Gorham Manufacturing Company, Bronze Division records
Creator:
Gorham Manufacturing Company. Bronze Division Search this
Extent:
750 Items ((on 2 microfilm reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
[ca. 1905-1978]
Scope and Contents:
The business records of the Bronze Division of Gorham include summary historical and technical information, ledgers, and photograph files of statuary.
Historical data and background information including a two-page outline, compiled in 1946, of the company's activities from its founding in 1831 to 1906; a single page outline entitled, "Small Statuary Bronzes," 1945, which defines consignment bronze, royalty bronze, Gorham-owned bronze, and small bronzes; and a five page typescript explaining the numbering and royalty systems and price structure, 1947; scattered correspondence and memorandums, 1941-1978, dealing with historical data about art bronze casting and identification of bronzes; 1 v. record of castings of statuary and small bronzes owned by Gorham, 1905-1970, including sequence number, description of pieces, size, and date cast; 2 v. record of castings of statuary and small bronzes owned by sculptors, 1906-1930 and 1930-1979, including dates, sequence numbers, description of pieces, contract number and name of sculptor; 1 v. record of royalties paid to sculptors, 1910-ca. 1949, arranged alphabetically by sculptor and includes records of the number of castings and for whom each piece was cast, date, shipped, and date royalty paid; price lists of statuary and small bronzes; and photograph files, arranged alphabetically, of statuary and small bronzes cast at Gorham. Each photo contains the name of sculptor, title of piece, size and sequence number.
Biographical / Historical:
The Gorham Company, founded by Jabez Gorham in 1831 in Providence, Rhode Island, began by manufacturing teaspoons and other small silver articles. In 1865, a separate ecclesiastical department was organized. Small bronzes were made by Gorham, ca. 1860, but it was not until 1885 that the first large noneccelastical sculpture was made (Frederick Kohlhagen's Civil War monument, "The Skirmisher"). The Bronze Division was started ca. 1890. Some of the sculptors whose works have been cast by the Division include: Cyrus Dallin, Daniel Chester French, Harriet Frishmuth, Anna Hyatt Huntington, Alexander P. Proctor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Mahonri Young.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1986 by the Gorham Division of Textron, Inc., and turned over subsequently to Brown University John Hay Library.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Correspondence, castings record, financial materials, photographs and printed materials relating primarily to the work of the Bronze Division of the Ames Manufacturing Company.
Professional and personal correspondence, chiefly of James Tyler Ames, with sculptors, architects, government officials, and colleagues, including his brother, Nathan Peabody Ames, Henry Kirke Brown, Randolph Rogers, and Thomas Ustick Walter. A castings record (16 p.) contains expenses and final prices of bronze castings, a printed list of "Bronze Works Executed by the Ames Manufacturing Company," and photographs of completed work. There are also an expense account for the Lincoln National Monument artillery and cavalry groups, lists of expenses relating to "Bronze Castings for Washington and his Horse," the (Benjamin) "Franklin Statue," and other works. Photographs are of works cast by the Ames Company and of unidentified works, of Ames' artisans, of a room in James Ames' house with framed medallions of Washington and Franklin on the wall, and of a head of Washington and a head of his horse in Thomas Ball's studio; reports by the architect of the Capitol extension, and the U.S. Art Commission (1860); Ames Company promotional items; a printed narrative of the incidents connected with the statue of Washington in Union Square by Henry Kirke Brown; and clippings relating to various statues.
Biographical / Historical:
The Ames Manufacturing Company, Chicopee, Massachusetts, was founded in 1835 by James Tyler Ames and his brother, Nathan Peabody Ames. The company manufactured small tools, cotton machinery, swords, cannons, and did casting of bells. It began manufacturing large bronze statuary circa 1850.
Provenance:
Donated 1986 by Malcolm Stearns, Jr., who purchased them from Parke Bernet, New York, in the 1960s. There are numerous notations on the backs of letters and photographs. It is not known who added this information.
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.
5.7 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 3 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Date:
[187-]-1979
Scope and Contents:
Biographical material, correspondence, writings, art works, legal and financial records, scrapbook, photographic and printing material, and printed matter.
Biographical materials include a copy of Henry Hudson Kitson's birth certificate; his confirmation certificate; a copy of the death certificate of his father, John Kitson; a photograph of the honorable mention certificate received by Theo Ruggles (Kitson) for "Young Orpheus" from the Societe des Artistes Francais, 1890; a letter of reference for her from sculptor George F. Bissell, 1901; her will; calling cards from those who attended her funeral, 1932; biographical data on Henry Kitson; genealogical data on the Kitson family; an incomplete list of works by the Kitsons compiled by Dorothy Patricia Cavanagh; and a diary by Henry Kitson, 1902-1904, containing brief entries pertaining to his daily life and work.
Personal and professional correspondence includes letters from Theo to Henry from Paris, 1890, including an illustrated letter to "my own darling child" (? Henry Kitson) describing her award ceremonies at the Salon, an illustrated letter to her father, written from Rome, describing the city, a letter from Henry Kitson to Miss Tower, ca. 1899, about putting the Minutemen Memorial in Tower Park, Lexington, Mass., letters from him to his wife, 1903, and to "Babsy" (his daughter, Theo), undated, with sketches for constructing a fence and a stone wall, a letter from Alexander J. Schottes, 1905?, containing descriptions and sketches of the studios of Daniel Chester French, Charles Grafly, Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Louis Saint-Gaudens, copies of letters from Kitson to the secretary of Queen Wilhelmina of Holland requesting photos preparatory to making a bust of the Queen, letters from the War Dept. to the Kitsons about their work at Vicksburg, Miss., and letters to Theo from the Gorham Manufacturing Company. Posthumous correspondence includes letters to the Kitsons' son John, his wife Helen, and her sister, Dorothy P. Cavanagh, from sculptor Lee Lawrie, sculptor Milton Horn and his wife, Estelle.
Writings include a poem by Henry Kitson; a description of a "Visit to a Bronze Foundry" (Gruet, Fils, Paris), author unknown, undated; reminiscences by sculptor Lee Lawrie; and a remembrance of Lawrie by Dorothy P. Cavanagh, 1963.
Art works include a childhood sketch by Theo Kitson of her home in Brookline, Massachusetts; sketches of animals; several sketches by her, possibly for monuments; unidentified sketches, chiefly of possible monument designs, probably by one of the Kitsons; a rendering by an architectural firm of a bas-relief designed by Henry Kitson, 1935; 2 caricatures of Kitson by Hiram Jay; an etching by Robert Kitson, 1891; various sketches of Japanese figures and costumes by Hiroshi Yoshida, 1910; and 2 pastels by T. (?) Walser of "Stonegate" (?), home of the Kitsons in Framingham Centre, Mass. Also iIncluded are 4 steel dies for bas-reliefs.
Legal records 1895-1940, include specifications for the Soldiers' Memorial, Vicksburg, Miss., numerous contracts for works by the Kitsons, copyright receipts and certificates, and deeds for sale of real estate. Financial records, 1882-1946, include invoices for casting for Henry Kitson, his bank statements, 1931-32, and his promissory notes.
A large scrapbook, 1888-1954, annotated by Dorothy P. Cavanagh, contains clippings, genealogical information on the Kitson family, photos of works by the Kitsons, personal photographs, correspondence, including letters from Henry Kitson to his future wife, 1892, and postcards to her and their children, a humorous resolution about the "Regiment of Macaroonies," written by Henry Kitson's friends in Paris, 1888, invitations, agreements for sculpture, copies of speeches given at the University of Minnesota for the Student Soldier Memorial Monument dedication.
Photographs are of the Kitsons, their family, homes, studios, Paris, ca. 1900, and their work, including photos of oxen hauling the granite boulder for the base of the "Volunteer" by Theo Kitson from Quincy, Mass. to Vicksburg, Miss., 1904, and scenes of the dedication of the monument. In addition, there are 7 photos of "Work in Progress" by Ellin and Kitson and Company for the Equitable Building, New York, 1887, a photo of the Astor Memorial, Trinity Church, New York, which the firm also worked on, and 6 undated photographs of works by Samuel Kitson.Also included are glass negatives of the Kitson's work.
Printed materials date from 1884-1979.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptors; Boston, Mass. Henry Hudson Kitson's actual name was Harry Kitson. Theo(dora) Alice Ruggles became his student in 1886 at the age of 15; in 1893 they were married and were notable monumental and portrait sculptors by the turn of the century. They had three children: Theo (also known as Babsy or Babbins), Dorothy and John. Three years after Theo's death, in 1935, Henry married Marie Hobron.
Related Materials:
Additional Kitson letters also located at: New York Historical Society.
Provenance:
The donor, Dorothy P. Cavanagh, was the sister of the Kitsons' daughter-in-law Helen (wife of John), and was writing a biography on the Kitsons up until her death in 1986. The microfilmed material was originally loaned by Cavanagh June 28, 1982 and September 12, 1986, and then donated upon her death by her nephew and executor, Paul Bennet. The unmicrofilmed material was donated by Cavanagh in 1973 and 1976.
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.
Arnoldi just bronze : November 3 through December 13, 1987 : an exhibition organized by the Museum Studies Certificate Program, University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach / edited by Constance W. Glenn with Jane K. Bledsoe
Author:
Glenn, Constance W (Constance White) 1933- Search this
The Roman Bronze Works collection : an important grouping of plasters and bronzes from America's foremost foundry : public auction, Seventh Regiment Armory, September 17, 1988
