The Nancy Holt Estate records measure circa 57.8 linear feet and date from circa 1900-2014, with the bulk of the material dating from 1960-2000. The records include financial records, notebooks, project files including unrealized proposals, correspondence, calendars, and 9 linear feet of Holt's annotated library. Also included are the John Weber Gallery records concerning Robert Smithson that consist of the gallery's inventory and slide records of Robert Smithson's drawings and sculptures, including earthworks, and incorporate some slides from the James Cohan Gallery. James Cohan worked for John Weber before establishing his own gallery in 2001.
Scope and Contents:
The Nancy Holt Estate records measure circa 57.8 linear feet and date from circa 1900-2014, with the bulk of the material dating from 1960-2000. The records include financial records, notebooks, project files including unrealized proposals, correspondence, calendars, and 9 linear feet of Holt's annotated library. Also included are the John Weber Gallery records concerning Robert Smithson that consist of the gallery's inventory and slide records of Robert Smithson's drawings and sculptures, including earthworks. The records incorporate some slides from the James Cohan Gallery (1999-), an art gallery in Manhattan, New York, which represents the estate of Robert Smithson.
Arrangement:
The Nancy Holt Estate records are arranged as 4 series.
Series 1: Project Files, circa 1900-2014, bulk 1970-2000 (12.8 linear feet; Boxes 3-10, OVs 11-31, RDs 32-39)
Series 2: Calendars and Notebooks, circa 1970s-2013 (2 linear feet; Boxes 40-42, OVs 43-44)
Series 3: John Weber Gallery Records Concerning Robert Smithson, circa 1960-circa 2001 (2 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 4: Unprocessed Papers, circa 1960s-circa 2014 (41 linear feet; Boxes 11-30, 34-38, 43-49, 53, 63-70, OVs 71-72)
Biographical / Historical:
Nancy Holt (1938-2014) was an environmental and installation artist, sculptor, filmmaker, and photographer, based in New York, New York. She was best known for her large-scale public land art installations including her seminal work Sun Tunnels (1973-1976) located in the Great Basin Desert, Utah. Her work engaged with the natural environment and the celestial realm, tracing the rotation of the earth and the movement of the sun and stars. Holt was also fascinated by mechanical systems such as those used for heating, drainage, and ventilation, and her functional sculptural installations explored the relationship between architecture and the built environment.
Holt was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, grew up in New Jersey, and graduated from Tufts University in 1960 with a degree in biology. She moved to New York City later that year where she met the artist Robert Smithson, to whom she was married from 1963 until Smithson's death in 1973.
Holt's landmark work Sun Tunnels was executed in 1973-1976 in Utah's Great Basin Desert, where Holt and Smithson had purchased surrounding land specifically to ensure an unimpeded view of the horizon. Holt went on to produce many site-specific outdoor works including 30 Below (1980), Dark Star Park (1984), Solar Rotary (1995), and Up and Under (1998). Her exploration of what she termed Systems Works included Catch Basin (1982), Flow Ace Heating (1985), and Spinwinder (1991).
Holt's photography was essential in the development of her ideas. In Missouri Ranch Locators: Vision Encompassed (1972) she used photography in her development of "seeing devices," creating eye-level steel pipes to direct viewers to a specific site in the surrounding landscape, and developing a concept that was central to Sun Tunnels and other works. Her book Ransacked, Aunt Ethel: An Ending (1980) documented through text and photographs the abuse and theft her aunt was subjected to at the end of her life. In Time Outs (1985) Holt used photographs of football games taken from a television screen to create a book born out of her childhood love of TV sporting events.
Holt's work can be found in the collections of major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, and the Museum für Gegenswartkunst, Germany. Her permanent installations can be found at public institutions including Miami University Art Museum, Southern Connecticut State University, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, Western Washington University, and University of South Florida.
In 2012 Nancy Holt was made a Chevalier of the of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government. In 2013 she was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Sculpture Center in New York. Holt received five National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, two New York Creative Artist Fellowships, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Florida, Tampa.
Holt lived in Galisteo, New Mexico, from 1995-2013. She died in New York City in 2014.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds the Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt papers, an interview with Nancy Holt conducted 1992 July 6 by Scott Gutterman for the Archives of American Art, and an interview with Nancy Holt conducted 1993 August 3 by Joyce Pomeroy Schwartz for the Archives of American Art.
Provenance:
Bequest of Nancy Holt, 2014.
Restrictions:
The bulk of 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.
Some papers remain closed to researchers including some rolled documents in the unprocessed papers, financial files, and Nancy Holt's annotated library of books.
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.
Items created by Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson copyright held by Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Requests for permission to reproduce should be submitted to ARS.
Occupation:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Filmmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Environmental artists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Installation artists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Photographers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
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.
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:
Nancy Spero papers, 1940s-2009. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by The Walton Family Foundation. Funding for the digitization of the collection was provided by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative.
26.07 cu. ft. (24 record storage boxes) (3 16x20 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Books
Brochures
Clippings
Manuscripts
Newsletters
Pamphlets
Electronic records
Floppy disks
Compact discs
Electronic mail
Architectural drawings
Floor plans
Black-and-white negatives
Black-and-white photographs
Color negatives
Color photographs
Audiotapes
Motion pictures (visual works)
Videotapes
Place:
United States -- Race relations
United States -- Armed Forces -- African Americans
West (U.S.) -- Social life and customs $y 19th century
Newark (N.J.)
Date:
1952-2010
Descriptive Entry:
The Lonnie G. Bunch Papers include both personal materials and professional records from the various institutions that he worked at as well as his teaching positions.
The personal materials include family correspondence, family history records, and photographs. In relation to his teaching positions there are course syllabi, reading lists,
notes, course examinations, notebooks, course proposals, lectures, bibliographies, and class evaluations. From his work at the National Air and Space Museum, the California
Afro-American Museum, the National Museum of American History, the Chicago Historical Society, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture there is correspondence;
memoranda; grant proposals; exhibition records such as brochures, invitations, catalogs, clippings, press releases, press kits, photographs, oral history recordings on audiocassettes,
oral history transcripts, scripts, object lists, educational materials, floor plans, architectural drawings, research and meeting notes, evaluations, and ephemera; conference
presentations; professional association records; journal articles; book and exhibition reviews; and other related materials. Some materials are in electronic format.
Significant exhibitions documented from the California Afro-American Museum include Allensworth: An Enduring Dream, The Black Olympians: 1904-1984, and Black
Angelenos: The Afro-American in Los Angeles, 1850-1950; significant exhibitions documented from the National Museum of America History include: The American Presidency:
A Glorious Burden, Smithsonian's America: An Exhibition of American History and Culture, and Communities in a Changing Nation: The Promise of 19th-Century America.
Historical Note:
Born in the Newark, New Jersey area, Lonnie G. Bunch received his bachelor's (1974) and Master's (1975) degrees from American University in Washington, D.C.
After receiving his Master's, Bunch was an Adjunct Lecturer at American University from 1976-1978. From January 1978 to May 1979 Bunch was an Education Specialist at the
National Air and Space Museum. He resumed teaching at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, as an Assistant Professor of American and Afro-American History from June
1979 to August 1981. After that he was a Historian and Teacher at the Packer Collegiate Institute from September 1981 to June 1983.
Moving over to the west coast, Bunch became curator of History and Program Manager at the California Afro-American Museum in Los Angeles from 1983-1989. While at the museum,
Bunch organized several award-winning exhibitions such as The Black Olympians, 1904-1984 and Black Angelenos: The Afro-American in Los Angeles, 1850-1950. In
addition to his work on exhibitions, Bunch also produced several historical documentaries for public television.
In 1989 Bunch headed back east to become an Adjunct Professor of Museum Studies at George Washington University before beginning his tenure at the National Museum of American
History (NMAH) in that same year. Bunch was the Senior Curator of Political History at the museum until 1992 when he became the Assistant Director for Curatorial Affairs,
1992-1994, and then Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs, 1994-2000. His tenure at NMAH saw him managing curatorial and collections management staff as well as working
on major exhibitions such as The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden and Smithsonian's America: An Exhibition of American History and Culture for the American
Festival Japan in 1994.
Bunch left the museum to become the president of the Chicago Historical Society (CHS) in 2001. While at CHS, Bunch led a successful capital campaign to transform the CHS
in anticipation of its 150th anniversary, initiated various outreach initiatives to diverse communities around Chicago, as well as helped open numerous exhibitions.
In July 2005 Bunch came back to the Smithsonian to become the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). As director of
NMAAHC, Bunch guided the museum and its staff to build the 400,000 square foot museum near the Washington Monument as well as develop a collection of some 40,000 objects that
explore, document and exemplify the African American story and its influence on American and world history.
On June 16, 2019 it was announced that Bunch would be the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was installed as Secretary on November 1, 2019.
As an author, Bunch has written widely on topics including the black military experience, the American presidency, the African American experience in the American West,
diversity in museum management, and the influence of funding and politics on American museums.
Bunch has served on the advisory boards of the American Alliance of Museums and the American Association for State and Local History. Additionally, he was appointed to
the Committee for the Preservation of the White House in 2002 by President George W. Bush and reappointed by President Barack Obama in 2010.
Portuguese Spinner : an American story : stories of history, culture, and life from Portuguese Americans in southeastern New England / edited by Marsha McCabe & Joseph D. Thomas, with Tracy A. Furtado and Jay Avila
Title:
American story
Stories of history, culture, and life from Portuguese Americans in southeastern New England
