This edition incorporates cataloged and uncataloged portions of the Roché papers that were not included in the previous version of the finding aid.
We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which provided funds for the processing and cataloging of this collection.
Henri Pierre Roché was born in Paris on May 28, 1879. His father died when he was an infant, and, as an only child, Roché had a close relationship with his mother, Clara. Her influence in his personal life is evidenced by his delayed marriages, first to Germaine Bonnard and then Denise Roché, and in his relationships with other women, such as Margaret Hart. She seems to have had an ideal woman in mind for her son, and he appears to have followed this philosophy, waiting for the perfect woman to be the mother of his child. He met many women along the way. He also used a pseudonym for
Many of his relationships Roché later depicted in his novels, namely
Roché led a rich life, personally as well as professionally. He was a
journalist; an art collector, advisor, and dealer; a writer; a guide for the
American Industry Mission when it visited France; as well as a diarist and
The Henri Pierre Roché Papers, ca. 1886-1971, consist of manuscripts, typescripts, notebooks, notes, clippings, correspondence, printed material, diaries, and financial and legal documentation. The papers were originally acquired from Henri Pierre Roché's widow, Denise Roché, who had begun to organize and arrange the papers herself, placing groups of materials into paper folders or cardboard carriers and annotating the containers as to title, date, or correspondent. Although the containers she provided are housed with the collection, Denise Roché's overall structure of the material was not preserved. The material is now arranged in five series: I. Works, II. Correspondence, III. Carnets, IV. Personal and Legal Papers, and V. Roché Family.
Roché's works, both published and unpublished, are well represented in this group of papers, and they include novels, plays, short stories, poetry, translations, and articles. Much of this material appears to be the beginning stages of works that were never completed or published, and most titles consist of a few pages of handwritten narrative, although the evolution of many works, particularly those that were eventually published, is documented extensively. For example, material relating to the novels
Although correspondence can be found throughout the collection, the Correspondence series is reserved for those letters not explicitly related to Roché's writing projects. For the most part, the correspondence in Series II is between Henri Pierre Roché and his two wives, Germaine Bonnard and Denise (Renard) Roché; however, other correspondents are also represented, such as Georges Braque, Jean Cocteau, Marcel Duchamp, Marie Laurencin, Pablo Picasso, Erik Satie, and Gertrude Stein.
Series III contains Roché's daily agendas and diaries (referred to
herein as
Roché's interests in art, real estate, and his autobiography are well documented in the Personal and Legal Papers series. This series is arranged into four subseries: Art, Autobiography, Usha Villas, and Personal Documents. The Art subseries includes drafts and notes for articles about art and artists, in addition to inventories and financial documentation for Roché's personal art collection. Material relating to the art collection that was generated after Henri Pierre Roché's death by his widow and son, Denise and Jean-Claude Roché, is also located in this subseries. Notes, early journals, and essays concerning the afterlife make up the Autobiography subseries. The subseries Usha Villas relates to real estate transactions. A final subseries contains his personal documents, such as his address books, birth certificate, and obituaries.
The last series contains materials relating to Roché's family. Journals, correspondence, works, financial, legal, and medical records, and printed material document the lives of Roché's mother Clara, his second wife, Denise, and his son Jean-Claude. The Roché Family series is divided into subseries corresponding to each family member: Clara Roché, Denise Roché, and Jean-Claude Roché.
Gifts of Carlton Lake and purchase, 1981, 1995, 1996 (G10713, R13533)
Open for research; curatorial permission required for access to original carnets for which transcriptions exist. Permission from copyright holders must accompany photoduplication requests for Jean Cocteau, Marcel Duchamp, Helen Hessel, Henri Pierre Roché, and Erik Satie materials.
Diane Goldenberg-Hart and Rebecca Altermatt, 1995; Monique Daviau, Richard Workman, Catherine Stollar, 2004
A catalog of the Ransom Center's 1991 exhibit,
Extensive handwritten notes and manuscripts, revised manuscripts, typescripts, tear sheets from publications, clippings, publicity materials, correspondence, and diaries are included in this series. Major works represented here include
Manuscript versions of both
Many items in the Works series appear as little more than a title and notes scribbled across a page, and in those cases, the work has been filed alphabetically by title. In some instances, one notebook or group of papers contains several distinctive and separately titled works; these are filed alphabetically under the first title of that group. In her arrangement of her husband's papers, Denise Roché appears to have created a group entitled
Photographs that were acquired with other Roché materials have been removed from the Papers and transferred to the Photography Collection.
Most of this series consists of correspondence between H.-P. Roché and his two wives, Germaine Bonnard and Denise (Renard) Roché. It is divided into two categories: Letters (arranged alphabetically by recipient) and Recipient (arranged alphabetically by author). Correspondence between two individuals other than H.-P. Roché is included in the Third-Party Correspondence subseries.
Correspondence between H.-P. Roché and Germaine Bonnard primarily relates to their own relationship, but discussions of Roché's involvement with other women, including Helen Hessel, are prevalent. Correspondence with Denise Roché is largely of the same nature, although much of the later material revolves around the birth and upbringing of their son Jean-Claude.
Other noteworthy correspondents in this series include Euphemia Lamb, an English woman with whom Roché had an affair, who at one time had been a model for the painter Augustus John. Louise Bucking (Weisel) was another of his non-French lovers, and she, along with Germaine Bayle, provided material for his work
Other correspondence can be found in the Works series and in the Art subseries of Series IV.
Carnets, agendas, and transcriptions document most of Roché's adult life in this series. An avid diarist, Roché recorded and later reviewed most of his life experiences. Much of the information contained in the carnets is described and discussed in the 1991 Ransom Center catalog
Articles, exhibition catalogs, notebooks, notes, and correspondence are contained in this series, which comprises four subseries: Art, Autobiography, Usha Villas, and Personal Documents.
Various aspects of H.-P. Roché's art collection are documented in the Art subseries, although the art collection itself did not accompany the papers. This subseries contains notes, manuscripts, and published versions of articles written by Roché about art, artists, and art collecting, as well as inventories, records of sales, and exhibition catalogs. Some of the material, especially that contained in the Migraine/Tella folders—created during a sale of Garcia Tella's art owned by Roché to Michel Migraine—was generated by Denise Roché after her husband's death.
The documents contained in the Autobiography subseries represent a project that H.-P. Roché appears to have pursued for several years, perhaps in the hopes of eventually publishing his own autobiography. They include notes that span more than five decades, as well as very early journals.
The Usha Villas subseries comprises primarily building plans and legal documentation regarding real estate transactions. Documents relating to Roché's personal life, such as his passport, are located in the final subseries, Personal Documents.
This series contains agendas, journals, correspondence, clippings, poems, manuscripts, printed material, medical, and legal records, financial statements, and miscellaneous material relating to H.-P. Roché's family. Clara Louise Roché, his mother, Denise Roché, his second wife, and Jean-Claude Roché, son of Denise and H.-P. Roché, are each documented in individual subseries.
The first subseries documents Roché's mother, Clara Louise Roché. Although H.-P. Roché refers to his mother as Klara, her birth certificate and signature use the spelling "Clara." Born Clara Louise Coquet, her material is a mixture of her own documents and pieces created by other family members as well. She kept letters written by her husband Pierre Roché that are included in this series. Additionally, this subseries contains correspondence between Henri-Pierre Roché and Madame Clara Coquet, Clara Roché's mother, as well as between Madame Coquet and Clara Roché. The correspondence includes letters from Helen Hessel and Germaine Bonnard, and the miscellaneous material contains fragments of notes and pencil drawings by H.-P. Roché.
The second subseries in the Roché Family series documents Roché's second wife Denise. This subseries contains clippings, drawings, and clothing patterns relating to children's fashions, probably dating from the 1940s or 1950s. The arrangement of the clothing patterns has not been disturbed. Financial documentation includes check stubs and a financial ledger, all of which date from after H.-P. Roché's death. Originally, these materials were housed together in the cardboard case that has been preserved, but the check stubs were moved to separate housing due to their irregular shape and size.
Subseries C contains materials relating to Roché's son Jean-Claude. Composed mainly of correspondence, including that from his godparents René Delange and his wife, this series also contains drawings, medical documents, scholastic reports, a diary, an X-ray, and other miscellaneous materials. An especially revealing piece is a typed report titled "NOTES sur la santé de Jean-Claude Roché" written about 1954 which chronicles most of Jean-Claude Roché's life through a discussion of his health conditions.