Search Results

Creator:

Blue Eagle, Acee, 1907-1959  Search this

Names:

Abbott, Mae  Search this

Beaver, Fred  Search this

Bosin, Blackbear, 1921-1980  Search this

Campbell, Walter S.  Search this

Dale, Edward E.  Search this

Debo, Angie, 1890-1988  Search this

Dja, Devi  Search this

Echohawk, Brummett T., 1922-2006  Search this

Fairbanks, Charles H. (Charles Herron), 1913-1985  Search this

Feder, Norman  Search this

Field, Dorothy  Search this

Gilcrease, Thomas, 1890-1962  Search this

Houser, Allan, 1914-1994  Search this

Howe, Oscar, 1915-1983  Search this

Jackson, Oscar B.  Search this

Lemos, Pedro de  Search this

Marriott, Alice  Search this

Martinez, Julian, -1943  Search this

Martínez, María Montoya  Search this

McCombs, Solomon, 1913-1980 (Creek)  Search this

Medicine Crow, Joseph, 1913-2016  Search this

Mirabel, Eva  Search this

Momaday, Al  Search this

Pond, Charles E.  Search this

Rowan, Edward B.  Search this

Shears, Glen E.  Search this

Sheets, Nan  Search this

Steinke, Bettina, 1913-1999  Search this

Sunrise, Riley  Search this

Te Ata  Search this

Whitehorse, Roland Noah, 1920-1998  Search this

Extent:

673 Paintings (visual works) (approximate)

30 Linear feet (55 document boxes and 8 oversize boxes)

Culture:

Muskogee (Creek)  Search this

Indians of North America -- Southeast  Search this

Indians of North America -- Great Plains  Search this

Chaticks Si Chaticks (Pawnee)  Search this

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Paintings (visual works)

Date:

1907 - 1975

Summary:

Acee Blue Eagle was a Pawnee-Creek artist, poet, dancer, teacher, and celebrity. The papers relate to both Blue Eagle's personal and professional life. Also included are some materials of Blue Eagle's friend Mae Abbott and a collection of art by other Indians.

Scope and Contents:

This collection reflects the life and work of Acee Blue Eagle, internationally famed Indian artist of Oklahoma. Identified for his brilliant paintings of tribal ceremonies, legend and dance, Blue Eagle's work is represented in numerous private collections and museums both in this country and abroad.

A portion of the papers contains correspondence. Fan mail written by school children to Chief Blue Eagle of the Chief Blue Eagle television program is included. Letters regarding Blue Eagle's participation in Indian festivals and events, art shows and exhibitions, speaking engagements on Indian life and culture are found in the collection. Personal correspondence is included; most frequent correspondents are Devi Dja, Mae Abbott, and Charles E. Pond. There are approximately 100 letters from Devi Dja, approximately 90 to or from Mae Abbott, and approximately 36 from Charles E. Pond. Some letters addressed to these individuals from other friends and acquaintances are also within this collection.

Photographs comprise a large portion of the Blue Eagle collection. Included are not only portraits of the artist himself and photographs of his art work, but a large number of prints of Blue Eagle in full costume and other Indians engaged in tribal ceremonies, identified by tribe, whenever possible. Photographs of Mae Abbott, Devi Dja and the latter's Balinese dance troupe are identified. A file of negatives is arranged in the same subject order as the prints. Newspaper and magazine clippings regarding Blue Eagle's work and activities are also included in the collection. These clippings have not been arranged. In addition, Mae Abbott's recipes and notes for her cookbook, wood blocks, greeting cards and other miscellaneous publications can be found in the collection. These items have been sorted but not arranged.

Within the collection are also over 600 pieces of artwork. A good number are by Blue Eagle while most are by other Native artists. Artists whose are work are represented in the collection include Fred Beaver, Harrison Begay, Archie Blackowl, Woodrow Crumbo, Allan Houser, Ruthe Blalock Jones, Quicy Tahoma, Pablita Verde, and members of the Kiowa Five (Spencer Asah, James Auchiah, Stephen Mopope, Monroe Tsatoke).

Arrangement note:

The collection is arranged into six series: 1) Personal; 2) Collections; 3) Artwork; 4) Television; 5) Correspondence; 6) Photographs.

Biographical / Historical:

Acee Blue Eagle was an artist, poet, dancer, teacher, and celebrity. Born Alex C. McIntosh in 1907, Blue Eagle attended Indian schools in Anadarko, Nuyaka, and Euchee, Oklahoma, and the Haskell and Chilocco Indian schools. Advanced study came at Bacone Indian College and the University of Oklahoma. At the latter, he studied with Oscar B. Jacobson. Privately he studied with Winold Reiss. Discrepancies exist in the records regarding his early life: born in either Anadarko or Hitchita, Oklahoma; he's cited as both Pawnee-Creek and 5/8 Creek without any Pawnee blood; his mother is either Mattie Odom, the first wife of Solomon McIntosh or Ella Starr, McIntosh's second wife.

A prolific painter who, for the sake of authenticity, carried out research in libraries and museums, Blue Eagle was an outstanding American Indian artist of the 1930s-1950s. His paintings hung in many exhibits, including the Exposition of Indian Tribal Arts, 1932-1933; International Art Exhibition of Sport Subjects at Los Angeles, 1932; Chicago Century of Progress Exposition, 1934; a one-man show at the Young Galleries in Chicago; National Exhibition of Art at the Rockefeller Center in New York, 1936; a one-man show at the Washington, D.C., Arts Club, 1936; Museum of Modern Art, 1941; Northwest Art Exhibition at Spokane, Washington, 1944; a one-man show at the Gilcrease Institute in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1953; An Exposition of American Indian Painters in New York, 1955; and a one-man show at the Philbrook Art Center in Tulsa, 1957. Between 1946 and 1965, over fifty galleries hung his paintings. Some pieces are among the permanent holdings of many institutions.

In 1934, Blue Eagle joined the Work Projects Administration (WPA) Public Works of Art Project, painting murals in public buildings. In 1935 at Oxford University, he participated in a program of the International Federation of Education and lectured on Indian art. A tour of Europe followed. He taught at Bacone Indian College from 1935-1938 where he founded the art program and became Director of Art. He also taught at the University of Kansas extension division in 1949 and Oklahoma State Technical College beginning in 1956. During World War II, he served in the United States Army Air Force; and, following the war, he spent a few years attempting to get into the movies. During 1946-1952, he was married to his second wife, a famous Balinese dancer, Devi Dja, and became involved in her career, an involvement that was briefly reflected in his art. However, Dja and Blue Eagle divorced and Blue Eagle lived with Mae Wadley Abbott for the last years of his life. During the 1950s, he had a television show for children on a Tulsa-Muskogee station. Acee Blue Eagle died on June 18, 1959 of a liver infection.

Sources Consulted

Martindale, Rob. Muskogee Paying Tribute to Blue Eagle. Biographical/Genealogical data, Box 1, Acee Blue Eagle Collection, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

West, Juanita W. 1967. Acee Blue Eagle: A.C. McIntosh. Biographical/Genealogical data, Box 1, Acee Blue Eagle Collection, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

1907 -- Born August 17, 1907 on the Wichita Reservation, north of Anadarko, Oklahoma

1928 -- Graduated Chilocco High School

1929-1934 -- Attended Bacone College, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State Tech

1935 -- Toured United States and Europe giving lecture-exhibition program, "Life and Character of the American Indian"

1935-1938 -- Established and headed art department at Bacone College at Muskogee

1936 -- Exhibited at the National Exhibition of Art, Rockefeller Center, New York

1942-1945 -- World War II, U.S. Air Force (Army)

1947-49 -- Free-lance work in New York and Chicago

1951-52 -- Artist-in-residence at Oklahoma Tech

1950-54 -- Conducted TV program, Muskogee, OklahomaToured U.S. West Coast exhibiting and lecturing about ways to improve TV programs for children

1958 -- Named Indian-of-the-Year by the American Indian Expostion at Anadarko, Oklahoma

1959 -- Died June 18, 1959

Related Materials:

Other materials relating to Acee Blue Eagle at the National Anthropological Archives include correspondence in the Solomon McCombs papers, 1914-1972, and correspondence with Betty Meilink under Manuscript 2011-20.

Provenance:

Acee Blue Eagle's private papers and collection of paintings were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Mrs. Mae Abbott of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Restrictions:

There are no restrictions on access.

Rights:

Literary property rights to unpublished material in the collection in the National Anthropological Archives has been given to the public.

Topic:

Indian art -- North America  Search this

Works of art  Search this

Citation:

Acee Blue Eagle Papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Identifier:

NAA.1973-51

See more items in:

Acee Blue Eagle papers

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-naa-1973-51

Creator:

Goodrich, Lloyd, 1897-1987  Search this

Interviewer:

Phillips, Harlan B. (Harlan Buddington), 1920-  Search this

Names:

Art Students League (New York, N.Y.) -- Students  Search this

National Academy of Design (U.S.)  Search this

Public Works of Art Project  Search this

Whitney Museum of American Art  Search this

Eakins, Thomas, 1844-1916  Search this

Field, Hamilton Easter  Search this

Force, Juliana, 1876-1948  Search this

Marsh, Reginald, 1898-1954  Search this

Miller, Kenneth Hayes, 1876-1952  Search this

Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946  Search this

Watson, Forbes, 1880-1960  Search this

Extent:

225 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Interviews

Date:

1962 June 13-1963 March 25

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Lloyd Goodrich conducted 1962 June 13-1963 March 25, by Harlan Phillips, for the Archives of American Art. Goodrich speaks of his youth in Nutley, New Jersey; his family background; his father's influence; his friendship with Reginald Marsh; studying at the Art Students League under Kenneth Hayes Miller; attending the National Academy of Design; his interest in music and poetry; deciding upon a career in art; working as a writer, editor, and critic for "The Arts"; his travels for "The Arts"; critics he knew; his book on Thomas Eakins; his work with the Public Works of Art Project; political problems with government support of the arts in the 1930s through the 1950s; working as a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art; the problem of forgeries; the Whitney's relationship with other museums; and politics at the Whitney. He recalls Juliana Force, Forbes Watson, Alfred Stieglitz and Hamilton Easter Field.

Biographical / Historical:

Lloyd Goodrich (1897-1987) was a museum director and art historian living in New York, New York.

Provenance:

These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.

Restrictions:

This transcript is open for research. No audio exists. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Occupation:

Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this

Topic:

Art and state  Search this

Art -- Forgeries  Search this

Museum directors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this

Function:

Art museums -- New York (State) -- New York

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Identifier:

AAA.goodri62

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-goodri62

Publisher:

Watson, J. Forbes (John Forbes), 1827-1892.  Search this

Kaye, John William, Sir, 1814-1876  Search this

Collection Publisher:

Watson, J. Forbes (John Forbes), 1827-1892.  Search this

Kaye, John William, Sir, 1814-1876  Search this

Extent:

1 Volume

Culture:

Muslims  Search this

Hindus  Search this

Sikhs  Search this

Jains  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Volumes

Local Numbers:

FSA A1990.03 6

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Topic:

Indigenous peoples -- South Asia  Search this

Ethnography -- South Asia  Search this

Collection Citation:

The People of India, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Purchase

Identifier:

FSA.A1990.03, Series FSA A1990.03 6

See more items in:

The People of India A Series of Photographic Illustrations, with Descriptive Letterpress, of the Races and Tribes of Hindustan

Archival Repository:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-fsa-a1990-03-ref6

Publisher:

Watson, J. Forbes (John Forbes), 1827-1892.  Search this

Kaye, John William, Sir, 1814-1876  Search this

Collection Publisher:

Watson, J. Forbes (John Forbes), 1827-1892.  Search this

Kaye, John William, Sir, 1814-1876  Search this

Extent:

1 Volume

Culture:

Hindus  Search this

Muslims  Search this

Christians  Search this

Malay  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Volumes

Local Numbers:

FSA A1990.03 8

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Topic:

Indigenous peoples -- South Asia  Search this

Ethnography -- South Asia  Search this

Collection Citation:

The People of India, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Purchase

Identifier:

FSA.A1990.03, Series FSA A1990.03 8

See more items in:

The People of India A Series of Photographic Illustrations, with Descriptive Letterpress, of the Races and Tribes of Hindustan

Archival Repository:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-fsa-a1990-03-ref8

Interviewee:

Sayre, Eleanor A.  Search this

Interviewer:

Brown, Robert F.  Search this

Names:

Ashmolean Museum  Search this

Bryn Mawr College -- Students  Search this

Fogg Art Museum  Search this

Harvard University -- Students  Search this

Lyman Allyn Museum  Search this

Museo del Prado  Search this

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston  Search this

Rhode Island School of Design. Museum of Art  Search this

Yale University. Art Gallery  Search this

Ames, Winslow  Search this

Constable, W. G. (William George), 1887-1976  Search this

Edgell, George Harold, b. 1887  Search this

Forbes, Edward Waldo, 1873-1969  Search this

Goya, Francisco, 1746-1828  Search this

Hofer, Philip, 1898-1984  Search this

Karolik, Maxim  Search this

King, Georgiana Goddard, 1871-1939  Search this

Rathbone, Perry Townsend, 1911-2000  Search this

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1606-1669  Search this

Rosenberg, Jakob, 1893-  Search this

Rossiter, Henry P. (Henry Preston), b. 1885  Search this

Sachs, Paul J. (Paul Joseph), 1878-1965  Search this

Seybolt, George Crossan, 1914-1993  Search this

Sizer, Theodore, 1892-1967  Search this

Swarzenski, Hanns, 1903-1985  Search this

Washburn, Gordon B. (Gordon Bailey), 1904-1983  Search this

Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924  Search this

Extent:

213 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Place:

Philippines -- History -- Japanese occupation, 1942-1945

Spain -- History -- 1939-1975

Date:

1993 April 19-1997 January 10

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Eleanor Sayre conducted 1993 April 19-1997 January 10, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.

Sayre talks about her early childhood in Williamstown and Cambridge, Mass.; her family background; visits to the White House with her maternal grandfather, Woodrow Wilson; living abroad while her father was in government service in Bangkok, then Siam (now Thailand), Paris, and Switzerland, with extensive recollections of her brothers and schooling in Europe.

Attending Winsor School in Boston; her mother's death; her years at Bryn Mawr College, including her switch to art history from political science; Georgianna Goddard King as an influential teacher; an internship under Laura Dudley at the Fogg Art Museum's Print Room and the lasting effect of this experience.

Being a graduate student in fine arts at Harvard and the importance of Edward Forbes and Paul Sachs as teachers; her decision not to pursue a PhD; working with Jakob Rosenberg; helping to get young Jews out of Europe; her position as assistant for exhibitions at Yale University Art Gallery under Theodore Sizer; the trauma of her father's internment by the Japanese in the Philippines, where he was High Commissioner and his rescue; and her decision to turn down a military intelligence job in order to work with German Jewish refugees.

Her brief tenure at Lyman-Allyn Museum, Conn., under Winslow Ames; her years in the education department under Lydia "Ma" Powel at the Museum of Art of the Rhode Island School of Design with Gordon Washburn as director; and working closely with Heinrich Schwartz on prints and drawings.

The liberal tradition of her father's wealthy family; her father; being brought to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston by its curator of prints, Henry Rossiter and on the charming collector and benefactor, Maxim Karolik; MFA curator of paintings, William George Constable; and George Harold Edgell, MFA director.

The collector, Philip Hofer, who by putting his Goya proofs on loan at the MFA, led to Sayre's life-long study of the artist; her research on Goya in Spain; raising of a large sum from Boston businesses to purchase Hofer's prints for the MFA, and the MFA's eminence by the 1960s in Goya's graphic work; the disgusting repression of dissent in Franco-era Spain; Goya's passionate self-assertion, which is what principally attracted Sayre to his work, and his conceptual process and method of work.

Earlier years at the MFA, Boston, including the accessibility of the print department's study rooms; Edwin J. Hipkiss, curator of American decorative arts; the Christmas poetry and prints exhibitions designed as profound learning experiences for a broad public; and being chosen as successor to Rossiter; and further comments on Maxim Karolik.

W.G. Russell Allen and other collectors who gave their collections to the MFA; her efforts to effectively present art to the broad public; her methods of appealing to the public coalescing at the MFA in 1989 with the "Goya and the Spirit of the Enlightenment" exhibition; and an exhibition of the work of Beatrix Potter.

Spain under the dictator, Francisco Franco; her first study in Spain of Goya's drawings and her urging the Prado Museum to conserve its drawings; the Prado's director, F. Sanchez-Canton; her research on prostitution at the Ministry of Justice; being decorated for her recommending the preservation of Goya's art and the marvelous private collections of Goya in Spain; and her obsession with interpreting the meaning of Goya's work.

The MFA, Boston, under the directorship of Perry Rathbone, who wanted many more people involved than had his predecessor, George Harold Edgell, who ran it like a Boston Brahmin Club; Rathbone's accomplishments; his downfall and that of his assistant (and curator of European decorative arts and sculpture) Hanns Swarzenski in bringing a so-called Raphael into this country by irregular means, which led to Rathbone and Swarzenski's firing by George Seybolt, the trustee president; Rathbone's reluctance to hire women curators and Sayre's finally becoming curator of prints and drawings in 1967; her philosophy as curator; on Hanns and Brigitte Swarzenski as dear friends; her exchange of positions with the curator of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, where she put their valuable but neglected print collection in order.

The exhibition and catalog, "Rembrandt: Experimental Etcher," (1969) in collaboration with the Pierpont Morgan Library; general views on exhibitions; co-authoring the exhibition catalog "Goya and the Spiris of Enlightenment" (1989); her contributions to Goya research; her current research and writing on Goya's Capaprichos print series; and her satisfaction in having spent her career in art museums.

Biographical / Historical:

Eleanor A. Sayre (1916-2001) was a curator and art historian from Boston, Mass.

General:

Originally recorded on 8 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 15 digital wav files. Duration is 11 hrs., 21 min.

Provenance:

This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.

Occupation:

Art historians -- Interviews  Search this

Printmakers  Search this

Topic:

Jewish refugees -- Germany  Search this

Museum curators -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Interviews  Search this

World War, 1939-1945 -- Germany -- Refugees  Search this

World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, American  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Sponsor:

Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.

Identifier:

AAA.sayre93

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-sayre93

Creator:

Page, William, 1811-1885  Search this

Names:

National Academy of Design (U.S.)  Search this

Beecher, Henry Ward, 1813-1887  Search this

Beecher, Thomas Kinnicut, 1824-1900  Search this

Briggs, Charles F. (Charles Frederick), 1804-1877  Search this

Curtis, George William, 1824-1892  Search this

Cushman, Charlotte, 1816-1876  Search this

Fenton, Rueben  Search this

Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879  Search this

Hicks, Thomas, 1823-1890  Search this

Lowell, James Russell, 1819-1891  Search this

O'Donovan, William Rudolph, 1844-1920  Search this

Olmstead, Bertha  Search this

Olmstead, Mary  Search this

Page, Sophia Stevens, 1827-1892  Search this

Page, William, 1811-1885  Search this

Perry, E. W. (Enoch Wood), 1831-1915  Search this

Phillips, Wendell, 1811-1884  Search this

Scranton, William Walker  Search this

Shaw, Francis George, 1809-1882  Search this

Stark, William, 1825-1873  Search this

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874  Search this

Tilton, Theodore, 1835-1907  Search this

Wilmarth, Lemuel Everett, 1835-1918  Search this

Extent:

11.06 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Sketches

Poems

Drawings

Diaries

Date:

1815-1947

bulk 1843-1892

Summary:

The papers of the portraitist and art theorist William Page and the Page family measure 11.06 linear feet and date from 1815 to 1947, bulk 1843-1892. In addition to the papers of William Page, the papers include documents related to Page's wife's career as a writer and records documenting their personal lives and the lives of their family members. Types of documents found include personal documents and artifacts, correspondence, essays, lectures, diaries, poems, notes and notebooks, financial records, legal records, published works, clippings, catalogs, photographs, and artwork.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of the painter William Page and the Page family measure 11.06 linear feet and date from 1815 to 1947, with the bulk of papers dating from 1843 to 1892. Papers contain records related to the life and career of William Page, president of the National Academy of Design from 1871 to 1873 and prominent portraitist and art theorist of his day. Also found are records related to his wife's career as a writer and records documenting their personal lives and the lives of their family members. Types of documents found include personal documents and artifacts, correspondence, essays, lectures, diaries, poems, notes and notebooks, financial records, legal records, published works, clippings, catalogs, photographs, and artwork.

Correspondence includes the personal and professional correspondence of William and Sophia Page, and their parents, siblings, and children. Significant correspondents include Thomas Hicks, Enoch Wood Perry, William Stark, Theodore Tilton, Lemuel Wilmarth, Wendell Phillips, William Walker Scranton, Francis G. Shaw; James Russell Lowell, Charles Frederick Briggs, George W. Curtis, Charlotte Cushman, Thomas K. Beecher, Mary Olmsted, and Bertha Olmsted.

Writings include the essays and lectures of William Page, as written by him and revised by Sophia Page in the late 1870s, as well as Sophia's writings as a columnist in Europe in the 1850s. Notes, notebooks, diaries, and poems are also found. Personal Business Records include business records related to the sale and exhibition of artwork as well as financial and legal documents. A small number of memoranda and documents related to Page's work at the National Academy of Design are also found. Printed Materials include exhibition catalogs, published works by William and Sophia Page, and clippings and articles about Page.

Photographs consist mainly of portraits, most of them mounted cabinet photographs or cartes-des-visites, some of which appear to have been used as studies for Page's painted portraits. Among those pictured are William Page, James Russell Lowell, Henry Ward Beecher, Reuben Fenton, Wendell Phillips, Charles Sumner, William R. O'Donovan, and William Lloyd Garrison. Many of the photographic portraits are unidentified. Artwork includes sketches, drawings, prints, and a small number of notes made by Page in the course of painting portraits.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into 7 series. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.

Series 1: Biographical Materials and Artifacts, 1847-1917 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1815-1942 (Boxes 1-4, 9-10; 3.2 linear feet)

Series 3: Notes and Writings, 1839-1888, 1949 (Boxes 4-5, OV 10; 1.3 linear feet)

Series 4: Personal Business Records, 1848-1932 (Boxes 5 and 9; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 5: Printed Materials, 1845-1938 (Boxes 5-7, 9, OV 11; 1.6 linear feet)

Series 6: Photographs, 1845-1947 (Boxes 7-9, OV 12, MGP 5-6; 1.4 linear feet)

Series 7: Artwork, 1856-1874 (Box 8, OV 13-16, rolled documents 17-19; 0.6 linear feet and 3 rolled documents)

Biographical Note:

The painter William Page was born in 1811 in Albany, NY. He attended public schools in New York City, and after working briefly in the law firm of Frederick de Peyster, was placed in the studio of the painter/engraver James Herring in 1825, where he received his first formal art training. He took classes at the National Academy of Design the year it was formed, in 1826, under Samuel F.B. Morse, and in 1827 he was awarded one of the National Academy's first annual student prizes.

Page joined the Presbyterian church and attended Phillips Academy and Amherst with the intention of becoming a minister, but his artistic ability won out, and by 1830 he was painting commissioned portraits in Albany, Rochester, and New York. He married Lavinia Twibill in 1833, and they had three daughters between 1834 and 1839. He joined the American Academy and served on its board of directors in 1835. He exhibited at the American Academy, the National Academy of Design, the Boston Athenaeum, and other venues throughout the 1830s. Favorable reviews brought steady portrait commissions, including John Quincy Adams and the New York governor William L. Marcy. He was made a full member of the National Academy in 1837.

In the 1840s, Page's reputation and maturity as a painter grew. His first wife left him around 1840, and in 1843 he married Sarah Dougherty. The couple moved to Albany, Boston, and back to New York seeking portrait commissions and patronage. He became friends with the poet James Russell Lowell and the writer and publisher Charles Frederick Briggs, two writers and editors who helped to promote his artwork in Boston and New York and published his theoretical writings. In 1844, Lowell dedicated his first published book of poetry to Page, and the following year, Briggs published a series of articles by Page in the Broadway Journal, entitled "The Art of the Use of Color in Imitation in Painting." The series described Page's arduous experiments with color and glazes, and his ideas about correspondences between spirituality and the natural world as expressed in art.

In 1850, Page traveled to Florence, Italy, where he painted several copies of the works of Titian in the galleries of the Uffizi and Pitti palaces, studying his use of color and further developing his own experimental techniques. He became friends with the sculptor Hiram Powers, who introduced him to the writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg, a Christian metaphysician whose ideas fueled Page's interest in the spiritual aspects of art. In 1852, Page moved to Rome, a city with an international artists' community and a strong market for art. Page found a loyal following in Rome's large circle of American ex-patriates, including the sculptors Thomas Crawford and Harriet Hosmer, the actress Charlotte Cushman, and the poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, all of whom sat for portraits by Page.

In 1854, Page's second wife left him amidst public scandal, and he sank deep in debt to his bankers at Packenham and Hooker, an English firm that by 1856 had a lien on all the paintings in his studio. That same year Page met Sophia Stevens Hitchcock, an American widow traveling in Rome with Bertha Olmsted, Frederick Law Olmsted's sister. Hitchcock was from Barnet, Vermont and came to Europe after her first husband died in 1852 after only a year of marriage. She traveled to England and Paris, where she wrote regular columns on local customs and events for the New York Tribune that were published under the by-line "An American Woman in Paris." She and Page met in Rome in 1856, and in October 1857, after Page traveled back the United States to obtain a divorce from Sarah Dougherty, he and Sophia married.

The couple stayed in Rome until 1860. His wife's three brothers, all businessmen, helped to promote his artwork in Europe and America. Page's paintings of this period include several Venus subjects, one of which was championed by his most loyal patrons, who raised $3000 by subscription to buy the painting for the Boston Athenaeum. A later Venus painting was rejected from the Paris salon for indecency, a controversy that was later leveraged for publicity in a touring exhibition in the United States.

The Pages returned to the United States in 1860 and settled in Tottenville, New York. They had six children between 1858 and 1870. Page had a studio at Eagleswood, NJ, and later in the Studio Building on 10th Street in Manhattan, where he held a large exhibition in 1867. In the 1860s, he painted a self-portrait and a companion portrait of Sophia set in Rome, as well as a series of civil war heroes including Robert Gould Shaw, Winfield Scott, and David Farragut. Photographs played a consistent part in Page's technique of portraiture, and he is known to have worked with the photographer Matthew Brady, who attended art classes early on with Page, as well as the photographers Sarony and Charles Williamson, who taught classes on drawing from enlarged photo-transparencies. Brady photographs taken for Page include David Farragut and Reuben Fenton.

Page lectured frequently on Titian and Venetian art, a subject in which he was considered an expert, and on painting technique and his philosophical ideas about nature, art, and spirituality. In 1871, Page was elected the president of the National Academy of Design, a post he held until 1873, but his poor health following a collapse in 1872 limited his accomplishments in office. Despite these limitations, he continued to paint, including portraits of General Grant, an idealized portrait of the president based on early photographs and Charles Sumner. He also became interested in portraiture of William Shakespeare around this time, and his studies resulted in a book, Shakespeare's Portraits, a bust based on existing portraiture, and a full-length portrait entitled "Shakespeare Reading," based on Page's measurements of a supposed death mask in Darmstadt, Germany, which he went to inspect against the advice of his doctor in 1874.

In 1877, another collapse left Page incapacitated for the remainder of his life. Sophia Page tried editing and publishing his writings and lectures, but with little success. Page died in 1885. A life marked by personal scandal ended the same, when two of his daughters from his first marriage contested his will, tying up his estate in a lengthy and public probate trial. Their suit was dismissed in 1889, and Sophia Page died in 1892.

This biography relies heavily on Joshua Taylor's William Page: The American Titian (1957).

Separated Material:

The Archives of American Art also holds materials lent for microfilming (reel 1091) including letters from Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, Lydia Maria Child, Charlotte Cushman, James Russell Lowell, Charles A. Dana, and others. Lent material was returned to the donor and is This material is not described in the container listing of this finding aid.

Provenance:

A portion of the collection was donated to the Archives of American Art by Mrs. Lesslie S. (Pauline Page) Howell, William Page's grandaughter, in 1963. William S. Page, Pauline Page Howell's nephew, donated additional papers in 1964 and 1973. Pauline Page Howell and William S. Page also loaned a group of letters to the Archives in 1964 which were microfilmed on reel 1091 and then returned to the donors. Mrs. Howell's son, William Page Howell, donated material in 1980.

Letters of Charles F. Briggs to James Russell Lowell (Series 2.2) were a part of Pauline Page Howell's 1963 donation to the Archives of American Art. They had been given to Mrs. Howell by Charlotte Briggs, daughter of Charles F. Briggs, because of her father's lifelong friendship with William Page. Letters from Lowell to Briggs are in the James Russell Lowell papers in Houghton Library at Harvard University.

Restrictions:

The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.

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:

Works of art  Search this

Portrait painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Portrait painting -- 19th century -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs

Sketches

Poems

Drawings

Diaries

Citation:

William Page and Page Family papers, 1815-1947, bulk 1843-1892. 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. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.

Identifier:

AAA.pagewill

See more items in:

William Page and Page Family papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-pagewill

Artist:

Cornell, Joseph  Search this

Names:

Benton, Elizabeth Cornell  Search this

Cornell, Robert  Search this

Extent:

196.8 Linear feet

186 Nitrate negatives

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Nitrate negatives

Photographs

Place:

New York, New York

Date:

1750-1980, bulk 1930-1972

Summary:

The Joseph Cornell Study Center collection measures 196.8 linear feet and dates from 1750 to 1980, with the bulk of the material dating from 1930 to 1972. Documenting the artistic career and personal life of assemblage artist Joseph Cornell (1903-1972), the collection is primarily made up of two- and three-dimensional source material, the contents of the artists' studio, his record album collection, and his book collection and personal library. The collection also includes diaries and notes, financial and estate papers, exhibition materials, collected artifacts and ephemera, photographs, correspondence, and the papers of Robert Cornell (1910-1965) and Helen Storms Cornell (1882-1966), the artist's brother and mother.

Scope and Contents:

The Joseph Cornell Study Center collection measures 196.8 linear feet and dates from 1750 to 1980, with the bulk of the material dating from 1930 to 1972. Documenting the artistic career and personal life of assemblage artist Joseph Cornell (1903-1972), the collection is primarily made up of two- and three-dimensional source material, the contents of the artists' studio, his record album collection, and his book collection and personal library. The collection also includes diaries and notes, financial and estate papers, exhibition materials, collected artifacts and ephemera, photographs, correspondence, and the papers of Robert Cornell (1910-1965) and Helen Storms Cornell (1882-1966), the artist's brother and mother.

Correspondence is with collectors, museums, galleries, artists, friends, family, charity organizations, admirers and those admired by Cornell, and World War II European pen pals. Discussions about the appreciation, donation, sale, purchase, and exhibition of Cornell's works are frequent, with the inclusion of shipping and loan documentation or notices of payment installments. Galleries and museums frequently request that Cornell agree to an exhibition, which he often declines, and fans request free works be mailed or affordable works be sold to them. With friends, artists, and those he admired, Cornell discussed topics that fascinate him, included bits of poetry or philosophical musings, sent clippings or a collaged letter, and occasionally discussed a project or work in process. After World War II, when so many were displaced by the war in Europe, Cornell answered ads for pen pals in the "Christian Science Monitor," often responding to requests for clothing or other goods, and sometimes exchanging many letters over several years. Family correspondence is with his mother, sisters, brother, and others, and often notes activities of the day, foods eaten, and general musings, as well as occasionally mentioning a project or artwork. Correspondents of note include Stan Brakhage, Betty Freeman, Charles Henri Ford, Allegra Kent, Yayoi Kusama, Roberto Matta, Marianne Moore, Octavio Paz, Sonia Sekula, Pavel Tchelitchew, Parker Tyler, Dorothea Tanning, and Betsy von Furstenberg, among others.

Cornell was often preoccupied with his thoughts, feelings, memories, a project or thematic "exploration," and jotted notes on seemingly any surface available. Notes and musings are on napkins, the backs of envelopes, newspaper clippings, and paper bags from record and magazine stores. Frequently, an observation would trigger a lengthy nostalgic moment, or a "feé," fairy-like child or girl, would capture his imagination and lead him to thoughts of 18th-century ballerinas and silent film stars. Cornell wrote longer diary notes, sometimes expanding on an earlier notation or emotion, and often wrote when he experienced trouble sleeping or woke early. Drafted letters to imaginary muses or admired individuals are interspersed among diaries, often revealing Cornell's yearnings to find emotional intimacy and human connection. Over time, Cornell revisited his notes and occasionally made further notations about renewed thoughts on a topic, dating the note with "revisited" or "reviewed." Notes are often written in a stream-of-consciousness style, for example, jumping from the mention of a record album or composer, to a ballerina of the same period, a note about a French poet, the memory of childhood, or an observation made earlier in the day, all in the space of a few lines. Notes about artistic processes or meanings behind works or images do occasionally emerge from the tangled, poetic notations. Notes also often provide insights into Cornell's internal emotional state and give clues about his intentions behind an artwork or a particular thematic fixation.

Financial materials document Cornell's professional and personal business activities, including the sale of artworks, annual expenses for supplies and household incidentals, payments and schedules for personal assistants, receipts for donations to charities and nonprofits, and tax documents. There is also information about who worked as assistants, or "helpers," in his later years and where Cornell purchased art supplies. Additionally, specific details are documented through receipts and invoices, such as what kind of paint he purchased. Estate records include preparations made for Cornell's artworks after his death, and clippings about other deceased artist's estates show that he thought often about such arrangements in his later years.

Exhibition files highlight several select solo exhibitions for Cornell, as well as preparations and planning for the "Robert Cornell: Memorial Exhibition" in honor of his brother in 1966. Also included are several early exhibition catalogs and announcements, including "Surréalisme" (January 9-29, 1932) and "Exhibition of Objects (Bibloquet) by Joseph Cornell" (December 6-31, 1939) at the Julien Levy Gallery, and "Romantic Museum: Portraits of Women, Constructions and Arrangements by Joseph Cornell" (December 1946) at the Hugo Gallery.

Film projects and collected film materials consist of files related to Cornell's various experimental film projects: "Aviary," "Cappuccino," "Centuries of June," "Fable for Fountains," "Nymphlight," "Serafina's Garden," and unrealized film scenario "Monsieur Phot." Files include film-making notes, correspondence, and photographs. Cornell's interest in film also led him to collect film-related materials, such as film stills, film posters, and screening programs. Scattered correspondence documents the interest other institutions and individuals had in purchasing and viewing his collection. Though most of his collected film stills and movie posters were donated to the Anthology Film Archives, film stills from "Escape Me Never" (1935) and "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1928) are still within the collection, as well as film-screening programs for Cornell's collection of films.

Writing and design projects document Cornell's work authoring articles and designing issues of specialty dance magazine "Dance Index," and his layouts for popular magazines like "Good Housekeeping," "House and Garden," and "Mademoiselle." Other writing projects include brochures dedicated to opera singers Maria Malibran and Giulia Grisi, "Maria" and "Bel Canto Pet." Materials used for these brochures, such as copper photo engraving plates, are also found. Design work includes a series of Christmas cards created with The Museum of Modern Art as well as traced patterns ("textile tracings") and design clippings from Cornell's time working as a "textile designer" for Traphagen Commercial Textile Studio.

Cornell acquired troves of source material from bookstalls, antique stores, sporting good and department stores, hardware stores, and magazine and record shops. He kept boxes and files of material on admired individuals, such as actresses, artists, dancers, and singers, as well as on art projects or thematic "explorations." Files are on general topics such as American history, scientific phenomena, animals, plants, and humankind, as well as on series of artworks, such as "Castles," "Homage to the Romantic Ballet," and "Medici Slot Machines." Focused "exploration" projects include "Celestial Theatre," "Colombier," "GC 44," and "Switzerland," among others. Materials include photographs, photostats, maps, book fragments, autographed letters, notes, collage clippings and cutouts, collected prints and engravings, box and collage fragments, and scattered artifacts.

Collected ephemera includes large amounts of blank postcards and greeting cards, stamps, collected bus and train tickets, food labels and packaging, decals, and other materials. Artifacts are three-dimensional collected objects and source objects, which include found objects from the streets, dried flowers, and pieces of nature gathered from walks around his neighborhood. Cornell may have gathered materials because they inspired a memory or nostalgic feeling, or because they fit with a bin of other similar objects to select from for an artwork in progress.

Photographs found within the collection are of Cornell at work and as a child with family. Also found are assorted personal and family photographs, photographs of Cornell's attic and garage storage, and photographs of his Utopia Parkway house. Photographs of artwork include few installation photographs, in addition to photographs of Cornell's boxes and collages. Collected photographic materials include vintage photographs, such as tintypes, a cyanotype, stereoscopic glass slides, albumen prints, cabinet cards, and cartes-de-visite. Cornell also collected cased photographs, such as daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and one opalotype. Negatives and photostats were often produced from various prints and even other photographs and used in Cornell's boxes and collages. Images are of men and women, actors, authors, dancers, performers, well-known men and women, royalty, places, and artwork. Photographs of note include those by Hans Namuth of Willem and Lisa de Kooning and of Edward Hopper's bedroom; photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson; a photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron; photographs by Brassai; and a photogravure by Alfred Stieglitz from "Camerawork."

Also found in the collection are works of art by others, including a sketch by Pavel Tchelitchew, as well as artwork by Cornell, such as unfinished collages, Rorschach drawings or ink blots, and childhood artwork. Printed material includes assorted bulletins, flyers, exhibition materials for other artists, journals, and sent printed membership and charity materials. Magazines, including "View," are also included, and often have annotations by Cornell or a note to "cut" or "review" with page numbers. A large amount of magazine and newspaper clippings are in the collection, sometimes collected with a group of like material by Cornell, and at other times simply gathered in heaps. Occasional annotations are also found on the clippings.

Cornell's personal library and book collection includes over 2500 titles, ranging from fiction, poetry, and cinema, to history, science, and travel. Notable among the titles are "Baedeker's" travel guides that Cornell often sourced for his "Hotel" box series, as well as an influential publication by Max Ernst, "La Femme 100 têtes," which includes a typed letter and exhibition flyer tucked within. Books often have annotations, some fairly extensive, by Cornell, and assorted collected items, notes, and correspondence tucked between pages. Pages were often cut by Cornell, either to make photostats and use in a box, or to file with other thematic "explorations." A wide range of authors and topics provide insight into Cornell's interests and to ideas behind artwork and diary notes. Cornell's collection of record albums includes over 145 records. These contain inserted notes and clippings and are often referenced in diary notes Cornell made, noting a recent album or song listened to while at work in his studio.

The papers of Cornell's mother, Helen Storms Cornell, and his brother, Robert Cornell, are also included in the collection. Both lived with Cornell his whole life, spending the most time with him at their home at 3708 Utopia Parkway. Financial materials document shared responsibilities for billing, utilities, household fixes and chores, and expenditures, and Helen kept detailed financial records in a series of ledgers. Robert notes when he borrowed money from Cornell, or when he means to pay Cornell back for the purchase of a typewriter. Activities documented in diaries also occasionally cross paths with Cornell, noting his visitors or an exchange of letters continued after introductions through Cornell. Personal activities, such as Robert's interest in his train collection and his drawing projects and cartoon series, are also documented.

Arrangement:

The Joseph Cornell Study Center Collection is arranged into 15 series:

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1917-1972 (Boxes 1, 98, OV118; 0.9 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1813, 1934-circa 1973 (Boxes 1-8, 86; 6.5 linear feet)

Series 3: Diaries and Notes, 1940-1976 (Boxes 8-10, 98-99, 135, OV108, OV119; 3.5 linear feet)

Series 4: Personal Business and Estate Records, 1950-1978 (Boxes 10-14; 4.1 linear feet)

Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1932-1973 (Box 14; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Film Projects and Collected Film Materials, circa 1924-1972 (Boxes 14-16, 100, 133; 1.6 linear feet)

Series 7: Writing and Design Projects, circa 1910s, 1936-1962 (Boxes 16-18, 86, 100, 131-132, OV109-OV111, OV120-OV122; 3.6 linear feet)

Series 8: Source Material, 1750-circa 1911, 1926-1972 (Boxes 19-49, 86-92, 96, 100-105, 126-130, 132-137, OV112-OV115, OV125; 42.2 linear feet)

Series 9: Artifacts and Ephemera, 1768, circa 1839-1972 (Boxes 49-52; 3.2 linear feet)

Series 10: Photographic Material, circa 1800s-1972 (Boxes 52-56, 80-86, 93, 106, 128, 133, OV116, OV123-OV124; 7.5 linear feet)

Series 11: Artwork, circa 1810-1972 (Boxes 56-57, 107, OV117; 1.2 linear feet)

Series 12: Printed Material, 1855-1972 (Boxes 57-76, 94-96, 107; 16 linear feet)

Series 13: Book Collection and Personal Library, 1722-1980 (99.8 linear feet)

Series 14: Record Album Collection, circa 1925-1974 (3.2 linear feet)

Series 15: Cornell Family Papers, 1910-1980 (Boxes 77-79, 97, 107; 3.2 linear feet)

Biographical / Historical:

Joseph Cornell (1903-1972) was a self-taught assemblage and collage artist, and filmmaker, active in New York City. He was born in Nyack, New York on December 24, 1903, and died of heart failure at his home in Queens, New York on December 29, 1972. The oldest of four children, he was born Joseph I. Cornell to his mother, Helen Storms Cornell (1882-1966), and his father, Joseph I. Cornell (1875-1917). Cornell had two younger sisters, Elizabeth ("Betty") Cornell Benton (1905-2000) and Helen ("Sissy") Cornell Jagger (1906-2001), as well as one brother, Robert Cornell (1910-1965), who had cerebral palsy.

Cornell attended the Phillips Academy, a preparatory boarding school in Andover, Massachusetts, beginning shortly after his father's death in 1917. He attended for four years but did not receive a diploma, and soon began work as a textile salesman for the William Whitman Company in Manhattan. His work took him, by foot, through the city, visiting secondhand bookshops on Fourth Avenue, browsing music stores and magazine shops, and catching early shows at the Metropolitan Opera House. He would occasionally wait outside the stage doors for favorite singers and dancers to emerge, requesting signatures on photographs or bits of costumes.

Around 1926, Cornell joined the Christian Science Church, joined by his brother Robert shortly thereafter, and both continued to be lifelong members. Cornell kept a number of books in his personal library on Christian Science teachings and regularly subscribed to "The Christian Science Monitor."

After living in several rental houses in Bayside, New York, Cornell's mother purchased a house for the family in 1929 in Flushing, Queens. Cornell, along with his mother and brother, would live at 3708 Utopia Parkway, for the rest of their lives. His two sisters soon married and moved away, eventually settling in Westhampton, Long Island and in the poultry-farming business.

With no formal art training to speak of, Cornell's first work was a Max Ernst-inspired collage, "Untitled (Schooner)," created in 1931. He was especially inspired by Ernst's collage novel, "La Femme 100 têtes," published in 1929. French artist Odilon Redon was also among the few artists Cornell named as an influence on his art. His first sculptural works were small, cardboard pill boxes with bits of ephemera, costume adornments, and nature hidden inside. Cornell also created a series of glass bell jar works, placing small trinkets and Victorian-era-like compositions within. It was these early collages and bell jar works that were included in Cornell's debut exhibition, "Surréalisme" (January 9-29, 1932), a group show at the Julien Levy Gallery. Cornell designed the announcement for the show and exhibited alongside Max Ernst, Man Ray, Pierre Roy, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Eugène Atget, George Platt Lynes, Jean Cocteau, and Salvador Dalí. Months later, Cornell was invited to have his first solo show, "Objects by Joseph Cornell: Minutiae, Glass Bells, Shadow Boxes, Coups d'Oeil, Jouets Surréalistes" (November 26-December 30, 1932), also at the Julien Levy Gallery.

In 1932, after eleven years of work, Cornell was laid off from the William Whitman Company due to the Great Depression. Soon after, he took on more responsibility in the church, working part-time as an attendant in the Christian Science Reading Room in Great Neck, New York. Beginning in 1933, he taught Sunday school classes for three years and in 1935, became the Sunday school librarian. However, his religious activities and artistic ventures continued to remain separate.

In the early 1930s, Cornell progressed from movie lover to filmmaker. When Julien Levy began his New York Film Society in 1933, holding screenings of various experimental films in the gallery, Cornell began buying and collecting films and film stills in earnest. He set up a 16-millimeter projector in his home to screen favorites, such as those by Georges Méliès, D.W. Griffith, and Louis Feuillade. His collection quickly grew to over 2,500 film stills and several hundred films, and included silent era films, such as nature documentaries, goofy newsreels, travelogues, early cartoons, and slapstick comedies, as well as several feature films. In 1933, Cornell wrote a screenplay, or "scenario," entitled "Monsieur Phot." Between 1935 and 1937, Cornell also occasionally created publicity photomontages for Universal and Columbia studios. Of the nearly thirty films Cornell created, periods of activity can generally be separated into two areas: collage films of the late 1930s, consisting of combined elements from films in his own collection, and films he directed in the 1950s, which were collaborations with other filmmakers set in New York City. "Rose Hobart," Cornell's most celebrated collage film, was created and shown in the Julien Levy Gallery in 1936 and includes clipped footage from "East of Borneo." Later films were directed and filmed with cinematographers Stan Brakhage, Rudy Burckhardt, and Larry Jordan.

In 1934, Cornell began a job at the Traphagen Commercial Textile Studio as a "textile designer," a job he held for six years. Continuing to work at his kitchen table in the evenings, Cornell completed his first assemblage box construction, "Untitled (Soap Bubble Set)," in 1936. It was first exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art's show, "Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism" (December 9, 1936-January 17, 1937). This work was also the first to be acquired by a museum, purchased for $60.00 by the Wadsworth Atheneum in Massachusetts in 1938. Cornell's European debut was also in 1938, as one of three Americans represented in the "Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme" (January 17-Febuary 24, 1938) at the Galerie Beaux-Arts in Paris, alongside Man Ray and Anne Clark.

At the end of 1939, Cornell began corresponding with poet Charles Henri Ford, founder of avant-garde magazine "View," Pavel Tchelitchew, and Parker Tyler. After his "Soap Bubble Sets," this period saw the development of Cornell's homages to singers and actresses, including "Untitled (Fortune-Telling Parrot for Carmen Miranda)," the destroyed "Garbo (Greta Garbo in the Legendary Film 'The Crystal Mask,' c. 1845)," and "Dressing Room for Gilles." He also began using photostats of art reproduction prints, as with the print of Jean Antoine-Watteau's painting, "Pierrot" (circa 1719), used in his "Gilles" box.

In the 1940s, the Romantic ballet emerged as Cornell's new topic of interest. Through his friend Pavel Tchelitchew, Cornell was introduced to the School of American Ballet and New York City Ballet founders, Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine. Cornell collected dance memorabilia and had a great love of the Romantic ballet. His favorite dancers were primarily ballerinas of the nineteenth century, including Fanny Cerrito, Marie Taglioni, Fanny Elssler, Lucille Grahn, and Carlotta Grisi. Cornell's "Homage to the Romantic Ballet" works largely took the shape of jewel-box style wooden boxes with glass overlays and included bits of velvet, tulle, sequins, crystals, and chiffon, occasionally collected from dancers themselves. His most well-known work of this series is "Taglioni's Jewel Casket" (1940). Cornell also admired several living ballet dancers, including Tamara Toumanova, Zizi Jeanmaire, and Allegra Kent, who would all make their way into Cornell's box works and/or collages. Collecting for the "exploration," "Portrait of Ondine," Cornell's cased portfolio dedication to Fanny Cerrito and her role in the ballet "Ondine," began in the 1940s, though not completed until around 1960.

In late 1940, Cornell quit his job at Traphagen to concentrate on freelance commercial magazine design and editorial work during the day and his artwork at night. That same year, Charles Henri Ford started "View" magazine to promote Surrealists and Neo-Romantics in New York City and often asked Cornell to contribute. Published in the December 1941-January 1942 issue, one of his early contributions was a collage dedication to stage actress Hedy Lamarr: "Enchanted Wanderer: Excerpt from a Journey Album for Hedy Lamarr" (1941). Along with writing the accompanying text, he created a photomontage of Lamarr with her face overlaying the painted portrait of a Renaissance boy by Italian painter Giorgione. Peggy Guggenheim, at the advice of Marcel Duchamp, purchased multiple Cornell works prior to opening her new gallery, Art of This Century. Cornell also befriended Roberto Matta Echaurren, another Surrealist living in exile, who introduced him to Robert Motherwell.

After deciding to fully dedicate his time to his art in early 1940, he set up a studio in his basement. Complete with floor-to-ceiling wooden shelving, he kept his large collection of boxed source material stacked with handwritten labels in cardboard boxes. Themed folders of materials such as "Stamps" or "Maps" were kept in stacks and works in progress and finished works were stored in the basement, garage, and attic. Entering a renewed period of productivity, Cornell embarked on many new and important box projects in 1942. One of the first boxes created in his new basement studio, and the first of the "Penny Arcade" or "Medici Slot Machine" series, was "Medici Slot Machine" (1942), which includes a photostat of "Portrait of Marquess Massimiliano Stampa" (1557) by Sofonisba Anguissola. Another work from this time is the first of his "Castle" or "Palace" series, "Setting for a Fairy Tale" (1942), which uses a photostat of a French building from Jacques Androuet du Cerceau's book, "Les Plus excellents bastiments de France" (1576). "Untitled (Pharmacy)" (circa 1942) was the first of his "Pharmacy" series and included twenty-two apothecary jars. Cornell tended to work in series and created thirteen "Palace" boxes between 1942 and 1951, and ultimately created six "Pharmacy" works.

In 1943, Cornell began working at an electronics company, the Allied Control Company, Inc., to do his part to contribute to the defense effort during the war. He also sent correspondence and care packages to displaced Europeans, who listed their needs in "The Christian Science Monitor." Influenced by World War II, one of his strongest works to emerge in 1943 was "Habitat Group for a Shooting Gallery." Another notable work to come out of this period, "The Crystal Cage (Portrait of Berenice)," was an excerpt from one of his album "explorations" that was published in the January 1943 issue of "View."

Cornell left his job at Allied Control in 1944, but soon began working at the Garden Centre in Flushing, owned by a fellow Christian Scientist. Cornell was often nostalgic for this time in his life, devoting an entire "exploration" of material fondly remembered as "GC 44." He rode a bicycle to work and enjoyed collecting trips gathering dried grasses, driftwood, shells, and other relics of nature on the same bicycle as he rode through the streets of Queens. During this time, he continued to tend to his projects for "Dance Index," a magazine founded in 1942 by Lincoln Kirstein, but taken over by Donald Windham in 1944. Cornell designed several covers for the magazine and was given control of the entire summer 1944 issue, which he devoted to the Romantic ballet. He also devoted a special 1945 issue to Hans Christian Andersen, making great use of the New York Public Library Picture Collection.

Throughout the 1940s, Cornell continued to support himself with commercial design work for magazines like "Vogue," "Good Housekeeping," "Harper's Bazaar," "Town & Country," and "Mademoiselle." In 1946, after thirteen years at the Julien Levy Gallery, he joined the Hugo Gallery. In December 1946, Cornell's solo exhibition, "Romantic Museum at the Hugo Gallery: Portraits of Women by Joseph Cornell," celebrated his favorite movie stars, singers, and ballet dancers, and included his work created for the show, "Untitled (Penny Arcade Portrait of Lauren Bacall)." Cornell's "Greta Garbo" box, as well as "Souvenir for Singleton," an homage to Jennifer Jones and her role in the film "Love Letters," were also included in the show. In late 1948, his West Coast debut was in the exhibition, "Objects by Joseph Cornell," held at the Copley Gallery. The end of the 1940s saw the final issue of "View" magazine in 1947, the closure of the Julien Levy Gallery in April 1949, and Cornell's departure from the Hugo Gallery after his last show in November 1949.

In late 1949, Cornell joined the Charles Egan Gallery, known primarily for showing Abstract Expressionists. At this time, Cornell was working on a new series of boxes known as his "Aviary" works, most of which include a white-painted box with cutouts of birds mounted on wood. Though he had worked on bird-related boxes before, including an "Owl" series in the mid-1940s, his "Fortune Telling Parrot" (1939), and "Object 1941" (1941), these newer works were stripped of French elements and left "clean and abstract" by design. His first show at the Egan Gallery, "Aviary by Joseph Cornell" (December 7, 1949-January 7, 1950), included twenty-six "Aviary" works, nearly all created in 1949. Donald Windham agreed to write the foreword for the exhibition catalog, a single folded sheet, and Cornell gave him one of the boxes in the show, "Cockatoo: Keepsake Parakeet," in appreciation. Through the Egan Gallery, Cornell became friends with a new group of artists, including Franz Kline, Jack Tworkov, and Willem de Kooning. Cornell also held two screenings of a selection of his collected films at Subjects of the Artist, an art school founded by Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, David Hare, and William Baziotes.

In 1950, Cornell's second show at the Egan Gallery, "Night Songs and Other New Work" (December 1, 1950-January 13, 1951), introduced his new "Observatory" series. These works are largely defined by stark, whitewashed spaces with astronomical charts and constellations replacing colorful birds. The Museum of Modern Art purchased its first Cornell work from this show in early 1951, "Central Park Carrousel, in Memoriam" (1950).

For three months in 1951, Cornell was beset by various ailments and had trouble finding the energy to create new work. He worried more for his aging mother and the health of his brother. After a monthlong vacation with his sisters in Westhampton, he returned with renewed interest in Emily Dickinson's poetry. His whitewashed boxes took on a new form in his newest "Dovecote" series, using grids and circular cutouts. The works then transformed into homages to Dickinson, notably "Toward the Blue Peninsula: For Emily Dickinson" (circa 1953), and then to his "Hotel" series. Cornell's "Hotel" boxes include photostats of vintage European ads for hotels collected from vintage travel guides, especially "Baedeker's," adhered to the back walls of the boxes. Another new series of work, his "Juan Gris" series, was dedicated to Cubist artist Juan Gris. Between 1953 and the mid-1960s, Cornell created at least fifteen "Juan Gris" boxes, which often include a cutout of a white cockatoo in a Cubist-collage habitat. Cornell's third and last show at Egan Gallery, "Night Voyage" (February 10-March 28, 1953), included some of these newest works. After leaving Egan Gallery, his work was introduced to Chicago collectors in a solo show at the Frumkin Gallery, "Joseph Cornell: 10 Years of His Art" (April 10-May 7, 1953), which included nearly thirty pieces. Cornell's first museum retrospective was this same show held at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (July 12-August 30, 1953).

As New York City continued to change, Cornell grew more nostalgic for the city he had explored since the 1920s. The impending closure of the Third Avenue El train prompted him to dream up a film project to capture its last days, resulting in "Gnir Rednow," a reworking of Stan Brakhage's 1955, "Wonder Ring." During this time, Cornell joined the Stable Gallery, run by Eleanor Ward, interacting often with Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, and Joan Mitchell, remaining there until the end of the 1950s. His astronomy-themed exhibition, "Winter Night Skies" (December 12, 1955-January 13, 1956), included his "Night Skies" series of work with celestial chart fragments, Greek mythological figures, and paint-splattered "windows" representative of star-filled night skies. In 1956, he became aware of ballerina Allegra Kent, and began a series of work devoted to her, the first of which was "Via Parmigianino (Villa Allegra)" (1956), which included a photostat of a painting by Parmigianino, "The Madonna of the Long Neck" (circa 1540). In late 1957, after two years, Cornell had his last show at Stable Gallery, "Joseph Cornell: Selected Works" (December 2-31, 1957), consisting of a series of "Sand Fountain" boxes and "Space Object" or "Celestial Navigation" works. The "Sand Fountain" boxes included different colors of sand meant to flow within, often from the tops into cordial glasses. His "Celestial Navigations" included galaxy-like compositions set within the boxes, with rolling, painted cork balls, metal rings, and constellation charts, sometimes hovering over cordial glasses or clay pipes. This last Stable Gallery show earned him his first published profile, written by Howard Griffin for the December 1957 issue of "Art News." Also in 1957, he won the Kohnstamm Prize for Construction at the Art Institute of Chicago's 62rd Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture.

Towards the end of the 1950s, Cornell spent less time creating new bodies of work, and focused more on revisiting previous series and reviewing piles of collected source material. In 1959, Cornell returned to making collages, frequently sourcing popular magazines. In December 1959, Cornell was awarded $1,500 for his "Orion" collage, entered in the Art Institute of Chicago's "63rd American Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture." Also in December, he was offered a show at Bennington College in Vermont, which he titled, "Bonitas Solstitialis: Selected Works by Joseph Cornell and an exploration of the Colombier" (November 20-December 15, 1959). The show included one of his newest "explorations" of collected material related to "colombier," or pigeon houses.

By 1962, Cornell was working diligently on new collages, using Masonite boards and colorful magazine clippings. He also began creating collages using nude images interspersed with constellation clippings or hazy blue dyes. As in previous decades and art movements, Cornell became acquainted with new artists, spending less time in the city and more time hosting visitors at his Utopia Parkway home. Visitors included artists Walter De Maria, Robert Whitman, Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist, and Robert Indiana. Tony Curtis also became a frequent visitor and friend, introduced by Richard Feigen in 1964. The early 1960s was also the first time Cornell put out an advertisement for assistants in the "Long Island Star-Journal," employing a number of young men and women who helped organize clippings and run errands. Cornell also met Joyce Hunter, a young runaway waitress at a city coffee shop, who would occupy his thoughts and diary notes for the next several years. When she was murdered at the end of 1964, Cornell paid for her funeral. He went on to make several "Penny Arcade" collages in memoriam to her, including, "Penny Arcade (re-autumnal)" (1964).

In 1964, Cornell began friendships with several women including artist Carolee Schneeman, who was his first assistant in the early 1960s. He also met artist Yayoi Kusama through art dealer Gertrude Stein. After becoming friends, she visited him often and they exchanged letters and notes. As he did with other artist friends, Cornell supported her by purchasing several of her early watercolor paintings, and they stayed connected until his death in 1972.

Cornell's life greatly changed in 1965 with the death of his brother, Robert. By this time, his mother lived with his sister in Long Island, and Cornell was alone in the Utopia Parkway house for the first time. He exchanged frequent letters and phone calls with his mother and devoted much time to thinking about Robert and Joyce, often aligning them in his diary notations. Cornell also created a series of collages dedicated to his brother's memory, incorporating photostats of Robert's hundreds of drawings into Cornell's work, as with the later collage, "The Heart on the Sleeve" (1972). Cornell's "Time Transfixed" series of collages were also dedications to Robert's memory, referencing Magritte and Robert's love of trains. He mounted an exhibition, "Robert Cornell: Memorial Exhibition" (January 4-29, 1966), at the Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, where he showed Robert's artwork alongside his newly created collage dedications.

After Robert's death, Cornell relied more heavily on assistants, going through many part-time "helpers." In October 1966, Cornell's mother died, adding her to his constant thoughts and diaries. Though he was still grieving, he was given two major retrospectives in 1967. The first was at the Pasadena Art Museum, put on by James Demetrion and Walter Hopps, "An Exhibiton of Works by Joseph Cornell" (January 9-February 11, 1967). The second retrospective was at the Guggenheim Museum just three months later, "Joseph Cornell" (May 4-June 35, 1967), organized by Diane Waldman. After these shows, he was highlighted in the December 15, 1967 issue of "Life" in the article, "The Enigmatic Bachelor of Utopia Parkway."

In 1968, Cornell was given an "award of merit," which included a medal and $1,000, by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He was also given a medal and $1,000 by the Brandeis University Creative Arts Awards in the painting category, along with an exhibition. Days later, "The New York Times" announced Cornell the winner, along with Donald Judd, of India's first Triennale of Contemporary World Art. The Brandeis exhibition, "Boxes and Collages by Joseph Cornell" (May 20-June 23, 1968), was organized by William Seitz and concentrated on Cornell's more recent 1960s collages. Cornell was also included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's hundredth anniversary show, "New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940 to 1970" (October 18, 1969-February 1, 1970), where twenty-two of Cornell's boxes were shown in their own gallery. At the end of 1970, Cornell was given a solo show at the Metropolitan, "Collages by Joseph Cornell" (December 10, 1970-January 24, 1971), which included forty-five of his newest collages.

Now preferring to stay closer to his home in Flushing, Cornell was more interested in sharing his art with young adults and children, than an adult audience. He hosted a group of high school students, sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's education department, at his home in conjunction with his collage show (1970-1971). He also showed his work in the art department of Queens College of the City University of New York. Cornell still hosted visitors on occasion, having Yoko Ono and John Lennon at his home at least once. Leila Hadley, Betsy von Furstenberg, and Anne Jackson also made frequent visits. With his deteriorating health, Cornell worried about what would happen to his work after his death and hired lawyer Harry Torczyner to help him plan his estate and get his affairs in order.

In 1972, Cornell had a show at the Cooper Union, a college in New York, specifically for children. He displayed his boxes and collages at child-height and had cherry soda and brownies at the opening reception on February 10. He then held a show at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, also for children: "Children's Preview of the Exhibition of Joseph Cornell – Collages and Boxes (April 18-June 17, 1972). In the winter of 1972, at the request of the Phoenix House drug treatment and prevention program, Cornell contributed to a charity project compiling limited-edition lithographic prints for a portfolio, which included artists like David Hockney, James Rosenquist, and Ellsworth Kelly.

On December 29, 1972, a week after turning sixty-nine, Cornell died of heart failure at his home. He was cremated and interred near the graves of his mother, father, and brother, overlooking the Hudson River in Nyack, New York.

Works Cited:

1. Hartigan, Lynda Roscoe. "Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination." New Haven, Connecticut and London: Yale University Press, 2007. Exhibition Catalog.

2. McShine, Kynaston. "Joseph Cornell." New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1980.

3. San Francisco Cinematheque and The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "Joseph Cornell: Films." 2007. Exhibition Program. (Presented in conjunction with SFMOMA's exhibition of "Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination").

4. Schaffner, Ingrid and Lisa Jacobs. "Julien Levy: Portrait of an Art Gallery." Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: The MIT Press, 1998.

5. Solomon, Deborah. "Utopia Parkway: The Life and Work of Joseph Cornell." New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997.

Separated Materials:

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

Provenance:

The Joseph Cornell Study Center collection was donated to the Smithsonian American Art Museum by Joseph Cornell's sister and brother-in-law, Elizabeth Cornell Benton and John A. Benton, in 1978, which prompted the creation of the Joseph Cornell Study Center. Additional materials were donated in installments by the artist's estate, the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, from 1985 to 1997. Elizabeth and John A. Benton originally donated 66 linear feet of three-dimensional and non-textual source material and 50 linear feet of books to the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, which were subsequently transferred to the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Joseph Cornell Study Center in 1994 and 1995.

Restrictions:

Access to the collection requires an advanced appointment. Contact collection staff at least two weeks prior to preferred date, at AmericanArtCornellStudy@si.edu.

Series 9: Artifacts and Ephemera, Series 13: Personal Library and Book Collection, and Series 14: Record Album Collection, are still undergoing processing and preservation and may not be available for research use. Record albums are unavailable for playback. Contact collection staff for full lists of publications and record albums.

Rights:

Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Occupation:

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

Topic:

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

Assemblage (Art)  Search this

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

Found objects (Art)  Search this

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

Works of art  Search this

Celebrities  Search this

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

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 1900-1950 -- Photoprints -- Silver gelatin

Photographs -- 1860-1870 -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver albumen -- Cartes-de-visite

Photographs -- Daguerreotypes -- 1840-1860

Citation:

Joseph Cornell Study Center collection, 1750-1980, bulk 1930-1972. Joseph Cornell Study Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was generously provided by the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.

Identifier:

SAAM.JCSC.1

See more items in:

Joseph Cornell Study Center Collection

Archival Repository:

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Research and Scholars Center

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-saam-jcsc-1

Collection Artist:

Cornell, Joseph  Search this

Extent:

3.2 Linear feet

146 Sound discs

71 Sound discs (flexi discs)

2 Sound discs (lacquer) (1 aluminum core; and 1 glass core)

Type:

Archival materials

Sound discs

Sound discs (lacquer)

Date:

circa 1925-1974

Scope and Contents:

The record album collection includes 146 record albums and 73 flexi discs, published in sound publications "Echo" and "Sonorama." Two lacquer discs with one aluminum core and one glass core, are also housed here. Music genres represented include classical, opera, spoken word, and pop. Cornell occasionally annotated album covers or inserted notes and diary jottings into sleeves.

Pop artists include Nina Simone, Patty Duke, Dionne Warwick, Carly Simon, and Joni Mitchell. Classical music includes recordings of composers Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Liszt, Mozart, Erik Satie, Schubert, and Tchaikovsky, among others. Spoken word recordings include poetry of Gene Derwood, Robert Frost, Blake, Robert Graves, and an anthology of French poetry, including Apollinaire, Cocteau, Eluard, Baudelaire, Jean de la Fontaine, Mallarme, Valery, and others. Albums of "Marianne Moore Reading Her Poems and Fables from La Fontaine," and Carson McCullers reading a selection of her works, are included. Recordings of North American frogs, bird songs of Eastern and Central America, as well as "Adventures in Sound: The World's Rarest Music Boxes in High Fidelity: Tinkle, Clang, Ring and Chime" are also among the record albums in the collection.

Additionally, the series includes albums related to Cornell's films, with collaged and painted record album sleeves. See Series 6: Film Projects and Collected Film Materials, for related materials.

Arrangement:

Record albums are grouped by genre. This series is still in the process of rehousing and preservation and some materials may not be available for research.

Restrictions:

Record albums are unavailable for playback. Contact repository for a complete list of record albums.

Collection Rights:

Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Collection Citation:

Joseph Cornell Study Center collection, 1750-1980, bulk 1930-1972. Joseph Cornell Study Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was generously provided by the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.

Identifier:

SAAM.JCSC.1, Series 14

See more items in:

Joseph Cornell Study Center Collection

Archival Repository:

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Research and Scholars Center

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-saam-jcsc-1-ref4162

Creator:

Saarinen, Lilian Swann, 1912-1995  Search this

Names:

Cambridge Art Center  Search this

Cranbrook Academy of Art -- Faculty  Search this

G Place Gallery (Washington, D.C.)  Search this

Knoll Associates, inc.  Search this

Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- Faculty  Search this

Midtown Galleries (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Otava Publishing Company  Search this

Reynal & Hitchcock  Search this

Armitage, Merle, 1893-1975  Search this

Crosby, Caresse, 1892-  Search this

Eames, Charles  Search this

Eames, Ray  Search this

Koch, Carl  Search this

Kreis, Henry, 1899-1963  Search this

Milles, Carl, 1875-1955  Search this

Moholy-Nagy, László, 1895-1946  Search this

Moholy-Nagy, Sibyl, 1905-  Search this

Saarinen, Eero, 1910-1961  Search this

Saarinen, Eliel, 1873-1950  Search this

Saarinen, Loja  Search this

Venturi, Robert  Search this

Weese, Harry, 1915-1998  Search this

Extent:

9 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Blueprints

Diaries

Illustrations

Sketches

Photographs

Scrapbooks

Date:

circa 1909-1977

Summary:

The papers of Cambridge sculptor and illustrator, Lilian Swann Saarinen, measure nine linear feet and date from circa 1909 to 1977. The collection documents Saarinen's career through correspondence with artists, architects, publishers, and gallery owners; writings and notes, including manuscripts and illustrations for children's books and publications; project and teaching files; financial records; artwork, including numerous project sketches; and photos of Saarinen and her artwork. Saarinen's personal life is also documented through diaries and correspondence with friends and family members, including Eero Saarinen, to whom she was married from 1939-1953.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of Cambridge sculptor and illustrator, Lilian Swann Saarinen, measure nine linear feet and date from circa 1909 to 1977. The collection documents Saarinen's career through correspondence with artists, architects, publishers, and gallery owners; writings and notes, including manuscripts and illustrations for children's books and publications; project and teaching files; financial records; artwork, including numerous project sketches; and photos of Saarinen and her artwork. Saarinen's personal life is also documented through diaries and correspondence with friends and family members, including Eero Saarinen, to whom she was married from 1939-1953.

Biographical material consists of resumes and biographical sketches, as well as a 1951 blueprint for the Eero Saarinen and Associates Office Building in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Correspondence documents Saarinen's personal and professional life through letters to and from Eero Saarinen and other family members, including six letters from Loja Saarinen; correspondence with artists and architects, including Merle Armitage, Charles and Ray Eames, Carl Koch, Henry Kreis, Carl Milles, Laszlo and Sibyl Moholy-Nagy, Robert Venturi, and Harry Weese; and friends and colleagues at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and Knoll Associates. Also documented is Saarinen's business relationship with Midtown Galleries and Caresse Crosby, and publishers and publications including Child Life, Interiors, Otava Publishing Company, and Reynal & Hitchcock, Inc.

Writings and Notes document Saarinen's work on several children's publications, including Picture Book Zoo (1935) and Who Am I? (1946), through correspondence, notes, manuscript drafts, and extensive sketches. This series also includes Saarinen's ideas for other publications and incorporates some early writings and notes, as well as typescripts of her reminiscences about Eliel Saarinen, the Saarinen family, and the Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Diaries consist of bound diary volumes, loose-leaf journal entries, and heavily annotated engagement calendars, documenting Saarinen's personal life, artistic aspirations, and career development from the 1930s-1970s. This material provides a deeply personal view of the emotional landscape of Saarinen's life, her struggles to balance her identity as a working artist with the roles of wife, mother, and homemaker, and the complex, and often competing, relationships within the renowned architectural family into which she married.

Project files document Saarinen's work on book cover designs, federal and post office commissions in Bloomfield, Indiana, Carlisle, Kentucky, and Evanston, Illinois, reliefs for the Crow Island School in Winnetka, Illinois, and other important commissions including the Harbor National Bank Clock in Boston, Massachusetts, the KLM Airlines installation at JFK Airport, the Fountain of Noah sculpture at the Northland Center in Detroit, Michigan, and the interior of Toffenetti's restaurant in Chicago, Illinois. Also documented is her role in designs for the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, with Eero Saarinen.

Teaching files document Saarinen's "Language of Clay Course" which she taught at Cambridge Art Center and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Financial records document exhibition and sales expenses for two exhibitions, including her show at G Place Gallery in 1944.

Printed material consists of clippings about Saarinen and her family, exhibition announcements and catalogs for herself and others, and reference files from the 1930s-1940s, primarily comprising clippings of animals.

Additional printed material documenting Saarinen's career can be found in one of two scrapbooks found in the collection. An additional scrapbook consists of clippings relating primarily to Saarinen's parents.

Artwork comprises extensive sketches, particularly animal and figure sketches, in graphite, crayon, ink, pastel, and watercolor. The sketches demonstrate in particular Saarinen's developing interest in and skill with animal portraiture from her childhood to the 1960s.

Photographs are primarily of artwork and Saarinen's 1944 exhibition at G Place Gallery. Also found are one negative of Saarinen, probably with Eero Saarinen, and a group photo including Lilian, Eero, and Eliel Saarinen with the model for the Detroit Civic Center, circa 1940s.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 11 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1930s-1960s (3 folders; Box 1, OV 12)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1920-1974 (1.9 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, 8, OV 12)

Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1920s-1973 (1.3 linear feet, Boxes 2-3, 8, OVs 13-16)

Series 4: Diaries, 1930-1973 (1.4 linear feet, Boxes 3-5, 8)

Series 5: Project Files, 1931-1966 (1.7 linear feet, Boxes 5-6, 8, OVs 17-19)

Series 6: Teaching Files, 1966-1970 (3 folders, Box 6)

Series 7: Financial Records, 1940s-1970s (2 folders, Box 6)

Series 8: Printed Material, circa 1930s-1970s (0.2 linear feet, Box 6)

Series 9: Scrapbooks, circa 1909-1974 (2 folders; Boxes 6, 9)

Series 10: Artwork, circa 1920s-circa 1960s (1.7 linear feet, Boxes 6-7, 9-10, OVs 20-27)

Series 11: Photographs, circa 1940s, 1977 (0.5 linear feet, Boxes 7, 11, OV 27)

Biographical / Historical:

Cambridge artist and sculptor, Lilian Swann Saarinen (1912-1995), studied at the Art Students League with Alexander Archipenko in 1928, and later with Albert Stewart and Heninz Warneke from 1934-1936, before moving to Michigan where she studied with Carl Milles at the Cranbrook Academy of Art from 1936-1940. Saarinen was an accomplished skier and a member of the 1936 US Olympic ski team.

At Cranbrook, Swann met architect Eero Saarinen, whom she married in 1939. She subsequently worked with Saarinen's design group on a variety of projects, including the Westward Expansion Memorial, which later became known as the "Gateway Arch" in St. Louis. Lilian and Eero had a son, Eric, and a daughter, Susie, before divorcing in 1953.

Saarinen, who had developed an affinity for drawing animals in childhood, specialized in animal portraits in a variety of sculptural media. In 1939, she exhibited her sculpture Night, which depicted Bagheera the panther from Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book, at the World's Fair. The sculpture was placed in the Boston Public Garden in 1986. In the 1930s and 1940s Saarinen was commissioned to work on a variety of architectural projects, including reliefs for post offices in Bloomfield, Indiana, Carlisle, Kentucky, and Evanston, Illinois, and the Crow Island School in Winnetka, Illinois. She also executed commissions for the Harbor National Bank in Boston, KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) at JFK Airport, the Northland shopping Center in Detroit Michigan, and Toffenetti's Restaurant in Chicago.

Saarinen was a contributing author and illustrator for a variety of publications, including Child Life, Interiors and Portfolio: An Intercontinental Quarterly. In 1935 she illustrated Picture Book Zoo for the Bronx Zoo and in 1946 Reynal & Hitchcock, Inc. published Who Am I?, a children's book which Saarinen wrote and illustrated.

Saarinen taught ceramic sculpture to soldiers for the Red Cross Arts and Skills Unit rehabilitation program in 1945, served on the Visiting Committee to the Museum School at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from 1959-1964, where she taught ceramics, and later taught a course entitled "The Language of Clay" at the Cambridge Art Center and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One of Saarinen's private students at Cambridge was her cousin, Edie Sedgwick.

Saarinen died in Cohasset, Massachusetts, in 1995 at the age of 83.

Separated Materials:

The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reels 1152 and 1192) including a scrapbook containing clippings, copies of letters and telegrams received, and reproductions of Saarinen's work. There is a copy of Saarinen's book, "Who Am I?", and three albums containing photographs of Saarinen, photographs and reproductions of her work, a list of exhibitions, quotes about her, and writings by her about sculpture. Lent material was returned to the lender and is not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:

Lilian Swann Saarinen donated the collection in 1975. She lent additional materials for microfilming in 1976.

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.

Occupation:

Sculptors -- Massachusetts -- Cambridge  Search this

Topic:

Women artists -- Massachusetts  Search this

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

Illustrated books, Children's  Search this

Gateway Arch (Saint Louis, Mo.)  Search this

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

Illustrators -- Massachusetts  Search this

Art commissions  Search this

Art, Municipal  Search this

Genre/Form:

Blueprints

Diaries

Illustrations

Sketches

Photographs

Scrapbooks

Citation:

Lilian Swann Saarinen papers, circa 1909-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by The Walton Family Foundation; and John R. & Barbara Robinson and Deborah Schmidt Robinson & Dr. R. Perry Robinson, The Widgeon Point Charitable Foundation.

Identifier:

AAA.saarlili

See more items in:

Lilian Swann Saarinen papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-saarlili

Creator:

Kihn, W. Langdon  Search this

Names:

National Geographic Society (U.S.)  Search this

Artzybasheff, Boris, 1899-1965  Search this

Barbeau, Marius, 1883-1969  Search this

Dale, Chester, b. 1883  Search this

Dale, Maud, 1875-1953  Search this

Dixon, Maynard, 1875-1946  Search this

Downs, Olin  Search this

Fisher, Franklin L.  Search this

Kihn, Alfred  Search this

Kihn, Helen Butler  Search this

Laubin, Gladys  Search this

Laubin, Reginald  Search this

Lecomte du Noüy, Marie  Search this

Lecomte du Noüy, Pierre, 1883-1947  Search this

Oakley, Thorton, 1881-1953  Search this

Skinner, Constance Lindsay, 1882-1939  Search this

Stirling, Matthew Williams, 1896-1975  Search this

Wellcome, Henry S., Sir (Henry Solomon), 1853-1936  Search this

Wiggins, Guy C. (Guy Carleton), 1883-1962  Search this

Extent:

8.5 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sketchbooks

Diaries

Sketches

Photographs

Poetry

Writings

Date:

1904-1990

bulk 1904-1957

Summary:

The papers of painter and illustrator W. Langdon Kihn measure approximately 8.5 linear feet and date from 1904-1990, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1904-1957. Papers document Kihn's career and travels associated with his interests in documenting the native American tribal nations of the United States and Canada in portraiture and writings. Found here are biographical materials, voluminous correspondence, memoirs and writings, one travel diary, printed material, financial records, three sketchbooks, sketches, and photographs.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of painter and illustrator W. Langdon Kihn measure approximately 8.5 linear feet and date from 1904-1990, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1904-1957. Papers document Kihn's career and travels associated with his interests in documenting the native American tribal nations of the United States and Canada in portraiture and writings. Found here are biographical material, voluminous correspondence, memoirs and writings, one travel diary, printed material, financial records, three sketchbooks, sketches, and photographs.

Biographical materials include address books, membership cards, exhibition and price lists, legal and travel documents, as well as biographical notes. Additional biographical sketches are found in the Writings and Notes series.

Correspondence is the largest series in the collection, almost half of the papers. In addition to letters to W. Langdon Kihn, this series include both originals and drafts of his outgoing letters; letters to his wife Helen from friends; third party business correspondence between his father, Alfred Kihn, and various parties undertaken on his son's behalf; and third party correspondence addressed to his friend and colleague, the Canadian ethnographer, Marius Barbeau. In addition to Barbeau, significant correspondents include Constance Lindsay Skinner, Chester and Maud Dale, Sir Henry Wellcome, Pierre and Marie "May" Lecompte du Noüy, and Reginald and Gladys Laubin. Although there is little correspondence with other artists, those represented with cards and letters in this collection include Boris Artzybasheff, Maynard Dixon, Olin Dows, Thornton Oakley, and Kihn's summer art school partner, Gus Wiggins. Correspondence with Franklin L. Fisher, Chief of National Geographic Magazine's Illustrated Division and Matthew W. Striling, Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution dominate the period spanning from 1935 - 1952, the years of Kihn's close association with the National Geographic Society.

Writings and notes includes manuscripts and typescripts of articles, poems, lectures, memoirs, and other writings by Kihn and others. There is one travel diary dated circa 1924-1925, and numerous writings about Kihn's travels and documentation of native American Indians.

Printed materials include exhibition catalogs, travel brochures, and magazine and newspaper clippings. Also found here are copies of Kihn's illustrations for books by other authors, including Beaver, Kings and Cabins, by Constance Lindsay Skinner, as well as proofs from the National Geographic series on American Indians arranged by geographic location. Financial records consist of invoices and receipts related to Kihn's artwork, traveling, and exhibitions.

Three sketchbooks and loose sketches include illustrated field notes and other drawings that document Kihn's travels and of native Americans. Photographs are of Kihn, and of Kihn at work. There are also photographs of Kihn's artwork.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into 7 series:

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1916-1957 (Box 1; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1904-1959 (Boxes 1-5; 4.0 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1920-1990 (Box 5-6; 1.0 linear feet)

Series 4: Printed Material, circa 1920-1957 (Boxes 6-8, OV 10; 2.2 linear feet)

Series 5: Financial Records, 1920-1955 (Box 8; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Sketchbooks and Sketches, circa 1922-1955 (Boxes 8-9, OV 10; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 7: Photographs, circa 1920-1955 (Box 9; 5 folders)

Biographical Note:

Born in Brooklyn, New York, W. (Wilfred) Langdon Kihn (1898-1959) is best known for his portraits of American Indians and illustrations of their history, culture and rapidly disappearing way of life. In 1919, Kihn joined his art teacher Winold Reiss on a trip to the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana where he completed his first series of portraits. This marked the beginning of his lifelong career of documenting the tribal nations of the United States and Canada. Through commissions from Canadian and American Railroad companies, Kihn spent much of the 1920s traversing both the United States and Northwest Canada where he had the opportunity to record the members and lives of various tribes. During this period, his paintings also traveled the country in a one man exhibition of his American Indian portraits, which was arranged by the Brooklyn Museum, and traveled to about 40 institutions in the United States. However his largest and best known commission was a project to research and paint North American Indians for serial publication in National Geographic. Kihn received the commission in 1935 and his association with the organization spanned two decades, culminating in the 1955 exhibition of his work at the National Geographic Museum, Washington, D.C, and the publication Indians of the Americas, with copius illustrations derived from Kihn's paintings and drawings.

In addition to his travels and work in North America, Kihn enjoyed a brief stint between 1929-1932 painting in France and Spain. Upon his return he focused upon obtaining commercial work and enjoyed success as an illustrator, whose work was featured in Beaver, Kings and Cabins (1933) and Flat Tail (1935), among other books. Kihn also wrote articles about his travels; amateur painters, whom he specialized in teaching; and American Indian legends and tribal cultures. Between 1948-1951 he was a partner in the Guy Wiggins-W. Langdon Kihn Art School in Essex, Connecticut. He married Helen Butler in 1920 and in between their travels the couple eventually settled in East Haddam, Connecticut. W. Langdon Kihn died in 1957.

Provenance:

Helen Kihn, W. Langdon Kihn's widow, donated the bulk of the collection in 1959. In 1994 Phyllis Kihn, the artist's daughter, donated pages 1-8 of Kihn's original manuscript of his memoirs and a transcript of the complete memoirs.

Restrictions:

Use of 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.

Occupation:

Painters -- Connecticut  Search this

Topic:

Book illustrators -- Connecticut  Search this

Indians of North America -- Pictorial works  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sketchbooks

Diaries

Sketches

Photographs

Poetry

Writings

Citation:

W. Langdon Kihn papers, 1904-1990, bulk 1904-1957. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Identifier:

AAA.kihnwlan

See more items in:

W. Langdon Kihn papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-kihnwlan

Creator:

Day, F. Holland (Fred Holland), 1864-1933  Search this

Names:

Copeland and Day (Firm)  Search this

Baston, Estelle  Search this

Coburn, Alvin Langdon, 1882-1966  Search this

Copeland, Herbert  Search this

Cox, George Collins, 1851-1902  Search this

Craigie, Reginald  Search this

Cram, Ralph Adams, 1863-1942  Search this

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

Evans, Frederick H.  Search this

Guiney, Louise Imogen, 1861-1920  Search this

Hollyer, Fred, 1837-1933  Search this

Koehler, S. R. (Sylvester Rosa), 1837-1900  Search this

Käsebier, Gertrude, 1852-1934  Search this

Steichen, Edward, 1879-1973  Search this

Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946  Search this

Ward-Perkins, Charlotte  Search this

Weil, Mathilde  Search this

White, Clarence H., 1871-1925  Search this

Woodbury, Jennie R.  Search this

Extent:

9 Microfilm reels

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Microfilm reels

Date:

1858-1977

Scope and Contents:

Extensive correspondence and subject files, ca. 1864-1977, containing mainly letters received from photographers, photography clubs and societies, authors, friends, models, colleagues, and others, and some drafts of letters sent. Some of the files contain writings, printed material, photographs, or correspondence of the Norwood Historical Society, 1961-1977. The correspondence refers to Day's photography, the 1904 fire which destroyed Day's studio, his involvement with literary groups and the Linked Ring, requests for articles on photography from publishers, requests for Day to exhibit and judge photography exhibitions, his interest in John Keats and collecting Keatsiana, and fine printing and his firm Copeland and Day.

Several notable files are "Day," containing correspondence, letters from his father, Lewis Day, 1870-1904, writings by Day, "Is Photography Art?", "Sacred Subjects in Photography," and reviews and essays Day contributed to "Knight Errant," an article on Day by Ralph Hazell, "A Visit to Mr. Fred Holland Day," 1899, clippings on Day, 1899-1935, and an annotated photograph regarding Day's photo collaboration with Estelle Baston. "Photography" containing: letters from Roger Clark, George C. Cox, Sylvester Rosa Koehler, Charlotte Perkins, Robert Redfield, Mathilde Weil and others, exhibition catalogs and announcements, undated and 1901-1902; "Gertrude Kasebier," consisting of a letter from Arthur B. Davies to Day and her own letters to Day, which give a sense of tension between Day and Alfred Stieglitz, and her own frustration with Stieglitz; "Ralph Adams Cram," with correspondence, 4 photos of Cram, excerpts from his book "My Life in Architecture," and obituaries; and "Copeland and Day," containing correspondence with authors and artists, material on book and printing exhibitions, and letters from customers.

Other notable subjects and/or correspondents include: C. Yarnell Abbott, W. Fred Allen, Anthony Angotti, J. Williams Beall, Curtis Bell, Lord Alfred Douglas, Edgar Farwell, Kahil Gibran, Bertram Goodhue, Laura Hills, Maxfield Parrish, William Ordway Partridge, Eva L. Watson Schutze and Anne Whitney.

Also included are ca. 150 photographs and tintypes of Day, 1865-ca.1930, some taken by Alvin Langdon Coburn, Reginald Craigie, Frederick H. Evans, Fred Hollyer, Gertrude Kasebier, Edward Steichen, Thomas Walter, Clarence White, and Jennie Woodbury; and photos of Lewis Day. Other photographs included are: photos by Day (and some probably by Day but unidentified), of Herbert Copeland, Anna Day Smith, Lewis Day, Alice Brown, Louise Guiney, and other subjects; photographs of Day's home in Norwood and his chalet in Maine; and photographs of various subjects by Frederick Evans, Gertrude Kasebier and Clarence White, Sr.

Arrangement:

Files are arranged alphabetically by file title and photographs and photograph albums are arranged in random numerical order as assigned by the Norwood Historical Society which owned the original papers at the time it was lent for microfilming.

Biographical / Historical:

Photographer; Norwood, Mass. Day began photography in the late 1880s. By 1895 he had established a reputation as a pictorial photographer, and was elected to the Brotherhood of the Linked Ring. In 1900 he arranged in London the first major exhibition of pictorial photography in Europe. A fire in his Boston studio destroyed over 2,000 glass negatives in 1904, which ended his photography career. Day was also a collector of Keatsiana. He published fine books of poetry and other literary works at his firm of Copeland and Day from 1893-1899.

Provenance:

Material on reels 3565-66 was lent for microfilming by the Norwood Historical Society in 1985. Material on reels 4950-4956 was lent in 1994. Six letterpress books, files of his publishing firm of Copeland and Day, and a scrapbook of European travel clippings were not microfilmed.

Restrictions:

The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.

Occupation:

Photographers -- Massachusetts  Search this

Topic:

Photography -- Early works to 1900  Search this

Photography, Artistic  Search this

Photography -- societies, etc  Search this

Identifier:

AAA.dayfhol

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-dayfhol

Creator:

Ederheimer, R. (Richard), 1878-1959  Search this

Photographer:

Genthe, Arnold, 1869-1942  Search this

Extent:

11.26 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Scrapbooks

Date:

1892-1959

Scope and Contents:

Family and business correspondence, including some postcards, primarily concerns the sale of Old Master prints and drawings and Ederheimer's painting. Other materials include two diaries (1903-1908, 1939), three scrapbooks (1908-1934), art works (ca. 1918-1944), manuscripts of poetry and plays, lists, photographs, clippings, and miscellaneous publications.

Figuring in the correspondence are several prominent collectors active in the period 1910 to 1920. Artwork consists of portrait paintings and charcoal and pencil drawings by Ederheimer and prints by other artists. Among the photographs are 4 of Ederheimer, 1 of a dock scene, San Francisco, and 1 of a young Chinese boy, all taken by Arnold Genthe.

Biographical / Historical:

Connoisseur, art collector, print dealer, painter, and poet (New York, N.Y.)

Provenance:

Donated 1961 by Mrs. Richard Ederheimer, widow of Ederheimer.

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.

Occupation:

Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this

Genre/Form:

Scrapbooks

Identifier:

AAA.ederr

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-ederr

Creator:

Brinley, Putnam  Search this

Names:

Blashfield, Edwin Howland, 1848-1936  Search this

Brinley, Kathrine Sanger  Search this

Bruce, Edward, 1879-1943  Search this

Coffin, William A. (William Anderson), 1855-1925  Search this

Davis, Charles H. (Charles Harold), 1856-1933  Search this

Erskine, John, 1879-1951  Search this

Euwer, Anthony  Search this

Gabay, Esperanza  Search this

Henri, Robert, 1865-1929  Search this

Meiere, M. Hildreth, d. 1961  Search this

Peixotto, Ernest, b. 1869  Search this

Troy, Hugh  Search this

Extent:

14.3 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sketchbooks

Sketches

Diaries

Photographs

Writings

Poetry

Date:

1879-1984

Summary:

The papers of painter and muralist Daniel Putnam Brinley and his wife, linguist and writer Kathrine Sanger Brinley, date from 1879 to 1984 and measure 14.3 linear feet. The Brinleys' careers and lives are documented in biographical materials, as well as extensive correspondence with one another, family, friends, art galleries, organizations, publishers, and others. Also found within the papers are writings by both, including 16 diaries (1 by Daniel Putnam Brinley and the rest by Kathrine), essays, manuscripts, typescripts, notes and notebooks, poetry, and various other writings. There are mural commission files, files for organizations of which the Brinleys were members, financial and legal records, exhibition catalogs, news clippings, and other printed material. Also found are photographs of the Brinleys, family, friends, travels, and artwork, and six sketchbooks and original artwork by Daniel Putnam Brinley.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of painter and muralist Daniel Putnam Brinley and his wife, linguist and writer Kathrine Sanger Brinley, date from 1879 to 1984 and measure 14.3 linear feet. The Brinleys' careers and lives are documented in biographical materials, as well as extensive correspondence with one another, family, friends, art galleries, organizations, publishers, and others. Also found within the papers are writings by both, including 16 diaries (1 by Daniel Putnam Brinley and the rest by Kathrine), essays, manuscripts, typescripts, notes and notebooks, poetry, and various other writings. There are mural commission files, files for organizations of which the Brinleys were members, financial and legal records, exhibition catalogs, news clippings, and other printed material. Also found are photographs of the Brinleys, family, friends, travels, and artwork, and six sketchbooks and original artwork by Daniel Putnam Brinley.

Biographical material consists of biographical sketches and professional summaries for both Daniel Putnam Brinley and Kathrine Sanger Brinley, passports, personal mementos, award certificates, two radio interview transcripts, and military records documenting Daniel Putnam Brinley's service in the American Expeditionary Forces and the Camouflage Corps.

The papers contain extensive correspondence (4.6 linear feet) divided into family correspondence and general correspondence. Family correspondence includes letters between Daniel Putnam Brinley and Kathrine Sanger Brinley and with their parents and siblings. General correspondence primarily includes the Brinley's personal correspondence with friends and extended family. These letters discuss travel, mutual acquaintances, social events, and general news. Also found is professional correspondence regarding the exhibition and commission of artwork by Daniel Putnam Brinley and the publication of writings by Kathrine Sanger Brinley. Also discussed in the letters are the Brinleys' participation in art, social, and religious organizations. Correspondence of note is with Edwin Blashfield, Edward Bruce, William A. Coffin, Charles H. Davis, John Erskine, Anthony Euwer, Esperanza Gabay, Robert Henri, Hildreth Meiere, Ernest Peixotto, and Hugh Troy.

Writings and notes are by Daniel Putnam Brinley and Kathrine Sanger Brinley. Included among their writings are one diary by Daniel Putnam Brinley, 15 diaries by Kathrine Sanger Brinley, essays, notebooks and notes, manuscripts, and typescripts. Subjects of their writings include essays about religion, poetry, and autobiographical and travel essays. Also found among Daniel Putnam Brinley's writing are lecture notes, fictional stories and plays, essays about art, and historical research for his mural projects.

Mural commission files include correspondence, lists, contracts, financial agreements, notes, plans, sketches, and photographs for specific murals. There is extensive documentation on murals Brinley completed for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in New York and the Liberty War Memorial in Kansas City Missouri. Organization files document the Brinleys' participation in art and social organizations.

Scattered financial and legal records include receipts, account books, leases, estate and power of attorney documents, and records regarding their house and property in New Canaan, Connecticut. Printed material consists of published items documenting the careers, social activities and personal interest of the Brinleys, and includes books, exhibition catalogs and announcements, news clippings, newsletters, and items from their travels abroad.

Photographs depict Daniel Putnam Brinley and Kathrine Sanger Brinley, individually and with family and friends, and include photographs of Daniel Putnam Brinley working on mural commissions. Also found are photographs of their travels, their homes, Daniel Putnam Brinley's artwork, and reference photographs for his murals. Artwork in this collection includes six of Daniel Putnam Brinley's sketchbooks, primarily from his travels in Europe and Canada, loose drawings and mural studies, drawings by Albert Sterner and Reinhold Palenske, and a lithograph by John Steuart Curry.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into 9 series:

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1879-1970s (Box 1, OV 16; 0.8 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1879-1984 (Box 1-6; 4.6 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1895-1964 (Box 6-9; 3.3 linear feet)

Series 4: Commission Files, 1920-1979 (Box 9-10; 0.8 linear feet)

Series 5: Organization Files, 1909-1964 (Box 10-11; 0.9 linear feet)

Series 6: Financial and Legal Records, 1896-1965 (Box 11; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 7: Printed Material, 1895-1979 (Box 11-13, OV 16-17; 1.8 linear feet)

Series 8: Photographs, 1881-1971 (Box 13-14, OV 22; 0.8 linear feet)

Series 9: Artwork, 1891-1950s (Box 14-15, OVs 18-21; 0.9 linear feet)

Biographical Note:

Daniel Putnam Brinley (1879-1963) was a muralist and painter in New York City and New Canaan, Connecticut. Brinley was born in Newport, Rhode Island, and studied from 1900 to 1902 at the Art Student's League under Kenyon Cox and John Henry Twachtman. Influenced by Twachtman, he became an impressionist landscape painter for a time. In 1904, he married his childhood friend, writer Kathrine Gordon Sanger (1877-1966). For the next four years they traveled throughout Europe and lived in Paris, where Brinley studied art independently and became a member of the modernist circle of painters.

In 1908 the Brinleys returned to the United States and Daniel established a studio in New York City. During this period his work was heavily influenced by the modernist movement, with flattened forms and a deeper hued palette. Brinley had his first one-man show at Madison Avenue Galleries in 1910, exhibited at Alfred Stieglitz's gallery at 291, and helped organized the 1913 Armory Show. He was also a founding member of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors and the Grand Central Art Galleries. In 1914 the Brinleys built a home, Datchet House, in New Canaan, Connecticut, and spent part of each year there for the remainder of their lives.

In 1917 Daniel Putnam Brinley trained with the American Expeditionary Forces and went to France as the Director of Decoration for the Foyers Du Soldat (YMCA), remaining there until 1919. After returning to the United States he became a mural painter and received numerous commissions for memorials, office buildings, churches, and public spaces over the next forty years. Perhaps most notable of these commissions was the Liberty War Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri, for which Brinley painted 24 decorative maps showing the history of World War I. He remained active in the art community as a member of the Architectural League of New York, the National Academy of Design, and the Silvermine Guild of Artists, among others.

Kathrine Sanger Brinley was a writer and linguist who worked in Europe, New York City, and Connecticut. She lived in Europe from 1904 to 1908 where she studied the arts and crafts of the middle ages and became an expert on English writing and language of the 14th century. She published articles and books on these subjects and during the 1920s had a successful career touring as a dramatic recitalist of the works of Geoffrey Chaucer. From 1934 to 1938 the Brinley's spent their summers traveling throughout Canada, and Kathrine published four travel books which were illustrated by Daniel Putnam Brinley. Kathrine Sanger Brinley published and wrote professionally under the name Gordon Brinley.

Related Material:

Also found in the Archives of American Art is the Elizabeth Loder research material on Daniel Putnam Brinley, 1919-1990.

Separated Material:

The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reel 1427, including select family photographs. Loaned material was returned to the lender is not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:

The Daniel Putnam Brinley and Kathrine Sanger Brinley papers were lent for microfilming by their niece, Elizabeth Loder, in 1978-1979. Loder subsequently donated all but select family photographs in 1991 and additional material in 1992.

Restrictions:

Use of 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.

Occupation:

Painters -- Connecticut -- New Canaan  Search this

Topic:

Muralists -- Connecticut -- New Canaan  Search this

Mural painting and decoration -- United States  Search this

Authors -- Connecticut -- New Canaan  Search this

Works of art  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sketchbooks

Sketches

Diaries

Photographs

Writings

Poetry

Citation:

Daniel Putnam Brinley and Kathrine Sanger Brinley papers, 1879-1984. 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.brindani

See more items in:

Daniel Putnam Brinley and Kathrine Sanger Brinley papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-brindani

Creator:

Bradford, William, 1823-1892  Search this

Extent:

7 Volumes ((on 2 microfilm reels))

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Volumes

Date:

1860-1893

Scope and Contents:

Sketchbooks and a scrapbook.

REEL 2674: Five sketchbooks, primarily seascapes from Canada, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland.

REEL 3605: One annotated sketchbook, undated, containing mostly pencil sketches of seascapes; and a scrapbook, containing a letter, a program, a photograph, and clippings of stories, poetry, articles about Bradford's work and obituaries of family members.

Biographical / Historical:

Marine and arctic painter, photographer, and lecturer; Fairhaven, Mass. Studied under Van Beest. Made annual trips to Labrador to paint. Was an associate of the National Academy.

Provenance:

Materials on reel 2674 lent 1982 by Mrs. William Hovey, a distant relative of Bradford. Materials on reel 3605 lent by the Kendall Whaling Museum, 1985.

Restrictions:

The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.

Rights:

Reel 3605: Authorization to publish, quote or reproduce requires written permission from Director, Kendall Whaling Museum. Contact Reference Services for more information.

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:

Marine painters -- Massachusetts  Search this

Topic:

Marine painting, American -- Northeastern States  Search this

Marine painting -- 19th century -- Northeastern States  Search this

Identifier:

AAA.bradwilp

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-bradwilp

Author:

McPherson, Aimee Semple  Search this

Mack, Connie  Search this

Long, Huey  Search this

Lauder, Harry, Sir  Search this

Pons, Lily, 1898-1976  Search this

Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956  Search this

Ruth, George Herman (Babe)  Search this

Rockefeller, John D.  Search this

Post, Emily  Search this

Sousa, John Philip, 1854-1932  Search this

Sandburg, Carl, 1878-1967  Search this

Churchill, Winston, Sir, 1874-1965  Search this

Pickford, Mary  Search this

Stein, Gertrude, 1874-1946  Search this

Adams, Maude (actress)  Search this

Allen, Gracie  Search this

Cantor, Eddie, 1892-1964  Search this

Addams, Jane  Search this

Baruch, Bernard M.  Search this

Baer, Max (boxer)  Search this

Brendel, El (actor)  Search this

Borglum, Gutzon, 1867-1941  Search this

Burgess, Gelett, 1866-1951  Search this

Chaplin, Charles (actor)  Search this

Coolidge, Grace  Search this

Cobb, Irvin S.  Search this

Curie, Marie  Search this

Crosby, Harry Lillis (Bing)  Search this

Darrow, Clarence, 1857-1938  Search this

Disney, Walt, 1901-1966  Search this

Durant, William James  Search this

Durante, Jimmy  Search this

Earhart, Amelia, 1897-1937  Search this

Fetchit, Stepin  Search this

Fields, W. C.  Search this

Garner, John N.  Search this

Gibson, Charles Dana, 1867-1944  Search this

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962  Search this

Grey, Zane  Search this

Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945  Search this

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr., 1841-1935  Search this

Hoover, John Edgar  Search this

Keller, Helen, 1880-1968  Search this

Sinclair, Upton, 1878-1968  Search this

Lardner, Ring  Search this

Collector:

Galloway, Mildred (Mildred Galloway Moore)  Search this

Galloway, Mildred (Mildred Galloway Moore)  Search this

Creator:

White, Mary Lou  Search this

Extent:

0.6 Cubic feet (3 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Clippings

Books

Correspondence

Letters (correspondence)

Place:

Indiana -- 20th century

Date:

1925-1975

Summary:

Collection includes over 200 replies (160 of which comprise the book) to Mrs. Moore's letter requesting a quotation or a bit of poetry important to the recipient; a copy of her book, "Famous Personalities and Their Philosophies," and materials relating to the speeches both Mrs. Moore and her daughter gave about this collection of letters, such as notes, clippings, etc.

Scope and Contents:

The collection documents a book written by Mildred Moore entitled Famous Personalities and Their Philosophies, published in 1940 by the Bookwalter Ball Greathouse Printing Co., Indianapolis. The collection encompasses over 200 replies (160 of which are included in the book) to Mrs. Moore's letter requesting a quotation or a bit of poetry important to them. Also included are a copy of her book, Famous personalities and Their Philosophies, and materials relating to the speeches both Mrs. Moore and her daughter gave about this collection of letters.

2

Series 1 of the collection, the letters received in response to Mrs. Moore's inquiry, has been classified by occupation of the respondent and then arranged alphabetically by name within that classification. Apparently selected at random, the people she contacted were drawn from a wide variety of occupations and interests and include actors, athletes, community leaders, physicians, politicians, royalty, and many others. They are as diverse in background as Babe Ruth and the Prince of Wales, Huey Long and Winston Churchill. Most of the responses are signed by the individuals to whom Mrs. Moore's letter was addressed. Some of these have value as autographs, for example, Helen Keller, Marie of Roumania, and Adolph Hitler.

Series 2 is the book itself, arranged alphabetically with a page devoted to each personality. On each page are brief comments by Mrs. Moore about the person, and his or her favorite quotation and its source. When a second page has been devoted to an individual it is a reproduction of the handwritten response to Mrs. Moore's request (16 out of 160 entries). Sources of the quotations range through the centuries from Confucius to several people alive at the time of the book's publication (1940), but most frequently quoted are the Bible and the works of Shakespeare.

The material in series 3 is devoted largely to notes of Mary Lou White (Mrs. Moore's daughter) relating to the many speeches she made to women's clubs, fraternal organizations, and similar groups concerning her mother's collection, her publicity and that of her mother. There are also a few references to Elizabeth Wenger, who, according to Mary Lou White's notes, was repeating Mildred Moore's endeavor with respect to a later generation.

Series 4 contains replies to a letter requesting a favorite quotation sent to residents of Fort Wayne by Mrs. Moore. Most of these are dated 1932 1933. They have been arranged alphabetically by respondent.

The correspondents include Babe Ruth, the Prince of Wales, Winston Churchill, Huey Long, Helen Keller, Marie of Romania, and Adolf Hitler, and others, such as those listed below.

Arrangement:

The collection is divided into four series.

Series 1: Responses to Mildred Moore's letter to famous personalities

Series 2: Publication developed from responses to letter to famous people (book)

Series 3: Development of speeches by Mary Lou White (notes)

Series 4: Responses to letters to prominent Fort Wayne area residents

Biographical / Historical:

Mildred Moore, the pen name for Mildred Galloway, later Mrs. Forest L. Moore, was born on a farm outside Cromwell, Indiana. She read constantly as a child and often wrote verse to express her feelings. Prior to November 13, 1930, when she began writing a column called "This, That And The Other" for the Cromwell Advance, a Fort Wayne newspaper, and one in Waterloo, Indiana, she had worked for several years as a secretary and bookkeeper for the Fort Wayne YMCA.

In 1931, having become interested in what motivated people and in their philosophies, Mildred Moore began to write to famous people seemingly selected at random requesting a quotation or a bit of verse that had been important to them and the development of their philosophy. The resultant book, Famous Personalities and Their Philosophies, includes 160 responses to over 200 letters to people with some claim to fame during the 1930s. Interestingly, the rate of response and acquiescence was very high with few refusals. A few indicated no favorite verse or quotation.

Mildred Moore made speeches about her collection of letters to several hundred groups in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois. Her daughter, Mary Lou White (Mrs. Charles F. White), also spoke to numerous groups about the letters after her mother's death.

Provenance:

Collection donated by Charles F. White, 1991, April 26.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Rights:

Probable copyright restrictions on some material in this collection.

Topic:

Celebrities -- 1930-1940  Search this

Poetry  Search this

Genre/Form:

Clippings -- 20th century

Books -- 1940-1950

Correspondence -- 20th century

Letters (correspondence) -- 20th century.

Citation:

Mildred Moore Collection, 1925-1975, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0409

See more items in:

Mildred Moore Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0409

Creator:

National Air and Space Museum  Search this

Type:

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2018-11-16T18:35:40.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Aeronautics;Flight;Space Sciences  Search this

See more by:

airandspace

Data Source:

National Air and Space Museum

YouTube Channel:

airandspace

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_ViwwjVs22HY

Creator:

National Portrait Gallery  Search this

Type:

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2009-09-04T16:20:59.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Portraits  Search this

See more by:

NatlPortraitGallery

Data Source:

National Portrait Gallery

YouTube Channel:

NatlPortraitGallery

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_35k-ZweitEY

Creator:

National Portrait Gallery  Search this

Type:

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2011-04-07T21:55:40.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Portraits  Search this

See more by:

NatlPortraitGallery

Data Source:

National Portrait Gallery

YouTube Channel:

NatlPortraitGallery

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_6msrELvGjbs

Creator:

National Portrait Gallery  Search this

Type:

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2012-05-14T21:16:35.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Portraits  Search this

See more by:

NatlPortraitGallery

Data Source:

National Portrait Gallery

YouTube Channel:

NatlPortraitGallery

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_6uGytHhPkhs

Creator:

National Portrait Gallery  Search this

Type:

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2012-12-13T18:45:53.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Portraits  Search this

See more by:

NatlPortraitGallery

Data Source:

National Portrait Gallery

YouTube Channel:

NatlPortraitGallery

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_OJXH4q8x5to