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Archives of American Art
A Finding Aid to the Anna Coleman Ladd Papers, 1881-1950, in the Archives of American Art
Summary
- Collection ID:
- AAA.laddanna
- Creators:
-
Ladd, Anna Coleman, 1878-1939 (sculptor)
- Dates:
-
1881-1950
- Languages:
-
The collection is inEnglish,French, andItalian.
- Physical Description:
-
4.26 Linear feet
- Repository:
The papers of sculptor Anna Coleman Ladd measure 4.26 linear feet, date from 1881-1950, and document the career of sculptor Anna Coleman Ladd. Found within the papers are biographical material, letters, diaries, financial material, notes and writings, art work, a file concerning the American Red Cross Studio for Portrait-Masks, scrapbooks, printed material, and photographs.
Scope and Contents note
Scope and Contents note
The papers of sculptor Anna Coleman Ladd measure 4.26 linear feet, date from 1881-1950, and document the career of sculptor Anna Coleman Ladd. Found within the papers are biographical material, letters, diaries, financial material, notes and writings, art work, a file concerning the American Red Cross Studio for Portrait-Masks, scrapbooks, printed material, and photographs.
Biographical materials are scattered and include calling cards, biographical sketches notes, and certificates.
Correspondence includes letters written to Anna Coleman Ladd from various family members, friends, and colleagues. Notable correspodents include William Aldrich, Gabriella Fabbricotti, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Natalie Hays Hammond, and Jessie Eldridge Southwick.
Diaries are daily diaries dating from 1903-1905 and from 1911-1912. Each diary includes short descriptions of Ladd's days.
Financial materials include receipts, stock certificates, travel materials, lists, and an account book for Dr. Maynard Ladd.
Writings and notes consists of notebooks, lists of works of art, inventories, manuscripts by Ladd and by others.
Artworks include two sketchbooks, loose drawings, and a plaster relief by Ladd as well as several sketches by others.
American Red Cross Studio for Portrait-Masks files include correspondence, writings, a scrapbook, printed materials, and photographs. Materials concern portrait masks used to disguise the disfigured faces of World War I veterans.
Scrapbooks consists of three scrapbooks containing photographs, printed materials, and writings.
Printed materials include clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs for Ladd's works, books and booklets, and posters, some of which are French World War I propaganda.
Photographs include photographs of Anna Coleman Ladd with her works of art and in the studio, Dr. Maynard Ladd, friends, family, colleagues, and works of sculpture.
Arrangement note
Arrangement note
The collection is arranged as 10 series. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.
- Series 1: Biographical Material, 1910-1950 (Box 1; 4 folders)
- Series 2: Correspondence, 1895-1937 (Box 1-2; 1.1 linear feet)
- Series 3: Diaries, 1903-1912 (Box 2; 2 folders)
- Series 4: Financial Material, 1899-1934 (Box 2; 6 folders)
- Series 5: Writings and Notes, 1888-1949 (Box 2, 6, OV 7; 0.6 linear feet)
- Series 6: Artwork, 1901-1928 (Box 2, 6, OV 7; 0.2 linear feet)
- Series 7: American Red Cross Studio for Portrait-Masks File, 1914-1925 (Box 2-3, 6; 0.4 linear feet)
- Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1900-1940 (Box 3; 0.3 linear feet)
- Series 9: Printed Material, 1889-1942 (Box 3, 6, OV 7; 0.5 linear feet)
- Series 10: Photographs, 1881-1932 (Box 4-6, MGP 1; 0.8 linear feet)
Missing Title
Biographical/Historical note
Biographical/Historical note
Born in 1878 in Philadelphia to John and Mary Watts, Anna Coleman Ladd (née Watts) was educated in private schools and Europe. She also studied in America under Charles Grafly.
She moved to Boston in 1905 and married Boston pediatrician Maynard Ladd with whom she had two daughters, Gabriella May Ladd and Vernon Abbott Ladd . Working in her studio on Clarendon Street, Ladd became one of the city's most prolific sculptors, creating fountain pieces, portrait busts, memorials, and reliefs in addition to authoring two novels, Hieronymus Rides in 1912, and The Candid Adventurer in 1913.
Between 1907 and 1915, Ladd had solo exhibitions at the Gorham Gallery in New York, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the Pennsylvania Academy in Philadelphia. She was also invited to exhibit her bronzes at the Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. In 1914 she executed a bronze statuette of Eleanora Duse for which the actress posed, and later completed portrait busts of Anna Pavlova and Ethel Barrimore.
In late 1917 in Paris, Ladd founded the American Red Cross Studio for Portrait-Masks to provide cosmetic masks to be worn by men who had been badly disfigured in World War I. Her services earned her the Légion d'Honneur Crois de Chevalier and the Serbian Order of Saint Sava.
For many years, Ladd maintained a summer studio "Arden" at Beverly Farms in Manchester, Massachusetts. In 1923, she received an honorary degree of Master of Arts from Tufts College.
Anna Coleman Ladd died June 3, 1939 in Santa Barbara, California.
Administration
Author
Jean Fitzgerald; revised by Jayna Josefson
Sponsor
Funding for processing in preparation for digitization, and for the digitization of this collection, was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
The Anna Coleman Ladd papers were donated in 1991 by William Terry on behalf of Robert Edwards, a friend of Anna Coleman Ladd.
Processing Information note
The papers were processed by Jean Fitzgerald in December 2005 and were prepared for scanning in 2012 by Jayna Hanson, with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives were re-housed in 2015 with a grant provided by the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund.
Existence and Location of Copies
The collection was digitized in 2014 and is available via the Archives of American Art's website.
Using the Collection
Preferred Citation note
Anna Coleman Ladd papers, 1881-1950. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Conditions Governing Access note
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
Repository Contact
Archives of American Art
750 9th Street, NW
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions
