Search Results

Collection Creator:

Freelon, Allan Randall, 1895-1960  Search this

Container:

Box 3, Folder 22

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

circa 1950-circa 1960

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.

Access to nitrate negatives is restricted. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Collection Rights:

The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Collection Citation:

Allan Randall Freelon papers, 1830-2018. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided in part by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation.

See more items in:

Allan Randall Freelon papers

Allan Randall Freelon papers / Series 8: Photographic Material

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw96da9093c-71ec-4c47-bf44-cfd4a55c086d

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-freealla-ref170

Collection Creator:

Overton, Cleve  Search this

Container:

Box 3, Folder 22

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

circa 1935-circa 1970

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:

Cleve Overton papers, circa 1928-2022, bulk 1948-2020. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of the the Cleve Overton papers was provided by the donor. Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided in part from the donor and the Walton Family Foundation.

See more items in:

Cleve Overton papers

Cleve Overton papers / Series 7: Photographic Material

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw980220a6a-0b30-47c3-a002-3f936cb26d30

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-overclev-ref128

Creator:

Tworkov, Jack, 1900-1982  Search this

Subject:

Forge, Andrew  Search this

Dickinson, Edwin Walter  Search this

Demarco, Ricky  Search this

Knaths, Karl  Search this

Katz, Paul  Search this

Herzbrun, Helene  Search this

Hartigan, Grace  Search this

Bartlett, Jennifer  Search this

Ashton, Dore  Search this

Ashbury, John  Search this

Cézanne, Paul  Search this

Cavallon, Giorgio  Search this

Calfee, William H. (William Howard)  Search this

Blinken, Donald M.  Search this

Ponsold, Renate  Search this

Praeger, David A.  Search this

Westenberger, Theo  Search this

Summerford, Joe  Search this

Thorne, Joan  Search this

Matter, Herbert  Search this

Lindeberg, Linda  Search this

Osborn, Robert Chesley  Search this

Newman, Arnold  Search this

Newman, Michael  Search this

Wise, Howard  Search this

Wheeler, Dennis  Search this

Yunkers, Adja  Search this

Rothko, Mark  Search this

Egan Gallery  Search this

Stable Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Nancy Hoffman Gallery  Search this

Leo Castelli Gallery  Search this

Poindexter Gallery  Search this

Zabriskie Gallery  Search this

Type:

Photographs

Sketchbooks

Video recordings

Interviews

Motion pictures (visual works)

Sound recordings

Sketches

Diaries

Citation:

Jack Tworkov papers, 1926-1993. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Painting -- New York (State)  Search this

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Artists' studios -- Photographs  Search this

Theme:

Diaries  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)13402

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211452

AAA_collcode_tworjack2

Theme:

Diaries

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211452

Creator:

American Art Association  Search this

Names:

American Watercolor Society  Search this

Blakeslee Galleries (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919  Search this

Crocker, William H.  Search this

Kirby, Thomas Ellis, 1846-1924  Search this

Millet, Francis Davis, 1846-1912  Search this

Parsons, Alfred, 1847-1920  Search this

Extent:

27.8 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sales records

Photographs

Drawings

Prints

Sketches

Date:

circa 1853-1929

bulk 1885-1922

Summary:

The American Art Association records measure 27.8 linear feet and date from circa 1853-1929, with the bulk of the material dating from circa 1885-1922. The records include auction and sales files, general financial and legal files, inventory and stock records, client files, printed materials, photographic materials, artwork, and the personal papers of founder Thomas Ellis Kirby.

Scope and Contents:

The American Art Association records measure 27.8 linear feet and date from circa 1853-1929, with the bulk of the material dating from circa 1885-1922. The records include auction and sales files, general financial and legal files, inventory and stock records, client files, printed materials, photographic materials, artwork, and the scattered personal papers of founder Thomas Ellis Kirby.

Auction files contain a wide variety of materials regarding auction schedules, auctions, gallery sales, and estate sales. The files primarily contain correspondence, sales statements and ledgers, estate inventories and appraisals, and photographs. Of interest is a handwritten letter from Andrew Carnegie concerning the Second Prize Fund Exhibition.

Records of sales are documented in named files, sales ledgers, client account books, and Blakeslee Gallery sales ledgers. Files are found for specific art collections and estates. Sales ledgers list sales transactions of the Association by collection, department, genre, or named auction and provide the most detailed sales information, often noting title or subject, size, owner, lot number, date, purchaser, and price, and sometimes an index of artists. Other ledgers document consignment and exhibition sales, as well as sales conducted by other galleries or auction houses, both in the United States and in Europe. Exhibition sales documented include those of Alfred Parsons and Frank Millet in 1903, the American Watercolor Society in 1902, and the American Painters and Illustrators in 1905, and others. Client account books provide itemized costs accrued by individuals or estates over the course of a sale or purchase. Many of the ledgers contain name indexes.

General financial and legal files primarily consist of cash and expense ledgers documenting daily, monthly, and yearly costs and expenses related to the production of auction and sales catalogs, costs associated with leasing spaces and equipment, shipping and crating, employee sales commissions, art department expenses, book department expenses, and other costs. Legal files contain scattered forms and contractual documents, as well as correspondence and documents related to two lawsuits.

Inventory and stock records document the Association's inventory through a series of stock books and inventory cards that include sales and provenance information.

Client files consist of cards divided into clients interested in art and clients interested in books. They also include some information on specific client sales and purchases. Also found are numerous client address books. Printed materials include auction catalogs, clippings, and newspapers.

Photographs depict works of art and materials sold and collected. Of interest is a collection of cabinet photographs of French artists collected when the American Art Association was actively involved in the auction sales of thousands of paintings by French artists. Also found are four photo albums depicting auction items for a 1907 auction, prepared for the American Art Association by William H. Crocker. Several unsigned prints, sketches, and drawings are found in the artwork series.

Thomas Ellis Kirby's scattered personal papers include an address book, scattered family and biographical materials, correspondence with clients and associates, writings and speeches, legal material, auction records, and photographs.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 9 series. Folder titles have been retained from the original records, and occasionally devised for clarity.

Missing Title

Series 1: Auctions, circa 1885-1922 (1.9 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, BV23-24)

Series 2: Sales, circa 1884-1923 (8.1 linear feet; Boxes 2-6, 20-21, BV25-39)

Series 3: General Financial and Legal Files, circa 1883-1923 (9.3 linear feet; Boxes 6-11, BV40-62)

Series 4: Inventory and Stock Records, circa 1887-circa 1922 (0.8 linear feet; Box 11, BV63-65)

Series 5: Client Files, circa 1895-circa 1922 (2.1 linear feet; Boxes 11-13)

Series 6: Printed Materials, circa 1853-1923 (1.1 linear feet; Boxes 13-14, 21)

Series 7: Photographic Material, circa 1885-circa 1922 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 14-15, 21-22)

Series 8: Artwork, circa 1888-circa 1900 (0.1 linear feet; Boxes 15, 22)

Series 9: Thomas Ellis Kirby Personal Papers, circa 1861-1929 (3.6 linear feet; Boxes 15-19)

Biographical / Historical:

The American Art Association was an art gallery and auction house based in New York City, New York, formed in 1883 by James F. Sutton, R. Austin Robertson, and Thomas E. Kirby. It was the first auction house in the United States.

The Association was founded to promote American art and exhibit the work of American artists in its American Art Galleries in New York City. In its first year of operation, the Association exhibited Thomas B. Clarke's collection of American paintings as a benefit for the National Academy of Design. After the successful management of the public sale of the George I. Seney art collection in 1885, with Thomas E. Kirby as auctioneer, the Association continued conducting auctions and managing estate sales. Austin Robertson died in 1892 and Sutton became a special partner in 1895. In 1912 Kirby's son, Gustavus T. Kirby, joined the Association as a general partner and later also acquired Sutton's interest and became a full partner. The Association was sold in 1923 to Cortlandt Field Bishop, and merged with the Anderson Auction Company to form the American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, Inc, in 1929. The firm was taken over by Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., in 1938.

Provenance:

A portion of the American Art Association records were donated in 1968 by Thomas Ellis Kirby's daughter, Mrs. Thomas B. Waller. The remaining records were donated by the American Antiquarian Society in 1978 and 1993.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Rights:

The 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

Art galleries, Commercial -- Economic aspects  Search this

Art, French  Search this

Art auctions  Search this

Art, American  Search this

Artists -- France -- Photographs  Search this

Artists -- United States  Search this

Function:

Arts organizations -- New York (State)

Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State)

Auction houses -- New York (State)

Genre/Form:

Sales records

Photographs

Drawings

Prints

Sketches

Citation:

American Art Association Records, circa 1853-1929, bulk circa 1885-1922. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund.

Identifier:

AAA.amerarta

See more items in:

American Art Association Records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw939050007-8b8b-4880-adc9-5f8df25c792d

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-amerarta

Collector:

Robinson, Franklin A., Jr., 1959- (actor)  Search this

Creator:

Quinn, Terry (photographer)  Search this

Conner, Mary Robinson, 1930-2009  Search this

Names:

Capital Transit Company (Washington, D.C.)  Search this

Serenity Farm, Inc.  Search this

Howes, Grace Bourne, ?-1976  Search this

Robinson, Adina Theresa, 1963-  Search this

Robinson, Amanda Baden, 1849-1940  Search this

Robinson, Elizabeth Bourne, 1892-1976  Search this

Robinson, Frank A., 1883-1970  Search this

Robinson, Franklin A., 1841-1905  Search this

Robinson, Franklin A., Sr., 1932-2023  Search this

Robinson, Martha Walls, 1807-1897  Search this

Robinson, Robert David, 1962-  Search this

Robinson, Robert Henry, 1851-1937  Search this

Robinson, Thomas Wells, 1803-1869  Search this

Townshend, Martha Robinson, 1880-1961  Search this

Via, Adina Mae, 1937-1966  Search this

Via, Ida Virginia Woods, 1914-2010  Search this

Via, Robert Delano, 1933-  Search this

Via, Robert Milton, 1906-1983  Search this

Extent:

33 Cubic feet (99 boxes, 3 map-size folders)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Motion pictures (visual works)

Correspondence

Photographs

Postcards

Baby books

Phonograph records

Postcard albums

Ephemera

School yearbooks

Diaries

Albums

Housebooks

Snapshots

Home movies

Family papers

Scrapbooks

Funeral registers

Architectural drawings

Place:

Maryland -- Family farms

Washington (D.C.)

Prince George's County (Md.)

Arizona -- Motion pictures

Benedict (Md.)

Charles County (Md.) -- Family farms

Calvert County (Md.) -- Family farms

California -- Motion pictures

Bahamas -- Motion pictures

Yosemite National Park (Calif.)

Puerto Rico -- Motion pictures

Washington -- motion pictures

Oregon -- Motion pictures

Disneyland (California)

Brandywine (Md.)

St. Thomas, V.I. -- Motion pictures

Florida -- Motion pictures

United States of America -- Maryland -- Carroll County -- Westminster

United States of America -- Maryland -- Carroll County -- Marston

United States of America -- Maryland -- Carroll County -- New Windsor

Date:

1838-2023, undated

bulk 1872-1985

Summary:

Papers documenting the farming and family life of the Robinson family of Prince George's County and after 1975, Charles County, Maryland. Papers documenting the farming and family of the Via family of Greene County, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Prince George's by 1949, and Calvert Counties by 1956, Maryland.

Scope and Contents:

An extensive and comprehensive collection of papers relating to family, farming, and the Southern Maryland tobacco culture, the Robinson and Via Family Papers cover many aspects of family and farm life. The papers are particularly important in regard to the tobacco culture that defined Southern Maryland for generations. The papers concern two distinct family groups, the Robinson and Via families who are connected through the marriage of Franklin A. Robinson and Adina Mae Via. The papers consist of material generated by the Robinson and Via families in their personal and working lives and as farm owners and operators.

The papers are especially strong in 20th century material. They consist of various types of farm records: account books, bills, receipts, tenant farming agreements, ephemera, land rental and purchase agreements, insurance policies, photographs and 8mm and 16mm films of farming practices and procedures, equipment and landscapes, related to the farming of tobacco, small grains, and livestock. The personal records include diaries, letters both personal and business, greeting cards, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, high school yearbooks, baby books, house plans, recipe books, photographs and 8mm films of birthdays, holidays, weddings, baptisms, family occasions, and family travel, oral histories, and funeral ephemera including photographs, and transcription discs. Of particular interest are the "Serenity Farm Tobacco Production Photographs" documenting the crop year 1999-2000 and the films detailing agricultural practices. There is a memorandum book for Black Walnut Thicket, 1885-1901, the Baden farm in Baden, Prince George's County.

This collection includes a comprehensive range of 8mm and 16mm films and photographs documenting farming practices and landscapes as well as family gatherings, birthdays, holidays, and vacations. The researcher is alerted to the fact that in some cases with the memorandum and account books, books printed for a given year were often saved and used for subsequent years, some were dated, some were not.

The collection is divided into seven series arranged by subject and most often chronologically at folder level within each series.

Arrangement:

The collection is divided into seven series:

Series 1: Ferndale Farm (Potomac Landing), Prince George's County, Maryland, 1861-1973, undated

Subseries 1.1: Farm papers, bill, and receipts, and publications, 1861-1973, undated

Subseries 1.2: Farm papers, bill, and receipts, 1945-1960, undated

Subseries 1.3: Farm papers, bills, and receipts, 1960-1965, undated

Series 2: Robinson Family, 1845-2017, undated

Subseries 2.1: Family Papers and Publications, 1845-1993, undated

Subseries 2.2: Townshend, Martha Robinson, 1896-1961, undated

Subseries 2.3: Robinson, Frank A., 1899-1970, undated

Subseries 2.4: Robinson, Elizabeth Bourne, 1841-1976, undated

Subseries 2.5: Conner, Mary Robinson, 1938-1985, undated

Subseries 2.6: Robinson, Franklin A., 1932-1997, undated

Subseries 2.6.1: Farming, 1948-1976, undated

Subseries 2.6.2: Financial, 1948-1988, undated

Subseries 2.6.3: 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA), 1945-1954, undated

Subseries 2.6.4: Travel, 1959-1970, undated

Subseries 2.7: Robinson, Jr., Franklin A., 1959-2001, undated

Series 3: Serenity Farm, Charles County, Maryland, 1962-2000, undated

Series 4: Via Farm, Calvert County, Maryland, 1954-1987, undated

Series 5: Via Family, 1932-2010, undated

Subseries 5.1: Family papers, 1941-1983, undated

Subseries 5.2: Via, Robert M., 1933-1987, undated

Subseries 5.3: Via, Ida Virginia, 1928-2010, undated

Subseries 5.4: Via, Robert D., 1933-1988, undated

Subseries 5.5: Robinson, Adina Via, 1937-1966, undated

Series 6: Photographs, Photographic Slides, and Photographic Negatives, 1860-2000, undated

Subseries 6.1: Photographs, 1872-2000, undated

Subseries 6.2: Photographic negatives, 1927--2000, undated

Subseries 6.3: Photographic Slides, 1955-1979, undated

Series 7: AudioVisual, 1943-1988

Biographical / Historical:

Robinson Family

The Robinson family is thought to be of Scottish origin and appear in the records of Prince George's County, Maryland by the early 18th century. The line has been definitively traced to James Robinson (?-1849). James' father was probably Benjamin Robinson (?-1810), of Prince George's County, Maryland. (Will Book TT1, pg. 15, Records of Prince George's County, Maryland, Maryland State Archives (MSA))

James Robinson and Sarah Wynn were issued a marriage license on February 28, 1802 in Prince George's County, Maryland. (Marriage Records of Prince George's County, Maryland) Eleven children lived to maturity (not listed in birth order); Thomas Wells (1803-1869), Ann, Priscilla, James Monroe, Benjamin (1813-1882), John C. (1819-1895), Mary Sophia, Thomas Stanley (1800-1874), Alfred, Sarah Ann, Matilda, and Rebecca Maria.

James worked as a farm manager for Benjamin Oden near Upper Marlborough, Prince George's County. (Oden Papers, Maryland Historical Society) The Robinsons and their children, moved to Wood County, Virginia (now West Virginia) by April 18, 1818 where James acted as Oden's land agent (Deed Book 6, pg. 123, Land Records of Wood County, West Virginia). They brought with them three enslaved described in the above reference as, "Kate a woman 45 years of age very black; Colonel a boy aged 8 years yellow complexion: and George a boy aged six years of a dark brown complexion." They settled on part of what was known as the "Burnt Mill" tract in the general area where the Hughes River meets the Little Kanawha River. (Deed Book 9, pg. 110 and Deed Book 14, pg. 40, Land Records of Wood County)

Thomas Wells Robinson may not have accompanied his family to Virginia as he has a presence in Prince George's County prior to 1822 and was employed as a farm manager for Benjamin Oden at least until 1832. He married Elizabeth J. Richards on December 15, 1829 (Robinson Family Bible). They had nine children; Richard Thomas (1831 1906), Rebecca Maria (1832-1895), Mary Wynn (1834-1916), James George (1835-1883), Virlinda Victoria (1837-1838), Elizabeth Ann (1839-1916), Sarah Ann Sophia (1840-1874), Franklin Alexander (1841-1905) and John Alfred (1843); seven lived to maturity. (Robinson Family Bible) Elizabeth died on August 17, 1843 from complications in childbirth. She was buried in the graveyard of Page's Chapel (later known as St. Thomas Episcopal Church), Croom, Prince George's County. In 1843, Thomas purchased the plantation of Dr. Benjamin B. Hodges for $10,000 or approximately $15 an acre. Hodges was a brother-in-law of Benjamin Oden. The deed dated September 7, 1843 describes the parcel as containing, "Six hundred and twenty nine acres of land more or less and constitute that plantation or Estate of the said Benjamin Oden heretofore commonly called "Brown's Quarter Place" being the Land tracts and parcels of land sold by the said Benjamin Oden to the said Benjamin B. Hodges and by deed bearing date the tenth day of December eighteen hundred and thirty five and recorded in Liber AB no. 10 folio 162 also one of the land Records of the County aforesaid". (JBB no. 3 pgs. 312 314, Land Records of Prince George's County) The land was level to rolling bordered on the north by a tributary of Piscataway Creek and generally termed "white oak land". Underlying the whole property was a large strata of gravel and sand. The entire parcel went by the name, Potomac Landing.

Thomas supplemented his land holdings with later purchases. With the exception of twenty acres purchased from Sarah Talbert in 1844, (JBB no. 3 pg. 475, Land Records of Prince George's County) and the purchase of lot #3 consisting of 195 acres, part of the estate of John Townshend in 1856, these purchases were not contiguous to Potomac Landing. By the time of his death in 1869 these non-contiguous parcels had been sold. Thomas sold eighty-six acres of Potomac Landing and Jeffries to Edward Eversfield in October of 1843. (JBB no. 3, pg. 198, Land Records of Prince George's County) On January 13, 1846 Thomas married the widow Martha Ann Walls, daughter of George and Martha Naylor Walls. They had two sons; Benjamin Wells (1848-1849) and Robert Henry (1851-1937).

In addition to his sons, Thomas owned enslaved. The number varied from six in 1849 (JBB 6, folio 186, Land Records of Prince Georges' County) to eleven as noted in the census for 1850, and finally six as noted in the census of 1860. The 1867 Maryland Slave Statistics noted that, "at the time of the adoption of the Constitution of Maryland, in the year 1864, . . ." Thomas owned six enslaved, their names and ages being; Isaac Franklin age 31, Alfred West age 19, Susan West age 17, Margaret Franklin age 14, Fannie Franklin age 12, and Peter Franklin age 9. All were noted as being in good physical condition. (Prince Georges' County Slave Statistics 1867 1869, C 1307 1, MdHR:6198, page 185, MSA)

Thomas's financial problems began in the mid-1800s when Deeds of Trust appear in the county records securing outstanding loans. In 1856 and 1857 Thomas joined with others as bondsman for his son, Richard who was serving as "Collector of the State and County Taxes" for the 4th collection district, making he and the other signatories liable for any uncollected taxes. This, coupled with poor investments, led to his almost being "sold out" in 1859-1860 by J.W. & E. Reynolds of Baltimore to pay his debts. He executed three drafts on Penn & Mitchell, also of Baltimore, to pay off J.W. & E. Reynolds. (Equity Case #597, Prince Georges' County) Thomas was in poor health and his son James managed the farm in 1857 and 1858, and again from 1861 to October of 1862 (Equity Case #873, Prince Georges' County)

In October of 1862 Thomas' two sons, James and Franklin, traveled to Richmond to join the Confederate States Army. James enrolled in the 5th Battalion, Local Defense Arsenal and Franklin enrolled in the 5th Virginia Infantry, the Stonewall Brigade. (CSA Military Records, National Archives) James visited home frequently but was captured by the Union Army in St. Mary's County, Maryland on May 15, 1864 and spent the remainder of the war in Point Lookout Prison Camp. He was released on May 14, 1865. Franklin was not able to visit home at all during the war but survived to return home in 1865. In 1865, Thomas surveyed a parcel of 172 acres for his daughter Rebecca Maria. Rebecca had married her second cousin, William B. Robertson, on November 18, 1855. He made a gift of fifty acres, and Rebecca agreed to purchase the remainder. The Robertsons named this parcel Holly Grove. In Equity Case #849 (1872) filed after Thomas' death, his widow Martha and Samuel H. Berry, as executrix and executor, sought to recover payment for this land. At that time, William B. Robertson described this 172 acres of Potomac Landing: "There was no fences on the line which separated this land from the old gentleman's land, but he was to put a fence on it which he agreed to do before we agreed to come there. The land was thin, unimproved, with gullies and scrubby pine. If witness had been a judge of land he would not have given five dollars for it. All the improvements were one comfortable quarter the other indifferent with a poor oak shingle roof, worn out which made it not tenantable." Further along in his testimony, William gave an account of a conversation, "In a few days my father in law Thos. W. Robinson came to Washington and told me there his children had returned from the South, his two sons, that his debts were small and he was a happy man." Rebecca and William built a house on the property, a side-hall, double parlor plan that most likely her brother James was builder. They also built accompanying farm structures. (Records of Prince George's County, Maryland, Equity Case #849, MSA)

Thomas' son, Franklin, managed the farm after the War. In December 1868 Thomas entered into a sharecropping agreement with Edward Hanson, an African-American. After about a year-long illness, on May 16, 1869, Thomas died, deeply in debt. He was buried beside Elizabeth in the graveyard at St. Thomas' Church. He named as executrix his wife, Martha, and his friend and lawyer, Samuel H. Berry, as executor. His will divided the farm into thirds, one third going to his wife and their son Robert Henry, one third to his son James, and one third to his son Franklin. The land was surveyed according to the will. His personal property was sold but not enough profit was realized to pay off his creditors. The Commissioners of Prince George's County sued the estate on behalf of Thomas' creditors. The outcome was that in 1876 the property was sold at public auction. The Notice of Sale dated September 1, 1876 in the local county newspaper, The Prince Georgian, describes the farm as, "containing 514 2/3 acres More or less. The Improvements consist of a SMALL DWELLING, Three Barns, Stabling, and other necessary outbuildings. It is well wooded and watered, and the soil of fair quality. It has recently been divided into three lots and will be offered in lots, a description of which will be given at the time of sale." The sale was held on September 27, 1876, Lot No. 1 was purchased by Robert for $6.00 an acre, Lot #2 was purchased by Franklin for $5.00 an acre and Lot #3 was purchased by James for $4.00 per acre. Robert and Franklin eventually paid off their mortgage, but James defaulted on his purchase and later moved to St. Mary's County, Maryland. His portion later came to be owned by the Hawkins family, some members who had worked on the Robinson farm. (Equity Case #873, Prince Georges' County, MSA)

Lot #1, purchased by Robert from his fathers' estate, consisted of 177-1/3 acres, including the dwelling and farm buildings. On July 24, 1872, he married Amanda Malvina Baden (1849-1940), daughter of Robert W. G. and Margaret Caroline Early Baden. The Baden and Early families were both prominent south county families. Robert and Amanda had eight children; Caroline Early (1873 1967), Lucy Tennent (1875 1958), Albert Henry (1878 1914), Martha Perry (1880 1961), Robert Gover (1882 1882), Frank Alexander (1883 1970), Margaret Baden (1886 1956) and Grace Malvina (1889 1965).

By 1880 Robert had paid off his debt on the property and was fully engaged in farming. Unlike his father, or perhaps because of his father, Robert did not add to his land holdings, choosing to remain relatively debt free for his lifetime. The only land transactions he participated in were the sales of 79-3/4 acres in 1921 of Amanda's inheritance from her father and her interest in two smaller parcels of her father's land sold in 1894 and 1928 respectively. In 1928 he transferred 3.09 acres to his son Frank.

As late as the Federal census of 1880, Franklin was living with Robert and his household, both men engaged in farming. Sometime after 1880, Franklin took up residence on his part of Potomac Landing. His brother James most likely built the side-hall double parlor house that copied the main house at Potomac Landing. On February 18, 1897, Martha Robinson, died at the age of ninety. She was buried in the graveyyard of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Baden, Prince George's County. Robert continued cultivation of tobacco and small grains as his father before him. The first reference to the farm being named Ferndale is found in the "Communion Record" of Robert's daughter, Martha Perry "Pattie", dated 1896. (Robinson and Via Family Papers) The exact origin or reason for this new name is lost but perhaps the name Potomac Landing held such bitter memories of debt and hardship that, as a symbolic break with the past, a new name was found. It also may have simply been a way to distinguish this portion of Potomac Landing from the others. The farm continued to be listed on tax bills as Potomac Landing well into the 20th century, but was known to the general public and businesses as the Ferndale Farm. (Robinson and Via Family Papers)

Robert served as deputy inspector at the State Tobacco Warehouse in Baltimore for eight years under W.B. Bowie. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Bank of Brandywine. In July of 1905, Franklin died, a bachelor farmer. He was buried facing south in the graveyard of the Church of the Atonement, Cheltenham, (a chapel in St. Thomas' Episcopal Parish) where he had served as vestryman, treasurer, and cemetery custodian. Franklin died intestate and a lengthy process of dividing his estate began. This resulted in the sale of his part of Potomac Landing (Lot #2) in July 1908 to William E. Boswell. The court declared Robert ineligible for any inheritance due to his being " . . . a brother of the half blood." The Boswell family later sold the property to the Billingsley family of St. Mary's County. (Equity Case 3209, Prince George's County)

In 1910, after living in the farm's original home for approximately sixty seven years, the Robinson family built a new home. It was described in a 1956 insurance policy as, "2 story, frame, metal roof, 16x43, wing 14x28, 9 rooms." (Robinson and Via Family Papers) The house design was a simple Victorian with plastered walls, and lit by carbide gas. Electrical lighting was installed in 1951. The house was built with monies from Robert and Amanda, and their son Frank, who served as builder and contractor.

On Tuesday March 9, 1937, "During a celebration in honor of his wifes birthday anniversary, Mr. Robinson collapsed at the table and died immediately without a word or a sigh." (Robinson and Via Family Papers) Robert was buried beside his mother in the cemetery at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Baden.

At Robert's death, Ferndale Farm was valued at $30.00 an acre, the total acreage, 174 acres, being valued in the whole at $5,220.00. Robert died intestate, again the fate of the land was in question. He left eight heirs, his widow, Amanda, six of his children and his son Albert Henry's only surviving child, R. Henry Robinson. Rather than have the farm sold and his mother's life disrupted, Frank purchased the estate and personal property from the heirs. Before this could take place, a deed had to be granted the heirs for the property since one had never been recorded after the 1876 sale. Equity case 873 was reopened sixty-two years after its supposed resolution. Frank testified, "over a period of about thirty years I would on a number of occasions, talk about the fact that he had purchased and paid for this property and that a deed had never been executed to him and [he] kept saying he was going to have someone straighten this matter out for him." It was discovered that Robert had fully paid for his part of Potomac Landing. On February 14, 1938 the farm was deeded from Amanda along with Robert''s heirs to Frank. (Book 499, page 334, Land Records of Prince George's County) According to the deed and a 1937 fire insurance policy the farm consisted of 177 1/3 acres, "1 two story dwelling, one tenant house, 1 barrack, 1 tobacco barn, 1 corn house & cow stable, 1 Stable, and 1 Granary & Stable." (Robinson and Via Family Papers)

Frank A. Robinson, now the sole owner of Ferndale Farm, was born August 17, 1883. He learned farming and in addition took up the trade of builder and contractor. As a young man, he worked in the general store of his uncle Robert Baden. He was the contractor for the first Bank of Brandywine and many homes in and around the town of Brandywine, including the home of his cousin Robert E. Baden, DDS. He was secretary of the Building Committee for construction of the Chapel of the Incarnation in Brandywine, a mission chapel for St. Thomas' Episcopal Parish. His success in the building trade gave him disposable income that he invested in land. His first purchase was in August, 1915 of a 2-9/100 acre of land in Brandywine that was being sold by the Board of County School Commissioners; the purchase price was $300. In March 1916 he purchased 38.09 acres of his Uncle Franklin's farm. This property adjoined Ferndale Farm. Over the next fifty-four years of his life, Frank bought and sold many pieces of real estate. Perhaps his most significant purchases were: 18-1/3 acres purchased from The German American Colonization Land Company of Maryland in October 1915 (Book 115, pg. 140, Land Records of Prince George's County); 147.99 acres purchased from August and Wilhelmina Noltensmeir in December 1917 (Book 129, pg. 263, Land Records of Prince George's County) and 320 acres called the Vineyard purchased from William M. Wilson in March 1928. Frank used these three parcels as collateral for other purchases. Never once did he mortgage Ferndale Farm, insuring that no matter what financial stormy seas might blow, his home was secure. Over the course of his life, especially in the case of the Noltensmeir farm, when cash was needed a parcel of land would be surveyed off and sold. He inherited his grandfather Thomas' love of land but had fortunately developed a shrewd business sense to go along with it.

On November 20, 1929, he married Elizabeth Freeland Bourne, daughter of Joseph Blake and Maria Gantt Bourne of Calvert County, Maryland. They had three children: Mary Elizabeth (1930-2009), Franklin Alexander (1932-2023), and Robert Lee (1935-1997). In addition to his construction business he continued farming, raising tobacco, hay, and small grains. He engaged in sharecropping with tenants on his various properties. He was active in community affairs serving on the Board of The Maryland Tobacco Growers Association (MTGA), the Vestry of St. Thomas Parish, and as sheriff of Brandywine. On January 9, 1940 Amanda Baden Robinson died. She was buried next to her husband at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Baden. In February 1958, Frank and Elizabeth conveyed 1.57 acres of Ferndale Farm to son Franklin where he and his fiancée, Adina M. Via, were building their new home prior to their marriage in July of that same year.

The booming economy and suburbanization of the Washington metropolitan area in the early 1960's led to the high quality gravel lying beneath Ferndale into becoming a valuable commodity. In October 1962, Franklin and his parents granted a three-year lease to William C. Nolte for mining sand and gravel on the Ferndale Farm at .174 per yard. (Book 2747, pg. 11, Land Records of Prince George's County) From now until 1975 when the property was sold, gravel would be mined from under the farm by various companies. In November 1962, Elizabeth and Frank transferred to Franklin the 38.09 acres Frank had purchased from Fitzhugh Billingsley in 1916. (Book 2754, pg. 99, Land Records of Prince George's County) That same year they transferred 6.754 acres, part of the Vineyard, to son Robert and his wife Lois, (Book 2765, pg. 201, Land Records of Prince George's County)

On December 28, 1965, Frank and Elizabeth participated in a land exchange/purchase of the farm of Ralph W. and Cordelia H. Brown located along the Patuxent River in Benedict, Charles County, Maryland. Franklin had rented this farm the year before and was impressed enough by its location and arability to work out a purchase. Frank and Elizabeth traded 65.9920 acres that would eventually become Franklin's under Frank's will. On February 21, 1966 they deeded the Charles County farm to Franklin and Adina. Adina named this property Serenity Farm. The property consisted of 480.66 acres. (Liber 179, page 708 etc., Land Records of Charles County)

On February 5, 1970, after a short illness, Frank died at Cafritz Memorial Hospital. He was buried at St. Paul's Episcopal Church near his parents. In his will, probated March 4, 1970 he left thirty acres of the property purchased from the German American Land Company and A. Noltensmeir to Elizabeth. He willed forty acres of the same parcel to daughter Mary Robinson Conner. The remainder of Ferndale Farm was willed to Franklin and the remaining acreage of the Vineyard was left to Robert Lee. Franklin Alexander Robinson was born August 13, 1932 at the Garfield Hospital in Washington, D.C.. He received his schooling in the public school system of Prince George's County, graduating from Gwynn Park High School in June 1951. He was a charter member of Gwynn Park's chapter of The Future Farmers of America. He was extremely active in FFA, achieving the Degree of Maryland Farmer in 1950 and their highest award, the Degree of American Farmer at their convention in Kansas City, Missouri in October 1953. He obtained his private pilots license in 1954. He entered the United States Army in February 1955 and went through basic training at Camp Gordon, Augusta, Georgia. After basic training he was transferred to Camp Hanford, Washington State. There he worked part time on the farm of Dick and Theresa Laurent during his off duty hours and began a lifelong friendship with them. He returned home to farming on an agricultural discharge in October of 1956. On July 27, 1958 he married his high school sweetheart, Adina Mae Via, daughter of Robert Milton and Virginia Woods Via. They had three children: Franklin Alexander (1959), Robert David (1962), and Adina Theresa (1963).

Franklin continued expanding and improving the farming operation by modern methods and means. At times, he farmed over one thousand acres, both owned and rented. On February 21, 1966, his parents deeded their purchase of the Ralph W. and Cordelia H. Brown farm in Benedict to he and Adina, later known as Serenity Farm Franklin and Adina engaged an architect to draft house plans for an anticipated new residence. A small A frame vacation home was built on the property so the family could spend weekends there.

On December 14, 1966, after a long illness, Adina died from complications associated with Hodgkin's Disease. She was buried in Trinity Memorial Gardens, Waldorf, Charles County. Franklin married Margaret Walker Lennox (nee Tallen, known as Rita) on August 21, 1970 (Marriage Records of Prince George's County, Maryland). This marriage ended in divorce in 1977. There were no children from this marriage.

On July 14, 1975 the Robinson family, Franklin, his second wife, Margaret, her daughter Margaret W. Lennox, Franklin, Jr., R. David, A. Theresa and Elizabeth B. Robinson, moved to Serenity Farm. On July 17, 1975 Franklin and Elizabeth sold the remaining acreage of Ferndale Farm to Brandywine Sand and Gravel, thus ending 131 years of ownership by the Robinson family. Elizabeth Bourne Robinson died on July 15, 1976 and was buried beside her husband at St. Paul's Church, Baden. Franklin married Hiltrud (Ceddie) Harris (nee Sedlacek) on July 15, 1978. (Robinson Family Bible) This marriage ended in divorce in 1986. There were no children from this marriage. Franklin married Diedre Gale Merhiage on April 19, 1989; this marriage ended in divorce in 1997. There were no children from this marriage. He married Remelda Henega Buenavista on January 13, 2007.

The Robinson family continue day-to-day operations of Serenity Farm. The land is well suited to the growing of tobacco and small grains, which crops, (with the exception of tobacco) along with a flock of sheep, are cultivated there to the present time. After the crop year 2001 the Robinson family took the tobacco buyout program offered by the state of Maryland and ceased growing tobacco. Franklin is active in farming and community affairs having served on the vestry of St. Thomas Episcopal Parish, the Board of Directors of the Maryland Tobacco Growers Association (MTGA), the Board of the Production Credit Association, the Boards of three schools, Holy Trinity Day School, Queen Anne School, and Calverton School, and numerous other organizations. Currently the farm consists of approximately 275 acres. In 1981 a state agricultural land preservation district of 222.755 acres was created. This was the first such district in Charles County and one of the first in the state of Maryland.

Via Family

The Via family traces its origins to the colony of Virginia, where the probable progenitor of the line, Amer Via, a French Huguenot, settled in Manakin Town, Albemarle County between 1670-1700. It is impossible to trace the Via line definitively due to the loss of Virginia county records during the Civil War.

The Via family line covered in this collection can be definitively traced to William Via of Fredericksville Parish, Louisa (later Albemarle) County, Virginia. The William Via family lived west of the present day town of Whitehall at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, an area commonly known as Sugar Hollow. William Via III served in the Virginia Line during the Revolutionary War. He married Mary Craig, daughter of Thomas Craig and Jane Jameson, on March 17, 1784. William died on June 27, 1836, in Albemarle County (Rev. War Pension Appl. 6363, National Archives). His son Thomas married Sally, widow Griffin, on January 1, 1811 (Albemarle County Marriage Records). Their son, Hiram Karl Via (1812-1893), married Harriet Ardenia Naylor by license dated March 7, 1836 (Albemarle County Marriage Records).

Hiram and Harriet's son, Robert St. Clair Via (1844-1925), served as a private in Company I, 7th Virginia Infantry of the Confederate States Army (CSA Military Service Records, National Archives). After the war he married his first cousin, Mary Frances Naylor, daughter of Samuel Chapman Naylor and Eliza Jane Gardner, on April 3, 1866 in Rockingham County (Rockingham County, Virginia, Marriage Records). Sometime between 1870 and 1872, they moved to Linn County, Missouri, and settled about seven miles from the town of Bucklin. Their son, Hiram Chapman Via (1872-1933), was born there. In 1893, the family returned to Virginia, and settled on a farm in Greene County near the town of Stanardsville.

Hiram Chapman Via operated a mill as well as a farm. On March 15, 1899, he married Adina Eleanor Eusebia Runkle, daughter of Milton D. L. Runkle and Roberta A. Beadles (Greene County, Virginia, Marriage Records). They had three children: Bernice Olive (1902-1999), Robert Milton (1906-1983), and Deward Daniel (1909-1977).

Robert moved to Washington, D.C.. In December 1927 he began employment with the Capitol Traction Company as a streetcar conductor (Robinson and Via Family Papers). During the early 1930s, Robert rented a townhouse at 715 A St., SE, where he lived with his sister Bernice V. McMullan and her son, William C. McMullan; his brother and sister in law, and his parents. Next door, at 717, lived the Moses Albright family, including Moses's stepdaughter Ida Virginia Woods (1914-2010), daughter of Jesse Lee Woods (1894-1918) and Donna Mae Barker (1896-1928) of Frederick County, Maryland. Robert and Virginia began a courtship and on September 3, 1932 were married in Frederick, Frederick County, Maryland (Frederick County, Maryland, Marriage Records).

After their marriage, Robert and Virginia lived in various locations in the Washington metropolitan area. Their first child, Robert Delano, was born on March 24, 1933, and their second child, Adina Mae, was born on April 12, 1937. Virginia was employed outside the home while her children were in school. Her first job before her marriage had been with Woolworth's in Martinsburg, WV working the candy counter and then before the birth of her son at The Hecht Company on F St. in Washington, D.C.. After her marriage she worked briefly for the United States Postal Service in Capitol Heights, Maryland. Beginning in the 1950s, she worked first at the Hecht Company department store on 7th Street in the District and later for Charles of the Ritz as a receptionist in their beauty salon located in Woodward & Lothrop's F Street store in Washington, D.C.. She also worked as salon manager at the Charles of the Ritz salons in the Woodward & Lothrop stores in Seven Corners, Virginia, and Chevy Chase, Maryland. She retired due to health reasons in 1973.

On September 10, 1941, Robert and Virginia purchased Lot #43 in Woodlane subdivision in Prince George's County. (Book 619, pg. 12, Land Records of Prince George's County) A house was designed for them for this lot by Clyde E. Phillips. They did not construct a home on this property due to the outbreak of World War II. Robert, due to his employment in public transportation, did not serve with the Armed Services in World War II. On October 18, 1946, they purchased approximately thirty acres bordering on Burch's Creek near the towns of Clinton, also know as Surrattsville, and T.B. in Prince George's County from Joseph H. and M. Pauline Blandford. (Book 873, pg. 483, Land Records of Prince George's County) Over the next three years, hiring private contractors, doing work themselves, and with the help of Robert's brother Deward, they built the two story house designed by Phillips in 1941. They moved to the farm from Capitol Heights in 1949. Robert raised hogs, small grains and a crop of tobacco yearly on this farm and also maintained his job with Capitol Transit (formerly Capitol Traction). In 1954, Robert and Virginia purchased a farm of approximately 150 acres in Island Creek, Calvert County, Maryland. The intention was for Robert and his son to enter into a full time farming operation on expanded acreage. Robert D. Via, known as Delano, graduated from Gwynn Park High School in June 1951. Delano was a part-time farmer and pursued a career as a country and western singer with Bashful Bob and the Rhythm Rangers, he being Bashful Bob. He was employed in various jobs, and began a tour in the Army in 1953. By the time the Via family moved to Calvert County in 1956, he decided to pursue careers other than farming. He eventually traveled and worked in various parts of the United States. He married first Delores Cooper, second Gloria J. Irick, and finally Candice Marinelli in December 1974, they had two children, Robert Marin (1975) and Kirstin Marin (1976).

On June 1, 1956 Robert resigned from his position at Capitol Transit due to health reasons. He and his family moved to the farm in Island Creek, Calvert County where he began full time farming. He and Virginia sold the thirty-acre farm in Prince George's County on June 21, 1956 to Melvin C. and Geraldine H. Rardia. (Book 2003, pg. 564, Land Records of Prince George's County) Virginia continued her employment with Charles of the Ritz. Adina, now a graduate of Gwynn Park High School, was employed by the USAF at Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, Maryland. They both commuted daily from Calvert County to their places of employment.

Robert farmed in Calvert County, raising hogs, cattle, small grains and tobacco. Over the course of the next twenty-seven years, Robert and Virginia sold smaller parcels off the farm. In 1974, Robert and Virginia built a small retirement home designed for them by Calvert Masonry Contractors. Robert died on December 22, 1983. He was buried beside his daughter Adina in Trinity Memorial Gardens. At the time of Robert's death, the farm consisted of 28.694 acres. In 1998, Virginia deeded the remainder of the farm, then less than six acres, to her grandson, Franklin A. Robinson, Jr. who sold all but a one-acre lot in April 1999.

Virginia continued to live on the farm in Calvert County, maintaining a small herd of cattle. In the fall of 1989 Franklin, Jr. went to live with her. In 1993, the onset of Alzheimer's Disease required her to move to Serenity Farm and take up residence with her granddaughter A. Theresa. Virginia participated in various studies on Alzheimer's Disease conducted by the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland beginning in 1992. She was profiled in the September 1997 issue of Washingtonian Magazine. In October of 1998 she moved to All American Senior Care in Brandywine, Maryland and in 1999 she moved to Morningside, an elderly care facility in Waldorf, Maryland. In 2002, she moved to St. Mary's Nursing Center in Leonardtown, Maryland. The remainder of the farm was sold in 1999 and 2002. She died January 14, 2010 and was buried at Trinity Memorial Gardens in Waldorf.

Adina Mae Via was born April 12, 1937 at the Homeopathic Hospital in Washington, D.C.. Adina grew up in Washington, D.C. attending public schools. She moved with her family to the Burch's Creek farm, Prince George's County, in 1949. She enrolled in the Prince George's County school system, and graduated from Gwynn Park High School in June of 1955. After graduation, she was employed by the USAF at Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs.

In July of 1956, she moved with her family to the Via farm in Island Creek, Calvert County. On July 27, 1958 she married Franklin A. Robinson at the Chapel of the Incarnation. They had three children: Franklin Alexander (1959), Robert David (1962) and Adina Theresa (1963). In the fall of 1958, she and Franklin took up residence in the home they had built on Ferndale Farm. She resigned from her position with the USAF in 1959.

On December 14, 1966, at Providence Hospital in Washington, DC, Adina died from complications due to Hodgkin's Disease. She had been battling this disease for many years prior to her death. She was buried in Trinity Memorial Gardens, Charles County.

Related Materials:

Materials at Other Organizations

The Maryland Center for History and Culture holds items (costume, farming related implements) related to the Robinson and Via families.

The Maryland State Archives (MSA) Special Collections holds the Robinson and Conner Family Papers, MSA SC 6402.

Separated Materials:

Materials at the National Museum of American History

The Division of Work and Industry (Agriculture Collection) holds agricultural implements and artifacts associated with both the Robinson farms and the Via farm; the Division of Home and Community Life holds clothing, textiles (crib quilt), jewelry, cosmetics and Adina M. Robinson's sewing box and dress patterns; (Costume and Textiles Collection). See accession numbers: 1989.0688, 1990.0394, 1991.0010; 1991.0722, 1992.0184, 1992.0283, 1992.0321, 1992.0474, 1992.3106, 1994.0064, 1994.0304, 1997.0327, 1998.0038, 1998.0129, 2001.0196, 2002.0087, 2003.0015, 2005.0009.

Division of Armed Forces History (now Division of Olitical and Military History, National Numismatics Collection) holds the Robert M. Via Trolley Token Collection.

Provenance:

The collection was donated to the National Museum of American History, Archives Center, by Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., in November 1993.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research but negatives and audiovisuial materials are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Some papers of living persons are restricted. Access to restricted portions may be arranged by request to the donor. Gloves required for unprotected photographs. Viewing film portions of the collection and listening to LP recording requires special appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

Rights:

The Archives Center does not own exclusive rights to these materials. Copyright for all materials is retained by the donor, Franklin A. Robinson, Jr.; permission for commercial use and/or publication may be requested from the donor through the Archives Center. Military Records for Franklin A. Robinson (b. 1932) and correspondence from Richard I. Damalouji (1961-2014) are restricted; written permission is needed to research these files. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:

Farms -- Maryland  Search this

Holidays  Search this

Amusement parks -- California  Search this

Children's parties  Search this

Rural women  Search this

Sheep ranches  Search this

Parks -- California  Search this

Rural families  Search this

Tobacco -- Harvesting  Search this

Tobacco -- Storage  Search this

Street-railroads  Search this

Street-railroads -- Employees  Search this

Travel  Search this

Urban transportation  Search this

Work and family  Search this

Tobacco curing  Search this

Women in agriculture  Search this

Farm equipment  Search this

Farm buildings  Search this

Family recreation  Search this

Family festivals  Search this

Farm ownership  Search this

Farm life -- 20th century  Search this

Farm management  Search this

Illiterate persons  Search this

Christmas  Search this

Soldiers  Search this

Students  Search this

Family -- 20th century  Search this

Family farms  Search this

Easter  Search this

Electric railroads  Search this

Acting -- 1980-2000  Search this

Amateur films  Search this

Agricultural machinery  Search this

Agriculture -- 20th century -- Maryland  Search this

Tobacco farmers  Search this

Housewives -- United States  Search this

Weddings  Search this

Farmers  Search this

Dairy farms  Search this

Genre/Form:

Motion pictures (visual works)

Correspondence -- 1930-1950

Photographs -- 20th century

Postcards

Baby books

Phonograph records

Postcard albums

Ephemera

School yearbooks

Diaries

Albums

Housebooks

Photographs -- 19th century

Snapshots

Home movies

Family papers

Scrapbooks

Funeral registers

Architectural drawings

Citation:

The Robinson and Via Family Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Sponsor:

Preservation of the 8mm films in this collection was made possible, in part, by a grant from the National Film Preservation Fund.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0475

See more items in:

Robinson and Via Family Papers

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep86b1972cf-a789-45ec-8f3e-fb780d43456d

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0475

Creator:

Frank Perls Gallery  Search this

Names:

Curt Valentin Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

M. Knoedler & Co.  Search this

Amato, Sam, 1924-  Search this

Brice, William, 1921-  Search this

Chuey, Robert  Search this

Lebrun, Rico, 1900-1964  Search this

Lipchitz, Jacques, 1891-1973  Search this

Matisse, Henri, 1869-1954  Search this

McGarrell, James, 1930-  Search this

Peake, Channing, 1910-  Search this

Perls, Frank, 1910-1975  Search this

Perls, Klaus  Search this

Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973  Search this

Ray, Man, 1890-1976  Search this

Strombotne, James  Search this

Warsaw, Howard  Search this

Extent:

23.8 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Short stories

Scrapbooks

Photographs

Sales records

Gallery records

Date:

circa 1920-1983

bulk 1949-1975

Summary:

The Frank Perls papers and Frank Perls Gallery records measure 23.8 linear feet and date from 1920-1983, with the bulk dating from 1949-1975. Personal papers include writings, military records, appointment calendars, and photographs. Gallery records date from its opening in 1939 until its closure in 1981 and consist of financial, sales, and legal records; exhibition files; exhibition catalogs and announcements; subject files that contain a variety of correspondence with artists, dealers, galleries, museums, and friends and family, as well as reference materials and photographs; and scrapbooks.

Scope and Content Note:

The Frank Perls papers and Frank Perls Gallery records measure 23.8 linear feet and date from 1920-1983, with the bulk dating from 1949-1975. Personal papers include writings, military records, appointment calendars, and photographs. Gallery records date from its opening in 1939 until its closure in 1981 and consist of financial, sales, and legal records; exhibition files; exhibition catalogs and announcements; subject files that contain a variety of correspondence with artists, dealers, galleries, museums, and friends and family, as well as reference materials and photographs; and scrapbooks.

Personal papers contain biographical materials, including military records from Perls' service in the army during World War II, personal photographs, documentation on his estate settlement, and numerous short stories. Of particular interest are Perl's stories about his interactions with Pablo Picasso and his work to uncover fraud, fakes, and corruption in the art world. There are also many photographs of Picasso, photographs of family, the war, and Perls, including two original photographs of Perls by Man Ray.

Gallery sales, purchases, consignments, insurance appraisals, loans, provenance research, and general business expenses are well documented in the General Business and Financial Records. Perls jointly owned artwork with several galleries in New York, including the Curt Valentine Gallery and M. Knoedler Gallery, and these consignment and joint sales are documented in the invoices. A complete accounting of the Gallery's income and expense reports from 1950-1971 is also be found in this series. Artists extensively documented through financial transactions are William Brice, James Strombotne, and Howard Warsaw.

Extensive exhibition files document the gallery's exhibitions and Perl's curatorial work. Files contain varied documentation, such as photographs, catalogs, announcements, and publicity for Frank Perls Gallery shows from 1939 through 1971. Artists represented in this series include Sam Amato, Robert Chuey, Jaques Lipchitz, Pablo Picasso, James McGarrell, and James Strombotne. Files are also found for the two major retrospective exhibitions Perls organized and curated, Matisse Retrospective at University of California, Los Angeles and Sixty Years of Picasso Prints at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, both in 1966. Additional information about these exhibitions is also found in the Subject Files.

Subject Files are extensive and varied in name, content, and topic. They consist mostly of correspondence with friends, family, colleagues, artists, critics, galleries and dealers, clients, arts organizations and associations, publications, and others. There are also reference files and exhibition files for exhibitions held at other galleries and museums in which Perls was interested, guest curated, or loaned artwork. The contents of each file unit varies, but many include correspondence, photographs, appraisal records, sales records, invoices, reports, and membership records. The files highlight his close personal relationship with many artists, including William Brice, Rico Lebrun, James McGarrell, Channing Peake, Pablo Picasso, and James Strombotne. Subject Files also contain abundant correspondence with colleagues and family members, including his brother Klaus, who owned and operated the Perls Gallery in New York. Many of the files concern Perl's work with art documentation and authentication. Subject Files have been arranged according to Frank Perls original order.

Finally, scrapbooks contain newspaper articles, catalogs, and announcements about exhibitions at the Perls Gallery in New York during the late 1930s and the Frank Perls Gallery in Los Angeles during the 1950s.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into 5 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Frank Perls papers, circa 1920-1981 (Box 1-2, 28; 1.1 linear feet)

Series 2: General Financial and Business Records, 1949-1975 (Box 2-4, 23-27; 3.4 linear feet)

Series 3: Exhibition Files, 1937-1975 (Box 5-6; 1.5 linear feet)

Series 4: Subject Files, circa 1939-1983 (Box 6-22; 16.5 linear feet)

Series 5. Scrapbooks, 1937-1957 (Box 28; 0.3 linear feet)

Historical Note:

Frank Perls (1910-1975) was founder and sole owner of the Frank Perls Gallery in Beverly Hills, California.

Frank Perls was born in Germany on October 23, 1910. His parents, Hugo and Kaethe Perls, owned one of the leading art galleries in Berlin, and sold the work of many well-known artists. Artists works included in the gallery inventory were pieces by Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Cézanne, among others. His parents enjoyed a close friendship with Picasso, a relationship Perls maintained until Picasso's death in 1973. After his parents divorce in 1931, his mother left Germany and eventually opened the Galerie Kaethe in Paris.Frank Perls studied art history at the Universities of Munich, Berlin, and Frankfurt and joined his mother at the Galerie Kaethe in 1932.

Frank Perls immigrated to the United States in 1937 and partnered with his brother, Klaus Perls, to open the Perls Galleries in New York. Two years later he moved to California and opened the Frank Perls Gallery on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. During those first years, the Gallery hosted exhibitions by Man Ray, Eugene Berman, and John Decker.

Perls closed his gallery in 1942 when he enlisted in the United States Army. Because he was fluent in both French and German, Perls served as an interpreter at the Military Intelligence Service, European Theater of Operations. He landed in Normandy with the 30th Infantry Division and was awarded the Bronze Star in 1944. In 1945, Perls was assigned to the Arts and Monuments Section of Allied Military Government in Germany. He was honorably discharged in September, 1945.

After the war, Perls returned to Los Angeles and managed the recently opened Associated American Artists Gallery in Beverly Hills. The gallery was organized in 1934 and marketed art to the middle classes with the opportunity to purchase prints at affordable prices. Perls made significant contacts during his tenure at the gallery and eventually opened his own Beverly Hills gallery in 1950.

The Frank Perls Gallery on Camden Drive was closely associated with the Pierre Matisse Gallery and the Curt Valentin Gallery in New York, both major sources of exhibition materials for the early years. Perls introduced southern California to artists he believed represented the best modern art of America and Europe - Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Alexander Calder, Pablo Picasso, Ben Shahn, Georgia O'Keeffe, Marc Chagall, Paul Klee, and Jean Dubuffet. Between 1950 to 1954, Frank Perls Gallery organized the first West coast exhibitions of Joan Miro, Marino Marini, and Alberto Giacometti. Perls also gave exhibitions to newly emerging artists of Southern California artists, including William Brice, Robert Chuey, Rico Lebrun, James McGarrell, Channing Peake, and Howard Warsaw.

Perls moved his gallery to Wilshire Boulevard in 1965 and stopped representing California artists at that time to focus primarily on major exhibitions of Henri Matisse and Picasso. In 1966, he helped organize an extensive traveling Henri Matisse exhibition at UCLA called Matisse Retrospective. Perls worked with Matisse's children, Pierre, Jean, and Marguerite Duthuit, to identify 345 prints and sculptures and attach family inventory numbers to them.

Frank Perls also organized several large Picasso exhibitions, including the Bonne Fete Monsieur Picasso exhibit at UCLA in 1961 and the 45 Selected Picasso Graphics exhibition at Frank Perls Gallery in 1971. For his work in preparing these major exhibitions in California of Matisse and Picasso, Perls was made a life fellow of the Los Angeles County Museum.

Perls was a member of the Art Dealers of America, serving for several years on the Board of Directors and as director. He was also dedicated to exposing art fakes and forgeries, earning a reputation for discovering, exposing, and pursuing disreputable art appraisers and dealers. Perls wrote extensively about modern art and artists, as well as his experiences in short stories that often appeared in print.

Frank Perls died on February 8, 1975 from complications following open-heart surgery. The Gallery remained open until 1981 while his executor and family distributed the gallery inventory.

Provenance:

The Frank Perls papers and Frank Perls Gallery records were donated by Joan Hazlitt, one of the executors of the Perls' estate, from 1976-1988.

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.

Occupation:

Gallery owners -- California  Search this

Topic:

Art -- Economic aspects  Search this

Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- Beverly Hills  Search this

World War, 1939-1945  Search this

Curators -- California  Search this

Art -- Forgeries  Search this

Function:

Art galleries, Commercial -- California

Genre/Form:

Short stories

Scrapbooks

Photographs

Sales records

Gallery records

Citation:

Frank Perls papers and Frank Perls Gallery records, circa 1920-1983, bulk 1949-1975. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Getty Foundation.

Identifier:

AAA.perlfran

See more items in:

Frank Perls papers and Frank Perls Gallery records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9163380a7-6151-44d0-b553-a17e8aae42a0

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-perlfran

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

Creator:

Sims, Lowery Stokes  Search this

Names:

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Studio Museum in Harlem  Search this

Catlett, Elizabeth, 1915-2012  Search this

Colescott, Robert, 1925-2009  Search this

Lam, Wifredo  Search this

Pousette-Dart, Richard, 1916-1992  Search this

Extent:

34 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sound recordings

Interviews

Video recordings

Date:

1967-2019

Summary:

The papers of African American art historian, curator and arts administrator, Lowery Stokes Sims, measure 34.0 linear feet and date from 1967 to 2019. The collection documents Sims's career, and her work towards the inclusion of women artists and artists of color into the mainstream art world. The collection comprises biographical materials, datebooks, correspondence, writings, notebooks, exhibition files, professional files that include Sims's files from the Studio Museum in Harlem, Metropolitan Museum of Art records, research files, files on Robert Colescott, printed materials, photographic materials, and unidentified audiovisual and born-digital materials.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of African American art historian, curator and art administrator, Lowery Stokes Sims, measure 34.0 linear feet and date from 1967 to 2019. The collection documents Sims's career, and her work towards the inclusion of women artists and artists of color into the mainstream art world. The collection comprises biographical materials, datebooks, correspondence, writings, notebooks, exhibition files, professional files that include Sims's files from the Studio Museum in Harlem, Metropolitan Museum of Art records, research files, files on Robert Colescott, printed materials, photographic materials, and unidentified audiovisual and born-digital materials.

Biographical materials contain address books, awards, interviews with Sims, and resumes. Fifty datebooks highlight Sims's daily activities for over four decades. Personal and professional correspondence is with Audrey Flack, Za, Betye Saar, Hale Woodruff, Susan Schwalb, Margo Machida, William McKnight, and others.

Writings include drafts and typescripts on Alma Thomas, Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden, Wifredo Lam, African American and women artists; a transcript of a conversation between Sims and Maren Hassinger; and born digital material of presentations. Also in the collection are 60 notebooks containing personal and professional notes and journal entries.

Exhibition files consist of correspondence, budget records, writings about the exhibition and for the catalog, clippings, exhibition announcements, loan forms, artist biographies, and artwork lists for Living Space: An Exhibition on Low Income Housing (1977), Art as a Verb (1988), Next Generation: Southern Black Aesthetic (1990), and Richard Pousette-Dart, 1916-1992 (1997).

Professional files document Sims's memberships, conferences, projects, and teaching activities, as well as her work at the Studio Museum of Harlem. The Metropolitan Museum of Art records consist of research on the museum's collection of works by African American artists, program and staff files, and snapshots of Sims with colleagues on a trip to Patagonia.

Research files contain printed materials, notes, 32 audiovisual recordings and nine born digital discs, and biographical material on artists Frederick Brown, Elizabeth Catlett, Stuart Davis, Maren Hassinger, Edgar Heap of Birds, Al Loving, Faith Ringgold, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Kara Walker, and others. The files on Robert Colescott include a book proposal, artwork lists, exhibition files, four sound recordings of an interview between Colescott and Sims, and research material on related topics.

Printed materials consist of clippings featuring Sims, posters, event programs, a few newsletters and magazines, exhibition catalogs that include essays written by Sims, and three documentary recordings. Photographic materials include prints, negatives, transparencies, photograph albums, and slides of Sims, colleagues and friends, exhibitions and professional events, Russ Thompson and Benny Andrews, Beverly Buchanan, Rick Powel, Vaclav Havel, Jeff Donaldson, Samella Lewis, and others.

The final series consists of nine sound recordings and one born digital disc (CD) that could not be placed into a series as the material is either unlabeled or the labels are illegible.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 13 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1980-circa 2005 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Datebooks, 1975-2017 (4.0 linear feet; Boxes 1-5)

Series 3: Correspondence, 1971-2018 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 5-6)

Series 4: Writings, circa 1970s-2018 (2.6 linear feet; Boxes 6-8, OV 33)

Series 5: Notebooks, 1975-2016 (2.6 linear feet; Boxes 39-42)

Series 6: Exhibition Files, 1967-2017 (1.6 linear feet; Boxes 9-10, OV 36)

Series 7: Professional Files, 1969-2018 (6.3 linear feet; Boxes 10-16, OV 34)

Series 8: Metropolitan Museum of Art Records, 1972-2008 (6.0 linear feet; Boxes 16-22, OV 38)

Series 9: Research Files, circa 1970-2017 (6.0 linear feet; Boxes 22-28, OV 35)

Series 10: Files on Robert Colescott, 1971-2019 (1.6 linear feet; Boxes 28-30)

Series 11: Printed Materials, 1970s-2017 (1.8 linear feet; Box 30, OV 37)

Series 12: Photographic Materials, 1970s-2018 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 31-32)

Series 13: Unidentified Audio and Born Digital Material, circa 1985-2009 (1 folder; Box 32)

Biographical / Historical:

Lowery Stokes Sims (1949-) is an African American art historian, curator, and arts administrator. Sims began her career at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1972 where she became the museum's first African American curator. She left the Met in 1999 for the Studio Museum in Harlem where she served as Executive Director, President, and then Adjunct Curator of the Permanent Collection from 2000 to 2007. From 2007 to 2015, she was curator for the Museum of Art and Design.

Sims was born in Washington D.C. but moved to New York when she was 2 years old. She graduated from Bishop Reilly High School in Queens, N.Y. in 1966. She went on to receive a bachelor of arts degree in art history from Queens College in 1970 and a master of arts degree in art history from Johns Hopkins University in 1972. In 1995, Sims completed her dissertation, published as Wifredo Lam and the International Avant-Garde, 1923-1982 in 2002, to receive her doctoral degree from The Graduate Center, City University of New York.

Sims is a member of the College Art Association, the International Committee of Art Critics, Art Matters Foundation, and has served on the boards of Just Above Midtown (JAM) Gallery, Caribbean Cultural Center, National State Council on the Arts, and the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, among others. She was awarded the Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art Criticism in 1991, a Leadership by Example Award from the New York coalition of 100 Black women in 1997, and a Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award from the Queens Museum of Art in 1998. Sims has also lectured at Queens College, the Institute of Fine Art at New York University, the Studio Museum in Harlem, Rutgers University, and Bard College.

Related Materials:

Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview of Lowery Stokes Sims conducted on July 15 and 22, 2010 by Judith Olch Richards, for the Archives of American Art's Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts project, at Sims' home, in New York, N.Y.

Provenance:

The collection was donated in 2019 by Lowery Stokes Sims as part of the Archives' African American Collecting Initiative funded by the Henry Luce Foundation.

Restrictions:

Notebooks in Series 5 are access restricted; written permission is required. Contact Reference Services for more information. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.

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 -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Arts administrators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Art museum curators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

African American artists  Search this

African American art  Search this

African American art museum curators  Search this

Women art historians  Search this

Women museum curators  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Video recordings

Citation:

Lowery Stokes Sims papers, 1967-2019. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.simslowe

See more items in:

Lowery Stokes Sims papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9a66e8319-d9c1-4f8d-b005-08f8bc7cf659

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-simslowe

Creator:

Hammersley, Frederick, 1919-2009  Search this

Subject:

McLaughlin, John  Search this

Stone, Susie  Search this

Benjamin, Karl  Search this

L.A. Louver Gallery  Search this

Pomona College (Claremont, Calif.)  Search this

Type:

Diaries

Drawings

Scrapbooks

Interviews

Sketchbooks

Sound recordings

Video recordings

Citation:

Frederick Hammersley papers, circa 1860-2009, bulk 1940-2009. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Computer Art  Search this

Theme:

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)7270

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)209421

AAA_collcode_hammfred

Theme:

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_209421

Creator:

Feitelson, Lorser, 1898-1978  Search this

Subject:

Seldis, Henry  Search this

Rattner, Abraham  Search this

Moran, Diane De Gasis  Search this

McLaughlin, John  Search this

McCoy, Esther  Search this

Lundeberg, Helen  Search this

Langsner, Jules  Search this

Longstreet, Stephen  Search this

Hammersley, Frederick  Search this

Kadish, Reuben  Search this

Butterfield, Jan  Search this

Benjamin, Karl  Search this

Sheets, Millard  Search this

Miller, Dorothy Canning  Search this

Federal Art Project (Calif.)  Search this

Type:

Sketches

Poetry

Writings

Drawings

Sound recordings

Photographs

Citation:

Lorser Feitelson and Helen Lundeberg papers, circa 1890s-2002. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

Theme:

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)7341

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)209494

AAA_collcode_feitlors

Theme:

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_209494

Creator:

Kuniyoshi, Yasuo, 1889-1953  Search this

Type:

Scrapbooks

Photographs

Citation:

Yasuo Kuniyoshi papers, 1906-2016, bulk 1920-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Art, Modern -- 20th century  Search this

Asian American art  Search this

Asian American artists  Search this

Political clubs  Search this

World War, 1939-1945 -- Japanese Americans  Search this

Japanese American art  Search this

Japanese American artists  Search this

Asian American painters  Search this

Asian American printmakers  Search this

Asian American photographers  Search this

Theme:

Asian American  Search this

Sketches & Sketchbooks  Search this

Photography  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)9175

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211370

AAA_collcode_kuniyasu

Theme:

Asian American

Sketches & Sketchbooks

Photography

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211370

Creator:

Wood, Beatrice, 1893-1998  Search this

Subject:

Arensberg, Walter  Search this

Arensberg, Louise S. (Louise Stevenson)  Search this

Duchamp, Marcel  Search this

Hoag, Stephen Asa  Search this

John Waller, Fine Ceramics (Firm : Los Angeles, Calif.)  Search this

Zachary Waller Gallery (Los Angeles, Calif.)  Search this

Garth Clark Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Type:

Interviews

Diaries

Drawings

Sketchbooks

Drawings

Citation:

Beatrice Wood papers, 1894-1998, bulk 1930-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Women artists  Search this

Women ceramicists  Search this

Scrapbooks  Search this

Women painters  Search this

Women authors  Search this

Theme:

Diaries  Search this

Women  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)9363

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211559

AAA_collcode_woodbeat

Theme:

Diaries

Women

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211559

Creator:

Rosamund Felsen Gallery  Search this

Subject:

Acerol, Ali  Search this

Ackerman, Robert E.  Search this

Beach, Alicia  Search this

Bengston, Billy Al  Search this

Boskovich, John  Search this

Cranston, Meg  Search this

Dowell, Roy  Search this

Gambrill, Jeff  Search this

Kabakov, Il?ia? ?Iosifovich  Search this

Kidon, Heidi  Search this

Jackson, Richard  Search this

Lodato, Peter  Search this

McCarthy, Paul  Search this

Oshiro, Kaz  Search this

Pittman, Lari  Search this

Rauschenberg, Robert  Search this

Rothenberg, Erika  Search this

Ruppersberg, Allen  Search this

Shaw, Jim  Search this

Smith, Alexis  Search this

Sonnier, Keith  Search this

Syrop, Mitchell  Search this

Vallance, Jeffrey  Search this

Weber, Marnie  Search this

Kelley, Mike  Search this

Burden, Chris  Search this

Jiménez, Cisco  Search this

Felsen, Rosamund  Search this

Type:

Scrapbooks

Citation:

Rosamund Felsen Gallery records, 1949-2014, bulk 1978-2014. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Women art dealers  Search this

Theme:

Art Market  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)16203

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)368159

AAA_collcode_rosafelg

Theme:

Art Market

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_368159

Creator:

Rosamund Felsen Gallery  Search this

Names:

Acerol, Ali  Search this

Ackerman, Robert E.  Search this

Beach, Alicia  Search this

Bengston, Billy Al  Search this

Boskovich, John  Search this

Burden, Chris, 1946-  Search this

Cranston, Meg  Search this

Dowell, Roy  Search this

Felsen, Rosamund, 1934-  Search this

Gambrill, Jeff  Search this

Jackson, Richard  Search this

Jiménez, Cisco, 1969-  Search this

Kabakov, Ilʹia︠ ︡Iosifovich, 1933-  Search this

Kelley, Mike, 1954-2012  Search this

Kidon, Heidi  Search this

Lodato, Peter  Search this

McCarthy, Paul  Search this

Oshiro, Kaz, 1967-  Search this

Pittman, Lari, 1952-  Search this

Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008  Search this

Rothenberg, Erika  Search this

Ruppersberg, Allen, 1944-  Search this

Shaw, Jim, 1952-  Search this

Smith, Alexis, 1949-  Search this

Sonnier, Keith, 1941-2020  Search this

Syrop, Mitchell, 1953-  Search this

Vallance, Jeffrey  Search this

Weber, Marnie  Search this

Extent:

28.9 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Scrapbooks

Date:

1949-2014

bulk 1978-2014

Summary:

The Rosamund Felsen Gallery records measure 28.9 linear feet and date from 1949 to 2014, with the bulk of the records dating from 1978 to 2014. The records shed light on the gallery's operations primarily through administrative records, artist files, exhibition and event files, financial records, born digital material, photographs, and slides.

Scope and Contents:

The Rosamund Felsen Gallery records measure 28.9 linear feet and date from 1949 to 2014, with the bulk of the records dating from 1978 to 2014. The records shed light on the gallery's operations primarily through administrative records, artist files, exhibition and event files, financial records, born digital material, photographs, and slides.

Administrative records consist of advertising files, property records, a gallery notebook, gallery digital files, and more. Also included in this series are several folders comprised of Rosamund Felsen's personal and professional papers and photographs. Artist files consist of resumes, slides and photographs of artists and their work, printed mnaterial, some sales and consignment records, and correspondence. Artists represented in the collection include Richard Jackson, Kaz Oshiro, Tim Ebner, John Boskovich, Jeff Gambill, Jeffrey Vallance, Mitchell Syrop, Mac James, Marnie Weber, Keith Sklar, Leland Rice, Erika Rothenberg, Peter Lodato, Paul McCarthy, Jim Shaw, Al Ruppersberg, Ilya Kabakov, Lari Pittman, Cisco Jiménez, Chris Burden, Mike Kelley, and Heidi Kidon.

Exhibition and event files relate to Rosamund Felsen Gallery exhibitions and performances as well as a number of art fairs and exhibitions held at other galleries and museum spaces. The files contain consignment and sales records, check lists, born digital material, photographs and slides, installation directions, printed material, and more. Financial records contain primarily sales records, invoices, some correspondence, and receipts.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as four series.

Series 1: Administrative Records, 1968-2013 (2 linear feet; Box 1-2, OV 30-33)

Series 2: Artist Files, 1949-2013, bulk 1978-2006 (19.7 linear feet; Box 22-25, OV 34)

Series 3: Exhibition and Event Files, 1979-2014 (3.7 linear feet; Box 22-25, OV 34-36)

Series 4: Financial Records, 1978-2014 (3.5 linear feet; Box 25-29)

Biographical / Historical:

The Rosamund Felsen Gallery was established in 1978 in Los Angeles, California by Rosamund Felsen. The gallery closed its physical location in 2016 after nearly four decades as a widely influential contemporary art gallery.

In 1960, Rosamund Felsen began her art career working as an assistant registrar for the Pasadena Art Museum, and eventually became curator of prints. Felsen also worked at Gemini GEL: Graphics Editions Limited alongside her second husband, Gemini co-founder Sidney Felsen. From these positions, Felsen became friendly with both established and younger artists, learned to mount exhibitions, and participated in art-related operations. In 1977, Timothea Stewart asked Felsen if she would like to work at her new gallery. After two exhibitions, Felsen took over the Timothea Stewart Gallery and started her own.

Rosamund Felsen gallery exhibited artists working in various mediums, including video and sound, and frequently showed live performance art. Early artists exhibited at the gallery included Richard Jackson, Keith Sonnier, Maria Nordman, Chris Burden, and William Wegman. Felsen gallery opened Robert Rauschenberg's In + Out City Limits: Los Angeles (1981) on New Year's Eve; and added artists Jeffrey Vallance, Mike Kelley, Lari Pittman, and Erika Rothenberg to its roster by the end of the 1980s. Felsen brought on a list of new artists in the 1990s, including Paul McCarthy, Renee Petropoulos, Tim Ebner, Meg Cranston, Steven Hull, and Nancy Jackson. The gallery continued to show solo and group exhibitions of its artists, and featured a run of smaller artist-curated exhibitions of local and international artists. The Project Wall exhibitions included artist/curators Andrea Bowers and Steven Hull and showed European artists Erwin Wurm and Nils Norman. By 2004, Felsen's artists were all living in Los Angeles except for two, video artists Judith Barry and Joan Jonas.

In 1990, the gallery moved from Los Angeles to West Hollywood on Santa Monica Boulevard. Four years later, Felsen Gallery moved to a location in the Bergamot Station Arts Center, where it remained until 2015. After Bergamot, the gallery moved to the Arts District in Los Angeles. Rosamund Felsen Gallery closed its physical location in 2016, but continued representing a number of artists online.

Related Materials:

Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Rosamund Felsen conducted by Anne Ayres, October 11, 2004.

Provenance:

The collection was donated in several installments from 2014 to 2016 by the Rosamund Felsen Gallery via Rosamund Felsen, gallery founder and owner. Rosamund Felsen Letters and Postcards were donated in 2016 by Rosamund Felsen.

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 or audiovisual recordings 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.

Topic:

Women art dealers  Search this

Function:

Art galleries, Commercial -- California

Genre/Form:

Scrapbooks

Citation:

Rosamund Felsen Gallery records, 1949-2014. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.

Identifier:

AAA.rosafelg

See more items in:

Rosamund Felsen Gallery records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw92ff1b56f-55a6-4621-b016-276e1c4783a7

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-rosafelg

Creator:

Kootz Gallery  Search this

Names:

Baziotes, William, 1912-1963 -- Photographs  Search this

Braque, Georges, 1882-1963  Search this

Hare, David, 1917-1992  Search this

Hofmann, Hans, 1880-1966 -- Photographs  Search this

Kootz, Samuel M., 1898-1982  Search this

Marca-Relli, Conrad, 1913-2000 -- Photographs  Search this

Mathieu, Georges, 1921- -- Photographs  Search this

Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973 -- Photographs  Search this

Pierre Soulages, 1919- -- Photographs  Search this

Ronald, William, 1926- -- Photographs  Search this

Sugai, Kumi, 1919 -- Photographs  Search this

Extent:

7.1 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Scrapbooks

Photographs

Signatures (names)

Notes

Date:

1923-1966

Summary:

The records of modernist New York City Kootz Gallery measure 7.1 linear feet and date from 1923-1966. They consist of scattered correspondence and exhibition files; photograph files of artists, including ones for Picasso, William Baziotes, and Hans Hofmann, among many others; 23 scrapbooks; photographs and slides of the gallery and exhibitions; and scattered personal papers of Samuel M. Kootz.

Scope and Contents note:

The records of modernist New York City Kootz Gallery measure 7.1 linear feet and date from 1923-1966. They consist of scattered correspondence and exhibition files; photograph files of artists, including ones for Picasso, William Baziotes, and Hans Hofmann, among many others; 23 scrapbooks, photographs and slides of the gallery and exhibitions; and scattered personal papers of Samuel M. Kootz.

There are two folders of scattered routine incoming letters. Three folders of exhibition files contain limited documentation of the 1952 Kootz Gallery exhibition "To South America," and printed material related to the 1951 exhibition "Art for a Synagogue" held at the Synagogue of Congregation B'nai Israel in Millburn, New Jersey.

Artists' Photograph Files contain mostly photographs of 52 artists, their artwork, and their exhibitions. In addition to photographs, there is one folder of artists' autographs. Pablo Picasso and Hans Hofmann's close friendship with Kootz is reflected in this series, as numerous informal personal photos are found in their respective files. A few folders also contain documents, such as transcript notes for a lecture and other writings by Hans Hofmann and a brief review of the work of Georges Braque and David Hare.

Printed Material consists of exhibition announcements and catalogs, advertisements, and newspaper and magazine clippings on the gallery and artists associated with the gallery. There are catalogs for Kootz Gallery exhibitions, including "The Intrasubjectives" show of 1949.

Twenty-three scrapbooks date from 1931 through 1966 and include exhibition announcements, catalogs, photographs, clippings, and miscellaneous printed material. Scrapbook 1, 1947-1948, focuses on Pablo Picasso. Scrapbooks 2-21 document approximately one year of Kootz Gallery events and press coverage from 1945 to 1966, and Scrapbooks 22-23, 1950-1958, focus on architectural models and exhibitions.

Photographic material includes photographs, transparencies, and slides of Kootz Gallery New York and Kootz Gallery Provincetown; interior design photographs showcasing Kootz Gallery artwork hanging in office and residential spaces; group and unidentified exhibitions; group and unidentified artists/artwork; and informal photographs of Samuel Kootz and of his wife, Jane.

Samuel Kootz Personal Papers consist of a cocktail party invitation and a copy of the 1923 Phi Epsilon Pi Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 1.

Arrangement note:

The collection is arranged as 7 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Correspondence, 1950-1962 (Box 1; 2 folders)

Series 2: Exhibition Files, circa 1944-1966 (Box 1; 3 folders)

Series 3: Artists Photographs Files, 1936-1966 (Boxes 1-2, 5; 1.5 linear feet)

Series 4: Printed Material, circa 1944-1966 (Boxes 2, 5; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 5: Scrapbooks, 1931-1966 (Box 3, BV 6-23; 4 linear feet)

Series 6: Photographic Material, circa 1944-1966 (Boxes 4-5; 11 folders)

Series 7: Samuel Kootz Personal Papers, circa 1923-1957 (Box 4; 2 folders)

Biographical/Historical note:

Samuel M. Kootz officially opened the Kootz Gallery in 1945 in New York City. In 1953, he opened a satellite gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts that closed one year later.

Samuel M. Kootz (1898-1982) received his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1921 and practiced law briefly before moving to New York City to accept a job as an advertising account executive. While still in law school, he began visiting New York art galleries and was particularly drawn to works by modern artists that were showing at the Stieglitz Gallery and the Charles Daniel Gallery. In 1930, he independently published his first book, Modern American Painters and began to regularly contribute articles on painting and photography to various periodicals, including The Times. In 1942, he curated an abstract expressionist showcase for Macy's and published New Frontiers in American Painting one year later. Kootz's second book was one of the first to examine the emerging abstract expressionist movement and marked the beginning of his full transition into the art world.

In 1944, Kootz resigned from his advertising job to represent Robert Motherwell and William Baziotes as a professional art dealer. He officially opened the Kootz Gallery opened in 1945 and showcased the work of both American and European abstract expressionists, including Hans Hofmann and Adolph Gottlieb. In 1946, during the Kootz Gallery's preparation for Pablo Picasso's first one man exhibition in America, Picasso became quite friendly with Kootz and his wife Jane. Upon the artist's suggestion, Kootz agreed to close his gallery and represent Picasso and his other artists as a private dealer. Although this was a successful venture, Kootz missed the structure of an office and decided to reopen his gallery on Madison Avenue in 1949. The gallery's first show at the new location was "The Intrasubjectives," a term Kootz had coined for abstract expressionists. The exhibition included four artists from his stable, William Baziotes, Robert Motherwell, Adolph Gottlieb, and Hans Hofmann, along with Jackson Pollock, Arshile Gorky, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Ad Reinhardt, Morris Graves, Mark Tobey, and Bradley Walker Tomlin.

In 1953, Kootz opened a satellite gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts that was managed and operated by gallerist Nathan Halper. In 1954, they mutually agreed to dissolve their partnership and Kootz focused his energies on his New York gallery, which grew to include Herbert Ferber, David Hare, Philippe Hosiasson, Ibram Lassaw, Conrad Marca-Relli, Georges Mathieu, Raymond Parker, William Ronald, Gerard Schneider, Emil Schumacher, and Pierre Soulages.

A number of factors, including competition from new galleries, commoditization of art by investment collectors, and the public's interest in emerging pop art, influenced Kootz's decision to close his gallery in 1966.

Related Archival Materials note:

Also found among the holdings of the Archives of American Art are oral history interviews with Samuel M. Kootz by John Morse on March 2, 1960 and by Dorothy Seckler on April 13, 1964. Records of Kootz Gallery are also interspersed among the records of Nathan Halper's galleries.

Separated Materials note:

Records loaned for microfilming in 1965 included eight articles from the publication Modern Artists in America (1951) which were not included in the later donation and are now available on microfilm reel NY65-1.

Provenance:

Samuel M. Kootz donated the gallery records in two increments in 1971. Nearly all of the same records had been loaned in 1965 for microfilming.

Restrictions:

This collection is temporarily closed to researchers due to archival processing and digitization. Contact Reference 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.

Topic:

Artists -- United States -- Exhibitions  Search this

Function:

Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State)

Genre/Form:

Scrapbooks

Photographs

Signatures (names)

Notes

Citation:

Kootz Gallery records, 1923-1966. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Identifier:

AAA.kootgall

See more items in:

Kootz Gallery records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw91262a00c-472d-46e1-8583-68bf078f849f

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-kootgall

Collection Creator:

Kootz Gallery  Search this

Container:

Box 1, Folder 22

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

circa 1944-1966

Collection Restrictions:

This collection is temporarily closed to researchers due to archival processing and digitization. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Collection Rights:

The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Collection Citation:

Kootz Gallery records, 1923-1966. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

See more items in:

Kootz Gallery records

Kootz Gallery records / Series 3: Artists Photograph Files

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw964545e20-2799-43aa-aa49-f847ea349e5a

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-kootgall-ref40

Collection Creator:

Kootz Gallery  Search this

Container:

Box 2, Folder 22

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

circa 1950s

Collection Restrictions:

This collection is temporarily closed to researchers due to archival processing and digitization. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Collection Rights:

The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Collection Citation:

Kootz Gallery records, 1923-1966. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

See more items in:

Kootz Gallery records

Kootz Gallery records / Series 3: Artists Photograph Files

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw98bc873cd-7df1-4eaf-a0e1-9d829a44ac03

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-kootgall-ref89

Artist:

Frederick Gutekunst, 25 Sep 1831 - 27 Apr 1917  Search this

Sitter:

Oliver Otis Howard, 8 Nov 1830 - 26 Oct 1909  Search this

Medium:

Albumen silver print

Dimensions:

Image: 23.3 × 18 cm (9 3/16 × 7 1/16")

Sheet: 45.5 × 38.2 cm (17 15/16 × 15 1/16")

Mount: 56.8 × 46.7 cm (22 3/8 × 18 3/8")

Mat: 71.1 × 55.9 cm (28 × 22")

Type:

Photograph

Place:

United States\Pennsylvania\Philadelphia\Philadelphia

Date:

c. 1863

Topic:

Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Mustache  Search this

Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Beard  Search this

Oliver Otis Howard: Male  Search this

Oliver Otis Howard: Military and Intelligence\Army\Officer\General  Search this

Oliver Otis Howard: Military and Intelligence\Army\Officer\Civil War\Union Army  Search this

Oliver Otis Howard: Literature\Writer\Historical  Search this

Oliver Otis Howard: Education and Scholarship\Founder\University  Search this

Portrait  Search this

Credit Line:

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Object number:

S/NPG.77.233

Restrictions & Rights:

CC0

See more items in:

National Portrait Gallery Collection

Location:

Currently not on view

Data Source:

National Portrait Gallery

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm483224af2-8896-43e2-90cb-50c283979539

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:npg_S_NPG.77.233

Collection Creator:

Karp, Ivan C., 1926-2012  Search this

O.K. Harris Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Container:

Box 69, Folder 22-24

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

circa 1969-circa 2014

Collection Restrictions:

Use of original material requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

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:

Ivan C. Karp papers and OK Harris Works of Art gallery records, 1960-2014. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

See more items in:

Ivan C. Karp papers and OK Harris Works of Art gallery records

Ivan C. Karp papers and OK Harris Works of Art gallery records / Series 7: Photographic Materials / 7.6: Installation Views, Negatives and Slides

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9a219aba5-8740-4e8a-bf65-13eab822db31

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-okharr-ref1762

Collection Creator:

Washburn Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Container:

Box 1, Folder 22

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1991-1994

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 Citation:

Washburn Gallery records, 1906-2017, bulk 1971-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

See more items in:

Washburn Gallery records

Washburn Gallery records / Series 1: Administrative Records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw95a74d582-b5b9-4e94-b4e7-c24e8d134e8d

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-washbgall-ref27