Holger Cahill Papers

id
2768
origination
Cahill, Holger, 1887-1960
date statement
1907-1983 [bulk 1942-1959]
key date
1907
identifier (local_mss)
451
org unit
Manuscripts and Archives Division
call number
MssCol 451
b-number
b11756702
total components
127
total series
0
max depth
4
boost queries
(none)
component layout
Default Layout
Extended MARC Fields
false
Extended Navigation
false
created
2013-04-01 15:04:34 UTC
updated
2026-06-26 18:16:33 UTC
status note
(missing)
Display Aeon link
true

Description data TOP

unitid
{"value"=>"MssCol 451", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"451", "type"=>"local_mss"}
unittitle
{"value"=>"Holger Cahill Papers"}
unitdate
{"value"=>"1907-1983", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1907/1983"}
{"value"=>"1942-1959", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1942/1959"}
physdesc
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"6.5 linear feet (3 cartons, 10 boxes)"}], "supress_display"=>true}
date_inclusive_start
1907
date_inclusive_end
1983
origination
{"value"=>"Cahill, Holger, 1887-1960", "type"=>"persname"}
bioghist
{"value"=>"<p>Holger Cahill (born Sveinn Kristjan Bjarnarson in Iceland) was an American novelist, curator of important art exhibitions at the Newark Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, folklorist, and national director of the Federal Arts Project, 1935-1943.</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
arrangement
{"value"=>"Five series: I. Correspondence; II. Writings; III. Biographical materials, interviews, and writings by others; IV. Photographs; V. Printed material", "supress_display"=>true}
scopecontent
{"value"=>"<p>The papers chiefly document Cahill's career as a novelist during the 1940s and 1950s. They consist of general correspondence with writers, artists, publishers and others. There is also family correspondence, 1907-1983, between Cahill and his sister Anna Johnson, his mother Vigdis Bjarnsdottir, and his second wife Dorothy Canning Miller, who was a long-time colleague at the Museum of Modern Art. In this series there is also correspondence of extraordinary interest between Anna Johnson and Dorothy Canning Miller which contains information about Cahill's birth, name and age, which is fundamentally different from the official biography. Also included are manuscript drafts of his novels, short stories, and articles; story ideas and notes; research notes; poetry and playscripts; writings by others, including Josephine Herbst and Robert A. Andrews; photographs of Cahill, members of his family and friends; and biographical material, interviews, miscellaneous clippings, and some annotated books and magazines.</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Holger Cahill Papers are arranged in six series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/451#c1102263'>I. Correspondence</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/451#c1102326'>II. Writings</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Drafts of Cahill's novels, <span class=\"title\">Look South to the Polar Star, The Stone Dreamer, The Hero, In the Desert, The Negro, Shadow of My Hand</span>; and drafts of short stories, notes, and draft story ideas.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/451#c1102339'>Biographical material</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Biography of Cahill's mother, Vigdis Bjarnsdottir; obituaries; interviews; clippings re: Cahill and his books.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/451#c1102340'>Photographs</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/451#c1102343'>Printed material</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Annotated books, farming and other pamphlets, catalogs, and other printed materials.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/451#c1102344'>Additions</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The material added to the collection in 1996 by Wendy Jeffers consists of post-card communications from and to Holger Cahill and Dorothy Canning Miller; typescripts of Cahill's writings; black and white photographs, circa 1937, of Chinese soldiers and refugees fleeing from the advancing Japanese Army, and of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iceland; black-and-white and color postcards (without text) of North Dakota, Canada, and Iceland.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
acqinfo
{"accession_number"=>"MSS 89M62"}
{"source"=>"Blumenfeld, Jane Cahill (daughter)", "address"=>"433 Washington Street, NY, NY 10013", "method"=>"Gift", "date"=>"19890710", "materials"=>"8 RC; 2 2x3 cubic ft. cartons; l AB", "value"=>"8 RC; 2 2x3 cubic ft. cartons; l AB: Gift, Blumenfeld, Jane Cahill (daughter), 19890710"}
relatedmaterial
{"value"=>"<p>Cahill's papers on art and the Federal Arts Project were given to the Archives of American Art</p>"}
langmaterial_code
ice
eng
keydate
1907
langmaterial
{"value"=>"Several letters are written in Icelandic"}
prefercite
{"value"=>"Holger Cahill Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library"}
extent_statement
6.5 linear feet (3 cartons, 10 boxes)
abstract
{"value"=>"Holger Cahill (born Sveinn Kristjan Bjarnarson in Iceland) was an American novelist, curator of important art exhibitions at the Newark Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, folklorist, and national director of the Federal Arts Project, 1935-1943. The papers chiefly document Cahill's career as a novelist during the 1940s and 1950s. They consist of general correspondence with writers, artists, publishers and others. There is also family correspondence, 1907-1983, between Cahill and his sister Anna Johnson, his mother Vigdis Bjarnsdottir, and his second wife Dorothy Canning Miller, who was a long-time colleague at the Museum of Modern Art. In this series there is also correspondence of extraordinary interest between Anna Johnson and Dorothy Canning Miller which contains information about Cahill's birth, name and age, which is fundamentally different from the official biography. Also included are manuscript drafts of his novels, short stories, and articles; story ideas and notes; research notes; poetry and playscripts; writings by others, including Josephine Herbst and Robert A. Andrews; photographs of Cahill, members of his family and friends; and biographical material, interviews, miscellaneous clippings, and some annotated books and magazines.", "generated"=>true}
date_start
1907
date_end
1983
date_bulk_start
1942
date_bulk_end
1959

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https://nyplorg-data-archives.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/collection/pdf_finding_aid/cahill.pdf

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