Dorothy Sturgis Harding : Papers [manuscript], 1921-1976.

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Dorothy Sturgis Harding : Papers [manuscript], 1921-1976.

1921-1976

https://www.americanantiquarian.org/Findingaids/dorothy_sturgis_harding.pdf

The collection contains primarily the business correspondence of Dorothy Sturgis Harding, 1921-1976. Many letters include rough notes or copies of Mrs. Harding's responses. The letters written by clients concern the ordering, cost, and details of the design of bookplates; those written by colleagues and collectors refer to exhibits of Mrs. Harding's bookplate prints and other subjects of mutual interest. Those correspondents included Rockwell Kent (1882-1971), 1940-1960; Dan Burne Jones ( - ), 1938-1976; Oliver Clement Sheean ( - ), 1940-1947; and Elisha Brown Bird ( - ), 1932-1940. The latter occasionally commented on the political and economic policies of the Roosevelt administrations. There are also letters from institutions, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts in New York, whose directors employed Mrs. Harding to illustrate bulletins and design bookplates. Several correspondents, such as Carlyle Solomon Baer (1890-1969) and Audrey Spencer Arellane ( - ), represented bookplate societies. Baer's extensive correspondence, 1932-1969, concerns primarily the publication of the Yearbook of the American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers, as well as his commentaries on contemporary designers and engravers. Audrey Spencer Arellanes assumed the work upon Baer's death in 1969. There are also many letters from printing and publishing companies, e.g., John Peterson and Son of Boston, Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company of Boston, and the Bond Wheelwright Company of Freeport, Maine, with whom Mrs. Harding contracted to print her bookplate designs. Mrs. Harding illustrated several books for the latter company form 1959 to 1961. Also represented throughout the correspondence are details of the frequent exhibitions of her prints by the Junior League of America and the Print Club of Philadelphia. Among the more than 100 people for whom she designed bookplates and Christmas cards, and, in several cases, with whom she established a friendly correspondence, were Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell (1865-1940) and his wife Lady Ann Elizabeth Caldwell Grenfell (1885-1938), 1927 -1937; Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), 1933-1959; and William Norton Bullard (1853-1931) and his wife Mary Reynolds Bullard ( - ), 1927-1945. Mrs. Harding also corresponded with Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), 1960-1971. The collection also contains photocopies of letters, 1908-1909, written by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) to Mrs. Harding when she was a young girl and one of the author's "angel-fish" (i.e., group of children with whom he established a warm friendship). Mrs. Harding had attempted to have the letters published by the Atlantic Monthly, accompanied by a memoir of her friendship with Clemens. This material and correspondence with the Atlantic Monthly are included in the collection. In addition, there is correspondence, 1973, with Frederick Anderson ( - ), editor of the Mark Twain Papers at the University of California at Berkeley, and Abigail White Howells ( - ), concerning Mrs. Harding's memoirs of Clemens. Among the miscellaneous papers is correspondence with Arthur Graham Carey ( - ), editor of the Catholic Art Quarterly, concerning Mrs. Harding's assistance with publications; newsclippings, poetry, and a checklist of her bookplates.

8 boxes.

eng, Latn

American Antiquarian Society

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7000441

American Antiquarian Society

Related Entities

There are 22 Entities related to this resource.

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wj3h16 (person)

The main building of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is located at 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a new art reference library, named the Thomas J. Watson Library, was designed by the architectural firm of Brown, Lawford and Forbes in consultation with the Museum. Severud-Elstad-Krueger were the structural engineers; Krey and Hunt were the mechanical engineers. The Library formally opened Jan. 26, 1965. It occupies three floors: the two lower floors comprise s...

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dg7gd6 (person)

Mark Twain (b. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, November 30, 1835, Florida, MO – d. April 21, 1910, Redding, CT) was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. Among his novels are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). Twain served an apprenticeship with a printer and then worked as a typesetter, contributing articles to the newspaper of his older brother Orion Clemens. He later became a riverboat pil...

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c649b1 (person)

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the longest-serving First Lady throughout her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four terms in office (1933-1945). She was an American politician, diplomat, and activist who later served as a United Nations spokeswoman. A shy, awkward child, starved for recognition and love, Eleanor Roosevelt grew into a woman with great sensitivity to the underprivileged of all creeds, races, and nations. Her constant work to improve their lot made her one of the most loved–...

Rockwell, Norman, 1894-1978

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63g5crw (person)

Illustrator, painter; Norman Rockwell painted and illustrated 317 covers for the Saturday Evening Post from 1916-1963. From the description of Norman Rockwell collection of Saturday Evening Post covers, 1919-1976. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 777815899 Norman Rockwell was among the most popular and successful American artists of the 20th century. His signature style of representational realism, used to express themes of traditional American values, was easily recognized an...

Anderson, Frederick, 1926-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mh5jx6 (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 ...

Baer, Carlyle Solomon, 1890-1969.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rg3qjg (person)

Bullard, William Norton, 1853-1931.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wt6pq4 (person)

Harding, Dorothy Sturgis, 1891-1978.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68992fg (person)

Dorothy Sturgis Harding, (1891-1978), bookplate designer, was the daughter of Richard Clipston Sturgis (1860-1951), noted Boston architect and designer of many New England buildings, including the American Antiquarian Society. Mrs. Harding studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1910. She resided with her husband, Lester William Harding, in Winchester, N.H., and Portsmouth, N.H., where she worked as a draftsman at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard from 1942 to 1957. She was a member of various ...

Arellanes, Audrey Spencer.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j46p15 (person)

Bullard, Mary Reynolds.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pp725n (person)

Grenfell, Wilfred Thomason, Sir, 1865-1940

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69p3928 (person)

English medical missionary. From the description of Letter, 1914, Apr. 26 : Dr. Lee. (Duke University). WorldCat record id: 31674044 Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell was a medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador. Horace Parker Chandler was a real estate broker, journalist, editor, and publisher, of Boston, Mass. From the description of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell letter and photographs, 1909 Dec. 25. (Maine Historical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 7083...

Sheean, Oliver Clement, 1894-1955

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rf6ctq (person)

Book and bookplate collector, of Portland, Me.; worked as freight clerk for The Portland Company; Irish American. From the description of Oliver Clement Sheean collection, 1930-1955. (Maine Historical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 71015366 ...

American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6159j71 (corporateBody)

John Peterson and Son.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cs197d (corporateBody)

Bond Wheelwright Co.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mw7zw8 (corporateBody)

Howells, Abigail White.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65r2s07 (person)

Grenfell, Anne, 1885-1938

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66b50g9 (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 ...

Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6479sr8 (corporateBody)

Carey, Arthur Graham

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6669rh0 (person)

Bird, Elisha Brown

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67q6tz0 (person)