Comfort family papers relating to George Fisk Comfort
name: label: Creator
content: Comfort, George Fisk, 1834-1910
label: Names
content: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts
label: Names
content: Syracuse University. College of Fine Arts
label: Names
content: Cesnola, Luigi Palma di, 1832-1904
label: Names
content: Cox, Kenyon, 1856-1919
label: Names
content: Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875
label: Names
content: Johnson, Eastman, 1824-1906
label: Names
content: Massaranti, Marcello
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art museum directors -- New York (State) -- Syracuse
label: Occupation
content: Educators
label: Occupation
content: Museum directors -- New York (State) -- Syracuse
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Comfort's son, the architect Ralph Manning Comfort, assembled and donated the family's papers to the George Arents Research Library for Special Collections at Syracuse University. The Archives of American Art microfilmed selected material from the papers pertaining to George Fisk Comfort. The lender kept letters exchanged among family members with the papers of the writer, not the recipient. Therefore, letters from relatives to Comfort are to be found in the author's papers rather than Comfort's and were not microfilmed.
creator: label: Creator
content: Comfort, George Fisk, 1834-1910
setName: label: See more items in
content: Comfort family papers relating to George Fisk Comfort
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: George Fisk Comfort was a museum director, educator, and one of the founders of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y. Comfort established the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts (now known as the Everson Museum of Art) and the College of Fine Arts, Syracuse University. He served as dean of the College (1873-1893) and as director of the Syracuse Museum from its founding in 1869 until his death in 1910.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Linear feet ((on 3 microfilm reels))
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1857-1955
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.comfgeor
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sketchbooks
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: 35mm microfilm reels 4274-4276 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sketchbooks
originalsloc: label: Existence and Location of Originals
content: Originals in George Arents Research Library for Special Collections, Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Biographical materials, correspondence, manuscripts, notes, sketchbook, subject files, photographs and printed materials documenting George Fisk Comfort's career as an educator and museum director, selected from the Comfort Family papers at Syracuse University.

Biographical materials consist of autobiographical writings, a biographical essay and abstract of a thesis about Comfort, and an address given at his funeral. Personal and professional correspondence includes numerous lengthy letters to his son, Ralph Manning Comfort. Correspondents include Luigi di Cesnola, Kenyon Cox (1901), Eastman Johnson (1902) and Andrew Johnson, who writes about the aims of his administration shortly after becoming President. Interfiled in the correspondence are a 15-page holograph list of "Works of Art Exhibited in the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts" (1903); a brochure on the organization and first meeting of the American Association of Museums (1906); and material relating to the founding of the Metropolitan Museum of Art including minutes, a transcript of Comfort's address at the 40th anniversary, and a brochure about the role he played in the organization of the museum. Also included are correspondence and documents relating to the Southern College of Fine Arts, La Porte, Texas, and a sketchbook of an Italian tour. The subject files concern the (Marcello) Massaranti collection; the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, including organizational material, minutes of trustees meetings, correspondence, and exhibition materials; and Syracuse University, including Comfort's resignation and printed materials about the role he played in the organization of the museum.

Drafts and completed manuscripts of Comfort's unpublished writings include a 12-page history of Syracuse University, a 2-page holograph on the art season of 1909-1910 in New York, and miscellaneous notes including "Fine Art Notes," possibly by a student, which contains a summary of a lecture by Comfort. Lectures consist of manuscripts of 4 talks given at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and an excerpt from an address about establishing a Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts. Other materials consist of clippings and photographs of Comfort, his family, his home and of works of art depicting him.