The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives announces the availability for research of the Joseph Breck records and the Bachstitz, Inc. records.

Joseph Breck records:
Joseph Breck (1885–1933) served The Metropolitan Museum of Art as Assistant Curator in the Department of Decorative Arts (1909-1914), Curator of the Department of Decorative Arts (1917-1933), Assistant Director of the Museum (1917-1933) and Director of The Cloisters (1932-1933). He was closely involved with the original building plans and collection arrangement for The Cloisters. Breck was associated with numerous exhibitions, most notably the Industrial Arts Exhibitions (1918-1929). Breck was responsible for many acquisitions primarily in the field of Decorative Arts. A prolific writer, he is credited with over 200 scholarly papers, pamphlets, publications, and lectures in the fields of textiles, sculpture, furniture, as well as exhibition planning, display techniques and presentation. The Joseph Breck records document his numerous roles within The Metropolitan Museum of Art and include correspondence and inter-office memos with museum staff;
correspondence with collectors, dealers and lenders of objects; reports, pamphlets, catalogs and other published materials. Finding aid: http://libmma.org/digital_files/archives/Joseph_Breck_records_b18051303.pdf

Bachstitz, Inc. records:
Art dealer Kurt Walter Bachstitz (1882-1949) was active in Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam, The Hague, and New York City through the 1920s and 1930s. His inventory featured Old Master and modern paintings, miniatures, Renaissance bronzes, Medieval objects, classical Greek and Byzantine jewelry, and Islamic glass, and his clientele included many notable private art collectors, museums, and galleries throughout Europe and the United States. The Bachstitz, Inc. records consist primarily of correspondence and administrative and financial records relating to Bachstitz’s activities as an art dealer in New York City. The bulk of the records, which date from 1929-1931 and 1936-1937, correlate with trips Bachstitz made to the United States during those years to cultivate the New York City branch of his business and a U.S. clientele. Finding aid: http://libmma.org/digital_files/archives/Bachstitz_records_b18041048.pdf.

For information about access to these collections at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives, contact archivesmetmuseum.org or visit our website at http://libmma.org/portal/museum-archives/.