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Moses and Frances Asch Collection

Creator:: Asch, Moses Search this; Distler, Marian, 1919-1964 Search this; Folkways Records Search this

Names:: Courlander, Harold, 1908-1996 Search this; Guthrie, Woody, 1912-1967 Search this; Jenkins, Ella Search this; Leadbelly, 1885-1949 Search this; Ramsey, Frederic, 1915-1995 Search this; Seeger, Pete, 1919-2014 Search this

Extent:: 841 Cubic feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Business records; Correspondence; Phonograph records; Photographic prints; Audiotapes

Date:: 1926-1986; bulk 1948-1986

Summary:: This collection, which dates from 1926-1986, documents the output of Moses Asch through the various record labels he founded and co-founded, and includes some of his personal papers. The Asch collection includes published recordings, master tapes, outtakes, business records, correspondence, photographs, and film.

Scope and Contents:: The Moses and Frances Asch Collection measures 841 cubic feet and dates from 1926-1987, with some contemporary, relevant correspondence, clippings, and ephemera added after 1987.

Most of the collection consists of audio recordings (commercial 78 rpm and long-playing records, open reel tapes, acetate discs, and test pressings), correspondence with recording artists and producers, artwork, photographs, ephemera, clippings, record production materials, writings, and business papers relating to Folkways Records. Materials relating to Folkways Records can be found primarily in the Correspondence, Folkways Production, Business Records, Photographs, Artwork, Sound Recordings, and Film series.

The collection also contains some biographical materials and personal correspondence, including materials related to Asch's first business, Radio Laboratories, located in the Biographical Materials series. Correspondence, ephemera, photographs, record production materials, business papers, and recordings relating to Asch's record labels before Folkways Records (Asch Recordings, Disc Company of America, Cub Records) are located in the Early Label Materials series as well as the Audio Recordings and Photographs series.

Arrangement note:: The collection is arranged in 10 series:

Series 1: Correspondence, 1942-1987

Series 2: Folkways Production, 1946-1987

Series 3: Business Records, 1940-1987

Series 4: Woody Guthrie papers, 1927-1985

Series 5: Early Label Materials, 1940-1949

Series 6: Biographical Materials, 1926-1987

Series 7: Photographs

Series 8: Artwork

Series 9: Audio Recordings

Series 10: Film

At this time, the collection is partially processed. Please contact rinzlerarchives@si.edu for more information.

Biographical/Historical note:: The son of Yiddish writer Sholem Asch, Moses Asch was born in Poland in 1905. His childhood was spent in Poland, France, Germany, and New York. While young, Asch developed an interest in radio electronics, which ultimately lead him to his life's work, recording the music and sounds of the world. He established several record labels in succession, sometimes partnering with other record companies. Two of his fist record companies, Asch Recordings and DISC Co. of America, went bankrupt. They were followed by his best-known label, Folkways Records, which was founded in 1948 with Marian Distler (1919-1964). He was still working on Folkways recordings when he died in 1986.

Folkways Records sought to document the entire world of sound. The 2,168 titles Asch released on Folkways include traditional and contemporary music from around the world, spoken word in many languages, and documentary recordings of individuals, communities, and current events. Asch's business practices revolved around the commitment to keep every recording issued by Folkways in print, despite low sales. Asch stayed afloat by cutting costs where he could (such as color printing) and offering a high-quality product, meticulously recorded and accompanied by extensive liner notes. In doing this, he could charge a slightly higher price than other commercial outfits. Despite a tenuous relationship with financial solvency, Folkways grew to be not only one of the most important independent record companies in the United States in the 20th century, but also one of the largest and most influential record companies in the world.

Moses Asch's record labels featured famous and lesser known American writers, poets, documentarians, ethnographers, and grass roots musicians on commercial recordings. American folk icon Woody Guthrie recorded on the Asch, Disc, and Folkways labels, and the Asch Collection includes some of his correspondence, lyrics, drawings, and writings. The collection also includes correspondence with other notable musicians and artists such as John Cage, Langston Hughes, Margaret Walker, Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, Pete Seeger, Peggy Seeger, Ewan MacColl, Alan Lomax, Henry Cowell, and Kenneth Patchen. Also in the collection are ethnographic field notes and photographs by as well as correspondence with Béla Barók, Sidney Robertson Cowell, Harold Courlander, Helen Creighton, Laura Boulton, and Samuel Charters. Asch hired various prominent artists and graphic designers including David Stone Martin, Ben Shahn, John Carlis, and Ronald Clyne to create album cover art for his recordings. Much of the original art and designs for these covers can be found in the Asch Collection.

Asch's output of recordings on various labels, including published recordings, open reel master tapes, outtakes, and acetate disks, in addition to his business papers, correspondence, photographs, and other files were acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987. The collection came to the Smithsonian with the understanding that all 2168 titles under the Folkways label would be kept available in perpetuity.

Shared Stewardship of Collections:: The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://folklife.si.edu/archives#shared-stewardship.

Provenance:: Ralph Rinzler arranged the Smithsonian's acquisition of the Moses and Frances Asch Collection in 1987, beginning with Asch before his death in 1986 and continuing with extensive discussions between Rinzler and the Asch family. Since its acquisition, archivist Jeff Place and others have added contemporary, relevant correspondence with Folkways artists and related individuals.

Restrictions:: Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.

Rights:: Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.

Topic:: Folk music Search this; Folk dance music Search this; Electronic music Search this; Oral interpretation of poetry Search this; Oral interpretation of fiction Search this; Music -- 20th century Search this; Music -- 19th century Search this; Music -- 18th century Search this; Jazz Search this; Folk music -- United States Search this; World music Search this; Sounds Search this; Vocal music Search this; Popular music -- 20th century -- United States Search this

Genre/Form:: Business records; Correspondence; Phonograph records; Photographic prints; Audiotapes

Citation:: Moses and Frances Asch Collection, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:: CFCH.ASCH

See more items in:: Moses and Frances Asch Collection

Archival Repository:: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/bk533b8a927-559a-44ac-98d2-f32d871058b4

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-cfch-asch

Online Media:

Elizabeth Gordon Papers

Creator:: Gordon, Elizabeth, 1906-2000 Search this

Names:: Claiborne, Craig Search this; Gordon, Elizabeth, 1906-2000 Search this; Leach, Bernard, 1887-1979 Search this

Extent:: 3 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Periodicals; Photographs; Correspondence; Personal papers

Place:: Japan

Date:: 1958-1987

Summary:: Papers, 1959-1987, of Elizabeth Gordon, editor of the periodical, House Beautiful from 1941-1964, mostly related to her research for the August and September 1960 issues of House Beautiful regarding the Japanese aesthetic concept of "shibui", and the subsequent travelling "shibui exhibition" from 1961-1964. Included are correspondence, some photocopies, 1959-1963; notes; drafts for articles and lectures; printed material including magazine and newspaper clippings, 1959-1987; 2 books, and exhibition announcements; drawings of paper and foil art; a photo album containing photos of exhibition installations; and photographs, slides, color transparencies, and lantern slides depicting people, sites, and objects reflecting the "shibui" aesthetic.

Scope and Contents:: The Elizabeth Gordon Papers measure 4.5 linear feet and span the years 1959-1987. The collection mainly documents Ms. Gordon's research for the August and September 1960 issues of House Beautiful regarding the Japanese aesthetic concept of "shibui", and the subsequent travelling "shibui exhibition" from 1961-1964. Included are correspondence, some photocopies, 1959-1963; research notes and materials; articles; lectures; printed material including magazine and newspaper clippings, 1959-1987; 2 books, and exhibition announcements; article materials; a photo album containing photos of exhibition installations; and photographs, slides, color transparencies, and lantern slides depicting people, sites, and objects reflecting the "shibui" aesthetic.

Arrangement note:: This collection is organized into eight series. 1. Biographical data, 2. Shibui research, 3. Shibui issues of, House Beautiful, 4. Correspondence, 5. Shibui promotion, 6. Exhibition files, 7. Printed materials, and 8. Photographs.

Biographical Information:: Born in Logansport, Indiana in 1906, Elizabeth Gordon served as editor of House Beautiful magazine 1941 to 1964. Ms. Gordon first became interested in Japanese aesthetics during the mid-1950s. As a result she began to read and study Japanese art, history and culture. In 1959, Gordon travelled to Japan with three staff people from, House Beautiful. In Kyoto she met Eiko Yuasa, a young woman then employed by the City of Kyoto to handle foreign V.I.P.s, who was assigned to assist Gordon during her stay there. It was Ms. Yuasa who, in the course of discussions of Japanese aesthetics, introduced the term "shibui." Around that term and its related concepts ("iki", "jimi", "hade") the theme for the issue began to crystallize. In August and September, 1960, House Beautiful, under the editorial control of Ms. Gordon, published two extremely popular issues devoted to the subject of "shibui". Due to the popularity of the issues, museum exhibits devoted to the concept of "shibui" travelled around the United States. Ms. Gordon died in Adamstown, Maryland in 2000.

Biographical Overview

1906 -- Born in Logansport, Indiana

1920s -- Attended the University of Chicago

1930s -- Moved to New York to work as a promotional copywriter for several newspapers

1930s -- Syndicated columnist on home maintenance for The New York Herald Tribune

1930s -- Editor at Good Housekeeping (here for 8 years)

1937 -- More House for your Money by Elizabeth Gordon and Dorothy Ducas published by W. Morrow and Company: New York.

1937 -- Married Carl Hafey Norcross

1939 -- Appointed editor of House Beautiful

1964 -- Left the magazine world

1972 -- Published a special issue on Scandinavian design and awarded the insignia of a knight, first class, in the Finnish Order of the Lion

1987 -- American Institute of Architects made her an honorary member

1988 -- Carl Hafey Norcross died

September 3, 2000 -- Died in Adamstown, MD

(The following biography of Elizabeth Gordon comes courtesy of curator Louise Cort. Written in consultation with Elizabeth Gordon, October 23, 1987)

The research papers, memoranda, magazines, books, photographs and color transparencies and other materials in this archives are related to the publication by Elizabeth Gordon (Mrs. Carl Norcross), editor of House Beautiful from 1941 to 1964 and creator of the August, 1960 issue of the magazine on the special theme of the Japanese aesthetic concept of "shibui". The "shibui issue" was followed by the September, 1960, issue of the same publication on the theme, "How to be shibui with American things." As a by-product of the issues, a "Shibui Exhibition" travelled to eleven museums in the United States during 1961-1964. Each exhibition was opened with a slide lecture by Elizabeth Gordon.

Miss Gordon first became curious about Japanese aesthetics in the mid-1950s when she began to see Japanese objects being displayed and used in the homes of Americans who had spent time in Japan during the Occupation and Japanese influence began to appear in wholesale showrooms of home furnishings manufacturers. It was clear that the time had come: she HAD to go to Japan!

She read for five years before going to Japan - history, social mores, art history. (Many of the books on Japan that she collected during this time have been presented to the library at the University of Maryland, College Park.)

An important bit of advice came from Alice Spaulding Bowen, owner of Pacifica, the highest quality shop of Asian antiquities in Honolulu, who told her, "Be sure to read, The Tale of Genji - then you'll understand everything."

She made her first trip to Japan in April, 1959, accompanied by three staff people from, House Beautiful. In Kyoto she met Eiko Yuasa, a young woman then employed by the City of Kyoto to handle foreign V.I.P.s, who was assigned to assist Miss Gordon during her stay there. It was Ms. Yuasa who, in the course of discussions of Japanese aesthetics, introduced the term "shibui." Around that term and its related concepts ("iki", "jimi", "hade") the theme for the issue began to crystallize.

Miss Gordon came home, planning to spend the summer researching "shibui" with the aid of the Japan Society. But she found virtually nothing written in English on the concept. So she returned to Japan in December, 1959 together with staff member Marion Gough, to dig deeper and to work out details and get better educated with Eiko Yuasa. One of their devices was to walk through department stores and discuss with sales personnel whether objects for sale were "shibui", or were "jimi" or "hade", and why. Between themselves, they did the same for the costumes of women they saw on the streets.

Lacking printed sources for information on "shibui", Miss Gordon sought out and interviewed experts, including Douglas Overton, head of the Japan Society in New York. In Japan in December, 1959, she met Yanagi Soetsu, founder of Japan's Folk Craft Movement and head of the Craft Museum in Tokyo (with an introduction from Tonomura Kichinosuke, head of the Craft Museum in Kurashiki). She met the chef Tsuji Kaichi, who was commissioned to write an article on "kaiseki" (that could not be used because of an inadequate English translation) and Frances Blakemore. She met several times with Bernard Leach and attended his lecture at Bonnier's while he was in New York in March, 1960. (He would later write a "fan letter" for the issue)

As the concept of "the shibui issue" began to take shape, a third trip in the spring of 1960 focused on photography - to produce the shooting script decided on the preceding December. This was executed by the noted photographer Ezra Stoller of Rye, New York, and John DeKoven Hill, House Beautiful's Editorial Director. (Mr. Hill worked with Frank Lloyd Wright except for the ten years that he was a member of the House Beautiful editorial staff)

Miss Gordon was back in Japan in Mid-August 1960 as the "shibui issue" was causing a sensation. Altogether she spent sixteen months in Japan.

As one of the experiences that influenced her strong interest in Japanese costumes and textiles, Miss Gordon remembers a spectacularly thorough exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno on, 1200 Years of Japanese Costume. She saw it on the last day of its exhibition (possibly 1964).

The August 1960 issue sold out quickly. Copies of the magazine, which sold for fifty cents, were sold on the "black market" for ten dollars.

The publication of the August 1960 issue was followed by an unprecedented avalanche of "fan mail". Many department heads in colleges and universities, including the Harvard-Yenching Institute and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (where Miss Gordon had worked as an undergraduate) wrote to comment on the issue. Many people in other fields of endeavor wrote: heads of firms concerned with interior design, landscape architecture, and related areas expressed their interest in the concept of "shibui" Other writers include Bernard Leach, Gertrude Natzler, Laura Gilpin, Mainbocher, the architect Yoshimura Junzo, the textile artist Marianne Strengell, Walter Kerr, Craig Claiborne, and Oliver Statler.

The "shibui issue" was followed immediately by the September issue dealing with the use of non-Japanese objects to express the concept of "shibui." (Miss Gordon convinced her advertisers, who had been skeptical about the potential success of the August issue, by promising the September issue dealing with American products.) Four American firms were involved in the production of an integrated line of paints, wallpaper, furniture and carpets expressive of the concept. Products were designed by the firms' designers following the clues offered by objects and fabrics purchased by Miss Gordon in Japan in December 1959 and spring 1960. Miss Gordon has expressed her dissatisfaction with the September issue, although public opinion was positive. She feels that some of the firms failed in the "shibui" project, though some "caught" the message: namely the paint company and the fabric/wallpaper company.

In response to strong public interest, the House Beautiful staff prepared a travelling exhibition to introduce the concept of "shibui" through a series of vignettes, mixing fabrics and objects, colors and textures. The museum installation was designed by John Hill of House Beautiful. Japan Air Lines underwrote shipping costs.

The exhibition began in Philadelphia in late 1961. Ezra Stoller was sent to photograph the installation in considerable detail at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts in January, 1962, so that his photographs cold serve as guidelines for installations at the other museums, which included the San Francisco Museum of Art (April 1962), the Newark Pubic Library, and the Honolulu Academy of Art. Miss Gordon presented a lecture on "shibui" at each of the museum installations.

In appreciation of her work to introduce Americans to the concept of "shibui", the city of Kyoto presented a bolt of especially "shibui" kimono fabric executed by a Living National Treasure textile artist. Miss Gordon eventually tailored the fabric into a dress and jacket. She received the 1961 Trail Blazer Award from the New York Chapter of the National Home Fashions League, Inc. In June, 1987, Miss Gordon was named an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects, with her introduction of the concept of "shibui" and her promotion of an understanding of other culture cited as her major contributions to American architecture.

Provenance:: Elizabeth Gordon donated her papers to the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives in 1988.; Elizabeth Gordon donated her papers to the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives in 1988.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research.

Rights:: No restrictions on use.

Topic:: Interior decoration -- Periodicals Search this; Landscape gardening Search this; Art, Japanese Search this; Aesthetics, Japanese Search this; House funishings Search this; Interior decoration Search this; Museum exhibits Search this; Interior decorators Search this; Gardens -- Japan Search this

Genre/Form:: Periodicals -- 1940-1970; Photographs; Correspondence; Personal papers -- 1950-2000

Citation:: The Elizabeth Gordon Papers. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Elizabeth Gordon, 1988

Identifier:: FSA.A1988.03

See more items in:: Elizabeth Gordon Papers

Archival Repository:: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/dc3bd5683e5-f956-4a04-9d0c-4565a6b761b7

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-fsa-a1988-03

Online Media:

Milton and Edith Lowenthal papers

Creator:: Lowenthal, Milton Search this; Lowenthal, Edith Search this

Names:: Brooklyn Museum Search this; Avery, Milton, 1885-1965 Search this; Davis, Stuart, 1892-1964 Search this; De Creeft, José, 1884-1982 Search this; Gross, Chaim, 1904-1991 Search this; Lawrence, Jacob, 1917-2000 Search this; Miller, Henry, 1891-1980 Search this; O'Keeffe, Georgia, 1887-1986 Search this; Rattner, Abraham Search this; Sheeler, Charles, 1883-1965 Search this; Weber, Max, 1881-1961 Search this

Extent:: 4.4 Linear feet ((on 5 microfilm reels))

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Sound recordings; Scrapbooks

Date:: 1940-1989

Scope and Contents:: Biographical material; correspondence and greeting cards; writings; business records; printed material about the Lowenthal collection, exhibitions, and artists, photographs; scrapbooks; and sound recordings.; REEL 4904, frames 1-114: Thirty-nine greeting cards from artists, illustrated with original prints, drawings, and off-set reproductions. Included are 20 from Jose de Creeft and Lorrie Goulet, 8 from Abraham and Esther Rattner, 4 each from Chaim Gross and Milton and Sally Avery, 2 from Max Weber, and 1 from Jacob Lawrence.; REELS 4904 (fr. 126-end) - 4908: Biographical material includes a resume and transcripts for Edith Lowenthal, an obituary of Isadore Lowenthal, M.D., Milton's father, and clippings related to the Lowenthals. General correspondence, 1947-1991, is primarily with museums, university galleries, and publishers regarding loans and gifts of art work, contributions, lectures, travel, and permissions to reproduce for publication. In addition, there are a correspondence file, 1963-1990, with the Brooklyn Museum, regarding loans, contributions, and conservation work, and correspondence from artists, including letters, greeting cards, and announcements from Stuart Davis, Jacob Lawrence, Josef Presser, Abraham Rattner, Charles Sheeler, Max Weber, and others.; Writings and notes by Milton Lowenthal are about the role of the art collector, his thoughts on works of art and artists, and drafts of letters. Writings by others include Henry Miller's "The Rattner Portfolio" and Elizabeth McCausland's proposal for a Marsden Hartley catalog raisonne. Material relating specifically to the Lowenthal Collection includes lists, valuations, collection exhibition records, documentation of gifts, financial records, receipts, clippings, catalogs, and a 2 v. index of acquisitions. A file containing memorabilia relating to Stuart Davis includes clippings, an address book, printed materials, and notes.; Printed materials include clippings about artists, collectors, and other art related issues and exhibitions, exhibition announcements, and catalogs. Photographs are of artists and works of art. Files relating to the "Friends of the Whitney", ca. 1956-1961, include correspondence, by-laws, annual and other reports, statements, and catalogs of loan exhibitions. Scrapbooks (4 v.), 1942-1953, contain letters and greeting cards (many illustrated) from friends, artists and associates, clippings, exhibition announcements, and catalogs about artists, museums, and exhibitions.; Unmicrofilmed material consists of negatives, slides, and transparencies of works of art and 3 phonograph albums (78 r.p.m) of a radio interview with art collectors and a recording of a school performance by Stuart Davis' son.

Biographical / Historical:: Art collectors, benefactors of the Brooklyn Museum; New York, N.Y. Mr. Lowenthal was a lawyer whose clients included Stuart Davis.

Provenance:: Donated 1993 by Louis M. Bernstein, Mrs. Lowenthal's nephew, except for illustrated greeting cards on reel 4904, frames 1-114, which were received as a loan for microfilming.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Topic:: Art -- Collectors and collecting Search this; Greeting cards Search this

Genre/Form:: Sound recordings; Scrapbooks

Identifier:: AAA.lowemilt

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw93ff6c9a9-440c-40db-a074-e6cb92ca04a8

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-lowemilt

Princeton University Poster Collection

Creator:: Princeton University Search this

Extent:: 135 Cubic feet (10,690 posters)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Posters

Date:: 1863-1950

Summary:: An extensive and comprehensive collection of posters from World War I and World War II.

Scope and Contents:: Primarily war-related posters.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged into six series.

Series 1: Pre-World War One, 1863-1917

Series 2: World War One, 1911-1923

Series 3: Between Wars, 1912-1939

Series 4: World War Two, 1939-1945

Series 5: Post World War Two, 1945-1948

Series 6: Unknown, 1913-1918

Biographical / Historical:: The Princeton University Library donated this extensive collection of World War I and World War II materials to the Smithsonian Institution in 1963 and 1967. The bulk of the 1963 donation, stored in six large wooden crates, was sent to an off site storage location. Other posters donated in 1963, primarily World War II British in origin, were stored in the Division of Political History; they were later transferred to the Division of Armed Forces History. In 1967, Princeton donated an additional five albums of posters that had been overlooked in 1963; these albums were also stored in the Division of Armed Forces History.

In 1990 and again in 1991, the NMAH Division of Conservation was awarded Smithsonian Research Resources grants to conserve and catalog the collection. The posters in the crates were in extremely precarious condition, evidencing extensive tears, water damage, dirt, mold, and insect damage. Their condition was so extreme that handling, cataloging, or mere counting was not deemed possible outside of a major rehousing project. In 1992, the NMAH Archives Center assumed curatorial responsibility for the collection and took over direction of the project.

Provenance:: Collection donated by the Princeton University Library in 1963 and 1967.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

Rights:: Copyright status of items varies. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:: War Search this; World War, 1914-1918 -- Posters Search this; World War, 1939-1945 -- Posters -- United States Search this

Genre/Form:: Posters -- 1860-1950

Citation:: Princeton University Posters Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Sponsor:: Digitization of the Princeton University Poster Collection was a collaboration of Google Arts and Culture and the Smithsonian Institution's Digitization Program Office. Catalog records were transcribed by digital volunteers through the Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center.

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.0433

See more items in:: Princeton University Poster Collection

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep87d1dd3da-2364-4f0d-928c-925c506f6ebd

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0433

Online Media:

Charles Henry Alston papers

Creator:: Alston, Charles Henry, 1907-1977 Search this

Names:: City University of New York. City College -- Faculty Search this; Bearden, Anna Alston Search this; Bearden, Romare, 1911-1988 Search this; Browne, Byron, 1907-1961 Search this; Lawrence, Jacob, 1917-2000 Search this; Logan, Myra, 1909-1977 Search this; Welty, Eudora, 1909-2001 Search this; Woodruff, Hale, 1900-1980 Search this; Wright, Louis T. (Louis Tompkins), 1891-1952 Search this

Extent:: 0.9 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Photographs

Date:: 1924-1980

Summary:: The scattered papers of African American and Harlem Renaissance painter, muralist, illustrator, sculptor, and educator Charles Henry Alston measure 0.9 linear feet and date from 1924-1980. Included are biographical materials, correspondence, commission and teaching files, writings and notes, printed materials, and photographs. Notable correspondents include Romare Bearden, Byron Browne, Jacob Lawrence, and Hale Woodruff.

Scope and Content Note:: The scattered papers of African American and Harlem Renaissance painter, muralist, illustrator, sculptor, and educator Charles Henry Alston (1907-1977) measure 0.9 linear feet and date from 1924-1980. The bulk of the collection documents his personal and professional relationships with figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Researchers should note that this collection contains very little documentation on Alston's actual federal WPA work with the Harlem Art Workshop, the Harlem Artists Guild, or his Harlem Hospital murals completed in 1940. A photograph of Alston in 1937 is likely the only reference to the actual WPA murals in this collection.

Scattered correspondence includes general correspondence; letters concerning Alston's artistic endeavors; and personal letters from friends and family. Found is a copy of a thank you note from Eudora Welty to John Woodburn for a jacket design presumably by Alston; letters from Harlem Renaissance figures and personal friends Romare Bearden, Byron Brown, Jacob Lawrence, and Hale Woodruff.

Commission files are for Alston's murals including those in the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance building in Los Angeles, California (1947); and the addition to the Harlem Hospital (1965); and the Family and Criminal Courts Building in the Bronx, New York (1976). There is one file concerning teaching at City College New York (CUNY).

Writings and notes includes scattered notes and three short stories probably by Alston entitled "Bitsy O'Wire," "Body and Soul," and "Gigi."

Printed materials include illustrations by Alston in the Columbia University literary magazine, The Morningside, and medical illustrations done for Dr. Louis T. Wright. Also found are scattered clippings, exhibition announcements, press releases, and materials from the First Conference on Aesthetic Responsibility.

Photographs are of Alston, Alston with his wife, Myra Logan, his mother Anna Alston Bearden, Romare Bearden, and Hale Woodruff. Photographs of note include one of Alston holding a self-portrait, and one of the artist in 1937 with works that are most likely preliminary sketches of his WPA murals at Harlem Hospital. There are also photographs of Alston's works of art.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged into 6 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Information, 1924-1977 (Box 1; 3 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1931-1977(Box 1; 7 folders)

Series 3: Commission and Teaching Files, 1947-1976 (Box 1; 4 folders)

Series 4: Writings and Notes, circa 1940s-1970s (Box 2-3; 4 folders)

Series 5: Printed Material, 1928, 1946-1980(Box 2-3; 5 folders)

Series 6: Photographs, 1925-1968 (Box 2; 2 folders)

Biographical Note:: Charles Henry Alston (1907-1977) worked primarily in New York city as a painter, muralist, illustrator, and educator. He was part of the Harlem Renaissance movement in the 1930s and helped form the Harlem Art Workshop and the Harlem Artists Guild.

Charles Henry "Spinky" Alston was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 28th, 1907. His parents were the Reverend Primus Priss and Anna Miller. After the death of his father, Alston's mother married Henry Pierce Bearden (Romare Bearden's uncle) in 1913 and the family moved to New York City.

At DeWitt Clinton High School in New York, Alston served as art editor of the school's literary magazine. Alston majored in fine arts and history at Columbia University, graduating in 1929. He became active in the Harlem community and accepted a position as director of Utopia House, a boy's camp, where he started an art program. He returned to Columbia and recieved a Masters degree in art education from Columbia's Teachers College. While still a student, he illustrated album covers for jazz musician Duke Ellington and book covers for poet Langston Hughes.

Alston played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance Movement of the period. During the Great Depression, he and sculptor Henry Bannarn directed the Harlem Art Workshop which was funded by the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project. There he taught and mentored African American painter Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden, among others.

In the 1950s, Alston embarked on a series of portraits of African American figures. He also taught at the Art Students League and later with the City College of New York (CUNY). Along with his wife, Myra Logan, a surgeon at Harlem Hospital, Alston lived in Harlem and remained an active member of the community until the end of his life. Charles Alston died in 1977.

Related Material:: Also found in the Archives of American Art are two oral history interviews with Charles Henry Alston, one conducted by Harlan Phillips on September 28, 1965 and another by Al Murray on October 19, 1968.

Additional Charles Henry Alston papers are located at the University of North Carolina's Southern Historical Collection at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library.

Separated Material:: In 1970, Charles Alston loaned materials for microfilming, including correspondence with Henry Epstein, Langston Hughes, Robert Riggs, Harry Sternberg, J. Johnson Sweeney, Hale Woodruff and others. Also loaned for microfilming were sketchbooks, printed materials, and photographs. Subsequently, some of the photographs were later donated by Alston's sisters. The loaned materials are available only on microfilm reel N70-23 at Archives of American Art offices, and through interlibrary loan. These materials are not included in the container listing of this finding aid.

Provenance:: Charles Alston lent portions of the collection for microfilming in 1970. Aida Winters and Rousmaniere Alston Wilson, Charles Alston's sisters, donated additional materials to the Archives of American Art in 1982 and 1984.

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:: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; Educators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; Illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this

Topic:: Harlem Renaissance Search this; African American artists Search this; African American educators Search this; African American painters Search this; African American sculptors Search this

Genre/Form:: Photographs

Citation:: Charles Henry Alston papers, 1924-1980. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Identifier:: AAA.alstchar

See more items in:: Charles Henry Alston papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9659f264f-7afb-4e05-bf28-ed3872b7cfea

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-alstchar

Online Media:

Richard Dempsey papers

Creator:: Dempsey, Richard W., 1909- Search this

Names:: Art in Embassies Program (U.S.) Search this; Clark Atlanta University Art Gallery Search this; Corcoran Gallery of Art Search this; Franz Bader Gallery Search this; Howard University Search this; United States. Embassy (Colombia) Search this; United States. Embassy (Jamaica) Search this; Brooks, Vonja Kirkland Search this; Lawrence, Jacob, 1917-2000 Search this; Perlmutter, Jack, 1920-2006 Search this; Waters, Ethel, 1896-1977 Search this

Extent:: 2.9 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Photographs; Poetry; Sketches

Place:: Colombia -- Description and Travel

Date:: 1929-1989; bulk 1960s-1980s

Summary:: The papers of painter Richard W. Dempsey measure 2.9 linear feet and date from 1929 to 1989, with the bulk of the papers dating from the 1960s to the 1980s. The papers contain biographcial material, correspondence, writings, project and exhibition files, printed material, photographs, and artwork and notes related to planning artwork.

Scope and Contents:: The papers of painter Richard W. Dempsey measure 2.9 linear feet and date from 1929 to 1989, with the bulk of the papers dating from the 1960s to the 1980s. The papers contain biographical material, correspondence, writings, project and exhibition files, printed material, photographs, and artwork and notes related to planning artwork.

Biographical material consists of employment records; resumes, chronologies, and biographies; and compiled personal papers that may have once been part of scrapbooks. These materials are not bound, but have remained together and in the order in which they were received. This series also includes a folder of material related to Dempsey's wife, Vonja Kirkland Brooks.

Correspondence includes letters both sent, and received by the artist, primarily concerning the exhibition of Dempsey's paintings at the Franz Bader Gallery, the Atlanta University Gallery, Howard University, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the U.S. Embassies in Colombia and Jamaica, and with the Art in Embassies Program. Notable correspondents include Jack Perlmutter, Ethel Waters, and Jacob Lawrence. Personal and professional correspondence are intermingled throughout.

Writings include notes and drafts of lectures and other course materials, as well as excerpts and quotes from reviews of exhibitions of Dempsey's work. These excerpts, usually titled "comments," are frequently copied out by hand. Also included in this series are two folders of poetry.

Project and exhibition files include photographs; correspondence; lists; sketches and other plans; and printed material including clippings and exhibition announcements. Materials related to his Rosenwald Fellowship, his participation in the Art in Embassies program, his many exhibitions at Franz Bader Gallery, and his international exhibitions in Colombia and Jamaica are featured. Some files in this series may only include photographs or sketches.

Photographs are primarily of Dempsey's work and of exhibitions. There are some of the artist and of his Takoma Park, MD home and studio (designed by Harry Ormston of McLean, VA and occasionally featured in architecture articles).

Artwork is primarily composed of sketches, often with detailed planning notes for the completion of paintings.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged as seven series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1930-1987 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1938-1985, undated (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings, 1981, undated (Box 1; 3 folders)

Series 4: Project and Exhibition Files, 1929-1986 (Boxes 1-2; 1.2 linear feet)

Series 5: Printed Material, 1930s-1989, undated (Boxes 2-3; 0.4 linear feet, OV 5)

Series 6: Photographic Material, 1932-1981, undated (Boxes 3-4; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 7: Artwork, 1965-1981, undated, (Box 4; 5 folders, OV 5)

Biographical / Historical:: Richard W. Dempsey (1909-1987) was a painter known primarily for his abstract works and his portraits of prominent African American individuals including Ethel Waters, Duke Ellington, Thurgood Marshall, and Adam Clayton Powell. He was born in Ogden, Utah, but spent the majority of his youth in Oakland, California. He studied art at Sacramento Junior College, the California School of Arts and Crafts, and the Student Arts Center. Dempsey had four exhibitions in California before moving to Washington, D.C. to begin work as an engineering draftsman with the Federal Power Commission in 1941. He later transferred to a position as an illustrator with the General Services Administration (GSA), where he would spend the rest of his nearly 30-year government career.

In addition to his work with the GSA, Dempsey participated in the Art in Embassies program for decades, and his work was chosen by Congressman Adam Clayton Powell to hang in the Education Labor Committee rooms.

Dempsey was awarded a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship in 1946 to paint 100 portriats of "Outstanding American Negros." He taught art courses at the Corcoran School of Art and at Glen Echo and received invitations to exhibit around the world in places like Haiti, Colombia, and Jamaica. He exhibited frequently in the U.S., most often with Franz Bader Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Separated Materials:: The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reel 4368) including a photograph album chronicling Dempsey's 1951 trip to Haiti and other photographic material. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:: The Richard Dempsey papers were initially lent for microfilming in 1990 by Vonja Kirkland Dempsey, Richard Dempsey's widow. After the collection was microfilmed, Vonja Kirkland Dempsey donated the bulk of the collection, excluding some photographic material, in 1990.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.

Occupation:: Educators -- Washington (D.C.) Search this; Painters -- Washington (D.C.) Search this; Portrait painters -- Washington (D.C.) Search this

Topic:: Artists' studios -- Photographs Search this; Painting, Abstract -- Washington (D.C.) Search this; Jamaica -- Description and Travel Search this; African American artists Search this

Genre/Form:: Photographs; Poetry; Sketches

Citation:: Richard Dempsey papers, 1929-1989, bulk 1960s-1980s. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.

Identifier:: AAA.demprich

See more items in:: Richard Dempsey papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9e6e8842f-d2fd-487c-b7cc-00c85bc82a34

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-demprich

Romare Bearden papers

Creator:: Bearden, Romare, 1911-1988 Search this

Names:: Alston, Charles Henry, 1907-1977 Search this; Holty, Carl, 1900-1973 Search this; Lawrence, Jacob, 1917-2000 Search this; Middleton, Samuel M., 1927- Search this; Reinhardt, Ad, 1913-1967 Search this

Extent:: 2.1 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Drawings; Sketches; Exhibition catalogs; Maps; Photographs

Date:: 1937-1982

Summary:: The papers of Romare Bearden measure 2.1 linear feet and date from 1937 to 1982. The collection includes biographical information, correspondence, writings by and about Bearden, miscellaneous legal and financial material, photographs, drawings, and printed material. Found are numerous letters referring to African-American arts movements of the 1960s and 1970s, including exhibitions, publications, associations, and scattered letters of a more personal nature.

Scope and Contents:: The papers of Romare Bearden measure 2.1 linear feet and date from 1937 to 1982. The collection includes biographical information, correspondence, writings by and about Bearden, miscellaneous legal and financial material, photographs, drawings, and printed material.

Correspondence is with family, friends, artists, galleries, museums, publishers, universities, arts associations, and colleagues, primarily concerning gallery space, exhibitions, sales of artwork, publishing, and arts events. Also found are numerous letters referring to African-American art movements of the 1960s and 1970s, including exhibitions, publications, associations, and scattered letters of a more personal nature. Many of the letters are illustrated with Bearden's doodlings and drawings. Although most of the letters are from galleries, museums, publishers, and arts associations, scattered letters from Charles Alston, Jacob Lawrence, Ad Reinhardt, Carl Holty, and Sam Middleton are found. In addition, there are letters from the Black Academy of Arts and Letters, and letters concerning its founding.

Writings by Bearden include lectures, speeches, talks, essays, and prose. Many are handwritten, annotated, and edited in Bearden's hand and several are illustrated with Bearden's doodlings and sketches. Included are a memorial delivered upon artist Carl Holty's death, a tribute to Zell Ingram, autobiographical essays, essays on art, and African-American art, artists, and cultural life. Also found are several handwritten examples of Bearden's prose and poetry. There are also writings by others and one folder of fragments and notes assumed to be by Bearden.

The collection houses two folders of photographs and snapshots of Bearden, family members, other unidentified artists or friends, classes and/or lectures, and works of art. Also found are several undated ink drawings, sketches in pencil and ink, and a hand-drawn and colored map with overlay of Paris. Printed material includes examples of Bearden's commissioned artwork for publications, press releases, exhibition catalogs and announcements, invitations, newspaper and magazine clippings, and miscellaneous printed materials. Although much of the printed material concerns Bearden's work, a fair portion concerns African-American art, artists, and cultural movements.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged into seven series based on type of materials. Documents within each of the seven series have been arranged in chronological order, except for the writings which have been further subdivided by creator and are undated. Printed materials have been arranged primarily according to form of material and are in rough chronological order.

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical, 1977, undated (Box 1; 1 folder)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1944-1981, undated (Box 1-2; 0.8 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings By and About Bearden, circa 1950s-1980s (Box 3; 6 folders)

Series 4: Legal and Financial Material, 1970-1977 (Box 3; 3 folders)

Series 5: Photographs, undated (Box 3; 2 folders)

Series 6: Drawings, undated (Box 3, OV 6; 4 folders)

Series 7: Printed Material, 1937-1982 (Box 3-5; 1 linear foot)

Biographical / Historical:: Born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in 1914, Bearden's family relocated to New York City when Bearden was a toddler. Living in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, Bearden was exposed to such luminaries as writer Langston Hughes, painter Aaron Douglas, and musician Duke Ellington. While attending New York University, Bearden became interested in cartooning and became the art editor of the NYU Medley in his senior year. He received his B.S. in mathematics in 1935, initially planning to pursue medical school. Realizing that he had little interest in the other sciences however, Bearden began attending classes at the Art Students League in the evenings, studying under George Grosz.

In the mid-1930s Bearden published numerous political cartoons in journals and newspapers, including the Afro-American, but by the end of the decade, he shifted his emphasis to painting. Bearden's first paintings, on large sheets of brown paper, recalled his early memories of the South. After serving in the Army, Bearden began exhibiting more frequently, particularly in Washington, D.C. at the G Street Gallery and in New York with Samuel Kootz.

During a career lasting almost half a century, Bearden produced approximately two thousand works. Although best known for the collages of urban and southern scenes that he first experimented with in the mid-1960s, Bearden also completed paintings, drawings, monotypes, edition prints, public murals, record album jackets, magazine and book illustrations, and costume and set designs for theater and ballet. His work focused on religious subjects, African-American culture, jazz clubs and brothels, and history and literature. Not confining his abilities to the visual arts, Bearden also devoted attention to writing and song writing. Several of his collaborations were published as sheet music, among the most famous of which is "Seabreeze," recorded by Billy Eckstine. In addition, Bearden coauthored three full-length books: The Painter's Mind: A Study of the Relations of Structure and Space in Painting (1969) with painter Carl Holty; Six Black Masters of American Art (1972); and A History of African-American Artists: From 1792 to the Present (posthumously, 1993), the latter two with journalist Harry Henderson.

Bearden was also active in the African-American arts movement of the period, serving as art director of the Harlem Cultural Council, a founding member of the Black Academy of Arts and Letters, and organizer of exhibitions, such as the Metropolitan Museum's "Harlem on My Mind" (1968). Romare Bearden died in 1988.

Related Materials:: Within the Archives holdings are two oral history interviews with Romare Bearden. One was conducted in 1968 by Henri Ghent and another in 1980 by Avis Berman.

Separated Materials:: The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reel N68-87) including correspondence, a scrapbook, photographs, catalogs, clippings, and writings. Except for the correspondence, loaned materials were returned to the donor and are not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:: Romare Bearden lent material for microfilming to the Archives of American Art in 1968, donating the correspondence. Bearden also gave additional papers between 1977 and 1983.

Restrictions:: The bulk of the collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website. Use of material not digitized 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:: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; Collagists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this

Topic:: African American artists Search this; Works of art Search this; Painting Search this

Genre/Form:: Drawings; Sketches; Exhibition catalogs; Maps -- Paris (France); Photographs

Citation:: Romare Bearden papers, 1937-1982. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Identifier:: AAA.bearroma

See more items in:: Romare Bearden papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9ed3f5b60-2e93-4f30-af75-dbd95d060a90

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-bearroma

Online Media:

Jack Levine papers

Creator:: Levine, Jack, 1915-2010 Search this

Names:: American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Search this; Jewish Museum (New York, N.Y.) Search this; Arms, John Taylor, 1887-1953 Search this; Barnet, Will, 1911-2012 Search this; Bloom, Hyman, 1913- Search this; Bocour, Leonard, 1910-1993 Search this; Cadmus, Paul, 1904-1999 Search this; Close, Chuck, 1940- Search this; Coen, Eleanor, 1916- Search this; D'Harnoncourt, Rene, 1901-1968 Search this; Dobkin, Alexander, 1908- Search this; Fleischman, Lawrence A. (Lawrence Arthur), 1925-1997 Search this; Friedan, Betty Search this; Gikow, Ruth, 1915-1982 Search this; Goodrich, Lloyd, 1897-1987 Search this; Halpert, Edith Gregor, 1900-1970 Search this; Hirsch, Joseph, 1910-1981 Search this; Lasansky, Mauricio, 1914- Search this; Lawrence, Jacob, 1917-2000 Search this; Lee, Gypsy Rose, 1914-1970 Search this; Levine, David, 1926-2009 Search this; Paul VI, Pope, 1897-1978 Search this; Peterdi, Gabor Search this; Probst, Joachim Search this; Saint-Gaudens, Homer, b. 1880 Search this; Simon, Sidney, 1917- Search this; Sorini, Emiliano Search this; Soyer, Raphael, 1899-1987 Search this; Terkel, Studs, 1912-2008 Search this; Tooker, George, 1920-2011 Search this; Updike, John Search this; Weber, Max, 1881-1961 Search this; Yevtushenko, Yevgeny Aleksandrovich, 1933- Search this

Extent:: 3.2 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Student drawings; Photographs; Scrapbooks; Drawings

Date:: 1923-1999

Summary:: The papers of New York social realist painter and printmaker Jack Levine date from 1923-1999, and measure 3.2 linear feet. Levine's career is documented through biographical material, scattered letters, notes and a speech, writings, student drawings, three scrapbooks, printed material and nearly one linear foot of photographs of Levine, his family, and his colleagues.

Scope and Contents:: The papers of New York social realist painter and printmaker Jack Levine date from 1923-1999, and measure 3.2 linear feet. Levine's career is documented through biographical material, scattered letters, notes and a speech, writings, student drawings, three scrapbooks, printed material and nearly one linear foot of photographs of Levine, his family, and his colleagues.

Found within the papers are two driver's licenses and several biographical accounts, and scattered letters from colleagues including one each from John Taylor Arms, Hyman Bloom, Leonard Bocour, René d'Harnoncourt, Lloyd Goodrich, Jacob Lawrence, and Homer Saint-Gaudens discussing various art-related events. There is only one carbon copy of a letter written by Levine. The correspondence includes oversized photographs of the members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Additional photographs of the members are found in the Photograph series.

Notes and writings are primarily typescripts about Jack Levine written by others. There is also a transcript of one speech, "Jack Levine Speaks Regarding the Donation of 108 of his Drawings to the Archives" delivered by Levine at the Fogg Art Museum.

Artwork consists entirely of Levine's student drawings including anatomical studies, neighborhood genre scenes, copies of Old Masters, and a series of images of symphony musicians. Some of the drawings display themes that are reflected in his later paintings.

Three scrapbooks contain clippings that document Levine's career and reflect his political interests. Additional printed material consists of a comprehensive collection of clippings and exhibition announcements and catalogs. There is also an announcement for a lecture by Levine, press releases, calendars of events, reproductions of artwork, programs, brochures including one for Facing East, a portfolio of Levine's prints, and three books.

Photographs include numerous photographs of Levine throughout his artistic career, including images of his wife, painter Ruth Gikow, their daughter Susanna, and colleagues including Hyman Bloom, Leonard Bocour, Alexander Dobkin, Joachim Probst, and Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Especially notable is a series of photographs of Levine printmaking with Emiliano Sorini and Ruth Gikow.

There are photographs of Levine serving on art juries and panels with Eleanor Coen, Joseph Hirsch, Gabor Peterdi, Studs Terkel, and Max Weber, and attending events with Lawrence Fleischman, Betty Friedan, Edith Halpert, Mauricio Lasansky, Gypsy Rose Lee, Pope Paul VI, and Raphael Soyer. A small album contains photographs of Levine and various buildings in Boston. There are also photographs of miscellaneous exhibition installations including Levine's retrospective at the Jewish Museum, and of artwork by Levine and others.

Group photographs of the members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters are found here, and include Will Barnet, Paul Cadmus, Chuck Close, David Levine, George Tooker, and John Updike. Additional group photographs of the members that were originally enclosed with letters are found in the correspondence series.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged as 7 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1953-1955 (Box 1; 1 folder)

Series 2: Letters, 1946-1996 (Boxes 1, 5; 12 folders)

Series 3: Notes and Writings, 1961-1974 (Box 1; 6 folders)

Series 4: Artwork, 1923-1931 (Boxes 1, 5, OV 6; 11 folders)

Series 5: Scrapbooks, 1936-1962 (Boxes 1, 5; 16 folders)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1938-1999 (Boxes 1-3, 5, OV 6; 1.9 linear feet)

Series 7: Photographs, 1940-1998 (Boxes 3-5, OV 6; 52 folders)

Biographical / Historical:: Jack Levine (1915-2010) was born in Boston, Massachusetts and worked as painter and printmaker primarily in New York City. Levine was one of the leading painters and advocates of the Social Realism School of the late 1930s.

Jack Levine was the youngest of the eight children of Lithuanian Jewish parents, Mary Grinker and Samuel Levine. After the family moved from the South End of Boston to Roxbury in 1923, Levine began to study drawing under Harold Zimmerman at the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. By 1929, Levine was studying painting under Denman Ross of the Fogg Art Museum.

From 1935-1940, Levine received U.S. government support from the federal Works Progress Administration. His first exhibition of paintings in New York City was at the Museum of Modern Art. In 1937, he painted The Feast of Pure Reason, a satire of Boston political power. Together with Ben Shahn, Levine became a leading exponent of the Social Realism School of the late 1930s. His first one-man show was held at the Downtown Gallery in New York City in 1938.

After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Levine was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1945, and a grant from the American Academy of Arts and Letters the following year. Also in 1946, Levine married painter Ruth Gikow and moved to New York City. Between 1950 and 1951, he was a Fulbright Fellow working in Rome where he was inspired by Old Master paintings. In the 1960s Levine's interest in printmaking intensified and he was instructed in creating intaglio prints by Emiliano Sorini, and was introduced to Abe Lublin who was associated with the New York Graphic Society.

Levine taught at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the American Art School in New York, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Fogg Art Museum. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters from 1956 on.

The D.C. Moore Gallery in New York City currently represents the Estate of Jack Levine.

Provenance:: Jack Levine donated his papers to the Archives in 1962, 1978, and 1999.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires an appointment and limited to the Washington, D.C. Reference 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:: Painting, American Search this; Social realism Search this; Painters -- Massachusetts -- Boston Search this; Jewish artists Search this; Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- United States Search this; Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this

Genre/Form:: Student drawings; Photographs; Scrapbooks; Drawings

Citation:: Jack Levine papers, 1923-1999. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Identifier:: AAA.levijack

See more items in:: Jack Levine papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9ee98ce56-1333-40b7-8878-654a12f9024b

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-levijack

Online Media:

Photograph Album

Collection Creator:: Levine, Jack, 1915-2010 Search this

Container:: Box 4, Folder 7

Type:: Archival materials

Date:: circa 1986

Collection Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires an appointment and limited to the Washington, D.C. Reference Center.

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:: Jack Levine papers, 1923-1999. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

See more items in:: Jack Levine papers; Jack Levine papers / Series 7: Photographs

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9678095ec-94a4-419c-803b-239b98aec1ec

EDAN-URL:: ead_component:sova-aaa-levijack-ref162

Prentiss Taylor papers

Creator:: Taylor, Prentiss, 1907-1991 Search this

Names:: American University (Washington, D.C.). Fine Arts Dept. -- Faculty Search this; Golden Stair Press Search this; Society of Washington Printmakers (Washington, D.C.) Search this; Field, Rachel, 1894-1942 Search this; Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967 Search this; Hurston, Zora Neale Search this; Kahlo, Frida Search this; Landeck, Armin, 1905- Search this; O'Neill, Eugene, 1888-1953 Search this; Pinckney, Josephine, 1895-1957 Search this; Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957 Search this; Robeson, Paul, 1898-1976 Search this; Robinson, Bill, 1878-1949 Search this; Stein, Gertrude, 1874-1946 Search this; Toklas, Alice B. Search this; Van Doren, Mark, 1894-1972 Search this; Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964 Search this

Extent:: 20.8 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Scrapbooks; Drawings; Writings; Sketchbooks; Prints; Sound recordings

Date:: 1885-1991

Summary:: The collection measures 20.8 linear feet, dates from 1885 to 1991 (bulk dates 1908-1986) and documents the career of lithographer, teacher, and painter Prentiss Taylor. The collection consists primarily of subject/correspondence files (circa 16 ft.), reflecting Prentiss' career as a lithographer and painter, his association with figures prominent in the Harlem Renaissance, notably Carl Van Vechten and Langston Hughes, his activities as president of the Society of Washington Printmakers and other art organizations, his work in art therapy treating mental illness, and his teaching position at American University. The subject files contain mostly correspondence, but many include photographs and printed material. Also included are biographical, financial, legal and printed material; several hundred photographs; notes and writings; sketchbooks, drawings and a few prints by Taylor; and scrapbooks dating from 1885-1956.

Scope and Content Note:: The collection measures 20.8 linear feet, dates from 1885 to 1991 (bulk dates 1908-1986) and documents the career of Harlem Renaissance lithographer, teacher, and painter Prentiss Taylor. The collection consists primarily of subject/correspondence files (circa 16 ft.), reflecting Prentiss' career as a lithographer and painter, his association with figures prominent in the Harlem Renaissance, notably Carl Van Vechten and Langston Hughes, his activities as president of the Society of Washington Printmakers and other art organizations, his work in art therapy treating mental illness, and his teaching position at American University. The subject files contain mostly correspondence, but many include photographs and printed material. Also included are biographical, financial, legal and printed material; several hundred photographs; notes and writings; sketchbooks, drawings and a few prints by Taylor; and scrapbooks dating from 1885-1956.

The Langston Hughes files contain photocopies of letters from Hughes, greeting cards, ten original photographs of Hughes, and an autographed card printed with Hughes' poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers. In addition, there is a contract between Hughes and Taylor, witnessed by Carl Van Vechten, forming the Golden Stair Press, through which many of Hughes' poems were printed with illustrations by Taylor. A rare edition of their first publication, The Negro Mother, is found here. Also found in this file is a 1932 final copy of Scottsboro Limited, another collaborative effort between Taylor and Hughes that focused on a case where nine black youths were falsely accused of raping two white women. The collection contains extensive correspondence about Taylor's lithograph of the same title and the printing of the publication. Other rare Harlem Renaissance publications found within Taylor's papers include Golden Stair Broadsides, Opportunity Journal of Negro Life, The Rebel Poet, and Eight Who Lie in the Death House, several of which were also illustrated by Taylor.

Prentiss Taylor's long association with Langston Hughes and other figures of the Harlem Renaissance stemmed from his early friendship with Carl Van Vechten. Taylor's papers contain correspondence with Van Vechten, autographed copies of Van Vechten's booklets, and numerous photographs of notable Harlem Renaissance figures, many taken by Van Vechten, including Zora Neale Hurston, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Eugene O'Neill, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, Paul Robeson, and many others. Also found are period photographs of Charleston, South Carolina and Harlem street scenes.

95 letters from Rachel Field, 75 letters from Langston Hughes, 3 letters from Armin Landeck, 46 letters from Josephine Pinckney, 1 letter from Gertrude Stein, 7 letters from Alice B. Toklas, 1 postcard from Mark Van Doren, and 25 letters from Carl Van Vechten are photocopies. Originals of the Hughes and Toklas letters are located at the Yale University Library. Location of the remaining original letters are unknown.

The Prentiss Taylor papers offer researchers insight into the rich cultural documentation of the Harlem Renaissance and the development of twentieth-century printmaking as an American fine art.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged into ten series. The largest series housing Subject Files is arranged alphabetically, primarily by name of correspondent, maintaining Taylor's original arrangement. The remaining series are arranged in chronological order. Oversized material from various series has been housed in Box 21 (Sol) and OV 22 and is noted in the Series Description/Container Listing Section at the appropriate folder title with see also/see references.

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1918-1985, undated (Box 1; 6 folders)

Series 2: Miscellaneous Receipts, 1929-1986, undated (Box 1; 11 folders)

Series 3: Insurance Records, 1960-1976 (Box 1; 1 folder)

Series 4: Notes, 1921-1984, undated (Box 1; 18 folders)

Series 5: Writings, 1924-1971, undated (Box 1-2; 51 folders)

Series 6: Art Work, 1916-1975, undated (Box 2; 14 folders)

Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1885-1956 (Box 2, 21; 10 folders)

Series 8: Printed Material, 1914-1990, undated (Box 2-3, 21; 29 folders)

Series 9: Photographs, 1908-1984, undated (Box 3, 23-24; 1.1 linear feet)

Series 10: Subject Files, 1885-1991, undated (Box 3-21, OV 22; 18.0 linear feet)

Biographical Note:: Prentiss Taylor was born in 1907 at the Washington, D. C. residence of his maternal grandmother, his birth assisted by his grandmother's cook, affectionately known as Cookie Belle.

In the 1920s, Taylor studied painting with Charles W. Hawthorne in Provincetown, but turned to lithography in the late 1920s to early 1930s during his enrollment at the Art Students League in New York City. He received further training in that medium at the George C. Miller workshop in New York. During this period, he also designed costumes for the American-Oriental Revue. Taylor worked primarily in the printmaking medium for the rest of his life, experimenting with various techniques and compositions and ultimately achieving a status as one this country's great lithographers. Taylor depicted mostly realistic and narrative scenes of subjects and themes that reflected his personal interests in music, architecture, religion and social justice.

During his time in New York, Taylor developed close friendships with poet Langston Hughes and writer Carl Van Vechten. He collaborated with Hughes in the formation of the Golden Stair Press to produce publications reflecting the ideas of the Harlem Renaissance. Taylor created a number of prints and illustration for the press and its publications.

After returning to Washington, D.C., Taylor's work was included in exhibitions at the Corcoran Gallery, the Smithsonian Institution, the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. He was represented by the Franz Bader Gallery in Washington, D.C., and by the Bethesda Art Gallery in Maryland. In 1942, Taylor was elected President of the Society of Washington Printmakers, a position he held for thirty-four years. He also worked as an art therapist for more than thirty years and taught oil painting at American University from 1955-1975.

Prentiss Taylor died October 7, 1991 in Washington, D.C.

Related Material:: Prentiss Taylor papers are also located at the Yale University Library.

Separated Material:: The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel 1392) including three notebooks detailing Taylor's lithographs, a gift and sales notebook, a guestbook, exhibition announcements, and a brochure. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:: Prentiss Taylor lent the Archives of American Art material for microfilming in 1978. Papers were donated in 1978 and 1984 by Taylor, and in 1992 and 2004 by his companion, Roderick S. Quiroz, for the estate of Prentiss Taylor.

Restrictions:: The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.

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 teachers -- Washington (D.C.) Search this; Painters -- Washington (D.C.) Search this

Topic:: Lithography -- 20th century -- Washington (D.C.) Search this; Lithographers -- Washington (D.C.) Search this; Art therapy Search this; Harlem Renaissance Search this; Printmakers -- Washington (D.C.) Search this

Genre/Form:: Scrapbooks; Drawings; Writings; Sketchbooks; Prints; Sound recordings

Citation:: Prentiss Taylor papers, 1885-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for the digitization of the microfilm of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Funding for the conservation of Prentiss Taylor's photograph album, 1929-1939, was provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.

Identifier:: AAA.taylpren

See more items in:: Prentiss Taylor papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9f818b565-3f0c-457b-8712-7eb5d7b4a257

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-taylpren

Online Media:

Duke Ellington Collection

Creator:: Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974 Search this

Names:: Duke Ellington Orchestra Search this; Washingtonians, The. Search this; Ellington, Mercer Kennedy, 1919-1996 (musician) Search this; Strayhorn, Billy (William Thomas), 1915-1967 Search this

Collector:: National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Musical History Search this

Extent:: 400 Cubic feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Phonograph records; Papers; Photographic prints; Posters; Sound recordings; Scrapbooks; Music; Clippings; Awards; Audiotapes

Place:: New York (N.Y.) -- 20th century; Harlem (New York, N.Y.) -- 20th century; Washington (D.C.) -- 20th century

Date:: 1903 - 1989

Summary:: The collection documents Duke Ellington's career primarily through orchestrations (scores and parts), music manuscripts, lead sheets, transcriptions, and sheet music. It also includes concert posters, concert programs, television, radio, motion picture and musical theater scripts, business records, correspondence, awards, as well as audiotapes, audiodiscs, photographs, tour itineraries, newspaper clippings, magazines, caricatures, paintings, and scrapbooks.

Scope and Contents:: Dating approximately from the time Duke Ellington permanently moved to New York City in 1923 to the time the material was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution in 1988, the bulk of the material in the Duke Ellington Collection is dated from 1934-1974 and comprises sound recordings, original music manuscripts and published sheet music, hand-written notes, correspondence, business records, photographs, scrapbooks, news clippings, concert programs, posters, pamphlets, books and other ephemera. These materials document Ellington's contributions as composer, musician, orchestra leader, and an ambassador of American music and culture abroad. In addition, the materials paint a picture of the life of a big band maintained for fifty years and open a unique window through which to view an evolving American society.

The approximate four hundred cubic feet of archival materials have been processed and organized into sixteen series arranged by type of material. Several of the series have been divided into subseries allowing additional organization to describe the content of the material. For example, Series 6, Sound Recordings, is divided into four subseries: Radio and Television Interviews, Concert Performances, Studio Dates and Non-Ellington Recordings. Each series has its own scope and content note describing the material and arrangement (for example; Series 10, Magazines and Newspaper Articles, is organized into two groups, foreign and domestic, and arranged chronologically within each group). A container list provides folder titles and box numbers.

The bulk of the material is located in Series 1, Music Manuscripts, and consists of compositions and arrangements by Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn and other composers. Series 6, Sound Recordings also provides a record of the performance of many of these compositions. The materials in Series 2, Performances and Programs, Series 3, Business Records, Series 8, Scrapbooks, Series 9, Newspaper Clippings, Series 11, Publicity and Series 12, Posters provide documentation of specific performances by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. Ellington was a spontaneous and prolific composer as evidenced by music, lyrical thoughts, and themes for extended works and plays captured on letterhead stationery in Series 3, Business Records, in the margin notes of individual books and pamphlets in Series 14, Religious Materials and Series 15, Books, and in the hand-written notes in Series 5, Personal Correspondence and Notes.

During its fifty-year lifespan, Duke Ellington and His Orchestra were billed under various names including The Washingtonians, The Harlem Footwarmers and The Jungle Band. The soloists were informally called "the band", and Series 3 includes salary statements, IOU's, receipts and ephemera relating to individual band members. Series 1, Music Manuscripts contains the soloists' parts and includes "band books" of several soloists (for example; Harry Carney and Johnny Hodges) and numerous music manuscripts of Billy Strayhorn. The changing role of Strayhorn from arranger hired in 1938 to Ellington's main collaborator and composer of many well-known titles for Duke Ellington and His Orchestra including "Take The A' Train" and "Satin Doll" can be traced in these music manuscripts. Series 7, Photographs and Series 2, Performances and Programs contain many images of the band members and Strayhorn. This Collection also documents the business history of Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. Series 3, Business Records contains correspondence on letterhead stationery and Series 11, Publicity contains promotional material from the various booking agencies, professional companies, and public relations firms that managed the Orchestra.

The materials in the Duke Ellington Collection provide insight into public and institutional attitudes towards African Americans in mid-twentieth-century America. The business records in Series 3 beginning in 1938 and published sheet music in Series 1 depict Duke Ellington's progression from an African-American musician who needed "legitimization" by a white publisher, Irving Mills, to a businessmen who established his own companies including Tempo Music and Duke Ellington, Incorporated to control his copyright and financial affairs. Programs from the segregated Cotton Club in Series 2, Performances And Programs and contracts with no-segregation clauses in Series 3: Business Records further illustrate racial policies and practices in this time period. The public shift in perception of Duke Ellington from a leader of an exotic "Jungle Band" in the 1930s to a recipient of the Congressional Medal Of Freedom in 1970 is evidenced in Series 2, Performances And Programs, Series 12, Posters, Series 7, Photographs and Series 13, Awards. Reviews and articles reflecting Ellington's evolving status are also documented in Series 8, Newspaper Clippings, Series 9, Scrapbooks, Series 10, Newspaper and Magazine Articles.

The materials in the Duke Ellington Collection reflect rapid technological changes in American society from 1923-1982. Sound recordings in Series 6 range from 78 phonograph records of three minutes duration manufactured for play on Victrolas in monaural sound to long-playing (LP) phonograph records produced for stereo record players. Television scripts in Series 4, programs in Series 2 and music manuscripts (for example, Drum Is A Woman) in Series 1 demonstrate how the development of television as a means of mass communication spread the Orchestra's sound to a wider audience. The availability of commercial air travel enabled the Ellington Orchestra to extend their international performances from Europe to other continents including tours to Asia, Africa, South America and Australia and archival material from these tours is included in every series.

Series 4, Scripts and Transcripts and Series 6, Audio Recordings contain scripts and radio performances promoting the sale of United States War bonds during World War II, and Series 7, Photographs includes many images of Duke Ellington and His Orchestra's performances for military personnel revealing the impact of historic events on Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. Series 2: Programs and Performances, Series 9, Newspaper clippings and Series 8, Scrapbooks document the 1963 Far East tour aborted as a result of President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

The Duke Ellington Collection contains works by numerous twentieth-century music, literature, and art luminaries. Series 1, Music Manuscripts contains original music manuscripts of William Grant Still, Eubie Blake, Mary Lou Williams, and others. Series 4, Scripts and Transcripts contains a play by Langston Hughes, and Series 12, Posters contains many original artworks.

Arrangement:: Series 1: Music Manuscripts, circa 1930-1981, undated

Series 2: Performances and Programs, 1933-1973, undated

Series 3: Business Records, 1938-1988

Series 4: Scripts and Transcripts, 1937-1970

Series 5: Personal Correspondence and Notes, 1941-1974, undated

Series 6: Sound Recordings, 1927-1974

Series 7: Photographs, 1924-1972, undated

Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1931-1973

Series 9: Newspaper Clippings, 1939-1973, undated

Series 10: Magazine Articles and Newspaper Clippings, 1940-1974

Series 11: Publicity, 1935-1988

Series 12: Posters and Oversize Graphics, 1933-1989, undated

Series 13: Awards, 1939-1982

Series 14: Religious Material, 1928-1974

Series 15: Books, 1903-1980

Series 16: Miscellaneous, 1940-1974

Biographical / Historical:: A native of Washington, DC, Edward Kennedy Ellington was born on April 29, 1899. Edward was raised in a middle-class home in the Northwest section of Washington described by his sister Ruth--younger by sixteen years--as a "house full of love." Ellington himself wrote that his father J.E. (James Edward) raised his family "as though he were a millionaire" but Edward was especially devoted to his mother, Daisy Kennedy Ellington. In 1969, thirty-four years after his mother's death, Ellington accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom with these words, "There is nowhere else I would rather be tonight but in my mother's arms." Both his parents played the piano and Ellington began piano lessons at the age of seven, but like many boys he was easily distracted by baseball.

In his early teens, Ellington sneaked into Washington clubs and performance halls where he was exposed to ragtime musicians, including James P. Johnson, and where he met people from all walks of life. He returned in earnest to his piano studies, and at age fourteen wrote his first composition, "Soda Fountain Rag" also known as "Poodle Dog Rag." Ellington was earning income from playing music at seventeen years of age, and around this time he earned the sobriquet "Duke" for his sartorial splendor and regal air. On July 2, 1918, he married a high school sweetheart, Edna Thompson; their only child, Mercer Kennedy Ellington, was born on March 11, 1919. Duke Ellington spent the first twenty-four years of his life in Washington's culturally thriving Negro community. In this vibrant atmosphere he was inspired to be a composer and learned to take pride in his African-American heritage.

Ellington moved to New York City in 1923 to join and eventually lead a small group of transplanted Washington musicians called "The Washingtonians," which included future Ellington band members, Sonny Greer, Otto Hardwicke and "Bubber" Miley. Between 1923 and 1927, the group played at the Club Kentucky on Broadway and the ensemble increased from a quintet to a ten-piece orchestra. With stride pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith as his unofficial guide, Ellington soon became part of New York's music scene; Smith proved to be a long-lasting influence on Duke's composing and arranging direction. At the Club Kentucky, Ellington came under the tutelage of another legendary stride pianist, "Fats" Waller. Waller, a protege of Johnson and Smith, played solos during the band's breaks and also tutored Ellington who began to show progress in his compositions. In November 1924, Duke made his publishing and recording debut with "Choo Choo (I Got To Hurry Home)" released on the Blu-Disc label. In 1925, he contributed two songs to Chocolate Kiddies, an all-black revue which introduced European audiences to black American styles and performers. By this time Ellington's family, Edna and Mercer, had joined him in New York City. The couple separated in the late 1920's, but they never divorced or reconciled.

Ellington's achievements as a composer and bandleader began to attract national attention while he worked at the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City, from 1927 to 1932. The orchestra developed a distinctive sound that displayed the non-traditional voicings of Ellington's arrangements and featured the unique talents of the individual soloists. Ellington integrated his soloists' exotic-sounding trombone growls and wah-wahs, their high-squealed trumpets, their sultry saxophone blues licks and Harlem's street rhythms into his arrangements. In the promotional material of the Cotton Club, the band was often billed as "Duke Ellington and His Jungle Band." With the success of compositions like "Mood Indigo," and an increasing number of recordings and national radio broadcasts from the Cotton Club, the band's reputation soared.

The ten years from 1932 to 1942 are considered by some major critics to represent the "golden age" for the Ellington Orchestra, but it represents just one of their creative peaks. These years did bring an influx of extraordinary new talent to the band including Jimmy Blanton on double bass, Ben Webster on tenor saxophone, and Ray Nance on trumpet, violin and vocals. During this ten year span Ellington composed several of his best known short works, including "Concerto For Cootie," "Ko-Ko," "Cotton Tail," "In A Sentimental Mood," and Jump For Joy, his first full-length musical stage revue.

Most notably, 1938 marked the arrival of Billy Strayhorn. While a teenager in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Strayhorn had already written "Lush Life," "Something To Live For" and a musical, Fantastic Rhythm. Ellington was initially impressed with Strayhorn's lyrics but realized long before Billy's composition "Take the A' Train" became the band's theme song in 1942 that Strayhorn's talents were not limited to penning clever lyrics. By 1942, "Swee' Pea" had become arranger, composer, second pianist, collaborator, and as Duke described him, "my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine." Many Ellington/Strayhorn songs have entered the jazz canon, and their extended works are still being discovered and studied today. Strayhorn remained with the Ellington Organization until his death on May 30, 1967.

Ellington had often hinted of a work in progress depicting the struggle of blacks in America. The original script, Boola, debuted in Carnegie Hall in November of 1943, retitled Black, Brown and Beige. The performance met with mixed reviews, and although Ellington often returned to Carnegie Hall the piece was never recorded in a studio, and after 1944 was never performed in entirety again by the Ellington Orchestra. Nonetheless, it is now considered a milestone in jazz composition.

After World War II the mood and musical tastes of the country shifted and hard times befell big bands, but Ellington kept his band together. The band was not always financially self-sufficient and during the lean times Ellington used his songwriting royalties to meet the soloists' salaries. One could assign to Ellington the altruistic motive of loyalty to his sidemen, but another motivation may have been his compositional style which was rooted in hearing his music in the formative stage come alive in rehearsal. "The band was his instrument," Billy Strayhorn said, and no Ellington composition was complete until he heard the orchestra play it. Then he could fine tune his compositions, omit and augment passages, or weave a soloist's contribution into the structure of the tune.

In 1956, the American public rediscovered Duke and the band at the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island. The searing performances of tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves on "Diminuendo and Crescendo In Blue," his premiere soloist, alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges on "Jeep's Blues", and the crowd's ecstatic reaction have become jazz legend. Later that year Duke landed on the cover of Time magazine. Although Ellington had previously written music for film and television (including the short film, Black and Tan Fantasy in 1929) it wasn't until 1959 that Otto Preminger asked him to score music for his mainstream film, Anatomy of a Murder, starring Jimmy Stewart. Paris Blues in 1961, featuring box-office stars Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier in roles as American jazz musicians in Paris, followed.

Ellington's first performance overseas was in England in 1933, but the 1960s brought extensive overseas tours including diplomatic tours sponsored by the State Department. Ellington and Strayhorn composed exquisite extended works reflecting the sights and sounds of their travels, including the Far East Suite, 1966. They wrote homages to their classical influences; in 1963, they adapted Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and celebrated Shakespeare's works with the suite Such Sweet Thunder in 1957. With Ella Fitzgerald, they continued the Norman Granz Songbook Series. Ellington also began to flex his considerable pianist skills and recorded albums with John Coltrane (1963), Coleman Hawkins (1963), Frank Sinatra, and Money Jungle (1963) with Charles Mingus and Max Roach. The First Sacred Concert debuted in San Francisco's Grace Cathedral in 1965. In his final years, Ellington's thoughts turned to spiritual themes and he added a Second (1968) and Third (1973) Concert of Sacred Music to his compositions.

In his lifetime, Duke received numerous awards and honors including the highest honor bestowed on an American civilian, the Congressional Medal Of Freedom. In 1965, Ellington was recommended for a Pulitzer Prize to honor his forty years of contribution to music but the recommendation was rejected by the board. Most likely he was disappointed, but his response at the age of sixty-six was, "Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be famous too young."

Ellington never rested on his laurels or stopped composing. Whenever he was asked to name his favorite compositions his characteristic reply was "the next five coming up," but to please his loyal fans Ellington always featured some of his standards in every performance. Even on his deathbed, he was composing the opera buffo called Queenie Pie.

Duke Ellington died on May 24, 1974 at seventy-five years of age. His funeral was held in New York's Cathedral of St. John The Divine; he was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery. His long-time companion Beatrice "Evie" Ellis was buried beside him after her death in 1976. He was survived by his only child, Mercer Kennedy Ellington, who not only took up the baton to lead the Duke Ellington Orchestra but assumed the task of caring for his father's papers and his legacy to the nation. Mercer Ellington died in Copenhagan, Denmark on February 8, 1996, at the age of seventy-six. Ruth Ellington Boatwright died in New York on March 6, 2004, at the age of eighty-eight. Both Mercer and Ruth were responsible for shepherding the documents and artifacts that celebrate Duke Ellington's genius and creative life to their current home in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

Related Materials:: Materials in the Archives Center

William H. Quealy Collection of Duke Ellington Recordings (AC0296)

Rutgers University Collection of Radio Interviews about Duke Ellington (AC0328)

Duke Ellington Oral History Project (AC0368)

Duke Ellington Collection of Ephemera and realated Audiovisual Materials (AC0386)

Annual International Conference of the Duke Ellington Study Group Proceedings (AC0385)

Robert Udkoff Collection of Duke Ellington Ephemera (AC0388)

Frank Driggs Collection of Duke Ellington Photographic Prints (AC0389)

New York Chapter of the Duke Ellington Society Collection (AC390)

Earl Okin Collection of Duke Ellington Ephemera (AC0391)

William Russo Transcription and Arrangement of Duke Ellington's First Concert of Sacred Music (AC0406)

Ruth Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials (AC0415)

Music manuscripts in the Ruth Ellington Collection complement the music manuscripts found in the Duke Ellington Collection.

Carter Harman Collection of Interviews with Duke Ellington (AC0422)

Betty McGettigan Collection of Duke Ellington Memorabilia (AC0494)

Dr. Theodore Shell Collection of Duke Ellington Ephemera (AC0502)

Edward and Gaye Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials (AC0704)

Andrew Homzy Collection of Duke Ellington Stock Music Arrangements (AC0740)

John Gensel Collection of Duke Ellington Materials (AC0763)

Al Celley Collection of Duke Ellington Materials (AC1240)

Materials at Other Organizations

Institute of Jazz Studies

Separated Materials:: Artifacts related to this collection are in the Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) and include trophies, plaques, and medals. See accessions: 1989.0369; 1991.0808; 1993.0032; and 1999.0148.

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Provenance:: The collection was purchased through an appropriation of Congress in 1988.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research but the original and master audiovisual materials are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

Rights:: Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Copyright restrictions. Consult the Archives Center at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

Paul Ellington, executor, is represented by:

Richard J.J. Scarola, Scarola Ellis LLP, 888 Seventh Avenue, 45th Floor, New York, New York 10106. Telephone (212) 757-0007 x 235; Fax (212) 757-0469; email: rjjs@selaw.com; www.selaw.com; www.ourlawfirm.com.

Occupation:: Composers -- 20th century Search this

Topic:: Big bands Search this; Pianists Search this; Bandsmen -- 20th century Search this; Jazz -- 20th century -- United States Search this; Musicians -- 20th century Search this; Music -- Performance Search this; African American entertainers -- 20th century Search this; African Americans -- History Search this; Popular music -- 20th century -- United States Search this; Music -- 20th century -- United States Search this; African American musicians Search this

Genre/Form:: Phonograph records; Papers; Photographic prints; Posters; Sound recordings; Scrapbooks -- 20th century; Music -- Manuscripts; Clippings; Awards; Audiotapes

Citation:: Duke Ellington Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sponsor:: Processing and encoding partially funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.0301

See more items in:: Duke Ellington Collection

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep850a376a1-6b6d-48bc-9076-cffef76fea2c

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0301

Online Media:

Herbert Waide Hemphill papers

Creator:: Hemphill, Herbert Waide Search this

Names:: Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center Search this; Centennial Exhibition (1876 : Philadelphia, Pa.) Search this; Exposition Universelle de Paris (1878 : Paris, France) Search this; Folk Art Society of America Search this; Museum of International Folk Art (N.M.) Search this; National Museum of American Art (U.S.) Search this; Aiken, Gayleen Search this; Bogun, Maceptaw, Rev. Search this; Borkowski, Mary Search this; Brice, Bruce Search this; Carpenter, Miles B. (Miles Burkholder), 1889- Search this; Coins, Raymond Search this; Crittenden, Varick A. Search this; Dinsmoor, Samuel Perry, 1843-1932 Search this; Donovan, Carrie Search this; Fancher, John W. Search this; Finster, Howard, 1916-2001 Search this; Flanagan, Thos. J. (Thomas Jefferson), b. 1890 Search this; Fowler, Tim Search this; Gatto, Victor Joseph, 1893-1965 Search this; Ghostley, Alice, 1926-2007 Search this; Goins, Vernon Search this; Hall, Michael D., 1941- Search this; Hamblett, Theora, 1895-1977 Search this; Hartigan, Lynda Roscoe Search this; Harvey, Bessie, 1929- Search this; Hawkins, William Lawrence, 1895-1990 Search this; Hicks, Tiny Search this; Holley, Lonnie Search this; Hunter, Clementine Search this; James, A. Everette (Alton Everette), 1938- Search this; Jennings, James Harold Search this; Jones, S. L. (Shields Landon), 1901- Search this; Jordan, John Search this; Josephson, Nancy, 1955- Search this; Klumpp, Gustave, 1902-1974 Search this; Lisk, Charles Search this; Little, Roy Search this; Lopez, George Search this; Maldonado, Alexander Aramburo, 1901-1989 Search this; McCarthy, Justin, 1891-1977 Search this; Merrill, James Ingram Search this; Morgan, Gertrude Search this; Mr. Imagination, 1948- Search this; Nathaniel, Inez Search this; O'Kelley, Mattie Lou Search this; Orth, Kevin, 1961- Search this; Patterson, Clayton Search this; Prince, Daniel C. Search this; Prince, Neal A. Search this; Robertson, Royal Search this; Rowe, Nellie Mae, 1900-1982 Search this; Smith, Fred, 1886-1975 Search this; Smith, Robert E., 1926- Search this; Smither, John Search this; Smither, Stephanie Search this; Spies, Jim Search this; St. EOM, 1908-1986 Search this; Terrillion, Veronica Search this; Tolliver, Mose, 1920- Search this; Tolson, Edgar, 1904-1984 Search this; Walters, Hubert Search this; Weissman, Julia Search this; Young, Purvis, 1943- Search this; Zeldis, Malcah Search this

Extent:: 26.7 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Video recordings; Watercolors; Sketchbooks; Sound recordings; Photographs; Drawings; Poems; Reports; Prints; Interviews

Date:: 1776-1998; bulk 1876-1998

Summary:: The papers of folk art collector and museum curator Herbert Waide Hemphill date from 1776-1998, bulk 1876-1998, and measure 26.7 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials, personal business records, files documenting his collecting, writings, art work, minutes of meetings, a scrapbook, printed material including exhibition and auction announcements and catalogs, and miscellaneous artifacts. The collection also contains numerous photographs of Hemphill, family members, his residences, friends and colleagues, exhibitions, travel, and art work. Sound and video recordings include interviews of Hemphill.

Scope and Content Note:: The papers of folk art collector and museum curator Herbert Waide Hemphill date from 1776-1998, bulk 1876-1998, and measure 26.7 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials, personal business records, files documenting his collecting, writings, art work, minutes of meetings, a scrapbook, printed material including exhibition and auction announcements and catalogs, and miscellaneous artifacts. The collection also contains numerous photographs of Hemphill, family members, his residences, friends and colleagues, exhibitions, travel, and art work. Sound and video recordings include interviews of Hemphill.

Biographical material includes photocopies of Hemphill's birth certificate and passport, social security cards, and international health card, genealogical notes, an evaluation of his school work, membership cards, award certificates, address books, and an engagement calendar containing very brief annotations of his activities.

Correspondence documents Hemphill's affairs with miscellaneous museums and art institutions, discussing his presentation of lectures, exhibitions, and loans from his collection to organizations including the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, the Folk Art Society of America, the Museum of International Folk Art, and the Smithsonian Institution's American Art Museum.

Hemphill's correspondence with friends and colleagues discuss collecting activities and pursuit of newly discovered folk art and artists. Many of the letters are from artists. Correspondents include Varick A. Crittenden, Michael D. Hall, A. Everette James, Daniel C. Prince, Neal A. Prince, and artists Rev. Maceptaw Bogun, Mary Borkowski, Tim Fowler, Joseph Victor Gatto, S. L. Jones, Gustav Klumpp, Roy Little, George Lopez, Kevin Orth, and Malcah Zeldis. There are also scattered letters from artists Miles Burkholder Carpenter, John W. Fancher, Rev. Howard Finster, William Hawkins, Sister Gertrude Morgan, Mr. Imagination, Mattie Lou O'Kelley, Clayton Patterson, St. EOM, and Mose Tolliver. One letter from Stephanie and John Smither is etched on a bone.

Personal business records include both legal and financial documents. There are wills for Hemphill, his mother, and for his friend Neal A. Prince. The records also include leases, insurance records, contracts, grant proposals, loan agreements, deeds of gift, price lists, consignment records, tax records, and miscellaneous receipts. Cancelled checks relate to Hemphill's collecting interests and activities, and include payments to artists for their work. There are court papers documenting a lawsuit by Hemphill's landlord who was attempting to evict him.

Art work consists of a sketchbook by Roy Little, a set of hand-cut Japanese mask designs, a collage of Polaroid photographs taped to glass created by Rev. Howard Finster, a hand-made book by Nancy Josephson, and miscellaneous drawings, watercolors, and prints by various artists including Justin McCarthy, Inez Nathaniel, and Nellie Mae Rowe.

Notes and writings include card files of artists, extensive bibliographic card files, and scattered notes on artists including Miles Carpenter, Raymond Coins, Rev. Howard Finster, Mattie Lou O'Kelley, Royal Robertson, Veronica Terrillion, Mose Tolliver, and Bill Traylor. Also found are lists of artists, patrons, and art work, miscellaneous notes, and minutes of meetings. Writings by Hemphill and others including Michael D. Hall, Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, A. Everett James, and Julia Weissman, consist of reports, typescripts, and poems concerning a wide range of art-related topics and travel.

A scrapbook consists of unbound pages of clippings and newsletters about Hemphill, his collection, and exhibitions of folk art.

There is extensive additional printed material illustrating Hemphill's many interests. This series primarily consists of clippings and exhibition announcements and catalogs for mainstream artists as well as folk artists. Also included are auction announcements and catalogs, announcements for festivals, press releases, and calendars of events. Numerous booklets, brochures, programs, menus, business cards, and novelty postcards concern a variety of topics including worldwide travel, the sale of art work, miscellaneous galleries, museums, organizations, conferences, schools, lectures, antiques and craft shops, films, publications, restaurants, household items, historical topics, and miscellaneous artists including Miles Carpenter, S. P. Dinsmoor, Lonnie Holley, Clementine Hunter, and Veronica Terrillion. There are also autographed copies of booklets The Black Swan and Other Poems by James Merrill, and The Blood of Jesus by Thomas Jefferson Flanagan. Novelty postcards range from photographs of Elvis Presley to cards with amusing captions or cartoon jokes. There is also sheet music by Charles Trenet. Miscellaneous printed material includes several eighteenth-century newspapers and a 1776 thirty shilling note from New Jersey.

Photographs are of Hemphill, family members, his residences, friends and colleagues including style editor Carrie Donovan, artist Rev. Howard Finster dancing at an exhibition opening, actress Alice Ghostley, Michael D. Hall, circus performers Vernon Goins and Tiny Hicks, Smithsonian curator Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, Neal A. Prince, and Jim Spies. Photographs of exhibitions include stereographic views of the International Exhibition in Philadelphia and the Exposition Universelle in Paris, and photographs of Hemphill's donation of his collection and its subsequent exhibition at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum. Travel photographs include views of South Dakota, Texas, the American West, Japan, Mexico, and The Netherlands.

Numerous photographs of art work sometimes include images of the artists with their work including Bruce Brice, Raymond Coins, John W. Fancher, Rev. Howard Finster, Theora Hamblett, Bessie Harvey, William Hawkins, James Harold Jennings, John Jordan, Charles Lisk, Alexander Maldonado, St. EOM, Fred Smith, Edgar Tolson, Hubert Walters, and Purvis Young. Some photographs of unattributed art work has been arranged by the state in which it is located and includes a Mardi Gras parade in Louisiana, a Mummer's parade in Pennsylvania, Lucy the Elephant-shaped building in New Jersey, and Holy Ghost Park in Wisconsin. Other photographs of unattributed art work include works on paper, paintings, sculpture, signs, collages, needlework, glass, ceramics, and architecture.

Sound and video recordings include a cassette from Hemphill's phone answering machine that contains only Hemphill's message to callers, cassette recordings of interviews with and concerning Hemphill, artist St. EOM, painter Robert E. Smith discussing his work, and the tour narration for a Smithsonian exhibition Made With Passion. There are videotapes about Hemphill and about artists Gayleen Aiken, Miller and Bryant, and Malcah Zeldis, and miscellaneous African American artists. There is also a videotape of an American Museum of Natural History tour group arriving in a succession of villages in Melanesia and Papua New Guinea where they are greeted by the native people and given the opportunity to purchase their art work.

Artifacts consist of a scattered assemblage of three-dimensional objects including three wooden "fringe" pieces from cigar store figures, ceramic fragments from a sword handle, a lock of horse hair, and a hand-painted View Master viewer souvenir from the opening of the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. The View Master contains a disc of photographs of artists with their work including Vollis Simpson and Mary Frances Whitfield. Also included is a teacher's kit Little Adventures in Art containing four phonograph albums and four short film strips of slides showing art work in animal and bird forms.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged as 10 series; all series are arranged chronologically:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1916-1997 (Box 1, 28; 12 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1901-1998 (Boxes 1-5, 27- 28, OV 31; 4.0 linear feet)

Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1817-1997 (Box 5-7, 28; 2.0 linear feet)

Series 4: Art Work, 1911-1997 (Box 7, 32; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 5: Notes and Writings, 1938-1996 (Box 7-10, 28; 2.5 linear feet)

Series 6: Scrapbook, 1965-1976 (Box 10; 1 folder)

Series 7: Printed Material, 1776-1998 (Box 10-19, 28-29, OV 31; 9.5 linear feet)

Series 8: Photographs, 1876-1997 (Box 19-24, 29; 5.5 linear feet)

Series 9: Sound and Video Recordings, 1986-1991 (Box 25-26; 13 folders)

Series 10: Artifacts, 1968-1995 (Box 26, 30; 0.7 linear feet)

Biographical Note:: Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr., (1929-1998) lived in New York city and was a prominent curator, historian, and collector of American folk art. Hemphill was one of the founding members of the Museum of American Folk Art, organized several large exhibitions of folk art, and co-authored Twentieth Century American Folk Art and Artist.

Hemphill was born on January 21, 1929 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the son of businessman Herbert Waide Hemphill, Sr., and Emma Bryan Bradley Hemphill whose uncle, William Clark Bradley, was one of the owners of the Coca-Cola Company.

Hemphill was reared in his mother's home town of Columbus, Georgia, and attended Wynnton School. At the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey and the Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania, Hemphill's principle interests were in art and theater. In 1948, he spent a year studying fine arts at Bard College under Stefan Hirsch, a painter and folk art collector.

Hemphill developed his interest in collecting while accompanying his mother on her shopping forays searching for Dresden china. His first acquisition was a wooden duck decoy purchased when he was seven years old. His early collections were of glass bottles, marbles, stamps, and puzzle jugs. In 1949, Hemphill moved to Manhattan and began to focus on modern European and American art and African sculpture, but after 1956 he concentrated exclusively on 19th and early 20th century American folk art. He often discovered artists during his extensive travels, especially in the American South.

In 1961, Hemphill became one of the six founding trustees of the Museum of Early American Folk Art, later named the Museum of American Folk Art, in New York City. Between 1964 and 1973, he was the museum's first curator and curated many exhibitions, helping to promote awareness of work created by self-taught or visionary artists. He later served as Trustee Emeritus for many years.

Between 1974 and 1988, Hemphill loaned portions of his extensive personal collection to 24 museums nationwide and in 1976, the American Bicentennial Commission selected works from his collection for a goodwill tour of Japan. He was named guest curator at the Brooklyn Museum in 1976 and at the Abby Aldrich Folk Art Collection in 1980, and often appeared as guest lecturer at various universities, the Smithsonian Institution, and at the Library of Congress. In 1986, Hemphill donated more than 400 folk art works to the Smithsonian Institution's American Art Museum, resulting in a landmark exhibition Made with Passion: The Hemphill Folk Art Collection of the National Museum of American Art.

Hemphill's publications include books Twentieth Century American Folk Art and Artists, co-authored with Julia Weissman in 1974, Folk Sculpture USA for the Brooklyn Museum in 1976, and Found in New York's North Country: The Folk Art of a Region, co-authored with Varick A. Chittenden in 1982 for the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute.

Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. died on May 8, 1998 in New York City.

Provenance:: Herbert Waide Hemphill donated his papers in 5 installments between 1988 and 1996.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of audiovisual materials with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

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 -- Collectors and collecting Search this; Folk art -- Collectors and collecting Search this; Curators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; Art -- Economic aspects Search this

Genre/Form:: Video recordings; Watercolors; Sketchbooks; Sound recordings; Photographs; Drawings; Poems; Reports; Prints; Interviews

Citation:: Herbert Waide Hemphill papers, 1776-1998, bulk 1876-1998. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:: AAA.hempherb

See more items in:: Herbert Waide Hemphill papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9f69d462b-a5dc-45d7-bfd8-fcac50b7312b

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-hempherb

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Dr. H. K. Wilson collection of photographs and manuscript material from Tuba City

Collector:: Wilson, H. K. (Henry Kirke), 1874-1947 Search this

Names:: Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919 Search this

Extent:: 56 Prints (silver gelatin); 16 Pages (Manuscript material :)

Culture:: Diné (Navajo) Search this; Apache Search this; Hopi Pueblo Search this; Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Prints; Pages; Photographs

Place:: Arizona; Tuba City (Ariz.)

Date:: circa 1913-1916

Scope and Contents note:: Photographs depicting Bureau of Indian Affairs employees and their families, Agency and Reservation buildings, and Navajo students at the Tuba City Indian School. The collection also includes an image of Theodore Roosevelt in Tuba City and images of Apache people, Moencopi Hopi village, and Hopi dances, including the Butterfly, Corn, and Snake Dance. Photographs were originally mounted on black paper in a photo album; they were later removed and placed in a "magnetic" album with added captions, possibly by the donor.

The collection also includes an account by Dr. Wilson describing fears of a Navajo uprising against the agency following the shooting of a Navajo suspect by two white policemen in 1916. There are also are eight issues of "The Tuba Times," a "newspaper" published by Dr. Wilson's daughter Rachel and two friends, Norine and Hugh Williams, in 1914. Additionally, there is a segment of a map from 1969.

Biographical/Historical note:: Dr. Henry Kirke Wilson (1874-1947) was appointed by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as the physician for the Western Navajo Agency located in Tuba City, Arizona.

Local Call Number(s):: NAA Photo Lot 81-20

Restrictions:: The collection is open for research.

Access to the collection requires an appointment.

Rights:: Contact the repository for terms of use.

Topic:: Hopi dance Search this

Genre/Form:: Photographs

Citation:: Photo lot 81-20, Dr. H. K. Wilson collection of photographs and manuscript material from Tuba City, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Identifier:: NAA.PhotoLot.81-20

Archival Repository:: National Anthropological Archives

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw328f04dc9-5eed-4ffb-8dc4-f023e543b660

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-naa-photolot-81-20

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Bob Cats; Shine

Recording artist:: Phil Zito and his New Orleans International City Dixielanders Search this

Manufacturer:: Columbia Search this

Physical Description:: paper (overall material); ink (overall material); shellac (overall material)

Measurements:: overall: 10 in; 25.4 cm

Object Name:: sound recording

Place made:: United States

Recording date:: 1949

Related Publication:: Jazz Records 1942-1962, Vol. 8: Te - Z

Credit Line:: Gift of Lucy C. Shain in memory of James Lewis Shain

ID Number:: 1978.0670.529

Accession number:: 1978.0670

Maker number:: 38752; C-199

Catalog number:: 1978.0670.529

See more items in:: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment; Music & Musical Instruments; Popular Entertainment; Family & Social Life; Jazz; Sound Recordings

Data Source:: National Museum of American History

GUID:: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a4-f0f6-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:nmah_668352

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Joan Didion what she means Hilton Als

Title:: What she means

Curator:: Als, Hilton Search this; Butler, Cornelia H Search this

Author:: Didion, Joan Search this

Writer of foreword:: Philbin, Ann Search this

Issuing body:: Hammer Museum Search this

Physical description:: 127 pages illustrations (some color), facsimiles, maps (some color), portraits 33 cm

Type:: Exhibitions; Interviews; Biography; Entretiens; Autobiographies; Biographies; Exhibition catalogs

Place:: United States

Date:: 2022; 20th century; 21st century; 20e siècle

Topic:: Biography as a literary form Search this; Women authors, American Search this; Screenwriters Search this; Romanciers américains Search this; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY--Literary Search this; LITERARY COLLECTIONS--American--General Search this; LITERARY CRITICISM--American--General Search this; Novelists, American Search this

Call number:: N40.1.D557 H36 2022

Data Source:: Smithsonian Libraries

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:siris_sil_1158939

for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf

Published by:: Playbill, American, founded 1884 Search this

Subject of:: Ntozake Shange, American, 1948 - 2018 Search this

Used by:: Booth Theatre, American, founded 1913 Search this

Medium:: ink on paper, metal

Dimensions:: 9 x 5 5/8 x 1/8 in. (22.9 x 14.3 x 0.3 cm)

Type:: magazines (periodicals); playbills

Place used:: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America

Date:: November 1977

Topic:: African American Search this; Drama (Theatre) Search this; Feminism Search this; Gender Search this; Identity Search this; Sexuality Search this; Women Search this

Credit Line:: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Dow B. Ellis

Object number:: 2012.152.1213

See more items in:: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

Classification:: Documents and Published Materials-Published Works; Memorabilia and Ephemera

Data Source:: National Museum of African American History and Culture

GUID:: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd51ab3730e-e1bf-4147-a63e-74b05c4b3209

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:nmaahc_2012.152.1213

1 Page(s) matching your search term, top most relevant are shown: View entire project in transcription center

Online Media:

Reclaiming History: Our Native Daughters Sneak Peek | Smithsonian Channel

Creator:: Smithsonian Channel Search this

Type:: YouTube Videos

Uploaded:: 2021-02-18T16:46:24.000Z

YouTube Category:: Entertainment Search this

See more by:: smithsonianchannel

Data Source:: Smithsonian Channel

YouTube Channel:: smithsonianchannel

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:yt_GksC_ZI4c3g

St. Vincent on The Art of Music

Creator:: Smithsonian Channel Search this

Type:: YouTube Videos

Uploaded:: 2013-12-09T21:22:37.000Z

YouTube Category:: Entertainment Search this

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Data Source:: Smithsonian Channel

YouTube Channel:: smithsonianchannel

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:yt_e_K081cHYY4

Meet the Curator: Daniel Sheehy

Creator:: Smithsonian Channel Search this

Type:: YouTube Videos

Uploaded:: 2020-06-12T20:21:56.000Z

YouTube Category:: Entertainment Search this

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Data Source:: Smithsonian Channel

YouTube Channel:: smithsonianchannel

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:yt_zIQb4TV7tmI

How to Make an "Our Home" Nature Walk Album (Demonstration)

Creator:: Smithsonian Education Search this

Type:: YouTube Videos

Uploaded:: 2011-08-29T15:56:44.000Z

YouTube Category:: Education Search this

Topic:: Education Search this

See more by:: SmithsonianEducation

Data Source:: Smithsonian Education

YouTube Channel:: SmithsonianEducation

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:yt_8T14QDPL-to

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Joan Didion what she means Hilton Als

for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf

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