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Oral history interview with Francis Speight

Interviewee:
Speight, Francis, 1896-1989  Search this
Interviewer:
Blakeslee, Sarah Jane, 1912-  Search this
Sellin, David  Search this
Names:
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts  Search this
Breckenridge, Hugh H. (Hugh Henry), 1870-1937  Search this
Carles, Arthur B., 1882-1952  Search this
Garber, Daniel, 1880-  Search this
McCarter, Henry, 1866-1942  Search this
Pittman, Hobson Lafayette, 1899 or 1900-1972  Search this
Sartain, Harriet, 1873-1957  Search this
Extent:
118 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1987 April 4-5
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Francis Speight conducted 1987 April 4-5, by David Sellin, for the Archives of American Art.
Speight speaks of his family background; early aspirations; his studies at the Corcoran School of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; the faculty and administration at the Academy including Arthur B. Carles, Hugh Breckenridge, Henry McCarter, Daniel Garber, and Hobson Pittman; his scholarships and fellowships; teaching at the Academy; the Academy's summer school at Chester Springs; painting in Manayunk; and his experiences as a juror. Speight's wife Sarah Blakeslee is also present during a portion of the interview and describes her studies at Chester Springs.
Biographical / Historical:
Francis Speight (1896-1989) was a painter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Born in North Carolina.
General:
Originally recorded 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 40 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives' 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.
Topic:
Art, American  Search this
Painters -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia -- Interviews  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Identifier:
AAA.speigh87
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9c634eabb-5700-4119-8f9b-2d5986c072e4
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-speigh87
Online Media:

Sartain family papers

Topic:
Sartain's union magazine of literature and art
Creator:
Sartain family (Philadelphia, Pa.)  Search this
Names:
American Exhibition (1887 : London, England)  Search this
Art-Union of Philadelphia  Search this
Artists' Fund Society  Search this
Centennial Exhibition (1876 : Philadelphia, Pa.)  Search this
Graphic Association of Philadelphia  Search this
National Art Association (Washington, D.C.)  Search this
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts  Search this
Philadelphia Union of Associationists  Search this
United States Sanitary Commission. Great Sanitary Fair. Fine Art Gallery (1864 : Philadelphia, Pa.)  Search this
Cassatt, Mary, 1844-1926  Search this
Chivers, T. H. (Thomas Holley), 1809-1858  Search this
Daingerfield, Elliott, 1859-1932  Search this
Eakins, Thomas, 1844-1916  Search this
Sartain, Emily, 1841-1927  Search this
Sartain, Harriet, 1873-1957  Search this
Sartain, Henry, 1833-1895  Search this
Sartain, John, 1808-1897  Search this
Sartain, Paul  Search this
Sartain, Samuel, 1830-1906  Search this
Sartain, William, 1843-1924  Search this
Swaine, William  Search this
Extent:
6 Microfilm reels
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Microfilm reels
Date:
1795-1944
Scope and Contents:
Selected Sartain family papers from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Moore College of Art, including correspondence, printed material, photographs, sketchbooks, writings, minutes of meetings and other organizational records, and memorabilia.
REEL 2727: Correspondence, mostly among the Sartain family: Emily writes to her father of her European travels with Mary Cassatt; letters from Elliott Dangerfield; correspondence of John Sartain, including letters from the poet Thomas Chivers; correspondence of William, Henry, Samuel, Harriet Judd, and Paul Sartain; receipts of John and Samuel, and undated genealogical notes.
REEL 4235: Photographs; scrapbooks; unpublished manuscripts; and correspondence of John, Emily, William, Samuel, and 12 letters from family friend and fellow artist, Thomas Eakins.
REEL P28 (fr. 337-581): Rembrandt Peale's manuscript "Notes of the Painting Room," subtitled "Art is Long and Life is Short." 215 p. + 24 p. index.
REELS 4562-4565 [filmed previously on reels P19-P20, P24, and P27-P28]: Included are: Emily Sartain correspondence and miscellaneous items, 1895-1923; Harriet Judd Sartain correspondence and biographical sketch, 1854-1887; Henry Sartain letters, 1862-1863; Samuel Sartain correspondence, 1850-1872, including letters to John Sartain while in London on business for his father, printed matter, copyrights and certificates and records of the Art-Union of Philadelphia (AUP), 1852-1885, including catalogs of prizes, an inventory of the AUP property, 1855, and printed reports; obituary for Susanna Swaine (John Sartain's mother); John Swaine's letterbook, 1834-1837; William Sartain letters, 1862-1919, n.d., many written while living in Paris, printed matter, photographs, and sketchbook; John Sartain genealogical information, letterpress books, 1869-1871 and 1887, concerning his Philadelphia and London exhibitions, work and business, correspondence, 1845-189?, financial information, lists of works of art, memberships and certificates, lectures and writings, a sketchbook, and printed material.
Also included are manuscript material and printed matter; scrapbooks containing clippings and a few letters; untitled commonplace books which were probably compiled by Harriet or Emily Sartain; John Sartain's records pertaining to the Artists' Fund Society, 1838-1846; Great Sanitary Fair, 1864; Centennial Exposition, 1876, including the Report of the Art Department, and memorabilia; the American Exhibition, London England, 1887; Sartain's Magazine expense book, 1849-1855; minutes of the Graphic Association of Philadelphia, 1849-1855; minutes of the Philadelphia Union of Associationists, 1847-1855; proceedings of the National Art Association second annual convention, held at the Smithsonian Institution, Jan. 11-14, 1859; and minutes of the meeting of the subscribers of the [Christian] Schussele picture fund.
Biographical / Historical:
Family of engravers and painters; Philadelphia, Pa. John Sartain came to U.S. from England in 1830 and established himself firmly in the Philadelphia artistic community. He was director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for 23 years and served as chief of the art dept. for the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia and the 1887 American Exhibition in London. Four of his eight children became artists, William, Emily, Samuel and Harriet.
Provenance:
Material on reel 2727 lent for microfilming 1982 by the Moore College of Art. Material on reel 4235 lent for filming in 1989 by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, which had received the papers from the Harriet Sartain estate and through descendants of the Sartain family, 1959 and 1988. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania lent the material on reels 4562-4565 in 1991. These papers had been previously microfilmed in 1955 on reels P19-P20, P24 and P27-P28 but were reprocessed for microfilming. A few items filmed in 1955 were missing in 1991. Items not microfilmed in 1991 include manuscript notes for John Sartains's "Reminiscences," and some lecture notes which were unfilmable; 0.3 linear ft. of mss. for articles by various authors appearing in Sartain's magazine; and Samuel Sartain's minute book of the Republican Convention. Rembrandt Peale's "Notes of the Painting Room" was not refilmed in 1991, and is only available on reel P28.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the 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.
Reel 2727: Authorization to publish, quote or reproduce requires written permission from Librarian, Moore College of Art. Reels 4562-4565: Authorization to publish, quote or reproduce requires written permission from Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Engravers -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia  Search this
Painters -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia  Search this
Topic:
Engraving -- Printing -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia  Search this
Painting, American -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia  Search this
Identifier:
AAA.sartfami
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw959303474-1d52-4e05-935a-1c2fa574e168
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-sartfami

Selections from the Seymour Adelman collection

Creator:
Adelman, Seymour, 1906-  Search this
Names:
Bregler, Charles  Search this
Eakins, Susan Macdowell  Search this
Eakins, Thomas, 1844-1916  Search this
Hamilton, James, 1819-1878  Search this
Pach, Walter, 1883-1958  Search this
Richards, William Trost, 1833-1905  Search this
Sartain family (Philadelphia, Pa.)  Search this
Sartain, Emily, 1841-1927  Search this
Sartain, Harriet, 1873-1957  Search this
Sartain, John, 1808-1897  Search this
Sartain, Samuel, 1830-1906  Search this
Sartain, William, 1843-1924  Search this
Smith, Russell, 1812-1896  Search this
Smith, Xanthus, 1839-1929  Search this
Extent:
1 Microfilm reel
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Microfilm reels
Date:
1845-1958
Scope and Contents:
The microfilm of selections from the Seymour Adelman collection consists of materials relating to the Sartain family and to Thomas and Susan Eakins.

The Sartain materials include letters (1845-1945) to Emily Sartain, Harriet Sartain, John Sartain, Samuel Sartain, and William Sartain. Correspondents include artists William Trost Richards, James Hamilton, Rusell Smith, and Xanthus Smith.

Eakins material includes letters (1931-1958) to Adelman from Charles Bregler, including a few responses from Adelman; Susan Eakins correspondence (1931-1938), mostly from Eakins to Adelman regarding paintings, commissions, exhibitions, articles, and personal matters; and postcards to Susan Eakins and Thomas Eakins (1890-1933) including one from Walter Pach to Susan Eakins. One letter (1868) from Thomas Eakins to Benjamin Eakins; and two letters to Thomas Eakins are also included. Also found are Thomas Eakins' three account/ledger sheets (1870-1895); miscellaneous Eakins family materials; and photographs by Thomas Eakins, Susan Eakins, and others, primarily formal and informal portraits of Thomas and Susan Eakins, their families, and pets.
Biographical / Historical:
Seymour Adelman (1906-1985) was a collector of rare books, prints, letters, and ephemera in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was on committees and boards for several literary and artistic institutions, including the Philadelphia Academy of Art, the print and drawing committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the rare book committees of the University of Pennsylvania and the Free Library of Philadelphia. Adelman met Susan Eakins in the 1930s and became her close friend and promoter of the work of Thomas Eakins.

The Sartain family were a family of engravers and painters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. John Sartain came to the United States from England in 1830 and pioneered mezzotint engraving in the US. Of his eight children, his sons William and Samuel and daughter Emily became artists, as did his granddaughter Harriet. His son Henry, Harriet's father, was a printer and printed engravings in Philadelphia.

Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) was a realist painter and educator in Philadelphia. Eakins taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and promoted a curriculum based on the study of the human figure. He was forced to resign in 1886 after a dispute regarding the use of nude male models in life drawing classes with women artists present. Susan Hanah Macdowell Eakins (1851-1938) was photographer and painter who studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins, whom she later married. She devoted much of her time to supporting her husband's career. After Thomas Eakins' death in 1916, she painted prolifically. Her first solo exhibition was held in 1976.
Related Materials:
Bryn Mawr College holds the Adelman Collection. Columbia University Rare Books and Manuscripts Library holds the Seymour Adelman collection, 1724-1956.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1991 by Bryn Mawr College. Microfilmed as part of AAA's Philadelphia Arts Documentation Project. The material was selected from over 45 linear ft. of manuscript material in the Adelman Collection.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Artists -- United States  Search this
Identifier:
AAA.adelseym
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9d2d31a42-91a0-4b7b-aa54-3fd86004f307
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-adelseym

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