Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo papers, 1851-1986, bulk 1920-1960

Found are scraps and notes of names and addresses of friends, colleagues, and family, biographical sketches and resumes, travel papers, identification cards, Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo's marriage and Rogo's divorce documents, scattered medical documents including prescriptions, and material relating to Hirsch's military service. Also found are two sound recordings, a personal recording and one of Elsa Rogo appearing on a Spanish National Radio, Voice of Spain program hosted by Alex Gross. Materials concerning the Office of Strategic Services include applications for federal employment, correspondence, and resumes.

All of the sound recordings have been digitized for research access.

Letters between Elsa Rogo and Stefan Hirsch date from 1926 to 1960. Some letters from Hirsch to Rogo are illustrated. Professional correspondence concerns commissions, exhibitions, travel, and teaching. Correspondents include Josef Albers, Justus Bier, Kenneth Callahan, Downtown Gallery and Edith Halpert, Walter Gropius, Lincoln Kirstein, Robert Laurent, Ralph Mayer, Lewis Mumford, Ben Shahn, Francis Toor, and many others.

Found are writings and notes by Stefan Hirsch, Elsa Rogo, and scattered writings by others. Lecture drafts and notes and general writings on art are by Hirsch. Rogo's writings include lectures, general writings concerning art, student assignments, and some drafts of news articles including a profile on Nelson Rockefeller. Also found are unsigned notes, a notebook, a manuscript by Hamilton Easter Field, and an unsigned manuscript.

Files contain materials organized by Hirsch and Rogo and concern their professional careers, commissions, projects, participation on committees, and general areas of interests. Researchers should note that some files contain extensive documentation on a subject while others may only contain printed materials. Stefan Hirsch was an active professor at Bard College (1942-1961) and Bennington College (1934-1940); those files may contain administrative records, correspondence from other faculty and administrative members, committee meeting minutes, financial material, contracts, student and recommendation letters, writings, and material on pedagogy. Of note are materials relating to Bard College's financial crisis. Hirsch's murals in Aiken, South Carolina and Booneville, Mississippi are documented in this series and materials may include correspondence, financial material, notes, and clippings. Records relating to Elsa Rogo's work with the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs are found here and include writings and notes, photographs, correspondence, and printed material. Other materials concern professional and personal travel to Europe and Latin America, exhibitions, Fulbright and Guggenheim grant applications, friends and mentors, other artists, and organizations.

This series contains material relating to the personal art collection of Hirsch and Rogo, book contracts, insurance and investment records, a lease, records regarding the publicity of Hirsch's exhibitions, price lists, and receipts. Also found are records of the settlement of the Hirsch family estate in Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Germany. Art collection records include a contract for the sale of paintings by John Kane and a list of Latin American art owned by the couple.

Printed materials include published books, brochures, clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs for Hirsh's, Rogo's, and other's shows, issues of magazines newspapers and periodicals, blank postcards, press releases, a file of printed materials intended to be placed into a scrapbook, and others.

Personal photographs consist of portraits and snapshots of Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo and include photos of friends, family, and personal travel snapshots. Travel photos are largely unidentified but were likely taken by Elsa Rogo for professional assignments for her work as a journalist. They include photos of political events, buildings, festivals, ceremonies, military demonstrations, bull fights, wrestlers, villagers, cityscapes, the theater, and conferences. Some event photos depict famous individuals including Mexican President Miguel Alemán Valdés, Eleanor Roosevelt, and President John F. Kennedy. Also found are photographs of works of art, slides, glass plate negatives, and rolls of negatives and positives.

Audiovisual material includes eleven short reels of 16 mm motion picture film, including 10 reels shot in Mexico between 1935 and 1941, and one reel shot at Bard College in 1941. Also found are five short reels of 8 mm motion picture film shot in Ogunquit, Maine and New York City in the early 1930s.

Nine of the film reels shot in Mexico have been preserved on film and digitized for research access. Duplicate film reels are also available for loan.

Likely, these eighteen sketchbooks are by Stefan Hirsch although they are unsigned. Many consist of sketches of landscapes, portraits, and street scenes.

Found are pencil, oil, and pen sketches by Stefan Hirsch and pencil sketches by Elsa Rogo, although many are unsigned. Artwork by others includes three sketches by Raul Anquiano and a lithograph of a work by Efren Villalobos, a student at Rogo's art school in Taxaco, Mexico.