Mrs. William Patten papers

id
4391
origination
Patten, Grace Bigelow
date statement
1801-1950
key date
1801
identifier (local_mss)
20398
org unit
Music Division
call number
JPB 06-51
b-number
b16552251
total components
514
total series
2
max depth
4
boost queries
(none)
component layout
Default Layout
Extended MARC Fields
false
Extended Navigation
false
created
2013-04-01 15:05:01 UTC
updated
2026-01-20 20:22:37 UTC
status note
(missing)
Display Aeon link
true

Description data TOP

physdesc
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"26.9", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"22 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
unitid
{"value"=>"JPB 06-51", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"20398", "type"=>"local_mss"}
unitdate
{"value"=>"1801-1950", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1801/1950"}
date_inclusive_start
1801
date_inclusive_end
1950
keydate
1801
unittitle
{"value"=>"Mrs. William Patten papers"}
repository
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</span> <span class=\"subarea\">Music Division.</span> <div class=\"address\"><span class=\"addressline\">New York, New York</span></div>"}
abstract
{"value"=>"The Mrs. William Patten Papers are comprised mainly of unbound scrapbook leaves containing press clippings and other materials relating to musicians active during the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century. It is probable that the materials were compiled by Grace Bigelow Patten, the wife of the editor William Patten (1868-1936). She wrote at least one of the stories which appeared in the ten-volume Junior Classics series edited by her husband and is also is known to have published magazine pieces."}
prefercite
{"value"=>"<p>Mrs. William Patten Papers, JPB 06-51. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</p>"}
origination
{"value"=>"Patten, Grace Bigelow", "type"=>"persname"}
bioghist
{"value"=>"<p>Grace Bigelow Patten was the wife of the editor William Patten (1868-1936). Patten was the son of William Swift Patten, a probable relative of the civil engineer, Joseph Gardner Swift (1783-1865), who was the brother-in-law of George Washington Whistler (who, with his second wife, Anna Matilda McNeill, were the parents of the artist James McNeill Whistler). William Patten became an art editor for Harper and Brothers at the age of twenty-three, serving from 1887 to 1890, when he went to Paris to continue his art studies. After returning to the United States, Patten began a long association (1904-1913) with the publishing house P. F. Collier and Son, where he was instrumental in the development and publication of Charles W. Eliot's landmark Harvard Classics series. Patten also edited the Junior Classics series and his wife wrote at least one of the stories (<span class=\"title\">The Wooden Horse</span>), which appeared in <span class=\"title\">Tales from Greece and Rome</span> (1912), volume three in the ten-volume set. Grace Bigelow Patten also is known to have published magazine pieces, including <span class=\"title\">A \"Bonne-a-toute-faire\"</span> (1927), an article for <span class=\"title\">New Outlook</span>. The Patten family resided in New York City for many years, but also maintained a summer home in Rhinebeck, New York, to which the couple moved following Patten's retirement, several years preceding his death in 1936. In 1940, Grace Bigelow Patten donated a collection of 155 manuscript letters by George Washington Whistler, William Henry Swift, Mary McNeill, and others to the New York Public Library.</p>"}
scopecontent
{"value"=>"<p>The Mrs. William Patten Papers are comprised mainly of unbound scrapbook leaves containing press clippings and other materials relating to musicians active during the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century. It is probable that the materials were compiled by Grace Bigelow Patten. The leaves were found in no discernible order, but have been organized by the processor alphabetically within several major categories, including composers, conductors, instrumentalists, and opera singers. The majority of individual items are articles and reproductions of photographs taken from unidentified publications, but there are a few original items of note as well, which include a handbill advertising a performance in 1801 by the English soprano, Elizabeth Billington, a handbill for a Covent Garden performance in 1816 of a work by George Frideric Handel, a probable transcription of a letter dated 1829 from George Washington Whistler (the father of the painter, James McNeill Whistler) in which he writes of Madame Catalini and other contemporary singers, and an original 1840 letter from a Swift family member to his sister regarding performances by Giula Grisi and other Italian opera singers in Paris. The collection also contains five folders of ephemera, including loose clippings, pamphlets (probable source materials for clippings), and a single unidentified photograph, which may be of Mrs. Patten's husband, the editor William Patten.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Mrs. William Patten papers are arranged in two series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/20398#c608557'>Series I. Scrapbook Leaves, and</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1801-1950</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>21 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Scrapbook Leaves series is comprised of loose leaves which primarily contain clippings of articles and images from newspapers, magazines, books, and other publications. The leaves may have been intended to be post bound into albums, but were found loose and in no clearly discernible or consistent arrangement scheme. They have been grouped alphabetically into several categories. The majority of the material relates to the history of opera and to singers who performed with the Metropolitan Opera. There also is a significant amount of material documenting instrumentalists; these leaves contain a few original programs (or parts of programs) for performances by notable pianists, including Teresa Carreño, Cécile Chaminade, Raffael Joseffy, Adele aus der Ohe, and Moriz Rosenthal. While some leaves occasionally contain a single item (such as a letter or an original handbill) that date from the early nineteenth century, the bulk of the dated material is from the 1920s and 1930s.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/20398#c609064'>Series II: Ephemera</a></div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1 box</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Ephemera series consists of five folders of loose clippings that had not yet been affixed to any scrapbook leaves, pamphlets (that may have been intended for cutting up), and a photograph of an unidentified young man in an art studio, possibly William Patten.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
arrangement
{"value"=>"<p> <ul> <li>Series I: Scrapbook Leaves, 1801-1950 and undated</li> <li>Series II: Ephemera, 1907-1939 and undated</li></ul></p>", "supress_display"=>true}
userestrict
{"value"=>"<p>For permission to publish, contact the Chief, Music Division.</p>"}
processinfo
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Helice Koffler; Machine-readable finding aid created by Helice Koffler.</p>"}
extent_statement
26.9 linear feet (22 boxes)
date_start
1801
date_end
1950

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