The Rockwell Kent papers measure 88.0 linear feet and date from circa 1840 to 1993 with the bulk of the collection dating from 1935 to 1961. The collection provides comprehensive coverage of Kent's career as a painter, illustrator, designer, writer, lecturer, traveler, political activist, and dairy farmer.
Scope and Content Note:
The Rockwell Kent papers measure 88 linear feet and date from circa 1840 to 1993 with the bulk of the collection dating from 1935 to 1961. The collection provides comprehensive coverage of Kent's career as a painter, illustrator, designer, writer, lecturer, traveler, political activist, and dairy farmer.
Circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the papers are highlighted in an article by Garnett McCoy ("The Rockwell Kent Papers," in the Archives of American Art Journal, 12, no. 1 [January 1972]: 1-9), recommended reading for researchers interested in the collection. The collection is remarkably complete, for in the mid 1920s Kent began keeping carbon copies of all outgoing letters, eventually employing a secretary (who became his third wife and continued her office duties for the remainder of Kent's life).
Series 1: Alphabetical Files contain Kent's personal and professional correspondence, along with business records of the dairy farm and associated enterprises; also included are printed matter on a wide variety of topics and promotional literature relating to organizations and causes of interest to him. Voluminous correspondence with his three wives, five children, and other relatives, as well as with literally hundreds of friends, both lifelong and of brief duration, illuminates Kent's private life and contributes to understanding of his complex character. Among the many correspondents of note are: his art teachers William Merritt Chase, Robert Henri, and Kenneth Hayes Miller; fellow artists Tom Cleland, Arthur B. Davies, James Fitzgerald, Hugo Gellert, Harry Gottleib, Marsden Hartley, Charles Keller, and Ruth Reeves; collectors Duncan Phillips and Dan Burne Jones; critics J. E. Chamberlain and Walter Pach; and dealers Charles Daniel, Felix Wildenstein, and Macbeth Galleries. Kent corresponded with such diverse people as Arctic explorers Peter Freuchen, Knud Rasmussen, and Vilhjalmar Steffanson; composer Carl Ruggles and songwriters Lee Hays and Pete Seeger; civil rights pioneers Paul Robeson and Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois; writers Bayard Boyesen, Scott and Helen Nearing, and Louis Untermeyer; and art historian and print curator Carl Zigrosser.
Kent's interest and involvement in the labor movement are reflected in correspondence with officials and members of a wide variety and large number of unions and related organizations, among them: the Farmers' Educational and Cooperative Union of America, Farmers' Union of the New York Milk Shed, International Workers Order, National Maritime Union, and United Office and Professional Workers of America. Of special interest is his participation, often in leadership roles, in various attempts to organize artists. Files on the American Artists' Congress, Artists League of America, The Artists Union, United American Artists, and United Scenic Artists contain particularly valuable material on the movement.
A supporter of New Deal efforts to aid artists, Kent was actively interested in the various programs and often was critical of their limitations; he advocated continuing federal aid to artists after the Depression abated. The Kent papers include correspondence with the Federal Arts Project, Federal Fine Arts Project, Federal Writers Project, and the War Department, as well as correspondence with the Citizens' Committee for Government Art Projects and President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the subject.
Kent's professional correspondence documents exhibitions, sales, consignments, and reproduction of prints and paintings. He kept meticulous records of his advertising commissions and illustration work. Detailed correspondence with publishers and printers indicates Kent's involvement in the technical aspects of production and provides a good overview of the publishing industry during the mid-twentieth century.
Business records of Asgaard Farm include records of the dairy and transfer of ownership to its employees, tax and employee information, and documents concerning several related business ventures such as distributor ships for grain, feed, and farm implements.
Series 2: Writings consists of notes, drafts, and completed manuscripts by Rockwell Kent, mainly articles, statements, speeches, poems, introductions, and reviews. The Kent Collection given to Friendship House, Moscow, in 1960, was augmented later by a set of his publications and the illustrated manuscripts of many of his monographs. Also included are a small number of manuscripts by other authors.
Series 3: Artwork consists mainly of drawings and sketches by Kent; also included are works on paper by other artists, many of whom are unidentified, and by children.
Series 4: Printed Matter consists of clippings, exhibition catalogs and announcements, brochures, broadsides, programs, and newsletters. These include items by and about Kent and his family, as well as articles written and/or illustrated by him, and reviews of his books. There is also material on a variety of subjects and causes of interest to him. Additional printed matter is included among the alphabetical files, mainly as attachments to correspondence.
Series 5: Miscellaneous includes biographical material, legal documents, and memorabilia. Artifacts received with papers include textile samples, a silk scarf, dinnerware, ice bucket, and rubber stamp, all featuring designs by Rockwell Kent. Also with this series are a variety of documents including a phrenological analysis of an ancestor, lists of supplies for expeditions, a hand-drawn map of an unidentified place, and technical notes regarding art materials and techniques.
Series 6: Photographs includes photographs of Kent, his family and friends, travel, and art number that over one thousand. Also included here are several albums of family and travel photographs.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into six series. Series 1 is arranged alphabetically. The arrangement of the remaining series is explained in each series description. Note that sealed materials that became available in 2000 were microfilmed separately on reels 5740-5741, but have integrated into this finding aid.
Missing Title
Series 1: Alphabetical Files, circa 1900-1971, undated (Reels 5153-5249, 5256, 5740-5741)
Series 2: Writings, 1906-1978, undated (Reels 5249-5252, 5741)
Series 3: Art Work, 1910-1972, undated (Reels 5252, 5741)
Series 4: Printed Matter, 1905-1993, undated (Reels 5252-5254)
Series 5: Miscellaneous, 1859-1969, undated (Reels 5254, 5741)
Series 6: Photographs, circa 1840-1970, undated (Reels 5254-5255, 5741)
Biographical Note:
Rockwell Kent (1882-1971), an energetic and multitalented man, pursued many interests and careers during his very long and active life. At various times he was an architect, draftsman, carpenter, unskilled laborer, painter, illustrator, printmaker, commercial artist, designer, traveler/explorer, writer, professional lecturer, dairy farmer, and political activist.
While studying architecture at Columbia University, Kent enrolled in William Merritt Chase's summer school at Shinnecock Hills, Long Island. He then redirected his career ambitions toward painting and continued to study with Chase in New York. Kent spent a summer working and living with Abbott H. Thayer in Dublin, New Hampshire, and attended the New York School of Art, where Robert Henri and Kenneth Hayes Miller were his teachers.
Critically and financially, Kent was a successful artist. He was very well known for his illustration work--particularly limited editions of the classics, bookplates, and Christmas cards. He was a prolific printmaker, and his prints and paintings were acquired by many major museums and private collectors. During the post-World War II era, Kent's political sympathies resulted in the loss of commissions, and his adherence to artistic conservatism and outspoken opposition to modern art led to disfavor within art circles. After many years of declining reputation in this country and unsuccessful attempts to find a home for the Kent Collection, Kent gave his unsold paintings--the majority of his oeuvre--to the Soviet Union, where he continued to be immensely popular.
An avid traveler, Kent was especially fascinated by remote, Arctic lands and often stayed for extended periods of time to paint, write, and become acquainted with the local inhabitants. Between 1918 and 1935, he wrote and illustrated several popular books about his experiences in Alaska, Tierra del Fuego, and Greenland. In the 1930s and 1940s, Kent was much in demand as a lecturer, making several nationwide tours under the management of a professional lecture bureau; he spoke mainly about his travels, but among his standard lectures were some on "art for the people."
In 1927, Kent purchased Asgaard Farm at AuSable Forks, New York, in the Adirondacks, where he lived for the remainder of his life, operating a modern dairy farm on a modest scale for many years.
As a young man, Kent met Rufus Weeks, became committed to social justice, and joined the Socialist Party. Throughout his life, he supported left-wing causes and was a member or officer of many organizations promoting world peace and harmonious relations with the Soviet Union, civil rights, civil liberties, antifascism, and organized labor. Kent was frequently featured as a celebrity sponsor or speaker at fund-raising events for these causes. In 1948, he ran unsuccessfully as the American Labor Party's candidate for Congress. Kent's unpopular political views eventually led to the dissolution of his dairy business, resulted in a summons to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and prompted the U.S. State Department to deny him a passport, an action that subsequently was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Kent wrote two autobiographies, This Is My Own (1940) and It's Me, O Lord (1955). In 1969, he was the subject of an oral history interview conducted by Paul Cummings for the Archives of American Art.
Provenance:
In 1969, Rockwell Kent donated his papers to the Archives of American Art; textile samples were received in 1979, and his widow gave additional papers in 1971 and 1996. Letters to Rockwell Kent from wives Frances and Sally, sealed during Sally Kent Gorton's lifetime, became available for research after her death in 2000, and further material was donated to the Archives of American Art in 2001 by the Estate of Sally Kent [Shirley Johnstone] Gorton.
Restrictions:
The microfilm of this collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website. Use of material not microfilmed or digitized 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.
Photographs collected by Wes Taukchiray, probably during work with American Indian groups in the 1970s and 1980s. The collection largely consists of images and narratives depicting Narragansett, Montauk, and Shinnecock Indians, most of which comes from "Rare Eastern Indian Photo Series" distributed by Red Thunder Cloud, a common correspondent of Taukchiray. It also includes one image of a member of the Clark family near Summerville, South Carolina and one image of Tuscarora or Lumbee Indians Will and Roberta Bullard Locklear in their home in the Chavis Settlement in North Carolina, made by Mark Price of the Fayetteville [North Carolina] Times and collected while Taukchiray was living with them in the 1980s. There are two photographs of Chief Hudson Crummie, possibly a Pee Dee Indian, during a visit by Taukchiray, as well as six photographs depicting Tunica Indians and artifacts and some images of Alabama and Catawba Indians.
Biographical/Historical note:
Wes Taukchiray, born Wes White in 1948, is an ethnohistorian and author of numerous publications about Indians of the American Southeast, particularly South Carolina. In 1969 he began trying to determine the origins of the Four Holes Indian Community and other American Indian groups in South Carolina; this work was continued in contract work in 1974 and 1975 for the Smithsonian Institution's Center for the Study of Man. From 1972-1982 he worked as a private researcher and genealogist based in the South Carolina Archives. He was employed by the Lumbee Regional Development Association (1976-77) before becoming the main researcher for the Indian Law Unit of the Lumbee River Legal Services (1982), where he cowrote the Lumbee tribe's petition for federal recognition. In 1988, he changed his name to Taukchiray, which means "white" in the Catawba language.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot R98-45, NAA Photo Lot 97-3, NAA Photo Lot 88-3, NAA Photo Lot 83-6, NAA Photo Lot 81-65, NAA Photo Lot 77-65
Reproduction Note:
Most of the copy prints and negatives made by Smithsonian Institution, 1977, 1980, 1997, 1999.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Photo Lot 97-3, Photo Lot 88-3, Photo Lot 83-6, Photo Lot 81-65, and Photo Lot 77-65 have been relocated and merged with Photo Lot R98-45. These photographs were also collected by Wes Taukchiray and form part of this collection.
The National Anthropological Archives holds the Lumbee petition for federal acknowledgement 1987 (MS 7523).
Wes (White) Taukchiray's papers from his work for the Center for the Study of Man can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in the Records of the Center for the Study of Man.
Provenance:
Donated by Wes Taukchiray in 1977, 1980, 1982, 1988, 1996, and 1998.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
The copy prints in this collection have been obtained for reference purposes only. Contact the repository for terms of use and access. The images from printed sources will not be reproduced unless the researcher can establish that relevant copyrights have expired.
Indians of North America -- Southern states Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo lot R98-45, Wes Taukchiray photograph collection of Narragansett, Montauk, Shinnecock, and Tunica Indians, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Tribes covered in the photographs are: Arapaho, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Chippewa, Iowa, Iroquois, Mahican, Menomini, Ojibwa, Oto, Plains Cree, Potawatomi, Seminole, Seri, Shinnecock, Sioux, Winnebago, Zuni Pueblo. The majority of photographs (552) have Skinner listed as the photographer and presumably are photographs he took on his expeditions. However, 104 photos are of the Seminole in Florida. According to Dennis P. Carey's biography of Skinner (Unpublished? 1980) Julian Q. Dimock, a well-known photographer, accompanied him on his expedition to the Seminole in Florida; how many of the photos were taken by Dimock is unknown, but he is listed as the photographer for 23 of them. Skinner's other photographs are of the Seneca Iroquois in New York; the Zuni Pueblo and Hawikku site; several tribes in Wisconsin; the Chippewa in Minnesota; and miscellaneous shots taken in Canada, Costa Rica, Florida and New York. Two photographs of the Mahican were taken by Huron H. Smith (1923) and two of the Winnebago were taken by C.J. Van Schaick (c. 1870). The remaining photographs have no photographer listed but were in Skinner's collection of photographs and are of varying tribes with dates ranging from 1909 to 1923.
Arrangement note:
Collection arranged by item number.
Biographical/Historical note:
Alanson Buck Skinner was born in Buffalo, New York, on September 7, 1886. His parents moved to Staten Island, New York, when Alanson was still very young. There Alanson met W.T. Davis who taught him to find arrowheads and other traces of ancient Indian life. When he was older he consulted with Prof. F.W. Putnam and George H. Pepper at the American Museum of Natural History about his interest. In the summer of 1902 Skinner went on his first fieldwork expedition near Shinnecock Hills, Long Island, for the American Museum of Natural History with Arthur C. Parker and Mark R. Harrington. Two years later Skinner and Harrington went on another archeological expedition in western New York State for the Peabody Museum and while there he attended his first Native ceremony on the Cattaraugus reservation. After high school Skinner joined the staff of the AMNH as an assistant in anthropology. In 1908 he led an expedition to Hudson Bay to study the Cree Indians. In 1910 he went to Wisconsin where he met John V. Satterlee, part Menomini, and Judge Sabatis Perote, a full-blooded Menomini, who adopted him into the tribe under the Thunder clan name of Sekosa or "Little Weasel." He later went on expeditions to collect from the Seminoles in the Florida Everglades, and other tribes in Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and other states. During these years he was also studying anthropology at Columbia under Boas, Farrand, Saville, and Bandelier, and at Harvard under Dixon, Tozzer, and Farrabee. In 1916 Skinner joined the Museum of the American Indian and remained there until 1920, when he took a position as curator of anthropology at the Public Museum of Milwaukee. He returned to the MAI in 1924 where he remained until his untimely death on August 17, 1925 in a car accident in North Dakota. He was a member of the American Anthropological Association, the Wisconsin Archeological Society, the Explorer's Club, a York Rite Mason and a Shriner. A more detailed biography by Dennis P. Carey (1980) can be found in the vertical file. A complete bibliography of Skinner's writings can be found in Indian Notes, Vol. II, No. 4 (October 1925).
Restrictions:
Access restricted. Researchers should contact the staff of the NMAI Archives for an appointment to access the collection.
The papers of painter and muralist Gifford Beal measure 7.7 linear feet and date from 1889 to 2001. The bulk of the collection consists of artwork, in addition to correspondence, writings, printed matter, including one scrapbook, pictorial subject files, photographs, and two scrapbooks of photographs of works of art. Artwork is primarily in the form of sketches and seventy-eight sketchbooks in a wide variety of media. Among the loose sketches are twenty-eight oil paintings on wood board or panel, and fourteen large pastel drawings on canvas depicting dancing figures in a romantic style. Artwork by other artists in the collection include prints by Arthur B. Davies, Rockwell Kent, and Denys Wortman.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of painter and muralist Gifford Beal measure 7.7 linear feet and date from 1889 to 2001. The bulk of the collection consists of artwork, in addition to correspondence, writings, printed matter, including one scrapbook, pictorial subject files, photographs, and two scrapbooks of photographs of works of art. Artwork is primarily in the form of sketches and seventy-eight sketchbooks in a wide variety of media. Among the loose sketches are twenty-eight oil paintings on wood board or panel, and fourteen large pastel drawings on canvas depicting dancing figures in a romantic style. Artwork by other artists in the collection include prints by Arthur B. Davies, Rockwell Kent, and Denys Wortman.
Biographical materials include membership certificates, a marriage certificate, and a travel journal kept by Beal's wife, Maud Ramsdell Beal, on their honeymoon. Personal correspondence consists primarily of love letters between Beal and Maud Ramsdell Beal. Three folders of professional correspondence contain letters from Joseph Pennell (1925); Federal Art Project staff from the Treasury Department including Ed Rowan, Edward Bruce, and Forbes Watson (1938); Walker Hancock (1951); and a series of letters signed "Hyde," from Crow Island, Massachusetts, which may have been written by Edward Hyde Cox (1953-1954).
Also found among the papers are printed materials such as exhibition catalogs, clippings, and reproductions of artwork, both loose and in a scrapbook from the 1920s; subject files containing clippings, photographs, and other pictorial references to common subjects of Beal's artwork; a few personal photographs; and photographs of works of art. Notes and writings are found among Beal's sketchbooks, including one long autobiographical essay which may have been for a lecture, a few diary entries from 1942, and extensive notes on the color, form, and lighting of his sketching subjects. In addition to a scrapbook relating to Beal exhibitions, there are also two scrapbooks containing photographs of works of art.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1900-1909, 1942, 1953 (0.2 linear feet; Boxes 1 and 5, OV 10)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1906-1954 (0.4 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 3: Printed Materials, 1900-2001 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 1, 5, OVs 11, 16)
Series 4: Subject Files, 1889-1953 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, OV 10-12)
Series 5: Photographs, 1908-1950 (0.2 linear feet; Box 2, OV 10)
Series 6: Artwork, 1900-1951 (3.3 linear feet; Boxes 2-9; OV 10, 13-20 and rolled documents 21 and 22)
Series 7: Scrapbook, circa 1919-circa 1951 (1.1 linear ft; Boxes 7, 23)
Biographical Note:
Painter and muralist Gifford Beal was born in New York City in 1879, the youngest of six children. Beal began his art training at 13, when he accompanied his older brother, Reynolds Beal, to the Shinnecock School of Art for classes with William Merritt Chase. Gifford Beal continued to study with Chase for ten years at Shinnecock, the Tenth Street Studio building in New York City, and the New York School of Art. Beal attended college at Princeton University from 1896 to 1900, and from 1901 to 1903 he also took classes at the Art Students League with George Bridgman and Frank Vincent DuMond. In 1908, Beal married Maud Ramsdell of Newburgh, New York, where the Beal family also had an estate. They had two sons, William (b. 1914) and Gifford, Jr. (b. 1917).
Beal received all of his training in the United States at a time when European art training was the norm among his peers. Beal's earliest subject matter was taken from the familiar worlds of New York City and the Hudson River Valley, where he frequently spent his summers. Later work would depict other summer homes, including Provincetown, Rockport, and Gloucester, Massachusetts. Throughout his career he explored a variety of styles in his approach to these and other representational subjects such as garden parties, the circus, Central Park scenes, and coastal scenes in the Northeast and the Caribbean.
Beal exhibited at the National Academy of Design's annual exhibition almost continuously from 1901 to 1956, was a member of the Academy from 1914, and won at least seven awards given by the Academy over the course of his career. He won his first award in 1903 from the Worcester Art Museum. He exhibited regularly in major annual exhibitions and world expositions, including the Panama Pacific Exposition of 1915, where he won a gold medal.
Gifford and Reynolds Beal exhibited in a two-man show in 1907 at Clausen Galleries, and the two brothers were both eventually represented by Kraushaar Galleries, where Gifford Beal had his first one-man show in 1920. Beal served as president of the Art Students League from 1916 until 1930, the longest term of any president, and taught there in 1931 and 1932.
Beal was commissioned by the Section on Painting and Sculpture of the Works Progress Administration to paint ten murals for the Allentown, Pennsylvania post office in the late 1930s. The Allentown murals depicted American revolutionaries hiding the liberty bell at Allentown. In 1941, he completed two murals in the Department of the Interior building in Washington, DC: North Country, and Tropical Country, and he painted seven panels at Princeton University in 1943 depicting the life of the nineteenth-century engineer Joseph Henry. He was awarded an honorary Masters degree by Princeton in 1947.
Retrospective exhibitions were held at the Century Club, San Francisco Museum, Des Moines Art Center, and Butler Institute in the early 1950s. Upon his death in 1956, a memorial exhibition was held at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, where Beal became a member in 1943.
Provenance:
Papers were donated to the Archives by Gifford Beal's descendants in three separate accessions. Beal's sons, William and Gifford R. Beal, Jr., donated sketches and sketchbooks in 1992 and 1993. Richard and Lewis Goff, Margaret Beal Alexander, and Telka Beal donated additional sketches, sketchbooks, and materials from Beal's studio in 2000 through the Cape Ann Savings Bank, facilitated by Kraushaar Galleries.
Margaret Beal Alexander, Beal's granddaughter, also donated personal papers of her grandparents via Kraushaar Galleries in 2000. Additional sketchbooks and a poster illustrated by Beal were donated by Beal's Estate via Kraushaar Galleries in 2007. Two scrapbooks of photographs of works of art were donated by Beal's Estate via Kraushaar Galleries in 2015.
Restrictions:
The bulk of the collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website. Use of material not digitized 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.
2.2 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 6 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1870-1983
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence of Charles and Marion Hawthorne, their son Joseph and his wife Hazel Hawthorne; photographs of Hawthorne family and Cape Cod School of Art; printed material; exhibition records; diary pages; and a drawing reflect activities of influential painting instructor Charles Hawthorne, his school, the Cape Cod School of Art, and publications by his wife and son about him.
REEL D38: The correspondence includes letters from Europe, 1898 and later letters pertaining to the Cape Cod School of Art, ca. 1910-1930. Among the photographs are two of Hawthorne instructing an art class, one of artists' model Joy Stillman, 1927, one of Hawthorne's home, which he used as a studio, one of his student Julie Morrow de Forest, and one of a bust of Hawthorne by Albin Polasek. Also found are research files on Charles by Joseph, Hawthorne, ca. 1961, and printed material from Provincetown Art Association and American Academy of Art.
REEL 1435: 114 photographs, 1870's-1930, of Hawthorne, his family, friends (including William Paxton and Abbott H. Thayer), art classes, models, his studio, home and views of Provincetown. In addition there are an etching by Marion C. Hawthorne; a memorial catalog; a photographic self-portrait, and a printed reproduction.
REEL 2788: 35 photographs, including Charles and Marion Hawthorne, their residence, classes taught by Charles Hawthorne, Provincetown, Mass.; and a study for a painting by Joy Stillman, a student of Charles Hawthorne. Also included are 4 printed announcements for classes.
REELS 2884-2885: Pages from Marion C. Hawthorne's diary, 1911 and 1928-1929; letters from Marion to her parents and correspondence between Charles and Marion, and with Joseph, undated and ca. 1900-1932; letters from the Macbeth Gallery, ca. 1909-1923; a letter from John Gellatly, 1907; a copy of a letter from Abbott H. Thayer, 1916; and letters from others. Some of the letters are annotated by Joseph Hawthorne.
REEL 5113: Biographical material on Charles and Marion Hawthorne; correspondence, 1902-1978; financial records, 1901-1902 and 1928-1930; photographs of the Hawthorne family and the Cape Cod School of Art, ca. 1899-1930s, newspaper clippings, ca. 1918-1984; writings on Charles by Marion and Joseph; a drawing of Charles, 1907; price lists for jewelry, undated; a notebook kept by Harry N. Campbell, director of the Cape Cod School of Art, regarding art supplies for the school; biographical studies about Charles by Joseph, ca. 1980's; lists of names and addresses by Marion; and exhibition catalogs and Cape Cod School catalogs, 1913 and 1926.
UNMICROFILMED: Photographs and slides of Hawthorne's work, including photos from an album attributed to Peter A. Juley. Among the photos is one of Charles taken by Carolyn Geiger, ca. 1928 (a similar copy is filmed reel D38, fr. 306-307); and a chronological list of Hawthorne's correspondence in an unknown hand; and miscellaneous correspondence.
Biographical / Historical:
Painters; Provincetown, Mass.; Marion, b. 1870, d. 1945; Charles, b. 1872, d. 1930. Hawthorne founded the Cape Cod School of Art in 1899. He studied with William Merritt Chase at Chase's Shinnecock school in 1896. Marion C. Hawthorne was a member of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors.
Provenance:
Material on reels D38, 2788 and 2884-85 was lent for microfilming in 1961 and 1982 by Joseph Hawthorne, son of Marion and Charles Hawthorne. Joseph later donated the previously microfilmed material in 1993, except for majority of frames 1-51 and all of frames 975-1923 on reel D38 which he retained. The material on reel 1435 was lent for microfilming in 1978 by the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, which had received it from Joseph Hawthorne. Hazel Hawthorne, Joseph's widow, donated additional material, reel 5113 and unfilmed, in 1995.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
6 Microfilm reels (195 items on 6 microfilm reels)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Microfilm reels
Date:
1874-1939
Scope and Contents:
The microfilmed Reynolds Beal papers contain sketchbooks, art works, notes, photographs, and printed material. Much of the material relates to William Merrit Chase. Microfilmed on Reels 278-282 and Reel 286 are a biographical sketch; 169 sketchbooks (1874-1938); a folder of 32 "Japanese Prints," mostly watercolors; a letter to Beal from his father (1896); three clippings; a book, Song of the Sea (1891), illustrated by Beal; and a diary kept while traveling around Long Island and Martha's Vineyard with his brother, Albert (1896).
Also microfilmed on Reel 286 is material relating to William Merrit Chase's classes at Shinnecock Hills, including Beal's notes on Chase's critical comments while studying with Chase; comments from Chase on museums in Holland; photographs of Chase's 10th Street studio and Shinnecock Hills studios; a catalog of the Chase retrospective, National Arts Club, (1910); clippings and miscellaneous printed material; a diary kept by Beal (1891), "Trip to Newfoundland with Albert [Beal],"describing fishing and his sketching activity; and a notebook with expense accounts and pencil sketches (1899).
Biographical / Historical:
Reynolds Beal (1866-1951) was a painter and printmaker in Rockport, Massachusetts known for his marine and landscape paintings. His brother was Gifford Beal (1879-1956), a painter, printmaker, and muralist. Reynolds Beal studied naval architecture at Cornell University before going on to study painting with William Merritt Chase in Shinnecock, Long Island and with Henry Ward Ranger in Europe. He is considered a modernist and he helped found the Society of Independent Artists and the New Society of Artists alongside George Bellows, Childe Hassam, John Sloan, William Glackens, and Maurice Prendergast.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art holds the Alger Beal papers relating to Reynolds and Gifford Beal, circa 1890-1965.
Provenance:
Materials on reels 278-282 and frames labeled as 1-85 on reel 286 lent for microfilming 1972 by Robert Campbell, Shore Galleries, Boston, Mass. Reel 286, frames labeled as 1-60 were lent by Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Morrell through Chapellier Galleries.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
The papers of New York painter and art instructor, William Merritt Chase, measure 0.3 linear feet and date from circa 1890 to 1964. Papers include a resolution of the Art Club of Philadelphia on Chase's death, letters, writings by Chase consisting of typescripts of lectures and lecture notes, blank postcards primarily depicting reproductions of artwork, a scrapbook, and photographs of Chase, his family, homes, and studios, and photographs of works of art.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York painter and art instructor, William Merritt Chase, measure 0.3 linear feet and date from circa 1890 to 1964. Papers include a resolution of the Art Club of Philadelphia on Chase's death, letters, writings by Chase consisting of typescripts of lectures and lecture notes, blank postcards primarily depicting reproductions of artwork, a scrapbook, and photographs of Chase, his family, homes, and studios, and photographs of works of art.
Letters include a photocopy of a 1901 letter signed by 28 students of the Shinnecock Summer School thanking Chase for a painting; a 1903 postcard to Mr. Harold R. Shiffer from his aunt; a 1912 letter to Chase signed by 32 pupils of the Art Students League thanking him for his efforts on their behalf and acknowledging his "qualities of sympathy, interest, and an understanding of our individual needs;" a 1915 note from an unidentified writer; a 1920 letter to Chase's wife Alice, from Gertrude Abbey, wife of Edwin Austin Abbey, referencing a tile possibly created by Edwin Abbey that Mrs. Chase owns; a 1935 postcard to Chase's daughter Helen from an unidentified writer; and a 1964 letter to Helen Storm from Ala Story in which Story describes a Chase exhibition that he is organizing and apologizes for having given a sketchbook of drawings owned by Helen to the Morgan Library.
Writings include 4 sets of lecture notes (one labeled as being notes for a lecture at Shinnecock), which are a combination of annotated typescripts and handwritten pages, and a typescript of a 1906 "Talk on the Old Masters by Mr. Chase" for the New York School of Art. Also found is a notebook with handwritten notes on a talk Chase gave to students in Philadelphia, presumably at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
Writings by others consist of a six-page typescript entitled "Reminiscences of a Student," by F. Usher De Voll, describing his experiences of Chase as a teacher.
Postcards (blank) include 3 reproductions of works of art by Chase, 8 reproductions of works of art by other artists, and 2 scenic views.
A Chase family scrapbook consists of mounted prints, primarily cyanotypes, that document Chase's travels to Rome, Milan, Gibraltar and the Loire Valley, and visits to major monuments, and also includes images of Chase and his family at leisure during their travels, as well as five family portraits.
Photographs of the Chase family include one of Chase with his son, Dana, and one of Chase with his wife, Alice, both undated. Other family members and friends are generally unidentified but do include Virginia Gerson and possibly Alice Gerson. Also found are four portraits of Chase, four photographs of Chase in his studio, a copy print of students at the Shinnecock Art School in circa 1895, and a copy print of an 1880 Tile Club trip up the Hudson River. In addition to circa 1960 copy prints, photographs include a variety of vintage prints such as albumen cabinet cards, silver gelatin prints, and a tintype.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of the collection, the papers are arranged as 1 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: William Merritt Chase Papers, circa 1890-1964 (0.3 linear feet.; Box 1, OV 2)
Biographical / Historical:
William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) was one of America's most prominent painters and art instructors in New York, New York and Shinnecock, Long Island, during the late 19th century. One of the first Impressionist landscape painters in the U. S, Chase was also a highly accomplished portrait and still life painter.
Born in Indiana, Chase lived in New York and St. Louis, Missouri, before traveling to Europe and studying at the Royal Academy in Munich. After returning to New York in 1878, he taught at the Art Students League until 1896. His studio in the Tenth Street Studio building became an important gathering place for artists, students and patrons. Chase was also a member of the Tile Club whose members shared an interest in the decorative arts and sought to have their designs translated into ceramic tiles, from 1877-1887.
Chase became one of the most important teachers of American artists around the turn of the century. He opened the Shinnecock Hills Summer Art School in 1891 and taught there until 1902, living in a house at Shinnecock designed by Stanford White. In 1896 he opened the Chase School of Art and also taught at the Brooklyn Art Association in 1887, and 1891-1896, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts from 1896-1909.
Chase was a member of the National Academy of Design, and was president of the Society of American Artists from 1885 to 1895.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming. Reel N69-115 includes an additional family scrapbook, undated, containing photographs of Chase, his wife and children, a notice of sale of the Chase house in Shinnecock Hills, N.Y. designed by Stanford White, and photographs of the house. Found on reel N69-119 are circa two hundred photographs of Chase at work, his wife, his studios in Philadelphia and on 5th Avenue and 10th Street New York City, and numerous snapshots of characters in a tableau vivant that include his family, friends, Mary S. Moore Cross, and others. Reel N69-137 contains letters from Chase to his wife during his travels abroad, one note from John Singer Sargent requesting the use of Chase's studio for the famous party Sargent gave for Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1890, and a six-page typescript, "Reminiscences of a Student," by F. Usher De Voll, and photographs of Chase's studio. Loaned materials were returned to the lenders and are not described in the collection container inventory.
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:
Art teachers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
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:
William Merritt Chase papers, circa 1890-1964. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art
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:
William Merritt Chase papers, circa 1890-1964. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art
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:
William Merritt Chase papers, circa 1890-1964. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art
The Emmet Family papers document the lives and careers of two generations of the Emmet family from New Rochelle, New York and Stockbridge, Massachusetts, whose artistic talents flourished during the later 19th through the mid-20th centuries. The collection dates from 1792 to 1989, with the bulk of the material dating from 1851-1989, and measures 9.1 linear feet. Through biographical material, two diaries, correspondence, writings and notes, exhibition files, business records, printed material, two scrapbooks, artwork, and photographs of family, friends, exhibitions, and artwork, the papers provide both a rich overview and detailed insights into the daily lives, relationships, and careers of many members of the family. The collection focuses in particular on sisters Lydia Field Emmet, Jane Erin Emmet de Glehn, and Rosina Emmet Sherwood, their mother, Julia Colt Pierson Emmet, and their cousin Ellen Gertrude "Bay" Emmet, all noted painters and illustrators.
Scope and Content Note:
The Emmet Family papers document the lives and careers of two generations of the Emmet family from New Rochelle, New York and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The collection dates from 1792 to 1989, with the bulk of the material dating from 1851-1989, and measures 9.1 linear feet. Through biographical material, two diaries, correspondence, writings and notes, exhibition files, business records, printed material, two scrapbooks, artwork, and photographs of family, friends, exhibitions, and artwork, the papers provide both a rich overview and detailed insights into the daily lives, relationships, and careers of many members of the family. The collection focuses in particular on sisters Lydia Field Emmet, Jane Erin Emmet de Glehn, and Rosina Emmet Sherwood, their mother, Julia Colt Pierson Emmet, and their cousin Ellen Gertrude "Bay" Emmet, all noted painters and illustrators, whose artistic talents flourished during the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries.
Biographical material consists of family trees and family histories; individual biographical accounts, award certificates, and documentation for Julia Colt Pierson Emmet, Rosina Emmet Sherwood, Lydia Field Emmet, Jane Erin Emmet de Glehn, and Wilfrid de Glehn; a diary titled "Sedgemere Diary" containing drawings and entries primarily by Rosina Emmet Sherwood, and a smaller diary which mentions Rosina's son, future playwright Robert Sherwood; a documentary by Nancy B. Doyle on two VHS videocassettes, entitled The Emmets: Portrait of a Family; and artifacts comprising a rear-view optical device and locks of hair from an early nineteenth century generation of the Emmet family.
Correspondence forms the bulk of the collection and illustrates the interaction between members of this large and influential family and their colleagues and friends, offering a wide-ranging view of life in the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries, and through two World Wars. The series consists of letters between family members, primarily Julia Colt Pierson Emmet and her daughters, as well as cousins Henry James, Ellen "Bay" Emmet Rand, and Rosamond Sherwood, and friends Cecilia Beaux, Louis Bancel LaFarge, Frederick MacMonnies, Lucien Monod, Roger Quilter, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Emily and John Singer-Sargent, Violet Sargent Ormond, and Stanford White. Topics include experiences of the Emmets while studying art in Paris, Rosina's presentation at Queen Victoria's court, Lydia's work at the Columbia Exposition, Jane's marriage to Wilfrid de Glehn and her friendship with John Singer Sargent, portrait painting activities, the troubles of their friend Susy Metcalfe in her marriage to Pablo Casals, and the activities of Rosina's son, playwright Robert Emmet Sherwood, and friends Alfred Lund and Lynn Fontanne.
Writings and notes consist of scattered manuscripts and poems by family members, two notebooks, one identified as belonging to Jane Erin Emmet de Glehn, and typescripts about Wilfrid de Glehn following his death. Also found is a book, Out of Town, written and illustrated by Rosina Emmet Sherwood, and Edna St Vincent Millay's poem "Autum Daybreak" written in Millay's handwriting.
Exhibition files document an exhibition held at the Berkshire Museum/Danforth Museum in Pittsfield/Farmingham, Massachusetts in 1982 entitled The Emmets: A Family of Women Painters, and include two audio cassettes of recordings from the "Art for Lunch" series at the Berkshire Museum discussing the exhibition.
Business records include account books belonging to Lydia Field Emmet and Rosina Emmet Sherwood, both of which document income from artwork and other sources, and expenses; a contract for the reproduction of Lydia Field Emmet's artwork; and a document concerning ownership of property, possibly of Emmet family ancestors.
Printed Material consists of clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and reproductions of artwork by Emmet family members and others.
Two scrapbooks contain a combination of drawings, primarily by Rosina Emmet Sherwood, reproductions of artwork, and photographs.
Artwork includes drawings and sketchbooks by Julia Colt Pierson Emmet, Rosina Emmet Sherwood, Lydia Field Emmet, Jane Erin Emmet de Glehn Ellen Emmet Rand, and other Emmet relatives, illustrating the early development of their talent.
Photographs are of family members, including Julia Colt Pierson Emmet and William Jenkins Emmet, their daughters Lydia Field Emmet, Jane Erin Emmet de Glehn and husband Wilfrid de Glehn, Rosina Emmet Sherwood and husband Arthur Murray Sherwood, and Robert Emmet Sherwood as a young man. Also found are photos of friends Richard Harding Davis, Frederick MacMonnies, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens; a series of photographs of the installation at Arden Galleries, New York (1936) for the exhibition Paintings, Drawings and Sculptures by Five Generations of the Emmet Family; and photographs of artwork by Emmet family members.
Arrangement:
The Emmet family papers are arranged as nine series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1855-1988 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 1, 10, OV 12)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1792-1985 (6.2 linear feet; Boxes 1-7)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1870s-1981 (11 folders; Box 7)
Series 4: Exhibition Files, 1947-1983 (0.3 linear feet; Boxes 7-8)
Series 5: Business Records, circa 1799-1945 (7 folders; Box 8)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1872-1989 (0.35 linear feet; Boxes 8, 10)
Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1870-1890 (0.2 linear feet; Boxes 8, 10)
Series 8: Artwork, circa 1850-circa 1920 (0.35 linear feet; Boxes 8, 10)
Series 9: Photographs, circa 1870s-circa 1950s (1 linear foot; Boxes 8-9, 11)
Biographical Note:
The Emmet family, descended from patriot Thomas Addis Emmet, brother of Irish martyr Robert Emmet, counts many physicians, lawyers, and writers (including cousin Henry James) among its ranks. Although evidence of artistic talent existed in several previous generations, it flourished during the later 19th through the mid-20th centuries in the professional portraiture of sisters Rosina Emmet Sherwood, Lydia Field Emmet, Jane Erin Emmet de Glehn, and their cousin Ellen "Bay" Emmet Rand.
The eldest daughter of Julia Colt Pierson Emmet (1829-1908), herself a talented illustrator who had studied under Daniel Huntington, Rosina "Posie" Emmet (1854-1948) studied under William Merritt Chase at his Tenth Street Studio in New York and under Robert-Fleury at the Academie Julian in Paris. Before her marriage to Arthur Murray Sherwood in 1887, Rosina established a studio in New York and continued to submit illustrations to various publications. During her marriage, she slowed her creative activities, until financial reverses dictated her return to her career around the turn of the 20th century. Her daughter Rosamond Sherwood (1899-1990) was also a portrait painter. Her son, Robert Emmet Sherwood (1896-1955) became a four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.
Lydia Field Emmet (1866-1952) studied under Collin, Bouguereau, MacMonnies, and Robert-Fleury at the Academie Julian. Upon her return to New York, Lydia continued her studies under Chase, Kenyon Cox, H. Siddons Mowbray, and Robert Reid at the Art Students League, as well as at Chase's Shinnecock Summer School of Art. She established her portrait studio in New York City and began spending summers at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where she built her home, "Strawberry Hill," in 1905. Best known for her portraits of children, Lydia's subjects were members of the socially prominent families of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.
The youngest sister, Jane Erin Emmet (1873-1961), also studied with Chase in New York, and in Paris. In 1904, she married British landscape painter Wilfrid Von Glehn, who had visited the United States with his friend John Singer Sargent. (The Von Glehns' surname was changed to De Glehn, in 1919.) Settling in London, Jane continued her painting, befriended many artists and composers, and accompanied her husband and Sargent on several art-related journeys through Europe.
The Emmet sisters' cousin, Ellen Gertrude "Bay" Emmet (1875-1941), studied in New York at the Art Students League and under Frederick MacMonnies in Paris, becoming a National Academician in 1934. She married William Blanchard Rand in 1911 and settled in Salisbury, Connecticut. After the stock market crash of 1929, Bay's portraits of prominent society figures provided most of her family's income.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reel 4544) including one scrapbook, compiled by Rosina Emmet Sherwood, consisting of portrait sketches, drawings of her dogs, genre scenes, travel views, and photographs of travels, friends, actors, and the ship "Scythia,". Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
In 1988-1991, the bulk of the Emmet family papers were donated by Rosamond Sherwood, daughter of Rosina Emmet Sherwood (via Katharine Emmet Bramwell of New York), by Rosamond Sherwood's estate (via F. Douglas Cochrane, executor, from Boston), and by Rosamond's nieces, Virginia Sherwood and Julia Shipway. Additionally, one scrapbook was lent for microfilming in 1990 and subsequently donated by Mrs. Earl Maize. Douglas Cochrane then loaned another scrapbook for microfilming (reel 4344) in 1991 which was returned to Mrs. Earl Maize.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
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.
