Robert B. and Beatrice C. Mayer Family Collection records and papers
name: label: Creator
content: Mayer, Robert B. (Robert Bloom), 1910-1974
label: Creator
content: Mayer, Beatrice C., 1923-2018
label: Names
content: Sara Lee Corporation
label: Names
content: Cummings, Nathan, 1897-1985
topic: label: Occupation
content: Collectors -- Illinois -- Chicago
label: Topic
content: Art -- Collectors and collecting
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated in 2022 by Ruth Mayer, Robert B. and Beatrice C. Mayer's daughter and in 2024 and 2025 by Marla Hand, curator for the Robert B. and Beatrice Mayer Family Collection.
creator: label: Creator
content: Mayer, Robert B. (Robert Bloom), 1910-1974
label: Creator
content: Mayer, Beatrice C., 1923-2018
setName: label: See more items in
content: Robert B. and Beatrice C. Mayer Family Collection records and papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The Robert B. and Beatrice C. Mayer Family Collection records and papers measure 20.6 linear feet and 6.8 Gigabytes, dating from circa 1940-2020, with the bulk from 1960-2005. The collection is documented with correspondence, artist files, object files, gifts, appraisals, and sales records, collection administration and history files, and photographic material.

There is a 2.1 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2024 that includes original card catalog of sales and gifts, financial records, CDs, photographs and slides of works of art, sales catalogs and other printed material. Materials date from circa 1960-2019.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Robert B. Mayer (1910-1974) and Beatrice C. Mayer (1921-2018) were art collectors based in Chicago, Illinois.  After graduating from the University of Chicago in 1941, Mayer joined his uncle's Chicago department store, Maurice L. Rothschild & Co.,  where he rose through the ranks and was eventually named president in 1957. In 1942, Robert was enlisted in the U.S. Army during the Second World War. While in Europe Mayer found solace in art and purchased works directly from artists like Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse while on leave in the south of France.

Upon his return to the United States, Robert met Beatrice 'Buddy' Cummings who was born in Montreal to Ruth and Nathan Cummings. Cummings was owner of the tremendously successful Consolidated Foods Corporation, later known as the Sara Lee Corporation. Beatrice received her bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Mayer family homes included the Edgecliff Estate in Winnetka, Illinois outside Chicago, The Chicago Ritz Carlton Hotel, and Harbour's Edge at Delray Beach, Florida.

The Mayer's were advocates for social justice. Beatrice traveled from Chicago to Mississippi in support of the Civil Rights Movement, sleeping in the home of a local agricultural worker and tutoring children on African American art and artists. Many of their causes and projects throughout the years reflect this commitment to community. Particularly invested in their city of Chicago, Robert was a founding trustee of The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, as well as treasurer of the board. In 1974, the year of Robert's death, 'Buddy' Mayer also became an MCA trustee focusing on issues like accessibility and educational programming. By the late 1970s The Mayer Family Collection initiated a loan program in which pieces from the collection were loaned numerous university-affiliated museums around the country.

Like many collectors of the era, the Mayers initially focused on acquiring classic Impressionist and European Modernist works. By the late 1950s, the Mayer's had assembled a robust selection of European painting and sculpture, Chinese ceramics, and African and Oceanic figures. They soon turned to contemporary art as Impressionism became less attainable. Emerging artists included Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, and Marisol (Escobar), among others. The Mayer's collection would eventually be enhanced with works from the corporation's art collection, which was also dispersed to various institutions as gifts, as well as friends and family via sale in 1998, which was publicized in the media and in a traveling exhibition as the millennium gift.  

Beatrice passed away in 2018 and the Mayer Family Collection was offered for sale at Christie's shortly after in 2019.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 20.6 Linear feet
label: Extent
content: 6.8 Gigabytes
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1940-2020
label: Date
content: bulk circa 1960-2005
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.mayerobe
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Gigabytes
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as seven series.

Series 1: Correspondence , circa 1965-2018 (3.0 Linear feet: Boxes 1-4)

Series 2: Artist FIles, circa 1951-2019 (6.1 Linear feet: Boxes 4-10; 3.07 Gigabytes: ER001-ER006)

Series 3: Object Files, circa 1948-2015 (1.7 Linear feet: Boxes 10-11)

Series 4: Gifts, Appraisals, and Sales Records, circa 1960-2017 (3.1 Linear feet: Boxes 11-14)

Series 5: Collection Administration and History, circa 1957-2014 (3.1 Linear feet: Boxes 14-19)

Series 6: Photographic Materials, circa 1940-2017 (1.6 Linear feet: Boxes 16-17, 20, OV 21; 3.72 Gigabytes: ER007-ER008)

Series 7: Unprocessed Addition, circa 1960-2019 (2.1 linear feet: Boxes 22-23, OV 24)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Ryan Evans in 2024. Born-digital materials also processed by Ryan Evans in 2024.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The Robert B. and Beatrice C. Mayer Family Collection records and papers measure 20.6 linear feet and 6.8 Gigabytes, dating from circa 1940-2020, with the bulk from 1960-2005. The collection is documented with correspondence, artist files, object files, gifts, appraisals, and sales records, collection administration and history files, and photographic material.


Correspondence is primarily with art dealers and museums, as well as borrowing institutions of the lending collection, and conservators. 

Artist files include documentation about the acquisition and care of collection artworks and artists, including loan and conservation paperwork as well as invoices and checks, and visual material. Some files are specific to individual works or more detailed categories like loans and conservation of particular works. Some visual material is in digital formats.  

Collection files include documentation about the acquisition and care of collection artworks, including loan and conservation paperwork as well as invoices and checks and visual material. They include Decorative Arts (Antiques, A), African and Oceanic Art (Primitive Art, PR), Asian Art (Oriental Art, O), Manuscripts and Ephemera (Autographs, AU), Rare Books (RB), and Mexican Art (M).

The gifts, appraisal and sales records series documents the distribution of artworks as gifts over the years, as well as appraisals of fair market value of collection artworks from Christie's and Sotheby's which often resulted in sales and deaccessions. Select annotated auction catalogs are also included. 

The collection administration and history series includes records from the Nathan Cummings Estate and Sara Lee Corporation Collection (Consolidated Foods Corporation) as well as records related to the operation of the Mayer Family Collection including the art chattel mortgage, some reproduction and conservation related documents, collection history and press, information about colelction tours, oral histories including an interview with collection manager Frank Marshall, and guest books from various events and collection viewings. 

Photographic materials include collection installation images at the Edgcliff, Ritz Carlton, and Harbour's Edge residences, as well as exhibiton installation images, family photographs on slide and in snapshots, and slides of collection works and artists by genre and control number. Some apartment photographs are in digital formats. 

There is a 2.1 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2024 that includes original card catalog of sales and gifts, financial records, CDs, photographs and slides of works of art, sales catalogs and other printed material. Materials date from circa 1960-2019.