Helen Clay Frick Records - Correspondence

Helen Clay Frick (1888-1984) founded the Frick Art Reference Library in 1920 and served as its director until 1983. Over the course of her tenure, the Library grew from a modest collection of photographs and books housed in the Frick residence bowling alley to a world-renowned art library. Miss Frick founded the Library in honor of her father, industrialist and art collector Henry Clay Frick, who died in 1919. His will, which established his former New York home and art collection as a museum, The Frick Collection, called for "encouraging and developing the study of fine arts..." With this objective in mind, Miss Frick drew inspiration from the photograph library of Sir Robert Witt in London, and began to set up her own art library in the Frick residence. The first head librarian, Ruth Savord, was hired, and the staff grew to 15 members by the end of 1921.

By 1922, the collections of photographs, books, periodicals, and catalogues had outgrown the shelving set up in the bowling alley. The Frick Collection trustees agreed to share the costs of construction of a library building with Miss Frick, and offered a vacant lot owned by the Collection at 6 East 71st Street as its site. This parcel of land had been considered for a sculpture gallery by Henry Clay Frick in 1916; although the gallery was never constructed, the architectural drawings by Thomas Hastings were repurposed for the design of the Library building. Construction began on May 14, 1923, and the new Frick Art Reference Library building opened on May 23, 1924. Ruth Savord resigned as head librarian in 1924 and was replaced by Ethelwyn Manning.

During its first decades, the staff worked closely with art scholars, enlisting their assistance in acquiring items for the Library, and providing provenance information for paintings documented in the photograph collection. Many donated books, photographs, and their research material to the Library. Art scholars, including Walter W.S. Cook, Count Umberto Gnoli and Richard Offner, gave lectures and held classes at the Library from the 1920s until the early 1940s.

Art experts were also enlisted in identifying works of art in private collections and institutions for the Library to photograph throughout the U.S. These photographing expeditions began in 1922 with a trip to Virginia, and continued until the 1960s. In 1925, Helen Clay Frick also contracted Mario Sansoni to photograph works of art in Italy; over the course of 50 years, he sent the Library over 30,000 images. Clotilde Brière and Lea Danesi Tolnay also worked for the Library from Europe, acquiring books, periodicals, catalogs and photographs, as well as assisting with photographing and indexing projects.

By 1929, the stacks in the new building were full, and discussions with The Frick Collection trustees for expansion were once again raised. After Henry Clay Frick's wife Adelaide died in 1931, planning to convert the Frick residence into a museum began, and soon included addressing the need for more space for the Library. While various properties in the area were being investigated, buildings at 10-12 East 71st Street, adjacent to the Library building, came up for sale. The purchase of this land expanded architect John Russell Pope's commission to include the construction of an entirely new building for the Library, in addition to converting areas of the residence and constructing additional spaces for The Frick Collection. The new Library building contained two Reading Rooms on the third floor, a photographic laboratory, closed stacks, staff offices and work areas, and a Penthouse floor with two "rest rooms" or lounges for staff, a kitchen, and a terrace overlooking Central Park.

In preparations made before the beginning of World War II, the Library's photograph collection was microfilmed, and Library materials were stored in the new Frick Collection vault. During the war, the Frick Art Reference Library provided space in the Reading Room for the work of the Committee of the American Council of Learned Societies on Protection of Cultural Treasures in War Areas from 1943 to 1945. With the assistance of Frick librarians and the Library's staff photographers, the Committee created maps with indexes to identify areas of cultural importance that Allied bombers should avoid.

Ethelwyn Manning retired in 1947; Hannah Johnson Howell became head librarian that same year and remained in the position until her retirement in 1970.

The Frick Art Reference Library operated as an independent institution until the death of Helen Clay Frick in 1984, when it became a part of The Frick Collection.