James Parker records, 1910-2005 Finding aid prepared by Sarah Szeliga with the assistance of Alyssa Carver, Allison Cloyd, Phylicia Dolcy, Kara Flanigon, Christine McCluskey Processing of this collection was funded by a generous grant from The James Parker Charitable Foundation This finding aid was generated using Archivists' Toolkit on November 27, 2013 The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives 1000 Fifth Avenue New York, NY, 10028-0198 212-570-3937 [email protected] James Parker records, 1910-2005 Table of Contents Summary Information .......................................................................................................3 Biographical Note................................................................................................................4 Scope and Contents note.....................................................................................................7 Arrangement note................................................................................................................ 8 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 9 Related Materials .............................................................................................................. 9 Controlled Access Headings............................................................................................. 10 Collection Inventory..........................................................................................................12 Series I. Research........................................................................................................12 Series II. Galleries.......................................................................................................70 Series III. Wrightsman Collection [Museum staff access only]................................. 71 Series IV. Correspondence..........................................................................................71 Series V. Biographical Materials................................................................................ 72 - Page 2 - James Parker records, 1910-2005 Summary Information Repository The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives Title James Parker records, 1910-2005 Dates 1910-2005, n.d. Extent 37.5 Linear feet (89 boxes, 1030 folders) Language English Abstract James Parker (1924-2001) began his career as a specialist in European decorative arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1951, was appointed assistant curator in 1954, associate curator in 1962 and curator in 1968. He was appointed Curator Emeritus in 1993, upon his retirement from the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (ESDA). He specialized in French and English furniture. The James Parker Records include correspondence and memoranda, research notes, clippings and photographic materials that document Parker’s significant contributions to the Museum and to the field of European decorative arts. These records document the internal activities of ESDA and elucidate Parker’s vigorous work on major Museum acquisitions, publications, exhibitions, permanent gallery installations, and most significantly, his tireless research activities. Preferred Citation note [Title of item], [date of item], Box [number], Folder [number], James Parker records, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives - Page 3 - James Parker records, 1910-2005 Biographical Note James Parker (1924-2001) began his career as a specialist in European decorative arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1951, was appointed assistant curator in 1954, associate curator in 1962 and curator in 1968. He was appointed Curator Emeritus in 1993, upon his retirement. He specialized in French and English furniture. He was once described by a colleague as a “curator’s curator,” who quietly inspired his associates as his duties developed and expanded over the course of his four-decade career. His work entailed fastidious research, and resulted in copious notes and an abundance of decorative arts research materials that he gathered, organized, and indexed. Parker’s father, Cortlandt Parker, was a major general in the United States Army and his paternal grandfather, James Parker, served as a general as well. Both had distinguished, decorated careers in the military. His maternal grandfather, Morris Gray, had served as president of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts from 1914 to 1924. Parker was born in Boston, but due to his father's military career, his formative years were spent in many places, including Vermont, England, Hawaii, and Massachusetts. After enrolling at Harvard University to study modern European history in 1942, his college career was interrupted by a nearly two-year stint with the 38th Division of Army Field Artillery in the Pacific region. Following the end of World War II, he returned to Harvard and received his degree in 1948. Heeding the advice of the Metropolitan’s director, Francis Henry Taylor, Parker traveled abroad in 1948 to gain experience by working as an apprentice in museums across Europe. He divided the next two years interning at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, the Louvre, Paris and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. He also briefly assisted at Wiesbaden Collecting Point, a World War II restitution archival depot for recovered art objects in Germany. He enjoyed his time abroad immensely, studying under such luminaries as Pierre Verlet and Sir John Pope-Hennessey, art historians and curators at the Louvre and the Victoria and Albert, respectively. Upon his return to the States in 1951, Parker joined the Department of Renaissance and Modern Art, the decorative arts contingent of the Metropolitan- led by Preston Remington, as a curatorial assistant. In 1954 he was appointed assistant curator and in 1962 associate curator. The department name changed to Renaissance and Post-Renaissance Art (1957-1962) and to Western European Arts (1962-1978) under the leadership of John Goldsmith Phillips. In 1968, Parker was elected curator, a position he held until his retirement in 1993, when he was elected Curator Emeritus. The department continued to evolve, adopting its current nomenclature European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, and appointing Olga Raggio as chair of the department in 1971. She was the first woman to hold the post, and remained in the position until 2001. Parker’s specialization in French furnishings and interiors of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, earned him a guiding role in installing The Wrightsman Galleries, an extraordinary ensemble of period rooms. These spaces, of which were actual rooms - Page 4 - James Parker records, 1910-2005 taken from historic buildings and some recreations intended to show related works of decorative art in an authentic setting, reflect the unparalleled and encyclopedic collection of French decorative arts of two of the Museum’s greatest patrons, Charles and Jayne Wrightsman. This project occupied Parker for the better part of three decades, as various rooms were installed, refurbished and reinstalled. In 2007, the galleries’ technical infrastructure was modernized, the lighting revamped, and the objects rearranged; yet Parker’s meticulous research and work is still evident, and the galleries are among the Museum’s most renowned installations. In addition to the French period rooms, Parker supervised the installation of a number of permanent spaces devoted to English and German objects. He also played a crucial role in seamlessly integrating into the galleries collections of objects amassed and donated to the Museum by Marion E. Cohn, Lesley G. and Emma A. Sheafer, Judge Irwin Untermyer, Madame Lilliana W. Teruzzi, Jack and Belle Linsky and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, among others. Parker wrote scores of articles on subjects ranging from Rococo furniture to gilt-bronze ornaments, as well as assisting in the research and writing for several publications devoted to the Kress, Sheafer and Wrightsman collections. He lectured and served as an adjunct professor at New York University. Parker felt that the decorative arts were, in a sense, an undiscovered realm and he set out to diligently answer questions unasked within the field. His meticulous research efforts and concern for historic interiors and objects led to important findings. It was Parker, for example, who discovered that the Sagredo bedroom windows had originally been located on the opposite wall, but were interchanged during installation and relocation to allow for natural and then electric light. He truly considered the importance of adaptation and original intention with regards to Museum installations, and he attempted to impart that knowledge whenever possible. He always shared his extensive knowledge with his colleagues whether through one-on-one encounters or by way of his meticulously annotated files. Parker died on June 20, 2001 and was survived by nieces Elizabeth K. Parker and Nancy Gray Parker Wilson, and nephews, Cortlandt Jr. and Stephen Ward; as well as fourteen grandnieces and nephews. Selected Chronology 1924 Born in Boston, MA on January 22nd to Elizabeth Gray, of Boston and Cortlandt Parker, of Newark, New Jersey. Cortlandt Parker’s military career commenced upon his graduation from West Point in 1906. This led to James Parker’s itinerant childhood, and an initial upbringing at military bases Fort Myer, Virginia and Washington D.C. 1931-1933 Attended day school in London, England. 1933-1935 Attended Stanmore Park in Middlesex, England. 1936 Cortlandt Parker stationed