MS 2372 Garrick Mallery Collection on Sign Language and Pictography
bulk 1870-1895
Garrick Mallery (1831-1894) was an ethnologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology who focused primarily on Native American sign language and pictography. This collection reflects Mallery's research interests and methods. Much of the collection is comprised of correspondence and notes relating to sign language and pictography and is organized chiefly by either the cultural or geographic region to which the material belongs. Bound volumes of several of his publications are included, along with annotated draft copies from collaborators. In the case of Mallery's work on pictography, the collection includes several oversize items including original works and reproductions.
Publications
This accession consists of exhibition catalogs (both traveling and in-house), brochures, pamphlets, illustrated checklists, and other publications created around a specific themes or genres drawn from the collections in the National Portrait Gallery.
Frank Frick photograph collection relating to India
1 Print (silver gelatin)
Photographs in albums made by Frank Frick documenting architecture, people, agriculture, and scenery in India. Photographs are annotated with descriptions and dates that apparently relate to Frickʹs visits. Some photographs were made by Raja Deen Dayal (also known as Lala Deen Dayal) and Samuel Bourne. The collection also includes one …
George Rohrmann Collection
626 Negatives (photographic) (black and white, 35mm)
The collection depicts the everyday life and architecture of Basotho, Hausa, Makonde, Matabele, Pedi, Swazi, and Xhosa peoples in Nigeria, Southern Africa, and Tanzania.
Judith K. Zilczer Papers
This accession consists of Judith K. Zilczer's personal research correspondence with professional organizations, universities, and individuals in the art world; papers written by Zilczer and presented at symposiums; and subject files on contemporary artists and art history.
Jacques Seligmann & Co. records
bulk 1913-1974
The records of Jacques Seligmann & Co. measure approximately 203.1 linear feet and date from 1904 to 1978, with bulk dates from 1913 to 1974. The collection includes extensive correspondence files, reference material on American and European collectors and their collections, inventory and stock records, financial records, exhibition files, auction files, and the records of subsidiary companies. The collection is an invaluable resource in tracing the provenance of particular works of art and provides a comprehensive view of the activities of collectors and art dealers in the years leading up to and following World War II.
Myron Bement Smith Collection
The Myron Bement Smith collection consists of two parts, the papers of Myron Bement Smith and his wife Katharine and the Islamic Archives. It contains substantial material about his field research in Italy in the 1920s and his years working on Islamic architecture in Iran in the 1930s. Letters describe the milieu in which he operated in Rochester NY and New York City in the 1920s and early 1930s; the Smiths' life in Iran from 1933 to 1937; and the extensive network of academic and social contacts that Myron and Katharine developed and maintained over his lifetime. The Islamic Archives was a project to which Smith devoted most of his professional life. It includes both original materials, such as his photographs and notes, and items acquired by him from other scholars or experts on Islamic art and architecture. Smith intended the Archives to serve as a resource for scholars interested in the architecture and art of the entire Islamic world although he also included some materials about non-Islamic architecture.
Linda Farris Gallery records
Farris, Linda
The records of Seattle's avant-garde Linda Farris Gallery measure 13.4 linear feet and date from 1969-1995. The bulk of the records consist of artists' and exhibition files. Also found are gallery business correspondence, administrative files, event files, reference files, records of sales, scattered legal files, the personal papers of gallery owner Linda Farris, and printed materials.
Barbara Blackmun Collection
The collection includes 1,469 color slides (35mm) which were taken in Nigeria from circa 1964-1994, and focus on ancestral altars; artists; art objects in museums, including bronze plaques and carved ivory tusks; ceremonies and festivals, including the Igue and Ewere Festivals, and the Emobo, Otue, Olokun, title-taking, and Blackmun's initation ceremonies; and people, including Oba Erediauwa and chiefs Eribo, Ero, Esogban, Ezomo, Ohanmu and Osaigeide; and street and landscape scenes in Benin City, Ife, Lagos, Ishiago, and Mbarri, Owerri, Owo, among other locations in Nigeria.
Publications
This accession consists of publications produced for the National Collections of Fine Arts/NCFA (1937-1979), National Museum of American Art/NMAA (1980-2000), and the Smithsonian American Art Museum/SAAM (2000- ). Publications relate to various museum activities and events such as exhibitions, collection inventories, development materials, recruitment and promotional materials for programs, as well …
