Examples of women's artistic expression in the Manuscript Division range from an anonymous hand-painted Shaker greeting card
to the more innovative furniture designs of celebrated artist Ray Eames.
The work of women sculptors is especially well represented, beginning with the career of nineteenth-century artist Vinnie Ream (1847-1914) [catalog record], who as a young teenager sculpted a bust of Abraham Lincoln while he met with petitioners visiting his White House office.
She later created the statue of Lincoln that now stands in the U.S. Capitol. Her papers (2,500 items; 1853-1937; bulk 1853-1914)
relate primarily to her career and her marriage to army lieutenant Richard Leveridge Hoxie, but they also touch upon racial
conditions after the Civil War and social life in Washington, D.C., during Reconstruction.
Also located in the U.S. Capitol is the controversial statue of women's rights leaders Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Derisively called “Three Women in a Bathtub” by its critics, this women's suffrage memorial was created
by feminist sculptor Adelaide Johnson (1859-1955) [catalog record] under commission to the National Woman's Party (NWP). Photographs and documentation about the sculpture may be found in
Johnson's papers (40,000 items; 1873-1947) as well as in the NWP records, which are described in the section on suffrage organizations.
Letter, Susan B. Anthony to Adelaide Johnson discussing women ministers and Johnson's sculpture memorializing prominent suffragists, 8 February 1896. Manuscript Division. full item
The work of sculptor Helene Sardeau (1899-1969) may be researched in the papers of her husband,
muralist George Biddle (3,500 items; 1863-1973; bulk 1916-73) [catalog record], and that of Margaret French Cresson (1889-1973) and Brenda Putnam (1890-1975) in the papers of their respective fathers,
sculptor Daniel Chester French (23,000 items; 1850-1968) [catalog record] and Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam (8,000 items; 1783-1958; bulk 1899-1939) [catalog record]
Although the work of women photographers, architects, and other visual artists is usually best researched by consulting the
collections in the Library's Prints and Photographs Division, one Manuscript Division holding deserves special mention. Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952) [catalog record] began as a photographer of national figures and events. She later excelled in garden photography and became known for compiling
a remarkable photographic record of southern colonial architecture. All aspects of her career are reflected in her papers
(19,000 items; 1855-1954; bulk 1890-1945), including her business partnership with Mattie Edwards Hewitt and her contributions
to the emerging role of women in the photographic profession. Her photographs, which are held by the Prints and Photographs
Division, are described as part of that division's photojournalism collections.
Additional Johnston correspondence may be found in other Manuscript Division collections, including the papers of architect
Waddy Wood (2,400 items; 1885-1941; bulk 1913-35) [catalog record], who was involved in the design of several buildings in the nation's capital relating to women, notably the Young Women's
Christian Association building, All States Hotel for Women Government Employees, and National Training School for Girls.
Architects Cass Gilbert (9,000 items; 1841-1961) [catalog record], Montgomery C. Meigs (11,000 items; 1799-1968; bulk 1849-92) [catalog record], Louis Skidmore (2,000 items; 1908-76) [catalog record] and
Letter, Elizabeth Pennell to Mr. Kennerley concerning Aubrey Beardsley's 1891 illustrated letter about James McNeill Whistler's
Peacock Room, 3 April 1929. Manuscript Division. full item
William Thornton (3,400 items; 1741-50) [catalog record] also all retained papers relating to female family members or colleagues. Thornton's papers are especially noteworthy because
they include correspondence of his wife Anna Maria Brodeau Thornton (1775?-1865) [catalog record], whose own collection of diaries and notebooks (7 volumes; 1793-1863; gap 1816-27) is considered one of the best sources
on the social life of Washington, D.C., from the late eighteenth through mid-nineteenth centuries.
In addition to their work in sculpture and photography, women also influenced American art as painters, illustrators, critics,
and dealers. Marguerite Thompson Zorach (1887-1968) was a painter and weaver who married sculptor William Zorach (14,000 items; 1822-1974; bulk 1930-68) [catalog record] in 1912. Their daughter Dahlov Zorach Ipcar (b. 1917) also became a painter and writer, and her letters to them are part
of the collection, as are letters from art dealer Edith Gregor Halpert, who was William Zorach's agent. The careers of artists
Gertrude Quastler (825 items; 1895-1965; bulk 1940-63) [catalog record] and Caroline Mytinger (150 items; 1942-46) [catalog record] are documented by small collections. Biographical files, exhibition catalogs, application forms, and other material relating
to Caroline Alston, Selma Burke, Blanche Byerley, Katherine Gardner, Lois Mailou Jones, Laura Warine, and other African American
artists are in the records of the Harmon Foundation (described in the section on Literature and Journalism).
Ray and Charles [Eames] Working on a Conceptual Model for the Exhibition Mathematica. 1960. Prints and Photographs Division. A-22a. exhibit display
A recently acquired collection documents the multifaceted careers of artist and designer Ray Eames (1912-1988) [catalog record] and her husband, architect and designer Charles Eames. Manuscripts from the collection (131,400 items; 1885-1988; bulk 1965-88) include biographical material, correspondence,
research files, scripts, catalogs, drawings, and financial records relating to the Eameses' pioneering furniture designs (including
their well-known “potato chip chair”), exhibition designs, and films for corporate and government bodies. Ray Eames's years
at the Bennett School in Millbrook, New York, and her studies with Hans Hofmann are reflected in the family papers. Other
materials from the Charles and Ray Eames collection are found in the Prints and Photographs Division and the Motion Picture and Recorded Sound Division.
