here are exhibition announcements and catalogs, and a few exhibition posters, for the Betty Parsons Gallery. Exhibition announcements and catalogs can also be found amongst the artists files.

2.6: Guest Books, 1969-1983

Guest books contain signatures and comments from visitors to exhibitions at the Betty Parsons Gallery. There is no guest book for 1977.

Series 3: Correspondence Files, 1941-1983 (Boxes 21-24, 52; 3.7 linear feet)

This series consists of the incoming and outgoing correspondence of the gallery - some of it created by Betty Parsons and some of it by her gallery assistants (Jock Truman and others). It is with various institution and museum officials, art dealers, artists, researchers, collectors. The correspondence series also includes telephone and address books and gallery logs of internal memoranda.

This series has been scanned in its entirety.

The correspondence is arranged into five subseries:

• 3.1: Institutions and Dealers, 1945-1982
• 3.2: Individuals and Collectors, 1941-1982
• 3.3: Publishers, Newspapers and Magazines, 1946-1978
• 3.4: Miscellaneous Correspondence, 1979-1983
• 3.5: Gallery Logs and Telephone and Address Books, circa 1978-1981

This series has been scanned in its entirety.

3.1: Institutions and Dealers, 1945-1982

Files consist of correspondence with museums, galleries, dealers, colleges and universities, arts organizations, and associations. Correspondence typically relates to the general operations of the gallery, including loans, sales, prices, appraisals, conservation, damages, shipping, insurance, exhibitions, and requests for information about artists. requests for photographs, and slides, shipping, , including promotion, exhibition, and sale of work by gallery artists.

Files are arranged alphabetically according to the name of the institution or the surname of the individual. When the name of a business or institution also represents the name of an individual, the file is arranged by the name of the business. For example, correspondence with the Sidney Janis Gallery is filed under "S".

3.2: Individuals and Collectors, 1941-1982

Files consist of correspondence with private collectors and other individuals, including artists, researchers, art critics, gallery assistants, politicians, and business acquaintances. Correspondence concerns most of the same topics as the correspondence with institutions and dealers, such as sales, purchases, invoicing, loans, requests for photographs and and information, requests for information about artists and specific works of art, damages and conservation work, authentication and appraisal of works, and national and international shipping. In addition, there is correspondence about the gallery's role in forming a collection of contemporary drawings (John S. Newberry Collection), and sculpture commissions (including an Alexander Liberman sculpture commissioned by Solomon Smith for the Church of the Holy Spirit in Chicago).

The bulk of the correspondence with artists represented by the gallery can be found amongst the artists files. Artists' correspondence found here typically relates to artists seeking representation by the gallery and written recommendations (for grants, fellowships, and jobs) provided by Betty Parsons.

Correspondence with gallery assistants includes letters from people seeking a position or making arrangements to travel from abroad to take a position, as well as letters from Jock Truman, Marie Hartley, and others to Parsons while she was away, concerning gallery matters.

Files are arranged alphabetically.

3.3: Publishers, Newspapers and Magazines, 1946-1978

Files consist of correspondence with various publishers, newspapers, and magazines, concerning publications and articles on art and artists, Betty Parsons and the gallery, the gallery's stable of artists, and her responses. Also covered are advertising, reproductions of art work and purchase of prints for illustrations, and various printing and publishing projects.

Files are arranged alphabetically by name of publisher or publication. In instances where the name of a publisher contains the name of an individual, the file is arranged alphabetically according to the surname of the individual (for instance, correspondence with Harry N. Abrams, Inc. is filed under "A"). Though unusual, this means of alphabetizing may have originated with the creator and therefore no attempt has been made to modify it.

3.4: Miscellaneous Correspondence, 1979-1983

This is the correspondence, most from the 1980s, of gallery assistants Deborah Hildreth and Wendy Peterson. Organized chronologically, this correspondence concerns such matters as tax audits and other gallery business, artists seeking representation, and requests for information. Also found is miscellaneous correspondence (scattered greeting cards mostly) addressed to Jack Tilton.

3.5: Gallery Logs and Telephone and Address Books, 1978-1981,

Found here are gallery logs from 1977-1981 and two telephone and address books that are undated. Staff of the Betty Parsons Gallery maintained the gallery logs, which were used primarily to record telephone messages, although the logs also include lists of calls to make, things to do, mail sent, works sold, etc.

Files are arranged chronologically by year.

Series 4: Appraisal Files, 1954-1983 (Box 24; 0.4 linear feet)

Correspondence and forms concern valuations and appraisals, with requests from gallery clients and the Art Dealers Association of America. One folder solely contains appraisal requests and other information from the Art Dealers Association of America from 1982-1983.

This series has been scanned in its entirety.

Series 5: Sales and Inventory Records, 1946-1981 (Boxes 25-28, 51; 2.9 linear feet)

Found in this series are the records containing detailed information about gallery stock - sales, purchases, inventory, prices, artists' commissions, individual artist accounts, loan and consignment activities, and commission sales shared with other dealers. Multiple formats include invoices, forms, daybooks, ledger books, ledger sheets and inventories. Additional records documenting routine business transactions are located in the general business and financial records and "Artist Sales and Expenses" invoices can be found within the artist files. Documents in this series are a rich resource of information on individual works of art, including provenance and exhibition history. Condition reports are scattered amongst the files.

This series has been scanned in its entirety.

Sales and Inventory Records are arranged into four subseries:

• 5.1: Sales and Purchase Records
• 5.2: Artist Accounts
• 5.3: Consignment and Loan Records
• 5.4: Gallery Inventories

5.1: Sales and Purchases, 1946-1981

This suberies provides detailed information about the gallery's sales and, to a lesser extent, purchases of works of art through invoices, ledgers, record books, and summaries. Due to the variety of formats there is a significant duplication of information. There are only three folders of invoices for purchases dating from 1950-1974. Additional information regarding sales can be found in the general ledgers that are located in disbursements and receipts. Of particular interest are summaries of sales of art works by Ad Reinhardt, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko (circa 1952) and summaries of sales to museums from 1946 - 1952.

The majority of the files are sales invoices. Most invoices include detailed information about the work of art, the name and address of the buyer, price, and date of sales. Sales invoice files are arranged by four access points: artist, buyer, year, and invoice number. Sales invoices arranged by buyer make up the bulk of the invoices and may represent the most complete record of gallery sales. Filing idiosyncrasies exist within this category, primarily when the buyer is an institution or organization. In some instances the invoices and sales related correspondence were filed under the institution/organization name, while in others it was filed by the last name of the primary correspondent.

Purchase invoices identify the institution or individual from whom a work was purchased and establishes provenance for works that were not acquired directly from the artist. Purchase invoices can also be found scattered amongst the sales invoice files.

Files are arranged by format.

5.2: Artist Accounts, 1946-1980

This subseries contain the records of financial transactions between the gallery and artists, primarily the amount of commission that the gallery received from the artist/sale, and expenses charged back to the artists for exhibitions, advertising, and framing. Artist accounts include ledger sheets, lists, sales and expense invoices, and an expenses daybook.

Ledger sheets and invoices are arranged alphabetically by name of artist, while lists are arranged chronologically.

5.3: Consignment and Loan Records, circa 1948-1983

Found here are documents concerning loans to or from the gallery for sales and exhibitions. Although the Betty Parsons Gallery occasionally sent works on consignment to other galleries, the majority of consignments were to museum art rental and sales galleries, most notably the Museum of Modern Art's Art Lending Service. The gallery also loaned works to various museums and institutions for exhibitions and participated in the Art in Embassies program. The files contain correspondence, invoices, receipts, daybooks, and loan forms. Most documents contain standard data on the work of art, including title, artist, medium, creation date, and dimensions. Invoices for consignments to the gallery also contain the name and address of the original owner.

Files within this subseries are arranged alphabetically by individual or institution except for the daybooks, which are arranged chronologically.