Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Charles H. Sawyer

Summary

(Electronic Resource)

Oral history interview with Charles H. Sawyer, 1964, Transcript
Collection ID:
AAA.sawyer64
Creators:
Sawyer, Charles Henry, 1906-2005
Ehrlich, Heyward
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
Dates:
1964
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
14 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Charles Henry Sawyer conducted in 1964, by Heyward Ehrlich, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
Sawyer speaks of how he first got involved in art after being offered a job teaching art and operating a museum in Andover by a family friend; how he became involved with the Federal Art Project; the early stages of the Project, and the difficulties they encountered, including the primary motivation of the Project, deciding where the work was to be assigned, and other administrative problems; the changes that occurred as the Federal Arts Project developed; the artists involved with the Project, such as Karl Knaths and Jack Levine; the shows that were put on by the Project; the end of the Federal Art Project; and his thoughts on the project in retrospect. Sawyer recalls Francis Taylor, Karl Knaths, Jack Levine, Howard Gibbs, John Stuart Curry, Herbert Waters, Karl Zerbe, Howard Cook, Hail Woodworth, and many others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Charles Henry Sawyer (1906-2005) was a museum director in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Administration

Immediate Source of Acquisition
Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.

Digital Content

(Electronic Resource)

Oral history interview with Charles H. Sawyer, 1964, Transcript

(Sound Recording)

Oral history interview with Charles H. Sawyer, 1964, Digital Sound Recording (Excerpt)

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.

More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 1 hr., 3 min.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Federal aid to the arts Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Museum directors -- Michigan -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Knaths, Karl, 1891-1971 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Zerbe, Karl, 1903-1972 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cook, Howard Norton, 1901-1980 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Waters, Herbert Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Curry, John Steuart, 1897-1946 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Taylor, Francis Henry, 1903-1957 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Levine, Jack, 1915-2010 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gibbs, Howard Manning, 1904-1970 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Woodworth, Hail Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Archives of American Art
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Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
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