Revisiting Rosenbach's Mercedes de Acosta Trove

The Vampire & The Child (from here)

A few years ago, I briefly mentioned the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia, which holds Mercedes de Acosta's papers. Shame on me for not digging deeper than a mere press release! You may recall in the first part of the Thom Nickels piece on John Banks that Marlene Dietrich supposedly gave Acosta a pair of her silk stockings. VP, the force behind Carole & Co. and a reader more astute than I, emphasized this factoid, and Nickels recently told me that his book, Gay and Lesbian Philadelphia, features a photo of the stockings, which are held by the Rosenbach.

Well, with all this in mind, I thought to myself, "Surely, this museum's got an online finding aid that'll tell me more about its other Dietrich relics." I didn't expect all the photographs! Explore the Rosenbach Museum & Library's object catalog because you'll be as impressed as I was. Aside from the stockings, you'll see a silk scarf monogrammed with "marlene" in its polka dots, a sock (which I highly doubt is polyester!), publicity shots, and candid photos (incidentally, did jealousy lead Mercedes to crop her male rivals--such as Fred Perry--out of some photos? See this and compare with this).

Oh, you probably expect me to tell you how to search this catalog. Well, if you insist!

Try this link, type a simple term like "marlene" (retrieves 294 records) or "dietrich" (retrieves 293 records) in the box, and click the "Search" button. I recommend you play with terms like "riva" (to see a few early '30s head shots and also an intriguingly butch studio shot from the same era of Maria Riva) or "garbo" (to see a surprisingly small set of 39 Greta Garbo records) as well.

You may notice the Rosenbach object catalog's request that researchers send any information that can improve their records, so do help them if you spot any errors or omissions. Just click the "Send Feedback" button on the record you're viewing, and fill out the form. You'll be aiding not only the Rosenbach, but also any future Dietrich researchers and fans. I myself have spotted several photos of Marlene with an unidentified Rudi Sieber and sent feedback about this. I haven't yet viewed all the photographed objects, but I'm hoping to see Tami Matul buried among these treasures. EDIT: I just saw two paintings of Marlene (one | two) that are surely by Martin Kosleck. Also, this woman is not Marlene, is she? She looks more like Zarah Leander . . . ?