Rockwell Kent papers

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Rockwell Kent papers

circa 1840-1993

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw97edd9940-eb61-4562-9583-def2da778b6a

The Rockwell Kent papers measure 88 linear feet and date from circa 1840 to 1993 with the bulk of the collection dating from 1935 to 1961. The collection provides comprehensive coverage of Kent's career as a painter, illustrator, designer, writer, lecturer, traveler, political activist, and dairy farmer.Circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the papers are highlighted in an article by Garnett McCoy ("The Rockwell Kent Papers," in the Archives of American Art Journal, 12, no. 1 [January 1972]: 1-9), recommended reading for researchers interested in the collection. The collection is remarkably complete, for in the mid 1920s Kent began keeping carbon copies of all outgoing letters, eventually employing a secretary (who became his third wife and continued her office duties for the remainder of Kent's life). Series 1: Alphabetical Files contain Kent's personal and professional correspondence, along with business records of the dairy farm and associated enterprises; also included are printed matter on a wide variety of topics and promotional literature relating to organizations and causes of interest to him. Voluminous correspondence with his three wives, five children, and other relatives, as well as with literally hundreds of friends, both lifelong and of brief duration, illuminates Kent's private life and contributes to understanding of his complex character. Among the many correspondents of note are: his art teachers William Merritt Chase, Robert Henri, and Kenneth Hayes Miller; fellow artists Tom Cleland, Arthur B. Davies, James Fitzgerald, Hugo Gellert, Harry Gottleib, Marsden Hartley, Charles Keller, and Ruth Reeves; collectors Duncan Phillips and Dan Burne Jones; critics J. E. Chamberlain and Walter Pach; and dealers Charles Daniel, Felix Wildenstein, and Macbeth Galleries. Kent corresponded with such diverse people as Arctic explorers Peter Freuchen, Knud Rasmussen, and Vilhjalmar Steffanson; composer Carl Ruggles and songwriters Lee Hays and Pete Seeger; civil rights pioneers Paul Robeson and Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois; writers Bayard Boyesen, Scott and Helen Nearing, and Louis Untermeyer; and art historian and print curator Carl Zigrosser.Kent's interest and involvement in the labor movement are reflected in correspondence with officials and members of a wide variety and large number of unions and related organizations, among them: the Farmers' Educational and Cooperative Union of America, Farmers' Union of the New York Milk Shed, International Workers Order, National Maritime Union, and United Office and Professional Workers of America. Of special interest is his participation, often in leadership roles, in various attempts to organize artists. Files on the American Artists' Congress, Artists League of America, The Artists Union, United American Artists, and United Scenic Artists contain particularly valuable material on the movement.A supporter of New Deal efforts to aid artists, Kent was actively interested in the various programs and often was critical of their limitations; he advocated continuing federal aid to artists after the Depression abated. The Kent papers include correspondence with the Federal Arts Project, Federal Fine Arts Project, Federal Writers Project, and the War Department, as well as correspondence with the Citizens' Committee for Government Art Projects and President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the subject.Kent's professional correspondence documents exhibitions, sales, consignments, and reproduction of prints and paintings. He kept meticulous records of his advertising commissions and illustration work. Detailed correspondence with publishers and printers indicates Kent's involvement in the technical aspects of production and provides a good overview of the publishing industry during the mid-twentieth century.Business records of Asgaard Farm include records of the dairy and transfer of ownership to its employees, tax and employee information, and documents concerning several related business ventures such as distributor ships for grain, feed, and farm implements.Series 2: Writings consists of notes, drafts, and completed manuscripts by Rockwell Kent, mainly articles, statements, speeches, poems, introductions, and reviews. The Kent Collection given to Friendship House, Moscow, in 1960, was augmented later by a set of his publications and the illustrated manuscripts of many of his monographs. Also included are a small number of manuscripts by other authors.Series 3: Artwork consists mainly of drawings and sketches by Kent; also included are works on paper by other artists, many of whom are unidentified, and by children.Series 4: Printed Matter consists of clippings, exhibition catalogs and announcements, brochures, broadsides, programs, and newsletters. These include items by and about Kent and his family, as well as articles written and/or illustrated by him, and reviews of his books. There is also material on a variety of subjects and causes of interest to him. Additional printed matter is included among the alphabetical files, mainly as attachments to correspondence.Series 5: Miscellaneous includes biographical material, legal documents, and memorabilia. Artifacts received with papers include textile samples, a silk scarf, dinnerware, ice bucket, and rubber stamp, all featuring designs by Rockwell Kent. Also with this series are a variety of documents including a phrenological analysis of an ancestor, lists of supplies for expeditions, a hand-drawn map of an unidentified place, and technical notes regarding art materials and techniques.Series 6: Photographs includes photographs of Kent, his family and friends, travel, and art number that over one thousand. Also included here are several albums of family and travel photographs.

Archives of American Art

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6630565

Archives of American Art

Related Entities

There are 61 Entities related to this resource.

Kent, Frances.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63z2tkq (person)

Wildenstein, Felix, 1883-1952

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pc3cvq (person)

Jones, Dan Burne

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62809rs (person)

Businessman, collector, printmaker, bibliographer; Oak Park, Ill., Born 1908. Was a friend of Rockwell Kent, and a collector of material by and about Kent. Author of The Prints of Rockwell Kent: A Catalogue Raisonne (University of Chicago Press, 1975). From the description of Papers relating to Rockwell Kent and Lynd Ward, 1917-1982. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122594565 ...

Citizens' Committee for Government Arts Projects.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dc289f (corporateBody)

Nearing, Scott, 1883-1983

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6nk3fv9 (person)

Radical professor; socialist; pacifist during World War I era; author and lecturer; leader of "back-to-the-earth" movement. From the description of Papers, 1943-1988. (University of Toledo). WorldCat record id: 20061606 American sociologist. From the description of Letter [manuscript] : Toledo, Ohio, to Eckstein Case, Cleveland, Ohio, 1917 April 18. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 647806119 Scott Nearing began his career as a t...

Gorton, Sally Kent, 1915-2000

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k95xkw (person)

Widow of Rockwell Kent, born Shirley Johnston in England, 1915, and emigrated to Canada as a child. Served as Kent's secretary both before and after their marriage in 1940. Married John Gorton and established The Rockwell Kent Legacies with Gorton as Director in 1973. From the description of Sally Kent Gorton papers and records of The Rockwell Kent Legacies, 1970-1983. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 86093886 ...

Nearing, Helen.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6794w9d (person)

Artists' Union (New York, N.Y.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6np937d (corporateBody)

Kent, Kathleen W.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hb3rgf (person)

Citizens' Committee for Government Arts Projects.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6h46k4z (corporateBody)

Artists' Union (New York, N.Y.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6d266pz (corporateBody)

United American Artists.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qv7vfs (corporateBody)

Chamberlain, J. E.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jt01gr (person)

Artists' Union (New York, N.Y.)

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Boyesen, Bayard

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67d35bt (person)

Wildenstein, Felix

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66v3n9b (person)

Chase, William Merritt, 1849-1916

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c53mjq (person)

Painter, art instructor; New York, N.Y. From the description of William Merritt Chase letter, 1911 Nov. 21. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122599930 William Merrit Chase (1849-1916) was a painter and instructor from New York, N.Y. and Shinnecock Hills, Long Island. From the description of William Merrit Chase photographs, [ca. 1895]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 744425314 Painter and instructor; New York, N.Y. and Shinnecock Hills, Long Island. ...

Davies, Arthur B. (Arthur Bowen), 1862-1928

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tb18bw (person)

Artist; painter and printmaker; b. Utica, New York. From the description of Arthur B. Davies collection, 1890-1998. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70972386 Painter; New York, N.Y. From the description of Arthur B. Davies letters to Sally Lewis, 1919-1923. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122647988 ...

Nearing, Scott, 1883-1977

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6584cm8 (person)

United Scenic Artists

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6v16dwt (corporateBody)

United Scenic Artists is a labor union representing designers and artists in the theater, opera, ballet, motion picture, television, and industrial exhibition industries. It originated as the United Scenic Artists Association and received its charter from the American Federation of Labor in 1918 as Local 829, an autonomous local of the Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades. The union’s main purposes were to safeguard and maintain the high standards of the member crafts and to fi...

Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gk06z2 (person)

W. E. B. Du Bois was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, writer and editor. Educated at Fisk University, he did graduate work at the University of Berlin and Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate. Du Bois became a professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University. Due to his contributions in the African-American community he was seen as a member of a Black elite that supported some aspects ...

Fitzgerald, James, 1899-1971

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kk9nsj (person)

Painter; California and Maine. Born in Milton, Massachusetts, Fitzgerald studied from 1919 to 1923 at the Massachusetts School of Art and from 1923 to 1924 at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School with Philip Hale, Leslie P. Thompson, and Edmund C. Tarbell. Between 1923 and 1928, he sailed on fishing ships and freighters, eventually settling in Monterey, California, in 1928, where he established a studio and became associated with a group including John Cage, Martha Grah...

Pach, Walter, 1883-1958

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qp6wr4 (person)

Pach: Artist, critic, historian, writer, art consultant, curator; New York, N.Y. Instrumental in organizing the Armory Show, 1913. Winthrop: patron; New York, N.Y. His collection, left to Harvard University, included early American portraits, drawings by English and French artists, and Chinese sculpture. From the description of Walter Pach letter to Grenville Winthrop, 1933 Apr. 30. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 84852249 American artist and author. From the desc...

Ruggles, Carl, 1876-1971

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zc86ps (person)

American composer. From the description of Carl Ruggles Papers, 1894-1981 (inclusive). (Yale University). WorldCat record id: 122501161 From the description of Carl Ruggles Papers, 1894-1981 (inclusive). (Yale University). WorldCat record id: 702189342 Painter; Coral Gables, Fla., and Arlington, Vt. From the description of Christmas card and note to E.P. and Constance Richardson, 1952. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122557460 Charle...

Macbeth Gallery

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Art gallery at 237 5th Avenue and 450 5th Avenue, New York, N.Y. From the description of Macbeth Gallery exhibition catalogs, 1892-1921. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 84558225 Macbeth Gallery (founded 1892) is an art gallery from New York, N.Y. Founded in 1892 by William Macbeth in New York City, the first gallery at that time to deal solely in American art. The most famous of Macbeth's exhibitions was that of The Eight, in 1908. Robert Macbeth, the...

Nearing, Helen

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6km6t49 (person)

Farmers Union of the New York Milk Shed

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Cleland, T. M. (Thomas Maitland), 1880-1964

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rb7fm6 (person)

American illustrator. From the description of Typed letter signed : Danbury, Connecticut, to Edward Wagenknecht, 1936 Jan. 27. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270868038 T. M. Cleland, primarily a book designer, painter, illustrator, and type designer also produced costume and set designs for theatrical performances. From the description of T. M. Cleland costume designs for Scaramouche, 1923. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 669062826 America...

Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61s7dgz (person)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park, New York. He was the son of James (lawyer, financier) and Sara (Delano) Roosevelt. He married Anna Eleanor Roosevelt on March 17, 1905, and had six children: Anna, James, Franklin, Elliott, Franklin Jr., John. He received his B.A. from Harvard in 1904 and later attended Columbia University Law School. Roosevelt was admitted to the Bar in 1907 and worked for the Carter, Ledyard, and Milburn firm in New York City from 1907 to 19...

Reeves, Ruth, 1892-1966

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w661196t (person)

Designer and textile designer; New York, N.Y. Served as head of the poster division of the New York City Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration in the late 1930s. Studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., the San Francisco School of Design, and the Art Students League of New York. Taught at the School of Painting and Sculpture at Columbia Univ. and the Cooper Union Art School. Died Dec. 23, 1966, at age 74. From the description of Ru...

Artists League of America

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American Artists' Congress

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Federal Art Project

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The FAP projects included a broad range of events and activities which generated the various publications and materials found in the central files of the general subject series. ART FOR THE MILLIONS was a publication project about the accomplishments of the FAP consisting of a series of articles by Project workers. In addition to creating work for artists, the FAP sought to increase art appreciation as well as art sales among the general public. In doing so it devised a plan which created Nation...

Freuchen, Peter, 1886-1957

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xh02m8 (person)

Lorenz Peter Elfred Freuchen (b. February 2, 1886, Nykøbing Falster, Denmark-d. September 2, 1957, Anchorage, Alaska) was a Danish explorer, author, journalist and anthropologist. He is notable for his role in Arctic exploration, especially the Thule Expeditions...

United Office and Professional Workers of America

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6n62w7f (corporateBody)

The United Office and Professional Workers of America (UOPWA), a union of clerical workers largely in the private sector, was formed in 1937 by the merger of fourteen American Federation of Labor (AFL) white collar unions (most prominently the New York City-based Bookkeepers, Stenographers, and Accountants Union Local 124646) and nine independent unions, totaling 8,600 members. It quickly secured a charter from the newly-organized Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). UOPWA, whose membersh...

Hays, Lee, 1914-1981

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m33530 (person)

United American Artists.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xq5pmp (corporateBody)

Gottlieb, Harry, 1895-1992

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z89b52 (person)

Painter, printmaker; New York, N.Y. b. 1895; d. 1992. Born in Bucharest, Romania. Member of N.Y. Artists' Union, American Society of Painters, Sculptors and Gravers, and the American Artists Congress. Served as a WPA artist. Pioneer in the development of silk screen process as a fine art form. From the description of Harry Gottlieb papers, 1910-1982. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80440458 ...

Gellert, Hugo, 1892-1985.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6668b4q (person)

Mural painter. From the description of Hugo Gellert interview, 1984 Apr. 4. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 83826254 Painter; New York, N.Y. From the description of Hugo Gellert lecture, 1985. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122394902 Hugo Gellert (1892-1985) was a communist graphic artist, cartoonist, muralist and painter. He was born in Hungary in 1892 and came to the U.S. in 1906. Gellert was a leading contributor of art work to The Masses, The Liberato...

Artists' Union (New York, N.Y.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c33jsb (corporateBody)

Rasmussen, Knud, 1879-1933

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mw2tfw (person)

Kent, Rockwell, 1882-1971

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6td9w2g (person)

Painter; New York, N.Y. From the description of Rockwell Kent interview, 1957 Sept. 12. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80242441 Painter, illustrator, writer, lecturer; Ausable Forks, New York. From the description of Rockwell Kent letters to Robert T. Hatt, 1935-1936. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122553040 In addition to being a successful painter, printmaker, illustrator, designer, and commercial artist, Kent pursued careers as a writer, professional ...

Henri, Robert, 1865-1929

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6057h7j (person)

Painter, illustrator; New York, N.Y. From the description of Robert Henri letter, 1911 Feb. 8. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79700794 American artist. From the description of Robert Henri papers, 1922-1928. (Cornell University Library). WorldCat record id: 63935956 From the description of Robert Henri speedwriting card index, circa 1922-1928. (Cornell University Library). WorldCat record id: 298597773 From the description of Robert Henri diary ...

Phillips, Duncan, 1886-1966

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64b3784 (person)

Keller, Charles, 1914-2006.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dn4fcx (person)

Painter and illustrator; New York, N.Y. From the description of Charles Keller papers, 1937-1982. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80813097 ...

International Workers Order

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68d3x6f (corporateBody)

The International Workers Order (IWO), a Communist-affiliated, ethnically organized fraternal order, was founded in 1930 following a split from the Workmen's Circle, the Jewish labor fraternal order. Max Bedacht, the IWO general secretary from 1932-1946, also served on the Communist Party's Political Bureau. At its peak, shortly after World War II, the IWO had almost 200,000 members, including 50,000 in the Jewish Peoples Fraternal Order. The IWO provided low-cost health and life insurance, medi...

Untermeyer, Louis, 1885-1977

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wm1c2x (person)

Louis Untermeyer was a noted author, editor, and translator. His tastes were eclectic, and his friendships many; he produced more than one hundred books, and volumes of letters. His numerous poetry anthologies have helped introduce verse to generations of schoolchildren. From the description of Heinrich Heine, paradox and poet, 1936. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 56550722 From the description of Louis Untermeyer letter to Judith Wright McKinn...

Stefansson, Vilhjalmur, 1879-1962

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jb6wh0 (person)

Vilhjalmur Stefansson was born on November 3, 1879 in Arnes, Manitoba, Canada. He attended the University of North Dakota from 1897-1902. He was voted the best orator in 1900, and also worked for the school newspaper. In 1930 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, only the third such degree awarded. He then transferred to the University of Iowa and graduated in 1903 with a degree from the School of Liberal Arts. He next enrolled at Harvard, graduating with a Master of Arts degree in 1...

Citizens' Committee for Government Arts Projects.

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The Citizens' Committee for Government Arts Projects, founded in 1941 by Aline Davis Hays, The Hon. Stanley M. Isaacs, and Samuel L. M. Barlow in New York City, sought to assemble public support for the preservation of Federal Art Projects (WPA) and a permanent extension of government support for painting and sculpture, music, drama, dance, letters, graphic arts and photography. From the guide to the Citizens' Committee for Government Arts Projects records, 1941, (Archives of America...

Chamberlain, J. E.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tk1n7h (person)

Daniel, Charles, 1878-1971

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6bp0d17 (person)

Art dealer; New York, N.Y. Opened Daniel Gallery Dec. 1913 at 2 W. 47th St. From the description of Charles Daniel papers, 1950-1967. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 86122663 ...

Miller, Kenneth Hayes, 1876-1952

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69g5q4t (person)

Kenneth Hayes Miller's correspondence with Carl Zigrosser concerned prints by Miller for sale at the Weyhe Gallery. From the description of Correspondence with Carl Zigrosser, 1919, n.d. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 155902258 Painter, instructor and etcher; New York, N.Y. Born Oneida, New York. Taught at William Merritt Chase's New York School of Art, 1900-1910, and Art Students League, 1912-1936. From the des...

National Farmers' Union (U.S.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64v09gp (corporateBody)

Jones, Dan Burne

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64g4r83 (person)

Robeson, Paul, 1898-1976

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fc5sfw (person)

Born in Princeton, New Jersey, on April 9, 1898, Paul Robeson was a multitalented man whose artistic and political career spanned over four decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s. Known worldwide during the 1930s and 1940s, he fell from prominence in the 1960s because of the political controversy that surrounded him during the McCarthy era. Robeson was a talented dramatic actor whose performance of Othello in this country in 1943-44 once held the record for the ...

Federal writer's project

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Hinton was a former slave who was living in North Carolina at the time of the interview. From the guide to the Martha Adeline Hinton interview, 1937, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections) One of the first actions by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression of the 1930s was to extend federal work relief to the unemployed. One such relief program was the Works Progress Administration, which FDR established in 1933. By 1941 the WPA had provided empl...

National Maritime Union

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63w07js (corporateBody)

The National Maritime Union (NMU) was an American labor union founded in May 1937 representing workers in the merchant marine. It affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in July 1937. After a failed merger with a different maritime group in 1988, the union merged with the Seafarers International Union of North America in 2001....

Seeger, Pete, 1919-2014

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k46k6g (person)

Pete Seeger (1919-2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. As a member of the Weavers, Seeger was often heard on the radio in the early 1950s, most notably on their recording of Lead Belly's "Goodnight, Irene". In the 1960s, Seeger re-emerged on the public scene as a prominent singer of protest music in support of international disarmament, civil rights, counterculture, workers' rights, and environmental causes. A prolific songwriter, his best-known songs include "Where Have ...

Adler, Elmer, 1884-1962

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66q24zw (person)

Elmer Adler worked in his family's clothing firm in Rochester, N.Y. while developing an avocation as a book and print collector. In 1922 he came to New York City and established the Pynson Printers; he began to makea reputation as a book designer. Adler served as a typographic consultant to several magazines and to The New York Times. From 1930 to 1940 he published The colophon : a book collector's quarterly. In 1940 he was invited to establish a Department of Graphic Arts at Princeton Universit...

Nearing, Helen.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zw1w7r (person)

United American Artists.

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