The Joseph Cornell Study Center Collection is arranged into 15 series:
Joseph Cornell Study Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Access to the collection requires an advanced appointment. Contact collection staff at least two weeks prior to preferred date, at AmericanArtCornellStudy@si.edu.
Series 9: Artifacts and Ephemera, Series 13: Personal Library and Book Collection, and Series 14: Record Album Collection, are still undergoing processing and preservation and may not be available for research use. Record albums are unavailable for playback. Contact collection staff for full lists of publications and record albums.
Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
The Joseph Cornell Study Center collection was donated to the Smithsonian American Art Museum by Joseph Cornell's sister and brother-in-law, Elizabeth Cornell Benton and John A. Benton, in 1978, which prompted the creation of the Joseph Cornell Study Center. Additional materials were donated in installments by the artist's estate, the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, from 1985 to 1997. Elizabeth and John A. Benton originally donated 66 linear feet of three-dimensional and non-textual source material and 50 linear feet of books to the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, which were subsequently transferred to the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Joseph Cornell Study Center in 1994 and 1995.
The Smithsonian Archives of American Art houses the Joseph Cornell papers, 1804-1986, bulk 1939-1972.
The Joseph Cornell Study Center collection measures 196.8 linear feet and dates from 1750 to 1980, with the bulk of the material dating from 1930 to 1972. Documenting the artistic career and personal life of assemblage artist Joseph Cornell (1903-1972), the collection is primarily made up of two- and three-dimensional source material, the contents of the artists' studio, his record album collection, and his book collection and personal library. The collection also includes diaries and notes, financial and estate papers, exhibition materials, collected artifacts and ephemera, photographs, correspondence, and the papers of Robert Cornell (1910-1965) and Helen Storms Cornell (1882-1966), the artist's brother and mother.
Correspondence is with collectors, museums, galleries, artists, friends, family, charity organizations, admirers and those admired by Cornell, and World War II European pen pals. Discussions about the appreciation, donation, sale, purchase, and exhibition of Cornell's works are frequent, with the inclusion of shipping and loan documentation or notices of payment installments. Galleries and museums frequently request that Cornell agree to an exhibition, which he often declines, and fans request free works be mailed or affordable works be sold to them. With friends, artists, and those he admired, Cornell discussed topics that fascinate him, included bits of poetry or philosophical musings, sent clippings or a collaged letter, and occasionally discussed a project or work in process. After World War II, when so many were displaced by the war in Europe, Cornell answered ads for pen pals in the "Christian Science Monitor," often responding to requests for clothing or other goods, and sometimes exchanging many letters over several years. Family correspondence is with his mother, sisters, brother, and others, and often notes activities of the day, foods eaten, and general musings, as well as occasionally mentioning a project or artwork. Correspondents of note include Stan Brakhage, Betty Freeman, Charles Henri Ford, Allegra Kent, Yayoi Kusama, Roberto Matta, Marianne Moore, Octavio Paz, Sonia Sekula, Pavel Tchelitchew, Parker Tyler, Dorothea Tanning, and Betsy von Furstenberg, among others.
Cornell was often preoccupied with his thoughts, feelings, memories, a project or thematic "exploration," and jotted notes on seemingly any surface available. Notes and musings are on napkins, the backs of envelopes, newspaper clippings, and paper bags from record and magazine stores. Frequently, an observation would trigger a lengthy nostalgic moment, or a "feé," fairy-like child or girl, would capture his imagination and lead him to thoughts of 18th-century ballerinas and silent film stars. Cornell wrote longer diary notes, sometimes expanding on an earlier notation or emotion, and often wrote when he experienced trouble sleeping or woke early. Drafted letters to imaginary muses or admired individuals are interspersed among diaries, often revealing Cornell's yearnings to find emotional intimacy and human connection. Over time, Cornell revisited his notes and occasionally made further notations about renewed thoughts on a topic, dating the note with "revisited" or "reviewed." Notes are often written in a stream-of-consciousness style, for example, jumping from the mention of a record album or composer, to a ballerina of the same period, a note about a French poet, the memory of childhood, or an observation made earlier in the day, all in the space of a few lines. Notes about artistic processes or meanings behind works or images do occasionally emerge from the tangled, poetic notations. Notes also often provide insights into Cornell's internal emotional state and give clues about his intentions behind an artwork or a particular thematic fixation.
Financial materials document Cornell's professional and personal business activities, including the sale of artworks, annual expenses for supplies and household incidentals, payments and schedules for personal assistants, receipts for donations to charities and nonprofits, and tax documents. There is also information about who worked as assistants, or "helpers," in his later years and where Cornell purchased art supplies. Additionally, specific details are documented through receipts and invoices, such as what kind of paint he purchased. Estate records include preparations made for Cornell's artworks after his death, and clippings about other deceased artist's estates show that he thought often about such arrangements in his later years.
Exhibition files highlight several select solo exhibitions for Cornell, as well as preparations and planning for the "Robert Cornell: Memorial Exhibition" in honor of his brother in 1966. Also included are several early exhibition catalogs and announcements, including "Surréalisme" (January 9-29, 1932) and "Exhibition of Objects (Bibloquet) by Joseph Cornell" (December 6-31, 1939) at the Julien Levy Gallery, and "Romantic Museum: Portraits of Women, Constructions and Arrangements by Joseph Cornell" (December 1946) at the Hugo Gallery.
Film projects and collected film materials consist of files related to Cornell's various experimental film projects: "Aviary," "Cappuccino," "Centuries of June," "Fable for Fountains," "Nymphlight," "Serafina's Garden," and unrealized film scenario "Monsieur Phot." Files include film-making notes, correspondence, and photographs. Cornell's interest in film also led him to collect film-related materials, such as film stills, film posters, and screening programs. Scattered correspondence documents the interest other institutions and individuals had in purchasing and viewing his collection. Though most of his collected film stills and movie posters were donated to the Anthology Film Archives, film stills from "Escape Me Never" (1935) and "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1928) are still within the collection, as well as film-screening programs for Cornell's collection of films.
Writing and design projects document Cornell's work authoring articles and designing issues of specialty dance magazine "Dance Index," and his layouts for popular magazines like "Good Housekeeping," "House and Garden," and "Mademoiselle." Other writing projects include brochures dedicated to opera singers Maria Malibran and Giulia Grisi, "Maria" and "Bel Canto Pet." Materials used for these brochures, such as copper photo engraving plates, are also found. Design work includes a series of Christmas cards created with The Museum of Modern Art as well as traced patterns ("textile tracings") and design clippings from Cornell's time working as a "textile designer" for Traphagen Commercial Textile Studio.
Cornell acquired troves of source material from bookstalls, antique stores, sporting good and department stores, hardware stores, and magazine and record shops. He kept boxes and files of material on admired individuals, such as actresses, artists, dancers, and singers, as well as on art projects or thematic "explorations." Files are on general topics such as American history, scientific phenomena, animals, plants, and humankind, as well as on series of artworks, such as "Castles," "Homage to the Romantic Ballet," and "Medici Slot Machines." Focused "exploration" projects include "Celestial Theatre," "Colombier," "GC 44," and "Switzerland," among others. Materials include photographs, photostats, maps, book fragments, autographed letters, notes, collage clippings and cutouts, collected prints and engravings, box and collage fragments, and scattered artifacts.
Collected ephemera includes large amounts of blank postcards and greeting cards, stamps, collected bus and train tickets, food labels and packaging, decals, and other materials. Artifacts are three-dimensional collected objects and source objects, which include found objects from the streets, dried flowers, and pieces of nature gathered from walks around his neighborhood. Cornell may have gathered materials because they inspired a memory or nostalgic feeling, or because they fit with a bin of other similar objects to select from for an artwork in progress.
Photographs found within the collection are of Cornell at work and as a child with family. Also found are assorted personal and family photographs, photographs of Cornell's attic and garage storage, and photographs of his Utopia Parkway house. Photographs of artwork include few installation photographs, in addition to photographs of Cornell's boxes and collages. Collected photographic materials include vintage photographs, such as tintypes, a cyanotype, stereoscopic glass slides, albumen prints, cabinet cards, and cartes-de-visite. Cornell also collected cased photographs, such as daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and one opalotype. Negatives and photostats were often produced from various prints and even other photographs and used in Cornell's boxes and collages. Images are of men and women, actors, authors, dancers, performers, well-known men and women, royalty, places, and artwork. Photographs of note include those by Hans Namuth of Willem and Lisa de Kooning and of Edward Hopper's bedroom; photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson; a photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron; photographs by Brassai; and a photogravure by Alfred Stieglitz from "Camerawork."
Also found in the collection are works of art by others, including a sketch by Pavel Tchelitchew, as well as artwork by Cornell, such as unfinished collages, Rorschach drawings or ink blots, and childhood artwork. Printed material includes assorted bulletins, flyers, exhibition materials for other artists, journals, and sent printed membership and charity materials. Magazines, including "View," are also included, and often have annotations by Cornell or a note to "cut" or "review" with page numbers. A large amount of magazine and newspaper clippings are in the collection, sometimes collected with a group of like material by Cornell, and at other times simply gathered in heaps. Occasional annotations are also found on the clippings.
Cornell's personal library and book collection includes over 2500 titles, ranging from fiction, poetry, and cinema, to history, science, and travel. Notable among the titles are "Baedeker's" travel guides that Cornell often sourced for his "Hotel" box series, as well as an influential publication by Max Ernst, "La Femme 100 têtes," which includes a typed letter and exhibition flyer tucked within. Books often have annotations, some fairly extensive, by Cornell, and assorted collected items, notes, and correspondence tucked between pages. Pages were often cut by Cornell, either to make photostats and use in a box, or to file with other thematic "explorations." A wide range of authors and topics provide insight into Cornell's interests and to ideas behind artwork and diary notes. Cornell's collection of record albums includes over 145 records. These contain inserted notes and clippings and are often referenced in diary notes Cornell made, noting a recent album or song listened to while at work in his studio.
The papers of Cornell's mother, Helen Storms Cornell, and his brother, Robert Cornell, are also included in the collection. Both lived with Cornell his whole life, spending the most time with him at their home at 3708 Utopia Parkway. Financial materials document shared responsibilities for billing, utilities, household fixes and chores, and expenditures, and Helen kept detailed financial records in a series of ledgers. Robert notes when he borrowed money from Cornell, or when he means to pay Cornell back for the purchase of a typewriter. Activities documented in diaries also occasionally cross paths with Cornell, noting his visitors or an exchange of letters continued after introductions through Cornell. Personal activities, such as Robert's interest in his train collection and his drawing projects and cartoon series, are also documented.
Joseph Cornell (1903-1972) was a self-taught assemblage and collage artist, and filmmaker, active in New York City. He was born in Nyack, New York on December 24, 1903, and died of heart failure at his home in Queens, New York on December 29, 1972. The oldest of four children, he was born Joseph I. Cornell to his mother, Helen Storms Cornell (1882-1966), and his father, Joseph I. Cornell (1875-1917). Cornell had two younger sisters, Elizabeth ("Betty") Cornell Benton (1905-2000) and Helen ("Sissy") Cornell Jagger (1906-2001), as well as one brother, Robert Cornell (1910-1965), who had cerebral palsy.
Cornell attended the Phillips Academy, a preparatory boarding school in Andover, Massachusetts, beginning shortly after his father's death in 1917. He attended for four years but did not receive a diploma, and soon began work as a textile salesman for the William Whitman Company in Manhattan. His work took him, by foot, through the city, visiting secondhand bookshops on Fourth Avenue, browsing music stores and magazine shops, and catching early shows at the Metropolitan Opera House. He would occasionally wait outside the stage doors for favorite singers and dancers to emerge, requesting signatures on photographs or bits of costumes.
Around 1926, Cornell joined the Christian Science Church, joined by his brother Robert shortly thereafter, and both continued to be lifelong members. Cornell kept a number of books in his personal library on Christian Science teachings and regularly subscribed to "The Christian Science Monitor."
After living in several rental houses in Bayside, New York, Cornell's mother purchased a house for the family in 1929 in Flushing, Queens. Cornell, along with his mother and brother, would live at 3708 Utopia Parkway, for the rest of their lives. His two sisters soon married and moved away, eventually settling in Westhampton, Long Island and in the poultry-farming business.
With no formal art training to speak of, Cornell's first work was a Max Ernst-inspired collage, "Untitled (Schooner)," created in 1931. He was especially inspired by Ernst's collage novel, "La Femme 100 têtes," published in 1929. French artist Odilon Redon was also among the few artists Cornell named as an influence on his art. His first sculptural works were small, cardboard pill boxes with bits of ephemera, costume adornments, and nature hidden inside. Cornell also created a series of glass bell jar works, placing small trinkets and Victorian-era-like compositions within. It was these early collages and bell jar works that were included in Cornell's debut exhibition, "Surréalisme" (January 9-29, 1932), a group show at the Julien Levy Gallery. Cornell designed the announcement for the show and exhibited alongside Max Ernst, Man Ray, Pierre Roy, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Eugène Atget, George Platt Lynes, Jean Cocteau, and Salvador Dalí. Months later, Cornell was invited to have his first solo show, "Objects by Joseph Cornell: Minutiae, Glass Bells, Shadow Boxes, Coups d'Oeil, Jouets Surréalistes" (November 26-December 30, 1932), also at the Julien Levy Gallery.
In 1932, after eleven years of work, Cornell was laid off from the William Whitman Company due to the Great Depression. Soon after, he took on more responsibility in the church, working part-time as an attendant in the Christian Science Reading Room in Great Neck, New York. Beginning in 1933, he taught Sunday school classes for three years and in 1935, became the Sunday school librarian. However, his religious activities and artistic ventures continued to remain separate.
In the early 1930s, Cornell progressed from movie lover to filmmaker. When Julien Levy began his New York Film Society in 1933, holding screenings of various experimental films in the gallery, Cornell began buying and collecting films and film stills in earnest. He set up a 16-millimeter projector in his home to screen favorites, such as those by Georges Méliès, D.W. Griffith, and Louis Feuillade. His collection quickly grew to over 2,500 film stills and several hundred films, and included silent era films, such as nature documentaries, goofy newsreels, travelogues, early cartoons, and slapstick comedies, as well as several feature films. In 1933, Cornell wrote a screenplay, or "scenario," entitled "Monsieur Phot." Between 1935 and 1937, Cornell also occasionally created publicity photomontages for Universal and Columbia studios. Of the nearly thirty films Cornell created, periods of activity can generally be separated into two areas: collage films of the late 1930s, consisting of combined elements from films in his own collection, and films he directed in the 1950s, which were collaborations with other filmmakers set in New York City. "Rose Hobart," Cornell's most celebrated collage film, was created and shown in the Julien Levy Gallery in 1936 and includes clipped footage from "East of Borneo." Later films were directed and filmed with cinematographers Stan Brakhage, Rudy Burckhardt, and Larry Jordan.
In 1934, Cornell began a job at the Traphagen Commercial Textile Studio as a "textile designer," a job he held for six years. Continuing to work at his kitchen table in the evenings, Cornell completed his first assemblage box construction, "Untitled (Soap Bubble Set)," in 1936. It was first exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art's show, "Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism" (December 9, 1936-January 17, 1937). This work was also the first to be acquired by a museum, purchased for $60.00 by the Wadsworth Atheneum in Massachusetts in 1938. Cornell's European debut was also in 1938, as one of three Americans represented in the "Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme" (January 17-Febuary 24, 1938) at the Galerie Beaux-Arts in Paris, alongside Man Ray and Anne Clark.
At the end of 1939, Cornell began corresponding with poet Charles Henri Ford, founder of avant-garde magazine "View," Pavel Tchelitchew, and Parker Tyler. After his "Soap Bubble Sets," this period saw the development of Cornell's homages to singers and actresses, including "Untitled (Fortune-Telling Parrot for Carmen Miranda)," the destroyed "Garbo (Greta Garbo in the Legendary Film 'The Crystal Mask,' c. 1845)," and "Dressing Room for Gilles." He also began using photostats of art reproduction prints, as with the print of Jean Antoine-Watteau's painting, "Pierrot" (circa 1719), used in his "Gilles" box.
In the 1940s, the Romantic ballet emerged as Cornell's new topic of interest. Through his friend Pavel Tchelitchew, Cornell was introduced to the School of American Ballet and New York City Ballet founders, Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine. Cornell collected dance memorabilia and had a great love of the Romantic ballet. His favorite dancers were primarily ballerinas of the nineteenth century, including Fanny Cerrito, Marie Taglioni, Fanny Elssler, Lucille Grahn, and Carlotta Grisi. Cornell's "Homage to the Romantic Ballet" works largely took the shape of jewel-box style wooden boxes with glass overlays and included bits of velvet, tulle, sequins, crystals, and chiffon, occasionally collected from dancers themselves. His most well-known work of this series is "Taglioni's Jewel Casket" (1940). Cornell also admired several living ballet dancers, including Tamara Toumanova, Zizi Jeanmaire, and Allegra Kent, who would all make their way into Cornell's box works and/or collages. Collecting for the "exploration," "Portrait of Ondine," Cornell's cased portfolio dedication to Fanny Cerrito and her role in the ballet "Ondine," began in the 1940s, though not completed until around 1960.
In late 1940, Cornell quit his job at Traphagen to concentrate on freelance commercial magazine design and editorial work during the day and his artwork at night. That same year, Charles Henri Ford started "View" magazine to promote Surrealists and Neo-Romantics in New York City and often asked Cornell to contribute. Published in the December 1941-January 1942 issue, one of his early contributions was a collage dedication to stage actress Hedy Lamarr: "Enchanted Wanderer: Excerpt from a Journey Album for Hedy Lamarr" (1941). Along with writing the accompanying text, he created a photomontage of Lamarr with her face overlaying the painted portrait of a Renaissance boy by Italian painter Giorgione. Peggy Guggenheim, at the advice of Marcel Duchamp, purchased multiple Cornell works prior to opening her new gallery, Art of This Century. Cornell also befriended Roberto Matta Echaurren, another Surrealist living in exile, who introduced him to Robert Motherwell.
After deciding to fully dedicate his time to his art in early 1940, he set up a studio in his basement. Complete with floor-to-ceiling wooden shelving, he kept his large collection of boxed source material stacked with handwritten labels in cardboard boxes. Themed folders of materials such as "Stamps" or "Maps" were kept in stacks and works in progress and finished works were stored in the basement, garage, and attic. Entering a renewed period of productivity, Cornell embarked on many new and important box projects in 1942. One of the first boxes created in his new basement studio, and the first of the "Penny Arcade" or "Medici Slot Machine" series, was "Medici Slot Machine" (1942), which includes a photostat of "Portrait of Marquess Massimiliano Stampa" (1557) by Sofonisba Anguissola. Another work from this time is the first of his "Castle" or "Palace" series, "Setting for a Fairy Tale" (1942), which uses a photostat of a French building from Jacques Androuet du Cerceau's book, "Les Plus excellents bastiments de France" (1576). "Untitled (Pharmacy)" (circa 1942) was the first of his "Pharmacy" series and included twenty-two apothecary jars. Cornell tended to work in series and created thirteen "Palace" boxes between 1942 and 1951, and ultimately created six "Pharmacy" works.
In 1943, Cornell began working at an electronics company, the Allied Control Company, Inc., to do his part to contribute to the defense effort during the war. He also sent correspondence and care packages to displaced Europeans, who listed their needs in "The Christian Science Monitor." Influenced by World War II, one of his strongest works to emerge in 1943 was "Habitat Group for a Shooting Gallery." Another notable work to come out of this period, "The Crystal Cage (Portrait of Berenice)," was an excerpt from one of his album "explorations" that was published in the January 1943 issue of "View."
Cornell left his job at Allied Control in 1944, but soon began working at the Garden Centre in Flushing, owned by a fellow Christian Scientist. Cornell was often nostalgic for this time in his life, devoting an entire "exploration" of material fondly remembered as "GC 44." He rode a bicycle to work and enjoyed collecting trips gathering dried grasses, driftwood, shells, and other relics of nature on the same bicycle as he rode through the streets of Queens. During this time, he continued to tend to his projects for "Dance Index," a magazine founded in 1942 by Lincoln Kirstein, but taken over by Donald Windham in 1944. Cornell designed several covers for the magazine and was given control of the entire summer 1944 issue, which he devoted to the Romantic ballet. He also devoted a special 1945 issue to Hans Christian Andersen, making great use of the New York Public Library Picture Collection.
Throughout the 1940s, Cornell continued to support himself with commercial design work for magazines like "Vogue," "Good Housekeeping," "Harper's Bazaar," "Town & Country," and "Mademoiselle." In 1946, after thirteen years at the Julien Levy Gallery, he joined the Hugo Gallery. In December 1946, Cornell's solo exhibition, "Romantic Museum at the Hugo Gallery: Portraits of Women by Joseph Cornell," celebrated his favorite movie stars, singers, and ballet dancers, and included his work created for the show, "Untitled (Penny Arcade Portrait of Lauren Bacall)." Cornell's "Greta Garbo" box, as well as "Souvenir for Singleton," an homage to Jennifer Jones and her role in the film "Love Letters," were also included in the show. In late 1948, his West Coast debut was in the exhibition, "Objects by Joseph Cornell," held at the Copley Gallery. The end of the 1940s saw the final issue of "View" magazine in 1947, the closure of the Julien Levy Gallery in April 1949, and Cornell's departure from the Hugo Gallery after his last show in November 1949.
In late 1949, Cornell joined the Charles Egan Gallery, known primarily for showing Abstract Expressionists. At this time, Cornell was working on a new series of boxes known as his "Aviary" works, most of which include a white-painted box with cutouts of birds mounted on wood. Though he had worked on bird-related boxes before, including an "Owl" series in the mid-1940s, his "Fortune Telling Parrot" (1939), and "Object 1941" (1941), these newer works were stripped of French elements and left "clean and abstract" by design. His first show at the Egan Gallery, "Aviary by Joseph Cornell" (December 7, 1949-January 7, 1950), included twenty-six "Aviary" works, nearly all created in 1949. Donald Windham agreed to write the foreword for the exhibition catalog, a single folded sheet, and Cornell gave him one of the boxes in the show, "Cockatoo: Keepsake Parakeet," in appreciation. Through the Egan Gallery, Cornell became friends with a new group of artists, including Franz Kline, Jack Tworkov, and Willem de Kooning. Cornell also held two screenings of a selection of his collected films at Subjects of the Artist, an art school founded by Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, David Hare, and William Baziotes.
In 1950, Cornell's second show at the Egan Gallery, "Night Songs and Other New Work" (December 1, 1950-January 13, 1951), introduced his new "Observatory" series. These works are largely defined by stark, whitewashed spaces with astronomical charts and constellations replacing colorful birds. The Museum of Modern Art purchased its first Cornell work from this show in early 1951, "Central Park Carrousel, in Memoriam" (1950).
For three months in 1951, Cornell was beset by various ailments and had trouble finding the energy to create new work. He worried more for his aging mother and the health of his brother. After a monthlong vacation with his sisters in Westhampton, he returned with renewed interest in Emily Dickinson's poetry. His whitewashed boxes took on a new form in his newest "Dovecote" series, using grids and circular cutouts. The works then transformed into homages to Dickinson, notably "Toward the Blue Peninsula: For Emily Dickinson" (circa 1953), and then to his "Hotel" series. Cornell's "Hotel" boxes include photostats of vintage European ads for hotels collected from vintage travel guides, especially "Baedeker's," adhered to the back walls of the boxes. Another new series of work, his "Juan Gris" series, was dedicated to Cubist artist Juan Gris. Between 1953 and the mid-1960s, Cornell created at least fifteen "Juan Gris" boxes, which often include a cutout of a white cockatoo in a Cubist-collage habitat. Cornell's third and last show at Egan Gallery, "Night Voyage" (February 10-March 28, 1953), included some of these newest works. After leaving Egan Gallery, his work was introduced to Chicago collectors in a solo show at the Frumkin Gallery, "Joseph Cornell: 10 Years of His Art" (April 10-May 7, 1953), which included nearly thirty pieces. Cornell's first museum retrospective was this same show held at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (July 12-August 30, 1953).
As New York City continued to change, Cornell grew more nostalgic for the city he had explored since the 1920s. The impending closure of the Third Avenue El train prompted him to dream up a film project to capture its last days, resulting in "Gnir Rednow," a reworking of Stan Brakhage's 1955, "Wonder Ring." During this time, Cornell joined the Stable Gallery, run by Eleanor Ward, interacting often with Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, and Joan Mitchell, remaining there until the end of the 1950s. His astronomy-themed exhibition, "Winter Night Skies" (December 12, 1955-January 13, 1956), included his "Night Skies" series of work with celestial chart fragments, Greek mythological figures, and paint-splattered "windows" representative of star-filled night skies. In 1956, he became aware of ballerina Allegra Kent, and began a series of work devoted to her, the first of which was "Via Parmigianino (Villa Allegra)" (1956), which included a photostat of a painting by Parmigianino, "The Madonna of the Long Neck" (circa 1540). In late 1957, after two years, Cornell had his last show at Stable Gallery, "Joseph Cornell: Selected Works" (December 2-31, 1957), consisting of a series of "Sand Fountain" boxes and "Space Object" or "Celestial Navigation" works. The "Sand Fountain" boxes included different colors of sand meant to flow within, often from the tops into cordial glasses. His "Celestial Navigations" included galaxy-like compositions set within the boxes, with rolling, painted cork balls, metal rings, and constellation charts, sometimes hovering over cordial glasses or clay pipes. This last Stable Gallery show earned him his first published profile, written by Howard Griffin for the December 1957 issue of "Art News." Also in 1957, he won the Kohnstamm Prize for Construction at the Art Institute of Chicago's 62rd Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture.
Towards the end of the 1950s, Cornell spent less time creating new bodies of work, and focused more on revisiting previous series and reviewing piles of collected source material. In 1959, Cornell returned to making collages, frequently sourcing popular magazines. In December 1959, Cornell was awarded $1,500 for his "Orion" collage, entered in the Art Institute of Chicago's "63rd American Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture." Also in December, he was offered a show at Bennington College in Vermont, which he titled, "Bonitas Solstitialis: Selected Works by Joseph Cornell and an exploration of the Colombier" (November 20-December 15, 1959). The show included one of his newest "explorations" of collected material related to "colombier," or pigeon houses.
By 1962, Cornell was working diligently on new collages, using Masonite boards and colorful magazine clippings. He also began creating collages using nude images interspersed with constellation clippings or hazy blue dyes. As in previous decades and art movements, Cornell became acquainted with new artists, spending less time in the city and more time hosting visitors at his Utopia Parkway home. Visitors included artists Walter De Maria, Robert Whitman, Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist, and Robert Indiana. Tony Curtis also became a frequent visitor and friend, introduced by Richard Feigen in 1964. The early 1960s was also the first time Cornell put out an advertisement for assistants in the "Long Island Star-Journal," employing a number of young men and women who helped organize clippings and run errands. Cornell also met Joyce Hunter, a young runaway waitress at a city coffee shop, who would occupy his thoughts and diary notes for the next several years. When she was murdered at the end of 1964, Cornell paid for her funeral. He went on to make several "Penny Arcade" collages in memoriam to her, including, "Penny Arcade (re-autumnal)" (1964).
In 1964, Cornell began friendships with several women including artist Carolee Schneeman, who was his first assistant in the early 1960s. He also met artist Yayoi Kusama through art dealer Gertrude Stein. After becoming friends, she visited him often and they exchanged letters and notes. As he did with other artist friends, Cornell supported her by purchasing several of her early watercolor paintings, and they stayed connected until his death in 1972.
Cornell's life greatly changed in 1965 with the death of his brother, Robert. By this time, his mother lived with his sister in Long Island, and Cornell was alone in the Utopia Parkway house for the first time. He exchanged frequent letters and phone calls with his mother and devoted much time to thinking about Robert and Joyce, often aligning them in his diary notations. Cornell also created a series of collages dedicated to his brother's memory, incorporating photostats of Robert's hundreds of drawings into Cornell's work, as with the later collage, "The Heart on the Sleeve" (1972). Cornell's "Time Transfixed" series of collages were also dedications to Robert's memory, referencing Magritte and Robert's love of trains. He mounted an exhibition, "Robert Cornell: Memorial Exhibition" (January 4-29, 1966), at the Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, where he showed Robert's artwork alongside his newly created collage dedications.
After Robert's death, Cornell relied more heavily on assistants, going through many part-time "helpers." In October 1966, Cornell's mother died, adding her to his constant thoughts and diaries. Though he was still grieving, he was given two major retrospectives in 1967. The first was at the Pasadena Art Museum, put on by James Demetrion and Walter Hopps, "An Exhibiton of Works by Joseph Cornell" (January 9-February 11, 1967). The second retrospective was at the Guggenheim Museum just three months later, "Joseph Cornell" (May 4-June 35, 1967), organized by Diane Waldman. After these shows, he was highlighted in the December 15, 1967 issue of "Life" in the article, "The Enigmatic Bachelor of Utopia Parkway."
In 1968, Cornell was given an "award of merit," which included a medal and $1,000, by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He was also given a medal and $1,000 by the Brandeis University Creative Arts Awards in the painting category, along with an exhibition. Days later, "The New York Times" announced Cornell the winner, along with Donald Judd, of India's first Triennale of Contemporary World Art. The Brandeis exhibition, "Boxes and Collages by Joseph Cornell" (May 20-June 23, 1968), was organized by William Seitz and concentrated on Cornell's more recent 1960s collages. Cornell was also included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's hundredth anniversary show, "New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940 to 1970" (October 18, 1969-February 1, 1970), where twenty-two of Cornell's boxes were shown in their own gallery. At the end of 1970, Cornell was given a solo show at the Metropolitan, "Collages by Joseph Cornell" (December 10, 1970-January 24, 1971), which included forty-five of his newest collages.
Now preferring to stay closer to his home in Flushing, Cornell was more interested in sharing his art with young adults and children, than an adult audience. He hosted a group of high school students, sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's education department, at his home in conjunction with his collage show (1970-1971). He also showed his work in the art department of Queens College of the City University of New York. Cornell still hosted visitors on occasion, having Yoko Ono and John Lennon at his home at least once. Leila Hadley, Betsy von Furstenberg, and Anne Jackson also made frequent visits. With his deteriorating health, Cornell worried about what would happen to his work after his death and hired lawyer Harry Torczyner to help him plan his estate and get his affairs in order.
In 1972, Cornell had a show at the Cooper Union, a college in New York, specifically for children. He displayed his boxes and collages at child-height and had cherry soda and brownies at the opening reception on February 10. He then held a show at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, also for children: "Children's Preview of the Exhibition of Joseph Cornell – Collages and Boxes (April 18-June 17, 1972). In the winter of 1972, at the request of the Phoenix House drug treatment and prevention program, Cornell contributed to a charity project compiling limited-edition lithographic prints for a portfolio, which included artists like David Hockney, James Rosenquist, and Ellsworth Kelly.
On December 29, 1972, a week after turning sixty-nine, Cornell died of heart failure at his home. He was cremated and interred near the graves of his mother, father, and brother, overlooking the Hudson River in Nyack, New York.
Works Cited:
1. Hartigan, Lynda Roscoe. "Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination." New Haven, Connecticut and London: Yale University Press, 2007. Exhibition Catalog.
2. McShine, Kynaston. "Joseph Cornell." New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1980.
3. San Francisco Cinematheque and The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "Joseph Cornell: Films." 2007. Exhibition Program. (Presented in conjunction with SFMOMA's exhibition of "Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination").
4. Schaffner, Ingrid and Lisa Jacobs. "Julien Levy: Portrait of an Art Gallery." Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: The MIT Press, 1998.
5. Solomon, Deborah. "Utopia Parkway: The Life and Work of Joseph Cornell." New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997.
Biographical material documents Cornell's daily life, with assorted personal identification materials, collected business cards and contacts, family obituary clippings of his mother and brother-in-law, Archer Jagger, Jr., and various membership materials. Cornell was a lifetime member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, held a permanent pass to the Whitney Museum of Art, and had a lifetime subscription to the Bookshelf of America, Inc. Some of his activities with the Christian Science Church are documented here through assorted membership documents and sent materials. Additionally, early childhood schoolwork includes short stories about a dog and spelling work. A ticket from a show Cornell put on for his family on August 23, 1917, which notes: "Combination Ticket Entitles Bearer to: 'The Professional Burglar,' Relic Museum, Candy, Shadow Plays," is also housed here. Other childhood drawings and sketches are found in 11.1: Artwork by Joseph Cornell.
Includes shoebox marked "Cornell 1929-1967" and "old front door lock 3708 Utopia Parkway Flushing NY" and "old lock Utopia Parkway" by Cornell. Box contains door lock, handle, interior glass knob, hardware, door lock with key inside.
Oversized material housed in Box 98, Folder 1, and OV118.
Oversized material removed from Box 1, Folder 15.
Oversized material removed from Box 1, Folder 15.
Correspondence was largely arranged alphabetically into groupings by other family members, and possibly assistants, with the exception of 2.2: International Pen Pal Correspondence, which were found in original folders separated from other correspondence. Further arrangement information can be found with sub-series.
This series is arranged as 5 sub-series:
Correspondence ranges from personal to professional, from fan letters and collectors to personal exchanges spanning many years with prominent authors, artists, filmmakers, and dancers. Cornell also corresponded with pen pals experiencing wartime hardship in Europe who posted ads in the "Christian Science Monitor" for clothing and other goods. Among charity correspondence, letters referencing donated artworks and financial donations to charitable organizations are found among sent published materials and solicitations for donations. Most of Cornell's professional correspondence is found with gallery, museum, and university correspondence, where there is an assortment of exhibition and loan documentation among letters requesting works for exhibition or permanent collections. Extensive personal family correspondence is to and from Cornell and his family, as well as among other Cornell family members.
Throughout correspondence files, scattered diary notes and jottings by Cornell can be found, along with occasional photographs and ephemera and artifacts.
General correspondence is on a range of personal and professional topics and includes scattered photographs, Rorschach drawings and illustrated letters, diary notes and draft letters by Cornell, collected or sent artifacts and ephemera. Letters include assorted fan letters from children and collectors; inquiries about Cornell's work process and whether works are available for sale; references to purchased, owned, or gifted artworks by and from Cornell; personal exchanges between friends and those Cornell admired; and references to "Dance Index" and "View" magazine issues, for which he contributed articles and designs.
Letters offer insights into Cornell's thoughts and processes, as found in a letter from Lucy Lippard (who wrote a book on Surrealists) referencing Cornell's preference to be noted as a "white magician" rather than a surrealist. A New York window designer, William Bayard Okie, Jr., writes to Cornell in 1946 and shares how he makes color-dyed sand, and Kurt Seligmann makes reference to the purchasing of blue velvet. Other letters highlight Cornell's interests in film and other artists, as seen in letters from Harry Torczyner, lawyer, art collector, author, and friend of René Magritte, who sent Cornell a requested photograph of Georgette Magritte along with a letter from her. Letters from Dorothy Coulter refer to "another drawing" purchased by Cornell, and Yayoi Kusama notes "You and Me, Birds of a Feather," in a letter with dyed feathers taped and sent to Cornell. Filmmaker and assistant to Cornell, Larry Jordan, includes three small hand-printed booklets on films: "The Aviary" by Joseph Cornell, "Orpheus" by Jean Cocteau, and "Ivan the Terrible" by S. M. Eisenstein. Cornell's contributions to avant-garde magazine, "View," are often praised, as found in correspondence with Charles Henri Ford and Pavel Tchelitchew, who sent along an illustrated letter from artist Toni del Renzio admiring Cornell's cover design for the "Americana Fantastica" issue. Marianne Moore began her correspondence with Cornell by first sending a letter of appreciation, for his collage "The Crystal Cage (Portrait of Berenice)" from the "Americana Fantastica" issue of "View," to Charles Henri Ford, who sent it along to Cornell.
Other correspondents of note include author and artist Eve Babitz; author and critic Dore Ashton; filmmakers Stan Brakhage, Rudy Burkhardt, and Larry Jordan; Pulitzer prize winning poet Marianne Moore; Nobel prize winning author Octavio Paz; artists Xenia Cage, Yayoi Kusama, Roberto Matta, Hans Namuth, Sonia Sekula, and Dorothea Tanning; actresses Suzanne Miller and Betsy von Furstenburg (also referred to as "Laurel" in the letters); author Charles Henri Ford and artist Pavel Tchelitchew; ballet dancers Allegra Kent and Tanaquil Le Clercq; and filmmaker and poet, Parker Tyler. Joseph Cornell also corresponded with the many "helpers," or assistants, he employed in his later years, including Alexandra Cortesi (Anderson), Marianne Barcellona, Helen Horn (Simeone), Howard Hussey, Kasoundra Kasoundra, George Kott, Suzanne Miller, Harry Roseman, Arlene Rothlein, Terry Schutte, Barbara Somers, and Vivienne Young, among others.
Correspondence is arranged alphabetically by correspondent, and chronologically thereafter.
Unsent postcards from Joseph Cornell.
5 black and white photographs, 2 color snapshots, and 1 vintage photograph. Includes notes about Mr. Fleishman's purchase of a Cornell box, as well as notes by Cornell about Joyce Hunter and draft letter to Hunter's daughter Sharon.
1 black and white photograph.
1 color transparency and 1 black and white photograph.
1 color snapshot of unidentified Cornell collage.
Previous assistant, 1968.
Mina Loy's daughter.
1 black and white snapshot, and 1 carte-de-visite. Letters are in French.
2 black and white photographs. Includes photographs of suspected Cornell box, purchased by Noah Goldowsky and Richard Bellamy from Charles Cowles, and letter requesting authentication.
Mina Loy's daughter.
Director of The Lighthouse Music School of the New York Association for the Blind.
5 color snapshots, 14 black and white snapshots, 10 color strip negatives.
1 black and white photograph of Cornell box, "Moon Box."
Refers to payments for "Napoleonic Cockatoo" box.
Refers to purchase of "Pink Palace" box.
Joseph Cornell draft letters.
1 black and white photograph. Previous assistant, 1965.
Letter of 1962 refers to "another drawing" purchased by Cornell.
Includes letters referring to unnamed box purchase.
Includes note by Cornell to "send token box Chirico."
1 black and white snapshot.
"Dance Index" editor, and "Life" magazine staff.
5 black and white snapshots. Bookbinder in London.
Refers to Fanny Cerrito autographed letter for sale.
Includes 1943 illustrated letter to Ford from Toni del Renzio, praising Cornell's "View" cover, "Americana Fantastica." Also includes 1955 letter from Virginia Russ to Ford about "View."
In French.
Includes reference to music and exchanging records, purchase of sand box and wish to purchase Medici box. Also refers to John Cage visiting and discussing Cornell fondly. Mentions Jim Demetrion's taxi accident.
Refers to artist Tony Berlant's visit and discussion of Cornell's influence on Berlant's artwork.
Refers to unidentified Cornell box with cordial glass and sand.
Includes pen and paint sketch by Hammond.
1 black and white snapshot. Friend of Suzanne Miller.
1 color slide of Cornell collage.
1 color slide.
Includes list of boxes and collages on loan to them.
1 color snapshot. Judy Tyler's parents.
Author of book on the Bronte's.
Previous assistant, 1962.
1 black and white snapshot. Previous assistant, 1967-1970. Includes sent artifacts and ephemera.
Refers to Cornell box "Target, the Moon" and replacing missing elements.
3 black and white snapshots. Includes 3 hand-printed booklets for films: "The Aviary" by Joseph Cornell, "Orpheus" by Jean Cocteau, and "Ivan the Terrible" by S. M. Eisenstein. Larry Jordan was a previous assistant to Joseph Cornell in 1965.
Previous assistant, 1968, 1971.
1 black and white photograph. Includes sent artifacts and ephemera.
1 color snapshot of Betty Benton and Sharon Kesl. Includes photocopied letter from Henri Matisse to "Mr. Clifford" with note "from Lennie Kesl to Betty Benton."
1 pencil sketch.
"Dance Index" founder.
Previous assistant, 1970.
In French.
Ballet dancer married to George Balanchine. Includes letter from Cornell with white painted angel silhouette.
1 black and white snapshot, torn.
Refers to Cornell's preference to be noted as a "white magician" rather than a surrealist.
1 color slide.
Refers to "Dance Index" issue, "Clowns, Elephants, and Ballerinas."
Includes illustrated letter from Matta and drawings/diagrams by Cornell "for Matta."
Refers to purchase of "Towards the Blue Peninsula" in installments, for Dwight Ripley, from Charles Egan Gallery.
Refers to "Nostalgia of the Sea" box purchase.
9 black and white snapshots. Oversized material housed in Box 86, Folder 1. Previous assistant, 1965, and actress in film, "Aviary."
Oversized material removed from Box 3, Folder 24.
Refers to "View" magazine, "Americana Fantastica" issue.
Refers to painting of rabbit Cornell used in his work.
Refers to how Bayard makes color-dyed sand.
Refers to collage Cornell sent to them in 1969.
Includes 4 Rorschach drawings by Cornell, ephemera and letters sent by Paz, poem inscribed to Cornell. Includes many letters in French.
3 black and white snapshots. Owns "Caravaggio Boy" box.
Includes plastic figure.
Refers to Cornell works, films and Outlines Gallery following exhibition of "Surrealist Objects: Toys, Peep-Shows, Pin-ball Machines and Others" by Joseph Cornell held at Outlines Gallery.
Includes illustrated letter from Reis.
Previous assistant, 1969-1971.
Previous assistant, 1965. Refers to "Swan Box" on loan.
Previous assistant, 1964. Includes a list of works on loan to Schutte in 1964, and paint sketch by Schutte.
Includes letter from Cornell referring to "Ondine" and blue velvet purchase.
Includes poem, "How to Make Your Own Rainbow."
Refers to Cornell's gift of a blue box commemorating visit, and includes request for return.
Previous assistant, 1965.
Joyce Hunter's boyfriend/husband.
New Arts Gallery owner/director. Refers to gift of box, "Lucille Grahn," as well as other gifts.
1 black and white photograph of Georgette Magritte. Includes letter to Cornell from Georgette Magritte in French, and other Magritte materials. Reference to legal issues at MoMA.
1 color slide.
Refers to compass box provenance, films, and includes typed letter on "Exhibition of Objects" exhibition announcement, 1940.
2 color snapshots.
2 color snapshots, 1 film still from "Women without Names." Includes 1 Rorschach drawing by Cornell.
In French.
Refers to "Mouse King" Robert Cornell sent.
Refers to box with cockatoo and pink "Indian with bows and arrows" - presumably "Cockatoo Keepsake Parakeet."
Includes assorted sent ephemera.
Previous assistant, 1965.
Correspondence is arranged alphabetically by correspondent, and chronologically thereafter.
Beginning in circa 1947, Cornell often answered ads in the "Christian Science Monitor" from individuals requesting pen pals and in need of food and clothing items due to wartime displacement. Some correspondence continued into 1952, and include a mix of letters, photographs, and scattered draft letters by Cornell. Correspondents include men and women from Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, and Italy, among others. He had an especially lengthy exchange with Sonja and Sofia Sheremietjew, daughter and mother living in a refugee camp in Germany after displacement from Poland. Sofia addressed Cornell as "Mimosa" and signed many of her letters "Sweet Soltan." He also corresponded at length with Fritz Felder from Germany, who often sent letters illustrated with color pencil drawings and several "photo letters," as he termed them, with personal photographs attached to the pages.
7 black and white snapshots; 1 paint sketch; 3 "photo letters" with 28 attached black and white snapshots.
4 black and white photographs.
1 black and white photograph.
1 black and white photograph.
17 black and white snapshots.
1 black and white photograph.
15 black and white photographs.
1 black and white photograph; 1 illustrated letter.
Includes notes and draft letters by Cornell.
Correspondence was partially arranged into subject groups, by Helen Jagger Batcheller, Cornell's niece, prior to donation. Other charity organizations not included in the subject groups are listed alphabetically by organization.
Charity correspondence is largely made up of solicitations for donations and sent published materials, with scattered letters of thanks, arrangements for loans, or auction of artwork to raise funds. Charities include health, international refugee, media, poverty, religious, suicide prevention, and youth service organizations, among others. Files for the Bedside Network and the League of Crippled Children include references to donated boxes and collages, as well as diary notes by Cornell.
Record albums rehoused with record album collection: "Sammy Davis, Jr. Visits the Hadley School" and "George Shearing Words and Music from Hadley," Talking Textbook, The Hadley School for the Blind. Book rehoused with Book Collection and Personal Library: "Harp of Silence: Poems by Richard Kinney" by Hadley School for the Blind.
7 color snapshots.
Reference to donation of collages and monetary donations.
Reference to sale of "Hotel du Nord" to Pasadena Art Museum by League for Charitable Funds, which Cornell donated in 1968. Also includes reference to collage, "The Storm That Never Came," by Cornell, which the organization wishes to sell.
Correspondence is arranged alphabetically by gallery, museum, or university, and chronologically thereafter.
Galleries, museums, and universities often discuss Cornell's artworks and wishes to exhibit, purchase, sell, or collect works. Scattered throughout correspondence files are photographs of artwork and installations, loan forms, inventories, shipping manifests and receipts, sales notices, exhibition catalogs and announcements, and Cornell's diary notes. Towards the end of the 1960s, Cornell's notes and draft letters often appear to attempt to take stock of work out on loan, who owns his works, and how many of his pieces one individual may own.
Reference to shows and desire to purchase "Aviary." Also includes Dürer cut out, sheet with stamps and "Wol Soc" and "Le Salamandre" written by Cornell.
19 negatives; 16 black and white photographs. Includes photographs and correspondence regarding 30 Cornell boxes moved to Oberlin from J. L. Hudson show in 1965. Also inlcudes installation views, and a letter from Wayne Andrews.
Reference to unspecified donated materials.
Reference to loans to exhibition, "American Artists of the 1960s."
4 black and white installation photographs of exhibition "The Boxes of Joseph Cornell" 1965.
Includes reference to exhibition for children, and includes clippings of show reviews and 19 pencil and ink sketches of Cornell boxes by Cornell or others.
Includes vintage letter of "Wellington's Campaign in Spain."
Includes correspondence with Inez Garson, Marianne Fairbank, and others. Also includes tags from grandfather's trunk.
Regarding Cornell's inclusion in exhibition, "American Report - The Sixties."
Includes purchase agreement for Cornell's "Sand Fountain (pour Valéry)" circa 1956.
Reference to gifts of artwork, loans, and discussions of estate/foundation advice. Also includes letter from Paul Waldman.
Regarding "Medici Boy" box.
In French.
Includes loan form for "Joseph Cornell" exhibition, 1967.
Includes shipping receipt for untitled Cornell box, "shadow-box painted blue."
Invitation to ground breaking ceremony.
In German.
Includes letter from Jane Wade at Marlborough.
5 black and white photographs of Cornell works. Includes letters from Inez Garson, Waldo Rasmussen, and others.
4 black and white installation photographs for "An Exhibition of Works by Joseph Cornell" 1966-1967; 5 black and white detail photographs of Cornell works (4 by Aaron Siskind). Includes letter telling Cornell of taxi accident in Chicago, resulting in fire loss of "Blue Swan" box and collage.
Reference to boxes, collages, and transparencies which Queens College is "in possession of," and notes insured amounts.
Includes exhibition catalog for "Surrealism and Neo-Romanticism" 1965.
2 black and white installation photographs.
Includes exhibition overview edited by Cornell and sketches of works by Cornell.
31 black and white photographs of Cornell works; 1 altered postcard by Cornell.
Many files were previously grouped into "To Joseph Cornell" and "From Joseph Cornell" by Elizabeth Cornell Benton, prior to donation.
Family correspondence is to and from Cornell, and is with sisters, Elizabeth (Betty) Cornell Benton ("Nell") and Helen Cornell Jagger ("Sissy"); mother, Helen Storms Cornell; and brother, Robert Cornell ("Snick" or "Snicky"). Some of the letters from Cornell's mother have been transcribed and typed, probably by Elizabeth Cornell Benton. In letters sent by Cornell, he often reminisces about activities of his day, or about memories long past. He occasionally refers to films, plays, and music he's being entertained by, and to boxes and collages he's spending his time working on. After Robert's death in 1965, Cornell spends much time mourning Robert through his letters and diary notes. Letters from Cornell's sisters, nieces, and nephews often recount their days, and occasionally sort out the logistics of picking up and storing some of his boxes. There are also references to moving Cornell's mother and brother, as well as time spent by Cornell with his sisters. Files of correspondence with his mother include a postcard of Emily Dickinson's house in Amherst, Massachusetts, sent to him in 1951. Between 1965, when his mother moved out of the Utopia Parkway house to stay with Betty Benton in Westhampton, and her death in 1966, correspondence with his mother increases, often including newspaper clippings and letters referencing how much she misses being "at home."
Reference to boxes and artwork, and to Maria Motherwell and the car she drives.
Reference to bird boxes, and includes antipasto sun lid rubbing with request for more if seen.
Family photograph reproduction included in one card .
1 black and white snapshot of "Bebe Marie" box.
2 color snapshots (circa 1972). Includes sent antipasto sun lid cutout and other items, 1952.
Includes postcard of Emily Dickinson's house in Amherst, Mass. sent to Joseph Cornell in 1951. Also includes scattered letters from Joseph Cornell.
1 black and white snapshot.
Diaries and notes document activities of the day; thoughts about art and religion; emotions and feelings related to memory or inspirations, as well as general mood; observations about people passing by; music listened to and books read; and planning and reflections on artwork. Written on seemingly any available surface, diaries, or "diary notes," are written on backs of receipts and old letters; paper bags from Woolworths', magazine shops, and record stores; manila envelopes and mailers; and napkins and torn fragments of paper. Cornell occasionally addresses a diary notation to an imaginary muse or drafts an unsent letter to someone he admired or corresponded with. As years passed, Cornell would often revisit his diaries and add review dates, sometimes commenting upon a memory or adding found scraps and objects, including clippings, dried leaves and flowers, toys, and stamps.
Especially rich in thoughts about Cornell's own artworks are the files "Art Notes Related to 'Objects.'" Here, Cornell writes about planning for an exhibition of various ephemera evoking nostalgia ("Metaphysique d'Ephemera") at Hugo Gallery in 1946, which most likely refers to planning for what was eventually called "Portraits of Women: Constructions and Arrangements by Joseph Cornell - The Romantic Museum." He includes ideas about an exhibition of Italian ephemera, "La Bella Napoli," as well as other exhibitions, such as the "Night Voyages" show (1953, Egan Gallery) and "The Philosophical Toy" exhibition. He refers to various admired artists and subjects of focused thought, such as: artists, Caravaggio, Willem de Kooning, Julio de Diego, Piero Dorazio, Marcel Duchamp, Piero della Francesca, Alberto Giacometti, Juan Gris, Parmigianino, Vermeer; poets, Apollinaire and Eluard; ballet dancers, Fanny Cerrito, Lucille Grahn, Zizi Jeanmaire, and Marie Taglioni; actresses, Lauren Bacall, Claire Bloom, Jennifer Jones, Hedy Lamarr, and Lois Smith. He also references works in progress and artwork series, such as: "Aviary" and "Cockatoo" boxes, "Dovecote" boxes, "Homage to the Romantic Ballet," "Hotel" boxes, "Medici" boxes, "Nostalgia of the Sea," "Pharmacy" boxes, "Pink Castles," and "Soap Bubble Sets." Other collecting projects and thematic projects noted include "Dennison boxes," "GC 44," and a "Scrapbook of Swizerland."
The "Cherubino #4, Writings – Notes" box is another large group of diary notes that were found together, placed in a cardboard box with painted label by Cornell. He wrote a disclaimer note about the "Cherubino" boxes, kept on top of this material, though the notes found within the box reference a wide number of artworks and subjects. References include "Andromeda" box, "Draco," "Fountain of Youth," "Sun Box," and "View at Ostend," among many other notations. A separate box of potentially related source material can be found in Series 8.2: Subject Source Files, "Cherubino #1." Other references to "Cherubino" can be found scattered throughout diary notes and jotted as annotations throughout the collection.
Within general chronological files of diaries and notes, topics include observations of Cornell's surroundings and emotions, including feelings of inspiration as well as "dullness," "sluggishness," and "endless monotony"; memories and pleasant feelings of nostalgia and "routine"; creative "sparkings" and time spent in "cellar" studio working on various works and ideas. Cornell also often makes reference to Joyce Hunter and her death, as well as occasional reference to religion and Christian Science, and in 1961, an "inspiration to work more for world condition." Notes about Cornell's backyard quince tree, music listened to, assistants or "helper" issues, and constellations observed in the night sky, also make frequent appearances.
Researchers should note that diaries and notes can be found scattered throughout the collection.
Alphabetical groupings of diaries and notes were created after the artist's death by his estate or his sisters, though some files of subject-based notes were kept together by Cornell. The distinction between who grouped the materials is often indiscernible, thus subject groups have been maintained where found, and noted as grouped by Cornell's sister, when known. Other diaries and notes are arranged chronologically in general files where no subject grouping is apparent.
Notes removed from Cornell's record albums by Elizabeth Cornell Benton.
Includes notes on exhibition, "Metaphysique d'Ephemera" at Hugo Gallery in 1946, and works. Refers to Lauren Bacall, Jennifer Jones, Hedy Lamarr, and Crystal Cage.
Reference to: working process, developments and ideas; reference to bottles (pharmacy, Bottle Museums), "Aviary/Bird Box" idea development.
Reference to: "Apollinaire;" ideas for exhibition "La Bella Napoli"; film work and projects; "Americana" pieces; "Nostalgia of the Sea," "Gilles," "Dutch Girl," "Grand Hotel de l'Observatoire," and "Vermeer."
Reference to: "Americana Fantastica" work; Juan Gris and "Parrot for Juan Gris" process; Parmigianino, Apollinaire, Zizi Jeanmaire, Medici Boxes; Julio de Diego's remark at "Night Voyages" show; draft exhibition catalog with draft note to Iolas; reference to Helen Frankenthaler's exhibition, Piero della Francesca, Cubism, and De Kooning.
Reference to: Eluard box and inspiration of him; "Soap Bubble Stamps"; Dovecotes, "Piero della Francesa feeling"; and Vermeer.
Reference to: aviaries and bird boxes; parakeet box and Alexander Blandin; white aviary box "Hyacinth Macaw"; Vermeer; "Scarlotti Parrot"; "Valentine for Eluard from Lucille Grahn"; GC44; Lucille Grahn and Cerrito; "Nap. Cockatoo"; "Paquerette" Cockatoo; Egan Gallery show; "Parrot for Juan Gris"; "Duchamp sparking"; Lois Smith collage; "Hotel de la Mer," "Diderot's Dream," Barbara Alstead; and feelings about work.
Reference to: "Scarlotti's Parrot," "Parrot Box" series, GC44, "Sun Box," "Claire Bloom," and Gino Severini print with " consider for parrot boxes" note.
Reference to: Dorazio with sketch; "New Bird Box" with sketch; "Marco Polo Box"; "Box 'Voyage' … box with white ground … make whole series"; Caravaggio box described; Giacometti; Hotels, Pink Castle, Soap Bubble Sets; "Pharmacy" Box description; "Develop romanticized aspects of ballerinas and modern movie actresses..."; sand boxes, "Nostalgia of the Sea"; "Aviary"; "Dennison boxes"; "Maria" brochures; "Hotel de Voyageurs" sketch; "Vermeer boxes"; Apollinaire; Diary note with insights into emotions and Cornell's view of the world and life; "Dukas' Night Window"; "Scrapbook of Switzerland"; "The Philosophical Toy" exhibition; Taglioni and Ondine; "Homage to Romantic Ballet"; "Durer Boy", etc.
Note by Cornell, "Looking out from table in Bickfords."
Includes disclaimer for "Cherubino" boxes written by Cornell. Reference to: "Oswoldo," "Andromeda" Box, "View at Ostend," "Fountain of Youth," "B"/Barbara Cherubino, "Sun Box," and "Draco."
Oversized box housed in Box 135.
Oversized box removed from Box 9, Folder 9.
Includes memories of childhood in Nyack, and notes about health and mood.
Group designated by Elizabeth Cornell Benton.
Group designated by Elizabeth Cornell Benton. Includes Patty Duke and Eleanor Duse
Group designated by Elizabeth Cornell Benton.
Oversized material housed in Box 98, Folder 2.
Oversized material removed from Box 9, Folder 18.
Group designated by Elizabeth Cornell Benton.
Group designated by Elizabeth Cornell Benton.
1 black and white photograph of "Black Dahlia" artwork by Bruce Conner.
Group designated by Elizabeth Cornell Benton. Includes notes by Benton.
Group designated by Elizabeth Cornell Benton.
Group designated by Elizabeth Cornell Benton.
Notes gathered one month since death of Robert. Includes packet of insect stamps.
Group designated by Elizabeth Cornell Benton.
Includes note: "Collage RCW 29 Paplo Pinz."
Reference to "Swiss Shoot the Chutes" box.
Notes transcribed from unidentified source, in French.
Includes: "beautiful dream of Matta."
Includes: "work up 'Tic-tac' di Pisu"; reference to quince tree and "Maria"; envelope with "Election Day" written and found "I Like Ike" button.
Includes: Egan Gallery; notes indicating a sense of pending loss of Third Avenue El demolition and past recollections; receipt of Motherwell article "on own work" in morning mail; "Taglioni-Sylphide."
Includes: "Dorazio"; reflections on feelings noticing women; missing "poignancy of chemical scent" at "A & F Photostat darkened hall"; "appreciation of the triviality of crowds vs … irritation and frustration"; Bickford's and pleasant feeling of the familiar; "missed bus and enjoyed calm of waiting for next"; and "heard without seeing bird in leaves."
Includes: Dorazio, Grahn, and "Rachel, enfant"; observations from window of El train; "Phot copying"; "'Little Prince,' Sitwell, 'Rustic Elegies,' GC44, seeing wading bird"; quince tree and autumnal sunlight; La Sonnambula.
Includes: "Colombier"; "Inspiration to do a Room"; "Bird Boxes"; dream of Debussy "was with us and interested in my (own) life"; "Hotel Etoile"; cellar work; Cerrito box for show; "Cellar work on new Americana collage of Betty Voorh old house woman's head in ladle" (Given to Stephen Paine by Elizabeth Cornell Benton in 1973); Apollinaire, Lois Smith, Danish Ballet; "Cellar spurt rare these days."
Includes: "Elmhurst Experience" and work on "new pipe box (bearded Jacob)"; Sand box idea; Inspiration for Exhibition for "teener youth"; "dullness … no feeling for carpentry"; "Nell's driftwood sculptures"; "pattern of sluggishness of mind"; Judy Tyler.
Includes: "Apprec. of present, things of past: Cerrito, Pasta, Grahn, etc."; Dürer; Iolas; "New 'finds' for collage"; "freshness over depression"; "strong feeling obsession for crowds, individuals, etc. … Apollinaire … thinking in direction of Wyeth, painters, etc."; "pale blue bkgrd whole pipe man's head on driftwood ... star cordial on ply'd ..."; Juan Gris box.
Oversized material housed in Box 98, Folder 3.
Oversized material removed from Box 9, Folder 56.
Includes: "For Eluard, Mallarmé" with found metal; "Hotel d'lEtoile" and found items; "slight vertigo … sitting wondering at 'Life' " with metal scrap; "for Suzanne" with found metal; "La Palomas for (Sara Montiel) Raquel Meller and Maria (La Violet Era)"; cellar collating; "perpet. obsession to do justice to Malibran .. new name for insert of Maria ... blurb like Bacall in Portraits of Women"; "Colombiers"; "Parrot" and Juan Gris, Valery.
Oversized material housed in Box 98, Folder 4.
Oversized material removed from Box 9, Folder 62.
Includes: dream of Raquel Meller; "… the drama of routine events …"; "… voyaging into town …"; "…near vertigo, useless sleep…"
Oversized material housed in Box 98, Folder 5.
Oversized material removed from Box 9, Folder 64.
Includes: "for Mylène" and "ink bought for collages of her"; "glimpses of the sylph"; Collage and Newtown high school; "Mll. Mylène inspir. De collage - outside of box Duse are for you brought to life 2 yrs later - inspri. to work more for world condition"; "... opp. Hippodrome ..."
Oversized material housed in Box 98, Folder 6.
Oversized material removed from Box 9, Folder 66.
Includes: Joyce and Tina references and notes; "Draco box"; "Draco-Trumpeter"; "J.B."; Partial list of boxes and works and owners; "charged notation"; "Feigen … Tina 'de Medici' … urge to get beyond assemblage kind of thing"; "New 'Medici' - Dolls - Space, etc."; "speedy work on making atelier more presentable to those not at home in fine arts"; "... uncomfortable feeling of GC44 slipping away talking in cellar about grasses ..."; Malibran; "Girl with a string of Blue Beads"; "Sun box sent to Louise Eastman"; "Isle of Children."
Oversized material housed in Box 98, Folder 7 and OV119.
Oversized material removed from Box 9, Folder 68.
Oversized material removed from Box 9, Folder 68.
Includes: beaded purse with note "Girl in Blue" … "Madonna box."
Oversized material housed in Box 98, Folder 8. References to Brancusi and Mina Loy.
Oversized material removed from Box 9, Folder 70.
Oversized material housed in Box 98, Folder 8. Includes: "L'Abeille"; "Joyce"; "Great Wonder of Life"; "'Etruscan' experience of summer 63"; "Tina"; "deadly monotony"; "… continual stalemate of Life - R's protracted condition, M's precariousness sans helper sans willingness to adjust … "; "'girl in blue'"; "... now bereft of confidante (s) ..."; "... value of piles of material - random collating bringing truth - indispensable"; Terry Shutte and gift of "Colombier" to her"; "... looked over Redon in bedroom ..."; "renewal with upset"; "penning in bewilderment"; "... 'confidante' rapport shattered ... betrayal ..."; Larry Jordan; "'Distance to the Moon' collage"; "Robert, Yayoi"; "Draco cast out for sunset collage"; "Colombier"; "Giatto collage done"; "Jeanne Eagels"; "Opp. the Hippodrome - Jeanne Eagels - now back to Tina as Joyce"; "Star Hotel"; "Terry - Joyce Box"; "'Camelopardalis' box (scraps)."
Oversized material housed in Box 98, Folders 10-14.
Oversized material removed from Box 9, Folder 73.
Reference to Sontag and Lillian Moore.
Oversized material housed in Box 98, Folder 9. Includes: "Gwen"; "Cerrito pink box"; Terry Schutte; much mention of Joyce and "Tina" and dealing with emotions of her death; "L'Abeille"; "Miss Thode"; Alexandra Cortesi; Big Dipper drawn; pop art and Andy Warhol; Allegra: Music; Robert Frost; Lincoln'd Birthday; Rilke; Trudy Goodman; "Hotel of the Golden Bee"; "Eterniday"; Pat Lewis; Irving Blum; "L'Abeille" collage gift to Cortesi.
Oversized material removed from Box 9, Folder 75.
Oversized material housed in Box 98, Folder 16 and Box 99, Folder 1.
Oversized material removed from Box 10, Folder 2.
Oversized material removed from Box 10, Folder 2.
Includes: "Mouse King"; "Hopper"; "Mother"; "NY"; "Betty Voorh."
Oversized material housed in Box 98, Folder 15. Includes: "Pasadena showing"; "Cassiopeia" series; note after Helen Storms Cornell's funeral; "Taglioni's Jewel Casket"; "Schubert Cat Box"; visiting Joyce Hunter's grave; Terry [Schutte].
Oversized material removed from Box 10, Folder 4.
Oversized material housed in Box 99, Folders 2-4 and OV108.
Oversized material removed from Box 10, Folder 56.
Oversized material removed from Box 10, Folder 56.
Includes: Sontag and I. Garson.
Includes: Duchamp; "Hotel de l'Etoile"; Rimbaud; "Cherubino"; "Caravaggio boys … tempera collage …"; Edward Hopper; "Tina"; "Lillian Moore" passing; "La Violetera"; Dovecote 1959; Music and mood; found items.
Oversized material housed in Box 99, Folder 5.
Oversized material removed from Box 10, Folder 9.
Includes: "R's Birthday"; "Hotel de l'Abeille"; "Dutch Still Life with Cockatoo"; "Magritte Loco."
Includes: "Sheree N."; cockatoo box; Guggenheim; Cassiopeia; Tina; Quote on love at first sight from "Literary Land Falls"; cubist collage; "… hopeless feelings of endlessness"; "lesser dog, Orion, and Gemini" in night sky; Gemini seen in sky before Robert's passing.
Oversized material housed in Box 99, Folder 6.
Oversized material removed from Box 10, Folder 12.
Oversized material housed in Box 99, Folder 12.
Oversized material removed from Box 10, Folder 13.
Includes: "hard roll as 'madelene'"; Jeanne Eagels; List of closed shops; "Opp. the Hippodrome"; "Edith Piaf, 'La Vie En Rose'"; Demetrion; Jane Wade; Stained Print; "Allegra"; "Dutch Still Life"; Miss Thode; Charity; "Visit to Hotel de l'Etoile"; "Harry Roseman's ... reaction to the lighted bird 'boxes' cellar"; "Bel Canto Pet" brochures gifted to neighbor; "Cassonova" collage; Terry; "Box in trust"; "Trista"; "Villa de Fleurs et d'Allegra"; "Sterns"; Jeanne Eagels; Geraldine Farrar; "Apollinaire" with rubbing of metal scrap and note.
Oversized material housed in Box 99, Folder 7.
Oversized material removed from Box 10, Folder 16.
Includes: "Leila" [Hadley]; Phone rings as code; "Conte de Feé"; "Relief finally came … with departure of helper"; G. Kott; "A and Trista"; "O. Paz"; "J. E."; Jeanne Eagels; "'Penny Arcade' and Varia Box"; Jackie Lane; "Miss Barton, Box with Casseopeia on back prominent Dog Star myth ... plus Parmigianino for Miss Ch."; "Betsy Von F."; Allegra; Rosemaris; "Press preview at Met ... 45 collages"; "'Coffee Pot' collage"; "Record hunts"; Tina; "for Rhett"; "J. Bisset, Helen Hayes"; Ruth Winterbottom; partial Rorschach with cut out butterfly.
Oversized material housed in Box 99, Folder 8.
Oversized material removed from Box 10, Folder 20.
Oversized material housed in Box 99, Folder 12. Includes: "Bird Hotel Window"; Taglioni; Jenny Jones.
Oversized material removed from Box 10, Folder 21.
Includes: "'Good King Wenseslaus' Collage"; "Rorschach for Miss Jenny Hecht"; "Tina Miracle"; Rorschach; Laurencin; Rudy Burkhardt; Jackie/Jocelyn; Chopin; "Inventory … Demetrion"; "has box Inez Garson"; "Robert Maplethorpe (sic) helper summer"; "Ostende Box"; Maria Jeritza; Caricatures; "Pasta Letter"; "... should my religion be better demonstrated ..."; James Joyce; "flitter mouse"; "Betsy v. Furstenberg's play"; "Knox-Albright Material"; "Hussey/Rhett"
Oversized material housed in Box 99, Folder 9.
Oversized material removed from Box 10, Folder 24.
1 color snapshot. Includes: "'Milky Way' in the quince" with note "'Constellation of Autumn'"; Terry; Leila; Lois; "Mother's Day"; "New 'Doll's Head' Collage … to Dorothy Benzian"; Harry Roseman; "Mother's Bible"; Leila; "Rhett's sculpture rejected."
Oversized material housed in Box 99, Folders 10-11.
Oversized material removed from Box 10, Folder 28.
Oversized material housed in Box 99, Folder 13-15.
Oversized material removed from Box 10, Folder 29.
Includes: Keats; "La Voliere"; "Leila"; "The Artist's Voice"; "bird boxes"; "Whitman wanderings"; "'Arizona Highways'"; "Pharmacy"; "Dore/Eastman"; "R's Train collage"; "Jane Fonda"; "wild dream about return to Andover"; Mary Baker Eddy quote; "copy doll for C. P. Grahn"; "Memory of Daddy telling me about clocks hour when Lincoln was shot ..." newspaper clipping of clock; description of artwork: "Real mirror ... pipe(s) ... driftwood ... contel. blue frag. ..."; "swan box"; "Arlene Rothlein 'swan' back"; "Hotel Salamandre complete let down"; "Grand Tour"; "worksheet (collage)" referring to Debussy's interest in painting and translating objects to music; Jeanne Eagels; description of collage process; Pasta; Delacroix; Jules Verne; Raquell Meller; "Pasta ... aviary"; "'La Metaphysique d'erotica'"; "Supervia"; Malibran; "Penny Arcade"; dovecote-like sketch.
This series is arranged as 2 sub-series:
Personal business and estate records document Cornell's financial activities in his personal and professional life. The bulk of these records are representative of his later years and include annual recordkeeping of income and expenditures. Through receipts, bills, invoices, tax returns, and financial notations, Cornell kept a record of where various art and household supplies were purchased, which assistants appeared on what days, and what organizations he regularly donated funds. He also kept documentation of income from art sales, earnings from dividends, and other areas of income, including winning the Kohnstamm Prize for Construction at the Art Institute of Chicago's 62rd Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture in 1957. Estate records include plans made with lawyers and family for establishing an Estate to manage his affairs upon his death, as well as attempts to track down the locations of his artworks – from long-term loans in galleries and museums, to individuals and storage units.
Personal business records document Joseph Cornell's annual expenses and income, presumably for tax purposes, and primarily date from the late 1950s to 1972. Receipts were kept bundled by year and include spending on art supplies and art shipping services, film prints and photostat orders, framing and lumber orders, and purchases of books, magazines, and music. According to supply receipts, he purchased LePages Glue by the gallon from Alexander's Paint and Wallpaper Corp., and frequented specialty supply shops, hardware stores, and artist supply stores for pieces of glass, glue, wood pieces, and picture frames, among other materials. In 1960, for example, a receipt from an unidentified retailer documents that some of the cork balls Cornell was so fond of collecting, were sold as fishing lures. He also notes purchasing "fishing floats" from Empire Sport Shop.
Especially frequented shops include: Bayside Woodworking Co.; E.H. and A.C. Friedrichs Company; Jocker's Hardware, Inc.; Queensboro Glass and Mirror Shop; and S. A. Bendheim Company (Glass). The primary company where Cornell ordered photo reproductions was F. A. Russo, and he often made book and magazine purchases from Gertz, Marboro Books, and Midtown Magazine Service, sometimes noting "collage materials" on the backs of receipts. Ifan Kyrle Fletcher was his primary source for vintage autographed letters, and numerous receipts from Record Haven indicate that this was a shop Cornell frequented for record albums. Some film-related expenses are filed here, though most of Cornell's film documentation can be found in Series 6: Film Projects and Collected Film Materials.
Other expenses, which Cornell noted as miscellaneous or "non-declarable" for taxes, include items and services such as clock maintenance, clothing, dentist trips, fees for accountant and lawyer services, local journal and newspaper subscriptions, radio repairs, and occasionally a receipt for another artist's work purchased at a gallery (see 1961 - Dorothy Coulter purchase). See also, 2.1: General Correspondence, "Coulter, Dorothy," for reference to work purchased.
Files also include notes of income totals and annual income from art sales, as well as income from the Kohnstamm Prize for Construction, $250 awarded at the 62nd Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago. Those purchasing Cornell pieces sometimes made payments in installments, and he often noted the work that an individual or gallery was making a payment toward.
Utility bills, tax returns, and dividend earnings are also included.
Cornell kept files of yearly receipts, presumably for tax purposes, and this arrangement was retained as much as possible. Sometimes he grouped a bundle of receipts by type, such as "Frames" and "Lumber," while other receipts were grouped by archives staff. Receipts are arranged alphabetically by shop or retailer, and chronologically thereafter.
Includes sketch of box by Cornell, with 1968 file.
Alphabetical by company.
Alphabetical by company.
Includes records of payment to Suzanne Miller, Rosemarie Fonseca, and Larry Jordan, and processing costs for "Wonder Ring" and "Nymph Light."
Includes receipts for frames and framing services: E. H. and A. C. Friedrichs Co., Grand Central Artists' Materials, Inc., Josephson's, Inc., among others.
Includes Bayside Lumber and Supply, Bayside Woodworking Co. (with sketch of box and note, "'Roman Journeys' (tent.)," Richardson Dutt Inc., among others.
See also "Expenses, Other," 1961-1965, for payment receipts to Betty Benton for "cabin."
Includes exhibition lists, announcement cards, and related gallery publicity.
9 black and white photographs of sold Cornell works.
Estate records document the plans Cornell made for how his materials and works were to be handled after his death. Files also include clippings about other artist estates, lists and notes of Cornell artworks gifted or on loan, and condolence cards following Cornell's death in 1972. Scattered notes and lists created after his death by his sisters, as well as some plans for gifts and donations of works, are also found here.
Alphabetical by last name.
Includes Cornell's notes about plans for artwork and lists after death.
40 black and white photographs of Cornell artworks. Includes inventory notes about works exhibited and on long term loan.
Includes a statement about Joyce Hunter and resume-style document about Joseph Cornell.
References to Hughie Lee Smith and Niles Spencer.
Exhibition files include material specific to several exhibitions, as well as exhibition catalogs and announcements for several Joseph Cornell shows. Files contain scattered notes by Cornell about visions for a show or reflections about a group of works, exhibition lists, exhibition catalogs and drafts, and some photographs of works or installation views. Files for exhibitions, "Night Voyage by Joseph Cornell" (1953) at Egan Gallery, and "Joseph Cornell: Boxes and Collages" (1972) at Albright-Knox Art Gallery, are especially rich in planning documentation.
The death of his brother in 1965 deeply affected Cornell, and one of the ways he chose to honor and remember Robert was through a "memorial exhibition" of his drawings alongside Cornell's collages. The exhibition, "Robert Cornell: Memorial Exhibition" was held at Robert Schoelkopf Gallery in January of 1966, and the files include documentation of plans for the show and creation of the announcement. Other files kept about Robert can be found in Series 3: Diaries and Notes, Series 8.2: Subject Source Files, and Series 11.2: Artwork by Others.
Files begin with exhibition catalogs and announcements, followed by files of exhibitions arranged chronologically by date of exhibition.
Includes "Surrealisme" at Julien Levy Gallery (Jan. 9-29, 1932); "Exhibition of Objects (Bibloquet) by Joseph Cornell" at Julien Levy Gallery (Dec. 6-31, 1939); "Romantic Museum: Portraits of Women, Constructions and Arrangements by Joseph Cornell" at Hugo Gallery (Dec. 1946); "Film Soiree" at Norlyst Gallery (March 2-16, 1947); "Winter Night Skies by Joseph Cornell" (Dec. 12, 1955-Jan. 13, 1956).
Includes 10 original drawings by Robert Cornell.
14 black and white photographs. Photographs include installation views and children's preview, as well as Cornell works and an image of James Ensor's "Fireworks" painting.
Cornell's work as an artist also extended to film: he collaged films, like "Rose Hobart," and wrote screenplays for other films in which he acted as director, such as "Aviary", "Nymphlight," "Centuries of June," "Serafina's Garden," "Monsieur Phot" (which was never made into a film), and many others. These activities are documented in film project files, identified by film when possible, and include jottings and notes, clippings that inspired a certain film, scattered correspondence, and descriptions of filming sequences.
Flyers announcing screenings of his collected and collaged films, as well as film-related correspondence files, and files of film-making notes, further document Cornell's activities as a film writer and film enthusiast.
In 1933, Cornell wrote the film scenario (or screenplay) "Monsieur Phot," inspired by Surrealist magazines, comprised of text typed on red tissue paper and adhered to paper, with mounted photographs interspersed. One complete, numbered, and signed volume remains in the collection, Copy No. 11, as well as one complete but unsigned and unnumbered copy. The materials and text pages used to create copies of the work, are also included.
Cornell was an avid collector of film-related material, including film stills from favorite old films, movie posters, and film screening announcements and programs. Letters to and from collectors often include invoices and receipts of film sales and purchases and requests for particular films. Most of his original film reels and film stills were donated to the Anthology Film Archive in New York, though stills from films "Escape Me Never" (1935) and "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1928) remain with this collection.
Film-related materials are also found elsewhere in the collection, including Series 4.2: Personal Business Records, file of "Expenses, Art Supplies and Services [Film-Related]." Series 2.1: General Correspondence, includes correspondence files with assistant and actress in "Aviary," Suzanne Miller; assistant and filmmaker, Larry Jordan; and filmmakers, Rudy Burkhardt and Stan Brakhage. Series 14: Record Album Collection, includes scattered notes on album covers and in notes referring to inclusion in various films.
Files are arranged by film project, when identified, and otherwise by file content. Record albums were rehoused with Series 14: Record Album Collection, and noted.
3 black and white photographs
Includes Emily Dickinson poem.
3 black and white photographs.
26 black and white photographs.
8 black and white photographs.
Reference to selling, trading, and seeking films Cornell collected.
Includes purchase order for Cornell's films.
Includes some reference to purchased and sent "objects" by Cornell, as well as film purchases.
Includes 5 cardboard boxes of film reels in box marked "UFA Education" by Cornell.
Films include: "Fighters of the Deep, Educational, Sale $1.79" (Includes note by Cornell, "Mappings for Loutics"); "What a Deep Sea Diver Sees, Educational, Sale $1.79" (Includes note by Cornell, "Cut for 'King and Scullery Maid'); "A Festival in Kavirondo Land, Educational, $1.79"; "The Sea Hare and the Atlanta, Educational, Sale $1.70"; and "The Cuttle Fish, Educational, Sale $1.79."
Record album rehoused in record album collection: "Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky: Grieg, The Last Spring; Satie, Gymnopedie Nos. 1 and 2."
Includes cardboard box marked "Empty 100 Reel and Boxes" by Cornell with 12 empty 16mm film boxes and 3 rolls of film. Some empty film boxes have notations.
Oversized box housed in Box 133.
Oversized box removed from Box 15, Folder 36.
Alphabetical by company.
Includes 4 empty metal film reel cannisters.
Oversized film-screening program poster housed in Box 100, Folder 1.
Oversized material removed from Box 15, Folder 50.
All "Monsieur Phot" material previously housed within.
Writing and design projects document Cornell's work in commercial design for household textiles, design and writing work for magazines, and other specialized writing and design projects.
Early in his career in 1934, Cornell was hired by Traphagen Commercial Textile Studio to work as a "textile designer." His work involved researching designs as well as recording designs in pencil and paint onto tracing paper for home textile goods. Files include design reference clippings and tracing paper patterns that document his time at Traphagen.
Files also document Cornell's work writing and designing special issues of "Dance Index," as well as the work he did designing covers for several commercial magazines, including "Good Housekeeping" and "House and Garden." A photoshoot of Cornell boxes was also included in an issue of "Mademoiselle," and is represented within these files.
Other projects include designs for three Christmas cards published with the Museum of Modern Art, and two brochure or pamphlet projects that Cornell created in 1954 and 1955 dedicated to two opera singers of the early 19th century. Brochures are titled "Maria," dedicated to Maria Malibran, and "Bel Canto Pet," dedicated to Giulia Grisi. The files include the two copper photo engraving plates, tools, and materials he used to create these brochures, as well as over 200 copies of "Bel Canto Pet," and 20 copies of "Maria."
Researchers should note that complete copies of various issues of "Dance Index" and "View" magazines, which Cornell fully designed or contributed to, are housed with Series 12.1: Other Printed Material, Magazines.
Files are arranged by design or writing project, or publication title. Brochures, "Maria" and "Bel Canto Pet," were kept together by Cornell in file and shoe boxes and are filed together.
111 copies of one version of "Bel Canto Pet" brochures housed in Box 18; 169 copies of "Bel Canto Pet" brochures and 20 copies of "Maria" brochures housed in Box 17.
111 copies of one version of "Bel Canto Pet" brochures.
169 copies of other versions of "Bel Canto Pet" brochures.
20 copies of "Maria" brochures.
1 copper photo engraving plate.
1 copper photo engraving plate of Giulia Grisi.
Tools housed in Box 17. Supplies include box of gummed stars, postal labels, file tab labels, and books of seals.
Four artifact bags: pen nibs and rock; 4 pens and pencil; 5 brushes; 1 box of chalk.
Oversized boxes (2) housed in Box 131.
Oversized material removed from Box 16, Folder 31. Includes two empty boxes.
Oversized material housed in Box 100, Folder 2. Includes note in one card from Sidney Janis.
Oversized material removed from Box 16, Folder 32.
Includes annotations, Cornell's signature on some, one card received from Sidney Janix, and one card from Monroe Wheeler.
Oversized material housed in Box 100, Folder 3.
Oversized material removed from Box 16, Folder 34.
Oversized material housed in Box 100, Folder 4 and Box 132.
Oversized material removed from Box 16, Folder 39.
Oversized material removed from Box 16, Folder 39.
Oversized material housed in Box 86, Folders 2-4; Box 100, Folders 5-7; OV109-OV111; OV120-122. Includes designs on tracing paper from "Traphagen Days," as noted by sister, Elizabeth.
Oversized material removed from Box 16, Folder 41.
Oversized material removed from Box 16, Folder 41.
Oversized material removed from Box 16, Folder 41.
Oversized material removed from Box 16, Folder 41.
Oversized material removed from Box 16, Folder 41.
Oversized material removed from Box 16, Folder 41.
Oversized material removed from Box 16, Folder 41.
Oversized material removed from Box 16, Folder 41.
Source material files document the artistic life of Cornell through extensive amounts of collected subject and material files. Cornell made frequent visits to antique stores, bookstalls and bookshops, record stores, hardware and sporting goods stores, and made purchases from autographed letter dealers. He acquired a wide range of textual ephemera that he clipped and filed based on topical groupings or by types of material. Whether working through a project idea, or merely gathering materials to have on hand as source material and inspiration, files were stored in large piles, boxes, folders, and envelopes. There are occasionally one or more notes by Cornell to identify what a specific group of material pertains to, though not always.
Files provide a glimpse of his thought process, as seemingly disparate ideas or imagery are often compiled according to some greater concept that Cornell visualizes. Scattered throughout the files are collage cutouts and magazine prints; paint-stained papers and box fragments; Victorian decals of birds, animals, and people; notes and annotated diagrams or sketches of works; photostats and photographs; engravings and prints of a variety of subjects, many with "New York Public Library Print Collection" stamped on them; book pages and book fragments, some with annotations or Cornell's signature; and map fragments and hotel advertisement cutouts, among other kinds of materials.
Organizationally, a separation can be made between files Cornell compiled on individual people, often termed as "dossiers" or "homage-albums," and those he kept together based on subject or type of material or project, which he also referred to as "source files," "albums," or "portfolios."
Researchers should also note that many similar files of two-dimensional source material are found in the Joseph Cornell Papers at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art.
This series is arranged as 2 sub-series:
Often referred to by Cornell as "dossiers," files gathered topically by an individual person include a range of materials: diaries about the person and personal letters to and from Cornell; photographs and magazine clippings depicting the person; and clipped articles and postcards of other imagery or ideas that Cornell associated with that individual. Files range from individuals Cornell knew personally, including Yayoi Kusama, Lee Miller, Allegra Kent, Joyce Hunter, Roberto Matta, and Trudy Goodman; to those admired from afar, including Lauren Bacall, Rosemary Carver, Patty Duke, Jeanne Eagels, Grace Hartigan, Jennifer Jones, Jackie Lane, Marilyn Monroe, Shirley MacLaine, Sheree North, Lois Smith, Susan Sontag, Tamara Toumanova, and Judy Tyler. He also kept files on individuals admired from long ago, including Hector Berlioz, Lucienne Boyer, Emily Dickinson, Paul Dukas, Eleanora Duse, Geraldine Farrar, Loie Fuller, Artemisia Gentileschi, Lucille Grahn, Tilly Losch, Maria Malibran, Guiditta Pasta, and Supervia Conchita, among others.
Among the files, significant photographic materials include photographs of Rosemary Carver by Man Ray and George Platt Lynes, a signed photograph by Loie Fuller, photographs of Yayoi Kusama, personal snapshots of Roberto Matta, photographs by Lee Miller, film stills from Jean Cocteau's film, "Le Sang d'un poète" (1931), and a signed photograph of Tamara Toumanova sent to Cornell with costume pieces. Other notable materials include a signed letter by Hector Berlioz, a calling card from Paul Dukas, a letter by Max Ernst, a collage by Grace Hartigan sent to Cornell, a signed note by Christina Rosetti, and a signed letter by Clara Schumann. Included throughout the files are letters and diary notes, box sketches and unfinished or drafted collages, source clippings and images for a number of finished Cornell collages and boxes, references to record albums, playbills and collected ephemera.
Larger groups of files for those admired from afar include Marilyn Monroe, Patty Duke, Giuditta Pasta, and Judy Tyler. Marilyn Monroe files are largely made up of diary notes and magazine and newspaper clippings about Marilyn, as well as correspondence and exhibition catalog from the Sidney Janis Gallery. Patty Duke files, also noted by Cornell as "Isle of Children" and "Penny Arcade" files, include notes and ephemera, playbills for "Isle of Children," paint-stained newspapers, and assorted clippings about Patty. Giuditta Pasta files were housed in a paint-labeled box Cornell titled "Pasta." Within the box, Cornell further arranged material into the folders: "Arches of the Sky," "Diary," and "Sentimentalia," while he also kept material loose in the box. Materials include notes and diaries referencing a number of other topics, including Fanny Cerrito and "Aviary" boxes, "Dance Index," Lauren Bacall, and Maria Malibran. Files for Judy Tyler include photographs and diary notes, among other materials. See also Series 2.1: General Correspondence, Lorelei Hess, for correspondence with Judy's mother and father. After the deaths of his brother and mother in 1965 and 1966, Cornell shared his grief with Judy Tyler's parents, who lost her in a car accident in 1957.
Numerous files were kept for Allegra Kent and Joyce Hunter, two women Cornell knew well. Though Cornell first met Allegra Kent, principal ballet dancer in the New York City Ballet, in 1956, they did not become friends until 1969. Files document their friendship and Cornell's appreciation for her, through diaries and correspondence; gifts of drawings and cards from her children and Allegra; photographs of the dancer, including one series of photographs with Cornell, Allegra, and her children in one print; a sent bit of silky fabric and a handmade paper hat, noted by Cornell as items commemorating a recent visit from Allegra and her children; and two collages by Cornell.
Extensive files are dedicated to Joyce Hunter, a young, runaway-turned-waitress working at the Strand Food Shop, a coffee shop on Sixth Avenue. He first met her in 1962, and soon learned she was an aspiring actress from Kentucky. She had a daughter, Sharon, and a husband she left in Philadelphia. Cornell admired her as one of his muses, fairy-like and "feé," often referring to her as "Tina," a name he assigned to various muses of this kind, but especially to Joyce. She often spoke with him of her troubles on his visits to the coffee shop, and he would sit and jot notes about his observations and their talks when she was busy. She visited his Utopia Parkway home and met his family, and he gave her several gifts, including one of his boxes, going so far as to offer her a position as his part-time assistant. She often asked for money from Cornell, lamenting how difficult a time she had making rent, and so on. After seeing her infrequently for several months, she reappeared with a friend to ask for more boxes, which Cornell refused. Then, in 1964, Joyce and her boyfriend stole nine of Cornell's box works from his garage, which Cornell was not aware of until art dealers notified him that two teenaged girls were trying to sell his artwork. With reluctance, Cornell filed charges against Joyce, her boyfriend, and friend Patricia Lewis. Unable to withdraw the charges, Cornell posted her bail for $1000, paid for her lawyer, and refused to testify against her at the trial in October. The charges were eventually dropped, and Cornell could withdraw his complaint against them. He continued to see Joyce afterwards, and she frequently visited his home. In mid-December, Joyce was found murdered in her apartment. When her body was not claimed, Cornell paid for her funeral and burial in Flushing Cemetery, and asked detectives to try to find her daughter, Sharon, thinking he could care for her. Though Sharon was never tracked down, Cornell would continue to think about Joyce and imagine Sharon for years to come. He dedicated collages to them both, wrote diary notes about Joyce, and drafted letters to Sharon.
Files on Joyce Hunter include correspondence with Joyce, Patricia Lewis, and art galleries aware of the theft of boxes; diary notes from the time of meeting Joyce to lamenting her after her death, as well as diary notes to Sharon; collected ephemera and artifacts; programs and planning materials for Joyce's funeral and burial; legal documents and notes related to the theft and trial; photographs of Joyce and Sharon; and collages and collage materials dedicated to Joyce and Sharon. With the death of Robert in 1965, Cornell often combined his grief for Joyce and Robert in the same diary notations, occasionally drafting notes or letters to them both.
Files are arranged alphabetically by individual's last name.
8 black and white photograph.
Includes original letter signed by Hector Berlioz, and menu from Baltimore Hotel signed by Joseph Joachim, 1889.
1 black and white photograph, signed by Lucienne Boyer.
Includes one photograph by Man Ray, and one photograph by George Platt Lynes.. Rosemary Carver was an actress and "Vogue" fashion model.
Includes letter from Cornell sent to sister, Betty, referring to collages and Emily Dickinson. See also 2.5 Family Correspondence, for postcard of Emily Dickinson's house in Amherst, sent to Cornell from his mother.
Cartiere Miliani Fabriano cardboard box marked "Dorazio" by Joseph Cornell and filled with assorted objects.
Includes letter and calling card from Dukas, diary notes, and text translated by Suzi Gablik.
1 record album housed with Record Album Collection: "Cielito Lindo by Mr. Acker Bilk with the Leon Young Chorale." Includes notes and ephemera, paint-stained newspaper, playbills for "The Isle of Children," and magazine and newspaper clippings about Patty Duke.
1 black and white photograph.
See Book Collection and Personal Library, Book: "La Femme 100 Tétes" by Max Ernst, for original letter and exhibition catalog. Includes photocopied letter to "Cher Monsieur" from Ernst and exhibition catalog, "Twenty-Five Years of Russian Ballet: From the Collection of Serge Lifar."
1 black and white photograph. See Series 12.1 Other Printed Material, Magazines, "The Musician," for signed photograph of Farrar inserted between the pages of the magazine.
Oversized material housed in Box 100, Folder 8. Includes signed postcard by Fuller.
Oversized material removed from Box 19, Folder 38.
Includes collage by Cornell.
6 black and white photographs; 2 black and white photographs dyed blue; 2 color snapshots. Includes 1 collage by Cornell. Trudy Goodman was a previous assistant to Joseph Cornell in 1965.
1 black and white photograph. Oversized material housed in Box 86, Folder 5, and Box 129. Includes letter to Cornell from Lillian Moore.
Removed from Box 19, Folder 46.
Removed from Box 19, Folder 51.
Oversized material housed in Box 86, Folders 6-7; includes collage by Grace Hartigan, sent to Cornell.
Oversized material housed in Box 100, Folder 10. Includes some annotations.
Removed from Box 19, Folder 55.
Includes annotations.
1 black and white photograph.
1 black and white photograph.
References to Joyce Hunter and friend trying to sell stolen Cornell boxes. Includes Cornell's list of people Joyce met.
Attorney hired to search for Joyce's daughter, Sharon. Includes report from Tracers Company of America.
Oversized material housed in Box 100, Folder 9.
Oversized material removed from Box 20, Folder 9.
Oversized material housed in Box 100, Folder 10.
Oversized material removed from Box 20, Folder 18.
Joyce's daughter.
References to theft of Cornell boxes.
3 black and white negatives.
16 black and white snapshots and photobook photographs.
2 color snapshots; 1 black and white photograph. Photographs removed from picture frames.
Record album,"The Lion Sleeps Tonight, The Tokens," re-housed with Record Album Collection.
Sent to Cornell by Patricia Lewis.
Includes golden bird decals.
11 black and white photographs; 5 oversized black and white photographs (1 includes Joseph Cornell). Oversized paper hat housed in Box 86, Folder 8. Oversized photographs housed in Box 100, Folder 11. Includes handmade paper hat and fabric piece with note by Cornell indicating that the items commemorate a visit with Kent and her children. Also includes two collages by Cornell.
Oversized paper hat removed from Box 20, Folder 39.
5 black and white photographs, 1 includes Cornell. Oversized photographs removed from Box 20, Folder 42.
9 black and white photographs; 1 color photograph; 3 oversized photographs. Oversized material housed in Box 86, Folder 9.
3 photographs. Oversized material removed from Box 20, Folder 43.
1 black and white negative (damaged). Oversized material housed in Box 86, Folder 10. Includes Jackie Lane figure source used in Jackie Lane collages (i.e. "Untitled (Andromeda/Jackie Lane)" circa 1955-1969; "Untitled (Jackie Lane)" circa 1960-1969). Also includes cutouts of hummingbird under bell jar used in collage, "Observations of a Satellite I" circa 1960.
Oversized material removed from Box 20, Folder 44.
Oversized material housed in Box 86, Folder 11. Includes paint-stained newspapers, and three photoreproductions of Pinturicchio's "Medici Boy."
Oversized material removed from Box 20, Folder 48.
See also Series 2.1 General Correspondence, Torczyner, Harry, for Georgette Magritte letter and photograph.
2 photoreproductions.
Cardboard stationery box marked "12/23/1958 for Mallarme" and "Mallarme's Quail" by Joseph Cornell and filled with assorted objects.
3 black and white snapshots, including 2 with Matta.
9 black and white photographs. Includes "Floating Head, Portrait of Mary Taylor" by Lee Miller, 1933; two portraits of Mary Taylor, by Lee Miller; three film stills from Jean Cocteau's film, "Le Sang d'un poète," 1931; two prints of photomontage of Lee Miller by Joseph Cornell, circa 1949; and letter from Cornell to sister, Betty, 1948.
Oversized material housed in Box 100, Folder 12.
Oversized material removed from Box 20, Folder 56.
Oversized material housed in Box 86, Folders 12-13 and Box 87, Folder 1.
Oversized material removed from Box 20, Folder 58.
Oversized material removed from Box 20, Folder 58.
Oversized material housed in Box 87, Folder 2.
Oversized material removed from Box 20, Folder 60.
Some annotations by Cornell.
Oversized material housed in Box 100, Folder 13. Includes notes of work on boxes (i.e. Medici boxes, bird boxes, Anromeda Window box, Owl #2 ). Also includes large annotated sketches of box plan/measurements.
Oversized material removed from Box 21, Folder 10. Includes two box plan sketches and clippings.
Includes notes and diary notes on "Arches of the Sky," reference to Cerrito and Aviary boxes. Also includes stamps and old Italian coin. References to "Arches of the Sky," Stendhal, "Dance Index," Lauren Bacall, and Malibran.
1 black and white negative. Oversized material housed in Box 87, Folders 3-4.
Oversized material removed from Box 21, Folder 31. Includes dried leaves.
Oversized box housed in Box 129.
Oversized box removed from Box 21, Folder 32.
Cardboard box marked "Pasta's Parrot" by Joseph Cornell and filled with assorted objects.
Includes signed note by Rosetti.
Includes signed letter by Schumann, and pencil sketch of Schumann by unidentified artist.
Oversized material housed in Box 100, Folder 14.
Oversized material removed from Box 21, Folder 36.
1 black and white negative. Oversized material in Box 100, Folder 15.
Oversized material removed from Box 21, Folder 39.
1 black and white photograph, signed to Cornell from Toumanova. Includes fabric and tulle costume pieces and bell.
5 black and white photographs; 3 color snapshots; 1 color transparency. Includes diary notes with reference to "Suzy Sun Box" and "Suzy's Pipe Dream." See Series 2.1 General Correspondence, Hess, Lorelei, for correspondence with Judy Tyler's mother and father, Box 2, Folder 34.
Source files compiled by topic, general subject, planned box or collage or "album" project, include a wide variety of materials. Subject source files document Cornell's artistic interests and work processes through notes, collected prints and engravings, collected book fragments, magazine and print collage cutouts, box and collage fragments, paint-stained cutouts and papers, collected photographs, photostats and photo reproductions, scattered correspondence and collected artifacts, among other materials. The files also include collected vintage letters, such as letters from Fanny Cerrito, Marie Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi, Fanny Essler, Madame Celeste, and collected Greek and Italian (Livorno) letters.
General areas of focused collecting include "Americana" and "American History"; animals and insects, especially "Birds," general "Insect" files, "Owls," "Reptiles," animals of the sea and "Shells"; science, including "Anatomy," archaeology, "Astronomy," "Geography," "Geology," "Horticulture," and paleontology; as well as people, such as actresses, races of the world, "Great Men," "Nude Studies," and "Women," among many others. Files of end papers, atlas fragments, hotel cutouts and photostats from old travel advertisements, and "Arizona Highways" cutouts are also found here.
Significant files relating to specific works of art, or including extensive references and notes related to Cornell's artworks, include "Box Material"; "'Box' Materials, Fairly Early – 1950s"; "Castles Swans, Related to Artwork Boxes"; "Cylinder Images" (relating to "Soap Bubble Set" works); "Dürer Material"; "Juan Gris Workings"; "Medici Slot Machine"; "Nostalgia of the Sea"; "Pergolesi Parrot" (Juan Gris #9); "Sand Box"; "Space Box" material; and "Spare Room File of Art Notes." Also, Robert Cornell files largely relate to Cornell's later collages which incorporate Robert's drawings. The "Nude Studies" files include numerous source images and cutouts used in many of Cornell's later collages. Scattered notes and annotations, references, and source clippings related to finished Cornell works are found throughout source material files.
Files also include more extensive "explorations," collecting projects, and portfolio projects. "Celestial Theatre" files include material related to constellations and stargazing, as well as circuses and tightrope walkers. "Cherubino" files relate to the beauty and nostalgia of childhood innocence and youth (see also Series 3: Diaries and Notes, "Cherubino #4 – Writings, Notes"). "Colombier" files include material relating to pigeons and aviaries, as well as Cornell's "Dovecote" boxes. Files of "GC 44" material relate to Cornell's time spent working at the Flushing nursery, Garden Centre, in 1944, and include writings and diary notes, clippings, photographs, and thematic scrapbook pages ("Festival of Nature," The Floral Still Life," "House on the Hill," "The Little Dancer," "The Old Farm," and "Rue Bicherie"), among other material. "Italia," "Italian Files," and "Napoli" are files grouped separately, but all related to Cornell's Italian "explorations." "'Portrait of Ondine' (Fanny Cerrito)" files include material relating to the portfolio artwork of the same title, as well as further collected material Cornell felt related to Fanny Cerrito, such as Giorgio de Chirico artwork, birds, New York City skylines, Naples, and windows. Also included are letters and notes from Parker Tyler and Lillian Moore; draft materials for "presentation" of final work; and dairies, writings, and notes that give clarity to the collected material and project goals. "Portrait of Ondine' (Fanny Cerrito)" files also include materials that do not immediately appear related but were found with the material, including notes referring to other Cornell works. "Salamandre" or "La Salamandre fin de Siecle" files contain material relating to a collaged booklet project, including draft booklets and elements of the finished booklet. "Switzerland" files document a work in progress, "Scrapbook of Switzerland," referenced in Series 3: Diaries and Notes, "Art Notes Pertaining to 'Objects.'" Materials were removed from a cardboard box and include album draft pages, vintage photographs of mountains and people, clippings, map and atlas fragments, prints and engravings, travel guide fragments, and sheet music.
Of note, files include material relating to a charity project for Phoenix House, a program for drug treatment and prevention. In 1972, Cornell was asked to contribute a print for a portfolio of artist lithographs, which included artists like David Hockney, Ellsworth Kelly, and James Rosenquist. Brooke Alexander assisted Cornell by taking four of Cornell's chosen collages from his home to a printer's studio to be turned into lithographs. Files include two steel printing plates, and two first run print proofs for "Untitled (Landscape with Figure)" and "Untitled (Derby Hat), as well as two lithograph proofs of "Hotel du Nord."
Additionally, there are an extensive number of "Collage Envelope" files, which are files of manila envelopes with various writing and notes that seem to have once held collages transferred elsewhere. Several envelopes held additional clippings, scraps, collage elements, and notes, and have been retained with their respective envelope, though some were empty. Titles have been taken from the envelopes themselves. Researchers should note that in addition to Cornell, some notations have been made by Cornell's niece, Helen Jagger Batcheller, and previous Study Center staff.
File titles, or parts of file titles, in quotes denote wording provided by Joseph Cornell. Other file titles were created by archives staff.
Oversized material housed in Box 101, Folder 1.
Oversized material removed from Box 22, Folder 2.
9 black and white photographs. Includes photogravure of Longfellow's study, as well as unbound book, "National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans" (1852).
Oversized material housed in Box 87, Folders 5-7, and Box 101, Folders 2-4.
Oversized material removed from Box 22, Folder 9.
Oversized material removed from Box 22, Folder 9.
Includes blank card signed by Cornell, "Joseph."
Includes "Arizona Highways" and "Natural History" clippings.
Oversized material housed in Box 101, Folder 5.
Oversized material removed from Box 22, Folder 29.
Includes some annotations, and reference to "Uccello."
Includes many prints from the New York Public Library Picture Collection. Oversized material housed in Box 101, Folder 6.
Oversized material removed from Box 22, Folder 49.
Oversized material housed in Box 87, Folders 8-14, and Box 101, Folder 7.
Oversized material removed from Box 22, Folder 52.
Oversized material removed from Box 22, Folder 52.
1 black and white photograph. Includes print of work used in Cornell's, "A Dressing Room for Gille," and scattered annotations.
Includes newspaper clipping of a penguin with "Natural History" typed within print by Cornell; scattered diary notes; clippings with some annotations. Photogravure rehoused: see Series 10.3, Collected Photographs and Source Images, Folder: Artwork, Alfred Stieglitz - photogravure from "Camera Work," "The Ferry Boat," 1911.
1 black and white photograph of Katherine Sergava. Oversized material housed in Box 87, Folder 15. Vintage family photograph of Helen Storms Cornell rehoused with Series 10.1 Personal Photographs, Folder: Childhood and Family Photographs, Helen Storms Cornell, circa 1900.
Oversized material removed from Box 23, Folder 27.
Oversized material housed in Box 87, Folder 16, and Box 88, Folders 1-3.
Oversized material removed from Box 23, Folder 16.
Oversized material removed from Box 23, Folder 16.
Oversized material housed in Box 88, Folder 4.
Oversized material removed from Box 23, Folder 19.
Oversized material housed in Box 88, Folder 5. Includes "Homage to the Romantic Ballet" materials and notes; paper baby ornaments; School of American Ballet booklet; and photostats of "Dance Index" (Vol. 1, No. 4, 1942).
Oversized material removed from Box 23, Folder 24.
Includes cardboard box marked "Ballet/ Operatic Cases/ 'Memoires'/ Taglioni/ Pasta" by Cornell. Box contains an assortment of items, including plastic trinket boxes, bird sequins, costume jewelry, leather cases with satin linings, an engraving of a dancer, among other items.
Oversized material housed in Box 88, Folder 6.
Oversized material removed from Box 23, Folder 30.
Includes image with "Snow Maiden" depicted in Cornell's box, "Untitled (Snow Maiden)" circa 1933. See Series 8.2, Folder: "Mantegna P_ " Collage Material, for similar cutouts.
Includes material relating to a card-making project, using a stamp of a bear. Notes, drafts, stamped pages, and envelopes included.
Oversized box housed in Box 136. Includes wooden carved stamp of bear, with dried blue paint.
Oversized box removed from Box 24, Folder 2.
Includes photomechanical print and photostats of painting, "Child Praying" by Jean Hay (circa 1492).
Includes bird cutouts; and clippings from "Conservationist" magazine, "National Geographic Magazine," and "Natural History" magazine.
Includes cutouts from book, "Edward Lear's Parrots"; clippings from "National Geographic Magazine" with annotations, "Pascale Petit?" "Violere for Pascale Petit?" "James Joyce 'Night' Collage." Also inlcudes "National Geographic Magazine" clippings including caption, "A Snowy Mite with Shoe-Button Eyes Shows No Fear of Prying Fingers."
Includes cockatoos, swans, and owls.
Oversized material housed in Box 89, Folder 6.
Oversized material removed from Box 24, Folder 45.
Oversized material housed in Box 101, Folder 8. Includes cutouts, tracing paper plans for boxes, bird box notes, and W. T. Green "Parrots in Captivity" print pages (8 full-page prints; 2 cutouts; 10 cut pages).
Oversized material removed from Box 24, Folder 47.
Includes small bird cutouts and silhouettes.
Oversized material housed in Box 89, Folder 7. Includes W. T. Green's "Parrots in Captivity" fragment. Also includes annotations and reference to bird boxes, "Carlotta Grisi," and one small box plan sketch.
Oversized material removed from Box 25, Folder 3.
Includes cutout pages, owls, and owl-stamped paper in brown paint.
Includes some annotations: "Bacall exotic," "Kress Mahler Girl," "Fran Crimarco, Eva P., Lord Pierrot," and "Joyce Owl."
Oversized material housed in Box 88, Folder 7.
Oversized material removed from Box 25, Folder 27.
Oversized material housed in Box 88, Folders 8-10, and Box 101, Folder 9. Oversized material includes tissue paper with two birds "holding" glued string, by Cornell.
Oversized material removed from Box 25, Folder 31.
Oversized material removed from Box 25, Folder 31.
Oversized material housed in Box 88, Folders 11-13.
Oversized material removed from Box 25, Folder 34.
Oversized material housed in Box 89, Folders 1-5.
Oversized material removed from Box 25, Folder 36.
Includes two grid sketches.
Includes annotation by Cornell, "Stats."
From "Selected Writings" by Paul Valéry.
1 color snapshot; 7 black and white prints. Oversized material housed in Box 101, Folders 10-13. Includes annotated clippings, paint-stained papers, and diaries and notes. Oversized photostats include Man Ray's "André Breton" solarized photograph with brown staining, and photostat of dog depicted in SAAM accessions 1991.155.36 and 1991.155.109.
Oversized material removed from Box 26, Folders 27, 31-33, and 38.
Oversized material housed in Box 101, Folders 14-16, and OV112. Includes sketches of box designs; note: "Rich Art Poster Paint" used; dovecote box design sketch; "Remembering Aviary" note. Also includes celestial map cutouts, photoprints of Lucille Grahn, Parmigianino "Madonna with the Long Neck" detail, and Paolo Uccello girl profile cutout.
Oversized material removed from Box 26, Folders 40-44.
Oversized material removed from Box 26, Folder 44.
Oversized box housed in Box 134. Includes box fragments; photostats of: hotel ad, Mouse King drawing, Parmigianino portrait, "Paul and Virginia" title page; partial cockatoo silhouette cutout; cutout remainder of "Parrots in Captivity" engraving of Yellow-Naped Amazon.
Oversized box removed from Box 26, Folder 45.
Oversized box housed in Box 132. Includes tickets, book pages, covers, Confederate money, receipts, and business cards.
Oversized box removed from Box 26, Folder 49.
Includes cardboard box marked "Casseopeia" by Cornell. Box contains an assortment of items, including costume jewelry, small cardboard boxes with ceramic polar bears and blue staining, constellation cutouts, plastic boxes with trinkets, and assorted notes, among other items.
2 black and white negatives. Oversized material housed in Box 101, Folders 17-18. Includes photostats of swans and castles, one with pink stain, sketches, and notes.
Oversized material removed from Box 26, Folder 62.
Includes some annotations.
1 black and white photograph. Includes project planning notes and ideas; small paint splattered pages; letter regarding permission request to produce published Valery excerpt; 1945 notes about collected ephemera in World's Fair in New York.
2 black and white photographs. Oversized material housed in Box 89, Folders 10-11, and Box 101, Folder 19.
Oversized material removed from Box 27, Folder 17. Includes three black and white photographs, and "Wee Bit of Light Flak" clippings.
Oversized material removed from Box 27, Folder 17.
1 black and white stereoview print half.
2 black and white photographs. Oversized material housed in Box 89, Folders 8-9.
Oversized material removed from Box 27, Folder 25.
2 black and white photographs; 2 cartes-de-visite. Includes W. T. Greene's "Parrots in Captivity" engraving of Senegal Parrot.
Includes original Carlotta Grisi letter, Fanny Essler letter, Madame Celeste letter, and others. Also includes postcards and book on De Chirico; set of nine miniature gouache paintings by unidentified artist; and photo reproductions and photostats.
10 black and white photographs, 1 cabinet card. Includes diary notes, childhood photographs of Robert Cornell, photostats of "Maria de Medici" by Bronzino, and clippings.
Oversized material housed in Box 101, Folder 20. Oversized box housed in Box 129. Record Album, Franz Schubert "German Dances," housed with record album collection.
Oversized material removed from Box 28, Folder 2.
Oversized box removed from Box 28, Folder 3.
Includes wooden box with detachable lid marked "Cherubino #2" by Cornell. Box contains a variety of objects, including plastic rattles, metal alligator toy, small plastic containers, envelopes, dime store notions, and scraps of paper with notes, among other items.
Includes wooden box with hinged lid marked "Cherubino #3" by Cornell. Box contains annotated paper bags and boxes with items inside, plastic containers, costume jewelry, and other items.
Oversized material housed in Box 102, Folder 1.
Oversized material removed from Box 28, Folder 7.
Includes many annotations by Cornell.
Includes pencil rubbings of circa 1751 to circa 1863 antique coins.
Includes vintage letters, notes, and photostats.
Includes collage by Eve Propp.
Includes diaries and notes and telegram from Tom Messer.
"Laurel" refers to Betsy von Furstenberg.
1 black and white photograph, of collage.
1 black and white photograph, of collage.
Includes one notebook, half-filled with writing by Cornell.
See SAAM accession 2002.58.34.
Oversized material housed in Box 102, Folder 2.
Oversized material removed from Box 29, Folder 13.
Sonia Judreik was a previous assistant to Joseph Cornell from 1961 to 1963.
Includes notes by Cornell; letters from sister, Elizabeth Cornell Benton; collage lists and signature documents for "Betty Voorh" and "Julie Spinasse"; Emily Dickinson poem; and letter from the Art Institute of Chicago (1958).
Oversized material housed in Box 102, Folder 3.
Oversized material removed from Box 29, Folder 51.
Oversized material housed in Box 89, Folder 12.
Oversized material removed from Box 29, Folder 56.
Oversized material housed in Box 89, Folder 13.
Oversized material housed in Box 89, Folder 14.
Oversized material removed from Box 29, Folder 65.
Oversized material housed in Box 89, Folder 15.
Oversized material removed from Box 29, Folder 72.
Oversized material housed in Box 102, Folder 4.
Oversized material removed from Box 29, Folder 73.
Oversized material housed in Box 89, Folder 16. Includes Yvette Mimieux and Catherine Deneuve.
Oversized material removed from Box 29, Folder 75.
Includes notes by Cornell, drawings by Elizabeth Cornell Benton, and sketch of "Space Box, 'Ballet of the Winds'" by Cornell.
Includes lidless wooden box with 60 collaged wooden cylinders with screw-eye in tops, painted white.
Includes 16 collaged wood cylinders with screw-eyes in tops.
Includes metal tin with cylindrical wooden pieces cut from dowels, some painted white and some with screw-eyes in tops.
Purchased from Ifan Kyrle Fletcher, and includes receipt.
Includes four letters in French, with translations, to Monsieur Foucher.
Oversized material housed in Box 89, Folder 17.
Oversized material removed from box 29, Folder 86.
Oversized material housed in Box 102, Folder 5.
Oversized material removed from Box 29, Folder 87.
Oversized material housed in Box 102, Folder 6.
Oversized material removed from Box 29, Folder 88.
Oversized material housed in Box 102, Folder 7.
Oversized material removed from Box 29, Folder 91.
2 black and white photographs; 6 black and white photo reproductions.
Oversized material housed in Box 102, Folder 8-14.
Oversized material removed from Box 30, Folder 3.
Oversized material housed in Box 89, Folders 18-20.
Oversized material removed from Box 30, Folders 6 and 16.
Oversized box housed in Box 127.
Oversized box removed from Box 30, Folder 34.
Oversized material housed in Box 90, Folder 1. Includes fragment of Shakespeare's "The Tempest."
Oversized material removed from Box 30, Folder 39.
Oversized material housed in Box 92, Folder 1.
Oversized material removed from Box 30, Folder 41.
Oversized material removed from Box 30, Folder 44.
Oversized material housed in Box 90, Folder 2.
Oversized material removed from Box 30, Folder 45.
Includes cutout of Dürer's "Self-Portrait at the Age of 13."
Oversized material housed in Box 90, Folders 4-6; and Box 103, Folder 1.
Oversized material removed from Box 30, Folder 60.
Oversized material removed from Box 30, Folder 57.
Oversized material housed in Box 90, Folders 3 and 7; Box 103, Folder 2; and OV113 and OV114.
Oversized material removed from Box 31, Folder 1.
Oversized material removed from Box 31, Folder 3.
Oversized material removed from Box 31, Folder 4.
Oversized material removed from Box 31, Folder 4.
Oversized material removed from Box 31, Folder 4.
Includes note, "Dorazio's 'Heavenly Blue.'"
2 black and white photographs. Oversized material housed in Box 90, Folder 8. Includes material referencing Loredana and "Paese di Loredana." Also includes limited edition arts publication, "MSS (Manuscripts), Number 5: 'The Tin Whistle or Rejected by the Orchestra'" by Herbert J. Seligmann.
Oversized material removed from Box 31, Folder 9.
Oversized box housed in Box 136. Oversized material housed in Box 103, Folder 3.
Oversized box removed from Box 31, Folder 11.
Oversized box removed from Box 31, Folder 18.
Includes "Paul and Virginia" clippings.
Oversized box housed in Box 136. Includes box sketches and notes, collaged board painted blue, and references to Elsa Martinelli.
Oversized box removed from Box 31, Folder 36.
Oversized material housed in Box 103, Folder 4.
Oversized material removed from Box 31, Folder 37.
Oversized folder housed in Box 129.
Oversized folder removed from Box 32, Folder 1.
Oversized material housed in Box 90, Folders 9-10; and oversized folder housed in Box 126.
Oversized material removed from Box 32, Folder 7.
Oversized folder removed from Box 32, Folder 22.
Oversized material housed in Box 90, Folder 11; oversized box in Box 134.
Oversized material removed from Box 32, Folder 29.
Oversized box removed from Box 32, Folder 29.
Oversized material housed in Box 90, Folder 12. See also, SAAM accessions 1991.155.7, 1991.155.68, and 1991.155.69.
Oversized material housed in Box 103, Folder 5.
Oversized material removed from Box 33, Folder 1.
Oversized material housed in Box 103, Folders 6-7.
Oversized material removed from Box 33, Folder 36.
Oversized material housed in Box 90, Folder 13.
Oversized material removed from Box 33, Folder 39.
Includes Van Eyck Altarpiece cutouts.
Oversized material housed in Box 103, Folders 9-14.
Oversized material removed from Box 33, Folder 54.
13 black and white snapshots; 4 black and white negatives. Includes two photographs of Cornell in front of "Garden World," one of "Garden World" alone, and ten exterior views.
2 black and white photographs; 1 black and white negative.
2 black and white photo reprints.
Oversized material housed in Box 91, Folders 4-11.
Oversized material removed from Box 34, Folder 12.
Includes Julien Levy Gallery exhibition catalog, 1943.
Oversized material housed in Box 90, Folders 15-16; and Box 91, Folders 1-3.
Oversized material removed from Box 34, Folder 19.
Oversized material removed from Box 34, Folder 19.
1 black and white snapshot.
1 black and white photograph, of Garden Center and Harvey E. Bradley.
Oversized material housed in Box 90, Folder 14.
Oversized material removed from Box 34, Folder 34.
Oversized material housed in Box 104, Folders 1-2.
Oversized material removed from Box 34, Folders 43-44.
Oversized material housed in Box 104, Folder 3.
Oversized material removed from Box 34, Folder 47.
Includes unbound book, "Les Fleurs Animees," Tome Second, by J. J. Grandville, with handcolored plates.
Oversized box housed in Box 132. Box of sealing wax housed in Artifact Tray.
Oversized box removed from Box 34, Folder 60.
Oversized folder housed in Box 132. Includes "Valery" folder.
Oversized folder removed from Box 35, Folder 8.
Includes clippings about Cornell shows; Frank O'Hara poem "Joseph Cornell"; and notes.
Includes "Fruit" and "Trees" folders.
Oversized box housed in Box 132. Includes Victorian decals, greeting cards, and collected flowers and ephemera.
Oversized box removed from Box 35, Folder 27.
Oversized box housed in Box 134.
Oversized box removed from Box 35, Folder 55.
Oversized material housed in Box 91, Folder 12.
Oversized material removed from Box 36, Folder 8.
Oversized material housed in Box 91, Folders 13-14; and Box 104, Folder 4.
Oversized material removed from Box 36, Folder 37.
Oversized material removed from Box 36, Folder 37.
Includes envelope with "Insects" written by Cornell, and printed return address, "Salvador Dali, 88 Rue de L'Universite." Includes butterflies, beetles, and other insects, as well as smaller clippings of birds, reptiles, and acquatic creatures.
Includes parrot and cockatoo cutouts, and stained papers.
Oversized material housed in Box 104, Folders 9-10.
Oversized material removed from Box 36, Folder 68.
28 vintage photographs. Includes two hand-painted vintage photographs of women, as well as seventeen cartes-de-visite, and two stereoscopic prints.
Oversized material housed in Box 104, Folder 5.
Oversized material removed from Box 37, Folder 4.
Oversized material housed in Box 104, Folders 6-7.
Oversized material removed from Box 37, Folder 5.
18 black and white vintage photographs. Oversized material housed in Box 104, Folder 8. Includes partial copy of an 1818 "Divine Comedy" by Dante.
Oversized material removed from Box 37, Folder 9.
12 vintage photographs. Material sent by Dorazio.
1 carte-de-visite, 1 cabinet card, 17 black and white vintage photographs.
Includes receipts, tickets, and brochures.
1 black and white photograph.
Includes blue-stained clipping with silhouettes of figure and birds, similar to SAAM accession #1991.155.7, "Untitled (Figurine, Female with Flowers in Skirts)."
See SAAM accession #1991.155.143, "The Lanner Waltzes" (clippings do not appear on finished work).
1 black and white vintage photograph. Includes material sent to Cornell from Lennie Kesl.
Oversized box housed in Box 132. Includes reference to Jane Fonda; Livorno, Italy; and 1840s to 1860s envelopes from Livorno.
Oversized box removed from Box 37, Folder 55.
Includes cigar box marked "Love Letters Jennifer Jones" and "Love Letters #2" by Cornell in flaking paint. Box contains empty cigar and cigarette boxes and labels and assorted tags, labels, buttons, foil wrappers, empty matchboxes, and paper ephemera.
For similar cutouts, see Angels, Cherubs; and "'Bambinos,' Madonnas" file.
Includes cardboard box marked "Marine Simeone" by Cornell. Box contains pieces of driftwood, Ecuadorian stamps in glassine packet, a piece of paper with "Helen Simeone" signed in ink four times, and a piece of paper with handwritten poem signed by Helen Simeone.
Includes cardboard box marked "Medici Slot Machine" and "Medici Slot Material Caravaggio etc." by Cornell. Box contains photo reproductions used in Medici boxes and small wooden blocks with collaged images.
Oversized material housed in Box 104, Folder 11.
Oversized material removed from Box 38, Folder 30.
Refers to Mylene Demongeot. Includes pen and pencil rubbings of a male face; Eleanor Duse stamp; and notes.
2 black and white vintage photographs. Oversized material housed in Box 91, Folder 17.
Oversized material removed from Box 39, Folder 6.
Includes birds, doll on ground, Japanese and Vietnamese images, with some annotations by Cornell.
Includes illustrations of soap bubbles, weather phenomena, light spectrums, and snow flakes.
Oversized material housed in Box 91, Folders 15-16. Includes Coney Island postcard; Grand Central Station brochure; diary notes; Rockefeller Center materials; and clippings.
Oversized material removed from Box 39, Folders 26, 28, 32, and 37.
Record album, "Limelight - Frank Chacksfield and His Orchestra," housed with record album collection.
Includes excerpts from science and literary publications, including "Household Words" by Dickens.
Includes: "Architecture."
Includes: "Bees," "Birds," and "Baudelaire."
Includes: "Cats" and "Caverns."
Includes: "Dolls."
Includes: "Gardens" and "Grisi."
Includes: "Hospitals," "Insects," "Italy," and "Jailbirds."
Includes: "Lincoln" and "Literature."
Includes: "Mario," "Memories," "Mendelsohn," "Mermaids," "Misprints," "Monsters," "Montagu," and "Music."
Includes: "Opera," "Papyrus," "Perfumes," "Peter the Great," and "Poetry."
Includes: "Panoramas and Dioramas," "Phosphorescence," "Roses," and "Russia."
Includes: "Sea," "Shakespeare," and "Skates."
Includes: "Tom Thumb," "Will-o-the-Whisp," and "Zoology."
Oversized box housed in Box 128.
Oversized box removed from Box 40, Folder 3.
Oversized material housed in Box 91, Folder 18.
Oversized material removed from Box 40, Folder 6.
Includes color-stained images.
Includes notes by Cornell and scattered annotations. Also includes blue-stained clipping and source image clipping for SAAM collage, accession 1991.155.130; source image clipping for SAAM collage, accession 1991.155.112; source image clipping for SAAM collage, accession 1991.155.122; Paul Wunderlich exhibition catalog at Staempfli, 1970; paint-stained collaged folder, "La Jeune Parque," "driftwood nude" with typed letter from Cornell and notes; source clipping and collage fragment of collage, "Untitled (Ship with Nude)"; source clipping for SAAM collage, accession 1991.155.113 ; and source image clippings for SAAM collages, accessions 1991.155.111, 1991.155.112, and 1991.155.114.
4 black and white vintage photographs, mounted; 9 oversized black and white vintage photographs. Oversized material housed in Box 104, Folder 12.
9 black and white vintage photographs. Oversized material removed from Box 40, Folder 33.
1 black and white photograph of Hedy Lamarr. Oversized material housed in Box 104, Folder 13. Includes Giorgio de Chirico postcards and clippings and Museum of Modern Art Bulletin, 1946.
Oversized material removed from Box 40, Folder 35. Includes oversized bag which previously held "Ondine?" material.
Also includes one page of snowflake images.
Includes advertisement cutouts, assorted travel guide pages, and mounted cutouts.
Oversized box housed in Box 127. Includes annotations on cutouts, "Gris" and "variant of 'Grand Hotel Semi Gris'" by Cornell. Also includes travel guide maps and prints and "White Rock" beverage labels.
Oversized box removed from Box 41, Folder 9.
Oversized material housed in Box 104, Folder 14. Includes notes, owl paint stamps, and reference to work on owl boxes.
Oversized material removed from Box 41, Folder 13.
Includes cardboard box marked "Owls" by Cornell with five wooden owl forms and wooden blocks.
Includes cardboard box marked "Owl Cutouts" by Cornell with paper owl cutouts mounted on wooden forms, unmounted paper owl cutouts, wooden balls, and a twig.
After a picture by J. Noel Paton, published in "The Art Journal," 1866.
Includes references to cockatoo box process; Delacroix; "Judith"; "Judi Rich"; as well as parrot images.
Includes cardboard box marked "Patty Duke 'Isle of Children' Celestial Bon-Bons from Dierdre Daydreams" by Cornell. Box contains golden mouse earrings, clippings, and writings.
Artifacts, two wooden stamps with "Pergolesi" and "Parrot," housed in Artifact Tray. Includes references to "Juan Gris #9" and "Serafina's Garden" film. Also includes box fragment with writing; 1959 Museum of Modern Art Bulletin; Anthology Film Archives program including Cornell; "Sky Reporter" bulletin for American Museum - Hayden Planetarium.
Oversized material housed in Box 92, Folders 3-6; and OV125. Includes reference to "prints for Phoenix House" project.
Oversized material removed from Box 41, Folder 34. Includes one steel printing plate and proof for lithograph.
Oversized material removed from Box 41, Folder 34. Includes one steel printing plate and proof for lithograph.
Oversized material removed from Box 41, Folder 34. Includes two lithographs.
Includes clippings.
Includes "Ludwig II Swans" envelope with swan materials; and light spectrum diagrams.
Oversized material housed in Box 91, Folder 19. Includes photostat and print.
Includes photostats and prints, and one paint-stained photostat.
2 black and white mounted photographs; 1 carte-de-visite, mounted; 1 black and white vintage photograph, mounted. Includes caricature by "A. F. G." (Alfred F. Goldsmith) - See 8.2 "Significant Stats" and 11.2 Artwork by Others for additional caricature sketch by Goldsmith. Also includes handmade booklet with Cerrito cutout and collaged pages by Cornell.
Includes note, "'Libra' P. Arcade."
1 black and white photograph. Includes photograph of cat sleeping in front of Cornell sun box, with astronomy clippings.
Unidentified coin.
Oversized material housed in Box 104, Folder 15.
Oversized material removed from Box 42, Folder 6.
Includes source image clipping for SAAM collage accession 1991.155.25.
Includes project description notes; reference to De Chirico with Cerrito project; reference to "Les Ponts Suspendus"; letter from Lillian Moore; letter and typescript from/by Parker Tyler; reference to "Rose Hobart" film; "Paul et Virginie"; new "Hotel" box; work on bird box "Jardin des Tulleries"; reference to listening to Mozart while filing; reference to Degas, Valery, Juan Gris cockatoo, "Bel Canto Pet," Motherwell, and Shakespeare's "Richard III." Also includes reference to "1st Joan Mitchell visit" (February 9, 1956).
Oversized material housed in Box 104, Folder 16.
Oversized material removed from Box 42, Folder 20.
Includes reference to new "Hotel Andromeda" box, and De Chirico skyscraper.
Includes card from Lillian Moore, and "Portrait of Ondine" mock-up.
Oversized box housed in Box 130.
Oversized box removed from Box 42, Folder 52.
6 black and white negatives. Includes assorted black and white photo reprints, photostats, and notes.
Oversized box housed in Box 136.
Oversized box removed from Box 43, Folder 8.
1 vintage black and white photograph, hand-colored. Includes magazine "Dance Index" (V. III, Nos. 7 and 8, July and August 1944). Also includes "Di un antica Tazza d' Argento con Sculture Bacchiche, Dichiarazione" (Bologna, 1834) by Girolamo Bianconi.
Oversized material housed in Box 91, Folder 20.
Oversized material removed from Box 43, Folder 35.
Includes note, "specially selected for new work: following new jetsam boxes, plastic ones."
Oversized material housed in Box 105, Folder 1. Includes Cornell's "House and Garden" cover; envelope from 1844 Martigny; and "Scientific American" 1960 article on the moon with stained cutouts.
Oversized material removed from Box 44, Folder 25.
2 color snapshots. Includes board with line sketch by Cornell.
Includes photostats of labels for Mouse King drawings.
Includes notes regarding planned collage piece by Joseph Cornell.
Oversized material housed in Box 91, Folder 21. Includes photostats, some with paint-staining.
Oversized material removed from Box 44, Folder 37.
1 black and white negative; 3 black and white photographs; 1 vintage black and white photograph. Oversized material housed in Box 92, Folders 7-8; and Box 105, Folder 2-3. Includes photostats, notes, clippings, and collaged booklet project.
Oversized material removed from Box 44, Folder 40.
Oversized material removed from Box 44, Folder 40.
Oversized material housed in Box 105, Folder 4.
Oversized material removed from Box 44, Folder 48. Includes paint-stained paper.
Includes small white bird silhouette cutouts.
Oversized box housed in Box 134.
Oversized box removed from Box 45, Folder 25.
Includes mostly "National Geographics" clippings and cutouts. Also includes similar and source image clippings for SAAM collage accession #2002.58.35.
Includes some annotations by Cornell, including description for planned art project.
Includes scattered insect clippings.
Oversized material housed in Box 92, Folder 9.
Oversized material removed from Box 46, Folder 5.
Includes note on shells photostat and in engravings book of fish: "Circled used in T and Country Jan. 49."
Includes annotation: "Paul and Virginia."
Includes photostat of caricature drawing by "A. F. G." (Alfred F. Goldsmith) - see original housed with Series 11.2, Artwork by Others; see also Series 8.2 "Portrait of Ondine" (Fanny Cerrity), "#2 Doc. One Only Orig. Etc." File, folder 2 of 12. Also includes ball toss figure in SAAM accession 1991.155.512.
Oversized material housed in Box 96, Folders 1-6. Includes diary notes, including note: "sparking for all explorations - Ondine, GC 44, Pasta, etc."; magazine and newspaper clippings; and paint-stained papers. Also includes annotations with reference to Aviary Box; and "space box, Galaxies, light blue, spiral used."
Oversized material removed from Box 46, Folder 29 and 32.
Oversized material removed from Box 46, Folder 33-35.
Oversized material removed from Box 46, Folder 43.
Oversized material housed in Box 92, Folder 10. Oversized box housed in Box 136. Includes notes by Cornell; exhibition posters (George Ortman at Howard Wise Gallery; Alberto Giacometti Drawings at Pierre Matisse Gallery; "Polly Imagists" at Cordier and Ekstrom, Inc.; Gerald Laing at Richard Feigen Gallery); and mostly blank papers. Also includes notes: "Ferus/Pasadena 18 boxes taken '64"; and leaf rubbings.
Oversized material removed from Box 46, Folder 60.
Oversized box removed from Box 46, Folder 65.
Includes one full-page image of a woman, possibly Susan Sontag.
Oversized material housed in Box 105, Folder 6.
Oversized material removed from Box 46, Folder 68.
Oversized material housed in Box 105, Folder 5 and OV115.
Oversized material removed from Box 46, Folder 71.
Oversized material removed from Box 46, Folder 71.
4 artifact bags housed in Artifact Tray: tube of "Designer's Gouache, 301 Zinc White," cork ball painted blue and green, large cork with top painted white; small textured blue ball.
Oversized material housed in Box 105, Folders 7-10.
Oversized material removed from Box 47, Folder 7.
Oversized material housed in Box 105, Folder 11.
Oversized material removed from Box 47, Folder 10.
3 black and white vintage photographs. Oversized material housed in Box 105, Folder 11.
Oversized material removed from Box 47, Folder 17.
17 cartes-de-visite.
48 black and white vintage photographs.
Includes swan postcards.
Oversized material housed in Box 105, Folder 14.
Oversized material removed from Box 47, Folder 31.
Oversized material housed in Box 105, Folder 12.
Oversized material removed from Box 47, Folder 32.
Oversized material housed in Box 105, Folder 13.
Oversized material removed from Box 47, Folder 37.
Oversized box housed in Box 137.
Oversized box removed from Box 47, Folder 14.
Includes fragments of paint-splatter pages.
1 black and white negative; 2 black and white photographs.
Oversized material housed in Box 92, Folders 11-12. Includes four engravings of Marie Taglioni.
Oversized material removed from Box 47, Folder 42.
Includes Theatre Royal, Covent-Garden "The Beggar's Opera" (1815); Theatre Royal, Drury Lane "Faustus" (1826); and Christy's Opera House "Christy's Minstrels" (1852).
Oversized material housed in Box 92, Folder 13; and Box 105, Folder 15. Includes two scrapbook pages referencing "Ahmed" at Grand Opera House; "Magic Flute" at Metropolitan Theatre; "Humpty Dumpty in Every Clime" starring Geo. L. Fox (Broadside); and "Cinderella! or, the Fairy and the Little Glass Slipper!"
Oversized material removed from Box 47, Folder 44.
Oversized material removed from Box 47, Folder 44.
1 black and white vintage photograph.
Includes Odilon Redon and Yayoi Kusama.
Includes programs and flyers, and program stained blue.
See also 8.2 "Nude Studies" for duplicate clippings.
Oversized material housed in Box 92, Folder 14. Includes notes about new cockatoo box and oversized engraving of Central Park.
Oversized material removed from Box 47, Folder 62. Includes oversized engraving of Central Park.
1 black and white snapshot.
Oversized material housed in Box 105, Folders 16-17. Oversized box housed in Box 133.
Oversized material removed from Box 47, Folder 65. Includes antique valentines and Italian opera stage diagram print.
Oversized box removed from Box 47, Folder 65.
Oversized material housed in Box 92, Folders 15-16.
Oversized material removed from Box 48, Folder 8.
Includes notes with references to "new 'painting' boxes - Hotel obs, Carravaggio, etc."; "Tresor D'Enfants" boxes; "Hotel Salamandre" experience; and "Hotel Du Nord." Also includes article by Saint-Exupery, paint-stained papers, and clippings.
Oversized box housed in Box 127.
Oversized box removed from Box 48, Folder 35.
Includes assorted collage material and stained clippings.
Oversized material housed in Box 105, Folder 18. Includes oversized "View" magazine (Vol. 1, Nos. 9-10, Dec. 1941-Jan. 1942), with "Enchanted Wanderer" by Cornell. Also includes diary notes.
Oversized material removed from Box 48, Folder 39. Includes "View" magazine (Vol. 1, Nos. 9-10, Dec. 1941-Jan. 1942), which includes "Enchanted Wanderer."
Includes note by Cornell describing collage project.
Includes page with stamp by Cornell, "L'Abeille Telephone 1554."
Includes book fragment from "Tableau Historique de Progres de La Philosophie Politique", circa 1853. Two books rehoused with Book Collection and Personal Library: "Animadversiones in ea Qvea Iosephvs Barre Academiae Parisiensis Cancellarivs, T. VII, p. 77. Hist. Germ" by Christian Gottlieb Jöcher (Lipsia: Breikopf, 1750), in Latin; and "Vaderlandsch Woordenboek. Tiende Deel, Cob.-Cys." by Jacobus Kok (Amsterdam: Johannes Allart, 1788), in Dutch.
Fragile.
Oversized box housed in Box 135. Includs reference to owls, "Lois," and "Sandy."
Oversized box removed from Box 48, Folder 59.
1 carte-de-visite, of "Paul and Virginia" statue. Oversized material housed in Box 92, Folder 17.
Oversized material removed from Box 48, Folder 60.
Oversized material housed in Box 92, Folder 18.
Oversized material removed from Box 48, Folder 64.
9 black and white vintage photographs. Includes 3 film stills of Marlene Dietrich.
Oversized material housed in Box 105, Folder 19. Includes two engravings: La Peinture/ Gavinus Hamilton, line engraving circa 1779, by Raffaello Morghen; and Self Portrait Violante Beatrice Siries Cerruoti, from "Museu Fiorentino, by Pier Antonio Pazzi, after J. Magni, after Violante Beatrice Siries Cerrotti.
Oversized material removed from Box 49, Folder 15.
Includes crude wooden bird/cockatoo cutout.
Includes lidless shoebox containing wooden bird forms with paper cutouts of parrots mounted on surfaces. Edges of forms have been painted various colors, and box also includes plastic parakeet.
Includes 18 wooden bird forms of assorted birds, including three owls. Some have been painted; some have paper cutout of bird mounted to surface; some are plain wood.
Providing insights into Cornell's methods of collecting and storing all manner of things, artifacts and ephemera include printed and non-printed ephemera, three-dimensional source objects, and collected/found artifacts. It is often difficult to discern Cornell's intentions, whether objects were collected for the sake of collecting or if they served some greater purpose as inspiration and planned use in future projects, but materials found here are mostly without greater context. Materials include collected stamps, miniature book seller labels, Coney Island Steeplechase ticket and punch card, decals and gummed labels, dried flowers and leaves, feathers, food labels, stacks of collected postcards and greeting cards, New York City and Italian ephemera, sugar packets, and toys, among various other items.
Many of the found and purchased objects that Cornell collected were kept in a variety of boxes stacked on shelves in his workshop. Many boxes remain unlabeled, storing like items. More often, Cornell kept objects in cardboard boxes that he painted white and labeled in blue paint. These painted boxes range from similar objects, such as "Watch Parts," "Shells," "Pebbles," "Owls," "Cork Balls," to kinds of memory museums for clearly specific things, such as "Julien Levy Minutiae," to unlabeled boxes of assorted objects with notes and bits of various things. These unlabeled boxes are presumed to house intentionally gathered contents, though the subject may be clear only to Joseph Cornell himself and have been kept together for this reason.
In addition to gathered boxed artifacts, materials also include Cornell's tools, constructed box shells, various sizes of mirrored and clear sheet glass, and wooden picture frames.
Researchers should note that scattered artifacts, found ephemera, and component parts of Cornell works are found with other materials throughout the collection, especially within Series 8: Source Material, in addition to Series 2: Correspondence and Series 3: Diaries and Notes.
For preservation purposes, materials found in boxes are stored separately, notes unfolded, and rubber bands removed and discarded.
This series is still undergoing processing. Contact collection repository for more information about materials not yet described here.
Includes box with antipasto smiling sun face lids, metal pieces, and assorted lids.
Includes stationery box containing an antique American door lock with a note indicating that it was purchased in 1959 from a Massachussetts dealer: "Late 1600, early 1700; Mass."
Includes cigar box marked "Love Letters Jennifer Jones"/ "Love Letters Clown - Singleton Jennifer Jones" by Cornell. Box contains assorted ephemera, such as candy packets, foil wrappers, newspaper folder around wrappers with "selected for her clown" written by Cornell, assorted notes, found scraps of rusty metal, transfer/ ticket vouchers, etc.
Includes white cardboard box with gummed paper stickers of stars, letters, Easter motif material, etc.
Includes white cardboard box with assorted items. Items include small round box with dried flowers inside; flat piece of wood with small square plastic container nailed to center; and 2 similar plastic containers nesting together.
Includes cardoard box with assorted items, such as small envelopes, glassine envelopes, yellow stationery, 3 paintbrushes, small plastic figures and wood objects, box of colored chalk, and box of unused coat-check tickets.
Includes cardboard box with assorted items, such as wood pieces, glass domes, butterfly wings, small book and old opera/field glasses, ball with dried plant matter inside, etc.
Includes box (not original) with assorted coins and mementos (identified as being for Mrs. Merkl (Reswick)), 2 brown envelopes with crushed bottle caps and coins, and 2 small packages of small toy plastic cubes.
Includes white cardboard box with Betty Benton address label affixed to top. Box contains assorted small objects, some in plastic vials, including shells, marbles, cork beads, watch face, wood and metal objects, a pen knife inscribed "1896," and other found items.
Includes cardboard box with Joseph Cornell mailing label affixed to top. Box contains wood and wire pieces, small peg board game, address stamp, bundle of small paper tags with strings, bundle of metal edge round paper tags with strings, dice tokens, magnet, etc.
Includes cardboard box with scraps of paper (some with writing), star-shaped sequins, blue match book, and golden doily.
Includes box with various items, such as games, toys, glitter, feathers, matches, cork, magnifying glass, etc.
Includes cardboard box marked "Spiders and Salamanders" by Cornell with assorted material.
Includes candy box with assorted items, such as blue pegs, figurines, a shell, and labels/stickers.
Includes red and white Christmas motif box with lid containing assorted material, such as plastic glittery angel ornaments, small plastic boxes, glass pieces, wood pieces, etc.
Includes French metal cookie tin with assorted items. Items include brass bell; 3 clear boxes filled with blue, yellow, and white sand; 5 glassine envelopes with scraps of paper; clay whistle, plastic comb, etc.
Includes cardboard file box with assorted items, such as feathers, a doll, colored sands in containers, shells, corks, etc.
Includes Godiva chocolate box with no lid containing various items. Items include: multiple dwarf/elf figures made of painted and decorated pinecones along with note about childhood by Cornell, "Bayside West Sept 9-10 - gift shop - dwarfs reminding evoking childhood - cumbie (?) doll ornamented with lead figures of dwarfs - someting wonderfull"; images of Niagara Falls with tourist book (circa 1960); and mannequin hand.
Includes gold cardboard Godiva chocolate box with Betty Benton address label affixed. Box contains assorted items, such as dime store/ gumball-machine trinkets, sea glass, crystal, fishing bobs, watch mechanism pieces, 2 balls in plastic box, small glass jar with 2 bells inside, small glass mortar and pestle, noisemaker, bird whistle, token, and various containers with items inside.
Includes aluminum box with assorted material, such as wood scraps, feather trinkets, cordial glass, etc.
Includes metal tin with fluffy poodle/kitten motif with assorted items. Items include small box of Play-doh, plastic mouse figurine, and empty box labeled "pharmacy."
Includes metal tin with mostly watch parts and faces, a key, clock hands, metal jacks, 2 pieces of wood, and a ball toy (two heavy plastic balls connected by knotted cords).
Includes novelty store paper bag marked "Metal Cupids/ White Birds/ Lobster/ Numbers" by Cornell, with assorted items.
Includes paper bag, orange-flowered, with small paperback book, "Walt Disney: Our Friend of the Atom: A Tomorrowland Adventure," a Texas bluebonnets postcard, and a small rubber ball.
Includes red cardboard box without lid containing 4 tin boxes, jar of blue paint chips (?), bottle of blue sand, metal toy pieces, costume jewelry, etc.
Includes round cardboard box with pink side and patterned top. Box contains watch face, dime store ring, and fragment of metallic fabric trim.
Includes shoebox with ceramic figurines, tin car toy, and old fish decoy.
Includes white shoebox marked "New Spc. 56" and "Nost of the Sea" by Cornell, with assorted items. Items include small natural sponges, clear pastic coin purses, wheels of glass-headed pins, plastic containers, 2 compasses in original cellophane bags, brown paper bag with note about Surrealism, and other materials.
Includes shoebox marked "Pasta's Parrot/ Box for Tokens …" on one side, and "odd pieces for refilling" on another side, by Cornell. Box contains wood pieces, glass pieces, and some clippings.
Includes tin box marked "Pulverizings, Dust" by Cornell containing assorted items, such as jars of glitter, toy and game pieces, wooden beads, etc.
Includes assorted items in tissue paper bundle, such as rubber ball, wooden half-spool, wooden child's block, metal half-globe (southern hemisphere), and glass prism.
Includes items wrapped in tissue paper bundle, such as wooden child's block, rubber balls, cork, and wood piece.
Includes wood box without lid containing needles in paper, wheel of glass-headed pins, spool of heavy white thread, small footed glass, small cordial glass, small cordial glass with broken stem, gumball machine trinkets and toys, small plastic birds and marbles, etc.
Includes box marked "Metal Scraps" by Cornell, with assorted metal pieces.
Includes box without lid with assorted rusted pieces of metal and one light bulb.
Includes box of assorted wooden items, such as wood checkers, wooden container for sewing machine needles, and peg.
Includes cardboard box covered with 19th century engraving of European city with Joseph Cornell return address label on bottom. Box contains red, green, blue, and yellow Bakelite discs with hole in center.
Includes cardboard box marked "Shot" by Cornell, with ball bearings (shot?) and shotgun shells inside.
Includes shoebox marked "Rub. Balls" by Cornell, with assorted materials. Items include 1 pink and 3 blue rubber balls, bundle of teal velvet laces, plastic bag of gauze, kitchen safety match box with plastic beads, silver cardboard box with plastic balls, and small, green pasteboard box with floral decoration and tiny, wooden multi-colored balls.
Includes "Lovejoy's Improved Metallic Weather House" commercial barometer in shape of little house with two figures.
Includes small, white, cardboard box with 4 packes of sequins (star, bird, crescent moon, circle), packet of gold pearl beads, card of 6 plastic buttons, and small box of star shaped sequins.
Includes cardboard box marked "J.C." by Cornell with small, blue, beaded purse wrapped in a paper towel. Paper towel is inscribed "Part of Joseph Cornell's 'American/beaded/bag blue."
Includes cardboard box with blow glass object with red liquid inside (barometer?).
Box labeled "Reed and Prince MFG, Co" with blue paint chips stuck together.
Includes cardboard box marked "Wooden Mins. to Develop (Girls)" by Cornell containing 8 small cardboard or wooden boxes, some with contents (i.e. dead crab and note scraps) and some empty. Also includes a few pastic vials with items.
Includes tin box marked "Bracelets Plastic Metal" by Cornell. Box contains colored plastic bangle bracelets, marbles, 3 metal bracelets, and plastic rings.
Includes broken paper and rattan object, possibly a kite.
Includes crumpled tissue with plastic vials with lids containing various items, such as glass shards, wood matches, fragments of paper, etc.
Includes cardboard box marked "Leveder" and "Levender" on opposite side by Cornell, with bundles of envelopes.
Includes glass jar with bale closure full of buttons.
Inlcudes hinged wooden box with 2 compartments, with 2 cardboard boxes of hair pins with French labels inside.
Includes cardboard cookie box with 8 small cardboard boxes with varied contents. One yellow painted box includes note: "Blue marble returned by Eve for the Golden Fleece box 5/21/69."
Includes white cardboard box marked "L'Humeur Vagabonde" by Cornell, with numerous cardboard boxes of varying contents - "tresors de filles."
Includes small, empty, cardboard, "trinket" boxes.
Includes 10 empty, white, cardboard boxes.
Includes 4 empty, white, cardboard boxes.
Includes white cardboard box with empty, white, cardboard boxes inside.
Includes box with roughly-made, blue-glazed ceramic beads.
Includes wooden box with shipping labels and writing on top and sides ("Monsieur Joseph Cornell Flushing, NY, America"), full of broken clay pipe pieces.
Includes 5 clay pipes.
Includes 5 clay pipes.
Includes two bundles of clay pipes.
Includes tin box of clay pipes, various shapes and sizes.
Includes red tin box with 7 circular plastic clear boxes and 1 opaque white plastic box, all with assorted items, i.e. blue sequin, piece of glass, metal rings, and scraps of metal.
Includes box marked "Plastic Shells New" by Cornell, with clear plastic boxes, metal and plastic bangle bracelets, and assorted items.
Includes cardboard box marked "Watch Parts Misc" by Cornell with smaller boxes of clock and watch parts.
Includes cardboard box marked "Clock Hands" by Cornell with metal clock hands.
Includes assorted coin purses.
Includes patterned cardboard box, "Stork's Pastry Shop," containing approximately 20 compasses of various sizes. Also includes Smithsonian envelope marked "Mustard Colored Sand," with yellow sand.
Includes cardboard box with cork balls and bead of various colors.
Includes cardboard box marked "Balls Cork" by Cornell, with cork balls inside.
Includes cardboard box marked "Balls/Cork" by Cornell with cork balls of various sizes and some painted. Also inlcudes a few small pegs.
Includes cardboard box marked "Corks New" by Cornell with cork stoppers, 3 irregular pieces of cork, and an old piece of sponge.
Includes red metal box with hinged lid containing an assortment of items, such as costume jewelry, rhinestones, beads, sequins, etc. Some rhinestones are sewn onto blue satin fabric.
Includes box marked "Cotton" by Cornell with cotton material inside.
Includes cardboard box marked "Cyl Shells/Plastic" by Cornell, with 5 cylindrical plastic containers with lids.
Includes note, "Ruth Ford," written on envelope.
Decorative silver metal mug is labeled "Carrie McCollins."
Includes note, "Sontag."
Includes cardboard box marked "Flotsam Jetsam Misc. Small" by Cornell with pieces of water worn wood/driftwood.
Includes cardboard box marked "Flotsam #1" by Cornell with primarily driftwood and wood bits, but also assorted other materials. Other items include corks, compass, small blue-painted box with tags and metal inside, small hinged metal box with metal inside, etc.
Includes Crane stationery box marked "Jan 56/ Woolworth Manila/ Best but Old" by Cornell, containing envelopes.
Includes box marked "Elec. Lighting/ Bird Box" by Cornell, with extension cords, light bulbs, ceramic light bulb sockets, and 3.5 inch brass key.
Includes small "Havana" box with faux cigar top and cut out inside, marked "Hollie" in script.
Includes box marked "Ballet Box Affects Floral Glitter" by Cornell with faux floral decorations.
Includes note on envelope: "collage."
Includes 2 small carved wooden heads, one male and one female. Both carved objects labeled by Elizabeth Cornell Benton on back: "Old Bible house opp … Cooper Union I think."
Includes porcelain figurine of blue bird, made in Japan.
Includes small clay figurine of cherub.
Includes white porcelain figure of winged cherub on shell holding cornucopia.
Includes miniature terra cotta figurine of dove painted white, in envelope.
Includes pink porcelain cockatoo figurine.
Includes cardboard box with small porcelain and ceramic figurines, such as penguins, cat, man. Also includes a piece of cardboard marked "Best Cere."
Includes plastic box with 6 small tan figurines of angel musicians.
Includes wooden box with 3 black sheep inside.
Includes note on Ovaltine label: "Xmas feeling from Ovaltine."
Includes French watercolor set in box with detached bottom.
Includes heavy, square, glass jar with delicate, hollow glass balls in pastel colors, such as clear, yellow, pink, blue, and rose.
Box is marked "Glass Bells - min. glass bells" and includes two glass bells and 11 wood bases, two of which are signed by Cornell.
Cardboard box includes circa 50 clear glass bottles, primarily empty, as well as cork stoppers, and a package of small cork stoppers for smaller bottles.
Tin box is marked "Thaliana/tent." by Cornell.
Includes square and rectangular pieces of blue, red, and yellow glass.
Cardboard box contains 5 cordial glasses, some broken.
Cardboard box marked "Cordial Glasses Misc." by Cornell, includes 9 cordial glasses, one broken.
Cardboard box marked "Cordials" by Cornell.
Whitewashed cardboard box is marked "Glasses" by Cornell and includes cordial glasses.
Whitewashed cardboard box marked "Glasses" by Cornell.
Shoe box is marked "Glasses New Special" by Cornell and includes cordial glasses. Some are red and several are broken.
Cardboard box is marked "'GROM' shapes-wood/parts of glasses" by Cornell, and containes small wine or cordial glasses, with one broken.
Shoe box marked "Tinted Cordial Glasses" by Cornell, includes cordial glasses of different colors, as well as other kinds of drinking glasses. Some glasses are broken.
Cigar box is whitewashed.
Whitewashed cardboard box marked "Small Boxes" by Cornell, with glass pieces, small-necked containers, etched stoppers, and few corks. Some containers have material inside, such as seeds, beads, paper scraps, and fibers.
Box is marked "Bottles (Square)" by Cornell, and includes square glass bottes and miscellaneous material.
Box includes 15 glass vials.
Includes assorted sizes of glass vials and stoppers. One has 19th-century engraving of a city inserted inside.
Includes gummed seal and sticker booklets with some missing on pages. Stickers and seals are of bird, animals, flowers, etc.
Includes small box of gummed seals of animals, butterflies, birds, and flowers; box of colored chalk; and box marked "Round pcs doweling misc wood" with round wooden dowels of various lengths.
Includes file box marked "Paperies" by Cornell with gummed stickers, confetti, and small playing cards.
Includes two iron spikes.
Includes round cardboard box with 4 small Italian candy boxes with animal illustrations of camel, giraffe, ostrich, and elephant.
Includes cardboard box marked "Jewelry" by Cornell. Box contains loose rhinestones, plastic jewelry and buttons, packets of "spangles" (large sequins), fake flowers, and other assorted items.
Includes box with earrings, necklace, and clipping: "unrequited love is a favorite theme for St. Valentine's Day" 1961.
Includes assorted dime store jewelry.
Includes commercial chemical testing kit manufactured by Lamotte Chemical Products Co., consisting of hinged wooden box with 12 sealed glass ampoules of phenolsulfonphthalien in ascending concentrations.
Includes small, tooled and guilded leather purse with bracelet handle.
Includes long, light brown, artificial hair, possibly doll hair or a hair piece.
Includes 9 Westinghouse lamp light bulbs.
Includes box marked "Mouse Material" by Cornell with grey dust or lint material.
Includes box marked "Tr. Winds Boxes Map Tacks" by Cornell with map tacks with flags and a plastic box with 2 fishing lures inside.
Includes masonite panel with front covered with mottled mauve and yellow paper. Back is mottled white, cream, and gray with "Easter Snow = 1970" marked by Cornell in ink.
Includes masonite panel with smooth side inscribed in white chalk (?) "7/22/69 Call from Hans Namuth; loss of senses on loans John 4, etc."
Includes 3 masonite panels mostly blank with some markings by Cornell.
Includes masonite panel with front collaged with French book or newspaper.
Includes masonite panel partially varnished and marked "Cass." by Cornell in white chalk.
Includes cardboard box with several small cardboard memento boxes, some with assorted items. Some notes and annotations include: "JC 1962," "restored to R. 1962 - 2 came out 7/6/62," and "Sadie Thompson 8-21-63."
Includes cardboard box marked "Piston Rings" by Cornell, with metal rings inside.
Includes brown paper bag with 4 silver metal thimbles.
Includes small, flat, hinged cardboard box with interior divided into compartments. Box contains 2 metal watch hands.
Includes "Tasco Quality Optics" box with unused micoscope slide mounting kit (glass slides, mounting fluid, and cover sheets).
Includes cardboard memento box lined with fowered paper with leaf, gold/white faux butterfly, and cutout "Mother."
Includes hinged wooden box with weathered drift wood, dried gourd, bone, and other material. Box marked "Suzy's Pipe-Dream" and "Touch Box."
Includes circular wooden box marked "open with care cracked egg in nest" by Cornell, with bird's nest and egg shell.
Includes small bird's nest in cardboard tube.
Includes two bird's nests.
Includes weathered pieces of bone in box.
Includes box marked "Butterflies" by Cornell with synthetic or real butterfly wings.
Includes butterfly and moth wings in box marked "Lucille Grahn Xmas" by Cornell.
Includes feathers in envelope with deteriorating box.
Box of feathers marked "Turkey Feathers" by Cornell.
Includes cardboard box marked "Feathers" by Cornell with multi-colored feathers and wooden darts.
Includes paper bag with 5 whole dried orange peels. Bag is marked "Orange de Ronsard" and "1969/1970/Laurel" by Cornell.
Includes cylindrical metal box covered in old European map with dried, organic material inside.
Includes crumbling dried flowers and corsages in paper bag.
Includes box marked "Dried Grass" with dried, crumbled grass.
Includes box marked "Leaves" by Cornell, with dried, curly leaves.
Includes box marked "Sumach" and "Sumach Powder" by Cornell, with dried and crumbling plant material.
Includes box marked "Feathery Grass Dust" by Cornell, with dried plant matter.
Includes water-worn, irregularly shaped rock.
Includes Whitman's chocolate box with pieces of white coral and pressed, dried seaweed on cardboard.
Includes small wooden box with weathered clam and oyster shells.
Includes cardboard Perma Life Colored Sea Shells box marked "Pasta" by Cornell.
Includes cardboard box marked "Translucent Pearly, Etc." by Cornell.
Includes commercial "Adventures with Sea Shells" box with shells mounted and identified on boards.
Includes box marked "Starfish" by Cornell with starfish, shells, and partial seahorse.
Includes box marked "Spirals and Misc." by Cornell.
Includes box marked "Sea Shells" by Cornell with shells and sand dollars.
Includes box marked "Shells Special" by Cornell with shells and small scrap of paper inscribed "early summer 1957."
Includes 2 paper bags of metal bells.
Includes object made of paper, which looks like a stuccoed tower with tile roof.
Includes tin box with tin can inside marked "Taglioni/ICE/Snow." Tin can containes piece of blue glass and tissue.
Includes tissue-wrapped piece of concrete tied with string with label attached: "Crystal Palace Fragment/ from Paul Hammond/ 22 January 1970."
Includes note by Cornell: "Ernst Beadle ca. 1952."
Includes plastic Christmas shopping back that once held correspondence.
Includes plastic shopping bag with Victorian woman illustration that once held correspondence.
Includes cardboard box with multiple plastic vials of various contents, such as notes, peach pit, glass shards, plastic figures, etc.
Includes cardboard box marked "Stamps" by Cornell, with various kinds of postage stamps.
Includes folder marked "Stamps" by Cornell, full of assorted postage stamps.
Includes collection of eight postcards taken from engravings.
Includes two postcards with puppies of same style.
Includes some annotations by Cornell.
Includes the Morgan, RCA viewing deck, street scenes, and news building interior.
Includes notes by Cornell, including "a serenade for Juan Gris."
Includes note by Cornell.
Includes tinting.
Includes cardboard box with two cards printed with "Joseph Cornell."
Includes glass jam jar with lid, half full of small round rhinestones.
Includes green plastic rings, similar in size to napkin rings.
Includes metal box marked "Piston Rings" by Cornell, with metal rings of different sizes, as well as plastic rings.
Includes cardboard box marked "Rings, Metal Bracelets, Chain" by Cornell, with those items, circular piece of wood, and skeleton key inside.
Includes plastic and metal rings in tissue-wrapped bundle.
Includes box with plastic rings -- one yellow and five blue.
Includes cigar box marked "Plastic Boxes (ND) Cherubino" by Cornell, with small, round, plastic boxes with lids.
Includes cylindrical wood box marked "Leaves" by Cornell, with assorted items, such as rubber ball, stickers, sequins, and other materials.
Includes small white cardboard box marked "Wood Powder 1/11/47" by Cornell with rust-colored sawdust and two pieces of dry, light, friable wood. The box is a Richardson's Mint Candy box and the lid is marked with "glass box Malibran" by Cornell.
Includes Quaker Corn Meal container marked "Sawdust Powder" by Cornell with sawdust inside.
Includes cardboard box painted white and marked "Earth" by Cornell with sawdust inside.
Includes box marked "Dead Wood (Powder)" by Cornell with sawdust and bits of wood inside.
Includes box marked "Sawdust Strained Powder" by Cornell with sawdust inside.
Includes cardboard box marked "Notions" by Cornell, with assorted sewing materials, steel pins, glass headed pins, hair pins, needles, and other items.
Includes round metal tin covered with paper, containing assorted sewing materials, such as thread, thimbles, pins, needes, and more.
Includes envelope with note by Cornell: "Material from pantry shelves, Jan. 3, 72 -- lining put in by Mother way, way back." Envelope contains shelf lining and a pair of cotton gloves.
Includes metal box marked "Mete" by Cornell with shells, watch parts, rusted metal pieces, fishing sinkers, pocket knife, and small metal box with chains.
Includes 2 pieces of slate bound on one side.
Includes cardboard box painted white and marked "Small Boxes/Petites Boites" and "Miscellaneous/Cases Small/Boxes, Etc." by Cornell, with small cardboard boxes (some slide open like match boxes) and other assorted items (glass pieces, foreign coins, ink jars, roudn face powder containers, etc.).
Includes cardboard box marked "Dennison Cake Boxes" by Cornell with numerous small cardboard boxes, some circular, with various contents, i.e. paper, circular pieces of glass, gass bottles with pink glass beads, and white blackboard chalk, etc.
Includes cardboard box with smaller memento boxes, such as one with lace; one with keychain; Band-Aid tin with wooden peg and balls; and plastic travel soap container with plastic balls. Also includes box of labels, such as Dennison labels/legal seals, executor labels, notecards, "private" labels, return address labels for Cornell.
Includes 60 small, white, cardboard boxes.
Includes empty souvenir pencil box labeled "A Present from Keswick."
Includes cardboard box marked "Springs Hair" by Cornell with metal spiral springs and metal clock hands.
Includes cardboard box marked "Springs" by Cornell with metal spiral springs.
Includes cardboard box marked "Springs" by Cornell with metal springs inside.
Includes Sarah Bernhardt, Mozart, and monarch butterfly.
Includes "San Marino," "Fairy Tales," and "Hungary Pigeons."
Includes fragile sugar easter eggs in original cellophane and box.
Includes cardboard Kirsch Cola box marked "Dossiers Dossiers" and "Velvet #1" by Cornell, with assorted colors of velvet pieces.
Includes cigar box marked "Tinfoil" by Cornell with tinfoil sheets and scraps.
Includes cardboard box marked "Doll" with only tissue inside.
Includes small orange cloth bag with circular markers/tokens, possibly part of a game.
Includes used blotting papers with some used many times.
Includes manila envelope marked "blue rubbing cloth/ cellar workshop/ Utopia Parkway/ ca. 1950/ spec. treasure" by Cornell with a cloth stained deep blue.
Gesso is still in liquid form.
Envelope inscribed: "this paper with extra blue sand was in owl box (translucent moon)."
Includes cardboard box wrapped in tape marked "Blue Sand" by Cornell.
Includes cardboard box marked "Black Sand" by Cornell, with blue sand inside.
Includes black sand in Red Currant Jelly jar.
Includes cardboard box marked "Heavy Brushes" by Cornell with unused paint brushes.
Includes bag marked "pens and pts" by Cornell with assorted pen handles and pen nibs.
Includes open wooden box with assorted tools, such as hammer, brushers, file, glass cutter, pencils, "Priscilla crayons," etc.
Includes glass jar with assorted tools, such as pens, pencils, brushes, etc.
Includes plasic bag of circa 20 rubber stamps, for example "Pasta's Parrot," "Apollinaire's Swan," "The Bird with the Shoe Button Eyes," as well as two bottles of ink for stamp bads, and one stamp sample page of stamps in bag.
Includes cardboard box, G. Nardi, with Italian postmark and postage, labelled "Toy Coins." Box contains small wooden chest filled with small coins, set within padded larger brown box.
Includes note on one package by Cornell: "D'Annunzio, Pamela Bianco 1st spoken to 11/19/70 first time."
Includes images of Charles Blondin.
Includes package of outdoor games, such as jump rope, chalk, jacks, balls, and hopscotch tokens.
Includes cardboard "picture word" puzzle, most tokens missing.
Includes cardboard box with plastic bag of assorted plastic balls. Also includes cork ball and wooden arch block.
Includes metal biscuit tin with European scenes with 40 rubber balls inside.
Includes two rubber balls.
Includes cardboard box marked "Balls" by Cornell, with assorted colored rubber balls.
Includes cardboard box marked "Old Fashioned Marbles" by Cornell with various old marbles.
Includes cardboard box marked "Chinese Marbles" by Cornell with multi-colored marbles.
Includes manila envelope with empty blue box and four miniature die-cast toy train cars.
Includes stoppered glass jar with six white plastic pigs.
Includes Christmas card box with plastic animals, such as giraffe, sheep, frogs, and turtle.
Includes sevel small boxes of bird model kits.
Includes envelope marked "Swiss Bird Warblers" by Cornell with commercially produced glassine packes of bird calls.
Includes two cardboard cylinders of "Pick-Up Sticks."
Includes white-washed tin box marked "Penny Arcade/ (Birds)/ Pegs" with colored wooden pegs.
Includes two plastic number sets in original packaging.
Includes two plastic number sets in original packaging marked "Betsy Xmas" on backs.
Includes white-washed "El Producto" cigar box marked "Souvenirs d'Enfance" by Cornell with assorted toys, magic tricks, miniature playing cards, toy silverware, etc.
Includes box with assorted toys, such as miniature dolls, pull toys, small cardboard box with cat toys and wooden figures, small box with wooden and metal toy trains.
Includes white-washed file box marked "Varia" by Cornell with assorted toys, such as magnet toy game sets, Tufted Titmouse miniature bird model kits, matchboxes with four miniature metal chairs. Also includes 1939 World's Fair commemorative medal from the Christian Science building.
Includes cardboard box marked "Watch Faces" by Cornell with watch faces and watch parts.
Includes cigar box marked "Watch Casings" by Cornell with watch faces and assorted watch parts.
Includes cigar box marked "Watch Mo Stripped" by Cornell with watch faces and mechanical watch parts.
Includes cardboard box marked "Watch Mat" by Cornell with metal watch faces.
Includes envelope marked "Weather Indicator" with weathered piece of cellophane.
Includes cardboard box (original packaging) marked "Angel Hair" by Cornell, with white decorative fibers.
With some yellow and orange paint remnants.
Includes bundle of wood and masonite panels, some collaged.
Includes box with wood and nails, plastic ring, screw, and note by Cornell: "Bird removed from orig. PASTA box."
Includes Avon Pine Soap box with wood balls - some painted white.
Includes large cardboard box marked "Wooden Balls" by Cornell with wood balls inside.
Includes small cardboard box marked "Secondary" by Cornell with small wood balls.
Includes pink Zenith Radionic Hearing Aid box marked "Wood Balls - Min" by Cornell with multicolored wood balls and beads.
Includes coffee can covered with white felt containing wood beads of various colors and sizes.
Includes cardboard box wrapped in packing tape with wood beads.
Includes cardboard box with small wood blocks and wood balls painted white.
Includes cardboard box marked "Rect. Blocks Compart. Boxes" by Cornell with 15 small rectangular wood blocks - 9 blocks are natural wood, 6 blocks are stained dark.
Includes square wood board with nail protruding with a rotating disc of wood held by nail. There is a collaged disc beneath the wood disc.
Includes assorted wood box parts, such as lids, sides, bases grooved for glass, some pieces painted or stained, and one with antique paper collaged.
Includes 7 wood box shells of assorted sizes. Some structures include grooves for glass (not included), screws on top of structures, hook closures, and/or hinged sides.
Wood box with dark stained exterior. Interior is partially lined with 3 pieces of mirror and partially covered with patterned paper. Top is hinged and fastens down with hooks.
Wood box with blue stained exterior. Interior is lined with mirrors on all sides, and the back of interior has collaged image of clouds covering entire back panel. Top is hinged and fastens with hooks.
Wood box lined with mirror pieces on all interior sides. Top is hinged and fastens with hooks.
Wood boxes with interiors painted white. Glass fronts included.
Wood box with amber glass front and a light bulb socket mounted to side with cord exiting through a hole in the back wood panel. Left side is detachable.
Wood box with light bulb socket mounted to side, 5 inch bulb, and a cord. Box also contains scrap metal. One side of box detaches.
Wood box with red orange glass front and two screws slightly protruding from top.
Wood boxl with interior divided into 20 compartments painted white, in the style of a dovecote box. Exterior is painted white and cracking, and back is covered with paper. Front cover is hinged on one long side with hook fastener on opposite side.
Wood box with interior divided into 20 compartments painted white inside, in the style of a dovecote box. Exterior is stained blue. Front cover is hinged on one long side with hook fastener on opposite side.
Wood box with interior back and side walls painted deep blue over paper. Top has two protruding screws.
Wood box with hinged top with grooves for glass front, in the style of a sand fountain or sand tray.
Includes blue stained wood box with hinged lid, four pieces of wood stained blue, and small wood box with paper scrap inside marked "packets."
Includes wood box with detached cover stained deep blue. Inside is collaged with wire pattern.
Includes wood box with removable lid stained blue with pale blue velvet lining.
Includes empty wood box with removable lid stained dark with blue velvet lining.
Includes wood box with six drawers with metal pulls, cloth-lined and empty.
Includes wood box with hinged lid and pale pink velvet lining.
Includes cardboard box marked "Bottle Museums" by Cornell, with four wooden boxes with lids. Two of the boxes have been fitted with wood inside and drilled to hold eight small vials with cork tops, mostly empty. All boxes are raw wood.
Includes three circular wood boxes, all empty.
Includes wood construction, painted white, with dowel and discs at ends.
Includes wood construction stained blue, partially covered with map paper.
Includes open sided wood construction with 5 compartments and partially paper covered.
Includes 8 one-inch drilled holes inside.
Includes two boxes, one marked "Cubes" by Cornell, containing small wood cubes about 3/4 inches square.
Includes wood drawer treated with collaged text and cracked paint, containing six wooden pieces. Some wood pieces have been stained, collaged, or drilled.
Includes wood drawer with loose glass cover and two small pegs for handles. Exterior is covered with old yellowed map, and interior is painted white.
Includes wood box marked "Cubes" by Cornell with 5 small white drawers and pieces of wood.
Includes 3 wood boxes of various sizes. Sections of 1" wood dowels fill one box which is partially collaged with antique paper, one box is partitioned into 3 parts painted blue and white, and one box is painted white with a drawer pull on one side
40 wood frames, mostly commercial. One frame includes glass front.
Includes 2 wood grid/frames.
Includes cardboard box marked "Tresor de Gamin" in blue paint and "girls" in pencil by Cornell. The box contains 26 wood boxes, several white wood drawers, and pieces of wood. Some wood boxes have mesh, metal fragments, or other assorted items inside.
Includes wooden music box with keyhold. Inner lid label is handwritten and notes: "1. The Wedding March, Mendelsohn 2. White Wings Song, Winter 3. The Black Cussock March, Millocker 4. Blue Danube Waltz, Strauss"
Includes round wood object with hole in center and concentric circles of rusted nails protuding from one side.
Includes wood object with two ledges 1 1/4 inches in width, grooves running horizontally, and collaged medallion on top.
Includes gessoed wood panel with grid of drill holes 4 across by 5 down. Back is partially covered with newsprint.
Includes wood panel staine blue with white undercoat showing and flaking.
Includes wood panel with front covered with white paper painted blue with "window" cut into paper. The wood is painted a deep blue with an antique look.
Includes wood panel covered with paper painted white, then blue, incised with grid of irregular lines. Board is pierced by a central row of nails projecting from back, bent and very rusted.
Includes wood panel stained dark brown with two hook latches on either side with folded paper.
Includes wood panel with white paint or gesso and ripped collage label ("N PORT" visible). Back is covered with box care instructions, making this panel appear to be made for the back of a Cornell box.
Includes bundle of wood panels and planks
Includes cardboard box of wood pieces, such as balls, beads, and cylinders, some colored and with screw-eyes in tops.
Includes cardboard box with numerous small square or rectangular blocks of wood (less than 1 inch square), many collaged with paper, some covered in foil, some with painted edges.
Includes metal tin with lid containing flat, rectangular wood pieces and two round cardboard boxes.
Includes stationery box with thin wood pieces, edges stained or painted blue with a quarter inche hole drilled at one end. Some pieces have paper glued to surfaces.
Includes cardboard box with wooden pieces, beads, and pegs.
Includes cardboard box marked "Dead Wood Pieces" by Cornell with large chunks of dried-out wood.
Includes cardboard box marked "Minutiae Mat" and "Garden C 44 Lawrence Farm" by Cornell. Box contains scraps of wood.
Includes wood pieces, possibly box frame edges, some with notations.
Includes string-tied bundle of wood strips and slats in various sizes, none longer than 14 to 15 inches.
Photographic material includes photographs of Cornell, personal and family photographs, photographs of Cornell's boxes and collages, and an assortment of collected photographic materials and source photographs. Formats include color and black and white snapshots, negatives, glass stereoscopic slides, vintage photographic prints, cabinet cards, cartes-de-visite, daguerreotypes, tintypes, and one opalotype. A number of photographs by other artists are also included, such as photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Hans Namuth, Julia Margaret Cameron, and a photogravure by Alfred Stieglitz. Other collected photographs include images of actors and actresses, ballet dancers, other performers, authors, royalty, and civil war figures, among others.
This series is arranged as 3 sub-series:
Personal photographs are of Cornell as a child and an adult, at Garden World, at work in his studio, in his home and backyard at Utopia Parkway, and with a few of his art works, including "Garbo (Greta Garbo in the Legendary Film 'The Crystal Mask,' c. 1845)," and "Untitled (To Marguerite Blachas)." Two color snapshots and negatives depict Cornell's attic storage with artworks, and one black and white snapshot depicts Cornell's garage storage with artwork and source material. Also included are childhood and family photographs taken in Nyack, New York; exterior and interior views of Utopia Parkway in Flushing, Queens, New York; and street views of New York City taken by Rudy Burkhardt and others. Formats include color and black and white negatives, color snapshots, black and white photographs, and one tintype of Helen Storms Cornell as a child in New Jersey. Researchers should note that childhood and family photographs are primarily comprised of nitrate negatives with no corresponding prints.
Includes photograph of Joseph Cornell viewing "Crystal Mask" box; and photograph of Joseph Cornell with book object, "Untitled (To Marguerite Blachas)."
See Scan JCSC.Negative.016.
See Scan JCSC.Negative.017.
See Scan JCSC.Negative.019 and JCSC.Negative.020.
See Scans JCSC.NegativeStrips021, JCSC.NegativeStrips023-027, JCSC.NegativeStrips029-031.
See Scans JCSC.NegativeStrips032-034.
Nitrate negatives (33) housed in Negatives Box 80. See Scans JCSC.Nitrate001-003 for negatives with no corresponding photograph prints.
Negatives removed from Box 52, Folders 60-61. See Scans JCSC.Nitrate001-003.
See Scan JCSC.Negative035.
Nitrate negatives (9) housed in Negatives Box 80. See Scans JCSC.Nitrate006-011; JCSC.Negative013; JCSC.Nitrate014-015.
Negatives removed from Box 52, Folder 64.
Nitrate negatives (14) housed in Negatives Box 80. See Scans JCSC.Nitrate036-049.
Negatives removed from Box 52, Folder 65. See Scans JCSC.Nitrate036-049.
Nitrate negatives (19) housed in Negatives Box 80. See Scans JCSC.Nitrate050-068.
Negatives removed from Box 52, Folder 66. See Scans JCSC.Nitrate050-068.
Nitrate negatives (7) housed in Negatives Box 80. See Scans JCSC.Nitrate069-075.
Negatives removed from Box 52, Folder 68. See Scans JCSC.Nitrate069-075.
Nitrate negatives (3) housed in Negatives Box 80. See Scans JCSC.Nitrate076-078.
Negatives removed from Box 52, Folder 70. See JCSC.Nitrate076-078.
Nitrate negatives (3) housed in Negatives Box 80. See Scans JCSC.Nitrate079-081 and JCSC.Negative082.
Negatives removed from Box 52, Folder 72. See Scans JCSC.Nitrate079-081.
See Scan JCSC.Tintype083.
Nitrate negatives (7) housed in Negatives Box 80. See Scans JCSC.Nitrate084-090.
7 black and white negatives. Negatives removed from Box 52, Folder 74. See Scans JCSC.Nitrate084-090.
Photograph rehoused from 8.2 "Atelier Miscellaneous Summer 1966" File.
Nitrate negatives (4) housed in Negatives Box 80. See Scans JCSC.Nitrate091-094.
Negatives removed from Box 52, Folder 76. See Scans JCSC.Nitrate091-094.
Includes one image of Joseph Cornell as a child standing outside home.
Possibly by Harry Roseman. See Scan JCSC.Photographs098.
See Scans JCSC.NegativeStrips099-100.
Two images include Vivienne Young. See Scans #JCSC.NegativeStrips095; JCSC.Photographs096-097.
"Camelopardalis" written on one envelope by Cornell. Images of Cornell in two black and white negative strips. See Scans #JCSC.NegativeStrips101-113. Cornell included in JCSC.Negative Strips102 and JCSC.NegativeStrips111.
Possibly by Harry Roseman.
See Scans #JCSC.NegativeStrips114-125, of color negative strips only.
Negative (1) housed in Negatives Box 80. See Scan JCSC.Nitrate125.
Negative removed from Box 52, Folder 89. See Scan JCSC.Nitrate125.
Cornell's artwork, including his boxes, collages, and some objects, are depicted in black and white photographs, contact sheets, color snapshots, color film/strip negatives, and transparencies. Photographs often appear to have been taken by various galleries and museums, in conjunction with installations or exhibitions, though only a few installation photographs are included.
Photographs are arranged by artwork type, such as Box, Collage, or Object, and then alphabetically by title of work, if identified. Many of the photographs were kept in envelopes with Cornell's writing, and those envelope annotations were retained as group titles, where identified. File titles in quotation marks denote Cornell's given title or annotation.
Includes Monroe Wheeler's business card.
Includes two installation views.
Photographs possibly by Harry Roseman. Includes "Homage to Juan Gris," 1953-1954 and "A Parrot for Juan Gris," 1953-1954, 1957. Negative image of "Juan Gris Cockatoo No. 4."
Photograph by John D. Schiff.
Possibly by Harry Roseman.
Possibly by Harry Roseman.
Possibly by Harry Roseman.
Photographs by John D. Schiff, "NFS - 1965 Show."
Photographs by John D. Schiff.
Cornell collected all types of vintage photographs, including cartes-de-visite, cabinet cards, stereographs, tintypes, daguerreotypes, glass stereoscopic slides, and antique photograph album pages and partial albums. Files include photographs of people, identified and unidentified, of actresses, authors, circus performers, dancers, royalty, and scientists. Collected photographs of various places, buildings, animals, objects, and artwork are also included. Photographs of artwork are by Brassai, Julia Margaret Cameron, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and a photogravure from "Camera Work" by Alfred Stieglitz. Also included are photographs of Willem de Kooning and family and Edward Hopper's bedroom in Truro by Hans Namuth. Cornell collected photographs of Niagara Falls, New York City, Italy, Japan, and Egypt, as well as other countries, and also vintage family photographs and an album of cartes-de-visite. Among the collected cased photographs are daguerreotypes and tintypes of anonymous men and women, as well as one opalotype in an oval, blue velvet case. From these various photographs Cornell occasionally had photostats produced and incorporated them into his works. He often used photographs of artworks for source material, which are especially found in the file box of "Negatives and Positives, Miscellaneous Explorations."
Photograph by Otto Sarong Co.
Includes signature by Irene Castle.
See also 8.2 "Women" folder for other images of Sophie Croizette.
Includes signature by Jeanne Eagels. Oversized photographs (4) housed in Box 93, Folder 1.
Oversized photographs removed from Box 53, Folder 22.
Black and white photograph postcard by Rotary Photograrphic Co Ltd.
Includes one photostat of Lillian and Dorothy Gish as young girls, and four photographs of Lillian Gish, by James L. Allen and Carl Van Vearin.
Includes one photostat of negative image with bird silhouettes added by Cornell. Oversized photograph (1) housed in Box 93, Folder 2.
Oversized photograph removed from Box 53, Folder 25.
Photograph by C. S. Gardner, singed by Mack. Oversized photograph (1) housed in Box 106, Folder 1.
Oversized photograph removed from Box 53, Folder 29.
By Breitkopf and Hartel.
Photograph by Saul Bransburg. Oversized photograph (1) housed in Box 93, Folder 3.
Oversized photograph removed from Box 53, Folder 32.
Oversized photographs (2) housed in Box 93, Folder 4.
Oversized photograph removed from Box 53, Folder 33.
Photograph by Nickolas Muray.
Oversized photograph (1) housed in Box 93, Folder 5.
Oversized photograph removed from Box 53, Folder 37.
Includes Ira Aldridge; J. S. Toole as Caleb Plummer; and George L. Fox.
Includes writers William Cullen Bryant; Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain); Edmond de Goncourt; Charles Dickens; Victor Hugo; Wadsworth Longfellow; and John C. Whittier.
Includes four portraits of Abraham Lincoln, one family portrait (painting) of Lincoln's family, and one photograph of Lincoln's house in Springfield, Illinois. Also includes: Jefferson Davis; General Burnside; General Winfield Scott; President Andrew Johnson; General Benjamin Butler; General George B. McClellan and wife; General Ulysses S. Grant and family; portrait print of "U. S. War Army 1861"; two unidentified Union soldiers; and portrait of Nellie Grant as "Old Woman in the Shoe."
Possibly from Ringling Brothers Circus. "W.D. Coxey," Ringling Brothers press agent, written on back of photograph.
Photograph by Ike Vern, PIX Incorporated.
Includes photostats and miniature stamp images of Matterhorn. Photograph is of George L. Fox. Oversized material housed in Box 106, Folder 2.
Oversized material removed from Box 53, Folder 51. Includes one oversized photostat and oversized photograph album/scrapbook page.
Includes Max Alvery; Benoît Constant Coquelin; George L. Fox; and Henry Irving.
Includes: Mary Anderson; Sarah Bernhardt; Lotta Crabtree; Ada Dyas; Emma Eames; Maxine Elliott; Josephine Ellis; Agnes Evans; Josephine Feyghine; Lulu Glaser; Maud Granger; Minnie Hank; Jeffreys Lewis; Marion Manola; Celestine Galli-Marie; Julia Marlowe; Ida Mulle; Christina Nilsson; Alice Porter; Ada Rehan; M'lle Roche; Marie Roze; Lillian Russell; Annie Summerville; Marie Tempest; Irene Verona; and Fanny Ward.
Includes actresses, ballet dancers, musicians, and singers, such as Emma Albani, Sarah Bernhardt, Adelaide Ristori, and Carolina Rosati. Also includes scattered photostats of cartes-de-visite.
Includes Charles-Andre Van Loo; Gustave Doré; Anton Rubenstein; and Johann Strauss.
Includes authors, composers, inventors, painters, politicians, and religious figures. Images include Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot; Gustave Courbet; Charles Darwin; Charles Dickens; Jules Favre; Giuseppe Garibaldi; Louis Moreau Gottshalk; Horace Greeley; President Rutherford B. Hayes; Wadsworth Longfellow; Samuel Morse; Gioachino Rossini; Richard Strauss; Alfred Lord Tennyson; and Walt Whitman.
Includes Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Mrs. James Garfield; Miss Mary Gladstone; Julia Ward Howe; and Mrs. Saul Thompson.
Daguerreotype (1) housed in Box 84.
Daguerreotype removed from Box 54, Folder 17.
Includes one hand-colored carte-de-visite.
Daguerreotype (1) housed in Box 85.
Daguerreotype removed from Box 54, Folder 28.
Opalotype (1) housed in Box 85.
Opalotype removed from Box 54, Folder 29.
Oversized photograph (1) housed in Box 93, Folder 6.
Oversized photograph removed from Box 54, Folder 40. Photograph misidentified as "Christine Kaufman" on back, by Elizabeth Cornell Benton.
Note on verso by Joseph Cornell: "Patty Duke."
Ambrotypes (2) housed in Box 85.
Ambrotypes removed from Box 54, Folder 41.
Daguerreotypes (6) housed in Box 84 and 85.
Daguerreotypes removed from Box 54, Folder 42.
Daguerreotypes removed from Box 54, Folder 42.
Oversized photographs (3) housed in Box 93, Folder 7.
Oversized photographs removed from Box 54, Folder 517.
Oversized material (photostats) housed in OV116, OV123, and OV124.
Oversized material removed from Box 54, Folder 56.
Oversized material removed from Box 54, Folder 56.
Oversized material removed from Box 54, Folder 56.
Includes Egypt, Europe, Jerusalem, and other countries.
Includes Europe and the Middle East, as well as five photomechanical prints.
Also includes photomechanical prints. Includes England, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, and other countries.
Oversized material housed in Box 106, Folder 3.
Oversized material removed from Box 55, Folder 1.
Oversized photograph (1) housed in Box 106, Folder 4.
Oversized photograph removed from Box 55, Folder 2.
Oversized photograph (1) housed in Box 106, Folder 5.
Oversized photograph removed from Box 55, Folder 3.
Oversized photographs (4) housed in Box 93, Folder 9.
Oversized photographs removed from Box 55, Folder 5.
Glass slides (12) housed in Box 81.
Glass slides removed from Box 55, Folder 7.
Oversized photograph (1) housed in Box 106, Folder 6.
Oversized photograph removed from Box 55, Folder 8.
Includes one image, unmounted.
Oversized photographs (3) housed in Box 106, Folder 7. Includes two photographs of Grace Vanderbilt.
Oversized photographs removed from Box 55, Folder 11.
Includes one photostat of daguerreotype.
Includes one photostat of photograph.
Acetate negative (1) housed in Box 82, Folder 1, due to damage.
Negative removed from Box 55, Folder 18.
Oversized photograph (1) housed in Box 106, Folder 8.
Oversized photographs removed from Box 55, Folder 19.
Oversized photograph (1) housed in Box 93, Folder 10.
Oversized photographs removed from Box 55, Folder 20.
Oversized material housed in Box 93, Folder 11.
Includes 9 black and white photographs on photograph album page. Oversized material removed from Box 55, Folder 33.
Oversized photograph album housed in Box 86.
Oversized photograph album removed from Box 55, Folder 34. Includes 53 loosely identified and 18 unidentified cartes-de-visite depicting various European royalty and political figures; scientists; and authors and philosophers. Includes images of Queen Victoria, Empress Eugenia, Prince of Denmark, Prince and Princess of Hesse, Lord J. Russell, Napoleon, Michael Faraday, Henry Bence Jones, Professor Odling, Charles Lyell, Alexandre Dumas, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Charles Kingsley, and Charles Dickens.
Oversized photograph (1) housed in Box 106, Folder 9.
Oversized photograph removed from Box 55, Folder 36. Includes signature by photographer, "Julia Cameron."
Includes "Child in Valencia, Spain," 1933; "Brussels, Belgium," 1932; "Spain, Andalucia, Grenada, Gypsies," 1933; and "Rome, Pont Saint-Ange," circa 1930. All photographs signed by Cartier-Bresson.
Oversized photograph (6) housed in Box 106, Folders 11-12.
Oversized photographs removed from Box 55, Folder 38.
Oversized photograph (1) housed in Box 106, Folder 10.
Oversized photograph removed from Box 55, Folder 39.
Oversized photogravure housed in Box 93, Folder 8. Photogravure rehoused from 8.2 Assorted Source Material file.
Oversized material removed from Box 55, Folder 40.
Photograph by Lawrence X. Champeau.
Includes one photograph stained with dye.
Includes photostat.
Notes on envelope include, "Morgan Library Kodachrome; 'Gris' 'g.'"
Note on envelope includes "Bebé."
Includes one photograph with blue paint-staining.
Includes photostats.
Oversized Box housed in Box 128.
Oversized Box removed from Box 55, Folder 68.
Nitrate negatives (82) housed in Negatives Box 80.
Negatives removed from Box 56, Folder 7.
Includes B. Alstead and Boats.
Includes Dürer.
Includes Dancer, Delacroix, and Dürer.
Includes one photographs, one stained with blue paint.
Includes GC 44, Grahn, and Grisi.
Includes Hepburn, Holderlin, Hugo.
Includes Hugo.
Includes one paint-stained photograph.
Includes Lalo and Lesp.
Includes Malibran, prints of coin.
Includes Pasta, Pinturicchio Boy, and Parmigianino.
Includes Pasta and Pinturicchio.
Includes Robert "Snick" and "Rossini." Nitrate negatives (4) housed in Negatives Box 80.
Negatives removed from Box 56, Folder 18.
Includes St. León and Sylphides.
Includes Taglioni and Toumanova.
Includes Tasso and "Taorminese."
Includes Ellen Terry.
Includes Versailles and Viardot.
Oversized box housed in Box 133.
Oversized box removed from Box 56, Folder 24.
Includes portraits of William Frederick ("Buffalo Bill") Cody, Peter A. Dey, General Dodge, General John A. Sutter, one unidentified woman, and three unidentified men.
Artwork largely consists of unfinished work by Joseph Cornell, as well as work collected, purchased, and given to Cornell by other artists.
This series is arranged as 2 sub-series:
Unfinished collages, Rorschach drawings, sketches, childhood drawings, an unfinished book object, and a small unfinished box work by Cornell are included among the artist's artwork. Other unfinished collages and Rorschach drawings by Cornell can be found among other collection material, including Series 8: Source Material.
Undated and unsigned, with text mounted on verso.
Signed by Cornell.
Unmounted on ruled paper.
Includes two small collages.
(To be re-housed.) Photoprint mounted on plywood with aged white paint.
Photostat of sun face drawing mounted on wood with blue staining.
Photostat of sun face drawing mounted on wood with blue staining. "M. Balzac" written on verso.
Includes handwritten note on page by Elizabeth Cornell Benton.
Image has been pierced in a cruciform pattern and verso has been inscribed "Velasquez" by Cornell.
Includes eight small blocks of masonite with collaged images and paint stain.
Oversized material housed in OV117.
Oversized material removed from Box 56, Folder 45.
Includes cardboard box with 19 small souvenir boxes and works in progress, as well as dime-store jewelry and assorted notes.
Includes cardboard Dennison wedding cake box marked "Semi-Finished" in pencil and "JS" in blue paint by Cornell. The box contains two layers of approximately 50 souvenir boxes in total, some partially stained, collaged, and with various contents.
Includes cardboard Dennison wedding cake box marked "Semi-Finished and Finished" in pencil by Cornell. The box contains two layers of 50 small souvenir boxes in total, some partially stained, collaged, and with various contents.
Includes cardboard box marked "Miniature Boxes Unfin." by Cornell with multiple small cardboard boxes. Boxes include lids, and some are paint stained, some have collages inside and/or outside, and some include assorted materials.
Includes five small collaged boxes with various blue stain and items inside.
Publication is "Abrege de L'Histoire Generale Des Voyages."
Includes book object in envelope marked "Joseph Cornell/ 1790/ French/ Dictionary Bound/ in Pink Cords" not written by Cornell. Inside envelope is a 1790 French dictionary that has been notched on the edges of the covers, then bound with pink cord, knotted into a grid.
Includes signature by Cornell with "unfinished" in paint.
Includes sticker with "unfinished bottle set" written. Wooden box is divided into 16 chambers, each filled with small glass bottle, only 3 with contents. Lit id painted light blue inside and out.
Includes paperboard box with lid stained blue, collaged with antique text paper and curved piece of paper with 5 cranes or herons in flight. A variety of materials are inside, such as a nail, empty box, and several writings.
Includes wood box stained dark blue with 16 interior empty compartments, with label and "unfinished" written.
Includes wood box with lid stained brown and 24 holes in bottom board with glass vials of assorted items.
Includes cardboard box, "La Couronne," stained blue-green with collage elements on top. The inside lid is stained yellow with collaged text. The inside of the box has been fitted with wood pieces on long sides with paper below a toy washboard.
Includes staionery cardboard box with red embellished foil lid and 31 cylindrical wooden containers and dowel pieces. Most pieces are collaged with images, maps, or text, and some are containers that open.
Includes cardboard box with lid and taped edges with six pointed star object inside. Star is made of heavy cardboard (same as box), glass, tape, and blue painted numbers.
Includes wood box with hinged lid stained dark, fitted with 14 small glass bottles, two with corks and contents.
Includes empty wood box lined with pink velvet.
Includes hinged wooden box lined with dark blue velvet that contains eight small cardboard boxes. Boxes include a variety of items, such as glass, beads, sequins, shell, and paper. Typed paper scrap notes that this box is part of the "Homage to the Romantic Ballet 1941" works. Also includes reference to Carlotta Grisi and the ballet "La Peri."
Includes cardboard box with dovecote box construction with paint on glass and dated 12/7/52.
Includes six cardboard and glass six point star objects in variou states of incompletion. Also inclcludes two triangles cut from newspaper, likely used as templates for star boxes.
Includes dark blue cardboard specimen box with glass inset lid, inside bottom lined with mirror, and two pieces of glass on top of mirror.
Includes round wood box with lid lined with blue velvet. The box contains the internal workings of a pocket watch or small clock.
Includes wood box shaped like a small chest with fleur-de-lis style fittings, stained blue, six cray-pas, and several raw wood scraps.
Wood box collaged with constellation map on inside wall and blue paint on other walls. The box has a glass front and various loose items inside, such as wood spools, paper, small blue bird cutouts, and a yellow wood piece.
Includes wood box construction, all raw wood, with glass front and hinged top with hook closure. The interior is fitted with three pieces of mirror, two at angles in the corners. The box contains three loose white clay pipes, one broken.
Includes faded yellow stained cardboard box with solar/celestial images collaged on lid. Box contains wood pieces.
Includes black wood box with detachable lid with dark blue velvet lining and a glass covered window with ballerina image. Buttom of the box has a piece of mirror overlayed with blue glass about 1 inch above the mirror.
Includes cardboard box collaged with French antique book pages. Inside is a broken footed glass wrapped with book pages and tied with string.
Includes wood box with detachable lid covered in marbled paper. Inside is a piece of thin black wood with fifteen holes, with fourteen wood dowel pieces collaged with marble paper.
Includes cardboard box collaged with Italian (?) text on lid, stained blue. Inside are two red stained cordial glasses, one broken, and image of boy looking through binoculars on interior of lid.
Includes Lobster Ballet elements reconstructed into box by SAAM staff.
Includes bell jar object with black wood base with printed or collaged disc in center with protruding nail. Glass bell jar not attached to base.
Includes cut out figure of boy and goat statue mounted on board with black velvet covered base. Three small holes have been drilled out and rhinestones inserted, also two holes drilled out with twine connecting them.
Includes wood block with three drill holes and three glass vials in each hold. Vials contain assorted items, such as sequins and fabric scraps.
Includes thick block of plywood with two rows of sevel holes drilled into it. Thirteen holes include small wooden cylindrical containers, all empty. On bottom, in pencil, Cornell has written "needs nails."
Includes two wood panels mounted together in stack and painted white. Metal sun face from antipasto jar lid at top with ray impressions extending from face.
Oversized material housed in Box 107, Folder 1.
Oversized material removed from Box 57, Folder 2.
Cornell purchased, collected, and was gifted artwork by other artists and unidentified individuals. Files include assorted drawings and sketches by various children, given to Cornell, as well as childhood drawings by Trista Stern, Allegra Kent's daughter. Also included, is a lithograph greeting card by Ann McCoy, a limited-edition art publication by George Herms, pen and pencil sketch by Pavel Tchelitchew, watercolor "wash" sketches by Mathias Gail, and a charcoal sketch of Cornell by J. Bolten. Works by other artists are also found throughout the collection, including a collage by Grace Hartigan with Series 8.1: Dossiers, in Grace Hartigan files; art photographs within series 10: Photographic Materials; and other works in Series 8.2: Subject Source Files.
Oversized material housed in Box 107, Folder 2.
Oversized material removed from Box 57, Folder 3.
Includes two Father's Day cards to Joseph Cornell; work by Richard Werner, Keith and Mary Kate Flory, Susie, and Caroyln.
Includes note, "From Friz Bultman."
4 watercolors.
13 watercolors.
Includes several pages of loose yellow legal pad paper with notes (by Joseph Cornell?), dated 6/12/1959.
Sent to Joseph Cornell by S. D. Paine.
Includes note on verso from Hugh Kappel to "Joe."
Includes note on verso: "Ancient Rome, Naomi Lloyd, London 1961, 15 years old."
Includes signature of Ann McCoy.
Includes note on verso by Joseph Cornell: "Joseph Cornell 1st art purchase [L. E. (?)] Original work ca. 1927."
Includes photograph of Trista with sculpture and press flower work. Oversized material housed in Box 107, Folder 3.
1 photograph. Includes sketch by Trista Stern.
Includes note: "To Joseph from Pavlik Nov. 17, 1942."
Includes note on verso: "Dec. 1968 For J. C. 'Marsh' Helen Schiavo imp."
Includes "Made in Poland."
Includes note on verso: "To Joseph Cornell A Early Losch 1944"/ "3/3/1944 Good or bad, I love my children, wouldn't have given this picture to anyone else"/ "Hotel Ambassador Jan. 16, 1944."
Oversized material housed in Box 107, Folder 4.
Oversized material removed from Box 57, Folder 18.
Printed materials include collected magazines, journals, newspapers, magazine articles, textual magazine and newspaper clippings, assorted advertisements, bulletins, gallery and exhibitions announcements and catalogs, posters, sales catalogs, pamphlets, and playbills. Some materials have annotations by Cornell, or cut pages with inserted materials, which are noted where found.
This series is arranged as 2 sub-series:
Collected and sent printed materials, except for magazine and newspaper clippings, are filed with other printed material. Materials include bulletins and programs, journals and magazines, newspapers, playbills, sales catalogs, gallery and exhibition announcements and catalogs, first edition book jackets, and charity organization and church materials. Some materials include annotations by Cornell, or have pages cut. Some inserted material and scattered cutouts are included, as well, such as a signed photograph of Geraldine Farrar inserted between the pages of "The Musician" magazine by Cornell. Issues of "Dance Index" and "View" magazine are also filed here.
Includes copies within handmade royal blue velvet-covered paper envelopes with string. Also includes newspaper clipping on Tennyson's "Lady of Shalott."
Water damaged.
Includes: Betty Parsons Gallery, "The Ideaographic Picture" (1947); Piero di Cosimo (book announcement by Douglas); Alberto Giacometti at Art of This Century (circa 1936); Magritte at Hugo Gallery; Sir Francis Rose at Marie Harriman Gallery (1934); Georges Rouault at New Art Circle/ Neue Kunstgemeinschaff; Pierre Roy at Brummer Gallery, Inc. (circa 1933); Attilio Saleme at Duveen-Graham (1955); Kurt Schwitters at Sidney Janis Gallery (1952); Balla Severini at Rose Fried Gallery (1954); Muriel Streeter at Petite Galerie; and Pavel Tchelitchew at Julien Levy Gallery (circa 1935-circa 1936).
Includes notes by Cornell on back: "Compartmentalize sand box different glass same obj. etc. morning light."
Includes note by Elizabeth Cornell Benton.
Includes underlinging by Cornell, of "The Significance of Redon" by Walter Pach.
"S. Bernhardt" written on cover by Cornell.
Includes much inserted material and cutouts.
Oversized material housed in Box 94, Folder 1.
Oversized material removed from Box 62, Folder 2.
Signed on front cover: "A Joseph Cornell L (?) LaFay (?) N. Y. 1953." Fragile.
Oversized material housed in Box 94, Folder 2. Includes illustration of soap bubble.
Oversized material removed from Box 54, Folder 5.
Oversized material housed in Box 94, Folder 3.
Oversized material removed from Box 62, Folder 6.
1 black and white photograph. Oversized material housed in Box 94, Folder 4. Includes signed photograph of Geraldine Farrar inserted between the pages of the magazine.
Oversized material removed from Box 62, Folder 10.
Oversized material housed in Box 94, Folders 5-6.
Oversized material removed from Box 63, Folders 11-12.
Oversized material housed in Box 94, Folder 7.
Oversized material removed from Box 63, Folder 16.
Oversized material housed in Box 94, Folder 8.
Oversized material removed from Box 64, Folder 2.
Oversized material housed in Box 95, Folder 1.
Oversized material removed from Box 65, Folder 7.
Oversized material housed in Box 94, Folder 9.
Oversized material removed from Box 65, Folder 8.
Oversized material housed in Box 95, Folder 2.
Oversized material removed from Box 65, Folder 9.
Oversized material housed in Box 95, Folder 3. Includes "Enchanted Wanderer: Excerpt from a Journey Album for Hedy Lamarr" by Joseph Cornell.
Oversized material removed from Box 65, Folder 16.
Poor condition. Includes pencil sketch on tracing paper inside magazine.
Oversized material housed in Box 95, Folder 4. Annotated by Cornell: "11/19/58 De Nerval day, Collage to Monique Béguin."
Oversized material removed from Box 58, Folder 19.
Oversized material housed in Box 95, Folders 5-8.
Oversized material removed from Box 58, Folder 20.
Oversized material removed from Box 58, Folder 21.
Oversized material removed from Box 58, Folder 22.
Oversized material housed in Box 95, Folders 9-10, and Box 96, Folders 7-8.
Oversized material removed from Box 58, Folders 23-24.
Oversized material removed from Box 58, Folders 24-25.
Oversized material housed in Box 96, Folder 9.
Oversized material removed from Box 58, Folder 26.
Oversized material housed in Box 96, Folder 10.
Oversized material removed from Box 58, Folder 27.
Oversized material housed in Box 96, Folder 11.
Oversized material removed from Box 58, Folder 28.
Roland Petit's Les Ballets de Paris.
Oversized material housed in Box 96, Folder 12.
Oversized material removed from Box 58, Folder 40.
Clippings include extensive newspaper and magazine clippings collected and gathered by Cornell, some of which were grouped under a topic or by a specific time. In general, the clippings found in this series include articles and textual clippings from newspapers and magazines, as opposed to cut-out images that may have been used more as collage or box source material. Groupings include clippings about art, animals, Joseph Cornell and his art, other artists, children, various other authors, artists, or performers, the Guggenheim, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, literature, music, New York City, Nyack, and Rorschach, among many others. Specific articles clipped from magazines and newspapers are also included, such as "Celestial Navigation by Birds" from "Scientific American." Newspaper clippings are from a variety of sources, including "Village Voice," "New York Times," "New York Times Book Review," "New York Times Magazine," "Christian Science Monitor," and "Times Literary Supplement," among others. Some clippings include minimal annotations, such as a "review" date, while others have extensive diary-like notes.
Groupings by topic were retained, while other clippings are arranged chronologically by year.
Some annotations by Cornell.
From "The Sun" on December 9, 1939, by Henry McBride.
Oversized material housed in Box 107, Folders 5-6.
Oversized material removed from Box 58, Folder 76.
Oversized material housed in Box 96, Folder 13.
Oversized material removed from Box 58, Folder 78.
Includes articles about Odilon Redon, George Fuller, Lovat Frasier, Gilbert Stuart, Albert Pinkham Ryder, and William Blake. Also includes world art, such as Chinese Art, Indian Art, Japanese Art, and Persian Art.
Oversized material housed in Box 96, Folder 14.
Oversized material removed from Box 58, Folder 81.
Includes some annotations by Cornell.
Oversized material housed in Box 96, Folder 15. Includes article on Sofonisba Anguissola, and Katharine Bertram's collages.
Oversized material removed from Box 66, Folder 8.
Oversized material housed in Box 96, Folder 16. Annotations by Cornell includes, "The Private Life of Giuditta Pasta."
Oversized material removed from Box 66, Folder 9.
Oversized material housed in Box 96, Folder 17.
Oversized material removed from Box 66, Folder 11.
Includes reference to Salvador Dalí, Jean Dubuffet, Ben Kamihira, Paul Landacre, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Mary Rogers, and Joseph Stella.
Clippings from Stan Brakhage.
Oversized box housed in Box 128.
Oversized box removed from Box 66, Folder 53.
Includes annotations by Cornell, including reference to Giulia Grisi's pet mockingbird; "Judith" visit; "Andromeda"; and "Serafina's Garden." Also includes article on Houdini.
Some annotations by Cornell.
Annotations by Cornell.
Annotations by Cornell include, "Crystal Cage"; "Celestial Theater"; and description of work process.
Includes notes by Cornell and other annotations.
Some annotations by Cornell.
Oversized material housed in Box 107, Folders 7-8.
Oversized material removed from Box 67, Folder 46.
Oversized material housed in Box 96, Folder 18.
Oversized material removed from Box 68, Folder 24.
Includes annotations by Cornell.
Includes note by Cornell of definition of "hedonism" and book cover of 1855 publication. Also includes annotations throughout, such as reference to meeting Naum Gabo at Julien Levy Gallery in 1968 file.
Includes annotations by Cornell and diary note.
Includes diary note by Cornell; and 16 song sheets and 6 printed envelopes of Charles Magnus Illustrated Song Sheets
Some annotations by Cornell.
Oversized material housed in Box 96, Folders 19-21. Some annotations by Cornell.
Oversized material removed from Box 69, Folder 48.
Oversized material removed from Box 69, Folder 52.
Oversized material removed from Box 69, Folder 57.
Oversized material housed in Box 107, Folder 9. Some annotations by Cornell.
Oversized material removed from Box 70, Folder 26.
Some annotations by Cornell.
Some annotations by Cornell.
Some annotations by Cornell.
Some annotations by Cornell.
Some annotations by Cornell.
Some annotations by Cornell.
Some annotations by Cornell.
Cornell's book collection and personal library includes a range of publications on a wide array of subjects, from art, dance, film, and literature, to science, technology, history, and religion. Numbering over 2500 titles, the books and periodicals often contain annotations, cutouts, and inserted materials by Cornell and occasionally by other members of the Cornell family. Publications of note include "La Femme 100 têtes" by Max Ernst (Paris, 1929), which has a typed letter from Ernst to "Cher Monsieur" and an exhibition catalog, "Twenty-Five Years of Russian Ballet: From the Collection of Serge Lifar," tucked between its covers. The book collection also includes multiple editions of early "Baedeker's" travel guides.
The book collection and personal library was previously sorted by archives and collection staff. General subject groupings have been identified and listed.
Contact collection staff for full listing of publications. Rehousing and preservation of publications is still in process, and some materials may not be available for research use.
Art publications includes topics related to amusements, dolls and toys; antiques, crafts, and folk art; photography; technique; group exhibitions; art movements; art surveys; art genres; individual artists; architecture; catalogs of art collections; and art criticism and essays.
Cinema publications include biographies of filmmakers, film-related essays, film history, and film listings.
Publications are related to dance, fitness, and sports, and include biographies, essays, dance genres, and assorted sport and fitness materials.
History publications include archeology, autobiographies, biographies, essays, mythology, surveys, "Book of Knowledge," and world history anthologies.
Publications include English, Esperanto, French, Spanish; alphabet instruction, samples, and typeface instruction guides; books of names; grammar, reading comprehension, and vocabulary; and general education materials.
Publications include anthologies; criticism and essays; fairy tales; short stories and tales; general fiction publications; poetry anthologies, biographies, criticism and essays, and poetry collections. Also included are juvenile literature publications, such as autobiographies, biographies, cataloges of children's books, classics, criticism and essays, juvenile short stories, and picture books.
Music publications include biographies, criticism, and essays.
Periodicals include arts; museum bulletins; photography; history, culture, and fashion; almanacs and catalogs; science and technology; travel and geography; cinema; dance; literature; music; and theater.
Publications include criticism and essays, world religions, and scriptures.
Publications relate to acoustics, astronomy, botany, human anatomy, marine biology, mathematics, meteorology, mineralogy and fossils, psychology, scientific amusements and experiments, theories, and zoology.
Publications include biographies, criticism and essays, and general performance.
Publications include geography primers; guidebooks; histories of cities, regions, and sites; maps and atlases; and souvenirs of travels and travelogues.
The record album collection includes 146 record albums and 73 flexi discs, published in sound publications "Echo" and "Sonorama." Two lacquer discs with one aluminum core and one glass core, are also housed here. Music genres represented include classical, opera, spoken word, and pop. Cornell occasionally annotated album covers or inserted notes and diary jottings into sleeves.
Pop artists include Nina Simone, Patty Duke, Dionne Warwick, Carly Simon, and Joni Mitchell. Classical music includes recordings of composers Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Liszt, Mozart, Erik Satie, Schubert, and Tchaikovsky, among others. Spoken word recordings include poetry of Gene Derwood, Robert Frost, Blake, Robert Graves, and an anthology of French poetry, including Apollinaire, Cocteau, Eluard, Baudelaire, Jean de la Fontaine, Mallarme, Valery, and others. Albums of "Marianne Moore Reading Her Poems and Fables from La Fontaine," and Carson McCullers reading a selection of her works, are included. Recordings of North American frogs, bird songs of Eastern and Central America, as well as "Adventures in Sound: The World's Rarest Music Boxes in High Fidelity: Tinkle, Clang, Ring and Chime" are also among the record albums in the collection.
Additionally, the series includes albums related to Cornell's films, with collaged and painted record album sleeves. See Series 6: Film Projects and Collected Film Materials, for related materials.
Record albums are grouped by genre. This series is still in the process of rehousing and preservation and some materials may not be available for research.
Record albums are unavailable for playback. Contact repository for a complete list of record albums.
Flexi discs are found in 13 music publications of "Echo" and "Sonorama."
The Cornell family papers document the lives of Cornell's mother, Helen Storms Cornell, and his brother, Robert. Cornell lived with his mother and brother their whole lives. Diaries occasionally refer to visiting artists or literary friends of Cornell's. These also offer a glimpse of the normal daily activities at Utopia Parkway, while Cornell was collecting and creating art. Found among the files are financial ledgers and receipts, personal diaries, correspondence, notes, photographs, and estate materials. Correspondence between Cornell and Robert and his mother can be found with 2.5: Family Correspondence. Additional photostats of Robert's sketches and drawings, which Cornell incorporated into a series of later collages, are also found among 8.2: Subject Source Material. Family photographs are also found with 10.1: Personal Photographs. Notes and scattered material owned by sister Elizabeth Cornell Benton are found throughout the collection.
This series is arranged as 2 sub-series:
The papers of Helen Storms Cornell (1882-1966) document her essential role in the household accounting for many years, including keeping track of Robert's trust fund, the purchase and sale of homes, mortgage payments and inspections, and tracking household expenses and budgets in financial ledgers. For nearly twenty years, she maintained daily diaries, making small observations about the weather or errands run that day, or noting a visit from a friend of Cornell's. A blueprint of their home at 3708 Utopia Parkway, as well as files of estate records following her death in 1966, are also included. See also 2.5: Family Correspondence, for letters to and from Cornell, and 10.1: Personal Photographs for family photographs.
Includes 1 diary.
Includes 1 diary.
Includes 1 diary.
Includes 1 diary.
Includes 1 diary.
Includes 1 diary.
Includes 1 diary.
Includes 1 diary.
Includes 1 diary.
Includes 1 diary.
Includes 1 diary.
Oversized material housed in Box 107, Folder 10.
Oversized material removed from Box 78, Folder 1.
Includes diary for January through March 1931.
Includes Utopia Parkway house blueprint.
Includes Elizabeth Cornell Benton's and Helen Storms Cornell's stationery.
The papers of Robert Cornell (1910-1965) document Robert's love of trains, his love for drawing and sketching, his thoughts about religion, and his observations of the activities going on around him. Materials include almost thirty years of diaries and diary notes, in which he references watching films, notes visitors to see Cornell at the house, notes the latest train purchased or collection viewed, and notes the use of his two-way radio. Original sketches and photostats of sketches are also included, mostly of Robert's "Mouse" series. Clippings from the "Christian Science Monitor" are of printed Op-Ed articles written and sent in by Robert, and a notebook of writings includes reflections on religion and spiritual values, food waste, and notes on and interpretations of dreams. Scattered financial material includes notes about a loan taken from Joseph Cornell for purchase of a typewriter. Photographs are of Robert and his "Mouse King" drawings, some used for making Christmas cards, and one photograph album includes snapshots of Robert, his train collection, and Penn Station. Files also include one scrapbook of "Robert Cornell's Cartoons," which consists of writings and notes, sketches, and one photograph of Robert, as a baby, with his mother. Files of estate and legal materials are also included. See also 2.5: Family Correspondence for letters to and from Cornell; 8.2: Subject Source Material for incorporations of Robert's sketches and drawings into Cornell's later collage projects; and 10.1: Personal Photographs for family photographs.
Possibly with Joseph Cornell.
Includes 13 sketches.
Includes 2 sketches.
Includes 1 sketchbook.
1 black and white snapshot.
Includes 1 diary.
Includes 1 diary.
Includes 1 diary.
Loose leaf pages.
Loose leaf pages.
Often refers to household activity, including visitors for Joseph Cornell and his activities.
Includes photostats that Joseph Cornell made of several entries.
Includes payments on typewriter purchase.
Includes 1 notebook.
Includes 1 notebook, with half blank pages.
Includes 1 notebook, half blank pages. Refers to Robert's spiritual values; commentary on food waste; and notes of and interpretations of dreams.
Oversized photograph album housed in Box 97. Includes photographs of trains and train collections; Penn Station, New York; and of Robert Cornell. Also includes loose letter from John Boate.
63 black and white snapshots. Oversized photograph album removed from Box 79, Folder 25.
1 black and white photograph.
1 black and white photograph with blue tint, mounted in card.
1 black and white photograph.
1 acetate negative.
4 black and white photographs.
1 black and white negative.
Includes 1 scrapbook with sketches, stories, and photograph of Robert Cornell with mother. Fragile, brittle pages.
Loose material from scrapbook.