Konrad and Florence Ballin Cramer papers, 1897-1968

Biographical materials include appointment books and an address book belonging to Florence Ballin Cramer; a birth certificate for Konrad Cramer; picture postcards showing views of Konrad Cramer's neighborhood in Karlsruhe, Germany; the calling card of the man who introduced Konrad and Florence; the Cramers' wedding announcement; a biographical essay about Konrad Cramer; an informal will written by Florence Ballin Cramer; and other personal certificates and documents.

Materials are arranged by document type.

This series has been scanned in its entirety.

This series consists of Florence Ballin Cramer and Konrad Cramer's correspondence, including outgoing drafts and carbons of letters written by the Cramers. Correspondents include artists, curators, gallery staff, editors, writers, and personal friends and family. Prior to 1911, correspondence is entirely that of Florence Ballin, and the letters of 1911 are dominated by a large volume of letters between Florence Ballin and Konrad Cramer during the months of their courtship, many of which are in German. Also found are letters to Florence's brother Irving Ballin, and letters to and from the Cramer's children, Margot and Aileen. An increasing number of outgoing drafts of letters written by Konrad Cramer are found beginning in the 1950s.

Artists represented here include John Carlson, Birge Harrison, Peggy Bacon, Alexander Brook, Andrew Dasburg, Alfred Stieglitz, Julius Bloch, Grace Mott Johnson, George Franklin, Hermine Kleinert, Holger Cahill, Grace Evans, Emil Ganso, George Grosz, Carl Eric Lindin, Fred Dana Marsh, Henry Lee McFee, Elie Nadelman, Homer Saint-Gaudens, Lee Simonson, Gene Speicher, Carl Sprinchorn, Alfred Stieglitz, and Dorothy Varian. Artwork found in the correspondence includes a hand-painted card from Peggy Bacon and Alexander Brook (1923), a Rube Goldberg cartoon (1937), and an illustrated letter from Konrad to Florence Cramer (1957).

The correspondence files include fragments of letters, especially drafts of outgoing letters, and enclosures such as receipts, photographs, and clippings. These include early photographs of Konrad Cramer in the 1911 letters, and a photograph of Eugene Speicher from 1929. Notes made retrospectively by Florence Ballin Cramer are sometimes found with letters or on accompanying envelopes.

Correspondence is arranged alphabetically, with unknown and illegible drafts of letters filed at the end of the series. Additional correspondence can be found in Personal Business Records, and drafts of outgoing letters are found in Notebooks in the Writings series. See also the Christmas Card Album for additional notes and cards.

This series has been scanned in its entirety.

The Cramers' Christmas card album is a large scrapbook containing handmade cards, wrapping papers, and a collection of postcards and clippings depicting animals. Most of the Christmas cards were received between 1921 and 1931, and many bear original works of art. Artists represented in the album include Peggy Bacon, Austin Mecklem, Frank Chase, Nan Mason, Hermine Kleinert, Harry Gottlieb, Felix Payant, E. Weyhe, Cecil Chichester, Henry Lee McFee, Arthur Young, Rudolph Wetterau, Sam Wylie, Wanda Gág, Will Shuster, Judson Smith, Elsa Milius, Louise Hellstrom, Jok Billings, Henry Billings, Emil Ganso, Marisha Karasz, Lee Simonson, Jo Cantine, Carl Lindin, Orville Peets, Paul and Caroline Rohland, C. Bertram Hartman, and Peter Juley. Photographs include a portrait of Aileen and Henry Lee McFee and several photographs of friends' homes.

Loose items found in the album which do not appear to have been pasted in originally have been removed to a separate folder. Items which were pasted in and have since become unglued have been kept in the album between the pages of what appears to be their original location. Additional hand-made cards are scattered throughout the Correspondence series.

The series has been scanned in its entirety.

Diaries include twelve volumes kept by Konrad Cramer from 1945 to 1962, and two volumes and some loose pages by Florence Ballin Cramer, as well as notes and excerpts from diaries that are not part of the collection. Konrad Cramer's diary entries are sporadic, recording his farming activities, weather conditions, and personal activities. The volume for 1949 also contains notes from Florence Ballin Cramer's lengthy hospital stay and his contacts in New York during that time.

Florence Ballin Cramer's diaries date from her school days and travels to Europe, when she met Konrad Cramer, and contain many sketches. A later volume documents her hospital stay, and also contains sketches. Also found are detailed notes and excerpts from diaries not found in the collection, possibly loaned for microfilming and returned to the Cramers. In addition, loose items removed from several diaries, including those found within the collection and those removed from the collection, are filed here and include photographs of Florence, unidentified friends, a costume ball, and the area around Woodstock; early exhibition documentation; clippings; a sketch; and writings by Florence and Irving Ballin.

Materials are arranged chronologically by author.

The series has been scanned in its entirety.

This series includes the notes and writings of Florence Ballin Cramer and Konrad Cramer, along with scattered notes and writings by others. Types of material include essays, notebooks, poems, a movie scenario, and notes. Some of the notebooks include drafts of outgoing correspondence.

Konrad Cramer's essays mostly concern technical aspects of painting, drawing, printmaking, and photography, with a few essays on broad concepts such as modernism and design. Also found are numerous drafts of informal essays about people known to Cramer, including people from the Woodstock community such as Hervey White, founder of the Maverick artist's colony. Florence Ballin Cramer's essays include a lengthy autobiographical essay about her earliest visits to Woodstock as a student of the Art Student's League summer classes, essays on American crafts and Mexican artists, and other subjects.

Konrad Cramer's earliest notebook contains recipes gathered from his peers for paints and varnishes. Other notebooks contain essays, technical notes, drafts of outgoing letters, and some notes from meetings of Woodstock organizations. Volumes given titles by Cramer are listed by title, and titled essays within volumes are noted in the folder contents list. Florence Ballin Cramer's notebooks include two volumes from her adolescence containing notes and drawings.

Notes include travel notes and an annotated map from a 1938 trip West and notes written by Florence Ballin Cramer and Konrad Cramer including technical photo notes, recipes, quotes from published sources, contact information, and other miscellany. Collection notes, probably written by Florence Ballin Cramer, describe materials in the Cramer papers that have become separated from the items they describe. Miscellaneous notes include a student's poem, a list of books about Greenwich Village, and a brief note from a friend.

Materials are arranged by document type and author. Additional notes and writings are found in Biographical Materials and Personal Business Records. Picture books by the Cramers are found in Artwork.

The series has been scanned in its entirety.

This series contains records of Florence Ballin Cramer's and Konrad Cramer's respective artistic careers, other business and civic pursuits, and personal finances.

Artwork and exhibition records of Konrad Cramer include correspondence with the Dudensing Gallery, the Whitney Museum, John Graham and Sons, the Woodstock Artists Association and other exhibitors and dealers. Also found are receipts and price lists, some of which are illustrated with rough sketches. Florence Ballin Cramer's artwork and exhibit records include price lists, receipts, a guest book, and mailing lists, most of which refer to her 1953 exhibition at the Woodstock Town House gallery. Documents from her exhibitions at the Marie Harriman Gallery and Long Island University are also found. Additional materials related to exhibitions can be found in Printed Materials.

Records of Florence Ballin Cramer's 57th Street gallery, the Florence Gallery, include photographs of Florence in the gallery, her contract with H. Kevorkian for the use of the space, clippings, catalogs, price lists, and letters from artists and subscribers to the gallery, including Andrew Dasburg, Gene Speicher, Stefan Hirsch, Elie Nadelman, Christine Chaplin, Paul Rohland, Caroline Speare, John Everts Bates, and Forbes Watson. Also found are drafts of letters and other writings by Florence promoting the gallery and its mission, and a small card file recording sales, income and expenses, and contact information.

Records of Florence Cramer's shop in Woodstock consist mostly of accounting and inventory records. Correspondence related to this venture can be found in the correspondence series, especially for the years 1925 to 1927.

Records of Woodstock craft organizations include legal contracts, by-laws, letters, notes, press releases, and other records related to the Woodstock Guild of Craftsmen and the Crafts' Foundation of Woodstock. Included are drafts of letters and speeches related to the opening of the Kleinert Wing of the Woodstock Guild of Craftsmen's building in 1958. See Correspondence, Writings, and Printed Materials for additional materials related to these groups.

Konrad Cramer's employment contracts with the Children's University School (now the Dalton School) and an advertising firm are also found. For materials related to his various teaching endeavors, see Writings and Printed Materials.

Materials are arranged by document type.

The bulk of this series has been scanned. Routine financial records have not been scanned.

This series includes clippings, exhibition catalogs, press releases, printed ephemera related to Woodstock organizations and events, and over a dozen periodicals and books by and about Woodstock artists and writers. Other materials include letterhead, business cards, brochures, posters, maps, postcards, and other publicity pieces.

Exhibition announcements, catalogs, and invitations are for Florence Ballin Cramer's and Konrad Cramer's group and solo shows as well as shows of other artists. Clippings are mostly from New York City and Woodstock-area papers and include notices and reviews of exhibitions, art news and features, articles about friends and neighbors, and other miscellany. Some clippings have been pasted to other types of documents, such as contracts or correspondence related to one of the Cramers' exhibitions, and appear to have been cut from a scrapbook. A number of newspapers saved in their entirety feature coverage of significant local events in Woodstock.

Brochures and letterhead are found for Konrad and Florence Ballin Cramer's various professional endeavors, including the Konrad Cramer's School for Miniature Photography as well as his auto mechanic service, Florence Ballin Cramer's antique shop, and other entities, many of which appear to be made with a manual letter-press and decorated with relief prints. Prints by other artists are filed separately and include a large engraved map of Woodstock created by Marg and Rudolph Wetterau. Additional prints are found in the Artwork series.

Woodstock organizations and events are documented here with brochures, posters, announcements, catalogs, programs, directories, and newsletters, many of which refer to Konrad or Florence Ballin Cramer's involvement in the organization. Woodstock publications include thirteen titles of books, little magazines, and journals featuring prints, drawings, stencils, and writings of the Cramers and other Woodstock-area artists and writers such as Hervey White, Paul Rohland, Peggy Bacon, Alexander Brook, John Carroll, Andrew Dasburg, John Evert Bates, Jean Paul Slusser, Grace Mott Johnson, Judson Smith, Rudolph and Marg Wetterau, Arnold Blanch, and many others. The largest run in the series is for the satirical arts paper Hue and Cry, which includes several complete volumes for its early years as well as two annuals with original relief prints on rice paper and many art reproductions. Issues of both The Wasp and The Overlook contain lengthy essays about Konrad Cramer. Woodstock Gargoyles features articles by many mainstays of the Woodstock community including Konrad Cramer, and is the first and only issue of that publication.

Materials are arranged by document type. Additional scattered printed materials are filed with Biographical Materials, Correspondence, Writings (Items found in diaries), and Personal Business Records. See series descriptions for more details.

The bulk of this series has been scanned. With the exception of rare publications, only the cover, title page, and individual relevant pages have been scanned from published materials.

This series includes snapshots, photo postcards, fine prints, and negatives depicting Florence Ballin Cramer, Konrad Cramer, their friends, schools, studios, Woodstock parties, the Maverick Festival, scenic views of Woodstock, and photographs of works of art.

A series of early photographs in the pictorialist style appear to have been made on printing-out paper and are filed under the heading "Early Woodstock Views and Figures." Their photographer is unknown, but the female figure depicted is most likely Florence Ballin. A few examples of photo experiments with color and collage, probably by Konrad Cramer, are also found. Photographs filed under the heading "Portraits of Friends" include formal portraits, snapshots, and a series of posed photographs Konrad Cramer took of friends with family members in their homes.

Many of the photographs in this series were probably taken by Konrad and Florence Ballin Cramer, although many are uncredited. Wherever possible, photographs that appear to have been taken together have been filed together. Except for very early photographs, many of the individuals pictured have been identified on the photographs themselves, and names of those identified are noted in the folder listing.

Materials are arranged by subject. Additional photographs are found in Correspondence, Personal Business Records (Florence Gallery records), and Writings (items found in diaries). Writings and notes related to Konrad Cramer's work with photography are found in the Writings series, and manuals for cameras are filed with Printed Materials.

The bulk of this series has been scanned in its entirety. Reproductions of artwork have not been scanned.

This series contains sketchbooks, loose sketches and drawings, original illustrations for children's picture books, textile designs, graphic designs, woodblock and linoleum block prints, printing blocks, examples of textile prints and batik, calligraphy, and an autograph book kept by Florence Ballin as a child containing artwork, poems, and music by its signers. Most of the artwork is by Konrad and Florence Ballin Cramer. Artwork by others is filed separately. Artwork is in pencil, graphite, watercolor, gouache, and pastel.

Materials are arranged by document type. Additional sketches by Florence Ballin Cramer can be found in the Writings series. Examples of woodblock and linoleum prints and engravings by the Cramers and others in their circle can be found in Printed Materials. Other sketches are found in the account books in Personal Business Records. See series descriptions for more details.

The bulk of this series has been scanned in its entirety. Erotic drawings have not been scanned.