Summary
Overview
Garrett,
Robert, b. 1875.
1901-1992 (mostly 1920-1945)
2.3 linear feet, 3 archival boxes, 1 record center carton
Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare
Books and Special Collections
Manuscripts Division
One Washington Road
Princeton, New Jersey 08544 USA
Abstract
The Robert Garrett Papers consists of correspondence and documents primarily
concerning the Robert Garrett Collection and other collecting interests of Garrett,
Princeton Class of 1897.
Description
Description
Consists of correspondence, financial material, and printed matter of Garrett
(Princeton Class of 1897). The collection contains correspondence between
Garrett and Ernest Cushing Richardson, Harry Clemons, and James Thayer Gerould
of the Princeton University Library regarding his gift (1942) of mainly Islamic
books and manuscripts; correspondence, invoices, and lists of purchases from
rare books and manuscripts dealers, including Bernard Quaritch, Ltd.;
correspondence with William Gates concerning the Mesoamerican Manuscripts
Collection; correspondence concerning the University Committee on Humanistic
Collections; and offprints of articles about the Garrett Collection. Additional
correspondence (1941-1942) of Robert Garrett with Philip K. Hitti, A. S. Yahuda,
Harold W. Dodds, and Julian P. Boyd concerns the Yahuda Collection of Islamic
Manuscripts.
In addition, there is a folder of Garrett correspondence with R. E. Brunnow, E.
C. Richardson, and others, concerning the acquisition of Babylonian clay tablets
(1911-1945). Additional provenance files are housed at the end of the
collection.
Collection Creator
Biography
Robert Garrett was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on June 24, 1875. Garrett inherited
his collecting interest from his father, Thomas Harrison Garrett, Princeton Class of
1868. After his father's sudden death in 1888, Garrett spent the following two and a
half years traveling extensively with his mother and two brothers, Horatio and John,
in Europe and the Near East. During his travels Garrett developed a particular
interest in manuscripts and began collecting. He used the text Universal Paleography: or, Fac-similes of Writing of All Nations and
Periods by J. B. Silvestre (tr. by Sir Frederic Madden, London, 1949-50)
as his guide for collecting primary examples of every known type of script.
Garrett returned to the United States in 1891 and soon after began his studies at
Princeton University. He received his A.B. degree from Princeton in 1897. While in
school, Garrett excelled in track and field athletics. In 1896 he competed in the
first modern Olympic games in Athens, Greece, where he became the first champion in
discus and shot put.
After graduation he continued on in the family banking firm, Robert Garrett &
Sons, in Baltimore, Maryland. However, he maintained very close contact with his
alma mater and in 1905 was elected a Life Trustee of Princeton University.
Throughout his career Garrett also remained dedicated to his collecting hobby. He
maintained from the beginning that his collection would one day be given to the
Princeton University Library so that it would always be connected with academic
research. He donated the bulk of his collection to the Princeton University Library
in 1942. Robert Garrett died on April 25, 1961, in Baltimore, Maryland. In the end
he had amassed a collection of over 11,000 volumes of Western and non-Western
manuscripts, fragments, and scrolls, originating from Europe, the Near East, Africa,
Asia and Mesoamerica, ca. 1340 B.C.-1900s.
Collection History
Acquisition
Gift of Robert Garrett, Mrs. Emanuel Petitpas, and Josephine Petitpas. Additions
transferred from James Weinberger Near East Collections.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Teresa T. Basler
in 2003. Finding aid written by
Teresa T. Basler in 2003.
Bibliography
Dodds, Harold W. “The Garrett Collection of Manuscripts: Acceptance of the
Collection by President Dodds,” Princeton University
Library Chronicle 3, no. 4 (June 1942), pp. 113-130. (this issue also
contains articles about other aspects of the Garrett Collection).
Garrett, Robert. “Recollections of a Collector,” Princeton
University Library Chronicle 10, no. 3 (April 1949)
Skemer, Don C. “The Garrett Collection Revisited,” Princeton University Library Chronicle 56, no. 3, pp. 420-28.
William, Harold A. Robert Garrett & Sons Incorporated:
Origins and Development, 1840-1965. Baltimore: n.p., 1965.
Access and Use
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research use.
Use Restrictions
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication
of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University
Library does not own the original. Permission to publish material from the
collection must be requested from the Associate University Librarian for Rare
Books and Special Collections. The library has no information on the status of
literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for
determining any questions of copyright.
Preferred Citation
Robert Garrett Papers; 1901-1992 (mostly 1920-1945), Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
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