Silvia Pizitz papers, 1927-1989

Artist files are found for Alice Barber, George Chemeche, and Dorothy Gillespie. Files contain photographs, scattered letters, and printed material. Biographical materials include biographical notes, identification cards for art schools, travel papers, and four small date books from the 1980s. Correspondence is with friends and family including writer Joseph Freeman, her siblings, and father Louis Pizitz. Many of the letters concern Silvia Pizitz's strained relationship with her family regarding inheritance and ownership of Pizitz department stores in Alabama. Records on the donation of her art collection to Cornell University, New York University, the University of Birmingham and other institutions include correspondence, appraisals, deeds of gift, and shipping records.

Personal photographs include snapshots and portraits of Pizitz, Pizitz with friends and family, and travel. Photographs, negatives, and slides of works of art are by others, and are presumably pr items from Pizitz's collection. Some photos are of works by Raeford Liles. Of note are photos from an exhibition at the Birmingham Museum of Art of the Silvia Pizitz Collection. Printed materials include clippings and exhibition announcements, many of which concern the Pizitz family and her art collection. Also found are commemorative materials produced for or by the Pizitz department store to celebrate milestones and accomplishments.