Pati Hill Collection

Her best known writings include a memoir, The Pit and The Century Plant (New York: Harper, 1955); The Nine Mile Circle (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1957); Prosper (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1960); One Thing I Know (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1962); The Snow Rabbit (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1962), a book of poetry illustrated by Galway Kinnell; Impossible Dreams (Cambridge: Alice James Books, 1976) illustrated with Hill’s photocopies of photographs by Robert Doisneau, Ralph Gibson, Eva Rubinstein, and Willi Ronis, among others; and Letters to Jill: a catalogue and some notes on copying (New York: Kornblee and Visual Studies Workshop Press, 1979).

Hill's correspondence reflects her insights into the changing nature of art in the 20th century, as she engaged in thoughtful and incisive discussions with major contemporary figures including photographer Diane Arbus, designer Charles Eames, editor-author George Plimpton, and poets James Merrill and Galway Kinnell. Hill became an important part of the post-war expatriate artistic community in France centered around the Paris Review (a frequent publisher of her short stories), led by George Plimpton, Peter Matthiessen, Jean Stein, and Donald Hall.

Hill’s artwork is included in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Pompidou Centre, The British Museum, Frac ïle-de-France, the Cabinet des Estampes (Bibliothèque Nationale de France), and the Musée de Sens (Sens-en-Bourgogne).

• an unpublished draft of Hill's biography of the photographer Diane Arbus (approximately 80 pages, typescript)
• drafts of unpublished novels and short stories, artist's books, and a lifelong journal (The History of Dressmaking), including approximately 70 hand-written notebooks and a 300-page, typed manuscript that covers the time from June 1949 to the fall of 1969
• a 100-page interview with Hill (conducted in 2010 by Avis Berman, Lichtenstein Foundation)
• a 19-page draft (typescript) of a family biography (by Hill)
• files related to Hill's contributions to The Paris Review, New Letters, and other literary journals and publications
• correspondence with key figures from the worlds of literature and art, including George Plimpton; Galway Kinnell; James Merrill; Charles Eames; Hill's gallerist, Jill Kornblee; and Hill's husband, Paul Bianchini
• files related to Hill's ongoing relationships with major figures in the evolution of communications technology (dating from 1975 to 1986), including corporate leaders at IBM and Xerox both in the United States and France
• material (in English) related to Hill's unpublished journal documenting the process of making her project Photocopying Versailles
• files related to Galerie Toner (Paris), and Galerie Toner (Sens), which Hill founded and ran with Paul Bianchini.
• files related to Hill's invention of a "universal symbol language" and archive of "informational art" (originals and xerographs)
• materials and related correspondence associated with the production of her illustrated novel, Impossible Dreams (1976), including original photographic prints by Robert Doisneau, Eva Rubenstein, Ralph Gibson, J.P. Sounder, Lucien Herve, Willi Ronis, and others
• materials related to Hill's major projects published/and or exhibited at the Kornblee Gallery (1975-79); these include Common Objects; Photocopied Garments; Dreams Objects Moments; A Swan: An Opera in Nine Chapters; Men and Women in Sleeping Cars, and Italian Darns)
• thousands of individual xerographic prints, both related to her major projects as well as individual works
• a collection of large-scale etchings, rubbings, flowers pressed into large sheets of paper, and numerous studies
• approximately 50 bound collections of xerographic prints organized by theme and titled on their spines by Hill, comprised of individual sheets relating to specific subjects within her artistic projects
• the IBM Copier II used by Hill in France (intact but currently non-operational)
• documentation pertaining to Hill’s modeling career both in the United States and France