Loading...
Creator
Kennerley, Mitchell, 1878-1950
Call number
MssCol 1634
Physical description
2.5 linear feet (10 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Mitchell Kennerley papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.

Mitchell Kennerley (1878-1950) was an American publisher and art dealer. He worked for various literary magazines and published several others. From 1916 to 1929 and 1937 to 1939 he was president of the Anderson Galleries. He started the Lexington Avenue Bookshop in New York City and was involved in the Book Collectors Club of America.The collection consists of correspondence, writings, drawings, photographs, memorabilia, and printed matter related to Kennerley and his associates. Correspondence is with writers, artists, gallery owners, auctioneers, book collectors, and photographers. Writings include typescripts of articles and poems by various authors; photographs are of artists and writers; and drawings are by artists. Also, catalogs of art exhibitions and auctions, clippings and memorabilia.

Biographical/historical information

Mitchell Kennerley was born in Burslam, England in 1878, and died at New York City in 1950. At 18 he came to to New York to manage the office of a British publisher. In 1900 he became the business manager of The Smart Set. The following four years he spent as editor and proprietor of The Readers Magazine. From 1910 to 1912 he published the Papyrus and from 1910 to 1916 The Forum. During this period he was also a managing director of the printing firm of William Edward Rudge.

In 1913 he was arrested and acquitted of the charge of sending an objectionable book through the mails. He became president in 1916 of the Anderson Galleries where he remained until 1929 when the firm was purchased by the American Art Association. He returned to the galleries during 1937-1938 as president, succeeding Hiram Parke who joined with a former vice-president, Otto Bernet, to form the Parke-Bernet Galleries.

Kennerley left in 1939 to become involved in The Book Collectors Club of America. The following year he started the Lexington Avenue Bookshop.

Scope and arrangement

The collection includes correspondence with writers, artists, gallery owners, auctioneers, book collectors, photographers, and others, (including several illustrated letters by Poppet John, daughter of the English painter, Augustus John); typescripts of articles and poems by Edgar Lee Masters. Will Bradley. Witter Bynner, and others, photographs of Jerome Kern, Georgia O'Keeffe. (by Alfred Stieglitz), Edna St. Vincent .Millay, and others; drawings by Pamela Bianco, Christopher Morley, Jo Davidson and others. There also are catalogues of art exhibitions and auctions, clippings, and memorabilia. Correspondents include Jo Davidson, D. H. Lawrence, Christopher Morley, Georgia O'Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz, and John Quinn.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Mitchell Kennerley, 1935-1941

Processing information

Compiled by Richard Salvato, 1985

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328