Smithsonian Institution Archives

Adelia Gates Collection, 1879-1898 and undated

Summary

Collection ID:: SIA.FARU7312
Creators:: Gates, Adelia
Dates:: 1879-1898 and undated
Languages:: English
Physical Description:: 3.07 cu. ft. (2 document boxes) (3 16x20 boxes)
Repository:: Smithsonian Institution Archives

Descriptive Entry

This collection consists of 327 watercolors of flowers painted by Adelia Gates. It represents a fragment of a collection of 502 Gates watercolors donated to the Smithsonian by Eleanor Lewis in 1913. Approximately 175 watercolors are missing. The paintings cover a wide range of native and exotic plants and a majority of the studies were made in California, Algeria, and Italy. Also included is an alphabetic index to the paintings, arranged by genus. Some of the watercolors include annotations by Sara Allen Plummer Lemmon, a California botanist who received art lessons from Gates.

Historical Note

Adelia Gates (circa 1820-1912) was born in the Susquehanna Valley of New York State. At age sixteen she taught in a country school, and later worked in the cotton mills at Lowell, Massachusetts. Gates attended Antioch College when she was in her thirties, but had to leave after two years because of poor health. At the age of fifty, Gates was taught how to paint flowers by Madame Vouga in Geneva, Switzerland.

Administration

Author

Finding aid prepared by Smithsonian Institution Archives

Using the Collection

Prefered Citation

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7312, Adelia Gates Collection

More Information

Notes

Personal Papers

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms	Keyword Types
Gates, Adelia	Personal Name	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Lewis, Eleanor	Personal Name	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Vouga, Mme	Personal Name	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Lemmon, Sara Allen Plummer, 1836-1923	Personal Name	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Antioch College	Corporate Name	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Botany	Topic	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Flowers	Topic	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Watercolor painting	Topic	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Art objects	Genre/Form	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Manuscripts	Genre/Form	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid

Smithsonian Institution Archives

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