Franz Bader Gallery records, 1925-1995

The series focuses on Bader's personal accomplishments and background. Included are awards from the American Austrian Society and the Washington Bar Association, certificates, degrees from Corcoran School of Art and George Washington University, family documents, speeches and talks by Bader, as well as plans, letters and cards, photographs, and other items relating to Bader's birthday celebration. Also included are typescripts by Bader and his mother Elsa Bader, a few writings by unidentified authors, and files documenting Bader's photography career.

Files for artists contain correspondence with the gallery regarding sales, exhibitions, loans, and consignments; exhibition announcements and catalogs; articles about the artist, exhibitions, or related topics; biographical information; slides; and exhibition budget and insurance documents. Among the many artists represented in the series are Alice Acheson, Paul Arlt, David Becker, William Calfee, Un'ichi Hiratsuka, Robert Marx, Leonard Maurer, Peter Milton, Wang Ming, Naúl Ojeda, Michael Platt, Prentiss Taylor, Alma Thomas, Lee Weiss.

Files in the series include exhibition records for the gallery's annual Christmas exhibition and Washington Area Artists, donations, consignment and loan records, artwork and artist address lists, employee records, files on bark paintings and Inuit art, and vendor files. Correspondence to Bader comes from artists represented by the Franz Bader Gallery, the Smithsonian Institution National Collection of Fine Art, the U.S. Information Agency, the Chancellor of Arts and Letters in Bader's native Austria recognizing Bader's cultural contributions overseas, and a few German-language letters. Other correspondence is with galleries and museums regarding exhibitions, clients, vendors, and some personal letters with friends. Also included is a file for the Whyte Bookshop and Gallery, Inc.

Records found in the series consist of two card files, third party consignment and closing inventories, stock lists, ledgers for active and inactive artists at the gallery, and a sales binder. Records typically indicate the artists, artwork names, prices, status of the artwork, and other notes.

Included in the printed materials are artwork reproductions, booklets and pamphlets, flyers, exhibition announcements and catalogs, event invitations and programs, and clippings about Franz Bader's personal photography and subsequent exhibitions of his photographs in D.C., and general clippings discussing the gallery and its exhibitions. One video recording of the broadcast Around Town features the gallery.

Guestbooks from the years 1975 to 1980 contain exhibition announcements, signatures, notes, and contact information from patrons who attended the Franz Bader Gallery's shows. Some guestbooks were received disbound, but remain in the original order.

The scrapbooks series includes bound and disbound scrapbooks, as well as loose scrapbook pages. Disbound scrapbooks and scrapbook pages remain in the order they were received. Scrapbooks contain exhibition announcements, photographs, clippings of reviews, and articles about artists in Washington, D.C., the Baders, the bookstore, the gallery, and several photographers. Among the artists represented are Alice Acheson, Anita Bucherer, Frank Bunts, Bernice Cross, Fureya, H. Irving Gates, Guenther Gumpert, Jacob Kainen, Pietro Lazzari, John Chapman Lewis, Herman Maril, Leonard Maurer, Peter Milton, Michael Platt, Marilee Shapiro, Prentiss Taylor, Alma Thomas, and others.

Photographic materials include several large-scale prints of the bookstore and gallery's 2001 I Street location's interior and storage room; photographs of Marcel Marceau and Patrick Hayes taken at the Marceau opening and book signing; and one photo related to the Washington Area Artists and Salzberger Truppe exhibition. Also included are portraits and candid photographs of Bader, family and friends, outdoor scenes, and works of art.