The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Summary:
The microfilmed selected papers from the Peale-Sellers collection contain autobiographical and biographical material; letters; writings; printed material; photographs; a sketchbook; drawings; and notebooks belonging to Charles Willson Peale and the Peale family with notes and writings by Horace Wells Sellers.
Citation:
Selected papers from the Peale-Sellers collection, circa 1767-1904. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
35mm microfilm reels P31-P37 available for use at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Location of Originals:
Originals in the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Loan:
Loan
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art holds the Rembrandt and Harriet Peale collection, circa 1820-1932 and the Rubens Peale diaries, 1855-1865. Also found at the Archives of American Art are the microfilmed Charles Willson Peale diaries and exhibition announcement, 1765-1826; microfilmed printed material relating to Rembrandt Peale, 1830-1862; microfilmed Titian Ramsay Peale Collection, 1771-1876; microfilmed Selected Peale family papers, 1803-1854; and microfilmed Augusta Barker papers, 1875-1887. The American Philosophical Society holds the Peale-Sellers Family Collection, 1686-1963 and the Peale family papers, 1705-1898.
Biography Note:
The Peale family was a family of painters, primarily in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) was a portrait painter and engraver and studied in London with Benjamin West. He is known for his portraits of the founding fathers including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams. In 1786 he founded the Peale Museum, and was one of the founding members of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1805.
James Peale (1749-1831) was a painter who specialized in miniature portraits, and later painted larger scale portraits, still lifes, and landscapes. As the younger brother of Charles Willson Peale, he worked as his brother's studio assistant and there received his first painting education.
Rubens Peale (1784-1865) opened the New York Museum of Natural History and Science in 1825. Following the economic Panic of 1837, Rubens became a gentleman farmer in the Pennsylvania countryside. He returned to Philadelphia in 1864 and began painting still lifes.
Titian Ramsay Peale (1799-1885) was a naturalist, photographer, and scientific illustrator. Named for an older brother who died in 1798, he was the only naturalist in the family and documented animals and scenery in watercolors on scientific expeditions including the 1819 Long expedition to the Rocky Mountains.
Benjamin Franklin Peale (1795-1870), called Franklin, was his father's assistant at the museum and managed it after Charles Peale's death. Franklin Peale was also an employee of the Philadelphia Mint from 1833 to 1854.
Horace Wells Sellers (1857-1933) was an engineer and architect in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Charles Willson Peale's great great grandson.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming, 1955, by the American Philosophical Society, Peale-Sellers Collection.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Miniature painting -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Portrait painting -- 18th century -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Portrait painting -- 19th century -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
