Oral history interview with Philip Hofer
name: label: Interviewee
content: Hofer, Philip, 1898-1984
label: Interviewer
content: Brown, Robert F.
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Hofer, Philip, 1898-1984
label: Interviewer
content: Brown, Robert F.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Philip Hofer (1898-1984) was a book collector, curator, and art historian at Harvard University. Hofer founded the Department of Prints and Graphics at Harvard University in 1938.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Item (sound cassette (90 min.) Sound recording)
label: Extent
content: 37 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1984 Apr. 24
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.hofer84
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Philip Hofer conducted 1984 Apr. 24, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Hofer speaks of his childhood in Cinncinnati, Ohio; attending boarding school at the Pomfret School in Connecticut; attending Harvard University; becoming friends with Theodore "Tubby" Sizer; taking a job at the Cleveland Museum of Art; returning to Harvard to study art history in graduate school; collecting illustrated books in his sparetime with his own money; moving to New York City to work as the assistant director of the Morgan Library; traveling through Europe for the Spencer Collection; working for Belle da Costa Greene at the Morgan Library.