Oral history interview with Donald Windham
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 2 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 50 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Windham, Donald
label: Interviewer
content: Korhauser, Elizabeth
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Windham, Donald
label: Interviewer
content: Korhauser, Elizabeth
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Donald Windham is a novelist from New York, N.Y. Elizabeth Kornhauser is a curator at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 37 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2007 March 12
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.windha07
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Donald Windham conducted 2007 March 12, by Elizabeth Kornhauser, for the Archives of American Art, at Windham's home, in New York, N.Y.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Windham speaks of his long-time friendship with Joseph Cornell; first meeting Cornell in 1944 while working with him at Dance Index; Cornell's interest in dancers and actresses including Gwen Van Dam, Dorothy and Lillian Gish, Lauren Bacall, Fanny Cerrito, and Tanaquil LeClercq; Cornell's film work with Rudy Burckhardt; Cornell's limited gallery representation by Charles Egan Gallery and Julien Levy Gallery; Cornell showing boxes in Ernst Beadle's photography studio; Cornell's friendship with Marcel Duchamp; Cornell's retiring personality; Cornell's disinterestedness in participating in the art business world and subsequently being labeled a recluse; Cornell's appreciation of Albrecht Dürer's self-portraits; Cornell's joy in giving and sharing his boxes and collages with people who truly enjoy them; the boxes Pink Palace and Keepsake Parakeet in his personal collection; Cornell's advice on caring for his boxes; and attending Cornell's funeral. Windham also recalls Lincoln Kirstein, Tennessee Williams, Peggy Guggenheim, Richard Ader, Sandy Campbell, Lois Smith, Robert Cornell, Elizabeth Cornell Benton, Helen Cornell Jagger, Fritz and Jeanne Bultman, Ed Hewitt, and Jeff Peabody.