The papers of Boston and New Hampshire painter Joseph Lindon Smith date from 1647-1965, with the bulk of papers dating from 1873-1965, and measure 8.8 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials; letters from family members, artists, museums, and art patrons; seven diaries by Smith and two by his wife Corinna, personal business records, notes and writings, files concerning charitable theatrical productions, one sketchbook and other art work, a scrapbook, printed material, photographs, and sound recordings of radio interviews and a radio program on Smith.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of Boston and New Hampshire painter Joseph Lindon Smith date from 1647-1965, with the bulk of papers dating from 1873-1965, and measure 8.8 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials; letters from family members, artists, museums, and art patrons; seven diaries by Smith and two by his wife Corinna, personal business records, notes and writings, files concerning charitable theatrical productions, one sketchbook and other art work, a scrapbook, printed material, photographs, and sound recordings of radio interviews and a radio program on Smith.
Scattered biographical material consists of family history documents for the Smith and Putnam families, a Jenkes family tree, and passports for Joseph Lindon Smith and his family.
Over three linear feet of letters are from family members, artists including Cecilia Beaux, Frank Benson, George DeForest Brush, and Denman Ross, museum staff concerned with work in Egypt, and art patrons including Isabella Stewart Gardner, and individuals involved with Smith's charitable pageants. There are scattered letters from Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Henry James, Charles G. Loring, Paul Manship, General John J. Pershing, John Singer Sargent, and Abbott Handerson Thayer. Among the subjects discussed are student life at the Académie Julian, the Smiths' travels, and individuals known by Smith.
Seven diaries written by Joseph Lindon Smith document his ravels in Egypt, Persia, Europe, and New Mexico. Two diaries were written by Corinna Smith during her travels to Beiram and Egypt.
Personal business records business records include contracts, price lists, lists of securities, and miscellaneous receipts of the Smith and Putnam families, Joseph Lindon Smith, Corinna Smith, and their daughter Lois Smith.
Notes include engagement calendars, notebooks, lists of art work, lecture notes, minutes of meetings, notes on family history and on travel, and an autograph by Kit Carson. Writings include miscellaneous typescripts by the Smiths and others concerning travel, work in Egypt and elsewhere, and anecdotes about various friends and acquaintances. There are also three drafts of "Egypt - My Winter Home."
Theatrical production files concern plays, pageants, and masques written and/or produced by the Smiths. Many of the performances were benefits, dedication or anniversary celebrations, such as a pageant given at Fenway Court in honor of Isabella Stewart Gardner, a pageant at the dedication of a memorial to Abbott Handerson Thayer, and the centenary celebration of the founding of Amherst, Massachusetts.
Art work includes a sketchbook with extensive notes, a painting, drawings by Joseph Lindon Smith, and prints by other artists.
A scrapbook contains clippings and an exhibition catalog from the St. Botolph Club. Additional printed material includes clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, press releases, programs, booklets, brochures, and books by others.
Photographs are of Smith, his family, friends including classmates from the Académie Julian, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Abbott Handerson Thayer, exhibition installations, military camp sites from World War I, travel scenes, and art work by Smith.
Audio recordings consist of four sound disc recordings of interviews for WKNE Radio, Keene, New Hampshire, with Corinna Smith and Barry Faulkner talking about Smith, and a program about Smith and his book Tombs, Temples, and Ancient Art.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 11 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1711-1948 (Box 1, 10; 5 folders)
Series 2: Letters, 1768-1965 (Box 1-4, OV 11; 3.5 linear feet)
Series 3: Diaries, 1904-1949 (Box 4; 11 folders)
Series 4: Personal Business Records, 1647-1959 (Box 4, 10; 11 folders)
Series 5: Notes and Writings, 1783-1963 (Box 4-6; 2.0 linear feet)
Series 6: Theatrical Production Files, 1897-1950 (Box 6-7, 10; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 7: Art Works, 1932-1943 (Box 8, 10; 8 folders)
Series 8: Scrapbook, 1888-1901 (Box 8; 1 folder)
Series 9: Printed Material, 1723-1963 (Box 8, OV 11; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 10: Photographs, 1884-1956 (Box 8-10; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 11: Audio Recordings, 1956 (Box 9-10; 2 folders)
All material is arranged chronologically except for the writings by others and travel photographs that are arranged alphabetically.
Biographical Note:
Joseph Lindon Smith (1863-1950) of Boston, Massachusetts and Dublin, New Hampshire, was a painter primarily known for his ability to meticulously depict the murals and tomb sculpture of Egypt and other ancient cultures.
Joseph Lindon Smith was born on October 11, 1863 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the son of wholesale lumberman Henry Francis Smith and Emma Greenleaf Smith, a cousin of John Greenleaf Whittier.
From 1880 to 1882, Smith studied drawing and painting at the Art School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts under Frederic Crowninshield and Otto Grundman. Accompanied by his friend, Frank Benson, he attended the Académie Julian and studied under William Bouguereau, Gustave Boulanger, and Jules Lefebvre from 1883 to 1885.
Upon his return to Boston, Smith established a studio as a portrait and landscape painter, attracting the attention of Denman Ross, a professor of History of Fine Arts at Harvard University. In the early 1890s Smith and Ross began to travel extensively and Smith became interested in ancient civilizations of Mexico, China, and Southeast Asia. In 1892, during a trip to Italy, Smith befriended Isabella Stewart Gardner, for whom he copied famous paintings, and occasionally acted as agent in purchasing art work.
Making his first trip to Egypt in 1898, Smith became enthralled with the art work of the ancient civilization and devoted himself to painting copies of the tomb sculptures and murals for educational uses in museums and other public institutions. In 1899, he married Corinna Haven Putnam and the couple spent much of their married life traveling between the United States and the Middle East, especially Egypt. From 1910 to 1939, Smith was a member of the Joint Expedition of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and Harvard University directed by Dr. George A. Reisner.
For fifty years, Smith was also sought out as a writer and producer of plays and theatrical pageants, fetes, and masques primarily staged for various charitable fund-raising events.
Joseph Lindon Smith died on October 18, 1950 in Dublin, New Hampshire.
Related Material:
The papers of Smith's wife, Corinna Putnam Smith, are available at The Schlesinger Library of Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Provenance:
The Joseph Lindon Smith papers were donated by Jessie T. Hale, Smith's granddaughter, in 1977 and 1978.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
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.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
ca. 1870-1910
Scope and Contents:
Most of Stevenson's scientific notes are included as separate items in the series of numbered manuscript and the papers of John Peabody Harrington. This particular set of materials is made up of papers that passed into the hands of the executor of her estate. It consists of a miscellany of letters, notes, legal documents, cartographic materials, genealogical materials, photographs, newspaper clippsing, other printed material, and other types of documents. Although tehc ollection largely concerns Stevenson, it also includes some material of her husband, James Stevenson, and members of her family, especially her father, Alexander H. Evans, a Washington, D.C. attorney.
Many of the documents concern Stevenson's field work among the Pueblo Indians and other official duties with the Smithsonian. some material relates to her activities with the World's Columbian Exposition and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. A few items concern her membership in scientific organizations. Still other documents are of a personal nature, and some are mementoes, especially of James Stevenson. A significant group of documents concern Matilda CoxeStevenson's friendly and, later, very difficult relationship with Clara True.
The photographs include some items of ethnographic interest but it consists largely of portraits of James andMatilda Stevensonand Mrs. Stevenson's relatives. Also included are images in albums apparently gathered by Stevenson as a collector of photographs. They include images of Kit Carson, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and William Tecumseh Shermn. In the albums are also a nubmer of photographic portraits with unidentified subjects, many of whom appear to be actors and actresses.
Story of the wild West and camp-fire chats, by Buffalo Bill, (Hon. W. F. Cody.) A full and complete history of the renowned pioneer quartett, Boone, Crockett, Carson, and Buffalo Bill ... Including a description of Buffalo Bill's conquests in England with his wild West exhibition, where royalty from all the European nations paid him a generous homage and made his wonderful show the greatest succes...
Story of the wild West and camp-fire chats, by Buffalo Bill, (Hon. W.F. Cody.) A full and complete history of the renowned pioneer quartette, Boone, Crockett, Carson and Buffalo Bill... Including a description of Buffalo Bill's conquests in England with his Wild West exhibition..
An expedition against the Indians in 1864; a true historical account of an Indian expedition under the command of Col. Christopher (Kit) Carson / Reminiscences by George Courtright
Title:
True historical account of an Indian expedition under the command of Col. Christopher (Kit) Carson
Adventuring with Carson and Fremont being the adventures, in the years 1842-'43-'44, on trail over mountains and through deserts from the East of the Rockies to the west of the Sierras, of Scout Christopher Carson and Lieutenant John Charles Frémont, leading their brave company including the boy Oliver by Edwin L. Sabin ; frontispiece by Charles H. Stephens
Author:
Sabin, Edwin L (Edwin Legrand) 1870-1952 Search this
Kit Carson days, 1809-1868 : adventures in the path of empire / by Edwin L. Sabin ; with twenty full-page drawings by Howard Simon ; introduction by Marc Simmons
Author:
Sabin, Edwin L (Edwin Legrand) 1870-1952 Search this
