Antiques, 1961 - 1962

In their extensive research related to Ammi Phillips, the Holdridges corresponded with individuals in pursuit of any genealogical information related to the Phillips family, the families whose portraits he painted, sales information related to paintings in the style of Ammi Phillips, and, most extensively, with Mary Black. The Holdridges wrote lengthy, detailed, and often quite humorous letters. The story of their Ammi Phillips research is revealed thoroughly and completely through their correspondence. Every hunch, fork in the road, or true mystery is addressed in this series.

Correspondence in this series follows the Holdridges on journeys to see specific paintings and to meet the heirs of both Ammi Phillips and his portraiture subjects. Many of the files cross reference each other. For example, the Holdridges (most often Barbara, although there are a few letters from Lawrence) wrote to Mary Black about every detail of their research. Often, a particular letter will reference another individual with whom the Holdridges planned to follow a lead, and then there is a whole other set of correspondence with that individual. As such, Mary Black’s correspondence files may be treated like a sort of control group for the rest of the correspondents.

There is also extensive correspondence between the Holdridges and Robert Kimball at the Connecticut Historical Society, with Oliver Eldridge who owned the painting Harriet Campbell, Jean Lipman when she was the editor at Art in America, and Ralph D. Phillips, who contributed generous Phillips genealogical research.

The correspondence is arranged alphabetically by surname of the correspondent or the institutional name. If an individual is primarily associated with an institution, the institution is listed with the individual's surname (i.e. Jean Lipman / Art in America; William P. Campbell / National Gallery of Art). After the primary correspondents, there are alphabetical files of correspondence that consist of only two or three exchanges, followed by chronological files of single letters.