Robert Carlen established the Philadelphia-based Carlen Galleries in 1937. The galleries specialized in American folk, primitive, and decorative art, but also sold African, European, and Asian art. Carlen collaborated with Alfred Frankenstein and Mary Black; he uncovered many paintings by Edward Hicks, and was Horace Pippin's dealer. Records pertaining to the Carlen Galleries and its owner, ranging from the early 1930s until 1980, are housed at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.