Box 113

Scope and Contents

This series comprises personal materials belonging to the Rosenthal family—mainly Barbara and her parents Leon and Evelyne (Freundlich) Rosenthal. Consists of correspondence, documents, diaries, ephemera, objects, and photo albums.

Scope and Contents

Items Rosenthal collected and saved from childhood through adulthood, which she designated as “sacred objects.” Rosenthal saved these objects for various reasons based on personal histories, aesthetics, and function. When known, the significance of each object has been noted.

Scope and Contents From the Sub-Series:

Items Rosenthal collected and saved from childhood through adulthood, which she designated as “sacred objects.” Rosenthal saved these objects for various reasons based on personal histories, aesthetics, and function. When known, the significance of each object has been noted.

Scope and Contents

Rosenthal describes this object as, “one tiny bottle containing an even tinier bottle of thiamine 100 mg that was administered to me by a shot when I was just out of it in between teaching substitute classes at an elementary school. I don’t have much of a memory of how I ended up in the hospital emergency room getting this treatment and then ending up back in the classroom that afternoon.”

Scope and Contents

Bottles of perfume given to Rosenthal for her Bat Mitzvah and the perfume she wore for go-go dancing.

Scope and Contents

Coasters originally given to the Rosenthal family as a house gift in Franklin Square, then given to Barbara by her mother.

Rosenthal describes this object as “a box of Killinger Hi-Jacs coasters from the 1950s, which is a good example of how things are too good to be used so they are saved. Saved, saved until they are a piece of junk. This is happening to me all too much.”

Abstract Barbara Rosenthal is an avant-garde interdisciplinary artist, writer, and performer. She explores existential themes through her multimedia artworks, which often take the form of photography, video, text, collage, and performance. This collection documents Barbara Rosenthal’s personal and professional life, spanning from the early 1940s through 2025. It is comprised of materials related to her career as an artist, and professional activities related to her studio practice and business...