Emily Hall Tremaine papers
name: label: Creator
content: Tremaine, Emily Hall, 1908-1987
label: Names
content: Wadsworth Atheneum
label: Names
content: Johnson, Philip, 1906-2005
label: Names
content: Mondrian, Piet, 1872-1944
label: Names
content: Von Romberg, Maximillian (Baron)
topic: label: Occupation
content: Collectors -- Connecticut
label: Occupation
content: Collectors -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Art -- Collectors and collecting
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The papers were donated in 2005 by Tremaine's step-grandson, Burton G. Tremaine III.
creator: label: Creator
content: Tremaine, Emily Hall, 1908-1987
setName: label: See more items in
content: Emily Hall Tremaine papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of art collector Emily Hall Tremaine measure 8.9 linear feet, date from circa 1890 to 2004, and document the development of Tremaine's seminal collection of modernist, pop, and contemporary art. The papers comprise biographical material including a sound recording, personal correspondence, art collection files, artist files, exhibition loan files including a video recording, and reproduction request files. Also found are two scrapbooks documenting Tremaine's first marriage to Baron Maximilian von Romberg; and photographs of Tremaine, her family and friends, and works of art from her collection.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Art collector Emily Hall Tremaine (1908-1987) lived in New York City and Madison, Connecticut, and was known for having assembled one of the most noteworthy collections of post World War II art focused on modernist, pop, and contemporary artists.  

Tremaine was born in Butte, Montana, to mining executive William Hubbard Hall and his wife, Elizabeth Smith Hall. Her first marriage to Baron Maximilian von Romberg was well publicized in the society pages of the time and ended with von Romberg's death in a plane accident in 1938. Tremaine's second marriage to sugar heir Adolph B. Spreckels, Jr., ended in divorce in 1940. 

While Tremaine collected art in the 1930s, it was not until her 1945 marriage to industrial executive Burton Tremaine that she began acquiring works in earnest. Together, the Tremaines assembled a collection that initially focused on American and European modern artists and would eventually include emerging pop and contemporary art. Their first purchase was Piet Mondrian's unfinished painting, Victory Boogie Woogie, now owned by the Gemeentemuseum. The collection would eventually number over four hundred works of art and range from paintings by Picasso, Kandinsky, and Georges Braque to works by Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. While single pieces were sold, traded, or donated throughout Tremaine's active collecting years, the bulk of the collection was sold at auction in 1988 and 1991 to raise funds for the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation. Tremaine died from complications of emphysema in 1987.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 8.9 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1890-2004
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.trememil
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Video recordings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as eight series.

Series 1: Biographical Materials, circa 1910-1980 (7 folders; Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1905-1985 (0.4 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 3: Art Collection Files, circa 1950-1985 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 1, 9)

Series 4: Artist Files, 1936-2004 (4.6 linear feet; Boxes 2-6, 9)

Series 5: Exhibition Loan Files, 1960-2001 (1.5 linear feet; Boxes 6-7)

Series 6: Reproduction Request Files, circa 1964-1989 (0.6 linear feet; Box 8)

Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1931-1937 (0.3 linear feet; Boxes 9-10)

Series 8: Photographic Materials, circa 1890-1997 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 8, 10-11)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Judy Ng in 2015, with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. The collection was further processed by Stephanie Ashley in 2018-2019 and was digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: The bulk of the collection has been digitized and is available on the Archives of American Art website. Items not digitized include duplicate photographic material, blank versos of photographs, and other blank pages. Some of the items in the scrapbooks were not digitized due to fragility. In some cases, exhibition catalogs and other publications have had only their covers, title pages, and relevant pages digitized.

The sound recording in this collection was digitized for research access and is available at Archives of American Art offices.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Video recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of art collector Emily Hall Tremaine measure 8.9 linear feet, date from circa 1890 to 2004, and document the development of Tremaine's seminal collection of modernist, pop, and contemporary art. The papers comprise biographical material including a sound recording, personal correspondence, art collection files, artist files, exhibition loan files including a video recording, and reproduction request files. Also found are two scrapbooks documenting Tremaine's first marriage to Baron Maximilian von Romberg; and photographs of Tremaine, her family and friends, and works of art from her collection.


Biographical material relates to the Hall, von Romberg, and Tremaine families, and includes a sound recording about the Tremaine family. Correspondence is with family members, including Tremaine's three husbands, her mother, and her sister Elizabeth, and includes Christmas cards with reproductions of artwork from Tremaine's collection. 

Art collection files include inventory binders and document the purchase dates, prices, market value, and provenance of artwork purchased by the Tremaines. 
Artist files provide further detail on works by individual artists, and track the purchase, sale, trade, loan, and donation of many of those works. Of note is extensive documentation of the provenance, restoration, and sale of Piet Mondrian's Victory Boogie Woogie which was sold in 1988.


Exhibition loan files document loans from the Tremaine collection for exhibitions in the United States and abroad. Records of a 1984 Wadsworth Atheneum exhibition of artwork from the Tremaine collection include a video recording of a lecture by Philip Johnson. Requests for permission to reproduce images from the Tremaine collection document the extensive publication history of many of the works of art.

Two scrapbooks document the courtship and marriage of Emily Hall and Maximilian von Romberg and record von Romberg's passions for polo and aviation. 

Photographic material primarily documents Tremaine's personal life, through portraits of Tremaine, her sister, and parents; wedding pictures from her marriage to von Romberg; photos of friends and members of Santa Barbara high society, including Clark Gable, Ruth and Walter Pidgeon, and Jeanne and Juan Reynal; and photos of the home Emily shared with von Romberg on the Brunninghausen Estate in Montecito, California. Two dismantled photograph albums include photos of artwork in the Tremaine collection.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Emily Hall Tremaine conducted by Paul Cummings, January 24, 1973.