An interview of Willem De Looper conducted 1992 January 26 and February 29, by Benjamin Forgey, for the Archives of American Art. De Looper discusses growing up in the Hague, in Holland, during WWII; his family and educational background; moving to the United States in 1950; his U.S. Army service; his studies at American University and his teachers including Robert Gates, Ben Summerford, William Calfee, and Sarah Baker; his early experiments with abstraction; his first studio in Washington, D.C.; exhibiting at the Jefferson Place Gallery in the 1960s and later at the B.R. Kornblatt Gallery; working at the Phillips Collection for twenty-five years; and materials, techniques, and influences in his painting. He recalls Tom Downing, the Institute of Contemporary Art (Washington, D.C.), John Gernand, Sam Gilliam, Michael Clark, Duncan and Marjorie Phillips, Harold Giese, William Woodward, Jim McLaughlin, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Willem De Looper (1932-2009) was a painter from Washington, D.C.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 23 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics, and administrators.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Painters -- Washington (D.C.) -- Interviews Search this
Topic:
Art students -- Washington (D.C.) -- Interviews Search this
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
The papers of New York painter, Charles Cajori measure 5.8 linear feet and 0.070 GB and date from 1942-2011. The collection documents Cajori's activities as a painter, educator, and co-founder of the Tanager Gallery that was located on the Lower East Side in New York through correspondence; writings and notes; interviews, talks, and panel discussions, one digitized, on art and artists; and printed materials.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of New York painter, Charles Cajori measure 5.8 linear feet and 0.070 GB and date from 1942-2011. The collection documents Cajori's activities as a painter, educator, and co-founder of the Tanager Gallery that was located on the Lower East Side in New York through correspondence; writings and notes; interviews, talks, and panel discussions on art and artists; and printed materials.
Correspondence is personal and professional and consists of mostly incoming letters to Cajori from artists, friends, family, art historians, and academic institutions. There are a few letters from Charles Cajori, including draft of his letters. Among the correspondents are Pat Adams, Leland Bell, Bernard Chaet, Cooper Union, Cleve Gray, Louis Finkelstein, Philip Pearlstein, Sidney Simon, Norman Turner, and the University of California at Berkeley. Of interest, are letters from the founders of the Tanager Gallery, such as Lois Dodd, Angelo Ippolito, and William King. Correspondence also documents Cajori's dealings with galleries and museums as well as his involvement in arts organizations; included are letters from American University, Watkins Gallery; Bertha Schaffer Gallery; Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; Gallery Association of New York; Museum of Modern Art; Roko Gallery; Stable Gallery; and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Writings and notes are and about Charles Cajori. Cajori's writings include drafts on painting and drawing that Cajori prepared for classroom lectures and panel discussions; essays on Paul Cézanne and Chaim Soutine; and his account of the founding of the Tanager Gallery. Cajori's writings also include a biographical account and an artist's statement. There are writings by Louis Finkelstein, Andrew Forge, and Mercedes Matter about Cajori's work. Included are several guest registers for Cajori's exhibitions at the David Findlay Gallery, Lohin Geduld Gallery, and the New York Studio School.
Interviews, talks, and panel discussions include a transcript of an interview with Charles Cajori, audiotaped and videotaped interviews with Charles Cajori, and panel discussions with Cajori and others. Panel discussions with Cajori and others cover such topics as the New York school artists and Chaim Soutine. Many of recordings focus on Cajori's association with the Tanager Gallery, the art scene in New York during the 1950s, and his reflections on art. Also included are miscellaneous videotaped recordings. One panel discussion is digitized.
Printed material contains exhibition catalogs, checklists, announcements, invitations, press releases, clippings, reviews, brochures, and miscellaneous printed material. A file of printed materials on the Tanager Gallery includes exhibition catalogs and clippings.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 4 series:
Series 1: Correspondence, 1942-2011 (Boxes 1-2; 1.1 linear feet)
Series 2: Writings and Notes, 1949-2010 (Box 2; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 3: Interviews, Talks, and Panel Discussions, 1983-2010 (Boxes 2-3; 1.2 linear feet, ER01; 0.070 GB)
Series 4: Printed Material, circa 1950s-2010 (Boxes 3-4; 1.4 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Painter and teacher Charles Cajori (b. 1921-) has worked in New York City and Connecticut.
Born in Palo Alto, California in 1921, Charles Cajori studied painting at Colorado College and the Cleveland Art School. Cajori served in the United States Air Force during World War II. Upon his return, he attended Columbia University and then spent two years at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, where he became acquainted with Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, and other Abstract Expressionist artists.
Charles Cajori was one of the founding members of the Tanager Gallery, an early artists' cooperative gallery, originally located at 90 East Tenth Street in New York, which provided a venue for contemporary artists to exhibit their work. In 1956, Charles Cajori had his first solo exhibition at the Tanager Gallery and since then, has been continuously showing his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States and abroad including American University, Bertha Schaeffer Gallery, David Findlay Jr. Gallery, El Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas, Ingber Gallery, Lohin Geduld Gallery, Mattatuck Museum, New Arts Gallery, Paesaggio Gallery, Sala di Esposizione della Biblioteca Americana, Stable Gallery, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Charles Cajori's work is represented in a number of public and private collections including the Ciba-Geigy Corporation, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Academy of Design, Walker Art Center, and the Weatherspoon Museum.
In conjunction with his activities as an artist, Charles Cajori has taught painting and drawing at major academic institutions and art schools: Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Cooper Union, Cornell University, and the University of California at Berkeley. Cajori was a co-founder of the New York Studio School, where he continues to serve on the faculty.
Charles Cajori has received many honors for his work including the 1959 Distinction in the Arts, Yale University; Benjamin Altman, Figure Prize at the National Academy, 1983, 1987; the Childe Hassam Purchase Award by the Institute of Art and Letters Award, 1975-1976, 1980; and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, 1979. Also, Cajori was awarded a Fulbright grant to Italy, 1952-1953 and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1981.
Charles Cajori is married to the painter Barbara Grossman and they live in Watertown, Connecticut.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Charles Cajori in 2011.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings 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:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Educators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Sound recordings
Interviews
Video recordings
Transcripts
Citation:
Charles Cajori papers, 1942-2011. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
3 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 3 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1923-1989
Scope and Contents:
Primarily research material compiled by Smith for her MA Thesis on Arthur Dove (1944, American University), and for the American Art Research Council, and papers relating to Smith's personal life and career as a painter.
REEL 1043: Photocopies of 19 letters and 2 telegrams from Dove and his wife Helen ("Reds") to Smith, 1943-1944 (originals donated in 1992); a card catalog of Dove's paintings; and a typescript of the 1976 revised edition of Smith's master's thesis, "Arthur G. Dove: A Study in Contemporary Art."
REELS 2425-2426: Provenance records for ca. 700 of Dove's paintings and sketches, compiled by Smith under the auspices of the American Art Research Council, containing information about title, ownership, medium, special markings on picture and frame, condition, date of work, and exhibition of work.
UNMICROFILMED: Personal papers relating to Smith's career and civic and social activities in the Washington, D.C. area, 1923-1988, including correspondence, letters to her husband, Gordon H. Smith, while he was an army musician stationed in California in 1944; class notes from her studies at American University; annotated sketchbooks; Smith's wedding album; printed material; and photographs of Smith, relatives and friends, including artist Peter Hurd.
Also included are materials on Dove, 1936-1989, including letters concerning Dove from Georgia O'Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Alden Jewell, Duncan Phillips,and Charles Alan; Smith's 1944 edition of her master's thesis; research notes on Dove, including transcribed Dove writings and correspondence; printed material; slides of Dove's work; and 4 microfilm reels of material collected during her research, portions contained in her papers.
Biographical / Historical:
Art historian, author, painter (1913-1989) of Washington, D.C.
Provenance:
Material on reels 2425-2426 donated 1972 by Nathaly Baum. Material on reel 1043 lent for microfilming 1976 by Smith, and except for the 1976 revised thesis, was subsequently donated along with the unmicrofilmed material 1992 by Daisy Mullet Smith, Smith's daughter.
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.
Thomas, J. Maurice (John Maurice), 1900 or 1901- Search this
Extent:
5.5 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Audiocassettes
Video recordings
Photographs
Date:
circa 1894-2001
Summary:
The papers of Washington, D.C. painter and art educator Alma Thomas, date from circa 1894-2001 and measure 5.5 linear feet. The papers document Thomas's work as a teacher, and her development and success as a painter of the Washington Color School, through biographical material, letters, notes and writings, personal business records, exhibition files, printed materials, scrapbooks, photographs, an audio recording, and two video recordings.
Scope and Contents note:
The papers of Washington, D.C. painter and art educator Alma Thomas, date from circa 1894-2001 and measure 5.5 linear feet. The papers document Thomas's work as a teacher, and her development and success as a painter of the Washington Color School, through biographical material, letters, notes and writings, personal business records, exhibition files, printed materials, scrapbooks, photographs, an audio recording, and two video recordings.
Biographical material includes identity cards, chronologies, an audio recording including a biographical account, and scattered documentation of Thomas's education and teaching careers with D.C. Public Schools, Howard University, and Thomas Garrett Settlement in Wilmington, Delaware. Also found are records relating to Thomas's participation in a summer marionette class taught by Tony Sarg in 1934, and a tour of European art centers which Thomas took in 1958.
Letters relate primarily to the exhibition of Thomas's work and related events and are from galleries, museums, other art institutions, colleagues, and friends including Franz Bader, Adelyn Breeskin, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Howard University Gallery of Art, Martha Jackson Gallery, Nathalie J. Cole Johnson, Vincent Melzac, Celine Tabary, and Joshua Taylor.
Notes and writings include four notebooks and autobiographical writings by Thomas, a "Birthday Book," and an annotated engagement calendar. J. Maurice Thomas's writings about Alma Thomas, her research for a bibliography on James Weldon Johnson, and writings by others, including Jacob Kainen, about Alma Thomas, are also found here.
Exhibition files contain a wide variety of documentation for many group and solo exhibitions of Thomas's work from the early 1950s through a 1998-2000 traveling retrospective exhibition, including solo exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1972. The records include letters from Franz Bader Gallery, David Driskell at Fisk University, and Vincent Melzac. Photographs include Thomas with individuals including William Buckner, Jeff Donaldson, David Driskell, James W. Herring, and Vincent Melzac. Also found is a photograph of the 1951 Little Paris Studio Group picturing Lois Mailou Jones, Celine Tabary, Alma Thomas, and others. Two video recordings are of events related to the 1998-2000 retrospective at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art and the Columbus Museum of Art. Records documenting a 1981-1982 exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of American Art, A Life in Art: Alma Thomas, includes the script of a video written by Adolphus Ealey.
Personal business records include price lists, gift and loan receipts, and files concerning the Art in Embassies Program, the Martha Jackson Gallery, a benefit auction for the Corcoran School of Art, and the designation of the Thomas family home in Washington, D.C. as a historic property.
Eleven scrapbooks document Thomas's teaching career through the activities of the art classes she taught at Shaw Junior High School.
Printed materials include announcements and catalogs for exhibitions and other events; clippings which document Thomas's career and subjects of interest to her; Christmas cards featuring block prints designed by Thomas; and other programs and publications featuring Thomas.
Photographs are of Alma Thomas, family, and friends and colleagues including Sam Gilliam, James V. Herring, and Nathalie V. Cole Johnson; art classes taught by Thomas; Thomas's homes in Columbus, Georgia and Washington, D.C.; and exhibitions not documented in Series 4: Exhibition Files, including photographs of Alma Thomas at an opening at Barnett Aden Gallery with Alonzo Aden and others.
Arrangement note:
The papers have been arranged into 8 series:
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1911-2001 (Box 1; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 2: Letters, circa 1930-2001 (Boxes 1-2; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 3: Notes and Writings, circa 1920s-circa 1998 (Box 2; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 4: Exhibition Files, 1951-2000 (Boxes 2-3, OV 7; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 5: Personal Business Records, circa 1950s-1994 (Box 3; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 6: Printed Material, circa 1908-2000 (Boxes 3-5, OV 7; 1.8 linear feet)
Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1930-1946 (Box 5; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, circa 1894-2001 (Boxes 5-6; 0.6 linear feet)
Biographical/Historical note:
Washington, D.C. painter and art educator Alma Thomas (1891-1978) was known for her abstract paintings filled with dense patterns of color, and was considered a major artist of the Washington Color School.
Thomas was born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1894, and was the eldest of the four daughters of John Harris Thomas and Amelia Cantey Thomas. The family moved to Washington, D.C. in 1906 and Thomas was first introduced to art classes at Armstrong Technical High School. Following her graduation in 1911 she took a course in kindergarten teaching at the Miner Normal School, and subsequently worked as a substitute teacher in the Washington, D.C. public school system until 1914, when she took a teaching position on the Eastern shore of Maryland. From 1916 to 1923 she taught kindergarten at Thomas Garrett Settlement House in Wilmington, Delaware.
Thomas originally enrolled at Howard University in Washington, D.C. as a home economics major in 1921, but after studying under Lois Mailou Jones amd James V. Herring in Herring's newly established art department, she earned a Bachelor's degree in Fine Art in 1924, and became the first person to graduate from the program. Thomas then began her teaching career at Shaw Junior High School in Washington, D.C. that lasted from 1924, until her retirement in 1960. During this time she established community arts programs that would encourage her students to develop an appreciation of fine arts. Activities included marionette programs, distribution of student-designed holiday menu cards for dinners given for soldiers at the Tuskegee Veterans' Hospital, art clubs, lectures, and student exhibitions. In 1943 she became the founding vice president of Barnett Aden Gallery, which was established by James V. Herring and Alonzo Aden and was the first integrated gallery in Washington, D.C.
In 1934 Thomas earned an M.A. degree in Art Education from Columbia University. At American University in Washington, D.C., she studied creative painting under Joe Summerford, Robert Gates, and Jacob Kainen from 1950 to 1960, and began to break away from representational painting and experiment more seriously with Abstract Expressionism. In 1958 she participated in a tour of the art centers of Western Europe under the auspices of the Tyler School of Fine Arts at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Following her retirement from teaching in 1960, Thomas devoted herself full-time to painting, and continued to develop her signature style. She was inspired by nature and the desire to express beauty through composition and color, and refused to be constrained by societal expectations related to her race, gender, and age, achieving her greatest success in the last decade of her life. Her work was exhibited at the Dupont Theatre Art Gallery, Franz Bader Gallery, and the Howard University Gallery of Art, before she was honored in 1972 with exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Thomas's work has been exhibited at the White House and can be found in the permanent collections of major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Separated Materials note:
In 1979, J. Maurice Thomas loaned papers for microfilming. Most, but not all, of the loaned material was later donated and is described in this finding aid. Loaned materials not donated at a later date are available on reels 1541-1543 and are not described in the container listing of this finding aid.
Provenance:
J. Maurice Thomas, the artist's sister, loaned portions of the collection for microfilming in 1979. Most, but not all of this material was then later donated in several accretions by J. Maurice Thomas, between 1979 and 2004. Charles Thomas Lewis, Thomas' nephew, gave additional papers in 2010.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate copies 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.
The papers of Washington, D.C. area painter and art instructor Robert Franklin Gates date from 1910-1988, bulk 1928-1988, and measure 2.3 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials; letters from government agencies, museums, galleries, and colleagues; business records primarily concerning transactions with the Jack Rasmussen Gallery; artwork including scattered drawings by Gates and block prints by Joe Goethe and D. Neufeld; two scrapbooks; printed materials; and photographs of Gates, family members, models, artwork, and exhibition installations. There are also photograph albums and miscellaneous photographs documenting a 1936 voyage to the Virgin Islands commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of Washington, D.C. area painter and art instructor Robert Franklin Gates date from 1910-1988, bulk 1928-1988, and measure 2.3 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials; letters from government agencies, museums, galleries, and colleagues; business records primarily concerning transactions with the Jack Rasmussen Gallery; artwork including scattered drawings by Gates and block prints by Joe Goethe and D. Neufeld; two scrapbooks; printed materials; and photographs of Gates, family members, models, artwork, and exhibition installations. There are also photograph albums and miscellaneous photographs documenting a 1936 voyage to the Virgin Islands commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Biographical material includes resumes, biographical accounts, award certificates, records for employment through a State Department Specialists Grant, address lists, teaching notes, writings about Gates, and a guest book signed by colleagues celebrating Gates' forty years at American University. There is a also a group of Navy Department records documenting Gates' employment designing three-dimensional photo-surfaced topography models for use by troops during World War II.
Letters are primarily from the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Works Agency discussing commissions, including the painting of post office murals in Maryland and West Virginia, and from various museums and galleries discussing exhibitions and other art-related activities. There are one or two letters each from colleagues Alice Acheson, Adelyn Breeskin, Charles Burchfield, Alida Conover, John Gernand, Duncan Phillips, Henry Varnum Poor, and Prentiss Taylor. Some letters are Christmas cards decorated with original block prints.
Business records primarily document Gates' interaction with the Jack Rasmussen Gallery in Washington, D.C., but also include miscellaneous sales records and pay stubs from American University.
Artwork consists of scattered drawings of modern houses by Gates and abstract sketches by others, and small block prints by Joe Goethe and D. Neufeld. Two Scrapbooks contain clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and scattered letters.
Additional printed material includes clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs for Gates and others, prospectuses for art exhibitions, press releases, calendars of events, booklets about color and lenses, brochures for art schools and books, and an unannotated calendar containing a reproduction of one of Gates' paintings.
Photographs are of Robert Gates, various family members including Gates with his first wife photographed by Prentiss Taylor, models, artwork, and exhibition installations. There are two photograph albums and unbound photographs documenting a 1936 voyage to the Virgin Islands commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department. Images of this trip are of Gates and colleagues including Mitchell Jamieson, the ship Doris Hamlin, the crew, markets, a cock fight, miscellaneous buildings, town squares, and the countryside of the Virgin Islands.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 7 series. Each series is arranged chronologically:
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1928-1975 (Box 1, OV 4; 34 folders)
Series 2: Letters, 1930-1988 (Box 1; 25 folders)
Series 3: Business Records, 1961-1982 (Box 1; 5 folders)
Series 4: Artwork, circa 1962 (Box 1; 6 folders)
Series 5: Scrapbooks, 1932-1939 (Box 1-2; 4 folders)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1916-1988 (Box 2; 48 folders)
Series 7: Photographs, 1910-1982 (Boxes 2-3, OV 4; 20 folders)
Biographical Note:
Robert Franklin Gates was born on October 6, 1906 in Detroit, Michigan. He studied at the Detroit School of Arts and Crafts, and from 1929 to 1930 attended the Art Students' League in New York. Between 1930 and 1932, Gates studied under C. Law Watkins at the Phillips Gallery Art School in Washington, D.C., later becoming an instructor in life drawing and painting there. During this time, he met fellow student Margaret Casey, and they married on January 7, 1933. Between 1934 and 1938, Robert Gates was an art instructor at the Studio House in Washington, D.C.
In 1934, Gates received a commission from the U.S. Treasury Department Section of Fine Arts to create a series of watercolors of Charles Gardens, South Carolina, and from 1929-1940, murals for post offices in Bethesda, Maryland, Oakland, Maryland, and Lewisburg, West Virginia. In 1936, the Treasury Department also commissioned Gates and fellow artists Mitchell Jamieson and Prentiss Taylor to create series of watercolors of the Virgin Islands, arranging for several voyages there.
Between 1937 and 1942, Gates was a guest instructor at the University of Florida, taught art classes at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland and at the Washington County Museum of Art in Hagerstown, Maryland. He also taught at the Phillips Gallery Art School in Washington, D.C. while his wife was employed as the school secretary. In 1938, Gates received a summer scholarship to study under Henry Varnum Poor at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.
During World War II, Gates worked as a civilian technician for the Navy Department doing model making and camouflage design, receiving the Distinguished Civilian Service Award for his work.
After the war, and the closing of the Phillips Gallery Art School, Gates attended classes taught by Bill Calfee at American University. In 1946, he joined the faculty and eventually becane chairman of the Art Department in 1954. Robert and Margaret Gates were divorced sometime in the mid-1950s. From 1966 to 1967, Gates was Artist-in-Residence at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, under the Department of State Educational and Cultural Exchange Program. In 1967, he married his second wife, Sarita, while in Baghdad.
Gates is represented in the permanent collections of the American University, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Dumbarton Oaks collection, the Phillips Collection, and the Lewisshon collection.
Robert Franklin Gates died on March 11, 1982 in Alexandria, Virginia.
Related Material:
Also in the Archives of American Art are the papers of Gates' first wife Margaret Casey Gates, 1934-1988,
Provenance:
The Robert Franklin Gates papers were donated in 1995 by Sarita W. Gates, the artist's widow, via legal representative Bradford G. Weekes III.
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.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
Collection Citation:
United States Women in Aviation 1940-1985 Research Materials, NASM.1995.0062, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Calfee, William H. (William Howard), 1909-1995 Search this
Names:
American University (Washington, D.C.). Fine Arts Dept. -- Faculty Search this
Extent:
650 Items
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1937-1982
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence, undated and 1966-1982, mostly letters from friends, including Jack Tworkov, Karel Yasko, and others; photographs of Calfee's studio, of his work, of his designs for a Harrisonburg, Virginia WPA mural, and of paintings by Mary Orwen; notebooks, poetry and essays on numerous subjects, 1954-1981, some with illustrations; an illustrated travel diary, 1977, covering a trip to Italy, and other accounts of travels to France, Greece and Turkey; art works, 1937-1955, including many sketches for the WPA mural; one blueprint for the WPA mural; exhibition announcements, 1962-1965; and clippings, 1940-1981. Also included is a complete set of the periodical, RIGHT ANGLE, published by the American University, 1947-1949; and miscellaneous printed material.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, sculptor; Washington, D.C. area. Calfee worked on WPA mural projects for post offices in the 1930s. He was chair of the art dept. at American University, 1945-1954.
Provenance:
Donated 1977-1982 by William Calfee.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
American University (Washington, D.C.). Fine Arts Dept. Search this
Names:
Watkins Art Gallery (American University) Search this
Extent:
10 Microfilm reels (circa 9,000 items on 10 microfilm reels)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Microfilm reels
Date:
1946-1980
Scope and Contents:
The microfilmed American University Fine Arts Department records contain departmental files on faculty, visiting artists, students, fundraising events, and building projects. Also included are files on exhibitions held in the Watkins Gallery; photographs of exhibitions; collection files on permanent acquisitions and memorial gifts, containing photographs and insurance records; five scrapbooks and four guestbooks; and a bound volume of Right Angle (1947-1949). Researchers should note that this finding aid does not include an entry for every name found in the collection and that reels 2217-2219 are not represented in the finding aid.
Biographical / Historical:
American University is a private university in Washington, D.C. The Fine Arts Department (now the Department of Art) is part of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1981 by American University Fine Arts Department.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Topic:
Art -- Study and teaching -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Function:
Art museums, University and college -- Washington (D.C.)
Universities and colleges -- Departments -- Washington (D.C.)
Citation:
American University Fine Arts Department records. Owned by the American University Fine Arts Department. Filmed by Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
American University (Washington, D.C.). Fine Arts Dept. Search this
Container:
Reel 2215.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123071]
Collection Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Collection Citation:
American University Fine Arts Department records. Owned by the American University Fine Arts Department. Filmed by Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
American University (Washington, D.C.). Fine Arts Dept. Search this
Container:
Reel 2215.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123071]
Collection Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Collection Citation:
American University Fine Arts Department records. Owned by the American University Fine Arts Department. Filmed by Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
American University (Washington, D.C.). Fine Arts Dept. Search this
Container:
Reel 2215.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123071]
Collection Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Collection Citation:
American University Fine Arts Department records. Owned by the American University Fine Arts Department. Filmed by Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
American University (Washington, D.C.). Fine Arts Dept. Search this
Container:
Reel 2215.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123071]
Collection Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Collection Citation:
American University Fine Arts Department records. Owned by the American University Fine Arts Department. Filmed by Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
American University (Washington, D.C.). Fine Arts Dept. Search this
Container:
Reel 2215.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123071]
Collection Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Collection Citation:
American University Fine Arts Department records. Owned by the American University Fine Arts Department. Filmed by Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
American University (Washington, D.C.). Fine Arts Dept. Search this
Container:
Reel 2215.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123071]
Collection Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Collection Citation:
American University Fine Arts Department records. Owned by the American University Fine Arts Department. Filmed by Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
American University (Washington, D.C.). Fine Arts Dept. Search this
Container:
Reel 2215.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123071]
Collection Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Collection Citation:
American University Fine Arts Department records. Owned by the American University Fine Arts Department. Filmed by Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
American University (Washington, D.C.). Fine Arts Dept. Search this
Container:
Reel 2215.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123071]
Collection Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Collection Citation:
American University Fine Arts Department records. Owned by the American University Fine Arts Department. Filmed by Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
American University (Washington, D.C.). Fine Arts Dept. Search this
Container:
Reel 2215.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123071]
Collection Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Collection Citation:
American University Fine Arts Department records. Owned by the American University Fine Arts Department. Filmed by Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
American University (Washington, D.C.). Fine Arts Dept. Search this
Container:
Reel 2215.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123071]
Collection Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Collection Citation:
American University Fine Arts Department records. Owned by the American University Fine Arts Department. Filmed by Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
