Multiple accessions were merged and processed and a finding aid prepared by Jayna Josefson in 2016 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund. The Archives of American Art has implemented accelerated processing when possible to increase information about and access to more of our collections. For this collection, accelerated processing included arrangement to the series, subseries and folder levels, adhering to the creator's original arrangement as much as possible. Generally, folder contents were simply verified with the original folder titles, but items within folders were not arranged further. All materials were rehoused in archival folders and boxes for long-term stability, but staples and other fasteners have not all been removed. Motion picture film reels were inspected and re-housed in 2017 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund. The 2019 addition was processed in 2019 by Ryan Evans.
The collection is arranged as 9 series:
German-born Stefan Hirsch (1899-1964) was a painter and educator. Elsa Rogo (1901-1966) was married to Hirsch and was an artist, educator and journalist. They were active in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, and Vermont, and traveled extensively throughout Mexico and Latin America where they documented local arts and crafts, village life, and befriended prominent Mexican artists.
Born in Nurnberg, Germany, Stefan Hirsch grew up in Europe and studied art at the University of Zurich. After settling in the United States in 1919, he took summer courses under Hamilton Easter Field in Ogunquit, Maine. Hirsch developed a Precisionist style combined with Social Realism but much of his work was difficult to restrict to one specific style. Hirsch was a founder and exhibitor at the avant-garde Salons of America which served as an alternative to the Society of Independent Artists. During the 1930s and 1940s, Hirsch participated in the U.S. government's Federal Art Project and painted murals in Aiken, South Carolina and Booneville, Mississippi. Hirsch began his teaching career in 1937 at Bennington College in Vermont, and later accepted a position at Bard College where he served as the chairman of the art department until he retired in 1961.
In 1930, Hirsch married Elsa Rogo. Together, they traveled throughout Mexico and Latin America where they became involved in the social and art scenes. They befriended prominent Mexican artists like Diego Rivera and David Siqueiros. As a journalist, Rogo documented Mexican life, events, and art extensively through photographs. Rogo also served in the U.S. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, established in 1940 to promote cultural diplomacy and solidarity primarily in Latin America. In Taxaco, Mexico, she taught art to school children. Her book,
Stefan Hirsch died in 1964. Elsa Rogo died in 1966.
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. Original film reels and archival negative copies are stored off-site and are closed to researchers.
Nine reels of 16 mm motion picture film in this collection have been preserved on film and copied to video for research access and are available in the Archives of American Art offices. Projection prints of these films are also available for loan. In addition, the sound recordings have been digitized for research access.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the
Portions of the Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo papers were donated in 1996 by the Elsa Rogo estate, via Sylvia Siskin, executrix. Additions were donated 2002, 2014, and 2019 by professor James Oles, Art Department, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts on behalf of Sylvia Siskin.
Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo papers, 1851-1986, bulk 1920s-1960s. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The papers of artists and educators Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo measure 19.6 linear feet and date from 1851 to 1986, with the bulk of the material dating from 1920s to the 1960s. Together, they traveled throughout Mexico and Latin America where they became involved in the social and art scenes. Hirsch and Rogo's artistic, teaching, and journalism careers are documented through biographical materials, correspondence, writings and notes, professional files, printed materials, photographs and motion picture films, and sketchbooks and other artwork.
Biographical materials include address lists, resumes and biographical sketches, identification cards, material relating to Hirsch's military service, and legal documents. Two sound recordings, one personal and another of Rogo on Spanish National Radio, are also found here.
Correspondence is both professional and personal. Professional correspondence concerns commissions, exhibitions, travel, and teaching. Notable correspondents include Josef Albers, Justus Bier, Downtown Gallery (Edith Halpert), Carlos Mérida, Lewis Mumford, Ben Shahn, and many others. Personal correspondence is largely between Hirsch and Rogo. Writings are found for both Hirsch and Rogo and include notebooks, diary fragments and transcripts, lectures, essays on art, articles, and notes. A manuscript by Hamilton Easter Field is also found and a writing by an unknown author. Professional files document teaching positions, projects, commissions, memberships, and other professional activities undertaken by Hirsch and Rogo. They document Hirsch's teaching career at Bard College, Bennington College, and his mural work in South Carolina and Mississippi. Files concerning Rogo's work with the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs are found here, as well as files documenting their professional and personal travel. These contain a wide variety of materials, such as correspondence, printed material, meeting minutes, photographs, and writings. Also found are scattered files relating to general areas of interest.
Hirsch's and Rogo's business records include contracts concerning Elsa Rogo's book agreements, records settling the estate of the Hirsch family in Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Germany, insurance records, a lease, price lists, and general receipts and invoices. Also found are personal art collection records including a sales agreement and a list of Latin American art owned by Hirsch and Rogo. Printed materials include books, brochures, clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs for Stefan Hirsch and others, issues of magazines and other periodicals, copies of published writings by Hirsch and Rogo, and a dismantled printed materials scrapbook.
Photographs are extensive and include personal photos of Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo, their family, friends, and colleagues. Numerous travel photos were taken by Rogo in her role as a journalist in Latin American and the United States. The bulk of the professional travel photos were taken in Mexico in the 1930s to the 1960s and show events, cities, and cultural activities. Also found are glass plate negatives, photographs of works of art, and sixteen reels of motion picture film taken in Mexico, Bard College, and Oqunquit, Maine.
Eighteen sketchbooks are largely unsigned but are likely by Stefan Hirsch. Additional artwork includes sketches and etchings by Hirsch, sketches by Elsa Rogo, and works by others including Raul Anquiano and Efren Villalobos.
All of the sound recordings have been digitized for research access.
Found are scraps and notes of names and addresses of friends, colleagues, and family, biographical sketches and resumes, travel papers, identification cards, Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo's marriage and Rogo's divorce documents, scattered medical documents including prescriptions, and material relating to Hirsch's military service. Also found are two sound recordings, a personal recording and one of Elsa Rogo appearing on a Spanish National Radio, Voice of Spain program hosted by Alex Gross. Materials concerning the Office of Strategic Services include applications for federal employment, correspondence, and resumes.
Letters between Elsa Rogo and Stefan Hirsch date from 1926 to 1960. Some letters from Hirsch to Rogo are illustrated. Professional correspondence concerns commissions, exhibitions, travel, and teaching. Correspondents include Josef Albers, Justus Bier, Kenneth Callahan, Downtown Gallery and Edith Halpert, Walter Gropius, Lincoln Kirstein, Robert Laurent, Ralph Mayer, Lewis Mumford, Ben Shahn, Francis Toor, and many others.
Found are writings and notes by Stefan Hirsch, Elsa Rogo, and scattered writings by others. Lecture drafts and notes and general writings on art are by Hirsch. Rogo's writings include lectures, general writings concerning art, student assignments, and some drafts of news articles including a profile on Nelson Rockefeller. Also found are unsigned notes, a notebook, a manuscript by Hamilton Easter Field, and an unsigned manuscript.
Files contain materials organized by Hirsch and Rogo and concern their professional careers, commissions, projects, participation on committees, and general areas of interests. Researchers should note that some files contain extensive documentation on a subject while others may only contain printed materials. Stefan Hirsch was an active professor at Bard College (1942-1961) and Bennington College (1934-1940); those files may contain administrative records, correspondence from other faculty and administrative members, committee meeting minutes, financial material, contracts, student and recommendation letters, writings, and material on pedagogy. Of note are materials relating to Bard College's financial crisis. Hirsch's murals in Aiken, South Carolina and Booneville, Mississippi are documented in this series and materials may include correspondence, financial material, notes, and clippings. Records relating to Elsa Rogo's work with the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs are found here and include writings and notes, photographs, correspondence, and printed material. Other materials concern professional and personal travel to Europe and Latin America, exhibitions, Fulbright and Guggenheim grant applications, friends and mentors, other artists, and organizations.
This series contains material relating to the personal art collection of Hirsch and Rogo, book contracts, insurance and investment records, a lease, records regarding the publicity of Hirsch's exhibitions, price lists, and receipts. Also found are records of the settlement of the Hirsch family estate in Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Germany. Art collection records include a contract for the sale of paintings by John Kane and a list of Latin American art owned by the couple.
Printed materials include published books, brochures, clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs for Hirsh's, Rogo's, and other's shows, issues of magazines newspapers and periodicals, blank postcards, press releases, a file of printed materials intended to be placed into a scrapbook, and others.
Oversized material housed in Box 19, F2
Nine of the film reels shot in Mexico have been preserved on film and digitized for research access. Duplicate film reels are also available for loan.
Personal photographs consist of portraits and snapshots of Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo and include photos of friends, family, and personal travel snapshots. Travel photos are largely unidentified but were likely taken by Elsa Rogo for professional assignments for her work as a journalist. They include photos of political events, buildings, festivals, ceremonies, military demonstrations, bull fights, wrestlers, villagers, cityscapes, the theater, and conferences. Some event photos depict famous individuals including Mexican President Miguel Alemán Valdés, Eleanor Roosevelt, and President John F. Kennedy. Also found are photographs of works of art, slides, glass plate negatives, and rolls of negatives and positives.
Audiovisual material includes eleven short reels of 16 mm motion picture film, including 10 reels shot in Mexico between 1935 and 1941, and one reel shot at Bard College in 1941. Also found are five short reels of 8 mm motion picture film shot in Ogunquit, Maine and New York City in the early 1930s.
Glass plate negatives have been digitized.
Duplicate prints of two original compilation film reels. Duplicate negatives (internegative) and original compilation film reels are stored off-site.
Duplicate prints of two original compilation film reels. Duplicate negatives (internegative) and original compilation film reels are stored off-site.
Original ; compilation reels comprised of 2 original color reels (1 of which is Dufaycolor)
Original ; compilation reels comprised of 7 original black and white reels.
Folders 1-3 only contain references to film cans stored off-site.
Original cardboard boxes for 9 film preserved film reels.
Glass Plate Negatives
Likely, these eighteen sketchbooks are by Stefan Hirsch although they are unsigned. Many consist of sketches of landscapes, portraits, and street scenes.
Street scene
Pottery and street scenes
Figures and animals
Figures and birds
Mexico (likely)
Mexico (likely)
Mexico (likely)
Mexico (likely)
Mexico (likely)
Portraits
Portraits
Portraits
Portraits
Portraits
Animals, portraits, landscapes, homes
Doodles and landscape. Includes some writings.
Found are pencil, oil, and pen sketches by Stefan Hirsch and pencil sketches by Elsa Rogo, although many are unsigned. Artwork by others includes three sketches by Raul Anquiano and a lithograph of a work by Efren Villalobos, a student at Rogo's art school in Taxaco, Mexico.
Oversized material housed in Box 19, F1
Oversized material housed in Box 19, F1