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Mary K. McGuigan and John F. McGuigan Jr. artists' letters collection

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Catalog Data

Creator:
McGuigan, Mary K.  Search this
Names:
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts  Search this
Beard, W. H. (William Holbrook), 1824-1900  Search this
Bierstadt, Albert, 1830-1902  Search this
Boughton, George Henry, 1834-1905  Search this
Carey, Mathew, 1760-1839  Search this
Church, Frederic Edwin, 1826-1900  Search this
Colman, Samuel, 1832-1920  Search this
Copley, John Singleton, 1738-1815  Search this
Cropsey, Jasper Francis, 1823-1900  Search this
Darley, Felix Octavius Carr, 1822-1888  Search this
French, Daniel Chester, 1850-1931  Search this
Greenough, Horatio, 1805-1852  Search this
Harding, Chester, 1792-1866  Search this
Hassam, Childe, 1859-1935  Search this
Inman, Henry, 1801-1846  Search this
Inness, George, 1825-1894  Search this
McGuigan, John F., Jr. (John Fuller)  Search this
Morse, Samuel Finley Breese, 1791-1872  Search this
Neagle, John, 1796-1865  Search this
Palmer, Erastus Dow, 1817-1904  Search this
Peale, Rembrandt, 1778-1860  Search this
Peale, Rubens, 1784-1865  Search this
Tanner, Henry Ossawa, 1859-1937  Search this
Thayer, Abbott Handerson, 1849-1921  Search this
White, Stanford, 1853-1906  Search this
Whittredge, Worthington, 1820-1910  Search this
Extent:
0.6 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1794-1938
Summary:
The collection of artists' letters compiled by Mary and John McGuigan Jr. measure 0.6 linear feet and date from 1794-1938. The collection is comprised of a group of letters, writings, and signed documents to and from a variety of artists, art administrators, art critics, historians, and art-related organizations assembled from multiple sources. It also includes associated printed material with some documents and a few photographs, including carte de visites and cabinet cards.
Scope and Contents:
The collection of artists' letters compiled by Mary and John McGuigan Jr. measure 0.6 linear feet and date from 1794-1938. The collection is comprised of a group of letters, writings, and signed documents to and from a variety of artists, art administrators, art critics, historians, and art-related organizations assembled from multiple sources. It also includes associated printed material with some documents and a few photographs, including carte de visites and cabinet cards. Item descriptions included in the container listing were provided by Mary and John McGuigan and illuminate the wide range of artists and types of material represented in the collection. While some of the letters document routine transactions such as responses to requests for information, and transmittals of autographs, others document specific artist commissions and projects, exhibition and financial arrangements, business relationships, family events, and travels. The collection includes documentation of portrait painters, including Chester Harding and Rembrandt Peale; nineteenth century landscape artists and artists of the Hudson River School including Albert Bierstadt, George Henry Boughton, Samuel Colman, Jasper Francis Cropsey, and George Inness; sculptors including Daniel Chester French whose letters include sixty-three letters to Charles Dupuy, the caretaker of French's summer home in Massachusetts; publishers such as Mathew Carey, in letters from John Neagle; and the activities of arts institutions such as the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In addition to those mentioned above, letters and signed documents are from Washington Allston, William Holbrook Beard, Eugene Benson, William Tilden Blodgett, Jr., James Renwick Brevoort, Frederic Edwin Church, James Claghorn, John Singleton Copley, Kenyon Cox, F.O.C. Darley, Joseph DeCamp, Frank Duveneck, John Mackie Falconer, Horatio Greenough, Childe Hassam, Ignaz Michael Marcel Gaugengigl, George Healy, George Hollingsworth, William Morris Hunt, Daniel Huntington, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington, Henry Inman, Hugh Bolton Jones, Thomas Dow Jones, Louis Ashton Knight, Charles Robert Leslie, Will Low, Frederick William MacMonnies, Frank Blackwell Mayer, Samuel F. B. Morse, Erastus Dow Palmer, Rubens Peale, Elizabeth Robins Pennell, Tobias (Toby) Edward Rosenthal, John Singer Sargent, George Henry Smillie, Marie Spartali Stillman, William James Stillman, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Abbott Handerson Thayer, Charles Yardley Turner, Stephen Arnold Douglas Volk, William Walcutt, Henry Antonio Wenzler, Benjamin West, Stanford White, Worthington Whittredge, and others. The collection also includes a friendship album belonging to William Tilden Blodgett, Jr., with poems, sketches, and botanical watercolors, eight photographs including carte de visites and cabinet cards with images of George Hollingsworth, Thomas Dow Jones, Louis Ashton Knight, Henry Antonio Wenzler, and William Walcutt, and two photographs of a model used by Francis Blackwell Mayer when painting The Burning of the Peggy Stewart.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 1 series.
Biographical / Historical:
Mary K. McGuigan and John F. McGuigan Jr. are art historians and collectors in Milford, Pennsylvania.
Provenance:
John F. McGuigan Jr. and Mary K. McGuigan purchased these letters and generously donated them to the Archives of American Art between 2000 and 2019. The McGuigans have purchased and donated additional archival materials to the Archives, including a portion of the Douglas Volk and Leonard Wells Volk papers. In 2017 the McGuigans donated an addition to the Sylvester Rosa Koehler papers, including sixty-nine letters from A. Barry, Truman Howe Bartlett, William Merritt Chase, Timothy Cole, Edward Henry Clement, Cyrus Edwin Dallin, Robert Swain Gifford, George Inness, Anna Lea Merritt, Stephen Parrish, John Sartain, Francis Hopkinson Smith, and Frederic Porter Vinton.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
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:
Arts administrators  Search this
Art critics  Search this
Artists  Search this
Historians  Search this
Citation:
Mary K. McGuigan and John F. McGuigan Jr. artists' letters collection, 1794-1983. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.mcgumary
See more items in:
Mary K. McGuigan and John F. McGuigan Jr. artists' letters collection
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw912b5c5be-6a69-4cb5-b8c2-6456e7226128
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-mcgumary