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Roth (Elizabeth) Research Papers on Festivals
2007.M.16
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Elizabeth Roth research papers on festivals
Creator:
Roth, Elizabeth E.
Identifier/Call Number: 2007.M.16
Physical Description:
7.1 Linear Feet
(32 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1956-2006
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Abstract: Research materials on festivals and festival books from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and other countries, assembled
by Elizabeth Roth, Keeper of Prints, Rare Books, and of the Spencer Collection at the New York Public Library.
Language of Material: Collection material is in English and German, with some French and Italian.
Gift of Elizabeth E. Roth. Acquired in 2007.
Biographical / Historical Note
Elizabeth E. Roth worked at the New York Public Library from 1944 until her retirement in 1981, serving as Keeper of Prints,
Rare Books, and of the Spencer Collection.
Born and raised in Switzerland, Elizabeth E. Roth moved to the United States in May 1939. With the help of a Swiss professor
at Brooklyn College, she attended the Institute of International Education and chose to pursue her studies at the University
of Minnesota. There, she attended the University's School of Library Science and after three years graduated with honors.
Upon graduation, Roth was offered several positions and chose to work at the New York Public Library, starting in its Central
Children's Room on Fifth and 42nd Street. In February 1947, she was offered a position as First Assistant in the Department
of Prints, and became assistant to Karl Kup, who for three decades served as the NYPL's Keeper of Prints, of the Spencer Collection,
and chief of the Art and Architecture Division. When Karl Kup retired from the NYPL in 1968, Roth took over his duties and
was appointed Keeper of Prints in 1969. She also became keeper of the library's Spencer Collection, comprised of illustrated
books, festival books, manuscripts, and fine bindings.
In 1969, Roth became a member of the Cosmopolitan Club. She was also a member of the Hroswitha Women Book Collectors Club
in New York. Women book collectors, such as Mary Hyde, were members of this club before the Grolier Club changed its rules
on the admittance of women as members.
After retiring in 1981, Roth divided her time between Zürich, Switzerland, and New York, where she was invited by Janet Byrne
to pursue research at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Print Room, and then in the Thomas
J. Watson Library, Roth prepared an annotated bibliography of festival books, a subject suggested to her by Karl Kup. In this
annotated bibliography, Roth investigated not only the Spencer Collection's rich holdings in festival books, but also those
of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Pierpont Morgan Library, Paul Gourary's collection, Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen
zu Berlin (SKB), and the Zentralbibliothek, Zürich.
Contact
Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Preliminary processing performed by Vladimira Stefura. Jasmine Larkin completed the processing and wrote the finding aid
in November 2012, under the supervision of Karen Meyer-Roux.
Elizabeth Roth research papers on festivals, 1956-2006, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2007.M.16
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2007m16
Scope and Content of Collection
The Elizabeth Roth research papers on festivals comprise Roth's extensive archive related to the preparation of her unpublished
bibliography of festival books. The materials included are card catalogs, auction catalog clippings, dealers' catalogs, articles,
conference papers, bibliographic references, and correspondence, with the bulk of the archive (30 boxes) containing notebooks
of draft entries for a bibliography of festival books.
Elizabeth Roth prepared the bibliography assessing the holdings of the following institutional and private collections: Beinecke
Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale; Biblioteca nazionale centrale di Firenze; the British Museum; the Galleria degli Uffizi,
Florence; the Getty Research Institute, Special Collections; the Hispanic Society of America, New York; Houghton Library,
Harvard; Lipperheidesche Kostümbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston;
National Gallery of Art, Washington; New York Public Library, Spencer Collection; Paul Gourary; Pierpont Morgan Library and
Museum, New York; and Staatliche Kunstbibliothek, Berlin.
Elizabeth Roth also drew extensively upon the holdings of the following book dealers:
L'art ancien, Zürich; The Bookpress Ltd., Virginia; Christie's, London; E.P. Goldschmidt & Co., London; Galerie Bassenge,
Berlin; H.P. Kraus, New York; Lathrop C. Harper, Inc.; Lucien Goldschmidt, New York; Bruce McKittrick, Philadelphia; Christian
M. Nebehay, Vienna; Hellmut Schumann, Zürich; H. Tenner, Heidelberg; Ingo Nebehay/Robert Wagner; Bernard Quaritch Ltd., London;
L.G. Roth; Libreria Antiquaria Soave, Turin; Maggs Bros. Ltd., London; Marlborough Rare Books Ltd., London; Müller-Graff;
Myers & Co., London; Paul Breman Ltd., London; Sotheby's, London; Librairie Sourget, Chartres; Stanley Gibbons Antiquarian
Books, London; Stuttgarter Antiquariats-Messe; William H. Schab Gallery, New York; William Salloch, Ossining; Swann Galleries,
New York; and Ursus Books, New York.
The research papers assembled by Elizabeth Roth attest to the detailed investigation of designers, printmakers and other creators
involved with the development of festivals in early modern Europe.
Arranged in three series: Series I. Notebooks on festival books, 1957-2006; Series II. Other research materials, 1956-2005;
Series III. Correspondence, 1981-2006.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Festivals
Festivals -- History -- Bibliography
Illustrated books -- Bibliography
Roth, Elizabeth E. -- Correspondence