Search Results

Interviewee:

Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-1993  Search this

Interviewer:

Trovato, Joseph S., 1912-1983  Search this

Subject:

Blatas, Arbit  Search this

Steichen, Edward  Search this

Talbot, William Henry Fox  Search this

United States. Farm Security Administration. Historical Section  Search this

George Eastman House  Search this

Federal art project (Mass.)  Search this

New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Citation:

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Beaumont Newhall, 1965 Jan. 23. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Federal aid to the arts  Search this

Photography  Search this

Theme:

Photography  Search this

New Deal  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)13299

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)213687

AAA_collcode_newhal65

Theme:

Photography

New Deal

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_213687

Interviewee:

Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-1993  Search this

Interviewer:

Trovato, Joseph S., 1912-1983  Search this

Creator:

New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project  Search this

Names:

Federal art project (Mass.)  Search this

George Eastman House  Search this

New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project  Search this

United States. Farm Security Administration. Historical Section  Search this

Blatas, Arbit  Search this

Steichen, Edward, 1879-1973  Search this

Talbot, William Henry Fox, 1800-1877  Search this

Extent:

23 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1965 Jan. 23

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Beaumont Newhall conducted 1965 Jan. 23, by Joseph Trovato, for the Archives of American Art. Newhall speaks of his education and first jobs in museums; his administration of the WPA Federal Art Project in Massachusetts; Berenice Abbott's photographs of New York; and the Farm Security Administration's photography project. He speaks of early photography and William Henry Fox Talbot; photography and the Armory Show; the 1937 photography exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art and Edward Steichen; and the George Eastman House. Newhall comments on museums accepting photography as art; the amateur photographer versus the artistic photographer; and his view of photography as a discoverer and a "partaker" of nature.

Biographical / Historical:

Beaumont Newhall (1908-1993) was an art administrator and art historian from Rochester, N.Y.

General:

Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 21 min.

Provenance:

Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.

Restrictions:

Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

Occupation:

Arts administrators -- New York (State) -- Rochester -- Interviews  Search this

Art historians -- New York (State) -- Rochester -- Interviews  Search this

Topic:

Federal aid to the arts  Search this

Photography  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Identifier:

AAA.newhal65

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9e41d7f7d-3b66-4cbf-b01f-ae7ed133ae1e

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-newhal65

Interviewee:

Moore, Gertrude Herdle, 1896-1993  Search this

Interviewer:

Brown, Robert F  Search this

Subject:

Herdle, Isabel  Search this

Herdle, George  Search this

University of Rochester. Memorial Art Gallery  Search this

Type:

Interviews

Sound recordings

Citation:

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Gertrude Herdle Moore and Isabel Herdle, 1979 July 27. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Decorative arts  Search this

Theme:

Craft  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)11860

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)215196

AAA_collcode_moore79

Theme:

Craft

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_215196

Interviewee:

Witmeyer, Stanley Herbert, 1913-2011  Search this

Interviewer:

Brown, Robert F  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Citation:

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Stanley H. Witmeyer, 1985 June 22. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

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

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)12885

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)212123

AAA_collcode_witmey85

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_212123

Interviewee:

Barschel, Hans Joachim, 1912-1998  Search this

Interviewer:

Brown, Robert F  Search this

Subject:

Cowles, Hobart E.  Search this

Wildenhain, Frans  Search this

Witmeyer, Stanley Herbert  Search this

Rochester Institute of Technology  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Citation:

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Hans Barschel, 1994 September 14. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Design -- Study and teaching -- United States  Search this

Design -- Study and teaching -- Germany  Search this

National socialism and art  Search this

Designers -- New York (State) -- Rochester -- Interviews  Search this

Theme:

Architecture & Design  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)12346

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)215764

AAA_collcode_barsch94

Theme:

Architecture & Design

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_215764

Creator:

Baker, Mildred, 1905-  Search this

Names:

Federal Art Project  Search this

Index of American Design  Search this

Municipal Art Committee (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Newark Museum  Search this

Salons of America, Inc.  Search this

Technical Services Laboratory (National Space Technology Laboratories)  Search this

United Federal Workers of America  Search this

Baker, Jacob  Search this

McMahon, Audrey, 1900?-1981  Search this

Weiss, Adolph, 1891-1971  Search this

Extent:

2.7 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Interviews

Transcripts

Date:

1882

1923-1997

Summary:

The papers of arts administrator Mildred Baker measure 2.7 linear feet and date from 1882 to 1997, with the bulk of the material dating from 1923 to 1997. Found within the papers are biographical materials; personal and professional correspondence; writings; files related to her work on the WPA Federal Art Project and other institutional art projects; printed material; photographs of Baker; and photographs and papers related to the work of her husband, Jacob Baker, who also administered programs for the WPA.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of arts administrator Mildred Baker measure 2.7 linear feet and date from 1882 to 1997, with the bulk of the material dating from 1923 to 1997. Found within the papers are biographical materials; personal and professional correspondence; writings; files related to her work on the WPA Federal Art Project and other institutional art projects; printed material; photographs of Baker; and photographs and papers related to the work of her husband, Jacob Baker, who also administered programs for the WPA.

Biographical materials include birth and award certificates, curriculum vitae, divorce documents, an oral history transcript, and genealogical research and information on Baker's family, including her brother, the composer and bassoonist Adolph Weiss.

Correspondence is primarily with Baker's friends, business associates, researchers, and art institutions discussing personal relationships, research inquiries into the administration of the Federal Art Project, and loans and gifts of artwork to various institutions. The series includes Baker's responses to researcher requests regarding FAP exhibitions, programs, artists, and recollections of her fellow administrators.

Writings by Baker consist of reminiscences, 8 travel diaries, 3 essays, an exhibition catalog introduction, 4 lectures, and miscellaneous notes. Writings by others consist of 4 essays on contemporary art and art administration.

Federal Art Project files include correspondence; artist and exhibition lists; memoranda and general information; reports; speeches; information and photographs related to regional art centers and black artists; printed material; and miscellaneous material related to the Index of American Design, Southern California Art Project, and the Technical Services Laboratory.

General project files include information for 4 exhibitions, including the 1934 First Municipal Art and Salon of America Exhibitions; reports and speeches for the Newark Museum; information on the commissioning of the New Jersey Council on the Arts; and member information from the Woman Pays Club.

Printed material includes clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, newsletters, press releases, and a commercial recording of Alice Tully Hall.

Photographs are of Mildred Baker, including photos during her tenure at the Federal Art Project and Newark Museum. There is also a photograph of fellow FAP administrator Audrey McMahon.

Materials related to Jacob Baker include interview recordings and transcripts; personal correspondence with friends and business associates; writings and speeches; information related to Baker's work for the United Federal Workers of America; printed materials; and photographs of Baker.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 8 series.

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1882, 1934-1990 (7 folders; Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1937-1997 (0.4 linear feet, Box 1)

Series 3: Writings, circa 1940-1985 (17 folders; Box 1)

Series 4: Federal Art Project, WPA, circa 1934-1953 (0.8 linear feet, Box 1-2)

Series 5: Project Files, 1934-1991 (0.4 linear feet, Box 2)

Series 6: General Printed Material, 1923-1996 (11 folders; Box 2-4)

Series 7: Photographs, circa 1934-1992 (2 folders; Box 3)

Series 8: Jacob Baker, 1930-1975 (0.3 linear feet; Box 3-4)

Biographical / Historical:

Mildred Baker (1905-1998) was an arts administrator who worked in New York City, New York; Newark, New Jersey; and Washington, D.C.

Baker was born in Brooklyn, New York to composer and musician George Weiss and his wife Sophia Soennichsen, whose family were also musicians and writers. In 1925, while enrolled at the University of Rochester, she married the artist Ernest Holzhauer and together they moved to Europe for study and travel. In 1927, they returned to New York where Baker began working in administrative positions for the Van Diemen Galleries and the College Art Association. In 1934, she was hired by Holger Cahill to assist him in organizing Rockefeller Center's Salons of America Exhibition and First Municipal Art Exhibition. After the success of these shows, in 1935, Baker was hired as Cahill's assistant after he was selected to run the Federal Art Project for the Work Projects Administration in Washington, D.C.

While working for the Federal Art Project, Baker was appointed director of exhibitions and surveyed the work of over 100 art centers, organized over 500 traveling exhibitions, and managed the final allocation of artworks created for the FAP. In 1940, Baker divorced Mr. Holzhauer and married Jacob Baker, an economist and WPA administrator, union organizer, and a founder of the left-wing Vanguard Press, in 1947. After overseeing the closing of the Federal Art Project offices in Washington, Baker and her husband moved back to New York and became longtime residents of the Chelsea Hotel. Baker joined the staff of the Newark Museum in 1944, was promoted to assistant director in 1949, and to associate director in charge of exhibitions and programs from 1953 until her retirement in 1971.

In 1963, Baker was appointed by Governor Richard Hughes to the Commission to Study the Arts in New Jersey, and while serving as vice chairman, she oversaw the establishment of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She was a member of the Cosmopolitan Club, Women's City Club, Woman Pays Club, and American Association of Museums. Baker died on December 9, 1998.

Related Materials:

The Archives of American Art holds several collections related to Mildred Baker and the WPA Federal Art Project. There are two oral histories with Mildred Baker, one conducted by Harlan Phillips, September 21, 1963 and another by William Agee, July 22, 1965. There is also an oral history with Jacob Baker conducted by Harlan Phillips, September 25, 1963. Transcripts of the interviews conducted by Harlan Phillips are found within the collection. Collections related to the Federal Art Project include the Federal Art Project of the Work Projects Administration records and the Holger Cahill papers.

Separated Materials:

The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reel D110 including exhibition catalogs and clippings. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:

Mildred Baker donated her papers in several increments between 1971 and 1993. In 1999, the bulk of her papers were donated to the archives by Baker's estate executor, Patricia Haskell, some of which included materials that had been loaned for microfilming in 1963.

Restrictions:

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

Rights:

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

Occupation:

Arts administrators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Women arts administrators  Search this

Federal aid to the arts  Search this

Art -- Exhibitions -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs

Interviews

Transcripts

Citation:

Mildred Baker papers, 1882, 1923-1997. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Processing of this collection was funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Identifier:

AAA.bakemild

See more items in:

Mildred Baker papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw995d2df1f-44a2-4c7a-8970-5f62cd4ac9cb

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-bakemild

Interviewee:

Witmeyer, Stanley Herbert, 1913-2011  Search this

Interviewer:

Brown, Robert F.  Search this

Extent:

3 Items (sound files, digital, wav file)

30 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1985 June 22

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Stanley H. Witmeyer conducted 1985 June 22, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.

Witmeyer speaks of his childhood in Palmyra, Pennsylvania and moving to Rochester, New York at the age of nine; attending Edison Tech High School; his devotion to painting and basketball in high school; receiving a basketball scholarship to Syracuse University but deciding instead to attend the Mechanics Institute in Rochester (now the Rochester Institute of Technology); taking his first job with the L.M. Berry Company (then part of the Rochester Telephone Company); getting an offer from Eastman Kodak Company to play basketball for their professional league; quitting the team to attend Buffalo State University to study arts education; taking a job in Cuba, New York as an arts administrator in the public school system; teaching art in grades K-12 in Cuba, New York; receiving a scholarship to attend the Charles Woodbury School in Maine; receiving a scholarship to attend graduate school at Syracuse University, but leaving after a semester after getting drafted into the army during World War II; serving with the 30th Battalion in the mapping division in Hawaii; returning to Syracause University after the war to finish his MFA in design; joining RIT as an instructor in 1946; becoming the director of RIT's school of art and design in 1952.

Biographical / Historical:

Stanley Herbert Witmeyer (1913-2011) was a painter and art administrator of Fairport, N.Y.

General:

Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 35 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:

This transcript is open for research. Access to the entire recording is restricted. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Occupation:

Arts administrators -- New York (State) -- Interviews  Search this

Topic:

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

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.

Identifier:

AAA.witmey85

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw94b303323-be7e-40c4-9c49-028072a0324c

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-witmey85