When he was just eleven years old Pedro Corrêa do Lago wrote to ask François Truffaut for his signature and received, by return mail, a book inscribed by the French director. Over the ensuing decades Corrêa do Lago built one of the world’s most compelling collections of its kind. What draws him—and us—to a personal letter from Emily Dickinson, a psychoanalysis bill penned by Freud, or an inscrutable note from Rasputin? Corrêa do Lago joins Christine Nelson, Drue Heinz Curator of Literary and Historical Manuscripts, for a lively discussion about the lure of handwriting and the joy of collecting.
The exhibition The Magic of Handwriting: The Pedro Corrêa do Lago Collection will be open at 5:30 pm for program attendees.
Letter from seven-year-old Victoria, the future Queen of Great Britain, to her uncle the Duke of York, 16 August 1826. Collection of Pedro Corrêa do Lago.