Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Ellen Hale and Hale Family Papers in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.halefami
Creators:
Hale, Ellen Day, 1855-1940
Dates:
circa 1860-1952
Languages:
The collection is in English.
Physical Description:
3 Linear feet
Repository:
The Ellen Hale and Hale family papers measure 3 linear feet and date from circa 1860 to 1952. Found within the papers are biographical material for Ellen Day and Edward Everett Hale; personal correspondence from Ellen Day and Lillian Westcott Hale; diaries by Ellen Day and Susan Hale; an appraisal of the Hale estate and personal business records for Ellen Day and Edward Everett Hale; printed material; sketchbooks and sketches by Ellen Day and Herbert Dudley Hale; and travel photographs of the Hale family.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The Ellen Hale and Hale family papers measure 3 linear feet and date from circa 1860 to 1952. Found within the papers are biographical material for Ellen Day and Edward Everett Hale; personal correspondence from Ellen Day and Lillian Westcott Hale; diaries by Ellen Day and Susan Hale; an appraisal of the Hale estate and personal business records for Ellen Day and Edward Everett Hale; printed material; sketchbooks and sketches by Ellen Day and Herbert Dudley Hale; and travel photographs of the Hale family.
Biographical materials consist of publications related to Edward Everett Hale's 80th birthday celebration; Ellen Day Hale's calling cards, calendar, and engagement books; and Robert Beverly Hale's calendar.
Correspondence is primarily Ellen Day Hale's and Lillian Westcott Hale's personal and business correspondence, and a letter from Margaret C. Hale to Arthur Hale.
Writings include 9 diaries by Ellen Day Hale, 1 diary by Emily P. Hale, and 19 diaries by Susan Hale; an essay by Arthur Hale; Herbert Dudley Hale's word game book; Susan Hale's travel instructions to a niece; and a notebook listing the likes and dislikes of various Hale family members.
Personal business records consist of Edward Everett and Emily P. Hale's account and tax records; Ellen Day Hale's art supply receipts, royalty statements, tax records, and a check register; Lillian Westcott Hale's receipts; and Susan Hale's notes on an appraisal of the Hale estate.
Printed material includes various clippings, invitations, and programs kept by the Hale family, and Ellen Day Hale's travel postcards.
Artwork includes 22 sketchbooks by Ellen Day Hale, 5 sketchbooks by Herbert Dudley Hale; and 7 sketchbooks by other artists.
Photographs are travel snapshots taken during travels in Mexico.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged as 7 series.
  • Missing Title
  • Series 1: Biographical materials, circa 1875-1925 (6 folders; Box 1)
  • Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1861-1951 (4 folders; Box 1)
  • Series 3: Writings, 1878-1933 (0.9 linear feet; Box 1-2)
  • Series 4: Personal business records, 1909-1952 (8 folders; Box 2)
  • Series 5: Printed material, 1862-1933 (5 folders; Box 2)
  • Series 6: Artwork, circa 1860-1925 (1.5 linear feet; Box 2-3)
  • Series 7: Photographs, circa 1890-1901 (1 folder; Box 3)

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Writer, publisher, and clergyman Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) and his wife, Emily Perkins Hale, were well regarded members of Boston society. After graduating from Boston Latin School at age 13, Hale enrolled directly into Harvard University and graduated second in his class in 1839. He became a licensed Unitarian minister in 1842 and was a church pastor from 1846 to 1899. In the 1860s, Hale began publishing short stories in the Atlantic Monthly, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, and other periodicals. In 1869, he co-founded the Christian Examiner, which later merged with Scribner's Magazine in 1875, and founded Lend a Hand in 1886. He and his wife had one daughter and eight sons. Three of those sons died in childhood, and a fourth, Robert Beverly Hale, died as a young adult.
Writer and artist Susan Hale (1833-1910) was schooled at home by tutors before enrolling in George B. Emerson's school. She was a self-taught artist who learned to paint and draw early in life. In 1872, she traveled to Europe to pursue formal art instruction and, upon her return to Boston, began giving lessons in watercolors. From 1873 to 1885, she maintained a studio at the Boston Art Club, wrote articles for Boston papers, edited literary collections for fundraisers, lectured on popular fiction, and eventually became a literary celebrity. Beginning in the mid-1880s, Hale began traveling the country and abroad giving lectures in the winter and visiting Edward Everett's family in Matunuck, Rhode Island in the summer. In between her travels, she continued to publish books, including a traveling series for young readers, and an instruction book on painting techniques.
Artist and teacher Ellen Day Hale (1854-1939) was the eldest of the Hale children. She received her early art training from her aunt, Susan Hale, and received formal art training from Boston artists William Rimmer, William Morris Hunt, and Helen Knowlton. Hale continued her education at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and in 1877, opened a portrait studio where she taught private students. In the early 1880s, Hale traveled through Europe before settling in Paris to study at the Académie Julian for three years. In 1883, she met fellow artist and lifelong companion Gabrielle de Veaux Clements. In 1893, they purchased a home near Gloucester, Massachusetts named "The Thickets," where they opened their studio to women artists and taught various painting, printing, and etching techniques. After the death of her mother, from 1904 to 1909, Hale moved to Washington, D.C. to act as hostess for her father, who had been appointed Chaplain of the U.S. Senate. After her father's death, Hale continued to produce paintings, and together with Clements, summered at the artists' colony at Folly Cove on Cape Ann, Massachusetts, and frequently traveled abroad in the winters.
Arthur Hale (1859-1939) was a general agent for the American Railway Association and an employee of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. In 1899, he married Camilla Conner, with whom he had one daughter.
Architect Herbert Dudley Hale (1866-1908) graduated from Harvard in 1888 and studied architecture abroad at the École des Beaux Art in Paris, where he graduated among the first in his class. After his return to Boston around the turn of the century, Hale married Margaret Marquand, with whom he had five children, and established the architecture firm Hale and Rogers with James Gamble Rogers.
Writer Robert Beverly Hale (1869-1895) graduated from Harvard in 1892 and published numerous stories and articles in the Atlantic Monthly, Harper's Weekly, and Youth's Companion. Elsie and Other Poems was published in 1894, and Six Stories and Some Verses was published posthumously after Hale's death in 1895.
Artist Lillian Westcott Hale (1881-1963) was the wife of fellow artist Philip Leslie Hale, the third eldest of the Hale children. Hale received a scholarship to attend the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, where she met Philip and married him halfway through her studies. Hale held her first solo show in 1908, the same year her daughter was born, and continued to produce work for exhibitions through the 1920s. She was the recipient of the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition gold medal, the National Academy's Shaw Memorial Prize (1915), and the National Academy of Design's Altman Prize (1927). She continued producing works until her death in 1963.

Administration

Author
Judy Ng
Sponsor
Processing of this collection was funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Ellen Hale and Hale family papers were donated in 1978 and 1984 by Nancy Hale Bowers, the niece of Ellen Day Hale, and the grand-daughter of Edward Everett and Emily P. Hale.
Separated Materials
Printed books and monographs in the collection were transferred to the National Portrait Gallery Library in 1978.
Existence and Location of Copies
Portions of this collection are available on 35 mm microfilm reels 2940-2941 and reel 3532 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of the material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.
Processing Information
Materials received a preliminary level of processing at some point after donation and were microfilmed onto reels 2940-2941 and reel 3532. All materials were merged, processed, and described by Judy Ng in 2013 with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
Ellen Hale and Hale family papers, circa 1860-1952. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Conditions Governing 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.

Related Materials
The Archives of American Art also holds two collections related to the Hale family, including the Philip Leslie Hale papers and the Edward Everett Hale letter to an unidentified person. Smith College's Sophia Smith Collection also holds papers of the Hale family, including Nathan, Sr., and Sarah Preston Everett Hale; Edward Everett and Emily Perkins Hale; Ellen Day Hale; and Philip and Lilian Westcott Hale. .

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sketchbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Diaries Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sketches Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Artists -- Massachusetts Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- Massachusetts -- Boston Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Watercolorists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women painters Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hale, Herbert Dudley, 1866-1909 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hale, Susan, 1833-1910 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hale, Edward Everett, 1822-1909 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hale, Emily P. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hale, Lilian Westcott, 1880-1963 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hale, Robert Beverly, 1901-1985 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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