The papers of arts educator James A. McGrath measure 5.4 linear feet and date from 1950-2011. Included are McGrath's papers concerning his artist's residencies and workshops for the United States Information Agency (USIA) in the Yemen Republic, Saudi Arabia, and the Republic of the Congo, 1990-1995. Also found are McGrath's papers concerning artist William Wiley. These papers date from Wiley's high school days and includes correspondence, writings, student files, printed materials, photographs, and artwork. Letters from Wiley to McGrath span several decades and provide details about his artwork, family, and travels.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of arts educator James A. McGrath measure 5.4 linear feet and date from 1950-2011. Included are McGrath's papers concerning his artist's residencies and workshops for the United States Information Agency (USIA) in the Yemen Republic, Saudi Arabia, and the Republic of the Congo, 1990-1995. Also found are McGrath's papers concerning artist William Wiley. These papers date from Wiley's high school days and includes correspondence, writings, student files, printed materials, photographs, and artwork. Letters from Wiley to McGrath span several decades and provide details about his artwork, family, and travels.
James McGrath's papers regarding his artist's residencies and workshops are currently unprocessed.
Wiley's high school student files consist of exams and two Columbia High School yearbooks with contributions from Wiley. Correspondence includes mostly letters written from Wiley to McGrath, some of which are illustrated. There are also Christmas cards, postcards, prints and a wedding invitation and photograph of Wiley and his wife Mary. Wiley writes about his artwork, family, travels and his mother's death. There are also letters to McGrath from Wiley's first and second wives, Dorothy and Mary, his mother, and artists Robert Rauschenberg and Mark Tobey.
Printed materials include exhibition catalogs and announcements, news and magazine clippings, and the books Distraction, Lyrica and Almost Old/New Poems, all illustrated by Wiley.
Artwork by Wiley includes block prints, sketches and drawings, poems, paintings, prints and posters. Photographs are of Wiley's high school yearbook staff, art work and exhibitions, and a dinner honoring Wiley. There is a signed high school photograph of Wiley and a booklet of photographs of an exhibition of McGrath's art. There are also slides of artwork by Wiley, Bob Hudson and Bill Allan.
Arrangement:
The papers are arranged as 2 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: James A. McGrath Papers Concerning William T. Wiley (Box 1-3, OVs 4-6; 2.0 linear feet)
Series 2: Unprocessed James A. McGrath Papers, circa 1990-1995 (Boxes 7-9, OVs 10-12)
Biographical Note:
Arts educator James A. McGrath was a high school art teacher at Columbia High School in Richland, Washington where he taught William T. Wiley in the mid-1950s. They remained life-long friends. Later, McGrath worked at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe as Director of Arts, Professor of Painting, and Dean. In 1973 he became Director of Arts, Humanities and Culture in the Department of Defense and was stationed in Japan, Korea, Okinawa, Taiwan and the Philippines. He also worked for the United States Information Agency in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the Republic of the Congo. He continues to be active as an arts education specialist.
William T. Wiley (1937-2021) was a contemporary artist painting and teaching primarily in the San Francisco area. His artwork is associated with the Bay area Funk Movement. Wiley studied at the California School of Fine Arts and completed his MFA in 1962. One year later he joined the faculty of the UC Davis art department along with artists Robert Arneson and Roy DeForest. Wiley's students included Bruce Nauman and Deborah Butterfield.
Wiley's first solo exhibition was held at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1960, and he had works in the Venice Biennial (1980) and Whitney Biennial (1983), as well as major exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. His artwork is in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among many others. Wiley was the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship Award in 2004 and, in 2009, the Smithsonian American Art Museum presented a retrospective exhibition of Wiley's career.
Related Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds several collections related to William T. Wiley including an oral history interview conducted by Paul J. Karlstrom, October 8-November 20, 1997 and the William T. Wiley illustrated journals on microfilm reel 910. The University of Washington also holds papers of James A. McGrath.
Separated Material:
Six Documenta catalogs, originally donated to AAA with the James A. McGrath Papers Concerning William T. Wiley, were transferred to the Smithsonian Institution Libraries.
Provenance:
The papers were donated by James A. McGrath in five accessions between 2010-2015. A drawing on tree bark was donated by William T. Wiley in 2016.
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.
Occupation:
Sculptors -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Painters -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Topic:
Performance artists -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Illustrators -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Genre/Form:
Drawings
Poems
Prints
Postcards
Paintings
Sketches
Illustrated letters
Christmas cards
Photographs
Citation:
James A. McGrath papers, 1950-2011. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Smithsonian Institution. Department of Anthropology Search this
Extent:
53.5 Linear feet (106 document boxes 6 record storage boxes and 4 small boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Papers
Drawings
Notes
Contact prints
Reports
Photocopies
Grant proposals
Negatives (photographic)
Correspondence
Press releases
Speeches
Photographs
Drafts (documents)
Newsletters
Articles
Photographic prints
Memorandums
Clippings
Resumes
Reviews (documents)
Slides (photographs)
Exhibit scripts
Place:
Arabian Peninsula
Hajar Āl Ḥumayd
Ḥaḍramawt (Yemen : Province)
Maʻrib (Yemen)
Tunisia
Yemen
Egypt
Date:
circa 1959-2008
Summary:
This collection consists of the professional papers of Dr. Gus Van Beek, Curator of Old World Archaeology, Division of Archaeology, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution. Included is the overall body of field logs and notebooks, correspondence, administrative work, research for and about exhibits, photographs, drawings, work on a variety of Departmental committees, and work leading toward the publication of a number of manuscripts and papers. These materials cover roughly the period from 1959 when Dr. Van Beek was hired as an Associate Curator in the Department until 2008 when he actively ceased work in his office at NMNH.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of the professional papers of Dr. Gus Van Beek, Curator of Old World Archaeology, Division of Archaeology, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution. Included is the overall body of field logs and notebooks, correspondence, administrative work, research for and about exhibits, photographs, drawings, work on a variety of Departmental committees, and work leading toward the publication of a number of manuscripts and papers. These materials cover roughly the period from 1959 when Dr. Van Beek was hired as an Associate Curator in the Department until 2008 when he actively ceased work in his office at NMNH.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Arrangement:
Collection is organized into 8 series: 1) Correspondence; 2) South Arabia; 3) Exhibits; 4) Publications; 5) Administrative; 6) Photographs; 7) Vertical file.
Biographical Note:
March 21, 1922 -- Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma
1943 -- Bachelor of Arts with honors from University of Tulsa
1945 -- Bachelor of Divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago
1947-49 -- Louis J. and Mary E. Horowitz Christian Fellow, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati
1951 -- Field research with the American Foundation for the Study of Man at Hajar Bin Humeid, Wadi Beihan, East Aden Protectorate, Arabia
1952 -- Archeological Fellow, American Schools of Oriental Research, Jerusalem, Jordan. Completed field research in the cities of Jericho, Qumran and Dhiban, Jordan.
1953 -- Doctor of Philosophy in Near Eastern Archaeology, History and Semitic Languages from the John Hopkins University
1959-1967 -- Associate Curator, Old World Archeology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History
1961-62 -- Intensive archaeological reconnaissance field research in Wadi Hadhramaut and East Aden Protectorate [South Yemen]
1962-65 -- Worked on Hall 26: Old World Archeology permanent exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
1964 -- Archaeological reconnaissance in Yemen and Axum
1965 -- Producing curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit at National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
1966-67 -- Completed archaeological survey of early Phoenician sites in Tunisia
1967-[2008] -- Curator, Old World Archeology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History
1967 -- Field research to survey Tigre Province, Ethiopia and the Beq'a of Lebanon
1967 -- Curator of the Tunisian Mosaic Exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
1968 -- Archaeological survey of Wadi Negran, Saudi Arabia
1968 -- Guest Curator of the South Arabian Art Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
1969 -- Surveyed sites in Israel for possible excavation
1969 -- Curator of the Masada Exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
1970-78 -- Organized and directed major archaeological excavations at Tel Jemmeh, Israel. [Annually]
1972 -- Producing Curator of the Arabia Felix exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
1982 -- Directed excavation at Tell Jemmeh and researched terre pise, pise de terre construction in Morocco
1984 -- Excavation at Tel Jemmeh to increase the area of the 10th-9th centuries B.C. exposure
1987 -- Excavation at Tel Jemmeh
1989 -- Researched mud construction in Madras, Pondicherry and Kerala, Indian and in Punjab, Pakistan to determine if highland mud construction was sufficiently adapted environmentally to justify intensive study
1989 -- Researched mud construction (adobe) in Sante Fe, Abiquiu and Taos, New Mexico to compare construction methods and design elements with those of the Middle East
1990 -- Investigated layered mud construction and design in vicinity of Quetta, Baluchistan, Pakistan and directed small excavation at Tel Jemmeh
1991 -- Field research in vicinity of Quetta, Baluchistan, Pakistan; Gujarat State, India and across newly unified Yemen
1992 -- Advised the Israel Antiquities Authority on mud construction
1994 -- Field research in eastern architecture in Syria
1995 -- Participated in Adobe Workshop, sponsored by New Mexico State Monuments and J. Paul Getty Conversation organization
1997 -- Research on rammed earth (terre pise) construction and design in Dauphine Province, France and in the states of Hesse, Baden, and Wurtemburg, Germany
1999 -- Research on minimizing earthquake damage in ancient mud brick construction at Tel Rehov in the Jordan Valley, Israel
Related Materials:
See also Gus Van Beek's papers related to the Tel Jemmeh expedition.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History.
Restrictions:
The Gus Van Beek papers are open for research.
Access to the Gus van Beek papers requires an appointment.
The majority of the photographs were made by Thomas B. Card during World War II and the postwar years in Japan, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, and the Middle East. He documented people, architecture, and scenery, as well as military bases and personnel in Okinawa, Japan. Additionally, there are images of Mexican archeological sites, Camp Claiborne in Louisiana (made in 1944), the 1932 Amur River flood, and Benito Mussolini's execution.
The collection also includes photographs taken by Paul W. Card in China before World War II, including images of the Yangtze River, historical architecture and art, people, shrines, and cities.
Biographical/Historical note:
Thomas B. Card was an engineer and Army officer during World War II. After completing his freshman year at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (September 1916-October 1917), he joined the signal corps in World War I, later transferrimg to become a pilot in the air service. Returning to school, he graduated from the Masssachusetts Institute of Technology in 1921 and received a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Graduate School in 1930. During World War II, he supervised the construction of bases in the Caribbean and Japan, and served as commanding officer of the 601st Engineers Base Depot on Okinawa. He was promoted to Colonel, CE, in 1945. In 1947, he led a group of engineers working on the Bechtel International Modernization Project in Saudi Arabia, as well as other post-war work in Argentina and Trinidad.
Paul W. Card, Thomas B. Card's brother, graduated from the Naval Academy in 1927 and was assigned to work in China's Yangtze River region until 1938. He spent most of his time protecting the United States Legation in Nanjing and gathered intelligence as a "Naval observer."
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 2000-02, NAA Photo Lot 97-43
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Photographs made by Thomas B. Card, previously filed in Photo Lot 97-43, have been relocated and merged with Photo Lot 2000-02.
Restrictions:
Original nitrate negatives are in cold storage and require advanced notice for viewing.
Photo Lot 2000-02, Thomas B. Card and Paul W. Card photographs of world travels and World War II, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
This collection follows Mountain's aviation career.
Scope and Contents:
This collection follows Joseph Mountain's aviation career and includes photographic negatives and prints, diaries and flight log books, reports, and maps. Mountain's photographs from his service in Saudi Arabia are of particular interest --taken not long before the great oil discoveries at Dammam in 1938, they capture the desert kingdom at the very edge of the tremendous changes that the oil economy brought to the Gulf. The images are a fascinating record of traditional Saudi Arabian life, crafts and architecture. Highlights include portraits of dancers at Eid al-Fitr celebrations, market scenes in Hufuf and the Old Town of Al Jubail, camel caravans, Saudi hunters with their hawks, and pearl fishermen and their dhows. Mountain also extensively photographed members of the CASOC team at work and interacting with their Saudi workers and acquaintances.
Joseph Mountain's negatives are stored in the Archive Division's cold vault and are not available to researchers. Scans of the negatives may be viewed in the Archives Division reading room, or through the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS) web site at http://bit.ly/dL2zDs.
Arrangement:
No series - arranged by materials: Documents, oversize and images
Biographical/Historical note:
Joseph Dunlap Mountain was born on October 24, 1902 in Cherryvale, Kansas. He joined the U.S. Army Air Service in 1919; he was awarded his wings and commissioned a second lieutenant in 1921. Mountain continued to fly after leaving the Air Service and also took up photography.
In 1928, Mountain was employed by the Continental Air Map Company in the aerial mapping of the state of California. In 1934-1935, he served as a pilot, aerial photographer, darkroom technician and mechanic for the California-Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC; in 1944 renamed the Arabian American Oil Company --Aramco, now Saudi Aramco) expedition to Saudi Arabia; Mountain logged over 221 hours of reconnaissance and mapping flights for CASOC. In 1936-1937, Mountain contracted with the Saudi Arabia Mining Syndicate to make an aerial survey of the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia.
From 1937-1947, Mountain was a pilot for Trans World Airlines. During World War II, Mountain returned to active duty with the U.S. Army Air Forces as a training officer in the Air Transport Command. He was awarded the Bronze Star while serving in the China-Burma-India Theater and supervising supply missions over "The Hump" --the dangerous air route over the Himalaya Range. In 1945 he was promoted to full Colonel and appointed executive officer of the Committee for Air Navigation and Traffic Control.
In 1947, Mountain entered the computer industry with International Telephone and Telegraph. Later, he founded Mountain Systems, a digital computer manufacturing company, and Mountain Datasystem, a data processing firm. During the Korean War, he served as an Air Force liaison officer with the Bell Telephone Laboratories. After the war, he returned to civilian life and continued to work in the computer industry. Joseph Mountain died on November 25, 1970 at the age of 68.
Provenance:
Isabel Mountain, gift, 1991, 1991-0079, NASM
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at http://airandspace.si.edu/permissions
Topic:
Aeronautics, Commercial -- United States Search this
