Richard Tuttle papers, circa 1935-2019

This series consists of both paper correspondence and email. The paper correspondence dates from 1954-2018 and is both personal and professional in nature. Nearly half of the paper correspondence is between Richard Tuttle and his parents, Edward and Margaret Tuttle. From the time Tuttle was a college student up until the 1990s, Tuttle composed detailed letters to his parents, at times with a weekly frequency. While a few of the letters are incoming from Tuttle's parents, the vast majority are letters from Tuttle detailing personal and professional activities and thoughts. Other correspondents include Tuttle's wife, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge; siblings, Ned, Linda, and Greg; gallerists Yvon Lambert, Annemarie Verna, and Angela Westwater; and numerous other galleries, museums, and friends. Several envelopes from Gemini G.E.L. are collaged; however, most of the contents were not retained. Also found here are several drafts of letters that Tuttle wrote to family, friends, and galleries. More letter drafts are in the illustrated notebooks, series 3.2. Additional correspondence with galleries is in series 4, Exhibition and Gallery files. One sound recording and a born-digital file containing press clippings are amongst the correspondence.

Email correspondence dates from 2009-2017 and is comprised of over 20,000 incoming and outgoing messages and thousands of image and document attachments. Frequent topics include exhibitions, lectures and visiting artist engagements, and special projects and commissions. Image attachments consist of Tuttle's artwork and installations; Tuttle at events and with colleagues, friends, and family; promotional design for various events; artifacts and antiques; and personal photographs. Document attachments include writings, notes, proposals, and publication layouts. Frequent correspondents include artist Susan Bee, poet Charles Bernstein, curators Marion Boulton Stroud, Poppy Bowers, and Chris Dercon, gallery director Susan Dunne, museum director Magnus af Petersens, art advisor Alexandra Porter, artist Christina von Rotenhan, gallerist Annemarie Verna, as well as members of Tuttle's family. The emails also include frequent exchanges with curators from Bowdoin College, the Fabric Workshop and Museum, and the Tate.

The series is arranged as two subseries.