Papers concerning Freer's art collecting activities, including correspondence, diaries, art inventories, scrapbooks of clippings on James McNeil Whistler and other press clippings, and photographs. In addition to Freer's own correspondence, the papers include correspondence collected by Freer of James McNeill Whistler and of Whistler collector Richard A. Canfield, correspondence of Freer's assistant Katharine Nash Rhoades, and correspondence regarding Freer's bequest to the Smithsonian Institution.
Correspondence, ca. 1860-1921, includes Freer's correspondence, 1876-1920, with artists, dealers, collectors, museums, and public figures; 30 v. of letterpress books containing copies of letters sent, 1892-1910; correspondence collected by Freer of James McNeill Whistler, and his wife Beatrix, 186?-1909, with Lady Colin Campbell, Thomas R. Way, Alexander Reid, Whistler' mother, Mrs. George W. Whistler, and others; correspondence of Whistler collector Richard A. Canfield, 1904-1913, regarding works in Canfield's collection; and correspondence of Freer's assistant, Katharine Nash Rhoades, 1920-1921, soliciting Freer letters and regarding the settlement of his estate.
Also included are twenty-nine pocket diaries, 1889-1890, 1892-1898, 1900-1919, recording daily activities, people and places visited, observations, and comments; a diary kept by Freer's caretaker, Joseph Stephens Warring, recording daily activities at Freer's Detroit home, 1907-1910;
Inventories, n.d. and 1901-1921, of American, European, and Asian art in Freer's collection, often including provenance information; vouchers, 1884-1919, documenting his purchases; five volumes of scrapbooks of clippings on James McNeill Whistler, 1888-1931, labeled "Various," "Peacock Room," "Death, etc.," "Paris, etc.," and "Boston...London" ; three volumes of newsclippings, 1900-1930, concerning Freer and the opening of the Freer Gallery of Art;
correspondence regarding Freer's gift and bequest to the Smithsonian Institution, 1902-1916; and photographs, ca. 1880-1930, of Freer, including portraits by Alvin Langdon Coburn and Edward Steichen, Freer with others, Freer in Cairo, China and Japan, Freer's death mask, and his memorial service, Kyoto, 1930; photographs of artists and others, including Thomas Dewing, Ernest Fenellosa, Katharine Rhoades taken by Alfred Stieglitz, Rosalind B. Philip, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Abbott H. Thayer, Dwight Tryon, and Whistler; and photographs relating to Whistler, including art works depicting him, grave and memorial monuments, works of art, the Peacock Room, and Whistler's memorial exhibition at the Copley Society.
Among Freer's correspondents are: Otto Bacher, Bernard Berenson, Siegfried Bing, Laurence Binyon, W.K. Bixby, Sigisbert Chretien Bosch-Reitz, Charles H. Caffin, Colin Campbell, Richard Canfield, William Merritt Chase, Frederick Stuart Church, Alfred Vance Churchill, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Arthur Wesley Dow, Ernest Fenollosa, Albert Gallatin, John Gellatly, Frederick W. Gookin, Sadakichi Hartmann, Frank J. Hecker, Dikran Kelekian, M. Knoedler & Co., Berthold Laufer, Lien Hui Ching Collection, W.A. Livingstone, Frederick McCormick, Bunkio Matsuki, Gari Melchers, Agnes Meyer, Eugene Meyer, Charles Moore, Yozo Nomura, Rosalind Birnie Philip, Charles A. Platt, Theodore Roosevelt, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the Smithsonian Institution, Joseph Stephens Warring, Thomas Way, Abbott Handerson Thayer, Dwight W. Tryon, Charles Walcott of the Smithsonian Institution, Beatrix Whistler, James McNeill Whistler, K.T. Wong, Yamanaka & Co., and Seaouke Yue.
Arrangement:
All correspondence except letterpress books: arranged alphabetically by correspondent; letterpress books are chonological.
Biographical / Historical:
Art collector; Detroit, Michigan. Collected Asian, American, and European art, including a large collection of works by James McNeill Whistler. Founded the Freer Gallery of Art, which is now part of the Smithsonian Institution.
Provenance:
Selected for microfilming from the Charles Lang Freer papers at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Microfilmed 1992 by the Archives of American Art with funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution's Office of Fellowships and Grants Research Resources Program. Portions of the correspondence and the letterpress books were previously filmed by the Freer in the 1970 (AAA reels 77, 453-456, and 1217-1232); those reels have been replaced by this microfilming project. See Finding Aid for information on papers not selected for microfilming.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Artists' letters and documents collected by Zalesch and letters written to him in response to inquiries concnering autographs and biographical information.
REEL 3097: Twenty-six letters (1845-1973) written by George Bellows, Thomas Hart Benton, Isabel Bishop, Frederick Stuart Church, Thomas Doughty, Ernest Fenollosa, Ben Foster, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Childe Hassam, Robert Henri, John La Farge, Homer Dodge Martin, Joseph Pennell, Edward Willis Redfield, John Rogers, John Singer Sargent, Richard Stankiewicz, Thomas Sully, and Elihu Vedder. Also included are a Harvard University bond for William Wetmore Story's tuition signed by Franklin H. Story (1834) and a biographical questionnaire completed by John La Farge for The Cyclopedia of American Biography (1925).
UNMICROFILMED: Letters written by Roy Lichtenstein, William Gropper, Gluyas Williams, Ordway Partridge, Frederick Burr Opper, James Wells Champney, C. Gray Parker, Ben Foster, Louis Betts, Cyrus Le Roy Baldridge, Richard Lippold, Romare Bearden, Isabel Bishop, Thomas Hart Benton, Richard Stankiewicz, and others; a brochure for a work of art by Robert Indiana; a certificate from The Brooklyn Art Association for one share of capital stock in the name of William Potter Lage; one page of correspondence documenting a decision made for the Society of American Artists containing a note from Francis D. Millet to J. Alden Weir, followed by a note from Weir to Frederic Church, signed "O.K." by Church.
Vol. XXVI, no. 5, Feb. 1924 periodical, Old Hughes, published by the students of Hughes High school in Cincinnati, Ohio containing a published exchange of letters between principal C. M. Merry and Josephine W. Duveneck, daughter-in-law of painter Frank Duveneck about the Hughes High School purchasing a painting by Duveneck, and a reminiscence of Duveneck by William P. Teal, head of the art department at Hughes High School.
Biographical / Historical:
Saul Zalesch, an art historian, began collecting artists' letters around 1981.
Provenance:
This collection of letters was lent for microfilming by Zalesch in 1984 (reel 3097). Zalesch donated an additional three letters in 1993, twenty-five in 1999, one letter in 2008, and a publication in 2009.
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 scattered papers of portrait painter Jane Freeman measure 0.5 linear feet and date from 1904 to 1963. Largely concerning her portraits, the papers include biographical material, correspondence including letters from Walter Clifton, Frederick Stuart Church, and others, photographs of Freeman and of works of art, printed material, and writings and lectures on women in art and portrait painting.
Scope and Contents:
The scattered papers of portrait painter Jane Freeman measure 0.5 linear feet and date from 1904 to 1963. Largely concerning her portraits, the papers include biographical material, correspondence including letters from Walter Clifton, Frederick Stuart Church, and others, photographs of Freeman and of works of art, printed material, and writings and lectures on women in art and portrait painting.
Biographical / Historical:
Jane Freeman (1871-1963) was a portrait painter and educator in New York City, New York. Born in England, Freeman studied at the Art Students League, the Grand Chaumière, and at the Cooper Union Art School. She was known for her portraits of Dr. Albert Schweitzer and Mother Cabrini. Jane Freeman died in New Jersey in a sanitarium in 1963.
Provenance:
The donor, Mrs. Walter T. Wittman, was Freeman's niece and the executrix of Freeman's estate. She donated Jane Freeman's papers to the Archives of American Art in 1964.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Portrait painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Educators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart) Church. Frederick Stuart Church letter to Mr. Van Allen, 1898 Oct. 7. Frederick Stuart Church collection, circa 1895-1905. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Frederic Stuart Church letter to unidentified recipient with enclosed photo
Creator:
Church, Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart), 1842-1924 Search this
Type:
Correspondence
Date:
between 1842 and 1924
Citation:
Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart) Church. Frederic Stuart Church letter to unidentified recipient with enclosed photo, between 1842 and 1924. Frederick Stuart Church collection, circa 1895-1905. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Church, Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart), 1842-1924 Search this
Type:
Artworks
Date:
between 1842 and 1924
Citation:
Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart) Church. Sketch of a tiger, between 1842 and 1924. Frederick Stuart Church collection, circa 1895-1905. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Frederick Stuart Church letter to unidentified recipient
Creator:
Church, Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart), 1842-1924 Search this
Type:
Correspondence
Date:
between 1842 and 1924
Citation:
Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart) Church. Frederick Stuart Church letter to unidentified recipient, between 1842 and 1924. Frederick Stuart Church collection, circa 1895-1905. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart) Church. Frederick Stuart Church letter to George H. Putnam, 1896?. Frederick Stuart Church collection, circa 1895-1905. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart) Church. Frederick Stuart Church letter to W.F. Price, between 1842 and 1924. Frederick Stuart Church collection, circa 1895-1905. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Frederick Stuart Church letter to unknown recipient
Creator:
Church, Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart), 1842-1924 Search this
Type:
Correspondence
Date:
between 1842 and 1924
Citation:
Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart) Church. Frederick Stuart Church letter to unknown recipient, between 1842 and 1924. Frederick Stuart Church collection, circa 1895-1905. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart) Church. Frederick Stuart Church letter to Michael Gavin, 1905 June 13. Frederick Stuart Church collection, circa 1895-1905. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart) Church. Frederick Stuart Church letter to Michael Gavin, 1905 Dec. 27. Frederick Stuart Church collection, circa 1895-1905. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart) Church. Frederick Stuart Church letter to Mike Gavin, 1905 or 1906?. Frederick Stuart Church collection, circa 1895-1905. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart) Church. Frederick Stuart Church letter to John Gellatly, 1920 July 13. John Gellatly letters received from artists, 1887-1931. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart) Church. Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart) Church letter to Emma Louise Klotz, 1904 Aug. 12. Frederick Stuart Church letters and art work, circa 1892-circa 1923. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Thirty-one letters, 1907-1944, received by Young, from Frank W. Benson, E. Irving Couse, Childe Hassam, Robert Henri, Hobart Nichols and Frederick Church, regarding the disposition of paintings and their activities as artists.
Biographical / Historical:
Art dealer; Chicago, Illinois.
Provenance:
Donated 1965 by Leroy Ireland, an art historian.
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.
