Chronological Correspondence
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Parsons, Betty, 1900-1982
setName: label: See more items in
content: Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers
label: See more items in
content: Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers / Series 7: Betty Parsons Personal Papers / 7.3: Correspondence
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1938-1983
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.parsbett, Subseries 7.3.2
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Files are arranged chronologically by year with undated correspondence at the end of the series.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: This series has been digitized in entirety.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: These files reflect how deeply Parsons's life was intertwined with the gallery as correspondence with dealers, museum directors, researchers, collectors, arts organizations, gallery staff, and artists predominate in this subseries, although letters from friends are scattered throughout. Letters address a variety of topics including requests for Parsons to be a jurist for juried exhibitions, exhibitions and sales of her own art work, references for artists, requests for interviews, questions from researchers, and communications from gallery staff. Letters from Jock Truman, include his original cover letter (1961) and updates concerning gallery business (1964, 1966-1968, and 1972).

Letters from Parsons include a letter of introduction for her former husband Schuyler Parsons to Peggy Guggenheim (1965) and a suggestion to collector Paul Mellon (1976) that Barnett Newman's Stations of the Cross belongs in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. Parsons response to a researcher (1979) provides her insights concerning the early history of the gallery and her connection with the Abstract Expressionists. Other significant correspondents include Ossip Zadkine (1956), Jacqueline Monnier (1978 and 1982), and Judith Rothschild (1980). Finally, letters that post-date Parsons death in July, 1982 include condolence letters to gallery staff and correspondence between Jack Tilton, her former assistant at the gallery and William Rayner, her nephew and the executer of her estate, to establish prices for her art work.