This accession consists of photographs documenting award presentations, exhibition openings, receptions, staff members, and visitors at the Freer Gallery of Art and
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Award presentations include the Freer Medal to Osvald Siren, 1956; Ernst Kuhnel, 1960; Tanaka Ichimatsu, 1973; Laurence Sickman, 1973; and Roman
Ghirshman, 1974. Staff members include William Reynolds Beal Acker, Martin Amt, Carl Whiting Bishop, John Bundy, Alice Crawford, Richard Ettinghausen, Robert Evans, Elisabeth
West FitzHugh, Grace Dunham Guest, Rutherford J. Gettens, George Jonathon, Thomas Lawton, John Ellerton Lodge, Russell C. Mielke, John Alexander Pope, Helen Quail, Harold
P. Stern, Burns Archer Stubbs, Archibald G. Wenley, and David H. Zirkle. Materials include black and white and color photographs, color slides, color negatives, and minimal
textual information about the photographs.
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Betty Carpenter Papers, 1867-1971. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
The John Alexander Pope papers contain limited biographical, personal and professional information. The bulk of the collection consists of published and unpublished writings, research materials and correspondence.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged into six major series. A seventh series inventories outsize materials contained in the other series.
Series 1: Biographic Material
Subseries 1.1: Academic and Professional Life
Subseries 1.2: Personal and Official Photographs of Pope, Family and Colleagues
Series 2: John A. Pope Asian Ceramics and Art Collection
Series 3: Published and Unpublished Materials
Subseries 3.1: Articles, Lectures and Manuscripts
Subseries 3.2: Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine: Research Materials and Publication Correspondence
Series 4: Research Material: Subject Files
Subseries: 4.1: Asian Art and Ceramics: Background Material
Subseries 4.2: Chinese Ceramics
Subseries 4.3: Chinese Ceramics and the Porcelain Trade
Subseries 4.4: Japanese and Korean Ceramics
Series 5: Travel
Subseries 5.1: Itineraries, Expenses and Notes
Subseries 5.2: Photographs, Negatives and Slides
Series 6: Correspondence
Series 7: Inventory of Outsize Materials
Biographical/Historical note:
John Alexander Pope was a renowned scholar and authority on Asian art, especially Chinese and Japanese ceramics. He spent most of his professional career at the Freer Gallery of Art, which he joined in 1943 as an Associate in Research. He later served as Assistant Director (1946 to 1962) and then as Director (1962 to 1971). After his retirement in 1971, he continued at the Freer as Director Emeritus and Research Curator for Far Eastern Ceramics.
Pope was born in Detroit, Michigan on August 4, 1906 and died in Washington D.C. on September 18, 1982. He obtained a Bachelor's degree in English literature from Yale College. In 1929, prior to graduation, he joined the China International Famine Relief Commission sent to survey famine conditions in the Yellow River valley. As a truck driver for the Commission, he travelled throughout north China giving him an unparalleled chance to see the land and people at first hand. In Beijing, he met and spent time with Alan Priest, later curator of Far Eastern Ceramics at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In a 1972 letter, Pope recalled his time with Priest in 1929 as "the most important factor in my subsequent decision to go into the field." From 1934 to 1941 he was a graduate student at Harvard University, studying Chinese and Japanese languages and the history, archaeology and art of these countries. He spent 1938 as a Travelling Fellow of the Harvard-Yenching Institute studying Chinese archaeology at the University of London; he also travelled to Stockholm, Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin to study museum and private ceramic collections. Harvard awarded him an M.A. degree in 1940 and a Ph. D. in 1955.
From 1945 to 1946, on leave of absence from the Freer, Pope served as a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve posted to Tianjin, China as a Chinese language interpreter. He travelled frequently to Beijing, spending time with Jean Pierre Dubosc and other Chinese art connoisseurs. In introductory notes to a 1979 lecture he recalled that on one of these Beijing trips he made his "first purchase of blue-and-white." Thus began of a life-long interest in Chinese blue-and-white porcelain in general and establishing criteria and a methodology for dating and stylistic analysis of 14th and 15th century blue-and-white in particular. His publications included analysis of important collections of Chinese ceramics, for example those at the Topkapi Sarayi in Istanbul and at the Ardabil Shrine in Iran. Many of his lectures, articles and research trips focused on Chinese trade ceramics, not only in European collections but also from Asian shipwrecks and at sites ranging from East Africa to The Philippines.
Pope made his first trip to Japan in 1956. In his 1979 notes he wrote: "My visit to Karatsu and meeting with the Nakazato family started my serious interest in Japanese ceramics." He made many trips to Japan beginning in the late 1960s, often spending several months at a time visiting important kiln sites and Japanese potters as well as collectors. His research emphasis gradually shifted to Japanese porcelain and the issues of dating and identifying kiln sites and wares. At the time of his death he was researching a book on Japanese porcelain.
Over time Pope created a substantial personal collection of Chinese and Japanese ceramics. He developed an extensive network of connoisseurs, dealers and scholars. He travelled frequently, visiting public and private collections, attending various symposia, and meeting with a wide range of colleagues involved in the world of Asian ceramics. He belonged to many professional associations and served as advisor or board member for several museums and academic institutions.
Related Material:
James Cahill Papers
Prince Aschwin Lippe Papers
SIA Acc, 03-018, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery,
Central Files, 1919-1986
Freer Gallery Study Collection, ceramic shards donated by John Alexander Pope, see http://www.open.asia.si.edu search John Pope.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Collection Citation:
Pauline B. and Myron S. Falk, Jr. Papers, FSA.A2002.03. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Falk family.
Sponsor:
Processed in 2022 with funding from the Smithsonian Institution's American Women's History Initiative.
Academic records include documents and correspondence concerning Phillips Exeter Academy Class of 1925 and Yale University Class of 1929, Harvard University diplomas and miscellaneous other Harvard records. Items from Pope's tenure at the Freer Gallery include the announcement of his appointment as Director, some annual reports, information on exhibitions at the Freer, and several reports related to the gallery. The materials include correspondence and other papers from Pope's service on the Board of Trustees of the Museum of the American China Trade. From 1971 to 1981 he was Advisor for Far Eastern Art for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; most of this material relates to objects offered by dealers. Pope was an active member of the Literary Society of Washington DC and of the Oriental Ceramic Society based in London. Correspondence and other items relating to both organizations are included.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Collection Citation:
John Alexander Pope Papers. FSA.A1988.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
