A letter from Delaplaine to Ezra C. Gross in the House of Representatives, "soliciting the honour of your portrait" for Delaplaine's "Gallery of portraits." Delaplaine comments on his gallery, suggests [Charles Bird] King as a possible portraitist, and offers to pay half of King's fee.
Biographical / Historical:
Delaplaine (1777-1824) compiled Delaplaine's Repository of the Lives and Portraits of Distinguished American Characters (1815-1818). Ezra C. Gross was a Congressman, ca. 1820; Elizabeth, New York.
Provenance:
The donor Anna Marie Ettell, according to acquisition information, "has copies of Delaplaine's repository - former staff member." The gift was received through Tina Morelli of the National Portrait Gallery.
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.
3 Reels (ca. 500 items (on 3 partial microfilm reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Reels
Date:
[ca. 1770-1921]
Scope and Contents:
Selected letters, sketches, writings, clippings and printed material collected by Simon Gratz, primarily from the "Painters, sculptors, and engravers" section (ca. 400 items) of the Cultural life, arts and sciences autograph series. Other sections filmed include Benjamin West correspondence; Charles Thomson correspondence; Joshua Humphreys letters; and one or more letters from the following categories: American miscellaneous, European painters and sculptors, Chaplains colonial wars and revolution, Roman Catholic prelates, British Authors, British literary misc., European explorers and antiquaries, American poets, Univ. presidents, American scientists, American authors, American prose, American literary misc., U.S. Senators, and others.
The Painters, sculptors, and engravers section contains ca. 400 items, primarily letters, of prominent eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth century American artists, such as Albert Bierstadt, William Merritt Chase, Thomas Cole, John Singleton Copley, Asher B. Durand, Charles Willson Peale, John Singer Sargent, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully, John Trumbull, and others. Many of the letters are addressed to Albert Rosenthal. Also included are sketches, writings, clippings, and printed material pertaining to the artists. The Benjamin West papers, 1877-1819, (reel P23, fr. 1-85) include letters to West, letters from and about West, and cards, a certificate, and engraving of him.
The Charles Thomson papers (reels P21, fr. 800-813 and P22, fr. 1-7) include material relating to craftsmen in New York and Philadelphia, 1784-1787; correspondence with Joseph Delaplaine, 1816-1817, concerning Delaplaine's having a portrait of Thomson painted by Bass Otis; a letter to Thomson from G.P. Norris, Jr., Jan. 26, 1819, referring to Trumbull's painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence; and bills from cabinetmaker Alexander Anderson. The Humphreys' letters are from Charles Willson Peale, Mar. 4, 1795, and William Rush, Apr. 30, 1795.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1955 by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Artists files containing photographs and correspondence on artists Henry Benbridge, James Claypoole, George Washington Conarroe, John Singleton Copley, Joseph Delaplaine, Jacob Eichholtz, Erastus Salisbury Field, Francis Guy, Lowell Birge Harrison, Robert Charles Leslie, James McMurtrie, Mihaly Munkacsy, Robert Edge Pine, Severin Roesen, Charles Rudy, William Rush, John Smibert, John Vanderlyn, and John Wollaston. Also included are correspondence files pertaining to artistic subjects with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Peale family descendents (about Peale family artists), and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Art historian; Carlisle, Penn. Died 1980. Author of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN IN PORTRAITURE (1962) and MR PEALE'S MUSEUM: CHARLES WILSON PEALE AND THE FIRST POPULAR MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE AND ART (1980) and other works.
Related Materials:
Charles Sellers papers also located at Dickinson College.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1987 as part of AAA's Philadelphia Arts Documentation Project. The papers were donated to the American Philosophical Society by Sellers' estate.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Art historians -- Pennsylvania -- Carlisle Search this
Wylie, Samuel B. (Samuel Brown), 1773-1852 Search this
Extent:
2 Reels (ca. 150 items (on 2 partial microfilm reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Reels
Date:
1760-1935
Scope and Contents:
Letters, mainly from artists, and documents selected from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's miscellaneous manuscript collection (Society Collection). Letters are to various people; 46 of them are to Townsend Ward and a few are to John A. McAllister, photographer. Many of the letters refer to paintings, portraits, commissions, and awards.
Writers of letters include: Edwin Austin Abbey, Mary Gertrude Abbey, F.W. Bayley, Albert Bierstadt, George Catlin, Joseph Ceracchi, John Gadsby Chapman, John Cheney, James Claypool, James Cox, F.O.C. Darley, Joseph Delaplaine, Humphrey Donnehue, William Dunlap, Pierre Eugene Du Simitiere, S. Eliot, Charles Fevret De Saint-Memin, Charles Dana Gibson, Harold Edgar Gillingham, Horatio Greenough, George Harding, Levi Hollingsworth, William Morris Hunt, Daniel Huntington, Henry Inman, Horatio Gates Jones, James Reid Lambdin, Will Hicok Low, Edward Dalton Marchant, William Henry Moody, John Neagle, Albert Newsam, Bass Otis, Thomas Paine, Charles Willson Peale, Franklin Peale, James Peale, Jr., Mary Jane Peale, Rembrandt Peale, Titian Ramsay Peale, Joseph Pennell, Clement Penrose, Robert Piggot, Thomas Buchanan Read, William Trost Richards, Thomas Prichard Rossiter, Peter Frederick Rothermel, William Rush, John Sartain, Stephen Alonzo Schooff (to Townsend Ward), Russell Smith, Charles H. Stephens, Thomas Sully, Philip Syng, John Vanderlyn, N.P. Willis, Alexander Wilson and Patience Wright.
Among the recipients of letters are Archibald Alexander, David S. Brown, William Belcher, Col. Brodhead, B. Burrell, Carey & Hart, Edward L. Carey, Henry C. Carey, Miss Clarke, Mr. Curren, Joseph Delaplaine, John Dickinson, Dr. Dickson, William Dillwyn, William Duane, James B. Elliott, Mrs. Langdon Elwyn, Mantle(?) Fielding, John W. Francis, Charles P. Hayes, David Hosack, Mr. Howell, Major William Jackson, Horatio Gates Jones, John W. Jordan, H.H. Kjmball, C.G. Leland, Joseph Leidy, J.B. Lippincott, George Livermore, James Madison, J. Hill Martin, John McAllister, James McMurtrie, James Monaghan, J. Murray, Albert Cook Myers, Rebecca and Isabella Nathans, John Neagle, C.S. Ogden, John Paca, Charles Willson Peale, Rembrandt Peale, David Rittenhouse, Albert Rosenthal, John Sartain, Jacob Schreiner, James Shrigley, James Ross Snowden, W.D. Snyder, Dr. Sommerville, J.C. Stanbridge, F.D. Stone, Henry Troth, Mr. Vaux, Townsend Ward, William Hill Wells, G.M. Wharton, Thomas Wharton, Henry J. Williams, and Samuel B. Wylie.
Other items include a sonnet of S.T. Coleridge by Washington Allston; business card of Pennel Beale; catalog of medals and coins of silver in the possession of Hon. John Smith compiled by Du Simitière, 1772; printed address by Mrs. John C. Montgomery soliciting donations for the repair of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, destroyed by fire, 1845; William Morris Hunt's admission ticket to Peale's Museum, 1836, stating his height and weight; description of objects on display at the Peale Museum, 1820; a photograph and business card of Benjamin Randolph; invitations and notes to Gilbert Stuart; typescript by Frank H. Taylor on lithography, 1923; subscription book for engravings of paintings by John Trumbull; and a page from John Archibald Woodside's daybook, 1802-1803.
Provenance:
Microfilmed by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania for the Archives of American Art, 1955.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
The microfilmed American Philosophical Society selected records contain art related letters; committee reports; registrar's and curators' records; pamphlets; and exhibition catalogs from the archives of the American Philosophical Society. Many of the letters are to the Society's secretary and librarian John Vaughan; a few are to the Society's presidents Thomas Jefferson and Peter S. Du Ponceau, and officials John K. Kane and J. Peter Lesley. Among the correspondents are Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin West, Charles Willson Peale, Jacob Perkins, Philip Tidyman, Charles B. Lawrence, John Trumbull, Thomas Sully, Joseph Delaplaine, Robert Patterson, John Quincy Adams, Titian Ramsay Peale, Rembrandt Peale, Joel Roberts Poinsett, Victor G. Audubon, and Robert Fulton.
Also included are copies of the registrar's cards for portraits and busts owned by the Society, arranged alphabetically by sitter; "Preliminary Notes, Biographical Sketches, and Memoranda chronologically arranged, for insertion in the Curator's Catalog of Portraits, Busts, and Bas-Reliefs in the Collection of the American Philosophical Society. Illustrated by photographs taken from the originals by Mrs. Julius A. Sachese, member APS"; circa 25 exhibition catalogs and pamphlets (1811-1840) for exhibitions of the Society of Artists of the United States, Columbian Society of Artists, Artists' Fund Society, Artists' and Amateurs' Association, and for works by Thomas Sully, Gilbert Stuart, Benjamin Robert Haydon, Joseph Delaplaine, and others; and newspaper clippings (1917) about the controversy surrounding portraits by Albert Rosenthal hung in Independence Hall (reel P36, frames 372-401).
Biographical / Historical:
The American Philosophical Society (founded 1743) is a scholarly organization in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded by Benjamin Franklin, the American Philosophical Society "promotes useful knowledge" through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and community outreach.
Related Materials:
The American Philosophical Society holds the American Philosophical Society archives, 1743-1984.
Provenance:
Microfilmed for the Archives of American Art, 1955. The letters are mainly American Philosophical Society records, but many were pulled from ASP's Misc. Mss. and various other collections, and microfilmed in no apparent order. Descriptive cards microfilmed with each letter indicate location of originals.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Topic:
Portraits -- Private collections -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Letters to Roberts Vaux, 1811-1833, from William Dillwyn, Samuel Emlen, Joseph Delaplaine, John F. Watson, Henry Inman, and G. Gibbon, relating to paintings by Benjamin West, paintings by Sully, etc.
Provenance:
Microfilmed by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania for the Archives of American Art, 1955.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
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