Wilna Hervey and Nan Mason papers

ArchivalResource

Wilna Hervey and Nan Mason papers

1883-1985

The papers of artist and silent film actress Wilna Hervey and her lifelong companion painter Nan Mason date from 1883 through 1985 and measure 4.9 linear feet. The collection is comprised mostly of letters to Hervey and Mason from friends, colleagues, and Mason's father, Dan Mason, also a silent film actor. Also found are personal photographs and snapshots, Hervey's handwritten memoirs, as well as twelve folders of Dan Mason's papers.Biographical materials include a personal narrative, notes on family history, newspaper clippings related to family, legal and financial records, and Wilna Hervey's notes on artwork.Hervey and Mason were friends with many artists and their correspondence includes letters from artists such as Albert Heckman, Georgina Klitgaard, Manuel Komroff, Leon Kroll, Doris Lee, Fred Dana Marsh, Henry Lee McFee, William Pachner, Caroline and Paul Rohland, Andrée Ruellan, Eugene Speicher, and Dorothy Varian. There are very few letters written by Hervey or Mason, and the correspondence is mostly personal in nature. There are over 250 letters from Elsie Speicher, wife of portrait artist Eugene Speicher. Correspondence to Dan Mason has been separated and is filed in a separate series.Wilna Hervey wrote a a number of handwritten memoirs of her days in the <emph render="italic">The Toonerville Trolley</emph> film series. She had hopes of publishing these one day and worked with writer Karin Whiteley on the project. Although her memoirs were never published, Hervey and Whiteley wrote and compiled materials for the book. Included in the Memoir Book Production series are handwritten memoirs by Hervey chronicling her years prior to and during the 1920s (many of the handwritten memoirs have been typed by Karin Whiteley). It also includes research materials, such as two typed synopses of <emph render="italic">The Toonerville Trolley </emph>scripts from Fontaine Fox's files, newspaper clippings, and playbills, seemingly intended to provide background and verification of the memoirs.This collection also includes a few pieces of artwork; three small watercolor sketches by an unidentified artist, and a print by Edward Chavez.Photographs are mostly snapshots of friends and family, life in Woodstock, New York and Anna Maria, Florida. Negatives originally housed in an un-postmarked envelope with a return address labeled "Betzwood Film Co.," appear to be from the filming of <emph render="italic">The Toonerville Trolley.</emph> In several of the negatives Wilna Hervey is dressed as The Powerful Katrinka, and in one negative Dan Mason is The Skipper.The personal files of Dan Mason include letters from Hervey and Nan Mason, the bulk from their trip to Europe and North Africa in 1926-1927. This series also includes Dan Mason's own handwritten and typed memoirs, newspaper clippings, and financial records.

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6630537

Archives of American Art

Related Entities

There are 21 Entities related to this resource.

Hervey, Wilna, 1894-1979.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j10cpn (person)

Wilna Hervey (b.1894; d.1979) silent film actress, painter; San Francisco, Calif. and Woodstock, N.Y. Nan Mason (b.1896; d.1982) was a painter and photographer from New York, N.Y. and the daughter of Dan Mason, a silent film actor who worked with Hervey. Hervey was most known for her role as Katrinka in the film adaptations of the Toonerville Trolley cartoon. In the 1960s, Hervey achieved success as an enamel painter. Mason became well known as a painter and photographer...

Rohland, Paul American painter, 1884-1953

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fb8r1w (person)

Hopper, Jo N. (Josephine Nivison), 1883-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z61f9c (person)

Painter; New York, N.Y. From the description of Dorothy Varian papers, 1902-1981. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 767864474 Dorothy Varian, b. 1895; d. 1987, Painter of New York, N.Y. From the description of Oral history interview with Dorothy Varian, 1980 Dec. 6-7. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 646398711 ...

Rohland, Caroline.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6w99xvs (person)

Speicher, Eugene Edward, 1883-1962

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jb7071 (person)

Eugene Speicher, born in New York in 1883, was best known for his portraits of women. From the description of Letter to Julian Street, ca. 1912. (Huntington Library, Art Collections &amp; Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 122499606 Portrait, figure, landscape, and still life painter and draftsman; New York, N.Y. From the description of Eugene E. Speicher papers, 1906-1954. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122355097 Eugene Edward Speicher (1883-1962) ...

Rohland, Caroline

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mq83tp (person)

Kroll, Leon, 1884-1974

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65m681m (person)

Artist. From the description of Reminiscences of Leon Kroll : oral history, 1957. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 309743152 Leon Kroll (1884-1974) was a painter from New York, N.Y. Kroll was a leading painter during the 1920's and 1930's. From the description of Leon Kroll papers, 1905-1974. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220244127 Leon Kroll (1884-1974) of New York, N.Y., was a pai...

McFee, Henry Lee, 1886-1953

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67p95bv (person)

Painter. After graduation from Kemper Military School in 1905, he entered art school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1907. In the following year, he studied under Birge Harrison at the Art Students League summer classes in Woodstock, New York. In 1937 he was the director of the Museum School of Art in San Antonio, Texas. He moved to Claremont College in 1947 to teach in the graduate school. From the description of Henry Lee McFee papers, 1928-1964. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 12238...

Varian, Dorothy, 1895-1985

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66h5mf1 (person)

Dorothy Varian (1895-1985) was a painter from New York, N.Y. From the description of Oral history interview with Dorothy Varian, 1980 Dec. 6-7. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 779477562 Painter; New York, N.Y. From the description of Dorothy Varian papers, 1902-1981. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122455756 From the description of Dorothy Varian papers, 1902-1981. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 779476924 From the description of Dorothy Varian int...

Speicher, Elsie, -1959

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zd2q4w (person)

Mason, Nan, 1896-1982.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xw4vhr (person)

Ruellan, Andrée, 1905-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jm6xf8 (person)

Ruellan, Andrée, 1905, Painter of New York. From the description of Andree Ruellan interviews, 1990 Jan. 27-1991 July 22. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220204552 ...

Hervey, Wilna

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wn4f1s (person)

Wilna Hervey was born in 1894 and grew up in Far Rockaway, New York. She met Nan Mason (1896-1982), daughter of silent film actor Dan Mason, while on production of The Toonerville Trolley silent film comedies in 1920. They were lifelong companions until Hervey's death in 1979. As a young woman in the late 1910s, Hervey took art lessons at the Art Students League in New York City, Winold Reiss' studio at 4 Christopher Street, New York City, and during the summer of 1918 i...

Marsh, Fred Dana, 1872-1961

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gm9bqb (person)

Painter, mural painter, architect and sculptor, Ormand Beach, Fla. Used industrial themes, historical motifs and new metals and materials. Father of Reginald Marsh. From the description of Fred Dana Marsh illustrated letters [undated]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122565629 ...

Rohland, Paul, $d1884-1953

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wv1ttk (person)

Pachner, William, 1915-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j686t4 (person)

Heckman, Albert

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62z2dnb (person)

Lee, Doris, 1905-1983

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fn1dxv (person)

Doris (Emrick) Lee was born February 1, 1905, in Aledo, IL.; died June 16, 1983, in Clearwater Fl. She received her BA from Rockford College 1927 and did graduate study at Kansas City Art Institute and California School of Fine Art. Her artisit career (1929-83) included numerous commissioned works, scenes for Rodger's and Hammerstein's play Oklahoma!, and pictorial essays for Life magazine. Her works were exhibited widely and are contained in many permanent collections.Source: Something About th...

Komroff, Manuel, 1890-1974

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6nc6jmg (person)

Manuel Komroff was an anarchist, editor, writer and artist. He met Carl Zigrosser before World War I, when they were both involved in the circle of the Modern School/Ferrer Center. From the description of Correspondence with Carl Zigrosser, 1917-1973, n.d. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 213465853 Novelist &amp; author, died in 1974. From the description of Manuel Komroff papers, 1897-1979. (Columbia University In the City of New York). ...

Mason, Dan, 1853-1929

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6q8616g (person)

Klitgaard, Georgina, 1889-1977.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64n8r7w (person)