The papers of sculptor Beatrice Fenton date from 1836-1984 (bulk 1890-1978) and measure 9.36 linear feet. The collection documents Fenton's career as a sculptor and art instructor, as well as her life-long friendships with artist Emily Clayton and art educator Marjorie Martinet. Found are scattered biographical materials, correspondence primarily with Martinet (approximately 1/2 of the collection), business records, notes and writings, scattered records of arts organizations, transcripts of interviews with Fenton, sketches and sketchbooks, a scrapbook, brochures, clippings, postcards, reproductions of artwork, and photographs of friends and family, travels, and artwork. Writings include several illustrated hand-made books of poetry by Emily Clayton.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of sculptor Beatrice Fenton date from 1836-1984 (bulk 1890-1978) and measure 9.36 linear feet. The collection documents Fenton's career as a sculptor and art instructor, as well as her life-long friendships with artist Emily Clayton and art educator Marjorie Martinet. Found are scattered biographical materials, correspondence primarily between Fenton and Martinet (approximately 1/2 of the collection), business records, notes and writings, scattered records of arts organizations, transcripts of interviews with Fenton, sketches and sketchbooks, a scrapbook, brochures, clippings, postcards, reproductions of artwork, and photographs of friends and family, travels, and artwork.
The collection includes scattered biographical material for Fenton, Emily Clayton Bishop, and Marjorie Martinet, such as biographical accounts, membership cards, and a diploma. The correspondence is primarily between Fenton and Martinet and documents the development of their close friendship and professional concerns. There are also scattered letters from Fenton's instructor, Alexander S. Calder and Emily Clayton Bishop. Personal business records include those of Fenton and Martinet and include wills, estate papers, insurance and banking records, price lists, receipts, and records from the Oldfields School where Marjorie Martinet taught for 36 years. Found within the Notes and Writings series are address books, hand-made illustrated booklets of poems by Emily Clayton Bishop, lecture manuscripts, and notes and typescripts on various topics, including a file Fenton created to promote Bishop's artwork following Bishop's death.
There is a series of scattered records of arts organizations to which Fenton belonged, including the Charcoal Club, the Three Arts Club, Lizette Wood Reese Memorial Association, and the Maryland Institute Alumni Association. Also found in the papers are interview tapes and transcripts of interviews conducted with Fenton by Mary Hamel-Schwulst and Marlene Obarzaneck, artwork consisting primarily of sketchbooks and loose drawings by Fenton and Bishop, a scrapbook concerning Martinet, additional printed material, and photographs and photograph albums depicting Fenton, Martinet, Bishop, other family, colleagues, studios, artwork, and travel destinations.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 9 series. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1897-1967 (Boxes 1, 10; 5 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1857-1980 (Boxes 1-5, 10; 4.5 linear feet)
Series 3: Business Records, 1836, 1907-1978 (Box 5; 39 folders)
Series 4: Notes and Writings, 1866-1971 (Boxes 5-6; 58 folders)
Series 5: Organization Records, 1903-1938 (Box 6; 9 folders)
Series 6: Interviews, 1978 (Box 6; 5 folders)
Series 7: Artwork, 1903-1943 (Boxes 7, 10; 21 folders)
Series 8: Scrapbook, 1905-1925 (Boxes 10; 1 folder)
Series 9: Printed Material, 1865-1984 (Boxes 7-8, 10; 1.7 linear feet)
Series 10: Photographs, 1890-1978 (Boxes 9-10, MGP 6; 1.0 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Beatrice Fenton was born on July 12, 1887 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to ophthalmologist Thomas H. Fenton and Lizzie Remak Fenton, who was the daughter of prominent lawyer Gustavus Remak.
From 1903-1904 Fenton began to study art at the Philadelphia School of Industrial Art under Alexander Stirling Calder. Through her father's aunt, Mary Fenton Holmes, she met Thomas Eakins who advised her to sculpt in clay in order to overcome flatness in drawings. In 1904 Eakins painted a portrait of Fenton as the central figure in The Coral Necklace.
Fenton was attracted to sculpture and continued her studies in this field from 1904-1908 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, under Charles Grafly. Here she began life-long friendships with fellow students Marjorie Martinet and Emily Clayton Bishop.
A Cresson European Traveling Scholarship enabled Fenton to visit Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, France, and England during the summer of 1909. She returned to the Pennsylvania Academy and won a second scholarship that financed further travel to Spain, France, Holland, Belgium, and England in 1910 with Marjorie Martinet. On her return from Europe Fenton began working as an artist in Philadelphia.
Both Fenton and Martinet were deeply affected by the sudden death of Emily Clayton Bishop in 1912, and spent several years promoting Bishop's sculpture. Martinet, who changed the spelling of her surname from Martenet to Martinet in June 1918, established her own art school in Baltimore, Maryland, and later taught painting at the Maryland Institute of Art. Fenton and Martinet maintained a close relationship for fifty years, primarily through correspondence.
Fenton's first success came with a portrait bust of her father's friend, painter and etcher Peter Moran, brother of Thomas Moran. The bust was purchased by the painter's friends for the Art Club and in 1915 won Honorable Mention in the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. The success of Fenton's Seaweed Fountain in 1922 generated many commissions, primarily for fountains.
Martinet taught at Oldfields School from 1925 to 1961. From 1942 to 1953, Fenton taught at the Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, and later joined the faculty of St. John's Night School for Adults.
Beatrice Fenton died February 11, 1983 in Germantown, Pennsylvania.
Provenance:
The Beatrice Fenton papers were donated from 1987-1991 by Joan Martin, a sculptor and former Fenton student, who inherited Fenton's studio and its contents.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use 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:
Sculptors -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Papers document ophthalmologist, inventor, scientist, and educator, Dr. Patricia Bath (1942-2019), a pioneering laser scientist whose patented medical invention—the LaserPhaco.
Content Description:
The papers document Dr. Bath's medical career and professional positions, invention work on the Laserphaco, advocacy and
community work, presentations, and publications. The collection contains awards, clippings, correspondence, patents, research
notes, business records, education materials, scrapbooks, photographs and slides, audio visual materials, physician's bag, and
a prototype of her Laserphaco Probe.
Arrangement:
Collection is unarranged.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Eraka Bath, 2023
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
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.
Dr. Patricia Bath was born in 1942 in New York. She conceived of the Laserphaco Probe in 1981 and patented it in 1988 (US Patent # 4,744,360 for an "Apparatus for ablating and removing cataract lenses"). The collection contains original and reference video footage of Dr. Bath's Innovative Lives Presentation documenting her work in the field of ophthalmology and her work creating and patenting the LaserPhaco Probe, an instrument to remove cataracts. Also included is an interview with Dr. Bath at her home in Los Angeles and an interview with her daughter, Eraka Bath and supplemental documentation assembled by Dr. Bath. The documentation includes photocopies of articles, patents, biographical sketch material, and selected publications and references to related to lasers and surgery of Dr. Bath
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of 8.5 hours of original (BetaCam SP) video recordings and reference (viewing) copies (VHS) documenting the life and career of Dr. Patricia Bath. The recordings include a presentation by Dr. Bath for the Lemelson Center's Innovative Lives Program and interviews at her home and laboratory in Los Angeles. The collection also includes an interview with Dr. Bath's daughter, Eraka Bath, and copies of footage from other sources about Dr. Bath's work. Additionally, there is supplemental documentation assembled by Dr. Bath. The documentation includes photocopies of articles, patents, biographical sketch material, and selected publications and references to related to lasers and surgery of Dr. Bath.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into three series.
Series 1, Original Videos, 2000
Series 2, Reference Videos, 2000
Series 3, Supplemental Documentation
Biographical / Historical:
Dr. Patricia Bath (1942-) was born in New York. She attended Charles Evans Hughes High School, Hunter College (B.A. 1964), and Howard University College of Medicine (M.D. 1968). Bath held a fellowship in ophthalmology at Columbia University (1969-1970) and an internship at New York University (1970-1973) where she was the first African American resident in ophthalmology. Dr. Bath later joined the faculty of UCLA and Charles R. Drew University in surgery and ophthalmology and later the Department of Ophthalmology at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute. In 1976, Dr. Bath and other colleagues formed the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness (AIPB). Dr. Bath conceived of the Laserphaco, an instrument to remove cataracts in 1981. She received US patent #4,744,360 for an "Apparatus for ablating and removing cataract lenses" on May 17, 1988. Later patents include a method and apparatus for ablating and removing cataract lenses; laser apparatus for surgery of cataractous lenses; and pulsed ultrasound method for fragmenting/emulsifying and removing cataractous lenses. Dr. Bath retired from the UCLA Medical Center in 1993 to work in telemedicine, the use of electronic communication to provide medical services to remote areas where healthcare is limited.
The Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation was founded in 1995 at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History through a generous gift from the Lemelson Foundation. The Center's mission is: to document, interpret, and disseminate information about invention and innovation; to encourage inventive creativity in young people; and to foster an appreciation for the central role invention and innovation play in the history of the United States. The Innovative Lives series brings together Museum visitors and especially, school age children, and American inventors to discuss inventions and the creative process and to experiment and play with hands-on activities related to each inventor's product. This collection was recorded by the Innovative Lives Program of the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.
Related Materials:
An anatomical eye (accession # 2000.0038.01) was donated to the Division of Medicine and Science in 2000 by Dr. Patricia Bath.
Provenance:
This collection was recorded by the Innovative Lives Program of The Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation on March 1, 2000. The Innovative Lives series brings Museum visitors and American inventors together to discuss inventions and the creative process and to experiment and play with hands-on activities related to each inventor's product.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but the original videos are 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.
This collection consists of three 5-year diaries (1978-1992) kept by Gertrude Farrington, a member of Connecticut's Ridgefield Garden Club. Farrington's diaries track her daily tasks, garden club activities, and weather forecasts, and include occasional commentaries on national events.
