Sessions, Barbara F., 1899-1980
Dates
- Existence: 1899 - 1980
Biography
Barbara Foster Sessions was born in Claremont, New Hampshire, on June 22, 1899, and died there on July 4, 1980. She went to Smith College, where she majored in English and minored in history. She was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society in 1919 and graduated summa cum laude in 1920. It was also at Smith that she met the composer Roger Sessions (1896–1985), who began teaching there in 1918; they were married in 1920.
In 1925, she studied art history at the Sorbonne, and intermittently between 1925 and 1928, she and her husband lived in the Villino Corbignano on Bernard Berenson’s Florentine estate, Villa I Tatti, where she assisted Berenson as librarian and in doing research. The Sessions separated in 1933 and divorced in 1936, the year Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss hired Barbara Sessions as librarian at Dumbarton Oaks, in preparation for opening the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Barbara Sessions remained at Dumbarton Oaks until 1946.
Found in 18 Collections and/or Records:
Barbara Sessions, 1938-1943
Correspondence including letters and telegrams to, from, or about Barbara Sessions, librarian at Dumbarton Oaks and Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.
Letter from Barbara Sessions, 2 Brookside Avenue, Claremont, N.H. to Robert Woods Bliss, June 25, 1943 Digital
Letter from Beatrix Farrand, 1650 Orlando Road, San Marino, California to Paul J. Sachs, Fogg Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, December 21, 1940 Digital
Letter from Beatrix Farrand, Reef Point, Bar Harbor, Maine to John S. Thacher, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., June 17, 1941 Digital
Letter from Beatrix Farrand, Reef Point, Bar Harbor, Maine to John S. Thacher, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., June 23, 1941 Digital
Letter from Beatrix Farrand, Reef Point, Bar Harbor, Maine to John S. Thacher, Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 28, 1941 Digital
Letter from Henri Marceau, Pennsylvannia Museum of Art, Fairmount, Philadelphia to Barbara Sessions, Dumbarton Oaks, Georgetown, Washington, D.C., April 13, 1938 Digital
Typescript letter from Henri Marceau on Pennsylvania Museum of Art letterhead thanking Barbara Sessions, librarian at Dumbarton Oaks for Mildred Bliss and Robert Woods Bliss. He acknowledges the receipt of material that has been seen and stamped by the French consulate in Philadelphia. He mentions it [the material] was sent special delivery to catch the Europa [possibly a transatlantic ship]. He hopes the photographs and description will be of service to M.[Monsieur] Mallet.
Letter from John S. Thacher to Beatrix Farrand, Reef Point, Bar Harbor, Maine, June 19, 1941 Digital
Letter from John S. Thacher to Beatrix Farrand, Reef Point, Bar Harbor, Maine, June 25, 1941 Digital
Letter from Mildred Bliss, Dumbarton Oaks, Georgetown, Washington, D.C. to Mrs. Max Farrand, Reef Point, Bar Harbor, Mt. Desert, Maine, July 27-29, 1938 Digital
Letter from Robert Woods Bliss, 2750 Que Street N.W., Washington, D.C. to Barbara Sessions, Claremont, N.H., June 14, 1943 Digital
Letters from Robert Woods Bliss to various recipients about Barbara Session's travel for book acquisitions, July 15-18, 1938 Digital
Radiogram from Barbara Sessions to Mildred Bliss and Robert Woods Bliss, Washington, D.C., September 4, 1938 Digital
Sessions, Mrs. Barbara [Barbara (Foster) Sessions], [1948-1964]
Telegram from Beatrix Farrand, Santa Barbara, California to John S. Thacher, Dumbarton Oaks, 3101 R Street, Washington, D.C., December 5, 1941 Digital
Western Union telegram from Beatrix Farrand to John Thacher informs him and the rest of the Dumbarton Oaks staff of Robert and Mildred Bliss' well-being. She asks for him to relay news about Ellis Russell, James Bryce, Anne Sweeney, and Barbara Sessions. "Mr. Russell" penciled at top.
Telegram from unknown correspondent to Barbara Sessions, Mildred Bliss, and Robert Woods Bliss, Paris, September 10, 1938 Digital
Typescript Postal Telegraph night cable letter from unknown correspondent to Barbara Sessions, Mildred Bliss, and Robert Woods Bliss while in Paris. The correspondent acknowledges the success reported in their letters and suggests sailing as soon after September thirtieth as possible. Mentions also seeing Mrs. Elisina Tyler and that Census letter mailed October third. Offers greetings to them and Mademoiselle Malye, the Blisses secretary in Paris, France.
Telegram from unknown correspondent to Barbara Sessions, Mildred Bliss and Robert Woods Bliss, Paris, September 30, 1938 Digital
Typescript Postal Telegraph cable from unknown correspondent to Barbara Sessions, Mildred Bliss, and Robert Woods Bliss informing them to accept owner's proposal and offers "Bon Voyage" indicating the correspondent was to sail soon.