Tomkins was contacted by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1968 to write the history of the institution coincident with their centennial celebrations, andMerchants and Masterpieces: The Story of the Metropolitan Museum of Art(New York: Dutton) appeared in 1970. The first twenty-four folders in this subseries are in order of the book chapters to which they pertain and concern succeeding eras of the museum's history and key trustees, directors and curators. Materials include copious photocopies of museum documents such as letters and manuscript material from the museum archives as well as copies of museum bulletin articles, book chapters and other published material. Large quantities of handwritten and typewritten notes are present as well. Folders 25-33 contain correspondence concerning the book, financial summaries of gifts and acquisitions by the museum, and the contents of a series of binders dedicated, respectively, to trustees and benefactors, curatorial departments, and presidents, directors, and staff of the museum. Two additional folders contain photographs used in the book and pamphlets and gallery guides from across the museum's history. Folders 34-47 are research materials and resources gathered after original publication, in many cases used for additions included in the 1989 reprint by Henry Holt. In these last files there is a particular focus on the "scandals" of the museum in the 1970s and Thomas Hoving's tenure as director