The Archives of American art does not own the original papers/records. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Summary:
Correspondence (mostly typed transcripts); scrapbooks; photographs; sketches; notebooks and scrapbooks and clippings compiled by Dorothy Weir Young in preparation for her book, The Life and Letters of J. Alden Weir (1960, Yale University Press).
REEL 70: Typescripts of 31 letters including: correspondence between Weir, his family and friends, 1881; letters to Weir from A. D. Peppercorn, Charles Baude and Robert Hinckley; letters from Weir to his parents; and correspondence with his brother John Ferguson Weir. Also included are 13 original letters, 1881, to Weir from George Inness, Worthington Whittredge, Daniel Huntington and others; 2 exhibition catalogs, 1916 & 1952; 3 indexed scrapbooks, 1892-1916, containing clippings about Weir's paintings, letters, photos and receipts; a scrapbook containing prints by Weir (often several states of each are included), untitled and undated, some of which are of family and friends; a scrapbook of prints, "Etchings- J. A. Weir, Isle of Man 1889"; sketches; photographs; and clippings.
REEL 71: Correspondence (mostly transcripts), 1869-1880, including: over 200 letters from Weir to his parents and 50 to his brother John Ferguson Weir, mostly from Paris where Julian was a student of Jean Leon Gerome and at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts; letters from James Carroll Beckwith, Charles Baude, Wyatt Eaton, Jean Leon Gerome, John Singer Sargent, Albert Edelfelt, Charles Dubois, Filadelfo Simi, John Henry Twachtman, Joseph Wencker, Jules Bastien-Lepage, and his father and brother; excerpts from diaries of trips in Europe; reproductions of works of art and architectural scenes; and miscellany.
REELS 125-126: Notebooks and scrapbooks compiled by Dorothy Weir Young and clippings; catalogs; and correspondence of her sister, Mrs. Caroline Alden Ely (Mrs. Page Ely). The notebooks contain mostly typescripts of letters to and from Weir during 1882-1920, plus some photographs; original letters; and memorabilia. The scrapbooks contain photographs of Weir's works; notes; some original letters; and clippings.
REEL 577: Fragments (45 pp.) of a rough draft of Weir's biography, devoted to Weir's career from 1898 to 1900, with particular reference to the "revolt" of "The Ten" from the Society of American Artists.
Citation:
Julian Alden Weir papers, 1869-1966. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
35mm microfilm reels 70-71, 125-126 & 577 available for use at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Location of Originals:
Reels 70-71 & 125-126: Originals returned to Mrs. Page Ely after microfilming, and subsequently acquired by Brigham Young University.
Related Materials:
Researchers should also consult the Weir family papers for additional material of and about Julian Alden Weir.
Biography Note:
Painter, etcher, printmaker; New York, N.Y. and Connecticut. Weir was the son of painter Robert Walter Weir (1803-1889), and brother of painter John Ferguson Weir (1841-1926).
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
Material on reels 70-71 & 125-126 was lent for microfilming 1971 by Mrs. Caroline Weir Ely (Mrs. Page Ely, d. 1974), sister of Dorothy Weir Young; both daughters of Julian Alden Weir. The donor and date of the gift of the draft of Weir's biography is unknown. The draft was microfilmed on receipt on Reel 577 and later transferred to the Weir Family papers, 1809-circa 1961, bulk 1830-1920, in 2019 as it was assumed that the donor was a relative of the family since Dorothy Weir Young wrote Weir's biography.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
