The collection of artists' letters compiled by Mary and John McGuigan Jr. measure 0.6 linear feet and date from 1794-1938. The collection is comprised of a group of letters, writings, and signed documents to and from a variety of artists, art administrators, art critics, historians, and art-related organizations assembled from multiple sources. It also includes associated printed material with some documents and a few photographs, including carte de visites and cabinet cards.
Scope and Contents:
The collection of artists' letters compiled by Mary and John McGuigan Jr. measure 0.6 linear feet and date from 1794-1938. The collection is comprised of a group of letters, writings, and signed documents to and from a variety of artists, art administrators, art critics, historians, and art-related organizations assembled from multiple sources. It also includes associated printed material with some documents and a few photographs, including carte de visites and cabinet cards.
Item descriptions included in the container listing were provided by Mary and John McGuigan and illuminate the wide range of artists and types of material represented in the collection. While some of the letters document routine transactions such as responses to requests for information, and transmittals of autographs, others document specific artist commissions and projects, exhibition and financial arrangements, business relationships, family events, and travels. The collection includes documentation of portrait painters, including Chester Harding and Rembrandt Peale; nineteenth century landscape artists and artists of the Hudson River School including Albert Bierstadt, George Henry Boughton, Samuel Colman, Jasper Francis Cropsey, and George Inness; sculptors including Daniel Chester French whose letters include sixty-three letters to Charles Dupuy, the caretaker of French's summer home in Massachusetts; publishers such as Mathew Carey, in letters from John Neagle; and the activities of arts institutions such as the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
In addition to those mentioned above, letters and signed documents are from Washington Allston, William Holbrook Beard, Eugene Benson, William Tilden Blodgett, Jr., James Renwick Brevoort, Frederic Edwin Church, James Claghorn, John Singleton Copley, Kenyon Cox, F.O.C. Darley, Joseph DeCamp, Frank Duveneck, John Mackie Falconer, Horatio Greenough, Childe Hassam, Ignaz Michael Marcel Gaugengigl, George Healy, George Hollingsworth, William Morris Hunt, Daniel Huntington, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington, Henry Inman, Hugh Bolton Jones, Thomas Dow Jones, Louis Ashton Knight, Charles Robert Leslie, Will Low, Frederick William MacMonnies, Frank Blackwell Mayer, Samuel F. B. Morse, Erastus Dow Palmer, Rubens Peale, Elizabeth Robins Pennell, Tobias (Toby) Edward Rosenthal, John Singer Sargent, George Henry Smillie, Marie Spartali Stillman, William James Stillman, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Abbott Handerson Thayer, Charles Yardley Turner, Stephen Arnold Douglas Volk, William Walcutt, Henry Antonio Wenzler, Benjamin West, Stanford White, Worthington Whittredge, and others.
The collection also includes a friendship album belonging to William Tilden Blodgett, Jr., with poems, sketches, and botanical watercolors, eight photographs including carte de visites and cabinet cards with images of George Hollingsworth, Thomas Dow Jones, Louis Ashton Knight, Henry Antonio Wenzler, and William Walcutt, and two photographs of a model used by Francis Blackwell Mayer when painting The Burning of the Peggy Stewart.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 1 series.
Biographical / Historical:
Mary K. McGuigan and John F. McGuigan Jr. are art historians and collectors in Milford, Pennsylvania.
Provenance:
John F. McGuigan Jr. and Mary K. McGuigan purchased these letters and generously donated them to the Archives of American Art between 2000 and 2019. The McGuigans have purchased and donated additional archival materials to the Archives, including a portion of the Douglas Volk and Leonard Wells Volk papers. In 2017 the McGuigans donated an addition to the Sylvester Rosa Koehler papers, including sixty-nine letters from A. Barry, Truman Howe Bartlett, William Merritt Chase, Timothy Cole, Edward Henry Clement, Cyrus Edwin Dallin, Robert Swain Gifford, George Inness, Anna Lea Merritt, Stephen Parrish, John Sartain, Francis Hopkinson Smith, and Frederic Porter Vinton.
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.
5.1 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 6 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1905-1969
Scope and Contents:
Photographs, correspondence, appointment books, etchings, a scrapbook, printed materials, writings, and posters.
REEL D113: Primarily letters received from artists, 1940s-50s; background material for Ft.Lee and Amsterdam (N.Y.) murals; and miscellaneous printed material and photographs.
Correspondents include John Angel, Artists Equity, Peggy Bacon, Gifford Beal, Henry Billings, Isabel Bishop, Peter Blume, Louis Bouche, Van Wyck Brooks, Audrey Buller, Paul Cadmus, Alexander Calder, William Congdon, Horace T. Day, Olin Dows, Marcel Duchamp, Emlen P. Etting, Philip Evergood, Barry Faulkner, Ernest Fiene, Leon Hartl, Whitney F. Hoyt, William M. Ivins, Jr., Lincoln E. Kirstein, Leon Kroll, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Edward Laning, Joseph L. Lasker, Clare Leighton, Charles W. Locke, Sanford B.D. Low, Luigi Lucioni, Reginald Marsh, Kenneth H. Miller, Nat'l Institute of Arts and Letters, Betty Parsons, Hugo Robus, Homer Saint-Gaudens, Katherine Schmidt, Ben Shahn, Charles Sheeler, Eugene Speicher, Theodoros Stamos, Franklin C. Watkins, Forbes and Nan Watson, and Leonard Weisgard.
REEL 847: Photographs, including 67 of Schnakenberg and friends, 1 of a portrait of him by Lloyd Goff, 95 of his oil paintings, 33 of his watercolors, 25 of his works in unidentified media, 29 of works by other artists, and 46 of pre-Columbian art from Central and South America. Among artists whose works are included are Antoine Louis Barye, Albert Bierstadt, Frederick Catherwood, Constantin Guys, Thomas Hardy, William Harnett, Winslow Homer, George Inness, Eastman Johnson, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Reginald Marsh, Rockland Savery, Theodoros Stamos, and Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait.
REELS 850-853: Biographical information; personal and business correspondence; 17 diaries, mainly about Schnakenberg's travels, 1905-1960; appointment calendars, 1963-1969; 70 etchings by Schnakenberg; a scrapbook containing clippings, catalogs, and other printed material; a book published by G. Alan Chidsey on Schnakenberg; clippings, catalogs, and announcements; papers relating to gifts and acquisitions of works of art; receipts for Schnakenberg paintings from C.W. Kraushaar Galleries; a 650-page typescript for a book "The Background of Painting" by Schnakenberg; and drafts of speeches.
UNMICROFILMED: Six World War I posters designed by Schnakenberg; Christmas cards from artists and other friends; printed material; and a photograph of Lloyd Goff, inscribed to Schnakenberg, in front of one of his paintings, 1939.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, etcher; Newton, Conn.
Provenance:
Material donated 1963-1971 by Schnakenberg and, after his death, by his estate.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Correspondence with dealers, artists, museums, publishers, photography studios, and others regarding art purchases, loans, and Shaw's collection; and 16 v. of scrapbooks containing photographs, letters, and biographical information on artists. Much of the correspondence with artists relates to Shaw's requests for the information which was then used in the scrapbooks. Also included is one volume compiled in 1947 outlining the contents of the scrapbooks.
REELS 1124-1125: 16 vol. of scrapbooks, 1864-1930, relating to artists represented in Shaw's collection, containing letters, many from artists, photographs of artists and their work, biographical data, clippings and articles, and comments on their work; and 1 v., "Notes: Edwin C. Shaw Collection of Paintings," compiled in 1947, and annotated "Used at Women's Art League Meeting at Miss Shaw's in 1947 by Mrs. [Jane S.] Barnhardt, who compiled it, and then given to the Art Institute Library," containing an outline of the contents of the 16 v. of scrapbooks.
Artists represented in the scrapbooks include J. Carroll Beckwith, Frank W. Benson, Ralph Blakelock, Emil Carlsen, William Merritt Chase, Timothy Cole, Elliott Daingerfield, Cyrus B. Dallin, Charles Davis, Warren Davis, Gleb Derujinsky, Charles M. Dewey, Thomas W. Dewing, Paul Dougherty, Frank Duveneck, Charles Eaton, Frederick Frieseke, George Fuller, Lillian Genth, Childe Hassam, Charles Hawthorne, William Morris Hunt, George Inness, John Johansen, Isidore Konti, John La Farge, William Lathrop, Frederick MacMonnies, Hermon A. MacNeil, Willard Metcalf, Herman Dudley Murphy, J. Francis Murphy, A. Phimister Proctor, Henry Ward Ranger, William Ritschel, Felix Russmann, Albert P. Ryder, Eugenie F. Shonnard, Lars Gustaf Sellstedt, Elliot Torrey, Dwight Tryon, Helen M. Turner, John Twachtman, Elihu Vedder, Bessie P. Vonnoh, Robert Vonnoh, Horatio Walker, J. Alden Weir, Frederick Ballard Williams, Henry Wolf and "The Ten."
REEL 4597: Correspondence, ca. 1916-1941, concerning art acquisitions with dealers Erwin S. Barrie of Grand Central Art Galleries; Thomas Whipple Dunbar; Frederic Newlin Price and T.H. Russell of Ferargil Galleries; W. Frank Purdy of the Gorham Co. Dept. of Sculpture and later the School of American Sculpture; D.H. Hatfield of Hatfield & Clark; Thomas Gerrity of M. Knoedler & Co.; Robert Macbeth, Robert McIntyre and Henry Miller of the Macbeth Gallery; Albert Milch of E.& A. Milch, Inc.; Newman Montross of Montross Gallery; J.E. Batts of the Thurber Art Galleries; Robert C. Vose of R.C. & N.M. Vose and Vose Galleries, and their frame shop, Carrig-Rohane; Howard Young of Howard Young Galleries; and J.W. Young; correspondence with artists and/or their families requesting the artist's portrait, biographical information and background, including letters from Elliot Daingerfield, Charles Dewey, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, John C. Johansen, Willard Leroy Metcalf, Hervey W. Minns, Hermann Dudley Murphy, A.P. Proctor, Eugenie Shonnard, Elliot Torrey, Dwight W. Tryon, Helen M. Turner, and Horatio Walker, and the families of J. Carroll Beckwith, George Inness, Lars Gustaf Sellstedt, John Henry Twachtman and J. Alden Weir; correspondence with the Dayton Art Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art regarding works lent for exhibition; with publisher Frederic Fairchild Sherman; with photography studios; and other miscellaneous correspondence.
Biographical / Historical:
Art collector; Akron, Ohio. Shaw, a BF Goodrich executive and avid collector of post-Civil War American art, was one of the founders of the Akron Art Institute, now the Akron Art Museum.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1976 and 1992 by the Akron Art Museum. Shaw bequethed his art collection and papers to the Museum, then named the Akron Art Institute.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Shattuck, Aaron Draper, 1832-1928 -- Portraits -- Photographs Search this
Sully, Thomas, 1783-1872 -- Portraits -- Photographs Search this
Tuckerman, Henry T. (Henry Theodore), 1813-1871 Search this
Whittredge, Worthington, 1820-1910 -- Portraits -- Photographs Search this
Extent:
24 Items (photographic prints, b&w, 17 1/2 x 13 1/2 cm., on sheet 30 1/2 x 24 cm. or smaller.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
Portraits of artists taken by George Rockwood and Napoleon Sarony (Sarony Photographic Co.) for the large paper, extra-illustrated edition of Henry Tuckerman's, "American artist life : comprising biographical and critical sketches of American artists : preceded by an historical account of the rise and progress of art in America : with an appendix containing an account of notable pictures and private collections" (New York, G.P. Putnam & Son, 1867). Also included is a copy of Tuckerman's book (not the extra illustrated version.) Photographs include: Eugene Benson (original missing, copyprint only), Henry Kirke Brown (original missing, copyprint only), Frederic Edwin Church, Thomas Cole, J. Francis Cropsey, Christopher Cranch, F.O.C. Darley, Asher Brown Durand, Charles Loring Elliott, Sanford Robinson Gifford, Henry Peters Gray, James M. Hart, Thomas Hicks (incorrectly identified as John Ehninger), Richard W. Hubbard, Henry Inman, George Inness (incorrectly identified as Albert Bierstadt), Eastman Johnson, John F. Kensett (original missing, copyprint only), Emanuel Leutze, Jervis McEntee (original missing, copyprint only), John Rogers, A.D. Shattuck, Thomas Sully (original missing, copyprint only), and Worthington Whittredge (original missing, copyprint only).
Provenance:
The copy of Tuckerman's book was donated in 1958 by Robert McIntyre. The photographs, along with the extra illustrated edition of Henry Tuckerman's, "Book of the Artists..." (1867) were donated in 1960 by McIntyre. The folio was one of the 25 copies produced, possibly acquired by McIntyre through auction of the library of S.K. Cleven of Iowa handled by Anderson Galleries in 1915. The photographs were removed from the folio prior to its transfer to the Smithsonian American Art Museum Library. Photographer and provenance information (annotated) from Putnam's Monthly Advertiser is enclosed with the original folio housed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum Library.
Topic:
Artists -- United States -- Portraits -- Photographs Search this
