The collection includes materials created or used by Howard Saalman as part of his research in Italian Renaissance architecture and professional academic activity as a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. This documentation ranges from Saalman's studies in the 1960s through his academic career until his death in 1995. Also included are biographical materials, correspondence, and documents related to the Saalman family, including Howard's wife Jeanne Farr Saalman. Materials range from copies of primary sources to correspondence and publication drafts. In addition to manuscript materials, there is a significant amount of graphic material, including architectural drawings, photographic prints and slides, mainly depicting Saalman's work and travels, and architectural drawings. Additionally, the collection also includes Dr. Saalman's divrei Torah and several family heirloom haggadot.
The collection is open for research, with several single-item exceptions with restrictions for FERPA or privacy explained in the collection inventory.
Various copying restrictions apply, according to the Archives use policy. Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be directed to the Archivist. See also the Archive's copyright and publication statement. The University does not hold copyright to any of Dr. Saalman's published works.
[Identification of item], in SP 18: Howard Saalman and Jeanne Farr Saalman papers, Box [#], [Folder #], Salve Regina Special Collections, McKillop Library, Salve Regina University, Newport, RI
Throughout the collection were folder, box, and envelope labels that were illegible due to handwriting style, ink deterioration, or the archivist's unfamiliarity with a language. These have been photocopied and included to preserve the information on them when the handwriting or language rendered the original content illegible. Processing also included preservation photocopying for documents on thermal paper.
The folder groupings of materials largely reflects Dr. Saalman's organization and labeling of folders, but the arrangement and groupings of each series was imposed by the archivist.
Photographs originally foldered with related textual materials remain in their context. The series of photographs contains prints, negatives, and slides which were stored separately. Relevant textual materials, such as annotations, correspondence, or envelope labels, remain with the photographs.
The series of photographs has been organized and inventoried but is not yet described in this finding aid.
The collection was processed by University Archivist and Special Collections Librarian Genna Duplisea, who also wrote the finding aid.
After Dr. Saalman's death in 1995, his widow Jeanne Saalman moved the papers to her home in Newport. Upon the donation of the materials to the university in March 2015, the papers were retrieved by the University Archivist and Special Collections Librarian, Genna Duplisea, and interns. Jeanne Saalman and Daphne Saalman Kaliadjian donated the materials in summer 2015.
Additional accruals are not expected.
Special Collections also holds a selection of Dr. Saalman's books, often with notes, inscriptions, or pasted-in materials:
Howard Saalman (February 17, 1928-October 19, 1995) was an architectural historian, specializing in Italian medieval and Renaissance architecture, and Andrew Mellon Professor of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University. He and his twin brother Peter (d. 2010) were born in Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland) in 1928 to Walter Guenther Saalman (1897-1963) and Gertrude Robert Saalman (1907-1995). As Jews in Nazi Germany, the Saalmans faced persecution and so immigrated to the United States in 1938.
Saalman earned his Bachelor's degree in 1949 from City College and Master's and Ph. D from New York University. A 1952 seminar with Richard Krautheimer sparked his interest in architect Filippo Brunelleschi. Saalman participated in excavations at Santa Trinità in Florence in 1957-1958, which contributed to his doctoral dissertation, completed in 1960. In 1958, he joined the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, eventually becoming the Andrew Mellon Professor of Architecture. During his career he made many research trips to Italy, maintaining a close relationship with Villa I Tatti in Florence, and also taught at other institutions all over the world, including University of California, Berkeley; Harvard University; Jerusalem among them. He received a Kress Fellowship in Florence in 1964-1965 and later a Guggenheim Fellowship in the Humanities in 1984. In 1992, he received the Alexander von Humboldt Prize.
The primary subjects of Saalman's research were the works of architects Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446), Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472), and Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564). Among the buildings of chief interest for Saalman were Santa Maria del Fiore, Santissma Annunziata, Santa Maria Novella, the Palazzo Medici, the Bigallo, and Santa Trinità in Florence; San Lorenzo and San Andrea in Mantua; and Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. He wrote a two-volume study of Brunelleschi. He was a frequent contributor to the "Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians," "The Art Bulletin," and "Burlington Magazine." A prolific writer, Saalman's books include "The Bigallo: The Oratory and Residence of the Compagnia del Bigallo e della Misericordia in Florence" (1969), "The Church of Santa Trinità in Florence" (1966); "The Life of Brunelleschi" (1970); "Filippo Brunelleschi: The Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore" (1980); "Brunelleschi: The Buildings" (1993); and several works on medieval cities and architecture. "The Transformation of Buildings and the City in the Renaissance, 1300-1550: A Graphic Introduction" was published posthumously in 1996.
Outside of Italian Renaissance architecture, Saalman also researched and wrote on Jewish culture and archaeology in Israel. Additionally, he published Haussmann: Paris Transformed, on the nineteenth-century development and modernization of Paris, in 1971. Saalman's writings, both professional and personal, encompass a number of languages – English, German, Italian, French, and Hebrew.
Jeanne E. Farr (1928-2015) was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, the daughter of Charles W. and Mary Farr. Her younger siblings were Margaret and Wayne. She was also a New York University student when she met Howard Saalman.
Howard Saalman and Jeanne Farr married in 1954. They had one daughter, Daphne. Saalman retired in 1993 and died in October 1995. He is buried in Middletown, Rhode Island.
Howard's brother Peter married Rita Marshall (d. 2020) and they were the parents of two children, Karin Saalman Jones and Daniel Saalman, as well as of Rita's children Marc Paykuss and Jeffrey Paykuss.
Various documents related to Howard Saalman's life outside his academic work and writing make up this series, including information and historical materials related to his ancestors and documentation of the Saalman family's extensive travels.
This series includes materials created or collected by Jeanne Saalman, which were mostly found together in the original donation of the collection. Among these materials are letters, many from Howard Saalman during the early years of their marriage, genealogical information, mementoes and papers related to her interests, and some materials related to her handling of Howard Saalman's publications after his death.
Both personal and professional correspondence written to or by Howard Saalman make up this series.
The series is divided into two sub-series: one for correspondence organized chronologically, and one for materials organized by subject or correspondent. This dvision reflects Saalman's own organizational pattern.
A letter dated August 24, 1981 is restricted and unavailable for research to protect the personal information of a third party.
Within this series are divrei Torah (plural of d'Vra Torah), insights written in response to the weekly Torah portion, most likely written by Howard Saalman. Also contained in this series are a collection of haggadot (plural of haggadah), or prayer books. The haggadot are most likely heirlooms from Howard Saalman's parents and ancestors.
This series includes materials related to Saalman's professional activity and interactions outside of his research and writing, including his teaching, presentations on his research, his tenure at Carnegie Mellon University, and grants or fellowships awarded to him.
Memo from May 10, 1976 is restricted and unavailable for research use in accordance with FERPA. The rest of the folder is available for research.
Letter dated July 17, 1981 is restricted and unavailable for research for the protection of personal information.
The research notes, documentation, sources, and writings of Howard Saalman, some in collaboration with Jeanne Saalman, make up this series. Drafts, proofs, and off-prints are also included. Most of the materials relate to Italian Renaissance architecture but the contents include other topics like ancient archaeology in Israel and other periods of architecture as well. Copies of sources containing marginalia are present in the second subseries, and only sources containing such annotations were retained in the collection.