The papers of etcher Morris Henry Hobbs measure 4.7 linear feet and date from circa 1901-2014. His career as an artist in Chicago and New Orleans is documented through biographical material, correspondence, writings, professional files, printed material, photographs, artwork, and four sketchbooks.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of etcher Morris Henry Hobbs measure 4.7 linear feet and date from circa 1901-2014. His career as an artist in Chicago and New Orleans is documented through biographical material, correspondence, writings, professional files, printed material, photographs, artwork, and four sketchbooks.
Biographical material includes chronologies, biographical statements, and documentation on his home and studio. Correspondence includes letters to friends and family regarding art, travel, and botany. Of note are letters from the etchers John Taylor Arms and Bertha Jaques and botanist Lyman Smith. Writings consist of Hobbs' diary kept during World War I while serving in the U.S. Army, journal pages documenting his move to New Orleans, and garden notebooks. Professional files include documents relating to Hobbs' memberships and activities in the Bromeliad Society, Chicago Society of Etchers, Louisiana Society of Etchers, New Orleans Art League, and other organizations. Also included are exhibition records, price lists, and sales records.
Printed material includes clippings and exhibition announcements documenting his career as well as published versions of his etchings. Photographs and slides are of Hobbs, family and friends, trips abroad, and his properties in New Orleans and Mandeville, Louisiana. Artwork includes architectural renderings, sketches of Chicago, France, and New Orleans, and an annotated scrapbook containing original etchings. Four sketchbooks include figure drawings and landscapes in pencil and ink.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1918-2014 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1921-1993 (0.7 linear feet; Boxes 1 and 5)
Series 3: Writings, 1918-2014 (0.3 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 4: Professional Files, 1922-2014 (1.0 linear foot; Boxes 2-3)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1929-2014 (0.6 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 6: Photographs, circa 1901-1991 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 3-4)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1919-1950s (0.3 linear feet; Boxes 4-5)
Series 8: Sketchbooks, 1930s-1950s (0.2 linear feet; Box 4)
Biographical / Historical:
Morris Henry Hobbs (1892-1967) was an etcher in Chicago and New Orleans. Hobbs was born in Rockford, Illinois, and raised in Chicago. As a teenager he took classes at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the age of 17 was hired as a draftsman at an architectural firm. From 1918-1919, he served in France with the Allied Expeditionary Force. While there he contracted influenza which resulted in the loss of his hearing. After the war he lived in Toledo, Ohio, with his wife and two daughters and worked at an architectural firm. He also learned printmaking techniques from etcher J. Ernest Dean and began exhibiting his work. In 1927, he returned to Chicago with his family and in 1930 became director of the Chicago Society of Etchers. During his career he was active in many arts and printmaking organizations.
In 1938, Hobbs traveled to New Orleans for an extended visit, opened a studio space, and began a ten-year project of etching French Quarter scenes. A year later he moved to New Orleans permanently and became the first president of the Louisiana Society of Etchers. In 1942, he married Alice "Judy" Seddon. In 1948, he was hired as a designer for the architectural firm Favrot, Reed, Mathes and Bergman, and was employed there until his death. Also at this time, he and his wife establish a country home in Mandeville, Louisiana, where he built a greenhouse and cultivated tropical bromeliads. They kept an apartment in the French Quarter as a weekday residence.
In 1960, Hobbs began a series of watercolors depicting bromeliads and in the subsequent years traveled to Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Trinidad to collect specimens for a potential book project. He died in 1967 at the age of 75 and that year the Reinike Gallery held a retrospective of his work. His wife Alice Seddon Hobbs died in 1993 at the age of 95.
Provenance:
Donated in 2014 by Reed Isbell-Hobbs, widow of Morris Henry Hobbs' son William Hobbs.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry Search this
Extent:
6.75 Cubic feet (7 boxes, 2 map folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Patents
Price lists
Reports
Bulletins
Glass negatives
Blueprints
Catalogs
Date:
1898-1970s.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of records documenting the Lombard Governor Company: photographs (including glass plate negatives), blueprints, printed material, price lists, reports, catalogs and trade literature, bulletins, and a notebook of patents.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into three series.
Series 1: Printed Materials
Series 2: Glass Plate Negatives
Series 3: Blueprints
Biographical / Historical:
In 1894, Nathaniel Lombard developed the first practical water wheel governor in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Lombard's design incorporated hydraulics and a unique anti-racing device to move the gates of the largest turbines multiple times faster than any existing device. In 1904, the company moved to Ashland, Massachusetts. During the first World War, Lombard Governor produced hydraulic lathes for the manufacture of artillery shells, and special valves for the US government's Muscle Shoals nitrogen plant. At the conclusion of the war, Lombard expanded into the areas of chain saws and plastic molding injection machines. In 1962, the company changed its name to Lombard Industries. In 1964, Lombard Industries was acquired by American Lincoln Corporation and the operation was moved to Toledo, Ohio.
Provenance:
Collection donated by William Sorensen in 1962.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad Bridge Profiles
Creator:
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad. Search this
Former owner:
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical Engineering Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry Search this
Extent:
0.6 Cubic feet (2 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Drawings
Place:
Ashtabula (Ohio)
Elyria (Ohio)
Goshen (Ind.)
Norwalk (Ohio)
Sandusky (Ohio)
Toledo (Ohio)
Ypsilanti (Ohio)
Date:
1880-1890
Summary:
Collection documents the location and existence of bridges for several of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway lines.
Scope and Contents note:
The collection contains scroll drawings of bridges on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad. The scroll drawings were prepared for the use of engineers, and show original structures and modifications for the Detroit, Franklin, Norwalk, Ashtabula, Ypsilanti, and Sandusky, divisions.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into one series.
Provenance:
Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Garrett, John W. (John Work), 1820-1884 Search this
Latrobe, Benj. H. (Benjamin Henry), 1807-1878 Search this
Container:
Box 41, Item 4104
Type:
Archival materials
Negatives
Date:
1/1928
Series Restrictions:
Series 9: Negatives digitized in 2023. Researchers must use digital copies. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Garrett, John W. (John Work), 1820-1884 Search this
Latrobe, Benj. H. (Benjamin Henry), 1807-1878 Search this
Container:
Box 41, Item 4105
Type:
Archival materials
Negatives
Date:
1/1928
Series Restrictions:
Series 9: Negatives digitized in 2023. Researchers must use digital copies. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Garrett, John W. (John Work), 1820-1884 Search this
Latrobe, Benj. H. (Benjamin Henry), 1807-1878 Search this
Container:
Box 41, Item 4106
Type:
Archival materials
Negatives
Date:
1/1928
Series Restrictions:
Series 9: Negatives digitized in 2023. Researchers must use digital copies. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Otto Wittmann, 1976 August 19-20. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Steinman, D. B. (David Barnard), 1886-1960 Search this
Container:
Box 1
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
undated
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Robinson & Steinman Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
