Letters from Harry Roseland, Edward Caswell, Francis C. Jones, Devitt Welsh, and John Taylor Arms; autographs of American literary and art figures, late 19th-20th centuries; catalogs of the Philadelphia Society of Etchers, 1928-1937; catalog, March 1906, of the American Association of Artists listing paintings sold for Moses Tanenbaum, Ferne's father, a collector; and 36 letters to Tanenbaum from painters James Gale Tyler, Arthur P. Tait, Thomas Moran, Edward L. Henry, Jules Worms, Frederick James, Arthur Parton, Henry P. Smith, and Frank Russell Greene, discussing the progress of Tanenbaum commissions Also includes autographs and sketches to Ferne and two letters from Stephen Massett and William H. Payne.
Biographical / Historical:
Hortense Tanenbaum Ferne was a painter, etcher, and lithographer in New York, New York. and Philadelphia. Ferne's father, Moses Tanenbaum, was a collector. She married Herman Fernberger (sometimes listed as Ferneberger) in 1906 and in 1940 changed her name legally to Ferne.
Provenance:
Donated 1971 by Hortense Ferne. Her father's letters were re-microfilmed on reel 97. Some of the materials on reels 50-51 were returned to Ferne after microfilming.
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.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Mainly correspondence regarding the acquisition of portraits and paintings for the Orton Memorial Library of Geology, Ohio State University,Columbus; biographical sketches; sketches; financial material; and clippings.
REELS 1814-1815: 634 letters regarding the acquisition of portrait paintings of state geologists and landscape paintings with rock formations for the library; 5 brief biographical sketches of artists and writers; clippings; 3 sketches; bills; and receipts.
REEL 3161: Correspondence, 1922-1926, regarding the acquisition by the library of one painting by Thomas Moran and two paintings by Albert Bierstadt.
Biographical / Historical:
Geologist; Columbus, Ohio. Orton was a long-time chairman of the Department of Geology, Ohio State University.
Provenance:
Donated 1978-1979 by Frank M. Ludden, Chairman of the Art History Department at the University of Ohio, Columbus, Ohio.
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.
Included are: "The French in California, 1850-1950"; annual report, 1955, and a catalog of the picture collections of the Society of California Pioneers; a brief resume of the career of Ernest Narjot; "Charles Christian Nahl," by Eugen Neuhaus, 1936; "California Centennials Exhibition of Art" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1949; "Harry Raschen, Painter of the American West," by Harry Flayderman, 1958; Samuel Marsden Brookes exhibition catalog, 1962-1963; and Thomas Moran exhibition catalog, 1963.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming December 1963 by Lewis Ferbrache of the Oakland Museum.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Correspondence, minutes, accession records, building records, and records of the Department of Prints and Drawings.
REELS 536-565: Archives of the Museum, 1875-1954, including: correspondence of the President, Gardiner M. Lane, 1910-1914 (8 letterpress books and 1,256 items); correspondence of the Director, Charles Greely Loring, 1876-1901 (6 vols. and 11,355 items); correspondence of the Assistant Director, Benjamin Ives Gilman, 1894-1902 (6 vols. and 272 items); minutes of the Board of Trustees, 1870-1954 (17 vols.); minutes of the Committee on the Museum, 1875-1954 (25 vols.); minutes of the Executive Committee, 1876-1946 (5 vols.); and Visiting Committee records, 1906-1949 (1 loose leaf binder).
REELS 584-587: Records of the Department of Prints and Drawings, including 2 vols. of correspondence, 1904-1915, 14 accession books, 1872-1946, and 14 record books. Record books include the following: The Sylvester Rosa Koehler Collection, 1893 (3 vols.); the Harvey D. Parker-Henry F. Sewell Collection, 1897-1900 (4 vols.); Objects Entering the Department of Prints and Drawings, 1935-1947; Prices of Prints, 1877-1885; Engravings and Photographs Purchased in Europe, 1886-1887; Visitors to the Gray Collection, 1872-1889; Vistors Register, 1890-1915; and a register of books.
REELS 2493-2497: Building records, including: records of the Copley Square Building with correspondence, 1870-1901, reports, minutes of the Executive Committee, financial records, and a prospectus and subscription list for the William Morris Hunt Memorial Exhibition, 1879; records of the Huntington Avenue Building, with reports, correspondence and financial records related to its personnel, departments, collections, and competitions; and clippings.
REEL 2715: Papers of the print department, ca. 1841-1901, including: letters from Sylvester R. Koehler, curator of the print department, to Charles G. Loring, director of the museum; letters to Koehler concerning printmaking techniques from W. H. Dougal, John M. Falconer, Henry Farrar, Thomas Moran, Walter Rowlands, Walter Shirlaw, James David Smillie, Frederick T. Stuart and Charles A. Walker; a report by Koehler on the print department, January 10, 1888; correspondence regarding the acquisition of the Henry F. Sewall print collection; a handwritten catalog of the Sewall collection, ca. 1880, including printmaker, title, catalog number, collector's mark and value, 463 p.; notes by Koehler; and printed material.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1973-1983 by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Correspondence; photographs; documents; articles and clippings. Much of this material was compiled by Moran's family after he died. Information on Moran's painting of Western mountain scenes and several admiring letters from John Ruskin. Also included is information about Moran's wife, Mary Nimmo Moran, a recognized painter.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, landscape painter, etcher; Santa Barbara, Calif. Painted large majestic landscapes of the Far West and the Grand Canyon.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1963 by East Hampton Free Library.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
REEL 2772: Sketches, watercolors, prints, and manuscripts.
REELS 3275-3276, 3282-3283: An autobiographical sketch; biographical material; letters to his wife, 1874; awards and certificates; transcript of a journal kept in Fort Ellis, July and August 1871; a journal kept on a trip to Mexico, 1882-1883; notebooks containing account records and lists of paintings, 1873-1922; Ruth Moran's notebooks containing records of her father's work; ca. 1500 sketches; photographs of Moran and of his paintings; a photograph of Mary Nimmo Moran; typescripts of articles on Moran; a thesis by Samuel Sachs II, "Thomas Moran-Drawings and Watercolors"; clippings; and exhibition catalogs and announcements.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter; Santa Barbara, Calif.
Provenance:
Microfilmed 1984 with other selected art related papers form the Gilcrease Institute.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Landscape painters -- California -- Santa Barbara Search this
Painters -- California -- Santa Barbara Search this
Zolnay, George Julian, 1862 or 1863-1949 Search this
Extent:
0.2 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Sketches
Place:
Museum directors -- Washington (D.C.)
Date:
1879-1955
Summary:
The artists' files of William Henry Holmes, curator and director of the Smithsonian's National Collection of Fine Arts (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum) in Washington, D.C., measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1879 to 1955. The artists' files consist mostly of correspondence, but also include a few photographs, artwork in the form of sketches, and printed material. There is also one file relating to Holmes' affiliation with the Washington Water Color Club.
Scope and Contents:
The artists' files of William Henry Holmes, curator and director of the Smithsonian's National Collection of Fine Arts (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum) in Washington, D.C., measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1879 to 1955. The artists' files consist mostly of correspondence, but also include a few photographs, artwork in the form of sketches, and printed material. There is also one file relating to Holmes' affiliation with the Washington Water Color Club.
Notable artists represented in the files include R.N. Brooke, William B. P. Closson, James Earle Fraser, Vinnie Ream Hoxie, Reuben Le Grand Johnston, John LaFarge, Gari Melchers, Thomas Moran, Henry Moser, Hobart Nichols, Violet Oakley, Joseph Pennell, Joseph Henry Sharp, Mary Vaux Walcott, Carl F. Weller, Max Weyl, Irving R. Wiles and George Julian Zolnay.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 1 series.
Series 1: Artists' Files, 1879-1955 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)
Biographical / Historical:
William Henry Holmes (1846-1933) was a curator, museum director, artist, scientific illustrator, archaeologist, geologist, and anthropologist. He served in various positions in the Smithsonian Institution, and finally as director of the Smithsonian's National Gallery of Art (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum) from 1920-1932.
Holmes was born in Harrison County, Ohio in 1846. In 1870, he graduated from McNeely Normal School in Ohio and, after a short time of teaching at that school, moved to Washington, D.C. in 1871 to study art under Theodore Kaufmann. Thanks to his artistic skills, he was soon hired by Smithsonian paleontologist Francis B. Meek to do scientific drawings. In 1872, Holmes joined the geological survey of Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, as an artist and topographer of the survey of Yellowstone National Park and surrounding area, and other regions in the west. In 1879, Holmes went to work for the newly founded U.S. Geological Survey. There he worked as a geologist and chief of scientific illustration. In addition to art and geology, his interests and expertise expanded into archaeology and anthropology.
Holmes worked as chief curator at the Field Columbian Museum (now the Field Museum of Natural History) in Chicago before returning to the Smithsonian in 1897, where he served as curator of anthropology and chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology. In 1910, he became chairman of the Division of Anthropology. In 1920, Holmes became director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Gallery of Art (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum), a position he held until 1932. William Henry Holmes died one year later.
Related Materials:
Collections about William Henry Holmes are also located at other Smithsonian Institution archival units, including the National Anthropological Archives and Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Provenance:
These files were transferred from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art Library (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum) to the Archives of American Art in two installments in 1981 and 1992.
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.
Rights:
The William Henry Holmes artists' files 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.
Correspondence of the Century Magazine and its predecessors, Scribner's Monthly, and St. Nicholas Magazine. Also included is material related to the Century War Series.
Among the correspondents are: Cecilia Beaux, James C. Beckwith, Samuel G. W. Benjamin, William M. Chase, William A. Coffin, Timothy Cole (98 letters), Charles C. Coleman, Royal Cortissoz, Kenyon Cox, Reginald C. Coxe, Christopher P. Cranch, Henry H. Cross, Frederick S. Dellenbaugh, Thomas W. Dewing, Alexander W. Drake, Wyatt Eaton, George W. Edwards, Frank E. Elwell, Gaston Fay, Harry Fenn, Mary H. Foote, William L. Fraser, Charles L. Freer, Daniel C. French, Frank French, Isabella S. Gardner, Jay Hambidge, Charles H. Hart, Arthur Hoeber, George Inness, Jr., August F. Jaccaci, Arthur I. Keller, Edward W. Kemble, Knoedler M. & Company, Christopher G. La Farge, John La Farge, Charles R. Lamb, Florence N. Levy, Frank J. Mather, Leila Mechlin, Gari Melchers, Francis D. Millet, Thomas Moran, Edward L. Morse, Hobart Nichols, Elizabeth Nourse, Thornton Oakley, Violet Oakley, Maxfield Parrish, William O. Partridge, Elizabeth R. Pennell (83 letters & 55p. handwritten article), Joseph Pennell, Henry R. Poore, Eva A. Remington, Henry Reuterdahl, Boardman Robinson, Henry Sandham, DeCost Smith, Jessie W. Smith, Albert E. Sterner, Alfred Stieglitz, William J. Stillman (ca. 95 letters), Lorado Taft, Henry O. Tanner, Abbott H. Thayer, Gerald H. Thayer, Dwight W. Tryon, John C. Van Dyke, Douglas Volk, Irving R. Wiles, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
A quarterly publication on the arts and current affairs.
Other Title:
Century Company collection (NYPL microfilm title)
Provenance:
Microfilmed 1956 by the Archives of American Art with other art-related papers in the Manuscript Division of the New York Public Library. Included in the microfilming project were selected papers of the Art Division and the Prints Division.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
