Little Collection Catalogues and Inventories

Description

This series illustrates the different methods the Littles employed for documenting their personal collection of artwork and objects. The series includes a set of binders containing catalogue worksheets, as well as a set of card catalogues. Both cover the collections in Brookline and Essex, Massachusetts, as well as objects that the Littles disposed of during their lifetime. This series contains an abundance of information on the Littles' collection and is particularly valuable to the study of the Littles' folk art collection now maintained by Historic New England at the Cogswell's Grant property in Essex, Massachusetts. The many photographs contained herein offer a strong visual history of the collection.

Researchers interested in how the Littles amassed their collection may also wish to consult a grouping of letters and receipts related to collections purchases, which are arranged in the Nina Fletcher Little Correspondence series. This series also contains correspondence related to conservations treatments and object sales. Researchers interested in the objects from the Littles' Brookline home may also want to review two series within the Additions record group: Selina Fletcher Little compiled a photographic history of the Brookline house, focusing on the rooms and their furnishings, and the Little Auctions series contains the Sotheby's catalogues for the auctions that disposed of the Littles' Brookline collection.

The archival processor arranged the binders as one subseries and the card catalogues as another subseries.