Printed Books in the Frick Family Papers

Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919) was a wealthy Pittsburgh industrialist who made much of his fortune through the production of coke and steel. He founded H.C. Frick Coke Co., and formed a business partnership with Andrew Carnegie in 1882. He became chairman of Carnegie Bros. & Co. (later Carnegie Steel Co.) in 1889, and served in that capacity until his resignation from the company in 1899. Following his break with Carnegie, Frick remained engaged in business until the end of his life, serving on the boards of various banking, railroad, and insurance concerns. Frick was also active as a philanthropist, contributing to educational and cultural institutions, hospitals, churches, and civic organizations.

Frick married Adelaide Howard Childs in 1881, and the couple established a residence (called Clayton) in Pittsburgh. They had four children: Childs Frick (1883-1965), Martha Howard Frick (1885-1891), Helen Clay Frick (1888-1984), and Henry Clay Frick, Jr. (born 1892, died in infancy). In addition to their home in Pittsburgh, the Fricks also maintained a summer home called Eagle Rock in Prides Crossing, Mass., and a beaux arts mansion at One East 70th Street in New York, designed by Thomas Hastings. A prominent art collector, Frick began acquiring paintings around the time of his marriage, and continued to build his collection until his death in 1919. The bulk of his collection, consisting of paintings by old masters such as Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough, Holbein, and Turner, along with furnishings and decorative objects, was housed in his New York residence, which he bequeathed as a museum upon his death. The Frick Collection opened to the public in 1935.

After her father's death, Helen Clay Frick established the Frick Art Reference Library in New York as a resource for the study of art and art history. She also founded the Henry Clay Frick Fine Arts Department at the University of Pittsburgh, and was active in politics, humanitarian causes, and land conservation. She owned a large estate in Bedford, N.Y., known as Westmoreland Farm, in addition to the houses she inherited from her mother and father. Helen Clay Frick died at the Frick family home in Pittsburgh in 1984.