James S. Plaut papers
name: label: Creator
content: Plaut, James S. (James Sachs), 1912-1996
label: Names
content: Expo 67 (Montréal, Québec)
label: Names
content: Exposition universelle et internationale (1958 : Brussels, Belgium)
label: Names
content: Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston, Mass.)
label: Names
content: Institute of Modern Art (Boston, Mass.)
label: Names
content: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
label: Names
content: World Crafts Council
label: Names
content: Adenauer, Konrad, 1876-1967
label: Names
content: Berman, Eugene, 1899-1972
label: Names
content: Bernstein, Leonard, 1918-1990
label: Names
content: Breuer, Marcel, 1902-
label: Names
content: Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969
label: Names
content: Gandhi, Indira, 1917-1984
label: Names
content: Gropius, Walter, 1883-1969
label: Names
content: Kirstein, Lincoln, 1907-
label: Names
content: Kokoschka, Oskar, 1886-
label: Names
content: Milles, Carl, 1875-1955
label: Names
content: Peirce, Waldo, 1884-1970
label: Names
content: Ruckstull, F. W. (Fred Wellington), 1853-1942
label: Names
content: Sachs, Paul J. (Paul Joseph), 1878-1965
label: Names
content: Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959
place: label: Place
content: Israel
topic: label: Occupation
content: Arts administrators -- Massachusetts -- Boston
label: Occupation
content: Museum directors -- Massachusetts -- Boston
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Scrapbooks on reel 581 lent for microfilming by Plaut, 1973; his estate, via the executor Edward M. Condit, Jr., lent those on reel 5139 in 1996. Plaut donated the unmicrofilmed material in 1985 and 1992, and additional papers were received as a bequest in 1996 via the executor of his estate.
creator: label: Creator
content: Plaut, James S. (James Sachs), 1912-1996
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Art administrator and museum director; Boston, Mass. Plaut was born to a wealthy family in Cincinnati, Ohio, graduated from HarvardCollege, and received an M.A. from Harvard University. His uncle was Paul Sachs, a connoisseur and influential museology professor at Harvard andsor. Plaut held curatorial positions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and became Director of Boston's Institute of Modern Art in 1939 (later the Institute of Contemporary Art or ICA) where he staged early exhibitions of contemporary design and European avant-garde paintings and sculpture until his resignation in 1956. Plaut was also involved in many international exhibitions and expositions, serving as Deputy U.S. Commissioner to the World's Fair in Brussels, 1958, and was Secretary General of the World Crafts Council, 1967-1976 and a consultant on industrial design in Israel.
function: label: Function
content: Art museums -- Massachusetts -- Boston
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1.4 Linear Feet
label: Extent
content: 2.2 Linear Feet (Addition)
label: Extent
content: 4 Volumes (Reels 581 and 5139: Scrapbooks)
unitdate: label: Date
content: [ca. 1929]-1980
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.plaujame
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Volumes
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Sketchbooks
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: 35mm microfilm reel 581 & 5139 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketchbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
originalsloc: label: Existence and Location of Originals
content: Reel 581: Originals returned to James Plaut after microfilming.
label: Existence and Location of Originals
content: Reel 5139: Originals in the possession of Plaut's children, Susan P. Reed and Thomas S. Plaut.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Correspondence, business files, academic papers, photographs, clippings, sketchbook, sketches, and miscellaneous notes.
label: Scope and Contents
content: REEL 581: Selected items from 2 family scrapbooks, 1933-1943 and 1946-1956; including clippings, photographs, correspondence, invitations and awards. Most material pertains to Plaut's work as director of the ICA and advisor to the government of Israel. Also included are correspondence from Georges Rouault, Carl Milles, and Oskar Kokoschka; and 6 drawings by Waldo Peirce.
label: Scope and Contents
content: REEL 5139: Two family scrapbooks, 1956-1959 and 1960-1980, containing clippings, invitations, photographs and miscellaneous material from Plaut's work World's Fairs at Brussels, 1958, New York, 1964 and Japan, 1970. Also found are family snapshots of the Plaut's travels, their children and grandchildren and include 7 earlier photographs of Plaut and his parents, ca. 1906-1932, and one photograph of Eleanor Roosevelt, 1959.
label: Scope and Contents
content: UNMICROFILMED: Travel sketchbook of Rome; term papers, honors thesis, and sketches for an architectural history course; files relating to Plaut's positions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the ICA, the World Crafts Council, and other professional and personal concerns; correspondence, including letters from Eugene Berman, Carl Milles, Lincoln Kirstein, Paul Sachs and others; personal and work related photographs; lecture notes; slides from the World's Craft Fair Council, 1974; 2 untranscribed sound tape reels of an interview made by Plaut for Alfred Auerbach concerning the Brussels World's Fair 1958 and typed list of questions for the interview; and miscellaneous papers.
label: Scope and Contents
content: ADDITION: Resumes and obituaries; correspondence; the book, Waldo Peirce, by Margit Varga, 1941, with insertions of a caricature by Peirce, illustrated postcards, and a letter; photographs of Walter Gropius House, Lincoln, Mass. and 7 photographs of Plaut with Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, Konrad Adenauer, Indira Gandhi, Leonard Bernstein, and Dwight David Eisenhower; scrapbook and slides pertaining to Plaut's work for the World's Fair, Brussels, 1958; writings and publications; publications of the ICA and the WCC; the book, The Overcoat, by Nikoli Gogel, presented to Plaut upon retirement from the WCC; publications by others on art and design; and a file on James and Mary Plaut's personal art collection, ca. 1935-1990s.