Reminiscences of David M. Solinger, 1989.

Biographical Note

Attorney, Art collector.

Scope and Contents

Family background; B.A., Cornell University, member, Zeta Beta Tau; summer research, Oxford University; Columbia University Law School; recollections of professors; views on education, religion; attorney, Oppenheimer, Kaufman, Haiblum and Kupfer; counsel for First Army and Eastern Defense Command, World War II: Price Code, voluntary censorship; partner, Solinger and Gordon, 1952- ; discussion of trial and probate law, entertainment law, billing; organizaton of Friends of the Whitney Museum of American Art [Friends], 1956; president, Whitney Museum of American Art [Whitney Museum], 1966-1974; expansion of Whitney Museum, 1956 to present: acquisitions, membership, corporate structure, financing of Breuer building, 1966, Whitney Museum National Committee; Chairman, Friends Acquisition Committee: evolution of Whitney acquisition policy; museum operations: Whitney Museum, others; Whitney Museum/ Museum of Modern Art relationship; introduction of corporate funding; dissolution of Friends, 1967; Whitney Museum public relations: branch museums, travelling curators, blockbuster shows; board member, American Federation of Arts, 1953- ; chairman, Advisory Council, Johnson Museum, Cornell University, 1973-88; private art showings and acquisitions, 1950s; tour of private collection; recollections of Thomas N. Armstrong, Lloyd Goodrich, Flora Whitney Miller, Willem de Kooning, Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, Whitney Family, Whitney Museum Associates, trustees.

Subjects

• American Federation of Arts--Interviews.
• Art, American--20th century.
• Art--Collectors and collecting.
• Art--Private collections.
• Art dealers.
• Art museums--Employees--Interviews.
• Art museums--Public relations.
• Arts--Management.
• Arts fund raising.
• Columbia University--Alumni and alumnae--Interviews.
• Cornell University--Alumni and alumnae--Interviews.
• De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997.
• Gardner, Joel, interviewer.--http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/ivr
• Goodrich, Lloyd, 1897-1987.
• Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art--Interviews.
• Interviews.
• Law.
• Lawyers--Interviews.
• Miller, Flora Whitney.
• Museum finance.
• Museums--Acquisitions.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Practice of law--New York (State)--New York.
• Solinger, David M., 1906-1996--Interviews.
• Whitney Museum of American Art--Interviews.
• Whitney Museum of American Art. Friends--Interviews.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2022