The papers of Chicago and Santa Fe painter, muralist, architect, and furniture designer William Penhallow Henderson measure 10.5 linear feet and date from 1876 to 1987 (bulk dates 1876 to 1943). Found within the papers are scattered biographical material; correspondence with friends and colleagues; three diaries; personal business records; two files concerning the Santa Fe Painters and Sculptors and the Art in Embassies Program; architecture, furniture, and other design project files; exhibition files; notes and writings; artwork, including 64 sketchbooks by Henderson and others; miscellaneous printed material; and photographs of Henderson, his family and colleagues.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of Chicago and Santa Fe painter, architect, and furniture designer William Penhallow Henderson measure 10.5 linear feet and date from 1876 to 1987 (bulk dates 1876-1943). Found within the collection are biographical material; a file concerning Henderson's father William Oliver Henderson; correspondence primarily with colleagues discussing art-related topics; two diaries describing his student days in Paris, 1902-1903, and one concerning the latter part of his life; personal business records; subject files for the Santa Fe Painters and Sculptors and the Art in Embassies Program; architecture and furniture files containing notes, designs, and photographs of Henderson's work in these areas; additional project files concerning other projects, including a play, architectural projects, and a mural; exhibition files; notes and writings; artwork, including 64 sketchbooks by Henderson; miscellaneous printed material; and photographs of Henderson, his family, colleagues, and artwork.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 13 series primarily according to type of material; materials within series are arranged chronologically.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1897-1984 (Boxes 1, 12; 14 folders)
Series 2: File on William Oliver Henderson, 1876-1906 (Box 1; 12 folders)
Series 3: Correspondence, 1883-1987 (Boxes 1-2; 1.9 linear feet)
Series 4: Diaries, 1902-1940 (Box 3; 4 folders)
Series 5: Personal Business Records, 1887-1984 (Box 3; 40 folders)
Series 6: Subject Files, 1921-1975 (Box 3; 2 folders)
Series 7: Architecture and Furniture Files, 1926-1983 (Boxes 3-4, 12, OV 14; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 8: Project Files, 1916-1942 (Boxes 4-5, 12, OV 14; 40 folders)
Series 9: Exhibition Files, 1927-1964 (Box 5; 25 folders)
Series 10: Notes and Writings, 1901-1985 (Boxes 5-6; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 11: Artwork, 1886-1929 (Boxes 6-8, OV 14; 1.9 linear feet)
Series 12: Printed Material, 1891-1988 (Boxes 8-9; 1.7 linear feet)
Series 13: Photographs, 1887-1985 (Boxes 9-11, 13; 1.6 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Painter, architect, and furniture designer, William Penhallow Henderson was born in 1877 in Medford, Massachusetts. His father, William Oliver Henderson was a friend of painter William Edward Norton and an amateur painter himself. During Henderson's childhood, the family moved several times, settling in Turkey Creek, Texas, in 1879, and Clifton, Kansas, in 1886.
Returning to Boston in 1891, Henderson studied at the Massachusetts Normal Art School and, and in 1899, entered the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, studying under Edmund C. Tarbell. In the following year, he won the Paige Traveling Scholarship for two years of study in Europe. His travels, from 1902-1903, included London, where he became acquainted with the family of John Singer Sargent. He also traveled to Paris, Berlin, Dresden, Madrid, and the Azores.
From 1904 to 1910, Henderson taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago. In 1904 he painted in Mexico and Arizona with colleague Carl N. Werntz. He married the poet-editor of Poetry magazine, Alice Corbin in 1905, and their only child, Alice Oliver Henderson, was born in 1907.
Between 1906 and 1907 Henderson completed ten murals for the Joliet Township High School. Mrs. Henderson's book Anderson's Best Fairy Tales, illustrated by her husband, provided the funds for a second trip to Europe from 1910-1911. In 1914, Henderson built a house and studio of his own design at Lake Bluff, Illinois, and in the same year he was commissioned by Frank Lloyd Wright to design murals for Midway Gardens, Chicago. Unfortunately, the murals were painted over shortly after completion. In the following year, he designed the scenery and costumes for the Chicago Fine Arts Theatre production of Alice in Wonderland.
Due to his wife's failing health, the family moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1916, and in 1918, Henderson was employed by the U. S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation in San Francisco to paint camouflage onto the hulls of ships during World War I.
In 1925, Henderson, with his first son-in-law John Evans, formed the Pueblo-Spanish Building Company, through which he designed and built many private homes and some public buildings, including the Railroad Ticket Office in Santa Fe. Henderson was also successful at designing carved wooden furniture. In the mid-1930s, he was appointed to the Federal Arts Project, for which he completed easel paintings and six murals for the Santa Fe Federal Court Building.
In 1937, Henderson completed the impressive Navajo House of Religion, built in the style of an American Indian hogan and later re-named the Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art.
William Penhallow Henderson died in 1943 in Tesuque, New Mexico.
Provenance:
The William Penhallow Henderson papers were donated by Carlton Colquitt, on behalf of the estate of his late wife, Alice Henderson Rossin, the daughter of William Penhallow Henderson, in 1988.
Restrictions:
Open for research. Use requires an appointment.
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.
