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The Bliss-Tyler Correspondence

Posted On February 03, 2014 | 15:31 pm | by lainw | Permalink

Between 1902 and 1952, the founders of Dumbarton Oaks, Mildred Barnes and Robert Woods Bliss, maintained regular correspondence with their friends Elisina and Royall Tyler. Almost one thousand of these letters are being published as an online resource: the Bliss-Tyler Correspondence.

This announcement marks the publication of the first two sections, from 1902 to 1908 and from 1909 to 1919. We see Europe before the First World War through the eyes of the budding art connoisseur Royall Tyler, while we explore the artistic landscape of galleries and auction houses in the period and learn about the active roles the Blisses and Tylers both played in wartime charities. We also meet other important figures of the time: the German Kardorff family of artists and politicians, novelist Edith Wharton, Gypsy artist and Flamenco guitarist Fabián de Castro, and Spanish man of letters Miguel de Unamuno.

The project includes historical introduction, explanatory footnotes, plates of artworks, and short annotations identifying key individuals, places, and objects. New annotations, plates, and transcriptions are added regularly. We encourage readers to return often to glimpse the unfolding of the first half of the twentieth century from the perspective of these four correspondents.