Archives of American Art

Paul Wayland Bartlett papers

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.bartpaulw
Creators:
Bartlett, Paul Wayland, 1865-1925
Dates:
1887-1925
Languages:
Some correspondence is in French.
Physical Description:
4 Microfilm reels
5 linear feet on 4 microfilm reels
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The microfilmed Paul Wayland Bartlett papers contain correspondence with family, artists, and others (1887-1925); legal and financial documents (1887-1925); printed materials (1888-1925); sketches, drawings, and blueprints (undated, 1916-1920); and certificates (1915-1918).
Correspondence consists of a chronological series (1887-1925) containing letters and postcards from John White Alexander, Samuel P. Avery, William A. Clark, Frank Edwin Elwell, John Flanagan, Daniel Chester French, Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company, Gorham Company, J. Scott Hartley, John LaFarge, Charles Loring, Frederick MacMonnies, Charles Sprague Pearce, Auguste Rodin, Frederic Wellington Ruckstull, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and scattered letters from other nineteenth century artists regarding the execution of works, commissions, exhibitions and expositions in Paris and the United States, among them the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904) and the Exposition Universale (1899-1900), and Bartlett's illness and death in 1925.
The remainder of the correspondence, arranged by subject, includes letters from Bartlett's father, Truman Howe Bartlett (1899-1913), many written from Boston where he taught in the architecture department of MIT, or from New Hampshire where he kept a studio, and letters to Paul regarding his father's entry in the National Cyclopedia of American Biography (1925); correspondence with the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers (1905-1907), some from Joseph Pennell, regarding exhibitions; correspondence regarding commissions, including Lafayette, McClellan, General Warren, Library of Congress, and other statues; postcards from artists (1892-1895); and miscellaneous letters.
Legal documents relate to the Lafayette statue (1900) and also include Bartlett's death certificate. Financial records (1899-1922) consist of bank statements, checkbooks, bills and receipts for casting, photography, dues, and rent. Clippings and a scrapbook deal with Barlett's Lafayette statue. Other printed material includes articles on various Bartlett sculptures and other sculptors, exhibition catalogs, passes and announcements, yearbooks from the American Club of Paris (1905-1909), and material from the American Art Association of Paris, including a 20-page booklet by Bartlett giving the history of the group, and an invitation (1906) to an auction to benefit the victims of the San Francisco earthquake.
Also included are sketches by Bartlett and his father (undated and circa 1913); oversized drawings, plans and prints for monuments, statues, and the Capitol ceiling (undated and 1916-1920); postcards depicting Bartlett's sculpture; and certificates from the National Academy of Design and the Panama Pacific International Exposition.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Paul Wayland Bartlett (1865-1925) was a sculptor and portraitist. Born in Connecticut and raised in France, Bartlett attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts and also studied under Emmanual Frémiet and Auguste Rodin. His early sculpture focused on animals and his piece Bear Tamer was presented to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1891 and exhibited in the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. After 1895, he produced a number of public monuments, sculptures, and historical portraits, including the figures of Columbus and Michelangelo for the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress, the Lafayette statue presented to France, and the pediment for the House wing of the U.S. Capitol.

Administration

Existence and Location of Copies
35mm microfilm reel 4899-4902 available for use at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
Existence and Location of Originals
Originals returned to Tudor Place Foundation, Inc. after microfilming.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Lent for microfilming by the Tudor Place Foundation, Inc., 1994. The Tudor Place Foundation inherited the papers in 1994 with the estate of Armistead Peter III of Tudor Place. Peter III was married to Caroline, the daughter of Bartlett's wife by her first marriage to Mahlon Odgen-Jones. After Bartlett's death in 1925, Suzanne cared for his papers, and donated the bulk of them to the Library of Congress in 1954. The papers she retained passed on to Caroline, and at her death to Armistead Peter III.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.

Related Materials
The Archives of American Art also holds the microfilmed Suzanne Bartlett papers relating to Paul W. Bartlett, circa 1883-1950s; the microfilmed Caroline Ogden-Jones Peter papers relating to Paul W. Bartlett, 1955-1965; and the microfilmed Armistead Peter, Jr. papers relating to Paul W. Bartlett, 1920-1925. The Library of Congress Manuscript Division holds the Paul Wayland Bartlett papers, 1875-1959.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Sculpture, American Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Monuments -- France -- Paris Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Monuments -- United States Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sculptors -- Washington (D.C.) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sculptors -- France -- Paris Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de, 1757-1834 -- Monuments Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
McClellan, George Brinton, 1826-1885 -- Monuments Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ruckstull, F. W. (Fred Wellington), 1853-1942 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 1848-1907 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pennell, Joseph, 1857-1926 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ward, John Quincy Adams, 1830-1910 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Alexander, John White, 1856-1915 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Avery, Samuel Putnam, 1822-1904 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bartlett, Truman Howe, 1835-1923 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Clark, William A. (William Andrews), 1839-1925 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Elwell, F. Edwin (Frank Edwin), 1858-1922 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Flannagan, John Bernard, 1895?-1942 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
French, Daniel Chester, 1850-1931 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hartley, Jonathan Scott, 1845-1912 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
La Farge, John, 1835-1910 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Loring, Charles Greely, 1828-1902 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
MacMonnies, Frederick William, 1863-1937 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pearce, Charles Sprague, 1851-1914 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rodin, Auguste, 1840-1917 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
American Art Association of Paris Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
American Club of Paris Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gorham Company (New York, N.Y.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Exposition universelle de 1889 (Paris, France) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Exposition universelle internationale de 1900 (Paris, France) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904: Saint Louis, Mo.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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