The papers of painters Emily and Jean Paul Selinger measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1882 to 1918. The collection provides scattered documentation of the lives and work of the Selingers through biographical materials, family correspondence, photographs, and printed material.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painters Emily and Jean Paul Selinger measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1882 to 1918. The collection provides scattered documentation of the lives and work of the Selingers through biographical materials, family correspondence, photographs, and printed material.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Emily Harris Mcgary Selinger (1848-1927) was a painter, author, and poet in Boston, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Emily was originally from Wilmington, North Carolina, and was instrumental in establishing the Normal Art School in Louisville, Kentucky. She was known for her still-life and floral paintings.
Emily's husband, Jean Paul Selinger (1850-1909), was a landscape and portrait painter in Boston, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He opened a summer studio in Glen House, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in the mid-1880s.
Provenance:
A portion of the papers was donated in 1982 by Charles and Gloria Vogel when acquired through research on White Mountain artists. Additional material was donated in 1982 by Marion C. Keaney, through her grandparents, the D. H. Remingtons, who were neighbors of Emily Selinger's mother, Mrs. McGary.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The papers of artist Isabella Howland measure 1.2 linear feet and date from 1899-1979. The collection documents her career through biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, writings, printed material, artwork, and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter, sculptor, caricaturist, and portraitist Isabella Howland measure 1.2 linear feet and date from 1899-1979. Correspondence makes up about a third of the collection, with the remainder comprised of biographical material, writings, printed material, photographs, and artworks.
Correspondence is found between Isabella Howland and other artists or dealers. Among these are Eugenie Gershoy, Henry Strater, Edith Halpert, Peggy Bacon, Forbes Watson, Jerry Bywaters, Adolph Dehn and Dorothea Greenbaum. Letters from Juliana Force, the first director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, are present. Many invitations to exhibit are included. The collection includes a small number of letters with Howland's family. She maintained written communication with several individuals over decades.
The biographical material contains Isabella Howland's handwritten notes and typed documents about her life. Some legal documents and financial records are present. The writing series includes her story 'Willy Nilly' with accompanying illustrations of animals, in addition to some other writings. The artwork series includes sketches and sketchbooks from childhood into adulthood. Photographs include images of Howland as well as her paintings and portraits.
Arrangement:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1901-1972 (4 folders; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1917-1973 (22 folders; Box 1)
Series 3, Writings, 1935-1964 (8 folders; Box 1)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1928-1976 (5 folders; Box 1)
Series 5: Photographs, circa 1900-1979 (4 folders; Box 1, OV 2)
Series 6: Artwork, 1899-circa 1940s (8 folders; Box 1, OV 2)
Biographical / Historical:
Isabella Howland (1895-1974) lived and worked in New York City. She drew portraits, painted on canvas, sketched on paper, and sculpted caricature busts of people in the art world. She wrote that she could do anything with her hands.
Howland was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. From her youth she knew she wanted to be an artist. She had her earliest artistic training at age 16. Her art education included time at the Boston Museum School and the Art Students League in New York City. She completed her secondary education in France and Germany, moved back to the United States afterwards, and in 1920 travelled again to Europe. In 1922 she settled in Greenwich Village and spent summers in Woodstock to paint landscapes and still-lifes.
She actively painted in the 1920s, and had three shows in 1927, 1929, and 1931. During the Depression she worked for the Public Works of Art Project and the Works Progress Administration. In 1934 she married Armando Zegri, and they divorced in 1937. While they were married they owned a club in the West Village named The Café Latino. She began teaching at a private school in the early 1940s while dealing with some personal difficulties. She found religion which comforted her as she dealt with her mother's declining health and her sister's waning mental state.
Howland had many friends in the art world and regularly received requests to exhibit at museums. She became known as an accomplished portrait artist, and she was commissioned many times to execute drawings or sculptures. She dabbled in writing and illustrating stories, and produced a set of 33 Christmas cards featuring two monks.
Provenance:
Donated between 1975-1976 by Mrs. Martha Craig and Barbara Summer. Three photographs of works of art were donated by Eugenie Gershoy in 1979.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Portrait painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Caricaturists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of still-life painter Gretchen W. Rogers measure 0.6 linear feet and date from 1901 to 1986. Found are biographical materials, correspondence, hand-drawn paper dolls and an illustrated unpublished children's book, photographs, printed material, and a scrapbook.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of still-life painter Gretchen W. Rogers measure 0.6 linear feet and date from 1901 to 1986. Found are biographical materials, correspondence, hand-drawn paper dolls and an illustrated unpublished children's book, photographs, printed material, and a scrapbook.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Gretchen W. Rogers (1881-1967) was a still-life and portrait painter in Boston, Massachusetts. Rogers studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, with Edmund C. Tarbell and Philip Hale.
Provenance:
Donated 1994, 1995 and 1997 by Anne Winslow, niece of Gretchen Rogers.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The Edward Mitchell Bannister scrapbook measures 0.6 linear feet and dates from 1866-1901. The scrapbook contains approximately 102 pencil, charcoal, and watercolor drawings by Bannister, newspaper clippings and writings about Bannister and his exhibitions, a poem, and an exhibition catalog.
Scope and Contents:
The Edward Mitchell Bannister scrapbook measures 0.6 linear feet and dates from 1866-1901.
The scrapbook contains approximately 102 pencil, charcoal, and watercolor drawings depicting landscapes with cattle, trees, brambles, rolling clouds, a few figure studies, seascapes, and Bibical scenes, by Bannister. The scrapbook also includes newspaper clippings and writings about Bannister including reviews of his exhibitions and tributes by George W. Whitaker, John Nelson Arnold, and T. Thomas Fortune; a 1901 poem about Bannister written by William E. Smith; and an exhibition catalog of the Edward Mitchell Bannister Memorial exhibition held at the Providence Art Club in May 1901.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as one series. The scrapbook has been disbound but contents remain in their original order and are arranged in three parts.
Biographical / Historical:
Edward Mitchell Bannister (1828-1901) was a Canadian-born African American landscape and portrait painter in Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. He was among Providence's leading painters during the 1870s and 1880s and was one of the few African American painters of the nineteenth century to win significant recognition.
Bannister moved to Boston in 1848 where he enrolled in evening classes at the Lowell Institute and learned to paint. He settled in Rhode Island with his wife in 1870 and in 1876 won the first-prize bronze medal at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Subsequently his growing reputation resulted in many commissions which allowed him to devote himself full-time to painting.
Bannister was an original board member of the Rhode Island School of Design and a respected art critic. Following his death in 1901 the Providence Art Club, of which he was a founding member, held a memorial exhibition of his paintings owned by Providence collectors.
Provenance:
The scrapbook was donated to the Archives of America Art in 1984 by Alan and Melvin S. Frank. The scrapbook was previously on loan to the National Museum of American Art.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Landscape painters -- Rhode Island -- Providence Search this
Portrait painters -- Rhode Island -- Providence Search this
Landscape painters -- Massachusetts -- Boston Search this
Portrait painters -- Massachusetts -- Boston Search this
6.5 Cubic feet (16 boxes, 188 pieces of original artwork)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Pastels (visual works)
Advertisements
Business records
Date:
circa 1936-1995
Summary:
The collection documents the development and evolution of the Breck Girl, a highly successful and long-lived advertising campaign whose hallmark was its vision of idealized American womanhood through correspondence, photographs, paintings, and print advertisements.
Scope and Contents:
188 pieces of original advertising art (mostly pastel drawings), and photographs, correspondence, and business records, documenting the development and evolution of the Breck Girls advertising campaign. Original advertising art includes portraits of famous models, such as Cheryl Tiegs, Brooke Shields, Kim Basinger, and Erin Gray. Artists represented include Charles Sheldon and Ralph William Williams. The 2006 addendum consists of approximately one sixth of one cubic foot of papers relating to Cynthia Brown's selection as a Breck Girl, 1988 and her induction into the Breck Hall of Fame.
Arrangement:
Collection divided into four series.
Series 1: Company history, 1946-1990
Series 2: Photographs, 1960-1995
Series 3: Print ads, 1946-1980
Series 4: Original artwork, 1936-1994
Biographical / Historical:
Dr. John Breck is credited with developing one of the first liquid shampoos in the United States, in Springfield Massachusetts in 1908; Breck is also credited with introducing the first ph-balanced shampoo, in 1930. During the early years of the business, distribution remained localized in New England, and the product was sold exclusively to beauty salons until 1946. Advertising for the brand began in 1932, but appeared only in trade publications, such as Modern Beauty Shop.
Edward Breck, son of the founder, assumed management of the company in 1936. Breck became acquainted with Charles Sheldon, an illustrator and portrait painter who is believed to have studied in Paris under Alphonse Mucha, an artist noted for his contributions to Art Nouveau style. Sheldon had achieved some measure of fame for his paintings of movie stars for the cover of Photoplay magazine in the 1920s, and had also done idealized pastel portraits for the cover of Parents magazine. He created his first pastel portraits for Breck in 1936, launching what would become one of America's longest running ad campaigns. When the company began national advertising (and mass distribution) in 1946, the campaign featured Sheldon's 1937 painting of seventeen-year old Roma Whitney, a spirited blonde. Ms. Whitney's profile was registered as Breck's trademark in 1951. When he retired in 1957, Sheldon had created 107 oil paintings and pastels for the company. Sheldon was known to favor ordinary women over professional models, and in the early years of the campaign, the Breck Girls were Breck family members, neighbors or residents of the community in which he worked; company lore holds that nineteen Breck Girls were employees of the advertising agency he founded in 1940. A Breck advertising manager later described Sheldon's illustrations as, "illusions, depicting the quality and beauty of true womanhood using real women as models." The paintings and pastels form a coherent, if derivative, body of work which celebrates an idealized vision of American girlhood and womanhood, an ideal in which fair skin, beauty and purity are co-equal.
Ralph William Williams was hired to continue the Breck Girls campaign after Sheldon's retirement. Between 1957 and his death in 1976, Williams modified the Breck Girl look somewhat through the use of brighter colors and a somewhat heightened sense of movement and individuality. The advertising manager during his tenure recalled that Aat first Williams continued in Sheldon' manner, but in later years, as women became more independent, he would take care to integrate each girl' particular personality; he studied each girl and learned her special qualities. During these years, Breck Girls were identified through the company's sponsorship of America's Junior Miss contests. Williams work includes pastels of celebrities Cybil Shepard (1968 Junior Miss from Tennessee), Cheryl Tiegs (1968), Jaclyn Smith (1971, 1973), Kim Basinger (1972, 1974) and Brooke Shields (1974) very early in their careers.
By the 1960s, at the height of its success, Breck held about a twenty percent share of the shampoo market and enjoyed a reputation for quality and elegance. Ownership of the company changed several times (American Cyanamid in 1963; Dial Corporation in 1990). The corresponding fluctuations in management of the company and in advertising expenditures tended to undermine the coherence of the national advertising campaign. In addition, despite William's modifications, the image had become dated. Attempts to update the image misfired, further limiting the brand's coherence and effectiveness. Finally, increased competition and an absence of brand loyalty among consumers through the 1970s and 1980s helped push Breck from its number one position into the bargain bin. The Breck Girl campaign was discontinued around 1978, although there have been at least two minor revivals, first in 1992 with the Breck Girls Hall of Fame, and again in 1995 when a search was begun to identify three new Breck Women.
Scope and Content: The 188 pieces of original advertising art (62 oil paintings on board, 2 pencil sketches on paper, and 124 pastels on paper) and related photographs, correspondence and business files in this collection document the development and evolution of the Breck Girl, a highly successful and long-lived advertising campaign whose hallmark was its vision of idealized American womanhood. The collection is a perfect fit with other 20th century Archives Center collections documenting the efforts of American business to reach the female consumer market. The Estelle Ellis Collection (advertising and promotions for Seventeen, Charm, Glamour and House & Garden and many other clients) the Cover Girl Collection (make-up), the Maidenform Collection (brassieres), and the Tupperware Collections offer a prodigious body of evidence for understanding the role women were expected to play as consumers in the 20th century.
These advertising images also offer fertile ground for research into the evolution of popular images of American girlhood and womanhood. The research uses of the collection derive primarily from its value as an extensive visual catalog of the ideal types of American women and girls, arising and coalescing during a period in which 19th century ideals of womanhood were being revisited (the depression, the war years, the immediate post-war period) and continuing, with slight modifications and revisions, through several decades during which those historical ideals were being challenged and revised.
Related Materials:
Several items of packaging, 1930s-1980s are held in the former Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life); an 18k gold Breck insignia pin is in the former.
Provenance:
The Dial Corporation through Jane Owens, Senior Vice President, Gift, June 1998.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
