Collection Information

Size: 168 items

Summary: This small collection of papers of socialite, art collector, and patron Flora Whitney Miller document Miller's life-long friendship with surrealist artist Kay Sage and date from 1915 to circa 1982. Included are 79 letters written to Miller from Sage; four letters written to Miller about Sage after Sage's suicide, and one reply letter; typescripts of 63 poems written by Sage; one handwritten poem by Sage; two Sage exhibition catalogs; and 18 snapshot photographs of Sage, Miller, and their friends. Documentation of Miller's career is not found within the papers.

Biographical/Historical Note

Flora Whitney Miller (1897-1986) was born Flora Whitney, daughter of Harry Payne and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. She was a longtime friend of surrealist painter Kay Sage (1898-1963).

Provenance

Donated 1990 by Flora Miller Biddle, Miller's daughter.

Related Materials

Also available at the Archives of American Art are the Kay Sage papers, which have been digitized and are available via the Archives of American Art's website, as well as China Eggs, Kay Sage's unpublished memoirs covering the period circa 1910 to 1935, available on microfilm reel 685. The Archives also holds the papers of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Miller's mother, which provide information about Miller's role in the founding and running of the Whitney Museum of Art.

Funding

The collection was fully digitized in 2007 as part of the Terra Foundation for American Art Digitization Grant.