Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Stanton L. Catlin Papers, 1911-1998, bulk 1930-1994, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.catlstan
Creators:
Catlin, Stanton L. , 1915-1997
Dates:
1911-1998
bulk 1930-1994
Languages:
The collection is in
English
and
Spanish
.
Physical Description:
56.4 Linear feet
Repository:
The papers of curator, gallery director, educator, and Latin American art historian Stanton L. Catlin (1915-1997) measure 56.4 linear feet and date from 1911 to 1998 with the bulk of the material dating from 1930 to 1994. The papers are comprised of biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, teaching and project files, professional files, research files, exhibition and subject files, printed material, and photographs.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The papers of curator, gallery director, educator, and Latin American art historian Stanton L. Catlin (1915-1997) measure 56.4 linear feet and date from 1911 to 1998 with the bulk of the material dating from 1930 to 1994. The papers are comprised of biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, teaching and project files, professional files, research files, exhibition and subject files, printed material, and photographs.
Biographical material includes six address books, two annotated calendars, four day books, curriculum vitae, interview transcripts, records of Catlin's personal book collection, and his work as a student. Correspondence is with Catlin's family and prominent artists and colleagues, such as Dawn Ades, Dore Ashton, Alfredo Boulton, Robert Motherwell, Alejandro Obregon, César Paternosto, Octavio Paz, Waldo Rasmussen, David and Nelson Rockefeller, Susana Torruella Leval, Judith Sandoval, Santiago Sebastian, and Amancio Williams. Correspondence with Columbia Records concerns Catlin's Grammy Award for best album.
There are writings and notes by Catlin and others on Latin American art, and three journals kept by Catlin during his time in the Czech Republic and Minnesota.
Teaching files document some of Catlin's work as an art history professor at Hunter College, Syracuse University, and the University of Chile. The project files document his work as a consultant or contributor on various projects abd the professional files include records of Catlin's positions as art gallery curator and director, professional memberships, conference participation, and other professional activities. Research and subject files consist of annotated material related to Latin American art, European art, and various artforms and artists.
Exhibition files are found for Art of Latin America Since Independence (1966) and other exhibitions of Latin American art. Printed materials include books with an inscription, clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, magazines, and publications. There are photographs of Catlin, family and friends, colleagues, and artwork.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged as 10 series.
  • Missing Title
  • Series 1: Biographical material , 1933-1989 (1 linear foot; Box 1)
  • Series 2: Correspondence, 1914-1994 (4.5 linear feet; Box 2-6)
  • Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1930-1993 (4.5 linear feet; Box 6-10, OV 57)
  • Series 4: Teaching Files, 1941-1991 (1.5 linear feet; Box 10-12)
  • Series 5: Project Files, 1940-1993 (3.5 linear feet; Box 12-16)
  • Series 6: Professional Files, 1939-1994 (13.1 linear feet; Box 16-28, OV 58, 60)
  • Series 7: Research and Subject Files, 1938-1998 (8.0 linear feet; Box 28-36)
  • Series 8: Exhibition Files, 1941-1993 (15.6 linear feet; Box 37-51, OV 58-60)
  • Series 9: Printed Material, 1944-1993 (4.2 linear feet; Box 52-56)
  • Series 10: Photographs, 1911-1991 (0.5 linear feet; Box 56)

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Stanton L. Catlin (1915-1997) was a curator, gallery director, educator, art historian, and expert on Latin American Art.
Catlin studied art history at Oberlin College and graduated in 1937. After graduation, he studied painting and art history at the Academy of Arts in Prague, Czech Republic for two years. Catlin received a Fogg Museum Fellowship in Modern Art at Harvard University to survey collections of art in Europe. However, the project was canceled because of World War II.
During the war, Catlin served as a Cultural Relations Representative for the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs where he assisted with exhibition arrangements throughout Latin America. In 1942, he also began teaching the history of art in the United States at the University of Chile. After the war, Catlin served in the Field Operations Division of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, working in the Displaced Persons Operation from 1945-1946.
From 1947 to 1950, Catlin served as the executive director of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. He received his graduate degree in art history from New York University in 1952, and shortly thereafter became editor and curator of American art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. From 1958 to 1967, Catlin was the assistant director of the Yale University Art Gallery. While there, he curated the landmark exhibition Art of Latin America Since Independence in 1966, the first exhibition to include only Latin American art and the accompanying catalog remains a standard reference source. That same year, Catlin won a Grammy Award for best album notes for an essay on Mexican mural painting.
In 1967, Catlin left Yale to take a position as director of the Art Gallery at the Center for Inter-American Relations before joining the faculty of Syracuse University in 1971 and becoming director of the university's Art Gallery. He remained at Syracuse for the rest of his career.
Catlin was a consultant on the major retrospective exhibition of the work of Diego Rivera at the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1986. He also worked on a project to document Mexican murals in the United States. Catlin died in Fayetteville, New York in 1997.

Administration

Author
Sarah Mundy
Sponsor
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund
Processing Information
This collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Sarah Mundy in 2016 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund. The Archives of American Art has implemented accelerated processing when possible to increase information about and access to more of our collections. For this collection, accelerated processing included arrangement to the series, subseries and folder levels, adhering to the creator's original arrangement as much as possible. Generally, folder contents were simply verified with the original folder titles, but items within folders were not arranged further. All materials were rehoused in archival folders and boxes for long-term stability, but staples and other fasteners have not all been removed.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The collection was donated from 1992 to 1995 to by Stanton L. Catlin.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
Stanton L. Catlin papers, 1911-1998, bulk 1930-1994. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Conditions Governing Access
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Terms of 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.

Related Materials
Also found at the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview conducted by Francis V. O'Connor with Stanton L. Catlin from July 1 to September 14, 1989.
The University of Texas at Austin holds a significant collection of Stanton Loomis Catlin's papers, some of which are duplicates of the papers held by the Archives of American Art.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Art historians -- New York (State) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Czech Republic -- Description and Travel Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Minnesota -- Description and travel Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art, European Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gallery directors -- New York (State) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Latino and Latin American artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Transcripts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Educators -- New York (State) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Diaries Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Curators -- New York (State) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art, Latin American Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art -- History -- Study and teaching Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Universidad de Chile -- Faculty Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Paternosto, César, 1931- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Columbia Records, Inc. Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Williams, Amancio Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Obregón, Alejandro, 1920- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Motherwell, Robert Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Torruella Leval, Susana Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Boulton, Alfredo Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sebastián, Santiago Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ashton, Dore Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Syracuse University -- Faculty Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sandoval, Judith Hancock de Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rockefeller, David, 1915- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ades, Dawn Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rasmussen, Waldo Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rockefeller, Nelson A. (Nelson Aldrich), 1908-1979 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Paz, Octavio, 1914- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hunter College -- Faculty Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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