Have You Seen Me? (Part Two!)

Romany Marie, Robert Winthrop Chanler

Romany Marie's, Stuart Davis, 1912

Part two in an irregular series featuring lost or misplaced art work. This time we look at “Romany Marie’s" by Stuart Davis (above right). The painting depicts one of the many cafes owned by Marie Marchand, known as Romany Marie to her friends and patrons. Marie was an immigrant from Romania, arriving in the United States in the early 1900s. She ran several restaurants in Greenwich Village, catering to artists, writers, and other intellectuals of the time. She prided herself in bringing together the "thinking minds" of the city to her cafes and restaurants (referred by many as being more like salons). On any given night, one could hear an informal lecture, or chat with a noted playwright, museum curator, or sculptor.

You can also see a portrait of Marie Marchand from the Juley collection, done by Robert Winthrop Chanler. Chanler was a well regarded muralist who moved to working in portraiture towards the end of his career. As you can see from his many portraits, his style seemed to be more focused on capturing the spirit of the sitter, rather than sticking to a realistic depiction. His work also sometimes included mini-biographies.

Rachel Brooks
Photograph Archives, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s Hidden Treasures: American Artists’ Self-Portraits

Blogs across the Smithsonian will give an inside look at the Institution’s archival collections and practices during a month long blogathon in celebration of October’s American Archives Month. See additional posts from our other participating blogs, as well as related events and resources, on the Smithsonian’s Archives Month website.

In 1966, the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery founded the Catalog of American Portraits (CAP), a national portrait archives of historically notable subjects and artists from the colonial period to current times.  The public is welcome to access the online portrait search program from the museum website of over 100,000 records.  The CAP program can be reviewed at the following National Portrait Gallery website link http://www.npg.si.edu/research/ceros.html. 

Self-Portrait, by John Singleton Copley, 1780-1784, oil on canvas,
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, NPG.77.22

Artists’ self-portraits are one of the hidden treasures of the Catalog of American Portraits.  Our museum research center lists public collections which include American artists’ self-portraits, such as the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Art Institute of Chicago; Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Academy of Design, New York City; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Royal Academy of Arts, London; American Academy in Rome; and the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.  Artists have been encouraged to create self-portraits for display at academy and museum collections.  The Royal Academy of Arts in London holds a remarkable 1793 oil painting of Benjamin West, who served as the Academy president from 1792 until his death in 1820.  He portrays himself formally seated in the president’s chair with symbols of his artistic and intellectual interests.  Benjamin West drew a circle of American artists to England as his students, including John Singleton Copley.  Circa 1780-1784, Copley depicted himself in a reflective mood within a rondel bust painting.  His gaze is averted away from the viewer suggesting that he might have used two mirrors for this unusual pose.

Self-Portrait, by Sarah Miriam Peale, circa 1818, oil on canvas, 
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, NPG.84.178

In 1822, Charles Willson Peale presented himself in The Artist in His Museum, drawing a curtain to reveal an exhibition hall and his multi-faceted achievements as an artist, naturalist, educator, and museum founder.  His niece Sarah Miriam Peale is believed to be the first female artist in America to earn a living from her profession.  In 1824, she was also one of the first women elected to membership in the Pennsylvania Academy.    In this circa 1818 oil painting, Sarah Miriam Peale gazes engagingly at the viewer with a slight smile that is characteristic of many of her portraits.  Her uncle Charles Willson Peale was impressed with the life-like quality of her self-portrait. 

The artist and inventor Samuel Finley Breese Morse became a founder in 1826 of the National Academy of Design in New York City, and his self-portraits are held at the National Academy and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC.  In his circa 1809-1810 miniature, Morse depicts himself in the process of painting, holding his paint brush and palette.  Morse is well known for his creation of the 1838 model for the modern telegraph.  However, he is considered one of America’s leading artists of the romantic school.

George Peter Alexander Healy was a  celebrated portraitist  and the first American artist honored by the Uffizi Gallery in Florence to present his 1875 oil portrait to the international self-portrait collection.  In this painting, Healy employs a frontal pose, confidently looking directly at the viewer.  The Uffizi Gallery features more than twenty art works by Americans, including Cecilia Beaux, John Singer Sargent, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol.   A leading portraitist and educator, Cecilia Beaux reveals a remarkable artistic evolution from the youthful 1894 self-portrait at the National Academy of Design to her somber 1925 composition at the Uffizi Gallery.   

Self-Portrait, by Lee Simonson, circa 1912, oil on canvas, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, NPG.77.239

Self-Portrait with Squash, by Stanton MacDonald-Wright, 1951, oil on wood,
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, NPG.81.119

In the 20^th century, artists experimented with self-portraiture as a vehicle for their interests and explorations.  Before World War I, painters Lee Simonson and Stanton MacDonald-Wright formed a friendship and were both influenced by their acquaintance with the progressive, contemporary Parisian art circles.  They shared an interest in bright, rich colors and forms in transition.  Both admired such Post-Impressionist artists as Paul Gauguin and Paul Cezanne.   In circa 1912 Self-Portrait, Lee Simonson depicts himself in a colorful composition with a still-life and dynamic, patterned interior setting.  Simonson used his early experiences as a painter to become a major American theater and exhibition designer.  His friend Stanton MacDonald-Wright explored color and abstract forms.  In the 1951 oil Self-Portrait with Squash, his face is barely visible in the cubistic, floating composition.  MacDonald-Wright is highly regarded for his contribution to the development of color theory and the abstract art movement.  During his career, Chuck Close has redefined the nature of self-portraiture in his neo-realistic photographic style.  He painted a monumental self-portrait in 1996 for the American Academy in Rome. 

Contemporary portraiture is continuously expanding this sense of experimentation in terms of concept, technique, and medium.  Exciting and thought-provoking self-portraits are an integral part of the National Portrait Gallery's Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.  American artists are encouraged to enter in this portrait competition which takes place every three years with the fifty finalists’ art works exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery.  

-Patricia H. Svoboda, Research Coordinator

 Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Catalog of American Portraits

Websites:

Self-Portrait, byBenjamin West, 1793, oil on panel, Royal Academy of Arts, 03/285, London
Self-Portrait, Samuel Finley Breese Morse, circa 1809-1810, watercolor on ivory, National Academy of Design, 894-P, New York City (please search for no. 894-P  at this link)
The Artist in His Museum, by Charles Willson Peale, 1822, oil on canvas, 1878.1.2,Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia

Self-Portrait, by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1875, oil on canvas, Uffizi Gallery, 2106,Florence (please search for no. 2106 at this link)

Self-Portrait, byCecilia Beaux, 1894, oil on canvas, National Academy of Design, 67-P, New York City (please search for no. 67-P  at this link)

Self-Portrait, byChuck Close, 1996, oil or acrylic on canvas, American Academy in Rome

Bibliography:

Carolyn Kinder Carr and Ellen G. Miles; foreword by Marc Pachter; with an essay by Margaret C.S. Christman, A Brush with History: Paintings from the National Portrait Gallery.  Washington, DC: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, 2000.

Ann C. Van Devanter and Alfred V. Frankenstein et al., American Self-Portraits, 1670-1973. Washington DC: International Exhibitions Foundation, exhibition held at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1974.

Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery: Catalog of American Portraits Research Treasures

The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery founded in 1966 the Catalog of American Portraits (CAP), a national portrait archives of historically important subjects and artists from the colonial period to contemporary times.   The public can access the online portrait search program from the museum website of over 100,000 records.  However, the public might not be aware that the Catalog of American Portraits research center holds over 200,000 files of paper documents and photographs on portraiture and biography and is continually expanding.   Scholars have chosen to house at the CAP archives their primary research papers from past publications and exhibitions.   The CAP also has a unique set of costume notebooks of historical portraits which the museum staff can review for dating art works.  The general public and representatives of institutions are welcome to refer to the CAP research service as well as send images and documentation for new portrait collections or updates to survey records.  The CAP program can be accessed at the following National Portrait Gallery website link http://www.npg.si.edu/research/ceros.html.

Mary Cassatt, by Edgar Degas, oil on canvas, c. 1800-1884, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, NPG.84.34, Washington, DC

In 1971, the Catalog of American Portraits commenced a national portrait survey of public and private collections throughout the United States.  However, the CAP has developed a broader international program, which includes American artists portraying foreign figures as well as foreign artists depicting Americans in the United States and abroad.  American artists were drawn to Europe to attend art schools, study masterworks at museums, and interact with their foreign contemporaries.  Many American artists visited or resided in Europe, including George Catlin, John Singleton Copley, Richard Diebenkorn, Frank Duveneck, George Peter Alexander Healy, Samuel Finley Breese Morse, John Singer Sargent, Benjamin West, and James Abbott McNeill Whistler, who became influential leaders abroad.  The greatest interaction between American and European artists took place in the cities of London, Paris, Munich, and Rome.  Benjamin West was appointed historical painter to King George III in 1772 and he served as President of the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 1792 until his death in 1820.  Benjamin West’s influence drew a circle of American artists to England as his students, including Mather Brown, Charles Willson Peale, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully, and John Trumbull.  From 1831-1833, the artist and inventor Samuel Finley Breese Morse created the famous painting, Gallery of the Louvre, which featured portraits of his contemporaries at the Salon Carré gallery of the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Memorable portraits were created of George Catlin by William Fisk; Mary Cassatt by Edgar Degas; Auguste Rodin and Claude Monet by John Singer Sargent; Gertrude Stein by Pablo Picasso; Josephine Baker, Joán Miró, and Jean-Paul Sartre by Alexander Calder.  It is particularly interesting when artists exchanged portraits of each other, as in the cases of Angelica Kauffmann and Benjamin West in the 18th century; as well as Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky) and Kiki of Montparnasse (Alice Ernestine Prin) in the 20th century.  In 1839, the artist George Catlin created a public sensation in Europe when he brought his American Indian performing group along with his portrait exhibitions of Native Americans to London and Paris.  Catlin’s portraits of Native Americans are currently held at many institutions, including the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC; the British Museum in London; the Museum of Man in Paris; and the Ethnological Museum in Berlin.  George Peter Alexander Healy, a leading 19th century artist, was commissioned  by American and European leaders  to create portraits, including the US presidential series, examples of which are held at the National Portrait Gallery and the White House in Washington, DC, and the National Museum of the Château of Versailles in France.   Healy was also the first American artist honored by the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, to present his 1875 self-portrait to the international self-portrait collection.  The Uffizi Gallery now holds more than twenty self-portraits of Americans, including Cecilia Beaux, William Merritt Chase, Dwight David Eisenhower, Robert Rauschenberg, John Singer Sargent, and Andy Warhol.  In the 20th century, a number of young American artists came to study and work in Paris, including Alexander Calder, Stuart Davis, Sam Francis, and Paul Jenkins. 

George Catlin, by William Fisk, oil on canvas, 1849, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, NPG.70.14, Washington, DC

From the colonial period onwards, European artists in turn visited America, exploring the different regions, including Auguste Edouart, Jean Antoine Houdon, Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin, James Sharples and his artistic family, Pavel Petrovitch Svin̕in, and Adolph Ulrich Wertmüller.   New York City, New Orleans, and Washington, DC have drawn a continuous stream of foreign visitors.  In 1873, the artist Edgar Degas created the Portraits in a New Orleans Cotton Office painting now held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Pau, France, and another 1873 version Cotton Dealers in New Orleans at the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.   In New York City, such European artists as Marcel Duchamp, Arshile Gorky, John Graham, Willem de Kooning, Piet Mondrian, and Mark Rothko were leading members of the modern art scene.  In 1920, Katherine Dreier, Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray founded the Société Anonyme (Society Anonymous), which exhibited contemporary art works of over one hundred international artists in New York City.  In 1918, Katherine Dreier created the compelling Abstract Portrait of Marcel Duchamp, who has inspired a myriad of progressive portraits by fellow artists in his life time and after his death.

European public collections have a wealth of portraits related to American interest, with the greatest concentration in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy.  Among the public collections of American origin are the American Museum in Britain, Bath; the National Museum of Franco-American Cooperation at the Château of Blérancourt; the American Academy in Rome; the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice; the Guggenheim Collections in Bilboa, and Berlin; and the Terra Foundation for American Art in Giverny, and Paris.  However, American portrait collections abroad are also situated within the national collections of foreign countries, including the Tate Collection and the National Portrait Gallery in London; the Louvre Museum and the Orsay Museum in Paris; the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome; and the State Russian Museum in Saint-Petersburg. 

Abraham Lincoln, by George Peter Alexander Healy, oil on canvas, 1887, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, NPG.65.50, Washington, DC

For the Catalog of American Portraits, I have surveyed on-site numerous public and private collections in America and abroad.  My portrait surveys have stretched across the United States on the East coast from the island of Nantucket, MA to Key West, FL; and on the West Coast from Seattle, WA to San Diego, CA.   In Europe, I have met with representatives of museums, universities, archives, and libraries in Austria, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Russia.  Aside from planned meetings with professional colleagues abroad, I have sometimes discovered American portraits in unexpected locations, such as the 1906 bronze statue of George Washington by Gyula Julius Bezerédi in the Budapest City Park (Városliget).  It was a moving experience to find this Washington memorial, proudly inscribed and presented by the Americans of Hungarian Origin society to their former homeland.  One feels a greater sense of national identity following the historic legacy of American portraiture abroad, which highlights the fascinating exchange of American cultural values with their foreign contemporaries.  One also establishes valuable ties with private collectors and colleagues of public institutions in the United States and abroad by documenting the global reach of American portraiture for the Smithsonian Institution’s mandate of the “increase and diffusion of knowledge.”

Patricia H. Svoboda, Research Coordinator
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Catalog of American Portraits

Websites:

Gallery of the Louvre, by Samuel Finley Breese Morse, 1831-1833, oil on canvas, Terra Foundation for American Art, 1992.51, Chicago, IL

Portraits in a New Orleans Cotton Office, by Edgar Degas, 1873, oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, 878.1.2, Pau, FR

Benjamin West (Probably), by Kauffmann, Angelica, 1762-1766, chalk drawing in sketch book, Victoria and Albert Museum, E.395-1927, London, UK

Gertrude Stein, by Pablo Picasso, 1906, oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 47.106, New York, NY

Josephine Baker, by Alexander Calder, c. 1929, wire sculpture, Calder Foundation, A00250, New York, NY

Manship and the Moods of Time

Part two in our series on the recently cataloged and digitized photographs of Paul Manship sculptures in the Peter A. Juley & Son Collection. Last month we heard from our intern Chris about his favorite Manship sculptures. Now I’ll tell you about mine.

Day

We are well into spring and each day that brings a minute more of sunlight also brings a minute less of darkness.  Because they capture this ebb and flow of time, I’m drawn to Paul Manship’s sculptures The Moods of Time.  The four allegorical figures represent morning, day, evening, and night, and were created for the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair as hour markers in a large sundial.

Night

The sculptures embody the mood associated with each phase of the daily cycle. Manship used fluid, aerodynamic lines to create a sense of motion and to reflect the celestial passage. Morning sleepily yawns and stretches as he is roused by a rooster, trumpeter, and a small figure pulling the cloth of night from his body.  Day carries the hot sun in his outstretched hands. Wind rushes through his hair as he races the two horses at his feet. His energy is juxtaposed with Evening who is lulled into drowsiness by owls as darkness sets in.   Finally, Night soars above a cloud in a deep slumber.  She is accompanied by the moon and two male figures while she takes her flight through dreams.

Morning

Paul Juley’s photos of The Moods of Time make the passage of time almost palpable. His camera’s slow shutter speed turned the World’s Fair visitors into a blur behind the sculptures, serving as a reminder that time is indeed moody and fleeting.

Evening in Manship's garden

“[The sculptures at the fair] summed up [Manship’s] obsession with time,” recalls the artist’s son John Manship. “He believed that a major purpose of art, especially art in the classical tradition, was to reconcile the passage of time with permanence.” Despite this vision, the sculptures were cast in staff (a plaster compound) and were discarded after the fair. Manship loved The Moods of Time so much that he eventually cast smaller bronze versions of the sculptures and even displayed the entire sundial in his personal garden. The originals, however, are gone forever, preserved only in the Juley photographs and in the snapshots taken by fair visitors.

The Moods of Time reminds me both of the permanence of time and the impermanence of the things around us.  Morning flies into day, day into evening, evening into night. Things come and go in a blur.

Emily Moazami, Photograph Archivist, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Ernst Herzfeld Online Resources

A foremost scholar in the field of Iranian studies, Ernst Herzfeld (1879–1948) explored all phases of Near Eastern culture from the prehistoric period to Islamic times. The collection documents Herzfeld's archaeological activities including Samarra, Persepolis, Pasargadae, Paikuli, and Aleppo and includes correspondence; field notebooks; drawings; sketchbooks; inventories of objects; squeezes of architectural inscriptions and details; and photographs.

Preservation, digitization, and cataloging has been made possible by the Leon Levy Foundation. The cataloging of this collection commenced in September 2009, and will be ongoing until Summer 2011. Please be advised that some of the Series are not represented, and some of the images are not available yet as we are in the process of putting them online.

Permission to reproduce and publish an item from the Archives is coordinated through the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's Rights and Reproductions department. For inquiries on selecting images or appointments to research the collection, please contact the Archives.

Browse the thousands of digital images from the Ernst Herzfeld papers by viewing them in the Collections Search Center, or by touring the *NEW* Ernst Herzfeld Image Gallery. 

For a dynamic tour on how to search for Ernst Herzfeld records in the Collections Search Center, make sure to check out our youtube tutorial below. An iPhone version is also available on our youtube channel: youtube.com/FSArchives.




The Ernst Herzfeld Finding Aid is available, and will be reprocessed to reflect the further work done on the collection once the cataloging project has reached its conclusion.

If you are interested in reading previously written Ernst Herzfeld articles, please view this cache in the Smithsonian Collections Blog.  Speaking of blogs, make sure to check out mentions of Ernst Herzfeld at the Persepolis Fortification Archives Project blog, written by our peers at The Oriental Institute, University of Chicago.

Stayed tuned in for more as we enter into the 100th anniversary of Ernst Herzfeld's excavation of Samarra!  More in-depth posts on the Samarra materials, and more online resources will be unveiled throughout the 2011 year.

Can't get enough Herzfeld? Make sure you're familiar with these related resources!

Online Resources

Archnet Digital Library: http://archnet.org/library/sites/sites.jsp?country_code=iq

Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, The Creswell Archive: http://creswell.ashmolean.museum/

Gertrude Bell Archive at Newcastle University: http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/index.php

The Samarra Archaeological Survey, A. Northedge: http://www.dur.ac.uk/derek.kennet/samarra.htm

Museum Databases

British Museum Collections Database: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database.aspx

Louvre database: http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=crt_frm_rs&langue=en&initCritere=true

Metropolitan Museum Collection Database: http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/crdhome.aspx

Victoria & Albert Museum database: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/
Victoria & Albert, Samarra Finds: http://www.samarrafinds.info/infoEN/samarrafinds/index.htm

Rachael Cristine Woody
Freer|Sackler Archives

I Found My Mom In the Archives

The theme the Society of American Archivists (SAA) set forth for October is American Archives Month 2010 was "I found my [blank] in the Archives."  The festivities this October are part of a larger effort by the Society of American Archivists to celebrate their upcoming 75th anniversary with 2010-2011 focusing on "I found It in the Archives!"  Their goal is as follows, "Public awareness. And building a greater understanding of who archivists are and what archivists do."  In an essence it is like celebrating October is American Archives Month - all year long. 

So here is my contribution November 1st.  We are post-Archives Month, and I write this knowing that the libraries, archives and special collections of the Smithsonian Institution will continue to share their thoughts on the profession, their passion for the collections, and their current project obsessions here with you.  What I hope for now is that YOU will start to add your thoughts, your passion, and share your current projects with the collections at the Smithsonian Institution or within your own home.  SAA is launching a nation wide contest idea, but for this post I'm going to keep it simple.  

I found my mom in the Archives.  Well, I knew she was coming actually; I invited her.  As the Smithsonian Institution Archives and Special Collections (SIASC) council and the October is American Archives Month (OAAM) subcommittee went into high planning gear in August I knew I was going to need my mom.  Mom (real name Rebecca) was a project manager in her former corporate life, not to mention quite the baker.  I inherited my obsession with post its, penchant for color-coding, and love of spreadsheets from her.  I brought my mom in for the month of October so that essentially there could be two of me in one place.  She helped me plan for and manage the 35+ volunteers we had for the day of the Fair by putting together action packets, creating buttons, and making sure no one went hungry.  Literally... see the spread to the right.

Having my mom here for the month was so efficient I was able to utilize her for other projects that have been laying around the Archives, begging to be done.  First I had her  help me pack and inventory 300+ squeezes from the Ernst Herzfeld papers, (see image to the left).  That kept her busy for all of 3 days, and ensured I didn't need to spend one more full day of my time packing and tracking them for the next 3 months.  

I then set her upon the Charles Lang Freer correspondence.  Freer is our founder and one of our most important collection of papers here are the Freer|Sackler Archives.  (See a youtube video showing highlights of his papers).  Over the years, and an archivist or two before me, the correspondence appears to have been added to physically but no updates had been made to the folder numbers, the box labels or the finding aid.  For example any given box can start with folder number 8, go to 25, then start over at 1 with many correspondents being bumped to the next box.  Normally this is not enough to warrant a "red alert" or a high prioritization for fixing the 29 document boxes of correspondence, but lately there has been a surge in researchers interested in Freer leading to more frequent frustrations on my part for having to double check every correspondence box I pulled.  I'm an archivist.  I like to have things in order.

Mom went through the boxes of Freer correspondence, and as she neared the end of her time here in the Archives she shared with me her thoughts and revelations based on her experiences this month.  They were things that I knew all along, but to have some one "from the outside" be able to articulate so clearly what I knew to be true inspired me to write and share her thoughts with you.  Here is what my Mom found in the Archives:

Rachael: First things, first.  What's the coolest thing you've seen here?

Mom: Peacock Room. [Why?] I think it best represents Mr. Freer and his gift to the nation, by helping artists who were struggling and trying to make a name for themselves, and it demonstrates his loyalty to his friends. I just feel a sense of peace when I go in there.  After reading through his correspondence, I realize how important his collection was to him, and why he was so passionate to share it with the nation.

Rachael: Can you talk a little bit about your first perceptions of what being an archivist is like?

Mom:  I really didn't understand the passion behind what was housed, and the importance it has in helping people to understand the gifts that Freer gave to the nation.  One of the first jobs I was tasked with was packing squeezes from ancient archaeological sites such as Persepolis, Pasargadae, etc., and realizing the history that they represented, and why it is important to have a repository for documents such as this.  Many of the important historical places and documentation of historical events are no longer accessible.

Rachael: Now that you've had an opportunity to come to work with me, what are some of your observations on the day to day stuff?

Mom: Busy.  I had the wonderful opportunity of watching many researchers visit your archives, and watch in wonder as they discovered the answers to what they were searching for.  It was like Christmas morning!

Rachael: You were here for a very big month for us archivists.  Can you talk about some of your interactions with my colleagues the day of the Fair?  What was the general feeling?

Mom:  That they are all very excited about what they are doing.   And the general feeling of importance of continued interaction to spread the wealth and knowledge that they have the honor of caring for.

Rachael: Based on your experience of being a project manager, did the Archives Fair unfold like typical projects do?

Mom: Yes and no.  A lot of up front work paid off to make it appear as though the Fair was set up and run flawlessly.  I think a lot of this has to do with the passion of those you work with, and their belief that this sort of outreach is important.  One thing that I found disappointing was that there were people who wanted to be involved, but were not supported by their larger units to contribute to the event that benefited everyone.  The lack of funding of such an important event was stressful.  In my experience in the corporate world, when a mandate comes down to authorize a project or event; funding and staff sources were made available.  The Smithsonian has mandated that you make collections available online, coupled with a need to hold outreach events such as the Fair - I don't know how the staff can try and do all that is expected and hoped for of them without more help in staff power and financial assistance.

Rachael: In going through the Freer correspondence, what revelations did you have on the importance of his papers?

Mom: That he was a self-made man and that he worked hard for what he had.  He was passionate about what he collected and continually shared his thoughts and his collections to better disseminate his knowledge and appreciation of Asian art.  He was a very giving person, and he definitely had a vision for what he collected, why it was important, and that it needed to be shared with people from all walks of life.  He continued patronage, and even through a long illness he fought to continue to make sure that others had what they needed - whether it was money, prints, catalogs, or whatever was needed to continue to share his beliefs.  He did not suffer fools gladly...

Rachael: Any other little gems you found while reading his letters?

Mom: I thoroughly enjoyed reading correspondence between him and Frederick Stuart Church.  Church's letters and envelopes were always covered in sketches and doodles.  The most humorous of course was when they involved Church and Freer hiking the Appalachian Trail together.

"No danger from Rattle Snakes bile if you only take proper precaution."

Rachael: What has the archives come to mean to you now?

Mom: That it wont be enough for me in the future just to go to a gallery and look at the art being exhibited. By learning the history of each art object and how it came be created, collected, and cared for by Freer (and now the Smithsonian) it gives me a much greater or deeper appreciation for what I am viewing.  After reading these documents I felt a need to go back to the Gallery to see the art he wrote about. And on a completely different note: the importance of volunteerism and support of institutions such as this.

Rachael: Any closing thoughts your have for us?

Mom: Now I understand why you are so dedicated to what you do as well as your sincere desire and commitment to ensure that all have access to the wonderful treasures housed in the Archives.  Having the opportunity to go through some of Freer's correspondence, and understanding the history behind the artwork, as well as a deeper understanding of world history at that time, it gave me a much deeper satisfaction to view the art work housed in this wonderful institution.  In a broader sense, having met many of your colleagues, I see the importance of collaboration and of public outreach so that others have the opportunity to see and learn from the wonderful treasures that are available.

Rachael Cristine Woody

Freer|Sackler Archives

Closing October is American Archives Month

This is the last blog post for our Blogathon as we conclude the events and online activities that took place in honor of October is American Archives Month here at the Smithsonian Institution.

October is a time once a year where we can focus on the importance of the Smithsonian’s vast collections of archival and historical records and to highlight the many individual Smithsonian archival units responsible for maintaining these rich and complex documentary resources.  To do so the Smithsonian Institution Archives and Special Collections council set forth with this goal in mind: To unveil our hidden collections and share them with the public, while at the same time teaching the public how to take care of their own archival treasures.

First and foremost (and no news to our blogger readers) the Archives throughout the Smithsonian Institution participated in a 31 day Blogathon, hosted by the Smithsonian Collections Blog in partnership with: 

Sister Smithsonian blogs:
Archives of American Art Blog
The Bigger Picture, blog of the Smithsonian Institution Archives
Eye Level, blog of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Affiliate, blog of Smithsonian Affiliations

Smithsonian Institution affiliate blogs including:
Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, an Affiliate in Clewiston, Florida
Telluride Historical Museum, in association with the Pinhead Institute, an Affiliate in Telluride, Colorado
Montana History Revealed Blog, the Montana Historical Society Research Center

In addition to the Blogathon we decided to have a multi-pronged campaign, expanding from our individual Open Houses held the two years previous, we decided it was time to bring all 14 of us together in a big way.  The Archives Fair was conceived with the idea to attract both our professional peers and the general public.  Demonstration and Information Tables were set up for each unit, a Lecture Series was held for lectures discussing care, processing and research focusing on collections; and an inaugural Ask the Smithsonian program was born where people were allowed to bring in their own treasures and learn how to take care of them.  

For those who were not able to attend the Smithsonian Archives Fair, the Lecture Series was stream cast live and archived at the October is American Archives Month at the Smithsonian.  Additionally, Smithsonian paper conservator and an electronic records conservator were available virtually on the Smithsonian’s Facebook account, http://www.facebook.com/SmithsonianInstitution Thursday, Oct. 21 to answer questions the public had concerning their own paper and electronic archival items.  Questions ranged from "How can I stop the pinking of photographs?" to "How can I capture and preserve my Myspace profile?" were asked and answered in the forum.

Result in Numbers: 800 participants, 1,963 visitors to the Archives Month landing page for a total of 2,267 page views thus far, with 308 viewers of our Lecture Series the day of.  That puts us over 1,108 visitors both online and in-person for the Archives Fair!

Result in Commentary and Observation: It is my observation that we attracted a seemingly even amount of fellow professionals in addition to the general public.  Archivists from fellow institutions like the House of Representatives, Congressional Cemetery, and U of MD attended our fair and sought me out individually to express their profound gratitude for having an event like this. A staff member from the US Department of Commerce spoke to me at the conclusion of the Fair to say that we simply MUST hold this event every year, and in fact she would like to see opportunities to work with us MORE than once a year.  Potential workshops, archivist exchange programs, and other collaborative ventures were suggested. Members of the general public seemed unanimously pleased with learning more about archives, libraries, and special collections and could not convey enough their gratitude at having an opportunity to have access to our experts at Ask the Smithsonian.

In general, everyone keeps saying how amazed they are at how well things went for our first try, and I honestly think it is because we (archivists/librarians/museum specialist) are not only exceptionally organized, but we are genuinely invested in working together to get our collections and expertise out there. 

Thank you to those who attended (virtually and in-person) our first-ever Archives Fair! 

Rachael Cristine Woody
Freer|Sackler Archives

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Archives preserve memories, tell stories, and solve mysteries every day.  Without them, questions would go unanswered, histories would remain untold, and new discoveries would be difficult to uncover.

The Smithsonian’s archival collections preserve and make available meaningful documentation in the form of original letters, data, research files, diaries, scrapbooks, rare printed materials, business records, photographs, maps, motion picture films, video and audio recordings, and other documents. They form the foundation for research, scholarship, publications, exhibitions, public and educational programs, and outreach.