Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the William Anderson Coffin Papers, 1886-1924, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.coffwill
Creators:
Coffin, William A. (William Anderson), 1855-1925
Dates:
1886-1924
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
1.6 Linear feet
Repository:
The papers of New York painter and art critic William Anderson Coffin date from 1886-1924 and measure 1.6 linear feet. Found within the papers are scattered biographical materials and correspondence, project files for the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, the American Artist's Committee of One Hundred, and the exhibition of works by American Artists at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris, three additional scrapbooks, printed material, and photographs.

Scope and Content Note

Scope and Content Note
The papers of New York painter and art critic William Anderson Coffin date from 1886 to 1924 and measure 1.6 linear feet. Found within the papers are scattered biographical materials and correspondence; project files for the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, the American Artist's Committee of One Hundred, and the exhibition of works by American Artists at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris; three additional scrapbooks; printed material; and photographs.
Scattered biographical material includes membership cards and an autobiographical essay. Correspondence is with colleagues and related generally to receptions and events, including an invitation to the launch of the U. S. Battleship Arizona. There are one or two letters each from Frank W. Benson, Edwin Howland Blashfield, Royal Cortissoz, Walter Gay, and Whitney Warren.
Three series of project files document Coffin's work for the Fine Arts Division of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, the American Artists' Committee of One Hundred that established a relief fund for families of French soldier-artists, and an exhibition of artwork by American Artists at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris. Files contain a variety of materials, such as letters, drafts of reports, meeting minutes, photographs, catalogs and brochures, and other materials. There are two oversized scrapbooks for the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition. The files for the Luxembourg Museum exhibition include a letter signed by Louis Bouché, Bernard Gussow, Alfred H. Maurer, Joseph Stella, and William Zorach protesting the exclusion of their work.
Three additional scrapbooks contain clippings of articles written by Coffin when he was employed as an art critic for The New York Evening Post, Harper's Weekly, and The New York Sun.
Printed material consists of miscellaneous clippings primarily about Coffin, programs from American Rights Committee exercises, a Dixie Club of New York concert, a Lotos Club concert, the Lafayette-Marne Anniversary exercises, and souvenir tickets to various art-related events including several Paris Salon Vernissage events sponsored by the Société des Artistes Francais.
Photographs include an album of photographs of Coffin, various family members, and residences; a photograph of Coffin posing with an unidentified group of his colleagues; and photographs of family friends. Project files also contain photographs.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged as 8 series:
  • Missing Title
  • Series 1: Biographical Material, 1916-1922 (2 folders; Box 1)
  • Series 2: Correspondence, 1915-1924 (8 folders; Box 1)
  • Series 3: Project File for the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, 1900-1901 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1-2)
  • Series 4: Project File for the American Artists' Committee of One Hundred, 1914-1923 (14 folders; Box 1)
  • Series 5: Project File for the Exhibition of Works by American Artists at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris, 1919-1920 (11 folders; Box 1)
  • Series 6: Scrapbooks of Clippings of Articles Written by Coffin, 1886-1913 (0.3 linear feet; Box 2)
  • Series 7: Printed Material, 1912-1924 (6 folders; Box 1)
  • Series 8: Photographs, 1905-1923 (10 folders; Box 1)

Biographical Note

Biographical Note
William Anderson Coffin (1855-1925) of New York City was a landscape and figure painter and art critic. He organized several notable exhibitions and art-related charitable events for relief work in post-World War I France.
William Anderson Coffin was born near Pittsburgh in Allegheny, Pennsylvania on January 31, 1855, the son of Isabella C. Anderson and James Gardiner Coffin. Coffin studied art and graduated from Yale University in 1874. Three years later, he left for Paris and studied with academic artist Léon Bonnat. Coffin exhibited in the Paris Salons of 1879, 1880, and 1882.
In 1882, Coffin moved to New York City, participating in many exhibitions, including at the National Academy of Design. He also wrote as an art critic for Scribner's and Harper's Weekly, among other publications. From 1886 to 1891, he was art critic for The New York Evening Post, and was art editor at the New York Sun from 1896 to 1901.
Coffin directed the Fine Arts Division of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo from 1900 to 1901, and participated as a member of the New York Advisory Board of the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915. Coffin was also president of the American Artists' Committee of One Hundred that established a relief fund for families of French soldier-artists. For this charitable work, Coffin received the medal of the Legion of Honor from the French government in 1917.
Coffin was a member of various arts organizations including the Lotos Club, the Architectural League of New York, and the National Academy of Design. His artwork is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Municipal Gallery of Venice, Italy, the Albright Art Gallery, and the Brooklyn Museum.
William Anderson Coffin died on October 26, 1925 in New York City.

Administration

Author
Jean Fitzgerald
Sponsor
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Provenance
The William Anderson Coffin papers were donated in 1970 by Stewart Klonis to whom the papers were given by Mrs. DeWitt M. Lockman of Manorville, Long Island, New York.
Alternative Forms Available
The collection was digitized in its entirety in 2016 and is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Processing Information
The papers were minimally arranged prior to microfilming on reel 109 and further arranged and described in a finding aid by Jean Fitzgerald in 2010. The collection was prepared for digitization by Judy Ng and digitized in 2016, with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
William Anderson Coffin papers, 1886-1924. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Restrictions on Access
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Scrapbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art Exhibitions France Paris Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Landscape painters -- New York (State) -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Harper's Weekly Title Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art, American Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
New York Post Title Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art critics -- France -- Paris Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
World War, 1914-1918 Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Stella, Joseph, 1877-1946 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Warren, Whitney, 1864-1943 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pan-American Exposition (1901: Buffalo, N.Y.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mauer, Alfred Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Société des artistes français Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Exposition d'artistes de l'école Américaine (1919 : Paris, France) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
American Rights Committee Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Benson, Frank Weston, 1862-1951 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Blashfield, Edwin Howland, 1848-1936 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Zorach, William, 1887-1966 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
American Artists' Committee of One Hundred Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gay, Walter, 1856-1937 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gussow, Bernard, 1881-1957 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lotos Club (New York, N.Y.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Musée d'histoire et d'art (Luxembourg) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Committee for the Exhibition of American Painting and Sculpture (Paris, France) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bouché, Louis, 1896-1969 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cortissoz, Royal, 1869-1948 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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