Christopher DeMairo
Scope and Contents
The Samuel Adler papers measure 2.2 linear feet and date from 1902-1980, with the bulk of the records dating from 1927-1980. The collections sheds light on Adler's career through personal and professional papers, printed materials, scrapbooks, photographic materials, and sound recordings.
Personal and professional papers consist of Adler's identification cards, marriage certificate, scant notes on painting, and some studio insurance records. Correspondence is comprised of personal and professional letters about exhibitions, purchase of artwork, Adler's artist-in-residence position at Notre Dame University, and more. The series also contains a guestbook from an Adler exhibition at Rehn Gallery, several of Adler's sketches and drawings, lecture notes from classes he taught, and other writings on contemporary art.
Printed materials include exhibition catalogs, invitations, and announcements of Adler's solo and group shows, ephemera from Adler's speaking engagements, scant writings about Adler and reproductions of his work, and a copy of Education and the Imagination, edited by Irving Kaufman, which includes a chapter by Samuel Adler titled "Imagination and the Artist."
Six scrapbook volumes and 2 folders of scrapbook contents document Adler's career through a myriad of materials including awards and certificates, correspondence including letters about Adler's teaching positions, printed material, an inventory of artworks from Adler's estate, and more.
Photographic materials depict Adler, his family, friends, and works of art. Nine sound recordings are of interviews, radio programs, and lectures.
Language
English
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The collection was donated in several installments from 1965 to 1980 by Samuel Adler and his wife, Beverly Adler.
Separated Materials
Papers loaned for microfilming on reel D231, including: correspondence (with correspondents such as Morris Blackburn, Glenn Raymond Bradshaw, Howard S. Conant, Lamar Dodd, Ernest Fiene, Anthony Lauck, Sidney Laufman, Arthur Osver, John Rood, and Hudson D. Walker); three scrapbooks, 1944-1955; catalogs; and gallery literature were returned to Samuel Adler after microfilming and are not described in the collection Container Inventory.
Funding
Sponsor
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Processing Information
Loaned papers of Samuel Adler were microfilmed on reel D231 and then returned to Adler. These papers were not subsequently donated. The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Christopher DeMairo 2023.