National Air and Space Museum. Archives Division. Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Restrictions:
The majority of the Archives Department's public reference requests can be answered using material in these files, which may be accessed through the Reading Room at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. More specific information can be requested by contacting the Archives Research Request.
National Air and Space Museum. Archives Division. Search this
Container:
Drawer CC, Folder 823000-01
Type:
Archival materials
Scope and Contents note:
Documents
Collection Restrictions:
The majority of the Archives Department's public reference requests can be answered using material in these files, which may be accessed through the Reading Room at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. More specific information can be requested by contacting the Archives Research Request.
Correspondence, including a letterbook which contains some drafts of Cummings' own communications, and letters received; broadsides; and clippings.
Among the correspondents are many 19th century New York painters and National Academy of Design members, including Gorham D. Abbott, William Aspinwall, Anthony Barclay, Albert Bierstadt, Victoria Bellamy, Robert Bunch, Charles Butler, J. G.Chapman, Vincent Colyer, Mortimer De Motte, Asher B. and John Durand, F. W. Edmonds, Charles L. Elliott, Isaac Ferris, Hamilton Fish, Robert Fraser, William Gibbons, Régis Gignoux, R. K. Haight, Walter Harding, Daniel Huntington, Charles Ingham, Henry Inman and his widow Jane Inman (re proceeds from an Inman memorial exhibition organized by Cummings), William Kemble, Louis Lang, James Lenox, Edward Lester, Charles Leupp, John Lewis, Benson Lossing, James J. Mapes, James McMurtrie, John Morgan, George P. Morris, S. F. B. Morse, E.W. Perry, William H. Seward, D. Seymour, James Shegogue, John R. Smith, William Stillman, Russell Sturgis, Thomas Sully, Henry Tappan, Thomas Thorpe, T. B. Wakeman, Prosper Wetmore, and James Whitehorne.
Biographical / Historical:
Thomas Seir Cummings (1804-1894) was a miniature and portrait painter from New York, N.Y. One of the founders of the National Academy of Design.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1958 by the Century Association.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
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.
Collection Citation:
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. Collection, Acc. 1992.0023, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of William Cumming conducted by Dorothy Bestor on 1965 April 3 for the Archives of American Art.
Cumming speaks of getting on the Federal Art Project; meeting Morris Graves; problems with the way the project was administered and supervised; destruction of some of the art work produced by the project; his feelings about federal support for the arts; his existential philosophy on life; and his views on current trends in painting. He recalls Jacob Elshin, Robert Bruce Inverarity, Mark Tobey, Denise Farwell, Guy Anderson.
Biographical / Historical:
William Cumming is a painter from Seattle, Washington.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 29 min.
Provenance:
This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Restrictions:
This interview is open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Chiura Obata papers, circa 1891-2000. 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 and the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.
A map of the British Empire in America, with the French and Spanish settlements adjacent thereto. Introductory notes by William P. Cumming and Helen Wallis
An interview of Andrew Chinn conducted 1965 May 24, by Dorothy Bestor, for the Archives of American Art. Chinn speaks of his memories of the Federal Art Project in Washington state; how the program affected Seattle as an art center; and he recalls other artists involved in the project: Fay Chong, William Cumming, Jacob Elshin, and Morris Graves.
Biographical / Historical:
Andrew Chinn (1915-1996) was a Chinese American painter based in Seattle, Washington.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 1 hr., 2 min.
Provenance:
This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Restrictions:
This interview is open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
This series contains papers created and gathered by Kathleen Curry and other family members after John Steuart Curry's death 1946. Types of materials include writings, published articles, correspondence, inventories of artwork and papers, and various business records kept by Kathleen Curry. Also found are alphabetical files dating roughly 1983 to 1999, which contain correspondence, clippings, catalogs, receipts, photographs, and other records related to museums, galleries, and other parties who dealt with the estate.
Articles about Curry include writings by family, friends, and scholars, both published and unpublished. Among the family writings are several articles written by Curry siblings, and notes written by R. Eugene Curry which refer to the papers themselves, especially to letters in Family Correspondence. Other articles include journal publications and writings related to exhibitions. Journal articles are accompanied by critical responses written to their authors from Kathleen Curry.
Chronological files of correspondence contain letters primarily from 1946 through 1980, although some later correspondence is found here. Alphabetical files contain most of the correspondence and other documents of the estate from about 1983 to 1999. Both the chronological correspondence and alphabetical files document publications, exhibitions, appearances, sales, disposition of papers, Curry-related events, and financial matters, with scattered personal correspondence. The estate's relationships with galleries representing Curry's artwork are heavily documented in this series. These include Associated American Artists, Robert Graham Galleries, and Kennedy Galleries in the chronological correspondence, and Mongerson Wunderlich, and Vivian Kiechel Fine Art in the alphabetical files. Correspondence between Kathleen Curry and many of her husband's colleagues is found, primarily in the chronological correspondence, including Thomas Hart Benton (1946), Thomas Craven, George Macy, Laurence Schmeckebier, Bob Hodgell, Don Anderson, Lloyd Garrison, Burton Cumming, William McCloy, and Maynard Walker. Letters between Laurence Schmeckebier and various family members (1981-1984), written for research on a revised edition of his biography of Curry (not published) includes letters with reminiscences of Curry's early life. A placard created to commemorate Curry's mural in the Law Library of the University of Wisconsin is found with a letter from Lloyd Garrison of 1948.
Inventories include lists of artwork, slides, papers, and reproductions. Most of the signed inventories were created by either Kathleen Curry or galleries representing Curry's artwork. Many are unsigned and unidentified.
Additional papers dated after Curry's death can be found in Print Materials, Personal Business Records, and Photographs. Additional information about Curry's family can be found in Biographical Materials and Family Correspondence.
Collection Restrictions:
The bulk of the collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website. Access to undigitized portions requires an appointment.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
John Steuart Curry and Curry family papers, 1900-1999. 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
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.
Collection Citation:
Lee Ya-Ching Papers, NASM.2008.0009, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
National Endowment for the Arts. Visual Arts Program Search this
Extent:
177 Linear feet ((includes 60,000 slides and approximately 400 videos))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Video recordings
Slides (photographs)
Date:
1967-1997
Summary:
The collection documents over 5,270 artists who received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts national Visual Artists Fellowship Program and its companion regional programs from 1967 to 1997.
Scope and Contents:
The collection is comprised primarily of the visual documentation each artist submitted with their initial application and contains approximately 60,000 slides; approximately 400 video tapes and some audio tapes. Some files contain additional materials subsequently submitted by the artists, including resumes, personal statements, artists' books, and exhibition catalogs.
Awards given by media were: Painting (1,240); Sculpture (6,410), Photography (866); Craft (844); Works on Paper (600) and New Genres (480).
Artists represented include, from the first round (1967): Mark di Suvero, Dan Flavin, Sam Gilliam, Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, Robert Morris, Edward Ruscha, Tony Smith, and H. C. Westermann.
Artists from other years, include: Vito Acconci, Terry Allen, Gregory Amenoff, Laurie Anderson, Ida Applebroog, Robert Arneson, Richard Artschwager, Jennifer Bartlett, Joan Brown, Chris Burden, Scott Burton, Enrique Chagoya, John Chamberlain, Mel Chin, Chuck Close, Robert Colecott, Susan Crile, Robert Cumming, Guillermo Gomez-Pena, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Nancy Graves, Hans Haake, Ann Hamilton, Gary Hill, Robert Irwin, Joan Jonas, Mike Kelley, Barry Le Va, Maya Lin, Mary Lucier, George Maciunas, Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, Mary Miss, Meredith Monk, Robert Moskowitz, Bruce Nauman, Alice Neel, Jim Nutt, Dennis Oppenheim, Tony Oursler, Nam June Paik, Judy Pfaff, Adrian Piper, Richard Prince, Martin Puryear, Charles Ray, Faith Ringgold, Susan Rothenberg, Nancy Rubins, Betye Saar, Judith Schaechter, Carolee Schneemann, Joel Shapiro, Alexis Smith, Nancy Spero, Francesc Torres, James Turrell, Richard Tuttle, Bill Viola, Carrie May Weems, Lawrence Weiner, Hannah Wilke, Fred Wilson, Jackie Winsor, Betty Woodman, and Bruce and Noman Yonemoto.
Among the photographers who were recipients of NEA awards and who are represented in the collection are: Robert Adams, John Baldessari, Harry Callahan, Sarah Charlesworth, William Christenberry, Larry Clark, Robert Cumming, William Eggleston, Lee Friedlander, Nan Goldin, Frank Gohlke, Sherry Levine, Helen Levitt, Robert Mapplethorpe, Joel Meyerowitz, Duane Michaels, Richard Misrach, Cindy Sherman, Aaron Siskind, Hiroshi Sugimoto and William Wegman.
In the field of craft, recipients represented include: John Cederquist, Dale Chihuly, Viola Frey, Michael Lucero, John McQueen, Judith Schaechter, Joyce Scott, Peter Voulkos, and Betty Woodman.
Arrangement:
Videos and slides are generally arranged alphabetically by artist name.
Historical Note:
In September 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed legislation creating the National Endowment for the Arts. The agency's Visual Artists' Fellowship Program was launched in 1967 and embraced living American artists. Through grants or participation on review panels, the NEA's program reached many of the most influential and critically acclaimed artists of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Not infrequently, fellowships were awarded early in a career, providing a boost of cash and recognition at a key moment in the evolution of an artist's work.
Related Materials:
The original grant application files that accompanied these visual submissions were transferred from NEA offices to the National Archives and were part of Record Group 288 (identifier 598883). Per federal government record disposition schedules, the files were disposed of in 2014, twenty-five years after the program closed.
Provenance:
Transfer from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1997.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Contact Photograph Archives, Smithsonian American Art Museum. Advance appointments are required.
![view Thomas Seir Cummings correspondence and printed material [microfilm] digital asset: Finding aid](https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?max=170&id=https://sirismm.si.edu/siris/findingaid.gif "Finding aid")
