Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Edward Mitchell Bannister Scrapbook, 1866-1901, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.bannedwa
Creators:
Bannister, Edward Mitchell, 1828-1901
Dates:
1866-1901
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
0.6 Linear feet
Repository:
The Edward Mitchell Bannister scrapbook measures 0.6 linear feet and dates from 1866-1901. The scrapbook contains approximately 102 pencil, charcoal, and watercolor drawings by Bannister, newspaper clippings and writings about Bannister and his exhibitions, a poem, and an exhibition catalog.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The Edward Mitchell Bannister scrapbook measures 0.6 linear feet and dates from 1866-1901. The scrapbook contains approximately 102 pencil, charcoal, and watercolor drawings depicting landscapes with cattle, trees, brambles, rolling clouds, a few figure studies, seascapes, and Bibical scenes, by Bannister. The scrapbook also includes newspaper clippings and writings about Bannister including reviews of his exhibitions and tributes by George W. Whitaker, John Nelson Arnold, and T. Thomas Fortune; a 1901 poem about Bannister written by William E. Smith; and an exhibition catalog of the Edward Mitchell Bannister Memorial exhibition held at the Providence Art Club in May 1901.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged as one series. The scrapbook has been disbound but contents remain in their original order and are arranged in three parts.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Edward Mitchell Bannister (1828-1901) was a Canadian-born African American landscape and portrait painter in Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. He was among Providence's leading painters during the 1870s and 1880s and was one of the few African American painters of the nineteenth century to win significant recognition.
Bannister moved to Boston in 1848 where he enrolled in evening classes at the Lowell Institute and learned to paint. He settled in Rhode Island with his wife in 1870 and in 1876 won the first-prize bronze medal at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Subsequently his growing reputation resulted in many commissions which allowed him to devote himself full-time to painting.
Bannister was an original board member of the Rhode Island School of Design and a respected art critic. Following his death in 1901 the Providence Art Club, of which he was a founding member, held a memorial exhibition of his paintings owned by Providence collectors.

Administration

Author
Stephanie Ashley
Existence and Location of Copies
The collection was digitized in 2022 and is available on the Archives of American Art website.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The scrapbook was donated to the Archives of America Art in 1984 by Alan and Melvin S. Frank. The scrapbook was previously on loan to the National Museum of American Art.
Processing Information
The collection was microfilmed on Reel 3118 after donation. Contents were removed from the original commercial binding and received conservation treatment in 2019. The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Stephanie Ashley in 2022 and the scrapbook was digitized in 2022.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Conditions Governing Use
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
African American artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scrapbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
African American painters Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Landscape painters -- Rhode Island -- Providence Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Portrait painters -- Rhode Island -- Providence Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Landscape painters -- Massachusetts -- Boston Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Portrait painters -- Massachusetts -- Boston Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Providence Art Club Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Whittaker, George W. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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