William Mills Ivins papers
name: label: Creator
content: Ivins, William Mills, 1881-1961
label: Names
content: Century Association (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Grolier Club
label: Names
content: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Pierpont Morgan Library
label: Names
content: Ames, Winslow
label: Names
content: Arensberg, Walter, 1878-1954
label: Names
content: Arms, John Taylor, 1887-1953
label: Names
content: Berenson, Bernard, 1865-1959
label: Names
content: Boas, George, 1891-
label: Names
content: Burroughs, Bryson, 1869-1934
label: Names
content: Carrington, Fitz Roy, 1869-1954
label: Names
content: Cockerell, Sydney Carlyle, Sir, 1867-1962
label: Names
content: Constable, W. G. (William George), 1887-1976
label: Names
content: Dodgson, Campbell, 1867-1948
label: Names
content: Frankfurter, Felix, 1882-1965
label: Names
content: Friedländer, Max J., 1867-1958
label: Names
content: Greene, Belle da Costa, 1883-1950
label: Names
content: Holmes, Margaret Ivins, 1882-1954
label: Names
content: Ivins, Barbara
label: Names
content: Ivins, Emma Yard, 1857-1940
label: Names
content: Ivins, Florence Wyman, 1881-1948
label: Names
content: Ivins, Katherine
label: Names
content: Ivins, William Mills, 1851-1915
label: Photographer
content: Käsebier, Gertrude, 1852-1934
label: Names
content: Lay, Charles Downing, 1877-1956
label: Names
content: Rogers, Bruce, 1870-1957
label: Names
content: Ruzicka, Rudolph, 1883-
label: Names
content: Sachs, Paul J. (Paul Joseph), 1878-1965
label: Names
content: Sarton, George, 1884-1956
label: Names
content: Simonson, Lee, 1888-
label: Names
content: Sizer, Theodore, 1892-1967
label: Names
content: Webster, Herman A. (Herman Armour), 1878-1970
label: Names
content: Wind, Edgar, 1900-
label: Names
content: Winter, Carl, 1906 Jan. 10-
topic: label: Occupation
content: Illustrators
label: Occupation
content: Art historians
label: Topic
content: Aesthetics
label: Topic
content: Art museums
label: Topic
content: Book collectors and collecting
label: Topic
content: Museum directors
label: Topic
content: Perspective
label: Topic
content: Designers
label: Topic
content: Museums -- Acquisitions
label: Topic
content: Prints -- History
label: Topic
content: Etching -- History
label: Topic
content: Engraving -- History
label: Topic
content: Medicine and art -- History
label: Topic
content: Illustrated books -- History
label: Topic
content: Museum curators
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The William Mills Ivins, Jr., papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by his daughter, Barbara Ivins, in several installments between 1977 and 1983.
creator: label: Creator
content: Ivins, William Mills, 1881-1961
setName: label: See more items in
content: William Mills Ivins papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers, 1878-1964 (20.5 linear feet) of museum curator, director, and art scholar William Mills Ivins (1881-1961) consist of correspondence, writings, notes, photographs, and Ivins family papers. Ivins was Curator of Prints, 1916-1946, Assistant Director, 1933-1938, and Acting Director, 1938-1940 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The collection contains professional and personal correspondence with art historians, art dealers, museum curators, print and book collectors, and artists concerning the history of print making, book design and illustration, print collectors and collecting, exhibitions, and museum administration. Also found are Ivins' published and unpublished writings and lectures, and notes. The collection contains some Ivins' family papers including family correspondence, genealogies, and photographs.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: William Mills Ivins, Jr. (1881-1961), a lawyer, first became interested in collecting prints and illustrated books while an undergraduate at Harvard. He studied the history of printmaking through self-directed reading, by looking at prints in the major European libraries and museums, and tried his hand at many of the printmaking processes. While practicing law, he wrote articles and organized some small exhibitions of prints as early as 1908. In 1916, the Metropolitan Museum of Art appointed its first Curator of Prints to organize a Department of Prints and Drawings and to develop its small existing collection. Upon the recommendation of Paul J. Sachs who was unable to accept the position, Ivins was selected. He held the post until his retirement some thirty years later.

During his tenure as Curator of Prints, Ivins became one of the most highly-respected individuals in the profession. Under Ivins the collection grew in scope, size, and quality; he acquired materials by cultivating potential donors, and through systematic purchase of pieces not likely to come into the collection by bequest. The department's active exhibition schedule included some especially noteworthy shows, such as The Arts of the Book in 1924.

Ivins was knowledgeable and shared information by writing several books on prints and the history of printmaking, and by writing large numbers of articles for the educated layman. His articles often highlighted items in the permanent collection, and frequently appeared in the museum's Bulletin. He was interested in perspective, psychology of perception, aesthetics, mathematics and modern philosophy, and wrote on these topics, as well.

He was an accomplished speaker and was in much demand as a lecturer. Of particular note were his series on Illustrated Books of the Renaissance at the Morgan Library in 1936, and the 1950 Lowell Lectures (subsequently published under the title Prints and Visual Communication).

In addition to his curatorial duties, Ivins served as Assistant Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art between 1933 and 1938, and was its Acting Director from 1938 until 1940. Francis Henry Taylor was appointed Director in 1940, and Ivins was named to the newly created post of Counselor; failure to attain the directorship was a bitter disappointment, which many attributed to his lack of tact and generally difficult disposition.

Ivins retired in 1946, and continued to write and publish until the mid-1950's. During this period he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Yale University (1946), made an honorary fellow of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1946), named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1950), and invited to deliver the annual lectures at the Lowell Institute (1950). He died at the age of eighty in 1961, after several years of declining health.

Ivins' private collection of prints and illustrated books, which he had continued to amass through the 1930's, was partially dispersed during his lifetime through gifts to the Metropolitan Museum and to a number of university and special libraries. The portion remaining in his estate was sold at auction by Parke Bernet between 1962 and 1964.

1881 -- born to William Mills Ivins and Emma Yard Ivins, Flatbush, N.Y.

1890-1893 -- attended King's School, Stamford, Conn.

1896 -- trip to South America with father

1897 -- graduation from St. Paul's School, Concord, N.H.

1901 -- graduation from Harvard (A.B.)

1901-1902 -- travelled in Europe with Paul Haviland, and studied economics at University of Munich

1902-1904 -- employed by The World's Work, writing articles on economic and artistic subjects

1907 -- graduation from Columbia School of Law

1907-1916 -- practiced law in New York City: Ivins, Wolff and Houget for New York Public Service Commission, 1907-1908; Strong and Cadwallader, 1908-1909; Cravath, Henderson, and der Gersdorff, 1909-1916

1908 -- arranged first exhibition of prints, Keppel & Co,

1910 -- marriage to Florence Wyman, an illustrator

1916 -- appointed first Curator of Prints, Metropolitan Museum of Art

c. 1927-1935 -- served on editorial board of Metropolitan Museum Studies

1933-1938 -- Assistant Director, Metropolitan Museum of Art

1937 -- Morgan Library Lectures

1938 -- Honorary Curator of Prints and Drawings, Morgan Library

1938-1940 -- Acting Director, Metropolitan Museum of Art (Note: Mr. Ivins continued to act as Curator of Prints during periods when he was assigned other major administrative responsibilities at the museum)

1940 -- Counselor, Metropolitan Museum of Art

1946 -- Honorary Fellow, Metropolitan Museum of Art; retirement from Metropolitan Museum of Art; Honorary Doctorate, Yale University

1950 -- Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Lowell Lectures (published in 1953 under the title Prints and Visual Communication)

1961 -- death

1962-1964 -- Ivins Collection of Prints and Illustrated Books sold at auction by Parke Bernet

1977-1983 -- William M. Ivins, Jr. Papers donated to the Archives of American Art by his daughter, Barbara Ivins
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 20.5 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1878-1964
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.ivinwill
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection has been arranged into 7 series. The contents and organization are noted in the individual series descriptions.

Series 1: Professional and Personal Papers, circa 1908-1961 (Boxes 1-8; 6.5 linear ft.)

Series 2: Writings, circa 1910-1960 (Boxes 8-12; 4.9 linear ft.)

Series 3: Publications, 1896-1958 (Boxes 13-14; 2.0 linear ft.)

Series 4: Miscellaneous, 1915, undated (Box 15; 1.0 linear ft.)

Series 5: Ivins Family Papers, 1878-1964, undated (Boxes 16-20; 4.5 linear ft.)

Series 6: Photographs, circa 1890-1940 (Boxes 20-21; 1.5 linear ft.)

Series 7: Oversized Material, 1897-1950 (1 OV folder)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed and the finding aid written by Cathy Stover in 1988. The finding aid was modified during EAD conversion by Stephanie Ashley in 2002.  Additional work on the collection was completed by intern Carrol Park in 2012.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Content Note
content: The papers, 1878-1964 (20.5 linear feet) of museum curator, director, and art scholar William Mills Ivins (1881-1961) consist of personal and professional correspondence, writings, notes, photographs, and Ivins family papers. Ivins was Curator of Prints, 1916-1946, Assistant Director, 1933-1938, and Acting Director, 1938-1940 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The collection contains professional and personal correspondence with art historians, art dealers, museum curators, print and book collectors, and artists concerning the history of print making, book design and illustration, print collectors and collecting, exhibitions, and museum administration. Correspondence files appear to be complete, and correspondence is of substantive content. Also found are Ivins' published and unpublished writings and lectures, and notes. Of particular interest are the letters from Bernard Berenson, Paul J. Sachs, and Theodore Sizer, each of whom corresponded with Ivins freqently over extended periods about both personal and professional and matters.

Ivins' family papers include family correspondence, genealogies, and photographs. The papers of Ivin's wife, illustrator Florence Wyman Ivins (1881-1948), and the correspondence of several other relatives, can be found here augmented by family photographs.