Overview
Collection Information
Size: 0.2 Linear feet, (on partial microfilm reel)
Summary: Fourteen letters written to Robb, 1846-1871, from John Gadsby Chapman, Henry Dilworth Gilpin, James H. Hackett, George Peter Alexander Healy, Daniel Huntington, Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, William Kemble, Charles Macalester, Hiram Powers, Robert Walter Weir, and Richard Henry Wilde; a letter written to "My Dear Sir" by Robb, 1848; a handwritten copy of an agreement between Hiram Powers and Robb concerning the exhibiting of Powers' THE GREEK SLAVE, 1848; a page of clippings, undated and 1859, relating to the sale of the Robb collection and to his railroad affiliation.
Biographical/Historical Note
Railroad and banking tycoon, art collector; active in New Orleans in the mid-nineteenth century. Robb collected European and American art. Much of his collection was sold in 1859; some works from his collection are in the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Provenance
Donated 1983 by Herbert Gray, a collector of autographed letters. This group of James Robb papers was included in a scrapbook that Mr. Gray purchased, containing letters to and from various historical figures. The remainder of the James Robb items from the scrapbook (ca. 157 letters and receipts pertaining to the purchase and sale of the Robb art collection) were donated to the Historic New Orleans Collection, a major repository of manuscript material on Robb.
Language Note
English .
