The custodial history of this holding is incomplete. As of June 2019, no record of how or when the Monmouth University Library acquired this item has been found.

It is possible that the letter was gifted to the repository along with an undated (pre-1999) book donation attributed to unspecified members of Robert McDonald's family.

Robert McDonald, the original recipient of Luhan's correspondence, was the author of a foreword and notes to An exhibition of 100 prints and drawings from the collection of James H. Lockhart, jr., published by the Carnegie Institute in 1939. The Guggenheim Memorial Library bookplate affixed to the inside front cover of Monmouth's circulating copy of Lockhart's publication states that it was presented to the school by "The Family of Michael A. McDonald in his memory."

Michael A. McDonald (1877-1942), a former resident of Summit, New Jersey, was a prominent art collector and leading authority on fine prints who, at the time of his death, headed the M.A. McDonald Gallery, at 665 Fifth Avenue in New York City. Not only does that address match the one that appears on the envelope in which Luhan's letter was mailed, contemporary news accounts confirm that Michael's son, Robert, a curator in his own right and a frequent lecturer on art, was associated with the McDonald Gallery circa February 1940. [See, e.g.: "M. M'Donald dies, headed art firm," New York Times, 1942 December 11, page 24.]