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Catalog Data

Creator:
Powers, Hiram, 1805-1873  Search this
Subject:
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett  Search this
Atlee, Samuel Yorke  Search this
Astor, William B. (William Backhouse)  Search this
Adams, John Quincy  Search this
Webster, Daniel  Search this
Healy, G.P.A. (George Peter Alexander)  Search this
Peabody, George  Search this
Powers, Preston  Search this
Powers, Longworth  Search this
Story, William Wetmore  Search this
Sartain, John  Search this
Trollope, Francis  Search this
Taylor, Bayard  Search this
Bryant, William Cullen  Search this
Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell)  Search this
Crawford, Thomas  Search this
Dix, John A. (John Adams)  Search this
Durand, Asher Brown  Search this
Everett, Edward  Search this
Fuller, Charles Francis  Search this
Gray, Henry Peters  Search this
Greeley, Horace  Search this
Jackson, Andrew  Search this
Kinney, E. Clementine  Search this
Kinney, William  Search this
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth  Search this
Marsh, George Perkins  Search this
Morse, Samuel Finley Breese  Search this
Type:
Scrapbooks
Photographs
Writings
Drawings
Poetry
Place of publication, production, or execution:
United States
Physical Description:
12.4 Linear feet
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 8 series: Series 1: Biographical Material, 1841-1927 (Box 1, 15; 0.8 linear feet) Series 2: Correspondence, 1819-1883 (Box 1-10; 9.0 linear feet) Series 3: Writings, 1827-1887 (Box 10; 0.3 linear feet) Series 4: Financial and Legal Records, circa 1840s-1892, 1915 (Box 10, OV 17; 8 folders) Series 5: Printed Material, circa 1845-1953 (Box 10; 5 folders) Series 6: Photographs, circa 1860s-1900, 1927, 1932, early 1950s (Box 10-13, 16, OV 17; 1.8 linear feet) Series 7: Artwork, 1860, mid-1800s (Box 11; 4 folders) Series 8: Scrapbooks and Albums, 1847-1876 (Box 14; 3 folders)
Access Note / Rights:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Summary:
The papers of sculptor Hiram Powers measure 12.4 linear feet and date from 1819 to 1953, with the bulk of the material dating from 1835 to 1883. Over two-thirds of the collection consists of Powers' correspondence with business associates, purchasers of his artwork, and numerous friends in the United States and Florence, Italy. Of note is Powers' "Studio Memorandum," from 1841 to 1845, which contains dated notations of letters written, receipts and expenditures, business contacts, works in progress, commissions and price quotations for work, comments on problems encountered during studio work, and other notes. Additional papers include scattered biographical material, financial and legal records, printed materials, photographs of Powers, his family, artwork, as well as an extensive collection of carte de visite and cabinet card portraits of many notable figures. Also found is a small amount of artwork by Powers and others, a scrapbook, and two autograph and memorabilia albums.
Citation:
Hiram Powers papers, 1819-1953, bulk 1835-1883. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
The papers of Hiram Powers in the Archives of American Art were digitized in 2007, and total 26858 images.
Materials lent for microfilming are available on 35mm microfilm reels D117, 815-818, and 1102-1103 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Location of Originals:
Copyprints of family photographs were donated in place of originals which were kept by Christina Seeber. Copyprints are available within the collection.
Funding:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Use Note:
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.
Related Materials:
Additional Hiram Powers papers are available at the Winterthur Museum. The Archives of American Art also holds materials lent for microfilming. Reel D117 contains "The Sculpture of Hiram Powers," by Paul B. Metzler. Reels 815-818 includes a "Collection of Letters from Old Residents of Cincinnati to Hiram Powers," compiled by Clara Louise Dentler. Reels 1102-1103 are comprised of an unpublished manuscript entitled "White Marble: The Life and Letters of Hiram Powers, Sculptor," by Clara Louise Dentler. Lent materials were returned to the lenders and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Biography Note:
American sculptor Hiram Powers (1805-1873) was born in Woodstock, Vermont, and lived and worked briefly in Washington, D.C. and Boston, before settling permanently in Florence, Italy. Powers is known for portrait busts of prominent American politicians and his idealized neo-classical sculptures, most notably the Greek Slave .
Language Note:
English and Italian
Provenance:
The Hiram Powers papers were purchased by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 1967 from Christina Seeber, great-granddaughter of Hiram Powers which was subsequenlty transferred to the Archives of American Art in 1984. The Cincinnati Historical Society and Ohio State University also lent the Archives omaterials for microfilming in 1974.
Digitization Note:
The papers of Hiram Powers in the Archives of American Art were digitized in 2010. The papers have been scanned in their entirety, and total 26,912 images.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Sculptors -- Italy -- Florence  Search this
Theme:
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)7255
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)209405
AAA_collcode_powehira
Theme:
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_209405