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
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