Search Results

Type:

scroll

Credit Line:

Gift of Mrs. E. Sanderson Cushman

Accession Number:

1963-47-6

See more items in:

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Collection

Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design Department

Data Source:

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:chndm_1963-47-6

Type:

Scroll

Made in:

Tibet

Date:

early 18th century

Credit Line:

Purchased by Friends of the Museum Fund

Accession Number:

1954-15-1

See more items in:

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Collection

Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design Department

Data Source:

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:chndm_1954-15-1

Creator:

Smithson, Robert  Search this

Names:

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

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art  Search this

Andre, Carl, 1935-  Search this

Atkinson, Terry, 1939-  Search this

Dibbets, Jan, 1941-  Search this

Dwan, Virginia  Search this

Flavin, Dan, 1933-  Search this

Graham, Dan, 1942-  Search this

Haacke, Hans, 1936-  Search this

Heizer, Michael, 1944-  Search this

Holt, Nancy, 1938-  Search this

Insley, Will, 1929-2011  Search this

Jenney, Neil, 1945-  Search this

Johnson, Ray, 1927-  Search this

Kepes, Gyorgy, 1906-2001  Search this

LeWitt, Sol, 1928-2007  Search this

Lippard, Lucy R.  Search this

Long, Richard, 1945-  Search this

Oppenheim, Dennis, 1938-2011  Search this

Valledor, Leo, 1936-1989  Search this

Wheeler, Dennis  Search this

Extent:

15.1 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Interviews

Sketches

Scrapbooks

Greeting cards

Photographs

Transcripts

Motion pictures (visual works)

Date:

1905-1987

bulk 1952-1987

Summary:

The papers of sculptor, writer, and earthworks artist Robert Smithson and his wife, sculptor, filmmaker, and earthworks artist Nancy Holt measure 15.1 linear feet and date from 1905 to 1987, with the bulk of the material dating from 1952 to 1987. The papers consist of Smithson's biographical material; business and personal correspondence, much of it with artists; interview transcripts; extensive writings and project files; financial records; printed material; a scrapbook of clippings; holiday cards with original prints and sketches; photographic material; and artifacts. Also found are project files related to Nancy Holt's motion picture film Pine Barrens and her seminal environmental work of art Sun Tunnels, including a video documentary about Sun Tunnels.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of sculptor, writer, and earthworks artist Robert Smithson and his wife, sculptor, filmmaker, and earthworks artist Nancy Holt measure 15.1 linear feet and date from 1905 to 1987, with the bulk of the material dating from 1952 to 1987. The papers consist of Smithson's biographical material; business and personal correspondence, much of it with artists; interview transcripts; extensive writings and project files; financial records; printed material; a scrapbook of clippings; holiday cards with original prints and sketches; photographic material; and artifacts. Also found are project files related to Nancy Holt's film Pine Barrens and her seminal environmental work of art Sun Tunnels, including a video documentary about Sun Tunnels.

Biographical material includes Robert Smithson's curriculum vitae, personal identification and medical documents, eight engagement/day planners Smithson and Holt maintained from 1966 to 1973, and Smithson's funeral register.

Correspondence is primarily with Smithson's family, friends, fellow artists, and business associates discussing personal relationships, proposed art projects, and exhibitions. Correspondents of note include Carl Andre, the Dwan Gallery (Virginia Dwan), Dan Graham, Will Insley, Ray Johnson, Gyorgy Kepes, Sol Lewitt, Lucy Lippard, and Dennis Wheeler. There is also substantial correspondence received by Holt upon Smithson's death in 1973, and between Holt and the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art regarding Smithson's retrospective exhibition in 1982.

There are nine interview transcripts with Smithson discussing his works and his general philosophy on art, and one transcript of the Andrew Dickson White Museum's Earth Art Symposium (1969) featuring the following artists: Mike Hiezer, Dennis Oppenheim, Robert Smithson, Neil Jenney, Gunther Uecker, Jan Dibbets, Richard Long, and Hans Haacke.

Writings are substantial and include 73 drafts of published and unpublished essays by Smithson on art, artists, and works in progress. The series also includes poems by Smithson, six notebooks containing notes and sketches by Smithson, and drafts of writings sent to Smithson and Holt by friends and colleagues, including Carl Andre, Terry Atkinson, Dan Flavin, Dan Graham, and Jack Thibeau.

Project files contain correspondence, project instructions, diagrams and sketches, research materials, photographic material, and maps related to over 50 of Smithson's artworks. These include concepts, proposed projects, sculptures, non-sites, and earthwork projects, including Spiral Jetty, Broken Circle, and Spiral Hill.

Personal business records include gallery related loan arrangements and receipts for miscellaneous art supplies. Financial records include tax forms and preparation documents, including cancelled checks, receipts, statements, and related correspondence.

Printed materials include books, clippings, and periodicals related to Smithson, either containing writings or sketches by him, or containing articles reviewing his work. There are also exhibition announcements and catalogs of Smithson's group and solo shows from 1959 to 1985.

The scrapbook contains clippings of Smithson's published articles from 1966 to 1973 with annotated shorthand notes.

Artwork consists of Christmas cards collaged by Smithson, and sketches by Smithson and Leo Valledor.

Photographic materials include prints and negatives of Smithson with friends, promotional Hollywood movie stills, and original prints and copyprints of other artists' artwork.

Artifacts consist of a paper bag silkscreened with a Campbell's soup can (Warhol), promotional buttons (N.E. Thing Co.), various organic materials, and two art kits.

Nancy Holt's papers consist of correspondence, a grant application, printed materials, and project files and audio visual material related to her motion picture film Pine Barrens (1975) and her seminal environmental work of art Sun Tunnels (1975).

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 13 series:

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1905-1974 (Box 1; 14 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1959-1987 (Boxes 1-2, OV 21; 1.7 linear feet)

Series 3: Interview Transcripts, 1966-1973 (Box 2; 11 folders)

Series 4: Writings, 1959-1975 (Boxes 2-3; 1.1 linear feet)

Series 5: Project Files, circa 1950s-1982 (Boxes 4-5, Boxes 17-18, OV 20, OV 22-26, OV 36, RD 28-30, RD 32-35; 6.5 linear feet)

Series 6: Personal Business Records, circa 1967-1970s (Box 5; 4 folders)

Series 7: Financial Records, 1962-1972 (Box 6; 1 linear foot)

Series 8: Printed Material, 1955-1985 (Boxes 7-11, Box 18, RD 31; 5.6 linear feet)

Series 9: Scrapbook, 1966-1973 (Box 11, Box 16; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 10: Artwork, circa 1950s-1970s (Box 11; 4 folders)

Series 11: Photographs, circa 1950s-1970s (Box 11, Box 18; 5 folders)

Series 12: Artifacts, circa 1950s-1970s (Box 11, Box 14, OV 19; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 13: Nancy Holt Papers, circa 1960s-1980s (Box 12-13, 15, OV 27, FC 37-38; 1.9 linear feet)

Biographical Note:

Robert Smithson (1938-1973) was the pioneer of land and earthworks art. He was also a noted sculptor, painter, writer, and lecturer working primarily in New York City. Smithson's wife, Nancy Holt (1938-) was a noted sculptor and filmmaker and also worked as an earthworks artist.

Born in Passaic, New Jersey, Smithson expressed an early interest in art, enrolling in classes at the Brooklyn Museum School and the Art Student's League in New York while still attending high school. Smithson's early works were primarily paintings, drawings, and collages. In 1959, he exhibited his first solo show of paintings at the Artists' Gallery in New York and had his first solo international show in Rome with the Galleria George Lester in 1961.

During the early to mid-1960s, Smithson was perhaps better known as a writer and art critic, writing numerous essays and reviews for Arts Magazine and Artforum. He became affiliated with artists who were identified with the minimalist movement, such as Carl Andre, Donald Judd, Nancy Holt, Sol LeWitt, Robert Morris and others. In 1963, Smithson married sculptor and filmmaker Nancy Holt and a year later started to create his first sculptural works. In 1966, Smithson joined the Dwan Gallery, whose owner Virginia Dwan was an enthusiastic supporter of his work.

Smithson's interest in land art began in the late 1960s while exploring industrial and quarry sites and observing the movement of earth and rocks. This resulted in a series of sculptures called "non-sites" consisting of earth and rocks collected from a specific site and installed in gallery space, often combined with photographs, maps, mirrors, or found materials. In September 1968, Smithson published the essay "A Sedimentation of the Mind: Earth Projects" in Artforum that promoted the work of the first wave of land art artists. Soon thereafter, he began creating his own large scale land art and earthworks.

From 1967 to 1973, Smithson's productivity was constant as he wrote, lectured, and participated in several solo and group shows a year, both at home and abroad. He explored narrative art as essay in "The Monuments of Passaic" and fully committed to his idea of visiting sites and using them as the basis for creating non-sites, Non-Site, Pine Barrens, (1968); incorporated and documented the use of mirrors at sites in Mirror Displacement, Cayuga Salt Mine Project (1968-1969); and created his first site-specific works through liquid pours of mud, asphalt, and concrete, including Asphalt Rundown (1969). In 1969, he also completed his first earth pour at Kent State University with his project Partially Buried Woodshed. Later that year, he created the sculptural artwork for which he is best known, Spiral Jetty (1969) on the Great Salt Lake in Utah. This was the first of his pieces to require the acquisition of land rights and earthmoving equipment, and would be followed two years later by Broken Circle and Spiral Hill in 1971.

On July 20, 1973, while surveying sites in Texas for the proposed Amarillo Ramp, Smithson died in a plane crash at the age of 35. Despite his early death, Smithson's writings and artwork had a major impact on many contemporary artists.

Nancy Holt began her career as a photographer and video artist. Today, Holt is most widely known for her large-scale environmental works, Sun Tunnels and Dark Star Park. Holt has also made a number of films and videos since the late 1960s, including Mono Lake (1968), East Coast, West Coast (1969), and Swamp (1971) in collaboration with her late husband Robert Smithson. Points of View: Clocktower (1974) features conversations between Lucy Lippard and Richard Serra, Liza Bear and Klaus Kertess, Carl Andre and Ruth Kligman and Bruce Brice and Tina Girouard. In 1978, she produced a film about her seminal work Sun Tunnels.

Related Material:

The Archives also holds several collections related to Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt, including an oral history interview with Robert Smithson conducted by Paul Cummings in 1972; an interview with Robert Smithson conducted by Tony Robbin in 1968; Robert Smithson letters to George B. Lester, 1960-1963; and oral history interviews with Nancy Holt conducted by Scott Gutterman in 1992 and Joyce Pomeroy Schwartz in 1993.

Separated Material:

Non-archival library books, periodicals, and phonographs from Robert Smithson's personal library are currently stored offsite.

Provenance:

The papers of Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt were donated by Nancy Holt in several accretions between 1986 and 2011.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Rights:

The Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Topic:

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

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

Art -- Philosophy  Search this

Earthworks (Art)  Search this

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

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Sketches

Scrapbooks

Greeting cards

Photographs

Transcripts

Motion pictures (visual works)

Citation:

Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt papers, 1905-1987, bulk 1952-1987. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

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

Identifier:

AAA.smitrobe

See more items in:

Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-smitrobe

Creator:

Richard York Gallery  Search this

Names:

Art Dealers Association of America  Search this

De Forest, Lockwood, 1850-1932  Search this

Goldyne, Joseph R.  Search this

Hale, Ellen Day, 1855-1940  Search this

Hill, J. W. (John William), 1812-1879  Search this

Hill, John Henry, 1839-1922  Search this

Hornby, Lester George, 1882-1956  Search this

Lozowick, Louis, 1892-1973  Search this

Lucioni, Luigi, 1900-1988  Search this

MacRae, Emma Fordyce, 1887-1974  Search this

Mapplethorpe, Robert  Search this

Marin, John, 1870-1953  Search this

Marin, John, Jr., 1915?-1988  Search this

Smith, Houghton Cranford, 1887-1983  Search this

Stella, Joseph, 1877-1946  Search this

Stevens, Will Henry, 1881-1949  Search this

Wheeler, Steve, 1912-1992  Search this

York, Richard  Search this

Extent:

89.5 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Scrapbooks

Photographs

Date:

circa 1865-2005

bulk 1981-2004

Summary:

The records of the Richard York Gallery, a New York gallery specializing in American art from early 1800s to 1950, measure 79.3 linear feet and date from circa 1865-2005, with the bulk of the material dating from 1981 to 2004. Three-fourths of the records are artists' artwork files, documenting the sale and consignment of nearly 6,500 works of art. The gallery's activities are also recorded through correspondence, client files, gallery invoices, inventories, business and financial records, printed materials, scrapbooks, photographic materials of artwork, and estate records for the John Marin estate and Sergio Stella estate (Joseph Stella). An addition of 10.2 linear feet, dated circa 1865 to 2005, includes artists' files arranged alphabetically containing printed material, clippings, exhibition announcements, and scattered correspondence and financial documents.

Scope and Content Note:

The records of the Richard York Gallery, a New York gallery specializing in American art from early 1800s to 1950, measure 79.3 linear feet and date from circa 1865-2005, with the bulk of the material dating from 1981 to 2004. Three-fourths of the records are artists' artwork files, documenting the sale and consignment of nearly 6,500 works of art. The gallery's activities are also recorded through correspondence, client files, gallery invoices, inventories, business and financial records, printed materials, scrapbooks, photographic materials of artwork, and estate records for the John Marin estate and Sergio Stella estate (Joseph Stella). An addition of 10.2 linear feet, dated circa 1865 to 2005, includes artists' files arranged alphabetically containing printed material, clippings, exhibition announcements, and scattered correspondence and financial documents.

Correspondence includes both incoming and outgoing correspondence with collectors, clients, galleries and museums, primarily regarding appraisals, consignments, exhibitions, general inquiries, loans, and sales. Also found are scattered transactional records, information sheets for artwork, and photographic materials. Correspondence from the mid-late 1980s is poorly represented.

The sale and consignment of nearly 6,500 pieces of artwork at the Richard York Gallery are documented through transactional records, photographic materials, correspondence, and scattered printed materials found in the Artists' Artwork Files. Artists for which there are significant quantities of materials (over 50 folders) include Joseph Goldyne, Ellen Day Hale, John Henry Hill, John William Hill, Lester George Hornby, Louis Lozowick, Luigi Lucioni, Emma Fordyce MacRae, John Marin, Joseph Stella, William Henry Stevens, and Steve Wheeler. Also included are the files of the Richard York photography collection, which contained works by Robert Mapplethorpe.

Similar to the Artists' Artwork Files, Client Files document the sale and consignment of artwork, but are arranged by artist's and client's name. Materials found are primarily from the early 1990s and include correspondence, notes, photographic materials, photocopied client information cards, and printed materials.

The Richard York Gallery represented the John Marin estate and the Sergio Stella estate (Joseph Stella). The records of the John Marin estate are primarily artwork in-take sheets from 1998 and inventory lists from 2001. The Sergio Stella Estate records include correspondence, inventories of artwork by Joseph Stella, and some photographic materials.

Sales and inventory records contain a nearly complete set of gallery invoices from 1995-2000, and 2004. Inventories includes gallery inventory lists, and inventory cards of sold artwork from 1981-1997 (bulk 1981-1991).

The business and financial records include accounting records, bank deposit records, corporate records, index cards for contacts, invoices for gallery expenses, materials related to Richard York's involvement in the ADAA, mailing lists, records of payments to consignors, receipts, shipping records, and tax records. The gallery migrated from paper records to Artbase, an artwork management system, around 2000-2002. Included are two CDs of database data and digital images from Artbase, as well as inventories of the digital file names.

Printed materials contain advertising tear sheets from 1998-2002, exhibition catalogs, magazine and newspaper clippings of reviews and announcements, and other miscellaneous printed materials. Printed materials are also found in eight scrapbooks which document the activities of the Richard York Gallery, Richard York, and the gallery's exhibitions from 1981-2002. Materials in the scrapbooks include clippings, correspondence, photographs, exhibition catalogs, announcements, and invitations.

Photographic materials includes color photographs, transparencies, digital prints, and scattered printed materials, as well as over 600 slides of artwork, primarily works of art which were sold or consigned by the gallery. Artists for which there is significant volume of transparencies include Houghton Cranford Smith and Lockwood de Forest, Sr.

Materials with dates prior to 1981 in this collection are primarily research materials for works of art, such as printed materials, correspondence, and transparencies, as well as some artwork artifacts, such as back labels.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 9 series:

Series 1: Correspondence, 1975-2005 (Boxes 1-7; 6.4 linear feet)

Series 2: Artists' Artwork Files, circa 1865-2004 (Boxes 7-64; 56.85 linear feet)

Series 3: Client Files, 1965, circa 1981-circa 2004 (Box 64; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 4: Estate Records, 1983-circa 2004 (Boxes 64-65; 1.0 linear feet)

Series 5: Sales and Inventory Records, 1977-2004 (Boxes 65-70; 5.0 linear feet)

Series 6: Business and Financial Records, 1974-2005 (Boxes 70-77; 6.25 linear feet)

Series 7: Printed Materials, 1980-2004 (Boxes 77-78; 1.1 linear feet)

Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1981-2002 (Boxes 78, 80; 1.0 linear feet)

Series 9: Photographic Materials, 1977-2004 (Boxes 78-79; 1.2 linear feet)

Series 10: Unprocessed Addition, circa 1865-2005 (Boxes 81-91; 10.2 linear feet)

Historical Note:

Richard T. York (circa 1950-2003) opened his eponymous gallery in the spring of 1981 on East 65th Street in New York City. Specializing in American painting and sculpture from early 1800s to 1950, the Richard York Gallery dealt in the artwork of hundreds of artists including Albert Bierstadt, Charles Demuth, Arthur Dove, Lockwood de Forest, John Graham, Georgia O'Keeffe, John Singer Sargent, Charles Sheeler, and Steve Wheeler. It also represented the estates of artists John Marin and Joseph Stella.

Richard York passed away in April 2003, and the gallery closed in May 2004.

Provenance:

The Richard York Gallery records were donated to the Archives of American Art in 2006 by Kevin Scott, the executor of Richard York's estate; and in 2015 by Lisa Bush Hankin, former gallery director.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Rights:

The Richard York Gallery records are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Topic:

Art, American  Search this

Art -- Economic aspects  Search this

Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Genre/Form:

Scrapbooks

Photographs

Citation:

Richard York Gallery records, circa 1865-2005, bulk 1981-2004. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care Fund

Identifier:

AAA.richyorg

See more items in:

Richard York Gallery records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-richyorg

Culture/People:

Lenape (Delaware)  Search this

Previous owner:

Arthur C. King (Arthur Comstock King), Non-Indian, 1882-1957  Search this

Hermine C. King (Hermine Hambrock Cossenas/Mrs. Arthur C. King), Non-Indian, 1888-1977  Search this

Seller:

Hermine C. King (Hermine Hambrock Cossenas/Mrs. Arthur C. King), Non-Indian, 1888-1977  Search this

Auction venue:

B. G. Coats & Associates (B. G. Coats Auctioneers and Appraisers)  Search this

Object Name:

Bag

Media/Materials:

Deerhide/deerskin, silk ribbon, porcupine quills, hide thong/babiche, metal cones, deer hair, sinew, dye/dyes

Techniques:

Sewn, dyed, quill embroidered

Dimensions:

31.8 x 21 cm

Object Type:

Bags/Pouches (and parts)

Place:

New Jersey, Pennsylvania; USA (inferred)

Date created:

circa 1785

Catalog Number:

22/8541

Barcode:

228541.000

See related items:

Lenape (Delaware)

Bags/Pouches (and parts)

Data Source:

National Museum of the American Indian

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ws60ce3617f-3144-40af-bd31-10a83d6c5880

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:NMAI_243566

Culture/People:

probably Haisla [Kitamaat (Kitamat)] (attributed)  Search this

Collector:

Reverend Thomas Crosby, Non-Indian, 1840-1914  Search this

Previous owner:

Reverend Thomas Crosby, Non-Indian, 1840-1914  Search this

Seller/source:

Reverend Thomas Crosby, Non-Indian, 1840-1914  Search this

Object Name:

Gambling stick

Media/Materials:

Animal tooth/teeth

Techniques:

Cut

Object Type:

Games, Toys, Gambling

Place:

Kitimat (Kitamaat); Kitimat-Stikine Regional District; British Columbia; Canada

Catalog Number:

1/8172

Barcode:

018172.000

See related items:

Haisla [Kitamaat (Kitamat)]

Games, Toys, Gambling

Data Source:

National Museum of the American Indian

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ws63bf9de0d-2774-4230-b297-33de6a04c985

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:NMAI_19278

Culture/People:

Southern Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)  Search this

Seller:

Charles P. Wickmiller (C.P. Wickmiller), Non-Indian, 1858-1948  Search this

MAI agent:

Mark Raymond Harrington (M. R. Harrington/MRH), Non-Indian, 1882-1971  Search this

Object Name:

Backrest

Media/Materials:

Wood, hide, animal gut/intestines

Techniques:

Painted

Object Type:

Furnishings (Home)

Place:

Oklahoma; USA

Catalog Number:

2/8378

Barcode:

028378.000

See related items:

Southern Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)

Furnishings (Home)

Data Source:

National Museum of the American Indian

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ws6bffbcb10-3d33-400e-bfcc-5ab97c032bcd

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:NMAI_29979

Creator:

Smithsonian Magazine  Search this

Type:

Blog posts

Smithsonian staff publications

Blog posts

Published Date:

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 20:10:16 +0000

Topic:

Custom RSS  Search this

See more posts:

Smithsonian Article Database

Data Source:

Smithsonian Magazine

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:posts_30b02f19343355aa891dc3f3ca61e971

Measurements:

overall: 10 cm x 9.1 cm; 3 15/16 in x 3 19/32 in

Object Name:

card

Place made:

United States: California, San Francisco

Subject:

Bicycling  Search this

Credit Line:

Delsy D. Conwell

ID Number:

CL.299386.059

Accession number:

299386

Catalog number:

299386.059

See more items in:

Cultural and Community Life: Domestic Life

Data Source:

National Museum of American History

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ad-63ed-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmah_1414185

Creator:

MacRae, Elmer Livingston, 1875-1953  Search this

Names:

Armory Show (1913: New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Association of American Painters and Sculptors (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden  Search this

Davies, Arthur B. (Arthur Bowen), 1862-1928  Search this

Kuhn, Walt, 1877-1949  Search this

Pach, Walter, 1883-1958  Search this

Extent:

1.8 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Date:

1899-circa 2013

bulk 1912-1916

Summary:

The Elmer Livingston MacRae papers related to the Association of American Painters and Sculptors, Inc., (AAPS) measure 1.8 linear feet and date from 1899 to circa 2013, with the bulk of the material dating from 1912-1916. Elmer Livingston MacRae served as Treasurer of the AAPS when the association organized the International Exhibition of Modern Art, also known as the Armory Show of 1913. The bulk of this collection concerns MacRae's involvement with the AAPS and the Armory Show and includes administrative files, correspondence, exhibition files, financial records, printed materials, and artifacts.

Scope and Contents:

The Elmer Livingston MacRae papers related to the Association of American Painters and Sculptors, Inc., (AAPS) measure 1.8 linear feet and date from 1899 to circa 2013, with the bulk of the material dating from 1912-1916. Elmer Livingston MacRae served as Treasurer of the AAPS when the association organized the International Exhibition of Modern Art, also known as the Armory Show of 1913. The bulk of this collection concerns MacRae's involvement with the AAPS and the Armory Show and includes administrative files, correspondence, exhibition files, financial records, printed materials, and artifacts.

Biographical material includes an old collection inventory from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, two annotated appointment books, and a small handbook with notes.

Correspondence consists of letters addressed to Elmer MacRae from AAPS members such as Arthur B. Davies, Walt Kuhn, and Walter Pach, as well as other various artists, dealers, lenders, and buyers. Most letters concern AAPS business and organizing the Armory Show.

AAPS administration records include the organization's constitution, letterhead, meeting minutes, a report, and a membership list.

The Armory Show exhibition tour files consist of materials related to openings in Chicago and Boston. Materials include lists that track sales of tickets and pamphlets, insurance lists, a contract, an art inventory, and other items.

Financial records consist of AAPS and exhibition expenses in the form of sales lists of artwork, payroll information, shipping and transportation invoices, bills, rescinded dues, cashiers' journals, ledgers, a receipt book, and a checkbook.

Printed material includes copies of Armory Show exhibition catalogs, AAPS pamphlets, newspapers, magazines, clippings, postcards, and a poster.

Artifacts consist of AAPS memorabilia from the exhibition. There are button pins, calling cards, event invitations, mailing cards, signs, tickets, and other miscellany.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 7 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1899-1913, circa 1988 (0.1 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1911-1915, 1958 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 3: Administration Records, circa 1911-circa 1916 (0.1 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 4: Armory Show Tour Files, 1913 (0.1 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 5: Financial Records, 1912-1916 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1911-1959 (0.6 linear feet; Box 2, OV 4-5)

Series 7: Artifacts, 1913, circa 2013 (0.2 linear feet; Box 3)

Biographical / Historical:

Elmer MacRae (1875-1953) was a New York and Connecticut-based painter and served as treasurer of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors when the association organized the 1913 Armory Show.

Elmer Livingston MacRae was born in New York City in 1875. In the late 1890s, MacRae summered in an artist's community in Cos Cob, Connecticut, where he met his wife Emma Constant Holley. He moved full time to Cos Cob in 1899. MacRae became active in the Pastellists group. He was affiliated with the Macbeth and Madison Galleries in New York, where he was on friendly terms with fellow painters Jerome Myers and Walt Kuhn. In 1911, MacRae became a member of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors (AAPS), Inc. From 1912 to 1916, MacRae served as Treasurer of the AAPS, the organization which organized the seminal 1913 Armory Show exhibition of modern American and European art. Formally titled the International Exhibition of Modern Art, the exhibition introduced many Americans to modern art for the first time. The Armory Show began at New York City's 69th Street Armory, then continued on to the Art Institute of Chicago, and Boston's Copley Society of Art. The latter venue did not include the American art due to space constraints.

Related Materials:

The Archives of American Art also holds the Walt Kuhn, Walt Kuhn family papers and Armory Show records as well as the Joseph Hirshhorn papers regarding the Elmer MacRae papers.

Provenance:

The Elmer Livingston MacRae papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 2016 by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Restrictions:

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

Rights:

The Elmer Livingston MacRae papers related to the American Association of Painters and Sculptors are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:

Painters -- Connecticut  Search this

Painters -- New York (State)  Search this

Topic:

Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Exhibitions  Search this

Art, Modern -- 20th century -- societies, etc  Search this

Citation:

Elmer Livingston MacRae papers related to the American Association of Painters and Sculptors, 1899-circa 2013, bulk 1912-1916. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by The Walton Family Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Identifier:

AAA.macrelme

See more items in:

Elmer Livingston MacRae papers related to the Association of American Painters and Sculptors

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-macrelme

Creator:

Kuhn, Walt, 1877-1949  Search this

Names:

Armory Show (1913: New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Association of American Painters and Sculptors (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

International Exhibition of Modern Art  Search this

Kit Kat Club (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Penguin Club (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Davies, Arthur B. (Arthur Bowen), 1862-1928  Search this

Kuhn, Brenda, 1911-  Search this

Kuhn, Vera, d. 1961  Search this

Oldfield, Otis, 1890-1969  Search this

Pach, Walter, 1883-1958  Search this

Quinn, John, 1870-1924  Search this

Sheeler, Charles, 1883-1965  Search this

Photographer:

Rainford, Percy  Search this

Weston, Edward, 1886-1958  Search this

Extent:

31 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Drawings

Diaries

Scrapbooks

Sound recordings

Date:

1859-1984

bulk 1900-1949

Summary:

The Walt Kuhn Family papers and Armory Show records measure 31 linear feet and date from 1859 to 1984, with the bulk of material dating from 1900 to 1949. Papers contain records of the legendary Armory Show of 1913, also known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, which introduced modern European painting and sculpture to the American public. Papers also contain records of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors (AAPS), the artist-run organization that mounted the Armory Show; records of the New York artists' clubs the Kit Kat Club (founded 1881) and the Penguin Club (founded 1917); and the personal and family papers of New York artist Walt Kuhn (1877-1949), one of the primary organizers of the Armory Show.

Scope and Contents note:

The Walt Kuhn Family papers and Armory Show records measure 31 linear feet and date from 1859 to 1984, with the bulk of material dating from 1900 to 1949. Papers contain records of the legendary Armory Show of 1913, also known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, which introduced modern European painting and sculpture to the American public. Papers also contain records of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors (AAPS), the artist-run organization that mounted the Armory Show; records of the New York artists' clubs the Kit Kat Club (founded 1881) and the Penguin Club (founded 1917); and the personal and family papers of New York artist Walt Kuhn (1877-1949), one of the primary organizers of the Armory Show.

As Secretary for the AAPS, Kuhn retained the bulk of existing records of that organization and of the Armory Show. Minutes and correspondence make up most of the AAPS records (Series 2), as well as documents related to John Quinn's legal brief against a tariff on imported works of living artists. Armory Show Records (Series 1) include personal letters, voluminous business correspondence, a record book, miscellaneous notes, inventories and shipping records, two large scrapbooks, printed materials, a small number of photographs, and retrospective accounts of the show. The printed materials and photographs in Kit Kat Club and Penguin Club Records reflect Kuhn's deep involvement in those clubs.

The Walt Kuhn Family Papers (Series 4) contain records of his artwork, career, travels, personal and professional associations, family members, and work in vaudeville, film, and interior design. Notable among the family papers are illustrated letters and other cartoons; sketches, drawings, watercolors, and prints; candid letters from Walt to Vera Kuhn discussing art scene politics and personalities in New York, Paris, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Florida, and the Midwest; general correspondence with artists, dealers, collectors, journalists, writers, models, and fans; notes in index card files containing biographical anecdotes of the Kuhns' many contacts; provenance files that document the origin and fate of Kuhn's paintings, sculptures, and prints; papers relating to Kuhn's exhibitions and his relationships with the Marie Harriman Gallery and Durand-Ruel Gallery; and photographs and drawings depicting Kuhn's early years in Munich, Germany and Fort Lee, New Jersey; trips to Nova Scotia, New England, the Western United States, and Europe; New York and summer studios, among other subjects.

Arrangement:

This collection has been arranged into 4 series, with multiple subseries in Series 1 and 4.

Series 1: Armory Show Records, 1912-1963 (Boxes 1-2, 27-31, 56, OV 36; 3.6 linear feet)

Series 2: Association of American Painters and Sculptors (AAPS) Records, 1911-1914, undated (Box 3; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 3: Kit Kat Club and Penguin Club Records, 1909-1923, undated (Box 3, 32, 56, OVs 37-38; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 4: Walt Kuhn Family Papers, 1859-1984, undated (Box 3-26, 32-35, 56-57, OVs 39-55, 58; 26.7 linear feet)

In general, documents are arranged chronologically, alphabetically, or by type of material. Copy negatives and copy prints made from documents in this collection have been filed separately from originals, in a folder marked "copy." Duplicates of original records made or obtained by the Kuhns have been filed separately as well.

Existing envelopes are filed in front of correspondence and enclosures directly after. Correspondence in the Armory Show Records and AAPS Records is arranged alphabetically, and correspondents are listed in the box inventory following series descriptions below.

Biographical/Historical note:

Walt Kuhn (1877-1949) was an etcher, lithographer, and watercolorist, as well as being a teacher, an advisor to art collectors, an organizer, and a promoter of modern art. He played a key role in the art scene of New York City in the early 20th century, and was among the small group that organized the infamous Armory Show of 1913, officially known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, held at the 69th Regiment Armory building in New York City. After the Armory Show, Kuhn went on to a distinguished career as a painter. He was best known for his sober oil portraits of show people, clowns, acrobats, and circus performers, but was equally prolific in landscapes, still lifes, and figure and genre drawings.

Walt Kuhn was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1877. After a brief career as a bicycle shop owner in downtown Brooklyn, Kuhn traveled West in 1899 to San Francisco, CA and earned his living as a cartoonist for newspapers such as Wasp. After two years in California, he moved back East and then on to Europe to pursue further art training. He briefly attended the Académie Colarossi studio in Paris, but quickly moved to Munich where he joined the class of Heinrich von Zügel in the Royal Academy.

Kuhn returned to New York City in 1904 and took up an active role in the art scene there, participating in the Salmagundi Club and the Kit Kat Club, teaching at the New York School of Art, and cartooning for Life, Judge, Puck, and other publications. In 1910, he participated in an exhibition of Independent Artists on 35th St. with Robert Henri and met artist Arthur B. Davies.

In 1911, when the National Academy of Design opened their annual exhibition, Kuhn, Henry Fitch Taylor, Elmer MacRae, and Jerome Myers were exhibiting at Clara Potter Davidge's Madison Gallery. To these four young artists, the Academy exhibition was typically lackluster, and the attention it received was unwarranted. Sensing that they were not alone in their attitude, they decided to organize. They invited a dozen other artists to join them, thus forming the Association of American Painters and Sculptors (AAPS). The group elected Kuhn Secretary and Arthur B. Davies President, and with the help of attorney and art collector John Quinn, they incorporated and began raising funds for an independent exhibition the following year.

In September of 1912, at Davies' suggestion, Kuhn traveled to Cologne, Germany to view the Sonderbund Internationale Kunst-Austellung. There he saw presented, in overwhelming volume, the work of his European contemporaries and their modern antecedents, the post-impressionists. He immediately began selecting and securing artwork for the upcoming AAPS exhibition. Kuhn traveled through Germany, Holland, France, and England, visiting private collectors, dealers, and artists. In Paris, Kuhn was joined by Davies and American artist and art agent Walter Pach. Kuhn and Davies sailed for New York in November, leaving the details of European arrangements to Pach.

The resulting Armory Show exhibition opened in New York in February 1913, and a selection of the foreign works traveled to Chicago and Boston in March and April. It included approximately 1300 American and European works of art, arranged in the exhibition space to advance the notion that the roots of modernism could be seen in the works of the old masters, from which the dramatically new art of living artists had evolved. Savvy and sensational publicity, combined with strategic word-of-mouth, resulted in attendance figures over 200,000 and over $44 thousand in sales. The Armory Show had demonstrated that modern art had a place in the public taste, that there was a market for it and legitimate critical support as well.

During the first World War, Kuhn stayed in NY and was active in the Kit Kat Club, an artists' club founded in 1881, which provided its members with collective studio space, live models, exhibitions, and an annual costume ball. In 1917, Kuhn founded another group called the Penguin Club, which had similar objectives to the Kit Kat Club, but with Kuhn himself as the gatekeeper. In addition to exhibitions and costume balls, the Penguin Club held summer outings and stag dinners, and maintained collective studio and exhibition space on East 15th Street in Manhattan. Its members included Americans and European artists displaced by the war in Europe. In the 1920s, Kuhn expanded a few sketches he had written for Penguin Balls into full-blown vaudeville productions, some of which were incorporated into larger musical revues such as The Merry Go Round and The 49ers and traveled around the country. Kuhn's theater work continued until 1928, and his fascination with show business continued to influence him throughout his life.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Kuhn gradually achieved recognition for his artwork, with sales to private collectors and dealers including Edith Halpert, Merritt Cutler, Lillie Bliss, John Quinn, and Marie Harriman. Kuhn also promoted other young painters whose work he liked, including Otis Oldfield, Lily Emmet Cushing, John Laurent, Frank di Gioia, and the self-taught Vermont artist Patsy Santo. Sometimes artists would contact him by mail, asking for lessons or advice. His lengthy letters to students offer coaching in technique and subject matter, as well as in the overall problem of success in art.

In 1929, Kuhn moved into the 18th St. studio that he would keep until the end of his life. He kept a rack of costumes in the studio, mostly made by Vera Kuhn, and his models, many of them stage and circus performers, would come and sit for Kuhn's portraits. The same year his painting The White Clown was exhibited at the newly established Museum of Modern Art in New York, bringing intense publicity and sales interest. Around this time, Kuhn began to receive the support of collector Duncan Phillips and curator Juliana Force of the Whitney Museum of American Art, both of whom made purchases and consistently exhibited his work.

Marie Norton Whitney Harriman, second wife of railroad magnate and diplomat W. Averell Harriman, shared a professional liaison with Kuhn that would take many forms and last until his death. Soon after the success of The White Clown, Kuhn established a relationship with the Marie Harriman Gallery, where he participated in group and solo shows during the height of his career. Kuhn also traveled with the Harrimans to Europe in 1931, where the three visited important private collections and acquired many valuable modern paintings for the Harrimans. Their collection, so heavily influenced by Kuhn's ideas about art, would eventually go to the National Gallery of Art.

Kuhn was an artist who understood the art business and never shied away from it. For Kuhn, promoting the ideas and practitioners of a certain brand of modernism was an expression of both aesthetic ideology and pragmatic self-interest. His contribution to the public discourse on modernism situated his own work at the heart of art history and the marketplace. Regardless of his motivations, he was indisputably a key player at a pivotal time in American art, when academic art was riotoulsy overturned to make way for modernism. His paintings are now held in major museum collections around the country, where most of them arrived with bequests from the collectors Kuhn had cultivated so carefully in his lifetime.

Sources consulted for this biography include The Story of the Armory Show (1988) by Milton W. Brown, Walt Kuhn, Painter: His Life and Work (1978) by Philip Rhys Adams, and "Walt Kuhn" by Frank Getlein, in the 1967 catalog of the Kennedy Galleries, Inc.

Related Archival Materials note:

The Archives of American Art holds the papers of Walter Pach, the European representative of the Armory Show.

Provenance:

The Walt Kuhn Family papers and Armory Show records were loaned for microfilming and later donated to the Archives of American Art by Walt Kuhn's daughter Brenda Kuhn in several installments between 1962 and 1979. An additional accession of letters, photographs, and an artifact was purchased by the Archives in 2000. Another addition was donated by Terry DeLapp, Kuhn's dealer, in 2015.

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.

Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.

Rights:

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

Occupation:

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

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

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

Topic:

Art -- Societies, etc. -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

New York school of art  Search this

Modernism (Art)  Search this

Genre/Form:

Drawings

Diaries

Scrapbooks

Sound recordings

Citation:

Walt Kuhn Family papers and Armory Show records, 1859-1984. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

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

Identifier:

AAA.kuhnwalt

See more items in:

Walt Kuhn Family papers and Armory Show records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-kuhnwalt

Creator:

Scidmore, Eliza Ruhamah, 1856-1928  Search this

Names:

Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942  Search this

Thompson, E. B. (Ezra Bowen), 1865-1951 (possible photographer or publisher)  Search this

Extent:

50 Negatives (glass)

23 Negatives (nitrate)

120 Lantern slides

Culture:

Japanese  Search this

Chinese  Search this

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Negatives

Lantern slides

Photographs

Place:

Japan

China

Philippines

South America

Date:

circa 1914-1916

Scope and Contents note:

Photographs made and collected by Scidmore documenting life in Japan and China. Photos depict people, agriculture, crafting and jewelry, and natural and urban settings. Some additional photographs were made in South America and possibly the Philippines. The collection includes lantern slides published by the William H. Jackson Photo and Publishing Company of Denver and E. B. Thompson of Washington, DC.

Biographical/Historical note:

Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore (1856-1928) was an author, journalist, lecturer, and collector who traveled extensively and helped to bring the Japanese cherry blossoms to Washington, DC. She spent her early life in Madison, Wisconsin, and then moved during the Civil War to Washington, DC, with her mother and brother. She was educated for two years at Oberlin College before obtaining a position as a newspaper correspondent covering the capitalʹs social scene. Her career as a travel writer began in 1883 during a trip to Alaska which she documented in her first book, Alaska, Its Southern Coast and the Sitkan Archipelago (published 1885). Shortly thereafter, she lived for long periods of time in southern and eastern Asia, particularly in China, India, Japan, Java, and the Philippines. Scidmore promoted intercultural understanding and cooperation and particularly encouraged the relationship between America and Japan, where her brother served as a Consul General in Yokohama. She was decorated by the Japanese emperor for her sympathetic reporting of Japanʹs treatment of prisoners of war during the Russo-Japanese War. Though Scidmore contributed articles to many popular magazines, she was most active for National Geographic (between 1893 and 1914) and her photographs accompanied many articles. She also served on the National Geographic staff and on its board of managers.

Local Call Number(s):

NAA Photo Lot 139

Location of Other Archival Materials:

Additional photographs made and collected by Scidmore are held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 97 and in the National Geographic Society archives.

The Department of Anthropology collections holds several artifacts donated by Scidmore.

Restrictions:

Original nitrate negatives are in cold storage and require advanced notice for viewing.

Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Topic:

Handicraft  Search this

Transportation -- Japan  Search this

Agriculture -- Japan  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs

Citation:

Photo lot 139, Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore photographs relating to Japan and China, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Identifier:

NAA.PhotoLot.139

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-naa-photolot-139

Creator:

Carpenter, Edmund, 1922-2011  Search this

Names:

De Menil, Adelaide  Search this

Flaherty, Robert Joseph, 1884-1951  Search this

Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957  Search this

McLuhan, Marshall, 1911-1980  Search this

Schuster, Carl, 1904-1969  Search this

Extent:

26.25 Linear feet

Culture:

Arctic peoples  Search this

Iglulingmiut Inuit (Iglulik/Iglulirmiut Eskimo)  Search this

Inuit  Search this

Inuit -- Canada  Search this

Inuit -- Greenland  Search this

Iroquois  Search this

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Place:

Canada

Greenland

New Guinea (Territory)

Papua New Guinea

Date:

circa 1938-2011

Summary:

Edmund Snow Carpenter (1922-2011) was an archaeologist and visual anthropologist who worked extensively with the indigenous peoples of the Canadian Arctic as well as Papua New Guinea. With his colleague and close collaborator Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), he laid the groundwork for modern media theory. Carpenter is also known for his work as an ethnographic filmmaker and as a collector of Paleo-Eskimo art. The Papers of Edmund Carpenter, circa 1938-2011, document the research interests and projects undertaken by Carpenter in the fields of cultural anthropology, ethnographic filmmaking, media theory, archaeology, and indigenous art.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of Edmund Carpenter, 1940-2011, document the research interests and projects undertaken by Carpenter in the fields of cultural anthropology, ethnographic filmmaking, media theory, archaeology, and indigenous art. Specific research projects and interests documented are: his 1950s fieldwork among the Aivilik Inuit in the Canadian Arctic as well as his studies into Inuit concepts of space, time, and geography; his partnership and collaboration with media theorist Marshall McLuhan and his ethnographic studies of Papua New Guinean tribal communities; his early-career archaeological digs at Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) burial mounds in Sugar Run, Pennsylvania, as well as later archaeological interest in Arctic peoples, Siberia, and the Norwegian artifact dubbed the "Norse Penny"; his reflections on the disciplines of anthropology and media studies; his editing and completion of the work of art historian Carl Schuster at the Museum der Kulturen (Museum of Ethnology) in Basel, Switzerland; his editing of The Story of Comock the Eskimo, as told to Robert Flaherty; and his museum exhibitions compiled on the topics of surrealist and tribal art. The collection also documents Carpenter's correspondence with fellow scholars, ethnographers, filmmakers, and colleagues; his published writings; and elements of his personal life, such as obituaries and personal photographs.

Materials in this collection include artifact and burial records; correspondence; drawings and illustrations; essays; interviews and oral histories; inventories and catalogues; manuscripts and drafts, and fragments of drafts; maps; memoranda and meeting minutes; notes, notebooks, and data analysis; obituaries and memorials; photographic prints, slides, and negatives, including personal photographs and portraits; proposals and plans for museum exhibits; reports; resumes and bibliographies; reviews; and sound recordings on CD-Rs and audio cassettes. Additional materials include books and book chapters; journal copies and journal excerpts; magazine, newspaper, and article clippings and excerpts; museum and gallery catalogues, brochures, and guides; pamphlets; and reprints. A portion of the material collected here consist of consolidated research into specific topics, gathered from archival repositories, museums, correspondence, and published works. This material consists of research reprints and archival reference photocopies and photographic prints from various repositories.

Items worthy of special mention in this collection include: annotated draft chapters from Marshall McLuhan's seminal work on media theory, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (Series 2); a 1957 letter from e. e. cummings to Carpenter, written in verse (Series 3); an undated thank-you note addressed to "Sadie" from Helen Keller (Series 3); and a transcript of an interview of Carpenter by his former student, Harald Prins (Series 2).

Audiovisual material in this collection is currently undergoing processing.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into the following 7 series:

Series 1. Fieldwork and drafts, 1940-2011 (bulk 1940-1959)

Series 2. Research and project files, 1940-2011

Series 3. Correspondence, circa 1938-2011

Series 4. Publications and lectures, circa 1942-circa 2006

Series 5. Personal, 1942-2011

Series 6. Film and visual material (in-process)

Series 7. Writings by others, 1960-2009, undated

Biographical Note:

Edmund Snow Carpenter (1922-2011) was an archaeologist and visual anthropologist who worked extensively with the indigenous peoples of the Canadian Arctic and Papua New Guinea. With his colleague and close collaborator Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), he laid the groundwork for modern media theory. Carpenter is also known for his work as an ethnographic filmmaker and as a collector of Paleo-Eskimo art.

Born in 1922 in Rochester, New York, Edmund (nicknamed "Ted") Carpenter served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II before receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1950 under Frank Speck for work on Iroquoian prehistoric archaeology. Carpenter began teaching at the University of Toronto in 1948 while simultaneously working as a programmer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). In the 1950s, he undertook fieldwork in the Canadian Arctic among the Aivilik (an Inuit Igloolik subgroup). This fieldwork resulted in several publications in the field of cultural anthropology, including Time/Space Concepts of the Aivilik (1955), Anerca (1959), and Eskimo (1959, republished as Eskimo Realities in 1973).

Also in the 1950s, Carpenter began a working relationship with media theorist Marshall McLuhan. Together, they received a Ford Foundation grant (1953-1955) for an interdisciplinary media research project into the impact of mass communications and mass media on culture change. Carpenter and McLuhan's partnership resulted in the Seminar on Culture and Communication (1953-1959) and the journal series Explorations. In 1957, Carpenter was the founding chair in the interdisciplinary program "Anthropology and Art" at San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University, Northridge). There, he collaborated with Bess Lomax Hawes and other colleagues in the production of several ethnographic films, including Georgia Sea Island Singers about Gullah (or Geechee) songs and dances. During this period, Carpenter worked with McLuhan on the latter's seminal book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964). The article published as "Fashion is Language" in Harper's Bazaar under McLuhan's name (1968) was actually written by Carpenter. It was later published in book form under Carpenter's name, with the title They Became What They Beheld (1970).

In 1969, Carpenter took a research professorship at the University of Papua and New Guinea sponsored by the government of Australia. Alongside photographer Adelaide De Menil (whom he would later marry), he applied many of the ideas about media literacy and culture change to indigenous communities of Papua New Guinea. These activities led to developments in the field of media ecology, as well as the publication of Carpenter's best-known work, Oh, What a Blow the Phantom Gave Me! (1976).

Carpenter taught intermittently at various universities throughout his career, including Fordham University, the University of California-Santa Cruz, Adelphi University, Harvard University's Center for Visual Anthropology, the New School for Social Research, and New York University. He spent eight years associated with the Museum of Ethnology in Basel, Switzerland (1973-1981), editing art historian Carl Schuster's research.

In addition to his teaching and research, Carpenter, with his wife Adelaide De Menil, collected tribal art, eventually amassing the largest private collection of Paleo-Eskimo art in the United States. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Carpenter curated various exhibitions on art and visual culture, including the Menil Collection's Witness to a Surrealist Vision and the Musée du Quai Branly's Upside Down (later reconstructed at the Menil Collection). In later years, Carpenter resumed his archaeological interest in Arctic peoples, researching and collaborating on the Zhokhov Island Mesolithic site in the Russian Arctic with Russian scientists from the Institute for the History of Material Culture and archaeologists from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.

Carpenter died on July 1, 2011 at his home in New York.

Sources consulted:

"Edmund Snow Carpenter." https://edmundsnowcarpenter.com/about

Grimes, William. "Edmund Carpenter, Archaeologist and Anthropologist, Dies at 88." The New York Times. 2011 July 7. https://www.nytimes.com

Prins, Harald E. L. and John Bishop. "Edmund Carpenter: Explorations in Media and Anthropology." Visual Anthropology Review 17:2 (Fall-Winter 2001-2002): 110-140.

Chronology

1922 September 2 -- Born in Rochester, New York

circa 1940-1941 -- Archaeological field work, Sugar Run mounds, Pennsylvania

1942-1946 -- Served in the United States Marine Corps

1948-1957 -- Anthropology Department, University of Toronto

circa 1950 -- Began work for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)

1950 -- Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania (Anthropology)

1950s -- Fieldwork among the Aivilik Inuit

1953-1959 -- Ran the Seminar on Culture and Communication with Marshall McLuhan

1957-1967 -- "Anthropology and Art" program at San Fernando Valley State College (California State University, Northridge)

1967-1968 -- Schwitzer Chair, Fordham University (with Marshall McLuhan)

1968-1969 -- Carnegie Chair in Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz

1969-1970 -- Research Professor, University of Papua and New Guinea

1973-1981 -- Associated with the Museum of Ethnology in Basel, Switzerland for Carl Schuster papers project

circa 1989-2005 -- Collaboration regarding Zhokov Island archaeological site

2011 July 1 -- Died in East Hampton, New York

Separated Materials:

Film and video recordings are retained by the Human Studies Film Archives (HSFA) as the Edmund Carpenter-Adelaide de Menil Collection (HSFA 2004-04). Once processing is complete, they will be described in the following finding aid in Series 6.

Provenance:

The Edmund Snow Carpenter papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives in 2017 by Adelaide de Menil on behalf of the Rock Foundation.

Restrictions:

The Edmund Snow Carpenter papers are open for research.

Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.

Digital media in the collection is restricted for preservation reasons.

Access to the Edmund Snow Carpenter papers requires an appointment.

Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Topic:

Archaeology  Search this

Cartography  Search this

Ethnographic films  Search this

Indigenous art  Search this

Inuit art  Search this

Menil Collection (Houston, Tex.)  Search this

Museum exhibits  Search this

Paleo-Eskimos  Search this

Visual anthropology  Search this

Citation:

Edmund Snow Carpenter papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Rock Foundation.

Identifier:

NAA.2017-27

See more items in:

Edmund Snow Carpenter papers

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-naa-2017-27

Collection Collector:

Sultner-Welles, Donald H. (Sultner, Donald Harvey), 1914-1981  Search this

Collection Printer:

Janus, Allan  Search this

Collection Interviewee:

Hanfstaengl, Erna  Search this

Container:

Box 1 (Series 10)

Type:

Archival materials

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

A small number of letters and photographs are restricted until the year 2031. Identification list in box.

Collection 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.

See more items in:

Donald H. Sultner-Welles Collection

Donald H. Sultner-Welles Collection / Series 10: Miscellaneous

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0145-ref792

Collection Collector:

Sultner-Welles, Donald H. (Sultner, Donald Harvey), 1914-1981  Search this

Collection Printer:

Janus, Allan  Search this

Collection Interviewee:

Hanfstaengl, Erna  Search this

Container:

Box 2 (Series 10)

Type:

Archival materials

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

A small number of letters and photographs are restricted until the year 2031. Identification list in box.

Collection 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.

See more items in:

Donald H. Sultner-Welles Collection

Donald H. Sultner-Welles Collection / Series 10: Miscellaneous

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0145-ref793

Collection Collector:

Sultner-Welles, Donald H. (Sultner, Donald Harvey), 1914-1981  Search this

Collection Printer:

Janus, Allan  Search this

Collection Interviewee:

Hanfstaengl, Erna  Search this

Container:

Box 3 (Series 10)

Box 4 (Series 10)

Type:

Archival materials

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

A small number of letters and photographs are restricted until the year 2031. Identification list in box.

Collection 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.

See more items in:

Donald H. Sultner-Welles Collection

Donald H. Sultner-Welles Collection / Series 10: Miscellaneous

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0145-ref794

Creator:

La Flesche, Francis, 1857-1932  Search this

Fletcher, Alice C. (Alice Cunningham), 1838-1923  Search this

Correspondent:

La Flesche family  Search this

Aldrich, Charles F.  Search this

Alexander, Hartley B.  Search this

Allen, James T.  Search this

Andrews, Gleorge L.  Search this

Armstrong, S.C.  Search this

Ashley, Robert H.  Search this

Atkins, John D.C.  Search this

Boas, Franz, 1858-1942  Search this

Bowditch, Charles P. (Charles Pickering), 1842-1921  Search this

Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison), 1837-1899  Search this

Brown, George LeRoy  Search this

Burlin, Natalie Curtis, 1875-1921  Search this

Cadman, Charles Wakefield, 1881-1946  Search this

Copley, John T.  Search this

Dall, William Healey, 1845-1927  Search this

Dawes, E.S.  Search this

Densmore, Frances, 1867-1957  Search this

Dixon, Roland Burrage, 1875-1934  Search this

Dorsey, James Owen, 1848-1895  Search this

Dunbar, John Brown, 1841-1914  Search this

Ellinwood, F.F.  Search this

Farabee, William Curtis, 1865-1925  Search this

Farley, Caryl E.  Search this

Farley, Rosalie La Flesche  Search this

Farwell, Arthur  Search this

Fellowes, R.S.  Search this

Fewkes, Jesse Walter, 1850-1930  Search this

Fillmore, John Comfort, 1843-1898  Search this

Fillmore, L.H.  Search this

Fillmore, Thomas Hill  Search this

Freire-Marreco, Barbara W. (Barbara Whitchurch), 1879-1967  Search this

Gay, E. Jane  Search this

Griffith, Elmer C.  Search this

Guthrie, William Norman  Search this

Hale, Horatio, 1817-1896  Search this

Hall, C.C.  Search this

Hall, Charles Lemon, 1847-1940  Search this

Hearst, Phoebe Apperson, 1842-1919  Search this

Heth, H.  Search this

Hewett, Edgar L. (Edgar Lee), 1865-1946  Search this

Hewitt, J. N. B. (John Napoleon Brinton), 1859-1937  Search this

Hodge, Frederick Webb, 1864-1956  Search this

Holmes, William Henry, 1846-1933  Search this

Hough, Walter, 1859-1935  Search this

Jackson, Sheldon, 1834-1909  Search this

Johnston, Catherine M.  Search this

Kincaid, William  Search this

La Flesche, Joseph  Search this

Lummis, Charles Fletcher, 1859-1928  Search this

MacCurdy, George Grant, 1863-1947  Search this

Mason, Otis T., 1838-1908  Search this

Matthews, Washington, 1843-1905  Search this

McBeth, Kate C., 1832-1915  Search this

McBeth, Sue L., -1893  Search this

McCown, S.M.  Search this

McGee, W J, 1853-1912  Search this

McGuire, Joseph D. (Joseph Deakins), 1842-1916  Search this

Mead, Frances K.  Search this

Merriam, C. Hart (Clinton Hart), 1855-1942  Search this

Merrick, Fannie  Search this

Merrick, Jessie  Search this

Moon, Karl  Search this

Moore, Homer  Search this

Morgan, Caroline S.  Search this

Morgan, John T.  Search this

Murie, James R.  Search this

Myers, John L.  Search this

Nuttal, Maria Magdalena  Search this

Pepper, George H. (George Hubbard), 1873-1924  Search this

Petter, W.H.  Search this

Pettigrew, Frederick W., 1850-1901  Search this

Picotte, Susan La Flesche  Search this

Pratt, Richard Henry, 1840-1924  Search this

Price, Hiram  Search this

Proctor, Edna Dean, 1829-1923  Search this

Putnam, F. W. (Frederic Ward), 1839-1915  Search this

Quinn, Daniel  Search this

Robertson, Alice M.  Search this

Rogers, Emily F.  Search this

Sanborn, F. B. (Franklin Benjamin), 1831-1917  Search this

Seymour, Thomas Day  Search this

Spofford, Ainsworth Rand, 1825-1908  Search this

St. Cyr, Julia  Search this

Starr, Frederick  Search this

Stuart, James  Search this

Talbot, Emily  Search this

Teller, W.J.  Search this

Thaw, William  Search this

Tozzer, Alfred M. (Alfred Marston), 1877-1954  Search this

Wallaschek, Richard  Search this

Westcott, Edith  Search this

Wilkinson, G.W.  Search this

Wilkinson, Hattie M.  Search this

Willoughby, Charles Clark  Search this

Names:

Carr, Lucien, 1829-1915  Search this

Radin, Paul, 1883-1959  Search this

Extent:

19 Linear feet (50 boxes)

Culture:

Inunaina (Arapaho)  Search this

Sioux  Search this

A:shiwi (Zuni)  Search this

Ponca  Search this

Quechua  Search this

Quapaw Indians  Search this

Winnebago Indians  Search this

Mexicans  Search this

Wichita Indians  Search this

Zapotec  Search this

Muskogee (Creek)  Search this

Apache  Search this

Cherokee  Search this

Hopi Pueblo  Search this

Indians of North America -- California  Search this

Hitchiti Seminole  Search this

Indians of North America -- Great Plains  Search this

Indians of North America -- Southeast  Search this

Indians of North America -- Northeast  Search this

Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)  Search this

Caddo  Search this

Biloxi Indians  Search this

Omaha  Search this

Osage  Search this

Oto  Search this

Indians of North America -- Southwest, New  Search this

Ajachemem (San Juan de Capistrano Luiseño)  Search this

Chaticks Si Chaticks (Pawnee)  Search this

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Place:

Alaska

Date:

1873-1939

Summary:

These papers reflect the professional lives of Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923), an ethnologist with the Peabody Museum of Harvard and collaborator with the Bureau of American Ethnology, and Francis La Flesche (1856-1923), an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Due to the close professional and personal relationship of Fletcher and La Flesche, their papers have been arranged jointly. The papers cover the period from 1874 to 1939. Included in the collection is correspondence, personal diaries, lectures, field notes and other ethnographic papers, drafts, musical transcriptions, publications by various authors, maps and photographs.

Scope and Contents:

These papers reflect the professional lives of Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923), an ethnologist with the Peabody Museum of Harvard University and collaborator with the Bureau of American Ethnology, and Francis La Flesche (1856-1923), an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Due to the close professional and personal relationship of Fletcher and La Flesche, their papers have been arranged jointly. The papers cover the period from 1874 to 1939. Included in the collection is correspondence, personal diaries, lectures, field notes and other ethnographic papers, drafts, musical transcriptions, publications by various authors, maps and photographs.

The papers have been divided into three general categories: the papers of Alice Cunningham Fletcher, the papers of Francis La Flesche, and the ethnographic research of Fletcher and La Flesche. The first two categories represent personal and professional materials of Fletcher and La Flesche. The third section holds the majority of the ethnographic material in the collection.

Of primary concern are Fletcher and La Flesche's ethnological investigations conducted among the Plains Indians, particularly the Omaha and Osage. Fletcher's Pawnee field research and her allotment work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs among the Omaha, Nez Perce, and Winnebago are represented in the collection. A substantial portion of the ethnographic material reflects Fletcher and La Flesche's studies of Native American music. Much of the correspondence in the papers of Fletcher and La Flesche is rich with information about the situation of Omaha peoples in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Also included in the collection are documents related to Fletcher's work with the Archaeological Institute of America and the School for American Archaeology. Additionally, substantial amounts of Fletcher's early anthropological and historical research are found among her correspondence, lectures, anthropological notes, and early field diaries. La Flesche's literary efforts are also generously represented.

Arrangement:

The collection is divided into the following 3 series: 1) Alice Cunningham Fletcher papers, 1873-1925; 2) Francis La Flesche papers, 1881-1930; 3) Papers relating to the anthropological research of Alice Fletcher and Francis La Flesche, 1877-1939.

Series 1: Alice Cunningham Fletcher papers is divided into the following 10 subseries: 1.1) Incoming correspondence, 1874-1923 (bulk 1882-1923); 1.2) Outgoing correspondence, 1873-1921; 1.3) Correspondence on specific subjects, 1881-1925; 1.4) Correspondence between Fletcher and La Flesche, 1895-1922; 1.5) Publications, 1882-1920; 1.6) Organizational records, 1904-1921; 1.7) General anthropological notes, undated; 1.8) Lectures, circa 1878-1910; 1.9) Diaries, 1881-1922; 1.10) Biography and memorabilia, 1878-1925.

Series 2: Francis La Flesche papers is divided into the following 6 subseries: 2.11) General correspondence, 1890-1929; 2.12) Correspondence on specific subjects, 1881-1930; 2.13) Publications, 1900-1927; 2.14) Literary efforts, undated; 2.15) Personal diaries, 1883-1924; 2.16) Biography and memorabilia, 1886-1930.

Series 3: Papers relating to the anthropological research of Alice Fletcher and Francis La Flesche is divided into the following 12 subseries: 3.17) Alaska, 1886-1887; 3.18) Earth lodges, 1882, 1898-1899; 3.19) Music, 1888-1918; 3.20) Nez Perce, 1889-1909; 3.21) Omaha, 1882-1922; 3.22) Osage, 1896-1939; 3.23) Pawnee, 1897-1910; 3.24) Pipes, undated; 3.25) Sioux, 1877-1896; 3.26) Other tribes, 1882-1922; 3.27) Publications collected, 1884-1905, undated; 3.28) Photographs, undated.

Biographical / Historical:

Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923) was an ethnologist with the Peabody Museum of Harvard and collaborator with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Francis La Flesche (1856-1923) was an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology.

Chronology of the Life of Alice Cunningham Fletcher

1838 March 15 -- Born in Havana, Cuba

1873-1876 -- Secretary, American Association for Advancement of Women

1879 -- Informal student of anthropology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University

1881 -- Field trip to Omaha and Rosebud Agencies

1882 -- Assistant in ethnology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University

1882 -- Helped secure land in severalty to Omaha Indians

1882-1883 -- Begins collaboration with Francis La Flesche on the Peabody Museum's collection of Omaha and Sioux artifacts

1883-1884 -- Special Agent, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Omaha Agency

1886 -- Bureau of Education investigation of Alaskan native education

1887-1888 -- Special Disbursing Agent, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Winnebago Agency

1889-1892 -- Special Agent for allotment, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Nez Perce Agency

1890-1899 -- President, Women's Anthropological Society of America

1891-1923 -- Mary Copley Thaw Fellow, Peabody Museum, Harvard University

1892-1893 -- Department of Interior consultant, World's Columbian Exposition

1896 -- Vice-President, Section H, American Association for the Advancement of Science

1897 -- Collaborator, Bureau of American Ethnology

1899-1916 -- Editorial board, American Anthropologist

1900 -- Published Indian Story and Song from North America

1901-1902 -- Advisory committee, Anthropology Department, University of California at Berkeley

1903 -- President, Anthropological Society of Washington

1904 -- Published The Hako: A Pawnee Ceremony with James Murie

1904 -- Member, ethnology section, Louisiana Purchase Exposition

1905 -- President, American Folk-lore Society

1908-1913 -- Chair, Managing Committee of School of American Archaeology

1911 -- Honorary Vice-President, Section H, British Association for Advancement of Science

1911 -- Published The Omaha Tribe with Francis La Flesche

1913 -- Chair Emeritus, Managing Committee of School of American Archaeology

1915 -- Published Indian Games and Dances with Native Songs Arranged from American Indian Ceremonials and Sports

1923 April 6 -- Died in Washington, D.C.

Chronology of the Life of Francis La Flesche

1857 December 25 -- Born on Omaha Reservation near Macy, Nebraska

1879 -- Lecture tour, Ponca chief Standing Bear

1881 -- Interpreter, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

1881-1910 -- Clerk, Bureau of Indian Affairs

1891 -- Informally adopted as Fletcher's son

1892 -- LL.B., National University Law School

1893 -- LL.M., National University Law School

1900 -- Published The Middle Five: Indian Boys at School

1906-1908 -- Marriage to Rosa Bourassa

1910-1929 -- Ethnologist, Bureau of American Ethnology

1911 -- Published The Omaha Tribe with Alice Fletcher

1921 -- Published The Osage Tribe, Part One

1922 -- Member, National Academy of Sciences

1922-1923 -- President, Anthropological Society of Washington

1925 -- Published The Osage Tribe, Part Two

1926 -- Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Nebraska

1928 -- Published The Osage Tribe, Part Three

1932 -- Published Dictionary of the Osage Language

1932 September 5 -- Died in Thurston County, Nebraska

1939 -- Posthumous publication of War Ceremony and Peace Ceremony of the Osage Indians

Related Materials:

Additional material related to the professional work of Fletcher and La Flesche in the National Anthropological Archives may be found among the correspondence of the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) and the records of the Anthropological Society of Washington.

Sound recordings made by Fletcher and La Flesche can be found at the Library of Congress. The National Archives Records Administration hold the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), including those relating to allotments in severalty for the Nez Perce by Alice Fletcher. The Nebraska Historical Society has diaries, letters and clippings regarding the La Flesche family, including correspondence of Francis La Flesche and Fletcher. The Radcliffe College Archives holds a manuscript account of Alice Fletcher's four summers with the Nez Perce (1889-1892). Correspondence between Fletcher and F. W. Putnam is also located at the Peabody Museum Archives of Harvard University.

Separated Materials:

Ethnographic photographs from the collection have been catalogued by tribe in Photo Lot 24.

Glass plate negatives from the collection have been catalogued by tribe in the BAE glass negatives collection (Negative Numbers 4439-4515).

Provenance:

The papers of Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche have been received from an undocumented number of sources. Portions of Fletcher's ethnographic papers were donated to the archives by Mrs. G. David Pearlman in memory of her husband in 1959.

Restrictions:

The Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers are open for research.

Access to the Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers requires an appointment.

Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Topic:

Pipes -- American Indian  Search this

Earth houses  Search this

Music -- American Indian  Search this

Citation:

Manuscript 4558 Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Identifier:

NAA.MS4558

See more items in:

MS 4558 Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-naa-ms4558

Creator:

Weston, Harold, 1894-1972  Search this

Names:

Adirondack Trail Improvement Society  Search this

Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA). Americans-in-Britain Outpost  Search this

Corcoran Gallery of Art  Search this

Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors  Search this

Food for Freedom, Inc.  Search this

Harvard Lampoon (Organization)  Search this

Harvard University -- Students  Search this

International Association of Art. United States Committee  Search this

Montross Gallery  Search this

National Council on the Arts and Government  Search this

National Endowment for the Arts  Search this

New York State Council on the Arts  Search this

Phillips Collection  Search this

Studio House (Phillips Memorial Gallery)  Search this

Carmichael, Leonard, 1898-1973  Search this

Dows, Olin, 1904-1981  Search this

Mumford, Lewis, 1895-1990  Search this

Phillips, Duncan, 1886-1966  Search this

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962  Search this

Rosenfeld, Paul, 1890-1946  Search this

Sizer, Theodore, 1892-1967  Search this

Weston, Faith  Search this

Extent:

24.3 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Christmas cards

Notes

Etchings

Speeches

Articles

Postcards

Poems

Woodcuts

Sketches

Photographs

Scrapbooks

Glass negatives

Lantern slides

Copper plates

Place:

Adirondack Mountain Reserve (N.Y.)

Date:

1894-1978

bulk 1912-1972

Summary:

The papers of modernist painter and activist Harold Weston (1894-1972) date from 1894 to 1978 and measure 24.3 linear feet. The papers focus on Weston's painting career and his involvement with humanitarian and artistic causes. Found are biographical materials, correspondence, personal business records, association and organization records, commission and project files, materials relating to Weston's book Freedom in the Wilds, writings, artwork, printed materials, two scrapbooks, and photographs.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of modernist painter and activist Harold Weston (1894-1972) date from 1894 to 1978 and measure 24.3 linear feet. The papers focus on Weston's painting career and his involvement with humanitarian and artistic causes. Found are biographical materials, correspondence, personal business records, association and organization records, commission and project files, materials relating to Weston's book Freedom in the Wilds, writings, artwork, printed materials, two scrapbooks, and photographs. The papers document his involvement with the Committee to Defend America, Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, Food for Freedom, the International Association of the Plastic Arts, National Countil on the Arts and Government, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council for the Arts, Reconstruction Service Committee, and the YMCA in Baghdad.

Biographical materials include biographical sketches and resumes, including a short biography written by Faith Weston in 1969. There are records from his school years at Exeter Academy and Harvard University that include yearbooks, report cards, scholarship information, Harvard Lampoon materials, and a diploma from Harvard. Also found are materials relating to Faith Weston, membership cards, memorials information, passports and travel papers, and wedding wishes.

Correspondence from Harold Weston dates from his school years up until his death in 1972. In letters to his family, Weston discusses his education; his travel and activities in the Middle East during World War I; the Adirondacks; convalescense in France in the mid-1920s; his immediate family life; and exhibitions. Also found are holiday cards designed and printed by Weston. The majority of correspondence is with his father S. Burns Weston, mother Mary, sister Esther, brother Carl, Faith Weston and the Borton family, children Barbara, Bruce, and Haroldine, and others. Also found are letters between Weston and friend Theodore Sizer and Duncan Phillips of the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.

Personal business and financial records relating to Weston's exhibitions include delivery receipts, agreements, hand-drawn gallery plans for exhibitions, lists of exhibitions, framing invoices, legal information, pricelists, records of sales, and lists of works of art. Galleries with which Weston held exhibitions, sold, or lent works of art include Boyer Galleries, Corcoran Gallery, the Gallery in Paoli, Montross Gallery, the Phillips Collection, and Studio House Galleries.

Records relating to Harold Weston's memberships and involvement with professional associations and service organizations are from the Adirondack Trail Improvement Society, the Committee to Defend America, Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, Food for Freedom, International Association of the Plastic Arts/International Arts Association, National Countil on the Arts and Government, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Reconstruction Service Committee, and the Young Men's Christian Association, Baghdad. The files include correspondence, financial records, meetings and membership information, notes, organizational history, photographs, printed materials, programs and activities records, speeches, and writings.

Files that document Weston's Building the United Nations and the Treasury Relief Project sponsored "Procurement Building Murals" are found within the Commissions and Project files series. The files include correspondence, financial information, legal documents, photographs of the works of art and research photos, and printed materials. Correspondence of note includes letters written by Lewis Mumford, Duncan Phillips, Eleanor Roosevelt on behalf of Weston's Building of the United Nations and letters from Leonard Carmichael, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Letters from Olin Dows of the Treasury Relief Art Project are within correspondence relating to the "Procurement Building Murals." Also found are preliminary sketches of the murals.

The Freedom in the Wilds series contains materials relating to the book which combined Weston's autobiography with a history of the Adirondack Mountain Reserve. Additional writings and notes are by Harold Weston and others, and include articles, poetry, notes, speech notes and speeches, and lists. Harold Weston's articles include "Persian Caravan Sketches" published in 1921 discussing his travels throughout the Middle East. Other articles are written by Duncan Phillips, Paul Rosenfeld, Barbara Weston, and Faith Weston. Also found are postcards annoted with notes by Harold Weston about his travels.

Artwork inlcudes sketches, etchings, copperplates, and woodcuts. There are copperplates entitled "Shroud" and of the series Building the United Nations for the Harvard Alumni bulletin in 1957; an untitled etching by Weston; sketches including those from Baghdad and watercolor sketches; a woodcut of the 1924 Weston holiday card; and scattered unsigned sketches probably not by Weston.

Printed materials include calendars with notations; clippings; exhibition catalogs and announcements for Weston's exhibitions dating from 1922-1976 and for others; gallery tags or labels for paintings shown in exhibitions; reproductions of illustrations for the Harvard Lampoon and full issues from 1911-1916; materials relating to the Harvard production of Henry IV, for which Weston designed the sets; reproductions of works of art by Weston and by others; school seals; and various art related publications.

There are two scrapbooks compiled by Faith Weston about her husband. The first contains materials relating to Weston's activity with the International Association of the Plastic Arts Conference of 1963, including a letter and photograph of President John F. Kennedy. The second scrapbook dates from 1977 and consists of general clippings relating to Weston's career, dating from 1917 to 1952 with additional materials added by Faith in 1977.

Photographs are of Weston, family members, exhibitions and installations, and works of art by Weston and others. There are also numerous photographs of Weston's travel through the Adirondacks, the Middle East, Europe, and India. Also found are glass plate negatives of works of art painted in France between 1926-1930; scattered glass plate negatives of Baghdad and the Middle East; glass plates belonging to S. Burns Weston of the Adirondacks, circa 1900; and approximately 100 lantern slides of the various Middle Eastern cities and ruins - probably used by Weston to illustrate his talks given in the 1920s.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 11 series. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers:

Series 1: Biographical Information, 1896-1974 (Box 1, 38; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1894-1975 (Box 1-3, 38; 2.5 linear feet)

Series 3: Personal Business and Financial records, 1912-1977 (Box 4; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 4: Associations and Organizations records, 1916-1972 (Box 4-10, 37-38; 6.5 linear feet)

Series 5: Commissions and Project files, 1935-1965 (Box 10-12, 38, OV 39; 1.4 linear feet)

Series 6: -- Freedom in the Wilds -- records, late 1960s-1976 (Box 12-13; 1.8 linear feet)

Series 7: Writings and Notes, 1912-1975 (Box 13-14; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 8: Artwork and Artifacts, circa 1917-1967 (Box 14, 21; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 9: Printed Material, circa 1900-1978 (Box 15-18, 38; 2.5 linear feet)

Series 10: Scrapbooks, circa 1963-1977 (Box 17-18; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 11: Photographs, circa 1900-1975 (Box 18-20, 22-36, 38; 4.8 linear feet)

Biographical Note:

Modernist painter and federal Treasury Relief Art Project artist Harold Weston (1894-1972) worked primarily in New York City and St. Huberts, New York in the Adirondacks. Weston was president of the U.S. Commission of the International Association of Art/Plastic Arts and the Federation of Modern Painters and Scultors. He was also chairman of the National Council on the Arts and Government and active with various political and humanitarian causes.

Harold Weston was born in 1894 in Merion, Pennsylvania into a privileged family. He attended school in Europe as a teenager, where he began to draw and sketch. In 1910, Harold contracted Polio which left him with a weak leg. After graduating from Exeter Academy, Harold entered Harvard University with the class of 1916 and was active in the Delta Upsilon Club and the Harvard Lampoon, for which he illustrated.

Despite his leg, Weston was determined to serve in some form during World War I. He traveled to Baghdad and volunteered with the YMCA. Here he started the Baghdad Art Club and organized exhibitions of soldier art. He remained in the Middle East until 1919 and served as the official painter for the British Army. The colors and the landscape of the region also inspired later works of art.

Upon returning to the United States, Weston built a one-room cabin in the Adirondack Mountains, where he lived and painted. He had his first one-man exhibtition at the Montross Gallery in 1922. In 1923, he married Faith Borton who moved with him to the Adirondacks. His wife inspired his series of "landscape nudes" which treated the body with different techniques that would typically be used in landscape painting. After suffering from a kidney infection in 1925, Weston and his wife moved to Ceres, France to recover. Weston continued to paint and started a family with Faith while in France. In 1930, the family moved back to the United States and lived in Greenwich Village, New York.

From 1936-1938, Harold Weston worked with the federal Treasury Relief Art Project and painted murals in the Procurement Building in Washington, D.C. The murals represent the growth of public buildings during the Great Depression. He took on a second major project to document the contruction of the United Nations in a series of six paintings. Later, the Smithsonian Instution received the paintings as gifts through an independent committee.

In addition to painting, Harold Weston devoted himself to public service by becoming involved in humanitarian causes, artist professional organizations, and federal government support of the arts. Weston served as president or chairman of three different organizations including the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, the International Association of Art/International Association of the Plastic Art, and the National Council on the Arts and Government. Before the start of World War II, Harold Weston was named the Chairman of Essex County Committee to Defend America, which argued for financial support of the allied forces in World War II. After the start of the war, he helped form the Food for Freedom movement which urged American aid for European and Asian refugees. Similarly, Weston served as Executive Secretary for the Reconstruction Service Committee which was established to assist the rebuilding of Europe.

Later in life, Weston wrote a book Freedom in the Wilds, which combined his own autobiography with a history of the Adirondack Mountain Reserve. Harold Weston died on April 10th, 1972 in New York City.

Separated Material:

The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel N69-76) including biographic notes, exhibition material, clippings, a presentation album, and commemorative stamps. Some, but not all, of these papers were included in later donations. Materials not donated remain with the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.

Syracuse University also holds circa 14 linear feet of Harold Weston's papers.

Provenance:

Harold Weston lent the Archives of American Art materials for microfilming in 1969. Faith Borton Weston, Harold Weston's widow, donated the papers in several increments between 1972-1980 and lent materials for microfilming in 1977.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Rights:

The Harold Weston papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Topic:

Painting, Abstract -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Federal aid to the arts  Search this

Art and state  Search this

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

World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, American  Search this

Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Genre/Form:

Christmas cards

Notes

Etchings

Speeches

Articles

Postcards

Poems

Woodcuts

Sketches

Photographs

Scrapbooks

Glass negatives

Lantern slides

Copper plates

Citation:

Harold Weston papers, 1894-1978. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.

Identifier:

AAA.westharo

See more items in:

Harold Weston papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-westharo

Creator:

Hirsch, Stefan, 1899-1964  Search this

Rogo, Elsa, 1901-1996  Search this

Names:

Bard College -- Faculty  Search this

Bennington College -- Faculty  Search this

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

United States. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs  Search this

Albers, Josef  Search this

Anguiano, Raúl, 1915-2006  Search this

Bier, Justus, 1899-1990  Search this

Field, Hamilton Easter  Search this

Halpert, Edith Gregor, 1900-1970  Search this

Mumford, Lewis, 1895-1990  Search this

Mérida, Carlos, 1891-1984  Search this

Shahn, Ben, 1898-1969  Search this

Extent:

19.6 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Motion pictures (visual works)

Sound recordings

Etchings

Sketchbooks

Scrapbooks

Glass plate negatives

Transcripts

Place:

Mexico -- Photographs

Date:

1851-1986

bulk 1920-1960

Summary:

The papers of artists and educators Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo measure 19.6 linear feet and date from 1851 to 1986, with the bulk of the material dating from 1920s to the 1960s. Their artistic, teaching, and journalism careers are documented through biographical materials, correspondence, writings and notes, professional files, printed materials, photographs and motion picture films, and sketchbooks and other artwork.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of artists and educators Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo measure 19.6 linear feet and date from 1851 to 1986, with the bulk of the material dating from 1920s to the 1960s. Their artistic, teaching, and journalism careers are documented through biographical materials, correspondence, writings and notes, professional files, printed materials, photographs and motion picture films, and sketchbooks and other artwork.

Biographical materials include address lists, resumes and biographical sketches, identification cards, material relating to Hirsch's military service, and legal documents. Two sound recordings, one personal and another of Rogo on Spanish National Radio, are also found here.

Correspondence is both professional and personal. Professional correspondence concerns commissions, exhibitions, travel, and teaching. Notable correspondents include Josef Albers, Justus Bier, Downtown Gallery (Edith Halpert), Carlos Mérida, Lewis Mumford, Ben Shahn, and many others. Personal correspondence is largely between Hirsch and Rogo. Writings are found for both Hirsch and Rogo and include notebooks, diary fragments and transcripts, lectures, essays on art, articles, and notes. A manuscript by Hamilton Easter Field is also found and a writing by an unknown author. Professional files document teaching positions, projects, commissions, memberships, and other professional activities undertaken by Hirsch and Rogo. They document Hirsch's teaching career at Bard College, Bennington College, and his mural work in South Carolina and Mississippi. Files concerning Rogo's work with the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs are found here, as well as files documenting their professional and personal travel. These contain a wide variety of materials, such as correspondence, printed material, meeting minutes, photographs, and writings. Also found are scattered files relating to general areas of interest.

Hirsch's and Rogo's business records include contracts concerning Elsa Rogo's book agreements, records settling the estate of the Hirsch family in Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Germany, insurance records, a lease, price lists, and general receipts and invoices. Also found are personal art collection records including a sales agreement and a list of Latin American art owned by Hirsch and Rogo. Printed materials include books, brochures, clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs for Stefan Hirsch and others, issues of magazines and other periodicals, copies of published writings by Hirsch and Rogo, and a dismantled printed materials scrapbook.

Photographs are extensive and include personal photos of Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo, their family, friends, and colleagues. Numerous travel photos were taken by Rogo in her role as a journalist in Latin American and the United States. The bulk of the professional travel photos were taken in Mexico in the 1930s to the 1960s and show events, cities, and cultural activities. Also found are glass plate negatives, photographs of works of art, and sixteen reels of motion picture film taken in Mexico, Bard College, and Oqunquit, Maine.

Eighteen sketchbooks are largely unsigned but are likely by Stefan Hirsch. Additional artwork includes sketches and etchings by Hirsch, sketches by Elsa Rogo, and works by others including Raul Anquiano and Efren Villalobos.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 9 series:

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1899-1986 (0.6 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1920s-1960s (3.2 linear feet; Boxes 1-4)

Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1920-1960s (1.2 linear feet: Boxes 4-5)

Series 4: Professional Files, 1912-1966 (2.8 linear feet; Boxes 6-8)

Series 5: Personal Business Records, 1927-1957 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 8-9)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1851-1964 (2.9 linear feet; Boxes 9-12, 19)

Series 7: Photographs and Motion Picture Film, circa 1870-1960s (6.9 linear feet; Boxes 12-17, 20, FC 21-29)

Series 8: Sketchbooks, circa 1930s-circa 1940s (0.6 linear feet; Box 18)

Series 9: Artwork and Artifacts, 1916-1982 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 18-19)

Biographical / Historical:

German-born Stefan Hirsch (1899-1964) was a painter and educator. Elsa Rogo (1901-1966) was married to Hirsch and was an artist, educator and journalist. They were active in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, and Vermont, and traveled extensively throughout Mexico and Latin America where they documented local arts and crafts, village life, and befriended prominent Mexican artists.

Born in Nurnberg, Germany, Stefan Hirsch grew up in Europe and studied art at the University of Zurich. After settling in the United States in 1919, he took summer courses under Hamilton Easter Field in Ogunquit, Maine. Hirsch developed a Precisionist style combined with Social Realism but much of his work was difficult to restrict to one specific style. Hirsch was a founder and exhibitor at the avant-garde Salons of America which served as an alternative to the Society of Independent Artists. During the 1930s and 1940s, Hirsch participated in the U.S. government's Federal Art Project and painted murals in Aiken, South Carolina and Booneville, Mississippi. Hirsch began his teaching career in 1937 at Bennington College in Vermont, and later accepted a position at Bard College where he served as the chairman of the art department until he retired in 1961.

In 1930, Hirsch married Elsa Rogo. Together, they traveled throughout Mexico and Latin America where they became involved in the social and art scenes. They befriended prominent Mexican artists like Diego Rivera and David Siqueiros. As a journalist, Rogo documented Mexican life, events, and art extensively through photographs. Rogo also served in the U.S. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, established in 1940 to promote cultural diplomacy and solidarity primarily in Latin America. In Taxaco, Mexico, she taught art to school children. Her book, Walls and Volcanos: The Creative Impulse of the Mexican People, was published in 1937.

Stefan Hirsch died in 1964. Elsa Rogo died in 1966.

Provenance:

Portions of the Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo papers were donated in 1996 by the Elsa Rogo estate, via Sylvia Siskin, executrix. Additions were donated 2002, 2014, and 2019 by professor James Oles, Art Department, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts on behalf of Sylvia Siskin.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. Original film reels and archival negative copies are stored off-site and are closed to researchers.

Rights:

The Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:

Painters -- New York (State)  Search this

Art teachers  Search this

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

Topic:

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

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

Art, Latin American  Search this

Mural painting and decoration, Mexican -- Photographs  Search this

Mural painting and decoration -- South Carolina  Search this

Mural painting and decoration -- Mississippi  Search this

Genre/Form:

Motion pictures (visual works)

Sound recordings

Etchings

Sketchbooks

Scrapbooks

Glass plate negatives

Transcripts

Citation:

Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo papers, 1851-1986, bulk 1920s-1960s. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund. Funding for the preservation of the Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo home movies shot in Mexico was provided by the National Film Preservation Foundation. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.

Identifier:

AAA.hirsstef

See more items in:

Stefan Hirsch and Elsa Rogo papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-hirsstef

Creator:

Naff, Alixa, 1919-2013  Search this

Names:

Naff, Faris  Search this

Naff, Yamna  Search this

Extent:

120 Cubic feet (295 boxes )

2,000 Photographs

450 Cassette tapes

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Cassette tapes

Date:

1875 - 2004

Summary:

The collection is the result of research conducted by Dr. Alixa Naff relating to the study of the early Arab immigrant experience in the United States from about 1880-World War II. The study began with oral history interviews in 1962 and became a major project in 1980 with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It documents the assimilation of Arabic speaking immigrants in the United States.

Scope and Contents:

The collection documents the immigration and assimilation of mostly Christian Syrian-Lebanese who came to America at the turn of the twentieth century. The immigrants were predominately-small land-owning peasants and artisans from the village of Syria and Lebanon. According to Alixa Naff, immigrants knew exactly where they were going to live and what they were going to do once they immigrated to America. They mostly chose to live in cities where earlier immigrants had already created communities. The majority of the immigrants became peddlers. Peddlers carried packs containing scissors, razors, pins, buttons, ribbons, threads, needles, combs, mirrors, soap, voile and muslin, lace and crotchet crafts, perfume, scarves, picture frames, oriental rugs, fine linens, leather goods, pictures of saints, religious notions from the holy land, confections and cakes. Peddling offered the immigrants a source of income and a way to learn the English language, American customs and lifestyles. It often led to ownership of a small dry goods store. More successful businesspersons then went on to own a department store or a chain of stores. For those Syrian/Lebanese who chose not to pursue peddling as a source of income other occupations included farming, work in New England textile mills, Midwestern factories, Pittsburgh and Birmingham steel mills and Detroit's automobile assembly lines.

It was in these Syrian communities created by Arab immigrants that Dr. Naff sought interviews, photographs and personal papers. For Alixa Naff this pioneering generation of people offered a wealth of information on the immigrant experience and the critical role that peddling played. Naff conducted interviews in urban and small town communities with an emphasis on Midwestern states. Her informants included first and second generation Christians, Druze and Muslims. Locations of interviews included Detroit, Michigan because it was an industrial city with a large and stable Syrian population of all faiths. Cedar Rapids, Iowa was smaller, a railroad depot at the turn of the century and home to the earliest Muslim groups. Peoria, Illinois was also a small, railroad depot at the turn of the century and it consisted predominately of the Maronite Sect originally from one village in Mount Lebanon. Spring Valley, Illinois was a small mining town with a Christian community and the remnant of a once flourishing peddling settlement. Their Eastern Rite Syrian Orthodox Church was the only one in Illinois until 1961 and served smaller Syrian groups.

Oral history interviews deal with the sociological factors of the assimilation process. Most tapes have been fully transcribed or abstracted. Information from the interviews are supported with published articles; demographic statistics; articles from the Arab-American press, books, journals and dissertations published in the United States or in Arab countries. Personal papers collected from individuals and families provide evidence of the experiences discussed in the interviews and add a personal touch to the reference materials. While there are a number of original items included among the personal papers, there is a substantial amount of duplicate materials. Naff would often collect the originals make copies and then return the originals to the donors.

Arrangement:

[Alixa Naff arranged the collection materials and the Archives Center staff maintained this arrangement due to the size of the collection. Materials are arranged mostly by subject and type.]

The collection is arranged into eight series:

Series 1: Personal Papers

Subseries 1.1: Individuals

Subseries 1.2: Organizations

Series 2: Photographs

Series 3: Oral interviews, Abstracts, Transcripts and Supporting Materials, 1962-1995

Subseries 3.1: Abstracts and Transcripts

Subseries 3.2: By Topic

Subseries3.3: Other Projects

Series 4: Publications

Series 5: Subject Files

Series 6: Project Files

Series 7: Alixa Naff Personal Papers

Series 8: Audio Visual Materials

Biographical / Historical:

The Faris and Yamna Naff Collection is the result of the dedication and research efforts of Dr. Alixa Naff, the daughter of Syrian-Lebanese immigrants. She has spent most of her life documenting the early American experience of the generation of Arabs, mostly Christian, from Syria/Lebanon who came to this country around the turn of the century.

After an administrative career in private industry, Alixa Naff enrolled at the University of California to obtain her B.A. degree. During her senior year, she was required to write a paper for an American history seminar. The topic for the seminar was immigration. Alixa Naff chose Arabs in America as her subject. According to Naff, there was a lack of reference materials relating to her topic. Therefore, she relied mostly on conversations with her parents' friends. Impressed by her work, Alixa Naff's professor offered her a grant to collect Arab folklore.

Alixa Naff conducted her research during the summer of 1962. She interviewed eighty-seven people in sixteen communities across the United States and eastern Canada. All of her informants were at least sixty years old at the time of the interviews and represented the last surviving members of her parents' pioneer immigrant generation. After completing her fieldwork, Naff went on to earn her master's and Ph.D. degrees. She taught on the college level at California State University and the University of Colorado. In 1977, she left teaching citing anti-Arab feelings as the reason for her shift in career paths. Her desire to counter the anti-Arab stereotyping with accurate sources of information created yet another opportunity for her to pursue more research about Arab Americans.

Later in 1977, Alixa Naff served as a consultant on a documentary film relating to Arabs in America. She again realized existed on the subject of the Arab immigrant experience in America. Moreover, much of what she found conflicted with what pioneer informants had told her. Naff was also painfully aware that family members of decreased Arab immigrants often discarded the early artifacts, personal papers, photographs and books brought to America. Shortly after, she began working on a study on the history of Arab immigrants. In 1979, Alixa Naff met Gino Baroni, then undersecretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and founder of the National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs. His center helped her secure funding for her research from the National Endowment for the Humanities and provided an office for her to work. The result of this work was a book entitled Becoming American: The Early Arab Immigrant Experience published in 1985. Richard Ahlborn, then curator of the Smithsonian's Community Life Division (now its Department of Cultural Affairs), convinced Naff to donate the collection to the Smithsonian in honor of her parents, Faris and Yamna Naff, and their generation of Arabs who immigrated to America.

Alixa Naff died on June 1, 2013 at the age of 93.

Related Materials:

Materials at the National Museum of American History

The Division of Home and Community Life holds artifacts related to this collection including. See Accession #: 2007.3245.

Materials at the Smithsonian Institution

Photo Lot 2011-02, Alixa Naff photographs of Europe, the Middle East and the Mediterranean and audio tapes on Mediterranean folklore, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

Provenance:

The collection is the result of research conducted by Dr. Alixa Naff relating to the study of the early Arab immigrant experience in the United States from about 1880-World War II. The study began with oral history interviews in 1962 and became a major project in 1980 with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

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

Viewing film portions of collection require special appointment; please inquire with a reference archivist. Do not use when original materials are available on reference video or audio tapes.

Rights:

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

Citation:

Faris and Yamna Naff Arab-American Collection Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0078

See more items in:

Faris and Yamna Naff Arab American Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0078