The Entretiens de Pontigny records consist of correspondence, meeting minutes, articles, press releases, schedules, programs, a guest register, and photographs. Most of the records are written in French, while some of the articles and a few letters are written in English. Documents in this collection record the planning and implementation of the Entretiens de Pontigny in the United States in 1942, 1943, and 1944 and describe events that took place at each conference. The correspondence documents logistics and planning of the conference. Some of the correspondence is between Helen Elizabeth Patch and exiled Sorbonne professor, Gustave Cohen. Other correspondents include Jean Andre Wahl, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Beatrice Fry Hyslop, Jacques Maritain, Cecile Jahiel, Auguste Viatte, Andre Spire, Marcelle de Manziarly, Boris Mirkine-Guetzevitch, and Mrs. Raymond de Saussure. There are minutes from the Entretiens de Pontigny committee meeting of January 23, 1944 attended by Patch, Wahl, Mirkine-Guetzevitch, Manziarly, and others. Press releases from 1944 describe a talk about American art by Robert Motherwell and Roger Sessions' discussion of American music. Also included are several articles, such as one from "Pour la Victorie" that describes the Ecole Libre in New York City, and another by Cohen that relates the historical basis for Pontigny. The collection also includes a short speech in French by Wahl concerning "the notion of crisis," and a longer speech in French by Charles Heuertz, Director of Social Security in Luxembourg regarding his home country. A "Registre" contains signatures of conference participants (the order of these may indicate relationships among the individuals). Formal and informal photographs from the conferences are of Patch, Wahl, Cohen, Mirkine Guetzevitch, Manzairly, Heuertz, and Sessions, as well as Jacques Hadamard, Rachel Bespaloff, Marc Chagall, Andre Masson, George Boas, Lionello Venturi, and E.G. Kogbetliantz.

Material from this collection is available in an online digital format.

Chronological and by form of material.