Correspondence, printed material, writings, and other personal papers collected by Carl Zigrosser and Leila Mechlin and later added to by others, all relating to American art.
REELS P10-P11 and P14: Letters to Leila Mechlin, Henry Schnakenberg and Hudson Walker. Correspondents include Robert Abbe, John Taylor Arms, Cecelia Beaux, Paul Bartlett, Gifford Beal, Paul Cadmus, Charles Curran, Royal Cortissoz, Kenyon Cox, Philip Evergood, John David Graham, Reginald Marsh, Joseph Pennell, John Sloan and many others. Some letters include printed material and photographs. Mechlin material includes writings, photographs and letters from Mary Augusta Mullikin describing her life and travels in China, 1933. Also included are letters from Adolph Dehn and Jose de Creeft to Juliana Force; from Ernest Haskell and Kenneth Hayes Miller to Carl Zigrosser; miscellaneous letters from Marc Chagall, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Louis Eilshemius and Childe Hassam; an autobiography of William Sartain; and material on Thomas Eakins, including letters, a list of expenses, 1867, and motion study material,including writings, sketches and photographs taken with a camera invented by Eakins.
REEL 4547: Charles Burchfield letters; Susan and Thomas Eakins material; Jacques Lipchitz correspondence; Henry McCarter letters; and Carl Zigrosser correspondence. The Burchfield letters consist of 41 items, 1929-1947, from Burchfield regarding exhibitions, sales, and his paintings. The Eakins material includes letters from Susan Eakins to the Milch Galleries, 1933-1935, regarding the sale of Thomas Eakins' work, receipts from the Milch Galleries, Thomas' expense book, ca. 1866, for daily living in Paris and Switzerland and an autographed account of expenses while at school in Paris, April 12, 1867, a photograph of Susan Eakins by Carl van Vechten, a photograph of Eakins, and 71 engraved portraits from the collection of Thomas Eakins.
The Lipchitz correspondence is with R. Sturgis Ingersoll regarding Lipchitz's commission for the sculpture "Prometheus." Also included are 8 letters from Curt Valentin to Ingersoll regarding Lipchitz. The McCarter material includes 66 letters, 1933-1942, some containing sketches, from McCarter to Mrs. George B. Roberts regarding paintings, frames, exhibitions, and offering painting advice. The Zigrosser correspondence is regarding the purchase of prints from the regional projects of the WPA for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and later included in the exhibition "Between Two Wars" at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Included are invoices and inventories of the prints from the various offices.
Provenance:
Material on reels P10-P11 and P14 lent for microfilming, 1954, by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Additional material on reel 4547 was microfilmed in 1991 as part of AAA's Philadelphia Arts Documentation Project. The idea for the archives originated with Carl Zigrosser, who donated material, solicited it from others (mainly Henry Schnakenberg, Leila Mechlin and Hudson Walker), or pulled it from the files of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Museum continues to add to the collection. It is not connected to the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Rights:
Authorization to publish, quote or reproduce requires written permission from Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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.
Commission charter, "Act to Create an Art Commission for the City of Boston," 1890; handwritten minutes of staff meetings, 1890-1959; annual reports and related correspondence, 1899-1953; minutes of a joint meeting of the Boston Art Commission, the Park and Recreation Commission, and the City Planning Board, 1914; 3 files maintained by the Boston Art Commission: monument files, 1890-1957, regarding the signing, erecting, and restoring of monuments, including estimates, proposals, contracts, sketches, printed materials, and photographs; operating and general files, 1890-1957, on statues, tablets, busts, paintings, monuments, and memorials in Boston public schools, Faneuil Hall and others locales; correspondence files, 1895-1953, for Boston Public Art Under the Curatorship of the Boston Public Library; 3 clippings, 1934-1947; and 2 brochures, "Some Statues of Boston," 1946, and "Other Statues of Boston," 1947, by Allan Forbes and Ralph M. Eastman.
Correspondents included among the monument, general, correspondence files include members of the Boston Art Commission, mayors of Boston, sculptors, and architects. Among the correspondents are Herbert Adams, Thomas Allen, Paul Bartlett, Robert Bellows, Patrick Collins (mayor), John Templeman Coolidge, James M. Curley (mayor), George Harold Edgell, Daniel Chester French, Henry Hudson Kitson, Alexander W. Longfellow, Charles D. Maginnis, J. Harleston Parker, Josiah Quincy (mayor), Arthur Shurtleff, C. Howard Walker, Samuel D. Warren, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
The Boston Art Commission was founded in 1890.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming by the City of Boston, Boston Art Commission, 1984.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Boston Art Commission records, 1890-1959. Owned by the City of Boston, Boston Art Commission. Filmed by the Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Art.
Donated 1966-1973 by Kathleen M. Bartlett, wife of Paul Bartlett.
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.
