Shelley, Dr. Donald A., 1950–1963

Donald Shelley and his wife Esther maintained a close and cordial friendship with Netter. They occasionally traveled together on historic house tours or to seminars and conferences on antiques. Shelley and Netter first met in 1940 when Netter sold a self-portrait of Charles Wilson Peale holding a mastodon bone to the New-York Historical Society, where Shelley was serving as curator of paintings. Shelley later became curator of the Reading Public Museum and Art Gallery in Reading, PA, but then moved on to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI. These letters document their friendship as well as some purchases made from Netter by the Henry Ford Museum.