New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Jacob Baker, 1963 September 25. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Mildred Constantine, 1965 October 15. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Mildred Constantine conducted 1965 October 15, by Harlan Phillips, for the Archives of American Art. Constantine speaks of the Federal Art Project in New York and its work; working for Audrey McMahon; the influx of foreign artists in the 1930s; the changes brought about in the art world because of the Federal Art Project. She recalls McMahon, Edward Alden Jewell, Holger Cahill and Jacob Baker.
Biographical / Historical:
Mildred Constantine (1914-2008) was an art historian from New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 16 min.
Provenance:
Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Curators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art consultants -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
An interview of Jacob Baker conducted by Harlan Phillips on 1963 September 25 for the Archives of American Art.
Baker speaks of his training as an industrial engineer and his early employment history, including involvement with various New Deal bureaus; becoming assistant administrator of the WPA, and his activities; the various WPA projects and their functions. He recalls Holger Cahill and Mildred Baker.
Biographical / Historical:
Jacob Baker (1895-1967) was an art administrator in Newark, New Jersey.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 41 min.
Provenance:
Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- New Jersey -- Interviews Search this
This series consists of personal and work-related correspondence (primarily incoming correspondence) between Cahill and various friends and colleagues. While a large portion of the series documents Cahill's position as Director of the FAP, it also extends beyond those years and illuminates other aspects of Cahill's career including his interest in folk and Asian art, and his work as an art critic.
There is significant correspondence with the artist Stanton MacDonald Wright between 1936 and 1950, and with the artist Irene Pereira between 1950 and 1953. The series also documents research which Cahill conducted in the late 1940s on the development of the Index of American Design for his introduction to a book on the Index by the National Gallery of Art, published by the Macmillan Company. Correspondence from 1949 provides another angle on the historical details of the FAP through lengthy correspondence documenting Cahill's criticism of William Francis McDonald's book Federal Relief Administration and the Arts (Ohio State University Press, 1969).
There is a large amount of correspondence from July 1960 comprising sympathy letters to Dorothy C. Miller following Cahill's death. Correspondence from 1977 encloses a catalog of an exhibition organized by New York WPA Artists, Inc., at the Parsons School of Design in November 1977. The exhibition, New York City WPA Art, was dedicated to the memory of Holger Cahill.
See Appendix for a list of correspondents (with the exception of those microfilmed on reel 1105) in Series 2.
Appendix: Correspondents in Series 2:
Abbott, Berenice: 1944 (letter to the Editor)
Abbott, John: [1946]
Abell, Walter ( -- Canadian Art): -- 1943-1944 (2 letters)
Adams, Charles C.: 1940
Alcopley, Mr.: [1952] (including typescript "Pictures of Alcopley" by Saburo Hasegawa); 1953-1960 (4 letters)
Alsberg, Henry G. (Director, Federal Writers' Projects): 1936 (4 letters)
American Council of Learned Societies: 1949
American Federation of Arts: 1949-1952 (3 letters)
American Folk Art Gallery: 1941
American Heritage: 1954
American Swedish Historical Foundation: 1949
Andrews, Robert Armstrong and Eleanor: [1960], undated
Art in America: 1953
Artists For Victory: [1942]
Artists League of America: 1945
Artists Union of Massachusetts: 1936 (telegram to President Roosevelt)
Arts Council of Japanese Americans for Democracy: 1944
Ashton, Dore: [1960]
Bach, Richard F. (Metropolitan Museum): 1924 and 1950
Bailey, Herbert: 1972 (letter from Naomi Bliven)
Baker, Donald: [1936]
Baker, Jacob (WPA): 1935-1960, undated (10 letters)
Barach, Frederica (Writers' War Board): 1944
Barker, Virgil and Ida: 1945-1960 (4 letters)
Barnard College: 1951 (2 letters)
Barr, Alfred H., Jr. (Museum of Modern Art): 1935-1960 (16 letters)
Barr, Tony: 1960
Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn, Inc.: 1950
Baur, John (Brooklyn Museum): 1946-1960 (6 letters)
Winchester, Alice ( -- Antiques -- Magazine): 1950-1951 (6 letters)
Winser, Beatrice: 1924-1944 (6 letters)
Winter, Anna K. (antiques dealer): 1935
Wisconsin: State Historical Society of Wisconsin: 1939
Woodstock Artists Association: 1960
Woodward, Ellen S.: 1936-1938 (3 letters)
Worcester, Wakefield (architect): 1936
Wright, Russell (industrial designer): [1960]
Wyn: A. A. Wyn, Inc.: 1951
Youngerman, Jack: 1960
Zegri, Armando (Galeria Sudamericana): 1960
Zimmerman, Fred and Dorothy: [1960]
Zorach, William: 1936-1960 (3 letters)
Collection Restrictions:
The microfilm of this collection has been digitized and is available online via the Archives of American Art website.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Holger Cahill papers, 1910-1993, bulk 1910-1960. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the digitization of the microfilm of this collection was provided by Jane Blumenfeld.
The papers of arts administrator Mildred Baker measure 2.7 linear feet and date from 1882 to 1997, with the bulk of the material dating from 1923 to 1997. Found within the papers are biographical materials; personal and professional correspondence; writings; files related to her work on the WPA Federal Art Project and other institutional art projects; printed material; photographs of Baker; and photographs and papers related to the work of her husband, Jacob Baker, who also administered programs for the WPA.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of arts administrator Mildred Baker measure 2.7 linear feet and date from 1882 to 1997, with the bulk of the material dating from 1923 to 1997. Found within the papers are biographical materials; personal and professional correspondence; writings; files related to her work on the WPA Federal Art Project and other institutional art projects; printed material; photographs of Baker; and photographs and papers related to the work of her husband, Jacob Baker, who also administered programs for the WPA.
Biographical materials include birth and award certificates, curriculum vitae, divorce documents, an oral history transcript, and genealogical research and information on Baker's family, including her brother, the composer and bassoonist Adolph Weiss.
Correspondence is primarily with Baker's friends, business associates, researchers, and art institutions discussing personal relationships, research inquiries into the administration of the Federal Art Project, and loans and gifts of artwork to various institutions. The series includes Baker's responses to researcher requests regarding FAP exhibitions, programs, artists, and recollections of her fellow administrators.
Writings by Baker consist of reminiscences, 8 travel diaries, 3 essays, an exhibition catalog introduction, 4 lectures, and miscellaneous notes. Writings by others consist of 4 essays on contemporary art and art administration.
Federal Art Project files include correspondence; artist and exhibition lists; memoranda and general information; reports; speeches; information and photographs related to regional art centers and black artists; printed material; and miscellaneous material related to the Index of American Design, Southern California Art Project, and the Technical Services Laboratory.
General project files include information for 4 exhibitions, including the 1934 First Municipal Art and Salon of America Exhibitions; reports and speeches for the Newark Museum; information on the commissioning of the New Jersey Council on the Arts; and member information from the Woman Pays Club.
Printed material includes clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, newsletters, press releases, and a commercial recording of Alice Tully Hall.
Photographs are of Mildred Baker, including photos during her tenure at the Federal Art Project and Newark Museum. There is also a photograph of fellow FAP administrator Audrey McMahon.
Materials related to Jacob Baker include interview recordings and transcripts; personal correspondence with friends and business associates; writings and speeches; information related to Baker's work for the United Federal Workers of America; printed materials; and photographs of Baker.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1882, 1934-1990 (7 folders; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1937-1997 (0.4 linear feet, Box 1)
Series 3: Writings, circa 1940-1985 (17 folders; Box 1)
Series 4: Federal Art Project, WPA, circa 1934-1953 (0.8 linear feet, Box 1-2)
Series 5: Project Files, 1934-1991 (0.4 linear feet, Box 2)
Series 6: General Printed Material, 1923-1996 (11 folders; Box 2-4)
Series 7: Photographs, circa 1934-1992 (2 folders; Box 3)
Series 8: Jacob Baker, 1930-1975 (0.3 linear feet; Box 3-4)
Biographical / Historical:
Mildred Baker (1905-1998) was an arts administrator who worked in New York City, New York; Newark, New Jersey; and Washington, D.C.
Baker was born in Brooklyn, New York to composer and musician George Weiss and his wife Sophia Soennichsen, whose family were also musicians and writers. In 1925, while enrolled at the University of Rochester, she married the artist Ernest Holzhauer and together they moved to Europe for study and travel. In 1927, they returned to New York where Baker began working in administrative positions for the Van Diemen Galleries and the College Art Association. In 1934, she was hired by Holger Cahill to assist him in organizing Rockefeller Center's Salons of America Exhibition and First Municipal Art Exhibition. After the success of these shows, in 1935, Baker was hired as Cahill's assistant after he was selected to run the Federal Art Project for the Work Projects Administration in Washington, D.C.
While working for the Federal Art Project, Baker was appointed director of exhibitions and surveyed the work of over 100 art centers, organized over 500 traveling exhibitions, and managed the final allocation of artworks created for the FAP. In 1940, Baker divorced Mr. Holzhauer and married Jacob Baker, an economist and WPA administrator, union organizer, and a founder of the left-wing Vanguard Press, in 1947. After overseeing the closing of the Federal Art Project offices in Washington, Baker and her husband moved back to New York and became longtime residents of the Chelsea Hotel. Baker joined the staff of the Newark Museum in 1944, was promoted to assistant director in 1949, and to associate director in charge of exhibitions and programs from 1953 until her retirement in 1971.
In 1963, Baker was appointed by Governor Richard Hughes to the Commission to Study the Arts in New Jersey, and while serving as vice chairman, she oversaw the establishment of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She was a member of the Cosmopolitan Club, Women's City Club, Woman Pays Club, and American Association of Museums. Baker died on December 9, 1998.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art holds several collections related to Mildred Baker and the WPA Federal Art Project. There are two oral histories with Mildred Baker, one conducted by Harlan Phillips, September 21, 1963 and another by William Agee, July 22, 1965. There is also an oral history with Jacob Baker conducted by Harlan Phillips, September 25, 1963. Transcripts of the interviews conducted by Harlan Phillips are found within the collection. Collections related to the Federal Art Project include the Federal Art Project of the Work Projects Administration records and the Holger Cahill papers.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reel D110 including exhibition catalogs and clippings. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Mildred Baker donated her papers in several increments between 1971 and 1993. In 1999, the bulk of her papers were donated to the archives by Baker's estate executor, Patricia Haskell, some of which included materials that had been loaned for microfilming in 1963.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
1 Microfilm reel (circa 860 items on 1 microfilm reel)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Microfilm reels
Date:
1935-1938
Scope and Contents:
The microfilmed Burt Brown Barker papers contain Barker's correspondence as director of the Federal Art Project in Portland, Oregon; reports; memoranda; travel vouchers; lists of artists and art projects; minutes of the Oregon Federal Music Project; a typescript of an article, "The Federal Art Center, Salem, Oregon," and other writings; printed material; and miscellany. Correspondents include Jacob Baker, Frederic Stewart Bartlett, Holger Cahill, Joseph A. Danysh, T. J. Edmonds, George H. Gannon, Carter Glass, Ellis Fuller Lawrence, Charlotte Roberta Mish, Thomas Cleveland Parker, Margery Hoffman Smith, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Burt Brown Barker (1873-1969) was a lawyer and arts administrator in Portland, Oregon. He was director of the Federal Art Project in Portland, president of the Oregan Historical Society, the McLoughlin Memorial Association, and the Herbert Hoover Foundation of Oregon. He also played an active role in the restoration of the John Minthorn House and its transformation into a museum.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds the Oregon FAP records, 1936-1939.
Willamette University Archives and Special Collections holds the Burt Brown Barker papers, 1890-1935. The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library holds the Burt Brown Barker papers, 1885-1976.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1982 by Sarah Munro.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Oregon -- Portland Search this
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Scott & Fowles artists' files, 1904-1946. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Goldschmidt, Arthur E. "Tex", 1910-2000 Search this
Subject:
United States. Federal Emergency Relief Administration Search this
Type:
Sound Recording
Date:
between 1945 and 1955
Citation:
Jacob Baker and Arthur E. "Tex" Goldschmidt. Interview with Jacob Baker and Tex Goldschmidt, between 1945 and 1955. Mildred Baker papers, 1882. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Freedmen's Bureau Digital Collection, 1865–1872, is a product of and owned by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Copyright for digital images is retained by the donor, FamilySearch International; permission for commercial use of the digital images may be requested from FamilySearch International, Intellectual Property Office, at: cor-intellectualproperty@ldschurch.org.
Collection Citation:
Courtesy of the U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Freedmen's Bureau Digital Collection, 1865–1872, is a product of and owned by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Copyright for digital images is retained by the donor, FamilySearch International; permission for commerical use of the digital images may be requested from FamilySearch International, Intellectual Property Office, at: cor-intellectualproperty@ldschurch.org.
Collection Citation:
Courtesy of the U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Freedmen's Bureau Digital Collection, 1865–1872, is a product of and owned by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Copyright for digital images is retained by the donor, FamilySearch International; permission for commerical use of the digital images may be requested from FamilySearch International, Intellectual Property Office, at: cor-intellectualproperty@ldschurch.org.
Collection Citation:
Courtesy of the U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
