Eagle Rock Papers

The Eagle Rock Papers, 1882-1973 and undated (bulk 1903-1969), consist of correspondence, proposals, contracts, specifications, invoices, inventories, appraisals, maps, photographs, and printed material pertaining to the Frick family's summer home in Prides Crossing, Mass. These items document the construction and furnishing of the house, maintenance of the house and grounds, alterations, daily life, and the eventual demolition of the house in 1969.

Files are arranged in eight series: Series I: Construction, 1903-1911; Series II: Gardens and Grounds, 1905-1922, undated; Series III: Furnishings, 1906-1918; Series IV: Inventories and Appraisals, 1907-1972, undated; Series V: Alterations, 1910-1970, undated; Series VI: W.J. Naughton Files, 1919-1942, undated; Series VII: Daily Life, 1907-1973, undated; and Series VIII: Property, 1882-1973, undated.

Materials concerning the design and construction of the house are contained in Series I: Construction, which includes Frick's correspondence with Boston architects Little & Browne concerning pricing, selection of materials, design decisions, and construction progress. Additionally, correspondence, proposals, contracts, and other materials document the construction of the house, stables, and other outbuildings. Relatively few changes were made to the main house during the remainder of Frick's life, but materials in Series II: Gardens and Grounds, document a range of work done on the property by engineer Ernest W. Bowditch and contractor D. Linehan & Son. This work concerned outbuildings, grading, fencing, drainage, and the establishment of a poultry farm. More general matters addressed in this series include the ongoing maintenance of the grounds, payment of bills, and staffing.

Invoices and correspondence documenting the acquisition of furniture and decorative objects for the house can be found in Series III: Furnishings. The firm Cottier & Co. supplied the bulk of the initial furnishings, with additional objects procured through Duveen Brothers. Later work was also done by White, Allom & Co. and Elsie de Wolfe, who both contributed to the decoration of Frick's New York residence at One East 70th Street. Inventories of household contents can be found in Series IV: Inventories and Appraisals, which contains general household inventories, as well as those focusing on a particular set of objects, such as furnishings, silver, or linens. The earliest household inventory dates from the 1907, the year after the house's completion. Later inventories are typically associated with events in the house's history, such as the death of Mrs. Frick in 1931, Helen Clay Frick's renovations in 1938, and the attempt to sell the estate in the 1950s.

Series V: Alterations contains a small amount of material documenting changes made or considered by Henry Clay Frick, notably specifications for an art gallery by architect D.H. Burnham. The bulk of the series, however, concerns alterations made by Frick's daughter, Helen Clay Frick, during the period of 1938 to 1940. Correspondence, contracts, and other materials document the work of architects Milliken & Bevin to decrease the footprint of the house and reconfigure the remaining rooms, as well as changes made to the surrounding grounds by landscape architects Innocenti & Webel. This series also contains files regarding the house's demolition in 1969, though materials concerning the demolition can also be found in Series VIII: Property.

Materials in Series VI: W.J. Naughton Files, complement those in Series V, as Naughton had a role in inventorying and tracking the location of furniture and other household items during the 1938 renovation by Milliken & Bevin. Other materials in Series VI consist of correspondence and notes compiled by Naughton in the course of managing matters at Eagle Rock on Helen Clay Frick's behalf, especially in the 1930s and early 1940s. Naughton's files are largely topical and concern maintenance and repairs, staffing, inventories, movement and dispersal of furniture and other goods, and opening and closing of the house for the season, among a range of other subjects.

Documentation of a similar nature can be found in Series VII: Daily Life, where topics include maintenance, expenses, household supplies, property taxes, insurance, and staff, as well as environmental and safety concerns in the area, storm damage, and security at the house. Few items document Henry Clay Frick's time in the house, though one notable exception to this is the guest book, which dates from 1907 to 1920, and notes the arrivals of both family members and friends at the house. Other items of interest include an undated manuscript by Frick's granddaughter, Martha Frick Symington ("Marsie") recounting her memories of time spent on the estate, and lists of furniture and art objects removed from the house in the 1950s and given to family members and others.

The final series in this collection, Series VIII: Property, consists of legal documents, appraisals, correspondence, printed material, maps, land surveys, and photographs documenting property transfers, siding and storage for the Frick family's private rail car, real estate taxes, possible sale of the property in the 1950s, and eventual demolition and dispersal of the estate by Helen Clay Frick in the late 1960s and early 1970s.