United States -- Politics and government -- 1933-1945
United States -- Social conditions -- 1933-1945
Date:
1902-1960
bulk 1932-1942
Summary:
The Edward Bruce papers measure 8.9 linear feet and date from 1902 to 1960, with the bulk of the material dating from 1932 to 1942. The collection documents Bruce's work as an artist, art collector, exhibition juror, and federal government art administrator, particularly his tenure as Director of the U. S. Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts. Well over one-half of the collection consists of extensive correspondence with artists, art collectors and dealers, arts associations, galleries, and government officials, including President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Scope and Content Note:
The Edward Bruce papers measure 8.9 linear feet and date from 1902 to 1960, with the bulk of the material dating from 1932 to 1942. The collection documents Bruce's work as an artist, art collector, exhibition juror, and federal government art administrator, particularly his tenure as Director of the U. S. Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts. Well over one-half of the collection consists of extensive correspondence with many notable artists and government officials. Also found is scattered biographical material, office diaries and speeches, personal financial material, printed material, four scrapbooks, and photographs.
A small amount of biographical material includes birth records and many awards and certificates. Bruce's correspondence files comprise over half of this collection, containing correspondence with family, friends, artists, art organizations, political figures, museums, art galleries, and government agencies. Found within the files is extensive correspondence with friend and art critic Leo Stein and artist friend Maurice Sterne. Additional artists Bruce corresponded with include George Biddle, Adrian Dornbush, and Olin Dows. Also included is correspondence documenting his career as Chief of the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts with government colleagues and officials, much of it concerning his role on various federal arts committees, including the Commission of Fine Arts. There is also extensive correspondence with Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt concerning federal and public art projects.
Writings include office diaries and notebooks containing notes, addresses, lists of Section of Fine Arts projects, and dated work entries. There are copies of numerous written speeches given by Bruce on the importance of art, public art projects, and political issues. Financial material consists of a small number of items documenting Bruce's financial activity such as tax and insurance records, bills, a cash book, and house leases. Printed material documents Edward Bruce's career as an artist and federal arts projects and programs. Found are news clippings and magazine articles, exhibition catalogs, brochures, bulletins from the Section of Fine Arts, published speeches, and miscellaneous publications. Four scrapbooks contain news clippings, letters, photographs, and other printed material highlighting Bruce's career.
Extensive photographs include photographs of Bruce's artwork, portraits of Bruce, the Bruces with family and with friends and at many special events, including an NBC radio broadcast and at an exhibition with Eleanor Roosevelt. There are also photographs taken by Bruce during his travels and while living in Anticoli Carrado, Italy.
Arrangement:
The Edward Bruce collection is arranged into 7 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1904-1938 (Box 1, OV 11; 3 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1921-1957 (Boxes 1-6; 5.5 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings, circa 1931-1942 (Box 6; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 4: Financial Material, circa 1909-1913, circa 1928-1943(Box 6, 0.3 linear feet)
Series 5: Printed Material, circa 1919, circa 1926-1943, 1960 (Box 7, 0.5 linear feet)
Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1922-1941 (Box 7-8; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 7: Photographs, circa 1902-1943 (Box 7, 9-10; 1.0 linear foot)
Although the collection no longer matches the exact filmed order, large groups of materials have been maintained in film order, particularly the correspondence. Microfilm reel and frame number notations are provided at the folder level when known.
Biographical Note:
Edward Bruce was born in 1879 in Dover Plains, New York. Though he enjoyed painting at a young age, he pursued a career in law and graduated from Columbia Law School in 1904. He practiced law in New York and in Manila, Philippines and was actively involved in international issues. He became president of the Pacific Development Corporation of California, was a lobbyist for the Philippine Independence Bill, and, in 1933, attended the London Economic Conference as a silver expert.
In 1923 Bruce gave up his career in law and business and began to paint, particularly landscapes. He and his wife Peggy spent the next six years in Anticoli Carrado, Italy where he studied painting from his friend and fellow artist Maurice Sterne. Bruce returned to the United States in 1929 and settled in California, exhibiting his artwork to much public and critical praise. In addition, Bruce was an avid collector of Chinese art.
In 1933 Bruce was appointed Chief of the newly established Public Works of Art Project, a federal government New Deal program within the U.S. Treasury Department, that employed artists to decorate numerous public buildings and parks. Though this federal program lasted less than a year, Bruce worked with Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., to establish the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture in 1934 - later renamed the Section of Fine Arts in 1938. Bruce was appointed Director of the department and played a primary role in securing federal government support for American artists. In 1940 he was appointed to the Commission of Fine Arts by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Bruce received many honors and awards during his lifetime both for his work as an artist and for his capable and dedicated administration of federal arts programs. Despite poor health, he continued his work for the Section of Fine Arts until shortly before his death in 1943.
Related Material:
Other resources in the Archives relating to Edward Bruce include an oral history interview with Margaret (Peggy) Bruce on October 11, 1963 conducted by Harlan Phillips. Miscellaneous Manuscript Collections include one file of material, 1933-1960, concerning Edward Bruce that was donated by the U.S. General Services Administration in 1986 and microfilmed on reel 3960.
Also available at the Archives are two collections of records loaned by the U.S. National Archives from their Public Buildings Administration records and the records of the Public Works of Art Project for microfilming by the Archives. Microfilm reels DC1-DC 13 and DC116-DC128 contain Edward Bruce's files and correspondence, respectively.
Separated Material:
A book Art in Federal Buildings by Forbes Watson and Edward Bruce was donated to AAA with Bruce's papers and microfilmed with the rest of collection on Microfilm Reel D91-D92, and then transferred to the Smithsonian American Art Museum Library.
Provenance:
The Edward Bruce papers were donated by Margaret (Peggy) Bruce, Edward Bruce's wife, in 1962. Additional printed material, financial records, and photographs of artwork were donated by Mrs. Bruce's niece, Maria Ealand in 1979.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. The collection is partially microfilmed. Use of material not microfilmed requires an appointment.
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.
The collection consists of seven series, the largest, Series 1, being the postcards. The largest categories in this series are the geographic, both United States and foreign, and greeting cards. The most important and probably the most interesting of the geographic cards are from Maryland as they give us an historic view of the state. This is particularly true of the large number of cards depicting Baltimore and its buildings, parks, schools, etc. There are several cards showing the Great Fire of February 7, 1904 and postcards such as this are a valuable historic resource.
The greeting cards are primarily from the "golden age" of postcards and were sent or given on many occasions. There are large numbers of Christmas, Easter and Valentines Day cards, but there are also substantial numbers of cards for days that we no longer associate with card giving such as Decoration Day (now known as Memorial Day) and Washington's Birthday (though these cards are included under political figures in Box 8).
There are a number of postcards depicting various Popes and other religious themes such as the Lord's Prayer. Some of the postcards of Rome have cartouches of a Pope in the center of the pictures and were sent by a monsignor to someone in Baltimore.
Many cards show various means of transportation such as airplanes, boats and ships, and railroads and streetcars. Another interesting category is "novelty" with a number of postcards with pictures of women with real hair. Throughout the collection there are other novelty cards on wood and leather.
The other series are smaller, though all consist of ephemera collected by Mrs. Litzinger. Series 2, Oversize Postcards, and Series 3, Greeting Cards are the largest and those most directly related to the primary collection. These series are organized in the same manner as Series 1.
Series 4 consists of paper dolls, another popular collectible in the early part of the century. Series 5 consists of scraps which were chromolithographed pictures which were either cut out of printed sheets of pictures and designs or punched out of die cut sheets. The designs were then used to make early greeting cards or were placed in albums called scrap books. Sometimes scraps and postcards were included in the same album. Series 6 consists of trade cards which were used to advertise various businesses. Sometimes these were in the form of postcards and sometimes the designs were cut out to make scraps, so it is easy to see how these various types of ephemera are inter-related. Series 7 consists of a small number of miscellaneous items such as metal prints the size of postcards, religious cards, political birthday cards, magazine clippings, plastic cards, invitations and bicentennial souvenirs.
Arrangement:
Collection arranged into seven series.
Biographical / Historical:
This collection of postcards and other ephemera was assembled by Beatrice Litzinger who lived her entire life in and around Baltimore, Maryland. The collection is particularly rich in view cards from both Baltimore and Maryland.
The collection also has a large number of greeting cards from the "golden age." It was acquired by the Archives Center in February, 1997 from Joseph Litzinger, the widower of Beatrice Litzinger who died in 1995. We know little about Mrs. Litzinger or how she acquired her collection as it came to the Archives Center after she died by way of a nun with whom she had become friendly and was returning to Ireland. Her husband was quite elderly and had moved to California though he indicated that Mrs. Litzinger had wanted her collection to come to the Smithsonian. The collection was donated by him to the Smithsonian in memory of his wife.
It is believed that Mrs. Litzinger started to collect postcards when she was young. She continued to collect throughout her life. She purchased some of the postcards, and others were mailed to her or given to her by friends. A large portion of the modern geographic postcards came by way of an extended family of friends and neighbors who traveled extensively. Mrs. Litzinger was deeply religious and a devout Catholic and the collection has a substantial number of religious postcards including some sent to her by a writer we believe was her parish priest on trips to Rome.
General:
Picture postcards were immensely popular at the beginning of the twentieth century. They were a novelty at a time when large numbers of people of moderate means began to travel. They became souvenirs of trips and an easy way for travelers to communicate with friends and relatives left behind. At the same time, the low cost of stamps and postcards combined with colorful and imaginative pictures and greetings made them a convenient way to send greetings at holidays and for other special events such as birthdays.
Postal regulations did not allow private postcards until the 1890's. Though the dates varied from country to country, in the United States these were first allowed in 1898. The period 1901-1907 is known as the undivided back era. Until 1907 the picture or design was on the front and only the address was to appear on the back, forcing the message to be written on or around the image. On March 1, 1907 postcards with divided backs for address and message were allowed in the United States, though they had been permitted in England as early as 1902. This was the beginning of the divided back era and the "golden age" of postcards which continued until 1915.
During this period, collecting postcards and other ephemera became a very popular pastime. Often they were placed in scrapbooks and albums. The subject range of postcards is almost limitless and various categories, such as view cards, greeting cards, humor or novelties, were collected. Often the postcards were printed in sets or series and many were designed by famous artists. Postcard collecting in the United States was given the name deltiology and is still a popular hobby.
Most of the postcards during the "golden age" were printed in Europe, primarily in Germany, where the printing technology was considered the best. The start of World War I ended this importation and from 1915 printing was concentrated in England and the United States. White border cards were developed at this time and they were popular until 1930, though greeting card publication declined and only view cards remained popular. From 1930 until 1945 ( or, variously, 1955 or 1960) linen postcards were published, using a type of paper that had the look and uneven feel of linen. Photochrome postcards, which tend to be slick and glossy, were introduced in 1939 and are still in use today. During the entire period, starting around 1900, real photographs, which could be matte or glossy, color or black and white, or hand tinted, were used.
View cards have been the most popular type of card collected. In addition to being souvenirs of places traveled, they offer historic references to buildings and places which have changed or may no longer exist.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Archives Center
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, ca. 1724-1977 (AC0060)
Lou Newman Collection of Baseball Memorabilia (AC0696)
Provenance:
Gift of Joseph Litzinger in memory of his wife, Beatrice Litzinger.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
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 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:
Beatrice Litzinger Postcard Collection, 1900-1990, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Beatrice Litzinger Postcard Collection, 1900-1990, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Beatrice Litzinger Postcard Collection, 1900-1990, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Beatrice Litzinger Postcard Collection, 1900-1990, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Beatrice Litzinger Postcard Collection, 1900-1990, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Beatrice Litzinger Postcard Collection, 1900-1990, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Beatrice Litzinger Postcard Collection, 1900-1990, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Beatrice Litzinger Postcard Collection, 1900-1990, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Beatrice Litzinger Postcard Collection, 1900-1990, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Beatrice Litzinger Postcard Collection, 1900-1990, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Beatrice Litzinger Postcard Collection, 1900-1990, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
This series is the largest in the collection and consists of materials related to
Marie Nahikian's involvement with the Adams Morgan Organization (AMO) and general
administrative documents related to the organization. The series is divided into three
subseries: Correspondence, Administrative Files, and Printed Materials. The
Correspondence subseries includes correspondence between members of AMO, such
as Walter Pierce and David Clarke, and various political figures, including former D.C.
mayors Marion Barry and Walter Washington. The Administrative subseries houses
materials regarding the running of AMO, such as the legal and financial information of
the organization. The Printed Materials subseries contains materials related to housing
policy and newspapers about AMO and the Adams Morgan neighborhood.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
The Marie Satenik Nahikian papers are the physical property of the Anacostia Community Museum. Literary and copyright belong to the author/creator or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, and to obtain permission to publish or reproduce, contact the Museum Archives.
Collection Citation:
Marie Satenik Nahikian papers, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution. Gift of Marie Satenik Nahikian.
Sponsor:
This project received support from the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative.
