Burt Chernow papers, 1930-2002

Series consists primarily of documents copied from Christo and Jeanne-Claude's personal papers by Burt Chernow, including Christo and Jeanne-Claude's passports, an address book, appointment books (referred to throughout the papers as "agendas") dating from 1961-1995 (not inclusive, with two books for each of the years 1986-1990), Commission offers, family letters, legal documents, and photographs. Chernow used these materials heavily in his writing process, generating lists of trips and contacts made from the appointment books, which were then used as a basis for his research on specific periods of the artists' lives. Except for the 1968 calendar noted as original, all biographical materials are photocopies made by Burt Chernow from the personal records of Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

In his papers, Chernow identified certain appointment books as belonging to either Jeanne-Claude or Christo, and he labelled certain appointment books "travel agendas." Chernow's labeling of the appointment books has been retained in the inventory of his photocopies, but these labels are in some ways misleading. Some of the appointment books identified as belonging to one or the other actually have notations in more than one hand and must have been shared to some extent, and the appointment books Chernow called "travel appointment books" do not differ substantially from other appointment books not identified as travel-related.

Letters to Jeanne-Claude in this series include letters from her mother, father, and sister Joyce and are all in French. Legal documents document Jeanne-Claude's divorce from her first husband Philippe Planchon, and are filed with photographs of Jeanne-Claude and Planchot. These documents are also in French, and have been translated by Ann Chernow. One sound cassette with a recording of her translating the documents is also found. Nine letters from Christo written between 1957 and 1961, mostly written to his brother in Bulgarian and French, are found in the form of recorded translations to English by Maria Radicheva, made at the request of Burt Chernow. Letters are mostly to his brother, Anani Javachev. One letter is to his brother and mother, and another is found to his brother and sister-in-law, Maria. Note that paper copies of the original letters are not found in the collection, so the recorded translations are the only extant record of the letters. Commission offers include an extensive file of letters soliciting wrappings for various commercial or promotional purposes, along with Jeanne-Claude's responses to them, all rejected.

Sound recordings are mainly comprised of interviews of the Christos, their family, and their associates conducted by Burt Chernow between 1984 and 1996, in the course of his research for . Chernow wrote the biography chronologically, collecting research for each period of the Christos' lives in sequence, so the early interviews deal mainly with their early years, and later interviews with more recent years. In some cases, the subject content of the interview -- often a place or project name -- is indicated on the tape label, in which case it is noted in the container list. Interviews with associates include other artists, curators, people who worked on the Christos large-scale projects, critics, and others who knew them personally. Among the many significant interview subjects are Arman, Mary Bauermeister, Leo Castelli, Lynn Hershman, Ray Johnson, Allan Kaprow, Ivan Karp, Albert and David Maysles, Claes Oldenburg, Pierre Restany, Niki de Saint Phalle, Peter Selz, Harry Shunk, Holly Solomon, Saul Steinberg, and Sam Weiner.

In addition to the more formal interviews, a series of impromptu interviews were conducted by Ann and Burt Chernow during the three Christo projects that were executed while Chernow was working on the biography: the , , and the . These project-related interviews and recordings were typically made on site with spectators and producers of the projects while they were on view. Also found are lectures, press conferences, broadcast programs, recorded notes, and music, including a 1981 lecture on Christo by Jan Van Der Marck.

Interviews of Christo by others, and lectures given by Christo which pre-date the period of Chernow's research, are filed at the end of the series. Some were recorded off the air, and others were recorded by Chernow or other attendees to the appearances. Some appear to have been copied from original recordings, and the sound quality is poor. Two musical recordings associated with Christo projects are also found in the series, including a protest song about "Surrounded Islands," and music composed for the Japanese installation of "Umbrellas."

Chernow's research was conducted chronologically, that is, Chernow collected information about each period of their lives and then wrote his first draft of that portion of the biography before moving on to the next period. The interviews reflect this process, with earlier interviews covering earlier periods of the artists' lives, and later interviews covering later periods as each section was researched and written.

Most of the interviews have partial transcripts in series 1.3, which were created by Burt Chernow. The transcripts typically contain summarized portions, with only the portions Chernow found most salient to his research transcribed. The recordings in this series, then, are a unique record of the complete interviews that took place. Recorded conversations with Jeanne-Claude regarding corrections to Chernow's drafts of the biography, created in 1995-1997, do not have typically have transcripts. See series 1.3 for more details.

Series contains mainly files for the interview subjects found in series 1.2, including the Christos, their associates, containing transcripts and sometimes other materials related to the interview subject, such as correspondence, photographs, clippings, and other printed material. Also found are files for individuals who were not interviewed by Chernow, or whose interviews were not recorded, containing research or other material. Transcripts of Christo's lectures and interviews of Chrsito by others that were collected by Chernow are also found in this series.

Transcripts for Burt Chernow's interviews with Christo and Jeanne are represented in two separate files, one containing interviews with Christo or both the Christos, and another for interviews with Jeanne-Claude interviewed alone. Each set of these transcripts has unedited and edited versions. The unedited file contains transcripts of all interviews in chronological order, as well as notes from unrecorded conversations, with continuous pagination for the entire set created by Chernow. The edited file contains photocopies of selected pages from these transcripts, with all but the portion used by Chernow in his writing crossed out. Note that many of the transcripts throughout the series contain notes summarizing portions of the session, so transcripts in this series are not a comprehensive record of the interviews found in series 1.2.

A large number of photocopies of photographs and exhibition checklists with prices are found with Christo transcripts from 1992. Transcripts throughout the file also include scattered copies of items related to matters discussed in the interviews.

Transcripts and subject files for subjects other than the Christos are in individual folders by the interview subject's name or by project. Files for Arman, Ray Johnson, and Mary Bauermeister are particularly rich with additional research and other material. A file of edited transcripts also exists for this portion of the series. Transcripts of Christo lectures and interviews of Christo by others are filed chronologically at the end of the series. A file of tyepscript notes regarding questions for interviews is also found at the end of the series.

Note that not all of the transcripts found in this series have recordings in series 1.2. Transcripts and subject files with no corresponding recorded interview in series 1.2 include Lourdes Castro, Paul Cummings, Sam Hunter, James Juszczyk, Nam June Paik, Dieter Rosenkranz, Satcho Todorov, and John Weber, among others.

Chronological files contain mostly photocopies and seem to have been compiled by Chernow to organize information in the process of writing the Christos' biography. Files are named by the year in the life of Christo and Jeanne-Claude that they document, and they typically contain a chronology of events compiled from the Christo's appointment books, partial copies of interview transcripts, excerpts of Chernow's draft typescripts of the biography, and copies of printed material relating to events from that year, both in the lives of Christo and Jeanne-Claude and world events generally. Copies of material pulled from other libraries and repositories is mixed with copies of material found elsewhere within the current collection throughout the series. When materials have been copied from other sources, the sources are often not cited. Certain sources have been copied with portions interspersed throughout this series, such as the PhD dissertation of Carline Bouihlet on Christo, entitled , a manuscript with annotations in red pen that is not otherwise identified.

Among the chronological files are files for specific locations where the Christos lived or exhibited, files for the Christos' major art projects, and a single file for an individual, Peter Selz, found with the file for 1976. The Peter Selz file is comprised entirely of photocopies made by Chernow from Selz's papers held at the Archives of American Art. Files bearing project names contain press coverage and documentation relating to the projects, such as engineering records, budgets, and travel schedules. These files are found with the date the project was executed. A file for (1983) contains the most primary documents of the project-related chronological files. Other notable documents in this series include Italian translations of reviews of Christo's 1963 exhibition in Milan and a photocopy of Christo's 1963 issue of the arts journal .

A complete set of photocopies of this series, made by Ann Chernow for Wolfgang Volz to aid his writing of the biography's epilogue, was discarded during processing.

Notes and writings consist mainly of drafts and revisions of Christo and Jeanne-Claude: A Biography, written by Burt Chernow. Also found are later drafts made by editors after Chernow's death in 1997 and in the process of preparing the book for publication, and a proof and galley of Wolfgang Volz's epilogue, both in German.

In a recording found in series 1.6, Business Records, Ann Chernow describes Burt Chernow's writing process in detail, providing an explanation for the unusual arrangement of documents in the early drafts. She explains this directly, saying he would type a small section and then re-type it multiple times, as a method of re-writing and editing. The arrangement of early drafts reflects this process, with multiple versions of brief sections of the text filed together with many annotations. These writings are filed in this series under the heading "Revisions." She also explains that he wrote and revised each section completely before beginning another section, and the arrangement of this series reflects that process. She also explains how Chernow created lists of words for each section to enhance his writing, and some of these lists are filed under the heading "Notes" along with writing fragments on Christo.

Significant edits made after Burt Chernow's death are documented in the files named Posthumous Drafts. In her recorded notes on the book's history found in series 1.6, Ann Chernow recounts how during this stage of the editing, Jeanne-Claude removed all mention of her mother's Jewish ancestry before the manuscript was sent to the agent's editor, Tim Mennel. Tim Mennel made significant edits, primarily for repetition and length, before the manuscript was submitted to publishers. Correspondence between Tim Mennel to Ann Chernow is found with the edited typescript, and sometimes notes made by Ann Chernow regarding her response to his edits are also found. The first publisher, Kiepenheuer & Witsch in Germany, removed most of the material from the early chapters that dealt with other artists in Christo's circle in Paris and New York. Later the United States publisher, St. Martin's Press, added much of that material back in, cutting portions of Wolfgang Volz's epilogue to make room for it. Posthumous drafts document each stage of these changes to Burt Chernow's manuscript, as well as a proof of the German epilogue by Wolfgang Volz and its translation in the English edition's galleys.

Business Records include documentation related to the production of the biography, including correspondence, agreements and contracts, the Christos' approvals of the manuscript, and publicity. A sound recording on one sound cassette made by Ann Chernow recounts her husband's method of research and writing and the history of the book's publication. Also found in this series are price lists for preparatory works by Christo, which Burt Chernow helped to sell in order to fund his research and writing through an agreement with the Christos.

Chernow's correspondence in this series is from his period of research and writing and mainly includes correspondence with Christo and Jeanne-Claude, and respondents to a research query for the biography published in the New York Times. Also found is correspondence with several literary agents. Ann Chernow's correspondence documents her process of seeing the manuscript through to publication after Burt Chernow's death. Her correspondence with Cynthia Cannell includes multiple drafts of the Christos' foreword to the biography, and correspondence with St. Martin's Press includes the English translation of this foreword as well as a typescript draft of Ann Chernow's acknowledgements and dedication.

This series consists primarily of published copies of writings by Chernow, including articles in magazines and newspapers, books, and essays for exhibition catalogs. Also found are clippings about Chernow spanning several decades, and annotated clippings on subjects that interested him, such as arts education, writing, biographies, and public art. Flyers and press releases related to public appearances by Chernow and other events organized by him are also found.

Photographs include personal photographs and photographs of artwork and projects. Personal photographs include snapshots of the Christos' New York City studio from 1988, photographs of the Christos from the early 1960s through the 1990s, and early family photographs of both of their families collected by Chernow. Also found are photographs of Ann and Burt Chernow with the Javacheff's during their 1986 Bulgarian research trip, which began their research for the biography. Some of these photographs were used in the biography, and many of the older photographs are found in the collection as copy prints only, although some original prints are also found. Photocopies of some photographs found in the published book but not with Chernow's papers, annotated by Ann Chernow, are also found.

Project folders contain a mix of official photographs of completed projects, photographs and postcards of project drawings, personal photographs taken during the project in the form of snapshots, negatives, contact sheets, and prints, and in some cases memorabilia from projects, such as Burt Chernow's access pass to the Wrapped Reichstag and a vintage photo of a Florida Hotel for Surrounded Islands. Several of the projects contain photographs of Christo, Jeanne-Claude, and other project workers on site with the projects. Many of the project photographs were taken by either Shunk-Kender or Wolfgang Volz, the Christos' official photographers. Also found are contact sheets of the Artists' Key Club event organized by Christo, Daniel Spoerri, Arman, Allan Kaprow, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol in a baggage room of the New York City subway in 1965.