Sam Wagstaff, handwritten letter to Anne MacDonald, hinting at the possibility of selling his collection and making a donation to SF MoMA, February 7, 1984.
Handwritten double-sided letter
Size: 8.5 x 11 inches
Wagstaff is hoping to do a second show of his photography collection, this time at San Francisco MoMA, as opposed to the Berkeley Museum of Art. He hints about selling his collection and potentially donating $100,000 to the museum.
“Don’t breathe a word to a soul (honest), but I might sell out and then I’d have the tax advantage of giving a little cash present to the museum in his (my step-father) name. It would be nice — like $100,000, if you think that would help your social position in town. Don’t tell Henry (Henry Hopkins, director of SFMOMA), but if this thing comes off I guess I could swing it. Of course, you know we could make the gift contingent on or for the purpose of purchase of many, many Mapplethorpes, something galling like that for Van.” (Van Deren Coke, the curator at the San Fransisco MoMA)
