New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Charles W. White, 1965 March 9. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Milford Zornes, 1965 June 30. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Julian Williams, 1964 June 14. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Mireille Piazzoni Wood, 1965 June 23. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
United States. Department of the Treasury. Section of Fine Arts Search this
United States. Department of the Treasury. Section of Painting and Sculpture Search this
Extent:
1 Linear foot ((partially filmed on 1 reel))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1933-1978
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence, writings, clippings, photographs, and financial records.
Unmicrofilmed material: Correspondence regarding Palmer's commissions with the Federal Art Project, Public Works of Art Project, and the Treasury Relief Art Project; an essay by Palmer on gesso painting; financial records; contracts; clippings; photographs of Palmer's murals; and 9 panels entitled "Qualities that Developed the Middle West", submitted to the Section of Fine Arts as entries for the St. Louis Post Office competition, 1939.
Reel 290: Correspondence, financial records; contracts; and printed material emanating from Palmer's mural assignments for the FAP, PWAP, and the Section.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, muralist, educator; Clinton, New York Worked for the federal government on the Federal Art Project in Iowa, for the Public Works of Art Project in New York, and the Treasury Section of Fine Arts in Washington, D.C. and Massachusetts. Artist-in-residence at Hamilton College, Clinton, New York.
Provenance:
Material on reel 290 lent for microfilming, lender unknown; unmicrofilmed material donated 1981 by Joseph C. Palmer.
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.
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with William Henry Traher, 1964 November 13. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Extent:
27 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1965 March 9
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Charles Wilbert White conducted 1965 March 9, by Betty Hoag, for the Archives of American Art. White speaks of his youth in Chicago and early interest in art; early encounters with racism; his early training in art; working on the Federal Art Project; his U.S. Army service; going to Mexico; his ventures in graphic arts; subject matter which inspires him; coming to California; the politics of government subsidy of the arts; and mural projects he worked on. He recalls Harry Sternberg.
Biographical / Historical:
Charles W. (Wilbert) White (1918-1979) was a painter and educator from Los Angeles, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 17 min.
Provenance:
This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Educators -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
Biographical information, correspondence, photographs, writings, research and subject files, works of art, motion picture film, interview transcripts, financial material, printed material and miscellany relating to Mitchell Siporin.
Personal photographs of Siporin, stage sets and art work by him.
Circa 1000 letters relating to his painting, his teaching, his service as a war artist during World War II and the Federal Art Project, including letters from Sheldon Cheney, Edith Halpert, Edward Rowan, Holger Cahill, Edward Millman, Max Abramowitz, Lee Nordness, and others; biographical material; notes and lectures; art history research files; sketches; price lists for his art works; expense accounts and tax records; blueprints and architectural plans; photographs, including WWII photographs and photographs of his art work; reproductions of his art work; exhibition catalogs; and clippings.
Letters from Siporin to his brother and sister-in-law, Seymour and Mary Sipporin, as well as letters to Siporin from Jack Levine and Carl Holty. Writings, including scripts for lectures, journal articles, an unfinished novel by Siporin, a journal describing his experience in North Africa during WWII as a war photographer and painter, notes taken during sabbaticals, and a eulogy written by Siporin for Henry Varnum Poor. Photographs of Siporin with friends and family, including Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Peter Pollack, Edward Millman, and Philip Guston and a portrait of Siporin by Arnold Newman, as well as Siporin's artwork. Subject files, including the Woodstock Art Conference, American Artists' Congress, the American Federation of Arts, WWII, the Army at War exhibit, Siporin's involvement in the WPA, as well material on Siporin's Haymarket drawings used for a 1934 issue of Left Front magazine. Works of art including two studies for St. Louis, Missouri, Post Office murals, and a sketch of Siporin by S.P. Kaufman.
A VHS video and DVD copy, transferred from 16mm motion picture film, showing Siporin at work on his St. Louis frescoes (b&w, 3 min., no sound). Interview transcripts of an interview with Siporin conducted by Geofrrey Swift as well as an interview with Siporin conducted by Melvyn Bragg for the BBC. Financial records, including sales contracts. Printed material, including exhibition catalogs and programs, and newspaper clippings as well as an exhibition poster from Babcock Galleries. Also included is a small amount of material relating to Jennie Siporin, Mitchell Siporin's mother.
Biographical / Historical:
Mitchell Siporin (1910-1976) was a painter and photographer from Newton, Massachusetts.
Provenance:
The collection has been donated in several installments beginning in 1978 when Siporin's widow Miriam lent materials for microfilming (reels 1328 and 1332). She also donated materials at that time and again in 1992, at which time it was also microfilmed (reels 2011-12 and 2061). In 2003, Judith Siporin, Siporin's daughter, donated the materials previously lent on reel 1332 and 16mm motion picture film. In 2005 Mary Siporin, Mitchell Siporin's sister-in law donated papers, and in 2008 Judith donated another installment.
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.
Research and teaching files relating to murals, painted ca. 1933-1966, many for the Public Works of Art Project and Department of the Treasury, and muralists, consisting mainly of two-card indexes listing murals by city and by artist; miscellaneous files on more than 50 artists, many of whom are muralists; a seminar paper by Watrous, "Nineteenth Century Criticism of Degas"; and photographs of murals by Victor Arnautoff, Frank Bergman, John Ballator, Jose Moya Del Pino, and Paul Sample.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, mural painter, art historian; Madison, Wisc. Full name is James Scales Watrous.
Provenance:
Donated 1966 by James Watrous.
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:
Art historians -- Wisconsin -- Madison Search this
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Extent:
22 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1964 November 13
Scope and Contents:
An interview of William Henry Traher conducted 1964 November 13, by Sylvia Loomis for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
William Henry Traher (1908-1984) was a painter and muralist in Denver, Colorado.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 1 hr., 1 min.
Sound quality is poor.
Provenance:
Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
REEL 3472 (fr. 30-36): A crayon sketch by Sloan on Thanksgiving, Nov. 25, 1909, signed by other guests Mary Fanton Roberts, Robert and Marjorie Henri, John Butler Yeats, Dolly and Eleanor Sloan, and others.
REEL 3472 (fr. 37-42): Letter to William Woodward, June 24, 1935, soliciting money for the Artists and Writers Dinner Club, to help keep the club open to feed artists in need.
REEL 3472 (fr. 43-50): An illustrated letter to Mr. [John] Kraushaar, July 5, 1919, written from Omaha, Nebraska, en route to Santa Fe, N.M. He writes that he has done "so much setting still in the car, that I'll be glad to try the feel of a brush."
REEL 4391: A letter to "Nat & Estelle," written from New York. Sloan thanks them for their gift of fruit, comments on his etching as a respite from "painting problems which are so many!", the opening and small membership of the 17th annual exhibition of the Independents, and the negative reaction to Diego Rivera's "new Detroit murals," which Sloan finds "magnificent."
UNFILMED: A letter to an unidentified recipient, dated Feb. 1915. Sloan invites an order for some of his prints, and encloses a pamphlet listing prices and showing reproductions of several of his etchings.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, printmaker, illustrator, teacher; New York, N.Y. and Santa Fe, N.M. Member of "The Eight."
Painter; New York, N.Y.
Related Materials:
John Sloan papers, also located at: Helen Farr Sloan Library, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, De.
Provenance:
Letter on reel 3472 (fr. 30-36) donated 1976 by Charles Feinberg, a collector of American art and friend of AAA. Letter reel 3472 (fr. 37-42) donated 1976 by George E. Jordan. Letters on reels 3472 (fr. 43-50) and reel 4391 provenance unknown.
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
Topic:
Mural painting and decoration -- United States Search this
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Names:
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Extent:
48 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1964 June 14
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Julian Williams conducted 1964 June 14, by Mary Fuller McChesney, for the Archives of American Art New Deal and the Arts Project.
Biographical / Historical:
Julian Williams (1911- ) was a muralist from Sausalito, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 43 min.
Provenance:
This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
This microfilm collection consists of sketches, drawings, and five prints by African American artist John Thomas Biggers and date from 1940 to 1967. It includes studies for Dying Soldier, Preacher Mural, Web of Life, and other murals, as well as a family portrait dated 1948.
Biographical / Historical:
John Thomas Biggers (1924-2001) was an African American painter, muralist, and educator in Houston, Texas. He founded the art department at Texas Southern University in 1949, serving as director until 1983. Biggers also wrote Ananse: the Web of Life in Africa, published in 1962.
Related Materials:
The Emory University Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library holds the John Biggers papers, 1950-2001
Provenance:
Microfilmed as part of the Archives of American Art's Texas project.
Lent for microfilming 1981 by Dr. John Thomas Biggers.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
