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Moses and Frances Asch Collection

Creator:: Asch, Moses Search this; Distler, Marian, 1919-1964 Search this; Folkways Records Search this

Names:: Courlander, Harold, 1908-1996 Search this; Guthrie, Woody, 1912-1967 Search this; Jenkins, Ella Search this; Leadbelly, 1885-1949 Search this; Ramsey, Frederic, 1915-1995 Search this; Seeger, Pete, 1919-2014 Search this

Extent:: 841 Cubic feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Business records; Correspondence; Phonograph records; Photographic prints; Audiotapes

Date:: 1926-1986; bulk 1948-1986

Summary:: This collection, which dates from 1926-1986, documents the output of Moses Asch through the various record labels he founded and co-founded, and includes some of his personal papers. The Asch collection includes published recordings, master tapes, outtakes, business records, correspondence, photographs, and film.

Scope and Contents:: The Moses and Frances Asch Collection measures 841 cubic feet and dates from 1926-1987, with some contemporary, relevant correspondence, clippings, and ephemera added after 1987.

Most of the collection consists of audio recordings (commercial 78 rpm and long-playing records, open reel tapes, acetate discs, and test pressings), correspondence with recording artists and producers, artwork, photographs, ephemera, clippings, record production materials, writings, and business papers relating to Folkways Records. Materials relating to Folkways Records can be found primarily in the Correspondence, Folkways Production, Business Records, Photographs, Artwork, Sound Recordings, and Film series.

The collection also contains some biographical materials and personal correspondence, including materials related to Asch's first business, Radio Laboratories, located in the Biographical Materials series. Correspondence, ephemera, photographs, record production materials, business papers, and recordings relating to Asch's record labels before Folkways Records (Asch Recordings, Disc Company of America, Cub Records) are located in the Early Label Materials series as well as the Audio Recordings and Photographs series.

Arrangement note:: The collection is arranged in 10 series:

Series 1: Correspondence, 1942-1987

Series 2: Folkways Production, 1946-1987

Series 3: Business Records, 1940-1987

Series 4: Woody Guthrie papers, 1927-1985

Series 5: Early Label Materials, 1940-1949

Series 6: Biographical Materials, 1926-1987

Series 7: Photographs

Series 8: Artwork

Series 9: Audio Recordings

Series 10: Film

At this time, the collection is partially processed. Please contact rinzlerarchives@si.edu for more information.

Biographical/Historical note:: The son of Yiddish writer Sholem Asch, Moses Asch was born in Poland in 1905. His childhood was spent in Poland, France, Germany, and New York. While young, Asch developed an interest in radio electronics, which ultimately lead him to his life's work, recording the music and sounds of the world. He established several record labels in succession, sometimes partnering with other record companies. Two of his fist record companies, Asch Recordings and DISC Co. of America, went bankrupt. They were followed by his best-known label, Folkways Records, which was founded in 1948 with Marian Distler (1919-1964). He was still working on Folkways recordings when he died in 1986.

Folkways Records sought to document the entire world of sound. The 2,168 titles Asch released on Folkways include traditional and contemporary music from around the world, spoken word in many languages, and documentary recordings of individuals, communities, and current events. Asch's business practices revolved around the commitment to keep every recording issued by Folkways in print, despite low sales. Asch stayed afloat by cutting costs where he could (such as color printing) and offering a high-quality product, meticulously recorded and accompanied by extensive liner notes. In doing this, he could charge a slightly higher price than other commercial outfits. Despite a tenuous relationship with financial solvency, Folkways grew to be not only one of the most important independent record companies in the United States in the 20th century, but also one of the largest and most influential record companies in the world.

Moses Asch's record labels featured famous and lesser known American writers, poets, documentarians, ethnographers, and grass roots musicians on commercial recordings. American folk icon Woody Guthrie recorded on the Asch, Disc, and Folkways labels, and the Asch Collection includes some of his correspondence, lyrics, drawings, and writings. The collection also includes correspondence with other notable musicians and artists such as John Cage, Langston Hughes, Margaret Walker, Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, Pete Seeger, Peggy Seeger, Ewan MacColl, Alan Lomax, Henry Cowell, and Kenneth Patchen. Also in the collection are ethnographic field notes and photographs by as well as correspondence with Béla Barók, Sidney Robertson Cowell, Harold Courlander, Helen Creighton, Laura Boulton, and Samuel Charters. Asch hired various prominent artists and graphic designers including David Stone Martin, Ben Shahn, John Carlis, and Ronald Clyne to create album cover art for his recordings. Much of the original art and designs for these covers can be found in the Asch Collection.

Asch's output of recordings on various labels, including published recordings, open reel master tapes, outtakes, and acetate disks, in addition to his business papers, correspondence, photographs, and other files were acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987. The collection came to the Smithsonian with the understanding that all 2168 titles under the Folkways label would be kept available in perpetuity.

Provenance:: Ralph Rinzler arranged the Smithsonian's acquisition of the Moses and Frances Asch Collection in 1987, beginning with Asch before his death in 1986 and continuing with extensive discussions between Rinzler and the Asch family. Since its acquisition, archivist Jeff Place and others have added contemporary, relevant correspondence with Folkways artists and related individuals.

Restrictions:: Access by appointment only. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at rinzlerarchives@si.edu or (202) 633-7322 for additional information.

Rights:: Copyright restrictions apply. Contact archives staff for additional information.

Topic:: Folk music Search this; Folk dance music Search this; Electronic music Search this; Oral interpretation of poetry Search this; Oral interpretation of fiction Search this; Music -- 20th century Search this; Music -- 19th century Search this; Music -- 18th century Search this; Jazz Search this; Folk music -- United States Search this; World music Search this; Sounds Search this; Vocal music Search this; Popular music -- 20th century -- United States Search this

Genre/Form:: Business records; Correspondence; Phonograph records; Photographic prints; Audiotapes

Citation:: Moses and Frances Asch Collection, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:: CFCH.ASCH

See more items in:: Moses and Frances Asch Collection

Archival Repository:: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-cfch-asch

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Tanager Gallery records

Creator:: Tanager Gallery Search this

Names:: Arnold, Anne, 1926- Search this; Brooks, James, 1906-1992 Search this; Burkhardt, Rudy Search this; Cajori, Charles, 1921- Search this; Cherry, Herman Search this; Dodd, Lois, 1927- Search this; Fine, Perle, 1908-1988 Search this; Frankenthaler, Helen, 1928-2011 Search this; Geist, Sidney Search this; Guston, Philip, 1913-1980 Search this; Hazelet, Sally Search this; Hofmann, Hans, 1880-1966 Search this; Ippolito, Angelo Search this; Katz, Alex, 1927- Search this; King, William, 1925-2015 Search this; Pearlstein, Philip, 1924- Search this; Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008 Search this; Rivers, Larry, 1925-2002 Search this; Stamos, Theodoros, 1922-1997 Search this; Wesselmann, Tom, 1931-2004 Search this

Extent:: 2.6 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Diaries; Scrapbooks; Photographs; Sketches

Date:: 1952-1979

Summary:: The records of contemporary New York City Tanager Gallery measure 2.6 linear feet and date from 1952 to 1979. Found are administrative files, financial and legal records including detailed receipt books, scattered correspondence, artists' files for circa 70 artists that include price lists and biographies, two scrapbooks of printed materials, newsclippings, exhibition announcements and other printed materials, and five photographs of openings at the gallery and of the exterior of the building.

Scope and Content Note:: The records of contemporary New York City Tanager Gallery measure 2.6 linear feet and date from 1952 to 1979. Found are administrative files, financial and legal records including detailed receipt books, scattered correspondence, artists' files for circa 70 artists that include price lists and biographies, two scrapbooks of printed materials, newsclippings, exhibition announcements and other printed materials, and five photographs of openings at the gallery and of the exterior of the building.

Administrative files include four day books, lists of artists and exhibitions, historical sketches, and an address book. There are two ledger books of expenses for shows and four receipt books from 1959-1962 which are organized by date and list artist, and artwork, buyer, and price. Correspondence is arranged chronologically and comprised mainly of copies of letters sent by the Gallery to artists as invitations to exhibit. Also found are scattered letters from museums and artists.

There are artists' files for circa 70 artists that contain a variety of materials, including price lists and biographies or resumes. Artists files are found for Anne Arnold, James Brooks, Charles Cajori, Herman Cherry, Lois Dodd, Sally Hazelet Drummond, Perle Fine, Helen Frankenthaler, Sidney Geist, Philip Guston, Hans Hofmann, Angelo Ippolito, Philip Pealstein, Alex Katz, William King, Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers, Theordore Stamos, and Tom Wesselmann among many others.

The collection includes two scrapbooks containing mostly newsclippings and exhibition announcements, as well as additional loose newsclippings, numerous exhibition announcements and catalogs, and press releases. There are five photographs of gallery openings and the exterior of the building, the latter taken by Rudy Burkhardt.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged as 7 series:

Series 1: Administrative Files, 1952-1979 (Boxes 1, 4; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 2: Financial and Legal Records, 1952-1962 (Box 1; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 3: Correspondence, 1952-1967 (Boxes 1-2; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 4: Artists Files, circa 1952- circa 1962 (Box 2; 0.1 linear feet)

Series 5: Scrapbooks, circa 1962 (Boxes 2-3; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1952-1971 (Boxes 2, 4; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 7: Photographs, circa 1952-circa 1959 (Box 2; 2 folders)

Historical Note:: The Tanager Gallery operated from 1952-1962 in New York City. The gallery was one of the first artist cooperative galleries formed on 10th Street in Manhattan to provide an alternative to the larger upscale galleries of Madison Avenue.

In 1952, the artist cooperative Tanager Gallery opened at 90 East 10th Street in Manhattan. Co-founders included Charles Cajori, Lois Dodd, Angelo Ippolito, William King, and Fred Mitchell. The Tanager offered open spaces for young artists to show their work and to sell art on their own terms. Membership at the Tanager included American Realists Alex Katz and Philip Pearlstein, and the Pop art/found-art collagist Tom Wesselmann. Later artists to join the cooperatiive included Mary Abbott, Perle Fine, Sidney Geist, Joseph Groell, Nanno de Groot, Sally Hazelet, Ben Isquith, Lester Johnson, Nicholas Marsicano, George Earl Ortman, Charlotte Park, Philip Pearlstein, Frank Stout, Raymond Rocklin, and Sal Sirugo. From 1952 to 1962, the Tanager Gallery exhibited works from about 250 artists.

The opening of Tanager and other 10th Street galleries was a radical change for the New York arts scene and for emerging New York artists who generally found representation with uptown gallery owners and/or art dealers on 57th Street or Madison Ave. In the 1950s, Manhattan's 10th Street was a gathering place for young artist-bohemians. The galleries were often the centers for anything avant-garde or new, such as art installations, happenings, poetry readings, jazz sessions, and performance art. For example, Tanager Gallery hosted a series of forums with local artists who would discuss their work and objectives.

Tanager Gallery received attention and respect from the more established art galleries and critics in New York, including Dore Ashton, Leo Castelli, Tom Hess, Martha Jackson, and Dorothy Miller. The Tanager Gallery closed in 1962.

Related Material:: Among the holdings of the Archives of American Art are the Lois Dodd papers, 1952-2001 and an oral history interview with Lois Dodd by Barbara Shikler from 1988.

Provenance:: Lois Dodd, co-founder of the Tanager Gallery, donated the Tanager Gallery records in several increments between 1972 and 1989.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Rights:: The Tanager Gallery records are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Topic:: Art, Abstract -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; Art, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Search this

Function:: Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State) -- New York

Genre/Form:: Diaries; Scrapbooks; Photographs; Sketches

Citation:: Tanager Gallery records, 1952-1979. 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.tanagall

See more items in:: Tanager Gallery records

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-tanagall

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Peter and Rose Krasnow papers

Creator:: Krasnow, Peter, 1886-1979 Search this

Names:: Peter Krasnow Arts Foundation Search this; United States. Aircraft Warning Service. Ground Observer Corps Search this; Blades, Harriet Search this; Budnick, Dan Search this; Burton, Leslie Search this; Clements, Grace, 1905-1969 Search this; Cocker, Conrad Search this; Danieli, Fidel Search this; DeLuce, Robert Search this; Drake, Alfred S. Search this; Howe, Dudley Search this; Krasnow, Rose, 1885-1984 Search this; Morley, Grace, 1900-1985 Search this; Noer, Philip Search this; Owen, Dale Search this; Owen, Elaine Search this; Price, Aimée Brown, 1939- Search this; Raboff, Ernest Lloyd Search this; Raboff, Ina Search this; Stone, Irving, 1903- Search this; Weston, Edward, 1886-1958 Search this; Weston, Edward, 1886-1958 -- Photographs Search this; Weston, Flora -- Photographs Search this

Extent:: 6.9 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Sketchbooks; Photographs; Sketches; Diaries; Poems; Notes; Essays; Short stories; Prints; Transcripts; Sound recordings

Date:: 1914-1984

Summary:: The papers of painter, printmaker, and sculptor Peter Krasnow (1886-1979) and his wife, writer Rose Krasnow (1885-1984), measures 6.9 linear feet and date from 1914 to 1984. Papers include biographical materials, a sound recording, correspondence, essays, poetry, short stories, notes, transcripts of lectures and radio talks, five diaries of Peter Krasnow, personal business records, exhibition catalogs and announcements, clippings, magazines, five sketchbooks, sketches and drawings in multiple media, prints, and photographs.

Scope and Content Note:: The papers of painter, printmaker, and sculptor Peter Krasnow (1886-1979) and his wife, writer Rose Krasnow (1885-1984), measures 6.9 linear feet and date from 1914 to 1984. Papers include biographical materials, a sound recording, correspondence, essays, poetry, short stories, notes, transcripts of lectures and radio talks, five diaries of Peter Krasnow, personal business records, exhibition catalogs and announcements, clippings, magazines, five sketchbooks, sketches and drawings in multiple media, prints, and photographs.

Biographical materials include documentation of Rose Krasnow's service as a member of the Army Air Forces Ground Observer Corps, programs and other materials from various memorial services, a sound recording with commentary on a Peter Krasnow exhibition, and documentation of a project to publish Rose Krasnow's poetry.

Correspondence consists of Peter and Rose Krasnow's personal and professional correspondence as well as a small amount of third party correspondence. Personal correspondence with friends and family involves health, work, daily events, and other life updates. Professional correspondence with art dealers, curators, gallery and museum directors, collectors, and colleges and universities concerns exhibitions, sales, loans, and donations of artwork. Primary correspondents include Leslie Burton and Harriet Blades, Dan Budnik, Grace Clements, Conrad Crocker, Dudley Howe, Lilly Weil Jaffe, Grace L. McCann Morley, Dale and Elaine Owen, Aimée Brown Price, Ernest and Ina Raboff, Irving Stone, and Edward Weston. There are also numerous scattered letters from artists, writers, curators, critics, museums, arts associations, and Jewish organizations.

Writings and notes are by Peter Krasnow, Rose Krasnow, and others. Writings by Peter Krasnow include a draft autobiography, essays, lectures on wood sculpture, typescripts, notes, and writings on art. Writings by Rose Krasnow include essays, plays, poetry, and short stories. Writings by others consist of essays, lectures, notes, plays, poetry, short stories, and typescripts. Other writers include Grace Clements, Fidel Danieli, Robert DeLuce, Alfred S. Drake, and Philip Noer. There are also five handwritten personal diaries by Peter Krasnow.

Personal business records include Rose Krasnow's bank book from 1980, Peter Krasnow's naturalization certificate and passport, an inventory of paintings on index cards, tax applications for the Peter Krasnow Arts Foundation, materials relating to Peter Krasnow's estate and the purchase of his artwork, and various receipts.

Printed materials include exhibition catalogs and announcements, clippings, bound books, magazines and journals, a Chicago Society of Artists block print calendar, and two printed posters from Peter Krasnow's exhibit at the Galerie Pierre in 1934.

Artwork is mostly by Peter Krasnow, and includes five sketchbooks, sketches and drawings, watercolors, preliminary studies in oil, and prints.

Photographs include personal photographs, photographs of major sculpture projects in progress, and artwork. Personal photographs are of Peter and Rose, family members, and friends, as well as a few scattered images of landscapes and architecture, possibly travel photographs. There are also photographs of Edward and Flora Weston. There are three photograph albums, one contains images of Krasnow's relief sculptures for the Sinai Temple's Kohn Chapel. Two photograph albums were compliled by Susan Ehrlich for Peter and Rose Krasnow. Also found are photographs of works of art. Some of the photographs in the papers were taken by Dan Budnik.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged as 9 series:

Series 1: Biographical Materials, circa 1942-1983 (Boxes 1, 6; 7 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1930-1984 (Box 1; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1916-1980 (Boxes 1-2; 1.3 linear feet)

Series 4: Diaries, circa 1955-1968 (Box 2-3; 5 folders)

Series 5: Personal Business Records, circa 1914-1982 (Box 3; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 6: Printed Materials, circa 1922-1981 (Boxes 3-4 and OV 9; 1.1 linear feet)

Series 7: Artwork, circa 1918-1980 (Boxes 4-6 and OV 7-8, 10; 1.5 linear feet)

Series 8: Sketchbooks, circa 1918-1973 (Box 5; 5 folders)

Series 9: Photographs, circa 1914-1981 (Boxes 5-6; 0.6 linear feet)

Biographical Note:: Peter Krasnow (1886-1979) was a painter, sculptor, and printmaker who lived and worked primarily in Southern California. His wife, Rose Krasnow (1885-1984), was a prolific writer of poems, short stories, and plays.

Peter Krasnow was born on August 20, 1886 in the Ukraine, Russia to Jewish parents. His father's work as an interior designer inspired Krasnow's interest in art.

In 1907, Krasnow emigrated to the United States, first living in Boston. He moved to Chicago in 1908 to attend the Art Institute of Chicago, where he met his future wife, Rose Bloom. To support himself during his studies, Krasnow worked as a security officer and performed other manual jobs. He graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1916 and married Rose that same year.

The Krasnows moved to New York in 1919. In New York, Krasnow experienced some artistic success, participating in group and solo exhibitions at the Whitney Studio Club. During this time period, Krasnow often painted city scenes using a dark color palette.

In 1922, the Krasnows moved to Los Angeles, California. Krasnow built a studio near Glendale in 1923, on land purchased from photographer and friend Edward Weston. The studio also served as the Krasnows' main residence for the rest of their lives. In 1923 in Los Angeles, Krasnow exhibited with the Group of Independent Artists, which included Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Boris Deutsch, Nick Brigante, Ben Berlin, and other noteworthy artists. During his first years in California, Krasnow mostly created watercolor paintings, including a series of landscapes, using a lighter color palette than his earlier works. In the 1920s, Krasnow also accepted commissions for carved wood reliefs at the Temple Emmanu-El in San Francisco and the Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.

Krasnow received a grant in 1931, and he and Rose temporarily relocated to the Dordogne region of France, where they lived until 1934. During this time, Krasnow painted a series of watercolors and paintings of the French landscape. Before returning to the United States, Krasnow exhibited these landscapes at the Galerie Pierre.

After returning to California, Krasnow began creating carved wood sculptures, which he named 'demountables,' often using wood from trees on his property. Krasnow created these sculptures to celebrate the organic shapes inherent in wood.

In 1934, Krasnow returned to painting, this time creating bright, colorful, geometric designs which often incorporated symbolism from his Jewish heritage. Krasnow focused on these paintings through the remaining years of his life. In 1977, Krasnow received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Peter Krasnow died on October 30, 1979 in Los Angeles. Rose Krasnow died five years later, in 1984.

Provenance:: The Peter and Rose Krasnow papers were donated in several increments between 1976 and 1998 by Peter Krasnow, the Estate of Peter Krasnow, and the Peter and Rose Krasnow Foundation.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Rights:: The Peter and Rose Krasnow papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:: Painters -- California -- Los Angeles Search this

Topic:: Wood sculpture Search this; Jewish artists Search this; Printmakers -- California -- Los Angeles Search this; Sculptors -- California -- Los Angeles Search this

Genre/Form:: Sketchbooks; Photographs; Sketches; Diaries; Poems; Notes; Essays; Short stories; Prints; Transcripts; Sound recordings

Citation:: Peter and Rose Krasnow papers, 1914-1984. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:: AAA.kraspete

See more items in:: Peter and Rose Krasnow papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-kraspete

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Dore Ashton papers

Creator:: Ashton, Dore Search this

Names:: Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art -- Faculty Search this; New School for Social Research (New York, N.Y.) -- Faculty Search this; Yale University -- Faculty Search this; Adams, Pat, 1928- Search this; Adley, James, 1931- Search this; Albee, Edward, 1928- Search this; Albers, Josef Search this; Arnheim, Rudolf Search this; Avedon, Richard Search this; Berthot, Jake, 1939- Search this; Borges, Jacopo Luis Search this; Congdon, Dennis Search this; Cornell, Joseph Search this; Diebenkorn, Richard, 1922-1993 Search this; Driskell, David C. Search this; Giacometti, Alberto, 1901-1966 Search this; Guidieri, Remo Search this; Guston, Philip, 1913-1980 Search this; Hellman, Lillian, 1905-1984 Search this; Herbert, George Search this; Hiss, Alger Search this; Howes, Barbara Search this; Kaprow, Allan Search this; Licht, Fred, 1928- Search this; Lindner, Richard, 1901- Search this; Malamud, Bernard Search this; Miró, Joan, 1893- Search this; Motherwell, Robert Search this; Moy, Seong Search this; Mumford, Lewis, 1895-1990 Search this; Oldenburg, Claes, 1929- Search this; Reuterswärd, Carl Fredrik, 1934- Search this; Sterne, Hedda, 1910- Search this; Tinguely, Jean, 1925- Search this; Tobey, Mark Search this; Tworkov, Jack Search this; Vasilikos, Vasilēs, 1934- Search this; Yunkers, Adja, 1900-1983 Search this

Extent:: 35.6 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Sketchbooks; Diaries; Transcripts

Date:: circa 1928-2014; 1849

Summary:: The papers of Dore Ashton measure 35.6 linear feet and date from circa 1928-2014, with one letter in the Joseph Cornell subject file dating from 1849. The records document Dore Ashton's career as an art critic, historian and educator, with particular depth for the period of 1952 through 1990. The collection contains a small amount of biographical material, as well as correspondence, writings, subject files, printed materials, artwork, and reference photographs of artworks. An addition to the Dore Ashton papers includes biographical material, correspondence, writings, writing project and subject files, teaching files, printed material, artwork and sketchbooks, and photographic material.

Scope and Contents:: The papers of Dore Ashton measure 35.6 linear feet and date from circa 1928-2014, with one letter in the Joseph Cornell subject file dating from 1849. The records document Dore Ashton's career as an art critic, historian and educator, with particular depth for the period of 1952 through 1990. The collection contains a small amount of biographical material, as well as correspondence, writings, subject files, printed materials, artwork, and reference photographs of artworks. An addition to the Dore Ashton papers includes biographical material, correspondence, writings, writing project and subject files, teaching files, printed material, artwork and sketchbooks, and photographic material.

The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence with many artists, writers and others, including Pat Adams, James Adley, Rudolf Arnheim, Jake Berthot, Dennis Congdon, George Herbert, Remo Guidieri, Barbara Howes, Fred Licht, Joan Punyet Miro, Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd, and Hedda Sterne, among others. Smaller amounts of letters are from Joseph Albers, Edward Albee, Richard Avedon, Richard Diebenkorn, David Driskell, Alberto Giacometti, Philip Guston, Lillian Hellman, Alger Hiss, Bernard Malamud, Joan Miro, Robert Motherwell, Lewis Mumford, Claes Oldenburg, and Vassilis Vassilikos.

Writings consist of transcripts of miscellaneous articles or those written for various publications. Research files include reference or research materials for books, exhibitions, individuals and various topics. Individuals and topics include Jacopo Luis Borges, Allan Kaprow, Richard Lindner, Seong Moy, Jean Tinguely, Mark Tobey, Jack Tworkov, Adja Yunkers; and Dadaism, poetry and symbolism.

The addition to the Dore Ashton papers (Series 8) includes biographical material, correspondence, writings, writing project and subject files, teaching files, printed material, artwork and sketchbooks, and photographic material. Writings make up a significant part of the addition and contain hundreds of manuscripts, as well as lectures, notes, sixty notebooks, ten diaries, and writings by others. Writing project and subject files comprise over half of the addition and encompass a large collection of alphabetical files pertaining to artists, actors, writers, thinkers, and collaborators; work projects including writings, exhibitions, panels, symposia, and lecture series; as well as various other subjects and topics. The addition also contains teaching files related to Ashton's positions at the Cooper Union, the New School for Social Research, and Yale University. The photographic material in this series is also abundant and contains hundreds of original photographs of Ashton throughout all stages of her life, many with friends and family.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged as 8 series.

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1962-1978

Series 2: Correspondence, 1945-2010, undated

Series 3: Writings, 1952-1976, undated

Series 4: Research files, 1849, 1950-1984, 2009, undated

Series 5: Printed Materials, 1931-1981, undated

Series 6: Artwork, 1949, 1952, 1983, undated

Series 7: Photographs of Artwork, circa 1950-2010

Series 8: Addition to the Dore Ashton Papers, circa 1928-2013

Biographical / Historical:: Dore Ashton (1928-) is an art critic, author, and educator living in New York City. She wrote, contributed , and edited more than 30 books. Ashton was born in Newark New Jersey in 1928 and received an MA from Harvard University in 1950. Her many books and articles focus on late 19th and 20th century art and artists. Ashton was associate editor at Art Digest from 1952-1954, and critic for Arts and Architecture at the New York Times, 1955-1960. Starting in 1962 she held several lecturing posts at various institutions including the School of Visual Arts, Cooper Union, and the New School for Social Research. She was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in 1964 and a National Endowment for the Humanities grant in 1980. Among Ashton's books are Abstract Art Before Columbus, 1956; Poets and the Past, 1959; A Joseph Cornell Album, 1974; Yes, But…A Critical Study of Philip Guston, 1976, About Rothko, 1983; The New York School: a Cultural Reckoning, 1973; Noguchi East and West, 1992; and David Rankin: The New York Years, 2013. Dore Ashton was the first critic to develop a comprehensive and eye-witness account of the history of the Abstract Expressions.

Ashton married artist Adja Yunkers (1900-1983) in 1953, and they had two daughters Alexandra (known as Sasha) and Marina. In 1985 she married writer Matti Megged (1923-2003).

Related Materials:: Among the holdings of the Archives is an oral history interview with Dore Ashton conducted November 21, 2010 by George W. Sampson, for the Archives of American Art's Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts Project.

Dore Ashton papers are also located at Emory University Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library.

Provenance:: The Dore Ashton papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by Dore Ashton May 27, 1982, May 8, 1997, June 2, 2011, and March, 25, 2016.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Rights:: The Dore Ashton papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:: Women art critics Search this; Historians Search this; Art critics Search this; Educators Search this

Topic:: Photographs Search this; Dadaism Search this; Art criticism Search this; Art, Modern -- 20th century Search this; Artists -- United States Search this; Art -- Study and teaching Search this; Poetry Search this

Genre/Form:: Sketchbooks; Diaries; Transcripts

Citation:: Dore Ashton papers, 1849, circa 1928-2014. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for the processing of a portion of this collection was provided the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund

Identifier:: AAA.ashtdore

See more items in:: Dore Ashton papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-ashtdore

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Hildreth Meière papers

Creator:: Meiere, M. Hildreth, d. 1961 Search this

Names:: Exposition internationale (1937 : Paris, France) Search this; New York World's Fair (1939-1940 : New York, N.Y.) Search this; Peter A. Juley & Son Search this; United States. Navy Search this; Abbott, Berenice, 1898-1991 Search this; Dunn, Louise Meière Search this

Extent:: 27.3 Linear feet; 0.068 Gigabytes

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Gigabytes; Slides (photographs); Transcripts; Video recordings; Photographs; Poetry; Diaries; Sketchbooks

Place:: Spain -- History -- Civil War, 1936-1939

Date:: 1901-2011; bulk 1911-1960

Summary:: The papers of Hildreth Meière measure 27.3 linear feet and 0.068 GB and date from 1901 to 2011, with the bulk of material dating from 1911 to 1960. The collection documents Meière's life and travels, and her long and prolific career as an architectural muralist through biographical material, correspondence, writings, thirteen diaries, files regarding her war relief work during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, printed and digital materials, extensive photographs and slides, eight sketchbooks, and two videocassettes and 93 reels of motion picture film documenting her travels, her volunteer efforts in Spain following the civil war, artwork, and home movies.

Scope and Contents:: The papers of Hildreth Meière measure 27.3 linear feet and 0.068 GB and date from 1901 to 2011, with the bulk of material dating from 1911 to 1960. The collection documents Meière's life and travels, and her long and prolific career as an architectural muralist through biographical material, correspondence, writings, thirteen diaries, files regarding her war relief work during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, printed and digital materials, extensive photographs and slides, eight sketchbooks, and two videocassettes and 93 reels of motion picture film documenting her travels, her volunteer efforts in Spain following the civil war, artwork, and home movies.

Biographical material includes an autobiographical narrative written by Meière, her many awards and certificates, membership information, passports, her U.S. Navy service records from World War I, documentation of her brief marriage and family genealogy, obituaries, and memorial service documentation. Also found are extensive writings and research conducted by Meière's daughter, Louise Meière Dunn, which include a complete list of Meière's commissions, detailed biographical narratives, and records of Meière's works held elsewhere.

The papers contain Meière's personal and family correspondence, travel correspondence, and business correspondence regarding professional activities. Much of the correspondence with family and friends was written during Meière's extensive travels over the world. Both family and travel correspondence have extensive indexes, summaries, and in some cases, transcripts prepared by Meière's daughter, Louise Meière Dunn. Some of the indexes, summaries and transcripts are digital. Writings include poetry and diaries kept during childhood and school years, travel diaries, essays and talks written about Meière's work, writings Meière prepared for committees of the National Mural Painters Association, and detailed travelogues of her trips to Constantinople and the Balkans in 1933, to Russia in 1936, her "Grand Tour" to Australia, Southeast Asia, India, Africa, and Europe in 1952-1953, and her "Holy Land" tour of the Middle East in 1954.

Civilian War Service Records document Meière's efforts at war relief organization during and after the Spanish Civil War and during World War II. The Spanish Civil War files include extensive photographs provided by the Spanish government as well as three motion picture films documenting refugees and damaged architecture and public artwork shot by Meière during a trip sponsored by Franco's government. World War II activities concern Meière's efforts to organize artists in the United States to design and execute murals and other works of public art at military facilities around the U.S.

Travel records include maps, ephemera, slides, and 83 motion picture films taken on trips abroad between 1933 and 1958. Trips include Eastern and Western Europe, the Mediterranean Region and the Middle East, South America, Mexico and Guatemala, India, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, and the UK. The motion picture films are mostly shot in Kodachrome color and many contain intertitles prepared by Meière to identify locations for travel lectures.

Printed materials consist primarily of clippings and publications that reference Meière's work, contain profiles of her, or contain published writings by her. A single published educational film is also found, given to her by an Australian filmmaker friend. Additional photographs, digital photographs and moving images include personal photographs of Meière, with portraits by Peter A. Juley and Sons and Berenice Abbott, photographs of many of her commissioned works, and a few photographs of artwork by others. Home movies show Meière with friends in 1926 and 1940. Among the photographic documentation of artworks by Meière and others are motion picture films of the 1939 New York World's Fair, the D.C. Municipal Building Frieze, and the 1937 Paris Fair; also found are 311 lantern slides and 201 glass copy negatives of her own completed works as well as murals she documented while traveling, notably murals in Norway and Oberammergau, Bavaria, taken in the 1930s.

Eight sketchbooks date to her early years as an art student and artist and include many figure studies, landscapes, and theatrical sketches made at home and abroad.

Arrangement:: This collection is arranged in 8 series. Indexes, summaries, and transcripts prepared by Louise Meière Dunn that relate directly to archival materials in the collection are found throughout the collection with the material they describe. These indices are particularly rich in Series 2, Correspondence.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1915-2003 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 1, 14, OV18)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1901-2011 (3 linear feet; Boxes 1-4, RD19, 0.038 GB; ER01-ER03)

Series 3: Writings, 1904-1960 (1.3 linear feet; Boxes 4-5)

Series 4: Civilian War Service Records, 1938-2006 (1.3 linear feet; Boxes 5-6, 15, FC 28-30)

Series 5: Travel Records, 1933-1958 (12.8 linear feet; Boxes 6-10, 15, OV18, FC 31-111)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1913-1998 (2.1 linear feet; Boxes 10-12, 15, FC 112)

Series 7: Photographs and Moving Images, 1915-1966 (5.8 linear feet; Boxes 12-13, 16, 20-27, FC 17, 113-127, 0.029 GB; ER04)

Series 8: Sketchbooks, 1911-1922 (0.4 linear feet; Box 13)

Biographical / Historical:: Hildreth Meière (1892-1961) was born in Flushing, New York, and had a prolific career from 1921-1961 as an architectural muralist working primarily in an Art Deco style. Meière painted murals and designed for various mediums including mosaic, metal, and stained glass. In 1956 the American Institute of Architects awarded Meière their Fine Arts Medal.

Meière was educated at New York's Convent of the Sacred Heart, Manhattanville, the Art Students League in New York, the California School of Fine Arts (now San Francisco Art Institute), and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in addition to pursuing studies in Italy. Her major commissions include the Nebraska State Capitol at Lincoln, the National Academy of Sciences, the Resurrection Chapel of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. In New York, she designed the Art Deco plaques on the exterior wall of Radio City Music Hall; created mosaic interiors for the Irving Trust Building at 1 Wall Street; and provided ecclesiastical decorations for St. Patrick's Cathedral, St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, Temple Emanu-El, and elsewhere. She also created murals for the Chicago 1933 Century of Progress Fair, and the 1939 New York World's Fair.

She was also an active officer in the Art Students League and the National Society of Mural Painters. Some of her most inspired collaborations were with the architect Bertram Goodhue in the 1920s, and only his sudden death in 1924 put an end to them, although some projects were finished with the successor firm.

Meière died in 1961 at the age of 68. Her work is remembered in several major publications, including The Art Deco Murals of Hildreth Meière by Catherine Coleman Brawer and Kathleen Murphy Skolnik, with photographs by Meière's granddaughter, Hildreth Meière Dunn, published in 2014; and the catalog of the 2009 exhibition at St. Bonaventure University, curated by Brawer and photographed by Dunn, entitled Walls Speak: the Narrative Art of Hildreth Meière.

Provenance:: A majority of the collection placed on deposit 2001 by Louise Meière Dunn, daughter of Hildreth Meière. The collection was donated incrementally by Dunn through 2012. Donations occurred 2001-2007, and again in 2010-2012.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires and appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Rights:: The Hildreth Meière papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Topic:: War relief Search this; Travel Search this; Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; World War, 1939-1945 Search this; World War I, 1914-1918 Search this; Women artists Search this; Mosaicists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; Art commissions Search this; Motion pictures (visual works) Search this

Genre/Form:: Slides (photographs); Transcripts; Video recordings; Photographs; Poetry; Diaries; Sketchbooks

Citation:: Hildreth Meière papers, 1901-2011, bulk 1911-1960. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for the digitization of 84 reels of motion picture film in the collection was provided by The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at St. Bonaventure University through a generous grant from the Ruth Dayton Foundation. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.

Identifier:: AAA.meiemari

See more items in:: Hildreth Meière papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-meiemari

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Writings

Collection Creator:: Meiere, M. Hildreth, d. 1961 Search this

Extent:: 1.3 Linear feet (Boxes 4-5)

Type:: Archival materials

Date:: 1904-1960

Scope and Contents:: Writings include thirteen diaries spanning her childhood and later travels in the 1920s-1950s, essays and talks, poetry and translations of Spanish poetry by Meière, two novel length unpublished prose manuscripts, and travelogues. Early diaries include many enclosures, including photographs, drawings, calling cards, letters, and other keepsakes. A file of typescript memos and reports document Meière's involvement with the National Society of Mural Painters' Coordinating Committee during a turbulent period preceding the 1939 World's Fair. Essays and talks concern Meière's work on the 1939 New York World's Fair, with the NYC WPA Art Project, and reflections on women in art careers, mural painting, and ecclesiastical art. Meière's own poetry, as well as her translations of Spanish poets Gustavo Adolfo Becquer and others, are found in manuscript and typescript form. Enclosures found in an early handwritten volume of poetry called "Poems (so-called)" include a letter recounting the dissolution of her marriage in 1930. Two prose manuscripts include Battery Brown, written after the first World War, and a work Meière called her "Spanish Civil War Novella," which is largely non-fiction documenting her experience with the Spanish war relief effort and her political stance on the conflict.

Travelogues, handwritten and typewritten, are found for her trips to Constantinople and the Balkans, her trip to Russia in 1936, and her "Grand Tour" of 1952-1953, which began in Europe and Great Britain during Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, and moved through India, Indonesia, Australia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and ended in Taormina, Sicily. The Grand Tour is documented in a lengthy typescript travelogue. Also found is a short essay on the politics of the Arab Israeli conflict written after her trip to the Middle East in 1954.

Arrangement:: Arrangement is alphabetical by type of material. Additional material on Spanish Civil War is found in Series 4, Civilian War Service Records, and additional material related to Meiere's travels is found in Series 2, Correspondence and Series 5, Travel Records.

Collection Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires and appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Collection Rights:: The Hildreth Meière papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Collection Citation:: Hildreth Meière papers, 1901-2011, bulk 1911-1960. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for the digitization of 84 reels of motion picture film in the collection was provided by The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at St. Bonaventure University through a generous grant from the Ruth Dayton Foundation. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.

Identifier:: AAA.meiemari, Series 3

See more items in:: Hildreth Meière papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:: ead_component:sova-aaa-meiemari-ref3

Claire Falkenstein papers

Creator:: Falkenstein, Claire, 1908-1997 Search this

Names:: Coos Art Museum Search this; Fresno Art Museum Search this; Galerie Anderson-Mayer Search this; Gallery Stadler Search this; Jack Rutberg Fine Arts (Los Angeles, Calif.) Search this; John Bolles Gallery (San Francisco, Calif.) Search this; Los Angeles Museum of Art Search this; Malvina Miller Search this; Martha Jackson Gallery Search this; Merging One Gallery Search this; Mills College -- Faculty Search this; Pond Farm Workshop Search this; San Francisco Museum of Art Search this; University of California, San Francisco. School of Fine Arts -- Faculty Search this; Green, Ray, 1908-1997 Search this; Guggenheim, Peggy, 1898- Search this; Kuh, Katharine Search this; O'Donnell, May, 1906-2004 Search this; Sawyer, Kenneth B. Search this; Still, Clyfford, 1904- Search this; Still, Patricia Search this; Tapie, Michel Search this; Temko, Allan Search this; Tobey, Mark Search this; Wildenhain, Frans, 1905-1980 Search this

Extent:: 42.8 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Drawings; Motion pictures (visual works); Scrapbooks; Sketchbooks; Diaries; Photographs; Sketches

Date:: circa 1914-1997; bulk 1940-1990

Summary:: The papers of sculptor, painter, jewelry designer, and teacher Claire Falkenstein measure 42.8 linear feet and date from 1917 to her death in 1997. There is extensive correspondence with fellow artists, collectors, critics, friends, museums, and galleries. The collection also contains biographical materials, much of it collected and organized by Falkenstein, personal and business records, writings, diaries, exhibition files, commission files, teaching files, photographs, original artwork, scrapbooks, and printed materials. There is a short motion picture film of an interview with Falkenstein featuring the windows she designed for St. Basil's Church in Los Angeles.

Scope and Content Note:: The papers of sculptor, painter, jewelry designer, and teacher Claire Falkenstein measure 42.8 linear feet and date from 1917 to her death in 1997. There is extensive correspondence with fellow artists, collectors, critics, friends, museums, and galleries. The collection also contains biographical materials, much of it collected and organized by Falkenstein, personal and business records, writings, diaries, exhibition files, commission files, teaching files, photographs, original artwork, scrapbooks, and printed materials. There is a short motion picture film of an interview with Falkenstein featuring the windows she designed for St. Basil's Church in Los Angeles.

Biographical material includes appointment calendars, awards and honorary degrees, interview transcripts, passports, resumes, wills, and scrapbooks. Scrapbooks were compiled by Falkenstein and focus primarily on her exhibitions at the Galerie Stadler and Gallery Meyer in 1959 and 1960. Also of interest are the "biography files" created and arranged by Falkenstein. These files contain material that she personally felt was the most important in documenting her activities each year. They include correspondence, exhibition catalogs, printed material, and invitations.

Measuring nine linear feet, correspondence is extensive and comprehensively documents Falkenstein's work, social life, relationships, and other business and personal activities. Correspondence dates from 1941 to 1997 and includes business letters and correspondence with friends and family. Her communications with friends, family, clients, gallery owners, collectors, museums, publishers, foundations, and grant agencies reveal many of her ideas and techniques. Individual correspondents include Ray Green, Peggy Guggenheim, Katharine Kuh, May O'Donnell, Ken Sawyer, Clyfford and Pat Still, Michel Tapie, Allan Temko, Mark Tobey, and Frans Wildenhain. Gallery and museum correspondence is with the San Francisco Museum of Art, Coos Art Museum, Los Angeles Museum of Art, Galerie Stadler (Paris), Gallery Mayer (Paris), Malvina Miller (New York), Martha Jackson Gallery (New York), Jack Rutberg Fine Arts (Los Angeles), Galerie Anderson-Mayer (Paris), and Bolles Gallery. Correspondence is also found in the Commission Files and Exhibition Files.

Personal and business records contain a wide variety of material documenting Falkenstein's business, financial, legal, professional, and personal transactions. Files are found for sales and prices, art inventories, smaller jewelry commissions, her work as a juror, her business with galleries, legal affairs and contracts, expenses, records of arts organizations to which she belonged, conferences, grants and fellowships, studio and house renovations, her Paris studio and Paris expenses, travel, donations, loans and consignments, conservation, art shipping, insurance, and taxes. Oversized visitor's logs contain comments from visitors to Falkenstein's studio in Venice, California.

Falkenstein maintained comprehensive documentation of her exhibitions from her first exhibition in the 1930s to the last one at the Merging One Gallery in 1996. Files include both a chronological record and individual record for nearly all of her exhibitions. Found with the files are correspondence, photographs, loan and shipping records, catalogs, announcements, clippings, articles, and other records. Most of the photographs related to exhibitions are found in the Photographs Series. The files for exhibitions at the Fresno Art Museum, Martha Jackson Gallery and Jack Rutberg Fine Art Gallery are particularly rich.

Commission files document nearly all of Falkenstein's public and private large-scale projects and often contain a visual record of the work, as well as correspondence, design notes, contracts, and expense reports. There is documentation of the St. Basils Church windows in Los Angeles; the Peggy Guggenheim gate in Venice, Italy; and the fountain at the California Savings and Loan, in Los Angeles; and many others. There is also a chronological record of her commissions. The bulk of the photographs of commissions are found in the Photograph series. Also, most of Falkenstein's jewelry design commissions are found in the Personal and Business Records series.

Falkenstein's work as a prolific writer, particularly in the 1940s and 1950s, is well-documented here through her numerous published articles in Arts and Architecture magazine, and the New York Herald-Tribune. Her work for Arts and Architecture was primarily written for the "Art Comments from San Francisco" section. She was living in Paris when she contributed an art news column to the New York Herald-Tribune. Also found here are five diaries and one journal dating from circa 1929-1978. The entries are inconsistent and concern mostly travel. The diaries from 1929 and 1934 are more personal. Falkenstein also maintained extensive notes and notebooks about artwork ideas, observations about art, research, and even drafts of letters. There are also many notes about various topics, including art and class notes. Additional writings are eclectic and cover a wide range of topics, including music, poetry, the script for Falkestein's film entitled Touching the Quick, and drafts of her unpublished book on murals. A handful of writings by others are found, most with annotations by Falkenstein.

Teaching files include Falkenstein's numerous lectures given while teaching at Mills College, Pond Farm Workshops, and California School of Fine Arts, and various symposiums and conferences. Also found are lesson plans, contracts, scattered correspondence, and notes. The files on her tenure at the Pond Farm Workshops are particularly interesting, with notes about her fellow teacher Frans Wildenhain and correspondence with workshop owners, Jane and Gordon Herr.

There are extensive photographs of Falkenstein, her family and friends, colleagues, commissions, exhibitions, and works of art. Included are many images of Falkenstein, of Falkenstien with her art, of Falkentstien working, and of Falkenstein's studio. There are numerous photographs of Falkenstein with friends, family, and colleagues in social or work settings. Also found are photographs of exhibition openings, installation views, and works of art exhibited. Additional photographs document Falkenstein's commissions, including images of her at work. Additional images of commissions may also be found in the Commission Series, but the bulk are filed here. There are numerous photographs of Falkenstein's works of art, including drawings, sculpture, jewelry, murals, lamps, and ceramics.

Falkenstein's papers include a large amount of sketches, sketchbooks, and drawings. Many of the sketches and drawings relate to her ideas about commissions and large sculpture, jewelry designs, and general sketches. Sketches are also found in the Commission Files. Also included are drawings by Mark Tobey and Michel Tapie, and others.

Finally, printed materials include general exhibition catalogs, newspapers clippings, and clippings of articles by and about Falkenstein. Also included are books that have been inscribed and signed by the author.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged into 9 series:

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1934-1997 (Box 1-4, 41; 4.3 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1931-1997 (Box 5-13; 9 linear feet)

Series 3: Personal and Business Records, 1936-1997 (Box 14-17, 41, 46-49; 4.2 linear feet)

Series 4: Exhibitions, 1930-1996 (Box 18-21, 42, OV 50; 3.3 linear feet)

Series 5. Commissions, 1930-1992 (Box 21-22, OV 50-54 ; 2.0 linear feet)

Series 6: Writings, circa 1929-1993 (Box 22-26, 42, 55; 4.6 linear feet)

Series 7: Teaching Files, 1929-1995 (Box 26; .8 linear feet)

Series 8: Photographs, circa 1917-1997 (Box 27-35, 43, 55-56; 9.5 linear feet)

Series 9: Artwork, circa 1937-1995 (Box 36-37, 44, 57; 2.0 linear feet)

Series 10: Printed Materials, circa 1914-1990 (Box 37-40, 45, 58; 3.9 linear feet)

Biographical Note:: Claire Falkenstein (1908-1997) spent the majority of her life working as an artist, sculptor, jewelry designer, teacher, and writer in California.

Claire Falkenstein was born in 1908 and grew up in Coos Bay, Oregon. In 1920, Falkenstein and her family moved to Berkeley, California, where she attended high school and then college at the University of California at Berkeley, studying philosophy, anthropology, and art. She graduated in 1930. Falkenstein had her first solo show at the East-West Gallery in San Francisco in 1930, the only member of her class to have an exhibition before graduation.

During the early 1930s, Falkenstein studied at Mills College with modernist sculptor Alexander Archipenko. There she also met Bauhaus artists Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Gyorgy Kepes. Falkenstein married her high school sweetheart, Richard McCarthy in 1936.

In 1944, Falkenstein had her first New York exhibition at the Bonestall Gallery. At that time, Falkenstein's primary mediums were stone and wood. However, she became increasingly experimental with new materials that included sheet aluminum, Cor-Ten steel, glass, plastics, and welded wire rods while maintaining a connection to organic and natural forms. Her work in jewelry design was an outlet for exploring these new materials, forms, and techniques on a small scale. As her work grew physically larger, so did her recognition and it was her work in sculpture that won her a faculty appointment at the California School of Fine Arts from 1947-1949. It was here that she met Patricia and Clyfford Still, Hassel Smith, and Richard Diebenkorn.

In 1948, Falkenstein was invited to exhibit at the Salon des Realites Nouvelle in Paris, her first European show. She eventually moved to Europe in 1950 and had studios in Paris, Venice, and Rome. While in Europe, Falkenstein executed a number of large scale commissions, including the stair screen for Galerie Stadler (1955), grotto gates for Princess Pignatelli's villa in Rome (1957), and the bronze, steel, and the glass gate at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice (1961). While in Paris, she became acquainted with noted art critic Michel Tapie, with whom she maintained a life-long friendship.

During the 1940s and 1950s Falkenstein was a regular contributor to Arts and Architecture magazine, most often writing the "Art Comments from San Francisco" section. While in Paris, she also wrote a column on art news for the New York Herald Tribune.

Falkenstein returned to the United States in 1962, eventually renovating a studio space in Venice, California. It was here that she conceived her largest commissions. In 1965, Falkenstein received a commission from the California Savings and Loan to create a sculpture for a large fountain at the front of the bank in downtown Los Angeles. The copper tube fountain, entitled "Structure and Flow #2," was the first of many large scale public art commissions that Falkenstein completed during her years in California. Her most important commission in the United States, completed in 1969, was for the doors, rectory gates and grills and stained-glass windows for St. Basil's Church on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. The eight doors and fifteen rectory screens, including 80 foot high windows in the nave, were an expansion of the "never ending screen" concept that Falkenstein executed with the Pignatelli commission in Rome. She continued to use this motif in her work throughout her career.

Claire Falkenstein worked as an arts instructor, visiting artist, and guest lecturer at many colleges, workshops, and schools in California. Her first position was at Mills College from 1946-1947. Shortly thereafter, she was appointed to the faculty at the California School of Fine Arts and later taught in the Extension Divisions of the University of California, Berkeley. She taught classes at California State Polytechnic University, California State University at Davis, and the Anna Head School. Falkenstein also taught art at the Pond Farm Workshops in California, and lectured at numerous colleges and museums. She served on many juried art shows in Southern California.

Falkenstein was acquainted with many artists, writers, instructors, collectors, gallery owners, and critics. Close friends included Esther and Bob Robles, Clyfford and Patricia Still, Michel Tapie, Allan Temko, Mark Tobey, Frans Wildenhain, and other notable figures in the art world.

Falkenstein continued to complete large scale private and public commissioned sculptures during the 1960s through the 1980s, including work for the University of Southern California, Hyland Biological Laboratory, California State University at Dominquez Hills and the California State Department of Motor Vehicles. Throughout her career, Falkenstein's work was featured in numerous exhibitions across the country. Her sculpture and other artwork can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Coos Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museum, University of Southern California Fisher Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Tate Gallery.

Falkenstein died in 1997 at the age of 89.

Related Material:: The Archives of American Art also holds two oral history interviews with Claire Falkenstein. The interview on April 13, 1965 was conducted by Betty Hoag and the one on March 2 and 21, 1995 was conducted by Paul Karlstrom.

Provenance:: The Claire Falkenstein papers were donated in 1997 by Steffan Wacholtz and Nancy Kendall, trustees for the Claire Falkenstein Trust.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Rights:: The Claire Falkenstein papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:: Painters -- California Search this

Topic:: Women artists -- California Search this; Women artists -- France -- Paris Search this; Sculptors -- California Search this; Interviews Search this; Awards Search this; Transcripts Search this; Articles Search this; Designers -- California Search this; Drafts (documents) Search this; Art -- Study and teaching Search this; Poetry Search this; Scripts Search this; Notebooks Search this; Artists' studios Search this; Art -- Economic aspects Search this; Art patronage Search this; Educators -- California Search this; Jewelry -- Design Search this; Sculptors -- France -- Paris Search this

Genre/Form:: Drawings; Motion pictures (visual works); Scrapbooks; Sketchbooks; Diaries; Photographs; Sketches

Citation:: Claire Falkenstein papers, circa 1914-1997, bulk 1940-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Getty Foundation.

Identifier:: AAA.falkclai

See more items in:: Claire Falkenstein papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-falkclai

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Notes and Writings

Collection Creator:: Ladd, Anna Coleman, 1878-1939 (sculptor) Search this

Extent:: 0.6 Linear feet (Box 2, 6, OV 7)

Type:: Archival materials

Date:: 1888-1949

Scope and Contents note:: This series consists of notebooks and manuscripts written by Anna Coleman Ladd and by others, some of which are illustrated by Ladd. Notebook 1 primarily contains lists of mythological and allegorical characters. Notebook 2 contains historical notes, listings of Italian authors and painters, poems, clippings, three drawings, and an illustrated letter. Notebook 3 contains notes from a class in composition. Notebook 4 contains lists of friends' names and poetry.

The guest register contains autographs of William Aldrich, Senator Albert J. Beveridge, Gabriella Fabbricotti, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Philip Leslie Hale, John Hays Hammond, Marie Danforth Page, Agnes Repplier, John Singer Sargent, Frances Starr. There are two small hand-made books by Anna Coleman Watts and Gabriella Fabbricotta. Miscellaneous poems include the poem "Hymn for Easter" by Dorothy Grafly.

Arrangement note:: This series has been scanned in its entirety.

Collection Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:: The Anna Coleman Ladd papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Collection Citation:: Anna Coleman Ladd papers, 1881-1950. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for processing in preparation for digitization, and for the 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.laddanna, Series 5

See more items in:: Anna Coleman Ladd papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:: ead_component:sova-aaa-laddanna-ref104

Acee Blue Eagle papers

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

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Mildred Moore Collection

Topic:: Famous Personalities and Their Philosophies. 1940. (Book)

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

Harold Weston papers

Creator:: Weston, Harold, 1894-1972 Search this

Names:: Adirondack Trail Improvement Society Search this; Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA). Americans-in-Britain Outpost Search this; Corcoran Gallery of Art Search this; Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors Search this; Food for Freedom, Inc. Search this; Harvard Lampoon (Organization) Search this; Harvard University -- Students Search this; International Association of Art. United States Committee Search this; Montross Gallery Search this; National Council on the Arts and Government Search this; National Endowment for the Arts Search this; New York State Council on the Arts Search this; Phillips Collection Search this; Studio House (Phillips Memorial Gallery) Search this; Carmichael, Leonard, 1898-1973 Search this; Dows, Olin, 1904-1981 Search this; Mumford, Lewis, 1895-1990 Search this; Phillips, Duncan, 1886-1966 Search this; Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962 Search this; Rosenfeld, Paul, 1890-1946 Search this; Sizer, Theodore, 1892-1967 Search this; Weston, Faith Search this

Extent:: 24.3 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Christmas cards; Notes; Etchings; Speeches; Articles; Postcards; Poems; Woodcuts; Sketches; Photographs; Scrapbooks; Glass negatives; Lantern slides; Copper plates

Place:: Adirondack Mountain Reserve (N.Y.)

Date:: 1894-1978; bulk 1912-1972

Summary:: The papers of modernist painter and activist Harold Weston (1894-1972) date from 1894 to 1978 and measure 24.3 linear feet. The papers focus on Weston's painting career and his involvement with humanitarian and artistic causes. Found are biographical materials, correspondence, personal business records, association and organization records, commission and project files, materials relating to Weston's book Freedom in the Wilds, writings, artwork, printed materials, two scrapbooks, and photographs.

Scope and Content Note:: The papers of modernist painter and activist Harold Weston (1894-1972) date from 1894 to 1978 and measure 24.3 linear feet. The papers focus on Weston's painting career and his involvement with humanitarian and artistic causes. Found are biographical materials, correspondence, personal business records, association and organization records, commission and project files, materials relating to Weston's book Freedom in the Wilds, writings, artwork, printed materials, two scrapbooks, and photographs. The papers document his involvement with the Committee to Defend America, Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, Food for Freedom, the International Association of the Plastic Arts, National Countil on the Arts and Government, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council for the Arts, Reconstruction Service Committee, and the YMCA in Baghdad.

Biographical materials include biographical sketches and resumes, including a short biography written by Faith Weston in 1969. There are records from his school years at Exeter Academy and Harvard University that include yearbooks, report cards, scholarship information, Harvard Lampoon materials, and a diploma from Harvard. Also found are materials relating to Faith Weston, membership cards, memorials information, passports and travel papers, and wedding wishes.

Correspondence from Harold Weston dates from his school years up until his death in 1972. In letters to his family, Weston discusses his education; his travel and activities in the Middle East during World War I; the Adirondacks; convalescense in France in the mid-1920s; his immediate family life; and exhibitions. Also found are holiday cards designed and printed by Weston. The majority of correspondence is with his father S. Burns Weston, mother Mary, sister Esther, brother Carl, Faith Weston and the Borton family, children Barbara, Bruce, and Haroldine, and others. Also found are letters between Weston and friend Theodore Sizer and Duncan Phillips of the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.

Personal business and financial records relating to Weston's exhibitions include delivery receipts, agreements, hand-drawn gallery plans for exhibitions, lists of exhibitions, framing invoices, legal information, pricelists, records of sales, and lists of works of art. Galleries with which Weston held exhibitions, sold, or lent works of art include Boyer Galleries, Corcoran Gallery, the Gallery in Paoli, Montross Gallery, the Phillips Collection, and Studio House Galleries.

Records relating to Harold Weston's memberships and involvement with professional associations and service organizations are from the Adirondack Trail Improvement Society, the Committee to Defend America, Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, Food for Freedom, International Association of the Plastic Arts/International Arts Association, National Countil on the Arts and Government, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Reconstruction Service Committee, and the Young Men's Christian Association, Baghdad. The files include correspondence, financial records, meetings and membership information, notes, organizational history, photographs, printed materials, programs and activities records, speeches, and writings.

Files that document Weston's Building the United Nations and the Treasury Relief Project sponsored "Procurement Building Murals" are found within the Commissions and Project files series. The files include correspondence, financial information, legal documents, photographs of the works of art and research photos, and printed materials. Correspondence of note includes letters written by Lewis Mumford, Duncan Phillips, Eleanor Roosevelt on behalf of Weston's Building of the United Nations and letters from Leonard Carmichael, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Letters from Olin Dows of the Treasury Relief Art Project are within correspondence relating to the "Procurement Building Murals." Also found are preliminary sketches of the murals.

The Freedom in the Wilds series contains materials relating to the book which combined Weston's autobiography with a history of the Adirondack Mountain Reserve. Additional writings and notes are by Harold Weston and others, and include articles, poetry, notes, speech notes and speeches, and lists. Harold Weston's articles include "Persian Caravan Sketches" published in 1921 discussing his travels throughout the Middle East. Other articles are written by Duncan Phillips, Paul Rosenfeld, Barbara Weston, and Faith Weston. Also found are postcards annoted with notes by Harold Weston about his travels.

Artwork inlcudes sketches, etchings, copperplates, and woodcuts. There are copperplates entitled "Shroud" and of the series Building the United Nations for the Harvard Alumni bulletin in 1957; an untitled etching by Weston; sketches including those from Baghdad and watercolor sketches; a woodcut of the 1924 Weston holiday card; and scattered unsigned sketches probably not by Weston.

Printed materials include calendars with notations; clippings; exhibition catalogs and announcements for Weston's exhibitions dating from 1922-1976 and for others; gallery tags or labels for paintings shown in exhibitions; reproductions of illustrations for the Harvard Lampoon and full issues from 1911-1916; materials relating to the Harvard production of Henry IV, for which Weston designed the sets; reproductions of works of art by Weston and by others; school seals; and various art related publications.

There are two scrapbooks compiled by Faith Weston about her husband. The first contains materials relating to Weston's activity with the International Association of the Plastic Arts Conference of 1963, including a letter and photograph of President John F. Kennedy. The second scrapbook dates from 1977 and consists of general clippings relating to Weston's career, dating from 1917 to 1952 with additional materials added by Faith in 1977.

Photographs are of Weston, family members, exhibitions and installations, and works of art by Weston and others. There are also numerous photographs of Weston's travel through the Adirondacks, the Middle East, Europe, and India. Also found are glass plate negatives of works of art painted in France between 1926-1930; scattered glass plate negatives of Baghdad and the Middle East; glass plates belonging to S. Burns Weston of the Adirondacks, circa 1900; and approximately 100 lantern slides of the various Middle Eastern cities and ruins - probably used by Weston to illustrate his talks given in the 1920s.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged as 11 series. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers:

Series 1: Biographical Information, 1896-1974 (Box 1, 38; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1894-1975 (Box 1-3, 38; 2.5 linear feet)

Series 3: Personal Business and Financial records, 1912-1977 (Box 4; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 4: Associations and Organizations records, 1916-1972 (Box 4-10, 37-38; 6.5 linear feet)

Series 5: Commissions and Project files, 1935-1965 (Box 10-12, 38, OV 39; 1.4 linear feet)

Series 6: -- Freedom in the Wilds -- records, late 1960s-1976 (Box 12-13; 1.8 linear feet)

Series 7: Writings and Notes, 1912-1975 (Box 13-14; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 8: Artwork and Artifacts, circa 1917-1967 (Box 14, 21; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 9: Printed Material, circa 1900-1978 (Box 15-18, 38; 2.5 linear feet)

Series 10: Scrapbooks, circa 1963-1977 (Box 17-18; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 11: Photographs, circa 1900-1975 (Box 18-20, 22-36, 38; 4.8 linear feet)

Biographical Note:: Modernist painter and federal Treasury Relief Art Project artist Harold Weston (1894-1972) worked primarily in New York City and St. Huberts, New York in the Adirondacks. Weston was president of the U.S. Commission of the International Association of Art/Plastic Arts and the Federation of Modern Painters and Scultors. He was also chairman of the National Council on the Arts and Government and active with various political and humanitarian causes.

Harold Weston was born in 1894 in Merion, Pennsylvania into a privileged family. He attended school in Europe as a teenager, where he began to draw and sketch. In 1910, Harold contracted Polio which left him with a weak leg. After graduating from Exeter Academy, Harold entered Harvard University with the class of 1916 and was active in the Delta Upsilon Club and the Harvard Lampoon, for which he illustrated.

Despite his leg, Weston was determined to serve in some form during World War I. He traveled to Baghdad and volunteered with the YMCA. Here he started the Baghdad Art Club and organized exhibitions of soldier art. He remained in the Middle East until 1919 and served as the official painter for the British Army. The colors and the landscape of the region also inspired later works of art.

Upon returning to the United States, Weston built a one-room cabin in the Adirondack Mountains, where he lived and painted. He had his first one-man exhibtition at the Montross Gallery in 1922. In 1923, he married Faith Borton who moved with him to the Adirondacks. His wife inspired his series of "landscape nudes" which treated the body with different techniques that would typically be used in landscape painting. After suffering from a kidney infection in 1925, Weston and his wife moved to Ceres, France to recover. Weston continued to paint and started a family with Faith while in France. In 1930, the family moved back to the United States and lived in Greenwich Village, New York.

From 1936-1938, Harold Weston worked with the federal Treasury Relief Art Project and painted murals in the Procurement Building in Washington, D.C. The murals represent the growth of public buildings during the Great Depression. He took on a second major project to document the contruction of the United Nations in a series of six paintings. Later, the Smithsonian Instution received the paintings as gifts through an independent committee.

In addition to painting, Harold Weston devoted himself to public service by becoming involved in humanitarian causes, artist professional organizations, and federal government support of the arts. Weston served as president or chairman of three different organizations including the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, the International Association of Art/International Association of the Plastic Art, and the National Council on the Arts and Government. Before the start of World War II, Harold Weston was named the Chairman of Essex County Committee to Defend America, which argued for financial support of the allied forces in World War II. After the start of the war, he helped form the Food for Freedom movement which urged American aid for European and Asian refugees. Similarly, Weston served as Executive Secretary for the Reconstruction Service Committee which was established to assist the rebuilding of Europe.

Later in life, Weston wrote a book Freedom in the Wilds, which combined his own autobiography with a history of the Adirondack Mountain Reserve. Harold Weston died on April 10th, 1972 in New York City.

Separated Material:: The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel N69-76) including biographic notes, exhibition material, clippings, a presentation album, and commemorative stamps. Some, but not all, of these papers were included in later donations. Materials not donated remain with the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.

Syracuse University also holds circa 14 linear feet of Harold Weston's papers.

Provenance:: Harold Weston lent the Archives of American Art materials for microfilming in 1969. Faith Borton Weston, Harold Weston's widow, donated the papers in several increments between 1972-1980 and lent materials for microfilming in 1977.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Rights:: The Harold Weston papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Topic:: Painting, Abstract -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; Federal aid to the arts Search this; Art and state Search this; Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, American Search this; Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Search this

Genre/Form:: Christmas cards; Notes; Etchings; Speeches; Articles; Postcards; Poems; Woodcuts; Sketches; Photographs; Scrapbooks; Glass negatives; Lantern slides; Copper plates

Citation:: Harold Weston papers, 1894-1978. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for the processing 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.westharo

See more items in:: Harold Weston papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-westharo

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Earl Shaffer Papers

Author:: Shaffer, Earl V., 1918-2002 Search this

Extent:: 16 Cubic feet (46 boxes, 14 oversize folders)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials

Place:: Appalachian Trail; West Virginia -- Trails and roads; Tennessee; Maryland; Geography -- Maine; Pennsylvania; Virginia

Date:: bulk 1803 - 2007, undated

Summary:: This collection contains the trail diaries, papers, photographs and slides, and writings of Earl V. Shaffer, the man credited with being the first person to hike the entire Appalachian Trail (AT). His complete trail hikes took place in 1948, 1965, and 1998. He was also a hiking and nature enthusiast and advocate.

Scope and Contents:: The collection contains correspondence, trail diaries (including those from Shaffer's 1948, 1965 and 1998 hikes of the Appalachian Trail), maps and trail guides, writings (most notably drafts of Walking With Spring), galley proofs from his final book Calling Me Back to the Hills, and printed material from hiking and environmental organizations. The collection contains items relating to Shaffer's early life and education, such as diplomas, a baptismal certificate, papers from his years in elementary school, and materials relating to his Army service. One extremely important item found in Series 5 is an article by Benton MacKaye (founder of the AT) that is inscribed to Earl from the author. The bulk of the collection spans the years 1903-2002. There is one item from 1803 (a land deed) and one item each, compact discs, from 2004 and 2007. The collection is divided into five series. Addendums were donated in 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2012 consisting of additional letters and poetry, and a book of poetry entitled South of the Sunset.

Arrangement:: This collection is divided into five series.

Series 1: Biographical information, 1803-2006

Subseries 1.1: Shaffer Family Papers, 1873-1998

Subseries 1.2: Education, 1918-1980, undated

Subseries 1.3: Army, 1940-1948, undated

Subseries 1.4: Personal Documents, 1803-2006, undated

Subseries 1.5: Correspondence, 1945-2005, undated

Series 2: Materials Related to Hiking, 1935-2002

Subseries 2.1: Trail Notes, Diaries and General Information, 1935-1998, undated

Subseries 2.2: Photographs and Slides, 1940-2001, undated

Subseries 2.3: Maps and Plats, 1936-1998, undated

Series 3: Writing and Related Materials, 1910-2007, undated

Series 4: Hiking Associations and Clubs, 1937-2002, undated

Series 5: Collected Publications, 1910-1999, undated

Biographical / Historical:: Earl Victor Shaffer (1918-2002) is credited as the first person to hike the entire Appalachian Trail (AT) from Georgia to Maine. Shaffer was born on November 8th, 1918 in York, Pennsylvania to Daniel and Frances Gallagher Shaffer. One of his most influential childhood friends was Walter Winemiller. Shaffer termed Winemiller, ". . . the most capable outdoorsman I had ever known." They grew up together in and around York. When WWII broke out Shaffer joined the Army and Winemiller joined the Marines. Shaffer served in the Army Signal Corps from April 15, 1941 to September 17, 1945. Three years and three months of his service was in the Pacific Theatre based in Hawaii but for a good amount of time on detached service on various outposts and combat islands. Winemiller died in the assault on Iwo Jima and Shaffer's decision to hike the AT in 1948 was in his own words a testament to his friend and ". . . to eradicate as much as possible the lingering effects of that wartime service in the tropics." He wrote that when he was in the army the three books he had with him were the Bible, an Oxford English Dictionary and a volume of Rudyard Kipling's poems. It was during his time in the army that his love of writing poetry manifested itself.

Shaffer hiked the entire AT for the first time in 1948 traveling south to north. This trek is detailed in his book Walking With Spring. For the rest of his life Shaffer was a trail enthusiast and participated in local and national hiking clubs and events. In 1951 Shaffer was named corresponding secretary for the Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC). Shaffer hiked the AT north to south in 1965. Shaffer lived his entire life in and around York, Pennsylvania. He wanted to purchase property for a permanent home near the Appalachian Trail. This dream almost became a reality in the 1980s when Shaffer purchased a small parcel of land near the trail. With the ramifications of the 1968 National Trails System Act and the land purchasing policies of the National Park Service conflicting with his desires Shaffer sold his land near the trail to the National Park Service and broke ties with the ATC over their handling of the affair.

Shaffer continued writing poetry throughout his life. He wrote prose almost always centered on his experiences in the army or while hiking. He self published Walking With Spring in 1981. In 1983, the ATC published the work with Shaffer donating his share of the proceeds to the ATC. In 1998, Shaffer decided to undertake a 50th Anniversary hike commemorating his 1948 hike of the entire AT. He was seventy-nine years old. He completed the hike in October 1998 and gained much national notoriety for it. Shaffer was a carpenter and beekeeper. He also refinished and repaired furniture. Shaffer never married but maintained ties to a large, extended, and supportive family. Shaffer's health gradually deteriorated after his last AT hike and he died on May 5, 2002. The Earl Shaffer Foundation was founded in his honor and is based in York, Pennsylvania.

Separated Materials:: Materials at the National Museum of American History

The Division of Culture and the Arts contain the following:

Accession#: 2002.0195

Kodak camera used by Earl Shaffer on his first thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 1948 and the flannel shirt, cotton trousers, leather hiking books, knit cap, and canvas backpack he used for his 1998 hike.

Accession#: 1999.0189

Backpack, boots, pith helmet, head net, poncho, and a cook-set, all used by Earl Shaffer on two of his hikes of the Appalachian Trail, 1948 and 1965.

Provenance:: The collection was donated to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian in April 2003 by John Shaffer, Earl V. Shaffer's brother.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research. Use reference copies of diaries.

Rights:: Copyrights to all donated materials, both printed and photographic, are retained exclusively by the Earl Shaffer Foundation.

Topic:: Sports Search this; Trails Search this

Citation:: Earl Shaffer Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.0828

See more items in:: Earl Shaffer Papers

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0828

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Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Creator:: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this

Names:: Smithsonian Folklife Festival Search this

Extent:: 1 Cubic foot (approximate)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Contracts; Digital images; Videotapes; Memorandums; Business records; Slides (photographs); Sound recordings; Photographic prints; Audiocassettes; Video recordings; Audiotapes; Correspondence; Plans (drawings); Negatives; Notes

Date:: June 29-July 10, 2016

Summary:: The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.

Scope and Contents note:: This collection documents the planning, production, and execution of the 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Materials may include photographs, audio recordings, motion picture film and video recordings, notes, production drawings, contracts, memoranda, correspondence, informational materials, publications, and ephemera. Such materials were created during the Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as well as in the featured communities, before or after the Festival itself.

Arrangement note:: Arranged in 5 series.

Series 1: Program Books, Festival Publications, and Ephemera

Series 2: Basque: Innovation by Culture

Series 3: On the Move: Migration and Immigration Today

Series 4: Sounds of California

Series 5: Special Events

Historical note:: The Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998.

The 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival was produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and cosponsored by the National Park Service.

For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.

Introduction:: The 2016 Folklife Festival celebrated resilient communities around the world. Visitors could discover how the Basque country sustains culture, drawing on traditions to innovate in a rapidly changing world. Audiences could learn renowned cooking techniques and phrases in the Euskara language, experience bertsolaritza poetry competitions and stone-lifting matches, or drink a refreshing glass of cider or rioja wine and meet master artisans. In the other main program, visitors were invited to explore the Sounds of California through the music and stories of communities shaping the diverse state, and to interact with artists in music workshops or stretch out on the lawn for an evening concert series.

In 2016, the Festival was located on the National Mall between 4th and 7th streets, and between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive, just north of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum (see site plan). The Festival Marketplace was inside the Arts and Industries Building. Most music and dance performances took place in the Musika eta Dantza Etxea, Frontoia, Sounds of California Stage & Plaza, and indoors at the Arts and Industries Building Stage. Evening concerts were held at the Ralph Rinzler Concert Stage, along 4th Street. The 2016 Festival took place for two five-day weeks (June 29-July 4 and July 7-10) and featured three programs and special events including the Rinzler Concert.

The 2016 guide included participant lists for each program, a site plan, and daily schedules.

The Festival was co-presented by the Smithsonian Institution and National Park Service and organized by the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Michael Mason, Director; Robert Leopold, Deputy Director for Research and Collections; Smithsonian Folklife Festival: Sabrina Lynn Motley, Festival Director

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Advisory Council

Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, Chair; Cathy Sulzberger, Co-Chair; Bill Ivey, Dawn McCall, Susan Norton, Anna Maria Ochoa, George Papagiannis, Frederik Paulsen, Jennifer Cover Payne, Ann Elizabeth Sheffer, Deborah Wong, Council Members; Libby O'Connell, J. Scott Raecker, Honorary; Patricia Shehan-Campbell, Ex officio

The Festival was supported by federally appropriated funds; Smithsonian trust funds; contributions from governments, businesses, foundations, and individuals; in-kind assistance; and food, recording, and craft sales. Promotional support was provided by Dulles International and Reagan National Airports, Comcast, Captivate Network, Telemundo Washington DC, WAMU 88.5, Destination DC, BrightestYoungThings.com, The Washington Informer, El Tiempo Hispano (MD-DE-PA), Latin Opinion Baltimore Newspaper, ettractions.com, El Tiempo Latino, Digital Conventions, WeekendBestBets.com, National Museum of African American History and Culture, and Kepa Junkera. In-kind program and technical support came from Audio Event Services, The Art League, Blacksmiths' Guild of the Potomac, Chem-Trend, Destaco, Tech Shop DC, and Target (Glen Burnie, Rockville, Ellicott City).

Forms Part Of:: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival forms part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival records .

Smithsonian Folklife Festival records

Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: Papers

1967 Festival of American Folklife records - [Ongoing]

Related Archival Materials note:: Within the Rinzler Archives, related materials may be found in various collections such as the Ralph Rinzler papers and recordings, the Lily Spandorf drawings, the Diana Davies photographs, the Robert Yellin photographs, and the Curatorial Research, Programs, and Projects collection. Additional relevant materials may also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives concerning the Division of Performing Arts (1966-1983), Folklife Program (1977-1980), Office of Folklife Programs (1980-1991), Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies (1991-1999), Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present), and collaborating Smithsonian units, as well as in the administrative papers of key figures such as the Secretary and respective deputies. Users are encouraged to consult relevant finding aids and to contact Archives staff for further information.

Restrictions:: Access by appointment only. Where a listening copy or viewing copy has been created, this is indicated in the respective inventory; additional materials may be accessible with sufficient advance notice and, in some cases, payment of a processing fee. Older papers are housed at a remote location and may require a minimum of three weeks' advance notice and payment of a retrieval fee. Certain formats such as multi-track audio recordings and EIAJ-1 videoreels (1/2 inch) may not be accessible. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at 202-633-7322 or rinzlerarchives@si.edu for additional information.

Rights:: Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.

Topic:: Folklore Search this; Folk music Search this; World music Search this; Folk festivals Search this; Folk art Search this; Food habits Search this; arts and crafts Search this

Genre/Form:: Contracts; Digital images; Videotapes; Memorandums; Business records; Slides (photographs); Sound recordings; Photographic prints; Audiocassettes; Video recordings; Audiotapes; Correspondence; Plans (drawings); Negatives; Notes

Citation:: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:: CFCH.SFF.2016

See more items in:: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Archival Repository:: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-cfch-sff-2016

Daniel Varney Thompson papers

Creator:: Thompson, Daniel V. (Daniel Varney), 1902-1980 Search this

Names:: Courtauld Institute of Art -- Faculty Search this; Berenson, Bernard, 1865-1959 Search this; Greene, Belle da Costa, 1883-1950 Search this; McKean, Mary Sargeant Search this; Thompson, Randall, 1899-1984 Search this; Winslow, Henry, b. 1874 Search this

Extent:: 10.1 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Notebooks; Diaries; Sketchbooks; Drawings; Watercolors; Photographs; Poetry; Musical scores; Prints; Oil paintings; Manuscripts

Date:: 1848-1979; bulk 1923-1979

Summary:: The papers of art conservator and historian, engineer, and professor Daniel Varney Thompson (1902-1980) are dated 1848-1979, with the bulk of the material dated 1923-1979. The collection measures 10.1 linear feet and consists of biographical material, correspondence, subject files, writings, artwork, printed material, and photographs.

Scope and Content Note:: The papers of art conservator and historian, professor, engineer, and writer Daniel Varney Thompson (1902-1980) are dated 1848-1979, with the bulk of the material dated 1923-1979. The collection measures 10.1 linear feet and consists of biographical material, correspondence, subject files, writings, artwork, printed material, and photographs.

Biographical information includes certificates and diplomas, passports, and wills. Correspondence documents Daniel Varney Thompson's personal and professional life. Personal correspondence centers heavily on family members including his brother, the composer Randall Thompson. Professional correspondence concerns Thompson's academic career, research, writing, and work as a technical consultant and engineer. Among the correspondents are colleagues from Harvard, Yale, the Courtauld Institute, publishers, and academic and technical journals, in addition to corporate clients.

Subject files are comprised of varying correspondence, printed matter, photographs, notes and writings relating to Thompson's areas of interest. Personal and professional subject files include many relating to his research interests and engineering consulting projects. Of particular interest are numerous letters from Bernard Berenson. There is also correspondence with Belle da Costa Greene, as well as files concerning the Kermes beetle (a source of crimson dyes in the middle ages). Food and gardening subject files reflect Thompson's career as a writer and columnist on these subjects.

Writings consist mainly of manuscripts, drafts, research and miscellaneous notes; also included are diaries, poems, miscellaneous items, and a music score. Daniel Varney Thompson's personal and professional writings include two diaries, poems, and student writings. Most of his extant writings are on art-related topics, science and technology. Among the notes is an index to medieval manuscripts on craftsmanship in major European libraries was compiled by Thompson in 1935. His work on the subject remains unpublished and his notes are extremely valuable since some of the materials noted were lost in World War II. Scientific and technical notebooks, along with various wirings and reports, document projects undertaken as a technical consultant and engineer. The food and gardening writings are extensive and consist of manuscripts and notes for articles and columns, and for a book-length compilation of these writings. Among the writings by other authors are diaries of his mother and wife, and a music score by his brother, Randall Thompson.

Artwork by Daniel Varney Thompson, Mary Sargent McKean, and Henry Winslow consists of drawings, prints, watercolors, a sketchbook, and an oil painting. Printed material includes articles and book reviews by Daniel Varney Thompson, and items about or mentioning him and his family. Also found are articles and books about art, history, medieval studies, science and technology, and food and gardening topics.

Photographs are of artwork, people, places and miscellaneous subjects. Images of people are mainly Thompson and family members.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged as 7 series.

Series 1: Biographical Information, 1848-1970s (Box 1, OV 11-12; 0.3 linear ft.)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1914-1979 (Boxes 1-3; 2.0 linear ft.)

Series 3: Subject Files, 1925-1979 (Boxes 3-6; 3.0 linear ft.)

Series 4: Writings, 1907-1970s (Boxes 6-9; 2.85 linear ft.)

Series 5: Artwork, 1923-1934 (Box 9, OV 13; 5 folders)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1917-1979 (Box 9; 0.75 linear ft.)

Series 7: Photographs, circa 1900-1972 (Box 10; 0.4 linear ft.)

Biographical Note:: Daniel Varney Thompson (1902-1980) was an art conservator and historian, professor, engineer, and writer. A noted authority on medieval painting, Varney lived and worked primarily in the Boston area and London.

Daniel Varney Thompson was born in New Jersey in 1902. He was the son of Grace Randall Thompson and Daniel Varney Thompson, Sr., a classics teacher at the Lawrenceville School and later headmaster of Boston Latin School. American composer Randall Thompson was his older brother. Following family tradition, Thompson attended Harvard, earning the A.B. in 1922 and A.M. in 1926, focusing his attention on fine arts, physical chemistry, and literature. Daniel V. Thompson stopped using the designation Jr. after his father's death in 1932.

Between 1922 and 1925 Thompson was employed in the Fogg Museum's laboratory devoted to analyzing art materials for the purposes of detecting forgeries, preserving works of art, and devising methods to aid working artists. During this period, Thompson went to Italy as a Sheldon Fellow in Fine Arts, to learn medieval fresco painting techniques from Edward W. Forbes, Director of the Fogg Museum. He also had an opportunity to study medieval and Renaissance painting techniques with Inicio Federico Joni, and while in Italy began life-long friendships with the Forbes family and Bernard Berenson. Thompson served as a technical advisor to the 1924-1925 Second Harvard China Expedition; he traveled to China by way of India, where he studied wall paintings in caves at Ajanta and Elura and researched newly discovered scrolls.

Daniel Varney Thompson was on the faculty of Yale from 1926-1933, where he taught art history, and tempera painting courses, and laid the foundation for the Department of Fine Arts when Yale became a university in 1932. During his time at Yale, Thompson married Cecile [Cecily] de Luze Simonds.

When The American Council of Learned Societies awarded Thompson a research fellowship for the academic year 1933/34, he returned to Europe and surveyed major libraries for materials concerning the history of technology of the arts. Thompson was then invited to be Professor of the History of Technology at the University of London. He was on the faculty from 1934-1946, and also served as research and technical advisor, developing a laboratory at the Courtauld Institute for analysis of art materials.

During World War II, the Courtauld's laboratory - which had facilities for emission, absorption, and x-ray spectrography - was offered to the Ministry of Aircraft Production. To avoid compromising the University's tax-free status, Thompson formed and served as managing director of Daniel Varney Limited, a private company which leased the premises and equipment. From 1940 to 1945, the company was operated in the name of the Courtauld Institute, employing 200 people in tool making, gauge making, fine mechanisms, and development and production of optics instruments. After the war, Daniel Varney Limited shifted its interests to high vacuum diffusion pumps, gas manipulation, and glassblowing.

Upon returning to the United States in 1947, Thompson settled in the Boston area, becoming a technical consultant. He worked on projects for E-Z Mills, Inc., Sylvania Eloctronics, Comstock & Wescott, Inc., and other corporations. He was chief engineer of Jarrell-Ash Co., 1953-1955, redesigning optical instruments, spectrography, and schlieren systems. Between 1955 and 1957, Thompson served as Vice President of Swett & Sibley, involved with the design and development of optical instruments, scanning spectrometers, and densistometers. He then moved to Avco Corporation, where for the next decade he was a Senior Staff Consultant working on optical design in rocket instrumentation. Thompson retired from his engineering career in 1967.

Daniel V. Thompson wrote and published extensively. Art-related writings include translations and a monograph published by Yale University Press, and numerous articles and reviews. Translations are: Cennino Cennini's Il Libro dell'Arte (3 volumes: Text of Il Libro dell'Arte, 1932; The Craftsman's Handbook, 1933; and The Practice of Tempera Painting, 1936), and An Anonymous Fourteenth Century Treatise ( De arte illuminadi) (with his student George Heard Hamilton), 1936. A monograph, The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting (foreword by Bernard Berenson) appeared in 1936.

Most of Thompson's scientific and technical writings are unpublished and relate to projects for which he served as a consulting engineer.

Soon after retiring, Thompson began a new career that he continued for the remainder of his life. A serious cook and long-time gardener, he began writing about these topics, producing weekly columns that were published by newspapers from Maine to Chicago and contributing articles to Gourmet, Horticulture, and similar periodicals. Thompson also lectured to garden clubs and judged garden and flower competitions.

Daniel Varney Thompson died on January 4, 1980, following an automobile accident in Malaga, Spain.

Related Material:: Also found in the Archives of American Art are oral history interviews conducted with Daniel V. Thompson by Robert Brown, September 25, 1974-November 2, 1976. There are also three letters from Thompson to his sister-in-law Edith Simonds Moore.

Provenance:: The Daniel Varney Thompson papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in increments between 1974-1981 by Mr. Thompson and his estate.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Rights:: The Daniel Varney Thompson papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Occupation:: Conservators Search this; Art historians Search this

Topic:: Food Search this; Gardening Search this; Engineers -- United States Search this; Authors -- Massachusetts Search this; Kermes (Insect) Search this

Genre/Form:: Notebooks; Diaries; Sketchbooks; Drawings; Watercolors; Photographs; Poetry; Musical scores; Prints; Oil paintings; Manuscripts

Citation:: Daniel Varney Thompson papers, 1848-1979, bulk 1923-1979. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:: AAA.thomdani

See more items in:: Daniel Varney Thompson papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-thomdani

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Walt Whitman with Warren Perry

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

Civil War 150th Anniversary: Walt Whitman and the Patent Office Building

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

One Life: Echoes of Elvis

Creator:: National Portrait Gallery Search this

Type:: YouTube Videos

Uploaded:: 2010-02-24T17:02:24.000Z

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_dZ8mLtoqnwg

23 Minutes with Vito Acconci

Creator:: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Search this

Type:: YouTube Videos

Uploaded:: 2013-01-17T22:31:05.000Z

YouTube Category:: Travel & Events Search this

Topic:: Art, modern Search this

See more by:: hirshhornmuseum

Data Source:: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

YouTube Channel:: hirshhornmuseum

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:yt_fiX2IEnZuSw

Tagore and Yeats: A Reassessment

Creator:: Smithsonian Education Search this

Type:: Lectures; YouTube Videos

Uploaded:: 2011-07-29T01:36:33.000Z

YouTube Category:: Education Search this

Topic:: Education Search this

See more by:: SmithsonianEducation

Data Source:: Smithsonian Education

YouTube Channel:: SmithsonianEducation

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:yt_kmQfHkzo7h4

Can You Not Join in This Rhythm? Translating the Poems of Tagore

Creator:: Smithsonian Education Search this

Type:: Lectures; YouTube Videos

Uploaded:: 2011-07-25T22:14:19.000Z

YouTube Category:: Education Search this

Topic:: Education Search this

See more by:: SmithsonianEducation

Data Source:: Smithsonian Education

YouTube Channel:: SmithsonianEducation

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:yt_lxu-79OxnPY

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Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Daniel Varney Thompson papers

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Walt Whitman with Warren Perry

Civil War 150th Anniversary: Walt Whitman and the Patent Office Building

One Life: Echoes of Elvis

23 Minutes with Vito Acconci

Tagore and Yeats: A Reassessment

Can You Not Join in This Rhythm? Translating the Poems of Tagore

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