Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the William Edward Norton Glass Plate Negatives, circa 1880, circa 1990, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.nortwill
Creators:
Norton, William Edward, 1843-1916
Dates:
circa 1880
circa 1990
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
0.42 Linear feet
Repository:
The sixty-nine glass plate negatives of marine painter William Edward Norton (1843-1916) measure 0.42 linear feet and date from circa 1880 and include one image of Norton, and images of unidentified women and children, presumably members of Norton's family. Other negatives are of boats and sailing ships or show buildings and river and street scenes; two images are of paintings of ships. Also found is a folder of contact sheets, circa 1990, made from sixty-five of the negatives.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The sixty-nine glass plate negatives of marine painter William Edward Norton (1843-1916) measure 0.42 linear feet and date from circa 1880 and include one image of Norton, and images of unidentified women and children, presumably members of Norton's family. Other negatives are of boats and sailing ships or show buildings and river and street scenes; two images are of paintings of ships. Also found is a folder of contact sheets, circa 1990, made from sixty-five of the negatives.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged as one series.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
William Edward Norton (1843-1916) was a Boston born marine painter who studied in France, and settled in London. Norton had two paintings accepted by the Paris Salon, and exhibited at the Royal Academy. He also represented the United States at the International Exposition.
Norton, who was born into a family of shipbuilders, worked as a sailor in his youth and would sketch ships, crew, and seascapes during his free time. He later attended the Lowell Institute and studied under George Innes. Sales of his paintings funded his trip to France where he studied with Antoine Vollon and painted the Normandy coast.
After living in London with his wife, Norton returned to the United States in the early 1890s and lived and worked in New York City until his death.

Administration

Author
Stephanie Ashley
Sponsor
Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Existence and Location of Copies
All of the glass plate negatives, were digitized in 2019 and are available on the Archives of American Art website. Contact sheets were not digitized.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The collection was donated to the Archives of American Art in 1990 by Vose Galleries of Boston, who received them from William Welcome, a descendant of Norton.
Processing Information
The glass plate negatives were re-housed in 2015 with a grant from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund. The collection was processed and described in a finding aid by Stephanie Ashley in 2018 and the glass plate negatives were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
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.
Preferred Citation
William Edward Norton glass plate negatives, circa 1880, circa 1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Marine painters -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Marine painters -- (England) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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