Aline and Eero Saarinen papers, 1906-1977

Subseries consists primarily of material relating to personal aspects of Aline Saarinen's life, as well as some scattered papers of Eero Saarinen and a file relating to their son, Eames Saarinen.

Aline Saarinen's papers include a diary she began as a young girl and periodically added to over the years; a guest book which records the names of people who visited her during the years 1961-1971, with gaps in-between; a notebook from a class she took with [Erwin] Panofsky on Baroque art in 1936; a notebook that she kept on the alterations to the first house that she and her first husband, Joseph Louchheim, purchased in 1949 (including diary entries, correspondence with architects and interior designers, photographs, estimates, and statements); her writing on the events surrounding almost being offered the Finnish Ambassadorship by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964; invitations and other material relating to various inaugural events during the 1960s; and some personal writings and biographical material. Also found are awards and honorary degrees, including an academic hood, received by Aline Saarinen (such as honorary degrees from University of Michigan and Russell Sage College), campaign buttons, press passes, and commemorative objects.

Eero Saarinen's papers include biographical material (including a copy of his death certificate), some drawings of his furniture designs (mainly chairs), illustrated cards and certificates some of which were done with his son Eames, timelines and notes for various architectural projects, and various sketches and drawings, including sketches of Aline and himself, drawings of certain architectural projects with notes that he shared with Aline, various architectural sketches (some on the backs of placemats), and designs featuring their first initials, A and E.

Papers relating to Eames Saarinen include correspondence to his mother, school reports, and some poems and other writings.

Unless otherwise noted, the files relate to Aline Saarinen. Files are arranged alphabetically.

Subseries consists of correspondence between Aline and Eero Saarinen, general and family correspondence received by Aline Saarinen, and some miscellaneous correspondence received by Eero Saarinen. Also found are some personal letters of Eero Saarinen detailing the demise of his marriage to his first wife (Lily Swann Saarinen) which seem to have been written as part of undergoing psychotherapy and are addressed to his psychiatrist, "Dr. B", as well as a letter ending his relationship to a woman named Sampe, which may be a draft or a copy, though it is unclear whether the letter was ever actually sent.

Correspondence between Aline and Eero Saarinen primarily dates from 1953, the year they met and married. Their correspondence documents the evolution of their relationship from time they met when Aline interviewed Eero for an article for The New York Times to Eero's divorce and their subsequent remarriage to each other. Also included are homemade birthday cards from Aline to Eero (of particular note is the one from 1953 which details the history of their romance). In addition to relationship matters, their correspondence typically concerns Aline's article on Eero, Eero's architectural projects (or as he puts it, "what goes on in my mind about work"), a forthcoming speech of his in Cleveland on which Aline assisted him, Aline's articles, Eero's divorce proceedings, their future plans, and sculpture for one of Eero's buildings. By and large, their correspondence from 1953 is undated according to month or day. Therefore, letters from that year are only arranged in rough chronological order.

Aline Saarinen's general correspondence includes letters from friends, editors, her literary agent, lawyers, architects and designers, writers, government and university departments, political figures, and television producers, concerning articles, book ideas, dedication of Saarinen buildings, patents for Saarinen furniture designs, television shows, and committee work, among other matters. Correspondents include: Meyer Schapiro, Charles Eames, Louise Mendelsohn, Wayne Andrews, Hoke Norris, Hiram Haydn, Donald S. Klopfer, Bernice Cozzens, Lincoln Kirstein, The New York Times, James Gould Cozzens, J. Irwin Miller, Dwight D. Eisenhower (?), McCall's, Henry Dreyfuss, Lyndon B. Johnson, New York State Department, Russell Sage College, U.S. Department of Interior, Lady Bird Johnson, Nelson Rockefeller, and Wolf Von Eckhardt. General correspondence is typically arranged in chronological order. More extensive correspondence from Clifford Odets (which includes some drawings by Odets) and Frank Lloyd Wright (which concerns the Guggenheim Museum) is arranged into files according to correspondent.

Eero Saarinen's miscellaneous correspondence includes copy of a letter to Huntington Hartford concerning the relationship between architecture and nature, and letters to and from S. Giedion regarding a plan for an International Exhibition of Modern Architecture, in addition to other scattered letters and the personal letters detailing his relationships with Lily and Sampe. Some or all of these letters may have been ones that Eero shared with Aline, which may be how they came to be amongst her papers.

Family correspondence is comprised mainly of letters from Aline Saarinen's first husband, Joseph Louchheim, when he was working in Liberia for two months in 1949, and from her two sons from her first marriage, Donald and Hal Louchheim. Also found are individual letters from Eero's son from his first message, Eric and from their son, Eames.

Subseries consists primarily of clippings, in addition to other printed material such as catalogs and publications, that document aspects of the life and work of Aline and Eero Saarinen.

Subseries consists of photographs of Aline Saarinen, Eero Saarinen, Aline and Eero Saarinen together, and various family members, as well as photographs from various trips, photographs of residences, and other photographs. Also found are slides of art and architecture that were likely used in some of Aline's lectures in addition to slides of photographs from a trip to Europe taken by Lily Swann Saarinen and her children, photographs of Sampe, Eames Saarinen, and Aline, and photographs of Hvittrask, Finland (perhaps taken by Eero during his trip with Aline and the children in 1958).

Photographs of Aline Saarinen consist of ones of her as young girl; ones of her graduating from Vassar College in 1935; ones of her as a Red Cross worker during the Second World War; ones of her as an art critic in the 1950s and as a television correspondent in the 1960s; ones of her serving as the representative of the President at the Inauguration of the Venezuelan President, Raul Leoni, in 1964; and ones of her receiving various honorary degrees.

Photographs of family members include ones of Aline's mother, father, and brother, and her sons, Donald and Hal Louchheim, and their families; ones of her son with Eero, Eames; ones of Eero with his first wife, Lily Swann Saarinen, and their children; and ones of Aline and Eero with their children, including ones from a trip to Hvittrask, Finland in 1958.

Photographs from various trips include ones of Aline's trip to Hearst Castle in San Simeon, CA, and ones of a trip to Greece with her and Eero (which are of particular note because the pictures were taken by Eero and feature examples of Greek architecture). Other photographs include ones of various designs by Eero, ones of the sketches of the winning design for the Sydney Opera House, and miscellaneous and unidentified ones.

Subseries consists of manuscripts, typescripts, notes, notecards and clippings of Aline Saarinen's writings. Her writings include: articles on art and architecture for The New York Times and other publications, including a manuscript of her article on Eero Saarinen with his annotations in the margins and her notebook from her interview with him; samples of her early art criticism and early writings, including some short stories and college essays; lectures and speeches on art, architecture and related topics, including ones on Eero Saarinen, art collectors and collecting, modern art, culture and visual arts, and writing biography; scripts for television shows; notes on project ideas and plans developed and presumably shared with her literary agent, Bernice Cozzens; and other creative writing such as fiction, a play, and poems (some of which may have been written by her and others of which may have been transcribed by her) and personal writing such as a piece on the suicide of woman she knew in passing, Ruth Gornick.

Writings are arranged alphabetically by type.

Series consists of files stemming from Aline Saarinen's work researching and writing her book, The Proud Possessors, which was published by Random House in 1958. Files consist of notes, manuscripts, correspondence, photographs and printed material on art collectors, as well the application for a Guggenheim grant (which was awarded to Saarinen in 1957), Eero Saarinen's notes on the book, a scrapbook of correspondence received in response to the publication of the book (of particular note is Peggy Guggenheim's negative response to the chapter on her), and clippings of reviews and other articles about the book after its publication. Among the correspondents are Bernard Berenson, Dorothy Miller, Bernice Cozzens, Albert Ten Eyck Gardner, Alfred H. Barr (?), Edward Steichen, Francis Brown, Hiram Haydn, Daniel Cotton Rich, John Goldsmith Phillips, George Heard Hamilton, Dorothy Sieberling, Saul Steinberg, Sam N. Behrman, Jean Lipman, Irving Hoffman, Electra Webb, Henry Allen Moe, Peggy Guggenheim, Alice B. Toklas, H. P. Roche, Cy Sulzberger, Clifford Odets, and Alfred A. Knopf.

The material on John Quinn includes correspondence between Saarinen and Jeanne Foster Roberts; letters to Foster from Quinn and his sister, Julia Anderson; a copy of a letter to Foster from William Butler Yeats and a drawing of Quinn possibly by Yeats; material relating to Roger Casement, Foster, and Florence Farr; and photographs of Quinn and Foster, and Quinn with Constantin Brancusi, Picasso and Mme Picasso, Henri Pierre Roche and Erik Satie.

The material on Edward Root includes correspondence between Root and his father, Elihu, dating from 1903 to 1936; letters to Root from Charles Culver, Robert de Forest, Frederick James Gregg, Ernest Lawson, George Luks, Duncan Phillips, and Grace Root, dating from 1909 to 1936; and copies of two letters to Edward Christiana, dated 1949.

Files are typically arranged according to format and then alphabetically according to name of collector.

Subseries consists of files stemming from Aline Saarinen's research for a planned, but never completed, biography of Stanford White "as an interpreter of the Age of Elegance." Included are: correspondence, notebooks, writings, scattered original material belonging to Bessie White, Stanford White and the firm of McKim, Mead and White, printed material, photographs, and architectural drawings.

Correspondence consists of letters exchanged with Aline Saarinen's literary agent, publisher, scholars, friends and relatives of White, and others, as well as responses to her inquiry about Stanford White published in The New York Times. Correspondence concerns book ideas, research inquiries, her struggles with the work, and related matters. Correspondents include: Bernice Cozzens, Random House, Wayne Andrews, Mrs. Lawrence Grant White (White's daughter-in-law), Welles Bosworth, R. W. G. Vail, Francis Brown, Edward Fowles, Van Wyck Brooks, and Evelyn Nesbit.

Correspondence is typically arranged chronologically, except for the extended correspondence with her literary agent which is arranged in its own file.

Notebooks contain Aline Saarinen's notes on various topics related to Stanford White gathered in the course of her research. Individual notebooks were removed from their original binders at some previous point, and are arranged alphabetically according to subject.

Writings include drafts and manuscripts of chapters for Saarinen's planned biography on White and her article on White for Life Magazine. Also found are scattered research notes, an outline of the planned biography, and various writings on White and architecture by others.

Original material includes certain scattered papers of Bessie White and Stanford White, and scattered office "files" of the architectural firm McKim, Mead and White, which were presumably accumulated by Aline Saarinen in the course of her research. Also found is a microfilm reel of the correspondence of Richard Grant White (approximately 25 letters) and Stanford White (1 letter) held by the Huntington Art Library.

The papers belonging to Bessie White consist of correspondence from her father-in-law, Richard Grant White; scrapbooks on the Washington Centennial and White's Washington Art, and on the Thaw Murder Trial; and written reminiscences of White. The papers belonging to Stanford White consist of lists, notes, and other documents. The McKim, Mead and White documents include memoranda and correspondence; files consisting of correspondence, contracts estimates, and descriptions for various projects (extensive documentation for the Whitelaw Reid residence can be found); and a record book.

Printed material collected by Aline Saarinen in the course of her research consists primarily of clippings and publications with articles on White, his buildings, and certain people associated with him. Also found is miscellaneous printed material on the Garden City Hotel, Newport, RI, and architecture.

Photographs include ones of Stanford White and his family, his clients, Anne, Louise, and Robert Cheney, and his one-time mistress, Evelyn Nesbit; and ones of buildings and residences designed by White or McKim, Mead and White, many of which were photographed by Wayne Andrews. Also found are photographs of interiors and slides and negatives of certain photographs of buildings and residences.

Included are reproductions and negatives of architectural drawings for various buildings and residences, which date from 1884 to 1903, designed by White or McKim, Mead and White.

Subseries consists of files kept by Aline Saarinen while working as a television correspondent for NBC on such shows as "Today", "Sunday", and "The Hunter-Brinkley Report", reporting on mainly art-related topics. Files include correspondence, printed material, notes, scripts, clippings, motion picture films and video transfers, and photographs. Also included are printed material on Eero Saarinen and photographs of his work.

Files are arranged alphabetically according to subject or format.

Subseries consists of files stemming from Aline Saarinen's research on various artists and relating to miscellaneous or unidentified projects. Files mostly include notes and correspondence. Of particular note is a letter from Georgia O'Keeffe referring to Saarinen's idea of "a color film story" about the artist.

Files are arranged alphabetically according to subject.

Subseries consists of files relating to Saarinen's participation on various committees, boards, and commissions, including the Design Advisory Committee for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which recommended I. M. Pei's design for a standard air traffic control tower. Files include reports, minutes, printed material, correspondence, and photographs. Also found is correspondence and a partial manuscript for a proposed article on Najeeb Halaby of the FAA for Harper's Magazine.

Files are arranged in chronological order.