Records of Edwin Alfred Grenville Manton

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute:

A Guide to the Records of Edwin Alfred Grenville Manton 1927-2005

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
225 South St. Williamstown, MA 01267

March 31, 2009

Arrangement of the Papers

Scope and Contents of the Records

Born January 22 1909 in Essex, England, 20 miles from Constable's birth place, Edwin "Jim" / "Jimmy" Alfred Grenville Manton grew up and was educated in Britain. In 1933 he joined the fledgling American International Underwriter group in New York as a casualty underwriter. He rose through the company to become Vice President in 1938, President between 1942 and 1969, Chairman between 1969 and 1975 and Senior Advisor from 1975 until his death in October 2005. He was a lifelong collector of British art, notably Constable. In 1988 he established the American Fund for the Tate Gallery with an endowment of $6.5 million. He made further gifts in 1992 and 1997, totaling tens of millions of dollars, towards the centenary development and other projects at Tate Britain. He was knighted in 1994. In June 2007 the Manton Foundation donated a significant collection of British paintings, oil sketches, watercolors, and other works on paper by J.M.W. Turner, John Constable, and Thomas Gainsborough to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. The Foundation also contributed $50 million to endow the Clark's Research and Academic Program. This series contains records relating to objects which do not belong to that gift to the Clark; much of the content is correspondence of one sort or another. This series is a small subsection of Manton's extant records and since the content was drawn from a larger collection of documents and was compiled and assembled in piecemeal fashion, the materials are loosely arranged. Some folders contain clusters of correspondence with an individual or institution or refer to an object. The records include: correspondence with art dealers, especially Oscar and Peter Johnson, Ackerman and Johnson, Leger Galleries, Spink and Sons, Spink-Leger, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries; correspondence with art historians, notably Leslie Parris who worked with and for Manton to produce a catalogue of Manton's Constable collection; correspondence with other people involved with the project to produce a catalogue of Manton's Constable collection; correspondence (a few letters) with Sir Nicholas Serota and other officials and directors at the (then) Tate Gallery; correspondence with several national art galleries about potential loans for public art exhibitions (Yale Center for British Art, National Gallery, London, National Gallery, Washington); color slides and photographs of objects which, for the most part, Manton decided not to purchase; invoices and receipts from art dealers for objects which Manton purchased; correspondence with the Art Loss Register and Kroll Associates, a private investigation company which attempted to recover Manton's lost art; correspondence with security consultants and insurers; letters of thanks which Manton received from the recipients of his Constable catalogue; page proofs for the Constable catalogue; page proofs from the Constable supplement catalogue; newspapers and newspaper clippings relating to Constable and his work and to repatriated works of art taken by the Nazis; AIG brochures; records of art works for insurance purposes; correspondence with the Salmagundi Club concerning an exhibit of John Constable works belonging to Manton.

History of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute

In 1950 Sterling and Francine Clark chartered the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute as a home for their extensive art collection. Opened to public in 1955, the Institute has built upon this extraordinary group of works to become one of the most beloved and respected art museums in the world, known for its intimate galleries and stunning natural environment. One of the few institutions in the United States that combines a public art museum with a complement of research and academic programs, including a major art history library, the Clark is now a leading international center for research and discussion on the nature of art and art history. Building upon the founders' legacy, the Institute has recently unveiled its master plan for the twenty-first century, which fosters the Clark's commitment to providing space for its expanding research and museum programs while maintaining the unique character of its beautiful rural setting.

Index Terms

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

This material is currently restricted.

Restrictions on Use

This material is currently restricted.

Administrative Information

Custodial History

The materials were held by the Manton Foundation before being donated to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in June 2007.

Preferred Citation

A Guide to the Records of Edwin Alfred Grenville Manton 1927-2005, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Records, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Acquisition Information

In June 2007 the Manton Foundation donated a significant collection of British paintings, oil sketches, watercolors, and other works on paper by J.M.W. Turner, John Constable, and Thomas Gainsborough to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute and contributed $50 million to endow the Clark's Research and Academic Program. A substantial number of Manton's office records also formed part of the gift. These materials were separated out so that any records relating to objects which the Foundation had donated to the Clark were removed and rehoused in the Clark Registrar's files; the remaining records make up this series. The materials were acquired in September 2008.

Processing Information

The records in this series were processed in October 2008. Staples and paper clips were removed and the materials were re-housed in acid free folders and boxes.

Related Material

Separated Material

A number of records relating to objects which form part of the Manton Foundation gift to the Clark were separated and housed with the Registrar’s files.

A number of materials were separated and placed in the Clark Library collection. At the time that these items were accessioned, a note was added to each catalogue entry to indicate that the materials originally formed part of this series.

During the initial process of transferring these materials from the Manton Foundation to the Clark, a number of documents became separated from the main sequence. These items have been placed at the end of this series and are arranged alphabetically by author. The following list gives a brief bibliographical description of each item: