1 Microfilm reel (circa 860 items on 1 microfilm reel)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Microfilm reels
Date:
1935-1938
Scope and Contents:
The microfilmed Burt Brown Barker papers contain Barker's correspondence as director of the Federal Art Project in Portland, Oregon; reports; memoranda; travel vouchers; lists of artists and art projects; minutes of the Oregon Federal Music Project; a typescript of an article, "The Federal Art Center, Salem, Oregon," and other writings; printed material; and miscellany. Correspondents include Jacob Baker, Frederic Stewart Bartlett, Holger Cahill, Joseph A. Danysh, T. J. Edmonds, George H. Gannon, Carter Glass, Ellis Fuller Lawrence, Charlotte Roberta Mish, Thomas Cleveland Parker, Margery Hoffman Smith, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Burt Brown Barker (1873-1969) was a lawyer and arts administrator in Portland, Oregon. He was director of the Federal Art Project in Portland, president of the Oregan Historical Society, the McLoughlin Memorial Association, and the Herbert Hoover Foundation of Oregon. He also played an active role in the restoration of the John Minthorn House and its transformation into a museum.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds the Oregon FAP records, 1936-1939.
Willamette University Archives and Special Collections holds the Burt Brown Barker papers, 1890-1935. The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library holds the Burt Brown Barker papers, 1885-1976.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1982 by Sarah Munro.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Oregon -- Portland Search this
An interview of Ben Cunningham conducted 1964 October 24, by Harlan Phillips for the Archives of American Art.
Cunningham speaks of his early career in San Francisco during the Depression; the art market there; working as a muralist in the Federal Art Project; political and media problems encountered by the project, including strikes by workers; the work of the Index of American Design in California; working on naval architecture during Work War II; and his philosophies about painting. He recalls Joseph Danysh, William Gaskin, and Hilaire Hiler.
Biographical / Historical:
Ben Cunningham (1904-1975) was a painter, educator, and mural painter in New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 8 min.
Sound quality is poor.
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.
Typescript of Danysh's unpublished reminiscences regarding his experiences in the 1930s as Western Regional Director of the WPA Federal Art Project. Notes and drafts are also included. Danysh provides candid portraits of many WPA artists and administrators.
Biographical / Historical:
Died 1984.
Provenance:
Donated 1988 by Elizabeth D. Danysh, Danysh's widow.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
An interview of William Abbenseth conducted 1964 November 23, by Mary Fuller McChesney, for the Archives of American Art.
Abbenseth discusses his training in photography; his WPA assignments including photomurals of San Francisco architecture, for the Index of American Design, and the California Housing Authority, the Artists at Work series, documentation of the New York World's Fair, and other projects; his relationship with Benjamin F. Cummingham, Ray Dannenbaum, Joseph A. Danysh, Hy Hirsch, and Beatrice Judd Ryan; and his involvement with the f/64 Group.
Biographical / Historical:
William Abbenseth (1898-1972) was a photographer in San Francisco, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 54 minutes.
Provenance:
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:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
An interview of Joseph A. Danysh conducted by Lewis Ferbraché on 1964 December 3 for the Archives of American Art.
Danysh speaks of his background and education at Columbia University; moving to California; starting a gallery in a store in San Francisco; critics' reaction to the art in the gallery; the beginning of the f64 photography group; opening a short lived gallery with Ansel Adams; writing an art column; starting out with the Federal Art Project, directing the project in Northern California; how the project was administered; particular projects he was involved in; his feelings about government support for the arts. He recalls Beniamino Bufano, Holger Cahill, William Gaskin, Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Bernard Zakheim.
Biographical / Historical:
Joseph A. Danysh (1906-1982) was an art administrator from Monterey, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 43 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.
2 Microfilm reels (675 items on 2 microfilm reels)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Microfilm reels
Date:
1909-1941
Scope and Contents:
The microfilmed Albert M. Bender papers contain single letters from Joseph Danysh, Maynard Dixon, Julia Morgan, and Georgia O'Keeffe; letters from Gelett Burgess, Judah Leon and Beatrice L. Magnes, Roi and Marian Partridge, Ralph Stackpole, Dorothy Wright Liebes, Oliver St. John Gogarty, and Ansel and Virginia Adams; correspondence with John Henry Nash; letters from Consuela Kanaga and her husband Barry McCarthy, with an album of her photos of Africa; and correspondence with Beniamino Benvenuto Bufano and Virginia Bufano, including financial and printed material. Also included are correspondence with Diego and Frieda Kahlo Rivera, including customs declarations, and photos; correspondence with Joseph and Johanna Raphael, including photos, and miscellany; and letters from Bender's cousin, Anne Bremer, as well as biographical material, writings, photos, sketches, and printed material.
Biographical / Historical:
Albert M. Bender (1866-1941) was an art collector and patron in San Francisco, California. He donated collections to several Bay Area institutions including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Mills College Art Museum, and the University of California Berkely Art Museum. Bender also served on the board of organizations such as the California Society of Etchers (now the California Society of Printmakers), California Historical Society, and the San Francisco Symphony.
Related Materials:
Mills College L F.W. Olin Library, Special Collections Department holds the Albert M. Bender Papers, 1920-1941. Stanford University Department of Special Collections holds the Albert M. (Albert Maurice) Bender Papers, 1871-1948.
Provenance:
Microfilmed with other art-related papers in Mills College Library, July 1981.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Art patrons -- California -- San Francisco Search this
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Joseph A. Danysh, 1964 December 3. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
