The Charles Willson Peale Papers, a historical editing project established in 1974, is an integral part of the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery. The project has collected copies of more than six thousand documents, spanning three generations of the Peale family. The archive traces the family's history from the arrival of Charles Peale, a transported felon; through the career of Charles Willson Peale, artist, Revolutionary soldier, naturalist and museum keeper, and Enlightenment polymath; down through the nineteenth-century careers and lives of his many children, including his sons Raphaelle, Rembrandt, Titian Ramsay, and Rubens. In addition to its richness as a source of biographical information on the Peale family, the archive is a source of information on American family, social, and cultural history from the 1730s to the 1880s.
Lillian B. Miller was the editor of the Peale Papers from 1974 until her death in 1997. She had worked as a Historian for three years at the Gallery prior to becoming Editor. Sidney Hart, who has been with NPG since 1977, has served as Research Historian, Assistant Editor, Associate Editor, and is currently Acting Editor/Historian. David C. Ward, who has been with NPG since 1981, has served as Research Historian, Assistant Editor, Associate Editor, and is currently Historian/Associate Editor. Michael D. Schaffer was Assistant Editor, 1974-1977.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Agency History. Record 218189
