Emily Hall Tremaine papers, circa 1890-2004

Biographical materials include a booklet reprinting the letters of Tremaine's uncle, Horace Hall, biographical information on her grandfather, Stephen Smith, and the banking account book of her father, William Hall. There is a bookplate from Tremaine's first husband, Baron Maximilian von Romberg; a sound recording documenting the family of her third husband, Burton Tremaine; and an undated watercolor portrait of Emily Hall as a child.

Materials are arranged by document type.

This series has been digitized in entirety. Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.

Family correspondence includes a number of letters from Tremaine's mother, Elizabeth Hall, and her sister, Jane Noble, as well as miscellaneous related notes and letters, telegrams, and correspondence between Tremaine and her three husbands, Maximilian von Romberg, Adolph Spreckels, and Burton Tremaine. These include a letter from Tremaine's future sister-in-law encouraging Emily to contact Burton Tremaine and mentioning their shared interest in art.

There are also miscellaneous letters and cards from other family and friends, including reproductions of artwork from Tremaine's collection that were sent as Christmas cards.

Materials have retained arrangement by document type and sender.

This series has been digitized in entirety.

Art collection files consists of three inventory binders and an index card file cataloging over 400 pieces of American and European art collected by Tremaine. These documents record dates of purchase, sale prices, insurance and market values, provenance, condition, exhibition loans, and reproductions in publications. The index cards are divided into two sections: paintings sold or donated prior to Tremaine's death, and works of art remaining in the collection after her death. There are also subject files on Native American art, and primitive and pop art, as well as miscellaneous sales invoices and receipts.

Materials are arranged by document type.

Artist files represent over two hundred artists whose works were purchased, sold, traded, or donated, or whose works were considered for purchase, by Tremaine. Artists range from modernists Georges Braque, Paul Klee, Jean Arp, and Marcel Duchamp, to pop and contemporary artists such as Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko, Yves Klein, Dan Flavin, Michael Heizer, and Jim Dine. Records consist primarily of correspondence with galleries and museums who handled the work of artists Tremaine was interested in, as well as records on restoration of artwork, invoices and receipts, printed material, and photographs, negatives, and transparencies of artwork. Overall there are only scattered letters from the artists themselves, including Christo, Patty Cousins, Sonia Delaunay, Jim Dine, William S. Duterer, Michael Heizer, Robert Irwin, Jasper Johns, Le Corbusier, Sibyl Moholy-Nagy, and Philolaus. There are also three folders of correspondence and sketches from Barbara Valenta.

There is significant research and documentation on the provenance, restoration, and sale of Piet Mondrian's Victory Boogie Woogie, which was sold in 1988. This includes a folder of correspondence with Perle Fine, and related material, regarding Tremaine's commission to make two interpretations of Victory Boogie Woogie which was left unfinished at Mondrian's death in 1944.

Materials are arranged alphabetically by surname of the artist.

This series has been digitized in entirety with the exception of blank versos of photographs, duplicates, and some publications which have had only title pages and relevant pages digitized.

Exhibition loan files consist of correspondence, lists, forms, invoices, and printed and photographic material tracking works of art from the Tremaine collection loaned for museum and gallery exhibitions. There are also extensive files documenting the 1984 exhibition of close to 150 works from the Tremaine collection organized by the Wadsworth Atheneum, including a video recording of a lecture given by Philip Johnson.

Materials are arranged chronologically according to the year works of art were returned to the collection, and correspondence related to each loan is filed in reverse chronological order thereafter.

This series has been digitized in entirety with the exception of the video recording.

Reproduction request files consist of correspondence, forms, invoices, and printed and photographic material tracking works of art from the Tremaine collection published in exhibition catalogs, periodicals, and newspapers.

Materials are arranged chronologically according to the date the reproduction permission was granted. Correspondence related to each permission is filed in reverse chronological order thereafter.

This series has been digitized in entirety.

Two scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings and photographs documenting news of the courtship and marriage of Emily Hall to her first husband, Baron Maximilian von Romberg. They include clippings from the society magazine Aperitif, a combination of art reviews, gossip, poetry and fiction, which Tremaine published between 1934-1936. Also found are photographs of von Romberg with friends, pursuing his passions for aviation and polo.

Materials are arranged chronologically.

This series has been digitized with the exception of some items inside the scrapbooks which could not be digitized due to fragility.

Photographic material includes portraits of Tremaine's parents, and of Tremaine as a child, with her sister, as a young woman, and in wedding photographs with her first husband, Maximilian von Romberg. There are photos of the Hall family home in Butte, Montana, photographs of the Brunninghausen home and estate designed for Emily and Maximilian von Rombergs by Santa Barbara architect Lutah Maria Riggs, and photographs of the von Rombergs with friends including Clark Gable, Ruth and Walter Pidgeon, and Jeanne and Juan Reynal. There is also a folder of circa 1990 contact sheets and copies of negatives from photographs of friends and activities taken by Maximilian von Romberg in the 1930s.

One folder includes photos of the von Rombergs working on the society magazine Aperitif.

There are three photos of Emily Hall Tremaine taken after her marriage to Burton Tremaine, negatives of their Madison, Connecticut home and their New York apartment taken by Adam Bartos, and photographs of Frank Lloyd Wright's proposed designs for a resort at Meteor Crater, Arizona, commissioned by Burton Tremaine.

Also found are photos of works of art in the Tremaine collection from two photograph albums. The bulk of the photographs are annotated with artist name, title of work, medium, size, and an alphanumeric identifier.

Materials are arranged by subject. Photos of artwork in the Tremaine collection were removed from two albums and their original order, alphabetically by artists and by alphanumeric codes, was maintained.

This series has been digitized in entirety with the exception of blank versos of photographs and duplicates.