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Title: Elise S. Haas Papers
Dates: 1921-1991 (bulk 1950-1975)
Collection Number: ARCH.COLL.001
Creator/Collector:
Haas, Elise S., 1893-1990
Extent: 2.4 linear feet (2 cartons)
Repository:
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco, California 94103
Abstract: Contains personal papers of Elise Stern Haas related exclusively to her over fifty year relationship with the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art and the management and assembly of her private art collection. Records include correspondence, shipping
receipts, financial records, and photographs.
Language of Material: English
Collection is available for use. Some materials are restricted for confidentiality or condition.
For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the SFMOMA Archives.
[Identification of item], [folder title and year], Elise S. Haas Papers, 1921-1991, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Archives.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Elise S. Haas Papers complement the collection of Elise Stern Haas Family Papers, 1789-1992 housed at the Bancroft Library,
University of California, Berkeley, but focus specifically on her relationship with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
(SFMOMA) and the assembling and management of her art collection. The records are divided into two series, distinctly documenting
her art collection and her involvement with SFMOMA (called the San Francisco Museum of Art until 1975 and referred to in most
of the records as SFMA).
The SFMOMA records are further divided into three subseries reflecting three significant roles Haas played in the governance
of the museum, the establishment of the conservation laboratory, and as an active contributor to museum planning, activities,
and exhibitions.
The Conservation Laboratory subseries includes correspondence and financial reports related to the establishment of the conservation
laboratory at SFMOMA, named the Elise S. Haas Conservation Studio in honor of its early supporter.
The Museum Governance subseries includes materials from Haas’ participation and leadership in the Board of Trustees and the
Women’s Board, and also contains records from special committees and other local arts advisory boards. The Women’s Board/Board
of Trustees file contains a print of a 1964 design for a new museum building on Beach St. by architect Claude Oakland, created
at the request of the Board of Trustees via Joseph Eichler of Eichler Homes.
The Museum Planning and Activities subseries contains records about Haas’ relationship with the museum since the 1940s, including
various fundraising efforts, the search committees for replacement of directors George Culler and Gerald Nordland, and correspondence
with private art collectors on behalf of the museum to negotiate loans and donations of works.
The Art Collection series contains correspondence, photographs, loan forms, and insurance records related to Haas’ private
art collection. The majority of correspondence concerns loaning and creating reproductions of works in the collection. Loans,
exhibitions, and gifts to SFMOMA were maintained distinctly from other similar records, and folders are labeled as such. After
damage to one of the paintings loaned to the 1970 Matisse Centennial exhibition in Paris, Haas and her husband, Walter A.
Haas, maintained a strict policy of never loaning their works outside of San Francisco, and much of the post-1971 loan correspondence
reiterates this policy. The Artworks Considered and Not Bought files contain photographs and correspondence with galleries
and art dealers, and document some of the decision-making involved in assembling the Haas collection.
Haas’ original folder titles have been maintained where appropriately descriptive of folder contents; some folder titles were
created when none existed or have been amended for accuracy and consistency. Series and subseries are arranged hierarchically,
and folders within series and subseries are arranged alphabetically.
Art—Collectors and collecting—California—San Francisco
Art, Modern—20th century
Art museum directors
Art museums—Collection management
Museums—Acquisitions
Women art collectors
Haas, Elise S., 1893-1990
Haas, Walter A., 1889-1979
San Francisco Museum of Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art—Archives
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art—Board of Trustees