Collection Guide
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INVENTORY OF FRENCH & COMPANY STOCK SHEETS AND
LEDGERS, 1909-1968
840027
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Table of contents
Title: French & Company stock
sheets and ledgers
Date (inclusive): 1909-1968
Collection number: 840027
Creator:
French
& Company (New York, N.Y.)
Extent:
45 lin. ft.
(108 boxes)
Repository:
Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California 90049-1688
Abstract: Stock sheets, stock books, ledgers, and
assorted papers document the objects, primarily decorative arts pieces, bought
and sold by the New York art dealer, French & Company, between 1909 and
1968.
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Language: Collection material is in
English.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Contact
Library Rights and Reproductions
French & Company stock sheets and ledgers, 1909-1968, Research
Library, The Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 840027.
Acquired in 1971
The stock sheets and ledgers were acquired in 1971, along with the
photographs and negatives, which were transferred to the repository's Photo
Study collection. Jocelyn Gibbs with assistance from Onica Busuioceanu,
organized this collection. The photographs from French & Co. are integrated
into the Decorative Arts section of the Photo Study collection, with the
exception of the photographs of tapestries, which are cataloged as the
Tapestries collection, accession no. 97.P.7. All the French and Co. negatives
are filed together under accession no. 71.P.1.
Organizational / Historical Note
American art dealership based in New York City, French & Company
bought and sold decorative arts, as well paintings and sculpture. Mitchell
Samuels founded the firm in New York in 1907. Under Mitchell
Samuels'directorship French & Company clients included many wealthy
American collectors eager for decorative art objects and paintings of European
provenance. Among their clients were, J. Paul Getty and William Randolph
Hearst. During this period the firm also served as agents and decorators for
the Huntingtons, Fricks, Mellons and Astors, among others. Mitchell's son
Spencer took over the firm in the 1950s. After his father's death, Spencer sold
the firm to City Investing in 1959. In 1968 City Investing sold the firm to
Martin Zimet. Much of the French & Company remaining stock of decorative
arts objects was sold at auction in 1968. The firm continued under the same
name after the 1950s, but with a changing inventory and clientele.
Scope and Content of Collection
The French & Company archive consists of more than 100,000 stock
sheets, 12 bound volumes of ledgers, stockbooks, and notebooks, plus assorted
inventory sheets and cost records. (The photographs and negatives from French
& Co. now form part of the repository's Photo Study collection.)
The stock sheets, some accompanied by slides and photographic contact
prints, record in detail the objects handled by the firm: object description,
stock numbers (numbers were sometimes changed), negative numbers which refer to
the negatives and photographs from the French & Company records, provenance
and sales. The majority of stock sheets are filed in one series and are
numbered 1- ca. 81,483 (with some gaps). Another series of stock numbers ranges
from A103 through N120.
The ledgers, stockbooks and notebooks record stock numbers and related
negative numbers, and sometimes record object descriptions as well. Lists of
photos, taken from old binders, list French & Company photographs in stock
number order. Inventory sheets (.5 linear ft.) date from 1958 and list stock
numbers and record transfers of inventory. Cost records (ca. .5 linear ft.)
list client names, stock numbers, object descriptions, sales dates and prices,
and date from 1957 -1968. One large pencil drawing is of a closet design for an
unidentified client, Park Mansions, Pittsburgh, and is dated 1946.
Arrangement
Arranged in 3 series:
Series I. Stock sheets, 1909-1968;
Series II Stock and ledger books, ca. 1909-1968;
Series III Assorted papers, ca. 1920-1968.
French & Company (New
York, N.Y.)
Art—Collectors and
collecting
Art dealers—New York
(State)—New York
Art galleries,
commercial—New York (State)—New York
Decorative arts—Collectors
and collecting
Sales records—20th
century