Charles Freer

Charles Lang Freer was born in Kingston, NY and made his fortune in Detroit in the railcar business. After retiring from business he dedicated the remainder of his life to collecting art, primarily American and Asian. Before his death, he bequeathed his collection to the Smithsonian along with one million dollars to construct the new building to house it, now know as the Freer Gallery of Art.


The reference to the correspondence can be found at the Charles Freer archive as listed in the index: Box 3 15-16 Biele, Charles F., and Sons Company, 1917-1919. The full archive is in this large file.


The individual documents are listed here:


1917_09_13_letter_from_carl_biele_to_charles_freer_in_detroit.pdf


1917_09_13_photo_of_case_for_dog_statue.pdf


1917_09_13_photo_of_roosevelt_case.pdf

1917_09_17_letter_from_charles_freer_to_carl_biele_sent_from_mass.pdf


1918_03_14_letter_from_charles_freers_secretary_to_carl_biele_from_detroit.pdf


1918_03_18_letter_from_carl_biele_to_charles_freer_with_bill_of_lading_to_detroit.pdf


1918_03_20_letter_from_charles_freers_secretary_to_carl_biele_from_detroit.pdf


1918_03_20_letter_from_charles_platt_freer_to_carl_biele.pdf


1918_03_21_letter_from_carl_biele_to_charles_freer_in_detriot.pdf


1918_03_29_letter_from_charles_freers_secretary_to_charles_f._biele_and_sons_from_detroit.pdf


1918_04_18_letter_from_carl_biele_to_charles_freer_care_of_mr._g._w._alger_in_detroit.pdf


1918_04_22_letter_from_charles_freers_secretary_to_carl_biele_from_detroit.pdf


1918_04_24_letter_from_carl_biele_to_charles_freer_care_of_g._w._alger_in_detroit.pdf


1918_04_27_letter_from_charles_freer_to_carl_biele_from_detroit.pdf


1918_04_27_letter_from_freer_to_platt_from_detroit.pdf


1918_06_21_inventory_of_biele_cases.pdf


1918_09_06_letter_from_charles_platt__to_carl_biele.pdf


1918_10_08_letter_from_carl_biele_to_charles_platt.pdf


1918_10_08_letter_from_platt_to_freer_in_mass..pdf


1918_10_18_letter_from_carl_biele_to_charles_platt.pdf


1918_10_18_letter_from_platt_to_freer_in_mass..pdf


1918_11_01_letter_from_carl_biele_to_charles_platt.pdf


1918_11_01_letter_from_platt_care_of_c._h._cullen_to_freer_at_hotel_gotham.pdf


1918_11_05_letter_from_biele_to_freer_at_hotel_gotham_with_a_copy_to_cullen.pdf


1918_11_06_letter_from_freer_at_hotel_gotham_to_biele_with_a_copy_to_cullen.pdf


1918_11_06_letter_from_freer_in_nyc_to_platt_via_cullen.pdf


1918_12_31_letter_from_platt_care_of_cullen_to_freer_in_detroit.pdf


1919_01_15_letter_from_platt_care_of_cullen_to_freer_in_detroit.pdf


1919_01_24_letter_from_freer_in_detroit_to_platt_care_of_cullen.pdf


1919_01_29_letter_from_carl_biele_to_charles_freer_in_detroit.pdf


1919_01_30_letter_from_charles_freer_in_detroit_to_carl_biele.pdf


1919_02_12_letter_from_carl_biele_to_charles_freer_in_detroit.pdf


1919_02_25_letter_from_carl_biele_to_katherine_rhoades.pdf


1919_04_20_postmarked_envelope_from_yamanaka_to_freer_with_handwritten_references_to_cases.pdf


1919_07_11_letter_from_katherine_rhoades_at_hotel_gotham_to_carl_biele.pdf


1919_07_19_envelope_letter_and_drawing_from_charles_f_biele_to_charles_freer_at_hotel_gotham.pdf


1919_11_09__postmarked_envelope_from_platt_to_freer_with_handwritten_references_to_biele_cases.pdf


undated_handwritten_note_on_hotel_gotham_paper_referencing_biele_estimate_for_cases.pdf


undated_handwritten_note_on_hotel_gotham_paper_referencing_biele_estimate_for_cases.pdf


undated_handwritten_note_referencing_biele_cases_on_hand_for_scrolls.pdf


undated_handwritten_note_referencing_biele_cases.pdf

Additional biographical information about Charles Freer can be found at the following links and attached documents:

Wikipedia article of Charles Freer - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lang_Freer

Article from "Hour Detroit" (PDF File) - http://www.hourdetroit.com/Hour-Detroit/February-2008/The-Legacy-of-Charles-L-Freer/

NY Times Obituary (PDF File) http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F0CE4DC123AE03ABC4E51DFBF668382609EDE