1 microfilm reel (3 items on partial microfilm reel)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Microfilm reels
Date:
circa 1937
Scope and Contents:
This microfilm collection consists of photographs of sculptures created by African American artist Sargent Johnson for the Federal Art Project.
Biographical / Historical:
Sargent Johnson (1888-1967) was an African American sculptor in northern California. He was one of the first African American artists working in California to gain national recognition, and exhibited in many Harmon Foundation exhibitions. In the late 1930s, Johnson worked for the Works Progress Administration Federal Arts Project.
Provenance:
The lender, Lewis Ferbrache, was an administrator of the Oakland Museum of Art and collected materials relating to federally funded art projects for AAA during its New Deal and the Arts project.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Reels 3028-3030: Biographical data; correspondence with Ernest Blumenschein, Adolf Dehn, Loren Mozley, Georgia O'Keeffe and others; a transcript of an interview with Hunter's widow, Virginia Hunter Ewing, Janaury 7, 1964, regarding Hunter's tenure as State Director for the Federal Art Program of WPA in New Mexico; illustrated typescripts of Hunter's manuscripts; price lists and appraisals of his work; 4 undated sketchbooks of figure studies; annotated drawings of furniture, interior designs and mural studies; a scrapbook, 1925-1960, of newspaper clippings and other printed material; exhibition catalogs; magazine clippings; photos of Hunter, his paintings and murals, and his interior design for the Officer's Club, Army Air Base, Clovis, New Mexico.
Reel NDA 1: Press clippings and a memorial bulletin from the Roswell Museum in New Mexico where he was an administrator.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, administrator and designer; Sante Fe, New Mexico. State director of the Federal Art Project of the Work Projects Administration, a federally aided project to provide employment to artists during the Depression.
Provenance:
The lender, Mrs. Ewing, is the widow of Hunter. Material on reel NDA 1 lent by Mrs. Ewing.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
A collection of portfolios containing 59 block-printed textiles done for the handicraft project.
Also included on microfilm reel 3482 is one decorative, block-printed portfolio, approximately 11" x 13.5" with a seal "W.P.A. Handicraft Project No. 1170".
Biographical / Historical:
Howard Thomas was the director of the Milwaukee WPA Handicraft Project. The Milwaukee WPA Handicraft Project was one of the more unusual and diverse of the handicraft projects. Its "Project 1170" was a program especially created for women interested in becoming self-supporting. The Milwaukee County and the Milwaukee State Teachers College were partial sponsors of the project.
Provenance:
Unmicrofilmed material donated 1964 by Howard Thomas; material on reel 3482 donated 1966 by Harold Wescott.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
0.6 Linear feet (Reel NDA 2: (on partial microfilm reel))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1931-1963
Scope and Contents:
Unmicrofilmed material: Correspondence of Adele Clark, Thomas Parker, and Thomas Singleton; minutes of meetings time sheets and monthly reports; subject files on various FAP projects; photographs; and prints, watercolors, and sketches done by FAP artists. Most of the records relate to the Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts in Richmond, Va., the Big Stone Gap Community Art Center, and the Index of American Design.
Reel NDA 2: Ca. 500 letters, reports, rosters, directives, manuscripts and other materials pertaining to the FAP in Virginia; ca. 135 photographs of administrators, students, works of art, and art exhibitions; ca. 120 pages of sketches by FAP artists; and news clippings, mimeographed programs, and circulars.
Biographical / Historical:
Clark was the Virginia state director of the Federal Art Project (FAP); Parker and Singleton were both directors of the Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts, Richmond, Va. The FAP was a federal relief art program established under Federal Project No. 1 of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) which provided work for unemployed artists and craftsmen during the Depression.
Related Materials:
Adele Clark papers; also at: Special Collections, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Provenance:
The donor, Adeline Cox, is the niece of Adele Clark.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
10.7 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 6 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Place:
United States -- Economic conditions -- 1918-1945
United States -- Social conditions -- 1933-1945
Date:
1900-1979
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence; diaries; business records; printed material; photographs; and miscellaneous items.
Reel NDA 27: Correspondence with Forbes Watson, Olin Dows, Edward B. Rowan and others about Carter's career as an artist and as a supervisor in the Federal Arts Project in Ohio; and several personal letters from Charles Campbell.
Reel N68-19: Memorabilia, including old letters, clippings, family records, and early family photographs.
Reel N70-40: Clippings and other printed material regarding Carter's Holbrook grandparents.
Reels N733-N734: Correspondence with art dealers, with museum directors, relating to exhibitions and specific paintings, and his involvement with the Federal Art Project, 1927-1966.
Reel 85: Clippings; catalogs; journal reproductions of Carter's work; and correspondence relating to Carter's supervision of the painting of post office murals in Portsmouth and Ravenna, Ohio and to the Municipal collection of Cleveland Art project under the Treasury Section and Federal Art Project; also discussion of three exhibits organized by Carter and toured by the Smithsonian Institution during 1966-1970. Correspondents include Edward Rowan, Holger Cahill, and Charles Campbell.
UNMICROFILMED: Family and business correspondence relating to his painting; business files containing correspondence and printed material; exhibition catalogs; photographs of works of art; passports and other travel documents; annotated calendars, 1969-1971; diary entries, Jan.-Apr. 1929; bills and receipts; and printed material.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, designer, director of Federal Art Project; Cleveland, Ohio.
Provenance:
Material on reels NDA27 and N68-19 lent by Carter, 1964 and 1968; remainder donated by Carter, 1969-1979.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The papers of Holger Cahill (1887-1960) date from 1910 to 1993, with the bulk of the material dating from 1910-1960, and measure 15.8 linear feet. The collection offers researchers fairly comprehensive documentation of Cahill's directorship of the Works Progress/Projects Administration's (WPA) Federal Art Project (FAP) in addition to series documenting his work as a writer and art critic. Material includes correspondence, reports, artist files, scrapbooks, printed material, and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of Holger Cahill (1887-1960) date from 1910 to 1993, bulk 1910-1960, and measure 15.8 linear feet. The collection offers researchers fairly comprehensive documentation of Cahill's directorship of the FAP in addition to series documenting his work as a writer and art critic. FAP records include national and state administrative reports, records of community art centers, photographic documentation of state activities, artist files, divisional records about teaching, crafts, murals, and poster work, files concerning the Index of American Design, scrapbooks, and printed material.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into nine series:
Series 1: Biographical Material and Personal Papers, 1931-1988 (Box 1; 19 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence Files, 1922-1979, 1993 (Boxes 1-2; 1.5 linear ft.)
Series 3: Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project, 1934-1970 (Boxes 2-14, 18, MMs009; 10.75 linear ft.)
Series 4: Writings, Lectures and Speeches, 1916-1960 (Boxes 14-15, 18; 1.0 linear ft.)
Series 5: Minutes of Meetings and Panel Discussions, Non-FAP, 1939-1947 (Box 15; 5 folders)
Series 6: Notes and Research Material, 1935-1970 (Boxes 15-16; 0.25 linear ft.)
Series 7: Artwork, undated (Boxes 16, 18; 2 folders)
Series 8: Printed Material, 1910-1985 (Boxes 16-17; 1.8 linear ft.)
Series 9: Photographs, circa 1917-1960 (Box 17; 6 folders)
Biographical Note:
Holger Cahill was born Sveinn Kristjan Bjarnarson in Iceland in a small valley near the Arctic Circle, on January 13, 1887. His parents, Bjorn Jonson and Vigdis Bjarnadottir, immigrated to the United States from Iceland sometime later in the 1880s. In 1904, his father deserted the family, forcing Sveinn to be separated from his mother and sister to work on a farm in North Dakota. He ran away and wandered from job to job until settling in an orphanage in western Canada, where he attended school and became a voracious reader.
As a young man, he worked at many different jobs and attended night school. While working on a freighter, he visited Hong Kong, beginning his life-long interest in the Orient. Returning to New York City, he eventually became a newspaper reporter, continued his studies at New York University, and changed his name to Edgar Holger Cahill. In 1919 he married Katherine Gridley of Detroit. Their daughter, Jane Ann, was born in 1922, but the couple divorced in 1927.
Cahill met John Sloan circa 1920, and they shared a residence. Cahill also wrote publicity (until 1928) for the Society of Independent Artists, through which he made many friends in the arts. From 1922 to 1931, he worked under John Cotton Dana at the Newark Museum, where he received his basic experience in museum work, organizing the first large exhibitions of folk art.
From 1932 to 1935, he was the director of exhibitions for the Museum of Modern Art. In 1935, Cahill was appointed director of the Works Progress/Projects Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project (FAP), until its end in June 1943. In 1938, Cahill organized a countrywide exhibition "American Art Today" for the New York World's Fair. He also married MoMa curator Dorothy Canning Miller in that year.
Profane Earth, Cahill's first novel, was published in 1927, followed by monographs on Pop Hart and Max Weber, miscellaneous short stories, and a biography of Frederick Townsend Ward, entitled A Yankee Adventurer: The Story of Ward and the Taiping Rebellion. Following the end of the Federal Art Project, Cahill wrote two novels, Look South to the Polar Star (1947) and The Shadow of My Hand (1956).
Holger Cahill died in Stockbridge, Massachusetts in July 1960.
Provenance:
The Holger Cahill papers were donated to the Archives of American Art through a series of gifts by Cahill's widow, Dorothy C. Miller, between 1964 and 1995.
Restrictions:
The microfilm of this collection has been digitized and is available online via the Archives of American Art website.
Rights:
The Holger Cahill 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.
