Personal Papers, 1921-1991

The Joseph Blumenthal Papers spans the period from 1922 through 1991 and primarily contains correspondence, personal papers, photographs, and research and writing files that document the life and work of an American printer, printing historian, and type designer. There are no business or financial records present for the Spiral Press. The papers are organized into three series: Correspondence; Personal Papers; and Writings and Exhibitions.

Series I, Correspondence (1805-22) contains incoming letters from friends and colleagues writing on both personal and professional topics, including letters regarding his Emerson typeface. The second of the two folders holds letters that the Blumenthals received in 1990, the last year of their lives. Series III contains additional correspondence regarding the publications and exhibitions, including fan mail. Among the writers was the poet Harold Corbin, who enclosed six of his poems.

Series II, Personal Papers (1921-1990) holds the Blumenthals’ passports and visas, documents related to their two marriages, photographs of the couple alone and together, and other personal effects, including two small volumes created as personal tributes, and letters outlining their end-of-life planning. The earliest photograph is of Joseph Blumenthal dating from 1922, and the latest are color snapshots of the couple taken in April 1990. Included are images taken of the Blumenthals at their homes in Westchester County, New York, and in West Cornwall, Connecticut, as well as during their travels in Germany in the 1930s. Also present are formal portraits of Joseph Blumenthal taken by Arnold Newman and Robert Nacht, and individual portraits of the couple made about 1930 by Hermine Turner, the daughter and studio successor of noted portraitist Gertrude Käsebier.

Series III, Writings and Exhibitions (1953-1990) contains a variety of manuscripts, typescripts, clipped reviews, correspondence, and research files related to Joseph Blumenthal’s career as a printer and printing historian. Projects documented here range from a lecture delivered at the Frick Museum to publications and exhibitions with printed catalogues. Also here are a set of profiles Blumenthal wrote on the libraries in his region, the northwest corner of Connecticut, for his local newspaper. The most complete set of files exists for his final project, a biography of the book designer Bruce Rogers, and contains his research files including photocopies of letters written by Rogers to Henry Bullen, Crosby Gaige, Porter Garnett, George Macy, Carl Rollins, among others, as well as Blumenthal’s correspondence with W. Thomas Taylor regarding production and distribution of the volume.