Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Barry Faulkner Papers, circa 1858-1973, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.faulbarr
Creators:
Faulkner, Barry, 1881-1966
Dates:
circa 1858-1973
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
2.82 Linear feet
Repository:
The papers of muralist, painter, and teacher Barry Faulkner measure 2.82 linear feet and date from circa 1858-1973. Faulkner's career; his relationships with family, friends, and fellow-artists; and his thoughts on art and artists are documented in biographical materials, correspondence, writings, sketchbooks, five diaries, two photograph albums and photographs, and one scrapbook. Correspondents include family members, Witter Bynner, Ann and Eric Gugler, Leon Kroll, Isabel Manship, James Johnson Sweeney, Maxfield Parrish and others. An unprocessed addition to the collection dating 1942 includes a one page letter mounted on board from Maxfield Parrish to Barry Faulkner.

Scope and Content Note

Scope and Content Note
The papers of muralist, painter, and teacher Barry Faulkner measure 2.82 linear feet and date from circa 1858-1973. Faulkner's career; his relationships with family, friends, and fellow-artists; and his thoughts on art and artists are documented in biographical materials, correspondence, writings, sketchbooks, five diaries, photograph albums and photographs, and one scrapbook. An unprocessed addition to the collection dating 1942 includes a one page letter mounted on board from Maxfield Parrish to Barry Faulkner.
Biographical materials include biographical sketches, awards, and records documenting Faulkner's military service. Also found are a list of medications, a list of Faulkner's writings, party guest lists, an address book, a calendar, and materials related to the posthumous publication of Sketches From an Artist's Life. Of special interest are oversized architectural drawings by Eric Gugler for Faulkner's Keene, New Hampshire house.
Correspondence includes letters from Faulkner's friends, family, fellow artists, and art organizations and institutions. Faulkner's correspondence with his parents document his 1900-1901 trip to Italy with the Thayer family. Of special interest is his correspondence with writer Witter Bynner about Faulkner's daily life in New Hampshire, his travels through Europe, his artistic practice and career, Bynner's writings, his opinions on artistic and literary works, and his service in World War One. Many of the letters to Bynner include sketches by Faulkner of Abbott Handerson Thayer, Rockwell Kent, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Homer Saint-Gaudens, George de Forest Brush, Kahlil Gibran, and Mark Twain. Additional correspondents include sculptor Frances Grimes, architect Eric Gugler, painter Leon Kroll, and museum director James Johnson Sweeney.
Faulkner's writings are about art, artists, and the New Hampshire art community. Found are essays on Gifford Beal, George de Forest Brush, James Earle Fraser, Harriet Hosmer, Paul Manship, Charles Adams Platt, Hiram Powers, Edward Willis Redfield, Joseph Lindon Smith, Mary Lawrence Tonetti, Mark Twain, Lawrence Grant White, and Mahonri Young. Other writings discuss Faulkner's mural commissions, various aspects of New Hampshire history, and the history of the Dublin and Cornish art colonies whose inhabitants included George de Forest Brush, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Abbott Handerson Thayer. Of special interest is a manuscript for Faulkner's posthumously published memoir Sketches From an Artist's Life, and an unpublished manuscript titled A Neighborhood of Artists about the history and culture of the Connecticut River Valley.
Four sketchbooks by Faulkner contain drawings of landscapes, city scenes, architecture, people, nature, and studies of artwork by others. Also found are two loose sketches.
Five diaries document Faulkner's 1922-1924 trip through Europe, Africa, and Asia including stops in France, Italy, Egypt, and Turkey. Diaries record Faulkner's thoughts on architecture, tourist sites, and travel amenities. Found is one diary from 1956 that discusses social events, the Saint-Gaudens Memorial, the MacDowell Colony of artists, and various artists including Gifford Beal, Maxfield Parrish, Paul Manship, and Eric Gugler.
The bulk of printed material consists of clippings which document published writings by Faulkner, obituaries and published rememberances of Faulkner, local events in Keene, New Hampshire, and reproductions of Faulkner's artwork. Also found are exhibition catalogs of other artists, an announcement of Faulklner's death from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a publication illustrated with reproductions of Faulkner's murals for the National Archives.
Photographs include formal and informal images of Faulkner throughout his life, and photographs of his family and friends, his studio, and reproductions of his artwork. Also included are two photograph albums, one of which contains photographs of Faulkner during his youth and one that contains photographs primarily from the 1930s of Faulkner's Keene, New Hampshire house, himself, and his friends and family.
The collection also includes a scrapbook prepared for Faulkner's seventieth birthday containing photographs, cards, telegrams, and placecards with hand drawn illustrations which show the "taste and characteristics" of Faulkner.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged into 8 series:
  • Missing Title
  • Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1914-1971 (Box 1, 3, RD1; 13 folders)
  • Series 2: Correspondence, 1900-1973 (Box 1; 0.5 linear feet)
  • Series 3: Writings, 1912-1966 (Boxes 1-2; 1.0 linear foot)
  • Series 4: Sketchbooks and Sketches, circa 1910s-1930s (Boxes 2-3; 8 folders)
  • Series 5: Diaries, 1922-1956 (Box 2; 6 folders)
  • Series 6: Printed Materials, circa 1858-1966 (Boxes 2-3; 8 folders)
  • Series 7: Photographs, 1892-1960s (Boxes 2-3; 15 folders)
  • Series 8: Scrapbook, 1951 (Box 3; 2 folders)

Biographical Note

Biographical Note
Francis Barrett Faulkner was born on July 12, 1881 in Keene, New Hampshire. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and went on to study at Harvard College. Around this same time, Faulkner began an apprenticeship with his cousin and painter Abbott Handerson Thayer and painter George de Forest Brush. He also met sculptors James Earle Fraser and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, both of whom became Faulkner's lifelong friends.
In 1901, Faulkner traveled to Italy for the first time with Thayer and his family. He returned to New York in 1902 and studied at the Art Students League and Chase School. He also completed illustration work for Century magazine.
In 1907, Faulkner won the Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome. shortly thereafter, he left to study in Italy for three years, studying with George de Forest Brush and befriending sculptor Paul Manship. Upon his return in 1910, he started working on his first mural, commissioned by the wife of railroad executive E.H. Harriman. Having found his niche, Faulkner continued taking mural commissions until his career was interrupted by World War I and his service in the camouflage section of the army. Shortly after the war, he completed a mural for the marine headquarters in Quantico, Virginia.
Between 1923-1924, Faulkner worked in collaboration with Eric Gugler and Paul Manship to create the American Academy in Rome war memorial. Also following the war, Faulkner completed murals for the Eastman School of Music in 1922, the Rockefeller Center in 1932, and the National Archives in 1936. That same year, Faulkner bought and refurbished a house named "The Bounty" in Keene, New Hampshire, and built a studio nearby. In 1930, he was elected as a trustee of the American Academy in Rome.
During the 1940s, Faulkner created murals for numerous public buildings and sites around New Hampshire including the Senate Chambers in Concord, the Elliot Community Hospital, Keene National Bank, and the Cheshire County Savings Bank in Keene. During his final decades, Faulkner wrote an unpublished manuscript on the history of art in the Connecticut River Valley entitled A Neighborhood of Artists, and his posthumously published memoirs, Sketches of an Artist's Life. Faulkner died in 1966, in Keene, New Hampshire.

Administration

Author
Michael Yates
Sponsor
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art
Provenance
The collection was donated by Francis Faulkner, Barry Faulkner's nephew, in 1974. An addition to the collection was donated by Jocelyn Faulkner Bolle in 2014.
Alternative Forms Available
The papers of Barry Faulkner in the Archives of American Art were digitized in
2009
, and total
3410
images.
Materials which have not been scanned include photographs of artwork, a few essays and writings by others, oversized architectural drawings, and several publications not related to Faulkner's art or life.
Processing Information
The 1974 donation of this collection was originally processed for microfilming on reels 5031-5033. The rest of the collection received a preliminary level of processing at some point after donation. The entire collection was merged and processed by Michael Yates in 2008 and digitized in 2009 with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
Barry Faulkner papers, circa 1858-1973. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Restrictions on Access
The bulk of this collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
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 Material
Found in the Nancy Douglas Bowditch papers at the Archives of American Art is correspondence, photographs, and printed materials related to Barry Faulkner. The Library of Congress, Manuscript Division also holds a small collection of Barry Faulkner's papers. Additional correspondence from Faulkner is found in the papers of Witter Bynner at the University of New Mexico and at Harvard University.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Sketchbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Diaries Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scrapbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sketches Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Writings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
World War, 1914-1918 Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- New Hampshire -- Keene Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Artist colonies -- New Hampshire -- Peterborough Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
New Hampshire Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Artists' studios in art Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Educators -- New Hampshire Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Artists' studios -- New Hampshire Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Artist colonies -- New Hampshire Function Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Travel diaries Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New Hampshire -- Keene Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photograph albums Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Muralists -- New Hampshire -- Keene Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mural painting and decoration -- 20th century -- United States Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Artists -- New Hampshire Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tonetti, Mary Lawrence Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
White, Lawrence Grant Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Beal, Gifford, 1879-1956 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 1848-1907 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sweeney, James Johnson, 1900- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Smith, Joseph Lindon, 1863-1950 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Platt, Charles A. (Charles Adams), 1861-1933 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Parrish, Maxfield, 1870-1966 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Redfield, Edward Willis, 1869-1965 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Powers, Hiram, 1805-1873 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kroll, Leon, 1884-1974 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Brush, George de Forest, 1855-1941 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kent, Rockwell, 1882-1971 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Saint-Gaudens, Homer, b. 1880 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Manship, Paul, 1885-1966 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
MacDowell Colony Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gibran, Kahlil, 1922- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Thayer, Abbott Handerson, 1849-1921 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Grimes, Frances, 1869-1963 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gugler, Eric, 1889-1974 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hosmer, Harriet Goodhue, 1830-1908 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bynner, Witter, 1881-1968 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fraser, James Earle, 1876-1953 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Young, Mahonri Sharp, 1911-1996 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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