Search Results

Artist:

Joseph Cornell, American, b. Nyack, New York, 1903–1972  Search this

Medium:

Photomechanical reproductions on paperboard mounted to paperboard

Dimensions:

in artist's frame: 13 × 14 1/4 in. (33 × 36.2 cm)

Type:

Collage

Date:

(1931)

Credit Line:

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Joseph H. Hirshhorn Bequest Fund and partial gift from the daughter of June W. Schuster in honor of her Mother, 2003

Accession Number:

01.17

See more items in:

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Collection

School:

Surrealism (American)

Data Source:

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/py2b213582e-b27a-4ae3-b11c-531188473610

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:hmsg_01.17

Creator:

Gruppe, Karl, b. 1893  Search this

Names:

Public Works of Art Project  Search this

Extent:

3 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Date:

circa 1880-1985

Summary:

The papers of Karl Gruppe measure 3 linear feet and date from circa 1880-1985. They illustrate his career through biographical material, correspondence, project files, personal business records, and printed and photographic material.

Scope and Contents:

The Karl Gruppe papers measure 3 linear feet and date from circa 1880-1985.Biographical materials include a resume and family history of Gruppe and various biographical sketches of others. Correspondence is to and from Karl Gruppe and is with Karl Bitter and his family, the Society of Medalists, and David Oppenheim, and regards commissions and organizations. Project files consist of materials related to various projects completed by Gruppe including the Henry Hudson Memorial, the William Rufus King Memorial, and the Monument Restoration Project. Also included are projects for war memorials, a joint outdoor exhibition for the National Sculpture Society, and various Boroughs in New York City. Personal business records include those related to the National Academy of Design and National Sculpture Society including proceedings, financial material, business records, reports, and other materials. Also included are records relating to various other institutions and copyright records.

Printed material consists of exhibition announcements and catalogs, news clippings, materials related to Karl Bitter and Eisenhower College, and a published copy of The Dream City: A Portfolio of Photographic Views of the World's Columbian Exposition (1893). Also included are materials related to Gruppe's time working with the Public Works of Art Project in New York City. Photographic material includes personal photographs of Gruppe's family, and friends, including Laura Gardin (Fraser), Anthony de Francisci, Karl Bitter and the Bitter family, photographs of Marcella Sembrich, and photographs of the interior, garden, and studio of Karl Bitter. Also included are photographs of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904) and photographs of Gruppe's artwork which include nitrate negatives stored separately.

Arrangement:

This collection consists of six series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1932-1979 (.1 Linear feet: Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1914-1976 (.4 Linear feet: Box 1)

Series 3: Project Files, circa 1929-1965 (.6 Linear feet: Boxes 1-2)

Series 4: Personal Business Records, circa 1901-1969 (.9 Linear feet: Box 2)

Series 5: Printed Material, circa 1893-1978 (.4 Linear feet: Box 3)

Series 6: Photographic Material, circa 1880-1985 (.6 Linear feet: Box 3)

Biographical / Historical:

Karl Gruppe (1893-1982) was a sculptor who worked mainly in New York City.

Karl Heinrich Gruppe was born in Rochester, New York. He studied at the Royal Academy in Antwerp, Belgium with Franz Juris and with Karl Bitter at the Art Students League in New York. He was a sculptor in marble and bronze and held the position of Chief Sculptor of the Monument Restoration Project for the New York City Parks Department as part of the Public Works of Art Project.

In 1980 he was awarded the National Sculpture Society's "Special Medal of Honor". He was a member of the National Academy of Design (1968-1971) and served on the National Council of the National Academy of Design from 1956 to 1959, serving as Vice President in 1957. In 1950 he was elected academician. In 1960 Gruppe served as President of the National Sculpture Society and was appointed a member of the New York City Art Commission from 1944 to 1947. Away from the city he shared a studio with his brother Emile Gruppe in Rocky Neck, Massachusetts.

Karl Gruppe died in 1982 in Southold, New York.

Separated Materials:

The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reel N70-35) including correspondence, clippings, and catalogs, 1920-1970, including items about the controversy over New York City's sculpture. Correspondents include Robert Moses, Edmond R. Amateis, Mary W. Harriman, Reginald Marsh, and Henry Wolf. Loaned materials were returned to the donor and are not described in the collection container inventory. Items were returned to Karl Gruppe after microfilming.

Provenance:

Materials on reel N70-35 were lent for microfilming in 1970 by Karl Gruppe. The bulk of the microfilmed material and additional papers were donated in 1970-1973 by Karl Gruppe and by his daughter Elizabeth Gruppe Stover in 1986.

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:

Medalists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Monuments -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Monuments -- Conservation and restoration  Search this

Sculpture -- Conservation and restoration -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Medals  Search this

Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this

Function:

Film festivals

Citation:

Karl Gruppe papers, circa 1880-1985, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.

Identifier:

AAA.grupkarl

See more items in:

Karl Gruppe papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw94aa3f889-cc77-4d3b-af67-684072bdd24e

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-grupkarl

Creator:

Beal, Gifford, 1879-1956  Search this

Subject:

Davies, Arthur B. (Arthur Bowen)  Search this

Kent, Rockwell  Search this

Beal, Maud Ramsdell  Search this

Cox, Edward  Search this

Bruce, Edward  Search this

Watson, Forbes  Search this

Wortman, Denys  Search this

Hancock, Walker Kirtland  Search this

Pennell, Joseph  Search this

Rowan, Edward Beatty  Search this

Federal Art Project  Search this

Type:

Scrapbooks

Sketchbooks

Sketches

Travel diaries

Love letters

Drawings

Prints

Diaries

Paintings

Photographs

Citation:

Gifford Beal sketches, sketchbooks, and papers, 1889-2001, bulk 1900-1954. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Drawing -- Technique  Search this

Mural painting and decoration -- 20th century -- Pennsylvania -- Allentown  Search this

Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Theme:

Sketches & Sketchbooks  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)10981

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)214824

AAA_collcode_bealgiff

Theme:

Sketches & Sketchbooks

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_214824

Biogeographical Region:

75 - Northeastern U.S.A.  Search this

Collector:

Loring W. Bailey  Search this

Place:

Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass., Massachusetts, United States, North America

Collection Date:

18 Jun 1884

Taxonomy:

Plantae Dicotyledonae Lamiales Lamiaceae Lamioideae

Published Name:

Phlomoides tuberosa (L.) Moench

Barcode:

02793752

USNM Number:

148190

See more items in:

Botany

Flowering plants and ferns

Data Source:

NMNH - Botany Dept.

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3655439b0-bf43-46d2-8875-8fe819adc31d

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmnhbotany_13909613

Biogeographical Region:

75 - Northeastern U.S.A.  Search this

Collector:

Lyman B. Smith  Search this

Bernice Giduz Schubert  Search this

Robert C. Foster  Search this

Place:

Weed in the Harvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Middlesex County., Massachusetts, United States, North America

Collection Date:

13 May 1942

Taxonomy:

Plantae Dicotyledonae Lamiales Lamiaceae Lamioideae

Published Name:

Lamium amplexicaule L.

Barcode:

02794785

USNM Number:

1925787

See more items in:

Botany

Flowering plants and ferns

Data Source:

NMNH - Botany Dept.

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3ac15ac71-ad70-4196-b180-4052402b928c

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmnhbotany_14131673

Creator:

Beal, Gifford, 1879-1956  Search this

Names:

Federal Art Project  Search this

Beal, Maud Ramsdell  Search this

Bruce, Edward, 1879-1943  Search this

Cox, Edward  Search this

Davies, Arthur B. (Arthur Bowen), 1862-1928  Search this

Hancock, Walker Kirtland, 1901-1998  Search this

Kent, Rockwell, 1882-1971  Search this

Pennell, Joseph, 1857-1926  Search this

Rowan, Edward Beatty, 1898-1946  Search this

Watson, Forbes, 1880-1960  Search this

Wortman, Denys, 1887-1958  Search this

Extent:

7.7 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Scrapbooks

Sketchbooks

Sketches

Travel diaries

Love letters

Drawings

Prints

Diaries

Paintings

Photographs

Date:

1889-2001

bulk 1900-1954

Summary:

The papers of painter and muralist Gifford Beal measure 7.7 linear feet and date from 1889 to 2001. The bulk of the collection consists of artwork, in addition to correspondence, writings, printed matter, including one scrapbook, pictorial subject files, photographs, and two scrapbooks of photographs of works of art. Artwork is primarily in the form of sketches and seventy-eight sketchbooks in a wide variety of media. Among the loose sketches are twenty-eight oil paintings on wood board or panel, and fourteen large pastel drawings on canvas depicting dancing figures in a romantic style. Artwork by other artists in the collection include prints by Arthur B. Davies, Rockwell Kent, and Denys Wortman.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of painter and muralist Gifford Beal measure 7.7 linear feet and date from 1889 to 2001. The bulk of the collection consists of artwork, in addition to correspondence, writings, printed matter, including one scrapbook, pictorial subject files, photographs, and two scrapbooks of photographs of works of art. Artwork is primarily in the form of sketches and seventy-eight sketchbooks in a wide variety of media. Among the loose sketches are twenty-eight oil paintings on wood board or panel, and fourteen large pastel drawings on canvas depicting dancing figures in a romantic style. Artwork by other artists in the collection include prints by Arthur B. Davies, Rockwell Kent, and Denys Wortman.

Biographical materials include membership certificates, a marriage certificate, and a travel journal kept by Beal's wife, Maud Ramsdell Beal, on their honeymoon. Personal correspondence consists primarily of love letters between Beal and Maud Ramsdell Beal. Three folders of professional correspondence contain letters from Joseph Pennell (1925); Federal Art Project staff from the Treasury Department including Ed Rowan, Edward Bruce, and Forbes Watson (1938); Walker Hancock (1951); and a series of letters signed "Hyde," from Crow Island, Massachusetts, which may have been written by Edward Hyde Cox (1953-1954).

Also found among the papers are printed materials such as exhibition catalogs, clippings, and reproductions of artwork, both loose and in a scrapbook from the 1920s; subject files containing clippings, photographs, and other pictorial references to common subjects of Beal's artwork; a few personal photographs; and photographs of works of art. Notes and writings are found among Beal's sketchbooks, including one long autobiographical essay which may have been for a lecture, a few diary entries from 1942, and extensive notes on the color, form, and lighting of his sketching subjects. In addition to a scrapbook relating to Beal exhibitions, there are also two scrapbooks containing photographs of works of art.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 7 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1900-1909, 1942, 1953 (0.2 linear feet; Boxes 1 and 5, OV 10)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1906-1954 (0.4 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 3: Printed Materials, 1900-2001 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 1, 5, OVs 11, 16)

Series 4: Subject Files, 1889-1953 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, OV 10-12)

Series 5: Photographs, 1908-1950 (0.2 linear feet; Box 2, OV 10)

Series 6: Artwork, 1900-1951 (3.3 linear feet; Boxes 2-9; OV 10, 13-20 and rolled documents 21 and 22)

Series 7: Scrapbook, circa 1919-circa 1951 (1.1 linear ft; Boxes 7, 23)

Biographical Note:

Painter and muralist Gifford Beal was born in New York City in 1879, the youngest of six children. Beal began his art training at 13, when he accompanied his older brother, Reynolds Beal, to the Shinnecock School of Art for classes with William Merritt Chase. Gifford Beal continued to study with Chase for ten years at Shinnecock, the Tenth Street Studio building in New York City, and the New York School of Art. Beal attended college at Princeton University from 1896 to 1900, and from 1901 to 1903 he also took classes at the Art Students League with George Bridgman and Frank Vincent DuMond. In 1908, Beal married Maud Ramsdell of Newburgh, New York, where the Beal family also had an estate. They had two sons, William (b. 1914) and Gifford, Jr. (b. 1917).

Beal received all of his training in the United States at a time when European art training was the norm among his peers. Beal's earliest subject matter was taken from the familiar worlds of New York City and the Hudson River Valley, where he frequently spent his summers. Later work would depict other summer homes, including Provincetown, Rockport, and Gloucester, Massachusetts. Throughout his career he explored a variety of styles in his approach to these and other representational subjects such as garden parties, the circus, Central Park scenes, and coastal scenes in the Northeast and the Caribbean.

Beal exhibited at the National Academy of Design's annual exhibition almost continuously from 1901 to 1956, was a member of the Academy from 1914, and won at least seven awards given by the Academy over the course of his career. He won his first award in 1903 from the Worcester Art Museum. He exhibited regularly in major annual exhibitions and world expositions, including the Panama Pacific Exposition of 1915, where he won a gold medal.

Gifford and Reynolds Beal exhibited in a two-man show in 1907 at Clausen Galleries, and the two brothers were both eventually represented by Kraushaar Galleries, where Gifford Beal had his first one-man show in 1920. Beal served as president of the Art Students League from 1916 until 1930, the longest term of any president, and taught there in 1931 and 1932.

Beal was commissioned by the Section on Painting and Sculpture of the Works Progress Administration to paint ten murals for the Allentown, Pennsylvania post office in the late 1930s. The Allentown murals depicted American revolutionaries hiding the liberty bell at Allentown. In 1941, he completed two murals in the Department of the Interior building in Washington, DC: North Country, and Tropical Country, and he painted seven panels at Princeton University in 1943 depicting the life of the nineteenth-century engineer Joseph Henry. He was awarded an honorary Masters degree by Princeton in 1947.

Retrospective exhibitions were held at the Century Club, San Francisco Museum, Des Moines Art Center, and Butler Institute in the early 1950s. Upon his death in 1956, a memorial exhibition was held at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, where Beal became a member in 1943.

Provenance:

Papers were donated to the Archives by Gifford Beal's descendants in three separate accessions. Beal's sons, William and Gifford R. Beal, Jr., donated sketches and sketchbooks in 1992 and 1993. Richard and Lewis Goff, Margaret Beal Alexander, and Telka Beal donated additional sketches, sketchbooks, and materials from Beal's studio in 2000 through the Cape Ann Savings Bank, facilitated by Kraushaar Galleries.

Margaret Beal Alexander, Beal's granddaughter, also donated personal papers of her grandparents via Kraushaar Galleries in 2000. Additional sketchbooks and a poster illustrated by Beal were donated by Beal's Estate via Kraushaar Galleries in 2007. Two scrapbooks of photographs of works of art were donated by Beal's Estate via Kraushaar Galleries in 2015.

Restrictions:

The bulk of the collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website. Use of material not digitized 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.

Occupation:

Painters -- New York (State)  Search this

Topic:

Drawing -- Technique  Search this

Mural painting and decoration -- 20th century -- Pennsylvania -- Allentown  Search this

Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Genre/Form:

Scrapbooks

Sketchbooks

Sketches

Travel diaries

Love letters

Drawings

Prints

Diaries

Paintings

Photographs

Citation:

Gifford Beal sketches, sketchbooks, and papers, 1889-2001. 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

Identifier:

AAA.bealgiff

See more items in:

Gifford Beal sketches, sketchbooks, and papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw98a8f006f-eed4-4440-a7f2-661e8073d4f6

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-bealgiff

Creator:

American Academy in Rome  Search this

Names:

American Academy in Rome  Search this

American School of Architecture in Rome  Search this

American School of Classical Studies in Rome  Search this

Aldrich, Chester Holmes, 1871-1940  Search this

Boring, William, 1859-1937  Search this

Breck, George, 1863-1920  Search this

Dinsmoor, William B.  Search this

Egbert, J. C. (James Chidester), 1859-1948  Search this

Ely, Theo. N.  Search this

Faulkner, Barry, 1881-1966  Search this

Guernsey, Roscoe  Search this

Hewlett, James Monroe  Search this

Kendall, William M.  Search this

La Farge, C. Grant (Christopher Grant), 1862-1938  Search this

Marquand, Allan, 1853-1924  Search this

McKim, Charles Follen, 1847-1909  Search this

Mead, William Rutherford, 1846-1928  Search this

Millet, Francis Davis, 1846-1912  Search this

Morey, Charles Rufus, 1877-1955  Search this

Mowbray, H. Siddons (Harry Siddons), 1858-1928  Search this

Platt, Charles A. (Charles Adams), 1861-1933  Search this

Pope, John Russell, 1874-1937  Search this

Roberts, Laurance P.  Search this

Smith, James Kellum, 1893-1963  Search this

Stevens, Gorham Phillips, 1876-  Search this

Vedder, Elihu, 1836-1923  Search this

Vitale, Ferrucio, 1875-1933  Search this

Ward, John Quincy Adams, 1830-1910  Search this

Extent:

65.9 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Date:

1855-2012

Summary:

The records of the American Academy in Rome measure 65.9 linear feet and date from 1855 to 2012. The collection documents the history of the institution from its inception in 1894 as the American School of Architecture in Rome, through the end of World War II, and chronicles the contributions the academy has made to America's cultural and intellectual development. Nearly one-half of the collection consists of an unprocessed addition received in 2014 containing records that mostly post-date World War II and include correspondence and subject files of officers and executives based in the New York office of American Academy in Rome.

Scope and Content Note:

The records of the American Academy in Rome measure 65.9 linear feet and date from 1855 to 2012. The collection documents the history of the institution from its inception in 1894 as the American School of Architecture in Rome, through the end of World War II, and chronicles the contributions the academy has made to America's cultural and intellectual development. Nearly one-half of the collection consists of an unprocessed addition received in 2014 containing records that mostly post-date World War II and include correspondence and subject files of officers and executives based in the New York office of American Academy in Rome.

Items predating the 1894 founding of the American School of Architecture in Rome are personal papers and memorabilia of individuals associated with the institution.

Series 1: Predecessor Institutions, is composed of the records of the American School of Architecture in Rome, 1894-1898, and the American School of Classical Studies in Rome, 1895-1913. Records of the American School of Architecture in Rome include records of its Managing Committee, correspondence, financial records, and printed matter. Among the Managing Committee's records are notes and correspondence relative to the founding of the institution, minute books and reports; also, legal documents including records concerning its dissolution prior to being reorganized as the American Academy in Rome. Correspondence is mostly that of Vice President Charles F. McKim who handled administrative matters. Financial records include capital stock certificates, invoices and receipts. Printed matter consists of scholarship competition announcements.

Records of the American School of Classical Studies in Rome include records of its Managing Committee, Committee on Fellowships, publications, printed matter, and treasurers' records. The Managing Committee's records consist of the proposed resolution concerning its merger with the American Academy in Rome. Committee on Fellowship records are comprised of correspondence, reports, and fellowship applications. Publications records include correspondence and invoices. Printed matter includes general information, annual reports of the Managing Committee and Director, annual reports of the Committee on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, fellowship applications and examination questions, and the proposed consolidation agreement. Treasurers' records include the files of Alex. Bell and Willard V. King. Bell's sparse records consist of a budget, receipts for salary payments, an invoice, canceled checks, and correspondence. King's files, while more substantial than those that survive from Bell's tenure, are quite incomplete. They include correspondence, banking records, budgets and financial statements, investment records, invoices, and receipts for salaries and expenses.

Series 2: Board of Trustees Records, is comprised of legal documents, minutes, and reports; records of Trustee committees; records of officers; and records of individual Trustees. Legal documents, 1897-1926 and undated, consist of by-laws and amendments, certificate of incorporation, and constitution and amendments. Minutes and reports of the Board of Trustees, 1897-1947 and 1957, including those of its annual meetings, are carbon copies rather than the official minute books, and are incomplete. Reports of officers are incomplete, as well. Also included are reports of Officers'/Trustees' visits to Rome, and reports of the Director and Secretary in Rome submitted to the Board of Trustees.

Records of Trustee committees, 1905-1946 and undated, consist of reports and/or minutes arranged alphabetically by committee; these, too are incomplete, with many committees represented by a single report. Committees represented are: Building Committee, Carter Memorial Committee, Endowment Committee, Executive Committee, Finance Committee, Library Committee, McKim Memorial Committee, Nominating Committee, Committee on Publications. Committee on the School of Classical Studies records consist of its own minutes and reports, reports of its Advisory Council and the Jury on Classical Fellowships. Committee on the School of Classical Studies also include reports of officers and staff of the School of Classical Studies to the Committee on the School of Classical Studies as follows: Director, Professor in Charge, Annual Professor, Director of the Summer Session, Professor of Archaeology, Curator of the Museum, Editor, Librarian, and Committee on the Welfare of Women Students. Committee on the School of Fine Arts records consist of its own minutes and reports, reports of its Special Committee on the Plan and Expense of a Department of Music in the School of Fine Arts, and report of Fine Arts Program, Triptych Project with the Citizens Committee for the Army and Navy, Inc.; also, reports of officers and staff of the School of Fine Arts to the Committee on the School of Fine Arts as follows: Director, Professor in Charge, Associate in Charge, Annual Professor, Professor in Charge of the Department of Musical Composition. In addition, there are minutes and/or reports of the Committee of Twelve and Subcommittee of Five and the Special Committee on Villa Aurelia.

Records of Officers. 1898-1957 and undated, consist mainly of correspondence files and reports, with large numbers of transcriptions and carbon copies. Included are records of: Presidents Charles F. McKim, William R. Mead, Charles A. Platt, John Russell Pope, and James Kellum Smith; Vice Presidents Theodore N. Ely, George B. McClellan, and Henry James; Secretaries H. Siddons Mowbray (Secretary/Treasurer), Frank D. Millet, C. Grant La Farge, William B. Dinsmoor, and H. Richardson Pratt; and Treasurers William R. Mead, William A. Boring, Leon Fraser, and Lindsay Bradford Office files of President Mead, Secretaries Millet and La Farge, and Treasurer Boring are the most complete; files of other individuals, the Vice Presidents in particular, are often quite sparse.

Records of individual Trustees, 1902-1946 and undated, consist of material relating to official Academy business that was created or maintained by each in his capacity as trustee. (Note: many of these individuals also served as officers or staff of the Academy, and their records documenting those functions will be found in the appropriate series.) Included in this subseries are the records of: Chester H. Aldrich, Gilmore D. Clarke, James C. Egbert, Barry Faulkner, Allan C. Johnson, William M. Kendall, C. Grant La Farge, Edward P. Mellon, Charles Dyer Norton, Charles A. Platt, John Russell Pope, Edward K. Rand, John C. Rolfe, James Kellum Smith, S. Breck Trowbridge, Ferruccio Vitale, John Quincy Adams Ward, Andrew F. West, and William L. Westerman. These records tend to be sparse; files maintained by James C. Egbert, Barry Faulkner, Allan C. Johnson, and Ferruccio Vitale are notable exceptions.

Series 3: New York Office Records, consists of records of staff, rosters, printed matter, photographs, personal papers, Association of Alumni of the American Academy in Rome, and miscellaneous records.

Records of staff, 1919-1950 and undated, include the office files of Executive Secretaries Roscoe Guersney, Meriwether Stuart, and Mary T. Williams; Librarian George K. Boyce; and Endowment Fund Campaign Secretaries Phillilps B. Robinson and Edgar I. Williams.

The rosters, 1895-1939 and undated, are printed forms completed by fellows and students, with occasional attachments (usually correspondence or photographs). Included are the rosters of the School of Fine Arts, School of Classical Studies, and School of Classical Studies Summer Sessions.

Printed matter, 1905-[1981?] and undated, has been classified as Academy produced and produced by others. Items produced by the Academy, 1905-[1981?], include general information including act of incorporation and by-laws, fundraising brochure, constitution, Directory of Fellows and Residents, histories of the institution, newsletter of the Director, and printed items relating to special events. Printed matter specifically relating to the School of Classical Studies includes annual announcements, the consolidation agreement, a directory, fellowship announcements and applications, lecture announcements, newsletters, and brochures about summer sessions. School of Fine Arts printed matter includes annual announcements, concert programs, exhibition checklists and catalogs, fellowship announcements and application forms, history, and newsletters.

Printed matter produced by others, 1905-1940 and undated, consists of three scrapbooks of news clippings and photographs compiled by the American Academy in Rome, extensive clipping files, and articles from miscellaneous publications. All of these items are about the American Academy in Rome, or by or about individuals associated with the institution. Also included is a poster for Leave Courses offered at the Academy for U. S. servicemen.

Photographs, 1891-1941 and undated, are organized into the categories of works of art, people, buildings, places, events, and miscellaneous. Works of art are by visiting students and fellows, Frank D. Millet, collaborative problems, Rome Prize Competitions in Architecture, Rome Prize Competitions in Landscape Architecture, and Prix de Rome Competition exhibitions. Photographs of people are both of individuals and groups; among the groups are summer school students and fellowship winners.

Buildings depicted are American Academy properties. Among them are the "New Building," including interior and exterior construction views; studios; and Villas Aurelia, Mirafiore, and Richardson. Also included is a group of photographs of Academy architecture students measuring buildings in Rome and Florence. Places pictured are views of the Academy property and surrounding areas.

Photographs of events include cricket games, Thanksgiving and Fourth of July dinners, Architectural League exhibition, and inauguration of the Manship Fountain. Miscellaneous photographs are of an architectural drawing for a proposed building.

Personal Papers, Memorabilia, and Ephemera, 1855-1923 an undated, were donated to the American Academy in Rome or otherwise left on its premises. None are official records generated by the institution. Included are: Ernest Lewis' photograph album/scrapbook; Allan Marquand's papers; Charles F. McKim's memorabilia, photographs, printed matter, and artifacts; Charles R. Morey's correspondence; and Elihu Vedder's Bible.

Records of the Association of the Alumni of the American Academy in Rome, 1913-1945 and undated), consist of a small number of scattered records including correspondence, fellows' war/government service information (compiled by Sidney Waugh), membership lists, and a newsletter.

Miscellaneous records, 1899-1926 and undated, are writings and architectural records. Writings consist of published and unpublished manuscript material about the American Academy in Rome and its history, and article by H. Siddons Mowbray advising on ornamentation, and text and illustrations for the Art and Archaeology issue on the Academy. Also included are fragments of unidentified letters. Architectural records [oversize] include property and floor plans of Villas Aurora, Chiaraviglio, Ferrari, and Ludovisi.

Series 4: Rome Office Records, consist of records of staff and personal papers. Records of staff, 1903-1947 and undated, include the office files of Directors H. Siddons Mowbray, George Breck, Jesse Benedict Carter, Gorham Phillips Stevens, James Monroe Hewlett, Chester H. Aldrich, Amey Aldrich [Acting Director, very briefly, perhaps unofficially], Charles R. Morey, and Laurance P. Roberts; and records of two members of the School of Fine Arts faculty, Frank P. Fairbanks, Professor of Fine Arts, and Felix Lamond, Professor of Music. Records of Carter, Stevens, Hewlett, and Aldrich appear to be fairly complete; records of early directors are sparse; those of Morey and Roberts appear to be missing significant portions; and those of Professors Fairbanks and Lamond consist of a few scattered items.

Also surviving are the personal papers of Director Gorham Phillips Stevens, 1912-1931 and undated), consisting of correspondence, financial records, and documentation of professional and charitable activities.

Series 5: Unprocessed Addition to the American Academy in Rome Records was received in 2014 and consists of 31.6 linear feet of the New York office's records for officers, directors, and executives.

Arrangement:

It was obvious that before they came to the Archives of American Art the records had been rearranged more than once, and in such a way that materials from many different departments had been intermingled. In keeping with archival theory and practice, the records were organized to reflect the structure and operation of the institution that created the records, making them more understandable and accessible to a wide variety of researchers.

In general, the records of each officer and staff member are arranged alphabetically, with general correspondence preceding the alphabetical sequence; arrangement within each file is chronological, unless noted otherwise.

Records of the American Academy in Rome are organized into five major series. Each series, except series 5, is divided into several subseries, with the arrangement described in detail in the series descriptions.

Missing Title

Series 1: Predecessor Institutions, 1894-1913 (box 1; 0.88 linear ft.; Reels 5749-5750)

Series 2: Board of Trustees Records, 1897-1957, undated (boxes 1-17, 35, 37; 15.25 linear ft.; Reels 5750-5777)

Series 3: New York Office, 1855-circa 1981, undated (boxes 17-32, 36; 15 linear ft.; 5777-5795)

Series 4: Rome Office, 1903-1943, undated (boxes 32-34; 3 linear ft.; 5795-5800)

Series 5: Unprocessed Addition to the American Academy in Rome Records, 1933-2002 (boxes 35-103; 31.6 linear ft.)

Historical Note:

While in Chicago to advise and work on the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, architects Charles F. McKim, Daniel Burnham, and Richard Howland Hunt, painters John La Farge and Frank Millet, and sculptors Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Daniel Chester French, among others, met regularly. From their collaborative experience and discussions came the idea for an American school for artists in Europe. Charles F. McKim was especially enthusiastic. He strongly believed that collaborative experience should be available to future American artists, and perceived a real need for an American school in Europe--preferably in Rome, the very best place to study art, in his opinion.

By March of the following year, McKim was busy devising plans for the school and persuading like-minded architects and artists to assist. He proposed to finance the school by convincing institutions with traveling scholarships in the arts to send those students to Rome. Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, and the Rotch Scholarship fund readily agreed to the scheme, and in ensuing years many others followed suit. In October, 1894, the American School of Architecture in Rome opened temporary quarters in the Palazzo Torlonia. The school consisted of its Director, Austin Lord, three fellows, and a visiting student; its "library" contained but one volume.

A move to the larger, more suitable Villa Aurora occurred in July 1895. Rent from two subtenants (the newly established American School of Classical Studies in Rome and the British and American Archaeological Society Library in Rome), along with a personal contribution from McKim, made this financially feasible.

The American School of Architecture in Rome was incorporated in the State of New York, 1895, and 10 shares of capital stock were issued. Despite substantial fundraising efforts in Chicago, New York, and Boston, severe financial problems continued. The American School of Classical Studies in Rome vacated the Villa Aurora in 1896--and with it went a sizeable portion of the School of Architecture's income. McKim frequently made up the deficit from his own pocket.

Eventually, it was decided that the American School of Architecture in Rome must be reorganized along the lines of the French Academy and that national sponsorship needed to be obtained through an act of Congress. In June of 1897, the American School of Architecture in Rome voted to dissolve itself and create the American Academy in Rome. The new institution would assume all assets and obligations, fellowships in painting and architecture were to be added to the program, and its Board of Trustees would include architects and artists. The Academy is not a school. Its fellows and visiting students, already professionally trained, go to Rome for further development and for collaboration and association with others. In the words of Director Gorham Phillips Stevens: "The object of the American Academy in Rome is not to afford opportunities for a few individuals to perfect themselves for the practice of their chosen professions. The ideal is to create an atmosphere in which a limited number of carefully selected artists and scholars may develop that synthesis of intellectual culture which will make them worthy to preserve and continue the great traditions of the past in order that the standard of art and literature may be handed on from year to year, constantly strengthened and improved."

Beginning in 1901, bills to make the American Academy in Rome a "national institution" were introduced in Congress on several occasions. A hearing was finally scheduled in 1905, and a revised bill that prohibited government funding and specified that U.S. officials may not be Trustees was signed into law. Serious efforts to create an Endowment Fund and secure better quarters were associated with the movement to obtain status as a national institution. The Academy was successful in meeting all of these objectives. In 1904, the Academy moved to the Villa Mirafiore (also known as Villa Mirafiori), which it soon purchased and renovated. The Endowment Fund raised well over a million dollars. Donors of $100,000 to the Endowment Fund, designated "Founders" of the American Academy in Rome, were: The Carnegie Foundation, Henry C. Frick, Harvard College, Charles F. McKim, J. P. Morgan, Sr., J. P. Morgan, Jr., The Rockefeller Foundation, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., William K. Vanderbilt, and Henry Walters. Other categories of donors were "Incorporators" (a new Act of Incorporation was required at the time the American Academy in Rome was chartered as a national institution) and "Life Members."

The American School of Classical Studies in Rome, which had been established by the Archaeological Society in 1895 and during its first year shared the Villa Aurora with the American School of Architecture in Rome, entered into a consolidation agreement with the American Academy in Rome in 1911. Their merger went into effect on the last day of 1912, and ever since, the American Academy in Rome has consisted of the School of Fine Arts and the School of Classical Studies, administered by a common director. The School of Classical Studies is composed of fellows and visiting scholars who are graduate students, secondary teachers, or professors engaged in research in the areas of archaeology, ancient art, philology, and humanistic studies. Women were a part of the School of Classical Studies from its beginning, but were not permitted to participate in the School of Fine Arts until well after World War II. Beginning in 1923, the School of Classical Studies instituted Summer Sessions which appealed to secondary teachers, and attracted an enrollment that was largely female.

Originally, the School of Fine Arts offered fellowships in architecture, painting, and sculpture. Fellowships in landscape architecture were added in 1915; in 1920, a Department of Music was established, and along with it fellowships in musical composition. Fellowships in art history were established in 1947. Unmarried men under age 30 were eligible to compete for the fine arts fellowships awarded annually (except for landscape architecture, awarded every third year); the duration of fellowships ranged from one to three years at various points in the institution's history. In residence along with fellows of the American Academy in Rome, might be holders of various traveling scholarships: the McKim Fellowship, the Columbia Traveling Scholarship, the Perkins Scholarship, the Robinson Traveling Scholarship (Harvard), the Rotch Scholarship, the Julia Appleton Scholarship, the Traveling Scholarship and Stewardson Memorial Scholarship (University of Pennsylvania), the Cresson Scholarship (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts), the Drexel Institute Traveling Scholarship, the Lazarus Scholarship (Metropolitan Museum of Art), the Lowell Scholarship (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and the Rinehart Scholarship (Peabody Institute, Baltimore). Visiting students, who remained for a much briefer period than fellows or recipients of various traveling scholarships, were admitted to all lectures and granted use the library, but resided elsewhere. The Academy opened an Atelier in downtown Rome for visiting students in 1927, which operated until financial considerations forced its discontinuation seven years later.

As the merger was being planned, J. P. Morgan, Sr., who was interested in both the American Academy in Rome and the American School of Classical Studies in Rome, began buying properties on the Janiculum, adjacent to Villa Aureilia. Villa Aurelia, built on the summit of the Janiculum in 1650, had been bequeathed to the American Academy in Rome in 1909 by Clara Jessup Heyland. Complications surrounding the gift of Villa Aurelia--including the will being contested by Mrs. Heyland's brother, and problems with unsettled tax assessments--were overcome in the interest of acquiring the outstanding building and its extensive grounds. Not long before his death in 1913, Morgan donated his neighboring land, and the American Academy in Rome continued to expand its Janiculum holdings through purchases and gifts from others. Morgan also agreed to provide a loan for construction of a new building. This building, designed by McKim, Mead, and White and known as the Main Building or Academy Building, opened in 1915; it served as the fellows' residence and work area, and included room for the library, offices, and space for exhibitions and other public events.

During World War I, the American Academy in Rome managed to remain open, although no new fellows arrived during the war years and the number of resident fellows and staff dwindled considerably. Most who remained were involved in some type of civilian war work, often with the Red Cross. In fact, Villa Aurelia was rented by the Red Cross in Italy for office space, and the Main Building was offered as a convalescent hospital, but the war ended before it could be put to that use.

After Italy declared war on the United States in 1941, the American Academy in Rome closed for the remainder of World War II. Those who had been awarded fellowships in classics just prior to the Academy's closing were given the option of using their stipends for study at home or waiting until conditions permitted travel to Rome. A very reduced staff stayed to care for the property and continue library cataloguing, coping with often severe wartime shortages of food and fuel. In addition, there were financial hardships. When bank accounts of enemy aliens were frozen and it was no longer possible to transfer funds from the United States, the Swiss Legation and Vatican arranged for loans to keep the Academy and its staff afloat. Funds that would have been awarded to new fellows during this period were put to use in other ways. In 1943, the American Academy in Rome made a grant to the Citizen's Committee for the Army and Navy, Inc. for competitions to award commissions to artists and art students throughout the country, funding more than 100 triptychs for chapels, as well as murals, medals, and sculpture. Seniors in American colleges and universities were eligible to compete for several scholarships for graduate work in classical studies awarded by the American Academy in Rome.

In 1945, the Academy was the site of Leave Courses on various aspects of Italian culture offered to servicemen. From the end of the war until the Academy reopened at the start of the 1946/47 academic year, G.I. Fellowships were offered to discharged soldiers wishing to study at the Academy, making the institution eligible to receive surplus equipment and rations. During this time intensive planning was underway for administrative changes and new programs.

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1893 -- While in Chicago to collaborate on the fine arts section for the World's Columbian Exposition, architects Charles F. McKim, Daniel Burnham, Richard Howland Hunt, painters John La Farge, and Sculptors Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Daniel Chester French, among others, met regularly and from their collaborative experience and discussions came the idea for an American school in Europe.

1894 -- American School of Architecture in Rome opened in temporary quarters at the Palazzo Torlonia with Austin Lord, Director, three fellows, and a visiting student.

1895 -- Villa Aurora leased with 2 subtenants, the American School of Classical Studies and the British and American Archaeological Society Library in Rome American School of Architecture incorporated and 10 shares of capital stock issued (2 each to McKim and Hunt, and 1 to Burnham, Kendall, Schermerhorn, Boring, Garland, and Dill) McKim visits Rome.

1896 -- Metropolitan Museum of Art, administrator of Jacob H. Lazarus Scholarship for the study of mural painting, agrees to send the winner to Rome American School of Classical Studies in Rome vacates Villa Aurora.

1897 -- American School of Architecture in Rome dissolved and reorganized as the American Academy in Rome; the assets (including the lease on Villa Aurora) of the American School of Architecture in Rome were transferred and its program expanded to include fellowships in painting and sculpture Samuel A. B. Abbott appointed first Director Rome Prize discontinued (for 9 years) due to lack of funds.

1898 -- Incorporated in New York State; trustees begin to focus on raising an endowment.

1904 -- Move to Villa Mirafiore (also known as Villa Mirafiori); occupied until 1914.

1905 -- Chartered by the Congress of the United States; a bill signed by President Roosevelt made the American Academy in Rome a national institution (receiving no government funding and barring U.S. officials from acting as Trustees).

1906 -- Purchase of Villa Mirafiore finalized; renovations begun.

1909 -- Villa Aurelia bequeathed to the Academy by Clara Jessup Heyland (used until 1932); there were protracted problems surrounding the acquisition of the property including a brother who contested the will and unsettled taxes.

1911 -- School of Classical Studies in Rome (established by the Archaeological Institute of America in 1895) and the American Academy in Rome announce their consolidation [the merger became effective on the final day of 1912].

1912 -- Lands on the Janiculum adjacent to Villa Aurelia, recently acquired by J. Pierpont Morgan, Sr., transferred to the American Academy in Rome.

1913 -- American Academy in Rome now consists of the School of Fine Arts and the School of Classical Studies. New York office moves to the Architect's Building, 101 Park Ave., remaining at this location until 1973. By this date, largely through the generosity of J. Pierpont Morgan, Sr., nearly all of the land bounded by Via Angelo Masina, Via Giacomo Medici, Via Pietro Riselli, and the Aurelian Wall on the Janiculum had been purchased and many improvements made to the properties near the Villa Aurelia. Construction begins on the new Academy building designed by McKim, Mead, and White and situated on the grounds of Villa Aurelia; financed through a loan from J. Pierpont Morgan, Sr. (after Morgan Sr.'s death, his son offered to cancel the loan at an amount equal to funds raised by the Academy for the purpose).

1915 -- First Fellowship in Landscape Architecture established; opening of new Academy building housing the fellows' residential quarters, work areas, library, offices, and spaces for public programs.

1917 -- Villa Aurelia rented to the Red Cross for office space, and the new Main building was slated to become a convalescent hospital, but the war ended before it could be put to use.

1919 -- New York office reorganized by Roscoe Guernsey, executive secretary; sale of Villa Mirafiore; Academic Council established in Rome.

1920 -- Department of Music and Fellowship in Musical Composition established.

1923 -- School of Classical Studies establishes summer sessions, largely attended by teachers.

1926 -- Second Fellowship in Landscape Architecture funded by Garden Club of America (later permanently endowed).

1927 -- Academy opens an Atelier in downtown Rome, providing studios for visiting students (operated until 1934).

1929 -- First Thomas Spencer Jerome lecturer appointed.

1941 -- Academy closes for duration of World War II; a skeletal staff remain behind to care for the property and continue library cataloguing; Italy declares war on the United States.

1942 -- After transfer of funds from the U.S. proved impossible and enemy aliens were prohibited from withdrawing their own funds from Italian banks, the Swiss Legation and Vatican offered assistance to the Academy by providing loans.

1943 -- Academy grant to Citizen's Committee for the Army and Navy, Inc., funded hundreds of triptychs; murals, medals, and sculptures also commissioned Academy awards scholarships in classical studies at American colleges and universities.

1945 -- "Leave courses," held at the Academy, consisting mainly of lectures by distinguished scholars still in Rome, instituted for U.S. servicemen.

1946 -- Regular program resumes at the start of the academic year.

1947 -- Fellowship in the History of Art established.

1965 -- Loan of printed matter for microfilming by the Archives of American Art (reels ITRO 2-3 and 11-13).

1973 -- New York office moves to American Federation of Arts building, 41 East 65th St. (until 1993).

1982 -- Gift of New York office records to the Archives of American Art.

1990 -- Gift of Rome office records to the Archives of American Art.

1993 -- New York office moves to Metropolitan Club, 7 East 60th St.

Related Material:

Papers of a number of former fellows, trustees, and other individuals associated with the American Academy in Rome are among the holdings of the Archives of American Art.

Chaloner Prize Foundation records, 1915-1974 (microfilm reels 5664-5669) were received with the American Academy in Rome records. They have been arranged and described as a separate collection.

Valentine, Lucia and Alan Valentine. The American Academy in Rome, 1894-1969. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1973.

Separated Material:

The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels ITRO 2-3, and ITRO 11-13) including annual reports, exhibition catalogues, a history of the American Academy in Rome, the American Academy in Rome at the World's Fair, and the Golden Gate Exposition and newsletter. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and can be found at the American Academy in Rome, Italy. This material is not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:

The material on reels ITRO 2-3 and ITRO 11-13 were lent to the Archives of American Art for microfilming by the American Academy in Rome in 1965. Records of predecessor institutions, the Board of Trustees, and the New York office, including photographs and personal papers, were donated in 1982 by the Academy president, Calvin G. Rand. In 1990, Rand also gifted the Rome office records and the personal documents of Gorham Phillips Stevens. An addition of New York office records was donated in 2014 by the Academy director, Adele Chatfield-Taylor.

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.

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.

Topic:

Architecture -- Study and teaching  Search this

Architecture, Classical -- Study and teaching  Search this

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

Art schools -- Italy -- Rome  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs

Citation:

American Academy in Rome records, 1855-2012. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.ameracar

See more items in:

American Academy in Rome records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9eb425e5a-26de-478b-8ecc-8a9006e9dc52

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-ameracar

Creator:

Cornell, Joseph  Search this

Subject:

Benton, Elizabeth Cornell  Search this

Cornell, Robert  Search this

Type:

Photographs

Citation:

Joseph Cornell papers, 1804-1986, bulk 1939-1972. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Celebrities  Search this

Assemblage (Art)  Search this

Found objects (Art)  Search this

Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Assemblage artists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Works of art  Search this

Theme:

Diaries  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)5790

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)208629

AAA_collcode_cornjose

Theme:

Diaries

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_208629

Creator:

Cornell, Joseph  Search this

Names:

Benton, Elizabeth Cornell  Search this

Cornell, Robert  Search this

Extent:

24.9 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Date:

1804-1986

bulk 1939-1972

Summary:

The papers of Joseph Cornell (1903-1972) measure approximately 24.9 linear feet and date from 1804 to 1986 with the bulk of the material dating from 1939-1972. The collection documents the life, work, interests, and creative activities of the self-taught artist, who was best known for his shadow box constructions, assemblages, and collages. Papers include correspondence, diaries, source material, notes, writings, photographs, printed material, two- and three-dimensional ephemera, art works, and books, as well as a limited amount of legal and financial records, and some miscellaneous personal and family papers. The collection also includes the papers of his sister, Betty Cornell Benton, relating to the handling of Cornell's estate and the personal papers of his brother, Robert Cornell.

Scope and Content Note:

The Joseph Cornell papers measure approximately 24.9 linear feet and date from 1804 to 1986, with the bulk of the material dating from 1939-1972. The collection documents the life, work, interests, and creative activities of the self-taught artist, who was best known for his shadow box constructions, assemblages, and collages. Papers include correspondence, diaries, source material, notes, writings, photographs, printed material, two- and three-dimensional ephemera, art works, and books, as well as a limited amount of legal and financial records, and some miscellaneous personal and family papers (which comprise a series of biographical material). The collection also includes the papers of his sister, Betty Cornell Benton, relating to the handling of Cornell's estate and the personal papers of his brother, Robert Cornell.

Cornell's correspondence is typically with family, friends, artists, dealers, collectors, galleries, museums, admirers, individuals whom he admired, "helpers," and various charitable institutions. Correspondence generally concerns the creation, exhibition, sale, and reception of Cornell's art work; his "explorations" and other research and collecting activities; his preoccupations with certain individuals and motifs; his usual practices of giving gifts of art work to those he liked or admired and making donations to charities in aid of those less fortunate; and his relationships and shared interests with family, friends, and colleagues. Also found is correspondence between and amongst various other members of the Cornell family, including, most notably, Robert Cornell's letters to his sisters, Elizabeth (typically addressed as Nell) and Helen.

Dating from 1941 to 1972, Cornell's diaries span almost the entirety of his career as an artist, which began in earnest when he left his job at the Traphagen textile studio in 1940 to pursue art full-time and ended with his death in 1972. The diaries record his day-to-day experiences (usually comprising his thoughts, feelings, impressions, and ideas); and reflect on his various art projects (boxes, films, and collages) and creative activities ("explorations," and various other research, collecting, and publishing ventures). They also explore many of the themes and underlying concerns of his art work; and document his intense preoccupations with certain individuals, his wide-ranging interests, and the interconnectedness of his ideas and activities. Cornell's style of writing in the diaries tends to be stream-of-conscious with entries being composed of phrases, rather than complete sentences and with the progression of passages being more poetic and associative than either logical or narrative. He tended to compose by hand, occasionally typing up his notes into more formal entries, and also to use abbreviations for oft-repeated words and initials for individuals. At times, his handwriting can be difficult to read, and his references can be difficult to decipher. It was also common practice for him to review or revisit previous entries at various points in time, often making revisions or comments on them with dated annotations in the margins or on the reverse side of a page.

Cornell's source material is largely comprised of files of newspaper and magazine clippings, cutouts, notes, writings, book excerpts, photostats (or stats), prints, postcards, art reproductions, and other printed material. Some files are devoted to people (ballerinas, actresses, singers, artists, and writers) and topics (astronomy, romantic and modern ballet, birds, films, literature, music, plants, and science, among others). Other files relate to specific art works, "explorations," publishing projects, and exhibitions. Source material documents Cornell's preoccupation with certain individuals (past and present), events, subjects, and motifs; the development of some of his major "explorations" and their influence on his various artistic and commercial projects; and his work on certain box constructions and collages, publishing ventures, and exhibition catalogues. Source material also sheds light on Cornell's efforts to gain access to the past; his interest in the symbolism of images and objects; the linkages he found between seemingly unrelated things; and the connections between his many creative endeavors.

Ephemera and artifacts include various objects, mementos, and items of memorabilia, some of which were accumulated by Cornell (in much the same way that he collected his source material) and some of which are of uncertain origin. For Cornell, items such as these were not merely inanimate objects, but were instead evocative of past worlds and capable of bringing the past into the present (an idea which he often expressed in his diaries as the "metaphysique d'ephemera"). He seems to have used some of these items in a layout he designed for Good Housekeeping. Other items may have been used as source material for some of his box constructions.

The collection also houses photographs of Cornell, his family, art work, other artists, and friends, as well as photographs taken by various individuals and publicity photographs from the New York City Ballet. Also found are scattered works of art, including collage fragments and Rorschachs (or ink blot drawings) by Cornell, collages by Cornell's sister, Betty Cornell Benton, on which he collaborated, and a box by Christine Kaufman, which was a gift to Cornell. The books in the collection most likely comprise the remainder of Cornell's library, which was transferred to the Joseph Cornell Study Center, and include some that seem to have belonged to his sister, Betty. Printed material includes various publications and clippings collected by Cornell apart from that which he collected as source material. Writings about Cornell include an article by the poet, Mina Loy, and copies of various theses, presentations, and articles by graduate students in art history received by Benton (who assisted them in their research).

The Joseph Cornell Estate Papers consist of correspondence relating to Betty Cornell Benton's administration of the part of Cornell's estate for which she was responsible and legal documents relating to her various legal disputes with the executors of the estate, as well as a limited amount of printed material, some of which was originally accumulated by Cornell and subsequently shared with Benton, and miscellaneous papers belonging to Benton and their mother, Helen S. Cornell. Estate Papers provide insight on the exhibition and sale of Cornell art works after his death; the disposition of his belongings (including art work, papers, books, records, and source material); and Benton's efforts to foster and safeguard the memory and legacy of Cornell. The Robert Cornell Papers include correspondence, writings, art works, photographs, printed material, and scattered financial and personal records, documenting the full and creative life Robert led despite being confined to a wheelchair. Their inclusion in the collection suggests the family's effort to foster Robert's memory.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into eleven series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1918-1972, 1975 (Box 1; 0.8 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1909-1982 (Boxes 1-5, OV 31; 4.3 linear feet)

Series 3: Diaries, 1941-1973 (Boxes 6-10; 5 linear feet)

Series 4: Source Material, 1804-1972 (Boxes 11-18, 25-28, OV 29; 8.5 linear feet)

Series 5: Ephemera and Artifacts, 1858-1946 (Boxes 18, 23; 0.8 linear feet)

Series 6: Photographs, circa 1905-1972 (Boxes 18, 28, OV 30; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 7: Art Works, circa 1966-1971 (Boxes 19, 23; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 8: Books and Printed Material, 1806-1968 (Boxes 19, 23; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 9: Writings about Cornell, 1950, circa 1975-1980 (Box 19; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 10: Joseph Cornell Estate Papers, circa 1911, 1944-1986 (Boxes 19-22; 3.5 linear feet)

Series 11: Robert Cornell Papers, 1924-1965 (Boxes 24, 28; 0.4 linear feet)

Biographical Note:

Joseph Cornell, assemblagist, collagist, and filmmaker, was born on December 24, 1903 in Nyack, New York. He was the oldest son of Joseph I. Cornell, a textile salesman and designer, and Helen Storms Cornell, and had two younger sisters, Elizabeth (b. 1905), nicknamed Nell and later Betty, and Helen (b. 1906), and a younger brother, Robert (b. 1910), who suffered from cerebral palsy. Cornell shared close relationships with his siblings, and was especially attached to his brother whom he took care of as an adult. His fondest childhood memories included family Christmas celebrations, outings to Manhattan where he saw vaudeville shows and strolled around Times Square, and trips to Coney Island where he encountered penny arcade machines. These childhood memories, among others, inspired some of the themes later explored in his art work.

After his father's death in 1917, Cornell was sent to study at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He remained there for four years, but left without receiving a diploma. During this time, the family moved from Nyack to Bayside, Queens, where they lived in a series of rented houses. Cornell rejoined his family in 1921, at which time he went to work as a salesman in the Manhattan office of a textile wholesaler, the William Whitman Company. He joined the Christian Science church in the mid-1920s, and in 1929, the family bought a house at 37-08 Utopia Parkway in Flushing, where he resided for the rest of his life, living there with his mother and brother after both his sisters married and moved away.

During the 1920s, Cornell developed his passion for walking the city streets and taking in their sights, sounds, and impressions; browsing in the secondhand bookshops along Fourth Avenue; and collecting material such as books, prints, postcards, and printed and three-dimensional ephemera. He cultivated his growing interest in culture and the arts by attending opera and ballet performances, seeing plays (the 1922 play Rain, which starred Jeanne Eagels, was among his favorites), visiting galleries and museums, reading, and going to the movies.

In 1931, Cornell began to frequent the Julien Levy Gallery, where he encountered Surrealist art for perhaps the first time. Around this time, he created his first works of art - a series of black-and-white collages composed from cutouts of nineteenth-century engravings - inspired by Max Ernst's collages, in particular his collage-novel, La Femme 100 tetes (1929). Cornell went on to create three-dimensional works of art such as pill boxes and a glass bell series (consisting of objects arranged under a bell jar). His work, including several collages and a glass bell, was first exhibited as part of the groundbreaking "Surrealisme" show at the Levy Gallery in January 1932. He also designed the cover of the show announcement. His first one-man show at the gallery, "The Objects of Joseph Cornell," followed in the fall of 1932. (It was seven years before his next solo show.) By this time, Cornell had been laid off from his job at Whitman's. He was out of work for several years before getting a job as a textile designer at the Traphagen Commercial Textile Studio in 1934. During the next several years, he continued to work on his art at night.

Around this time, Cornell began collecting movies and movie stills, and embarked upon various film-related projects. In 1933, he wrote a scenario for a silent movie, Monsieur Phot. A few years later, he made his first film, Rose Hobart (1936), comprised of re-edited footage from the B-movie, East of Borneo (1931), which starred the actress, Rose Hobart. And he began work on a trilogy of collage-films - The Children's Party, Cotillion, and The Midnight Party (circa 1937). He then took a break from making films until the mid-1950s, but continued to collect film-related material, which he began to incorporate into his other art work.

In 1936, Cornell constructed his first glass-fronted shadow box, Untitled (Soap Bubble Set), which was included that same year in the "Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, along with a cabinet box and several glass bells. In creating some of his other early boxes, he began the practice of using photo reproductions of images which he located in books and magazines, or in the Picture Collection at the New York Public Library, among other places. In his tribute boxes to actresses (1930s), he made use of publicity shots, and in the box, Dressing Room for Gilles (1939), he employed a photostat (or stat) of a reproduction of Jean-Antoine Watteau's painting, Gilles (1718).

Over the years, Cornell came into contact with various figures of the art, dance, and literary worlds. In the 1930s and 1940s, he met the artists, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, and Salvador Dali, and befriended the artists, Lee Miller and Dorothea Tanning. His formative friendships during 1940s were with the artist, Pavel Tchelitchew, the writers, Charles Henri Ford (founder of the avant-garde periodical, View), Parker Tyler, and Donald Windham, and the balletomane, Lincoln Kirstein (founder of Dance Index). His other friends included the artists, Roberto Matta Echaurren and Robert Motherwell, the dancer and actress, Tilly Losch, and the poets, Mina Loy and Marianne Moore. In the 1950s, he associated with artists from the Abstract Expressionist movement, including Willem de Kooning, Jack Tworkov, and Mark Rothko. Beginning in the mid-1950s, he befriended many young artists, including Lee Bontecou and Carolee Schneeman, and young actresses, including Lois Smith, Gwen Van Dam, and Suzanne Miller, whom he sought to appear in his films. And in the early 1960s, he met the Pop artists, Robert Indiana, James Rosenquist, and Andy Warhol.

Beginning in 1940, Cornell developed a keen interest in dance, particularly ballet. Ballerinas from the Romantic era, such as Marie Taglioni and Fanny Cerrito, especially captured his imagination, inspiring such works as the box, Taglioni's Jewel Casket (1940), and the Portrait of Ondine "exploration," which comprised a portfolio of material relating to Cerrito and her famous role in the ballet, Ondine. Cornell was also fascinated with the modern counterparts of the Romantic ballerinas. In 1940, he befriended the Russian ballet dancer, Tamara Toumanova, and over the years produced many works in homage to her, including swan boxes (inspired by her role in Swan Lake), boxes made with scraps from her costumes, and scrapbooks of clippings, stats, and memorabilia. In 1949, he became enamored of the French dancer, Renee "Zizi" Jeanmarie, after seeing her perform in Carmen and meeting her backstage, and he created several dance-related boxes in her honor. In 1957, he met the ballerina, Allegra Kent. After meeting again in 1964, they became friends, and she served as the subject of several works based on images reproduced from a Parmigianino painting.

In December 1940, Cornell left his job at the Traphagen textile studio to pursue art full-time. He set up a workshop in the basement of the house on Utopia Parkway, which served as a combination studio and storage space. While he spent most days at home, he continued to make regular trips into Manhattan to wander around the city, visit with friends, and hunt for material. Around this time, he began to keep a diary, recording his day-to-day experiences (usually comprising his thoughts, feelings, impressions, ideas) on scraps of paper (including used envelopes, paper bags, napkins, and ticket stubs, among other fragments). He would then type up some of these notes into more formal diary entries, but most of them remained, in his word, "scribblings." Diary keeping eventually became one of his primary activities, along with box construction, collage, research, and collecting.

By this time, his art work was beginning to sell, yet he was not able to live from these sales alone. During the 1940s, he primarily supported himself by doing freelance work for magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Good Housekeeping, supplying illustrations from his picture collection and designing covers and layouts. He also regularly contributed pieces to View and Dance Index. His notable contributions to View included "Enchanted Wanderer: Excerpt from a Journey Album for Hedy Lamarr" (December 1941), "Story Without a Name - for Max Ernst" (April 1942), and "The Crystal Cage [portrait of Berenice]" (January 1943). His projects for Dance Index included various collage-covers, essays, and thematic issues, such as the Summer 1944 issue, which comprised a 22-page tribute to the Romantic ballerinas, Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi, Cerrito, and Fanny Elssler. To supplement his income, Cornell also held brief positions at an electronics plant, the Allied Control Company, Inc. (in 1943), and at a nursery, the Garden Centre (in 1944).

In 1942, Cornell created one of his more memorable works, Medici Slot Machine, embarking upon a large series of Medici boxes in which he utilized reproductions of portraits by Italian Renaissance artists, such as Sofonisba Anguissola and Pinturicchio. His other boxes from this time period explored themes ranging from ballet, as in A Pantry Ballet (for Jacques Offenbach) (1942), to doomed love, as in Paolo and Francesca (1943-48), to nature, as in the Sand Boxes (1940s) and Sand Fountains (1950s). Cornell often created boxes in series, producing variations on a theme with variants that differed significantly or only slightly. Over the years, series included: Pink Palaces, Pharmacies, Habitats, Aviaries, Dovecotes, Hotels, Observatories, and Night Skies, among others.

In late 1945, Cornell joined the Hugo Gallery, which was run by Alexander Iolas, and a year later mounted the show, "Romantic Museum at the Hugo Gallery: Portraits of Women by Joseph Cornell" (December 1946). He designed the exhibition catalog for this show, which consisted of portraits - box constructions, objects, and "dossiers" - of the opera singers, Giuditta Pasta and Maria Malibran, the ballerinas, Taglioni and Cerrito, and the actresses, Eleanora Duse, Jeanne Eagels, Greta Garbo, and Jennifer Jones, and which also featured one of his most famous boxes, Untitled (Penny Arcade Portrait of Lauren Bacall) (1945-46).

In 1949, Cornell joined the Egan Gallery, which was run by Charles Egan. Around this time, he began creating his series of Aviary boxes, which explored the symbolism of birds and birdcages. He showed twenty-six of these box constructions in his first exhibition at the Egan Gallery, "Aviary by Joseph Cornell" (December 1949-January 1950). He created other series of whitewashed boxes, including the Dovecote series and a small group relating to the poet, Emily Dickinson. He then went on to explore the themes of astronomy and celestial navigation in the Observatory, Night Skies, and Hotel series. Works from these series were featured in his two remaining shows at the Egan Gallery, "Night Songs and Other Work" (December 1950-January 1951) and "Night Voyage" (February-March 1953). In the fall of 1953, sparked by seeing the painting, Figure Seated in a Cafe (1914), Cornell embarked upon a major series of bird constructions dedicated to the Cubist artist, Juan Gris. Notably, these were the only boxes he explicitly dedicated to another artist.

Over the next couple of years, Cornell's work was exhibited across the country. In 1955, he joined the Stable Gallery, which was run by Eleanor Ward. His first one-man show there, in the winter of 1955-56, was "Winter Night Skies," which featured various box constructions based on constellations. During the mid-1950s, he embarked upon a series of Sand Fountains (vertical standing boxes featuring a broken glass and sand that flowed through it when turned upside down), elaborating upon his earlier Sand Boxes (1940s). These boxes along with some of his other latest works, including the Bleriot boxes and the Space Object boxes (which comprised his final box series), were exhibited in his second and last show at the Stable Gallery, "Selected Works" (December 1957).

After leaving the Stable Gallery, Cornell had several dealers handle his work rather than allowing any one to assume too much control. Dealers included Richard Feigen (in Chicago and then in New York) and Irving Blum (in California), among others. Throughout his career, Cornell never liked selling his boxes. He was always reluctant to let his work go and became increasingly uneasy about the growing status of his work as a commodity. He preferred instead to make gifts of his art work to friends and individuals he admired (especially female ones).

In the mid-1950s, Cornell returned to making films. Rather than just splicing together found images as he had in his films of the 1930s, he began to collaborate with others to shoot original footage. He worked with the experimental filmmaker, Stan Brakhage, on two films, one about the Third Ave El which was about to be torn down ( Wonder Ring or Gnir Rednow) and the other about an old house in Cornell's neighborhood that was slated for demolition ( Centuries of June). Cornell then went on to make nine films with the filmmaker, Rudy Burckhardt, including Aviary, A Legend for Fountains, and Nymphlight, among others. In the late 1960s, he enlisted the help of Larry Jordan, who was also a filmmaker, in completing the trilogy of collage-films that he had begun in the 1930s.

Along with creating works of art and making films, Cornell was involved in a host of other creative endeavors throughout his career as an artist. These included: keeping a diary, which was for him another medium for exploring and expressing the themes, ideas, and concerns recurrent in his art work; carrying out "explorations," which typically involved conducting research, collecting material, and compiling files on persons or topics of interest to him; and other projects, such as publishing pamphlets (or brochures) dedicated to the nineteenth-century opera singers, Malibran and Giulia Grisi. Cornell's "explorations" clearly informed his artwork, but they were also works of art in and of themselves. He continually sought to share this work with an audience and twice had the opportunity to do so, when he exhibited versions of his Portrait of Ondine "exploration" at the Museum of Modern Art in 1945 and at the Wittenborn Bookstore in 1956.

Around the mid-1950s, Cornell returned to making collages as independent works of art. Unlike his earlier ones, which were composed from cutouts of black-and-white engravings, his latest collages were made with color images cut out of contemporary magazines and books. In these collages, he explored many of the same themes and preoccupations of his box constructions, including birds, as in Couleur de Peche (1967) and Untitled (Vierge Vivace) (1970), children's games, as in the Penny Arcade series (1960s), and actresses, as in The Sister Shades (1956). Towards the end of his career, collage became his principal medium.

By this time, Cornell was taking fewer trips into Manhattan. Instead, he spent more time at home or traveled only so far as downtown Flushing, where he frequented the public library, hunted for material in stores, such as Woolworth's, and passed time in the coffee-shops on Main Street. From this time on, he kept his diary with increasing regularity, taking down notations with more frequency and creating entries of greater length.

In 1961, fourteen of Cornell's boxes, including Medici Slot Machine, were exhibited as part of the "The Art of Assemblage" show at the Museum of Modern Art. As his biographer notes, Cornell came to view this show "as a turning point in his creative life," marking the "[fall] off in his work" that took place in the sixties (Solomon 271-2). He continued to work on boxes that he had begun long before, but, after this time, rarely if ever constructed new ones. Instead, he focused on making collages and became increasingly concerned with other projects, such as organizing his basement workshop, for which he hired various "helpers" or assistants (mostly young women) over the years. He also became more and more prone to obsessions (or preoccupations, as he called them) with various young women that he encountered both in fantasy (actresses on stage or in films) and in real life (working girls in the city, "teeners" on Main Street, or his female visitors and "helpers" at home). These preoccupations infused his diary writings, and inspired the keeping of "dossiers" on particular individuals and the creation of various collages dedicated to others, including most notably the Penny Arcade series dedicated to Joyce Hunter (or "Tina," as he referred to her in his writings).

After Robert's death in February 1965, Cornell created a series of collages in his memory, many of which incorporated his brother's drawings of animal characters. In January 1966, he exhibited some of these collages, alongside a selection of Robert's drawings, in a show at the Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, "Robert Cornell: Memorial Exhibition." In 1967, there were two retrospective exhibitions of Cornell's work, "An Exhibition of Works by Joseph Cornell" at the Pasadena Art Museum and "Joseph Cornell" at the Guggenheim Museum. By now, Cornell was receiving considerable public recognition for his work. He had received his first profile (by Howard Griffin) in the December 1957 issue of Art News and, ten years later, was treated to a 12-page spread (by David Bourdon) in the December 1967 issue of Life magazine. He was also the recipient of various prizes for his art work, including the M.V Kohnstamm Prize at the Art Institute of Chicago's "62nd American Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture" in 1957 and the winning prize in India's first Triennale of Contemporary World Art in 1968.

In the last years of his life (especially from the time of his mother's death in the fall of 1966), Cornell suffered from severe depression and loneliness, and withdrew even further from the outside world. However, he still maintained relationships with various young friends and artists, who frequently visited Utopia Parkway and/or served as one of his assistants. He became more and more interested in sharing his work with a younger audience and his last two exhibitions in 1972 were expressly for children, "A Joseph Cornell Exhibition for Children" at the Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture and "Joseph Cornell - Collages and Boxes" at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York.

Cornell continued to work until the end of his life, "refurbishing" earlier boxes and creating memorial collages. Following prostate surgery in June 1972, he spent several months recuperating with family in Westhampton before returning to Utopia Parkway in November. He died of heart failure at home on December 29, 1972.

The biographical note draws heavily from Deborah Solomon's biography, Utopia Parkway: The Life and Work of Joseph Cornell (New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 1997), and Diane Waldman's book, Joseph Cornell: Master of Dreams (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2002).

Related Material:

The Archives holds several collections of different provenance that relate to Joseph Cornell, including the small collections of Allison Delarue (comprised of two letters from Cornell, available on reel 2803), Muriel Streeter Schwartz (comprised of two letters from Cornell, available on reel 4283), Wayne Andrews (comprised of letters from Cornell and printed material), and Marion Netter (comprised of items received from Cornell). In addition, photographs of Cornell can be found amongst the Hans Namuth photographs and papers. Also found within the Archives is a transcribed interview of Cornell's sister, Elizabeth Cornell Benton, conducted on April 21, 1976 as part of the oral history program.

Separated Material:

The bulk of Cornell's source material resides in the Joseph Cornell Study Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum, along with his library and record collection. Cornell's sister, Betty Cornell Benton, donated a portion of this material directly to SAAM (then known as the National Museum of American Art), occasioning the creation of the Study Center circa 1978. The bulk of the source material and library that she donated to AAA, including approximately 66 linear feet of three-dimensional and non-textual source material and 50 linear feet of books, was transferred to the Study Center in 1994 and 1995.

Originals of loaned material returned to the donor after microfilming include: some unidentified and miscellaneous correspondence; significant correspondence between Joseph Cornell and Helen S. Cornell; significant correspondence between Helen S. Cornell, family members and others; and some of Joseph Cornell's family correspondence and general correspondence from the Robert Cornell papers. The loaned material is available on microfilm reels 1055-1058 but is not described further in the Series Descriptions/Container Listing of this finding aid.

Provenance:

The Joseph Cornell papers were donated and microfilmed in several installments from 1974 to 1989 by Joseph Cornell's sister, Betty Cornell Benton. Most, but not all, of the correspondence, which was loaned for microfilming in 1974, was subsequently donated in 1989. Additional material was donated in 2004 by the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.

Restrictions:

Use of the 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.

Topic:

Celebrities  Search this

Assemblage (Art)  Search this

Found objects (Art)  Search this

Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Assemblage artists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Works of art  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs

Citation:

Joseph Cornell papers, 1804-1986, bulk 1939-1972. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Getty Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Identifier:

AAA.cornjose

See more items in:

Joseph Cornell papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9ff67e8a6-6a88-40f0-9df4-537c9826eed7

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-cornjose

Creator:

Engle, Corliss Knapp  Search this

Extent:

1.5 Cubic feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Ephemera

Brochures

Notes

Pamphlets

Slides (photographs)

Programs

Maps

Date:

1969-2001

Summary:

The Corliss Knapp Engle slide collection contains 35mm slides of gardens, garden features, flower shows, and flora photographed by Corliss Engle, a self-taught photographer and horticulturalist. Much of the collection is comprised of photographic documentation of numerous private and public gardens that she visited throughout the United States. Of particular note are images of Engle's own garden in Brookline, Massachusetts, spanning three decades; they provide excellent insight into the development and evolution of a garden over time. Portions of the collection highlight Engle's involvement with the Garden Club of America and the GCA's Garden History and Design Committee. The collection also includes various notes, lecture scripts, brochures, programs and articles on garden and plant-related themes generated or compiled by Corliss Knapp Engle.

Biographical / Historical:

Corliss Knapp Engle (1936-2009), born in Flushing, New York, was a passionate horticulturalist who was closely involved with numerous groups and initiatives relating to horticulture and gardens. As a resident of Brookline, Massachusetts, she was actively involved in the Chestnut Hill Garden Club and the Tree Planting Committee of the Town of Brookline. Corliss Engle was also involved, in varying capacities, in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, and the Garden Club of America (GCA). She was a trustee for both the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and the New England Wild Flower Society. Engle was a recipient of a GCA Achievement Award and four GCA Beattie Medals. The Begonia Society honored her by naming a begonia in her name. As a self-taught photographer she was instrumental in developing a photography program for the Garden Club of America and was particularly involved with the GCA's Garden History and Design Committee which is instrumental in the documentation of gardens for the Garden Club of America Collection at the Archives of American Gardens. Engle's writings and photographs were published in local and national publications including the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts' publication, "Mayflower," and the "White House History" journal.

General:

Collection has been processed.

Related Materials:

Slide images of various plants photographed by Corliss Engle are located at The Massachusetts Horticultural Society.

Images of the Arnold Arboretum photographed by Corliss Engle including those featured in a 2006 exhibition, The Arnold Arboretum Captured in Time: 1982-1987, are located at the Horticulture LIbrary at the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.

Separated Materials:

Slide images of various Garden Club of America meetings and events photographed by Corliss Engle are located at the Garden Club of America in New York, New York.

Provenance:

A representative of the Chestnut Hill (Mass.) Garden Club donated the collection on the club's behalf to the Archives of American Gardens in May 2013.

Restrictions:

Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Rights:

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Topic:

Gardens -- United States  Search this

Gardens -- Rhode Island  Search this

Gardens -- Connecticut  Search this

Gardens -- Maryland  Search this

Gardens -- California  Search this

Gardens -- New York  Search this

Gardens -- Pennsylvania  Search this

Gardens -- Massachusetts  Search this

Gardens -- New Jersey  Search this

Genre/Form:

Ephemera

Brochures

Notes

Pamphlets

Slides (photographs)

Programs

Maps

Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, [Collection title]

Sponsor:

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Identifier:

AAG.CKE

See more items in:

Corliss Knapp Engle slide collection

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb6c1eefd44-0ec8-43db-a11d-fb74235d0ef0

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aag-cke

Biogeographical Region:

75 - Northeastern U.S.A.  Search this

Collector:

ex herb. L. H. Bailey  Search this

Place:

Cult. Botanic Gardens, Cambridge. Mass., Massachusetts, United States, North America

Collection Date:

Jun 1883

Taxonomy:

Plantae Dicotyledonae Dipsacales Caprifoliaceae Caprifolioideae

Published Name:

Lonicera flava

Barcode:

02789189

USNM Number:

140994

See more items in:

Botany

Flowering plants and ferns

Data Source:

NMNH - Botany Dept.

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/37ff9b08f-4573-47ef-8568-1e250caf93a8

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmnhbotany_13894701

Biogeographical Region:

75 - Northeastern U.S.A.  Search this

Collector:

A. C. Cook  Search this

Place:

Bot. Garden, So. Hadley, Massachusetts, United States, North America

Collection Date:

1887

Taxonomy:

Plantae Dicotyledonae Dipsacales Caprifoliaceae Caprifolioideae

Published Name:

Lonicera sempervirens L.

Barcode:

02789924

USNM Number:

276062

See more items in:

Botany

Flowering plants and ferns

Data Source:

NMNH - Botany Dept.

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3d98b61ea-444b-4554-af0f-c4368b36343a

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmnhbotany_13895258

Biogeographical Region:

75 - Northeastern U.S.A.  Search this

Collector:

Liberty Hyde Bailey  Search this

Place:

Botanic Gardens. Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, North America

Collection Date:

25 Jun 1884

Taxonomy:

Plantae Dicotyledonae Dipsacales Caprifoliaceae Caprifolioideae

Published Name:

Lonicera hirsuta

Barcode:

02789268

USNM Number:

140999

See more items in:

Botany

Flowering plants and ferns

Data Source:

NMNH - Botany Dept.

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3a8354240-4076-40a0-a7af-63c346093256

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmnhbotany_13895392

Biogeographical Region:

75 - Northeastern U.S.A.  Search this

Collector:

B. N. Galet  Search this

Place:

Worcester. Collector's garden [unsure placement], Massachusetts, United States, North America

Collection Date:

2 Jun 1956

Taxonomy:

Plantae Dicotyledonae Brassicales Brassicaceae Brassicoideae

Published Name:

Arabis procurrens Waldst. & Kit.

Barcode:

03758749

USNM Number:

2423611

See more items in:

Botany

Flowering plants and ferns

Data Source:

NMNH - Botany Dept.

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3b3f446ef-a03d-4862-a274-723242e94cd4

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmnhbotany_15207424

Biogeographical Region:

75 - Northeastern U.S.A.  Search this

Collector:

A. C. Cook  Search this

Place:

So. Hadley-Bot. Garden., Massachusetts, United States, North America

Collection Date:

1887

Taxonomy:

Plantae Dicotyledonae Saxifragales Saxifragaceae Heucheroideae

Published Name:

Mitella nuda L.

Barcode:

03681264

USNM Number:

275415

See more items in:

Botany

Flowering plants and ferns

Data Source:

NMNH - Botany Dept.

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3792a7069-1fb1-420b-abdd-f21697c6ed29

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmnhbotany_15257855

Biogeographical Region:

75 - Northeastern U.S.A.  Search this

Collector:

A. C. Cook  Search this

Place:

Bot. Garden, So. Hadley., Massachusetts, United States, North America

Collection Date:

1887

Taxonomy:

Plantae Dicotyledonae Lamiales Calceolariaceae

Published Name:

Calceolaria chelidonioides Kunth

Barcode:

03870206

USNM Number:

276925

See more items in:

Botany

Flowering plants and ferns

Data Source:

NMNH - Botany Dept.

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/338499972-1052-407c-864c-0c416658939e

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmnhbotany_15620704

Creator:

Williams, Ralph William  Search this

Breck Company.  Search this

Dial Corporation.  Search this

American Cyanamid Company  Search this

Sheldon, Charles  Search this

Names:

Basinger, Kim  Search this

Gray, Erin  Search this

Hamill, Joan  Search this

Shields, Brooke  Search this

Tiegs, Cheryl  Search this

Extent:

6.5 Cubic feet (16 boxes, 188 pieces of original artwork)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Black-and-white photographic prints

Pastels (visual works)

Advertisements

Business records

Date:

circa 1936-1995

Summary:

The collection documents the development and evolution of the Breck Girl, a highly successful and long-lived advertising campaign whose hallmark was its vision of idealized American womanhood through correspondence, photographs, paintings, and print advertisements.

Scope and Contents:

188 pieces of original advertising art (mostly pastel drawings), and photographs, correspondence, and business records, documenting the development and evolution of the Breck Girls advertising campaign. Original advertising art includes portraits of famous models, such as Cheryl Tiegs, Brooke Shields, Kim Basinger, and Erin Gray. Artists represented include Charles Sheldon and Ralph William Williams. The 2006 addendum consists of approximately one sixth of one cubic foot of papers relating to Cynthia Brown's selection as a Breck Girl, 1988 and her induction into the Breck Hall of Fame.

Arrangement:

Collection divided into four series.

Series 1: Company history, 1946-1990

Series 2: Photographs, 1960-1995

Series 3: Print ads, 1946-1980

Series 4: Original artwork, 1936-1994

Biographical / Historical:

Dr. John Breck is credited with developing one of the first liquid shampoos in the United States, in Springfield Massachusetts in 1908; Breck is also credited with introducing the first ph-balanced shampoo, in 1930. During the early years of the business, distribution remained localized in New England, and the product was sold exclusively to beauty salons until 1946. Advertising for the brand began in 1932, but appeared only in trade publications, such as Modern Beauty Shop.

Edward Breck, son of the founder, assumed management of the company in 1936. Breck became acquainted with Charles Sheldon, an illustrator and portrait painter who is believed to have studied in Paris under Alphonse Mucha, an artist noted for his contributions to Art Nouveau style. Sheldon had achieved some measure of fame for his paintings of movie stars for the cover of Photoplay magazine in the 1920s, and had also done idealized pastel portraits for the cover of Parents magazine. He created his first pastel portraits for Breck in 1936, launching what would become one of America's longest running ad campaigns. When the company began national advertising (and mass distribution) in 1946, the campaign featured Sheldon's 1937 painting of seventeen-year old Roma Whitney, a spirited blonde. Ms. Whitney's profile was registered as Breck's trademark in 1951. When he retired in 1957, Sheldon had created 107 oil paintings and pastels for the company. Sheldon was known to favor ordinary women over professional models, and in the early years of the campaign, the Breck Girls were Breck family members, neighbors or residents of the community in which he worked; company lore holds that nineteen Breck Girls were employees of the advertising agency he founded in 1940. A Breck advertising manager later described Sheldon's illustrations as, "illusions, depicting the quality and beauty of true womanhood using real women as models." The paintings and pastels form a coherent, if derivative, body of work which celebrates an idealized vision of American girlhood and womanhood, an ideal in which fair skin, beauty and purity are co-equal.

Ralph William Williams was hired to continue the Breck Girls campaign after Sheldon's retirement. Between 1957 and his death in 1976, Williams modified the Breck Girl look somewhat through the use of brighter colors and a somewhat heightened sense of movement and individuality. The advertising manager during his tenure recalled that at first Williams continued in Sheldon' manner, but in later years, as women became more independent, he would take care to integrate each girl' particular personality; he studied each girl and learned her special qualities. During these years, Breck Girls were identified through the company's sponsorship of America's Junior Miss contests. Williams work includes pastels of celebrities Cybil Shepard (1968 Junior Miss from Tennessee), Cheryl Tiegs (1968), Jaclyn Smith (1971, 1973), Kim Basinger (1972, 1974) and Brooke Shields (1974) very early in their careers.

By the 1960s, at the height of its success, Breck held about a twenty percent share of the shampoo market and enjoyed a reputation for quality and elegance. Ownership of the company changed several times (American Cyanamid in 1963; Dial Corporation in 1990). The corresponding fluctuations in management of the company and in advertising expenditures tended to undermine the coherence of the national advertising campaign. In addition, despite William's modifications, the image had become dated. Attempts to update the image misfired, further limiting the brand's coherence and effectiveness. Finally, increased competition and an absence of brand loyalty among consumers through the 1970s and 1980s helped push Breck from its number one position into the bargain bin. The Breck Girl campaign was discontinued around 1978, although there have been at least two minor revivals, first in 1992 with the Breck Girls Hall of Fame, and again in 1995 when a search was begun to identify three new Breck Women. Scope and Content: The 188 pieces of original advertising art (62 oil paintings on board, 2 pencil sketches on paper, and 124 pastels on paper) and related photographs, correspondence and business files in this collection document the development and evolution of the Breck Girl, a highly successful and long-lived advertising campaign whose hallmark was its vision of idealized American womanhood. The collection is a perfect fit with other 20th century Archives Center collections documenting the efforts of American business to reach the female consumer market. The Estelle Ellis Collection (advertising and promotions for Seventeen, Charm, Glamour and House & Garden and many other clients) the Cover Girl Collection (make-up), the Maidenform Collection (brassieres), and the Tupperware Collections offer a prodigious body of evidence for understanding the role women were expected to play as consumers in the 20th century.

These advertising images also offer fertile ground for research into the evolution of popular images of American girlhood and womanhood. The research uses of the collection derive primarily from its value as an extensive visual catalog of the ideal types of American women and girls, arising and coalescing during a period in which 19th century ideals of womanhood were being revisited (the depression, the war years, the immediate post-war period) and continuing, with slight modifications and revisions, through several decades during which those historical ideals were being challenged and revised.

Related Materials:

Several items of packaging, 1930s-1980s are held in the former Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life); an 18k gold Breck insignia pin is in the former.

Provenance:

The Dial Corporation through Jane Owens, Senior Vice President, Gift, June 1998.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

Rights:

Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:

Shampoos -- advertising  Search this

Hair -- Shampooing  Search this

advertising -- 20th century  Search this

Feminine beauty (Aesthetics)  Search this

Beauty contestants  Search this

Beauty culture  Search this

Genre/Form:

Black-and-white photographic prints -- Silver gelatin -- 1950-2000

Pastels (visual works)

Advertisements -- 20th century

Business records -- 20th century

Citation:

Breck Girls Collection, circa 1936-1995, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0651

See more items in:

Breck Girls Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8391c0d4c-0f44-4123-acb3-bd54f8a86aa3

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0651

Maker:

Clark, Alvan  Search this

Alvan Clark & Sons  Search this

Measurements:

overall: 4 1/2 in x 6 in x 5 in; 11.43 cm x 15.24 cm x 12.7 cm

Object Name:

telescope, refracting

Place made:

United States: Massachusetts, Cambridge

Date made:

1915

ID Number:

PH.320241A

Accession number:

241909

Catalog number:

320241

320241A

See more items in:

Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences

Science & Mathematics

Data Source:

National Museum of American History

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746aa-4ca6-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmah_1185195

Former owner:

James, Harriet Eddy  Search this

James, Arthur Curtiss  Search this

Provenance:

Garden Club of New Haven  Search this

Landscape architect:

Olmsted Brothers  Search this

Collection Creator:

Garden Club of America  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Place:

Beacon Hill (Newport, Rhode Island)

Untitled Garden (Newport, Rhode Island)

United States of America -- Rhode Island -- New Port County -- Newport

Scope and Contents:

The folder includes worksheets and other information.

Varying Form:

Beacon Hill, formerly part of.

General:

One of four parcels of land that previously made up the Beacon Hill estate. Features from the original property include the wall fountain, the semi-circular pergola, and the area of the original rose garden including a terrace and oval pool. The garden is the north section of the rose garden of the original Beacon Hill estate of Arthur Curtiss James.

See also Beacon Hill (RI035000).

Persons associated with the garden include: Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Curtiss James (former owners, 1910-1941); James Foundation of New York (former owner, 1942-1951); Roman Catholic Diocese of Rhode Island (former owner, 1951-1973); Brainerd Snelling Trustees, James Trust (former owner, 1973-1978); Castle Hill Construction (former owner?, 1978-1981); Olmsted Brothers Landscape Architects (landscape architects, 1921-).

Related Materials:

Untitled Garden related holdings consist of 1 folder (4 35mm slides (photographs))

Historic photographs and site plans are located at the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Records related to this site can be found at the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, Olmsted Job Number 03558, Arthur Curtiss James.

Collection Restrictions:

Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Collection Rights:

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Topic:

Gardens -- Rhode Island -- Newport  Search this

Collection Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.

Sponsor:

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Identifier:

AAG.GCA, File RI159

See more items in:

The Garden Club of America collection

The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Garden Images / Rhode Island

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb68117796e-c4fe-4831-802a-c3a4afea9dc9

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aag-gca-ref10572

Former owner:

Sanford, Alfred Fanton  Search this

Landscape architect:

Olmsted Brothers  Search this

Collection Creator:

Garden Club of America  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Place:

Boxwood (Knoxville, Tennessee)

United States of America -- Tennessee -- Knox County -- Knoxville

Scope and Contents:

The folder includes work sheets, a photocopy of a paper on Knoxville gardens with information about Boxwood, and a copy of the University of Tennessee finding aid.

General:

This garden was designed between 1923 and 1930 by the Olmsted Brothers firm for Alfred Fanton Sanford, a prominent Knoxville businessman who in 1928 sold his newspaper, the Knoxville Journal and Tribune, in order to pursue a lifelong dream of developing an arboretum containing an example of every tree native to Tennessee. The arboretum encompassed 20 acres. Design elements included by the Olmsteds for Boxwood included formal gardens and water features. Detailed documentation, including contemporary photographs, planting lists, plans, and correspondence, may be found in the Olmsted Archives at the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline, Massachusetts. The A. F. Sanford Arboretum Records at the University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, includes seven boxes of record books documenting the plants present in the arboretum between 1930 and 1941. After Sanford's death in 1946 the arboretum was subdivided, although most of the land is now occupied by Boxwood Park, named for Sanford's home.

Persons and organizations associated with the garden include: Olmsted Brothers (landscape architects, 1923-1930) and Alfred Fanton Sanford (former owner, ca. 1920-1946).

Related Materials:

Boxwood (Knoxville, Tennessee) related holdings consist of 1 folder (10 35 mm. slides (photographs))

Records related to this site can be found at the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, Olmsted Job Number 07241, A. F. Sanford.

Collection Restrictions:

Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Collection Rights:

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Topic:

Gardens -- Tennessee -- Knoxville  Search this

Collection Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.

Sponsor:

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Identifier:

AAG.GCA, File TN024

See more items in:

The Garden Club of America collection

The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Garden Images / Tennessee

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb663fea1d7-258c-4bf1-8f34-488d3d37feb9

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aag-gca-ref10909