Collection Information

Size: 1.4 linear feet

Summary: The papers of New York City art entrepreneur, curator, and journalist Joan Kron date from 1959 to 1971 and measure 1.4 linear feet. The papers include correspondence, scattered financial records, notes and writings, printed material, photographs, a sound and video recording, and project/exhibition files concerning Kron's involvement in the 1960s with the exhibtions of the Arts Council of the Young Men's/Women's Hebrew Association (YM/YWHA) of Philadelphia and her business, the Beautiful Bag and Box Co.

Biographical/Historical Note

Joan Kron (circa 1928- ) is a curator from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Kron was an early member of the Arts Council, a volunteer organization within the Young Men's/Women's Hebrew Association. The Council was committed to bringing new and avant-garde programs in dance, theater, poetry, crafts, and the visual arts. With Audrey Sabol, Kron started The Beautiful Bag Co. through which they realized such projects as Roy Lichtenstein's dinnerware. Another less successful project involved putting art on billboards, resulting in one Lichtenstein billboard.

Provenance

Donated 1987 by Joan Kron.

Related Materials

Additional copies of microfilm reels 4224-4225 are available at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Also found in the Archives are selected papers of the Young Men's/Women's Hebrew Association Arts Council that were loaned by Judith Golden for microfilming, and are now available only on microfilm reels 3898. Another small collection of printed material from the YM/WHA records was donated by Acey Wolgin and microfilmed on reel 4340, and transferred to the Smithsonian American Art Museum Library's vertical files.