The papers of Henry Varnum Poor measure 12.9 linear feet and date from 1873-2001, with the bulk from the period 1904-1970. Correspondence, writings, artwork, printed material and photographs document Poor's work as a painter, muralist, ceramic artist and potter, architect, designer, writer, war artist, educator and a co-founder of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Also found is extensive information about the design and construction of Crow House, his home in New City, New York, commissions for other architectural projects, and his personal life.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of Henry Varnum Poor measure 12.9 linear feet and date from 1873-2001, with the bulk from the period 1904-1970. Correspondence, writings, artwork, printed material and photographs document Poor's work as a painter, muralist, ceramic artist and potter, architect, designer, writer, war artist, educator and a co-founder of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Also found is extensive information about the design and construction of Crow House, his home in New City, New York, commissions for other architectural projects, and his personal life.
Henry Varnum Poor's correspondence documents his personal, family, and professional life. Correspondents include family and friends, among them George Biddle, Charles Burchfield, John Ciardi, Marion V. Dorn (who became his second wife), Philip Evergood, Lewis Mumford, John Steinbeck, David Smith, and Mrs. John Work (Alice) Garrett. Among other correspondents are galleries, museums, schools, organizations, fans, former students, and acquaintances from his military service and travels. Family correspondence consists of Henry's letters to his parents, letters to his parents written by his wife, and letters among other family members.
Among the writings by Henry Varnum Poor are manuscripts of his two published books, An Artist Sees Alaska and A Book of Pottery: From Mud to Immortality. as well as the text of "Painting is Being Talked to Death," published in the first issue of Reality: A Journal of Artists' Opinions, April 1953, and manuscripts of other articles. There are also film scripts, two journals, notes and notebooks, lists, speeches, and writings by others, including M. R. ("Muktuk") Marston's account of Poor rescuing an Eskimo, and Bessie Breuer Poor's recollections of The Montross Gallery.
Subject files include those on the Advisory Committee on Art, American Designers' Gallery, Inc., William Benton, Harold Dickson, Reality: A Journal of Artists' Opinions Sales, and War Posters. There are numerous administrative files for the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.
Artwork by Henry Varnum Poor consists mainly of loose drawings and sketches and 45 sketchbooks of studies for paintings, murals, and pottery. There is work done in France, 1918-1919, and while working as a war correspondent in Alaska in 1943. There are commissioned illustrations and some intended for his monograph, A Book of Pottery: From Mud to Immortality. Also found are a small number of watercolors and prints. Work by other artists consist of Anne Poor's drawings of her father's hands used for the Lincoln figure in The Land Grant Frescoes and interior views of Crow House by Ernest Watson.
Documentation of Poor's architectural projects consists of drawings and prints relating to houses designed and built for Jules Billing, MacDonald Deming, John Houseman, Burgess Meredith, Isabel Padro, and Elizabeth S. Sargent. Also found is similar material for the new studio Poor built in 1957 on the grounds of Crow House.
Miscellaneous records include family memorabilia and two motion picture films, Painting a True Fresco, and The Land Grant Murals at Pennsylvania State College.
Printed material includes articles about or mentioning Poor, some of his pottery reference books, family history, a catalog of kilns, and the program of a 1949 Pennsylvania State College theater production titled Poor Mr. Varnum. Exhibition catalogs and announcements survive for some of Poor's shows; catalogs of other artists' shows include one for Theodore Czebotar containing an introductory statement by Henry Varnum Poor. Also found is a copy of The Army at War: A Graphic Record by American Artists, for which Poor served as an advisor. There are reproductions of illustrations for An Artist Sees Alaska and Ethan Frome, and two Associated American Artists greeting cards reproducing work by Poor.
Photographs are of Henry Varnum Poor's architectural work, artwork, people, places, and miscellaneous subjects. This series also contains negatives, slides, and transparencies. Images of architectural work include exterior and interior views of many projects; Poor's home, Crow House, predominates. Photographs of artwork by Poor are of drawings, fresco and ceramic tile murals, paintings, pottery and ceramic art. People appearing in photographs include Henry Varnum Poor, family members, friends, clients, juries, students, and various groups. Among the individuals portrayed are Milton Caniff, Marcel Duchamp, Wharton Esherick, M. R. ("Muktuk") Marston, and Burgess Meredith. Among the family members are Bessie Breuer Poor, Marion Dorn Poor, Anne Poor, Eva Poor, Josephine Graham Poor, Josephine Lydia Poor, Peter Poor, and unidentified relatives. Photographs of places include many illustrating village life in Alaska that were taken by Poor during World War II. Other places recorded are French and California landscapes, and family homes in Kansas. Miscellaneous subjects are exhibition installation views, scenes of Kentucky farms, and a photograph of Poor's notes on glazes.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 9 series:
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1919-1987 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1, OV 18)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1873-1985 (1.5 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1944-1974 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 2-3)
Series 4: Subject Files, 1928-1975 (0.8 linear feet; Box 3, OV 23)
Series 5: Artwork, circa 1890s-circa 1961 (3.5 linear feet; Boxes 4-6, 9-10, OV 19-22)
Series 6: Architectural Projects, circa 1940-1966 (0.7 linear feet; Box 6, OV 24-26, RD 14-17)
Series 7: Miscellaneous Records, 1882-1967 (Boxes 6, 11, FC 30-31; 0.5 linear ft.)
Series 8: Printed Material, 1881-2001 (1.2 linear feet; Boxes 6-7, 11, OV 27-29)
Series 9: Photographs, 1893-1984 (2.3 linear feet; Boxes 7-8, 12-13)
Biographical Note:
Henry Varnum Poor (1888-1970), best known as a potter, ceramic artist, and a co-founder of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, was also an architect, painter, muralist, designer, educator, and writer who lived and worked in New City, New York.
A native of Chapman, Kansas, Henry Varnum Poor moved with his family to Kansas City when his grain merchant father became a member of the Kansas Board of Trade. From a young age he showed artistic talent and spent as much time as possible - including school hours - drawing. When a school supervisor suggested that Henry leave school to study at the Art Institute of Chicago, the family disagreed. Instead, he enrolled in the Kansas City Manual Training High School where he delighted in learning skills such as carpentry, forge work, and mechanical drawing. In 1905, he moved with his older brother and sister to Palo Alto, California and completed high school there. Because Poor was expected to join the family business, he enrolled at Stanford University as an economics major, but much to his father's disappointment and displeasure, soon left the economics department and became an art major.
In the fall of 1911, Poor returned to Stanford University's art department on a one-year teaching assignment. During that academic year, his first one-man show was held at the university's Old Studio gallery. He married Lena Wiltz and moved back to Kansas to manage the family farm and prepare for another exhibition. Their daughter, Josephine Lydia Poor, was born the following year. Poor returned to Stanford in September 1913 as assistant professor of graphic arts, remaining until the department closed three years later. During this period, Poor began to exhibit more frequently in group shows in other areas of the country, and had his first solo exhibition at a commercial gallery (Helgesen Gallery, San Francisco). In 1916, Poor joined the faculty of the San Francisco Art Association. He and his wife separated in 1917 and were divorced the following year. Poor began sharing his San Francisco studio with Marion Dorn.
During World War I, Poor was drafted into the U. S. Army, and in 1918 went to France with the 115th Regiment of Engineers. He spent his spare time drawing; soon officers were commissioning portraits, and Poor was appointed the regimental artist. He also served as an interpreter for his company. Discharged from the Army in early 1919, Poor spent the spring painting in Paris. He then returned to San Francisco and married Marion Dorn.
Once Poor realized that earning a living as a painter would be extremely difficult in California, he and his new wife moved to New York in the autumn of 1919. They were looking for a place to live when influential book and art dealer Mary Mowbray-Clarke of the Sunwise Turn Bookshop in Manhattan suggested New City in Rockland County, New York as good place for artists. In January of 1920, the Poors purchased property on South Mountain Road in New City. The skills he acquired at the Kansas City Manual Training High School were of immediate use as Poor designed and constructed "Crow House" with the assistance of a local teenager. Influenced by the farmhouses he had seen in France, it was made of local sandstone and featured steep gables, rough plaster, chestnut beams and floors, and incorporated many hand-crafted details. Poor designed and built most of their furniture, too. Before the end of the year, he and Marion were able to move into the house, though it remained a work in progress for many years. Additions were constructed. Over time, gardens were designed and planted, and outbuildings - a kiln and pottery, work room, garage, and new studio - appeared on the property.
In 1925, two years after his divorce from Marion Dorn, Poor married Bessie Freedman Breuer (1893-1975), an editor, short story writer, and novelist. Soon after, he adopted her young daughter, Anne (1918-2002), an artist who served as his assistant on many important mural commissions. Their son, Peter (b. 1926) became a television producer. Crow House remained in the family until its sale in 2006. In order to prevent its demolition, Crow House was then purchased by the neighboring town of Ramapo, New York in 2007.
Between 1935 and 1966 Poor designed and oversaw construction of a number of houses, several of them situated not far from Crow House on South Mountain Road. Poor's designs, noted for their simplicity, featured modern materials and incorporated his ceramic tiles. Among his important commissions were houses for Maxwell Anderson, Jules Billig, Milton Caniff, MacDonald Deming, and John Houseman.
Poor's first exhibition of paintings in New York City was at Kevorkian Galleries in 1920, and sales were so disappointing that he turned his attention to ceramics. His first pottery show, held at Bel Maison Gallery in Wanamaker's department store in 1921, was very successful. He quickly developed a wide reputation, participated in shows throughout the country, and won awards. He was a founder of the short-lived American Designers' Gallery, and the tile bathroom he showed at the group's first exposition was critically acclaimed. Poor was represented by Montross Gallery as both a painter and potter. When Montross Gallery closed upon its owner's death in 1932, Poor moved to the Frank K. M. Rehn Gallery.
Even though Poor's pottery and ceramic work was in the forefront, he continued to paint. His work was acquired by a number of museums, and the Limited Editions Club commissioned him to illustrate their republications of Ethan Frome, The Scarlet Letter, and The Call of the Wild.
Poor's first work in true fresco was shown in a 1932 mural exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Between 1935 and 1949 he was commissioned to produce several murals in fresco for Section of Fine Arts projects at the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior, The Land Grant Frescoes at Pennsylvania State College, and a mural for the Louisville Courier-Journal. Ceramic tile mural commissions included: the Klingenstein Pavilion, Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York City; Travelers Insurance Co., Boston; the Fresno Post Office, California; and Hillson Memorial Gallery, Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, Mass.
As a member of the War Artists' Unit, Poor was a "war correspondent" with the rank of major in World War II, and for several months in 1943 was stationed in Alaska. An Artist Sees Alaska, drawing on Poor's observations and experiences, was published in 1945. A Book of Pottery: From Mud to Immortality, his second book, was published in 1958. It remains a standard text on the subject. While on the faculty of Columbia University in the 1950s, Poor and other artists opposed to the growing influence of Abstract Expressionism formed the Reality Group with Poor the head of its editorial committee. Their magazine, Reality: A Journal of Artists' Opinions, first appeared in 1953 featuring "Painting is Being Talked to Death" by Poor as its lead article. Two more issues were published in 1954 and 1955.
Along with Willard Cummings, Sidney Simon, and Charles Cuttler, in 1946 Henry Varnum Poor helped to establish the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine. He served as its first president. Poor and his daughter, Anne, were active members of the Board of Trustees and were instructors for many years. The summer of 1961 was Henry Varnum Poor's last as a full-time teacher, though he continued to spend summers at Skowhegan.
Henry Varnum Poor exhibited widely and received many awards, among them prizes at the Carnegie Institute, Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Architectural League of New York. Poor was appointed to the United States Commission of Fine Arts by President Roosevelt in 1941 and served a five year term. He was elected a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1943. The National Academy of Design named him an Associate Artist in 1954 and an Academician in 1963. He became a trustee of the American Craftsman's Council in 1956. The work of Henry Vernum Poor is represented in the permanent collections of many American museums including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Addison Gallery of American Art, and Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts.
Henry Varnum Poor died at home in New City, New York, December 8, 1970.
Related Material:
An oral history interview with Henry Varnum Poor was conducted by Harlan Phillips for the Archives of American Art in 1964.
Provenance:
Gift of Henry Varnum Poor's son, Peter V. Poor, in 2007. A smaller portion was loaned to the Archives in 1973 by Anne Poor for microfilming and returned to the lender; this material was included in the 2007 gift.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information. Use of audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Henry Varnum Poor papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
This collection contains photographs was shot circa 1887-1899 by Jesse Hasting Bratley and Horace G. Jennerson while they served as teachers on the Rosebud and Pine Ridge Reservations.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains 28 glass plate negatives and 30 photographic prints that were mostly shot by Jesse Hasting Bratley and Horace G. Jennerson circa 1887-1905, while they were teachers on the Rosebud and Pine Ridge Reservations respectively. The photographs include depictions of the Corn Creek Day School on Rosebud Reservation and No. 20 Day School on the Pine Ridge Reservation; portraits of individuals and families; interior views of an Omaha earth lodge and exterior views of encampments; activities such as branding calves, a 4th of July celebration, and an Episcopalian Convocation; and landscapes of the Badlands in South Dakota. One photograph in the collection possibly depicts Horace G. Jennerson circa 1938-1940.
Photographs of note include 2 glass plate negatives depicting Chief Red Cloud.
Some photographs in this collection are restricted because they depict culturally sensitive scenes such as sweat house/lodges and burial grounds.
Jennerson collected Bratley's photographs at some unknown point in time and Jennerson's wife Mary captioned many of the original plates and prints. In some instances, the original photographer is unclear.
Arrangement:
This collection is organized into 5 series: Series 1: Portraits, Series 2: Students and schools, Series 3: Activities, Series 4: Buildings and structures, and Series 5: Landscapes.
The photographs are physically arranged in original catalog number order within folders. The glass plate negatives are arranged in boxes according to image size and then by catalog number order.
Biographical / Historical:
Born in Kansas in 1863, Horace G. Jennerson served as a teacher at the No. 20 Day School on the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota from circa 1896-1905. He married Mary R. Jennerson in Saline, Kansas in 1889. Their children included M. Leah Jennerson and Horace L. Jennerson. He also served as a financial clerk for the Indian Service in Ponca, Oklahoma circa 1905-1913. He died in Seattle, Washington in 1940.
Jesse Bratley was born in Brown Town, Wisconsin in 1867. He served as teacher at the Lower Cut Meat Creek Indian Day School on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota from circa 1893-1899. In addition to regular classes, he also taught the children farming, carpentry, and blacksmithing. He later served as a teacher at the Cantonment Boarding School in Oklahoma, circa 1899-1900; Havasupai at Cataract, Arizona, circa 1902-1903; Hopi Day School in Arizona, circa 1902-1903, and Seminole, Florida, 1910. He passed away in Florida in 1948.
Separated Materials:
Horace L. Jennerson also donated objects to the Museum of the American Indian and are cataloged under numbers 243761-243811.
Provenance:
This collection was donated to the Museum of the American Indian by Horace L. Jennerson (son of Horace G. Jennerson) in 1970.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Rights:
Some images restricted: Cultural Sensitivity
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Horace G. Jennerson collection, catalog #; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
This collection includes glass plate negatives shot by J. Harold Waugh, the son of Indian Agent John H. Waugh on the Spirit Lake (Devil's Lake) reservation between 1890 and 1893. The agency headquarters were located at Fort Totten in North Dakota and Waugh (Sr.) oversaw both the Spirit Lake (Devil's Lake) and Turtle Mountain reservations. J. Harold Waugh's photographs include images of agency buildings, activities on the reservation and members of the Wahpetonwan Dakota [Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe] Tribe.
Scope and Contents:
This collection includes 41 glass plate negatives and copy negatives shot by J. Harold Waugh, the son of Indian Agent John H. Waugh on the Spirit Lake (Devil's Lake) reservation between 1890 and 1893. Waugh, who was a young man at the time, shot photographs documenting the activities at the Fort Totten Agency in North Dakota in addition to taking several group portraits and photographing buildings and landscape views. The buildings Waugh photographed included agency offices, post buildings, Issue buildings, a hotel in Fort Totten, the Episcopal mission, Roman Catholic convent and the Fort Totten Industrial Training School. Waugh shot photographs during several Wahpetonwan Dakota dances (some restricted), on Issue Day, and of a sham battle that took place in front of his house in Fort Totten. He also made portraits of Wahpetonwan Dakota community members, including members of the Spirit Lake (Devil's Lake) Indian police force. Several of the group portraits also include his father, John Waugh, and his sister, Edna Waugh. Although the majority of the photographs were made outside, there are several portraits of Minnesota Chippewa [White Earth, Minnesota] girls who were students at the Fort Totten Industrial school which appear to have been shot inside the school. Many of the Wahpetonwan Dakota community members were identified in the original catalog, though name spellings vary. Several photographs still remain unidentified.
The copy negatives were created by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation (NMAI's predecessor museum) during a photo conservation project in the 1960s.
N20150 - N20192. N20158 and N20189 were destroyed, no copy negative exists.
Arrangement:
Arranged by catalog number.
John Harold Waugh:
John Harold Waugh, Sr. was born west of Greenville, Pennsylvania in 1853, son of Judge William W. Waugh. Around 1873 he married to Ella M. Hammond, daughter of Dr. Hammond, formerly of Brooklyn, and they had two sons, William Hammond and John Harold, and one daughter, Edna. Waugh was stationed as the Indian agent from 1890-1893 at the Devil's Lake Agency which included the Fort Totten Reservation and Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota. Fort Totten reservation is now part of the Spirit Lake Reservation (Devil's Lake) in North Dakota. Between 1867 and 1890, Fort Totten served as a military post policing the surrounding reservation inhabited by the Wahpetonwan Dakota, formerly called "Devils Lake Sioux." In 1890 the Fort was decommissioned and on January 5th, 1891 the former post became the property of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
J. Harold Waugh, Jr., born in 1877, was still a young man while his father was stationed in North Dakota. After the death of his father in 1894 he along with his mother and sister moved back to Pennsylvania. Waugh eventually settled in New Jersey and opened an advertising firm. He later donated his negatives to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation in 1930 and deposited additional materials with the museum in 1950.
The Fort Totten Industrial Training School:
The Fort Totten Industrial Training School was originally an outgrowth of the mission school established by the Catholics in 1874 and the industrial school established by the order of the Grey Nuns from Montreal. After a fire burned down the main buildings of the mission in 1883 a new mission was built half a mile northeast of Fort Totten. In 1890 when the Fort was decommissioned, the Mission school was consolidated with the Industrial School and placed under the supervision of Superintendent William F. Canfield. Under Canfield the school taught students from the Spirit Lake (Devils Lake) reservation, Turtle Mountain reservation, and Standing Rock reservations in North Dakota, the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana, the White Earth Reservation, Red Lake Reservation, and Leech Lake reservations in Minnesota. Most pupils were enrolled for three to five years and half the school day was devoted to industrial work including harness making, shoemaking, tailoring, carpentry, masonry, blacksmithing, farming and engineering for the boys and cooking, breadmaking, housekeeping, laundry work and sewing for the girls.
Related Materials:
J. Harold Waugh later donated a collection of plains ethnology to the MAI in 1941. These items had been collected by his father John H. Waugh while he was an Indian Agent in North Dakota from 1890-1893. You can view these items here: John Waugh collection items.
Provenance:
Donated by J. Harold Waugh, Jr. in 1930.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
One of the photographs is restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Indians of North America -- North Dakota Search this
Genre/Form:
Glass plate negatives
Photographs
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); J. Harold Waugh photographs from the Spirit Lake Reservation (Devil's Lake Reservation) image #, NMAI.AC.143; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
The collection is open for research use. Researchers must handle unprotected photographs and glass plate negatives with gloves.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
The collection is open for research use. Researchers must handle unprotected photographs and glass plate negatives with gloves.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
The collection is open for research. Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
William R. Hutton Papers, dates, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
