Rose Cumming, Russell L. Cecil, and affiliated families photographs and papers
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Family photographs, letters, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, and ephemera documenting the lives and careers of Australian-American sisters Rose Stuart Cumming (1887–1968), a groundbreaking interior decorator; Dorothy Cumming (1894–1983), a silent film actress best known for playing the Virgin Mary in Cecil B. DeMille's "King of Kings" (1927); and Eileen Cumming Cecil (1892–1982), a writer, advertising executive, and designer, who married noted rheumatologist and medical textbook author Dr. Russell LaFayette Cecil (1881–1965). Of note are the photographs of interiors decorated by Rose Cumming, a scrapbook of Florsheim Shoes advertisements by Eileen Cumming Associates, and a booklet of production stills from "King of Kings." The collection includes a small group of textile samples made by Rose Cumming Chintzes that reproduces some of Rose's original floral designs.
Biographical / Historical
This collection centers on the lives and intertwined careers of three talented Australian-American sisters, Rose, Eileen, and Dorothy Cumming, daughters of sheep rancher Victor Cumming and his wife, Sarah (Fennell) (Hughes) Cumming, who arrived in the United States during the second decade of the twentieth century.
The eldest, and perhaps best known, Rose Stuart Cumming (1887–1968), became an interior decorator on the advice of Vanity Fair editor Frank Crowninshield. After an apprenticeship Rose opened her own shop in 1921, and was based for a long time at 515 Madison Avenue in Manhattan before moving to 499 Park Avenue six years before her death. At a time in the 1920s, '30s, and beyond, when tastes ran towards Louis XV and English Georgian antique furniture, her unorthodox use of chinoiserie, smoked mirrors, lacquered surfaces, and self-designed chintz fabrics drew such celebrity clients as the actresses Marlene Dietrich, Mary Pickford, and Norma Shearer. Rose displayed her best merchandise in her shop windows, which she left illuminated at night, a trick of salesmanship she is credited with pioneering.
The second sister, Eileen Cumming Cecil (1892–1982), was also attracted by interior decorating, and wrote on the subject for Vogue and House Beautiful, among other publications, where she often profiled—and advertised—her sister Rose's work. Adam Gimbel, of the Gimbel Brothers department store chain, tapped Eileen to design an elegant image for his company's Saks Fifth Avenue venture. She headed her own advertising firm, Eileen Cumming Associates, and for three years, beginning in 1933, managed advertising for Bonwit Teller. After her sister, Rose, died in 1968, Eileen assumed the presidency of Rose Cumming, Inc., and continued the fabric and antiques business with her granddaughter, Sarah Cumming Cecil. In 1923 Eileen married Dr. Russell LaFayette Cecil (1881–1965), a founder and president of the American Rheumatism Association (now American College of Rheumatology) and author of the widely-used Textbook of Medicine, first released in 1927 and now past its 25th edition. Eileen and Russell Cecil had one child, the architect Russell Cumming Cecil (1926–2009).
Dorothy (Cumming) (Elliott) McNab (1894–1983), the youngest of the Cumming sisters, was an actress and playwright best known for her portrayal of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in Cecil B. DeMille's 1927 epic "The King of Kings." Her play, "The Woman Brown," ran for eleven performances in December 1939 at New York's Biltmore Theatre. She was married and divorced twice, first to Frank Elliott Dakin (a.k.a. Frank Elliott), a stage director by whom she had two sons (who used their mother's maiden name): Greville C. E. Cumming (1922–1944) and Anthony F. Cumming (1924– ). Her second husband was Duncan Allan McNab (a.k.a. Allan McNab), a British artist and designer. Dorothy shared her sisters' penchant for finery, and established a business, Dorothy McNab Ltd.—"Fabulous Fabrics, Feminine Fashions"—at her home in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
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Information on the Cumming sisters and Dr. Cecil is drawn from material in the collection and from their obituaries in the New York Times: "Dr. Russell Cecil, Arthritis Expert" (June 2, 1965); "Rose Cumming, 81, Decorator of 'Ancestral' Interiors, Dead" (March 23, 1968); "Eileen Cecil, Interior Decorator" (September 9, 1982); "Dorothy C. M'Nab" (December 31, 1983). For more on the family, their work and activities, see the copy of Jeffrey Simpson's 2012 book Rose Cumming: Design Inspiration, which has been annotated and corrected by Eileen's granddaughter, Sarah Cumming Cecil, in box 1, folder 13.
Arrangement
The collection is organized in two series, each divided in four sub-series. Material within each sub-series is sorted alphabetically by document type or topic.
Series I. Cumming family photographs and papers, 1870s-2012
Sub-series I.A. Rose Stuart Cumming, 1890s-2012
Sub-series I.B. Dorothy (Cumming) (Elliott) McNab and husbands, 1915-1978
Sub-series I.C. Greville and Anthony Cumming (sons of Dorothy Cumming), 1920s-1970s
Sub-series I.D. Other Cumming and related families, 1870s-1943
Series II. Cecil family photographs and papers, 1872-2003
Sub-series II.A. Russell LaFayette Cecil, 1880s-1975
Sub-series II.B. Eileen Cumming Cecil, 1890s-1982
Sub-series II.C. Russell Cumming Cecil, 1920s-2003
Sub-series II.D. Other Cecil and related families, 1872-1986
Scope and Contents
The photographs, letters, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, and ephemera in the present collection originated with four key, related individuals—the Cumming sisters Rose, Dorothy, and Eileen, and Eileen's husband, Dr. Russell L. Cecil. Eileen appears to have been the clan's unofficial record keeper, preserving material from her own and her husband's family. Although the collection spans the late nineteenth through the early twenty-first centuries, its coverage is woefully spotty. Diaries are fragmentary. Letters, especially those from Dorothy Cumming, are usually incomplete, lacking either their initial pages or subsequent sheets. Many photographs are unidentified and undated. The material overlaps from person to person in the way common to records of a close-knit family.
Of chief interest are the photographs of interiors decorated by Rose Stuart Cumming, a 1920s or '30s booklet advertising her specialties, and a guided tour/inventory of the contents of her residence at 36 West 53rd Street, which, like all of her homes, functioned as a showroom. Some youthful scrapbooks include doodles and more accomplished drawings, perhaps the beginnings of her artistic aspirations. Also present is a small group of textile samples, some with tags indicating they were produced by "Rose Cumming Chintzes," the company that succeeded Rose's business and reproduced her patterns. (See Sub-series I.A)
A booklet of publicity stills, and a number of photographs, show actress Dorothy Cumming costumed for her best-known role as the Virgin Mary in Cecil B. DeMille's 1927 silent epic "King of Kings." (See Sub-series I.B)
Letters and photographs from Dorothy's sons, Anthony "Tony" Cumming and Greville Cobbett Elliott Cumming document their time in the armed services during World War II, Tony in the U.S. Marines, and Greville in the King's Royal Rifle Corps of the British Army. Greville died, tragically, during the Battle of Anzio on February 28, 1944, when he was just twenty-one. A memorial booklet in the collection includes a biography of Greville by Vanity Fair editor Frank Crowninsheild. (See Sub-series I.C.)
The Cumming sisters' parents, Victor and Sarah (Fennell) (Hughes) Cumming, are represented by scattered letters, newspaper clippings, and photographs, as are Sarah's children by her first marriage, Marjorie (Hughes) Loney and Jack Hughes. (See Sub-series I.D.)
Beyond a few journal articles, and three folders of autobiographical material, the collection contains virtually none of Dr. Russell L. Cecil's professional writing. Most of his included letters and photographs are of a familial nature. Of interest to golf enthusiasts is a diary of Dr. Cecil's scores and performances kept between 1950 and 1963. (See Sub-series II.A.)
Similarly, the professional life of Dr. Cecil's wife, Eileen Cumming Cecil, is documented by a handful of items: tear sheets of interior decorating articles she wrote in the 1920s for House Beautiful and Vogue, and a miniature 1927 pamphlet entitled "The Place of the Fashion Magazine," which reprints the text of a lecture that she delivered for the Department of Fine Arts of New York University. A scrapbook gathers Florsheim Shoes advertisements publicized by her firm, Eileen Cumming Associates, probably in the 1930s. (See Sub-series II.B.)
Russell Cumming Cecil, son and only child of Dr. Russell L. and Eileen Cumming Cecil, was an architect, but the only item of professional interest among his scattered letters, photographs, and youthful school essays in the collection is a December 1972 House & Garden profile of a house he designed for Wilfred Cohen on Long Island Sound. Russell C. Cecil's son, Dr. Russell N. A. Cecil, corresponded in 1999 with Dr. James A. Pitman of the University of Alabama who was writing a paper on textbooks of internal medicine and sought to include information on Dr. Russell L. Cecil's 1927 Textbook of Medicine. (See Sub-series II.C.)
The extended Cecil family—Russell L. Cecil's parents, the Presbyterian minister Rev. Russell Cecil and his wife, Alma (Miller) Cecil; his siblings, John Howe Cecil Sr., James McCosh Cecil, Alma (Cecil) Cary, and Elizabeth (Cecil) Scott; and assorted nieces and nephews—are documented by scattered letters, photographs, and newspaper clippings. (See Sub-series II.D.)
Subjects
Families
Genres
People
Topics
Conditions Governing Access
Open to qualified researchers by appointment only. The collection includes one motion picture film (Box 4, Folder 22) and two reels of audiotape (Box 5, Folders 14-15). These are restricted until they have been preservation reformatted. In any case, N-YHS lacks the equipment required to play them.
Conditions Governing Use
Permission to reproduce any Department of Prints, Photographs and Architectural Collections holdings through publication must be obtained from:
Rights and Reproductions
The New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024
Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 270
Email: rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as the "Rose Cumming, Russell L. Cecil, and Affiliated Families Photographs and Papers, PR-393, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society."
Credit line for exhibitions: "Sarah C. Cecil in memory of her father, Russell Cumming Cecil."
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Sarah C. Cecil, 2019 (accession no. PPAC.2019.029).
About this Guide
Processing Information
Archivst Joseph Ditta arranged and described this collection in October-December 2019.
Repository
Series I. Cumming family photographs and papers, 1870s-2012, inclusive
Arrangement
Series I is organized in four sub-series. Material within each sub-series is sorted alphabetically by document type or topic.
Sub-series I.A. Rose Stuart Cumming, 1890s-2012
Sub-series I.B. Dorothy (Cumming) (Elliott) McNab and husbands, 1915-1978
Sub-series I.C. Greville and Anthony Cumming (sons of Dorothy Cumming), 1920s-1970s
Sub-series I.D. Other Cumming and related families, 1870s-1943
Sub-series I.A. Rose Stuart Cumming, 1890s-2012, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Sub-series I.A includes photographs, letters, newspaper clippings, and ephemera relating to interior decorator Rose Stuart Cumming (1887–1968). Of particular interest are the photographs of rooms she furnished (box 1, folders 26–27; box 8, folders 1–5), many of which came from deteriorated scrapbooks, where they were unidentified. A number, however, are reproduced in Jeffrey Simpson's 2012 book Rose Cumming: Design Inspiration, a copy of which may be found in box 1, folder 13. See, too, the vintage booklet "Rose Cumming, Designer of Interiors" (box 1, folder 14), Karl Freund's guided tour/inventory of "The Brownstone House of Rose Cumming, 36 West 53rd Street" (box 1, folder 15), and the Parke-Bernet Galleries 1968 auction catalog of her personal property (box 1, folder 11). The fabric samples in box 2 appear to originate with Rose Cumming Chintzes, a successor business that reproduced and marketed her designs.
Anzac Dinner, 1942, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Rose Cumming, with her sister, Eileen, under the auspices of the Anzac Division of the British War Relief Society, organized a dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria to mark Anzac Day in tribute to Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations." ("ANZAC" stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.) Contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, and five copies of the program/menu.
Article: Augusta Owen Patterson, "The Grand Manner in a Triplex," Town & Country, 1947 April, inclusive
Article: Rose Cumming, "A Door Always Open", 1964, inclusive
Scope and Contents
A photocopy of Rose's chapter contributed to The Finest Rooms, By America's Great Decorators (New York: Viking Press, 1964).
Article: Jeffrey Simpson, "Rose Cumming Chintzes -- Honoring the Past," New York Times Magazine, 1980 September 28
Article: David Grafton, "Cafe Society: When Going Out Was Great", [1987?], inclusive
Scope and Contents
Photographs by Jerome Zerbe, a friend of Cumming girls, according to a note on the article.
Article: Mark Hampton, "Grandes Dames of Decorating," House & Garden, 1990 May, inclusive
Article: Jared Du Pont Goss, "Designing Women," Decor, 1995 April / May, inclusive
Article: Arthur Lubow, "Arbus Reconsidered," New York Times Magazine (2 copies), 2003 September 14
Scope and Contents
Rose Cumming's name is visible in photograph of Diane Arbus appointment book from 1959 (p. 40).
Article: John Esten, "Park Avenue Rose," Quest, 2005 March, inclusive
Article: Linda E. Clopton, "By Any Other Name: Rose Cumming, Ltd., American Beauty", undated, inclusive
Auction catalog, 1968 October 19
Scope and Contents
Parke-Bernet Galleries catalog of "English & Continental Eighteenth Century Furniture & Other Decorative Furniture, Old Master Paintings, Decorations, The Personal Property of the Late Rose Cumming."
Book: John Kobler, Otto the Magnificent: The Life of Otto Kahn (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons), 1988, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Kobler dispells the rumor that Rose Cumming was Otto Kahn's mistress.
Book: Jeffrey Simpson, Rose Cumming: Design Inspiration (Rizzoli), 2012, inclusive
Scope and Contents
With an introduction by Rose's grandniece and business successor, Sarah Cumming Cecil (granddaughter of Eileen Cumming Cecil), who has annotated and corrected this copy.
Booklet: "Rose Stuart Cumming, Designer of Interiors", [1920s-1930s], inclusive
"The Brownstone House of Rose Cumming, 36 West 53rd Street", [1960?], inclusive
Scope and Contents
Multiple copies of Karl Freund's guided tour / inventory of Rose Cumming's residence.
Chinese paper mats, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Colorful paper mats, perhaps originally intended for spiritual devotions, from a folder marked "Rose made placemats from these -- bought in Chinatown, NYC."
Ephemera, 1899-1942, 1987, inclusive
Fabric samples, 1978, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Nine fabric samples, some with tags for "Rose Cumming Chintzes" (one bears a copyright date of 1978), and seven small, striped slipcovers or antimacassars.
Letters, 1905-1912, inclusive
Letters from "Gilbert", 1912-1913, undated, inclusive
Letters, 1913-1920, inclusive
Letters, 1921-1928, inclusive
Letters, 1933-1968, inclusive
Letters (undated), undated, inclusive
Letters of condolence to sister, Eileen Cumming Cecil, 1968 February-March, inclusive
Newspaper clippings, 1926-1979, undated, inclusive
Printing plate: "Rose Cumming" stationery, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Printing plate with facsimile signature of Rose Cumming, 515 Madison Avenue, Specialist in Decoration, Antiques, Bibelots, Reproductions of Antique Wallpapers and Chintzes. Materials Wholesale and Retail.
Photographs, interiors (scrapbook) (2 folders), undated, inclusive
Photographs, interiors (loose) (2 folders), undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Includes images by Mattie Edwards Hewitt, more of which may be found in the New-York Historical Society's Mattie E. Hewitt & Richard A. Smith Photograph Collection, PR-26.
Photographs, interiors: Cecil residence, 535 Park Avenue, undated, inclusive
Photographs, interiors: Cecil residence, 153 East 61st Street (magazine tear sheets), [1930s?], inclusive
Photographs, interiors: Rose Cumming shop, East 59th Street (transparencies), 1978-2008, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Bill Kontzias, photographer, "R. Cumming transparencies of original shop in NYC Fine Arts Building, East 59th Street."
Photographs: "Green Shutters," South Main Street, Southampton, New York, undated, inclusive
Photographs: 499 Park Avenue (location of Rose Cumming shop), 1978 April 3
Photographs, personal, circa 1905-1966, inclusive
Photographs, personal, undated, inclusive
Portrait (charcoal), undated, inclusive
Portrait (pastel), 1923, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Framed, oval, pastel portrait of Rose Cumming by Jean Eritziane (1850-1925).
Portrait (watercolor), undated, inclusive
Conditions Governing Access
This portrait survives in multiple, fragile pieces. Handle with care.
Rose Cumming, Inc., 1920s-1981, inclusive
Scrapbook, [1890s], inclusive
Scrapbook, 1897-1906, inclusive
Scrapbook, 1906-1912, inclusive
Scrapbook, 1913-1918, inclusive
Sub-series I.B. Dorothy (Cumming) (Elliott) McNab and husbands, 1915-1978, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Sub-series I.B includes letters, photographs, newspaper clippings, and ephemera relating to Dorothy (Cumming) (Elliott) McNab (1894–1983) and her husbands, Frank Elliott and Allan McNab. A number of photographs, and a booklet of publicity stills, depict Dorothy, a silent film actress, in costume for her most famous role as Mary, mother of Jesus, in Cecil B. DeMille's 1927 epic "King of Kings." Note that many of the letters Dorothy wrote to her sister, Eileen Cumming Cecil, and to her sons, are incomplete, either missing their final or initial pages. Some carry London addresses, where she lived for a time, or the imprint of her business in Jamaica, Dorothy McNab Ltd., "Fabulous Fabrics, Feminine Fashions."
Diary, 1944 January, inclusive
Diary (project diary), 1971, inclusive
Ephemera, 1910s-1930s, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Includes an illustrated booklet for Cecil B. DeMille's production of "The King of Kings" (1927) and playbill for Dorothy Cumming's play, "The Woman Brown," opening at the Biltmore Theatre, December 11, 1939.
Letters received, 1915-1969, inclusive
Letters to sister, Eileen Cumming Cecil, 1936, 1970-1976, undated, inclusive
Letters, etc. to sister, Eileen Cumming Cecil re: financial difficulties, 1972-1978, inclusive
Letters to sister, Rose Cumming, 1925-1945, undated, inclusive
Letters to son, Anthony "Tony" Cumming, 1938, undated, inclusive
Letters to unidentified recipients, 1916-1961, undated, inclusive
Newspaper clippings, 1920s-1950s, inclusive
Photographs, miscellaneous, 1920s-1979, inclusive
Photographs, personal, undated, inclusive
Photographs, personal (oversize), 1917, [1927], inclusive
[1st husband] Frank Elliott (a.k.a. Frank Elliott Dakin). Telegram, 1921, inclusive
[2nd husband] Allan McNab (a.k.a. Duncan Allan McNab). Letter and newspaper clippings, 1932, undated, inclusive
[2nd husband] Allan McNab (a.k.a. Duncan Allan McNab). Photographs, personal, undated, inclusive
Sub-series I.C. Greville and Anthony Cumming (sons of Dorothy Cumming), 1920s-1970s, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Sub-series I.C includes letters, photographs, and other material relating to the sons of Dorothy (Cumming) (Elliott) McNab: Anthony "Tony" Cumming (1924– ) and Greville Cobbett Elliott Cumming (1922–1944). Tony served in the U.S. Marines during World War II. Greville, a survivor of polio who became a lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps of the British Army, was killed during the Battle of Anzio, Italy, on February 28, 1944.
Greville Cumming. Letters, 1934, 1942-43, undated, inclusive
Greville Cumming. Memorial booklet (2 copies), 1946, inclusive
Greville Cumming. Photographs, personal, [1920s-1944], inclusive
Greville Cumming. Photographs, personal (oversize), undated, inclusive
Greville Cumming. School: St. George's School, The Dragon, 1939, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Two issues containing work by Greville Cumming:
Vol. 41, no. 3 (February 22, 1939): "To Iconoclasts" [poem]; "Le Fin" [fiction]
Vol. 41, no. 4 (March 15, 1939): "Glory" [fiction]; "When Others Boasting" [poem]; "Despair" [poem]; ""Through the Night of Dark and --" [fiction]; "Great Contemporaries by Winston Churchill" [book review]
Greville Cumming. School: Princeton University. Dedication of World War II Panels in the Memorial Room of Nassau Hall, 1949 June 12
Anthony "Tony" Cumming. Letters to aunt, Eileen Cumming Cecil, [1940s], 1970, inclusive
Anthony "Tony" Cumming. Letters to aunt, Rose Cumming, [1940s-1950s], undated, inclusive
Anthony "Tony" Cumming. Letters to mother, Dorothy (Cumming) McNab, [1940s], inclusive
Anthony "Tony" Cumming. Photographs, personal and family, [1940s-1970s], inclusive
Anthony "Tony" Cumming. Photographs and negatives, "Tony & Greville", undated, inclusive
Sub-series I.D. Other Cumming and related families, 1870s-1943, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Sub-series I.D includes photographs and other material related to Victor Albert Cumming (1858–1926) and Sarah (Fennell) (Hughes) Cumming (c. 1860–1939), parents of Rose, Eileen, and Dorothy Cumming. Victor's sister, Agnes (Cumming) Harrison, is represented by photographs. And Sarah Cumming's children by her first marriage to Frederick Hughes—Marjorie (Hughes) Loney and Jack Hughes—are represented by letters, newspaper clippings, and photographs.
Sarah (Fennell) (Hughes) Cumming. Obituaries, 1939, inclusive
Sarah (Fennell) (Hughes) Cumming. Photographs, personal, 1870s-1930s, inclusive
Sarah (Fennell) (Hughes) Cumming. Photographs, personal (oversize), 1920s, inclusive
Victor Cumming. Miscellaneous, 1889-1915, inclusive
Victor Cumming. Obituaries, 1926, inclusive
Victor Cumming. Photographs, personal, 1920s, undated, inclusive
Victor Cumming. Photographs, personal (oversize), [1920s], inclusive
Agnes (Cumming) Harrison. Photographs, personal, undated, inclusive
Jack Hughes. Letters, 1943, undated, inclusive
Jack Hughes. Photographs, personal, undated, inclusive
Hughes and Fennell family photographs, undated, inclusive
Marjorie (Hughes) Loney. Newspaper clipping and photographs, undated, inclusive
Frederick R. Loney Jr. photographs, personal (oversize), undated, inclusive
Series II. Cecil family photographs and papers, 1872-2003, inclusive
Arrangement
Series II is organized in four sub-series. Material within each sub-series is sorted alphabetically by document type or topic.
Sub-series II.A. Russell LaFayette Cecil, 1880s-1975
Sub-series II.B. Eileen Cumming Cecil, 1890s-1982
Sub-series II.C. Russell Cumming Cecil, 1920s-2003
Sub-series II.D. Other Cecil and related families, 1872-1986
Sub-series II.A. Russell La Fayette Cecil, 1880s-1975, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Sub-series II.A includes some magazine profiles and memorial tributes recounting the contributions of Dr. Russell LaFayette Cecil (1881–1965) to the field of rheumatology, but the accompanying letters, photographs, newspaper clippings, Princeton University memorabilia, and other material is of a familial, non-professional nature. (See Sub-series II.C for correspondence between Dr. Cecil's grandson and an author studying the former's Textbook of Medicine.) Three folders hold apparently unpublished autobiographical material, and a diary chronicles his golf scores between 1950 and 1963.
Article about: "Textbook Titan," MD Medical Newsmagazine, vol. 2, no. 3, 1958 March, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Profile pp. 78-79.
Article about: "Focus on Dr. Russell L. Cecil," Image, vol. 4, no. 2, 1962 June, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Profile pp. 21-24.
Article about: "In Dedication to Russell L. Cecil, M.D.," Arthritis and Rheumatism: Official Journal of the American Rheumatism Association, vol. 6, no. 4, part II, 1963 August, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Entire issue dedicated to Dr. Cecil.
Article about: Obituary, Time, 1965 June 11
Scope and Contents
Brief obituary, p. 92.
Article about: (eulogy) "Russell LaFayette Cecil, 1881-1965" (6 copies), [1965 June 4]
Article about: (tribute) "Russell Lafayette Cecil, 1881-1965" (4 copies), [1965], inclusive
Scope and Contents
Biographical pamphlet issued by McNeil Pharmaceutical.
Article about: "Men of Medicine: 'You Must Do Everything With Love',", undated, inclusive
Article by: "Studies on Pneumococcus Immunity," reprinted from The Journal of Experimental Medicine, vol. 38, no. 2, 1923 August 1
Scope and Contents
With Edward Mott Wolley's "Robbing Pneumonia of Its Terrors," Good Housekeeping, November 1923.
Article by: "Present Status of Arthritis," Modern Medicine, vol. 24, no. 19 (2 copies), 1956 October 1
Article by: "The Editing of a Modern Medical Textbook," International Record of Medicine, vol. 169, no. 11, whole number 2885, 1956 November, inclusive
Autobiography (3 folders), undated, inclusive
Baby hair, [1880s], inclusive
Blueprints, Cecil residence, 153-155 East 61st Street, 1950 January 20
Calling cards, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Cards stamped "Doctor Russell L. Cecil" in Tiffany & Co. box.
Cecil family genealogical material (2 folders), 1870s-1965, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Includes a family tree drawn by the processing archivist, Joseph Ditta, and added to the collection for user reference (2019).
Diary (personal), 1908 April 2 - May 2, inclusive
Diary (golf), 1927-28, 1950-63, inclusive
Diary (travel), 1931 Summer, inclusive
Diary (engagements), 1960, inclusive
Ephemera, circa 1930s-1959, inclusive
Letters, 1898-1900, inclusive
Letters, 1905-1910, 1912, 1917-1918, inclusive
Letters, 1923-1950, inclusive
Letters, etc., 1951-1971, inclusive
Letters (undated), undated, inclusive
Letters of condolence to widow, Eileen Cumming Cecil, 1965 June-October, inclusive
Letters of condolence to son, Russell Cumming Cecil, 1965 June-July, inclusive
Motion picture film, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
"Pop's Senate Hearing Film / Dr. Russell L. Cecil."
Restricted
Until this film has been preservation formatted, it may not be played. In any case, N-YHS lacks the required playback equipment.
Newspaper and periodical clippings, 1938-1975, undated, inclusive
Newspapers (facsimiles), [1854, 1861-1864], inclusive
Scope and Contents
Reprints [?] of the [London] Times (1854 October 9, November 13); New York Herald (1861 February 11, April 20); New York Tribune; (1861 April 15); Daily Richmond Examiner (1862 June 3); [Richmond] Daily Dispatch (1863 October 20); and Charleston Daily Courier (1864 September 26).
Photographs, personal, circa 1891-1965, inclusive
Photographs, personal (oversize), [1900s-1940s], inclusive
Photographs (slides), travel, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
"Cecil trips to Egypt, Italy, Greece."
Poetry, 1923, 1964, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Poems composed for his wife, Eileen Cumming Cecil (1923) and granddaughter, Sarah Cecil (1964).
Princeton University, Class of 1902 armband [?], [1902?], inclusive
Scope and Contents
Orange felt armband with black "02."
Princeton University, Class of 1902 photograph, 25th anniversary, [1927], inclusive
Princeton University, Class of 1902, Septennial Record of the Class of Nineteen Hundred and Two, 1910, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Russell L. Cecil entry p. 31.
Princeton University, Class of 1902, Twenty-Fifth Year Record of the Class of 1902, Princeton University, 1902-1927, [1927], inclusive
Scope and Contents
Russell L. Cecil entry pp. 64-65.
Princeton University, sheet music, "Old Nassau", 1905, inclusive
Scrapbook, circa 1923-1974, inclusive
Scrapbook (loose pages), circa 1951-1963, inclusive
Sub-series II.B. Eileen Cumming Cecil, 1890s-1982, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Sub-series II.B includes photographs, passports, scrapbooks, scattered letters and cards, and other material relating to Eileen Cumming Cecil (1892–1982). Of note are the tear sheets of interior decorating articles she wrote in the 1920s for House Beautiful and Vogue, and a miniature 1927 pamphlet entitled "The Place of the Fashion Magazine," which reprints the text of a lecture that she, a "practical fashionist," delivered for the Department of Fine Arts of New York University. A scrapbook gathers Florsheim Shoes advertisements publicized by her firm, Eileen Cumming Associates.
Address books (2), 1960s-1980s, inclusive
Article by: "The Place of the Fashion Magazine", 1927, inclusive
Article by: "Summer in the Dining Room," Charm, 1924 July, inclusive
Articles by: House Beautiful, 1920s, inclusive
Articles by: Vogue, 1920s, inclusive
Audiotape: "Mrs. Cecil", undated, inclusive
Restricted
Until this tape has been preservation formatted, it may not be played. In any case, N-YHS lacks the required playback equipment.
Audiotape: unidentified, [1961?], inclusive
Restricted
Until this tape has been preservation formatted, it may not be played. In any case, N-YHS lacks the required playback equipment.
Certificate of citizenship, 1932, inclusive
Cumming family tree, 1981, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Includes notes by Sarah Cumming Cecil (donor) and a family tree drawn by the processing archivist, Joseph Ditta, and added to the collection for user reference (2019).
Ephemera, etc., 1923-1964, inclusive
Financial, 1966-1978, inclusive
Letters and cards, 1913-1980, undated, inclusive
Letters of condolence to son, Russell Cumming Cecil, 1982 September-October, inclusive
Marriage certificate, license, invitations, 1923, inclusive
Newspaper clippings, general, 1937-1970, 1998, inclusive
Newspaper clippings, personal, 1923-1982, inclusive
Odlum Award, 1965 October 7
Scope and Contents
Eileen Cumming Cecil was corecipient of the 1965 Floyd B. Odlum Award presented by the New York Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation, Inc. She served on the organization's board of governors.
Passports, 1925, 1932, 1968, 1980, inclusive
Photograph album, 1920s-1960s, inclusive
Photograph album (fragment), undated, inclusive
Photographs, miscellaneous, 1920s-circa 1977, inclusive
Photographs, personal, circa 1890s-1965, inclusive
Photographs, personal (framed), circa 1967, inclusive
Photographs, personal (oversize), [1890s], inclusive
Photographs (negatives), undated, inclusive
Postcards, undated, inclusive
Menu, 1937 June 26
Scope and Contents
Dinner menu, Compagnie Generale Transatlantique French Line.
Scrapbook, 1880s-circa 1965, inclusive
Scrapbook, 1890s-1950s, inclusive
Scrapbook, 1890s-1970s, inclusive
Scrapbook, Eileen Cumming Associates, Florsheim Shoes advertisements, [1930s?], inclusive
Sub-series II.C. Russell Cumming Cecil, 1920s-2003, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Sub-series II.C includes personal material—letters, photographs, and a few youthful school essays—of architect and historic preservationist Russell Cumming Cecil (1926–2009). The sole item regarding his work is a December 1972 House & Garden profile of a house he designed for Wilfred Cohen on Long Island Sound. Also included is a folder of correspondence between Russell C. Cecil's son, Dr. Russell N. A. Cecil, an orthopedic surgeon, and Dr. James A. Pitman Jr., a distinguished professor at the University of Alabama who was (in 1999) preparing a paper on textbooks of internal medicine and, naturally, sought to include information on Dr. Russell L. Cecil's 1927 Textbook of Medicine.
Cecil-Cumming cemetery plot, 1958-1992, undated, inclusive
Childhood drawings, 1936, undated, inclusive
Wilfred Cohen House clippings, 1972-1973, inclusive
Diary (fragment), [?] January 1-20, inclusive
Insurance Appraisal Property of Nancy and Russell Cecil, 1986 September, inclusive
Letters, etc., 1926-2003, undated, inclusive
Newspaper clippings (family), 1894-1986, inclusive
Photograph album, childhood, 1920s-1930s, inclusive
Photographs (loose), circa 1927-1951, inclusive
Photographs, personal (oversize), 1920s-1930s, inclusive
St. Paul's School, 1941, 2010, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Includes an obituary for Russell Cumming Cecil in Alumni Horae, vol. 90, no. 2 (Winter 2010), 41.
Yale University, 1945-1946, inclusive
Russell N. A. Cecil correspondence re: grandfather, Dr. Russell L. Cecil, 1999, inclusive
Sub-series II.D. Other Cecil and related families, 1872-1986, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Sub-series II.D includes letters, photographs, newspaper clippings, and other material relating to the relatives of Russell LaFayette Cecil: his parents, the Presbyterian minister Rev. Russell Cecil (1853–1925) and Alma (Miller) Cecil (1858–1948); brothers John Howe Cecil Sr. (1883–1939) and James McCosh Cecil (1891–1954); sisters Alma (Cecil) Cary (1885–1932) and Elizabeth (Cecil) Scott (1900–1948); nieces Patricia Cecil Hass (1928– ) and Amanda (Cecil) Schuster ; and nephews John Howe Cecil Jr. and James M. Cecil Jr.