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'Los Gauchos de Roldán' Share Down-Home Dance Music Tradition From Rural Uruguay

Creator:
Smithsonian Institution  Search this
Type:
Conversations and talks
YouTube Videos
Uploaded:
2012-01-26T16:57:14.000Z
YouTube Category:
Music  Search this
See more by:
SmithsonianVideos
Data Source:
Smithsonian Institution
YouTube Channel:
SmithsonianVideos
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:yt_8JZ6e6--CYs

Los Texmaniacs perform "Ahi te dejo en San Antonio (I Leave You In San Antonio)"

Creator:
Smithsonian Institution  Search this
Type:
YouTube Videos
Uploaded:
2012-12-13T19:55:22.000Z
YouTube Category:
Music  Search this
See more by:
SmithsonianVideos
Data Source:
Smithsonian Institution
YouTube Channel:
SmithsonianVideos
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:yt_puNEJYzbTkI

Hide/Seek: "What I Believe" by Paul Cadmus - National Portrait Gallery

Creator:
National Portrait Gallery  Search this
Type:
YouTube Videos
Uploaded:
2011-04-08T16:06:27.000Z
YouTube Category:
Education  Search this
Topic:
Portraits  Search this
See more by:
NatlPortraitGallery
Data Source:
National Portrait Gallery
YouTube Channel:
NatlPortraitGallery
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:yt_hSfVjN_Z5SM

Fotos y Recuerdos from the Tree of Life & Ceramics Workshop with Verónica Castillo

Creator:
Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage  Search this
Type:
Blog posts
Smithsonian staff publications
Blog posts
Published Date:
Wed, 20 Dec 2023 01:37:00 GMT
Topic:
Cultural property  Search this
See more posts:
Festival Blog
Data Source:
Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:posts_35407545ca27c8d59ce40495b717c6b4

A Brief History of Borshch

Creator:
Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage  Search this
Type:
Blog posts
Smithsonian staff publications
Blog posts
Published Date:
Mon, 03 Jul 2023 14:54:00 GMT
Topic:
Cultural property  Search this
See more posts:
Festival Blog
Data Source:
Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:posts_8a6457e3e2b44d772eece97ab0fd7094

“¡Printing the Revolution!” Virtual Conversation Series: Creating in a Digital Sphere

Creator:
Smithsonian American Art Museum  Search this
Type:
Conversations and talks
YouTube Videos
Uploaded:
2021-06-30T14:26:46.000Z
YouTube Category:
Education  Search this
Topic:
Art, American  Search this
See more by:
americanartmuseum
Data Source:
Smithsonian American Art Museum
YouTube Channel:
americanartmuseum
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:yt_V7qhn8Q51hI

Jesse Treviño, Pandemic Oral History Project, Archives of American Art, 2020

Creator:
Archives of American Art  Search this
Type:
Interviews
YouTube Videos
Uploaded:
2020-12-28T14:26:28.000Z
YouTube Category:
Education  Search this
Topic:
Art, American  Search this
See more by:
SmithsonianAAA
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
YouTube Channel:
SmithsonianAAA
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:yt_Io6V2AokAnk

Cultural Representations of Indian Slavery

Creator:
National Museum of the American Indian  Search this
Type:
YouTube Videos
Uploaded:
2021-10-25T16:16:57.000Z
YouTube Category:
Education  Search this
Topic:
Native Americans;American Indians  Search this
See more by:
SmithsonianNMAI
Data Source:
National Museum of the American Indian
YouTube Channel:
SmithsonianNMAI
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:yt_bimi5Btg_UU

Larry Zim World's Fair Collection

Collector:
Cooper-Hewitt Museum  Search this
Zim, Larry (Larry Zimmerman), 1931-1987  Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Cultural History  Search this
Names:
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (1909 : Seattle, Wash.)  Search this
Appalachian Exposition. (Knoxville, Tennessee: 1911)  Search this
Art and Techniques Exposition (Paris, France: 1937)  Search this
British Empire Exhibition (Wembley, London, England: 1924-1925)  Search this
British Empire Exposition (Glasgow, Scotland: 1938)  Search this
Bronx International Exposition (New York, New York: 1917-1918)  Search this
Brussels International (1910 )  Search this
California Midwinter International Exposition (1894 : San Francisco, Calif.)  Search this
California-Pacific International Exposition (San Diego, California: 1935-1936)  Search this
Canadian National Exposition (1937)  Search this
Centennial Exhibition (1876 : Philadelphia, Pa.)  Search this
Centennial Exposition of the Ohio Valley and Central States (1888 : Cincinnati, Ohio)  Search this
Century of Progress International Exposition (1933-1934 : Chicago, Ill.)  Search this
Chicago Autumn Festival (1899)  Search this
Cincinnati Industrial Exposition (1882 : Cincinnati, Ohio)  Search this
Cotton States Exposition (1895 : Atlanta, Ga)  Search this
Esposizione Internationale (1911 : Turin, Italy)  Search this
Esposizione Internationale D'Arte (Venice, Italy: 1910)  Search this
Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte (1895 : Venice, Italy)  Search this
Exhibition of Art Treasures (1857 : Manchester, England)  Search this
Exhibition, Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association (1878 : Boston, Massachusetts)  Search this
Expo 67 (Montréal, Québec)  Search this
Exposicion Centro-Americana (1897 : Guatemala City, Guatemala)  Search this
Exposition International (1894 : Lyons, France)  Search this
Exposition International Coloniale Maritime et d'Art Flammand (Antwerp, Belgium: 1930)  Search this
Exposition International de Liege (1930)  Search this
Exposition Internationale Maritime (1887 : Le Havre, France)  Search this
Exposition Nationale Belge (1880 : Belgium)  Search this
Exposition Universelle (1885 : Antwerp, Belgium)  Search this
Exposition Universelle de Paris (1855 : Paris, France)  Search this
Exposition Universelle de Paris (1878 : Paris, France)  Search this
Exposition coloniale internationale de Paris (1931)  Search this
Exposition universelle de 1867 à Paris  Search this
Exposition universelle de 1889 (Paris, France)  Search this
Exposition universelle et internationale (1958 : Brussels, Belgium)  Search this
Exposition universelle internationale de 1900 (Paris, France)  Search this
Fiera di Milano (1939)  Search this
Foreign Exhibition (1883 : Boston, Massachusetts)  Search this
Franco-British Exhibition (London, England: 1908)  Search this
Franklin Institute Exhibition (1874 : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)  Search this
Gewerbe Austellung (1896 : Berlin, Germany)  Search this
Golden Gate International Exposition (1939-1940 : San Francisco, Calif.)  Search this
Great Exhibition of 1851 (London, England)  Search this
Great Industrial Exhibition (1853 : Dublin, Ireland)  Search this
Great Lakes Exposition (Cleveland, Ohio: 1936-1937)  Search this
Hemisfair '68 (San Antonio, Texas: 1968)  Search this
Hudson-Fulton Celebration (1909)  Search this
Imperial International Exhibition (London, England: 1909)  Search this
International Exhibition (1897 : Brussels, Belgium)  Search this
International Exhibition of 1862 (London, England)  Search this
International Exhibition of 1871 (London, England)  Search this
International Exhibition of 1872 (London, England)  Search this
International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures (1865: Dublin, Ireland)  Search this
International Exposition (Barcelona, Spain: 1929-1930)  Search this
International Exposition (Brussels, Belgium: 1935)  Search this
International Exposition of Decorative Arts and Modern Industries (1925 : Paris, France)  Search this
International Exposition on the Environment (Spokane, Washington: 1974)  Search this
International Fire Exhibition 1903 : London, England)  Search this
International Marine Exhibition of Marine Hygiene and Exhibition of the Italian Glories (Genoa, Italy: 1914)  Search this
International Ocean Exposition (Okinawa, Japan: 1975)  Search this
Interstate and West Indian Exposition (Charleston, South Carolina: 1901-1902)  Search this
Italian Exposition (1904 : London, England)  Search this
Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition (Hampton Roads, Virginia: 1907)  Search this
Japan World Exposition (Osaka, Japan: 1970)  Search this
Japan-British Exhibition (London, England: 1910)  Search this
Knoxville International Energy Exposition (1982)  Search this
Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition (1905 : Portland, Or.)  Search this
Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904: Saint Louis, Mo.)  Search this
National Ecuadorian Exposition (Quito, Ecuador: 1909)  Search this
National Export Exposition (1899 : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)  Search this
New York World's Fair (1939-1940 : New York, N.Y.)  Search this
New York World's Fair (1964-1965)  Search this
Pan-American Exposition (1901: Buffalo, N.Y.)  Search this
Panama-California Exposition (1915 : San Diego, Calif.)  Search this
Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.)  Search this
Scottish National Exposition (Edinburgh, Scotland: 1908)  Search this
Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition (1926 : Philadelphia, Pa.)  Search this
Sydney International Exhibition (Sydney, Australia: 1879)  Search this
Texas Centennial Central Exposition (Dallas, Texas: 1936)  Search this
Universal Exhibition (1873 : Vienna, Austria)  Search this
Western Pennsylvania Exposition (1915 : Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)  Search this
World's Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill.)  Search this
World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition (1884-1885 : New Orleans, La.)  Search this
Extent:
46 Cubic feet (123 boxes and 150 map-folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Motion pictures (visual works)
Postcards
Greeting cards
Stationery
Panoramas
Sheet music
Posters
Shopping bags
Photographs
Stereographs
Menus
Place:
Disneyland (California)
Date:
1841-1988
Scope and Contents:
Memorabilia of fairs and World's Fairs throughout history, both in the United States and abroad, including photographs, stereographs, panoramas and slides; printed materials; postcards; sheet music; philatelic material; stationery and greeting cards; menus and food service items; posters; shopping bags; motion picture films; and other items.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into three series.

Series 1: World's Fair Materials, 1841-1988

Series 2: Reference and Miscellaneous Materials

Series 3: Larry Zim Materials

Series 4: Oversize Materials, 1909-1968
Biographical / Historical:
Larry Zim, whose actual name was Larry Zimmerman, was an industrial designer, a historian of World's Fairs who wrote extensively on the subject, and a collector of World's Fair memorabilia.
Provenance:
Collection by bequest of Larry Zim.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but two oversize folders are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
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.
Topic:
Crystal Palace -- (New York, New York)  Search this
Exhibitions  Search this
Genre/Form:
Motion pictures (visual works)
Postcards
Greeting cards
Stationery
Panoramas
Sheet music -- 20th century
Posters
Shopping bags
Photographs -- 19th century
Sheet music -- 19th century
Stereographs
Menus
Citation:
Larry Zim World's Fair Collection, 1841-1988, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0519
See more items in:
Larry Zim World's Fair Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8523c6615-9c45-41fc-86c2-ca7717969437
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0519
Online Media:

Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Collection

Collector:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History  Search this
Donor:
Becker, John M.  Search this
Gay Officers Action League. GOAL  Search this
Heritage of Pride (HOP)  Search this
Rohrbaugh, Richard  Search this
Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association (ASGRA)  Search this
American Federation of Teachers  Search this
Department of Defense, Comprehensive Review Working Group  Search this
Gay Officers Action League. GOAL  Search this
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland  Search this
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives  Search this
San Diego LGBT Pride  Search this
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network  Search this
Smith College  Search this
University of Connecticut  Search this
William Way Community Center  Search this
Biren, Joan E.  Search this
Bushnell, Megan  Search this
Davidson, James, Dr.  Search this
Dietrich, Joe  Search this
Exline, Gregory  Search this
Florence, Laura  Search this
Huebner, David  Search this
Jain, Shawn  Search this
Karazsia, Amy  Search this
Karazsia, William G.  Search this
Lombardi, Angela  Search this
Lynch, Patsy  Search this
Meinke, Mark  Search this
Nitz, Ryan  Search this
Reichard, Bradley  Search this
Robinson, Franklin A., Jr., 1959- (actor)  Search this
Ros, Silvia  Search this
Sabatino, Michael  Search this
Shannon, Michael A.  Search this
Sheets, Justin  Search this
Snodgrass, Adam  Search this
Voorheis, Robert  Search this
Creator:
Hirsch, Leonard  Search this
Guest, Barbara  Search this
Barna, Joseph T.  Search this
Guest, Michael E.  Search this
Cruse, Howard, 1944-2019  Search this
Other:
Larson, Gordon P., 1910-1988 -- 20th century  Search this
Names:
McWaine, Dwayne, Dr.  Search this
Extent:
71.1 Cubic feet (214 boxes, 22 map-folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Passports
Postcards
Photographs
Posters
Videocassettes
Advertising
Dvds
Songbooks
Periodicals
Place:
Canada -- Description and Travel
Germany -- description and travel
Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Washington, D.C. -- history
Los Angeles (Calif.)
New York, New York
Date:
1825-2023, undated
bulk 1960-2023
Summary:
This collection contains a variety of periodicals, photographs, correspondence, business and advertising ephemera (corporate and non-profit, personal), organizational records and ephemera, created by, for, and in reaction to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community.
Scope and Contents:
The Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Collection contains periodicals, ephemera, posters, postcards, advertisements, photographs, organizational records, publications, correspondence, and other materials related to all aspects of the LGBT community and the civil rights issues pertaining thereto. The collection was created by the Archives Center to bring together materials specifically pertaining to the LGBT community. This collection contains material from communities and individuals throughout the United States. The collection is currently strongest in periodicals, newspapers and ephemera and very strong in material from California and New York. The collection continues to add new items and the researcher would be wise to take a broad view in targeting their research topics in the collection.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into twenty-eight series.

Series 1: Periodicals, 1937-2023

Series 2: Agencies, Associations, and Organizations, 1965-2023, undated

Series 3: Community Life and Subject Files, 1825-2023, undated

Subseries 3.1: Photographs and Slides, 1870-2009, undated

Subseries 3.2: Ephemera and Buttons, 1969-2022, undated

Subseries 3.3: Posters and Prints, 1825-2018, undated

Subseries 3.4: Subject Files, 1958-2023, undated

Subseries 3.5: Pride, 1976-2023, undated

Subseries 3.6: HIV and AIDS, 1987-2020, undated

Subseries 3.7: Gay Games, 1982-2018

Series 4: Advertising, Business, and Publications, 1912-2023, undated

Subseries 4.1: Advertising, 1970-2018, undated

Subseries 4.2: Business, 1986-2021, undated

Subseries 4.3: Television, Theater, and Motion Pictures, 1978-2023, undated

Subseries 4.4: Bar ephemera and advertisement, 1979-2018, undated

Subseries 4.5: Publications, 1912-2023, undated

Series 5: Biren, Joan E. (JEB), 195-2018, undated

Subseries 5.1: Xerographic Copies of Photoprints, 1971-1995, undated.

Subseries 5.2: Posters and Oversize Advertisement, 1973-2018, undated

Series 6: Dietrich, Joseph A., 1992-2010

Series 7: Mattachine Society Records, 1942-1996, undated

Subseries 7.1: Correspondence, 1952-1991, undated

Subseries 7.2: Board of Directors Minutes, 1954-1974, undated

Subseries 7.3: Organizational Information, 1942-1993, undated

Subseries 7.4: Councils, Chapters, and Committees, 1953-1965, undated

Subseries 7.5: Conventions, 1953-1960, undated

Subseries 7.6: Publications, 1944-1996, undated

Series 8: Rainbow History Community Pioneers, 2003-2012, undated

Series 9: Strub, Sean O., addendum, 1987-2011, undated

Series 10: Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore (GLCCB, 1990-2014, undated

Series 11: Ros, Silvia, 2009-2011

Series 12: Huebner, David, 2009-2014

Series 13: St. George, Philip, 1945-1955, undated

Series 14: Will & Grace, 1995-2006

Series 15: Barna, Joseph T. and Heritage of Pride (HOP), New York, New York, 1910-2014, undated

Subseries 15.1: Photographs, Photographic Negatives, and Slides, 1985-2010, undated

Subseries 15.2: Heritage of Pride (HOP), 1984-2014, undated

Subseries 15.3: Barna, Joseph T., 1910-2013, undated,

Series 16: Becker, John M., 1999-2014, undated

Series 17: Rohrbaugh, Richard, 1972-1986, undated

Series 18: Guest, Michael E., 2001-2009

Series 19: The Fosters, 2013

Series 20: Pride at Work, 1990-2015

Series 21: Sabatino, Michael and Voorheis, Robert, 1980-2016, undated

Subseries 21.1: Archilla, Gustavo A. and Lokkins, Elmer T., 1916-2014, undated

Series 22: Gay Officers Action League (GOAL), 1982-2016, undated

Series 23: Brown, Adele "Del" and Herizon's Bar, 1985-1991, undated

Subseries 1: Changing Herizons, and Herizons Newsletter, 1983-1991

Series 24: Universal Fellowship Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), 1957-2019, undated

Series 25: The Christmas House, Crown Media Family Networks, 2020-2021

Series 26: Cones, Myra L. and Harris, G. Yvonne, 1979-2001, undated

Series 27: Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association (ASGRA), 1993-2004, undated

Series 28: Hooker, Meryl, 1989-1996, undated
Historical Note:
While the quest for equal rights has been pursued by generations, it is generally acknowledged that the modern day Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) civil rights movement began in New York City in June 1969 with the Stonewall Riots. Prior to this time a number of activists, individuals, and organizations such as The Mattachine Society, Daughters of Bilitis and others, fought to bring recognition of LGBT civil rights to the forefront of American society. While the movement was primarily, and most visably, centered in New York City and San Francisco, periodicals, guide books, and ephemeral material interconnected the larger LGBT community throughout the United States. The increased visibility of the LGBT movement inspired affinity groups at odds with the LGBT community's new found visibility and quest for broader civil rights. The challenge to what was termed "traditional" values encouraged these counter-LGBT groups to define and solidfy their constituency and also become more pro-active. This collection comprises material that is generated by individuals and organizations promoting both points of view.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center

Michio and Aveline Kushi Macro-Biotics Collection (AC0619)

The Shamrock Bar: Photographs and Interviews (AC0857)

John-Manuel Andriote Victory Deferred Collection (AC1128)

Archives Center Wedding Documentation Collection (AC1131 )

Division of Science, Medicine, and Society HIV/AIDS Reference Collection (AC1134)

John-Manuel Andriote Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco Collection (AC1184)

Joan E. Biren (JEB) Queer Film Museum Collection (AC1216)

World AIDS Institute (WAI) Collection (AC1266)

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) Records (AC1282)

Helping Persons with AIDS (HPA) Records (AC1283)

DC Cowboys Dance Company Records (AC1312)

Bil Browning and Jerame Davis Papers (AC1334)

David Hadley Rockwell New York Disco Ephemera Collection (AC1342)

Leonard P. Hirsch Federal Globe Records (AC1357)

Corbett Reynolds Papers (AC1390)

Mark Segal Papers (AC1422)

The Mattachine Society of Washington "Love in Action" Collection (AC1428)

Academy of Washington Records (AC1458)

Matthew Shepard Papers (AC1463)

I'm From Driftwood Records (AC1503)

The Division of Political History holds artifacts related to gay activist Franklin Kameny and a variety of political buttons. They also hold LGBT related artifacts from Joan E. Biren (JEB).

The Division of Medical and Science holds objects donated from Dr. Renee Richards, Sean O. Strub, and Leonard Hirsch.

The Division of Entertainment and the Arts holds objects donated by The Fosters, Will & Grace, and The Christmas House.
Provenance:
This collection was assembled by the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian, beginning in 2004.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.

Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.

Do not use original materials when available on reference video or audio tapes.
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.
Topic:
Women's music  Search this
Transgender people -- Identity  Search this
Sexual orientation  Search this
Political activists  Search this
Lesbianism  Search this
Lesbian and gay experience  Search this
Gay activists  Search this
Homosexuality  Search this
HIV and AIDS  Search this
Feminism  Search this
Bisexuality  Search this
Bars (Drinking establishments)  Search this
Gay Pride  Search this
Genre/Form:
Passports
Postcards
Photographs -- 2000-2010
Posters
Videocassettes
Advertising
DVDs
Photographs -- 20th century
Songbooks
Periodicals
Citation:
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1146
See more items in:
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep80327b53b-2daa-47d1-8c11-89a7b3f4e1bd
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1146
Online Media:

Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection

Collector:
McCormick, Mack  Search this
Musician:
Badeaux, Ed, 1926-2015  Search this
Chenier, Clifton, 1925-1987  Search this
Cotten, Elizabeth  Search this
Estes, Sleepy John, 1899-1977  Search this
Hopkins, Lightnin', 1912-1982  Search this
House, Son  Search this
Howling Wolf  Search this
James, Harry  Search this
Jefferson, Blind Lemon, 1897-1929  Search this
Johnson, Robert, 1911-1938  Search this
Leadbelly, 1885-1949  Search this
Lipscomb, Mance, 1895-1976  Search this
Muddy Waters, 1915-1983  Search this
Rinzler, Ralph  Search this
Shaw, Robert, 1908 August 9-1985  Search this
Thomas, Henry, 1874-1952  Search this
Wallace, Sippie  Search this
Historian:
Oliver, Paul, 1927-2017  Search this
Singer:
Spivey, Victoria  Search this
Producer:
Strachwitz, Chris  Search this
Extent:
60 Cubic feet (171 boxes, 9 map folders)
Culture:
African Americans -- Mississippi  Search this
Arkansas  Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Business cards
Compact discs
Contracts
Correspondence
Folklore
Newspaper clippings
Posters
Road maps
Television scripts
Ephemera
Black-and-white negatives
Contact sheets
Color slides
Business records
Family papers
Resumes
Diaries
Journals (periodicals)
Financial records
Audio cassettes
Manuscripts
Playbills
Field recordings
Writings
Transcripts
Manuscripts for publication
Color negatives
Negatives
Articles
Place:
United States -- Race relations
Delta (Miss.)
Sugarland Prison (Tex.)
Greenwood (Miss.)
Robinsonville (Miss.)
Dallas (Tex.)
Houston (Tex.)
San Antonio (Tex.)
Tunica (La.)
Texarkana (Tex.)
Galveston (Texas)
Date:
1858-2015, undated
Summary:
Field notes, manuscripts, photographs, booking contracts, correspondence, personal papers, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, interviews, and other research materials primarily relating to the history of American blues music. Collection documents the lives of significant blues musicians Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Mance Lipscomb; insight into the life, writings, and research practices of Robert "Mack" McCormick; and the business side of recording and selling the blues.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the life, writings, research practices, and business activities of blues scholar Robert "Mack" Burton McCormick who came to serve as a leading authority on the genre. Personal papers include diaries, curriculum vitae, biographical sketches, school papers, employment documents, correspondence, financial records, and an interview transcript. McCormick's writings consist of published magazine and journal articles, plays, essays, television scripts, short stories, and album liner notes. There are complete unpublished manuscripts, drafts with notes and research materials, and ideas for future work. McCormick's research practices and subjects of interest are documented in correspondence, field notes, annotated maps, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, city directories, interviews, photographic prints, negatives, slides, and contact sheets. American blues, Texas blues, and the music of significant blues artists, who McCormick served as an agent and manager for, dominated his extensive research efforts. In addition, the collection documents the recording, distribution and sale, and identification of consumer markets for American music in correspondence, contracts, agreements, music journals, publicity and promotional materials, music manuscripts, and interviews.

Throughout the collection preservation measures were performed to ensure long term use of the materials. Newspaper clippings were photocopied, and the originals were discarded. Audio cassette tapes have been reformatted and the digital copies will soon be available for research use.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into fifteen series.

Series 1: Photographic Negatives, Photographs and Slides, 1959-1998, undated

Subseries 1.1: Photographic Negatives and Contact Sheets, 1967-1977, undated

Subseries 1.2: Photographs, 1959-1998, undated

Subseries 1.3: Photographs, Texas Blues (TB), 1961-1964, undated

Subseries 1.4: Photographic Slides, 1964-1977, undated

Subseries 1.5: Negative and Photograph Indices and Assorted Material, 1963-1975

Series 2: Personal Papers, 1937-2015, undated

Subseries 2.1: Biographical Information, 1945-2003, undated

Subseries 2.2: Correspondence, Greeting Cards, and Postcards, 1937-2010, undated

Subseries 2.3: Education, 1938-1946

Subseries 2.4: Employment Records, 1948-1961, undated

Subseries 2.5: Family Papers, 1945-1988, undated

Subseries 2.6: Press, 1960-2015, undated

Subseries 2.7: Archive, 1972-2015, undated

Subseries 2.8: Campaign, 1959-2015, undated

Subseries 2.9: Financial Papers, 1952-2015

Subseries 2.10: Legal Papers, 1950-2015, undated

Subseries 2.11: Business Records, 1941-2006, undated

Series 3: Project Files, 1960-2003, undated

Subseries 3.1: Library of Congress, 1960-1964

Subseries 3.2: Newport Folk Festival, 1965-1969

Subseries 3.3: Hemisfair, 1968

Subseries 3.4: Smithsonian Institution, Festival of American Folklife 1966-1980, undated

Subseries 3.5: Other Blues Project, 2001-2003, undated

Series 4: Manuscripts and Writings, 1952-2015, undated

Subseries 4.1: Almost A Savage Joy, 1959-1980

Subseries 4.2: Another Fine Mess, 1981-1987, undated

Subseries 4.3: Blues: A New Look, 1965-1984, undated

Subseries 4.4: Blues Odyssey, 1971, undated

Subseries 4.5: Death and Tragedy, 1975-1980, undated

Subseries 4.6: Down in Texas Blues, undated

Subseries 4.7: Folk Songs of Men, 1952-1977, undated

Subseries 4.8: Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley, 1958-1976, undated

Subseries 4.9: Henry Thomas, 1975-2002, undated

Subseries 4.10: Ira, George, Edward, and Lee, 1994, undated

Subseries 4.11: The Magic Room, 1961-1962, undated

Subseries 4.12: Origin of Blues, 1991-2004, undated

Subseries 4.13: Snake in the Belly, 1956-1957, undated

Subseries 4.14: Wiley, 1957-1984, undated

Subseries 4.15: Articles, Ideas and Drafts, 1961-2004, undated

Series 5: Artist Files, 1880-2010, undated

Series 6: Texas Blues Research, 1858-2011, undated

Subseries 6.1: Texas Blues Research, 1910-2010, undated

Subseries 6.2: Lead Files, 1962-1980, undated

Subseries 6.3: Trip Notes, 1960-1989, undated

Subseries 6.4: Song Histories, 1920-1982, undated

Subseries 6.5: Music, 1928-2011, undated

Subseries 6.6: Record Catalogs, 1963-2006, undated

Subseries 6.7: Maps, 1958-1989, undated

Series 7: Robert Johnson, 1910-2015, undated

Subseries 7.1: Research Materials, 1910-2015, undated

Subseries 7.2: Who Killed Robert Johnson Manuscript, 1955-2015, undated

Series 8: Office Files, 1938-2000, undated

Series 9: Correspondence, 1959-2015, undated

Series 10: Organizations, Groups and Buffs, 1961-2003, undated

Series 11: Festivals and Living Museums, 1960-2003, undated

Series 12: Music Journals, 1971-2006, undated

Series 13: Subject Files, 1896-2015, undated

Series 14: People Files, 1928-2014, undated

Series 15: Audio Cassette Tapes and Digital Files, 1941-2007, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Burton "Mack" McCormick (August 3, 1930-November 18, 2015) was a self-taught folklorist who spent a lifetime researching, collecting, and writing about vernacular music in the United States. Most of his work focused on the blues and other musical traditions of Black, brown, and white communities living throughout Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. After experiencing a difficult, transient childhood and eventually dropping out of high school, McCormick settled in Houston, Texas and began to work a series of odd jobs while relentlessly pursuing his goal of becoming a successful writer. Although researching and writing about music came to occupy most of his time, he also pursued passions as a screenwriter and novelist. The volume of historical research and personal interviews he conducted from the 1950s through the early 1970s is remarkable, and his published writings during this period about music and the musicians he doggedly studied were lauded by his peers as among the best in the field. Along the way he worked for a time as a manager for the careers of the Texas songsters Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb, and briefly ran his own record label. He made hundreds of hours of field recordings with musicians living throughout the South. He collaborated with colleagues such as Chris Strachwitz, founder of Arhoolie Records, and Paul Oliver, with whom McCormick spent over a decade researching and writing a manuscript on the history of Texas Blues. Beginning in the late 1960s, he was contracted by the Smithsonian Institution as a field worker for its annual Festival of American Folklife, and around the same time began researching the life of blues legend Robert Johnson for a manuscript that McCormick wrote and re-wrote but failed to publish in his lifetime.

McCormick's research, along with his personal archive, became the stuff of legend among fellow blues researchers and enthusiasts, particularly after his publishing output dwindled in the 1970s. He lived with a bipolar disorder that drew him into bouts of depression and paranoia. He came to distrust many of those colleagues working most closely with him, and sometimes shared untrue information to throw them off the trail of his research discoveries. He also "borrowed" heirloom photographs from the family members and descendants of blues artists and, in several cases documented in this collection, he refused to return them. Overcome with challenges that lay both within and without his control, he came to describe the massive archive in his Houston, Texas home as "the monster," and spent his final decades attempting with little success to publish his writings.
Related Materials:
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

W. C. Handy Collection, NMAH.AC.0132

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 3, African American Music, NMAH.AC.0300

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 16: Country, Western, and Folk Music, NMAH.AC.0300

Duke Ellington Collection, NMAH.AC.0301

Frank Driggs Collection of Duke Ellington Photographic Reference Prints, NMAH.AC.0389

Program in African American Culture Collection, NMAH.AC.0408

Ruth Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0415

Alan Strauber Photoprints, 1990-1994, 1999, NMAH.AC.0517

Jonas Bernholm Rhythm and Blues Collection, NMAH.AC.0551

Ray McKinley Music and Ephemera, NMAH.AC.0635

Bluestime Power Hour Videotapes, NMAH.AC.0657

Edward and Gaye Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0704

Bill Holman Collection, NMAH.AC.0733

Andrew Homzy Collection of Duke Ellington Stock Arrangements, NMAH.AC.0740

Harry Warren Papers, NMAH.AC.0750

Benny Carter Collection, NMAH.AC.0757

W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Photoprints and Interviews, NMAH.AC.0766

Fletcher and Horace Henderson Collection, NMAH.AC.0797

Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program Collection, NMAH.AC.0808

William Russo Music and Personal Papers, NMAH.AC.0845

Milt Gabler Papers, NMAH.AC.0849

Leonard and Mary Gaskin Papers, NMAH.AC.0900

Bobby Tucker Papers, NMAH.AC.1141

Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, NMAH.AC1222

Duncan Schiedt Jazz Collection, NMAH.AC1323

Maceo Jefferson Papers, NMAH.AC1370

Jazz and Big Band Collection, 1927-1966, NMAH.AC.1388

Nick Reynolds Kingston Trio Papers, NMAH.AC.1472

McIntire Family Hawaiian Entertainers Collection, NMAH.AC.1511

Native Peoples Musicians and Music Collection, NMAH.AC.1512

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Arhoolie Business Records and Audio Recordings, 1960-2016, CFCH.ARHO

Moses and Frances Asch Collection, 1926-1986, CFCH.ASCH

CFCH Audiovisual Projects, 2011-2018, CFCH.AVPR

Diana Davies Photographs, 1963-1969, CFCH.DAVIE

Frederic Ramsey Audio Recordings, 1945-1959, CFCH.RAMS

Ralph Rinzler Papers and Audio Recordings, 1950-1994, CFCH.RINZ

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1968 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1968

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1969 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1969

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1970 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1970

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1972 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1972

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1973 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1973

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1974 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1974

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1975 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1975

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1976 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1976

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1983 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1983

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1985 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1985

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1987 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1987

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1988 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1988

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1989 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1989

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1991 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1991

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1996 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1996

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1997 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1997

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 2011 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.2011

Smithsonian Institution

Division of Performing Arts Records, 1966-1979, Accession T90055

Office of Public Affairs, Biographical Files, 1963-1988, Record Unit 420, SIA.FARU0420

National Museum of American History, Department of Public Programs, 1968-1992, Record Unit 584, SIA.FARU0584

Smithsonian Productions, 1967-2000, undated, SIA.FA09-055
Separated Materials:
National Museum of American History's Division of Culture and the Arts

Artifacts acquired as part of the collection include:

Washburn style G guitar, serial number 46472, Accession number 2019.0234.01.

Set of quills (or panpipes) made and played by blues artist Joe Patterson. Accession number 2019.0234.02.

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

Audio recordings acquired as part of the collection are listed in The Guide to the Mack McCormick Audio Tapes Collection prepared by Jeff Place, 2020-2022.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Susannah Nix to the Archives Center in 2019.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Access to original materials in boxes 76-80 is prohibited. Researchers must use digital copies.

Additional materials have been removed from public access pending investigation under the Smithsonian Institution's Ethical Returns and Shared Stewardship Policy.
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.
Occupation:
African American musicians  Search this
Topic:
Drafts (documents)  Search this
Blues (Music)  Search this
Blues musicians  Search this
Photographs  Search this
Postcards -- 20th century  Search this
telephone -- Directories  Search this
Plays  Search this
African American music -- 20th century  Search this
Sharecropping  Search this
Plantations  Search this
Zydeco music  Search this
Commercial recordings  Search this
Piano music (Barrelhouse)  Search this
Genealogy  Search this
African Americans -- Texas  Search this
Songsters  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Delta (Miss. : Region)  Search this
Rodeos -- United States  Search this
Prisons -- Songs and music  Search this
Festival of American Folklife -- History  Search this
Festival of American Folklife -- Planning  Search this
Street scenes  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Texas.  Search this
African Americans -- Folklore  Search this
American South  Search this
African American -- Social life and customs  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Mississippi.  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Alabama.  Search this
Blues (Music) -- New Orleans (La.)  Search this
Conjunto music  Search this
Jazz -- 20th century -- United States  Search this
Folk music -- United States  Search this
Ethnomusicology -- History  Search this
Sound recordings  Search this
Sound recording and reproduction  Search this
Tejano music  Search this
Transcripts  Search this
Folklorists  Search this
Zydeco musicians  Search this
Musicians, Cajun  Search this
Folk music -- United States -- History and criticism.  Search this
Music -- History and criticism  Search this
Festival of American Folklife  Search this
African Americans -- Alabama -- Music  Search this
Guitar -- 20th century  Search this
Guitar music  Search this
Guitarists  Search this
Country musicians  Search this
Sound recording executives and producers -- United States -- Biography.  Search this
Sound recording industry  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Southern States.  Search this
Blues musicians -- United States -- Interviews.  Search this
Hawaiian guitar  Search this
Hawaiian guitar music  Search this
African American farmers  Search this
Sharecroppers  Search this
Labor -- Southern states -- 20th century  Search this
manuscripts -- Editing  Search this
African Americans -- Songs and music  Search this
Sound recordings -- Album covers  Search this
African American prisoners  Search this
Crafts  Search this
Museum outreach programs  Search this
Folk music -- New Orleans (La.)  Search this
Black people -- Race identity  Search this
Race discrimination -- United States  Search this
Sound recordings -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Genre/Form:
Business cards
Compact discs
Contracts
Correspondence
Folklore
Newspaper clippings
Posters
Road maps -- United States
Television scripts
Ephemera -- 20th century
Black-and-white negatives
Contact sheets -- 20th cenury
Color slides -- 20th century
Business records -- 20th century
Family papers -- 20th century
Resumes
Diaries -- 20th century
Journals (periodicals) -- 20th century
Financial records -- 20th century
Audio cassettes -- 20th century
Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century
Playbills
Field recordings
Writings -- 20th century
Transcripts -- 20th century
Manuscripts for publication
Manuscripts -- 20th century
Color negatives
Negatives -- 20th century
Articles -- 20th century
Citation:
Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1485
See more items in:
Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep87d0d0dd0-eaee-4e5e-9e87-ebca1a5d86d7
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1485
Online Media:

Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art records

Creator:
Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art  Search this
Names:
Art Institute of Chicago  Search this
Buffalo Fine Arts Academy  Search this
Corcoran Gallery of Art  Search this
Gallery of William Macbeth  Search this
M. Knoedler & Co.  Search this
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Alexander, John White, 1856-1915  Search this
Beatty, John W. (John Wesley), 1851-1924  Search this
Beaux, Cecilia, 1855-1942  Search this
Brush, George de Forest, 1855-1941  Search this
Chase, William Merritt, 1849-1916  Search this
Church, Samuel Harden  Search this
East, Alfred, Sir, 1849-1913  Search this
Hassam, Childe, 1859-1935  Search this
Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this
Saint-Gaudens, Homer, b. 1880  Search this
Thayer, Abbott Handerson, 1849-1921  Search this
Extent:
265.8 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Letterpress books
Museum records
Place:
Spain -- History -- Civil War, 1936-1939
Date:
1883-1962
bulk 1885-1962
Summary:
The records of the Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art measure 252.8 linear feet and date from 1883-1962, with the bulk of the material dating from 1885-1940. The collection includes extensive correspondence between the museum's founding director, John Beatty, and his successor, Homer Saint-Gaudens, with artists, dealers, galleries, collectors, museum directors, representatives abroad, shipping and insurance agents, and museum trustees. The collection also includes Department of Fine Arts interoffice memoranda and reports; loan exhibition files; Carnegie International planning, jury, shipping, and sale records; and Department of Fine Arts letterpress copy books.
Scope and Contents:
The records of the Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art measure 252.8 linear feet and date from 1883-1962, with the bulk of the material dating from 1885-1940. The collection includes extensive correspondence between the museum's founding director, John Beatty, and his successor, Homer Saint-Gaudens, with artists, dealers, galleries, collectors, museum directors, representatives abroad, shipping and insurance agents, and museum trustees. The collection also includes Department of Fine Arts interoffice memoranda and reports; loan exhibition files; Carnegie International planning, jury, shipping, and sale records; and Department of Fine Arts letterpress copy books.

This collection is a complete record of the museum's work, starting with the planning of the first loan exhibition in 1885 and ending with the cancellation of the International at the start of World War II in 1940. The museum's day-to-day relationships with all aspects of the contemporary art world are documented within the historical context of artists' reactions to World War I; the economic repercussions of the Great Depression on art sales and museum budgets; the ramifications of fascism on German, Italian, and European art; the impact of civil war on Spanish art; and the tensions introduced by the rise of 'radical' modernist art in Europe.

Correspondence (Series 1) is the largest series in the collection (152.5 linear feet) and is comprised of extensive correspondence between the Museum of Art and over 8700 correspondents, with over 3600 correspondents specifically related to art and artists.

Correspondents related to the art world include museum staff, artists, collectors, museums, galleries, dealers, shippers, insurance agencies, art directors, associations, societies, clubs, critics, press, and governments. These exchanges include general requests for information; requests related to the museum's exhibitions, including the International; letters regarding the museum's involvement in the events of other art organizations; loan, sales, and provenance information for specific works of art; and information regarding the events of other art organizations.

The correspondence of the museum's staff provides the greatest insight into understanding the museum's evolution into an international cultural institution. Both directors' correspondence touch on their personal opinions on art, their rationale behind policy decisions, and their understanding of the extent to which the museum's work was dependent on the good relations they maintained in the art world. Additionally, the extensive, opinionated correspondence between Saint-Gaudens' European agents and museum staff during the 1920s and 1930s provide a unique perspective on emerging art trends and the skill, growth, and personalities of individual artists.

The most prolific of the museum staff correspondents include museum directors John Beatty and Homer Saint-Gaudens, Board of Trustees president Samuel Harden Church, assistant director Edward Balken, and European agents Guillaume Lerolle , Ilario Neri, Arnold Palmer, Margaret Palmer, and Charlotte Weidler. Additional prominent staff members include Helen Beatty, Robert Harshe, Caroline Lapsley, Henry Jack Nash, John O'Connor, Charles Ramsey, George Shaw, George Sheers, August Zeller, and Fine Arts Committee members John Caldwell, William Frew, William Hyett, and John Porter.

The most prolific artist correspondents include John White Alexander, George Grey Barnard, Cecilia Beaux, Frank Benson, George de Forest Brush, William Merritt Chase, William Coffin, Bruce Crane, Andre Dauchez, Charles H. Davis, Alfred East, Ben Foster, Daniel Garber, Charles P. Gruppe, John Johansen, Johanna Hailman, John McLure Hamilton, Birge Harrison, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Laura Knight, John la Farge, Gaston la Touche, John Lavery, Henri le Sidaner, Jonas Lie, Hermon A. MacNeil, Antonio Mancini, Gari Melchers, Emile Menard, Henry R. Poore, Edward Redfield, W. Elmer Schofield, Leopold Seyffert, Lucien Simon, Eugene Speicher, Abbott Handerson Thayer, Robert Vonnoh, J. Alden Weir, Irving R. Wiles, and Ignacio Zuloaga. Other artists of note include: Edwin Austen Abbey, George Bellows, Edwin Blashfield, Frank Brangwyn, Mary Cassatt, Kenyon Cox, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Thomas Eakins, William Glackens, Robert Henri, Eastman Johnson, Rockwell Kent, Paul Manship, Henry Ranger, John Singer Sargent, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Edmund Tarbell, James McNeil Whistler, N.C. Wyeth, and Charles Morris Young.

Frequent museum collaborators include the Art Institute of Chicago, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Brooklyn Museum, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Cleveland Museum of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Detroit Institute of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Saint Louis Museum of Fine Arts, Toledo Museum of Art, and Worcester Art Museum.

Other prolific correspondents include collectors Chauncey Blair, Andrew Carnegie, Charles Lang Freer, George Hearn, Alexander Humphreys, Roy Hunt, Mrs. B.F. Jones, Burton Mansfield, Frank Nicola, Duncan Phillips, John Stevenson, and William Stimmel; dealers and galleries M. Knoedler, William Macbeth, Central Art Gallery, Charles A. Walker, C.W. Kraushaar Art Galleries, Downtown Gallery, Durand-Ruel and Sons, Ehrich Galleries, Ferargil Galleries, Frank Rehn, Frederick Keppel, Haseltine Art Gallery, R.C. Vose Galleries, and W. Scott Thurber Fine Arts; insurance agent Macomber Co.; and shippers Dicksee and Co., J.W. Hampton, P. Navel/R. Lerondelle, Stedman and Wilder, and W.S. Budworth and Son.

Correspondents not specifically related to the contemporary art world include businesses, educational institutions, libraries, and the general public. These exchanges detail the daily work of the museum, including the estimates and work orders of office suppliers, contractors, printers, and etc.; programming and research inquiries of k-12 and college/university institutions; acknowledgements of the receipt of Museum of Art publications; and general public inquiries regarding museum policies, exhibitions, and the permanent collection. Companies and institutions who worked particularly closely with the museum include Alden and Harlow (architects), Detroit Publishing Co., and Tiffany and Co.

Department of Fine Arts (Series 2) consists of art and artist lists, correspondence, memoranda, notes, and reports. These files were begun under John Beatty's tenure and streamlined under Homer Saint-Gaudens' directorship to track activities directly related to the museum's interoffice affairs. File headings continued under Saint-Gaudens focus on art considered and purchased for the permanent collection, employee records, exhibition proposals and loans, Fine Arts Committee minutes, museum programming, museum publications, press releases, requests for images, and requests for general information.

Under Saint-Gaudens, the Fine Arts Committee files contain voluminous impressions of contemporary European artists, which he composed during his annual studio tours of the continent in the early 1920s and late 1930s. These informal reports provide insight into the shaping of the International and include a running commentary on historical events of the time. The Fine Arts Committee files also document the artistic and budgetary compromises that were struck, particularly during the Great Depression and early run-up to World War II.

Exhibitions (Series 3) includes correspondence with collectors, museums, galleries, dealers, shippers, and many of the artists themselves. Additional documents include catalogs, lists, planning notes, and telegrams related to 185 traveling and loan exhibitions held at the Museum of Art from 1901 to 1940. Of these, over 100 are one-artist shows and 82 are group, survey, regional, or topical shows. The one-artist exhibitions tend to showcase contemporary artists of the time. Regional shows focused on American and European art, with two shows featuring the art of Canada and Mexico. Survey themes focused on animals, children, cities, gardens, landscapes, Old Masters, and portraitures. Many of the genre shows venture into art not typically collected by the Museum of Art, including architecture, crafts, engravings, figure studies, graphic arts, illustrations, miniatures, mural decorations, oriental rugs, prints, printed books, sculpture, small reliefs, stained glass, theater models, watercolors, and wood engravings.

The most important shows organized and curated by Museum of Art staff include the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915), American Sculpture Show (1915, 1920), Applied Arts Show (1917), Original Illustrations Show (1921), Mexican Art Show (1929), Garden Club Show (1922), Industrial Art Show (1924), Pittsburgh Artists Show (1935), French Survey Show (1936), English Painting Survey Show (1937), American Paintings, Royal Academy Show (1938), and Survey of American Painting Show (1940).

Important one-artist shows include Abbot Handerson Thayer (1919), George de Forest Brush (1922), Frank W. Benson (1923), Rockwell Kent (1923, 1939), Anders Zorn (1924), John Lavery (1925), Paul Manship (1925), Mary Cassatt (1925), Laura Knight (1925), Edouard Manet (1932), Edward Hopper (1936), Winslow Homer (1922, 1936), Paul Cezanne (1936), Charles Burchfield (1937), and William Glackens (1938).

International (Series 4) is comprised of catalogs, correspondence, art and artist lists, itineraries, jury selection ballots, minutes, notes, and reports related to the planning, logistics, and promotion of the International Exhibition from 1895 to 1940. These documents were originally grouped and filed separately under John Beatty and were more rigorously streamlined under Homer Saint-Gaudens. The folder headings continued under Saint-Gaudens focus on art purchases, artists' invitations, artists' request for information, general exhibition planning, Foreign Advisory Committees, foreign governments, jury reception planning, loan requests, and touring logistics.

Letterpress books (Series 5) consist of 75 volumes that chronologically collect all of the Museum of Art's outgoing correspondence from 1896 to 1917. Volumes 1-8 contain the only copy of outgoing correspondence from 1896 to 1900. Duplicate copies of all outgoing correspondence dating from 1901 to 1917 were filed in Correspondence (Series 1) by museum staff.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into five series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Correspondence, 1883-1962, (Boxes 1-153, OV 267; 152.5 linear feet)

Series 2: Department of Fine Arts, 1896-1940, (Boxes 153-184, OV 268; 31.6 linear feet)

Series 3: Exhibitions, 1901-1940, (Boxes 184-204; 20 linear feet)

Series 4: International, 1895-1940, (Boxes 204-234, 265-266; 30.2 linear feet)

Series 5: Letterpress Books, 1900-1917, (Boxes 235-251; 17 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
The Carnegie Institute Museum of Art was established in 1895 by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. One of the first modern contemporary art museums in the United States, its flagship exhibition, the Carnegie International, is recognized as the longest running contemporary exhibition of international art in North America and is the second oldest in the world.

Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was born in Dumfermline, Scotland and migrated to America with his family in 1848. Often regarded as the second-richest man in history behind John D. Rockerfeller, Carnegie built his industrialist fortunes in the steel industry and spent the remainder of his life in support of major philanthropic projects. By the age of 33, he had developed his personal philosophy of philanthropy, which saw it as the responsibility of the wealthy to foster educational opportunities and disseminate the ideals of high culture among all levels of society. In addition to establishing over 2500 free public libraries, in 1895, he provided the funds to build the Carnegie Institute, located in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Carnegie Institute originally maintained three separate departments under the auspices of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and the Carnegie Museum of Art.

The Carnegie Institute was administered by a Board of Trustees selected by Carnegie, all prominent professional men of Pittsburgh. Within this group, eight men were selected to serve on the Museum of Art's Fine Arts Committee, which was initially granted the final say on gallery affairs. The first Fine Arts Committee was composed of two artists, Alfred Bryan Wall and Joseph Ryan Woodwell, and six businessmen. Among the latter group, John Caldwell, Henry Clay Frick, William Nimick Frew, and David Thompson Watson were also knowledgeable art patrons and collectors. Over time, the Fine Arts Committee's sway over gallery affairs would be measured by the dedication of its various members and tempered by the vision and authority of the Museum's directors, John Beatty and Homer Saint-Gaudens, and the Carnegie Institute Board of Trustees president, Samuel Harden Church.

From 1896 to 1921, John Wesley Beatty (1851-1924) served as the first director of the Museum of Art. A native Pittsburgher and an accomplished silver engraver, illustrator, and painter, Beatty attended the Royal Bavarian Academy in Munich and upon his return to America, made a living as an artist. He also taught at the Pittsburgh School of Design for Women and co-founded a small school of art with fellow local artist George Hetzel. In 1890, while serving as the secretary of the Pittsburgh Art Society, he became the primary organizer of a loan exhibition to be displayed at the opening of the Carnegie Free Library in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. In 1895, when the Carnegie Institute trustees began discussing the possibility of a similar loan exhibition for the opening of their new institution, Beatty was contacted and eventually enlisted to take on the task. Upon the success of that exhibition, he was invited to direct the gallery's affairs and served as the Museum of Art's director until his retirement.

Beatty was an enthusiastic supporter of Impressionism, Realism, Tonalism, Symbolism, and the critically acclaimed contemporary art of the 1890s. He also shared Carnegie's vision for the Museum of Art and believed in the educational and uplifting role aesthetic beauty could provide to the general public. Pursuant to the stated goals of Andrew Carnegie, under Beatty's direction the museum began to purchase important contemporary works to add to its chronological collection of "Old Masters of tomorrow" and almost immediately began planning the first of its Internationals.

The Internationals were viewed as the primary means of showcasing the Museum of Art's selection of the best in contemporary American and European painting, thereby elevating its role as an influential cultural institution on a national and international level. Juried monetary prizes would be awarded to the two best works by American artists, additional awards would be offered to artists of all nationalities, and the Museum of Art's purchases for the year would be selected from the exhibition. Certain artists and collectors were tapped to serve as unofficial representatives of the Museum of Art at home and abroad, among them John White Alexander, William Coffin, I.M. Gaugengigl, Walter Shirlaw, and Edmund Tarbell. Many of the most prominent Pittsburgh art collectors were also asked to lend works to the exhibition. While details of the jury and artist selection process, number of representatives, exhibition show dates, and amount and total number of prizes would change over the years, the planning template was set and would remain the same for future Internationals.

Beatty continued to rely on a stable of close friends and confidantes to help smooth over relations with artists, dealers, shipping agents, and galleries alike, relying heavily on John White Alexander and W. Elmer Schofield, in addition to artists Thomas Shields Clarke, Walter Gay, Robert Henri, Frank D. Millet, and critic Charles M. Kurtz. Over time, many of the artists who served on International juries or Foreign Advisory Committees also became reliable friends and advocates of the International, including Edwin Austen Abbey, Edmond Aman-Jean, Edwin Howland Blashfield, William Merritt Chase, Charles Cottet, Kenyon Cox, Charles Harold Davis, Alfred East, Ben Foster, Charles Hopkinson, John la Farge, Gari Melchers, Leonard Ochtman, Irving R. Wiles, and Robert W. Vonnoh.

From 1896 to 1921, the Museum of Art held twenty-one Internationals, with the only exceptions coming in 1906 (construction of the Hall of Architecture, Hall of Sculpture, and Bruce Galleries), 1915 (deference to the San Francisco Panama-Pacific International), and 1916-1919 (World War I). During these years, the scope and administration of the International slowly expanded, though not without growing pains. At the turn of the century, new modernist styles of art that were appearing in galleries across Europe had not yet entered major American museums and the Carnegie Museum of Art maintained this trend. The museum's generally conservative selection policies, combined with criticism regarding the timing of the exhibition and the jury selection process, led to increasingly tense relations with artists, and were only partially resolved by changes made to the format of the International. In spite of these challenges, the Carnegie International retained its reputation as a preeminent venue for contemporary art and awarded top prizes to John White Alexander, Cecilia Beaux, George W. Bellows, Frank W. Benson, Andre Dauchez, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Thomas Eakins, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, John Lavery, Henri le Sidaner, Edward W. Redfield, W. Elmer Schofield, Edmund C. Tarbell, Abbot Handerson Thayer, Dwight W. Tryon, and J. Alden Weir.

In addition to the International, Carnegie's mission of bringing cultural and educational opportunities to Pittsburgh was a central priority of the museum's daily operations. Beatty cultivated relationships with fellow museum directors, which allowed for the easy co-ordination and planning of traveling exhibitions benefiting the city. The museum developed educational programs for children and adults, including lectures, gallery talks, Saturday morning classes, fine art extension classes, guided tours, and outreach to local schools. As popular Pittsburgh art societies and clubs formed, the museum also provided meeting and exhibition spaces for groups such as the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, the Art Society of Pittsburgh, the Art Students League, the Garden Club of Allegheny County, and the Junior League.

After more than 25 years of service, Beatty made the decision to retire and put out an informal call for candidates. Being the right man at the right time, in 1921, Homer Schiff Saint-Gaudens (1880-1958) became the Museum of Art's second director.

The only child of American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his wife and artist, Augusta Fisher Homer, Saint-Gaudens frequently traveled abroad and grew up in the company of his parents' wide circle of friends, many of them artists, poets, writers, and performers who frequented the Cornish Artists' Colony. More intimate friends of the family included former students, assistants, and colleagues, the architect Stanford White, and successful artist-couples who resided near the family's Cornish, New Hampshire home, among them Louise and Kenyon Cox, Maria and Thomas Dewing, Florence and Everett Shinn, and Emma and Abbott Thayer.

Homer Saint-Gaudens attended the preparatory school Lawrenceville, graduated from Harvard in 1903, married the artist and suffragist Carlota Dolley (1884-1927) in 1905, and remarried to Mary Louise McBride (n.d.-1974) in 1929. He began his professional career as a journalist and worked as assistant editor of The Critic (1903) and managing editor of Metropolitan Magazine (1905). During those years, he was introduced to a number of the Ash Can school artists, wrote articles on contemporary art, and honed his abilities as a writer. In 1907, Saint-Gaudens took a break from professional editing and began a second career as the stage manager for Maude Adams, the most highly paid and successful stage actress of her day, with a yearly income of over one million dollars at the peak of her popularity. Working in theater and as Adams' manager for over ten years, Saint-Gaudens learned the ins and outs of event promotion and logistics, media coverage, and maintaining diplomatic relations through compromise, ideal skills he would later use in organizing the Carnegie Internationals.

With the United States' entry into World War I, Saint-Gaudens served as the chief of the U.S. Army's first camouflage unit and was awarded the Bronze Star. After his discharge, he managed Adams' 1918 final season and simultaneously helped his mother organize a major retrospective of his father's sculptures. While organizing a section of his father's work for the 1921 International, he was invited to step into the position of assistant director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, and was promoted to the directorship upon John Beatty's retirement.

Throughout his tenure, Saint-Gaudens was able to call upon long-standing family friendships with artists and art patrons to the museum's benefit. His connections to the art world can clearly be seen in his first major stand-alone exhibition, the Garden Club Show (1922). In this, he enlisted the aid of Elizabeth Alexander, wife of John White Alexander, and Johanna Hailman, artist and wife of John Hailman, who reached out to their circle of artists and art collecting friends in search of works appropriate for the show. Their efforts, combined with the relationships Beatty had established with museum directors, galleries, and dealers, as well as Saint-Gaudens' own friendships with Kenyon Cox, Thomas Dewing, Barry Faulkner, and Gari Melchers, resulted in an assemblage of 150 paintings of note. Coming immediately upon the heels of the 1922 International, the show was a resounding success. The exhibition's opening attracted over 300 delegates of the Garden Club of America and the entirety of Pittsburgh high society, settling any concerns regarding his leadership abilities.

As director of the Museum of Art, Saint-Gaudens instituted measures intended to streamline the Internationals and improve diplomatic relations with artists. Though the basic format of the juried exhibition remained the same, his solutions to the complaints many artists raised with the artist invitation, art selection, and jury systems reformed the International's reputation at a critical time. Though he was naturally inclined to appreciate the art and artists he had grown up with, Saint-Gaudens understood the immediate necessity of introducing modernist contemporary art into the museum's exhibitions and galleries. He circumvented the conservative Fine Arts Committee's resistance to the accolades of European modernists by choosing the tamest of the new 'radical' works. Eventually, he balanced the Internationals with a mix of conservative, moderate, and advanced works that appealed to a large range of audiences and increased the status and diversity of the Internationals.

To aid in his reformation of the International, Saint-Gaudens formalized a team of European agents who worked year round to scout artists' studios, recommend suitable art and artists, navigate local politics, arrange local transportation and logistics, and maintain cordial relations with artists abroad. In the spring, Saint-Gaudens would travel to Europe to meet with his agents in person, tour the most promising studios, and meet with artists personally. His team was headed by Guillaume Lerolle, who shared Saint-Gaudens' distinction of being the son of a well regarded national artist, Henry Lerolle. Like Saint-Gaudens, Lerolle was able and willing to call upon longstanding family friendships and networks on behalf of the Museum of Art. The other core members of the team were Ilario Neri (Italy), Arnold Palmer (England), Margaret Palmer (Spain), and Charlotte Weidler (Germany).

From 1922 to 1940, the Museum of Art held seventeen Internationals, with the exceptions coming in 1932 (Great Depression) and 1940 (World War II). After a brief period of change, growth, and experimentation in the early 1920s, the museum eventually settled on a routine of planning the Internationals, arranging for traveling exhibitions, and expanding upon the most popular of their educational programs. In addition to those programs put into place under Beatty's tenure, Saint-Gaudens paved the way for a revamped lecture series featuring visiting critics and traveled as a visiting lecturer himself.

During the 1930s, financial difficulties and increasing political tensions in Europe presented ample challenges to the diplomatic skills of Saint-Gaudens and his agents, and they found themselves increasingly forced to navigate through political minefields presented by the fascist ideologies of Germany and Italy, the chaos of the Spanish civil war, and the eventual outbreak of World War II in Europe. In spite of these challenges, under Saint-Gaudens' direction, the museum remained true to Andrew Carnegie's vision. The International was expanded to accept on average over sixty additional works of art, and at its peak, included art from twenty-one countries. Beginning in 1927, top prizes and recognition were awarded to Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, Andre Derain, Raoul Dufy, Karl Hofer, Rockwell Kent, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Edouard Vuillard.

Works by Arthur B. Davies, Charles Hawthorne, Edward Hopper, Augustus John, Oskar Kokoschka, Leon Kroll, Ernest Lawson, and William Orpen were added to the museum's permanent collection. And, as under Beatty's tenure, many of the artists selected to serve on the Jury of Award became advocates and friends of the museum, including Emil Carlsen, Anto Carte, Bruce Crane, Charles C. Curran, Daniel Garber, Charles Hopkinson, Laura Knight, Jonas Lie, Julius Olsson, Leopold Seyffert, Lucien Simon, Eugene Speicher, Maurice Sterne, Gardner Symons, Horatio Walker, and Charles H. Woodbury.

The monumental task of establishing the Carnegie Institute Museum of Art and the Carnegie International has left an archival record that is unique and unparalleled in documenting its relations with every aspect of the contemporary art world from the turn of the century through the first forty years of the twentieth century.
Provenance:
The Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art records were loaned for microfilming in 1966 and later donated to the Archives of American Art in 1972. A small addition of corrrespondence was donated in 2017 by Elizabeth Tufts Brown.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers 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.
Topic:
Art -- Economic aspects  Search this
World War, 1914-1918  Search this
Depressions -- 1929  Search this
Art, Modern -- Exhibitions  Search this
Fascism  Search this
World War, 1939-1945  Search this
Museum directors  Search this
Function:
Art museums -- Pennsylvania
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Letterpress books
Museum records
Citation:
Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art records, 1883-1962, bulk 1885-1940. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.carninst
See more items in:
Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art records
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw941920dd5-82b0-485f-802d-62b012a74357
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-carninst
Online Media:

San Antonio International Fair Association

Collection Creator:
Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art  Search this
Container:
Box 127, Folder 16
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1905
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
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:
Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art records, 1883-1962, bulk 1885-1940. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
See more items in:
Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art records
Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art records / Series 1: Correspondence
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw982d570a3-4da6-48bb-a157-d9e9b1420161
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-aaa-carninst-ref7157

Al Rendon, Pandemic Oral History Project, Archives of American Art, 2020

Creator:
Archives of American Art  Search this
Type:
Interviews
YouTube Videos
Uploaded:
2021-01-27T19:24:49.000Z
YouTube Category:
Education  Search this
Topic:
Art, American  Search this
See more by:
SmithsonianAAA
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
YouTube Channel:
SmithsonianAAA
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:yt_enllJEuUxiM

Millard Sheets papers, circa 1907-2000

Creator:
Sheets, Millard Owen, 1907-1989  Search this
Subject:
Millard Sheets & Associates Designs  Search this
Sheets, Mary Baskerville  Search this
Dalzell Hatfield Galleries  Search this
Type:
Slides (photographs)
Photographs
Citation:
Millard Sheets papers, circa 1907-2000. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art -- Study and teaching  Search this
Art -- California  Search this
Art and society  Search this
Horses -- Breeding  Search this
Watercolorists -- California  Search this
Muralists -- California  Search this
Art -- Philosophy  Search this
Designers -- California  Search this
Theme:
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)10956
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)214738
AAA_collcode_sheemill
Theme:
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_214738
Online Media:

Millard Sheets papers

Creator:
Sheets, Millard, 1907-1989  Search this
Names:
Dalzell Hatfield Galleries  Search this
Millard Sheets & Associates Designs  Search this
Sheets, Mary Baskerville  Search this
Extent:
27.6 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Slides (photographs)
Photographs
Date:
circa 1907-2000
Summary:
The Millard Sheets papers comprise 27.6 linear feet of material dating from circa 1907 to 2000 with bulk dates spanning 1956 to 1981. The collection documents Sheets's career as a designer, painter, and muralist, and his personal and professional interests through correspondence, writings, lectures, printed material, drawings, slides, photographs, and ephemera. A small addition donated 2018 by Carolyn Owen-Toole, Sheet's daughter. There is a 4.6 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated 2018 that includes writings; sketchbooks and sketches; photographs and negatives of works of art, images of Millard Sheets and others including family; printed material, including two scrapbooks; and scattered correspondence regarding Sheet's projects.
Scope and Content Note:
The personal papers of Millard Sheets (1907-1990) measure 27.6 linear feet and date from circa 1907-2000, with bulk dates of 1956-1981. The collection reflects Sheets's career as a designer, painter, and muralist, as well as his other personal and professional interests, through correspondence, writings, lectures, clippings, blueprints, drawings, slides, photographs, and ephemera.

The Project Files comprise the largest group of materials in the collection and document design work undertaken by Sheets through his company Millard Sheets & Associates Designs. Sheets and his associates produced concept drawings and blueprints and supervised the construction for a wide range of design projects that ranged in scale from architectural plans for private residences to bid proposals for shopping malls and financial institutions located in California and the Southwest.

Sheets designed interior and exterior plans for over forty Home Savings and Loan bank branches in California. The distinctive modular design which Sheets created and then customized by integrating interior and exterior art elements that highlighted local historical events or natural features became synonymous with the image of Home Savings and Loan. Sheets also teamed up with the architect Edward Durrell Stone to produce a proposal for the Capitol Mall Project, an urban renewal project for the Redevelopment Agency of the City of Sacramento. Researchers will find correspondence, job costs and billing statements, and notes that trace the development of these and other building construction projects. In some instances the documents are supplemented by blueprints, photographs, and/or drawings of the project, but in many cases, visual documentation is missing.

The Project Files also document work done by Millard Sheets on public projects such as the Family of Man mural in the Los Angeles City Hall Annex, a mosaic dome in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C., and the Word of Life mural at the University of Notre Dame, Ind., along with numerous other murals and mosaics created for private individuals and corporations.

The Correspondence Series primarily reflects the interaction between Sheets and his clients, colleagues, and personal acquaintances. These files will prove valuable to researchers who are interested in the way that Sheets's beliefs about the role of art in everyday life impacted the way he conducted business and managed both large and small design projects. The correspondence also reflects Sheets's interest in popular American culture, travel, political issues of the day, and art collecting.

The Membership Files document the wide variety of interests that Sheets maintained through active membership in associations and organizations. The material in this series consists primarily of correspondence, minutes of meetings, and notes which Sheets created or used as he served as a board member or trustee on a number of organizational boards, such as the California Institute of the Arts, the Claremont Colleges, Virginia Steele Scott Foundation, Webb School of California, and Goodwill Industries of Southern California.

Also found in this series is material that documents his interest and participation in various recreational and professional organizations. Sheets maintained a long association with the Economic Roundtable, a group of businessmen who met regularly to give presentations and share discussion on contemporary political and social issues. Sheets was a frequent speaker and his talks given at the Economic Roundtables can be found in Lectures and Speeches, a subseries of the Writings Series.

Included in the Millard Sheets & Associates Designs, Inc. series are records that reflect the day-to-day operations of Sheets's design firm. Found here are chronological copies of correspondence that were sent out, files Sheets maintained on various independent contractors that the design firm frequently used, resumes and letters of recommendation that Sheets received regarding potential employees, as well as records relating to the cost and maintenance of Sheets's office building.

The Teaching and Workshop Files document the instructional activities undertaken by Sheets throughout his career in the arts. Although Sheets became pivotal in establishing a regionally recognized art department at Scripps College in Claremont, California, the files that reflect his academic position there are limited in scope and depth. Researchers will find more substantive the files that he maintained on the numerous art demonstrations and paintings workshops that he conducted privately throughout his career. Sheets traveled extensively around the world through his teaching activities and the files in this series track his path.

Closely related to the Teaching and Workshop Files is the Painting Trips series. The material in these files document Sheets's service as an American Specialist in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the USIS, Department of State. Sheets served two times as a cultural arts representative in Turkey in 1960 and in the former USSR in 1961. Sheets also made numerous trips to South East Asia, which had proved an area of fascination for him since his experiences as a war correspondent in Burma and India in World War II. The files in this series document his painting trips to Tahiti, the Pacific Ocean Rim, and Hawaii. Also found are files that detail his painting activities in Mexico.

The Exhibition Files reflect the records that Sheets maintained regarding his participation in art exhibitions, as well as his files on art shows that he personally directed or organized for public or private groups or organizations. Although Sheets exhibited his work predominantly in the West and Southwest, the files in this series demonstrate that he exhibited both nationally and internationally as well.

Also found within the records for this series are files relating to Sheets's representation of his artwork through established galleries and art agents. The Dalziel Hatfield Galleries of Los Angeles, California, served as his primary agent for most of his painting career. Correspondence between Sheets and the Hatfields provide insight into Sheets's development into a regionally and nationally significant watercolorist and painter. The files relating to the Kennedy Galleries in New York and the Circle Gallery in Chicago reflect Sheets's efforts to maintain a national presence in the arts community.

The Jury Files document Sheets's involvement as a juror in regional, as well, as national shows. The files reveal the great variety of professional watercolor and painting exhibitions in which Sheets participated as either a jury panelist or solo judge.

The Writings Files provide an excellent source for researchers interested in Sheets's philosophical beliefs about the relationship between art and everyday life. His articles, lectures, and speeches predominantly address the role of the artist, the relationships that exist between artists and the community, and the role that art can play in making a fuller, more productive life. Also found in the files of this series are articles written by others about Sheets.

The Biographical Material series provides a short introduction to Millard Sheets. The files consist of the calendars maintained by Sheets and his wife and staff, which were used to coordinate his many commitments and appointments. Also found in the files of this series are family chronologies that were created by Mary Baskerville Sheets. Medical records and resumes provide personal information about Sheets's background and health. A small file of military memorabilia provides information about Sheets's contributions to the war effort in World War II.

The Printed Matter series documents family activities and personalities through publicity clippings. Also found are exhibition catalogs and announcements that Sheets saved regarding other artists. Miscellaneous interests and activities of Sheets are found through magazine articles, brochures, and flyers.

The Photographs series includes photographic documentation for Sheets's artwork, horses, and major projects. A small group of photographs of Sheets are also in this series.

The files in the Artwork series include original drawings by Mary Baskerville Sheets and Millard Sheets.

There is a 4.6 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated 2018 that includes writings; sketchbooks and sketches; photographs and negatives of works of art, images of Millard Sheets and others including family; printed material, including two scrapbooks; and scattered correspondence regarding Sheet's projects.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into fifteen series. Small series, such as Biographical Material are generally based on type of document. Larger series, such as Correspondence or Project Files, are arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent or project. General correspondence has been made into its own series, but other series or subseries may also contain some correspondence. Within particular series, materials have been further divided into subseries which represent particular aspects of the project or event. For example, the Writings Series is further divided into subseries of books and articles, eulogies, and lectures and speeches. An outline listing series and subseries titles and dates follows.

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1907-1982, undated (boxes 1-2; 1.25 linear ft.)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1929-1990, undated (boxes 2-4; 2.75 linear ft.)

Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1933-1980, undated (boxes 5-6; 1.25 linear ft.)

Series 4: Membership Files, 1946-1982, undated (boxes 6-8; 2.5 linear ft.)

Series 5: Millard Sheets & Associates Designs, 1934-1982, undated (boxes 8-9; 1.0 linear ft.)

Series 6: Project Files, 1956-1981, undated (boxes 9-18; 8.25 linear ft.)

Series 7: Teaching and Workshop Files, 1932-1982 (box 18; 0.5 linear ft.)

Series 8: Painting Trips, 1959-1980, undated (box 18; 16 folders)

Series 9: Exhibition Files, 1932-1937, 1951-1988, undated (box 19; 0.75 linear ft.)

Series 10: Jury Files, 1941-1982 (boxes 19-20; 42 folders)

Series 11: Writings, 1936-1988, undated (boxes 20-22; 2.5 linear ft.)

Series 12: Printed Matter, 1936-1922, undated (boxes 22-23; 20 folders)

Series 13: Photographs, 1934-1983, undated (box 23; 17 folders)

Series 14: Artwork, circa 1929, undated (box 23; 2 folders)

Series 15: Unprocessed Addition, circa 1930-2000 (boxes 24, 26-30, OV25: 4.6 linear ft.)
Biographical Note:
"Your painting is a measure of your mind"-Millard Sheets

Millard Sheets, as one of the founding members of the "California Scene Painters," exerted a lasting influence upon subsequent generations of Western painters. He and the small group of painters who worked in California during the 1930s and 1940s, developed a new style of watercolor painting that was at the forefront of the American watercolor movement of the time, and that later gave rise to a subsequent generation of painters who became known as the California Regionalist school.

Sheets was born in Pomona, California on June 24, 1907. His mother died in childbirth, and his father, John Sheets, unprepared to raise a baby alone, sent Millard to Pomona, California to be raised by his maternal grandparents, Lewis and Emma Owen. Sheets's grandfather proved to be a guiding force in his life, and when Sheets's father remarried and offered Millard the opportunity to return to the Sheets household, Millard chose instead to remain with his grandparents.

Sheets's love of horses can be directly traced back to his childhood years spent living at his grandfather's horse ranch. Millard rode his first horse when he was three years old. Throughout his life, Sheets returned to the theme of horses in his paintings, as well as maintaining a private stable of horses, and raising and breeding racehorses.

His interest in art also began in childhood. When he was still a young boy, his two maternal aunts encouraged him to play with crayons and pencils. Sheets took his first painting lesson from a neighbor at the age of seven, and by 1919 he had already submitted artwork to the copy division of the Los Angeles County Fair fine arts show competition. He submitted a drawing he had copied of a tinted photograph of Lake KIlarney, California. Sheets won first prize in his division.

It was through this competition that Millard met Theodore B. Modra, a Polish artist who had retired to the Pomona area. After giving Sheets a lecture on the evils of copying art, Modra offered to give him art lessons.

Sheets continued to pursue his interest in art and enrolled in the Choinard School of Art in Los Angeles, California. By the time that he graduated in 1929, Sheets had also managed to come to the attention of Dalzell and Ruth Hatfield of the Dalzell Hatfield Galleries in Los Angeles, California. The Hatfields were one of the most influential art dealers in Southern California, and that same year, they sponsored Sheets in his first one-man exhibition in 1929. The exhibition brought Sheets to the attention of Western Coast art critics and launched Sheets on his painting career.

In 1929 Sheets also learned that he had won second place in the annual Edgar B. Davis art competition held in San Antonio, Texas. The award came with a cash prize and Sheets made plans to travel to Europe to study and paint. Shortly before his departure, however, he met an art student, Mary Baskerville, and they began a whirlwind romance. With Baskerville's enthusiastic support for European plans, and with her promise that she would wait for him, Sheets departed for New York and then Europe.

While overseas during 1929 and 1930, Sheets studied under Dorfinant, a master printer in Paris. Through his work at this studio workshop, he met Henri Matisse.

Five months after Millard returned to the California in 1930, Sheets and Mary Baskerville married. Sheets worked as the director of the Fine Arts Exhibition of the Los Angeles County Fair. In 1932 Sheets returned to school to study art and humanities at Scripps College in Claremont, California. After graduating from Scripps, school officials approached Sheets with an offer to set up a separate fine arts program and asked him to chair the new department. This was the beginning of a twenty year association with the school. In 1938, he also became the Director of Art at Claremont Graduate School.

Sheets left the school during the years of World War II to serve as a war-time artist and journalist for Life magazine, and from 1943-1944 was stationed on the Burma-India Front. His experiences in Asia appeared to affect him deeply. In contrast to his earlier works which featured backgrounds with neutral tones and brilliant shades that highlighted and punctuated the compositions, the paintings from the wartime featured somber tones. Sheets remarked of this time:

During the fighting and the time I spent in the C-B-1 theater, I was too shaken and intellectually stunned to do any complete paintings. I made many, many sketches, though, as well as a real effort to remember each scene that particularly affected me. Then, once I returned to America, I painted frantically, for months, exorcising demons. [Lovoos, Janice and Edmund F. Penney, Millard Sheets: One-Man Renaissance, Northland Press, Flagstaff, AZ, 1984]

Sheets returned from the war in 1944 and resumed his position at Scripps College until 1955 when he was approached by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and asked to overhaul the fledgling Los Angeles County Art Institute. Sheets accepted the position and spent the next five years reshaping the mission and format of the school, renaming it the Otis Art Institute. In the years after Sheets left the directorship, the school eventually became part of the Parson's School of Design on the West Coast.

In 1953 Sheets founded the Millard Sheets Designs company. He hired between twenty-five and thirty artisans for large projects, with Susan Hertel, a former student of his, serving as his assistant in all the operations of the design studio. The working staff included engineers, registered architects, draftsmen, and artists, and the projects that the firm produced included murals, mosaics, stained glass, and sculpture for private homes and public and commercial businesses.

The design studio completed several major architectural projects throughout the late 1950s through the mid 1970s, including the design and construction of Cal Aero, a flight training school for the US Air Force, the National American Insurance Company offices for the California financier, Howard Ahmanson, Ahmanson Bank and Trust Company in Beverly Hills, many Home Savings and Loan Association Buildings, private residences, and the Scottish Rite Memorial Temples in Los Angeles and San Francisco, among many other projects.

Sheets also designed and completed mural and mosiac work for numerous public buildings in the Los Angeles area, as well as across the nation. Many of the murals and mosiacs were for those buildings designed by his firm while others were done as independent commissions.

In 1968 Sheets first proposed the murals he designed for the Los Angeles City Hall. His design was approved and he was awarded a commission to complete The Family of Man murals over the two main entrances to the Los Angeles City Hall. The murals were completed in 1971 and installed in 1972. Sheets also designed mosiacs and murals for the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the Library at Notre Dame University, the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple in Los Angeles, several Home Savings and Loan Association buildings in the Los Angeles area, the Detroit Public Library, and the Dome of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.

During the early 1960s Sheets participated in the American Specialist Program of the US Department of State. His first assignment was to Turkey in 1960, where he served as a visiting artist. The following year he went to the USSR in the same capacity.

During the early to mid 1950s Sheets became involved with Columbia Pictures and was technical advisor and production designer for a few years.

Millard Sheets was a member of the National Watercolor Society, the American Watercolor Society, the National Academy of Design, the Society of Motion Picture Art Directors, and the Century Association. Sheets actively promoted his own work and was a businessman, an active and prolific artist, instructor, and designer. Millard Sheets died on March 31, 1989 in Gualala, California.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reels LA 10) including a biographical sketch, career resume, and a list of sheets' work prepared in 1964. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Millard Sheets lent material for microfilming in 1965. Mary B. Sheets, Millard's widow, donated the papers to the Archives of American Art in 1992. Carolyn Owen-Toole, Sheet's daughter, gave a small addition of material in 2018.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
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.
Topic:
Art -- Study and teaching  Search this
Art -- California  Search this
Art and society  Search this
Horses -- Breeding  Search this
Watercolorists -- California  Search this
Muralists -- California  Search this
Art -- Philosophy  Search this
Designers -- California  Search this
Genre/Form:
Slides (photographs)
Photographs
Citation:
Millard Sheets papers, circa 1907-2000. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.sheemill
See more items in:
Millard Sheets papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw978141c20-c1e5-41ff-aa5d-6603f62f526f
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-sheemill
Online Media:

Solon H. Borglum and Borglum family papers, 1864-2002

Creator:
Borglum, Solon Hannibal, 1868-1922  Search this
Subject:
Davies, Monica Borglum  Search this
Davies, A. Mervyn (Alfred Mervyn)  Search this
Borglum, Gutzon  Search this
Borglum, Emma Vignal  Search this
Type:
Sketches
Citation:
Solon H. Borglum and Borglum family papers, 1864-2002. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Sculpture, American -- United States  Search this
Sculptors -- Connecticut -- Wilton  Search this
Sculpture -- Study and teaching  Search this
World War, 1914-1918  Search this
Theme:
Diaries  Search this
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)6772
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)208898
AAA_collcode_borgsolo
Theme:
Diaries
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_208898
Online Media:

Frances Colpitt papers, 1932-2022

Creator:
Colpitt, Frances  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Citation:
Frances Colpitt papers, 1932-2022. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Theme:
Women  Search this
Research and writing about art  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)22263
AAA_collcode_colpfran
Theme:
Women
Research and writing about art
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_22263

Frances Colpitt papers

Creator:
Colpitt, Frances  Search this
Extent:
9.3 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Date:
1932-2022
Summary:
The papers of Frances Colpitt measure 9.0 linear feet and date from 1932 to 2022. The papers document Colpitt's career as an art historian and educator through artist files, research writing project records, teaching files, other professional activities files, printed materials, sound recordings of interviews and lectures, video recordings, and born-digital materials.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Frances Colpitt measure 9.0 linear feet and date from 1932 to 2022. The papers document Colpitt's career as an art historian and educator through artist files, research writing project records, teaching files, other professional activities files, printed materials, sound recordings of interviews and lectures, video recordings, and born-digital materials.

Artist files consist of notes, articles and clippings, exhibition announcements and some catalogs, interview transcripts, and some photographs of artwork related to various artists.

Research writing projects records consist of files on various topics related to abstract art and Los Angeles art compiled by Colpitt for essay and book projects. The files primarily contain photocopies of research articles from the 1930s-1990s with some of Colpitt's notes, but do not typically contain drafts of writings.

Teaching files contain course materials for courses taught by Colpitt at the University of Southern California, University of Texas at San Antonio, and Texas Christian University. Records include some lecture notes.

Professional activity files consist of administrative material related to teaching positions, some curatorial projects, and contract writing work.

Printed materials include a copy of Colpitt's dissertation, articles, and exhibition catalogs for exhibitions Colpitt either wrote essays for or helped curate.

Also found are sound recordings of interviews Colpitt conducted with artists and sound recordings of some of Colpitt's lectures.

A series of unidentified born-digital material remains unprocessed.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into seven series.

Series 1: Artist Files, 1933-2022 (2.8 linear feet; Boxes 1-3)

Series 2: Research Writing Projects, 1930-2022 (2.8 linear feet; Boxes 3-6)

Series 3: Teaching Files, 1981-2021 (1.8 linear feet; Boxes 6-8)

Series 4: Professional Activity Files, 1977-2020 (0.7 linear feet; Boxes 8-9)

Series 5: Printed Material, 1975-2018 (0.3 linear feet; Boxes 9)

Series 6: Audio Interviews and Lectures, 1980-1983 (0.3 linear feet; Box 9)

Series 7: Unprocessed Born-Digital Material, undated (0.2 linear feet; Box 9)
Biographical / Historical:
Frances Jean Colpitt (1952-2022) was an art historian, art museum curator, and educator in Fort Worth, Texas, who specialized in American art after the 1960s and wrote extensively on abstract art.­

Colpitt was born in 1952 and completed her undergraduate studies in Fine Arts at the University of Tulsa in 1974. Colpitt then went on to receive a PhD in art history from the University of Southern California in 1982. Colpitt taught at the University of Southern California from 1988 to 1990, the University of Texas San Antonio from 1990 to 2005, and at Texas Christian University from 2005 to 2021. Colpitt died in 2022.
Provenance:
Donated in 2023 by the Estate of Frances Jean Colpitt via Mary Margaret Colpitt, estate executor.
Restrictions:
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 in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
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.
Occupation:
Art historians -- Texas -- Fort Worth  Search this
Educators -- Texas -- Fort Worth  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Citation:
Frances Colpitt papers, 1932-2022. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.colpfran
See more items in:
Frances Colpitt papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9770fd7c2-9ca2-4d7f-b926-74afd493792f
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-colpfran

Teaching Files

Collection Creator:
Colpitt, Frances  Search this
Extent:
1.8 Linear feet (Boxes 6-8)
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1981-2021
Scope and Contents:
Teaching files consist of course materials for courses Colpitt taught at the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and Texas Christian University. Materials include course syllabi, assignments, student lists, and some research articles. Also included are Colpitt's lecture notes for some of her courses.
Arrangement:
Series is arranged with course materials in chronological order followed by lecture notes in chronological order.
Collection Restrictions:
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 in this collection must use access copies. Contact References 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:
Frances Colpitt papers, 1932-2022. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.colpfran, Series 3
See more items in:
Frances Colpitt papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw90bfa5678-2717-4d42-bd55-eaafa3fa1e17
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-aaa-colpfran-ref109

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