General Correspondence

The correspondence in this series documents Edward Waldo Forbes' career as Director of the Fogg Museum, his research interests in the technical study of works of art, his national and international travels, his role as a mentor to students and colleagues, his involvement on boards and committees, and various other personal and professional endeavors and interests. The papers date from 1867 to 2005, with the bulk spanning the years 1909-1944, and consist primarily of correspondence.

The correspondence covers many topics, reflecting Forbes' interest and involvement in a wide range of activities. Topics covered include the following: attribution of works of art; personal and museum acquisitions; loans to and from other museums; the daily administration of the Fogg Museum (including staffing concerns, exhibition planning, and other matters); the planning and construction of the new building for the Fogg, opened to the public in 1927; fundraising; publications; teaching; research in the technical study of works of art; and expeditions to China, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt and Turkey. Many of the folders contain a mixture of correspondence and other materials. Correspondence includes both sent and received letters. Sent correspondence is usually in the form of carbon copies, and occasionally there are transcriptions of handwritten letters.

It is important to note that, in many cases, correspondence with a given individual will be found not only in the folder(s) with their name in the title, but also in other folders. For example, correspondence with Langdon Warner is filed both under his name and in folders related to specific institutions, projects and decisions with which he was involved. These include: precautions taken against potential air raid threats during the second World War; Fogg Museum relations with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; a museum-sponsored expedition to China in 1925; numerous exhibitions of Asian art; planning in the 1920s for the construction of the new Fogg museum building; correspondence with the Pennsylvania Museum (now Philadelphia Museum of Art) when Warner was its Director; Fogg Museum publicity; Forbes' correspondence with Daniel V. Thompson, Jr., who accompanied Warner on the expedition to China, and with Paul Sachs; correspondence with the Fogg Museum Visiting Committee; and papers about Grenville L. Winthrop's bequest to the Fogg. The processing archivist made extensive notes about the location of various individuals' correspondence in the collection; these notes are held in the archives and may be consulted upon request. Although the notes are not exhaustive, they may be helpful in locating materials.

Forbes corresponded with many people. As Director of the Fogg Museum, he received solicitations from artists and collectors hoping to sell or donate objects to the museum. He also received frequent requests for assistance in the attribution of works of art and many letters from those seeking employment. In the course of the daily administration of the museum, Forbes corresponded with administrative staff, curators, faculty, donors, colleagues at other museums, students and former students, members of the Visiting Committee, architects, work contractors, art dealers, art historians and the general public. In relation to his research in the technical study of works of art, he corresponded with scientists, researchers, colleagues and collectors domestically and abroad. Some of Forbes' personal correspondence is also included in these papers, as his relationships with family and friends often intersected with his work at the museum.

Of particular interest is Forbes' correspondence with friends and art collectors living in Europe in the early 20th century. He corresponded regularly and at length with Bernard Berenson, Charles Fairfax Murray and his son John Murray, F. Mason Perkins, Richard Norton and Charles Loeser in Italy; with James Loeb in Germany; and with Arthur Kingsley Porter, who was in Ireland, France and Spain. Many of these correspondents acted as advisors in regards to purchases made by the Fogg; they also hosted Forbes and Paul Sachs during their European travels, contributed to discussions regarding the attribution and authenticity of particular works, and welcomed inquiries and visits from students and scholars associated with Harvard and the Fogg Museum. This early correspondence contains extensive information about dealers and works of art for sale in many European cities during the first half of the 20th century.

Also of interest is Forbes' correspondence with key figures in a number of American museums and private collections. These papers include extensive correspondence with A. Everett (Chick) Austin, Helen Clay Frick, Robert Woods Bliss and his wife Mildred, Belle da Costa Greene, Arthur Sachs, Theodore Sizer, John Walker III, Felix Warburg, Grenville L. Winthrop and Sir Robert Witt. There is also correspondence with Isabella Stewart Gardner, Winslow Ames, Alfred Barr, Henry Goldman, Philip Hofer, Archer Huntington, Fiske Kimball, Samuel Kress, Lord Lee of Fareham, Arthur and Robert Lehman, Sir Eric Maclagan, Edward Robinson, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Abby Rockefeller, Francis Henry Taylor, Joseph Widener and Fernando Ortiz de Zevallos, among many others.

The correspondence between Forbes and Paul Sachs is particularly rich. The two corresponded regularly - at times daily - during the years of their co-directorship of the Fogg, and these letters are full of information about museum affairs and decisions; art objects they had acquired or that were for sale; museum employees, colleagues and committees; dealers in America and abroad; scholars displaced by the Nazi regime in need of assistance; the detection of (and suspicion of) forgeries; Sachs' involvement in the so-called "Albertina Affair," an attempt in 1935 to buy Archduke Albrecht's print and drawing collection on behalf of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Fogg Museum; and a wide range of other topics.

These papers also contain correspondence and other records from numerous archaeological expeditions sponsored by the Fogg Museum. There are records from a 1925 expedition to the Tun-Huang caves of China; expeditions from 1927-1931 in Kirkuk, Iraq; a 1932 expedition to Yugoslavia; and a 1938 expedition to Serabit (Egypt) and Van (Turkey). Expedition records include correspondence, reports, journals and logs, lists of supplies, field cards, clippings and financial accounts. Expedition-related correspondence includes that with Alan Priest, Daniel V. Thompson, Jr., Langdon Warner, Hetty Goldman, Vladimir Fewkes, Edward Chiera, Richard Starr, Robert Pfeiffer and Sir Aurel Stein. There is also material about John Walker III's assistance in 1924 with the Carnegie Institution's excavations at Chichen-Itza and Thomas Whittemore's work, on behalf of the Byzantine Institute, studying and copying mosaics at the Hagia Sophia in the 1930s and 1940s.

Also of note are papers related to Forbes' extensive work in the technical study of works of art. Correspondence with Alan Burroughs, George L. Stout, Daniel V. Thompson, Jr., Rutherford J. Gettens, William Allerton, J. Lloyd Bohn, Richard Buck, Bryson Burroughs, R. Arcadius Lyon, and A.P. Laurie, among others, reveals the extent of his involvement in the development of the field. Forbes founded the Center for Conservation and Technical Studies - the first fine arts conservation treatment, research, and training facility in the United States - at the Fogg Museum in 1928, and many letters and reports are about the projects, progress and funding of this center. Forbes pioneered the use of x-rays in analyzing the technique and authenticity of paintings, detecting repainting and furthering study of attributions; these papers document Forbes, Alan Burroughs, and John Walkers' work x-raying paintings in many famous European and American museums, institutions, and private collections. The Fogg Museum published a pioneering journal, Technical Studies in the Field of the Fine Arts, between 1932 and 1942. Forbes and many of the aforementioned conservators and scientists were actively involved in its content, editing and publication. The study of artists' materials and methods begun by Forbes and his team continues at the Fogg Museum today, and Burroughs' x-rays remain a unique and valuable resource.

The use of x-rays in examining paintings caught the general public's attention in a 1920 lawsuit brought against Sir Joseph Duveen by Mrs. Andrée Lardoux Hahn. The case concerned the authenticity of a painting Hahn owned, allegedly painted by Leonardo Da Vinci but derided by Duveen. This collection includes clippings from the popular press about the trial as well as correspondence with Alan Burroughs, who testified in the trial as an expert in the interpretation of x-rays of paintings, and Daniel V. Thompson, Jr. and A.P. Laurie, who were involved in researching the case. X-rays Burroughs had taken of the authentic da Vinci painting in the Louvre of the same subject were used as evidence in the case.

Forbes' papers also document precautions taken for the protection of the Fogg collection, as well as long-term loans to the museum, during the Second World War. There are lists of paintings and other objects sent to remote sites for protection; correspondence about the relative merits of moving the collection versus those of leaving it intact; and meeting minutes from a conference on the topic attended by representatives from many museums. Forbes was also interested in the use of camouflage by the U.S. Navy and involved with a Committee on Camouflage to advise the Navy during the war. The collection also includes correspondence and other papers related to Forbes' involvement with the Sauvegarde de l'Art Français, a group whose intention was to protect, conserve and restore France's artistic heritage of art and monuments, active in the decade following the first World War.

Forbes was also actively involved in the professional placement of those he had taught, trained or otherwise mentored in museums across the United States. He was often called upon by colleagues to suggest candidates for open positions, and many men trained in the Harvard Fine Arts department, particularly in Paul Sachs' Museum Course, went on to become leaders in prominent institutions. The collection contains many letters of recommendation written on behalf of former students and employees applying for grants and other funding. In addition, there are many letters of introduction written for friends and colleagues wishing to visit European and American collectors and collections during their travels.

The papers also include correspondence from Forbes' service on various committees, at Harvard and elsewhere. Forbes was active on the selection committee for the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetry. He also served as an advisor to John D. Rockefeller, Jr. during the design and creation of Rockefeller Center and of the Cloisters, the branch of the Metropolitan Museum dedicated to the art and architecture of medieval Europe.