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The Frick Fine Arts Library ~ Early History

Expenditure for Library Supplies

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Provenance of the First Books My provenance project began with a close reading of "A History of the Frick Fine Arts Library at the University of Pittsburgh," by Ray Anne Lockard who was the Head of the Frick Fine Arts Library when the piece was written in 1987. In her history she states that "[e]stablished in State Hall on the Oakland Campus in 1927, the department's library was reported in the October 1927 issue of the University of Pittsburgh Record to own 1,000 volumes" (History, cite). From the outset of the project, I thought to myself that I should be searching for the first catalog that would contain the information for all of the books that made up this founding collection, and I also assumed that I was only searching for information pertaining to the 1,000 books stated.

I began my search by contacting some individuals who proved key to my search for information. I first contacted individuals from the Archives Service Center at the University of Pittsburgh, who recommended that I take a look through Miss Frick's personal file, along with the personal file of Frederick Mortimer Clapp and the Chancellor Bowman Papers. They also recommended that I look through some supplementary historical sketches that were written about the library, as well as do my own searches in Documenting Pitt. They also referenced the second accession book containing the accession log for books starting after the number 3,120, which caused me to question the original reference to 1,000 books. I wanted to find that first accession book, but it seemed to be missing from the library, the ASC, and Special Collections.

After doing some background history reading about the library, looking through Miss Frick and Dr. Clapp's personal files, as well as Walter Hovey's (also a founding member of the department), and the Chancellor Bowman Papers, I discovered that Dr. Clapp had been sent on a trip to Europe to collect the first books. In Miss Frick's personal file I found a reference to a Pittsburgh Press newspaper article titled "Rare Volumes and Photographs in Pitt Fine Arts Department," in which it stated that at the close of Dr. Clapp's first year with the department he had acquired 2,500 volumes for the library (Pittsburgh Press). This further pushed me forward in questioning of the validity of the reference to 1,000 books. Another newspaper reference, this time from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, also stated that 2,500 volumes had been added.
Although there was conflicting information in relation to the number of books that the collection was first made up of, the fact that I could not locate that first accession book made me curious as to what would happen if I looked up the books mentioned in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette newspaper article. No results came back for "Kandakof," but an exact match for the "Basilica di San Marco" book appeared in Pittcat, both volumes published in 1881 in Italy. Because Dr. Clapp was said to have been searching for this book for 3 years, I considered it a part of the founding collection, and was instantly drawn to the idea that I could start a list of the first books just by finding references to them in publications and other archival materials. This search exploded when I finally followed the endnote for the reference to 1,000 books. The endnote brought me to The University of Pittsburgh Record from October, 1927 (cite). It stated that there were "more than a thousand newly-acquired books, dealing with the history of art. These were brought, during the last eight months, by Professor Clapp, in England, France, Germany, Austria, and Italy. They cover all phases of the subject from pre-historic times to the present day, and form, especially in the field of Italian art, French art, the graphic arts in Germany, and Oriental art, a very adequate nucleus for study" (Pitt Record, 44). The record then provided a list of some of the most valuable titles that Dr. Clapp brought back for the library.
I ended up searching for all of the titles in the Record's list, and found over 100 volumes still in the Frick Fine Arts Library. I began compiling their titles, call numbers, volume numbers, and record links into an Excel document, essentially rebuilding the original list of first books.

My next step, which proved to be one of the most important, was to contact The Frick Collection in New York. One of the archivists was very helpful and sent me multiple PDF containing documents from the Helen Clay Frick Papers pertaining to the founding of the Fine Arts Department at Pitt, financial information shared with Miss Frick, and correspondence between the founding members of the department. A wonderful inclusion was the correspondence between Dr. Clapp and Miss Frick while he was abroad finding materials for the founding collection.

The Helen Clay Frick Papers also included budgets and receipts for the first collection. As I have shown on the main page, this list of book acquisitions states that 3,000 books were purchased for the founding collection, for the total price of $26, 631.86:
The expenditure list from 1928 also lists 3,000 books as having been purchased for the same amount:

Citations:

History (cite)

“Rare Volumes and Photographs in Pitt Fine Arts Department.” Pittsburgh Press (November 20, 1927): n.p.

The University of Pittsburgh record October 1927 volume II issue 1http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/text-idx?idno=31735062132042;view=toc;c=pittalumni Pittsburgh, PA. University of Pittsburgh, 1927.

Helen Clay Frick Papers
Planning the Library Miss Frick's plan for the Frick Fine Arts library was that it would be "developed by scholars for scholars", and she was very involved in its development as a benefactor and had a personal desire to create a library that would pay homage to the intellectual pursuits of herself and her father (Friends of Frick Fine Arts 1987, 20). During the planning stages of the library, Miss Frick was always in on the conversations that had to do with acquisitions and budgeting. The following memo was drawn up during that process and is now preserved in The Frick Collection archives:

During the planning process she was also involved in the hiring of an art librarian.

The following letter recounts Dr. Clapp's notice that an art librarian was finally hired, and other news about the department and library:

Miss Frick's personal file at The Frick Collection also contains expenditure sheets documenting even the most banal purchases a library could make:
The Library's First Collection The Frick Fine Arts Library's first collection was composed of a considerable amount of books, photographs, and slides. Planning for the collection itself involved budgeting the gift that Miss Frick had given the Fine Arts Department and taking not of everything that was bought with those funds. Although the history discusses the first collection as made up of over 1,000 (cite) books, the expenditure notes that 3,000 were purchased.