Edith Schloss Burckhardt Papers, 1962-2011
Summary Information
At a Glance
- Call No.:
- MS#1763
- Bib ID:
- 11502615 View CLIO record
- Creator(s):
- Schloss, Edith, 1919-
- Repository:
- Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Physical Description:
- 35 linear feet (26 record cartons, 1 document box; 1 flat box)
- Language(s):
- English .
- Access:
- You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
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This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
Description
Summary
The Edith Schloss Burckhardt Papers offer an extraordinary opportunity for research into multiple areas of scholarship, especially unique insight into the lives and experiences of women in the art world, an American artist's expat life in Rome from the 1960s-2010s, the New York School of painters and poets, and a particularly rich and far-reaching, vein of the avant-garde and experimental music world, to name a few.
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In addition to photographs located within the Archive's correspondence there are over 1800 photographs of various sizes taken in locations including New York, Italy, Egypt and Germany. Approx. 700 of the photographs are pasted into spiral-bound notebooks with captions, circa 1962--2009.
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SERIES VIII: NOTEBOOKS, DIARIES AND CALENDAR BOOKS
The Archive contains over 110 notebooks, diaries and calendars, circa 1962--2011. In addition todaily reflections and thoughts, many of the diaries also contain copies of ESB's outgoing correspondence.
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Gift of Jacob Burckhardt
Arrangement
Material is arranged into ten series.
- SERIES I: CORRESPONDENCE
- SERIES II: RUDY BURCKHARDT
- SERIES III: FRANCESCA WOODMAN
- Subseries III.A: Correspondence
- Subseries III.B: Work
- Subseries III.C: Writings by ESB
- Subseries III.D: Assorted
- SERIES IV: FAIRFIELD AND ANNE PORTER
- Subseries IV.A: Correspondence
- Subseries IV.B: Fairfield Porter
- Subseries IV.C: ESB writing on Fairfield Porter
- SERIES V: WRITING
- Subseries V.A: General
- Subseries V.B: International Herald Tribune
- Subseries V.C: The Loft Generation
- Subseries V.D: Books
- SERIES VI: ART
- SERIES VII: PHOTOGRAPHS
- SERIES VIII: NOTEBOOKS, DIARIES AND CALENDAR BOOKS
- SERIES IX: ASSORTED
- Series X: 2016 Addition
Using the Collection
Restrictions on Access
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Edith Schloss Burckhardt Papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Accrual
No additions expected
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Ownership and Custodial History
The collection was purchased from Max Burckhardt by the Rare Book and Manuscript Library in June, 2015.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2014.2015.M142: Source of acquisition--Max Burckhardt. Method of acquisition--Purchase; Date of acquisition--June 2015.
About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Processing Information
Papers processed Adrien Hilton July 2015.
Finding aid written Adrien Hilton July 2015.
Revision Description
2015-07-17 xml document instance created by Adrien Hilton
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
2024-03-14 Corrections made to container list for Series VI.B, VII, and VIII. CCR.
Biographical / Historical
Edith Schloss was born in Offenbach, Germany. She was sent to France and England to learn languages and, in 1936, attended a private school in Florence where she first fell in love with Italy. Edith eventually ended up in England working as an au pair while going to night school. During the Blitz she left England in a convoy that landed in New York City. In New York Edith attended lectures and dance performances at Cooper Union and studied painting and printmaking at the Art Students League. She also studied art history, music and poetry at the New School for Social Research.
Her friend, Heinz Langerhans, German sociologist and follower of Marxist theoretician Karl Korsch, introduced her to Anne and Fairfield Porter. In 1944, Porter introduced Edith to Elaine and Willem de Kooning, and soon after she moved into a West 21st Street Chelsea loft that de Kooning had painted for Walter and Ellen "Pit" Auberbach.
In 1962, Edith and Rudy Burckhardt separated, at which point Edith and her young son Jacob moved to Rome. In Italy she painted and supported herself with her writing; she was the Italian art editor for the International Herald Tribune for nearly 20 years and wrote forWanted in Rome. During this time, Edith became friends with artists Cy Twombly (with whom she had an exhibition), Giulio Turcato, Paul Klerr and Peter Rockwell. She was also a longtime partner and lifelong friend of composer/performer/teacher Alvin Curran, with whom she often collaborated. Edith continued to work and paint up until she died in 2011 at the age of 92.
Edith very quickly became a part of the de Kooning/Denby Chelsea scene that included photographer/filmmaker/painter Rudy Burckhardt and the Jane Street Group around Nell Blaine. In 1947, she and Burckhardt married. Edith was "known for knowing everyone who counted in Manhattan's legendary postwar art scene" (New York Sun, 2008) and she, Burckhardt and Denby were vital components of the New York School and the loft scene of that era.
Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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