Photographs of and letters from artists, and a sales catalog.
REEL D10: A letter from Ann Arbor, Michigan painter Carlos Lopez answering Burroughs's request for information about a painting.
REEL 1817: Six toned silver gelatin photographs taken by Frank Scott Clark, 1915, of artists Alexis Jean Fournier, Gari Melchers, Ivan Olinsky, William Ritschel, Julius Rolshoven and Paul Troubetzkoy, each inscribed to Burroughs by the artist, 1915 and 1916. [Arranged alphabetically on microfilm with other unrelated photographs in Photographs of Artists Collection Two.]
REEL 2787: Letters from artist friends and acquaintances, including a letter from sculptor, Arthur C. Morgan, about a bust he is working on; a letter from Henry Boller Pancoast, 1925, "in receipt of your kind invitation to send my picture to Detroit for your annual exhibition," written on a card with a reproduction of a painting by Pancoast; photocopies of 11 letters received by Burroughs from Frank W. Benson, DeWitt Parshall, and William Sergeant Kendall, all regarding the exhibition of their works at the Detroit Museum of Art; and an annotated catalog of the sale of oil paintings, etchings, watercolors, and drawings belonging to Clyde Burroughs.
REEL 3482: A letter to Burroughs from Betsy Graves Reyneau, undated and one from Isaac Rader, 1927, each giving biographical information.
Biographical / Historical:
Clyde Burroughs (1882-1973) was an art administrator, director, and historian from Detroit, Mich. Director of the Detroit Museum of Art which became the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Provenance:
Donated possibly by Burroughs.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Art museum directors -- Michigan -- Detroit Search this
An interview with Graham Beal conducted 2016 April 6 and 7, by James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art, at Beal's home in Detroit, Michigan.
Biographical / Historical:
Graham Beal (1947- ) is the Director Emeritus of the Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit, Michigan. James McElhinney (1952- ) is a painter and educator in New York, New York.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Michigan -- Detroit -- Interviews Search this
Burroughs, Clyde H. (Clyde Huntley), 1882-1973 Search this
Interviewer:
Woolfenden, William E. (William Edward), 1918-1995 Search this
Extent:
21 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1961 June 1
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Clyde H. Burroughs conducted 1961 June 1, by William E. Woolfenden, for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Clyde H. Burroughs (1882-1973) was an art administrator from Detroit, Michigan.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 34 min.
Sound quality is poor.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Michigan -- Detroit -- Interviews Search this
Resume, correspondence, photographs, miscellany, and clippings.
REEL 880: Resume, ca. 104 letters, 2 photographs of Midener, 1945, (one with collector Edward M. M. Warburg), and miscellany. Correspondents include Nathan Cummings, Curt Valentin, Edward Warburg, and others.
REEL 103: Correspondence from the Buchholz Gallery, Barone Gallery and Little Gallery, arranging sales and exhibits of Midener's wood sculpture; from various Jewish organizations in New York and Cincinnati, commissioning Midener's work; collectors Edward Warburg and Jakob Goldschmidt, and personal friends, including sculptor William McVey and Max Ascoli, the last writing a letter of introduction. Clippings showing Midener's religious art, catalogs and occasional photographs are also included.
UNMICROFILMED: Correspondence, 1947-1978, relating to Midener's work at the Art School of the Society of Arts and Crafts; commissions; loans; and other mostly business matters.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor, art instructor and art administrator, Detroit, Michigan. Born in Leignitz, Germany. Attended Kunst Akademie in Berlin, 1932-1936. Came to U.S. in 1938. Taught at Henry Street Settlement in New York, N.Y., Cleveland Institute of Art, and Art School of the Society of Arts and Crafts becoming president of the board of trustees in 1976. Won the Tiffany Fellowship for Sculpture, 1940.
Provenance:
Donated 1965 and 1974 by Walter Midener and in 1978 by his estate.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Michigan -- Detroit Search this
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Mel Casas papers, 1963-1998. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing and digitization of this collection received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center. Additional funding for the digitization of the papers was provided by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.
The papers of Detroit portrait painter Percy Ives (1864-1928), measure 1.4 linear feet and date from circa 1890-1994, with the bulk of the material dating from circa 1890-circa 1930. Two hundred and fifty-eight glass plate negatives of sitters, models, and artwork by Ives form the bulk of the collection. Additional papers include two 1923 letters, a folder of notes, news clippings, sketches, and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Detroit portrait painter Percy Ives (1864-1928), measure 1.4 linear feet and date from circa 1890-1994, with the bulk of the material dating from circa 1890-circa 1930. Two hundred and fifty-eight glass plate negatives of sitters, models, and artwork by Ives form the bulk of the collection. Additional papers include two 1923 letters, a folder of notes, news clippings, sketches, and photographs.
Letters include one to "The Oil and Colour Man" from "The Dweller in the Cave of Winds," and an IOU from A. W. "Gus" Ives to Percy Ives.
Notes include seven index cards with notes on "nibbles" and sales of paintings; and notes about Ives made in 1936 by James Parker's father. News clippings include four 1940 issues of a newspaper column, "We Old Timers," about Ives and his family.
Artwork consists of fifty-eight pencil sketches which have been mounted on the pages of a photograph album.
Thirty-seven photographs, most of them mounted on paper, include two which appear to be of Ives in his studio. The other photographs are of the interior and exterior of a house, an unidentified woman, farm scenes, and other outdoor scenes. There are also two photographs of paintings by Ives, including a self portrait.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of the collection, the papers are arranged as one series.
Series 1: Percy Ives Papers, (1.4 linear feet; Boxes 1-4)
Biographical / Historical:
Portrait painter and dean of the Detroit Museum of Art School, Percy Ives (1864-1928), was the son of artist Lewis Thomas Ives; father and son were considered to be among the most notable Detroit artists of the latter part of the nineteenth century.
Ives studied initially with his father, and subsequently attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in the early-1880s, and the Academié Julian and École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1884 to 1890. He exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1887 and 1893, and at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
After returning to the United States, Ives settled in Detroit where his father had a studio, and painted portraits, often of prominent men of Michigan, as well as a number of people outside the state including Grover Cleveland and Walt Whitman. Notable examples of his portraiture hang in many of the county and state buildings of Michigan.
Ives was a member of several Detroit artist associations, such as the Scarab Club, served as incorporator, trustee, and treasurer of the Detroit Museum of Art before it became the Detroit Institute of Arts, was appointed dean of the museum school in 1896, and designed the seal of the institute.
Ives died suddenly in 1928 at the age of 63.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reel 593) including two diaries, 1885-1887 and 1903-1907, three albums containing photographs of family and friends, a book of illustrations of commercial signs painted by Ives, and fifteen loose sketches. Lent materials were returned to the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library in Detroit, Michigan and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library gave the Archives of American Art Percy Ives' sketches and glass plate negatives in 1956-1957 and lent material for microfilming in 1973. James B. Parker, whose father, Dr. Albert Russell Parker, purchased Ives's desk with the items intact, donated additional material in 1994.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold, 1880-1958 Search this
Extent:
74 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1981 August 11-19
Scope and Contents:
An interview of William Bostick conducted 1981 August 11-19, by Mary Chris Rospond, for the Archives of American Art.
Bostick speaks of his childhood; his early interest in art; his education at the Carnegie Institute and the Detroit Academy of Art; studying at Cranbrook Academy with Zoltan Sepeshy and Maija Grotell; the beginning of his career in commercial art; his early museum career; becoming administrator of the Detroit Institute of Arts; the ART QUARTERLY; the growth of the Detroit Institute's collection and its administrative history; some of the Institute's more important exhibitions; his own artistic style and methods; the Scarab Club and the Founders Society. He recalls E.P. Richardson and William R. Valentiner.
Biographical / Historical:
William Bostick (1913-2007) was an art administrator from Detroit, Michigan.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav file. Duration is 4 hr., 18 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Michigan -- Detroit -- Interviews Search this
Function:
Art museums -- Michigan -- Detroit
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Letters to Bostick as Secretary of the Detroit Institute of Arts.
REEL D8, fr.525: A letter from Charles Culver, November 8, 1955, regarding his gift to the DIA of a Robert Dick painting "Moonlight," and offering biographical information and reminiscences on Dick as well as his own painting.
REEL D9, fr. 637: A letter from Paul McPharlin 1947 Oct. 1, mentioning a book design.
REEL D10: Three letters from Abraham Rattner, October 1955, regarding Rattner's work as a juror for a show at the DIA; a letter from Irene Jungwirth, Dec. 1955, in which she discusses her work and thanks Bostick for his support; and a letter, March 1956, from Zubel Kachadoorian telling Bostick of his "Rome Academy Grant."
Biographical / Historical:
Born 1913. Art museum administrator; Detroit, Michigan. Bostick served as the Secretary of the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Provenance:
Donated 1954-1956 by Bostick.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Michigan -- Detroit Search this
The papers of painter and arts administrator Francis Sumner Merritt measure 5.7 linear feet and date from circa 1930 to 1980. The bulk of the papers document his career as the founding director of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Included are biographical materials, personal correspondence, writings and notes, professional files on Haystack and other institutions, printed material, and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter and arts administrator Francis Sumner Merritt measure 5.7 linear feet and date from circa 1930 to 1980. The bulk of the papers document his career as the founding director of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Included are biographical materials, personal correspondence, writings and notes, professional files on Haystack and other institutions, printed material, and photographs.
Biographical materials contain scattered records relating to Merritt's personal life and career including a scrapbook and a print by Fiske Boyd. Professional files create the bulk of the papers and focus on Merritt's arts administration career at Haystack and other institutions including the Flint Institute of Art and Bradford Junior College. Among the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts material are planning materials, correspondence with many craft artists, financial records, student information, printed material, photographs for various sessions held at the school, and one sound recording concerning a trip to Nigeria.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 6 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1936-1977 (Box 1; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1930-1978 (Box 1; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1940s-1978 (Box 1; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 4: Professional Files, 1940s-1980 (Box 1-5, 8; 4.1 linear feet)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1939-1976 (Box 6-7; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 6: Photographs, 1949-1970s (Box 7; 0.2 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Francis Sumner Merritt (1913-2000) was a painter, designer, and arts administrator. He was the first director of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine.
Merritt was born in 1913 in Danvers, Massachusetts. He studied art at multiple schools, including Yale University School of Fine Arts and was a printmaker and painter. In addition to his art, Merritt taught painting at Colby Junior College, the Cranbrook Summer Institute, and Bradford Junior College. Merritt began his arts administrative career as director of the Flint Institute of Art in Detroit, Michigan. He was brought on to be the first director at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine. In this position, he encouraged the international study of craft.
Francis Merritt was married to Priscilla Merritt, with whom he had two sons. He died in Belfast, Maine in 2000.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts records, 1950-1969, and an oral history interview of Francis Sumner Merritt conducted 1979 May 25-June 25, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Provenance:
Francis Sumner Merritt donated his papers in two accessions in 1980 and 1994.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate copies requires advance notice.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Maine -- Deer Isle Search this
An interview of William E. Woolfenden and Irving Burton conducted 1992 December 12, by Garnett McCoy for the Archives of American Art, concerning the development of the Archives of American Art.
Woolfenden speaks about E.P. Richardson and his intent in founding of the Archives of American Art; the earliest development and collecting activities; his role as assistant director and Richardson's role as director; receiving a Ford foundation grant and other early financial support; fundraising events; auctions; trustees; the founding of regional offices; early employees; forming an alliance with the Smithsonian Institution; and the impact of the AAA on American art history. Irving Burton discusses his involvement.
Biographical / Historical:
William E. Woolfenden (1918- 1995) was the director of the Archives of American Art from 1963-1983.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound cassette. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 35 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics, and administrators.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Michigan -- Detroit -- Interviews Search this
An interview of William Woolfenden conducted 1983 March 17, by Ruth Gurin Bowman, for the Archives of American Art, in Pacific Palisades, California.
Biographical / Historical:
William E. Woolfenden (1918- 1995) was the director of the Archives of American Art from 1963-1983.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 1 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Michigan -- Detroit -- Interviews Search this
Primarily photographs of works exhibited in Michigan Artist Craftsmen exhibits at the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1950-1956, and Designer Craftsmen U.S.A. 1953 for which Woolfenden was a juror. Many of the photographs have labels identifying the museum holding the work, the artists' name, and year exhibiting. Some printed material, notecards and other documentation relating to the 1953 Designer Craftsmen exhibit are also found, primarily relating to the Michigan artists represented and the Michigan regional exhibitions. Also found are miscellaneous photographs, including one of Woolfenden with fellow judge Sarkis Sarkesian holding winning covers for the 4th annual Yearbook of the Newspaper Guild of Detroit, one of Woolfenden at a typewriter labeled Yearbook Staff 1940, and one of Woolfenden holding a bowl with a group of women identified as Museum and Television Party, 1949; twenty-four clippings are of articles by and about Woolfenden, circa 1938-1956 and his obituary, 1995; three illustrated letters from Detroit artist Cyril Miles to Woolfenden (ca. 1967); and a letter from Morris Graves, 1964, reflecting on meeting Woolfenden with Una Johnson, and "those days in St. Paul... wouldn't it be great sport if the three of us were sometime asked to 'do it again'."
Biographical / Historical:
William E. Woolfenden (1918- 1995) was the director of the Archives of American Art from 1963-1983.
Provenance:
Donated July 1980 by William E. Woolfenden.
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.
An interview of Clyde H. Burroughs conducted 1956 November, by E.P. Richardson, for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Clyde H. Burroughs (1882-1973) was an art administrator from Detroit, Michigan.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav files. Duration is 29 min.
Provenance:
This interview was conducted by the founder of the Archives of American Art, E.P. Richardson, prior to the establishment of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Michigan -- Detroit -- Interviews Search this
Correspondence relating primarily to the Cranbrook Academy and Cranbrook School, and some to the Detroit School of Design, the Detroit Institute of Art, the Art Alliance of America, and the American Federation of Arts; a history of Cranbrook by Booth; a diary and visitors' book; Booth's proposal for an Academy of Art and one for the reorganization of the Cranbrook Foundation; a history of the Cranbrook Press; biographical data on the Booth family; addresses by Booth; material relating to the League to Enforce Peace and the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts; and ca. 100 letters of Carl Milles, resident artist at Cranbrook.
Biographical / Historical:
Publisher, art administrator, art patron, founder of Cranbrook Academy, 1932; Detroit, Mich. Died 1949. Booth was president of the Detroit School of Design which was absorbed by the Detroit Museum of Art. The Detroit Museum of Art subsequently became the Detroit Institute of Art. Booth bought his estate in 1904 calling it Cranbrook, a family name. In 1932 he established it as the Cranbrook Academy and named Finnish-born architect, Eliel Saarinen, president.
Provenance:
Lent 1974 by Henry Booth, descendant of George G. Booth.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Fleischman, Lawrence A. (Lawrence Arthur), 1925-1997 Search this
Container:
Box 3, Folder 138
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1965-1966
Collection 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.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman Papers, 1837-1984. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
