Halper Collection

Both Marjorie and "Nat" had an abiding affection for the Provincetown Art Association and for Provincetown, in general. "Nat" was treasurer of the Art Association from 1952 through 1955 and a trustee for the majority of the decade of the 60's. Marjorie served as trustee from 1952 through 1957 and was a constant exhibitor from 1949 until the end of her long life. She was born in Paris in 1908 and her family was distinguished for its connection with the arts, her brother having been an actor as well as an internationally recognized theater director and producer. "Nat" was well known as a Joyce scholar and for his acerbic wit. Taken together, their lives typified what was a common component of the art community here at that time, which made it both a creative haven and a thriving market place for art and artists.

The Halper Archive contains a valuable collection of the majority of the Provincetown Art Association catalogues from 1932 through 1976, as well as other items of selective interest such as copies of the 1958 and 1961 "Provincetown Review" featuring some of the young literary" lions" of those rebellious years; two Provincetown Symphony Society programs from 1964 and 1965 recalling the period during which classical music thrived here as well, and the 1958 exhibition catalog for the Provincetown Arts Festival, Walter Chrysler's first large exhibition after his purchase of the old Center Methodist Episcopal Church which has now been transformed twice, first to the Provincetown Heritage Museum, which received the Halper archive, and now to the Provincetown Public Library. Added to these paper archives are an old flat iron and some kitchen equipment for the Heritage Museum's Portuguese kitchen exhibit, revealing the great affection that the Halper's donations showed for the town they adopted as home.

Josephine C. Del Deo