Sam DeVincent loved music and art and began collecting sheet music with lithographs at an early age.
Series 4: Songwriters: A "songwriter" for this series is defined as a composer, a lyricist, or both.
An overview to the entire DeVincent collection is available here: Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music.
Scope and Contents note:
A "songwriter" for this series is defined as a composer, a lyricist, or both. The songwriters included in this online finding aid are arranged alphabetically in the Biography of Songwriters section and alphabetically in the Name and Select Title Index.
The song sheets associated with each songwriter in this series are generally arranged in the following order: General Songs; Ethnic Songs; Armed Conflict Songs or other Topical Headings; Ragtime; Instrumental; Musical Theater Production Songs; Motion Picture Production Songs; Specialized Song Sheets/Editions; Professional/Artist Copy Song Sheets; and Folios/Volumes. Songs of four or more editions (multiple editions) are usually placed in individual folders and listed separately under the appropriate category, i.e., General Songs, Topical songs, etc. Copyright dates listed in the Container List represent the latest date on any given song sheet, i.e., a song originally published in 1906, but copyrighted in 1946, will show the date 1946.
In the Container List the word "Contains" in a descriptive entry identifies a folder that contains only the song sheet titles specified. For example, Subseries 4.1, folder B "contains" three song sheets and only those three are contained in that folder. The word "Includes" in a descriptive entry identifies a folder that holds not only the song sheet title(s) named but also other song sheet title(s) not specified in the Container List. For example, folder E of subseries 4.1 "includes" (or specifies) three song sheets ("Magic Moments," "Sad Sack," and "Warm and Tender"), but, in addition, folder E contains fourteen other song sheets that are not specified.
Variations in the size of the sheet music in this series may indicate its publication date. Large song sheets-approximately 11" x 13"- were superseded in April 1919, when publishers adopted a new "standard" or "regular" size for song sheets-9 1/4" x 12 1/4"-as recommended by the National Association of Sheet Music Dealers. The probable motivation was that smaller song sheets were cheaper to produce--a conservation effort prompted by World War I.
Titles of Musical Theater Production Songs and Motion Picture Production Songs are in capital letters. Individual song titles are within quotation marks. Portraits of the artist or artists that contributed to a song's success are featured on many song sheets. Songs are filed alphabetically, by title, within each folder.
Dates after the songwriter's name in the Biography of Songwriters section of this Register refer to the songwriter's birth and death dates. Dates after a songwriter's name in the Container List of this Register refer to the dates of the song sheets in this collection for that songwriter. Where two or more songwriters were a notable team over an extended period of time, their collaboration is noted in the Biography of Songwriters and included in the Container List.
The dates in the Container List represent the latest copyright year on the song sheets. The dates are not necessarily the same as the year of the productions. Copyright dates in the Container List represent the latest date on any given piece of sheet music, i.e., a song originally published in 1906, but re-copyrighted in 1946, will show the date 1946.
Arrangement note:
Arranged alphabetically
4.1 - 4.217
4.218: Ephemera
Biographies of Song Writers:
4.42 ADAMS, STANLEY -- (8/14/1907-1/27/1994). Lyricist. Former President of ASCAP; was a leader in the successful effort for Congressional revision of copyright law. Best known song is "What a Diff'rence a Day Made."
4.43 AGER, MILTON -- (10/6/1893-5/6/1979). Composer, publishers, pianist, arranger, vaudeville accompanist, stage entertainer for silent movies. First hit was "Everything is Peaches Down in Georgia," sung by Al Jolson.
4.44 AHLERT, FRED E. -- (9/19/1892-10/20/1953). Composer, publisher. Arranger for Fred Waring. One of first songwriters to quit Tin Pan Alley for Hollywood. First hit was "I'll Get By."
4.45 AKST, HARRY -- (8/15/1894-3/31/1963). Composer. Professional pianist as a teenager. Met Berlin at Camp Upton, worked for him as staff pianist. Hits include: and "Baby Face" and "A Smile Will Go a Long, Long Way."
4.46 ALLEN, STEVE -- (12/26/1921- ). Composer, author, pianist, comedian. Toured with parents in vaudeville; worked in radio; founder and first host of NBC-TV's Tonight Show. Composed the theme from PICNIC.
4.47 ARLEN, HAROLD -- (2/15/1905-4/23/1986). Composer, author, pianist, vocalist. Played professionally at age 15. Signed by The Cotton Club to write with Ted Koehler, producing many hits. Also teamed with Yip Harburg. Write "Get Happy," "Stormy Weather," and the score for THE WIZARD OF OZ.
4.48 ARMSTRONG, HARRY W. -- (7/22/1879-2/28/1951). Composer, vocalist, pianist, producer, prize fighter. Hits include "I Love My Wife, But Oh You Kid" and "Sweet Adeline."
4.49 ASH, PAUL -- (2/11/1891-7/13/1958). Composer, author, conductor, pianist. Led his first band in 1910; became very successful bandleader. Wrote "I'm Knee Deep in Daisies."
4.50 AUSTIN, GENE -- (6/24/1900-1/24/1971). Composer, author. Sang in vaudeville, radio, films, and TV. Established as a recording star with "My Blue Heaven." Wrote "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street."
4.1 BACHARACH, BURT F. -- (5/12/1928- ). Composer and pianist. Collaborated with lyricist Hal David on a number of film scores (e.g., BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID) and popular songs, many of which were recorded by Dionne Warwick.
4.51 BALL, ERNEST R. -- (7/21/1878-5/3/1927). Composer, pianist. Began as pianist in vaudeville, performing with his wife Maude Lambert; then worked as a song demonstrator. Successful songs include "Let the Rest of the World Go By"and "Mother Machree."
4.52 BARGY, ROY -- (7/31/1894-1/15/1974). Composer, pianist. Arranger for Paul Whiteman; led several radio show bands. Edited, played, arranged, and composed piano rolls; composed rags. From 1943-1963 was music director for Jimmy Durante.
4.53 BAXTER, PHIL -- (9/5/1896-11/21/1972). Composer, pianist, lyricist, vocalist. Bandleader in 20's and 30's. Wrote "Have a Little Dream on Me" and "I'm a Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas."
4.54 BAYES, NORA -- (1880-3/19/1928). Vocalist, composer, lyricist. Was a top performing star; known as "The Wurzberger Girl" after her first hit. The first edition of Cohan's "Over There" featured Bayes on the cover. Bayes and husband Jack Norworth wrote "Shine on Harvest Moon."
4.55 BERLE, MILTON -- (7/12/1908- ). Comedian, vocalist, lyricist, composer. Began performing in silent movies at age 5; worked in vaudeville; was a MC in clubs and theaters. Was the first big TV star. Wrote "Sam, You Made the Pants Too Long."
4.2 BERLIN, IRVING -- (5/11/1888-9/22/1989). Composer and lyricist. One of the most versatile and popular songwriters of the 20th century. Wrote songs for some of the most successful Broadway musicals and Hollywood films. Best songs were sentimental ballads performed in unique ragtime or popular styles.
4.56 BERNIE, BEN -- (5/30/1891-10/20/1943). Bandleader, composer. Was a monologist in vaudeville; played violin until he formed his own dance band in early 20's. Known as The Old Maestro. Wrote "Sweet Georgia Brown."
4.57 BRAHAM, DAVID -- (1834-4/11/1905). Composer. Born in London; moved to New York at age 18. Was orchestral leader and composer for minstrel shows, Tony Pastor's, Theatre Comique. THE MULLIGAN GUARD was the first of many collaborations with Ned Harrigan.
4.58 BREUER, ERNEST -- (12/6/1886-4/3/1981). Composer, pianist. Born in Germany, moved to US in youth. Vaudeville pianist. WWII interpreter and entertainer. Wrote "Does the Spearmint Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?"
4.59 BROOKS, SHELTON -- (5/4/1886-9/6/1975). Composer. Parents American Indian/African American. Pianist in Detroit cafes; moved to Chicago. Composed rages; worked as a mimic in vaudeville. Wrote "Darktown Strutters' Ball" and "Some of These Days."
4.60 BROWN, A. SEYMOUR -- (5/28/1885-12/22/1947). Author, composer, actor. Worked in vaudeville. Composed "Oh You Beautiful Doll."
4.61 BROWN, GEORGE -- ...
4.3 BROWN, LEW -- (12/10/1893-2/5/1958). Lyricist. Achieved success with a number of songs in collaboration with composer Albert Von Tilzer, and later as member of the Ray Henderson and Buddy DeSylva songwriting team on Broadway.
4.62 BROWN, NACIO HERB -- (2/22/1896-9/28/1964). Composer. First toured as piano accompanist; worked as a tailor and realtor before first successes in early 20's. One of the movies most important composers during early sound years and many years thereafter. Wrote "Singin in the Rain" and "You Are My Lucky Star."
4.63 BROWN, NACIO HERB, JR. -- (2/27/1921- ). Composer, author, publisher. Son of Nacio Herb Brown. Professional manager of publishing firms; manager of music catalogs. Songs include "Who Put That Dream in Your Eyes."
4.64 BUCK, GENE -- (8/8/1885-2/25/1957). Lyricist. Chief aide to Ziegfeld; wrote book for some of his shows. Pioneer designer of sheet music covers. Songs include "Hello Frisco" and "Tulip Time."
4.65 BULLOCK, WALTER -- (5/6/1907-8/19/1953). Lyricist. Wrote screenplays and songs for movies. Hits include "This Is Where I Came In" and "When Did You Leave Heaven?"
4.66 CAESAR, IRVING -- (4/4/1895-12/17/1996). Lyricist, composer. Wrote mostly for New York stage but began working for films in 30's. Wrote message-bearing songs for children. Wrote "Count Your Blessings" and "Tea for Two."
4.4 CAHN, SAMMY -- (6/18/1913- ). Lyricist. Wrote many successful songs for Hollywood films, notably for Frank Sinatra, and in collaboration with Charlie Chaplin, Jimmy Van Heusen, and Jule Styne.
4.67 CALLAHAN, J. WILL -- (3/17/1874-11/15/1946). Vocalist, lyricist. Started as an accountant, then singer of illustrated songs. Wrote "Smiles."
4.5 CARMICHAEL, HOAGY -- (11/22/1899-12/27/1981). Composer, lyricist, bandleader, pianist, and singer. Abandoned law profession to pursue career in songwriting. Contributed songs to a number of very popular motion pictures.
4.68 CARROLL, EARL -- (9/16/1893-6/17/1948). Composer. Produced and directed many revues. Built two theaters in New York and had a restaurant in Hollywood. Produced movies. Hits include "Give Me All of You" and "So Long Letty."
4.69 CARROLL, HARRY -- (11/28/1892-12/26/1962). Composer. Pianist in movie theaters, cafes and vaudeville. Wrote for Winter Garden productions; wrote several Broadway stage scores. Hits include "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" and "Trail of the Lonesome Pine."
4.70 CHAMINADE, MME. CECILE -- (born in Paris. Pianist, composer. Toured the US in 1908.
4.71 CLARIBEL (CHARLOTTE ALLINGTON BARNARD) -- (1830-1869) Composer, lyricist. English. Enormously popular in her time. Her "Come Back to Erin" is often regarded as an Irish folk song.
4.72 COBB, GEORGE L. -- (8/31/1886-12/25/1942). Composer. Began as composer of rags. Wrote for Melody magazine. First hit was "All Aboard for Dixieland."
4.6 COHAN, GEORGE M. -- (7/4/1878-11/5/1942). Composer, lyricist, actor, playwright, and producer. Best remembered for elaborately choreographed dance music, flag-waving songs, and songs for musical comedies and vaudeville. Best known for his patriotic songs, "Over There" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy."
4.73 COLUMBO, RUSS -- (1908-9/2/1934). Composer; primarily a singer, featured in Gus Arnheims band. Theme song for own band was "You Call It Madness." Also wrote "Too Beautiful for Words."
4.74 CONFREY, ZEZ -- (4/3/1895-11/22/1971). Pianist, bandleader, composer. Cut many piano rolls. Solo piano pieces have become standards: "Dizzy Fingers" and "Kitten on the Keys."
4.75 CONN, CHESTER -- (4/14/1896- 4/4/1973). Composer. Manager of publishing companies before owning own firm of Bregman, Vocco & Conn. Hits include "Don't Mind the Rain."
4.76 CONRAD, CON -- (6/18/1891-9/28/1938). Composer, pianist. Worked as theater pianist and in vaudeville; wrote for stage and movies. Had publishing firm. Wrote "The Continental," first film song awarded an Oscar; also wrote "Ma" and "Margie."
4.77 CONVERSE, CHARLES CROZAT -- (10/7/1832-4/8/1918). Composer. Studied in Europe; practiced law upon return. Composed partriotic overtures and cantatas, vocal quartettes. Wrote on philosophical and philological subjects under pen name Karl Redan. Wrote "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."
4.78 COOTS, J. FRED -- (5/2/1897-4/8/1985). Composer, pianist. Accompanied vaudeville acts; worked as song plugger; composed for Schuberts shows but returned to club dates in composing independently. Wrote "Love Letters in the Sand" and "You Go to My Head."
4.79 COSLOW, SAM -- (12/27/1902). Composer, lyricist, vocalist. Wrote for Broadway and movies; co-partner in music publishing; co-founded Soundies, song-movie shorts for coin machines. Hits include "Cocktails for Two" and "Was It a Dream?"
4.80 COWAN, LYNN -- (6/8/1888- ). Composer, actor, director, vocalist, pianist. Worked in vaudeville and as a film actor. Composed background scores for early sound film, and songs for LADIES MUST LOVE. Manager of Castle Terrace Club in Okinawa. Wrote "Kisses."
4.80 COWAN, RUBEY -- (2/27/1891-7/28/1957). Composer. Pianist in film theaters at age 13. Co-founded publishing company; wrote first show for Paramount Theater in New York; headed NBCs radio talent dept. then Paramounts radio dept. Wrote "You Can Expect Kisses from Me."
4.80 COWAN, STANLEY -- (2/3/1918- 12/13/1991). Composer, author, director, publicist. Wrote special material for orchestras, musicals, films; Produced shows for USAF during WWII. Joined father's (Rubey Cowan) firm, Rogers and Cowan. Wrote "Do I Worry."
4.81 COWARD, NOEL -- (12/16/1899-3/26/1973). Composer, lyricist, actor, playwright, producer. Born in England; began professional career at age 11. Best known of many popular songs are "I'll Follow My Secret Heart" and "I'll See You Again."
4.82 CRUMIT, FRANK -- (9/26/1889-9/7/1943). Composer, author, singer, actor. Vaudeville and stage performer. Had radio series with Julia Sanderson. Known for novelty numbers such as "Abdul Abulbul Amir."
4.83 CUGAT, XAVIER -- (1/1/1900- 10/27/1990). Bandleader, composer. Born in Spain; moved to Cuba when young; studied in Berlin; gave concert tours. Worked as a caricaturist for the LA Times. Led orchestra specializing in Spanish and Latin American music. Wrote "My Shawl," his theme song.
4.84 DANIELS, CHARLES N. -- (4/12/1878-1/21/1943). Composer, publisher. Pseudonym: Neil Moret. One of most significant ragtime entrepreneurs. Wrote first motion picture title song: "Mickey." Other songs include "You Tell Me Your Dream," "Moonlight and Roses," and "Chloe."
4.85 DANKS, HART PEASE -- (4/16/1834-11/20/1903). Composer. Singer and conductor in New York churches and concert stages. Published sacred and choral works; collaborated on three operettas. Best known for popular songs such as "Silver Threads Among the Gold."
4.86 DAVIS, BENNY -- (8/21/1895- 12/20/1979). Lyricist, vocalist. Performed in vaudeville as a child. Toured with Benny Fields as accompanist to Blossom Seeley. Hits include "Baby Face" and "Margie."
4.87 DEKOVEN, REGINALD -- (4/3/1859-1/16/1920). Composer, conductor, music critic. America's first significant composer of operetta: ROBIN HOOD the first American operetta to be performed in London. Founded the Philharmonic Orchestra in Washington, D.C. in 1902. Best known song is "Oh Promise Me."
4.88 DELEATH, VAUGHN -- (9/26/1896-5/28/1943). Vocalist, pianist, composer, lyricist. Reportedly the first woman on radio, sometimes credited with originating crooning. Played vaudeville, performed on Broadway, and recorded frequently. Hits include "At Eventide" and "Ducklings on Parade."
4.89 DEMING, MRS. L. L. -- (may be wife of Legrand L. Deming, born in Connecticut 10/29/1812.
4.7 DeROSE, PETER -- (3/10/1900-4/24/1953). Composer. Formed a radio team, The Sweethearts of the Air, with May Singhi Breen, whom he subsequently married. His most famous piece, "Deep Purple," became a commercial hit when lyrics were added.
4.3 DeSYLVA, BUDDY -- (1/27/1895-7/11/1950). Lyricist. Produced a number of hit songs with George Gershwin and particularly for the singer, Al Jolson. Also worked with Jerome Kern, Victor Herbert, and later as member of the Ray Henderson-Lew Brown songwriting partnership.
4.90 DILLON, HARRY -- (1866- 2/5/1916). Brother of John and Will. Started performing career on minstrel shows.
4.90 DILLON, JOHN -- (12/5/1882-9/2/1953). Brother of Will and Harry. Followed brother Harry into ministrel shows; first vaudeville engagement was at Tony Pastor's; toured. Operated grocery store in hometown, Cortland, NY, after retirement.
4.90 DILLON, WILLIAM AUSTIN -- (11/6/1877-2/10/1966). Composer, author, actor, businessman. Worked in vaudeville, medicine and minstrel shows; toured with Harry Lauder. Successes include "All Alone" and "I Want a Girl Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad."
4.91 DIXON, HAROLD -- ...
4.8 DONALDSON, WALTER -- (2/15/1893-7/15/1947). Composer. Hired in 1919 as staff writer for Irving Berlin Inc. Wrote songs throughout the 1920s that made him one of the most popular composers of the decade. Had many collaborations, the most successful with Gus Kahn.
4.9 DRESSER, PAUL -- (4/22/1858-1/30/1906). Composer, lyricist, performer and publisher. One of the first American performers to enter the music publishing trade. Wrote songs for burlesque and vaudeville stage shows. Considered the leading American writer of sentimental ballads of the late 19th century. Best-known song: "My Gal Sal."
4.92 DUBIN, AL -- (6/10/1891-2/11/1945). Lyricist. Served overseas in entertainment unit in WWI. Biggest song successes when teamed with Harry Warren. Hits include "I Only Have Eyes for You" and "Tiptoe Through the Tulips."
4.10 EDWARDS, GUS -- (8/18/1879-11/7/1945). Composer, lyricist, impresario, and singer. Collaborated with lyricist Will D. Cobb producing several hit songs introduced in Broadway reviews, notably Ziegfeld's Follies of 1907 and 1910. Best-known songs include "School Days" and "By The Light Of The Silvery Moon."
4.93 EDWARDS, LEO -- (2/22/1886-7/12/1978). Composer, author, producer. Brother of Gus Edwards. Worked in vaudeville; was staff writer for music publishing firms; cabaret producer. Hit songs include "Isle d'Amour," "Inspiration," and the official Boy Scout song "Tomorrow's America."
4.94 EMMET, JOSEPH KLINE -- (3/13/1841-1892). Actor, composer. Performed in a minstrel company using a broken German dialect that made him famous. Several plays starring his 'Fritz' character were written for him. Successful songs were "Emmet's Lullaby" and "Sweet Violets."
4.95 ERDMAN, ERNIE -- (10/23/1879-11/1/1946). Composer. Was pianist in the Original New Orleans Jazz Band. Worked on professional staff of Chicago music publishers. Songs hits include "Nobody's Sweetheart" and "Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye."
4.96 FAIN, SAMMY -- (6/17/1902- 12/6/1989). Composer, vocalist, pianist. Was a self-taught pianist; began composing songs while in grammar school. Very successful partnership with Irving Kahal writing songs for movies. Hits include "Dear Hearts and Gentle People," "I'll Be Seeing You," and "That Old Feeling." Nominated for the Oscar 10 times; won twice.
4.97 FEIST, FELIX -- (Wrote "Can't You See Im Lonely."
4.97 FEIST, LEO -- (1/3/1869-6/1/1930). Publisher, lyricist. When early songs didnt sell well Feist partnered with Joe Frankenthaler to start what became one of the leading publishing firms. His successes include "Those Lost Happy Days" and "Smokey Mokes."
4.98 FIELD, EUGENE -- (9/3/1950-11/4/1895). Author. Newspaper columnist for Chicago Morning News. His poems were set to music.
4.99 FIELDS, DOROTHY -- (7/15/1905-3/28/1974). Author, lyricist. At age 15 sang in an amateur show by Rodgers and Hart; worked with brother Herbert as co-librettist on several Broadway shows. Most successful collaboration was with Jimmy McHugh. Wrote "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and "I'm in the Mood for Love." Won an Oscar with Jerome Kern for "The Way You Look Tonight."
4.100 FIORITO, TED -- (12/20/1900-7/22/1971). Composer, conductor, pianist. Began as a song demonstrator. First hit song was "Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye." Formed band in early 20's and continued to lead an orchestra in the 60's. Other hits include "Alone at Last" and "Charley, My Boy."
4.101 FISHER, FRED -- (9/30/1875-1/14/1942). Composer, lyricist. Immigrated from Germany at age 25 but soon assimilated popular music idioms. Early success was "Come, Josephine, in My Flying Machine." Started composing for films in late 20's. Hits include "Dardanella" and "Your Feets Too Big."
4.11 FOSTER, STEPHEN -- (7/4/1826-1/13/1864). Composer and lyricist of popular household, plantation, and minstrel songs of the 19th century. Produced over 200 songs of two main types: sentimental ballads of hearth and home, and songs for the famous Christy's Minstrels.
4.102 FRANKLIN, DAVE -- (9/28/1895-2/3/1970). Composer, lyricist, pianist. Pianist in publishing house at age 13; vaudeville accompanist; played nightclubs in New York and European cities. Hits include "The Anniversary Waltz" and "When My Dream Boat Comes Home."
4.62 FREED, ARTHUR -- (9/9/1894-4/12/1973). Lyricist, producer. Wrote for vaudeville; managed theater in Los Angeles; produced shows. Began writing for movie musicals in 1929. Many hits include "After Sundown," "All I Do Is Dream of You," and "Singin' in the Rain."
4.103 FRIEDMAN, LEO -- (7/16/1869-3/7/1927). Composer. Studied in Chicago and Berlin. Two biggest hits were "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" and "Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland."
4.104 FRIEND, CLIFF -- (10/1/1893-6/27/74). Composer, lyricist, pianist. Wrote for Broadway and movies; was a pianist for vaudeville performers in US and England. Also worked as a test pilot. Hits include "Give Me a Night in June" and "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down."
4.12 FRIML, RUDOLF -- (12/7/1879-11/12/1972). Composer and pianist. One of the principal exponents of traditional operetta and early musical comedy in the United States. Collaborated with Oscar Hammerstein II and others to produce the most popular American musicals of the 1920s.
4.105 FROST, JACK -- (11/25/1893-10/21/1959). Composer, lyricist. Writer with Chicago music company; wrote special material for Eva Tanguay and Trixie Friganza; worked in advertising. Hits include "When You and I Were Young Maggie Blues."
4.106 GARBER, JAN -- (11/5/1897-10/4/1977). Violinist, bandleader, composer. Played violin in Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra; formed dance band in early 20's; still conducting into the 60's. Wrote his theme song, "My Dear."
4.107 GAY, BYRON -- (8/28/1886-12/23/1945). Composer, author, explorer. Educated at US Navel Academy and was on 1933 Byrd Expedition. Successful songs include "The Little Ford Rambled Right Along" and "The Vamp."
4.108 GILBERT, L. WOLFE -- (8/31/1886-7/12/1970). Lyricist. Started as a singer in New York clubs, writing parodies of popular songs for entertainers such as Al Jolson. Moved to Hollywood where he wrote for films and the Eddie Cantor radio show. Had his own publishing firm. Hits include "Lucky Lindy" and "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee."
4.13 GERSHWIN, IRA -- (12/6/1896-8/17/1983). Lyricist. Collaborated with various composers throughout his life, at times using pseudonym, Arthur Francis. He collaborated with brother George from 1924 until the latter's death in 1937. Their first musical comedy together was LADY, BE GOOD.
4.13 GERSHWIN, GEORGE -- (9/26/1898-7/11/1937). Composer, conductor, and pianist. Composer of Broadway shows and one of America's most famous composers of popular concert music. Brought jazz and classical styles together in concert pieces, African American folk music and opera, e.g. PORGY AND BESS.
4.109 GILLESPIE, HAVEN -- (2/6/1888-3/14/1975). Lyricist. Left job as journeyman printer and began writing songs in the mid-20's. Wrote for film, theater and radio. Awarded Freedoms Foundation Award for "God's Country." Hits include "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" and "You Go to My Head."
4.110 GLOVER, CHARLES W -- (1806-3/23/1863). Composer. English. Violinist in orchestras of Drury Lane and Covent Garden; musical director of Queen's Theatre. "Do They Think of Me at Home" was one of his greatest successes in the USA.
4.111 GLOVER, STEPHEN -- (mid 1812-1870). Composer. English. One of his most popular songs was "What Are the Wild Waves Saying?"
4.112 GOETZ, E. RAY -- (6/12/1886-6/12/1954). Composer, lyricist, producer. Contributed to many Broadway musicals. Hits include "For Me and My Gal" and "Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula."
4.113 GOODHART, AL -- (1/26/1905-11/30/1955). Composer, pianist. Early career as radio announcer, vaudeville pianist, special material writer. With USO during WWII. Hits include "Auf Wiedersehen, My Dear," "I Apologize," and "Who Walks in When I Walk Out?"
4.114 GORDON, MACK -- (6/21/1904-3/1/1959). Lyricist, vocalist. Boy soprano in minstrel shows; comedian and singer in vaudeville. Hits include "Chatanooga Choo-Choo," "Time on My Hands," and "You'll Never Know" which won an Academy Award.
4.115 GREEN, JOHN W. -- (10/10/1908- 5/15/1989 ). Composer, arranger, pianist, ` bandleader. Accompanied various singers; formed own band. On many radio shows in New York then moved to Hollywood. MGM musical director for many years. Scored and conducted three Academy Award films. Hits include "Body and Soul" and "I Cover the Waterfront."
4.116 GUEST, EDGAR -- ( 8/20/1881-8/5/1959). Poet, Newspaperman for Detroit Free Press. Poems Syndicated in nearly 300 papers; 17 volumes of poetry published. Apeared on national radio for many years.
4.117 GUMBLE, ALBERT -- (9/10/1883-11/30/1946). Composer, pianist for publishers. Entertained troops during WWII. Hits include "Are You Sincere?" and "How's Every Little Thing in Dixie?"
4.118 HALL, WENDELL WOODS -- (8/23/1896-4/2/1969). Composer, author, singer, ukelele player. Known as "The Red-Headed Music Maker." Played the ukelele on radio and in vaudeville; made world radio tour in 20's. Worked as advertizing executive. Successful songs include "Underneath the Mellow Moon" and "Whispering Trees."
4.14 HAMMERSTEIN, OSCAR, II -- (7/12/1895-8/23/1960). Lyricist, librettist, producer, and publisher. Produced and wrote some of the most successful Broadway musicals in collaboration with composer Richard Rodgers and Jerome Kern. Many of his works later appeared in Hollywood films.
4.14 HAMMERSTEIN, OSCAR, I -- (5/8/1846-8/1/1919). Composer. An impresario who wrote several works, including orchestral pieces for use before or as intermezzi in his productions, a ballet, MARGUERITE (1896), and the operettas, SANTA MARIA (1896) and THE KOHINOOR (1893).
4.119 HANLEY, JAMES F. -- (2/17/1892-2/8/1942). Composer, pianist. Accompanist in vaudeville. Produced WWI army show TOOT SWEET. Wrote for early sound movie shorts. Hits include "Second Hand Rose" and "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart."
4.57 HARRIGAN, EDWARD -- ...
4.15 HARRIS, CHARLES K. -- (5/1/1865-12/22/1930). Composer, lyricist, and music publisher. Known principally as a successful publisher of popular music. First publisher to use an illustration of a performer on a song sheet cover. Most successful song: "After the Ball." Cofounder of ASCAP.
4.120 HARRISON, ANNIE FORTESQUE -- (Lady Arthur Hill)(1851-1944). Composer. Best known songs include "In the Gloaming."
4.14 HART, LORENZ -- (5/2/1845-11/22/1913). Lyricist and librettist. Collaborated with composer Richard Rodgers on the scores of several successful Broadway musicals and Hollywood productions.
4.121 HAYS, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. -- (7/19/1837-7/22/1907). Began writing songs at age 19. Very popular because of charming melodies, easy execution of music, and lyrics that projected authentic feelings.
4.122 HEMANS, MRS FELICIA DOROTHEA -- (1794-1835). Very prolific and popular English poet. Composer for some of the songs was her younger sister Harriet Mary Browne.
4.3 HENDERSON, RAY -- (12/1/1896-12/31/1970). Composer. Collaborated extensively with lyricists Lew Brown and Buddy DeSylva. Wrote many of the hit tunes of the 1920s and 1930s. Produced music of wide popular appeal performed by Al Jolson and others on stage and in films.
4.16 HERBERT, VICTOR -- (2/1/1859-5/26/1924). Composer, cellist, and conductor. Successful particularly as composer of American operettas, of which forty (40) were written between 1894 and 1924, mostly romantic and having happy endings.
4.123 HILL, DEDETTE LEE -- (11/2/1900-6/5/1950). Collaborated with her husband, Billy Hill, and later with Johnny Marks.
4.123 HILL, BILLY -- (7/14/1899-12/24/1940). Also used nom de plume George Brown. Composer, author, pianist, violinist, conductor. Worked as a cowboy and surveyors assistant in the west. Led first jazz band in Salt Lake City. Best known songs include "In the Chapel in the Moonlight" and "The Last Roundup."
4.124 HILLIARD, BOB -- (1/28/1918-2/1/1971). Lyricist. Wrote scores for Broadway. Successes include "Our Day Will Come" and "They've Got an Awful Lot of Coffee in Brazil."
4.113 HOFFMAN, AL -- (9/25/1902-7/21/1960). Composer, lyricist, drummer. Bandleader in hometown, Seattle; drummer in NY night clubs; songwriter early 30's through 50's. Hits include "Black Coffee" and "Mairzy Doats."
4.125 HOWARD, JOSEPH E. -- (2/12/1878-5/19/1961). Composer, author, actor, singer, producer, director. Boy soprano in vaudeville; wrote Broadway stage scores; also produced and directed on Broadway. Entertainer in night clubs, radio, TV. Hits include "Goodbye, My Lady Love" and "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now."
4.126 INGRAHAM, HERBERT -- (7/7/1883-8/24/1910) Music Director of touring theater companies. Led own orchestra. Staff composer for Shapiro Bernstein Publishing Co. Brother of Roy.
4.126 INGRAHAM, ROY -- (12/6/1893-?) Composer, author, singer. First song published at age 17. Had own orchestra; toured in vaudeville. Wrote for several motion pictures; radio broadcaster. Wrote special material for Sophie Tucher and others. Brother of Herbert.
4.17 JACOBS-BOND, CARRIE -- (8/1861-12/1946). Composer, lyricist, and music publisher. Called "the Riley of the Music World," her songs, such as "A Perfect Day," and "I Love You Truly," are beloved by many.
4.127 JENKINS, GORDON -- (5/12/1910-5/1/1984). Composer, author, conductor, arranger. Played organ in movie theater at age 10; quit high school to play piano in speakeasy. Pianist, arranger for leading bands; Broadway radio conductor. Grammy Award for arrangement of "It Was a Very Good Year" as recorded by Frank Sinatra. Hits include "P.S. I Love You" and "When a Woman Loves a Man."
4.128 JENTES, HARRY -- (8/28/1897-1/19/1958). Composer, pianist. Successes include "He May Be Old But He Has Young Ideas" and "Put Me to Sleep with an Old-Fashioned Melody."
4.18 JOHNSON, CHARLES L. -- (12/3/1876-12/28/1950). Composer and ragtime pianist. Known for his most popular ragtime piece, "Dill Pickles" (1906); also, piano pieces that evoked American Indian culture.
4.129 JONES, ISHAM -- (1/31/1894-10/19/1956). Composer, bandleader, pianist. Formed and led outstanding dance band, touring U.S. and Europe. Many radio appearances and recordings. Equally well known as composer. Two standards are "It Had to Be You" and "I'll See You in My Dreams."
4.19 KAHN, GUS -- (11/6/1886-10/8/1941). Lyricist. Writer of lyrical material for vaudeville performances and Hollywood film musicals. Collaborated with such leading composers as Donaldson, Gershwin, Romberg, Whiting, and Van Alstyne.
4.130 KALMAR, BERT -- (2/16/1884-9/18/1947). Lyricist, publisher. Worked in tent shows and vaudeville as a child. Wrote scores for Broadway and songs for movies; wrote screenplays. Hits include "I Wanna Be Loved by You," "Three Little Words," and "Who's Sorry Now?"
4.131 KASSEL, ART -- (1/18/1896-2/3/1965). Composer, author, vocalist, saxophonist, lyricist and bandleader. Early radio and TV appearances as bandleader after service in World War I. Composed his two theme songs, "Doodle Doo Doo" and "Hells Bells."
4.132 KENNEDY, HARRY -- (circa 1800-1894). Minstrel; ventriloquist who used two dummies simultaneously. Brother William H. Kennedy was his publisher and occassional collaborator.
4.133 KENNY, NICK -- (2/3/1895- ? ). Lyricist, newspaper reporter, produced early amateur radio show; radio editor of New York Daily Mirror. Successes include "Love Letters in the Sand" and "Gone Fishin'."
4.133 KENNY, CHARLES -- (6/23/1898- ? ). Composer, violinist, author. Collaborated with brother Nick.
4.20 KERN, JEROME -- (1/27/1885-11/11/1945). Composer. Considered the most prolific composer of Broadway musicals. He extended the popularity of the musical play form by introducing songs and themes, avoiding operatic styles, and using jazz rhythms and chords instead to characterize the dramatic demands of plot.
4.134 KING, ROBERT A. -- (9/20/1862-4/14/1932). Composer. Wrote under several noms de plume including Mary Earl ("Beautiful Ohio"), R. A. Wilson, and Mrs. Ravenhall. Staff composer for music publishers. Appeared in vaudeville. Hits include "I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream."
4.135 KIPLING, RUDYARD -- (12/30/1865-1/18/1936). Author, poet. Best remembered for his celebrations of British imperialism, his tales and poems of British soldiers in India and Burma, and his children's stories. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907.
4.136 KLICKMANN, F. HENRI -- (2/4/1885- ? ). Composer, pianist, violinist; arranger for Broadway musicals, music publishers, dance bands, and performers. Professional violinist, pianist, and accordianist. Successes include "Sing Me the Rosary" and "Sweet Hawaiian Moonlight."
4.137 KOEHLER, TED -- (7/14/1894-1/17/1973). Lyricist. Began music career as pianist for nickelodeon, silent film theaters. Wrote for Cotton Club, other stage shows, and films. Most successful collaboration with Harold Arlen ("Stormy Weather"). Also wrote "I Love a Parade" and "I've Got the World on a String."
4.138 KRAMER, ALEX -- (9/13/1893-8/25/1955). Composer, arranger; cellist in theater orchestras; arranger for vaudeville and muscial comedy singers. Compiled and arranged many music folios. Collaborated with wife, Joan Whitney. Hits include "High on a Windy Hill" and "Candy."
4.139 KUMMER, CLARE (Clare Rodman Beecher) -- (1/9/1888-4/21/1958). Composer, playwright. Wrote scores and librettos for Broadway. Successes include "Bluebird."
4.140 LAWNHURST, VEE -- (11/24/1905- 5/16/1992). Pianist, singer, composer. Arranged piano rolls. Original member of Roxy's Radio Gang. Successful songs include "Sunday Go to Meetin' Time."
4.141 LAWRENCE, JACK -- (4/7/1912- ? ). Composer, lyricist. Organized bands for the armed services. Wrote "Tenderly," and English Lyrics for "Ay, Ay, Ay" and "Cielito Lindo."
4.142 LEONARD, EDDIE, -- (10/18/1875-7/29/1941). Composer, author, singer, actor; professional baseball player. Performed in minstrel shows, sang in variety shows. Fought in the Spanish American War. Wrote "Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider."
4.143 LESLIE, EDGAR -- (12/31/1885-1/20/1976). Lyricist, author, publisher. Wrote special material for performers and films. Hits include "For Me and My Gal" and "Moon over Miami."
4.144 LEWIS, AL -- (4/18/1901-4/4/1967). Composer, lyricist; became a music publisher later in career. Hits include "Now's the Time to Fall in Love."
4.145 LEWIS, SAM M. -- (10/25/1885-11/22/1959). Lyricist. Started as runner in a brokerage house. Sang in cafes; wrote material for self and other performers, also for stage and movies. Hits include "Dinah," "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue," and "How Ya Gonna Keep' Em Down on the Farm?"
4.146 LIEBER, JERRY -- (4/25/1933- ). Lyricist. Grew up in Baltimore hearing R&B. Struggled with acting in Hollywood when met and teamed with Mike Stoller to write many hits, including "Searching."
4.147 LITTLE, JACK -- (5/28/1900-4/9/1956). Pianist, composer, lyricist, vocalist, bandleader. Had a popular radio porgram in 20's. Led a band in the 30's. Successes include "In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town."
4.148 LOESSER, FRANK -- (6/29/1910-7/28/1969). Composer, lyricist, publisher. Wrote songs for college shows and later for Army shows. Worked as newspaper reporter and caricaturist in vaudeville. Became leading writer for Broadway and Hollywood musicals. Founded own publishing company. Won Oscar and Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize. Among many hits are "Two Sleepy People" and "On a Slow Boat to China."
4.149 LOGAN, FREDERICK KNIGHT -- (10/15/1871-6/11/1928). Composer. Wrote sentimental ballads in collaboration with his mother, Viginia. Wrote "Missouri Waltz."
4.149 LOGAN, VIRGINIA K. -- (1800's). Mother of Frederick Knight Logan.
4.150 LOMBARDO, CARMEN -- (7/16/1903-4/17/71). Arranger and composer in brother Guy Lombardo's dance band for forty years. Played sax with heavy vibrato and sang most vocals.
4.151 LYMAN, ABE -- (8/4/1897-10/23/1957). Composer, author, singer. Led own dance orchestra, The Californians.
4.69 MacDONALD, BALLARD -- (10/15/1882-11/17/1935). Lyricist. Began writing material for vaudeville after attending Princeton. Lyricist, librettist for Broadway musicals.
4.152 MANCINI, HENRY -- (4/16/1924-). Composer. Very popular composer of songs and themes for film ("Moon River" and "The Days of Wine and Roses") and TV ("Peter Gunn" and "Mr Lucky"). Began career in Pittsburgh dance bands pre-WWII.
4.153 MARKS, EDWARD B. -- (11/28/1865-12/17/1945). Publisher. Started company with focus on popular music but added the more serious composers. Bought the Cohan Publishing Company; and was the agent for Polish and English companies. His own early song success was "The Little Lost Child."
4.154 MASTERS, FRANKIE -- (4/12/1904- ). Composer, bandleader. Led hotel and ballroom bands in New York and Chicago; on the West Coast circuit in 30's and 40's; TV shows in the 50's. Active in the midwest into the 70's.
4.155 McGLENNON, FELIX -- ...
4.156 McHUGH, JIMMY -- (7/10/1894-5/23/69 ). Composer. Early fame with score for BLACKBIRDS OF 1928. Popular composer for movies during 30's-40's. Important collaboration with many songwriters, especially Dorothy Fields. Hits include "I'm in the Mood for Love" and "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street."
4.157 McKINLEY, MABEL -- (1879?-6/7/1937) Pseudonym: Vivian Grey. Daughter of President McKinley's youngest brother, Abner. Married Dr. Hermanus Baer of Reading, PA.
4.21 MERCER, JOHNNY -- (11/18/1909-6/25/1976). Composer and lyricist with a gift for incorporating southern vernacular speech and images of country settings into songs. Wrote lyrics for Broadway musicals and words and music to many popular songs.
4.158 MERRILL, BLANCHE -- (7/23/1895-10/5/1966). Author, lyricist. Wrote special material for Eva Tanguay, Fanny Brice, and other prominent singers; also wrote for musicals. Successes include "Jazz Baby."
4.159 MERRILL, BOB -- (5/17/1921- 2/17/1998). Composer, lyricist. Leading writer of novelty songs in the 50's, including "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window" and "If I Knew You Were Comin' Id've Baked a Cake."
4.145 MEYER, GEORGE W. -- (1/1/1884-8/28/1959). Composer of many popular songs during the first half of the 20th Century, including "For Me and My Gal," "Tuck Me to Sleep in My Old Tucky Home," and "Sittin in the Corner."
4.160 MILLARD, HARRISON -- (11/27/1829-9/10/1895). Composer. Singer early in career, studied in Italy and toured England and the Continent. Returned to U.S.; wounded in the Civil War. Wrote about 350 songs and many church works. Set UNCLE TOM'S CABIN to music.
4.161 MILLARD, MRS. P. -- ...
4.73 MILLER, NED -- (8/2/1899-1/26/1990)
4.22 MILLS, KERRY -- (2/1/1869-12/5/1948). Composer and music publisher. Specialized in ragtime songs and instrumental pieces. His ragtime cakewalks and the non-ragtime piece, "Meet Me in St. Louis," popularized by Judy Garland, were particularly successful.
4.162 MOHR, HALSEY -- ...
4.163 MOORE, THOMAS -- (6/28/1779-2/26/1852). Irish poet, composer, lyricist, musician.Provided words and music to a selection of Irish songs and did much to kindle an interest in little known Irish tunes. As poet, he appealed to a wide range of tastes.
4.23 MONACO, JAMES V. -- (1/13/1885-12/17/1945). Composer. Earned reputation as a Tin Pan Alley composer playing rag music in cabarets and nightclubs. Contributed several song hits to Broadway and Hollywood musical productions, among which is the song, "You Made Me Love You," made famous by Judy Garland in 1937.
4.164 MORGAN, CAREY -- (12/25/1885-1/6/1960). Composer. Wrote special material for vaudeville and scores for Broadway. Hits include "Rain" and "My Own Iona."
4.165 MORGAN, RUSS -- (4/19/1904-8/8/1969). Bandleader, composer. Arranger for Victor Herbert, Fletcher Henderson, Louis Armstrong, Chick Webb, among many others. Developed muted wha-wha trombone style with Freddy Martin. Wrote songs for Cotton Club Revues. Musical driector for Brunswick Records.
4.166 MORSE, THEODORA -- (7/11/1890-11/10/1953). Lyricist. Wrote under pseudonyms D. A. Esrom, Dorothy Terriss, and Dolly Morse. Most famous songs written in collaboration with husband Theodore Morse: "Three O'Clock in the Morning" and "My Wonderful One."
4.167 MORSE, THEODORE -- (4/13/1873-5/24/1924). Composer. Collaborated with several lyricists including his wife, Theodora. Successes include "M-O-T-H-E-R" and "Blue Bell."
4.168 MUIR, LEWIS F. -- (1884-1/19/1950). Composer. Ragtime pianist. Hits include "Take Me to That Swanee Shore" and "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee."
4.169 NELSON, STEVE -- ( ? ). Hits include "Frosty the Snowman."
4.169 NELSON, EDWARD G. -- (3/18/1885-3/30/1969). Composer, conductor; pianist in nightclubs and cabarets; orchestra leader. Wrote material for vaudeville and songs for movies. Successes include "Peggy O'Neil."
4.169 NELSON, EDWARD G., JR. -- (3/26/1916-). Composer, author. Served with Special Services during WWII.
4.24 NEVIN, ETHELBERT -- (11/25/1862-2/17/1901). Composer. Wrote songs and short piano pieces, sometimes overly sentimental but expressive of gentler and amorous moods.
4.170 NOBLE, RAY -- (12/17/1903- ). Composer, pianist, bandleader. Established as outstanding leader of dance bands in England and then in USA after emigrating. Radio work including Burns & Allen show. Successes include "Good Night Sweetheart" and "The Very Thought of You."
4.54 NORWORTH, JACK -- (1/5/1879-9/1/1959). Vocalist, Composer, lyricist. Entertainer in vaudeville and Broadway; blackface comedian in minstrel shows. Performed and collaborated with wife Nora Bayes. Their most famous song "Shine on Harvest Moon." Wrote lyrics to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."
4.171 OLMAN, ABE -- (12/20/1888-1/4/1984). Composer, publisher. Started as a song demonstrator; established LaSalle Music Company. Wrote for early movie musicals. Hits include "Oh, Johnny Oh" and "Down Among the Sheltering Palms."
4.172 PALEY, HERMAN -- (5/5/1879-11/4/1955). Composer, publisher, radio executive. Studied music professionally. Worked as staff composer, then executive with music publishing companies. Director of New York Stage Door Canteen shows; talent scout and composer for Fox Films.
4.173 PARISH, MITCHELL -- (7/10/1900-4/2/1993). Lyricist. Attended Columbia and NYU. Staff writer for music publisher; began writing lyrics in 20's. Among the most famous songs are "Deep Purple," "Moonlight Serenade," and "Star Dust."
4.174 PETRIE, H. W. -- (3/4/1857-5/25/1925). Composer, vocalist. Performed in minstrel shows. Successes include "Asleep in the Deep" and "I Dont Want to Play in Your Yard."
4.175 PIANTADOSI, AL -- (7/18/1884-4/8/1955). Composer, pianist; accompanist in vaudeville. Popularized ragtime when touring US, Europe, and Australia. Worked for NY publishing house. Hits include "Pal of My Cradle Days."
4.25 PORTER, COLE A. -- (6/9/1891-10/15/1964). Composer and lyricist. One of the most thoroughly trained popular songwriters, whose theatrically elegant, sophisticated, and musically complex songs contributed to America's most popular music of the 20th century.
4.176 POWELL, W. C. -- (Pseudonym: Polla)
4.114 REVEL, HARRY -- (12/21/1905-11/3/1958). Composer and pianist. Born in London, had early classical piano training. Moved to USA and accompanied Mack Gordon in vaudeville. They started writing for Ziegfeld but were in Hollywood by 1933. The team broke up in 1939. He founded Realm Music Co., a publishing house, in 1949. Successes include "Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?"
4.177 ROBERTS, LEE S. -- (11/12/1884-9/10/1949). Composer, pianist. Worked in piano manufacturing business. Developed QRS artist-recorded music rolls and catalogs. Pianist on radio. Hits include "A Little Birch Canoe and You" and "Patches."
4.178 ROBINSON, J. RUSSEL -- (7/8/1892-9/30/1963). Composer, lyricist, pianist. Began performing and composing as a teenager. Played with Original Dixieland Band; wrote songs for London revues; made piano rolls; accompanied singers. Pianist and vocal coach for radio show CHILDRENS HOUR. Hits include "Margie."
4.179 ROBISON, WILLARD -- (9/18/1894-6/24/1968). Composer, lyricist, pianist, vocalist, bandleader. Radio performer most active in 20's and 30's. Formed Deep River Orchestra; often featured African American folk music and spirituals. Radio shows "Deep River Music" and "Plantation Echoes." Hits include "Cottage for Sale."
4.14 RODGERS, RICHARD -- (6/26/1902-12/30/1979). Composer. Collaborated with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II, whose partnership led to a series of musicals that enjoyed unprecedented artistic, critical, and financial success in both Hollywood and Broadway in the 1930's and 1940's.
4.26 ROMBERG, SIGMUND -- (7/29/1887-11/9/1951). Composer and conductor. Composed musical scores in the traditional style of the operetta of the 1920s. Proved to be more flexible than rival Rudolph Friml in adapting to the new tastes and musical styles emerging in American music of the 1930's.
4.180 ROONEY, PAT -- (7/4/1880-9/9/1962). Composer, vocalist. Dancer-singer in vaudeville and on Broadway, first with sister, then with wife Marion Brent. Successes include "You Be My Ootsie, I'll Be Your Tootsie."
4.27 ROOT, FREDERICK W. -- (6/13/1846-?). Composer and music teacher. He was the son of George Frederick Root. One of the country's most active and successful singing teachers, F. W. Root's School of Singing describes the first of his many singing methods.
4.27 ROOT, GEORGE F. -- (8/30/1820-8/6/1895). Composer and music educator. Pseudonym: G. Friedrich Wurzel. Best known for his songs of sentiment and patriotism published during the Civil War era. Also composed over 30 hymns and gospel songs rivaling Stephen Foster in number and popular success.
4.28 ROSE, BILLY -- (9/6/1899-2/10/1966). Lyricist and producer. Provided the lyrics to some of the most successful popular songs of the 1930's and 1940's. Also produced several Broadway musicals and perhaps known more for his editing, polishing, and promoting of songs than as a lyricist.
4.181 ROSE, VINCENT -- (6/13/1880-5/20/1944). Composer, pianist, vocalist, bandleader. Early training in Italy. Formed orchestra 1904. Successes include "Whispering."
4.182 ROSENFELD, MONROE H. -- (1861-12/13/1918). Pseudonyms: F. Heiser and F. Belasco. Composer, journalist. Credited with coining the term 'Tin Pan Alley.' Wrote more than 1,000 songs.
4.183 ROSSITER, WILL -- (3/15/1867-6/10/1954). Composer, publisher. Pseudonyms: Cleve Williams and W. R. Williams. Immigrated to USA from England in 1881. Appeared at Tony Pastor's. Very successful publisher of popular music; initiated innovative marketing techniques for sheet music. Wrote "I'd Love to Live in Loveland with a Girl Like You."
4.130 RUBY, HARRY -- (1/27/1895-2/23/1974). Composer. Professional pianist at age 16; song plugger for Tin Pan Alley publishers; vaudeville performer. Had many collaborators; partnership with Bert Kalmar produced many hits including score for Marx Brothers' ANIMAL CRACKERS; wrote theme for TV series THE REAL McCOYS.
4.130 RUBY, HERMAN -- (3/15/1891-7/31/1959). Composer. Older brother of Harry Ruby. Hits include "My Sunny Tennessee" and "Cecelia."
4.184 RUSSELL, HENRY -- (12/24/1812-12/8/1900). English. Composer, pianist; sang with children's opera troupe; studied composition in Italy. Came to US, worked as organist and choirmaster, then toured as one of the few major singers of his time to present unassisted entertainment. Wrote "The Old Arm Chair" and "Woodman! Spare That Tree!"
4.185 SANDERS, JOE -- (10/15/1896-5/15/1965). Composer, pianist, vocalist, arranger, bandleader. Co-leader of the Coon-Sanders Orchestra in 20's and 30's. Known as The Old Lefthander from early days as amateur baseball pitcher. Hits include "Got a Great Big Date with a Little Bitta Girl."
4.186 SCHWARTZ, JEAN -- (11/4/1878-11/30/1956). Composer, pianist. Prolific leading composer from turn of century. Pianist in cafes, publishing houses. Teamed with William Jerome on Broadway shows and performed with him in vaudeville. Successes include "Hello Central, Give Me No Man's Land."
4.140 SEYMOUR, TOT -- ( 10/23/1889-8/31/1966). Lyricist of the 30's. Worked for New York publishing house. Wrote special material for Fanny Brice, Belle Baker, Sophie Tucker, Mae West; also songs and scripts for raido shows.
4.187 SHAND, TERRY -- (10/1/1904- 11/11/1988). Composer, lyricist. Pianist in silent movie theaters early in career. Pianist/vocalist in 30's; later had own band. Hits include "Dance with a Dolly."
4.188 SHAY, LARRY -- (10/10/1897- 2/22/1988). Composer, arranger, pianist. WWI military service. Musical director for MGM; program director for NBC radio in New York. Hits include "Get Out and Get Under the Moon."
4.144 SHERMAN, AL -- (9/7/1897-9/15/1973). Composer, lyricst. As pianist provided mood music for silent movies; pianist for publishing house. Successes include "On a Dew-Dew-Dewy Day."
4.144 SILVER, ABNER -- (12/28/1899- 11/24/1966). Composer, lyricist, pianist. Dance band pianist; worked for publishing house. Song publisher. Composed many popular songs from 1920 into 60's, including songs for Elvis Presley movies JAILHOUSE ROCK, KING CREOLE, and G.I. BLUES.
4.189 SIMONS, SEYMOUR B. -- (1/14/1896-2/12/1949). Composer, lyricist, bandleader. Wrote Michigan Union operas while attending the University. In AAF during WWI, and with USO in WWII. Wrote material for revues in London and Paris early 20's, then led dance band in US. Later record company executive. Hits include "Breezin Along with the Breeze" and "All of Me."
4.190 SKYLAR, SUNNY -- (11/11/1913- ). Composer, lyricist, author; band singer with Abe Lyman, Paul Whiteman, and others; also worked as a single act. Wrote band material for Betty Hutton and others. Hits include "Besame Mucho."
4.191 SMITH, HARRY B. -- (12/28/1860-1/2/1936). Lyricist. Librettist-lyricist of Broadway musicals 1887-1932, one of most prolific. Brother of Robert B. Smith. Collaborated with DeKoven on first American comic opera. Music and drama critic for Chicago newspapers. Adaptations of French and German operettas. Successes include "The Sheik of Araby."
4.192 SMITH, LEE OREAN -- (1874-?)
4.191 SMITH, ROBERT B. -- (6/4/1875-11/6/1951). Lyricist. Reporter for Brooklyn Eagle. Publicity for Casino Theater, wrote material for shows there. Collaborated with brother Robert B. Smith in Broadway shows. Adapted some stage shows to musicals. Successes include "All the World Loves a Lover."
4.193 SNYDER, TED -- (8/15/1881-7/16/1965). Composer, lyricst, pianist. Early career pianist in cafes and publishing houses. Hired Irving Berlin as staff pianist for his publishing company; collaborated in early songs; Berlin later became partner. Successes include "Whos Sorry Now?"
4.194 SOLMAN, ALFRED -- (5/6/1868-11/15/1937)
4.29 SOUSA, JOHN PHILIP -- (11/6/1854-3/6/1932). Composer, bandleader, and writer. Known as the "March King" and as the most important figure in the history of American bands and band music. His contributions to band brass instrumentation includes the sousaphone and a bass tuba with bells, built in the 1890's.
4.195 SPENCER, HERBERT -- (5/27/1878-8/26/1944). Composer, arranger, singer. Studied voice with Enrico Caruso. In vaudeville for 12 years. Accompanist and arranger for prominent singers. Successes include "There's Egypt in Your Dreamy Eyes."
4.196 SPINA, HAROLD -- (6/21/1906-7/18/1997). Composer, lyricist. Pianist, arranger for publishing house; wrote special material. Founder-President of Telefilm. Director and producer for record companies. Hits include "Annie Doesnt Live Here Anymore."
4.197 STEPT, SAM -- (9/18/1897-12/1/1964). Composer, lyricist, bandleader. Pianist for publishing house. Vaudevile accompanist for Mae West and Jack Norworth among others. Led dance band in early 20's. Songwriting mainly in 30's and 40's. Hits include "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" and "That's My Weakness Now."
4.30 STERLING, ANDREW B. -- (1874-1955). Composer and lyricist. Collaborated extensively with the popular Tin Pan Alley songwriter, Harry Von Tilzer, providing the lyrics to some of the most popular songs, including so-called coon songs of the early 1900's as "One Sunday Afternoon" and "Down Where The Cotton Blossoms Grow."
4.153 STERN, JOSEPH W. -- (1/11/1870-3/31/1934)
4.146 STOLLER, MIKE -- (3/13/1933-). Composer. Early piano lessons in New York. Moved to Los Angeles and met Jerry Lieber. First hits were "Kansas City" and "Hound Dog."
4.198 STRAIGHT, CHARLEY -- (1/16/1891-9/21/ or 10/17/1940). Composer, lyricist, pianist, bandleader. Early career in vaudeville. Leader of band in 30's. Musical director of company producing player-piano rolls. Hits include "Funny, Dear, What Love Can Do."
4.31 STYNE, JULE K. -- (12/31/1905- ). Composer. Collaborated with Sammy Cahn on several Broadway musicals. Became one of the most prolific theatrical composers of the post-WWII era, creating scores for over 20 musicals performed by such artists as Carol Channing, Mary Martin, Ethel Merman, and Barbra Streisand.
4.32 SULLIVAN, SIR ARTHUR S. -- (5/13/1842-11/22/1900). English composer and conductor. Composed comic operas whose music, written to librettos by W.S. Gilbert, represents a peculiarly English style of operetta that achieved exceptional renown in both England and the United States. One of the most widely popular of all British composers.
4.199 TAYLOR, TELL -- ...
4.200 THORNTON, JAMES -- (12/5/1861-7/27/1938). Composer, performer. Worked as a singing waiter, then toured in vaudeville, often performing with wife, Bonnie. Successes include "When You Were Sweet Sixteen."
4.201 TIERNEY, HARRY -- (5/21/1890-3/22/1965). Composer, pianist. Toured US and abroad as concert pianist. Worked for Remick publishing house. Wrote scores for several Broadway shows. Hits include "Alice Blue Gown."
4.202 TOBIAS, CHARLES -- (8/15/1898-7/7/1970). Lyricist, composer, vocalist. Prolific songwriter mid-20's into 50's. Collaborated with brothers Harry and Henry. Early career sang in vaudeville, for publishing houses, and on radio. Formed publishing company in 1923. Hits include "Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer."
4.202 TOBIAS, FRED -- (3/25/1928-). Lyricist. Son of Charles Tobias. Wrote special material for Carol Burnett and Julius Monk, among others. Made Broadway debut as co-lyricist of Ellington's POUSSE CAFE. Wrote lyrics for TV specials THE GIFT OF THE MAGI and QUINCY. Songs recorded by Patti Page, Tony Bennett, Steve Lawrence, Elvis Presley and others.
4.202 TOBIAS, HARRY -- (9/11/1895-12/15/1994). Lyricist. Brother Charles among several collaborators; most songwriting in 30's and 40's. Wrote special material for movies. Hits include "It's a Lonesome Old Town."
2.202 TOBIAS, HENRY -- (4/23/1905 - 12/5/1997). Lyricist, composer pianist, vocalist. Wrote for vaudeville and night club performers and for radio. Pianist, singer and disc jockey; TV producer for CBS. Collaborated with brothers Charles and Harry. Directed and produced shows for summer stock and resort hotels. Hits include "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?"
4.33 VAN ALSTYNE, EGBERT -- (3/5/1878-7/9/1951). Composer and lyricist. Best known for his collaboration with lyricist Harry H. Williams, with whom he wrote songs exploiting Indian themes and the popular "In The Shade of the Old Apple Tree." Later joined forces with lyricist Gus Kahn.
4.203 VINCENT, NAT -- (11/6/1889-6/6/1979). Pianist on vaudeville circuit. One of radio's "Happy Chappies." Remained active in later years despite total blindness. Wrote "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles."
4.34 VON TILZER, ALBERT -- (3/29/1878-10/1/1956). Composer, lyricist, and publisher. Wrote some of the most popular songs of the early 20th century, and contributed songs to a number of films and Broadway productions. Like brother Harry, Albert's songs incorporate dance rhythms and slang idioms typical of Tin Pan Alley that have since become standards.
4.35 VON TILZER, HARRY -- (7/8/1872-1/10/1946). Composer, lyricist, performer, and publisher. Wrote and published over 2,000 of his own songs and other sentimental and moralistic ballads. Also wrote so-called coon songs for blackfaced minstrels and vaudeville acts of the period. Plugged and published many of the Gershwin and Berlin songs that later became famous.
4.204 WALLACE, WILLIAM VINCENT -- (3/11/1812-10/12/1865). Irish composer, pianist, violinist. Debuted as composer at age 22. Moved to Australia, then various North and South American cities; finally settled in London where he had his great success with MARITANA.
4.36 WARREN, HARRY -- (12/24/1893-9/22/1951). Composer, lyricist. Wrote songs for Broadway reviews, including several co-authored and produced with Billy Rose. Considered one of the most successful composers of American films. The wide dissemination of his music through the film medium made him one of the most influential of all 20th-century songwriters.
4.205 WASHINGTON, NED -- (8/15/1901- 12/20/1996). Lyricist. Early career in vaudeville as M.C. and agent, and writing special material. Popular lyricist from late 20's into 60's; wrote for Broadway shows and movies, including title songs. Hits include "High Noo n" and "When You Wish Upon a Star."
4.206 WAYNE, BERNIE -- ( ? ). Composed "There She Is," the Miss America Pageant Theme Song.
4.207 WAYNE, SID -- (1/26/1923-). Composer, author. Wrote songs and comedy material for TV. Popular songs include "Nintey- nine Years" and "Two Different Worlds."
4.208 WEBSTER, JOSEPH PHILBRICK -- (2/18/1819-1/18/1875). Composer and performer. Toured in concerts of popular music. Managed a Connecticut troupe, The Euphonians, and composed many of their successful songs. Public opposition to slavery forced several moves. Published over 400 songs, ballads, patriotic songs and hymns.
4.209 WEBSTER, PAUL FRANCIS -- (12/20/1907- 3/22/1984). Lyricist. After college became seaman, dancing instructor. To Hollywood mid-30's for movie work. In 50's and 60's wrote many movie and title songs; had several Academy Award nominations and awards. Hits include "Giant" and "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing."
4.210 WEIL, KURT -- (3/2/1900-4/3/1950). German. Composer, arranger, pianist. Very successful career in Germany; left in 1933 with wife Lotte Lenya, first to Paris then to US in 1935. Composed many Broadway musicals in the 40's including KNICKERBOCKER HOLIDAY ("September Song") and THE THREEPENNY OPERA, first produced in Germany.
4.37 WENDLING, PETER -- (6/6/1888-4/8/1974). Composer, lyricist, and pianist. Wrote several hit songs of the post-WWII era in partnership with Bert Kalman and Edgar Leslie. Most popular song: "Oh, What a Pal Was Mary."
4.38 WENRICK, PERCY -- (1/23/1887-3/17/1952). Composer, lyricist, pianist, and singer. Best known for his pre-WWII popular songs such as "Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet," "Moonlight Bay," and others, that became favorites of barbershop quartets and sing-alongs. Known in Tin Pan Alley as "The Joplin Kid".
4.39 WHITING, RICHARD A. -- (11/12/1892-2/10/1938). Composer and lyricist. Among the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1920s and 1930s. He was one of the first important Hollywood composers to began writing music for silent film and later for sound productions such as the very successful movie, HOLLYWOOD HOTEL.
4.138 WHITNEY, JOAN -- (6/26/1914-7/12/1990). Composer, lyricist, vocalist. Own radio show; sang in clubs and hotels. Formed publishing firm with husband Alex Kramer. Hits include "Candy" and "High on a Windy Hill."
4.211 WILLIAMS, GUS -- (7/19/1847-1/16/1915). Composer, actor, singer. Performed at Tony Pastor's before playing legitimate leading roles. Toured in vaudeville.
4.212 WOOODBURY, ISAAC BAKER -- (10/23/1819-10/26/1858). Composer. Studied in London, Paris. Taught music; was conductor, editor, writer. Compiled music collections. Popular songs include "Be Kind to the Loved Ones at Home."
4.213 WOODS, HARRY -- (11/4/1896-1/14/1970). Composer, lyricist. Pianist and singer while student at Harvard. Wrote for English movies mid-30's. Hits include "When the Red, Red Red Robin Comes Bob-Bob-Bobbin' Along" and "Side by Side."
4.214 WRUBEL, ALLIE -- (1/15/1905-12/13/1973). Coposer, lyricist, bandleader. Saxman in bands; led own band; theater manager. Wrote for Warner Brothers, then Disney. Hits include "Gone with the Wind" and "Zip-a Dee-Doo-Dah."
4.40 YELLEN, JACK -- (7/6/1892-4/17/1991 ). Lyricist. Permanent lyricist for Tin Pan Alley songwriter, Milton Ager. Also wrote special material for entertainer Sophie Tucker for over 20 years. A famous song by the Yellen/Ager combination was "I Wonder What's Become of Sally." "Happy Days Are Here Again" was another great hit.
4.41 YOUMANS, VINCENT M. -- (9/27/1898-4/5/1946). Composer. Wrote and produced three successful Broadway musicals. Published fewer than 100 songs, but 18 of these were considered standards by ASCAP, including "Tea For Two," "Take A Chance," and "I Want To Be Happy."
4.145 YOUNG, JOE -- ...
4.215 YOUNG, VICTOR -- (b. Chicago, 8/8/1900-11/11/1956). Composer, violinist, conductor. Worked in radio and theater as violinist, arranger, conductor. Wrote over 200 scores for movies, including SHANE. Song hits include "Stella by Starlight" and "Sweet Sue."
4.216 YOUNG, VICTOR -- (b. Bristol, Tennessee, 4/9/1889-9/2/1968). Pianist and composer. Studied and toured in Europe. Accompanist to prominent singers. Music director in Thomas A. Edison's Experimental Laboratory. Composed for about 300 movies including some of the earliest sound productions.
4.217 ZAMECNIK, JOHN S. -- (5/14/1872-6/13/1953). Composer. Classical training included time under Antonin Dvorak. Violinist in Pittsburgh Orchestra under Victor Herbert. Wrote operettas.
Materials in Other Organizations:
Sam DeVincent Collection of American Sheet Music, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
This collection contains duplicates of materials in the Smithsonian collection, as well as materials acquired by Mr. DeVincent after the donation to the Smithsonian. The phonograph records described above were transferred to the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History:
Donald J. Stubblebine Collection of Musical Theater and Motion Picture Sheet Music and Reference Material, 1843-2010 (AC1211)
Forms Part Of:
Series 4: Songwriters forms part of the
Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music
.
An ongoing, updated list of DeVincent topical series is available via the Smithsonian finding aid portal.
Provenance:
This collection was purchased by the Smithsonian Institution in 1988 from Sam and Nancy Lee DeVincent.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Citation:
The Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
The papers document the life and work of William R. Hutton, a civil engineer during the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Materials include diaries, notebooks, correspondence, letterpress copy book, printed materials, publications, specifications, photographs, drawings, and maps that document the construction of several architectural and engineering projects during this period. Most notable are the records containing information related to the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Hudson River Tunnel, the Washington Aqueduct, the Kanawha River Canal, and the Washington/Harlem River Bridge. There are also several records about railroads in the state of Maryland, the District of Columbia and elsewhere, including the Western Maryland Railroad, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Colorado Midlands Railway, Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad, the Northern Adirondack Railroad, and the Pittsfield and Williamstown Railroad. The records can be used to track the progression of these projects, and engineering innovation during the late 1800s to the early 1900s.
Scope and Contents:
These papers document William R. Hutton's professional career as a civil engineer and his personal affairs. Although the personal materials in the collection provide insight into a man and a family that have been largely forgotten by biographers, it is the professional materials that are perhaps the most interesting to researchers. They provide a compelling narrative of the push to the West that occurred in 19th century America and the internal improvements movement typified by the American System plan proposed by Henry Clay. Perhaps best remembered for the high tariffs that accompanied it, the American System plan was also concerned with the advancement of internal improvements, such as canals, that would unite the East and West in communication, travel, and trade. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal can be seen as one of the products of this movement (1) and was in fact initially heralded as the first great work of national improvement (2).
The papers in this collection that are related to the construction and maintenance of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal are an invaluable documentation of efforts during this turbulent time to unite the eastern and western United States. They provide details of the canal from its initial construction to its decline with the incline at Georgetown project. The canal also serves as an example, or perhaps a warning against, federal involvement in state improvement efforts as it was the first project to be directly funded and staffed by the federal government (3). The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by then President John Quincy Adams whose toast, "to the canal: perseverance," (4) became an ironic omen, as construction of the canal took over twenty-two years to be completed. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal materials can be used as a case study for the problems encountered during canal building (5). These problems are best typified in the collection by the papers relating to the Georgetown incline. This project was headed by Hutton and was plagued with construction problems, boating accidents, and obsolescence from the moment of its completion. Despite these issues, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal remains a structure of historical significance in America. As the third and last effort to construct an all-water route to the West (6), the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is an important artifact of 19th century attitudes and efforts towards commerce, trade, travel, and communication between the eastern and western United States. Other significant canals and water structures represented in the collection are the Kanawha Canal, the Washington Aqueduct, and a large collection of materials relating to the Kingston Water Supply (New York).
One of the most significant internal improvements made during this time was the railroad. The legal conflicts that arose between the canal companies and railroads is also represented in the materials relating to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. These materials specifically deal with the legal conflict's between the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The development and construction of the railroads is also represented in the materials documenting the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad, the Northern Adirondack Railroad, the Western Maryland Railroad, the Mexican National Railroad, the Colorado Midlands Railroad, and the Columbia Railroad.
The collection also demonstrates the spirit of innovation and invention that was prevalent in the engineering field in the nineteenth century. Joseph Gies writes, "...one of the distinctive characteristics of the great nineteenth century engineering adventurers was their readiness to gamble on the translation of theory into practice" (7). In this quote, he is speaking of the civil engineer Dewitt Clinton Haskins and a project that truly encapsulates engineering invention in the nineteenth century, the Hudson River Tunnel. Responding to the increase in the population of the City of New York in the late nineteenth century from sixty thousand to three and a half million, the Hudson River Tunnel was originally devised as a way to alleviate traffic and to transport train passengers directly across the Hudson River (8). Beginning with records dating from 1881 to 1901, the Hutton papers can be used to document not only the advances in engineering during this time but also the costs of progress. Haskins' initial efforts to build the tunnel using submerged air pressurized caissons were marked by failure and in some cases fatalities. Workers on the tunnel often suffered from what came to be known as "caisson disease" or "the bends," caused by the immense forces of compression and decompression experienced while working in the tunnels (9). This problem was so prevalent that as construction progressed the rate of worker deaths caused by "the bends" rose to twenty-five percent (10). Materials in the collection document worker complaints and deaths resulting from this disease as well as providing a technical record of the construction of the tunnel. The highlight of the materials relating to the Hudson River Tunnel is an album that contains photographs of workers in the tunnel and a detailed daily report of the construction progress on the tunnel that was maintained by Hutton's assistant, Walton Aims. The first hand account in these reports provides insight not only into the construction of the tunnel, but also the problems encountered.
Another project featured in the Hutton collection that was devised in response to the population explosion in the City of New York in the nineteenth century is the Harlem River Bridge, or as it is now known, the Washington Bridge. Known as one of the longest steel arch bridges of its time, the Harlem River Bridge also represents that spirit of invention and innovation that was prevalent in the civil engineering field during the nineteenth century. The collection provides an invaluable resource for those wishing to track the construction of the bridge from early concept drawings and proposals to finalized plans. Also present are photographs of the construction and workers. Societal response to the bridge in the form of newspaper and magazine clippings help to create the narrative of the Washington Bridge, and these are supplemented by correspondence from the builders, suppliers, and planners.
This collection also includes diaries, 1866-1901; letterpress copybooks, 1858-1901; correspondence on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Hudson River Tunnel, Washington Bridge over the Harlem River, and Maryland and Colorado railroads, 1861-1901, and on Hutton's financial and real estate affairs, 1835-1921; construction photographs of the Harlem River, Cairo, Poughkeepsie, Niagara bridges and the Hudson River Tunnel, Washington Aqueduct, and Capitol Dome (in the form of albumen, cyanotype, salted paper print); data and drawings; rolled land profile drawings; canal notes, 1828-1892; Hudson River Tunnel construction reports, 1889-1891; publications, drawings, and maps of railroad routes; pamphlets and reprints on hydraulic works and water supply; road, railway, bridge, and hydraulic construction specifications, 1870-1900; drawings (linen, oil cloth, and heavy drawing paper), and blueprints; account books, 1891-1899; and plans, drawings, field notebooks, and publications on American and European construction projects, especially in Maryland, New York, and France; personal correspondence detailing his role as executor for the estates of Benjamin H. Hutton, Joseph Hutton, Annie Theller, and the Countess H. De Moltke-Hvitfeldt and his relationships with his children, siblings, cousins, and colleagues, 1850-1942.
Materials are handwritten, typed, and printed.
Special note should be made that any materials dated after the year 1901 were added to the collection by another creator who is unidentified. It can be speculated that professional materials added after this date were contributed by his brother and colleague Nathanial Hutton or his son Frank Hutton. Personal materials contributed after this date may have been added by his wife, daughters, or other members of his extended family.
Series 1, Letterpress Copybooks, 1858-1901, consists of twenty seven letterpress copybooks containing correspondence between Hutton and other engineers, architects, and building suppliers. The letterpress copybooks in this series have been arranged chronologically. The books involve a process by which ink is transferred through direct contact with the original using moisture and pressure in a copy press. The majority of the correspondence is business- related. Some letterpress copybooks are devoted to specific projects such as the Washington/Harlem River Bridge, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad, Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The letterpress copybooks provide a record of correspondence written by Hutton, which makes it distinctive from the other correspondence in the collection. Most of the other correspondence has Hutton as recipient.
The letterpress copybooks also document Hutton's various residences throughout his life and provide a glimpse into the civil engineering profession at the time by demonstrating how engineers shared ideas and comments about projects. This can be supplemented with the printed materials in the collection as many of the authors also appear in the correspondence. Other topics covered in the letterpress copybooks include business reports (specifically the report of the president and directors of the Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad), records of people and companies involved in projects, pasted in engineering sketches, engineering specifications and notes, travel expenses and estimates, construction histories and progress, legal issues with family estates, tax information, Colorado Railroad, payment certificate schedules, St. Paul Railroad, personal correspondence, title guarantees, Hudson River Tunnel, financial matters, real estate matters, insurance information, sketches and drawings, supply lists, cost estimates, the Memorial Bridge, Coffin Valve Company, engineering expenses, engineering calculations, payroll notes for Kingston Water Supply, proposals, account information, Hutton Park, reservoirs, contract drafts, French Society of Civil Engineers, inspection results (specifically Piedmont Bridge), land descriptions, damage reports, Morse Bridge, Illinois Central Railroad, North Sea Canal, moveable dams, iron works, site histories, Potomac Lock and Dock Company, Kanawha River canal (lock quantities, specifications, payroll information), Pennsylvania Canal, and bills for services.
Series 2, Professional Correspondence, 1861-1901, consists of correspondence that relates to Hutton's architectural and engineering projects. This series is further subdivided into two subseries: Project Correspondence and General Correspondence. Subseries 1, Project Correspondence, 1876-1899, correspondence is divided by project and arranged alphabetically. Subseries 2, General Correspondence, 1861-1901, is arranged chronologically. Both series contain handwritten and typed letters. Some letters are on letterpress copybook pages and are most likely copies. Some materials are in French and Spanish. Special note should be made that this series does not contain all of the professional correspondence in the collection. Some correspondence has been separated according to project and placed in Series 8, Professional Projects, 1830-1965, in order to make it easier for researchers to access materials related to those subjects.
Subseries 1, professional correspondence topics include comparisons between construction projects (specifically comparisons of the Kanawha River Canal to other canals), supply lists, location recommendations, sketches, construction plans and modifications, bills for supplies and works, leaks in the gates, cost estimates, Brooklyn Water Supply, use of lake storage (Ramapo Water Supply), water supply to states and counties, damages to water supply pipes, estimates of water quantities, responses to construction reports, legal issues related to projects, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and payment for services.
Subseries 2, general correspondence topics include employment opportunities, committee meetings and elections, land surveys, sketches, engineering plans and ideas, work on projects, dismissal from projects, notes on supplies, Washington Aqueduct, construction progress, land purchases, Civil War, Jones Falls, cost of water pumps, steam drills, lots divisions and prices, repairs, report of the engineering bureau, tidewater connection at Annapolis, bridge construction, construction costs, statement of vessels that entered and cleared Baltimore, technical questions from colleagues, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, supply costs, letters of introduction, requests for reference, changes to plans and designs, survey reports, St. Andrew's lot, Canal Coal Company, publication process, American Society of Civil Engineers and its members, responses to project inquiries, Graving Dock gross revenue, job offers, specifications, trade figures, contracts, water levels, appointment dates and times, moveable dams, proposals for membership, salaries, Piedmont Coal Lands, maps, land profiles, Washington Bridge, board payments, Nicaragua Canal, Grant Coal Company, statistics, engineering notes, Hartford Bridge, water pressures, coal deposits, Colorado Coal, pipe lines, reservoirs, boat costs for canals, floods, bridges, letters of resignation, engines, Ruxton Viaduct, Colorado and Midland Railroad, Morse Bridge, share values, railroad locations, membership invitations, call for submissions, structural tests, record of accounts for room and board, appointments, water rights (Putnam County), publications, blueprints, visitation programs, cotton compresses, street trenches, pressures in dams, level tests, Portland Transportation bureau, trade information, concrete steel, Chicago drainage canal, ship canals, Augusta Cotton and Compress Company, Sooysmith case, Consolidated Gas Company, masonry, book binding, Columbia Railway Company, jetties, land grades, Chesapeake and Delaware canal, water wheels, pneumatic lock, tunnel arches, rifton power, Hutton's health, elevators, Brooklyn Bridge Terminals, girder weights, legal issues and their results, rating table for the Potomac, land profiles, transmission lines, transformers, water turbines, and water power on the Potomac River.
Correspondents for this series include the following: Captain Montgomery C. Meigs, Captain T.W. Symons, William Bryan, Ernest Flagg, John Hurd, Jake Wolfe, J.C. Saunders, J.H. Dolph, Charles J. Allen, G.H. Mendell, Virgil S. Bogue, B.A. Mounnerlyn, Edward Burr, H.G. Prout, R. William, H. Dodge, C.R. Suter, M. Mink, W.R. King, John Lyons, Alex Brown and Sons, John G. Butler, D. Condon, Bernard Carter, R.P. McCormick, D.R. Magruder, Andrew Banks, Isaac Solomon, C.J. Mayer, C.W. Kern, John Herring, James S. Mackie, D.R. Magunde, D. Rittaguide, R.S. Stevens, J.L. Raudolph (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad), J.M. Lane, W.D. Stuart, W.G.P. Palmer (Committee Church of the Ascension), C. Crozet, General W. Hughes, V.R. Maus, J.M. Hood (Western Maryland Railroad Company), Ernest Pontzen, M. Haus, William F. Craighill, Harry Hutton, John W. Pearce, Reverend James A. Harrald, William Watson, A.L. Rives, Thomas Monro, A.F. Croswan (Commander United States Navy), H.R. Garden, William McAlpine, James Forrest, Wm. Bloomsfield, Daniel Ammen, Linel Wells, A. and Otto Sibeth, Alfred Noble, Clemens Hershel, Sidney Warner, E.H. de Rheville, Theodore Cooper, William Findlay Shunk, Lewis S. Wolfe, Rufus Mead, Theodore F. Taylor, John Bogart, J. Whaler, B. Williamson, Colonel F.V. Greene, Robert H. Sayre (Lehigh Valley Railroad Company), Charles W. Pussey, Louis Q. Rissel, V.C. Bogue, H.C. Eckenberger, Melville E.G. Leston, Edwin Parson, Rudolph Hering, R.S. Hale, F.M. Turner, Thosl Martindale, Justus C. Strawbridge, William M. Ayresm, R.L. Austin, A.M. Miller, P. Livingston Dunn, T.J. Cleaver, C.S. Dutton, H.A. Carson, William Bainbridge Jaudon, H.A. Presset, Thomas H. McCann, Russel Sturgis, H.G. Prout, Alexis H. French, John K. Cowen, F.W. Williams, J. Waldorf, B.H. Byrant, B.H. Jones, M.H. Rogers, J.W. Ogden, General W. Cashing, William Longhudge, A.J. Cameron, T.L. Patterson, J.J. Hagerman, H. Wigglesworth, Charles B. Rowland, E. Bantz, W.G. Lathrop, Clarence King, George Rowland, George A. Tibbals (Continental Iron Works), George N. Vanderbilt, Eugene C. Lewis, F.P. Burt, Colonel John C. Clarke, Lieutenant Thomas Turtle, W.S.M. Scott, E. Bates Dorsey, Bernard Carter, George M. Shriver (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad), Russel Sturgis, Macmillan Publishing, James Abernethy, B. Baker, J.G.W. Fynje, A. Mallet, Jean Hersuy, L.F. Vernon Horcourt, Robert Lilley, A.J. Johnson, F.M. Colby, Henry D. Loney, A.S. Cameron, James A. Harrald, William Watson, John B. Lervis, A.L. Rives, Edwin F. Bidell, Frank H. Stockett, E. McMahon, C.F. Elgin, Enrique Budge, G. Clayton Gardiner, Dwight Porter, William A. Chapman, T.E. Sickels, Theodore Cooper, C.J. Warner, Institution of Civil Engineers, Robert Gordon, United States Coast of Geodetic Survey Office, C.P. Pattun, J.N. Putnam, Sidney B. Warner, H.D. Fisher, Union Pacific Railway Company, Lewis S. Wolle, George E. Waring Junior, The American Exhibition, G.F. Swain, American Society of Civil Engineers, N.H. Whitten, U.S. Engineer Office, Government Works Committee, J.J. Hagerman, D. Jackson, Sterling Iron and Railway Company, E.P. Alexander, E. Williamson, Central Railway Company of New Jersey, William A. Underwood, F. Collingwood, James Dun (Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company), Henry F. Kilburn, Louis A. Bissell, Virgil G. Boque, H.C. Eckenberger, Melville Egleston, Charles Parson, George Swain, Continental Iron Works, Rudolph Hering, J.B. Gordon, Mayor's Office (Baltimore), Harry Robinson, Pennsylvania Railway Company, W.H. Gahagan, L. Luiggi, B.H. Bryant, T.J. Cleaver (Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company), H.A. Carson, H.A. Presset (Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey), John K. Cowen, Vernon H. Brown, J. Waldorf, B.H. Bryant, L.F. Root, P.W. White, Metropolitan Railroad Company, Charles F. Mayer (Consolidated Coal Company, Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad Company), J.M. Lane (Western Maryland Railroad), Dr. R.S. Stewart (Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad), Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad (John Lyons, John G. Butler, D. Candon, R.P. McCormick, Andrew Banks), Thomas F. Rowland, J.A. Bensel, Walton Aims, S.D. Coykendall, H.C. Rogers, John F. Ward, T.B. Jewell, H.A. Pressey, C.S. Armstrong, J. Nennett, V.G. Bague.
Series 3, Personal Correspondence, 1850-1942, contains correspondence with immediate and extended family, specifically the heirs to the Benjamin H. Hutton and Joseph Hutton estates and Adele Gorman. Correspondence is primarily arranged chronologically, but some files have been divided based on subject or author (the Deer Park and Adele Gorman files), or by form (the Telegrams, and Cablegrams file). Special note is made of the posthumous correspondence file, which includes correspondence both relating to Hutton's death and correspondence that was written by family members after the years of his death. The series contains both hand written and typed letters. Some correspondence is in French. The correspondence demonstrates his relationship with his children specifically Elizabeth (Bessie) Hutton, and illuminates his role in his family. This series also provides details about nineteenth century upper class society and activities. Special note should be made that this folder does not contain all of the personal correspondence contained in the collection. Some correspondence has been separated according to recipient, or subject in order to make researching these recipients or subjects easier.
Series 3 correspondence topics include: estate payments, distribution of assets, funds transfers, estate lines, conflicts with tenants, sketches, lot maintenance, real estate sales, deeds, real estate sales negotiations, congratulations wishes on new babies, family illnesses, family affairs and travels, traveling directions, personal investments, invitations for social occasions, family debts, professional interests, professional and personal appointments, family issues, requests for money, sketches, advice to children (specifically Frank Hutton), life insurance, books, letters of introduction, legal issues, funeral expenses, charity donations, advertisements, minutes from professional organizations, army enlistment, deaths of friends and family, recipes, estimates of personal expenses, renovations, stock certificates (Great Northern Railway Company, New York), food, social activities, the weather, marriages, real estate and construction plans, and loan agreements.
Correspondents include the following: Frank Hutton, Thomas B. Brookes, J.L. Marcauley, C.M. Matthews, Edward J. Hancy, John M. Wilson, H.A. Carson, William H. Wiley (of John Wiley and Sons Scientific Publishers, New York), Georgina Hutton, Pierre and Jane Casson, George McNaughlin, Henrietta Hutton, Aaron Pennington Whitehead, J.B. Wheeler, B. Williamson, Robert De Forest, Elizabeth (Bessie) Hutton, Grace Beukard, J.C. Saunders, Mary Hutton, William J. Pennington, C.S. Hurd, Henry C. Cooper, Henry J. Segers, S.F. Miller, Annie Theller, Alfred Noble, Maria Burton, Joseph Hobson, E. Lennon, F. Hulberg, Charles Gordon Hutton, Edward C. Ebert, A. William Lewin, E.R. Dunn, William P. Craighill, Theodore Cooper, P.I. Chapelle, Anita McAlpine, Clarence King, Victoria Raymond, and Adele Gorman.
Series 4, Personal Materials, 1835-1946, contains documentation about Hutton's personal finances, role as executor of the Benjamin H. Hutton, Joseph Hutton, Annie Theller, and Countess H. De Moltke-Hvitfeldt estates, Mary Augusta Hutton (wife), Mary Hutton (daughter), Frank Hutton, John Caulfield (son-in-law), and B.F. and C.H. Hutton. The series has been divided into four subseries: Financial Records, 1876-1901, Estate and Real Estate Records, 1835-1921, Other Huttons, 1876-1936, and Personal Material, 1878-1946. Subseries 2, Estate and Real Estate Records, 1835-1921, contains correspondence relating to specific family estates and family members. This correspondence was separated from Series 3, Personal Correspondence, 1850-1942, to make it easier for researchers to access all records relating to the family estates. This series includes hand written, typed, and printed materials. Some materials are in French. All material dated after 1901 has been added to the collection by other creators such as Hutton's wife and children.
Subseries 1, Financial Records, 1876-1901, includes account books, account records, correspondence related to bank accounts, bank statements, financial notes, bills and proofs of payment, rent receipts, tax bills (New York, Flatbush, Montgomery County), checks, money exchanges, receipts for tax payments, real estate receipts, stock and bond certificates, loan agreements, executor accounts, rebate calculation sheet, and tax and insurance payments.
Subseries 2, Estate and Real Estate Records, 1835-1921, includes property maps and information (rent, mortgage costs, deeds), correspondence, notes on estate distribution, estate assets, value of estate and estate payments, account records, loan agreements, receipts, proof of payments, checks, financial records, legal documents, insurance documents, tax bills, auction receipts, and wills relating to the estates of Benjamin H. Hutton, Joseph Hutton, Countess H. de Moltke-Hivtfeldt, Annie Theller, and William R. Hutton. Also included are correspondence, property maps and information, and deeds and mortgages on Hutton properties.
Subseries 2, the estate and real estate records correspondence topics include: Virginia state building codes, construction costs, construction notices, purchasing offers for property, real estate prices, receipts of payments, property lines, real estate purchases and sales, real estate sales negotiations, deeds insurance estimates and costs, loan costs, property estimates, renovation costs, mortgages, property damages and repairs, property tax payments, insurance rates and payments, rent payments, telephone installation, building permits, rental agreements, reports on property condition, contracts of sale, conflicts with tenants, changes of address, deeds, distribution of estate monies, details about the Countess' illness, estate arrangements, changes of address, problems arising out of estate distribution, payment of debts, will details, selling of mortgage shares, accounts, estate settlement, money cables and transfers, dealings with lawyers, rent on Hutton Park property, legal and accounting fees, power of attorney transfer, investments, property security, land appraisals, lists of assets, legacy taxes, mortgages transfers, property management, Flatbush property, property rent and values, and physicians bills.
Correspondents include the following: A.C. Weeks, Walter I. Green, John D. Probsh, A.G. Darwin, Thomas H. McCann, Allan Farguhar, Thomas Dawson, Potter and Crandall Real Estate and Insurance Brokers, George C. Tilyou, H.D. Olephant, F. Winston, Richard E. Calbraith, Frank P. Martin, Henry DeForest, Henry C. Cooper, Metropolitan Telephone and Telegraph Company, John Ecker, C.K. Avevill, Georgina Hutton, Edward J. Hancy, Robert Graham, W.M. Bennett, Willis E. Merriman, Nathan L. Miller, Harry Hutton, Marquise de Portes (Adele Gorman), Annie Theller, Samuel L. Theller, Mrs. R. Locke, Frank Z. Adams, John Palmer (Secretary of State, New York), J.T. Cammeyer, Frank P. Martin, Florence Theller, Francis H. Seger, Henry C. Cooper, D.W.G. Cammeyer, Campbell W. Adams, Jane Casson, Elizabeth Hutton, Rene de Portes, H.G. Atkins, Grace Beukard, Aaron Pennington Muikhead, J.E. Delapalme, T.H. Powers, Egerton L. Winthrop Junior, George B. Glover, William Jay and Robert W. Candler, B. Williamson, J.E. Knaff, Cornelius C. Vermeule, S.V. Hayden, Charles G. Landon[?], H.A. Hurlbert, F.A. Black, John L. Calwalder, the Health Department of New York, A.G. Darwin, William Laue, Frederick Frelinghuysen, Charles S. Brown, Henrietta Hutton, Edward Gelon.
Subseries 3, Other Huttons, 1874-1936, includes professional drawings and proposals, checks, insurance information, correspondence, tax information, medical information, tax bills, relating to Mary Augusta Hutton (wife), Mary Hutton (daughter), Henry and Harry Hutton, Frank Hutton (son), John Caulfield (son-in-law), B.F. Hutton, and C.H. Hutton.
Subseries 4, Personal Materials, 1878-1946, contains handwritten property notes, school notes, sermons, travel documents, menus, Christmas cards, jewelry box, postal guide, typed religious materials and flyers.
Series 5, Diaries, 1866-1901, contains twenty nine diary books that document both Hutton's personal and professional life. These diaries provide not only a record of Hutton's life, but were also used by Hutton himself as a reference tool. When working on projects he would refer to notes and observations he made in his diary (as evidenced by notes made in his diaries). The first pages of the diaries often list his height, weight and clothing sizes as they varied from year to year. A researcher could probably use the cashbooks (see Series 7) and the diaries in conjunction as both detail the purchases made by Hutton. Many of the diaries also include a short record of accounts in the back. The diaries are arranged chronologically.
Topics found in the diaries include short form accounts of daily activities and appointments, records of the weather, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal project, construction progress on projects, steam pumps, sketches and calculations, extension of Washington railroads, cost of food, work supplies, travel costs, costs of goods and food, work deadlines, home renovations, visits to family, cash accounts, accounts of household duties, produce on Woodlands property, records of deaths, debts owed, account of clearing Woodlands property, church visits, Hancock and Tonoloway Aqueduct, canals, Drum Point Railroad, Montgomery C. Meigs, Washington Aqueduct, Annapolis Water Works, telegram costs, wages for Chesapeake and Ohio Canal project, William Craighill, Morris Canal, Annapolis Railroad and Canal, professional duties (inspections), Kanawha River Canal, travel schedules, professional expenses, cash received from Chesapeake and Ohio Canal project, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, John's Dam, cathedral construction (St. Patricks?), Piedmont Bridge, Cumberland, account of farm property belonging to Major Campbell Bruns, Cunard Pier, Marquise de Portes, rent costs, Baltimore Canal, Kingston Water Supply, Croton Orange Estate, Pierre Casson, Hudson River Tunnel, Washington/Harlem River Bridge, entertainment costs, Greenwood cemetery, train schedule, notes on illness, real estate sales, Hutton Park, Benjamin H. Hutton estate and heirs, estimates, accounts of correspondence received and sent, Central Railroad, rent on Orange properties, addresses, contracts and building supplies for projects, personal finances, Joseph Hutton property on Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, amounts paid and received, medical appointments, Ramapo Water Company, drawing progress of maps and diagrams, Harbor Board (New York), property repairs, inspection and test reports, reservoirs, lists of birthdays, Boston Tunnel, family financial issues, tax payments, and prayers.
Series 6, Notebooks, 1860-1900, document the engineering and architectural projects worked on by Hutton. The series has been divided into three subseries: Subseries 1, Engineering and Survey Field Notes, 1860-1899; Subseries 2, Notebooks, 1871-1886; and Subseries 3, Notes, 1863-1900. Subseries 1, Engineering and Survey Field Notes, 1860-1899, contains sixteen field notebooks used by Hutton. Subseries 2, Notebooks, 1871-1886, contains seven notebooks. Subseries three, Notes, 1863-1900, contains four documents.
Some notebooks correspond to specific projects such as the Kanawha River Canal (lockgate and Phoenix Waterline), Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Buffalo Reservoir, Potomac Lock and Dock Company, Northern Adirondack Railroad account, Washington Aqueduct, Little Rock Bridge, Wilson-Adam Dock, Croten Brick Works, Hutton Park, Centennial Iron Works, Cumberland Canal, Williamsport Aqueduct, Catoctin Aqueduct, Alexandria Canal, Miller's Saw Mill, Seneca Dam, Union Tunnel, Cumberland Waterworks, Victoria Bridge, Welland Canal, North Sea Canal, Ramapo Water Company, Annapolis Water Company, Antietam Aqueduct, Interoceanic Canal, San Quentin Canal, Suez Canal, Amsterdam Canal, Harlem Bulkhead, Morris Canal, Blue Lake Canal, and Nicaragua Canal.
These notebooks should be used in conjunction with the other materials in the collection related to professional projects, as they often provide more detailed accounts of the construction and land surveys. Some of the notebooks contain entries from several different sources. The notebooks were probably shared among the engineers working on these projects. The notebooks also contain looseleaf ephemera such as hand written calculations, newspaper clippings, and blueprints. Languages found in this series are English and French.
Notebook topics include construction projects, supply needs, costs for labor, sketches (Woodland Mills, landscapes, dams, railway cars, Noland Tunnel), costs of crops, survey measurements, cost of livestock, aqueducts, inspections, canal bridges, seed prices, dams, measurements, coffer dam, canal maintenance, worker salaries, calculations, towpath sketches and measurements, shipping rates, worker accidents, water and coal used, geometrical sketches (Washington Aqueduct), locks, damage reports, interactions with other engineers (William Reading), coal shipments on the canal, travel expenses, land survey notes, drafts for correspondence, William Craighill, Victoria docks, lists of personal supplies used, construction time estimates, surveying expenses, telegram costs, sand pump, canal from Sherling to Tuxedo Bay, analysis of several artificial lakes and reservoirs, distances of reservoirs to main pipes, calculations for the Austin Wheel, engine construction, bridges, gauging water depth, results and observations of tests and performance, problems with construction, to-do lists, cost of land surrounding towpaths, Fawcett's Lock, Tarman's Lock, comparison of costs in transporting coal by water and by rail, inspection notes, iron work, drainages, leaks, cost of supplies, watergates, harbor ferries, railroad station distances, flood protection, Panama Canal via the Nicaraguan route, cost of jetties, water levels, pressure of steam, boilers, steam and water cycle, water depth, cement, Great Falls, Virginia, waterflow, soundings, time of floats, flow of currents, rain fall measurements, tunnel measurements, cost of trenching San Francisco water supply, record of livestock, cost of food, rates of sawing woods and mills, preliminary railroad line measurements, profile of final line, and railroad line profiles.
Series 7, Cash Books, 1856-1899, contains seven cashbooks which list prices for personal items purchased by Hutton. Topics include groceries, church dues, clothes, hygiene products, cigars, some short journal entries about his work (Williamstown), concerts, dinners, family addresses, cakes, meals, cars, stamps, office supplies (pencils and papers), valentines, glasses, gloves, fabric, medicine, needles, diapers, tobacco, shoes (adult and childrens), travel expenses, telegrams, candles, newspapers, liquor, coal oil, jewelry, allowances given to family members, bank deposits, monies paid and received, taxes, subscriptions, tailoring costs, deposits and payments into estate trusts, and notes about payments to Benjamin H. Hutton heirs. The cashbooks also contain some personal loose leaf ephemera such as prayers, sketches, and engineering notes collected by Hutton.
Series 8, Professional Projects, 1830-1965, contains documents about engineering and architectural projects throughout Hutton's career, including information about the professional organizations and the legal issues in which he was involved. This series has been divided into eight subseries based on project, document form, and document subject. Some materials are in French and Italian.
Series 8, Professional Projects, also includes correspondence related to specific projects, primarily the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the Hudson River Tunnel, the Washington/Harlem River Bridge, and the Georgetown Incline.
Topics include construction and repair to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, engineering and use of Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, worker contracts, supply and labor purchases, design plans and proposals, construction and repair costs, supply notes and costs of supplies, water pressure and power, shipping materials and routes (specifically the shipping of coal), inspections and their findings, condition of canal dam and locks, water supply, drainage, sketches, board proceedings, business meetings, deeds, cost comparisons to other shipping methods, hiring processes, wages, cost estimates, Hutton's consulting fees, measurements and calculations, funding issues, worker conflicts, negotiations with municipal governments, payment schedules, bills for services, air pressure in Hudson River Tunnel, permission for construction, specifications, mortality rate among workers on the Hudson River Tunnel, construction reports, outlet incline, proposals for construction, letters of introduction, railroad versus water for trade, controversy with Tiersey, construction contracts, construction schedules, construction issues, construction progress, construction damage, basis for estimates, supply requests, internal politics, changes to construction plans, contract and price adjustments, issues with suppliers, construction delays, work permits, bills, worker issues, engineering notes, construction excavations, expenses, construction instructions, Union Bridge Company, lighting installations, construction processes, hiring practices, electrical conductors, water proofing, hydraulics, cement, concrete, payment of contributors, processes of approval for construction, meeting dates of the Harlem River Bridge Commission, and contract restrictions.
Correspondents include the following: W.W.M. Kaig, Henry Dodge, E. Mulvany, John Shay, James Clarke, H.D. Whitcomb, Horace Benton, J. Rellan, J.R. Maus, W.E. Merrill, A.P. Gorman, J.H. Staats, Vernon H. Brown, Charles H. Fisher (New York Central and Hudson River Railway Company), B. Baker, John Fowler, Benjamin and John Dos Passos, Charles B. Colby, Charles B. Brush, S. Pearson, Stanford White, Horace E. Golding, R.H. Smith, Daniel Lord, A. Fteley, Herbert Hinds, J.R. Bartlett, D.M. Hirsch, M.H. Bartholomew, Thomas O. Driscoll, W.E. Porter, Thomas F. Rowland, George Edward Harding, R.H. Dames, William Watson, James B. Eads, J.D. Bright, H. Aston, Charles Suley, A.M. Maynard, W.R. Henton, G. Geddes, H.P. Gilbut, Malcolm W. Niver (Secretary of the Harlem River Bridge Commission), J.D. Patterson, George Devin (Assistant Engineer Washington/ Harlem River Bridge), J.B. Wheeler, John Bogart, Charles Burns, J. McClellon, Rob Bassee, B. Williamson, Theodore Cooper, Lewis Cass Ledyard, R.M. Hunt, John Cooper, Henry Wilson, A.A. Caille, Myles Tierney, W. Pentzen, L.B. Cantfield, George Q. Grumstaid Junior, M.J. Funton, George Pierce, W.O. Fayerweather, Noah S. Belthen, Herbert Steward, W.M. Habirsham.
Subseries 1, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 1828-1965, consists of plans, blueprints, land profiles, drawings, boat rates, contract forms, order forms, descriptions of the canal, design information, engineering data, sketches, cost estimates, land titles, microfilm, business papers, supply bills, patent bills, news clippings, reports, specifications, stockholder's reports, receipts, water leases, printed materials, and correspondence.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal project was started in 1828 and completed twenty two years later in 1850. The canal's main objective was to connect Georgetown to the coal banks above Cumberland, Maryland, providing a short and cheap trade route between the eastern and western United States. It was also hoped that the canal would provide greater communication and travel between these two regions. Plagued by natural disasters, and construction setbacks, the canal was never completed in time to be useful and became obsolete shortly after its completion. Canal trade was eventually put out of business by the increase of railroads. Although it was an important development in engineering at its inception, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is no longer in use and has become what locals affectionately refer to as "the old ditch." The canal was designated a National Historical Park in 1971 and consists of 184.5 miles of hiking and biking trails.
Subseries 2, Hudson River Tunnel, 1887-1901, consists of agreements for construction, certificates, contracts, and cost estimates, construction reports, engineering notebooks, engineering notes, sketches, land profiles, maps, progress profiles, plans, proposals, printed material, statements of expenses, and correspondence.
The Hudson River Tunnel project was started in 1874, and the final tubes were opened in 1910 after several construction setbacks. The tunnel connects Weehawken, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, New York City. Today the Hudson River Tunnel, known as the North River Tunnels is used by Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and New Jersey Transit rail lines.
Subseries 3, Harlem River Bridge, 1878-1982, consists of blueprints, printed materials, photographs, engineer's estimates, schedules, costs, reports, proposals, contracts, specifications, and correspondence.
The Harlem River Bridge project was started in 1885 and was completed in 1889. It spans the Harlem River in New York City, New York and connects the Washington Heights section of Manhattan with the Bronx. It was later named and is still known as the Washington Bridge and has been adapted over time to carry highway traffic. These adaptations have allowed the bridge to remain in use today.
Subseries 4, Other Projects, 1858-1832, consists of drawings, maps, blueprints, plans, proposals, cost estimates, bills, correspondence, sketches, land profiles, dimensions, engineering notes, account records, photostats, supply lists, calculations, legal documents, surveys, inspection reports, financial data, and measurements on architectural and engineering projects. Highlights of this subseries include: Western Maryland Railroad, Washington Aqueduct, Panama Canal, Ramapo Water Company, Piedmont Bridge, Northern Adirondack Railroad, Columbia Railroad, Morris Canal, Pittsfield and Williamstown Railroad, Suez Canal, St. Gothard Canal, Tansa Dam, Colorado Midland Railroad Company, Memorial Bridge, Mersey Tunnel, Little Rock Bridge, Kingston Water Supply, Kanawha River Canal, Florida Ship Canal, East Jersey Water Company, Consolidated Coal Company, Dismal Swamp Canal, Boston and Baltimore Tunnels, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Annapolis Water Company, Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad Company, and the Baltimore Beltline.
Subseries 5, Unidentified Project Files, 1872-1900, consists of bills of sale, engineering forms and regulations, cement test results and methods, census bulletin, contracts, cost estimates, correspondence, notes on publications, engineering data and notes, drawings, surveys, sketches, payrolls, photographs, and reports.
Subseries 6, Specifications, 1870-1900, consists of documents related to some of Hutton's projects, including specifications for bridges, reservoirs, canals, viaducts, docks, buildings, water works, and tunnels. Some specifications are more general, and some are blank proposal/specification forms. There are also proposals for estimates and a "call" or advertisement to contractors to bid on certain projects. Many of the specifications deal with projects in New York State, but projects in Pennsylvania, the City of Baltimore, and Europe are represented. The materials are arranged alphabetically by project name. There is one folder of documentation for the Potomac River Bridge (Arlington Memorial Bridge) in Washington, D.C. The Arlington Memorial Bridge was part of the 1901 McMillan Commission's plan for restoring Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's original plan for the capital. Two decades passed before construction was initiated by the architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White. The documentation for the Memorial Bridge consists of calculations and monetary figures for materials such as granite.
Subseries 7, Legal Documents, 1886, contains documents related to a patent infringement suit for moveable dams involving Alfred Pasqueau vs. the United States. This file contains both a printed version of the case and a handwritten statement from Hutton.
Subseries 8, Professional Organizations, 1870-1902, contains documents related to professional organizations where Hutton held membership. Specific organizations represented are American Institute of Architects, American Society of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, Boston Society of Civil Engineers, Societe des Ingenieurs Civils de France, Librarie Polytechnique, American Agency of "Engineering" in London, Imperial Institute, League of Associated Engineers, Railroad Corporation, American Institute of Mining Engineers, and the Century Association. Material in the subseries includes correspondence, candidates for membership, membership payments, membership lists, meeting minutes, schedule of terms, professional practices, charges, articles of association, invitations for membership, and election notes. Some materials are in French.
Series 9, Printed Materials, 1850-1913, contains a variety of printed materials relating to engineering and architectural projects written by Hutton and fellow engineers. This series can be used to examine not only professional developments of the period and responses to those developments, but also to track how ideas were transferred between engineers across countries and continents. This series should be used in conjunction with the professional correspondence found in this collection, as many of the authors also appear there. Some materials are in French, German, Spanish, and Italian.
Subseries 1, Printed Materials by Hutton, 1852-1900, includes printed papers on the Missouri flood wave, the Ravine du Sud, the Potomac waterfront, the Colorado midlands, and the application of water supply machinery.
Subseries 2, Printed Materials by Others, 1826-1913, includes printed materials on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canals, Tehuantec Ship Railway, Interoceanic canals and railways, jetties, Nicaragua Canal, uses of cements, mortars, concretes, steam power, harbors, Niagara Falls, Kanawha River canal, Mississippi River, Hudson River Bridge, sewage disposal, Washington Aqueduct, specifications, construction progress reports, hydraulic experiments, water supply, drainage, road surfacing, sea walls, water-cooling apparatus, pollution reports, bridges, pipes, channels, reservoirs, irrigation, water power, and sewers.
Subseries 2 contains an issue of The North American Review in which Hutton has specifically highlighted an article entitled, "The Inter-Oceanic Canal." Please see the container list for names of authors.
Subseries 3, Printed Materials with No Author, 1852-1903, includes printed materials on harbor reports, Annapolis Water Company, Ramapo Water Company, water departments and boards, maps, engineer's reports, sea walls, preservation of structures, annual reports, Coal and Iron Railway Company, sewers, Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad, contract specifications, proposals, social club life, Croton Water Supply, law suits, water supplies, moveable dams, reservoirs, East River Bridge, Eastern Canal, water filtration, Kingston New Water Supply, water pipes, locks, docks, contracts, construction reports, Croton Water Supply, and surveys. Also included are issues of journals such as Le Correspondant, Circular of the Office of Chief Engineers, The Club, VIII Congres International de Navigation, Journal of the Association of Engineering Studies, and Journal of the Franklin Institute.
Subseries 4, Newspaper, Journals and Magazine Clippings, 1873-1900, contains clippings from a variety of newspapers such as Scientific American, andRailroad Gazette. Subjects included are the Union Tunnel opening in Baltimore, Drum Point Railroad, railroad company conflicts, Washington/Harlem River Bridge, Metropolitan Railroad, Western Maryland Railroad, crop prospects, lumber trade, North Avenue Bridge, Nicaraguan Canal, harbors, river improvements, reactions to engineering projects, Belt tunnel, city transit, Washington, D.C. flood in 1880, tunnel shields, Springfield Bridge, railroad patents, Panama Canal, jetties, Hudson Tunnel, steel boilers, composition and use of cement, and the Brooklyn Bridge.
Subseries 5, Oversized Printed Materials, 1889-1892, contains large printed materials related to the Washington Aqueduct, General Post Office Building, subway arches, cornices, Warwick's Castle, Neuschwanstein Castle, Renaissance paintings, botanical drawings, school buildings, church architecture, the Hospital for the Insane of the Army and Navy and the District of Columbia, the Panama Canal, Morningside Park, and the Mississippi Jetties. Also includes engravings of Hutton, T.N. Talfound, and F. Jeffrey and photographs of Montgomery C. Meigs, and Hutton. Some materials are in German and French.
References:
1. Ward, George Washington, "The Early Development of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Project," Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science Series XVII, no. 9-11 (1899): 8.
2. Ibid., 88.
3. Ibid., 55.
4. Ibid., 90.
5. Sanderlin, Walter S., "The Great National Project: A History of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal," Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science Series LXIV, no. 1 (1946): 21.
6. Ibid., 282.
7. Gies, Joseph, Adventure Underground (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Company Inc., 1962): 134.
8. Ibid., 131-132.
9. Ibid., 135-136.
10. Ibid., 145.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series.
Series 1: Letterpress Copybooks, 1858-1901
Series 2: Professional Correspondence, 1861-1901
Subseries 2.1: Project Correspondence, 1876-1899
Subseries 2.2: General Correspondence, 1861-1901
Series 3: Personal Correspondence, 1850-1942
Series 4: Personal Materials, 1835-1946
Subseries 4.1: Financial Records, 1876-1901
Subseries 4.2: Estate and Real Estate Records, 1835-1921
Subseries 4.3: Other Huttons, 1874-1936
Subseries 4.4: Personal Materials, 1878-1946
Series 5: Diaries, 1866-1901
Series 6: Notebooks, 1860-1900
Subseries 6.1: Engineering and Survey Field Notes, 1860-1899
Subseries 6.2: Notebooks, 1871-1886
Subseries 6.3: Notes, 1863-1900
Series 7: Cashbooks, 1856-1899
Series 8: Professional Projects, 1830-1965
Subseries 8.1: Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 1828-1965
Not much is known about the history of William Rich Hutton outside of his role in architectural and engineering projects of the late 1800s and early 1900s. In many cases, he is spoken of only in reference to his projects, and the short biographies that have been written read more like a resume than a life story. Because of this lack of information, this note will focus on Hutton's professional accomplishments, but will attempt to make some comments on his personal life.
William Rich Hutton was born on March 21, 1826 in Washington, D.C., the eldest son of James Hutton (died 1843) and his wife, the former Salome Rich (1). He was educated at the Western Academy (Washington, D.C.) from 1837-1840 under George J. Abbot and then at Benjamin Hallowell's School in Alexandria, Virginia, where he received special training in mathematics, drawing, and surveying (2). Hutton began his professional career in California when he, along with his younger brother James, accompanied their uncle William Rich to work for the United States Army. His uncle was a paymaster for the army and Hutton became his clerk. They traveled around the new state paying the various platoons stationed there, but Hutton also occupied his time by drawing the landscapes and structures he saw in the settlements of Los Angeles, San Francisco, La Paz, Mazatlan, Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Pedro, San Diego, and Cape San Lucas (3). These drawings are now held by the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. Hutton held the position of clerk until the spring of 1849, and in July of that year he began working with Lieutenant Edward O.C. Ord and completed the first survey of Los Angeles and its surrounding pueblo lands and islands. Hutton continued surveying in California from 1850-1851. He was hired by William G. Dana to survey the Nipomo Ranch in San Luis Obispo County and also surveyed the ranches Santa Manuela and Huer-Huero, both owned by Francis Z. Branch. After his employment with Dana, he became the county surveyor for San Luis Obispo County, where he prepared the first survey and map of the region. He also continued to survey ranches for Captain John Wilson during this time. In August 1851, he resigned from his position as county surveyor and moved to Monterey where he worked as an assistant to Captain (later General) Henry W. Hallack, superintendent of the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine in Santa Clara County (4). He remained in this position until March, 1853 when he returned to Washington, D.C. by way of Mexico (5).
Hutton began his career as a civil engineer in Washington, D.C. He was first assigned to the position of assistant engineer on a survey of the projected Metropolitan Railroad in 1853, which was chartered to connect Washington, D.C. with the mainline of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. In 1855 he began his professional relationship with Montgomery C. Meigs when he was appointed to the position of assistant engineer on the Washington Aqueduct. He also served as division engineer on this project until construction was shut down in 1861 because of the outbreak of the Civil War. Fortunately for Hutton, the construction on the Aqueduct was resumed in 1862, and when Congress transferred the supervision of the aqueduct project from the War Department to the Department of the Interior, Hutton was made chief engineer. By the end of the Civil War, Hutton's reputation as a civil engineer was established (6).
During this decade Hutton also served as the chief engineer for the Annapolis Water Works (1866) and as chief engineer for one of his most famous projects, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (1869-1871). Although some historians minimize Hutton as just one of many engineers to work on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, he did make one major contribution to its construction: the Georgetown Canal Incline. Perhaps the final effort of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal company to compete with the emerging and fast expanding railroad, the Georgetown Incline was designed to allow canal boats to travel through the canal with low water levels and to alleviate canal congestion. Unfortunately, by the time the incline was completed use of the canal had decreased so significantly that it was no longer needed to help control traffic (7). Despite this, Hutton continued to work as a consulting engineer for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company until 1881, when he was let go because of the dwindling fortunes of the company (7).
In the 1870s and 1880s Hutton was busy with several engineering projects. During 1871-1873, he was the chief engineer in the completion of the Western Maryland Railroad to Hagerstown and Williamsport (9). He also practiced as an architect with his brother, the prominent Baltimore architect Nathanial Henry Hutton, during the years 1873-1880. He relocated to New York in 1880, serving as chief engineer for the Washington Bridge in 1888 and 1889 and the Hudson River Tunnel from 1889 to 1891. In 1886, he became the consulting engineer for the New Croton Aqueduct and served in the same position for the Colorado Midland Railway between the years of 1886-1889 (10).
As his personal and professional correspondence shows, Hutton continued to work on various engineering and architectural projects until his death on December 11, 1901. In addition to these projects, he also invented the innovative system of locks and moveable dams used in the Kanawha River Canal. He was awarded the Diplome d'Honneur for this featat the Paris Exposition in 1878 (11). His correspondence also demonstrates how Hutton was respected within his professional community. These letters refer to the accuracy of his work, his willingness to help other colleagues and supply them with reference materials and information, and, in addition to all this, his politeness. It seems that these qualities defined not only his personality but also his ideology. In one of the cashbooks in the collection, dated 1899, a hand written note contains a religious parable of "The Straw." The phrase in this parable that speaks most to Hutton's work ethic, and to the spirit of inventors everywhere, is this: "Even so however lowly may be the act, however little opportunities we may have of assisting others, we may still do something. Let us beg to fulfil our duty in this regards by making ourselves useful to others by some little act of thoughtful charity..." (12). Hutton, in his dedication to civil engineering, seems to have lived up to this virtue, and in his work he changed the landscape of Washington, D.C. and New York.
The Fairy Godfather: Hutton's Personal History
His professional records reveal a man who was fiercely dedicated to his work. His obituary references his professional life more than his personal life (13). Despite his reputation in the professional engineering community, his personal records demonstrate that Hutton was also dedicated to his family and children. In 1855, he married Montgomery County native Mary Augusta Clopper (died 1915). Together they lived on her family's estate known as the Woodlands, and had five children: Frank C. Hutton, Mary Hutton, Elizabeth Hutton (later Caulfield), Rosa Hutton, and Annie Salome Hutton (14). It is at this estate that Hutton died and was buried. The personal letters to his wife found in the Woodlands Collection held at the Montgomery County Historical Society show a man in love and willing to take time from his work to write to his wife. His letters to his children show a similar interest and compassion. In the many letters found in this collection from his daughter Elizabeth (Bessie) one can see a father who is interested in not only his daughter's activities abroad, but also in her opinion. This interest also extends to his son Frank Hutton, as their correspondence shows Hutton offering his son advice on his own engineering projects.
Hutton also served as executor to many of his extended family's estates. Many letters show the conflicts that Hutton had to mediate and the dependence of his cousins on him for advice and money. Although his family was wealthy (his cousin was Benjamin H. Hutton whose daughters married into the court of Napoleon III), they were volatile, and his records seem to indicate that he served as a mediator for many of their disputes. In addition to this, as his nickname of Fairy Godfather suggests, Hutton was always willing to lend his family either financial or moral support when needed. Unfortunately, little other documentation concerning Hutton's personal life exists outside of this collection and the one held at the Montgomery County Historical Society.
References:
1. Waters, Willard O., "Introduction," California 1847-1852 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942).
2. Waters, Willard O., "Memoir," Glances at California 1847-1853 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942): ix.
3. Waters, Willard O., "Introduction," California 1847-1852 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942). and Waters, Willard O., "Memoir," Glances at California 1847-1853 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942): x-xi.
4. Waters, Willard O., "Introduction," California 1847-1852 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942).
5. Waters, Willard O., "Memoir," Glances at California 1847-1853 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942): xvii.
6. Waters, Willard O., "Memoir," Glances at California 1847-1853 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942): xvii-xviii.
7. Skramstad, Harold, "The Georgetown Canal Incline," Technology and Culture, Vol. 10, no. 4 (Oct. 1969): 555.
8. Business Correspondence, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 22 February 1881, William R. Hutton Papers, 1830-1965, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, box number 27, folder number 29.
9. "William Rich Hutton," The Club: A Journal of Club Life for Men and Women,(July 1894):37
12. Cashbook, 1899, William R. Hutton Papers, 1830-1965, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, box number 23, folder number 5.
13. The Woodlands Collection, Montgomery County Historical Society.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
The Montgomery C. Meigs Papers, 1870-1890, (AC0987). Contains materials relating to the construction of the Washington Aqueduct including a book of drawings illustrating reservoirs, tunnels, culverts, and other structural elements, a Government Senate Document relating to construction progress, scrapbooks created by Meigs that include newspaper clippings about the Washington Aqueduct project, water supply, engineering projects, building construction, architecture and other subjects. Collection is currently unprocessed, but is available for research.
Materials in Other Organizations:
The William Rich Hutton Papers, 1840-1961, are located at the Huntington Library in California (see http://catalog.huntington.org).
The collection contains 95 drawings, 13 letters, and 39 facsimile copies of letters and manuscripts. The illustrative material includes both watercolor and pencil drawings of California (including Los Angeles, Monterey, San Francisco, the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine, and the California missions), Baja California, Mexico, and Peru. There are also five pieces in the collection related to the author María Amparo Ruiz de Burton. In 1942, the Huntington Library published Glances at California 1847--853: Diaries and Letters of William Rich Hutton, Surveyor and California 1847--852: Drawings by William Rich Hutton.
The Hutton family papers are located at the Montgomery County Historical Society, Sween Library (see http://www.montgomeryhistory.org/sites/default/files/Family_Files.pdf).
The collection contains account books from the Woodlands estate, recipe books, livestock records, records of Mary Augusta Hutton (wife), Mary and Rose Hutton (daughters), newspaper clippings (including his obituary), correspondence, record books, deeds, bills and receipts, engineering papers, religious momentos (funeral service cards), and insurance papers.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Mr. and Mrs. James J. Madine, a relative of Hutton's and last owners of the Woodlands estate; the Department of Forests and Parks, Maryland; Louis Fischer; and Mr. and Mrs. Mayo S. Stuntz, 1965-1966, 1974.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The records of Milch Gallery measure 42.5 linear feet and date from 1911-1995. Edward Milch (1865-1953) opened the Edward Milch Gallery in New York City. In 1916, he formed a partnership with his brother Albert Milch (1881-1951), a gilder and framer, creating E. & A. Milch, Inc., a gallery specializing in American art. Harold C. Milch (1904-1981), Albert's son, was appointed a partner in 1944 and continued the business until his death. Business records of Milch Gallery, 1911-1968, include correspondence, sales records, inventories, financial records, printed matter, photographs, and legal documents. Later additions to the records date from 1922-1995 and include correspondence; artists' files; financial, sales, and stock records; printed material; and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The records of Milch Gallery document the business transactions of the corporation and the professional and personal relationships of the Milch brothers with the artists they represented, as well as with the larger community of artists and art dealers between 1911 and 1995. Unfortunately, early correspondence is sparse. In a letter responding to a 1951 request for historical information, Milch replied: "Several years ago [1947] we had to give up our gallery at 108 West 57th Street, and move to smaller quarters here. Since we had no room for old records, we had to destroy most of them."
Alphabetical files are comprised mainly of incoming correspondence from 1911 to 1962. Correspondence concerns arrangements for exhibitions, sales and consignments, advice to collectors and executors of estates, and routine business matters. A number of the artists represented in these files were friends of the Milch brothers and some of their letters mention their personal lives as well as their formal business with the Gallery. Collectors who routinely dealt with Milch Galleries included John Gellatly, Mary Blair, Hersey Egginton, Carlton Palmer, and Edward Coykendell; a three volume manuscript catalogue of Coykendell's collection is included. Among the estates handled by Milch were Willard Metcalf, John Twachtman, Abbott H. Thayer, Maurice Fromkes, and Thomas Moran.
Also found are sales records and other financial records such as general ledgers, sales and purchase records, and tax information.
Printed matter consists of gallery exhibition catalogs, checklists, invitations, announcements, publications, and scrapbooks. Many catalogs and checklists are annotated with prices and other information. A complete run of Milch Galleries Art Notes, issued intermittently from 1918-1928/29 is preserved with the gallery records. as is a scrapbook relating to early exhibitions held at the Edward Milch Galleries and E. & A. Milch, Inc., and artists represented by them.
Photographs included with the records are less voluminous than might be expected, and pictures of works of art predominate. There are also a very small number of exterior and interior photographs of Milch Gallery, photographs of people including artists, Edward and Albert Milch, and photographs of groups such as Ten American Artists and the Associated Dealers in American Paintings.
The 1995 and 2014 additions measure 3 linear feet and date from 1922-1995. Milch Gallery activities are documented through correspondence; artists' files; financial, sales, and stock records; printed material; and photographs.
See Appendix for a list of Milch Gallery exhibitions and checklists
Arrangement:
Records of the Milch Gallery are organized into seven series. With the exception of the alphabetical files, records are arranged by record type and then chronologically. Photographs are categorized by subject, with pictures of individuals arranged alphabetically by name, and works of art arranged alphabetically by artist.
Missing Title
Series 1: Alphabetical Files, 1911-1962
Series 2: Sales Records and Inventories, 1911-1969, undated
Series 3: Financial Records, 1914-1980, undated
Series 4: Printed Matter, 1996, 1910-1967, undated
Series 5: Photographs, 1903-circa 1944, undated
Series 6: Miscellaneous, 1916-1970, undated
Series 7: Addition to the Milch Gallery Records, 1922-1995 (Boxes 60-65, 3 linear feet)
Historical Note:
Between 1911 and 1916, prior to the establishment of the Milch Galleries, Austrian immigrant Edward Milch (1865-1953) operated the Edward Milch Galleries at 939 Madison Avenue 1911, mainly handling prints and providing framing services.
Albert Milch (1881-1951) was employed by a gilder and later a picture framer before becoming the business partner of his older brother. In 1916 they incorporated as E. & A. Milch (with Edward as President and Albert as Secretary of the corporation) and opened the Milch Galleries at 108 West 57th Street, New York City. During their partnership, Edward served as President and Albert as Secretary of the corporation. According to Joseph Gotlieb, a long-time employee, during this period Montross Gallery became inclined toward modern French art and the American artists associated with them began searching for galleries more sympathetic to their interests. "As Albert Milch was a framemaker to several of them, and as he was opening a new gallery in 1916 to specialize in American Art, some artists decided to let the Milch Galleries, and others, handle their work. It turned out to be a good arrangement for both sides, and a successful one" (letter from Joseph S. Gotleib to Susan Hobbs [National Museum of American Art], December 30, 1977).
From the beginning, Milch Galleries dealt in American art almost exclusively, representing living artists, handling the estates of recently deceased artists; in addition they acquired nineteenth century works for resale and accepted pieces on commission. Although framing and restoration services continued to be offered to customers, this aspect of the business soon diminished in importance.
Harold C. Milch (1904-1981), Albert's son, was affiliated with the business, and upon his father's retirement was appointed partner; after Albert died in 1951, Harold was sole proprietor, serving as both President and Secretary.
Milch Galleries moved to smaller quarters at 55 East 57th Street in 1947, and ten years later to 21 East 67th Street. In 1967, the name was changed to Milch Gallery and the business relocated to 1014 Madison Avenue. The gallery dissolved upon the death of Harold Milch. A third brother, David C. Milch, was also an art dealer, but was not associated with Milch Gallery.
Missing Title
1911 -- Edward Milch Galleries opens at 939 Madison Ave.
1912 -- First exhibition at Edward Milch Galleries
1916 -- Incorporation of E. & A. Milch; Edward Milch, President, and Albert Milch, Secretary; change of name to Milch Galleries and relocation to 108 West 57th St.
1918 -- Milch Galleries Art Notes begins publication
1944 -- Edward Milch retires; Albert Milch President, and Harold C. Milch [son of Albert], Secretary
1947 -- Milch Galleries moves to 55 East 57th St.
1951 -- Death of Albert Milch (1881-1951); Harold C. Milch, President and Secretary
1953 -- Death of Edward Milch (1865-1953)
1957 -- Milch Galleries moves to 21 East 67th St.
1966 -- Archives of American Art begins acquiring records of the Milch Galleries (gifts and loans from Milch Galleries)
1967 -- Relocation to 1014 Madison Ave., and name change to Milch Gallery
1981 -- Death of Harold C. Milch (1904-1981)
1986 -- Archives of American Art receives the bulk of Milch Gallery records (gift of Salander-O'Reilly Galleries)
Appendix: List of Milch Gallery Exhibitions and Checklists:
Items marked with an asterisk (*) are contained in the scrapbook rather than with the Milch Gallery exhibition catalogs.
Missing Title
Nov. 16-Dec. 7, 1912* -- Exhibition of 300 Original Sketches in Oil by 100 Well Known American Artists
Feb. 15-March 8, 1913* -- Glimpses of Nature We Love to See, Feast, and Dwell On
April 28-May 7, 1913* -- Portraits of Children and Grown-Ups by Miss Susan Ricker Knox
Oct. 18-Nov. 1, 1913* -- Small Paintings and Bronzes
Oct. 18-Nov. 1, 1913* -- Exhibition of Paintings and Sculptures by Noted American Artists
Feb. 9-21, 1914* -- Paintings by W. Herbert Dunton of The Old West
Oct. 17-31, 1914* -- Portraits in Oil, Miniatures, and Sculpture
Feb. 20-March 7, 1915* -- Paintings and Etchings by Gordon Mallet McCouch
April 26-May 8, 1915* -- Paintings by Frew W. Kost, N.A.
Nov. 7-19, 1915 -- Paintings and Sculpture by Matilda Browne
Nov. 15-30, 1915* -- Views of the Panama California Exposition and Landscapes of Southern California
Jan. 31-Feb. 12, 1916 -- Paintings by Garber, Pearson, Lathrop, and Spencer
Feb. 14-26, 1916* -- Landscapes by Walter Clark, N.A.
Feb. 14-26, 1916* -- Paintings by Guy Wiggins
Nov. 4-18, 1916* -- Opening Exhibition
Nov. 25-Dec. 9, 1916* -- Works by the Late Louis Loeb
Jan. 15-27, 1917* -- Paintings by Helen M. Turner
Jan. 30-Feb. 10, 1917* -- Paintings by Leonard Ochtman, N.A.
Feb. 14-24, 1917* -- Recent Paintings by William V. Schevill
March 6-24, 1917 -- Ten American Painters
March 13-24, 1917* -- George Bellows
March 14-24, 1917* -- Paintings by Frederick J. Waugh
March 26-April 7, 1917* -- Paintings by Howard Russell Butler, N.A.
April 10-21, 1917 -- Paintings by Harry F. Waltman and Howard Giles, and Sculptures by Willard D. Paddock
April 15-27, 1917* -- Paintings by Valentino Molina
April 24-May 5, 1917* -- Paintings by Thalia Millet
Oct. 27-Nov. 17, 1917* -- William Jean Beauley
Jan. 15-Feb. 15, 1918* -- Etchings, Dry-Point and Lithographs by Ernest Haskell
Jan. 28-Feb. 4, 1918 -- Sketches and Paintings by the "Nova Scotia Group"
Feb. 25-March 16, 1918* -- Paintings by Robert Henri
March 13-24, 1918 -- George Bellows
March 22-April 4, 1918* -- Paintings by H. Gabrielle Levey
April 8-, 1918* -- Etchings by Allen Lewis
Nov. 25-Dec. 16, 1918* -- Paintings by Edward H. Potthast, N.A.
Dec. 18-Jan. 16, 1918 -- Annual Holiday Exhibition of Selected Paintings of Limited Size by American Artists
Dec. 23-Jan. 10, 1919* -- Etchings and Dry-Points by Ernest Haskell
Jan. 13-25, 1919* -- Paintings by Mary Prindeville
Jan. 27-Feb. 13, 1919* -- With the A.E.F., Paintings and Drawings Made at the Front by S. J. Woolf
Feb. 14-26 [1919?]* -- Paintings by Arthur C. Goodwin
Feb. 18-March 1, 1919* -- Paintings by Jerome Myers
March 3-16, 1919* -- Recent Paintings of California by William Ritschel, N.A.
March 17-29, 1919 -- Recent Paintings by Lillian Genth, A.N.A.
March 28-April 9, 1919* -- Drawings of New York City by Peter Marcus
April 8-30*, 1919 -- Paintings by Leading American Artists
April 19-May 1*, 1919 -- Paintings by Valentino Molina
May 3-22, 1919 -- Recent American Sculpture
May 5-17*, 1919 -- Recent American Sculpture in Bronze, Wood, and Terra Cotta for the Town and Country House, the Grounds, and Garden
May 20-, 1919 -- Flag Pictures and Street Scenes by Childe Hassam
Nov. 16-Dec. 6, 1919 -- Childe Hassam
Nov. 17-Dec. 6, 1919 -- Exhibition of Works in the Various Mediums by Childe Hassam
Dec. 18-Jan. 16, 1920 -- Annual Holiday Exhibition of Selected Paintings of Limited Size by American Artists
Dec. 29-Jan. 15, 1920* -- Portraits and Other Paintings by Royston Nave
Feb. 2-14, 1920 -- George Biddle
Feb. 2-14, 1920* -- Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels, Monotypes, Silver-Points and Etchings by George Biddle
Feb. 16-28, 1920* -- Paintings by Ossip L. Linde
March 1-12, 1920 -- Bruce Crane
March 1-13, 1920 -- Bruce Crane, A.N.A.
March 15-April 3, 1920 -- Willard L. Metcalf
April 5-20, 1920 -- Paintings
April 8-30 [1920] -- Exhibition of Paintings by Leading American Artists
April 15-May 1, 1920 -- Valentino Molina
Oct. 18-30 [1920?]* -- Paintings of New England and Drawings of the Devastated Towns of Flanders by George Wharton Edwards
Nov. 1-13, 1920 -- Six American Painters [Clark, Potthast, Snell, Nichols, Olinsky, and Volkert
Nov. 1-15, 1920 -- Paintings by Theresa F. Bernstein
Nov. 15-27, 1920 -- Childe Hassam
Nov. 21-Dec. 3, 1920* -- Sculpture by Gleb Derujinsky
Dec., 1920* -- Exhibition by George Biddle
Dec. 1-21, 1920 -- Etchings and Color Etchings by William Meyerowitz
Dec. 27-Jan. 28, 1921 -- Albert Delbert Smith
circa 1920 -- Ossip L. Linde
circa 1920 -- William Meyrowitz
circa 1920 -- Exhibition
Jan. 10-29, 1921 -- Exhibition of Paintings by Brush, Crane, Dewing, Metcalf, Hassam, and Murphy
Jan. 31-Feb. 12, 1921 -- American Art
Feb. 14-26, 1921 -- Guy Wiggins
Feb. 14-26, 1921 -- Arthur G. Goodwin
Feb. 28-March 12, 1921 -- Paintings by Robert Henri
March 14-April 9, 1921 -- Paintings by Gari Melchers
March 28-April 9, 1921 -- Peter Marcus
April 11-23, 1921* -- Portraits and Figure Paintings by Edith Catlin Phelps
April 11-30, 1921 -- Paintings by Willard Metcalf
May 2-30, 1921 -- American Sculpture for the Town and Country House, the Garden, and the Grounds
Oct. 18-30 [1921?]* -- Paintings and Drawings by George Wharton Edwards
Oct. 24-Nov. 5, 1921 -- Portraits and Paintings of Old New Orleans by Wayman Adams
Nov. 7-19, 1921 -- Flower Paintings and Sculpture by Mathilde Browne
Nov. 7-19, 1921 -- Paintings in Oil and Water Color by George H. Clements
Nov. 19-Dec. 3, 1921 -- Sculpture-Gleb Derujinsky
Dec. 5-31, 1921 -- Works by Abbott H. Thayer, Including Important Paintings, Water Colors, and Drawings
circa 1921 -- Exhibition
Jan. 9-21, 1922 -- Paintings by Katherine Langhorne Adams
Jan. 9-21, 1922 -- Paintings of California by Douglass Ewell Parshall
Feb. 13-March 4, 1922 -- Paintings of Cape Ann by Harry A. Vincent, A.N.A.
March 6-25, 1922* -- Pastels of the Cascapedia River, Canada, by Arthur C. Goodwin
March 6-25, 1922 -- Connecticut Landscape Paintings by Wilson Irvine
March 27-April 15, 1922* -- Moonlight Motifs: Garden of the Gods, Colorado and Other Paintings by Robert Reid, N.A.
Dec. 26-Jan. 13, 1923 -- Paintings and Pastels by Henry C. White
Jan. 15-27, 1923* -- Paintings of Spain by William J. Potter
Jan. 29-Feb. 10, 1923 -- Water Colors of the South Sea Islands by William Ritschel, N.A.
Feb. 12-March 3, 1923 -- Paintings by Willard L. Metcalf
March 5-31, 1923 -- Paintings of the Far East by Leon Gaspard
March 19-31, 1923* -- Landscape Paintings by Guy Wiggins, A.N.A.
April 2-21, 1923* -- Portrait Drawings by Ercole Cartotto
April 19-May 6, 1923 -- Paintings by Leading American Artists
Oct. 1-20, 1923 -- Paintings by Sidney E. Dickinson, A.N.A.
Oct. 22- Nov. 3, 1923 -- Paintings and Sculpture by Mathilda Brown (Mrs. Frederick Van Wyck)
Nov. 5-17, 1923 -- Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by William Gedney Bunce
Dec. 11-23, 1923* -- Water Colors by James Montgomery Flagg
Jan. 14-26, 1924 -- Exhibition of Nudes, Portraits, Landscapes and Genre by Eugene Paul Ullman
Feb. 18-March 8, 1924 -- Paintings by Willard L. Metcalf
March 27-April 5, 1924 -- Connecticut Landscapes by Guy Wiggins, A.N.A.
Dec. 1-27, 1924 -- Maurice Fromkes
Jan. 5-17, 1925 -- Paintings of the Pacific Coast by Armin Hansen
Jan. 19-31, 1925 -- Martha Walter
Feb. 16-March 7, 1925 -- Willard L. Metcalf
March 9-21, 1925 -- John Noble
March 23-April 11, 1925 -- Bruce Crane
May 4-16, 1925 -- Brynjulf Strandenaes Exhibition of Portraits
May 18-30, 1925 -- Paintings by Robert Brackman
Dec. 7-31, 1925 -- Paintings by the Late Willard Metcalf
Dec. 7-21, 1925 -- Sketches by Dorothea A. Dreier,
Jan. 11-23, 1926 -- Recent Landscape Paintings by Frank V. Du Mond
Jan. 25-Feb. 13, 1926 -- Smaller Paintings by Max Bohm
Feb. 15-March 6, 1926 -- Paintings of the Sea by William Ritschel
April 13-May 2, 1926 -- Jonas Lie
April 26-May 15, 1926 -- Landscapes and Street Scenes by William Jean Beauley
Nov. 15-27, 1926 -- California Marine Paintings and Water Colors by Armin Hansen
Nov. 29-Dec. 18, 1926 -- Water Colors by Frank W. Benson
Nov. 29-Dec. 18, 1926 -- Silver-Point Drawings by Ercole Cartotto
Jan. 10-22, 1927 -- Portraits by Millie Bruhl Frederick (Mrs. Leopold Fredrick)
Jan. 24-Feb. 12, 1927 -- Paintings of Cornwall and Devonshire by W. Elmer Schofield
Jan. 24-Feb. 12, 1927 -- Etchings by Teresa Cerutti Simmons, Watercolors by Will Simmons
Feb. 14-March 5, 1927 -- Sculpture by Heinz Warneke
March 28-April 16, 1927 -- Paintings by Henry Golden Dearth
April 18-30, 1927 -- Decorative Flower Paintings by Olin Howland
April 18-30, 1927 -- Recent Water Colors by John Whorf of Boston
Oct. 10-28, 1927 -- Decorative Embroideries by Georgiana Brown Harbeson
Nov. 14-26, 1927 -- Pastels and Etchings of Cambodia and China by Lucille Douglass
Nov. 28-Dec. 24, 1927 -- Works by Gari Melchers
Nov. 28-Dec. 24, 1927 -- Sculpture by Max Kalish
Dec. 26-Jan. 14, 1928 -- Water Color Exhibition of West African Native Types by Erick Berry; Also a Group of West African Pottery and Brass Figures Made by the Natives of Nigeria
Dec. 29-Jan. 14, 1928 -- Paintings by Joacb Dooyewaard
Jan. 14-26, 1928 -- Decorative Paintings by Jane Peterson
Feb. 7-April 29, 1928 -- Alfred Hutty
Feb. 13-25, 1928 -- Water Colors by Alice Judson
March 12-24, 1928 -- Etchings of Ancient Dances by Teresa Cerutti-Simmons and Wild Life by Will Simmons
March 12-24, 1928 -- An Important Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels by John H. Twachtman
March 12-24, 1928 -- Sculpture by Heinz Warnecke
March 26-April 14, 1928 -- Water Colors by John Whorf
April, 1928 -- Water Colors by William Ritschel, N.A.
April 15-May 5, 1928 -- Portrait Drawings in Pastel by Jessie Voss Lewis
Oct. 22-Nov. 3, 1928 -- Water Colors of France and Italy, and Etchings by Louis Wolchonok
Oct. 22-Nov. 3, 1928 -- Poetic Landscapes with Figures by Henry M. Rosenberg of Nova Scotia
Nov. 19-Dec. 1, 1928 -- Water Colors by Frank W. Benson
Nov. 19-Dec. 1, 1928 -- Water Colors of Architectural Subjects in France, Also Landscape and Figures by William de Leftwick Dodge
Dec. 1-28, 1928 -- Alfred Hutty
Dec. 3-24, 1928 -- Important Exhibition of Early and Recent Works by Childe Hassam of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Dec. 3-24, 1928 -- Still Life Paintings by Ruth Payne Burgess
Dec. 20-Jan. 8, 1929 -- Drawings by Frank di Gioia
Dec. 20-Jan. 8, 1929 -- Memorial Exhibition, Water Color Sketches by Thomas Moran, N.A.
Dec. 27-Jan. 14, 1929 -- Erick Berry
Dec. 27-Jan. 14, 1929 -- Helen K. McCarthy Memorial Exhibition
Dec. 29-Jan. 14, 1929 -- Paintings by Jacob Dooyewaard
circa 1928 -- Indian and Animal Pictures and Bronzes by Edwin Willard Deming
Jan. 28-Feb. 9, 1929 -- Painitings of Western Life by F. Tenney Johnson
Jan. 28-Feb. 9, 1929 -- Paintings and Water Colors by Alice Judson
Feb. 11-23, 1929 -- Paintings and Drawings by Max Bohm
Feb. 11-23, 1929 -- Landscapes and Marines by Jay Connaway
Feb. 25-March 9, 1929 -- Water-Colors by Harold Putnam Browne
Feb. 25-March 9, 1929 -- Paintings by Truman Fassett
March 11-23, 1929 -- Recent Water Colors by C.E. Polowetski
March 11-23, 1929 -- Louis Ritman
March 25-April 6, 1929 -- Landscapes by Frank Vincent Du Mond
March 25-April 6, 1929 -- Water Colors by Armin Hansen of California
March 25-April 6, 1929 -- Sculptures by Roy Sheldon
April 8-20, 1929 -- Water Colors by John Whorf, Distinguished Young Boston Artist
Oct. 21-Nov. 2, 1929 -- Corners in Spain, An Exhibition of Paintings by Wells M. Sawyer
Nov. 4-17, 1929 -- Recent Sculpture by Heinz Warnecke
Nov. 4-16, 1929 -- Paintings of Ireland and Other Scenes by Power O'Malley
Nov. 18-30, 1929 -- Group of Recent Paintings by Hayley Lever
Nov. 18-30, 1929 -- Recent Water Colors and Etchings by Louis Wolchonok
Dec. 2-21, 1929 -- Paintings by Maurice Fromkes
Jan. 30-Feb. 11 [192?] -- Water Colors of Greek Temples in Sicily by Wm. De Leftwich Dodge
Feb. 2-15 [192?] -- Figure Paintings by Murray Bewley
March 15-April 3 [192?] -- Paintings by Willard L. Metcalf
March 28-April 16 [192?] -- Paintings by Henry Golden Dearth
April 2-21 [192?] -- Landscape Paintings by Bruce Crane, N.A
Oct. 17-29 [192?] -- Water Colors of the Rivera by Ferris Connah
Oct. 18-30 -- Paintings and Drawings by George Wharton Edwards
Oct. 25-Nov. 13 [192?] -- Recent Landscapes by John F. Carlson, N.A.
Oct. 25-Nov. 13 [192?] -- John F. Carlson
[192?] -- Indian and Animal Pictures and Bronzes by Edwin Willard Deming
Nov. 19-Dec. 1 [192?] -- Water Colors of Architectural Subjects in France, also Landscape and Figures by William De Leftwich Dodge
Jan. 20-Feb 1, 1930 -- West African Water Colors by Erick Berry
Jan. 20-Feb. 1, 1930 -- Paintings by Nelson C. White
Feb., 1930 -- Thelma Wood
Feb. 3-15, 1930 -- Paintings by Horace Brown
Feb. 17-March 1, 1930 -- Paintings by Francis Speight
Feb. 17-March 1, 1930 -- Paintings by Ruth Payne Burgess
March 3-15, 1930 -- Paintings by John Noble
March 17-29, 1930 -- Russian Paintings by Irwin D. Hoffman, Also a Group of Recent Watercolors
March 17-29, 1930 -- Alexander Warshawsky
March 31-April 12, 1930 -- Memorial Exhibition, Paintings and Watercolors of Sigurd Skou
March 31-April 12, 1930 -- Emmanuel Andrew Cavacos
April 14-26, 1930 -- Water Colors by John Whorf
Oct. 20-Nov. 1, 1930 -- Recent Paintings of Lake Como by Charles Warren Eaton
Nov. 3-15, 1930 -- Pastels and Etchings of Angkor and the Far East by Lucille Douglass
Nov. 17-29, 1930 -- Joseph Szekely
Nov. 17-29, 1930 -- Important Exhibiton of Paintings by a "Group of Americans"
Dec. 1-13, 1930 -- Diana Thorne and Canine Portraiture
Dec. 1-13, 1930 -- Recent Paintings of Ireland by Power O'Malley
Dec. 1-13, 1930 -- Paintings by Charles M. Cox of Boston
Jan. 19-31, 1931 -- Portraits by Jere R. Wickwire
Jan. 20-Feb. 1, 1931 -- Nelson C. White
Jan. 24-Feb. 7, 1931 -- Pastels and Etchings of Angkor and the Far East by Lucille Douglass
Feb. 2-24, 1931 -- Recent Paintings by Lillian Gentle
Feb. 2-24, 1931 -- Impressions of India and Palestine by Ruth Coleman
Feb. 16-28, 1931 -- Watercolors of Vermont Scenes and Other Views by Ruth Payne Burgess
Feb. 16-28, 1931 -- Martha Walter Recent Work in Oil and Watercolor
March 2-14, 1931 -- Recent Paintings by Alice Judson
March 2-28, 1931 -- Paintings & Drawings by Gari Melchers
March 16-28, 1931 -- Recent Watercolors by Harold Putnam Brown
March 30-April 11, 1931 -- Paintings by Louis Kronberg
March 30-April 11, 1931 -- Watercolors by John Whorf
April 13-25, 1931 -- Americans by American Artists, Exhibition of Portraits
April 13-25, 1931 -- Louis Kronberg
April 13-25, 1931 -- Portraits and Crayon Heads by Ferris Connah
April 13-May 2, 1931 -- Abbott H. Thayer
Sept. 22-Oct. 6, 1931 -- Water Colors by Gladys Brannigan, Alice Judson, Margery Ryerson
Oct. 19-30, 1931 -- Portraits by William Steene
Nov. 2-7, 1931 -- Portraits and Sketches by Maria Kammerer under the Patronage of Countess Laszlo Szechenyi
Nov. 9-21, 1931 -- Paintings by Bessie Lasky
Nov. 23-Dec. 5, 1931 -- Recent Oils, Water Colors and Etchings by Joseph Margulies
Dec. 7-21, 1931 -- Recent Paintings by George Wharton Edwards
Dec. 7-19, 1931 -- Paintings and Etchings of African and American Big Game by Major A. Radclyffe Dugmore
Dec. 7-19, 1931 -- Watercolors of Yucatan, "Land of the Mayas" by William de Leftwich Dodge
Dec. 20-Jan. 8, 1932 -- Water Colors of the Yellowstone and Mexican Series by Thomas Moran, N.A.
Jan. 11-23, 1932 -- Paintings, Watercolors and Etchings of Animals by Sybilla Mittell Weber
Jan. 25-Feb. 6, 1932 -- Paintings by George Oberteuffer, Member of the Salon d'Automne, Paris
Feb. 8-March 5, 1932 -- Important 19th and 20th Century American Painters
March 7-19, 1932 -- Paintings by Mrs. B. King Couper
March 7-19, 1932 -- Drawings by Maurice Sterne, Ernest Fiene, Alexander Brook, yasuo Kuniyoski, Bernard Karfiol, Peggy Bacon, and Leon Kroll
March 28-April 9, 1932 -- Watercolors by John Whorf
April 11-30, 1932 -- Forty Years of American Art
Oct. 3-15, 1932 -- New Paintings by American Artists
Oct. 19-Nov. 5, 1932 -- Paintings by Stephen Etnier
Nov. 7-30, 1932 -- Paintings by Edward Bruce
circa 1932 -- Recent Paintings by Stephen Etnier
Jan.30-Feb. 25, 1933 -- Important Exhibition of Paintings by Thomas Eakins
March 6-25, 1933 -- 19th and 20th Century Watercolors
March 27-April 14, 1933 -- Paintings by Francis Speight
April 17-May 6, 1933 -- Water Colors by John Whorf
May 15-31, 1933 -- 19th Century American Landscape Artists
Nov. 27-Dec., 1933 -- Water Colors by Emil Holzhaur
Feb. 26-March 17, 1934 -- Paintings by Stephen Etnier
March 19-April 7, 1934 -- Water Colors by John Whorf
April 16-May 5, 1934 -- Bali Studies by Maurice Sterne
June-Aug., 1934 -- Paintings by American Artists
Sept., 1934 -- Paintings by American Artists
Oct. 15-Nov. 3, 1934 -- New and Recent Paintings by American Artists
Nov. 5-21, 1934 -- Paintings by Sidney Laufman
Nov. 26-Dec., 1934 -- Recent Vermont Landscapes by Edward Bruce
circa 1934 -- American Figure Paintings of the 19th and 20th Century
Jan. 7-26, 1935 -- Paintings and Watercolors from the Samuel Halpert Estate
Feb. 4-28, 1935 -- Small Paintings by 19th and 20th Century American Artists
March 4-22, 1935 -- Recent Paintings by Stephen Etneir
March 25-April 13, 1935 -- Water Colors by John Whorf
April 22-May 11, 1935 -- Figure and Landscape Studies by Leon Kroll
May 20-June, 1935 -- Group Exibhition of Paintings
Summer, 1935 -- Paintings by American Artists
Oct. 1-26, 1935 -- Paintings by Childe Hassam
Oct. 28-Nov. 16, 1935 -- Watercolors by Millard Sheets
through Dec., 1935 -- Paintings by Americans
Jan. 1936 -- Paintings by Americans
Feb. 3-29, 1936 -- Important Exhibition of 19th and 20th Century American Painters
March 2-21, 1936 -- Stephen Etnier
March 30-April 19, 1936 -- Watercolors by John Whorf
May 18-June, 1936 -- Paintings by American Artists
Summer, 1936 -- Paintings by American Artists
September, 1936 -- Paintings by American Artists
Oct. 12-31, 1936 -- Contemportary Viewpoint
through Nov. 30, 1936 -- 19th and 20th Century American Figure Paintings
circa 1936 -- Landscapes--Contemporary Viewpoint
Jan. 11-30, 1937 -- Selected Landscapes
Feb., 1937 -- Contemporary American Sculpture
March 15-April 3, 1937 -- Watercolors by Millard Sheets
April 12-30, 1937 -- John Whorf
April 27-May 16, 1937 -- Maurice Sterne
May, 1937 -- Paintings by American Artists
Summer, 1937 -- Paintings
Oct. 1-15, 1937 -- Recent Watercolors
Oct. 18-Nov. 6, 1937 -- Paintings by Lucille Blanche
Nov. 8-30, 1937 -- Paintings by American Artists
Dec. 6-24, 1937 -- Watercolors by Lester Field
Jan. 3-22, 1938 -- Recent Paintings by Stephen Etnier
Jan. 24-Feb. 5, 1938 -- Paintings by Margaret Cooper
Feb. 7-26, 1938 -- Colonial Portraits
March 7-26, 1938 -- Recent Oils and Watercolors by Millard Sheet
April 4-23, 1938 -- Recent Watercolors by John Whorf
Summer, 1938 -- Paintings by American Artists
through Oct., 1938 -- Paintings by American Artists
Oct. 24-Nov. 12, 1938 -- Recent Watercolors by Karl Oberteuffer
Nov. 21-Dec. 17, 1938 -- Paintings for the Home by American Artists
Jan. 16-Feb. 4, 1939 -- Recent Paintings by Floyd Clymer
Feb. 6-25, 1939 -- Harry Hering
March 6-31, 1939 -- Figure Paintings by American Artists
April 3-22, 1939 -- Recent Watercolors by John Whorf
May 15-June 3, 1939 -- Recent Watercolors by Millard Sheets
Summer, 1939 -- Selected Group of Paintings by American Artists
Sept., 1939 -- Paintings and Watercolors by American Artists
through Oct. 13, 1939 -- Recent Paintings by a Group of American Artists
Oct. 16-Nov. 4, 1939 -- Recent Paintings by Saul Schary
Nov. 13-Dec. 2, 1939 -- Toreros and Dancers of Spain and Mexico by Carlos Ruano Llopis
Dec., 1939 -- Paintings for the Home
Nov. 5-17 [193?] -- Table Portraits by Eulabee Dix
[193?] -- Paintings by American Artists
Jan. 2-27, 1940 -- Stephen Etnier
Feb. 12-March 2, 1940 -- Recent Watercolors by Robert Carson
March 11-30, 1940 -- Daniel Serra Paintings
April 8-27, 1940 -- Recent Watercolors by John Whorf
April 28-May 18, 1940 -- Rubin Recent Paintings
through June 29, 1940 -- Paintings by a Selected Group of American Artists
through Sept. 28, 1940 -- Summer Exhibition of Paintings by a Selected Group of Early and Contemporary American Artists
Oct. 1-19, 1940 -- Recent Paintings by a Selected Group of American Artists
Oct. 21-Nov. 9, 1940 -- Recent Watercolors by Allen Ingles Palmer
Nov. 18-Dec. 7, 1940 -- Helen Sawyer
Dec., 1940 -- Selected Paintings for the Home, and A Group of Original Studies in Color by Maurice Sterne
Jan. 13-Feb. 8, 1941 -- Watercolors by American Artists
Feb. 17-March 15, 1941 -- Paintings by Stephen Etnier, Sidney Laufman, and Francis Speight
April 7-26, 1941 -- Recent Watercolors by John Whorf
April 28-May 17, 1941 -- Remembrances of South America and British West Indies by Manicol
May 19-June 30, 1941 -- Group of Paintings by Selected Contemporary American Artists
Summer, 1941 -- Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists
Sept., 1941 -- A Selected Group of Paintings by Americna Artists
Oct. 6-25, 1941 -- Recent Paintings by a Selected Group of American Artists
Oct. 27-Nov. 15, 1941 -- Eliot O'Hara Watercolors
Nov. 17-Dec. 5, 1941 -- Recent Paintings by Jay Connaway
Nov. 17-Dec. 6, 1941 -- Recent Watercolors by Richard A. Kimball
Dec. 8-27, 1941 -- Edith Blum Paintings
Jan. 5-24, 1942 -- Recent Paintings by Stephen Etnier
through Feb. 28, 1942 -- Selected Paintings by a Group of Contemporary American Artists
March 9-28, 1942 -- New Talents Presented by the Gloucester Society of Artists
April 6-25, 1942 -- Recent Watercolors by John Whorf
May, 1942 -- Selected Paintings by Contemporary American Artists
June 2-13, 1942 -- Yun Gee
Summer, 1942 -- Selected Paintings by Early and Contemporary American Artists
Summer, 1942 -- Paintings by Selected American Artists
Oct. 5-31, 1942 -- Recent Paintings by a Selected Group of American Artists
Nov. 9-30, 1942 -- Watercolors by American Artists
Jan. 18-Feb. 6, 1943 -- Paintings by Yovan Radenkovitch
April 4-24, 1943 -- Recent Watercolors by John Whorf
April 26-May 15, 1943 -- Paintings and Watercolors by Childe Hassam
May 25-June 5, 1943 -- Exhibition by Gladys Irene Cook
June, 1943 -- Selected Paintings by American Artists
Summer, 1943 -- Exhibition of Paintings by American Artists
Sept., 1943 -- Paintings by a Selected Group of American Artists
Oct. 4-23, 1943 -- Paintings by Yun Gee
Nov., 1943 -- Recent Paintings by a Selected Group of American Artists
Jan. 24-Feb. 12, 1944 -- Recent Watercolors by James Fitzgerald
Feb. 14-March 4, 1944 -- Paintings by Sidney Laufman
March 6-25, 1944 -- Paintings by Jessie Ansbacher
April 3-22, 1944 -- Recent Watercolors by John Whorf
May, 1944 -- Paintings by Important American Artists
Summer, 1944 -- Exhibition of Paintings by a Selected Group of American Artists
Summer, 1944 -- Exhibition of Selected Paintings by a Group of American Artists
Oct. 2-21, 1944 -- Recent Paintings by Jay Connaway
Oct. 23-Nov. 11, 1944 -- Harry Hering
Nov. 13-Dec. 2, 1944 -- Paintings by Hobson Pittman
Dec., 1944 -- Paintings for the Home by American Artists
Jan. 3-13, 1945 -- Paintings by Therese Steinhardt
Jan. 22-Feb. 10, 1945 -- Louis Ritman
Feb. 18-, 1945 -- Memorial Exhibition, Paintings and Pastels by William Henry Singer, Jr., N.A.
Nov. 19-Dec. 7, 1963 -- New Paintings by Aaron Bohrod
April, 1964 -- Watercolors and Pastels
April 21-May 9, 1964 -- Grigory Gluckmann
May 13-29, 1964 -- Frank di Gioia Recent Paintings
Oct., 1964 -- Group Exhibition
Nov. 3-21, 1964 -- Stephen Etnier
Nov. 24-Dec. 12, 1964 -- Thomas Blagden
Jan., 1965 -- Comtemporary American Artists
Feb. 2-14, 1965 -- Figure Paintings by Murray Bewley
Feb. 2-14, 1965 -- Exhibition by George Biddle
Feb. 11-23, 1965 -- Paintings and Drawings by Max Bohm
Feb. 14-26, 1965 -- Paintings by Arthur C. Goodwin
Feb. 16-28, 1965 -- Water Colors by Matilda Browne
Feb. 16-March 6, 1965 -- Water Colors by Adolf Dehn
March, 1965 -- 19th and 20th Century American Artists
March 1-13, 1965 -- Bruce Crane, N.A.
March 6-25, 1965 -- Pastels of the Cascapedia River, Canada, by Arthur C. Goodwin
March 26-April 7, 1965 -- Paintings by Howard Russell Butler, N.A.
March 23-April 10, 1965 -- Paintings by Dan Lutz
March 28-April 16, 1965 -- Paintings by Henry Golden Dearth
April 2-21, 1965 -- Landscape Paintings by Bruce Crane, N.A.
April 13-May 1, 1965 -- Paintings by Louis Bosa
April 16-28, 1965 -- Water Colors and Etchings by Adolphe W. Blondheim
May, 1965 -- Gallery Contemporaries
Oct. 25-Nov. 13, 1965 -- Recent Landscapes by John F. Carlson, N.A.
Oct. 26-Nov. 13, 1965 -- Twenty-Four New Paintings by Aaron Bohrod, Artist in Residence, University of Wisconsin
Nov. 2-14, 1965 -- Paintings by Ann Crane
Nov. 5-17, 1965 -- Memorial Exhibition of Paintings of Venice by Wm. Gedney Bunce, N.A.
Nov. 7-19, 1965 -- Paintings and Sculpture by Matilda Browne
Nov. 16-Dec. 4, 1965 -- Electra Bostwick
Dec. 7-30, 1965 -- Recent Drawings and Watercolors of European Countries and North Africa by Frank di Gioia
Jan. 11-29, 1966 -- Georges Schreiber Watercolors: 1963-1965
Jan.-Feb., 1966 -- 19th and 20th Century American Artists
Feb.-March, 1966 -- Group Exhibition
June, 1966 -- Group Exhibition
Oct. 11-29, 1966 -- Thomas Blagden
Nov. 1-19, 1966 -- Stephen Etnier
Nov. 22-Dec. 10, 1966 -- Pleissner
Jan. 24-Feb. 11, 1967 -- Xavier Gonzalez
April, 1967 -- Group Exhibition
April 18-May 6, 1967 -- Grigory Gluckmann
July, 1967 -- Group Exhibition
undated -- Etchings and Color-Etchings
undated -- Etchings of China and Cambodia by Lucille Douglass
undated -- Thomas Jefferson Bust in Bronze by Robert Aitken, N.A.
undated -- Paintings by Ossip L. Linde
undated -- Etchings by William Meyerowitz
undated -- Recent Screens and Panels by Roy Mac Nicol
undated -- Summer Exhibition of Paintings and Watercolors by 19th and 20th Century American Artists
undated -- Paintings by Clement
undated -- Important Works in Paintings and Sculpture by Leading American Artists
Jan. 3-14, undated -- Armin Hansen
Jan. 8-27, undated* -- Recent Etchings by William Meyerowitz
Jan. 8-31, undated -- Group of American Figure Paintings, 19th and 20th Century
Jan. 9-21, undated -- Paintings by Katherine Langhorne Adams
Jan. 16-28, undated -- Paintings by Dewitt Parshall, N.A., and Douglass Parshall, N.A.
Jan. 23-Feb. 11, undated -- Paintings by Bruce Crane, Elliott Daingerfield, Granville Smith, and F. Ballard Williams
Jan. 27-Feb. 11, undated -- Willam de Leftwick Dodge
Jan. 28-Feb. 16, undated -- Paintings by Gari Melchers
Jan. 29-Feb. 10, undated -- Paintings of the California Coast by Armin Hansen
Jan. 30-Feb. 11, undated -- Sigrud Skou
Feb. 13-25, undated -- Water Colors by Alice Judson
Feb. 13-25, undated -- Paintings by Guy Wiggins, N.A.
Feb. 13-March 11, undated -- Paintings by H.T. Keasbey
Feb. 15-March 5, undated -- Frederic James
Feb. 17-March 1, undated -- Silver Point Drawings by Thelma E. Wood
Feb. 18-March 6, undated -- Landcapes, Nature Moods Expressed in Terms of Light by Julie Mathilde Morrow
Feb. 18-March 8, undated -- Paintings of Venice, Rome and French Landscape, also Pastel Drawings of the Battle Sectors of the 26th Division, A.E.F. by J. Alden Twachtman
Feb. 27-March 10, undated -- Portrait Busts and Drawings by Alexander Portnoff
March 5-17, undated* -- Pastels of the Hudson River by Arthur C. Goodwin
March 7-16, undated -- Paintings of Africa and Spain by Lillian Genth
March 7-26, undated -- Sigurd Skou
March 8-20, undated -- Paintings by Sigurd Skou
March 10-22, undated -- MacDowell Club of New York City Annual Exhibition of Paintings
March 22-April 10, undated -- Paintings of the Cathedrals of France by Pieter Van Veen
March 26-April 12, undated -- Paintings by E. Martin Hennings
March 26-April 14, undated -- Recent Etchings by Elias M. Grossman
March 28-April 16, undated -- Martha Walter Water Colors of Spain and North Africa
April 5-17, undated -- Paintings by Ernest L. Blumenschein, Victor Huggins, Walter Ufer
April 7-19, undated -- Figure Paintings by Louis Ritman
April 12-23, undated -- Portraits and Figure Paintings by Edith Catlin Phelps
April 12-24, undated -- Paintings of American Gardens by Abbott Graves
April 16-28, undated -- Portrait Drawings in Pastel by Jessie Voss Lewis (Mrs. H.L. Daingerfield Lewis)
April 19-May 1, undated -- Paintings by Valentino Molina
April 21-May 3, undated -- Paintings of Tahiti and California by William Ritschel, N.A.
April 21-May 3, undated -- Leonard Lopp, Glacier Park Artist
April 22-May 15, undated -- Sculpture for House, Garden & Grounds by Leading American Artists, and Pottery by Clara L. Poillon
April 24-May 5, undated -- Paintings by Thalia Millett
April 26-May 15, undated -- Dan Lutz, Mighican Summer and Mexican Sojourn
April 26-May 15, undated -- William H. Singer
April 27-May 16, undated -- Recent Paintings by Gluckmann
May 3-28, undated -- Exhibition of Sculpture for Garden and Grounds by Leading Sculptors
May 5-17, undated -- Recent American Sculpture in Bronze, Wood and Terra Cotta for the Town and Country House, Grounds and Garden
Oct. 11-23, undated -- Paintings by Anna Heyward Taylor
Oct. 25-Nov. 13, undated -- Water Colors by Alice Judson
Oct. 27-Nov. 15, undated -- Paintings and Etchings by William Auerbach-Levy
Oct. 30-Nov. 11, undated* -- Connecticut Landscape Paintings by Robert Nisbet, A.N.A.
Oct. 31-Nov. 12, undated -- Paintings of China and Tibet by Alice Job
Oct. 31-Nov. 14, undated -- Drawings by James Wilkie
Nov. 5-17, undated -- Paintings of Venice
Nov. 15-27, undated* -- Water Colors by Childe Hassam
Nov. 16-Dec. 5, undated -- Recent Etchings by Alfred Hutty
Nov. 16-Dec. 5, undated -- Paintings by W. Elmer Schofield
Nov. 17-29, undated -- Paintings and Etchings by Power O'Malley
Nov. 18-30, undated -- Recent Work in Water Color and Etching by Louis Wolchonok
Nov. 19-Dec. 1, undated -- Winter Landscapes in Water Color by Walter Launt Palmer, N.A.
Nov. 19-Dec. 1, undated -- Painter Friends, Robert H. Nisbet, Guy C, Wiggins, Edward C. Volkert, Wilson Irvine, George M. Bruestle, and Carl J. Nordell
Nov. 23-, undated -- Landscapes by Ault, Brook, Coleman, Karfiol, Ritman, Speight, Sterne, and Weber
Nov. 23-Dec. 6, undated -- Portraits of America's Most Distinguished Women by Leon Gordon
Nov. 24-Dec. 3, undated -- Sculpture by Gleb Derujinsky
Nov. 26-Dec., undated -- Exhibition of Recent Vermont Landscapes by Edward Bruce
Nov. 26-Dec. 5, undated -- Alfred Hutty
Nov. 27-Dec. 9, undated -- Paintings by Sigure Schou
Dec. 1-27, undated -- Works Painted in Spain by Maurice Fromkes
Dec. 1-25, undated -- Annual Holiday Exhibition of Selected Paintings of Limited Size
Dec. 3-29, undated -- Recent Paintings, Water Colors, and Etchings by Hilde Hassam, N.A., of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Dec. 6-30, undated -- Selected Paintings for the Home by American Artists
Dec. 14-Jan. 2, undated -- Recent Paintings by George Shillard
Dec. 20-Jan. 8, undated -- Selected Small Paintings for the Home
Dec. 27-Jan. 12, undated -- Helen K. McCarthy Memorial Exhibition
Dec. 30-Jan. 18, undated -- Paintings by Stewart McDermot
Dec. 31-Jan. 12, undated -- Second Annual Exhibition in Pure Water Color by The Aquarellists
Provenance:
Milch Gallery gave the Archives of American Art a small selection of correspondence, photographs, and printed matter, and loaned a few other items in 1966-1967; these records were microfilmed on reels D285, N730, and NM1-NM2. Records of the Milch Gallery were purchased from the estate of Harold C. Milch by Elliott Galleries of New York City, and subsequently acquired by Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, which donated them to the Archives in 1986. With the exception of the scrapbook about Thomas Moran (reel N730; present location of the original is unknown), prior loans and gifts from Milch Gallery were incorporated and refilmed with the 1986 gift.
Stuart Feld of Hirschl & Adler Galleries donated an additional .8 linear feet of records in 1995. Zachary Ross of Hirschl & Adler Galleries donated 2.2 linear feet in 2014.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Patrons must use microfilm copy.
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.
The records of the American Federation of Arts (AFA) provide researchers with a complete set of documentation focusing on the founding and history of the organization from its inception through the 1960s. The collection measures 79.8 linear feet, and dates from 1895 through 1993, although the bulk of the material falls between 1909 and 1969. Valuable for its coverage of twentieth-century American art history, the collection also provides researchers with fairly comprehensive documentation of the many exhibitions and programs supported and implemented by the AFA to promote and study contemporary American art, both nationally and abroad.
Scope and Content Note:
The records of the American Federation of Arts (AFA) provide researchers with a complete set of documentation focusing on the founding and history of the organization from its inception through the 1960s. The collection measures 79.8 linear feet, and dates from 1895 through 1993, although the bulk of the material falls between 1909 and 1969. Valuable for its coverage of twentieth-century American art history, the collection also provides researchers with fairly comprehensive documentation of the many exhibitions and programs supported and implemented by the AFA to promote and study contemporary American art, both nationally and abroad.
The earliest documentation from 1895 to 1909 concerns the organization's history and founding and is located in Series 1: Board of Trustees. Also found in this series are meeting minutes, 1909-1963 and 1968. Interfiled with the board meeting minutes are minutes of the executive committee and other special and ad hoc committees, reports to the board, financial statements and reports, and lists of committee appointments and board membership. This series also contains the scattered correspondence and subject files of various officers. Although not a complete set of officers' files, Presidents' Frederick Allen. Whiting (1931-1936), Lawrence M.C. Smith (1948-1952), Thomas Brown Rudd (1952-1954), Daniel Longwell (1954-1956), James S. Schramm (1956-1958), and Roy R. Neuberger (1958-1961) are represented. Leila Mechlin served on AFA's board as secretary from its founding to 1929, and her files are a particularly rich resource for AFA's activities during its early years. Lawrence M.C. Smith's files documenting his years as board treasurer are also arranged in this series. Additional officers' correspondence is interspersed throughout the Alphabetical Files and other series.
General information about the scope of AFA's programs, affiliations, founding, functions, and proceedings are arranged in Series 2: Administrative Records. The first subseries, Alphabetical Files, houses a wide variety of subject files that contain memoranda, correspondence, printed materials, lists, reports, and other papers. These files document the AFA's general history and founding, organizational affiliations, buildings and moves, grants, federal and state government art programs, auctions and other fund-raising efforts, publicity and public relations, publications, and fiftieth anniversary celebration. The subject headings by which these files are arranged are, for the most part, the ones designated by the AFA. The second subseries, Staff Records, houses the scattered files of AFA's director, assistant director, registrar, and special state representative, Robert Luck.
During its most active period, the AFA sponsored or participated in several special programs and Series 3: Special Programs houses the files that document many of them. The first subseries consists of the files for the Artists in Residence program that was funded by the Ford Foundation. Awarded in 1963, the grant sponsored short-term teaching residencies for artists in museums throughout the United States. The host museums were encouraged to hold exhibitions of the artists' works. This subseries contains both the general files of the program, as well as individual files on the participating artists. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the AFA and the Ford Foundation also sponsored additional programs for artists, including Grants in Aid, Purchase Awards, and the Retrospective Exhibitions Program. The files documenting these three programs are also arranged in Series 3, under the subseries Ford Foundation Program for Visual Artists. In the late 1950s, the AFA implemented the Museum Donor Program with benefactors and philanthropists Audrey Bruce Currier and Stephen Richard Currier. Through the administration of the AFA, the Curriers donated funds to selected institutions specifically for the purchase of contemporary American art. The Curriers preferred to remain anonymous throughout the program. Files documenting this program include correspondence, applications from the accepted institutions, rejections, a summary report, and clippings about the untimely deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Currier in 1967.
Also found in Series 3 are the files documenting AFAs working relationship with the first state arts council, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). In 1961, AFA and NYSCA implemented a traveling exhibition program in New York State. Found here are files for possible itineraries, proposals, publicity, loans, budgets, and the actual exhibition files. Additional AFA special programs documented in Series 3 include the Picture of the Month program of the mid-1950s and the Jean Tennyson Foundation Color Slide Lecture Program.
AFA Annual Convention files constitute Series 4. Beginning with the Third Annual Convention in 1912 and continuing through the 1963 Annual Convention, the files contain official proceedings, speeches, programs, clippings, correspondence, and press releases. Files are missing for 1913, 1915, 1918, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1931, 1936-1949, 1952, 1956, 1958, 1960, and 1962. There are also audio recordings in the form of reel-to-reel tapes for the 1951 Annual Convention.
Series 5: Exhibition Files forms the bulk of the collection at circa 62 linear feet and is arranged into twenty subseries. The first subseries, Exhibitions, General, houses primarily the records of the Board of Trustees Exhibition Committee and documents the AFA's earliest involvement with traveling exhibitions. These files contain reports, budgets, correspondence, memoranda, scattered exhibition catalogs, and photographs. They are primarily the files of the chair of the Exhibition Committee and include the files of Juliana R. Force, Eloise Spaeth, and Mrs. John Pope. Also found in this series is a subseries of Mrs. John Pope's records documenting circulating exhibitions from 1934 to 1955, arranged by state.
The remaining nineteen subseries of the Exhibition Files reflect either specific exhibition programs, many of which have unique numbers assigned by AFA to individual exhibitions, or other exhibition-related files, such rejected, canceled, and suggested exhibitions and miscellaneous installation photographs. The Annual Exhibitions files constitute the largest of the subseries and are numbered according to the system assigned by AFA, following a typical chronological order. Although the documentation for each exhibition varies widely by both type and amount, most of the files contain contracts and legal agreements, correspondence, memoranda, itinerary information, condition reports, publicity materials, catalogs, announcements, price lists, and other such information arranged into one or more files. The files were labeled "documentation files," "dispersal files," "report form files," "loan agreement files," and "publicity files" according to the filing system devised by AFA. Many of the files also house a significant amount of correspondence with museum officials, lenders, and artists.
Additional subseries document AFA's exhibition venues and partnerships with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the New York State Council on the [UNK] Life magazine, and Addison Gallery. A complete list of all of the subseries, including specific exhibition programs, follows in the Series Outline.
The final three series of the collection are small: Printed Material, Miscellaneous Files, and Oversized Material. The printed material was donated much later to the Archives and dates from 1990 to 1993. Found here are scattered press releases, annual reports, and an exhibition program. Miscellaneous Files contain scattered records, 1926-1962, of the Architectural League of New York relating to national award programs. It is not clear why this small group of Architectural League records was found mixed with the AFA records but perhaps the collaboration between the two organizations on several special projects provides an explanation. Also found in Miscellaneous Files is a group of black and white lantern slides from a lecture series, "New Horizons in America." Oversized Material includes a portfolio, a work of art, and posters.
See Appendix for a list of artists exhibiting with the American Federation of Arts
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into eight primary series based primarily on administrative units or program areas. Several of the series are further subdivided into subseries. While processing, it became clear that the two filing systems were redundant and overlapped in both subject area and type of material. Most of these files were subsequently merged into the now broader Alphabetical Files or into separate series. Oversized material may be found at the end of the collection arranged in a separate series.
In most cases, files related to one another by subseries or subject areas (in the case of the Alphabetical Files) or by individual name (in the case of officers and staff files) are arranged in chronological order. The entire subseries of Alphabetical Files in Series 2 is arranged by subject heading, as assigned by the AFA, or individual name. The Alphabetical Files originally formed two broad filing systems as established by the AFA: one for general correspondence arranged by subject; and one for director's and other staff correspondence, also arranged by subject.
Series 1: Board of Trustees, circa 1895-1968 (Boxes 1-3)
Series 2: Administrative Records, 1910-1966 (Boxes 4-8)
Series 3: Special Programs, 1950-1967 (Boxes 9-13)
Series 4: Annual Conventions, 1912-1963 (Boxes 14-16)
Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1934-1969 (Boxes 17-78)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1990-1993 (Box 78)
Series 7: Miscellaneous Files, 1926-1962, undated (Box 79)
Series 8: Oversized Materials, 1890, undated (Boxes 80-85)
Historical Note:
Founded in 1909 by Elihu Root, the American Federation of Arts (AFA) exists today as a national nonprofit museum service organization striving to unite American art institutions, collectors, artists, and museums. Elihu Root, then secretary of state in the administration of Theodore Roosevelt, spoke of his idea at the first meeting of the AFA held in New York at the National Academy of Arts. He envisioned an organization that would promote American art most often seen only by the elite in the major cities of the East and upper Midwest by sending "exhibitions of original works of art on tour through the hinterlands across the United States."
The American Academy in Rome, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and Metropolitan Museum of Art were influential organizing member institutions. Individual members included such notables as William Merritt Chase, Charles L. Freer, Daniel C. French, Charles L. Hutchinson, Henry Cabot Lodge, J.P. Morgan, and Henry Walters. The founding of the AFA provided the American art world with a forum for communication and participation among artists, cultural institutions, patrons of the arts, and the public.
To accomplish its mission, the AFA established volunteer committees for membership, exhibitions, and publications. During its first year, the AFA began publishing Art and Progress (later changed to Magazine of Art) and the American Art Annual (now the American Art Directory). In 1909, the AFA also organized its first traveling exhibition, Paintings by Prominent American Artists, which was shown at museums in Fort Worth, New Orleans, Minneapolis, and New Ulm, Minnesota.
By the end of the first year, the headquarters of the organization moved to Washington, D.C., to facilitate lobbying the federal government for favorable art legislation. In 1913, the AFA lobbied successfully for the removal of the tariff on foreign art entering the United States. In 1916, the Federation met with the Interstate Commerce Commission to protest prohibitively high interstate taxes on traveling art exhibitions.
Throughout the next fifteen years, the AFA continued to grow in membership and influence. By 1919, membership included 438 institutions and 2,900 individuals. The AFA's annual conventions were held in major national art centers and were attended by members, chapter delegates, and the public. At the conventions, scholars, patrons, and curators lectured on and discussed subjects of national interest, thereby fostering an exchange of ideas. The AFA also sponsored periodic regional conferences to promote institutional cooperation and to discuss mutual problems and needs. To facilitate exhibition venues west of the Mississippi River, in 1921 the AFA opened regional offices at the University of Nebraska and at Stanford University. The AFA produced and circulated slide programs and lecture series to museums and educational institutions that fostered art education. By 1929, the Federation had developed forty-six slide-lecture programs that covered American mural painting, European and American contemporary art, and textiles.
During the 1930s, the Federation expanded its services by providing schools with teaching guides, student workbooks, slides, and films about art. In 1935, the AFA began publishing Who's Who in American Art, later publishing The Official Directory of Illustrators and Advertising Artists and Films on Art reference guides. To reach an even larger audience, the AFA began collaborating with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to organize national circulating exhibitions to "bring the museum to the people."
One of AFA's priorities was to make American art more visible abroad. The Federation focused on encouraging the representation of American artists in foreign exhibitions, and in 1924 it lobbied successfully for additional American participation in the Venice Biennale. The AFA's focus on exhibiting American art abroad continued to expand, particularly following World War II. In 1950, recognizing that the AFA could assist in promoting American culture, the State Department awarded the AFA a grant for a German "re-orientation program" consisting of educational exhibitions shown in German museums. Additional government funding further enabled the AFA to organize American participation in exhibitions in India, Japan, Paris, Switzerland, and Rotterdam between 1950 and 1970. Later, the AFA collaborated with the United States Information Agency (USIA) to create the Overseas Museum Donor Program which permitted donations of American art to foreign institutions on a restriction-free, tax-deductible basis. During the 1950s, the AFA was a very active member of the Committee on Government and Art, a national committee with members from across the art and museum world concerned with government sponsorship of and legislation affecting art sales, commissions, and trade.
In 1952, the headquarters of the AFA returned to New York, sparking a period of innovation and expanded of programs. Throughout the 1950s, the AFA distributed films about art and co-sponsored the Films on Art Festival in Woodstock, New York. The AFA also introduced its Picture of the Month Program in 1954, renting original works of art to small American art and educational institutions. In 1956, the AFA organized the Art Collectors Club of America to provide fellowship for art collectors through meetings and activities. The club disbanded in the 1970s.
The Federation's exhibition programs continued to flourish during the 1950s and 1960s. Private and public financial support allowed the AFA to achieve many of its goals. In 1958, the Ford Foundation awarded an important grant to organize a series of traveling one-person shows and a series of monographs devoted to contemporary American artists. Milton Avery, Andrew Dasburg, José DeCreeft, Lee Gatch, Walter Quirt, Abraham Rattner, and others were among the artists who participated. Private foundation support for the AFA's Museum Donor Program provided an annual allowance that was distributed to regional museums for the pourchase of contemporary American art. Cooperative programs and joint venues also became popular during this period. For example, public support from the New York State Council on the Arts allowed the AFA to circulate exhibitions to small New York State communities, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts provided the AFA with five exhibitions for national tours.
Throughout its history, the American Federation of Arts has concentrated on its founding principle of broadening the audience for contemporary American art. Through its numerous exhibition and film programs, the AFA has succeeded in "breaking down barriers of distance and language to broaden the knowledge and appreciation of art." Annual exhibitions such as New Talent in the USA and Art Schools USA, organized by the AFA, brought before the public the most contemporary American artists and craftspeople, genres, and artistic forms of experimentation, exposing viewers to new ways of thinking and expression. In 1965, AFA produced The Curriculum in Visual Education, a series of films created to heighten the aesthetic awareness of children.
A vital part of American art history, the AFA was one of the first organizations to develop successfully the concept of traveling art exhibitions on a national and international level. The AFA was instrumental in assisting museums with circulating important juried exhibitions of contemporary art, such as the Whitney Annual and Corcoran Biennial. The AFA also recognized the importance of the exchange of cultural ideas, and it brought exhibitions of the European masters to the American public as well as exhibitions focusing on foreign contempoorary art, photography, and architecture. Many organizations and museums have followed the AFA's precedent, and traveling national and international venues are now commonplace.
Since 1909, women have served as officers and members of the Board of Trustees. Leila Mechlin was a founding participant and served as secretary from 1909 to 1933. Juliana R. Force and Eloise Spaeth both chaired the Exhibition Committee in the late 1940s. Women and artists of diverse backgrounds and nationalities were widely represented in the AFA's exhibition programs, most notably during the 1960s. In 1960, the AFA organized, with financial support from the Ford Foundation, a major Jacob Lawrence retrospective. Additional culturally diverse exhibitions included Contemporary Jewish Ceremonial Art (1961), The Heart of India (1962), 1,000 Years of American Indian Art (1963), and Ten Negro Artists from the United States (1966).
The AFA also had an impact on patronage in the arts. AFA exhibitions of contemporary art provided collectors with knowledge of new artists and avant-garde art forms, creating a broader demand and market for this type of work. Museums and collectors began purchasing work by new or obscure American artists whom they learned about through AFA exhibitions and programs.
The historical records of the American Federation of Arts offer the researcher a unique opportunity to study the development of American art and artists in the twentieth century as well as providing insight into trends in American culture.
Missing Title
1909 -- Founded in New York City. Began publishing Art and Progress (later retitled Magazine of Art) and the American Art Annual.
1910 -- Moved headquarters to Washington, D.C.
1913 -- Lobbied successfully for the removal of the tariff on art entering the United States.
1915-1916 -- Lobbied successfully against the Cummins Amendment and the Interstate Commerce Commission's prohibitively high interstate tax on traveling art.
1920 -- Organized a lobbying campaign for the development of a national gallery of art at its national convention.
1921 -- Opened two new offices at the University of Nebraska and at Stanford University.
1924 -- Arranged American participation in the Venice Biennale exhibition.
1927 -- Closed office at Stanford University.
1929 -- Organized American participation in exhibitions in France and Germany.
1933 -- Closed office at the University of Nebraska.
1935 -- Began publishing Who's Who in American Art.
1948 -- Published The Official Directory of Illustrators and Advertising Artists.
1949 -- Collaborated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to circulate exhibitions from its collections.
1950 -- Participated in the U.S. government's German re-orientation program.
1951 -- Joined forces with the United States Information Agency (USIA) to create the Overseas Museum Donor Program. Published the reference guide Films on Art. Co-sponsored the Films on Art Festival in Woodstock, New York, through 1957.
1952 -- Moved headquarters to New York City.
1953 -- Magazine of Art liquidated.
1954 -- Introduced the Picture of the Month Program.
1956 -- Founded the Art Collectors Club of America.
1958 -- Received a Ford Foundation grant to finance a series of one-person shows of contemporary American artists.
1960 -- Created the Museum Donor Program.
1961 -- Received a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts to circulate exhibitions to small New York state communities.
1963 -- Received a grant from the Ford Foundation for the Artists in Residence program.
1964 -- Introduced the List Art Poster Program.
1965 -- Produced The Curriculum in Visual Education, a series of films that attempted to heighten the aesthetic awareness of children.
Appendix: List of Artists Exhibiting with American Federation of Arts:
The following is an alphabetical list of artists who exhibited with the American Federation of Arts; many are obscure. The alpha-numeric codes and numbers appearing with the artist's name represent specific AFA exhibition programs and, most often, AFA's exhibition numbering system. In cases where the AFA did not assign an exhibition number, Archives' staff have done so.
The primary reference source for the names and name variants is the American Federation of Arts Records. The names are documented in handwritten notes and lists, typed lists, and exhibition catalogs and announcements. The Archives of American Art name authority file was also consulted in questionable cases. The majority of names, however, were not found in either the AAA name authority file or standard bibliographic resources, and only in the AFA records.
Examples:
55-1: AFA annual exhibitions program
AD-1: Addison Gallery exhibitions
L-1: Life Magazine Exhibitions
ME-1: Misceallaneous exhibitions (numbers assigned by AAA staff)
NMA-1: Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibitions
NE-96: Contemporary Color Lithography
NY-1: New York State Council on the Arts exhibitions
VA-1: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts exhibitions
Missing Title
A. Quincy Jones, Frederick E. Emmons & Assoc: 62-34
The records of the American Federation of Arts (AFA) were donated to the Archives of American Art (AAA) over a thirteen-year period, with the bulk of the material arriving between 1964 and 1966. In 1979, Preston Bolton donated his letters and those from John de Menil, Ann Drevet, Lee Malone, and others regarding planning for the 1957 AFA annual convention held in Houston, Texas; convention committee minutes from 1956; and AFA newsletters. This material, as well as a 1979 gift from Louise Ferrari of transcripts from a panel discussion from the 1957 AFA convention in Houston, was microfilmed on AAA Reel 1780. All material previously microfilmed on Reel 1780 has been fully integrated into the collection and arranged within proper series and subseries. The provenance of the 1990-1993 printed material is unknown.
Restrictions:
Use 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.
These papers reflect the professional lives of Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923), an ethnologist with the Peabody Museum of Harvard and collaborator with the Bureau of American Ethnology, and Francis La Flesche (1856-1923), an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Due to the close professional and personal relationship of Fletcher and La Flesche, their papers have been arranged jointly. The papers cover the period from 1874 to 1939. Included in the collection is correspondence, personal diaries, lectures, field notes and other ethnographic papers, drafts, musical transcriptions, publications by various authors, maps and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
These papers reflect the professional lives of Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923), an ethnologist with the Peabody Museum of Harvard University and collaborator with the Bureau of American Ethnology, and Francis La Flesche (1856-1923), an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Due to the close professional and personal relationship of Fletcher and La Flesche, their papers have been arranged jointly. The papers cover the period from 1874 to 1939. Included in the collection is correspondence, personal diaries, lectures, field notes and other ethnographic papers, drafts, musical transcriptions, publications by various authors, maps and photographs.
The papers have been divided into three general categories: the papers of Alice Cunningham Fletcher, the papers of Francis La Flesche, and the ethnographic research of Fletcher and La Flesche. The first two categories represent personal and professional materials of Fletcher and La Flesche. The third section holds the majority of the ethnographic material in the collection.
Of primary concern are Fletcher and La Flesche's ethnological investigations conducted among the Plains Indians, particularly the Omaha and Osage. Fletcher's Pawnee field research and her allotment work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs among the Omaha, Nez Perce, and Winnebago are represented in the collection. A substantial portion of the ethnographic material reflects Fletcher and La Flesche's studies of Native American music. Much of the correspondence in the papers of Fletcher and La Flesche is rich with information about the situation of Omaha peoples in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Also included in the collection are documents related to Fletcher's work with the Archaeological Institute of America and the School for American Archaeology. Additionally, substantial amounts of Fletcher's early anthropological and historical research are found among her correspondence, lectures, anthropological notes, and early field diaries. La Flesche's literary efforts are also generously represented.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into the following 3 series: 1) Alice Cunningham Fletcher papers, 1873-1925; 2) Francis La Flesche papers, 1881-1930; 3) Papers relating to the anthropological research of Alice Fletcher and Francis La Flesche, 1877-1939.
Series 1: Alice Cunningham Fletcher papers is divided into the following 10 subseries: 1.1) Incoming correspondence, 1874-1923 (bulk 1882-1923); 1.2) Outgoing correspondence, 1873-1921; 1.3) Correspondence on specific subjects, 1881-1925; 1.4) Correspondence between Fletcher and La Flesche, 1895-1922; 1.5) Publications, 1882-1920; 1.6) Organizational records, 1904-1921; 1.7) General anthropological notes, undated; 1.8) Lectures, circa 1878-1910; 1.9) Diaries, 1881-1922; 1.10) Biography and memorabilia, 1878-1925.
Series 2: Francis La Flesche papers is divided into the following 6 subseries: 2.11) General correspondence, 1890-1929; 2.12) Correspondence on specific subjects, 1881-1930; 2.13) Publications, 1900-1927; 2.14) Literary efforts, undated; 2.15) Personal diaries, 1883-1924; 2.16) Biography and memorabilia, 1886-1930.
Series 3: Papers relating to the anthropological research of Alice Fletcher and Francis La Flesche is divided into the following 12 subseries: 3.17) Alaska, 1886-1887; 3.18) Earth lodges, 1882, 1898-1899; 3.19) Music, 1888-1918; 3.20) Nez Perce, 1889-1909; 3.21) Omaha, 1882-1922; 3.22) Osage, 1896-1939; 3.23) Pawnee, 1897-1910; 3.24) Pipes, undated; 3.25) Sioux, 1877-1896; 3.26) Other tribes, 1882-1922; 3.27) Publications collected, 1884-1905, undated; 3.28) Photographs, undated.
Biographical / Historical:
Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923) was an ethnologist with the Peabody Museum of Harvard and collaborator with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Francis La Flesche (1856-1923) was an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Chronology of the Life of Alice Cunningham Fletcher
1838 March 15 -- Born in Havana, Cuba
1873-1876 -- Secretary, American Association for Advancement of Women
1879 -- Informal student of anthropology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University
1881 -- Field trip to Omaha and Rosebud Agencies
1882 -- Assistant in ethnology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University
1882 -- Helped secure land in severalty to Omaha Indians
1882-1883 -- Begins collaboration with Francis La Flesche on the Peabody Museum's collection of Omaha and Sioux artifacts
1883-1884 -- Special Agent, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Omaha Agency
1886 -- Bureau of Education investigation of Alaskan native education
1887-1888 -- Special Disbursing Agent, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Winnebago Agency
1889-1892 -- Special Agent for allotment, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Nez Perce Agency
1890-1899 -- President, Women's Anthropological Society of America
1891-1923 -- Mary Copley Thaw Fellow, Peabody Museum, Harvard University
1892-1893 -- Department of Interior consultant, World's Columbian Exposition
1896 -- Vice-President, Section H, American Association for the Advancement of Science
1897 -- Collaborator, Bureau of American Ethnology
1899-1916 -- Editorial board, American Anthropologist
1900 -- Published Indian Story and Song from North America
1901-1902 -- Advisory committee, Anthropology Department, University of California at Berkeley
1903 -- President, Anthropological Society of Washington
1904 -- Published The Hako: A Pawnee Ceremony with James Murie
1908-1913 -- Chair, Managing Committee of School of American Archaeology
1911 -- Honorary Vice-President, Section H, British Association for Advancement of Science
1911 -- Published The Omaha Tribe with Francis La Flesche
1913 -- Chair Emeritus, Managing Committee of School of American Archaeology
1915 -- Published Indian Games and Dances with Native Songs Arranged from American Indian Ceremonials and Sports
1923 April 6 -- Died in Washington, D.C.
Chronology of the Life of Francis La Flesche
1857 December 25 -- Born on Omaha Reservation near Macy, Nebraska
1879 -- Lecture tour, Ponca chief Standing Bear
1881 -- Interpreter, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
1881-1910 -- Clerk, Bureau of Indian Affairs
1891 -- Informally adopted as Fletcher's son
1892 -- LL.B., National University Law School
1893 -- LL.M., National University Law School
1900 -- Published The Middle Five: Indian Boys at School
1906-1908 -- Marriage to Rosa Bourassa
1910-1929 -- Ethnologist, Bureau of American Ethnology
1911 -- Published The Omaha Tribe with Alice Fletcher
1921 -- Published The Osage Tribe, Part One
1922 -- Member, National Academy of Sciences
1922-1923 -- President, Anthropological Society of Washington
1925 -- Published The Osage Tribe, Part Two
1926 -- Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Nebraska
1928 -- Published The Osage Tribe, Part Three
1932 -- Published Dictionary of the Osage Language
1932 September 5 -- Died in Thurston County, Nebraska
1939 -- Posthumous publication of War Ceremony and Peace Ceremony of the Osage Indians
Related Materials:
Additional material related to the professional work of Fletcher and La Flesche in the National Anthropological Archives may be found among the correspondence of the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) and the records of the Anthropological Society of Washington.
Sound recordings made by Fletcher and La Flesche can be found at the Library of Congress. The National Archives Records Administration hold the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), including those relating to allotments in severalty for the Nez Perce by Alice Fletcher. The Nebraska Historical Society has diaries, letters and clippings regarding the La Flesche family, including correspondence of Francis La Flesche and Fletcher. The Radcliffe College Archives holds a manuscript account of Alice Fletcher's four summers with the Nez Perce (1889-1892). Correspondence between Fletcher and F. W. Putnam is also located at the Peabody Museum Archives of Harvard University.
Separated Materials:
Ethnographic photographs from the collection have been catalogued by tribe in Photo Lot 24.
Glass plate negatives from the collection have been catalogued by tribe in the BAE glass negatives collection (Negative Numbers 4439-4515).
Provenance:
The papers of Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche have been received from an undocumented number of sources. Portions of Fletcher's ethnographic papers were donated to the archives by Mrs. G. David Pearlman in memory of her husband in 1959.
Restrictions:
The Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers are open for research.
Access to the Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers requires an appointment.
This collection consists of a scrapbook relating to Manila Davis Talley and her aviation career.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of one scrapbook which contains newspaper clippings, membership cards, programs, photographs, and pilot's licenses, mostly relating to Manila Davis Talley and her aviation career. The focus of the collection is on the years 1929-42, and highlights Talley's career as a salesperson for Curtis-Wright, and her association with the 99s and the Betsy Ross Corps. Also included is the scrapbook is information on the Women's National Air Races, the Women's National Air Meets, and Talley's work with the Civil Air Patrol. The scrapbook also includes clippings and other items related to Amelia Earhart, Jimmy Doolittle and General Balbo.
Arrangement:
Single item in original order.
Biographical / Historical:
Manila Davis Talley (1898-1973) soloed in October 1929 and received her pilot's license in April of 1930. She joined Curtis-Wright Corporation as a saleswoman in late 1929 or early 1930. Talley joined the 99s (international association of female pilots) in 1930 and was a founding member of Betsy Ross Corps, a private 1930s female auxiliary/reserve for the Army Air Corps. Talley was the third woman to go through Air Force War College, in December 1966.
Provenance:
Estate of Manila Davis Talley, Gift, Unknown, NASM.XXXX.0041
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 Permissions Requests.
Use of original papers requires and appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
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:
Jervis McEntee papers, 1796, 1848-1905. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Watkins, J. Elfreth (John Elfreth), 1852-1903 Search this
Extent:
24.28 Cubic feet (64 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Correspondence
Drawings
Manuscripts
Photographs
Publications
Date:
1891-1914
bulk 1891-1900
Summary:
This collection includes information about Samuel P. Langley and his colleagues, as well as documentation of Langley's work. The collection includes biographies of Langley and his assistant Charles Manly, newspaper clippings, correspondence, manuscripts regarding Langley's aircraft, photographs and drawings, work requisitions for the Aerodromes, a sketchbook, specifications and measurements for Langley's experiments, the Langley Memoirs on Mechanical Flight and the Langley "Waste Books."
Scope and Contents:
This collection includes information about Langley and his colleagues, as well as documentation of Langley's work. The collection includes the Aerodrome project waste books, biographies of Langley and his assistant Charles Manly, newspaper clippings, correspondence), manuscripts regarding Langley's aircraft, photographs and drawings, work requisitions for staff labor on the project, a sketchbook, specifications and measurements for Langley's experiments, and manuscript material from the Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight.
The National Air and Space Museum's Samuel P. Langley Collection was drawn from several sources in the Smithsonian Institution. Parts of the collection were separated at undetermined dates from the institutional records of Langley's time as Secretary (now held by the Smithsonian Institution Archives [SIA], as the Samuel P. Langley Papers, 1867-1906, Record Unit 7003) for several purposes:
Design papers and notes from Langley's aerodrome project were used for restoring the Langley Aerodromes for exhibits beginning in 1917.
Correspondence from the papers was consulted when controversies arose between the Wright brothers and the Smithsonian, and over credit for the design of the motor built by Stephen M. Balzer and extensively modified by Charles Manly, which was used on Aerodrome A.
Technical drawings of the Aerodromes were drawn from the SIA in the 1970s for conservation purposes.
Other material was added to the collection over the years:
Correspondence, memoranda, notes and label scripts from Langley exhibits from 1913 through the 1960s.
Design notes and work records from Langley's workshop were stored with the Aerodromes in the Museum's collections, and were later transferred to the Archives Division.
Biographical material on Langley, and correspondence to the Museum on Langley and the Aerodromes.
Material from the foundation of the Langley Aerodynamic Laboratory (now NASA's Langley Research Center) in 1913.
In addition to Record Unit 7003, researchers may wish to consult these Smithsonian Institution Archives' collections:
Record Unit 31, Office of the Secretary, Correspondence, 1866-1906, with related records to 1927.
Record Unit 34, Office of the Secretary, Correspondence, 1887-1907
Record Unit 7268, J. Elfreth Watkins Collection, 1869, 1881-1903, 1953, 1966 and undated.
The Archives Division of the National Air and Space Museum holds the Charles M. Manly Papers, (Acc. 1999-0004). Manly was Samuel Langley's assistant in the Aerodrome project from 1898 to 1903.
Note: The digital images in this finding aid were repurposed from scans made by an outside contractor for a commercial product and may show irregular cropping and orientation in addition to color variations resulting from damage to and deterioration of the original objects.
Arrangement:
The Samuel P. Langley Collection is arranged in the following series:
Series 1 - Waste Books: Langley and his staff used waste books - bound ledgers - to keep records of their work on the aeronautical projects, which Langley inspected frequently.
Series 2 - Scrapbooks: A collection of 18 scrapbooks containing newspaper and magazine clippings on "Aerial Navigation". Projects by Langley, Maxim, Lilienthal and many obscure aeronautical experimenters are included. Other clippings are included in Series VIII and XI.
Series 3 - Aeronautical Research and the Aerodromes: This series consists of notes, data, drawings and memoranda from Langley's aeronautical research at both the Smithsonian and the Allegheny Observatory. Subseries 2 contains material used in various Smithsonian exhibitions of the Langley Aerodromes. Some additional material is included in Series 11.
Subseries 3.1 - Design and Construction
Subseries 3.2 - Langley Aerodrome Exhibits
Series 4 - Correspondence: Letters and memoranda written by and sent to S. P. Langley and his assistants, C. M. Manly and J. E. Watkins. Additional correspondence is included in Series 11.
Subseries 4.1 - S. P. Langley Correspondence
Subseries 4.2 - S. P. Langley's Assistants' Correspondence
Subseries 3 - Miscellaneous Correspondence
Series 5 - Manuscripts, Papers, Articles: Manuscripts, published articles and papers by Langley and others. See also Series 11.
Subseries 5.1 - Works by S. P. Langley
Subseries 5.2 - Miscellaneous Manuscripts, Articles, and Notes
Series 6 - Photographs: Photographs, mainly of Langley's Aerodromes. Additional photographs are included with Series 11.
Series 7 - Trade Catalogues and Ephemera: Trade catalogues and price lists from various suppliers and dealers found stored with the "Aerodrome A" at the Museum's Paul E. Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland.
Series 8 - Miscellaneous Files
Series 9 - Flat Boxes and Oversized Material: Ledgers, drawings, test data, publications
Series 10 - Shorthand Diaries: A collection of 37 notebooks containing notes in an unidentified shorthand system, dating from 1898 to 1902, with 8 notebooks bearing partial dates or undated.
Series 11 - Additional Material: After the publication of the Langley Collection finding aid, two additional boxes of correspondence, manuscript material, drawings and photographs were found in the Museum's rare book room, the Ramsey Room. This material has been included as a separate series.
Biographical / Historical:
Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834-1906) was an astronomer, a pioneer of aeronautical research, and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution (1887-1906). As a young man, Langley studied civil engineering and pursued this as a career until 1864, when his interest in astronomy led him to positions at the Harvard Observatory, the Naval Academy, the Western University of Pennsylvania and the Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh. In 1887, Langley was named Secretary of the Smithsonian, and spent the following years in the research, construction and tests of flying machines. On May 6, 1896, his unpiloted Aerodrome No. 5, powered by a 1hp steam engine, flew nearly three quarters of a mile. This flight surpassed by more than ten times the best efforts of any predecessor. In 1898, at the request of the Army's Board of Ordnance and Fortifications, Langley started work on another design - the Great Aerodrome, also known as Aerodrome A. However, two attempts at launching the aircraft in 1903 failed. In addition to his scientific experiments, Langley's writings include Experiments in Aerodynamics and The Internal Work of the Wind, and the Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, published posthumously. Samuel P. Langley died in Aiken, South Carolina, on February 27, 1906.
A Timeline of Early Aeronautical Milestones and Samuel P. Langley's Life and Career
August 22, 1834 -- Samuel Pierpont Langley born to Samuel Langley and Mary Sumner Williams Langley in Roxbury Massachusetts.
1843 -- William Henson and John Stringfellow publish their design for the "Aeriel", a steam-powered "Aerial Steam Carriage".
1845 -- Langley begins to attend the Boston Latin School.
1847 -- Henson tests a model of his aircraft.
1848 -- Stringfellow and Henson build and test a steam powered model aircraft. It has a wingspan of 10 feet (3.5 meters), and it flies 131 feet (40 meters) before crashing into a wall.
1849 -- Sir George Cayley tests a towed triplane glider. In one test, it flies several yards with a local boy as a passenger.
1851 -- Langley graduates from the Boston High School; begins work as an apprentice with a Boston architect.
circa 1852-1864 -- Langley works for architectural and engineering firms in St. Louis and Chicago.
1853 -- Cayley's coachman flies a glider across Brompton Dale, Yorkshire. The coachman resigns his position after the flight. Cayley conceives the rubber band–powered model airplane. Michel Loup designs a powered twin propeller monoplane with a wheeled undercarriage.
1853-1854 -- L C. Letur tests his parachute-glider design. Letur is killed in a test flight in 1854.
1855 -- Joseph Pline coins the word "aeroplane" to describe a propeller-driven dirigible.
1857 -- Jean-Marie Le Bris, a sea captain inspired by the flight of the albatross, builds a glider he names the "Albatros Artificiel" and makes two short hops, breaking his leg in the second. Félix du Temple, a French naval officer, flies a clockwork model aircraft - the first sustained powered flights by a heavier-than-air machine.
1862 -- Gabriel de la Landelle coins the word "aviation", and later, "aviateur" - aviator.
1864 -- Langley returns to Roxbury. He begins work, with his younger brother John, on a five foot focal length telescope, which they complete over three years.
1864-1865 -- Samuel and John Langley tour Europe.
circa 1865 -- Langley is hired as observatory assistant at the Harvard University Observatory, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
January 1866 -- The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain (later named the Royal Aeronautical Society) is founded.
circa 1866 -- Langley is hired as assistant professor of mathematics at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland. Duties include restoring the Academy's astronomical observatory to operation.
1867 -- Langley is named professor of Astronomy and Physics at the Western University of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh. Duties include directorship of the Allegheny Observatory. His tenure at Allegheny will begin his work at the popularization of science through lectures and writing newspaper and journal articles.
1868 -- Stringfellow builds a model triplane.
1869 -- Langley proposes a system of standard time distribution via the telegraph to railroads and cities. The Pennsylvania Railroad signs on for the service. Langley joins a U.S. Coast Survey expedition to Oakland, Kentucky, to observe the August 7th solar eclipse. He observes later eclipses in 1870, 1878, and 1900.
1870 -- The Allegheny Observatory begins twice-daily time signals to the Pennsylvania Railroad's offices. Other railroads, businesses, and government offices later subscribe to the service. The income from the system aids the operation of the Allegheny Observatory and Langley's research work. Langley travels to Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, to observe a solar eclipse.
1870 -- Alphonse Pénaud designs his rubber-powered "Hélicoptère".
August 18, 1871 -- Pénaud demonstrates his "Planophore", a rubber-powered model, at the Tuileries, Paris. It flies 40 meters (approximately 131 feet) in 11 seconds.
1871 -- Francis Wenham designs the first wind tunnel; it is built by John Browning.
1873 -- Langley makes a detailed drawing of a sun spot. Famous for its accuracy of detail, the drawing is widely reproduced for many years.
1876 -- Pénaud and Paul Gauchot patent a design for an inherently stable steam-powered full-sized airplane.
1878 -- Bishop Milton Wright presents a toy based on the Pénaud "Hélicoptère" to two of his sons – eleven year old Wilbur and seven year old Orville.
1879-1880 -- Langley designs and builds his bolometer for the measurement of the energy of incident electromagnetic radiation.
1879 -- Victor Tatin designs and flies a compressed air-powered seven foot long model.
1881 -- Langley organizes an expedition to Mount Whitney in California's Sierra Nevada Range for solar observations and other scientific studies.
1883 -- Alexandre Goupil builds a bird-shaped unpowered airplane that briefly lifts off in a tethered test while carrying two men.
1884 -- The U.S. Signal Service publishes Langley's report on the Mount Whitney expedition.
1886 -- Langley's interest in aeronautics is kindled by a paper on bird flight by a Mr. Lancaster at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Buffalo, New York. Lancaster also describes making small flying models which he describes as "floating planes" and "effigies".
1887 -- Langley designs and builds his large whirling table at the Allegheny Observatory for the study of aerodynamics; begins aeronautical experimental work. He coins the term Aerodromics for the art of building flying machines from the Greek aerodromoi.
January 12, 1887 -- Langley is appointed Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
April 1887 -- Langley begins to build small Pénaud type rubber-powered flying models.
November 18, 1887 -- Langley is named Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution on the death of Secretary Spencer F. Baird. He retains the directorship of the Allegheny Observatory, dividing his time between Washington and Allegheny until 1891 when James E. Keeler becomes director of the observatory.
1887 -- Hiram Maxim, an American living in Great Britain and inventor of the Maxim machine gun, begins work on a large powered biplane test rig.
1888 -- Langley publishes The New Astronomy.
1889 -- The National Zoological Park is founded, due to Langley's support. A site in Washington's Rock Creek Park is selected by Langley and Frederick Law Olmstead. The Zoo becomes part of the Smithsonian in 1890, and is opened in 1891.
1890 -- Langley founds the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; its first home is in a wooden building behind the Smithsonian Castle. In 1955, SAO moves to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1890 -- Clément Ader completes his "Éole', a full-sized airplane. It has a fifty foot wing span, and is equipped with a lightweight 20-horsepower steam engine of Ader's design and a four-bladed propeller. At Armainvilliers on October 9, the Éole lifts off the ground to an altitude of approximately one foot and skims the ground for about 50 meters (165 feet). Ader later claims a second flight of 100 meters in September, 1891; there is no evidence for the second flight.
March 28, 1891 -- First successful flight of one of Langley's rubber-powered models.
1891 -- Work begins on Langley's "Aerodrome No. 0", powered by two small steam engines. Construction is halted before the aircraft is completed.
1891 -- Otto Lilienthal, a German mechanical engineer, begins a program of flight research using piloted hang gliders of his own design. He and his brother Gustav will go on to design and build 18 gliders over the next five years, making approximately 2,000 flights. Langley's Experiments in Aerodynamics is published by the Smithsonian.
1892 -- Langley's "Aerodrome No. 1" designed and built. Not flown.
1892-1893 -- "Aerodrome No. 2" and "Aerodrome No. 3" are designed and built. "No. 3" is powered by compressed air. Neither is flown.
1893 -- A 38 foot scow is converted into a houseboat with a workshop and launch platform for Aerodrome testing. In May, it is towed down the Potomac to a point near Quantico, Virginia, off Chopawamsic Island. In November, "Aerodrome No. 4" is taken to the houseboat for testing.
November 20, 1893 -- Test flight of "Aerodrome No. 4" - it falls in the water.
December 7, 1893 -- Second flight of "Aerodrome No. 4" – it falls in the water.
July 31, 1894 -- Maxim's large test rig rises briefly from its support rails during a test run.
August 1-4, 1894 -- Octave Chanute and Albert Zahm sponsor the Conference on Aerial Navigation in Chicago, bringing together an international assembly of aeronautical researchers.
October 1894 -- Test flight of modified "Aerodrome No. 4", using improved catapult. Aircraft falls in the water. "Aerodrome No. 5", with a one horsepower gasoline burning steam engine, is also tested. It flies 35 feet for three seconds before stalling and falling into the river.
November 12, 1894 -- Lawrence Hargrave, an Australian researcher, links together four of his box kites, adds a simple seat, and flies to an altitude of 16 feet in the device.
1894 -- Chanute publishes his book Progress in Flying Machines.
1895 -- James Means publishes the first of his three >Aeronautical Annuals.
May 6, 1896 -- "Aerodrome No. 6" is launched from the houseboat's catapult; the left wing collapses and the aircraft lands in the water. Aerodrome No. 5 is launched at 3:05 PM and flies about half a mile in a minute and a half at an altitude reaching 100 feet – the first sustained flight of a heavier than air apparatus. In a second flight at 5:10, Aerodrome No. 5 makes three circles, climbs to about 60 feet, and is airborne for one minute and thirty-one seconds. The flight is witnessed and photographed by Alexander Graham Bell (box 45, folder 9).
June 1896 -- Chanute and Augustus Herring establish a camp at the Lake Michigan dunes near Miller, Indiana to conduct flight tests on a number of gliders – several of Chanute's designs, including his multiwing "Katydid", Herring's copy of a Lilienthal design, and a Chanute-Herring triplane collaboration.
August 9, 1896 -- Lilienthal's glider stalls and crashes from an altitude of about 50 feet. Lilienthal dies of his injuries the next morning. His last words are "Opfer müssen gebracht warden" - "Sacrifices must be made".
November 28, 1896 -- "Aerodrome No. 6" is flown from the houseboat – it flies 4800 feet in one minute and forty-five seconds.
July 1897 -- Ader completes his "Avion III", also known as the "Aquilon". It features two 20-horsepower steam engines and twin tractor propellers, and a wingspan of nearly 56 feet. The aircraft weighs approximately 880 pounds. Ader attempts a flight on October 14; "Avion III" is unable to rise off the ground.
March 25, 1898 -- Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt suggests the military use of the Langley "Aerodrome" to Navy Secretary John D. Long (box 40, folder 10).
April 6, 1898 -- Langley proposes a scaled-up version of the "Aerodrome" for military use to a joint Army-Navy board meeting at the Smithsonian. He requests $50,000 to build a large, piloted version of his earlier designs. The proposed aircraft is called the "Great Aerodrome", or "Aerodrome A".
June 1898 -- Charles M. Manly, a Cornell University engineering student, is hired as Langley's "assistant in charge of experiments".
October 1898 -- Major work begins on the "Great Aerodrome", also known as "Aerodrome A".
December 12, 1898 -- A contract is signed between Langley and Stephen M. Balzer of New York. Balzer is to design and build a 12 horsepower motor to power the "Aerodrome". On the same date, Langley writes to the U.S. Army Board of Ordnance and Fortifications, agreeing to design and build a flying machine. He estimates a cost of $50,000 to build his machine.
May 1899 -- A new, larger houseboat equipped with a turntable and catapult is delivered in Washington.
May 30, 1899 -- Wilbur Wright sends a letter to Langley at the Smithsonian, requesting material pertaining to aeronautical research. He says in his letter that he wishes "… to begin a systematic study of the subject in preparation for practical work." Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Richard Rathbun directs his staff to assemble a package of papers, including Langley's Story of Experiments in Mechanical Flight and Experiments in Aerodynamics. The Wright brothers receive the package three weeks later. They later credit the material they received from the Smithsonian with giving them a "good understanding of the nature of the problem of flying."
June 7 - August 3, 1899 -- Additional flights of "Aerodrome No. 5" and "No. 6" are made from the houseboat at Chopawamsic Island.
July 1899 -- Langley visits Ader's workshop in Paris.
July 1899 -- The Wright Brothers build a five foot biplane kite.
October 2, 1899 -- Percy Pilcher dies of his injury after his Lilienthal-type glider breaks up in flight.
May 1900 -- Langley and the staff of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory observe the May 28 solar eclipse in Wadesboro, North Carolina.
August 1900 -- The Wrights begin to build their first glider, a biplane design with a 17 foot wingspan.
September 1900 -- The Wrights arrive at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to test their glider on the dunes. They begin test flights in early October.
July 1901 -- The Wrights return to Kitty Hawk with a new biplane glider.
August 1901 -- Langley creates the Children's Room, with exhibits designed to inspire interest in science, technology and natural history, in the Smithsonian Castle.
Autumn 1901 -- The Wright brothers return to Dayton and begin a program to develop their own fundamental aeronautical data, building a wind tunnel and a test rig mounted on a bicycle.
September 19, 1902 -- The Wrights complete assembly of their new glider and begin flights the same afternoon. They continue the flights through the autumn. After an early crash, continual modifications improve the design. Wilbur writes to his father, "We now believe the flying problem is really nearing its solution." On their return to Dayton, the brothers file a patent on their design.
July 14, 1903 -- The houseboat is towed down the Potomac to a spot opposite Widewater, Virginia, about 40 miles from Washington.
August 8, 1903 -- Langley's "Quarter-Size Aerodrome" makes a successful flight from the houseboat.
September 3, 1903 -- Work is begun on erecting the "Great Aerodrome" on the houseboat catapult.
October 7, 1903 -- The "Great Aerodrome", piloted by Manly, is launched by the houseboat catapult at 12:20 PM. The aircraft is snagged by the catapult launch car, and drops into the river. Langley was in Washington, and does not witness the attempt. The wreckage of the "Aerodrome" is salvaged.
December 8, 1903 -- The refurbished "Great Aerodrome" is readied for flight on the houseboat, now moored below Washington at Arsenal Point at the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. At 4:45 PM, the aircraft, with Manly at the controls, is launched. The tail assembly drags along the launch track, and the "Aerodrome's" tail begins to collapse. The "Aerodrome" drops into the river. Manly is briefly trapped by the wreckage, but cuts himself free and is rescued. In the aftermath of the crash, Langley is ridiculed in the press. Though the Army withdraws its support, Langley receives offers of financial support from businessmen to continue his aeronautical work. He politely refuses these offers and ends his aeronautical activities.
December 17, 1903 -- The Wright brothers make four flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The first flight covered a distance of 120 feet and lasted 12 seconds; in the fourth flight, the "Flyer" traveled 852 feet in 59 seconds.
June 1905 -- The Smithsonian's accountant, W. W. Karr, is accused of embezzling Institutional funds. He is later convicted and imprisoned. Langley holds himself responsible for the loss, and thereafter refuses to accept his salary.
November 1905 -- Langley suffers a stroke.
February 1906 -- Langley moves to Aiken, South Carolina to convalesce.
February 27, 1906 -- After suffering another stroke, Langley dies.
March 3, 1906 -- Samuel Pierpont Langley is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Boston.
May-October 1914 -- The "Great Aerodrome" is refurbished and is tested on Lake Keuka, Hammondsport, New York; the tests are conducted by Glenn Curtiss. Using the Manly-Balzer motor and mounted on pontoons instead of using a catapult launch, the "Aerodrome" makes several short flights, the longest lasting about five seconds. Later a Curtiss 80-hp engine is substituted for the Manly-Balzer motor and a flight of about 3,000 feet is made on September 17. The Smithsonian Institution later displays the "Aerodrome" with an exhibit label that reads "The first man-carrying aeroplane in the history of the world capable of sustained free flight." This claim causes a rift between the Institution and Orville Wright (Wilber Wright had died in 1912) that is not fully mended until 1942. The Wright 1903 "Flyer" is presented to the Smithsonian Institution on December 17, 1948. Today, the "Flyer" is on exhibit in the Milestones of Flight Gallery of the National Air and Space Museum's Mall Building; Samuel Langley's "Great Aerodrome" is displayed at the Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.
The Smithsonian Aeronautical Staff:
Langley's staff engaged in his aeronautical work as listed in waste books, drawings and correspondence:
The Smithsonian Aeronautical Staff
F. C. Bache -- Laborer with the U.S. Fish Commission, then located at the Smithsonian.
Carl Barus -- Formerly of the U.S. Geological Survey and the Weather Bureau. Hired in 1893 as a physicist; acted as the liaison between Langley and the Aerodrome project staff. Part of the crew on the houseboat.
Louville Eugene Emerson -- Laborer.
George L. Fowler -- An engineer, Fowler was hired by Langley to help design an engine for the Aerodromes.
William Gaertner -- Instrument maker.
Heed, Jr. -- Name found in a shorthand diary dated 1899 - presumably, a Smithsonian secretary or assistant.
Augustus Moore Herring -- An independent aeronautical experimenter and skilled designer and pilot of gliders; hired by Octave Chanute in 1894 and by Langley as chief assistant in 1895. Herring resigned (or was dismissed) in November 1895 and resumed work with Chanute. In 1908, he competed with the Wrights for the Army Flyer contract, but did not complete a finished aircraft.
Edward Chalmers Huffaker -- An engineer and aeronautical experimenter; built gliders based on the observation of bird flight; had delivered a paper at the International Conference on Aerial Navigation in Chicago, 1893. Recommended by Chanute, Huffaker was hired by Langley in December, 1894. He resigned from the Smithsonian in 1898 and went to work for Chanute.
L. C. Maltby -- Machinist, 1891-1899; assisted in motor design and oversaw the fabrications of the metalwork for the Aerodromes. Part of the crew on the houseboat.
Charles Matthews Manly -- Graduate of Cornell University (1896). Hired by Langley and placed in charge of construction of the Great Aerodrome in 1898. Piloted the Great Aerodrome on its two launch attempts, 1903. Manly resigned from the Smithsonian in 1905. He served as a consulting aviation engineer for different government agencies and corporations, including the British War Office, 1915; the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation 1915-1919 (from 1919-1920 as the assistant general manger); and as a member of the US Commission to the International Aircraft Conference, London, 1918. Manly also completed and edited Langley's Memoir on Mechanical Flight which was published by the Smithsonian in 1911.
Charles B. Nichols -- Smithsonian cabinet maker (1890-1893), in charge of construction of the small rubber powered models.
R. Luther Reed -- Smithsonian carpenter foreman (1880-1904). In charge of construction of Aerodromes No. 5 and 6 following between Herring's departure and Manly's arrival. Worked on design of the Great Aerodrome and the second houseboat. Part of the crew on the houseboat.
B.L. Rhinehart -- Smithsonian mechanic. Built a small steam motor for Aerodrome No. 0 in 1891. Performed design work on an experimental gasoline motor, c.1896.
William L. Speiden -- Draftsman or designer (1893-1899).
John Elfrith Watkins -- Assistant engineer of construction with the Pennsylvania Railroad. Joined the Smithsonian as an honorary curator in the Steam Transportation section in 1885. Named curator of Transportation in 1887. He rejoined the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1892, and later worked at the Field Columbian Museum as director of Industrial Arts. Watkins returned to the Smithsonian in 1895 as the National Museum's curator of Technological Collections. In 1898, he was named curator of the Division of Technology. Watkins also served the Smithsonian as Engineer of Property, 1888-1889, and Chief of Buildings and Superintendence, 1896-1903. Watkins carried on much of the Aerodrome project's correspondence, and was the project's expert in steam engine design.
George B. Wells -- Smithsonian messenger (1894-1903). Most of the collection's shorthand notebooks (Series X) bear his name; possibly, he acted as Langley's stenographer.
William Crawford Winlock -- Curator, Bureau of International Exchange (1889-1899).
Related Materials:
Parts of the collection were separated at undetermined dates from the institutional records of Samuel Langley's time as Secretary (now held by the Smithsonian Institution Archives [SIA], as the Samuel P. Langley Papers, 1867-1906, Record Unit 7003).
In addition to Record Unit 7003, researchers may wish to consult these Smithsonian Institution Archives' collections:
Record Unit 31, Office of the Secretary, Correspondence, 1866-1906, with related records to 1927.
Record Unit 34, Office of the Secretary, Correspondence, 1887-1907
Record Unit 7268, J. Elfreth Watkins Collection, 1869, 1881-1903, 1953, 1966 and undated.
The Archives Division of the National Air and Space Museum holds the Charles M. Manly Papers, (Acc. 1999-0004). Manly was Samuel Langley's assistant in the Aerodrome project from 1898 to 1903.
Langley Technical Files: The Archives Division's technical files are housed in the Archives-Library reading room of the Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Material on Langley and his Aerodromes are housed in folders in the technical files Aircraft Series and in the Biographies Series. Because material from the Samuel P. Langley Collection is thought to have been transferred into the Technical Files, these file headings are included here. In the listings, "Images Available" refers to digital image files available through the Archives Division's image database; these images may be viewed in the Museum's reading rooms.
Langley Technical Files: Aircraft Series Technical Files
Langley (Samuel P.), General -- Photos, Images Available. Folder(s): AL-198600-80
Langley Technical Files: Biographies Series Technical Files
Langley, Samuel Pierpont, general -- Documents. Folder(s): CL-094000-01
Langley, Samuel Pierpont (articles by) -- Documents. Folder(s): CL-094000-02
Langley, Samuel Pierpont (articles by/Aero) -- Documents. Folder(s): CL-094000-03
Langley, Samuel Pierpont (articles by/Aero) -- Documents. Folder(s): CL-094000-04
Langley, Samuel Pierpont (articles by/Astro) -- Documents. Folder(s): CL-094000-05
Langley, Samuel Pierpont (articles by/Astro) -- Documents. Folder(s): CL-094000-06
Langley, Samuel Pierpont (articles by/Rocket) -- Documents. Folder(s): CL-094000-08
Langley, Samuel Pierpont (articles by/French) -- Documents. Folder(s): CL-094000-09
Langley, Samuel Pierpont (articles on) -- Documents. Folder(s): CL-094000-10
Langley, Samuel Pierpont (articles on) -- Documents. Folder(s): CL-094000-11
Langley, Samuel Pierpont (articles on) -- Documents. Folder(s): CL-094000-12
Langley, Samuel Pierpont (articles on) -- Documents. Folder(s): CL-094000-13
Langley, Samuel Pierpont (articles on) -- Documents. Folder(s): CL-094000-14
Langley, Samuel Pierpont (Awards and Honors) -- Documents. Folder(s): CL-094000-15
Langley, Samuel Pierpont (Wright Controversy) -- Documents. Folder(s): CL-094000-16
Langley, Samuel Pierpont (Obituaries) -- Documents. Folder(s): CL-094000-17
Langley, Samuel Pierpont -- Photo Dupes. Folder(s): CL-094000-40
Langley, Samuel Pierpont -- Photos. Folder(s): CL-094000-80
Langley, Samuel Pierpont -- Negatives. Folder(s): CL-094000-85
Langley, Samuel Pierpont -- Images available.
Provenance:
Smithsonian generated, transfer, unknown.
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 Permission Requests.
0.75 cu. ft. (1 document box) (1 half document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Field notes
Manuscripts
Place:
Alaska
Date:
1865-1867
Descriptive Entry:
This collection includes correspondence, mostly to Spencer F. Baird, from members of the Scientific Corps of the Western Union Telegraph Expedition, including Kennicott,
Dall, Bannister, and Elliott; copies of reports submitted to divisional chiefs from expedition staff members; newspaper clippings concerning the expedition; copies of notes
on natural history taken by Robert Kennicott; and a journal containing meteorological data recorded by Henry M. Bannister from March to August, 1866.
Historical Note:
The Western Union Telegraph Expedition, 1865-1867, also known as the Russian-American Telegraph Expedition, was undertaken to study the possibility of setting up a
communications system with Europe by way of Alaska, the Bering Straits, and Asia. The expedition was organized in three divisions, working in Canada, Russian-America (Alaska),
and Asia. Robert Kennicott, the veteran Alaskan explorer, was placed in charge of the Russian-American division. Under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution and the
Chicago Academy of Sciences, a Scientific Corps was established, with Kennicott in command, to accompany the Russian-American division and make collections in natural history.
Naturalists William H. Dall, Henry M. Bannister, and Henry W. Elliott served as members of the Scientific Corps. On the death of Kennicott on May 13, 1866, Dall became chief
of the Scientific Corps until the expedition was terminated in July 1867 due to the successful laying of the Atlantic Cable.
Restrictions:
It appears that some of the material in this collection was removed from the official correspondence files of the Smithsonian.
Photograph made from a framed print depicting American Indians at groundbreaking ceremonies for Rodman Wanamaker's proposed National Memorial to the First Americans on Staten Island, on February 22, 1913. Included in the image are Cheyenne chief Wooden Leg, Cheyenne chief Two Moons, Rodman Wanamaker, Crow chief Plenty Coups, Crow chief Medicine Crow, Crow Indian White Man Runs Him, and Oglala Sioux chief Jack Red Cloud. The original photograph may have been made by the Bain News Service.
Biographical/Historical note:
In 1913, department store owner Rodman Wanamaker (1863-1928) sponsored a project that brought American Indians to New York for the groundbreaking of a proposed National Memorial to the First Americans on Staten Island; however, the monument was never built. Wanamaker also sponsored three photographic expeditions between 1908 and 1913, intending to document the "vanishing race" of American Indians.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot R82-55
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Photographs collected by Wanamaker can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 64.
Additional photographs of this event can be found in the Library of Congress in the George Grantham Bain Collection.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
This copy collection has been obtained for reference purposes only. Contact the repository for terms of use and access.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo lot R82-55, Copy photograph of Memorial to First Americans groundbreaking, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
