Elfriede Abbe papers

Collection consists of professional papers, including correspondence with persons and organizations commissioning her sculpture, suppliers of sculpture materials and casting firms, and from the publisher of her books, collectors of her books and prints, and other artists and craftsmen, admirers and well wishers, and organizations of which she was a member; also, letters concerning a piece of her sculpture, "The Hunter," on display at the 1939 World's Fair and the publication of an article on her work in American Artist in 1962; photographs of her and her sculpture; appointment calendars, annotated with descriptions of her work, methods, and activities, and including photographs of her works, 1978-1988; a catalog of her sculpture; wood cut illustrations, notes, manuscripts and page proofs for books she illustrated, printed, or translated; sketches; wood engraving blocks; prints; pamphlets; announcements of publications of her books; mimeographed typescripts of lectures given; news articles on her works of art; and announcements concerning her gallery shows. Also, a catalog from the Southern Vermont Art Center's 60th Anniversary Festival of the Arts, 1989, and correspondence related to the National Geographic Society Centennial (1988). Also paper with watermark from Dard Hunter and a Broadside printed by Jim Tyler for Elfriede Abbe's 70'th birthday, 1989.

Includes an annotated copy of The Sculpture of Elfriede Abbe; professional correspondence, 1940-2012, with Cornell Library staff and others; a holiday letter from James, Mary, and John Sumner, 1947; personal letters from Erika Pignatti, 1961-1987; a letter from Herbert Finch relating to Mary Bovier; correspondence, newsletter relating to the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine; programs and invitations; and miscellaneous biographical materials and clippings.

Also included in the collection are Abbe family papers which consist mainly of the letters (1840-1883) of Elfriede Abbe's great-grandparents, George Waldo Abbe, pioneer of meteorology and climatology and founder of the United States Weather Bureau, and Charlotte Colgate Abbe. The letters refer to concerts and lectures, opinions and incidents relating to abolition, Baptists, New Versionists, the depression of 1857, and summer visits by Charlotte Abbe and the children to "Dog Hill," Moses Cleveland Abbe's farm in South Windham, Connecticut. These letters are printed in a book annotated by Elfrieda Abbe, Letters of George Waldo Abbe and Charlotte Colgate Abbe, 1840-1883, a copy of which is in the collection. Other material consists of biographical and visual material related to Cleveland Abbe and Cleveland Abbe, Junior, particularly a large series of photographs of a European trip in 1901 by Cleveland Abbe, Jr., and photographs and other items relating to her mother Frieda Dauer Abbe.

Correspondents include Charlotte Colgate Abbe, George Waldo Abbe, Talitha Abbe, William Colgate Abbe, Harriet Allen, Edgar Anderson, Stanley Brogren, Knox F. Burnett, Cornelia Van A. Chapin, Gilmore D. Clarke, Theodore R. Dudley, Ettl Studios, John Folinsbee, Roscoe Guernsey, J.L. Hautman, Katherine Thayer Hobson, Carleton Howe, Roy A. Hunt, Arthur Jones, Norman Kent, Irvin Kerlan, Alison Mason Kingsbury, Knight and Son Metal Letters and Figures, Carolyn and Lewis Knudson, Robert D. Kohn, George H.M. Lawrence, Walter Leuba, J. Ben Lieberman, Paul Manship, Ivan Meštrović, James L. Montague, Minnie and Walter C. Muenscher, Hobart Nichols, Richard Pennington, The Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt Botanical Library, Lilly and Felix Reichmann, Roman Bronzeworks, Lessing Rosenwald, Ross W. Sloniker, Lieselotta and Friedrich Solmsen, Alice and Rolla Tryon, Vermarco Lime Company, Vermont Marble Company, S. F. Vorhees, James Lamar Weygand, and Wheeler Williams.

Wood panel carving titled "Edge of the Pond"; Mahogany sculpture of Ptolemy displayed in Reference Room of Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections