Adelyne Dohme Breeskin papers
name: label: Creator
content: Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme, 1896-1986
label: Names
content: National Collection of Fine Arts (U.S.)
label: Names
content: National Museum of American Art (U.S.)
label: Names
content: Avery, Milton, 1885-1965
label: Names
content: Cassatt, Mary, 1844-1926
label: Names
content: MacIver, Loren, 1909-
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art museum curators -- Maryland -- Baltimore
label: Occupation
content: Art historians -- Maryland -- Baltimore
label: Occupation
content: Art museum directors -- Maryland -- Baltimore
label: Topic
content: Women art historians
label: Topic
content: Women museum curators
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Portions of the collection were donated to the Archives of American Art in a series of gifts from Adelyn Breeskin, 1979-1985. Material relating to Loren MacIver was donated 1979-1987 by Breeskin and Robert Frash, who had possession of Breeskin's research materials on MacIver for an exhibition on MacIver he curated in California. Letters from Georgia O'Keeffe, Stanton Macdonald-Wright, and Lawrence Calcagno, an exhibition catalog for Calcagno, and the file on Milton Avery, were donated by the National Museum of American Art on January 28, 1981. The birthday book was a gift from Breeskin's daughter, Gloria Breeskin Peck, in 2015. The sound recordings were transferred from the National Museum of American Art, circa 1984.
creator: label: Creator
content: Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme, 1896-1986
setName: label: See more items in
content: Adelyne Dohme Breeskin papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington D.C. art historian and museum curator Adelyn Dohme Breeskin, measure 2.5 linear feet and date from circa 1934-1986. The papers provide scattered documentation of Breeskin's career, focusing on writings and lectures delivered in the United States and abroad, and briefly documenting her work as an art exhibition juror, as a consultant, and as a teacher of a community art course. The collection also includes papers documenting some of Breeskin's research on Loren MacIver, Mary Cassatt, and others, and is comprised of biographical material, personal and professional correspondence with artists, friends, and colleagues, manuscript and lecture notes and drafts, professional files, sound recordings, and a few photographs.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Adelyn Dohme Breeskin (1896-1986) was an art historian and museum curator in Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. She was the first woman to be named director of a major American museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art. 


Adelyn Dohme took her first museum job in the print department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she worked with Kathryn B. Child under the supervision of William Mills Ivins. She left the museum in 1920 to marry violinist Elias Breeskin, and the couple had three children before divorcing in 1930.


Following her divorce, Breeskin returned to her native Baltimore and took a position as a curator with the Baltimore Museum of Art. In 1942 she was appointed director of the museum and remained in that position until 1962. As director she gave Milton Avery and Mary Cassatt's graphics their first museum shows. 


Breeskin served as commissioner for the American contingent of the Venice Biennale in 1960 and was director of the Washington Gallery of Modern Art from 1962-1964. She then became a special consultant in twentieth-century art for the Smithsonian's National Collection of Fine Art and served as the museum's curator of contemporary painting and sculpture from 1968 to 1974. 


Breeskin authored two catalogue raisonnés of Mary Cassatt's work, and conducted extensive research for a monograph on Loren MacIver, although the monograph was ultimately not published. In 1985 Breeskin received the Smithsonian Institutions highest award, the Gold Medal for Exceptional Service, and at the time of her death in 1986, was senior curatorial adviser.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2.5 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1934-1986
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.breeadel
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as four series:

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1938-1986 (0.6 linear feet; Box 1, OVs 4-6)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1940-1970 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 3: Writings and Lectures, circa 1934-1981 (1 linear foot; Boxes 1-2)

Series 4: Professional Files, 1945-1984 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 2-3)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Stephanie Ashley in 2019.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Portions of the collection are available on 35mm microfilm reels 2227 and 2787 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.

The sound recording of the lecture "Artists I Have Known," has been been copied for research access and digital copies are available in the Archives of American Art offices.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington D.C. art historian and museum curator Adelyn Dohme Breeskin, measure 2.5 linear feet and date from circa 1934-1986. The papers provide scattered documentation of Breeskin's career, focusing on writings and lectures delivered in the United States and abroad, and briefly documenting her work as an art exhibition juror, as a consultant, and as a teacher of a community art course. The collection also includes papers documenting some of Breeskin's research on Loren MacIver, Mary Cassatt, and others, and is comprised of biographical material, personal and professional correspondence with artists, friends, and colleagues, manuscript and lecture notes and drafts, professional files, sound recordings, and a few photographs.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: The Archives of American Art also holds oral history interviews with Adelyn Breeskin conducted by Paul Cummings in 1974, and Julie Haifley in 1979.