Sylvester Rosa Koehler papers, 1833-1904, bulk 1870-1890

Koehler's correspondence is extensive and contains letters to and from over 300 different correspondents. For his career as curator and art critic, Koehler maintained correspondence with many American painters, including Jean F. Harfin, Edwin Howland Blashfield, Emil Carlsen, William Merritt Chase, John Robinson Tait, Samuel Colman, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Anna Lea Merritt, and Walter Shirlaw. Also found in this series is correspondence with American engravers and illustrators, many featured in American Art Review, including John Sartain, Stephen James Ferris, William Baxter Closson, Henry Farrer, R. Swain Gifford, John M. Falconer, Frederick Juengling, Robert Hoskin, Gustav Kruell, Stephen A. Schoff, J. C. Nicoll, James D. Smillie, William Wellstood, Charles A. Platt, Peter Moran, and Stephen Parrish. Koehler also corresponded with many architects, engineers, and designers, including George Corliss, William Rotch Ware, P. B. Wight, Henry Van Brunt, Russell Sturgis, Julius Schweinfurth, and Arthur Rotch.

Koehler corresponded with art critics such as Mariana Van Rensselaer, Samuel G. W. Benjamin, Russell Sturgis, Clarence Cook, and Charles C. Perkins, historians such as Charles Henry Hart, and journalists including Ottilie Assing and George Julian Harney. Also found in this collection is correspondence with authors such as Ednah D. Cheney, educators including Kuno Francke and William Unger, and museum directors and curators such as A. Duncan Savage, W. M. R. French and William MacLeod. As a writer and editor, Koehler corresponded with several publishers, including Cassell and Company, Estes and Lauriat, and E. A. Seeman.

Also of note, is Koehler's correspondence with many prominent people working in other fields including scientists Henry C. Angell and Wilhelm von Bezold, archaeologists Luigi di Cesnola, Frederic Putnam, and Otis T. Mason, natural scientists Thomas Meehan and Edward Sylvester Morse, music scholar Waldo S. Pratt, and astronomer Edward C. Pickering.

Users should note that a significant portion of the correspondence is in German. A few letters within the collection are neither to or from Koehler, but concern American art. It is unclear if Koehler collected these letters.

The material in this series is arranged alphabetically.

The bulk of this series has been digitized. Some of the correspondence is pasted onto scrap paper and the versos of the scrap paper were not digitized. Many of the letters in this series have been pasted together along the corners and edges of the pages. Consequently, some of the pages were folded back for digitization and portions of the letters might not be visible.

Financial Records include Koehler's receipts, mostly dating 1885. The receipts are primarily for the purchase of books, but are also for professional services, printing, advertising, and membership dues. Also found is a handwritten estimate of costs for publishing the American Art Review.

The American Art Review is at the beginning of the series, followed by the receipts which are in chronological order.

This series has been digitized in its entirety.

This series includes a folder of biographical information on the wood engraver, Alexander Anderson. Also found are various notes and quotations by unidentified authors many of which are written on small envelopes. Also included are event programs and handwritten song texts for music performances. This series also contains news clippings. Most of the material in this series is in German.

This series is arranged alphabetically.

This series has been digitized in its entirety.