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Judy Ng
Scope and Contents
The papers of painter, stained glass artist, and muralist Violet Oakley measure 56.5 linear feet and date from 1841-1981. Found within the papers are biographical materials; personal and business correspondence; writings, including essays, lectures, and project drafts; diaries and journals; financial material; artwork; printed material, including scrapbooks; and photographs, 3 albums, 322 glass plate negatives, and 1600 film negatives of Oakley, her family and friends, and her work.
Biographical materials include certificates, family records, curriculum vitae, and identification cards, and studio guest books. About one-half of the collection is comprised of correspondence with family, friends, and business associates. Writings include Oakley's notes, essays and lectures, and writings related to 16 of her major artworks and publications, including her work on the Pennsylvania Capitol murals in Harrisburg. Diaries and journals include Oakley's travel notes and research on planned artworks.
Financial materials include a catalog of artworks and price lists, accounting records, and art supply receipts. Artwork includes early childhood juvenilia, a sketchbook, sketches of travel and friends, architectural renderings, and artwork by others. Printed materials include books, clippings, exhibition catalogs, programs, and reproductions of artwork by Oakley and others. Photographic materials include photographs, albums, and negatives depicting Oakley, her friends and family, her studio at Cogslea, and reproductions of artwork.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Violet Oakley first loaned the Archives of American Art materials for microfilming in 1959. Edith Emerson, Oakley's longtime friend and companion, donated and lent papers for microfilming in 1977 and 1984. The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, who had received the papers from Emerson's estate, donated two feet of materials in 1988.
Separated Materials
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reels 1204, P12, 1187-1188, 1272, and 1194-1195).
Reel 1204 consists of two scrapbooks (circa 1896-1952) containing clippings from magazines of illustrations by Violet Oakley and her sister, Hester, and of Violet's murals for the State Capitol at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Reel P12 is of a scrapbook (1898-1936) containing a photograph of Oakely at her easel, clippings, and letters. Reels 1187-1188 consist of five scrapbooks (1920-1962) containing letters, clippings, exhibition announcements, catalogs, and awards. One of the scrapbooks is devoted to "The Holy Experiment", a limited edition publication by Oakley which commemorating William Penn, and which includes reproductions of Oakley's capitol murals in Harrisburg.
Reel 1272 contains two albums (circa 1900-1949) containing photos of Oakley working on murals in her studio, as well as her works of art, including stained glass windows at the Church of All Angels, New York; murals at the Harrisburg State Capitol; preliminary drawings and site photographs of "Dante's Window"; the lunettes and window for the Yarnall House; murals and preliminary drawings for the Cuyahoga Court House; the mural and dedication ceremonies for the Vassar Alumnae House; and photos and printed material on "Divine Presence--Christ at Geneva," "The Life of Moses," "Great Women of the Bible," and triptychs for the Army and Navy.
Reels 1194-1195 cobsist of photograph albums (circa 1870-1960) containing photographs of the Oakley and Swain families, of Violet Oakley, Edith Emerson, Jessie Willcox Smith, Elizabeth Shippen Green, friends, her home, Oakley's "Red Rose" studio in Villanova, Pennsylvania, her "Cogslea" studio in Philadelphia, and of her works of art, mainly portraits of her friends and of delegates to the League of Nations.
Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Related Materials
Also found among the holdings of the Archives of American Art are the Violet Oakley Memorial Foundation records and the Violet Oakley autograph and photograph. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts holds the Violet Oakley Foundation Art Collection, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art holds the Violet Oakley Collection.
Funding
Sponsor
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Processing Information
Materials received a preliminary level of arrangement after donation and correspondence within the collection was microfilmed onto reels 3716-3745. In 1985, nitrate negatives were removed and duplicated onto safety based film. In 1988, 8 photos were professionally conserved. The collection was further processed to a minimal level and a finding aid prepared by Judy Ng in 2014, with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
The Archives of American Art has implemented minimal processing tactics when possible in order to increase information about and access to more of our collections. Minimal processing included arrangement to the series, subseries, and folder levels. Generally, items within folders were simply verified with folder titles, but not arranged further. The collection was rehoused in archival containers and folders.