Estate Correspondence and Related Documents
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Beach, Chester, 1881-1956
setName: label: See more items in
content: Chester Beach papers
label: See more items in
content: Chester Beach papers / Series 5: Correspondence
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1956-1999
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.beacches, Subseries 5.2
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Estate correspondence and related documents were created mainly by Chester Beach's daughter, Eleanor Beach Fitchen; also found are a very small number of letters addressed to or from her mother and sisters. Mrs. Fitchen acted as the estate's sales agent, ran the Chester Beach Memorial Studio, sought exhibition opportunities, and worked to maintain her father's reputation.

Letters from Brenda Kuhn to Eleanor Beach Fitchen concern estate management and relate some of what she learned from handling the estate of her father, Walt Kuhn. The letters include ideas and advice about exhibitions, the Memorial Studio, and the Beach Centennial.

A letter from sculptor Walker Hancock, filed with "Letters, Miscellaneous," contains advice about posthumous castings. "Studio Building, 207 East 17th Street" contains a letter from the great-granddaughter of sculptor William Couper, who sold the property to Beach around 1913; Mrs. Fitchen's reply relates the building's history, as she recalls being told by her parents.