The Charles Henry Hart autograph collection dates from 1731-1917 and measures 1.7 linear feet comprised of 226 letters, portrait prints, and other documents signed by American artists.
Scope and Contents:
The Charles Henry Hart autograph collection dates from 1731-1917 and measures 1.7 linear feet comprised of 226 letters, portrait prints, and other documents signed by American artists.
Originally titled by Hart as "The History of Art in America as Told in a Remarkable Collection of Autograph Letters and Documents of Celebrated American Artists of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Century," the collection includes letters and other items signed by Thomas Anshutz, John J. Audubon, William Merritt Chase, Frederic Edwin Church, John Singleton Copley, Kenyon Cox, Thomas Eakins, Jervis McEntee, Samuel F.B. Morse, Charles Willson Peale, Raphaelle Peale, Rembrandt Peale, Rubens Peale, Titian Peale, James Daivd Smillie, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully, Abbott Handerson Thayer, John Vanderlyn, Elihu Vedder, John Quincy Adams Ward, Benjamin West, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and many others.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 1 series.
Series 1: Charles Henry Hart autograph collection, 1731-1917 (226 items; Box 1-5)
Biographical / Historical:
Charles Henry Hart (1847-1918) was a historian, lawyer, writer, and director, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1882-1904. Widely, he published on the subject of 18th and 19th century portraiture in the United States.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds the personal papers of Charles Henry Hart, dating from 1774-1930, bulk 1888-1918.
Papers of Charles Henry Hart, 1888-1894, are also located at The New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts.
Provenance:
The Charles Henry Hart autograph collection was donated to the Archives of American Art in 1954 as an anonymous gift. It is assumed that Hart assembled the letters. Original collation was two letterbooks entitled "The History of Art in America as Told in a Remarkable Collection of Autograph Letters and Documents of Celebrated American Artists of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Century."
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Charles Henry Hart autograph collection is 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.
Sports and trading cards, 1952-1996, amassed by card collector Ronald S. Korda. The sports cards are subdivided by sport. Baseball cards, (1952-1996), comprise the vast majority of the sports cards, while football (1968-1996) and hockey (1968-1996) are the two next largest subseries. There are lesser quantities of cards for basketball, and only a few each for all other sports, such as racing, skiing, etc. Non-sports cards cover a large variety of popular culture topics, including motion pictures, television programs, popular music, toys, games, cars and trucks, comics, fantasy art, and many other subjects. Some ephemeral items are also included in the collection, such as sticker albums, posters and programs
Scope and Contents:
This collection is divided into two main series, Series I, Sports; and Series II, Non-Sports.
Series I, Sports, comprises more than 90% of the collection. Within Series I, the collection is divided into seven subseries:
Subseries A: Baseball;
Subseries B: Football;
Subseries C: Hockey;
Subseries D: Basketball;
Subseries E: Other Sports;
Subseries F: Sports programs, schedules and other paper ephemera; toys, souvenirs and novelty items;
Subseries G: Sports card packaging.
Subseries A is the largest, with baseball cards making up approximately 70% of the entire Korda collection. Within the first three subseries, the cards are further subdivided into cards in sets, which are sleeved, and cards in packs, which are stored in card-sized boxes. Subseries D and E are in packs only. Both cards in sets and in packs have been arranged alphabetically by manufacturer, and thereunder, chronologically. Within sets, cards are arranged in numerical order by card number. In cases where, for baseball cards, titles of sets were unclear or ambiguous, the reference book Sports Collector's Digest's Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards (which in this finding aid will be referred to as Standard Catalog) was used to determine how card sets should be titled. Likewise, in the rare cases in which cards were not numbered within sets, the order used was that given in Standard Catalog. In the case of football and hockey, Beckett's Football Card Monthly and Beckett's Hockey Card Monthly were used as reference guides.
Series II: Non-Sports, is arranged into twenty three subseries:
Subseries A: Mass Media and Entertainment
Subseries B: Education
Subseries C: Comic Books and Strips
Subseries D: Toys and action figures
Subseries E: Literature
Subseries F: Automotive Themes
Subseries G: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subseries H: Military Topics
Subseries I: Biography
Subseries J: Fine Arts
Subseries K: Adult Themes
Subseries L: Beauty Contests
Subseries M: Video Games
Subseries N: Parodies
Subseries O: Product Advertising
Subseries P: Fantasy Art
Subseries Q: Monsters
Subseries R: Card Games
Subseries S: Stickers, patches and tattoos
Subseries T: Toys, games, puzzles, post cards and posters
Subseries U: Pogs, caps and gum wrappers
Subseries V: Oversize of above topics
Subseries W: Non-card items, relating to above topics
Subseries 1, Mass media and entertainment, is the largest of the non-sports categories, comprising movies, television and music. Other subseries are similarly subdivided. Unlike the majority of the sports cards, the non-sports cards are stored in small, card-sized cartons, which have been assigned the letters A through DD, and are stored in 4 Paige boxes and 1 DB. They are listed here according to titles of packs.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into two series.
Series 1: Sports
Series 2: Non-sports
Biographical note:
Ronald Korda, an employee of NBC television and a man of modest, middle class means, began assembling his card collection in childhood after receiving a pack of cards as a party favor. After that initial inspiration, he began his collecting hobby which was his passion until his death in March, 1996. In the early years of his hobby, he collected baseball cards, later expanding to other sports as well as cards on diverse popular culture topics. Among these topics are films, television, popular music, science and nature, comics and magazines, toys and action figures, games, and products, and in addition to cards, there are stickers, sticker albums, tattoos, gum wrappers, puzzles, games and other novelty items. Numerous foreign issues are included. He amassed his collection by attending cards and collectibles shows and seeking out reputable dealers, and by purchasing factory sets when they became available. He was selective and careful, and in the case of the sports cards, succeeded in acquiring complete sets of virtually every series which he collected. (With the non-sports cards, he tended to collect samples rather than entire sets.) This thoroughness is what makes this collection rare and possibly unique among any card collections in public or private hands. With few exceptions, there are no cards missing, and virtually all are in mint or near mint condition. The Kordas could have sold their collection for a fortune, but felt it important that the collection stay together as a unit. Mr. Korda, in an emotional article entitled "Collections Should Live Forever" written for Baseball Hobby News, referred to his collection as "my card family" and expressed the fear that the family would be split up after he died. He approached the Smithsonian late in 1995. Just days before the Archives Center was to acquire the collection, Mr. Korda died. Finalization of his gift was completed by his wife.
History:
Although baseball and other trading cards date back to the nineteenth century, with some of the earliest accompanying packages of tobacco, they gained great popularity during the Depression with the advent of the bubble gum card. In the post-World War II years, and especially during the prosperous decade of the 1950s, they began to enjoy tremendous popularity, as the technology for producing them improved. The market rapidly expanded, and cards for other sports and other topics became popular, just as competition among manufacturers was heating up. The earliest trading cards accompanied packs of tobacco, but were eventually used to advertise gum, cookies, soft drinks, baked goods, hot dogs, and numerous other products. Card manufacturers, such as Topps, changed card formats with each new set, varying the presentation of statistics, vertical and horizontal orientation, use of action shots, candid shots and portraits, and inclusion of puzzles, games, fold-outs, and other novelties. They also added new features, such as trivia questions, cartoons, and holograms. As the hobby has changed, so have trading cards. Today's glossy, high-tech trading cards bear little resemblance to the tobacco cards of the 19th century or even to the cards produced during the "golden age" of cards in the 1950s. This collection represents a very diverse sampling of the card hobby from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Separated Materials:
Some card packaging was transferred to the Museum's Division of Cultural History.
add accession numbers
Provenance:
The entire collection was donated to the Archives Center in April, 1996 by Mr. Korda's widow, Catherine Korda. Some of the card packaging was transferred by the Archives Center to the Division of Cultural History.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Use of this collection by researchers requires compliance with security procedures more stringent than those required for other collections in the Archives Center. This is due to the high value and rarity of some of the items in this collection. Autographed items, and cards valued at higher than $300 by Standard Catalog and Beckett's are stored separately, and may be seen only with special permission from the Reference Archivist, and then only in cases (such as photography or scanning) where it is deemed a necessity.
Color photocopies have been placed in sleeves where these items would normally be stored. When using card boxes, only six at a time may be requested from the Reference Archivist, and unlike other collections, may not be reserved in advance (i.e., on each separate research visit, a researcher must request boxes only for that visit.)
Card sleeves may be taken out of the binders for photocopying only with the permission and the supervision of the Reference Archivist. Cards may not be taken from sleeves, except with the permission and supervision of the Collection Specialist. This may involve making advance arrangements with the Collection Specialist. These procedures are necessary for the preservation of this exceptional collection in perpetuity.
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.
Ronald S. Korda Collection of Sports and Trading Cards, 1952-1996, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of Catherine Korda.
Sponsor:
The enormous task of rehousing and processing this collection was enabled by a generous grant from the Smithsonian Research Resources Program in 1997, which made possible the purchase of large quantities of extremely specialized supplies.
Wood, Charles Erskine Scott, 1852-1944 Search this
Extent:
0.2 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sketches
Illustrated letters
Date:
1887-1931
Summary:
The John Gellatly letters received from artists measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1887 to 1931. Found within the collection are 120 letters to Gellatly from Emma and Abbott H. Thayer, Frederick S. Church, Irving Wiles, Albert Pinkham Ryder, C. E. S. Wood, and George Grey Barnard. Some of the letters contain sketches, particularly those from Church. Topics include the price and progress of artworks, requests for commissions, mutual friendships, and daily events. There are also two copies of the poem "The Flying Dutchman" by Albert P. Ryder.
Scope and Contents:
The John Gellatly letters received from artists measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1887 to 1931. Found within the collection are 120 letters to Gellatly from Emma and Abbott H. Thayer, Frederick S. Church, Irving Wiles, Albert Pinkham Ryder, C. E. S. Wood, and George Grey Barnard. Some of the letters contain sketches, particularly those from Church. Topics include the price and progress of artworks, requests for commissions, mutual friendships, and daily events. There are also two copies of the poem "The Flying Dutchman" by Albert P. Ryder.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 1 series.
Series 1: John Gellatly Letters Received from Artists, 1887-1931 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)
Biographical / Historical:
Art collector John Gellatly (1853-1931) lived in New York City, N.Y. and established a real estate and insurance business in 1885. An art enthusiast, Gellatly furthered his interests by enrolling in classes. There, he would meet his future wife, the heiress Edith Rogers, whom he married in 1886. Together, they began collecting decorative art objects and contemporary paintings, including works by Albert P. Ryder, Abbott Thayer, and Childe Hassam. After Edith's death in 1917, Gellatly continued to collect art and eventually gifted the 1,640 objects and paintings in his collection to the Smithsonian in 1929. He died of complications from pneumonia in 1931.
Provenance:
The collection was initially bought by art historian Thomas Brumbaugh of Vanderbilt University from Walter R. Benjamin Autographs of Madison Avenue, and subsequently acquired in 1978 by the National Collection of Fine Arts, now the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Shortly thereafter, the letters were transferred to the Archives of American Art.
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 John Gellatly letters received from artists 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 -- Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Sketches
Illustrated letters
Citation:
John Gellatly letters received from artists, 1887-1931. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
The papers of art collectors, art patrons, and philanthropists Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman measure 4.9 linear feet and date from 1837 to 1984, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1935-1979. The papers are comprised mostly of correspondence with artists, museums, and arts organizations. Also found are scattered biographical materials, artists' autograph letters purchased by the Fleischmans, exhibition files, notes and writings, printed material, and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of art collectors, art patrons, and philanthropists Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman measure 4.9 linear feet and date from 1837 to 1984, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1935-1979. The papers are comprised mostly of correspondence with artists, museums, and arts organizations. Also found are scattered biographical materials, artists' autograph letters purchased by the Fleischmans, exhibition files, notes and writings, printed material, and photographs.
One folder of biographical material includes a biographical account and a certificate of appreciation from the Common Council for the City of Detroit.
The bulk of the collection is comprised of correspondence documenting the Fleischman's art related activities and interests primarily during the 1950s and 1960s. Individual correspondents include Aaron Bohrod, Charles E. Burchfield, Charles B. Culver, Philip Evergood, Earl Krentzin, John Marin, Jr., Abraham Rattner and Esther Gentle, Peter Pollack, Edgar P. and Constance Richardson, Charles Coleman Sellers, and Franklin Watkins. One letter from Charles E. Burchfield includes four etching plates used to create the color print of Hot September Wind.
Arts organizations and galleries represented in the correspondence include the American Federation of Arts, the Archives of American Art, the Arts Commission of the City of Detroit, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Detroit Institute of Art, Kennedy Galleries, M. Knoedler and Co., Inc., Kraushaar Galleries, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Midtown Galleries, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the School of the Society of Arts and Crafts, the United States Information Agency, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Winterthur Museum.
Autograph letters purchased by the Fleischmans include letters written by artists Washington Allston (addressed to Thomas Sully), Albert Pinkham Ryder, and John Taylor Arms.
Exhibition files document the various exhibitions of art work from the Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman Collection at the University of Michigan Museum of Art; the Detroit Institute of Art; in Central and South America; in Greece, Israel and Russia; and at the Milwaukee Art Center. The files contain letters, notes, printed material, and photographs.
Three folders of notes and writings include "Introduction to Earl Krentzin Catalog" by Lawrence Fleischman and "Selection of Excerpts from the Soviet Press and Radio Attacking U. S. Culture" by unidentified authors.
Scattered printed material includes miscellaneous clippings and catalogs not connected with the Exhibition Files series. There is also a book John Marin: The Man and his Work by E. M. Benson that was autographed by Marin to the Fleischmans in 1953.
Photographs include portrait photographs of Lawrence Fleischman, photographs of Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman with colleagues, of art work from the Fleischman Collection, of Truman and Grace Bailey in their studio, and a copy photograph of Thomas Eakins as a boy.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series:
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1958 (Box 1; 1 folder)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1949-1984 (Boxes 1-4, 7; 3.8 linear feet)
Series 3: Autograph Letters, 1837-1942 (Box 4; 4 folders)
Series 4: Exhibition Files, 1953-1960 (Boxes 4-5, 7; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 5: Notes and Writings, 1957-1962 (Box 5; 3 folders)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1935-1969 (Box 5-6; 6 folders)
Series 7: Photographs, 1953-1965 (Box 6; 13 folders)
Biographical / Historical:
Lawrence Fleischman (1925-1997) of New York City was an American art collector, patron, philanthropist, and benefactor. He and his wife, Barbara Greenberg Fleischman, assembled an impressive collection of art and artifacts that they shared with the public as part of their philanthropic activities aimed at fostering a wider appreciation of the arts around the world.
Lawrence Fleischman was born on February 14, 1925 in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Stella and Arthur Fleischman, the owner of a large carpet business. He attended the Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois, and studied engineering at Purdue University. In 1942, he interrupted his studies to volunteer for service in the U.S. Army during World War II. While serving in France, he met a doctor who further fostered Fleischman's ever growing interest in American art. Following the war, he graduated with a degree in physics from the University of Detroit. Fleischman met Barbara Greenberg in Detroit and they were married in 1948.
Beginning in the late 1940s, Fleischman established a fledgling television station, developed holdings in real estate, and began purchasing art work. Initially the Fleischmans collected undervalued 20th century American art and were friends with several artists, including John Marin, Charles Burchfield, Stuart Davis, and Ben Shahn. They also expanded the scope of their collection to include 19th century American works.
During the 1950s, Lawrence Fleischman realized how there were few American art historians and college departments, as well as a lack of primary source material. Fleischman worked with Edgar P. Richardson, then director of the Detroit Institute of Art, to raise funds and they founded the Archives of American Art at the Detroit Institute of Art in 1954. The Archives of American Art was, and still is, dedicated to the collection, preservation, and study of primary source records that document the history of the visual arts in the United States. Lawrence A. Fleischman is a founding Trustee of the AAA and served as the Chairman of the Board from 1958 to 1966. His wife, Barbara joined the Board of Trustees in 1997 and served as Chair from 2003 to 2007. She is a Trustee Emerita.
Lawrence Fleischman's business and philanthropic interests included the Arthur Fleischman Carpet Company, the Lee Plaza Hotel-Motel in Detroit, Art Adventurers, the Art School of the Society of Arts and Crafts in Detroit, the Friends of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Cultural Committee of the United States Information Agency, and the Art Commission of Detroit, which governed the Detroit Institute of Art. He also served as an officer of the Board for many of the arts-related organizations.
In 1996, the Fleischmans moved their family from Detroit to New York City, where Lawrence Fleischman became a partner in the Kennedy Galleries.
The Fleischmans philanthropic activities include generous support of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Art, the Cleveland Museum, the British Museum, the Vatican Museum, and lifelong support of the Archives of American Art.
Lawrence Fleischman died on January 31, 1997 in London, England. Barbara Fleischman lives in New York City and continues to be an active supporter of the visual arts.
Related Materials:
Among the Archives holdings are two oral history interviews with Lawrence A. Fleischman. The first was conducted by Paul Cummings in 1970 and the second conducted by Gail Stavitsky in 1994 . Both interviews have transcripts available.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming, the majority of which was later donated, except for five letters on reel D197. These include one postcard from Constance Richardson, 1956; one letter from Constance Richardson, 1957; one letter from Franklin Watkins, 1955; one letter from Lawrence Fleischman to Wilbur H. Hunter, 1960; and one letter from Richard D. Tucker, 1960. This material remains with lender and is not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman papers were donated in several accretions by Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman from 1954 to 2007. Letters were also loaned for microfilming in 1965, but nearly all of them were subsequently donated.
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 Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman 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.
Letters of American artists, including Washington Allston, Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Cole, Walt Disney, Asher Durand, Horatio Greenough, Winslow Homer, Peter Hurd, Henry Inman, Thomas Sully, John Trumbull, Benjamin West and many others, with an illustrated letter from Edward Gay and correspondence of the Peale family; a handwritten manuscript by Rembrandt Peale, "Washington and His Portraits"; clippings, announcements, an auction catalog of the John Trumbull collection, and other printed material.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming, 1955, by Haverford College Library.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
0.2 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 1 reel))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1889-1963
Scope and Contents:
Letters; sketches; a photograph; exhibition catalogs; and miscellaneous items.
REEL 876: Items from Wyckoff's autograph collection, including a letter, October 21, 1905, from Albert P. Ryder, enclosing a poem he has written for her; a photograph of Ryder; a letter, September, 1897, to Mr. Ludwig (Wyckoff's father) from Peter Newell, written from Paris, France, after one month's stay in the country; and a little poem by Newell accompanied by a sketch.
UNMICROFILMED: Sketches by Peter Newell and Alexander Schilling; impressions from the destroyed plate of "Finette" and "Little Venice", by Whistler; an oil sketch by William Gedney Bunce, 1892; exhibition catalogs; and miscellaneous items. [Attached are Alexander Wyckoff's explanations of some of this material.]
Biographical / Historical:
Collector.
Provenance:
Donated 1974-1975 by Alexander Wyckoff, son of Wyckoff.
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.
Primarily correspondence, mail art, and printed material documenting Esman's career and her personal and professional relationships with artists Ray Johnson, Rufino Tamayo, Jacques Lipchitz and others.
REEL 4861: Included are: a resume; letters, 1936-1979 from Ulla and Jacques Lipchitz, James Johnson Sweeney of the Guggenheim Museum, Ben Shahn, Chaim Gross, and museums, galleries, publishers, and associations regarding personal relationships, travel, exhibitions, and sales. One file on Rufino Tamayo contains letters from Tamayo to Esman and printed material, 1956-1971, and two files contain undated mail art from Ray Johnson to Esman and others. Printed material, 1932-1980, includes exhibition announcements and catalogs, clippings, and autographed Abraham Walkowitz exhibition catalogs, 1944-1950. Photographs, many taken by Vernon Samuels, Esman's husband, are of Esman, friends, artists and works of art. Original works of art include handpainted cards from Yasu Kobashi, 1970, 1976 and undated, and an undated woodcut print by Tamayo.
ADDITION: A resume; five figure drawings by Esman, 1926-1928 and ca. 1939-1945; photographs, including 7 of Esman with Jacques Lipchitz and his family taken by Samuels, 3 of the old sculpture garden at MoMA, a signed photograph of Tamayo, 2 of Esman in her studio, and 2 of other artists taken by Samuels. Also included are a signed exhibition catalog, "Rufino Tamayo: Myth and Magic, and an article on Mexico's Tamayo Museum, Smithsonian Magazine, August 1975.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, collector, art patron; New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
Material on reel 4861 donated 1986-1989 by Esman; it was microfilmed in 1994 with funding provided by the Henry and Lucy Moses Fund. The remainder was donated October 1994 by Esman.
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 patrons -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of folk art collector and museum curator Herbert Waide Hemphill date from 1776-1998, bulk 1876-1998, and measure 26.7 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials, personal business records, files documenting his collecting, writings, art work, minutes of meetings, a scrapbook, printed material including exhibition and auction announcements and catalogs, and miscellaneous artifacts. The collection also contains numerous photographs of Hemphill, family members, his residences, friends and colleagues, exhibitions, travel, and art work. Sound and video recordings include interviews of Hemphill.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of folk art collector and museum curator Herbert Waide Hemphill date from 1776-1998, bulk 1876-1998, and measure 26.7 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials, personal business records, files documenting his collecting, writings, art work, minutes of meetings, a scrapbook, printed material including exhibition and auction announcements and catalogs, and miscellaneous artifacts. The collection also contains numerous photographs of Hemphill, family members, his residences, friends and colleagues, exhibitions, travel, and art work. Sound and video recordings include interviews of Hemphill.
Biographical material includes photocopies of Hemphill's birth certificate and passport, social security cards, and international health card, genealogical notes, an evaluation of his school work, membership cards, award certificates, address books, and an engagement calendar containing very brief annotations of his activities.
Correspondence documents Hemphill's affairs with miscellaneous museums and art institutions, discussing his presentation of lectures, exhibitions, and loans from his collection to organizations including the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, the Folk Art Society of America, the Museum of International Folk Art, and the Smithsonian Institution's American Art Museum.
Hemphill's correspondence with friends and colleagues discuss collecting activities and pursuit of newly discovered folk art and artists. Many of the letters are from artists. Correspondents include Varick A. Crittenden, Michael D. Hall, A. Everette James, Daniel C. Prince, Neal A. Prince, and artists Rev. Maceptaw Bogun, Mary Borkowski, Tim Fowler, Joseph Victor Gatto, S. L. Jones, Gustav Klumpp, Roy Little, George Lopez, Kevin Orth, and Malcah Zeldis. There are also scattered letters from artists Miles Burkholder Carpenter, John W. Fancher, Rev. Howard Finster, William Hawkins, Sister Gertrude Morgan, Mr. Imagination, Mattie Lou O'Kelley, Clayton Patterson, St. EOM, and Mose Tolliver. One letter from Stephanie and John Smither is etched on a bone.
Personal business records include both legal and financial documents. There are wills for Hemphill, his mother, and for his friend Neal A. Prince. The records also include leases, insurance records, contracts, grant proposals, loan agreements, deeds of gift, price lists, consignment records, tax records, and miscellaneous receipts. Cancelled checks relate to Hemphill's collecting interests and activities, and include payments to artists for their work. There are court papers documenting a lawsuit by Hemphill's landlord who was attempting to evict him.
Art work consists of a sketchbook by Roy Little, a set of hand-cut Japanese mask designs, a collage of Polaroid photographs taped to glass created by Rev. Howard Finster, a hand-made book by Nancy Josephson, and miscellaneous drawings, watercolors, and prints by various artists including Justin McCarthy, Inez Nathaniel, and Nellie Mae Rowe.
Notes and writings include card files of artists, extensive bibliographic card files, and scattered notes on artists including Miles Carpenter, Raymond Coins, Rev. Howard Finster, Mattie Lou O'Kelley, Royal Robertson, Veronica Terrillion, Mose Tolliver, and Bill Traylor. Also found are lists of artists, patrons, and art work, miscellaneous notes, and minutes of meetings. Writings by Hemphill and others including Michael D. Hall, Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, A. Everett James, and Julia Weissman, consist of reports, typescripts, and poems concerning a wide range of art-related topics and travel.
A scrapbook consists of unbound pages of clippings and newsletters about Hemphill, his collection, and exhibitions of folk art.
There is extensive additional printed material illustrating Hemphill's many interests. This series primarily consists of clippings and exhibition announcements and catalogs for mainstream artists as well as folk artists. Also included are auction announcements and catalogs, announcements for festivals, press releases, and calendars of events. Numerous booklets, brochures, programs, menus, business cards, and novelty postcards concern a variety of topics including worldwide travel, the sale of art work, miscellaneous galleries, museums, organizations, conferences, schools, lectures, antiques and craft shops, films, publications, restaurants, household items, historical topics, and miscellaneous artists including Miles Carpenter, S. P. Dinsmoor, Lonnie Holley, Clementine Hunter, and Veronica Terrillion. There are also autographed copies of booklets The Black Swan and Other Poems by James Merrill, and The Blood of Jesus by Thomas Jefferson Flanagan. Novelty postcards range from photographs of Elvis Presley to cards with amusing captions or cartoon jokes. There is also sheet music by Charles Trenet. Miscellaneous printed material includes several eighteenth-century newspapers and a 1776 thirty shilling note from New Jersey.
Photographs are of Hemphill, family members, his residences, friends and colleagues including style editor Carrie Donovan, artist Rev. Howard Finster dancing at an exhibition opening, actress Alice Ghostley, Michael D. Hall, circus performers Vernon Goins and Tiny Hicks, Smithsonian curator Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, Neal A. Prince, and Jim Spies. Photographs of exhibitions include stereographic views of the International Exhibition in Philadelphia and the Exposition Universelle in Paris, and photographs of Hemphill's donation of his collection and its subsequent exhibition at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum. Travel photographs include views of South Dakota, Texas, the American West, Japan, Mexico, and The Netherlands.
Numerous photographs of art work sometimes include images of the artists with their work including Bruce Brice, Raymond Coins, John W. Fancher, Rev. Howard Finster, Theora Hamblett, Bessie Harvey, William Hawkins, James Harold Jennings, John Jordan, Charles Lisk, Alexander Maldonado, St. EOM, Fred Smith, Edgar Tolson, Hubert Walters, and Purvis Young. Some photographs of unattributed art work has been arranged by the state in which it is located and includes a Mardi Gras parade in Louisiana, a Mummer's parade in Pennsylvania, Lucy the Elephant-shaped building in New Jersey, and Holy Ghost Park in Wisconsin. Other photographs of unattributed art work include works on paper, paintings, sculpture, signs, collages, needlework, glass, ceramics, and architecture.
Sound and video recordings include a cassette from Hemphill's phone answering machine that contains only Hemphill's message to callers, cassette recordings of interviews with and concerning Hemphill, artist St. EOM, painter Robert E. Smith discussing his work, and the tour narration for a Smithsonian exhibition Made With Passion. There are videotapes about Hemphill and about artists Gayleen Aiken, Miller and Bryant, and Malcah Zeldis, and miscellaneous African American artists. There is also a videotape of an American Museum of Natural History tour group arriving in a succession of villages in Melanesia and Papua New Guinea where they are greeted by the native people and given the opportunity to purchase their art work.
Artifacts consist of a scattered assemblage of three-dimensional objects including three wooden "fringe" pieces from cigar store figures, ceramic fragments from a sword handle, a lock of horse hair, and a hand-painted View Master viewer souvenir from the opening of the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. The View Master contains a disc of photographs of artists with their work including Vollis Simpson and Mary Frances Whitfield. Also included is a teacher's kit Little Adventures in Art containing four phonograph albums and four short film strips of slides showing art work in animal and bird forms.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 10 series; all series are arranged chronologically:
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1916-1997 (Box 1, 28; 12 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1901-1998 (Boxes 1-5, 27- 28, OV 31; 4.0 linear feet)
Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1817-1997 (Box 5-7, 28; 2.0 linear feet)
Series 4: Art Work, 1911-1997 (Box 7, 32; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 5: Notes and Writings, 1938-1996 (Box 7-10, 28; 2.5 linear feet)
Series 6: Scrapbook, 1965-1976 (Box 10; 1 folder)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1776-1998 (Box 10-19, 28-29, OV 31; 9.5 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, 1876-1997 (Box 19-24, 29; 5.5 linear feet)
Series 9: Sound and Video Recordings, 1986-1991 (Box 25-26; 13 folders)
Series 10: Artifacts, 1968-1995 (Box 26, 30; 0.7 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr., (1929-1998) lived in New York city and was a prominent curator, historian, and collector of American folk art. Hemphill was one of the founding members of the Museum of American Folk Art, organized several large exhibitions of folk art, and co-authored Twentieth Century American Folk Art and Artist.
Hemphill was born on January 21, 1929 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the son of businessman Herbert Waide Hemphill, Sr., and Emma Bryan Bradley Hemphill whose uncle, William Clark Bradley, was one of the owners of the Coca-Cola Company.
Hemphill was reared in his mother's home town of Columbus, Georgia, and attended Wynnton School. At the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey and the Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania, Hemphill's principle interests were in art and theater. In 1948, he spent a year studying fine arts at Bard College under Stefan Hirsch, a painter and folk art collector.
Hemphill developed his interest in collecting while accompanying his mother on her shopping forays searching for Dresden china. His first acquisition was a wooden duck decoy purchased when he was seven years old. His early collections were of glass bottles, marbles, stamps, and puzzle jugs. In 1949, Hemphill moved to Manhattan and began to focus on modern European and American art and African sculpture, but after 1956 he concentrated exclusively on 19th and early 20th century American folk art. He often discovered artists during his extensive travels, especially in the American South.
In 1961, Hemphill became one of the six founding trustees of the Museum of Early American Folk Art, later named the Museum of American Folk Art, in New York City. Between 1964 and 1973, he was the museum's first curator and curated many exhibitions, helping to promote awareness of work created by self-taught or visionary artists. He later served as Trustee Emeritus for many years.
Between 1974 and 1988, Hemphill loaned portions of his extensive personal collection to 24 museums nationwide and in 1976, the American Bicentennial Commission selected works from his collection for a goodwill tour of Japan. He was named guest curator at the Brooklyn Museum in 1976 and at the Abby Aldrich Folk Art Collection in 1980, and often appeared as guest lecturer at various universities, the Smithsonian Institution, and at the Library of Congress. In 1986, Hemphill donated more than 400 folk art works to the Smithsonian Institution's American Art Museum, resulting in a landmark exhibition Made with Passion: The Hemphill Folk Art Collection of the National Museum of American Art.
Hemphill's publications include books Twentieth Century American Folk Art and Artists, co-authored with Julia Weissman in 1974, Folk Sculpture USA for the Brooklyn Museum in 1976, and Found in New York's North Country: The Folk Art of a Region, co-authored with Varick A. Chittenden in 1982 for the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute.
Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. died on May 8, 1998 in New York City.
Provenance:
Herbert Waide Hemphill donated his papers in 5 installments between 1988 and 1996.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of audiovisual materials with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Herbert Waide Hemphill 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.
Records documenting John Wanamaker's import of French painting from Parisian salons and artists to sell in his store, to keep for his private collection and to keep for his store collection. Also included is a photograph album of Rodman Wanamaker's silver collection. Included are: correspondence; customs papers; purchase and sale records; preview invitiations; inventories of works purchased for the store's collection; inventories of Wanamaker's private collection; artist files containing lists of Colin Campbell Cooper's works, photographs and clippings relating to Paul W. Bartlett's paintings, autographed photographs of Frederick Frieseke's painting, and files on Mihaly Munkacsy and Pierre Fritel. Total: 1.5 linear feet.
Biographical / Historical:
Department store; Philadelphia, Pa. Founded 1861. Opened an art gallery in 1881. The art gallery is now defunct.
Provenance:
Microfilmed in 1986 as part of AAA's Philadelphia Arts Documentation Project. Subquently donated to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Art, Modern -- French -- 20th century -- History Search this
Function:
Art galleries, Commercial -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
Correspondence, writings, clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, and miscellany.
ADDITION: Biographical material; writings, including notes, drafts, and finished copy for Engel's columns, "Do You Know That?" and "The Bright Palette," manuscripts of articles about collecting autographs, and "Miscellaneous Art Notes-- Michael M. Engel" (1 vol.); art research files; letters from Engel's collection of artists' autographs, many of which are illustrated; and artists' files, containing mainly clippings, exhibition announcements, photographs, and a small amount of correspondence, except for the Hugo Ballin file, which contains a large number of letters with illustrated envelopes.
Also, printed matter, including M. Grumbacher & Co. publicity, promotions, and biographical information on artists featured in their advertisements, articles about Engel and his palette collection, annual exhibition catalogs and other printed matter of Audubon Artists and other art organizations and galleries; photographs and slides of Engel, artists who represented M. Grumbacher & Co., palettes, paintings produced in Grumbacher demonstrations and other works of art, and one album of photographs of paintings by various artists with notes on palettes; files on camouflage, containing printed matter, notes, and photographs; and scrapbooks, including 3 on National Art Week, a WPA-Federal Art Project event, compiled by his wife, Mary Black Diller, an artist active in promoting it, and 3 compiled by Engel containing publicity material on Artists for Victory "Four Freedoms," Florida International Art Exhibition at Grand Central Galleries, and "Wayman Adams Film Painting a Portrait."
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, collector, lecturer, writer; New York, N.Y. Engel worked as public relations director for M. Grumbacher & Co., an artists' supplies firm. He contributed to Art Digest and other magazines, and founded Audubon Artists in 1940.
Provenance:
Donated 1975 by Mary Black Diller, widow of Michael M. Engel, and in 1994-1995, by their son, Michael M. Engel.
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.
A typescript of a biography of Held by Jane Rogers, 1946; personal and business correspondence with the Butler Institute of American Art, Jane Rogers, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and others, 1946-1980; Christmas cards; an autograph album; a scrapbook, 1933-1937; handwritten memoirs; photographs, ca. 1926-1970; bills and receipts; and exhibition catalogs, clippings and other printed material.
Biographical / Historical:
Art collector; New York City. Jane Rogers, sister of Leon Kroll, helped Held build up his collection. He collected mostly American art.
Provenance:
Donated 1980 and 1981 by Louis George Held.
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.
Letters from artists, including Kenyon Cox, Elihu Vedder, John Sartain, Rembrandt Peale, Joseph Pennell, Albert Bierstadt, Timothy Cole, and many others. Also included is an artist autograph collection collected by Ben Austin, Esq. Many of the letters are addressed to James D. Gill, a gallery owner whose gallery suffered a fire, regarding the status of paintings and offering condolences.
Biographical / Historical:
Businessman, and book and manuscript collector; Detroit, Mich. and Florida. Died in 1988.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1968 by Charles Feinberg, an active donor and friend of AAA. Fifteen of the letters microfilmed were subsequently bought at auction by AAA in 1968, including one letter from Cox, three from Fielding, three from Johnson, five from Sargent, and two from West. All except for one (Johnson) have been remicrofilmed and cataloged individually. Feinberg also donated additional letters to AAA during the 1950s and 1960s; these have been cataloged separately.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Four letters and a note from Samuel Cousins to various people, one of which is to Thomas Sully enclosing proofs of engravings; a 5-page holograph poem by Palmer Cox; a poem by Christopher P. Cranch and a letter requesting that his poems be printed because he is "much in need of money"; and a letter from Felix O. C. Darley about the cast of "McClellan."
Biographical / Historical:
Banker, art collector; New York City.
Provenance:
Microfilmed 1956 by the Archives of American Art with other art-related papers in the Manuscript Division of the New York Public Library. Included in the microfilming project were selected papers of the Art Division and the Prints Division.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Bankers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Clarke, Thomas B. (Thomas Benedict), 1848-1931 Search this
Extent:
1 Item ((on 2 frames of microfilm))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
[1885 April 9?]
Scope and Contents:
A letter from Ryder to collector Thomas B. Clarke thanking him for his payment for "The Temple of the Mind," and telling Clarke of his excitement about his painting "Jonah and the Whale" which he completed probably in 1885. He writes "I think you will be delighted with it."
Biographical / Historical:
Landscape painter and poet; New York City.
Provenance:
Purchased from Charles Hamilton Autographs, May 7, 1956.
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.
Fourteen letters written to Robb, 1846-1871, from John Gadsby Chapman, Henry Dilworth Gilpin, James H. Hackett, George Peter Alexander Healy, Daniel Huntington, Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, William Kemble, Charles Macalester, Hiram Powers, Robert Walter Weir, and Richard Henry Wilde; a letter written to "My Dear Sir" by Robb, 1848; a handwritten copy of an agreement between Hiram Powers and Robb concerning the exhibiting of Powers' THE GREEK SLAVE, 1848; a page of clippings, undated and 1859, relating to the sale of the Robb collection and to his railroad affiliation.
Biographical / Historical:
Railroad and banking tycoon, art collector; active in New Orleans in the mid-nineteenth century. Robb collected European and American art. Much of his collection was sold in 1859; some works from his collection are in the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Provenance:
Donated 1983 by Herbert Gray, a collector of autographed letters. This group of James Robb papers was included in a scrapbook that Mr. Gray purchased, containing letters to and from various historical figures. The remainder of the James Robb items from the scrapbook (ca. 157 letters and receipts pertaining to the purchase and sale of the Robb art collection) were donated to the Historic New Orleans Collection, a major repository of manuscript material on Robb.
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.
Letters, autographs, biographical data, and miscellany collected by Anthony about 19th century artists.
Artists include: Edwin A. Abbey, Ernest Albert, Elizabeth A. Allen, Daniel C. Beard, Frank Beard, Samuel G. W. Benjamin, Albert Bierstadt, Nathaniel Blaisdell, Edwin H. Blashfield, Evangeline Blashfield, Charles W. Bolton, Victor D. Brenner, Sydney & Mrs. Burleigh, William M. Chase, Frederic E. Church, Harry Cochrane, William A. Coffin, Timothy Cole, Thomas Cole, Royal Cortissoz, Palmer Cox, Christopher Cranch, Felix O. C. Darley, Frederick Dellenbaugh, Frederick Dielman, Andrew J. Downing, Charles L. Eastlake, George W. Edwards, Daniel C. French, Edmund H. Garrett, Sanford R. Gifford, V. Gribayedoff, Henry W. Herbert, Elbert Hubbard, Daniel Huntington, Laurence Hutton, Ernest L. Ipshen, Norman W. Isham, F. Lynn Jenkins, John La Farge, Edward C. Leavitt, William J. Linton, Benson J. Lossing, Will H. Low, Jervis McEntee, George Merrill, John H. Mills, Thomas Moran, Samuel F.B. Morse,
A. R. Mullen, Thomas Nast, National Arts Club, Wilbur F. Noyes,Frederick B. Opper, Mrs. Archie M. Palmer, Erastus D. Palmer, William F. Paris, Carl R. Parker, Hiram Powers, Howard Pyle, Thomas B. Read, Albert Rosenthal, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, John Sartain, Walter Smedley, George F. C. Smillie, Francis H. Smith, Bayard Taylor, Col. Henry S. Taylor, John Trumbull, Henry T. Tuckerman, Union League Club, N.Y., D. B. Updike, Vasili Vereschagen, Charles Vezin, Douglas Volk, D. Everett Waid, John Q. A. Ward, Clara E. Waters, Robert W. Weir, J. Thomson Willing, Ellsworth Woodward, Mabel Woodward, William Woodward, and F. Hammond Wright.
Biographical / Historical:
Clergyman, educator; Lewiston, Maine.
Provenance:
Microfilmed 1956 by the Archives of American Art with other art-related papers in the Manuscript Division of the New York Public Library. Included in the microfilming project were selected papers of the Art Division and the Prints Division.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
The collection consists of newslettersDodgers Line Drives, Brooklyn Dodgers Fan Club Newsletter, and Gabe-o-gram, albums of trading cards and Hall of Fame postcards, many of which have been autographed. There are also photographs of teams, individual players, and a photograph of Ronald Gabriel with Babe Ruth. There is a large scrapbook containing over 1000 autographs and several items of baseball ephemera, including placemats, magnets, scorecards, team schedules, programs, and posters.
Scope and Contents:
The collection includes baseball memorabilia acquired over Ronald Gabriel's lifetime as a fan, especially of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Series 1, Newsletters, 1944-2008, includes newsletters for the Dodgers Line Drives which Gabriel published, as well as the Brooklyn Dodgers Fan Club, which he founded in 1975. He also authored a newsletter called the Gabe-o-gram.The Brooklyn Bums was a newsletter to which Gabriel subscribed.
Series 2, Photographs, circa 1947-2006, consists of one oversize photo of Babe Ruth, a folder containing collectible photographs, and five packs of team photographs of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers. Notably in this series is the photograph of Ronald Gabriel as a child standing with the "Great Bambino," Babe Ruth.
Series 3, Baseball Ephemera, 1912-1990, contains five subseries: Subseries 1, Trading Cards; Subseries 2, Postcards; Subseries 3, Scrapbook; Subseries 4, Posters; and Subseries 5, Ephemera. There are two albums of baseball trading cards dating from 1912 to 1973 and two albums of autographed Hall of Fame postcards. The scrapbook contains 144 pages and over 1000 autographs acquired by Gabriel as a boy. There are oversize posters documenting Duke Snider Restaurant & Bar (autographed by Duke Snider), 1989 and "Catch Baseball Fever," undated. The ephemera includes game tickets, a letter from Dodgers' long timeradio broadcaster Vin Scully, advertising, product packaging, baseball placemats, programs, team schedules, programs, scorecards, magnets, and several other small items.
Ronald Gabriel (1941-2009) grew up in Brooklyn, just two miles from Ebbets Field, home of the Dodgers. He quickly became engrossed in the baseball atmosphere around his home and developed a passion for the sport that would shape his entire life. He regularly wrote letters to baseball teams asking for player autographs. As a result he compiled a massive collection of signatures, including those from Joe DiMaggio, Warren Spahn, Mickey Mantle, Leo Durocher, Bob Feller, and hundreds more. He continued collecting baseball memorabilia for the rest of his life. The Dodgers were his team. He was born in 1941, just in time to watch the Dodgers become one of the greatest franchises in baseball history, winning pennants in 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953. Finally, after losing to the New York Yankees in their previous five World Series, Ronald Gabriel witnessed the Brooklyn Dodgers win the 1955 World Series.
Even after his team moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958 Gabriel remained passionately devoted to the Brooklyn Dodgers. He published a newsletter called Dodgers Line Drives that lasted until 2009 and started the "Worldwide" Brooklyn Dodgers Fan Club in 1975 in honor of the twentieth anniversary of their World Series victory. He was also a guest speaker at George Washington University for a class called Race, Sports, and the American Dream, where he talked about Jackie Robinson. His baseball knowledge extended far beyond the Dodgers. He became a widely known baseball historian, acted as vice-president of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), and established the Washington Metro Chapter of the SABR. Later in his life Gabriel was honored by the Dodgers when they inducted him into the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Fame, an honor not usually given to fans. Gabriel was an important part of the Dodger community. He became close friends with a number of widows of former players and visited them often. Ronald Gabriel died in July, 2009 at the age of 68.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
Archives Center Sports Memorabilia Collection, circa 1970 to present, #796
Ronald S. Korda Collection of Sports and Trading Cards, 1952-1996, AC0545
Lebanon Valley Baseball League Collection, 1936-1963, AC0067
Lou Newman Collection of Baseball Memorabilia, 1895-1999, AC0696
Sioux City Ghosts Collection, 1920s-1983, AC0634
Stall and Dean Company Records, 1898-1998, AC0669
Provenance:
Collection bequeathed to the National Museum of American History by Ronald Gabriel through Tom Cholis, October 15, 2008.
Restrictions:
Copyright held by the Smithsonian Institution. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Reproduction permission from the Archives Center: reproduction fees may apply.
Rights:
Collections items available for reproduction but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Reproudction permission from the the Archives Center: reproduction fees may apply.
This collection consists of two 4 by 4 inch leather bound autograph books, and includes autographs from the following aviators: Lady Heath, Clarence Chamberlain, Roger Williams, Howard Hughes, Elinor Smith, Frank Hawks, George Haldeman, Edith Keating, Horace B. Wild, Marchesa Theodora Marconi, Noble Estey, Laura Ingalls, Casey Jones, W. N. Lancaster, Amelia Earhart, Orville Wright, Charles Holman, Will Rogers, Wiley Post, James Mollison, Amy [Johnson] Mollison, Jimmie Mattern, Charles Kingsford-Smith, Arthur Goebel, Ruth Elder, Clema Granger, Lincoln Ellsworth, Berndt Balchen, Clyde Pangborn, Roscoe Turner, Jimmy Doolittle, Benjamin Foulois, Hap Arnold, Dick Konter, Richard Byrd, Ryotaro Kumakawa, Frank Miller, K. McGinnis, Dick Merrill, Igor Sikorsky, Charles E. Rosendahl, Eddie Rickenbacker, Italo Balbo, P.F. M. Fellowes, Ernie Smith, C. C. Mosely, Ruth Nichols, Lee Ya-Ching, and Jeanette Piccard. News clippings and small photographs of the specific aviator are sometimes placed on the page adjoining the autograph. The books also include two event ribbons, one from the Minneapolis Airport Dedication, September 19, 1930, and one from the Aero Club of Minneapolis Field Day, June 12, 1921.
Biographical / Historical:
Mabel Vernet Perkins (circa 1880 - circa 1950) was born in California to William and Sarah Perkins. Shortly after Perkins' birth, her family moved to Minnesota where her father was a successful businessman. By 1920 Mabel Perkins was attending aviation events and become a member of the Aero Club of Minneapolis. During the 1920s through the early 1940s, Perkins collected aviator autographs, mostly from fairs and barnstorming events in the Midwest. She also collected autographs in Miami in 1933, at the New York Word's Fair in 1939, and in Los Angeles and Riverside, California
Provenance:
Grey Marie Dutton, Gift, 2009
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
2.5 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 1 reel))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1930-[ca. 1959]
Scope and Contents:
Scrapbooks on artists.
REEL 832: Seven scrapbooks, ca. 1930-1950, compiled by autograph collector Jerome Milkman on artists Lyonel Feininger, Jimmy Ernst, Antonio Frasconi, William Morris Hunt, Christopher Pearse Cranch, David Smith, and Jack Tworkov. Scrapbooks contain clippings, catalogs, and photographs. Also contained are 14 letters and postcards signed by the artists, and one letter by William Hunt's wife Rosamond Pier Hunt, about the watercolorist Eliot O'Hara.
UNMICROFILMED: Scrapbooks, 1930-1950, containing autographs, autograph letters, clippings, and cartoons of 281 cartoonists, and 187 sculptors and illustrators.
Biographical / Historical:
Autograph collector; New York, N.Y. Milkman amassed large collection of artists' autograph letters and printed reproductions of their work. Most of the material was sold at auction.
Provenance:
Material on reel 832 was purchased 1968 by the Archives of American Art from Jerome Milkman; unmicrofilmed material donated 1976 by Evelyn M. Sultan, daughter of Milkman.
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.
The papers of art historian, collector, educator, and museum administrator John Davis Hatch measure 24.9 linear feet and date from 1790-1995. Within the papers are biographical materials; correspondence; personal business and legal documents; diaries; research, organization, and teaching files; writings; printed materials; photographs; and works of art (mostly sketches) by American artists. Research files regarding artists and specific subjects comprise the bulk of this collection.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of art historian, collector, educator, and museum administrator John Davis Hatch measure 24.9 linear feet and date from 1790-1995. Within the papers are biographical materials; correspondence; personal business and legal documents; diaries; research, organization and teaching files; writings; printed materials; photographs; and works of art (mostly sketches) by American artists. Research files regarding artists and specific subjects comprise the bulk of this collection.
Scattered biographical materials include an invitation to the Hatch's anniversary party in 1964, short biographical sketches and resumes, certificates, report cards, a silhouette of the Hatch Family circa 1904, and a typecript of a diary written by Olivia Hatch as a child.
Correspondence includes professional correspondence between Hatch and colleagues; letters from family and friends; and some materials regarding exhibitions from the Hatch Collection. The bulk of correspondence spans Hatch's professional career although there are scattered letters from 1915-1943 from Hatch to his parents. Also found are letters addressed to an unidentified "Henry." Correspondence is also found in the research files.
Personal business and financial records consist of inventories, bills, receipts, and other records for artworks purchased, loaned, or donated by Hatch. Also found are records from the J. D. Hatch Associates Cultural Consultants, a draft of Hatch's will, stock and tax materials, and travel papers and passports.
Scattered diaries and journal fragments and a transcript date from 1925-1965. Thirteen "Daily Reflection Journals" date from 1975-1987.
Research files on artists and subjects are extensive, comprising one-half of the collection. Files are varied and may include primary research materials, correspondence, printed materials, notes, and writings. Some of the artists' letters and other materials dated from 1790-early 1800s may have been purchased by Hatch. Among many other items, there is an illustrated letter written by Oscar Bluemner and photographs of Bluemner; primary research materials dating from the early 1800s on John Vanderlyn including a will, receipts, and correspondence; a letter from Rembrandt Peale dated 1830, and an autograph letter from John Trumbull dated 1790. Also found is an index card file.
Organization files contain files and records related to Hatch's affiliations with many cultural organizations. A small amount of teaching and education files consist of Hatch's notes and lectures from the University of Oregon and the University of Massachusetts, and from his continuing education courses he took at St. John's College. Writings and notes include short essays by Hatch, mostly concerning art, exhibitions and museum administration; book reviews; general notes, lists, and reports.
Printed Materials are comprised of exhibition catalogs and announcements, including those from the American Drawing Annual in the 1940s-1950s; printed articles annotated by Hatch; clippings; pricelists; and published works.
A small number of photographs are of Hatch, some by Dorothy Frazer; of his family and friends; and of artists. The bulk of the photographs are of works of art including those owned by Hatch.
Artwork includes two sketchbooks - one by Kenneth Callahan and another by Lloyd McNeill; and additional drawings and sketches by Julian Scott, Henry Kirke Browne, Kenneth Callahan, Ezra Clark, John Cranch, Jasper Francis Crospey, F. O. C. Darley, C. H. Granger, Seymour J. Guy, George Harvey, Edward Lamson Henry, Henry Inman, as well as unsigned or illegible names.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 11 series:
Series 1: Biographical Information, circa 1900-1980s (Box 1; 8 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1903-1990s (Box 1-3; 2 linear feet)
Series 3: Personal Business and Legal Records, Date (Box 3; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 4: Diaries and Journals, 1925-1987 (Box 3, 23; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 5: Research Files, 1790-1992 (Box 3-13, 20-21, 24; 12.7 linear feet)
Series 6: Organization Files, 1930s-1990s (Box 13-14; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 7: Teaching and Education Files, 1930s-1993 (Box 14-15; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 8: Writings and Notes, 1936-1990s (Box 15; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 9: Printed Material, 1870s-1990s (Box 15-19, 22, 25-26, OV1; 5.9 linear feet)
Series 10: Photographs, circa 1900-1990s (Box 22; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 11: Artwork, 1851-1973 (Box 22; 0.3 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Art historian, collector, educator, and museum administrator John Davis Hatch (1907-1996) worked in the Boston and New England area, as well as the Pacific Northwest, and New York state. Hatch served as director of the Art Institute of Seattle, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Albany Institute of Art and History, and the Norfolk Museum of Art and Sciences.
John Davis Hatch was born in San Francisco, California in 1907. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were architects and Hatch studied landscape architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. He served as an apprentice to Lockwood de Forest. After abandoning landscape architecture, he accepted a position as director of the Seattle Fine Arts Society (1928-1931) at the age of twenty-one and taught art history courses at the University of Washington.
In 1932, Hatch accepted the position of assistant director of the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. He also directed the federal Public Works of Art Project in New England. Additionally, Hatch served from 1940-1948 as director of the Albany Institute of Art and History and from 1950-1959 of the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences. Hatch worked as an art advisor for exhibitions at five historically African-American colleges in Atlanta and in San Simeon in California. He founded the American Drawing Annual exhibition.
Hatch conducted extensive research on artists Oscar Bluemner and John Vanderlyn, American silverwork, and American drawing. In addition, Hatch collected American drawings and later donated many of works of art from his personal collection to the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. Aside from his early teaching in Washington state, Hatch taught at the University of Massachusetts and the University of Oregon. He was a member of numerous professional arts-related organizations.
In 1939, Hatch married Olivia Stokes with whom he had four children: Sarah, John, Daniel and James. He died in 1996.
Related Material:
The Archives of American Art holds two oral history interviews with John Davis Hatch: June 8, 1964 conducted by H. Wade White and 1979-1980 conducted by Robert F. Brown. Also found is a separately cataloged photograph of Hatch and Henry Francis Taylor from 1933.
Additional research materials complied by Hatch are located in the Albany Institute of History and Art, the Metropolitan Museum, the library of the National Gallery of Art, and the Senate House, Kingston, New York.
Hatch donated two hundred and seventy American drawings to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Separated Material:
Four books annotated by Bluemner, a letter from Bluemner, a letter from A. Stieglitz to Bluemner, photographs of works of art, and exhibition materials were removed from the papers and merged with the Oscar Bluemner papers at the Archives of American Art.
Provenance:
John Davis Hatch and the John Davis Hatch estate donated his papers to the Archives of American Art in several installments between 1960-1996. Many of the primary materials relating to John Vanderlyn were acquired by Hatch from a photographer in Kingston, New York who received them from a niece of Vanderlyn. Robert Graham of James Graham and Sons gave Vanderlyn's will to Hatch.
Restrictions:
Use of originals requires an appointment.
Rights:
The John Davis Hatch 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.
