The records of the American Federation of Arts (AFA) provide researchers with a complete set of documentation focusing on the founding and history of the organization from its inception through the 1960s. The collection measures 79.8 linear feet, and dates from 1895 through 1993, although the bulk of the material falls between 1909 and 1969. Valuable for its coverage of twentieth-century American art history, the collection also provides researchers with fairly comprehensive documentation of the many exhibitions and programs supported and implemented by the AFA to promote and study contemporary American art, both nationally and abroad.
Scope and Content Note:
The records of the American Federation of Arts (AFA) provide researchers with a complete set of documentation focusing on the founding and history of the organization from its inception through the 1960s. The collection measures 79.8 linear feet, and dates from 1895 through 1993, although the bulk of the material falls between 1909 and 1969. Valuable for its coverage of twentieth-century American art history, the collection also provides researchers with fairly comprehensive documentation of the many exhibitions and programs supported and implemented by the AFA to promote and study contemporary American art, both nationally and abroad.
The earliest documentation from 1895 to 1909 concerns the organization's history and founding and is located in Series 1: Board of Trustees. Also found in this series are meeting minutes, 1909-1963 and 1968. Interfiled with the board meeting minutes are minutes of the executive committee and other special and ad hoc committees, reports to the board, financial statements and reports, and lists of committee appointments and board membership. This series also contains the scattered correspondence and subject files of various officers. Although not a complete set of officers' files, Presidents' Frederick Allen. Whiting (1931-1936), Lawrence M.C. Smith (1948-1952), Thomas Brown Rudd (1952-1954), Daniel Longwell (1954-1956), James S. Schramm (1956-1958), and Roy R. Neuberger (1958-1961) are represented. Leila Mechlin served on AFA's board as secretary from its founding to 1929, and her files are a particularly rich resource for AFA's activities during its early years. Lawrence M.C. Smith's files documenting his years as board treasurer are also arranged in this series. Additional officers' correspondence is interspersed throughout the Alphabetical Files and other series.
General information about the scope of AFA's programs, affiliations, founding, functions, and proceedings are arranged in Series 2: Administrative Records. The first subseries, Alphabetical Files, houses a wide variety of subject files that contain memoranda, correspondence, printed materials, lists, reports, and other papers. These files document the AFA's general history and founding, organizational affiliations, buildings and moves, grants, federal and state government art programs, auctions and other fund-raising efforts, publicity and public relations, publications, and fiftieth anniversary celebration. The subject headings by which these files are arranged are, for the most part, the ones designated by the AFA. The second subseries, Staff Records, houses the scattered files of AFA's director, assistant director, registrar, and special state representative, Robert Luck.
During its most active period, the AFA sponsored or participated in several special programs and Series 3: Special Programs houses the files that document many of them. The first subseries consists of the files for the Artists in Residence program that was funded by the Ford Foundation. Awarded in 1963, the grant sponsored short-term teaching residencies for artists in museums throughout the United States. The host museums were encouraged to hold exhibitions of the artists' works. This subseries contains both the general files of the program, as well as individual files on the participating artists. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the AFA and the Ford Foundation also sponsored additional programs for artists, including Grants in Aid, Purchase Awards, and the Retrospective Exhibitions Program. The files documenting these three programs are also arranged in Series 3, under the subseries Ford Foundation Program for Visual Artists. In the late 1950s, the AFA implemented the Museum Donor Program with benefactors and philanthropists Audrey Bruce Currier and Stephen Richard Currier. Through the administration of the AFA, the Curriers donated funds to selected institutions specifically for the purchase of contemporary American art. The Curriers preferred to remain anonymous throughout the program. Files documenting this program include correspondence, applications from the accepted institutions, rejections, a summary report, and clippings about the untimely deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Currier in 1967.
Also found in Series 3 are the files documenting AFAs working relationship with the first state arts council, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). In 1961, AFA and NYSCA implemented a traveling exhibition program in New York State. Found here are files for possible itineraries, proposals, publicity, loans, budgets, and the actual exhibition files. Additional AFA special programs documented in Series 3 include the Picture of the Month program of the mid-1950s and the Jean Tennyson Foundation Color Slide Lecture Program.
AFA Annual Convention files constitute Series 4. Beginning with the Third Annual Convention in 1912 and continuing through the 1963 Annual Convention, the files contain official proceedings, speeches, programs, clippings, correspondence, and press releases. Files are missing for 1913, 1915, 1918, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1931, 1936-1949, 1952, 1956, 1958, 1960, and 1962. There are also audio recordings in the form of reel-to-reel tapes for the 1951 Annual Convention.
Series 5: Exhibition Files forms the bulk of the collection at circa 62 linear feet and is arranged into twenty subseries. The first subseries, Exhibitions, General, houses primarily the records of the Board of Trustees Exhibition Committee and documents the AFA's earliest involvement with traveling exhibitions. These files contain reports, budgets, correspondence, memoranda, scattered exhibition catalogs, and photographs. They are primarily the files of the chair of the Exhibition Committee and include the files of Juliana R. Force, Eloise Spaeth, and Mrs. John Pope. Also found in this series is a subseries of Mrs. John Pope's records documenting circulating exhibitions from 1934 to 1955, arranged by state.
The remaining nineteen subseries of the Exhibition Files reflect either specific exhibition programs, many of which have unique numbers assigned by AFA to individual exhibitions, or other exhibition-related files, such rejected, canceled, and suggested exhibitions and miscellaneous installation photographs. The Annual Exhibitions files constitute the largest of the subseries and are numbered according to the system assigned by AFA, following a typical chronological order. Although the documentation for each exhibition varies widely by both type and amount, most of the files contain contracts and legal agreements, correspondence, memoranda, itinerary information, condition reports, publicity materials, catalogs, announcements, price lists, and other such information arranged into one or more files. The files were labeled "documentation files," "dispersal files," "report form files," "loan agreement files," and "publicity files" according to the filing system devised by AFA. Many of the files also house a significant amount of correspondence with museum officials, lenders, and artists.
Additional subseries document AFA's exhibition venues and partnerships with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the New York State Council on the [UNK] Life magazine, and Addison Gallery. A complete list of all of the subseries, including specific exhibition programs, follows in the Series Outline.
The final three series of the collection are small: Printed Material, Miscellaneous Files, and Oversized Material. The printed material was donated much later to the Archives and dates from 1990 to 1993. Found here are scattered press releases, annual reports, and an exhibition program. Miscellaneous Files contain scattered records, 1926-1962, of the Architectural League of New York relating to national award programs. It is not clear why this small group of Architectural League records was found mixed with the AFA records but perhaps the collaboration between the two organizations on several special projects provides an explanation. Also found in Miscellaneous Files is a group of black and white lantern slides from a lecture series, "New Horizons in America." Oversized Material includes a portfolio, a work of art, and posters.
See Appendix for a list of artists exhibiting with the American Federation of Arts
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into eight primary series based primarily on administrative units or program areas. Several of the series are further subdivided into subseries. While processing, it became clear that the two filing systems were redundant and overlapped in both subject area and type of material. Most of these files were subsequently merged into the now broader Alphabetical Files or into separate series. Oversized material may be found at the end of the collection arranged in a separate series.
In most cases, files related to one another by subseries or subject areas (in the case of the Alphabetical Files) or by individual name (in the case of officers and staff files) are arranged in chronological order. The entire subseries of Alphabetical Files in Series 2 is arranged by subject heading, as assigned by the AFA, or individual name. The Alphabetical Files originally formed two broad filing systems as established by the AFA: one for general correspondence arranged by subject; and one for director's and other staff correspondence, also arranged by subject.
Series 1: Board of Trustees, circa 1895-1968 (Boxes 1-3)
Series 2: Administrative Records, 1910-1966 (Boxes 4-8)
Series 3: Special Programs, 1950-1967 (Boxes 9-13)
Series 4: Annual Conventions, 1912-1963 (Boxes 14-16)
Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1934-1969 (Boxes 17-78)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1990-1993 (Box 78)
Series 7: Miscellaneous Files, 1926-1962, undated (Box 79)
Series 8: Oversized Materials, 1890, undated (Boxes 80-85)
Historical Note:
Founded in 1909 by Elihu Root, the American Federation of Arts (AFA) exists today as a national nonprofit museum service organization striving to unite American art institutions, collectors, artists, and museums. Elihu Root, then secretary of state in the administration of Theodore Roosevelt, spoke of his idea at the first meeting of the AFA held in New York at the National Academy of Arts. He envisioned an organization that would promote American art most often seen only by the elite in the major cities of the East and upper Midwest by sending "exhibitions of original works of art on tour through the hinterlands across the United States."
The American Academy in Rome, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and Metropolitan Museum of Art were influential organizing member institutions. Individual members included such notables as William Merritt Chase, Charles L. Freer, Daniel C. French, Charles L. Hutchinson, Henry Cabot Lodge, J.P. Morgan, and Henry Walters. The founding of the AFA provided the American art world with a forum for communication and participation among artists, cultural institutions, patrons of the arts, and the public.
To accomplish its mission, the AFA established volunteer committees for membership, exhibitions, and publications. During its first year, the AFA began publishing Art and Progress (later changed to Magazine of Art) and the American Art Annual (now the American Art Directory). In 1909, the AFA also organized its first traveling exhibition, Paintings by Prominent American Artists, which was shown at museums in Fort Worth, New Orleans, Minneapolis, and New Ulm, Minnesota.
By the end of the first year, the headquarters of the organization moved to Washington, D.C., to facilitate lobbying the federal government for favorable art legislation. In 1913, the AFA lobbied successfully for the removal of the tariff on foreign art entering the United States. In 1916, the Federation met with the Interstate Commerce Commission to protest prohibitively high interstate taxes on traveling art exhibitions.
Throughout the next fifteen years, the AFA continued to grow in membership and influence. By 1919, membership included 438 institutions and 2,900 individuals. The AFA's annual conventions were held in major national art centers and were attended by members, chapter delegates, and the public. At the conventions, scholars, patrons, and curators lectured on and discussed subjects of national interest, thereby fostering an exchange of ideas. The AFA also sponsored periodic regional conferences to promote institutional cooperation and to discuss mutual problems and needs. To facilitate exhibition venues west of the Mississippi River, in 1921 the AFA opened regional offices at the University of Nebraska and at Stanford University. The AFA produced and circulated slide programs and lecture series to museums and educational institutions that fostered art education. By 1929, the Federation had developed forty-six slide-lecture programs that covered American mural painting, European and American contemporary art, and textiles.
During the 1930s, the Federation expanded its services by providing schools with teaching guides, student workbooks, slides, and films about art. In 1935, the AFA began publishing Who's Who in American Art, later publishing The Official Directory of Illustrators and Advertising Artists and Films on Art reference guides. To reach an even larger audience, the AFA began collaborating with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to organize national circulating exhibitions to "bring the museum to the people."
One of AFA's priorities was to make American art more visible abroad. The Federation focused on encouraging the representation of American artists in foreign exhibitions, and in 1924 it lobbied successfully for additional American participation in the Venice Biennale. The AFA's focus on exhibiting American art abroad continued to expand, particularly following World War II. In 1950, recognizing that the AFA could assist in promoting American culture, the State Department awarded the AFA a grant for a German "re-orientation program" consisting of educational exhibitions shown in German museums. Additional government funding further enabled the AFA to organize American participation in exhibitions in India, Japan, Paris, Switzerland, and Rotterdam between 1950 and 1970. Later, the AFA collaborated with the United States Information Agency (USIA) to create the Overseas Museum Donor Program which permitted donations of American art to foreign institutions on a restriction-free, tax-deductible basis. During the 1950s, the AFA was a very active member of the Committee on Government and Art, a national committee with members from across the art and museum world concerned with government sponsorship of and legislation affecting art sales, commissions, and trade.
In 1952, the headquarters of the AFA returned to New York, sparking a period of innovation and expanded of programs. Throughout the 1950s, the AFA distributed films about art and co-sponsored the Films on Art Festival in Woodstock, New York. The AFA also introduced its Picture of the Month Program in 1954, renting original works of art to small American art and educational institutions. In 1956, the AFA organized the Art Collectors Club of America to provide fellowship for art collectors through meetings and activities. The club disbanded in the 1970s.
The Federation's exhibition programs continued to flourish during the 1950s and 1960s. Private and public financial support allowed the AFA to achieve many of its goals. In 1958, the Ford Foundation awarded an important grant to organize a series of traveling one-person shows and a series of monographs devoted to contemporary American artists. Milton Avery, Andrew Dasburg, José DeCreeft, Lee Gatch, Walter Quirt, Abraham Rattner, and others were among the artists who participated. Private foundation support for the AFA's Museum Donor Program provided an annual allowance that was distributed to regional museums for the pourchase of contemporary American art. Cooperative programs and joint venues also became popular during this period. For example, public support from the New York State Council on the Arts allowed the AFA to circulate exhibitions to small New York State communities, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts provided the AFA with five exhibitions for national tours.
Throughout its history, the American Federation of Arts has concentrated on its founding principle of broadening the audience for contemporary American art. Through its numerous exhibition and film programs, the AFA has succeeded in "breaking down barriers of distance and language to broaden the knowledge and appreciation of art." Annual exhibitions such as New Talent in the USA and Art Schools USA, organized by the AFA, brought before the public the most contemporary American artists and craftspeople, genres, and artistic forms of experimentation, exposing viewers to new ways of thinking and expression. In 1965, AFA produced The Curriculum in Visual Education, a series of films created to heighten the aesthetic awareness of children.
A vital part of American art history, the AFA was one of the first organizations to develop successfully the concept of traveling art exhibitions on a national and international level. The AFA was instrumental in assisting museums with circulating important juried exhibitions of contemporary art, such as the Whitney Annual and Corcoran Biennial. The AFA also recognized the importance of the exchange of cultural ideas, and it brought exhibitions of the European masters to the American public as well as exhibitions focusing on foreign contempoorary art, photography, and architecture. Many organizations and museums have followed the AFA's precedent, and traveling national and international venues are now commonplace.
Since 1909, women have served as officers and members of the Board of Trustees. Leila Mechlin was a founding participant and served as secretary from 1909 to 1933. Juliana R. Force and Eloise Spaeth both chaired the Exhibition Committee in the late 1940s. Women and artists of diverse backgrounds and nationalities were widely represented in the AFA's exhibition programs, most notably during the 1960s. In 1960, the AFA organized, with financial support from the Ford Foundation, a major Jacob Lawrence retrospective. Additional culturally diverse exhibitions included Contemporary Jewish Ceremonial Art (1961), The Heart of India (1962), 1,000 Years of American Indian Art (1963), and Ten Negro Artists from the United States (1966).
The AFA also had an impact on patronage in the arts. AFA exhibitions of contemporary art provided collectors with knowledge of new artists and avant-garde art forms, creating a broader demand and market for this type of work. Museums and collectors began purchasing work by new or obscure American artists whom they learned about through AFA exhibitions and programs.
The historical records of the American Federation of Arts offer the researcher a unique opportunity to study the development of American art and artists in the twentieth century as well as providing insight into trends in American culture.
Missing Title
1909 -- Founded in New York City. Began publishing Art and Progress (later retitled Magazine of Art) and the American Art Annual.
1910 -- Moved headquarters to Washington, D.C.
1913 -- Lobbied successfully for the removal of the tariff on art entering the United States.
1915-1916 -- Lobbied successfully against the Cummins Amendment and the Interstate Commerce Commission's prohibitively high interstate tax on traveling art.
1920 -- Organized a lobbying campaign for the development of a national gallery of art at its national convention.
1921 -- Opened two new offices at the University of Nebraska and at Stanford University.
1924 -- Arranged American participation in the Venice Biennale exhibition.
1927 -- Closed office at Stanford University.
1929 -- Organized American participation in exhibitions in France and Germany.
1933 -- Closed office at the University of Nebraska.
1935 -- Began publishing Who's Who in American Art.
1948 -- Published The Official Directory of Illustrators and Advertising Artists.
1949 -- Collaborated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to circulate exhibitions from its collections.
1950 -- Participated in the U.S. government's German re-orientation program.
1951 -- Joined forces with the United States Information Agency (USIA) to create the Overseas Museum Donor Program. Published the reference guide Films on Art. Co-sponsored the Films on Art Festival in Woodstock, New York, through 1957.
1952 -- Moved headquarters to New York City.
1953 -- Magazine of Art liquidated.
1954 -- Introduced the Picture of the Month Program.
1956 -- Founded the Art Collectors Club of America.
1958 -- Received a Ford Foundation grant to finance a series of one-person shows of contemporary American artists.
1960 -- Created the Museum Donor Program.
1961 -- Received a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts to circulate exhibitions to small New York state communities.
1963 -- Received a grant from the Ford Foundation for the Artists in Residence program.
1964 -- Introduced the List Art Poster Program.
1965 -- Produced The Curriculum in Visual Education, a series of films that attempted to heighten the aesthetic awareness of children.
Appendix: List of Artists Exhibiting with American Federation of Arts:
The following is an alphabetical list of artists who exhibited with the American Federation of Arts; many are obscure. The alpha-numeric codes and numbers appearing with the artist's name represent specific AFA exhibition programs and, most often, AFA's exhibition numbering system. In cases where the AFA did not assign an exhibition number, Archives' staff have done so.
The primary reference source for the names and name variants is the American Federation of Arts Records. The names are documented in handwritten notes and lists, typed lists, and exhibition catalogs and announcements. The Archives of American Art name authority file was also consulted in questionable cases. The majority of names, however, were not found in either the AAA name authority file or standard bibliographic resources, and only in the AFA records.
Examples:
55-1: AFA annual exhibitions program
AD-1: Addison Gallery exhibitions
L-1: Life Magazine Exhibitions
ME-1: Misceallaneous exhibitions (numbers assigned by AAA staff)
NMA-1: Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibitions
NE-96: Contemporary Color Lithography
NY-1: New York State Council on the Arts exhibitions
VA-1: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts exhibitions
Missing Title
A. Quincy Jones, Frederick E. Emmons & Assoc: 62-34
The records of the American Federation of Arts (AFA) were donated to the Archives of American Art (AAA) over a thirteen-year period, with the bulk of the material arriving between 1964 and 1966. In 1979, Preston Bolton donated his letters and those from John de Menil, Ann Drevet, Lee Malone, and others regarding planning for the 1957 AFA annual convention held in Houston, Texas; convention committee minutes from 1956; and AFA newsletters. This material, as well as a 1979 gift from Louise Ferrari of transcripts from a panel discussion from the 1957 AFA convention in Houston, was microfilmed on AAA Reel 1780. All material previously microfilmed on Reel 1780 has been fully integrated into the collection and arranged within proper series and subseries. The provenance of the 1990-1993 printed material is unknown.
Restrictions:
Use requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The records of Artists Talk on Art (ATOA) measure 64.4 linear feet and 317.43 gigabytes and date from circa 1974-2018. The bulk of the records consist of extensive video and sound recordings of events organized by the group featuring artists, critics, historians, dealers, curators and writers discussing contemporary issues in the American art world in hundreds of panel discussions, open screenings, and dialogues held in New York City. Events began in 1975 and continue to the present; recordings in the collection date from 1977 and 2016. A smaller group of records include administrative files, panel flyers, three scrapbooks, as well as photographs, slides, and negatives of panel discussions and participants.
Scope and Contents:
The records of Artists Talk on Art (ATOA) measure 64.4 linear feet and 317.43 gigabytes and date from circa 1974-2018. The bulk of the records consist of extensive video and sound recordings of events organized by the group featuring artists, critics, historians, dealers, curators and writers discussing contemporary issues in the American art world in hundreds of panel discussions, open screenings, and dialogues held in New York City. Events began in 1975 and continue to the present; recordings in the collection date from 1977 and 2016. A smaller group of records include administrative files, panel flyers, three scrapbooks, as well as photographs, slides, and negatives of panel discussions and participants.
ATOA's recordings chronicle the American art world, covering critical discussions and significant art world issues over five decades. Thousands of artists such as Will Barnet, Louise Bourgeois, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Robert De Niro, Agnes Denes, Michael Goldberg, Robert Longo, Ana Mendieta, Robert Morris, Elizabeth Murray, Alice Neel, Philip Pavia, Howardena Pindell, Larry Rivers, Sylvia Sleigh, Kahinde Wiley, Hannah Wilke, David Wojnarowicz, and others speak about their work. The original recordings exist in a variety of formats, including U-Matic and VHS videotape, MiniDVs, sound cassettes and sound tape reels. ATOA digitized most of the video and sound recordings prior to donating the collection.
The collection also includes printed histories, board and program committee meeting minutes, financial statements, general correspondence files of the president and chair, attendance statistics, grant files, panel participant release forms, sixteen panel transcripts, a complete set of panel flyers (many are annotated) and other printed materials, three dismantled scrapbooks, as well as photographs, slides, and negatives of panels and panel participants.
Arrangement:
The records are arranged into nine series.
Series 1: Adminstrative Files, 1974-2013 (0.4 linear feet, Box 1)
Series 2: Director's and Chairman's Correspondence, 1977-2006 (0.4 linear feet, Box 1)
Series 3: Grant Files, 1977-2009 (1 linear foot, Boxes 1-2)
Series 4: Panel Release Forms, 1978-2012 (1 linear foot, Boxes 2-3)
Series 6: Printed Materials, 1975-2015 (0.8 linear feet, Boxes 3-4; 0.434 GB, ER02)
Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1975-1989 (0.2 linear feet, Box 4)
Series 8: Photographic Materials, circa 1975-circa 2000 (1 linear foot, Boxes 4-5)
Series 9: Video and Sound Recordings of Events, 1977-2016 (59 linear feet, Boxes 6-65; 317.43 GB, ER03-ER04)
Biographical / Historical:
Established in 1974 and still active in New York, Artists Talk on Art is the art world's longest running and most prolific aesthetic panel discussion series organized by artists for artists. Founded by Lori Antonacci, Douglas I. Sheer, and Robert Wiegand, the forum has presented 6,000 artists in nearly 1,000 documented panels or dialogues. ATOA held its first panel, "Whatever Happened to Public Art," on January 10, 1975 and it drew a "crowd" of 77 people. In the decades that followed, ATOA presented dozens of panels or dialogues a year, tackling such diverse topics as "What is Happening with Conceptual Art," with Louise Lawler and Lawrence Weiner; "Painting and Photography: Defining the Difference," with Sarah Charlesworth, Jack Goldstein, Joseph Kosuth, Barbara Kruger, and Robert Mapplethorpe; "Organizing Arts Activism," with Lucy Lippard; "The Artist and the Epidemic—an information panel about AIDS"; "Cross-generational Views of Feminism"; and hundreds more.
Provenance:
The Artists Talk on Art (ATOA) records, including digital files of the video and sound recordings, were donated to the Archives in 2016 by Douglas Sheer, Chairman of ATOA.
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.
Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Eleanor Munro papers, circa 1880-2011, bulk 1950-2011. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Interview of Deborah Remington conducted 1973 May 29-July 19, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Deborah Remington (1935- ) is a painter from New York, N.Y. Full name is Deborah Williams Remington.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 9 digital wav files. Duration is 8 hrs., 36 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
The Mary Fuller McChesney papers measure 44.1 linear feet and date from 1949-2011. Included are biographical material, correspondence, writings, artists' files, financial records, photographs, artwork, printed material, and reel-to reel sound recordings documenting the career of sculptor, art historian, and author, Mary Fuller McChesney. A small portion of the papers includes material on painter, Edward Corbett.
Among the sound recordings are interviews conducted by McChesney between 1965 and 1966, and used as the primary research for her book. Interviewees include Jeremy Anderson, Dorr Bothwell, Ernest Briggs, Joan Brown (2), Lawrence Calcagno (2), Edward Corbett (2), James Budd Dixon, Edward Dugmore, Jorge Goya, Dimitri Grachis, John Grillo (1966, 1972), John Hultberg, Jack Jefferson, James Kelly, Walter Kuhlman, Seymour Locks, Douglas MacAgy, Madeleine Martin, William Morehouse, Raymond Parker, Leonard Pollakoff, Ad Reinhardt, Deborah Remington, Phil Roeber, John Saccaro, Jon Schueler, Peter Shoemaker, Hassel Smith, Clay Spohn, Jean Varda, and James Weeks.
Biographical / Historical:
Mary Fuller McChesney (1922-2022) was a sculptor, art historian, and author in San Francisco and Petaluma, California.
Provenance:
A majority of the collection donated 2015 by Mary Fuller McChesney. Photographs on reel 1329 donated 1973 and sound recordings donated 1994 by McChesney. Material on reel NDA 1 (fr. 728-741) lent for microfilming 1964 by Lewis Ferbrache; material on NDA 1 (fr. 930-943) lent 1964 by Mary F. McChesney.
Restrictions:
This collection is temporarily closed. Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Jay DeFeo papers, circa 1940s-1970s. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by The Walton Family Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Melinda Wortz papers, 1958-1992. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Support for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian's Collections Care Pool Fund.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Hassel Smith papers, circa 1900-2004, bulk 1930-1995. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Getty Foundation and funding for digitization was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Correspondence is between Spohn and his colleagues, including two letters from Alexander Calder, eight letters from Mark Rothko, and twenty-eight letters from Clyfford Still.
See Appendix for an alphabetical list of correspondents from Series 2.2.
Appendix: Alphabetical List of Correspondents in 2.2:
Abend, George and Kitty Parker Abend (artists): 1950-1960 (4 letters)
Abingdon Square Painters: 1958 (1 letter)
Addison Gallery of American Art: 1958 (2 letters)
American Artists' Congress: 1938 (1 letter)
American Library of Color Slides: 1941 (1 letter)
Anderson, Claude J. K.: 1958 (1 letter)
Anderson, Wendell (poet): 1955-1956 (2 letters)
Archives of American Art: 1964 (4 letters)
Art Academy of Cincinnati: 1958-1959 (3 letters)
Art Association of Newport: 1958 (1 letter)
Art Career School: 1958 (1 letter)
Artists Equity Association: 1950 (1 letter)
Arts and Architecture: 1963 (1 letter)
Art Students League: 1958-1964 (2 letters)
Art Times: 1959 (1 letter)
Art Workshop of the Rivington Neighborhood Asociation, Inc.: 1958 (1 letter)
Ashton, Dore: 1969 (1 letter)
Ayer, Phyllis: 1956 (1 letter)
Bachels, Andrew: 1969 (1 letter)
Barnett, Rici: 1973 (1 letter)
Barron, John N.: 1966 (1 letter)
Beasley, David and Viola: 1963-1978 (11 letters)
Bender: Albert M. Bender Memorial Trust: 1947-1951 (2 letters)
Bethers, Peggy: 1940 (1 letter)
Blesh, Rudi: 1960 (1 letter)
Board of Education, City of New York: 1958-1965 (2 letters)
Booth, James W. (family friend): 1943-1956 (7 letters)
Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture: 1966 (1 letter)
Brown, Lesley: 1955 (1 letter)
Burke, Bob: 1971 (1 letter)
Burnham, Janet B.: 1950 (1 letter)
Bute, Janey: 1971 (1 letter)
Calcagno, Lawrence: 1969-1977 (5 letters)
Calder, Alexander: 1970-1972 (2 letters)
California Palace of the Legion of Honor: 1964 (1 letter)
California School of Fine Arts: 1955-1964 (2 letters)
California: University of California at Berkeley: 1940 (1 letter)
California: University of California at Santa Clara: 1975-1976 (2 letters)
Carewe, Sylvia: 1969 (1 letter)
Carr, James F.: 1967 (1 letter)
Chase Manhattan Bank: 1971 (2 letters)
Chisholm, Stuart (landscape architect): 1925 (1 letter)
Clayton, Janice: undated and 1965-1974 (6 letters)
Clifton, Jim and Mary (owners of a Spohn painting): 1956 (1 letter)
College Art Association: 1949 (1 letter)
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center: 1952-1970 (4 letters)
Cooke, Regina: 1955 (1 letter)
Cooley, Anne: 1941 (1 letter)
Corbett, Ed and Steff, and Rosamond Tirana: undated and 1951-1977(47 letters, including a 1962 wedding announcement for Corbett and Tirana, and a letter dated Mar 21, 1963 enclosing a photograph of Ed with an amputated foot)
Craig, Jeanne: 1963 (2 letters)
Crawford, Jane and Ernie: 1958 (3 letters)
Crehan, Hub and Anne: 1960 (1 letter)
Crewe, Sylvia: 1969 (1 letter)
Crews, Judson and Mildred (publishers of poetry magazine in Taos): 1952-1969 (4 letters)
Cumming, Ann (and Jennifer Sutcliffe): 1956 (1 letter)
Cunningham, Ben: 1950 (1 letter)
D'Arcangelo, Allan and Sylvia: 1965 (1 letter)
Dasburg, Andrew: 1961 (1 letter)
DePuy, John: 1964 (1 letter)
Diebenkorn, Richard: 1951 (1 letter)
Dilexi Gallery (L. James Newman): 1965 (1 letter)
Dixon, Budd (J.B.) and Peggy: 1954-1970 (5 letters)
Gallery of Modern Art, Taos, N.M.: 1972 (1 letter)
Garcia, Enos: 1954 (1 letter)
Georgiadis, Alex: 1951 (1 letter)
Gettell, Mrs. Richard Glenn: 1958 (an invitation to meet Col. George Lincoln)
Gluck, Heidi: 1977 (1 letter)
Gomez, Dorothy Massey (mother of anthropologist Bill Massey): 1950 (1 letter)
Gomez, Joe: undated and 1971 (2 letters)
Grant, Bob: 1953-1972 (2 letters)
Grant, Carolyn: 1969 (1 letter)
Great Neck Board of Education: 1960 (1 letter)
Grimm, Marjorie: 1973 (1 letter)
Grossmann, Nancy: 1966 (1 letter)
Guggenheim: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation: 1953-1954 (2 letters)
Harwood Foundation: 1953-1956 (2 letters)
Harris, Roger: 1973 (1 letter)
Hawley, W. R.: 1977 (1 letter enclosing an exhibition catalog "Unemployed Wizards")
Heischman, R. L.: undated (1 letter)
Hill, Dorothy: 1967 (2 letters)
Hocks, Fred: 1952 (1 letter)
Howard, Ellen and Galen: 1957 (1 letter)
Howard, Robert Boardman and Adaline Kent (San Francisco sculptors): 1951-1955 (2 letters)
Howard, Madge Knight and Charles H.: 1946-1954 (21 letters)
Hultburg, John and Lynne: 1959-1974 (5 letters)
Huntsville Museum of Art: see Braunstein/Quay Gallery
Hurst, Tricia: 1977 (1 letter)
Hutchinson, Mrs. D. H.: 1925 (1 letter)
Illinois: University of Illinois at Urbana: 1952 (2 letters)
Jackson: Martha Jackson Gallery: 1965 (1 letter)
Jacobson, Art (artist) and Ursula: 1950-1960 (9 letters)
Jonson Gallery: 1969-1970 (2 letters)
Kadish, Reuben: 1958 (1 letter)
Kahl: Leone Kahl Gallery: 1964 (1 letter)
Karnes, Marion Watson: undated and 1947-1954 (80 letters from Spohn)
Keeney, James: 1963 (1 letter)
Kieve, Rudolph: 1971 (3 letters)
King, Vivie and Rufus: 1977 (1 letter)
Kingman, Dong: undated calling card
Kuhlman, Walt: 1957 (2 letters)
Kultberg, Lynne and John: 1965 (1 letter)
Labaudt, Lucien: 1943 (1 letter)
Labaudt, Marcelle: 1956 (1 letter)
Landgren, Paula: undated (1 letter)
Lannan, J. Patrick (The Susquehanna Corporation/ The Lannan Foundation): 1966-1971 (4 letters); see Personal Business Records for correspondence pertaining to the Foundation's support of Spohn, 1961-1962
LaPlante, John (Stanford University): 1949 (1 letter)
Lazarus, Rosalind: 1960 (1 letter)
LeBow-Gould Associates: 1958 (3 letters)
Lee, Martha: 1957 (1 letter)
Lehman, Margarett: 1957 (1 letter)
Letter Shop: 1956 (1 letter)
Library of Congress Copyright Office: 1932 (1 letter concerning the trisection of an arbitrary angle)
Lippincott, Janet (artist): 1955-1956 (5 letters)
Lockwood, Ward: 1952 (1 letter)
MacAgy, Douglas and Betty: undated and 1945-1973 (13 letters)
MacAgy, Jermayne (Jerry): 1945-1948 (2 letters)
Macdowell Colony: 1975 (1 letter)
Machcinski, Barbara: 1971 (1 letter)
MacIntyre, Carlyle F.: 1945 (1 letter)
Maes, Virginia: 1941 (1 letter)
Mare, Doris and Emil: 1969 (1 letter)
Marse, John J.: 1962 (1 letter)
Marter, Joan: 1977 (3 letters)
Martin, Agnes: 1958-1975 (3 letters)
Massey, Ellen DeSelms: 1940 (2 letters)
McCarthy, Francis Joseph (AIA): 1950 (1 change of address card)
McChesney, Mary (Fuller) and Mac: 1952-1977 (62 letters, including one dated May 21, 1968 decorated with a lizard skin, one dated Jun 08, 1973 enclosing a wooden Yalalag Indian good luck charm, and one dated May 26, 1976 enclosing a photograph of group and McChesney art work at Temko mansion in Berkeley)
McCormick, Herbert: 1951 (1 letter)
McDonald, Katharyn: 1963-1964 (2 letters)
Merlin Development Company: 1962 (1 letter)
Merrick, Barbara: 1975 (1 letter)
Meyer, Fleur Cowler: 1968 (1 letter)
Miller, Dorothy (Museum of Modern Art): 1952-1977 (8 letters)
Moore Dry Dock Company: 1942 (2 letters)
Murphy, Jack W. and Dori (owners of some of Spohn's work): 1951-1976 (7 letters)
Mygatt, Tony: 1954 (1 letter)
National Collection of Fine Arts: 1977 (1 letter)
Neininger, Urban and Jeanne: 1950-1976 (48 letters)
New Mexico Highlands University: 1958-1969 (3 letters)
New Mexico: Museum of New Mexico Art Gallery: 1952-1957 (3 letters)
New Mexico: University of New Mexico at Albuquerque: 1957-1970 (2 letters)
New York City Transit Authority: 1962-1963 (2 letters)
New York Saucer Information Bureau: 1962-1965 (2 letters)
New York University: 1958-1960 (3 letters)
Oakland Museum (Terry St. John): 1970-1977 (33 letters)
O'Connor, Francis V.: 1979 (1 letter)
Ohio State University: 1958 (1 letter)
Oldfield, Otis: 1942 (1 letter of recommendation for Spohn for Albert M. Bender Grants-in-Aid)
Olmsted, Frederick: 1943 (1 letter)
Oregon: University of Oregon: 1974-1975 (2 letters)
Ortman, George: 1964 (2 letters)
Otto, Curtis, Roberta, and Adrienne: 1957 (1 letter)
Oxford University Press: 1949 (1 letter)
Parrett, Fred C.: undated and 1954 (2 letters)
Peale, Norman Vincent (office of): 1975 (1 letter)
Pepsi-Cola Annual Art Competition: 1947 (2 letters)
Peterson, Arline? and Pete: 1955-1957 (2 letters)
Petrovo, Miriam: 1961-1971 (11 letters)
Pitney, Peggy and Ed: 1948 (1 letter)
Queens College: 1958 (2 letters)
Ramsay, Anna R.: 1954 (1 letter)
Rankine, Vivie (Mrs. Paul Scott Rankine): 1964-1981 (5 letters)
Remington, Deborah: 1963 (1 letter)
Reminick, Harry: 1954 (1 letter)
Reynal, Jeanne: 1941 (an invitation to a reception for Arshile Gorky) and 1952 (1 letter)
Ribak, Louis and Bea: 1954-1976 (5 letters)
Richards, Tally: 1971-1980 (5 letters)
Ridiman, Bob: 1963-1970 (4 letters)
Rogoway, Marjorie and Rog: undated and 1953-1968 (15 letters)
Rosebury, Amy and Ted: 1954 (1 letter)
Rosen, Michael: 1970-1974 (4 letters)
Roswell Museum and Art Center: 1977-1978 (6 letters)
Rothko Foundation: 1971-1975 (4 letters)
Rothko, Mark and Mell: 1946-1958 (8 letters)
Rusnell, Wesley: 1972-1979 (13 letters)
Sachs Gallery: undated and 1968 (2 letters)
St. John's College: 1969 (1 letter)
Salzer, Oscar: 1955 (1 letter)
Sanders, Una and John: 1975-1977 (6 letters)
Sands, Louis: 1948 (1 letter)
San Francisco Art Association: 1939-1955 (19 letters)
San Francisco Museum of Art: 1949-1977 (18 letters)
Saxe, Suzanne: 1972-1973 (2 letters)
Scarpitta, Pat and Sal: 1968 (1 letter)
Schneiderwirth, Joan (friend of Ed Corbett): 1955 (1 letter)
School of Visual Arts: 1964-1970 (86 letters)
Schubart, Pauline: 1950 (1 letter)
Shoemaker, Peter (former student of Spohn): 1955-1958 (5 letters)
Shiras, Mary: 1958-1965 (10 letters)
Sihvonen, Oli: 1953-1977 (66 letters)
Slivka, David: 1954 (1 letter)
Smith, Hassel: 1948 (1 letter)
Spoerri, John: 1965-1977 (10 letters)
Stables Art Gallery (Leone Kahl, director): 1956-1965 (14 letters)
Stanford University: 1946 (1 letter)
Stephens, Dick and Carolyn: 1960-1965 (3 letters)
Stevens: Arthur Stevens Book Club: 1968 (1 letter)
Still, Clyfford: 1948-1968 (28 letters, including one dated Nov 1950 to Ed Corbett, and one dated Nov 29, 1963 enclosing a hand-drawn map to Still's home)
Strehler, Allen (Sociologist): 1954 (1 letter)
Summers, Al: 1952 (1 letter)
Sutcliffe, Jennifer (beautiful English girl who passed through Taos with Ann Cumming): 1956 (2 letters)
Sznajderman, Marius: 1967 (1 letter)
Taggart, Bill, Sandy, and Sean: 1968 (1 letter)
Taos Artist's Association (Taos Art Association): 1956-1964 (6 letters)
Taos Realty: 1968-1969 (3 letters)
Tatarsky, Hy and Muriel: 1952-1957 (2 letters)
Tatarsky, Stephanie: 1963-1964 (7 letters)
Taylor, Gene: 1925 (letter of introduction to Erskine Gwynne)
Temianka, Henri: 1941 (1 letter)
Tensan, Keith and Gene: 1957 (1 letter)
Terrain Gallery: 1960 (1 letter)
Terry Art Institute: 1951-1952 (7 letters)
Third Street Gallery (Helen Kaye, Director): 1950 (1 letter)
Thomas, Corine (owner of a Spohn painting): 1954-1957 (7 letters)
Tirana, Rosamond: undated and 1958-1962 (10 letters); see Corbett, Edward for additional letters
Van Duren, Allan and Betsy: 1953 (1 letter)
Van Ingen, Pat: 1973 (2 letters)
Varda, Yantoo?: 1949 (1 letter)
Visual Arts Gallery: 1967 (2 letters)
Vollmer, George A.: 1945-1948 (3 letters)
Von Herberg, Charlotte: 1950-1958 (2 letters)
Wakefield, Ruth Cravath: 1943 (1 letter of recommendation for Spohn)
Wandell, Walt and Doreen: 1958 (1 letter)
Wasley, Emily (aunt) and Sarah Rhoads (cousin): 1946-1955 (14 letters)
Wehrer, Anne: 1974 (1 letter)
Whaley, Bill: 1974 (1 letter)
White, Minor: 1963 (1 letter)
Who's Who In American Art: 1952-1969 (5 letters)
Who's Who In The Midwest: 1959 (1 letter)
Who's Who In The West: 1959 (1 letter)
Willard, Charlotte: 1960-1967 (3 letters)
Williams, Matilda A.: 1958 (1 letter)
Wilmans, Margery and Steve: 1974 (1 letter)
Winston, James W.: 1941 (1 letter)
Wise: Howard Wise Gallery: 1962 (1 letter)
Woelffer, Emerson and Diana: 1955-1958 (5 letters)
Wood, Ralph: 1960-1970 (5 letters)
Wright, Dorothy: 1926 (1 letter)
Wurlitzer: Helene Wurlitzer Foundation: 1954-1957 (3 letters)
Young-Hunter, Mrs. John: 1959 (1 letter)
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use of unfilmed material requires an appointment.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Clay Spohn Papers, circa 1862-1985, bulk 1890-1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection 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 donor has retained all intellectual property rights, including copyright, that they may own in the following material: all slides taken by Stamm.
Collection Citation:
Ted Stamm slides of works of art and exhibitions, circa 1968-1986, 2018. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by The Walton Family Foundation.
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.
Collection 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
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Diana Fuller Papers and Gallery Records, 1958-2004. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Deborah Remington, 1973 May 29-July 19. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
