American University (Washington, D.C.). Department of Anthropology Search this
Extent:
5.5 Linear feet
Culture:
Paleoindian Tradition (archaeological culture) Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Place:
Shawnee Minisink Site (Pa.)
North America
Date:
1974-1978
Scope and Contents:
Contains field books, lab books, logs, transit books and remains records from the excavation of the Shawnee-Minisink Site, circa 1974-1978. One of the earliest dated Native American sites in the northeastern United States, the site is deeply buried and stratified, with occupations related to the Paleo-Indian, Archaic and Woodland periods. The site was excavated by Dr. Charles W. McNett, Jr. and the Department of Anthropology at American University.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Historical Note:
The Shawnee Minisink Site is located in the Upper Delaware Valley of northeastern Pennsylvian, near the confluence of the Delaware River and Brodhead Creek. The site was discovered in 1972 by amateur archaeologist Don Kline; between 1973 and 1977, the site was excavated under the direction of Dr. Charles W. McNett, Jr. and the Department of Anthropology at American University, with funding from the National Science Foundation.
Related Materials:
The Department of Anthropology holds artifacts from the Shawnee-Minisink site (36MR43). Please see accession number 409956.
Provenance:
Donated by Dr. Charles McNett of American University.
Restrictions:
Access to the Shawnee Minisink site files requires an appointment.
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
The Henry P. Whitehead collection is the physical property of the Anacostia Community Museum. Literary and copyright belong to the author/creator or their legal heirs and assigns. Rights to work produced during the normal course of Museum business resides with the Anacostia Community Museum. For further information, and to obtain permission to publish or reproduce, contact the Museum Archives.
Collection is open for research. Access to collection materials requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
The NMAAHC Archives can provide reproductions of some materials for research and educational use. Copyright and right to publicity restrictions apply and limit reproduction for other purposes.
Collection Citation:
Norma Merrick Sklarek Archival Collection, 1944-2008. National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution.
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 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.
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.
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:
Kathryn D. Sullivan Papers, NASM.2019.0007, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
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
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 2212.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123048]
Date:
1952
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 2212.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123048]
Date:
1952
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 2212.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123048]
Date:
1952
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 2212.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123048]
Date:
1952
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 2212.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123048]
Date:
1952
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 2212.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123048]
Date:
1952
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.
Trio — Ernest Lothar, Maxim Elias, Benjamin Abramowitz
Collection Creator:
American University (Washington, D.C.). Fine Arts Dept. Search this
Container:
Reel 2212.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123048]
Date:
1953
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 2212.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123048]
Date:
1953
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 2212.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123048]
Date:
1953
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 2212.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123048]
Date:
1953
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 2213.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123055]
Date:
1953
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 2213.american
Type:
Archival materials
Microform [31027000123055]
Date:
1953
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.
