Gene Davis papers, 1920-2000, bulk 1942-1990

Correspondence is mainly of a professional nature, and correspondents include gallery and museum curators, private art collectors, publishers, fellow artists, art educators, academics, and students. Letters document exhibitions, sales, book projects, teaching jobs, visits to studios, local art community events in the Washington, D.C. area, and other projects. A few early letters are found related to Davis's personal life and work as a journalist prior to 1955, but most correspondence is from after that date and pertains to his art career. Almost all letters are addressed to Gene Davis, but scattered letters, including letters of condolence from 1985, are addressed to Florence Davis. Significant correspondents include Gene Baro, Douglas Davis, Clement Greenberg, Gerald Nordland, William Seitz, Alma Thomas, and Donald Wall.

Series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent. Correspondents with more than two letters are filed in individual folders by name, with the remainder of correspondence filed in a general alphabetical file. Where drafts of outgoing letters were found with related incoming letters, they have been kept together, but most drafts of letters by Gene Davis, and some original letters sent to his wife Florence, are filed under his name. Correspondents may be filed under either corporate or personal name, and cross-references are provided in the folder listing where possible. Additional correspondence with museums and galleries is found in series 4, Business and Estate Records, in the gallery files, museum files, legal records, and estate of Gene Davis files.