Records of Estate of Elmer Adler, 1934-1964

 

RLIN ID No.

NYGG01-A14

 

Creator

Adler, Elmer, 1884-1962.

 

Title

Collection of papers relating to the estate of  Elmer Adler, 1934-1964; (bulk 1962-1964).

 

Physical Description 

1 box (.25 linear ft.) 

4 photographs (20 cm. X 25 cm.)

 

Historical/Biographical Note

Elmer Adler worked in his family’s clothing firm in Rochester, New York while developing an avocation as a book and print collector. In 1922 he came to New York City and established the Pynson Printers (named for the sixteenth century printer Richard Pynson), and began to make a reputation as a book designer. He served as a typographic consultant to several magazines and to The New York Times.  From 1930 to 1940 Adler published The Colophon: a Book Collector’s Quarterly. In 1940 he was invited to establish a Department of Graphic Arts at Princeton University. In 1955, three years after his retirement, Adler was asked to establish an art-of-the-book program in Puerto Rico.  La Casa del Libro, a museum and design center, opened in 1956, and Adler was associated with it until his death. He died on 11 January 1962.

 

Scope and Contents

Correspondence of executors of the Adler estate, Grolier Club members John M. Crawford and Edward Naumberg, with law firms of Strasser, Spiegelberg, Fried & Frank (1962-1964), including financial material. Also printed ephemera, including tributes and obituaries, photographs of Adler and of Casa del Libro in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The ephemera includes a small amount of material from Pynson Printers. Also letters of thanks from recipients of Norman H. Strouse’s The Lengthened Shadow.

 

Finding Aid Note 

Unpublished inventory available in repository; folder level control.

 

Names

Crawford, John , 1913-

Naumberg, Edward.

Strouse, Norman H. The Lengthened Shadow.

 

Genre

Photographs.

 

Occupation (as reflected in collection)

Printers. United States. 20th century.

 

Location

Grolier Club, 47 East 60th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022

Collection Inventory

 

f.1          Correspondence between Executors John M. Crawford and Edward Naumberg.

 

f.2          Correspondence with law firm of Strasser, Spiegelberg, Fried & Frank, with other miscellaneous letters. Includes financial statements and lists of investments held by the estate.

 

f.3          Pynson Printers.  Printed ephemera including some for The Colophon: a Book Collector’s Quarterly [The Pynson Printers was founded by EA in 1922 and published The Colophon between 1930 and 1940].

 

f.4          Norman H. Strouse, The Lengthened Shadow of One Man [address by NHS at the opening of an exhibit of modern fine printing at the Grolier Club, 1960]. Letters of thanks from recipients, 1960-1961.

 

f.5          La Casa del Libro. Printed ephemera; photographs. Includes one photograph of Robert Taylor inspecting work in progress on building 15 February 1957 taken by Alex Wainwright.

 

f.6          Tributes to EA on his retirement from Princeton University (1952) and at his death (1962):

Princeton Library Chronicle for Winter 1962 and Spring 1963

Lawrence Thompson. Elmer Adler at Princeton: a Tribute. April 1952. Also dinner invitations from Friends of Princeton University Library and Memorial service held at Temple B’rith Kodesh, Rochester, New York on 26 January 1962.

 

f.7          Photographs of Adler:

2—8x10” B&W portrait photographs by Jack Delano dated 26 October 1961

1—8x10” color photograph dated 19 October 1959

1—8x10” photograph of dinner of Present Day Club of Princeton with Adler dated 1 May 1952.

 

f.8          Benjamin Goldstein to Adler. Letter regarding book by Max Landsberg. 24 June 1954. TLS 1p.

 

f.9          Obituary notices and Dictionary of American Biography article by James R. Vitelli (1981)