The Berryman family papers measure 11.4 linear feet and date from 1829 to 1984, with the bulk of the material dating from 1882 to 1961. The collection presents a good overview of the careers of Washington Star cartoonist Clifford Berryman, his daughter, Star art critic, Florence, and to a lesser extent, son Jim Berryman.
Scope and Content Note:
The Berryman family papers measure 11.4 linear feet and date from 1829 to 1984, with the bulk of the material dating from 1882 to 1961. The collection presents a good overview of the careers of Washington Star cartoonist Clifford Berryman, his daughter, Star art critic, Florence, and his son, Jim Berryman, though the latter's career is not as well represented. The papers also contain material relating to Kate Berryman, including a scrapbook and diaries.
The collection contains biographical material, correspondence, business records, notes and writings, scrapbooks, printed material, photographs, and artwork by Clifford and Jim Berryman and others.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into three series according to individual family members; each series is arranged into subseries and material within each subseries is arranged chronologically.
Missing Title
Series 1: Clifford and Kate Berryman papers, 1829-1963, undated (boxes 1-7, 11-12, OVs 14-15, 7.9 linear ft.)
Series 2: Florence Berryman Papers, 1902-1984, undated (boxes 8-10, 13, 2.3 linear ft.)
Series 3: Jim Berryman Papers, 1919-1964, undated (boxes 10, 13, 1.1 linear ft.)
Biographical Note:
The patriarch of the Berryman family, Clifford Kennedy Berryman, was born in Versailles, Kentucky, in 1869. His first job was in the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C. He became a cartoonist for the Washington Post in 1891. From 1907, until his death in 1949, Clifford Berryman was political cartoonist for the Washington Star, earning a reputation as the "Dean of American Cartoonist," and winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1944. His cartoon of Theodore Roosevelt, "Drawing the Line in Mississippi," 1902, began the American Teddy Bear craze, and created Berryman's cartoon trademark. He was also the first cartoonist to become president of the Gridiron Club. His wife, Kate, was an avid member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Their daughter, Florence Berryman, 1900-1992, abandoned her study of music because of a loss of hearing and turned her attention to art. In the 1920s, she became a free-lance local art critic, writing articles for newspapers. She later assisted Leila Mechlin, as an art critic for the Washington Star. In 1946, Florence Berryman succeeded Mechlin and worked for the Star until her retirement in 1961. She also served as editor for the American Federation of Arts until 1944.
Clifford and Kate Berryman's son, James Thomas Berryman, 1902-1976, attended George Washington University and the Corcoran School of Art. He worked as a reporter for the New Mexico State Tribune, until his return, in 1923, to Washington, D.C. because of his mother's illness. He worked at the Washington Star, as an editorial artist and illustrator, until 1933, when he became a sports cartoonist. When his father suffered a storke in 1935, Jim intermittently drew political cartoons for the STAR. Jim Berryman also won a Pulitzer Prize for his political cartoons.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reel D111) including a scrapbook of memorabilia, 1905-1945, collected by Kate Berryman regarding her husband. The scrap book includes letters from Bernard Baruch, William Jennings Bryan, Harry Flood Byrd, Jay Darling, John Nance Garner, Herbert Hoover, Henry Cabot Lodge, Harry Truman, and Woodrow Wilson; clippings; cartoons; printed material; and photographs of Clifford, family members, William Jennings Bryan, John Nance Garner, Brenda Putnam, and William Howard Taft. Though some items in the scrapbook were subsequently donated, lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Portions of the Berryman family papers were donated in 1965 by Florence Berryman, and in 1992 by her estate. The latter donation included portions of a scrapbook of memorabilia which had previously been lent for filming (reel D111) by Florence Berryman in 1962. The whearabouts of the other items in the scrapbook which were donated is unknown.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Patrons must use microfilm copy.
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 largest number of items in the collection are publicity portrait photoprints, autographed by the subjects and presented to Albert Moglie; obviously they were professional musicians for whom Moglie did repair and restoration work. Most of the musicians are violinists, such as Fritz Kreisler and Rubinoff, although cellists, including Pablo Casals, are included as well. Their complimentary comments on the photographs attest to their confidence in Moglie's work. The photographers and studios represented include Harris & Ewing, Ramon Scavelli, and Mishkin. There are also photographs of Moglie at work in his shop, and a large group photograph of the Washington, D.C., National Symphony Orchestra, 1933 1934 season. The collection includes a total of 57 photoprints. Although a number of well-known musicians' portraits are included, some signatures are illegible, so the subjects have not been identified.
There are also certificates, an advertising postcard, offprints about Moglie from Music Trade (Dec. 27, 1917), a notebook on auctioned instruments (1981 through 1985), calendars, samples of Moglie's stationery, business cards, photographs of violins, price lists, and of other documents. These photographs and documents form Series 1.
Series 2 consists of ledgers for Moglie's business transactions. These items are in poor condition and fairly untidy. They contain miscellaneous loose papers, some of which may be removed from the ledgers, as their locations within the pages of the ledgers seems random.
Series 3, which was not transferred to the Archives Center from the Musical History Collection until 2006, consists of Albert Moglie's business documents of various sorts including correspondence, notes, bills of sale, and certificates of authenticity and valuation for various instruments. Instruments include some by Stradivarius, Guarneri, Gagliano, Eberle, Gabrielli and Amati. Of particular interest are the documents attesting to Mr. Moglie's success, including letters of appreciation from clients, letters from Presidents Carter and Nixon, an autographed photographic portrait of the Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe, a certificate of knighthood from the Republic of Italy, a commemorative certificate from the National Symphony Orchestra on the occasion of Mr. Moglie's ninetieth birthday and documents commemorating a concert given by the Julliard String Quartet also to celebrate his birthday. Also included are promotional literature on some of Mr. Moglie's clients and copies of newspaper articles about Mr. Moglie. There are also some personal photographs of unidentified people.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into three series.
Series 1: Photoprints and documents, 1916-1966
Series 2: Ledgers, 1920-1934
Series 3: Business Papers, 1919-1987
Biographical / Historical:
Albert F. Moglie, master violinmaker and repairman, operated a violin repair and restoration business in Washington, D.C., and other cities for many years. Born in Rome, his mother was a concert pianist and young Albert studied the violin, but he was more interested in making and repairing such instruments than playing them. He soon became an expert craftsman in this specialized field and at age 24, in 1914, he was brought to be the United States to care for the Stradivarius collection of Rudolph Wurlitzer in Cincinnati. Later sent to New York by Wurlitzer, Moglie opened his own shop near Times Square; subsequently he tended the Henry Ford violin collection in Detroit.
Moglie came to Washington in 1922 and opened a shop. In 1926 he married his wife Loretta, whom he had met in Cincinnati years earlier. In addition to operating his own Washington shop for more than fifty years, he was conservator for the Stradivarius violins in the Library of Congress collection. His third shop occupied a perpetually cluttered third floor space in the Franklin Building at 1329 F Street, N.W., since 1941, which finally closed on July 1, 1987, and Moglie retired.
Due to the impending closing of the shop, Mr. and Mrs. Moglie donated a number of artifacts, instruments and tools to this Museum's Division of Musical History, through Gary Sturm, collections manager, in 1987, and the photographs and related documents came to the Archives Center at that time.2 Mr. Moglie died in 1998, shortly after his retirement.
Source
Eugene L. Meyer. "Violins Lose Artist's Touch: Maestro Repairman Retires at 96," The Washington Post, June 12, 1987, pp. E1 E2.
Separated Materials:
Related objects are held in the Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) and include viloin shop signs, violins, stools, bending iron, workbench, and violin parts. See Accessions number 1987.0472, 1987.0501, and 1987.0583.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Loretta and Albert Moglie, June 15, 1987.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The Albert F. Moglie Violinists and Violin-Making Collection, ca. 1917-1985, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of Loretta and Albert Moglie.
This collection consists of two 4 by 4 inch leather bound autograph books, and includes autographs from the following aviators: Lady Heath, Clarence Chamberlain, Roger Williams, Howard Hughes, Elinor Smith, Frank Hawks, George Haldeman, Edith Keating, Horace B. Wild, Marchesa Theodora Marconi, Noble Estey, Laura Ingalls, Casey Jones, W. N. Lancaster, Amelia Earhart, Orville Wright, Charles Holman, Will Rogers, Wiley Post, James Mollison, Amy [Johnson] Mollison, Jimmie Mattern, Charles Kingsford-Smith, Arthur Goebel, Ruth Elder, Clema Granger, Lincoln Ellsworth, Berndt Balchen, Clyde Pangborn, Roscoe Turner, Jimmy Doolittle, Benjamin Foulois, Hap Arnold, Dick Konter, Richard Byrd, Ryotaro Kumakawa, Frank Miller, K. McGinnis, Dick Merrill, Igor Sikorsky, Charles E. Rosendahl, Eddie Rickenbacker, Italo Balbo, P.F. M. Fellowes, Ernie Smith, C. C. Mosely, Ruth Nichols, Lee Ya-Ching, and Jeanette Piccard. News clippings and small photographs of the specific aviator are sometimes placed on the page adjoining the autograph. The books also include two event ribbons, one from the Minneapolis Airport Dedication, September 19, 1930, and one from the Aero Club of Minneapolis Field Day, June 12, 1921.
Biographical / Historical:
Mabel Vernet Perkins (circa 1880 - circa 1950) was born in California to William and Sarah Perkins. Shortly after Perkins' birth, her family moved to Minnesota where her father was a successful businessman. By 1920 Mabel Perkins was attending aviation events and become a member of the Aero Club of Minneapolis. During the 1920s through the early 1940s, Perkins collected aviator autographs, mostly from fairs and barnstorming events in the Midwest. She also collected autographs in Miami in 1933, at the New York Word's Fair in 1939, and in Los Angeles and Riverside, California
Provenance:
Grey Marie Dutton, Gift, 2009
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
Will Rogers, his life and times, by Richard M. Ketchum. In co-operation with the Will Rogers Memorial Commission and staff of the Will Rogers Memorial, Claremore, Oklahoma
