Correspondence
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Meiere, M. Hildreth, d. 1961
setName: label: See more items in
content: Hildreth Meière papers
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 3 Linear Feet (Boxes 1-4, RD 19)
label: Extent
content: 0.038 Gigabytes (ER01-ER03)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1901-2011
label: Date
content: bulk 1916-1961
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.meiemari, Series 2
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Gigabytes
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Personal correspondence is arranged by correspondent. Travel correspondence is arranged chronologically. Business correspondence is arranged by correspondent, or in some cases, by project. Where indexes, summaries, or transcripts exist, they are arranged immediately before the materials to which they refer. There is significant crossover between personal and travel correspondence, but they are arranged separately to facilitate use of the prepared indexes. Additional correspondence concerning the Spanish civil war relief effort and organizing activities during WWII is found in series 4, Civilian War Relief Records.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Correspondence includes three groups of correspondence: personal, travel, and business. In addition to letters to and from Hildreth Meière, each group of correspondence also has a set of indexes, summaries, and/or transcripts prepared by Louise Meière Dunn. Some of the indexes, summaries and transcripts are digital. The indexes to the personal correspondence are particularly detailed, with many letters partially or fully transcribed.  

Personal correspondence is between Hildreth Meière and family members and close friends, and is arranged by correspondent name. Hildreth Meière's letters to family written between 1906 and 1924 are arranged at the beginning of the series, along with their detailed indexes. Letters from Meière's mother, Marie "Min" Hildreth Meière (MHM) from 1916 to 1924, and two letters from her father, Ernest Meière follow. A single letter from HM to her classmates dated 1911 is followed by extensive letters to friend Katherine Harvey, which are heavily illustrated by Meière, including a  lengthy scroll on Japanese rice paper containing an illustrated letter. Correspondence is also found with Louise Harmon, her sister Lloyd in California in the 1940s, and an extensive set of letters from Meière to her daughter Louise, from 1940 to 1961. Additional personal correspondents include Nancy Basinger, Ethel Howe, Narcissa Thorne, and Clare Winthrop. Original documents are often annotated with circled numbers written in pencil which correspond to the numbers in the index. These numbers begin a new sequence for each year.

Travel correspondence is also personal in nature, and is largely comprised of letters to family from Hildreth Meière while traveling abroad. Most files contain a listing of their contents prepared by the donor. One 1934 letter from Munich describes Adolf Hitler's appearance at a performance Meière attended in Oberammergau, Bavaria, and includes a complete transcript. 

Business correspondence contains letters to and from Meière regarding lectures, commissions, professional organizations, schools, competitions, and projects. Correspondence is with architects, designers, fabricators, potential clients, and teachers.  Where a correspondent is associated with a particular project, that project is noted in parentheses. A subject index to the business correspondence prepared by Louise Meière Dunn is found at the beginning of the grouping. Subjects include correspondence regarding schools, newspapers and periodicals, Architects, World's fair, Commissions, and Ships.