Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the John DeWitt Papers, 1962-1979, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.dewijohn
Creators:
DeWitt, John, 1910-1984
Dates:
1962-1979
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
1.4 Linear feet
Repository:
The scattered papers of federal arts administrator John DeWitt date from 1962-1979, and measure 1.4 linear feet. The collection primarily documents 1970s arts programs sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, an agency of the Department of the Interior. Found within the papers are correspondence concerning the department's art projects and exhibition files for The American Artist and Water Reclamation, 1972, and America 1976.

Scope and Content Note

Scope and Content Note
The scattered papers of federal arts administrator John DeWitt date from 1962-1979, and measure 1.4 linear feet. The collection primarily documents 1970s arts programs organized by DeWitt while working for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, an agency of the Department of the Interior. Found within the papers are scattered correspondence concerning the department's art projects, including the Preservation of Endangered Species Art Program and activities of the Hereward Lester Cooke Foundation. There are letters from artists Vija Celmins, Lamar Dodd, and Ethel Magafan.
Files for the two exhibitions organized by DeWitt for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, The American Artist and Water Reclamation and America 1976, include a wide variety of materials. There are correspondence, lists of artwork, printed materials, a scrapbook, financial materials, audio recordings of interviews with DeWitt, audio recordings of a symposium on America 1976, and numerous photographs of exhibited artwork and participating artists. There are also additional photographs of DeWitt and his colleagues and artists Joseph Raffael and Ann Wyeth McCoy.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged as 3 series; each series is arranged chronologically.
  • Missing Title
  • Series 1: Correspondence, 1965-1979 (Box 1; 10 folders)
  • Series 2: Exhibition Files, 1962-1978 (Box 1, 2; 1.3 linear feet)
  • Series 3: Photographs, 1970-1974 (Box 2; 1 folder)

Biographical Note

Biographical Note
John DeWitt was born in 1910 and was a wood sculptor and federal arts administrator in Washingon, D.C.
DeWitt began his career as a professional writer and was a wood sculptor connected with the Veerhoff Gallery in Washington, D.C. His wife, Miriam Hapgood DeWitt, was a painter. In the late 1960s, DeWitt was the Director of Art Programs for the Bureau of Reclamation, an agency of the Department of Interior responsible for water conservation in arid regions of the United States. At this time, the Bureau initiated a program to present its accomplishments to the public through arts commissions and exhibitions. Under the direction of DeWitt and Lloyd Goodrich of the Whitney Museum of American Art, some 40 artists including Ralston Crawford, Peter Hurd, and Norman Rockwell, were invited to depict the scope of reclamation projects in the American West. The artists were given a free hand to depict any scene in any medium as long as the subject matter pertained to the Bureau of Reclamation's program. The resulting artwork was displayed in an exhibition, The American Artist and Water Reclamation, that opened at the National Gallery of Art in April 1972, and then toured the country in a traveling exhibition sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution.
As the Director of the Visual Arts Program for the Department of the Interior, DeWitt celebrated the Bicentennial by organizing the exhibition America 1976, for which he hired over forty realist painters including Vija Celmins, Ralston Crawford, Alex Katz, Philip Pearlstein, and Wayne Thiebaud, to depict a diverse range of Americana. DeWitt was employed by the Department of the Interior until 1977.
John DeWitt died in 1984.

Administration

Author
Jean Fitzgerald
Provenance
The John DeWitt papers were donated in 1987 by DeWitt's widow, Miriam Hapgood DeWitt.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
John DeWitt papers, 1962-1979. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Restrictions on Access
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
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
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scrapbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Arts administrators -- Washington (D.C.) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dodd, Lamar Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hereward Lester Cooke Foundation Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
American artist and water reclamation (1973: Washington, D.C.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Celmins, Vija, 1938- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
America 1976 (1976-1978: Washington, D.C.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Raffael, Joseph, 1933- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
United States. Bureau of Reclamation Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Magafan, Ethel, 1915 or 1916-1993 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
McCoy, Ann Wyeth Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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