Thomas Carr Howe papers
name: label: Creator
content: Howe, Thomas Carr, 1904-1994
label: Names
content: Allied Forces. Supreme Headquarters. Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section
label: Names
content: Bohemian Club (San Francisco, Calif.)
label: Names
content: California Palace of the Legion of Honor
label: Names
content: M.H. de Young Memorial Museum
label: Names
content: United States. Army. Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section
label: Names
content: Berenson, Bernard, 1865-1959
label: Names
content: Cronyn, Hume
label: Names
content: Faison, S. Lane (Samson Lane), 1907-2006
label: Names
content: Göring, Hermann, 1893-1946
label: Names
content: Hancock, Walker Kirtland, 1901-1998
label: Names
content: Kelleher, Patrick J. (Patrick Joseph), 1917-
label: Names
content: Mallory, Margaret, 1911-1998
label: Names
content: Mills, Paul Chadbourne, 1924-
label: Names
content: Moore, Lamont
label: Names
content: Ritchie, Andrew Carnduff
label: Names
content: Rorimer, James J. (James Joseph), 1905-1966
label: Names
content: Standen, Edith Appleton
label: Names
content: Stout, George L. (George Leslie)
label: Names
content: Valland, Rose
label: Names
content: Wittmann, Otto, 1911-2001
topic: label: Occupation
content: Arts administrators -- California -- San Francisco
label: Topic
content: Cultural property -- Protection -- Europe -- History -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Art thefts -- Germany -- History -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Museum directors -- California -- San Francisco
label: Topic
content: Art treasures in war -- Germany
label: Topic
content: World War, 1939-1945 -- Art and the war
label: Topic
content: Art treasures in war -- France
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Thomas Carr Howe donated his papers to the Archives of American Art in multiple installments from 1979 to 1982.
creator: label: Creator
content: Howe, Thomas Carr, 1904-1994
setName: label: See more items in
content: Thomas Carr Howe papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The Thomas Carr Howe papers measure 4.4 linear feet and date from 1932 to 1984. Howe was director of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco for nearly 40 years, and he served as one of the Monuments Men in the Monuments, Fine Art and Archives (MFAA) Section of the U.S. Army during World War II. The collection documents Howe's MFAA work in Germany and Austria locating and recovering cultural artifacts and artwork stolen by the Nazis. There is significant correspondence with friends and colleagues, as well as fellow Monuments Men such as Samson Lane Faison, Edith Standen, and George Stout. The papers also includes reports, inventories of stolen artwork, maps, annotated photographs, a scrapbook, and photographs.  The papers also document Howe's later work at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Thomas Carr Howe, Jr. (1904-1994) served as the director of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco for nearly four decades and, during World War II, as an officer in the U.S. Army's Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives unit assisting with locating, recovering, and restituting cultural objects and artwork stolen by the Nazis.

Howe was born in Kokomo, Indiana in 1904. He studied at Harvard University where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees. Howe was the assistant director of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco from 1931-1939 and director from 1939-1968. Howe was also the art commissioner for the San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition (1939-1940) for which he organized an exhibition showcasing Mexican muralists.

During World War II, Howe joined the U.S. army and served from 1945 to 1946 in Germany and Austria. He began as a naval lieutenant but was soon assigned to serve in the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFAA) section. Howe reported to Lieutenant Commander George Stout at Wiesbaden, and was later promoted to Lieutenant Commander and Deputy Chief of the MFAA at Frankfurt. During his service as one of the "Monuments Men" Howe located hidden and recovered large repositories of cultural objects and works of art stolen by the Nazis. He also helped with the restitution effort. At the Altaussee salt mines in Austria, Howe helped salvage a large cache of stolen artwork that included Michelangelo's Madonna and Child and the Ghent Altarpiece or The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, Vermeer's The Artists Studio, and the Rothschild family jewels. Howe later described his wartime work in his book Salt Mines and Castles: The Discovery and Restitution of Looted European Art (1946).

Howe resumed his position as the director of the California Palace of the Legion on Honor after the war, a position he held until his retirement in 1968. Through his career as a prominent art director, Howe was close with many American and international museum professionals, collectors and socialites. Friends and colleagues include Agnes Mongan and Paul Sachs (both former directors of Harvard's Fogg Museum), Whitney Warren, and Gerda and Hans-Erich Von Schmidt auf Altenstadt.

For his wartime service as a Monuments Men, Howe was honored with the Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor and the Officier of the Dutch Order of Orange-Nassau in 1946. At the request of the federal government, Howe also later served as the Cultural Affairs Advisor to the High Commissioner of Germany from 1950-1951, during which time he returned to Germany with S. Lane Faison, another MFAA official, to assist with closing the central collecting points where the recovered artworks has been held for restitution. From 1960-1968, Howe was a member of the Fine Arts Committee for The White House and he continued to serve on numerous panels and commissions as an art advisor.

Howe married Francesca Deering. Together they had one daughter Francesca.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 4.4 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1932-1984
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.howethom
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Photographs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 10 series:

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1934-1955, 1974 (Box 1; 6 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1932-1984 (Box 1-3; 2.1 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings, circa 1946 (Box 3; 2 folders)

Series 4: Professional Files, circa 1945-1975 (Box 3, 5; 0.3 linear feet folders)

Series 5: Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Records and Looted Inventories, circa 1942-1950 (Box 3, 5, OV 6; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Photographs, 1938-1970 (Box 3-5; 1.2 linear feet)

Series 7: Scrapbook, 1936-1948 (Box 4; 0.1 linear feet)

Series 8: Printed Materials, 1934-1980 (Box 4; 0.4 linear feet)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: This collection was fully processed by Rihoko Ueno in May 2012 with funding provided by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Content Note
content: The Thomas Carr Howe papers measure 4.4 linear feet and date from 1932 to 1984. Howe was director of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco for nearly 40 years, and he served as one of the Monuments Men in the Monuments, Fine Art and Archives (MFAA) Section of the U.S. Army during World War II. The collection documents Howe's MFAA work in Germany and Austria locating and recovering cultural artifacts and artwork stolen by the Nazis. There is significant correspondence with friends and colleagues, as well as fellow Monuments Men such as Samson Lane Faison, Edith Standen, and George Stout. The papers also includes reports, inventories of stolen artwork, maps, annotated photographs, a scrapbook, and photographs.  The papers also document Howe's later work at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor.

Biographical materials include articles and memorial tributes for Howe's father and grandfather, a short autobiography and resume, and the certificate for the copyright to his book.

The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence, the most voluminous of which are letters from Monuments Men S. Lane Faison, Patrick J. Kelleher, Andrew C. Ritchie, Edith Standen, George Stout, Marcelle Minet, Rose Valland, James Rorimer, and others. Additional correspondents include friends and colleagues such as Bernard Berenson, Hume Cronyn, Paul Mills, Christopher Forbes, Margaret Mallory, William A. McGonagle, and Otto Wittman, among many others

Writings include a brief summary of Howe's book Salt Mines and Castles and a sound cassette of his lecture about the book. Project, membership and travel files are primarily associated with his professional work at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor and include documentation of member art trips, a feasibility study for merging the California Palace of the Legion of Honor with the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, and a membership list of the Bohemian Club.

The Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFAA) Records and Looted Inventories series contain many records relating to Howe's military service as a Monuments Man. There are several inventory records which contain lists of the contents of Hermann Göring's collection of looted artwork, artwork destroyed in the Flak towers fire in Berlin, and artwork held at several of the central collecting points, though mostly at Weisbaden. There is also a small fold out map of the Altausse salt mines; a U.S. government issued manual of maps marking important cultural monuments and artwork in Germany; a book of U.S. government regulations pertaining to the MFAA section; a government information bulletin; and several official status reports and published U.S. government reports about art looting investigations and safeguarding cultural property.

Professional files consist of papers relating to Howe's job as the director of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor and art trips he organized. Documents include a survey of Los Angeles museum curator salaries, a questionnaire about Howe's work as a museum director, and a membership list of Bohemian Club artists. The bulk of the travel papers are itineraries.

The photographs are divided into two subseries: MFAA Section images and personal photographs. The Monuments Men subseries includes photographs documenting bomb damage to cultural monuments in various countries, though mainly Germany; U.S. soldiers transporting recovered artwork such as Michelangelo's Madonna and Child from the Altaussee salt mines in Austria, and other looted art repositories such as Neuschwanstein Castle and Berchtesgaden in Germany; Weisbaden and Munich collecting points; and art recovery of The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb by Hubert and Jan van Eyck. There are many photographs of the Monuments Men including Thomas Carr Howe, George Stout, Stephen Kovalyak, Lamont Moore, Patrick J. Kelleher, Edith Standen, and Rose Valland. Personal photographs consists of portraits of Howe and photographs of events, mostly formal dinners and parties.

Printed materials are clippings, postcards, fundraising pamphlets, essays, and memorial tributes for colleagues.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Material
content: Among the holdings of the Archives of American are the papers of several additional members of the U. S. Army MFAA section. There is an oral history interview with Thomas Carr Howe and Robert Neuhaus conducted by Paul Karlstrom and Peter Fairbanks on September 26, 1987 and another with Howe conducted by Paul Karlstrom on June 2-3, 1976.