Object Details
- Collection Artist
- Cornell, Joseph
- See more items in
- Joseph Cornell Study Center Collection
- Joseph Cornell Study Center Collection / Series 8: Source Material
- Sponsor
- Funding for the processing of this collection was generously provided by the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.
- Extent
- 4 Linear feet (Boxes 19-22, 86-87, 100, 129; OBJ)
- Date
- 1810-1972
- Archival Repository
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Research and Scholars Center
- Identifier
- SAAM.JCSC.1, Subseries 8.1
- Type
- Archival materials
- Collection Citation
- Joseph Cornell Study Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum.
- Arrangement
- Files are arranged alphabetically by individual's last name.
- Collection Rights
- Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
- Scope and Contents
- 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.
- Collection Restrictions
- 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.
- Record ID
- ebl-1589483019231-1589483019751-2
- Metadata Usage
- CC0
