The Sack Family Archive is an extraordinary collection of comparative material for the study of American furniture from the business records of Israel Sack, Inc. Lithuanian immigrant Israel Sack started a furniture repair business in Boston in 1903, relocating to New York City in the early 1930s, and was later joined in the operation by his three sons, Harold, Albert, and Robert. Until the business closed its doors in 2002, it was the premier vendor for early American furniture, due in large part to the knowledge and experience of the Sack family. Through the generosity of Anne T. and Robert M. Bass, B.A. 1971, the Gallery acquired the materials that constitute the archive in 2011. The archive contains 10,000 black-and-white photographs and several hundred color transparencies and slides, 125 binders of illustrated advertisements from the Sack firm, notes from the preparation of Albert Sack’s books, a library of books on American furniture and early American silver, and several sets of industry periodicals. These resources have been amplified by the generous gift of more than 17,000 color slides assembled by the firm, given by Lee Sack in memory of her husband, Robert Sack. Some of the firm’s 10,000 black-and-white photographs can be searched online through Yale University Library’s Digital Collections.

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