Vanessa Catanzaro and Erin Corley
Scope and Contents
The papers of sculptor Olin Levi Warner measure 1.9 linear feet and date from 1857 to 1962 with the bulk of the materials dating from 1857 to 1899. The collection documents Warner's art student days in Paris and his career as a sculptor, primarily in New York City. Found are scattered biographical materials and writings, including a speech by Warner about the Paris Commune of 1871; personal and professional correspondence; clippings, catalogs, and other printed material; sculpture project files; and photographs of Warner, his studio, his family, and notable figures who sat for him, including artist J. Alden Weir, and his artwork.
Found are biographical materials, including a speech written by Warner about the Paris Commune of 1871, awards, and membership records for several art organizations, including the Fine Arts Federation of New York.
Personal and business correspondence written by Warner, his wife, and his daughter is with family and friends. Warner's correspondents include artists Albert Pinkham Ryder, Clarence Cook, and Wyatt Eaton, among others. Of note are letters written from Warner to his family during the time he spent in Paris from 1869 to 1872 studying art and serving in the Foreign Legion.
Also found are scattered project files for a few of his notable sculptural projects, including his statue of Massachusetts governor Charles Devens, the Hodgkins Medal designed as the Smithsonian Institution's seal, work for the Chicago World's Fair, and bronze work produced by the Jno. Williams Foundry.
Printed materials include clippings and exhibition catalogs for the Society of American Artists, the National Sculpture Society, and the World's Columbian Exposition.
Photographs in the papers are of Warner, his family, home, and studio, works of art, and a few notable sitters, including the artist J. Alden Weir.
Language
English
Provenance
A portion of the Olin Levi Warner papers were originally loaned to the Archives of American Art for microfilming in 1972 by Rosalie Warner Jones, Warner's daughter. Rosalie Warner Jones and her sister, Frances O. Warner, and Rosalie's daughter Frances Follin Jones, donated the collection in several accretions between 1972 and 1977. This gift included the majority of the loaned materials, excluding one sketchbook. Additional materials were transferred to the Archives in 2005 from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Separated Material
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming on reel 270. All of the material was later donated, except for one sketchbook which was returned to the lender, and is not described in the collection container inventory.
Funding
Sponsor
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art
Processing Information
The bulk of the collection was microfilmed as separate accretions and loans on reels 270, 414, and 3746-3747, except for the materials transferred from the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2005. All earlier accessions were merged and re-processed by Vanessa Catanzaro, Joan Lord, and Erin Corley in 2004 and 2005, and a finding aid prepared as part of the Terra Foundation for American Art Digitization Project. The collection was scanned in 2013 with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.