Archival Collections

Descriptions of our most popular archival collections listed by subject area.  Descriptions of many other Arts Library Special Collections archival collections can be found in the Yale Finding Aid Database.

Art

George Kubler Collection

The collection comprises a portion of the professional library of George Kubler, former Robert Lehman Professor (1965-1975) and Sterling Professor of the History of Art (1975-1983) at Yale University. The library was formerly housed in the office Mary E. Miller, Vincent J. Scully Professor of the History of Art (1998-2008), Sterling Professor of the History of Art (2008-) and Dean, Yale College (2008-) at Yale University. The collection contains scholarly publications and research materials related to the art and architecture of Latin America, Spain, and Portugal including titles on Pre-columbian art and architecture, Mesoamerica, Caribbean Indian culture, and Latin American art of the post-conquest periods. George Kubler Collection Finding Aid

Skowhegan Lecture Archive

The Skowhegan Lecture Archive is an audio resource available at a select few research institutions. From 1952 to the present, each summer the Skowhegan Residency program sponsors a lecture series where visual artists, poets, architects, philosophers, journalists, curators, historians, and choreographers speak to the artists-in-residence. These talks and transcriptions can now be appreciated by a wider audience. The Skowhegan Lecture Archive was made possible with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the W.L.S. Spencer Foundation, and the Henry R. Luce Foundation.

Volvelle Collection

The Volvelle Collection was created by graphic designer, critic and Yale alumae Jessica Helfand while she was researching for her book Reinventing the Wheel (Princeton Architectural Press, 2002). Helfand's collection documents the 20th century trend to create separate volvelles, or wheel-charts, as an independent form of information in contrast to earlier years when the format was usually found inside a book. Volvelle Collection Finding Aid

Arts of the Book

Bookplate Collection

The Yale Bookplate Collection is one of the largest in the world, containing close to one million bookplates. It is located in Mudd Library, with access provided through the Arts of the Book Collection. The collection brings together a number of private collections, including the Pearson-Lowenhaupt collection of American and English bookplates; the Irene D. Andrews Pace Memorial collection; the Salmonson collection of Swedish bookplates; the Alexander Kaelas collection of Estonian and Baltic bookplates; the Richard Ballard '48 collection of Russian and Soviet bookplates; and the collections of Frank Hatch, Henry Rodgers Winthrop 1898, William Fowler Hopson, Wilmarth Lewis 1918, and Harry Scammell, who served as Associate Curator, then Curator, of the collection between 1966 and 1984. The majority of this collection is currently unprocessed and research requests will take an extended time to process.

Fritz Eichenberg Designs and Art Work

The Arts of the Book Collection holds original woodblocks, many forms of art work, and miscellaneous papers of the woodcut artist and illustrator, Fritz Eichenberg. Eichenberg is perhaps best known for his illustrations of Russian literature and gothic tales during the 1930's and 1940's. He also had many illustrations published in the Catholic Worker during the 1950's. The Eichenberg collection contains approximately 400 original carved blocks, along with several thousand works on paper including sketches, lithographs and watercolor paintings. The collection also includes a small amount of correspondence relating to the artist's published works, personal correspondence and greeting cards.

Fritz Kredel Collection

The Arts of the Book Collection houses the personal and artistic archives of Fritz Kredel (1900-1973). The artist started his career in Germany in the 1920's under the tutelage of Rudolf Koch. Over the years, his skills grew and he became a master woodcut artist. In 1936 Kredel and his family fled Germany for the United States. In America he continued to flourish as a woodcut artist and illustrator for many well-known publishers, including the Limited Editions Club. The Collection contains over one hundred original wood blocks, proofs and published work, sketch books and drawings, project files, and correspondence. Kredel's work tools, realia, toys and military figures made by Kredel, as well as a nearly complete collection of works illustrated by the artist, are also included in the collection. The Fritz Kredel Collection is being donated to the Arts of the Book Collection by Judith Kredel Brown and Mathilde Brown.

Carl Purington Rollins Papers

Carl P. Rollins was appointed the first University Printer in 1918 and served until his retirement in 1948. The papers document Rollins's career as a master printer, graphic designer, author, and educator. The collection consists of personal and business correspondence; writings by Rollins and others; materials designed and/or printed by Rollins and others; and research files and notebooks. The materials document Rollins's design and printing work at the New Clairvaux Press, Dyke Mill (Montague Press), and the Yale Press, as well as his home press.

Drama

Doolittle Collection of Japanese Prints

The Doolittle Collection of Japanese Prints contains numerous designs of unknown origin depicting scenes from the traditional Japanese stage. The scenes displayed are derived from Noh Dramas, a performance tradition which draws on Buddhist scripture and Japanese mythology and combines music, dance, and poetry in a highly formalized staging.

Rollo Peters Costume and Set Designs

Charles Rollo Peters, III was a portraitist, poster painter, and art teacher born in Paris in 1892. Living in New York in 1914, Peters worked with experimental theatre companies including the Washington Square Players, the Provincetown Players, and the Theatre Guild. He went on to design numerous Broadway shows, and donated his designs to Yale. The collection includes original pencil, ink, and watercolor scene and costume designs documenting Peters' work for theatre, dance, and opera productions. Rollo Peters Costume and Set Designs Finding Aid

Yale Rockefeller Theatrical Prints Collection

The Yale Rockefeller Theatrical Prints Collection was created in the 1930s under the guidance of Allardyce Nicoll, then chair of the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts. Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, graduate students in Drama accompanied Nicoll to Europe and generated thousands of photographic prints of materials from libraries, museums, and private collections relating to all aspects of theatre history. The collection was supplemented by visual material collected from all over the world. A detailed alphanumeric cataloguing system was conceived for the collection and assigned to each print.