Collection Information
Size: 3 Linear feet
Summary: The research material on Gertrude Vanderbilt measures 3.0 linear feet and dates from circa 1896-1980. Flora Miller Irving compiled this information around the mid 1970s before the publication of B. H. Friedman's biography of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1978 and is accredited for her research collaboration with the author in the book. Flora Miller Irving chronologically organized copies of primary materials, including article clippings, photographs, and correspondence, that mention her grandmother, Getrude Vanderbilt Whitney, and maintained card index files to help build her life's timeline. The bulk of the collection is made up of this yearly timeline, starting from 1883 to after 1942, when Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney passed. Other portions of the collection include copies of photographs, and index files based on sculptures and people. Irving was also likely aided by her mother, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney's daughter, Flora Whitney Miller.
Biographical/Historical Note
Flora Miller Biddle, or Flora Miller Irving, was a mother and museum president based in New York. Biddle was born in 1928 and grew up in Aiken, SC, Connecticut, and Taos, New Mexico. Flora would later live with her first husband in New York and New Jersey, where she pursued being a mother and later helped steer the Whitney Museum of American Art as president from 1977-1995. She and her daughters continued to be involved in the museum's operations afterwards. Flora Miller Irving is the granddaughter of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, renowned sculptor and founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Biddle's mother and Whitney's daughter was Flora Whitney Miller.
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Provenance
Material on reels 1903-1904 lent for microfilming 1980 and unmicrofilmed material donated 1981 by Flora Miller Irving, granddaughter of Gertrude V. Whitney.
Related Materials
Related material found in the Archives includes the Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Papers. The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels 1903-1904) including ten volumes of typescripts, of journal entries, correspondence, writings, and notes to references in the New York Times on the Vanderbilt and Whitney families. Loaned materials were returned to the donor and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Language Note
English .
Location of Originals
- Reels 1903-1904: Originals (typescripts) returned to Flora Miller Irving after microfilming.
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