5.1 Linear feet, (partially microfilmed on 5 reels)
Access Note / Rights:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Summary:
Correspondence, typescripts of books, publications and clippings relating to Bolton's published and unpublished works on American art.
UNMICROFILMED: Included are drafts for AMERICAN BOOK ILLUSTRATORS (N.Y., 1938), EARLY AMERICAN PORTRAIT PAINTERS IN OILS, DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN ARTISTS, A WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY...RELATING TO ART IN PENNSYLVANIA...NOTES FOR A REVISION (Philadelphia, 1948), a portion of Sinclair Hamilton's EARLY AMERICAN BOOK ILLUSTRATORS, 1670-1870 (Princeton, 1958), "A Brief History of the French Impressionists," "Annotated Bibliography of Early American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers to 1860," A Brief History of Colonial American Painting" (1942); 75 typewritten pages of a working bibliography of books, magazine articles and catalogs relating to art in Pennsylvania by Harold E. Dickson and Bolton, 1948; catalogs of works of several artists; notes on artists, Greek vases and architecture, the Dutch masters, the Museum of San Marco, painting technique, the French Impressionists, Early American Painting, and English historical painting. Also included are checklists of books illustrated by Howard Pyle, Katharine Pyle and Joseph Pennell; articles by R. P. Tolman and related correspondence; sketches and drawings by Bolton; and clippings and book reviews relating to Bolton.
REEL N140: A revised typescript, 1958, of AMERICAN BOOK ILLUSTRATORS.
REELS D9 & D10: A letter from book designer Bruce Rogers, annotated by Bolton, February 14, 1945 regarding Rogers' design of THE FEDERALIST PAPERS; 2 letters from Ruel Pardee Tolman, June 12, 1949 and May 19, 1953, regarding his own painting and miniatures and other paintings he is buying and studying; and 5 letters from illustrator Thornton Oakley, undated and March 10-April 19, 1946.
REELS 439-440: Copy of a photograph - probably from a book, of Winslow Homer (reel 439); and a photograph, ca. 1850, of (L to R.): Henry Kirke Brown, Henry Peters Gray and Asher Brown Durand and Emanuel Leutze, photographer unknown. [A similiar photo filmed on reel NY59-19, fr. 1-2, Mary Bartlett Cowdrey artists' files pictures William Kemble (non-artist) on Brown's right.]
Citation:
Theodore Bolton papers, 1917-1958. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
35mm microfilm reels D9, D10, N140, 439-440 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Location of Originals:
Reel N140 (revised typescript): Originals returned to Bolton after microfilming.
Biography Note:
Art historian, scholar and librarian of the Century Association; New York, N.Y. Died 1973. He specialized in book illustration and portrait miniatures.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
From 1956-1959, Bolton donated 3 feet of material to the Archives and 2 feet to the Library of the National Museum of American Art, which subsequently transferred it to the Archives, 1981. There is some duplication within the two groups of material.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
