Edward Melcarth papers
Object Details
- Creator
- Melcarth, Edward, 1914-1973
- Occupation
- Painters -- New York (State) -- New York
- Topic
- Sound recordings
- Provenance
- The Edward Melcarth papers were donated in mulitple installments between 1971 and 2007: in 1971 by Edward Melcarth; in 1977 and 1978 by a friend, Robert Morgan; in 2000 by a friend, Albert La Tucha; and in 2007 by Richard Taddei, Melcarth's former student.
- Creator
- Melcarth, Edward, 1914-1973
- See more items in
- Edward Melcarth papers
- Sponsor
- The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
- Summary
- The Edward Melcarth papers measure 6.0 linear feet and date from circa 1900 to 2003. The papers document his career as a painter through resumes, address books, estate papers, and other biographical material; correspondence with family, colleagues, and art institutions; manuscripts, essays, lectures, and other writings; speeches, writing excerpts, and other sound recordings; clippings, exhibition announcements, exhibition catalogs, and other printed material; paint sketches, sketches, sketchbooks, and other artwork; and photographs and slides of Melcarth, his family, artwork, friends, and models for pieces.
- Biographical / Historical
- Edward Melcarth (1914-1973) was a painter in New York, New York, primarily known for his portraits of working-class men. Melcarth was born Edward Epstein in Louisville, Kentucky in 1914, and he moved to New York City during his youth. He studied in London, Paris, and at Harvard. He taught at Parsons School of Design, Columbia University, University of Washington (Seattle), University of Louisville and the Educational Alliance Art School. Melcarth died in 1973.
- Extent
- 6 Linear feet
- Date
- circa 1900-2003
- Archival Repository
- Archives of American Art
- Identifier
- AAA.melcedwa
- Type
- Collection descriptions
- Archival materials
- Sketchbooks
- Drawings
- Citation
- Edward Melcarth papers, circa 1900-2003. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
- Arrangement
- The collection is arranged into seven series. Series 1: Biographical Material, 1902-1980 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1) Series 2: Correspondence, 1911-1974 (0.9 linear feet; Boxes 1-2) Series 3: Writings, 1934-1967 (0.9 linear feet; Box 2) Series 4: Sound Recordings, 1967-1970 (0.2 linear feet; Box 3, 8) Series 5: Printed Material, 1941-2005 (0.5 linear feet; Box 3, OV 9) Series 6: Artwork, 1946-1957 (0.5 linear feet; Box 3, 8) Series 7: Photographic Material, circa 1900-1973 (2.8 linear feet; Boxes 3-8)
- Processing Information
- The collection was processed, and a finding aid prepared by Ricky Gomez in 2020.
- Rights
- 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.
- Genre/Form
- Sketchbooks
- Drawings
- Scope and Contents
- The Edward Melcarth papers measure 6.0 linear feet and date from circa 1900 to 2003. The papers document his career as a painter through resumes, address books, estate papers, and other biographical material; correspondence with family, colleagues, and art institutions; manuscripts, essays, lectures, and other writings; speeches, writing excerpts, and other sound recordings; clippings, exhibition announcements, exhibition catalogs, and other printed material; paint sketches, sketches, sketchbooks, and other artwork; and photographs and slides of Melcarth, his family, artwork, friends, and models for pieces. Biographical material includes address books, an autograph book, estate papers, passports, resumes, Melcarth's baby book, and scrapbook related to Melcarth's family. Correspondence includes personal letters between his parents, and letters to his mother regarding his acquaintences Peggy and Hazel Guggenheim, and Norman Parkinson. Other correspondents include Gore Vidal and Gael Greene, New York magazine food critic, and artist Richard Taddei. Also included are letters from artists Lief Anderson, Peter Carello, Pablo Pristeno, Ernst Teves, from playwright William Inge, from actors George Maharis, Ronald Staba and Joseph Newlin, Henry Allen Moe, R. Kirk Askew, agent John Schafner, and Charles B. Moses. Writings include manuscripts of Melcarth's short stories, novels, and plays; essays and lectures on various topics related to modern art; and other literary works such as poems and song lyrics. Sound recordings consist of interviews and speeches by Melcarth on five sound tape reels and two cassettes. Printed material consists of clippings, exhibition catalogs and announcements, and newsletters. Works of art consist of sketches and sketchbooks. Photographic material consists of photos of Melcarth, Melcarth's family, friends, various unidentified people, his paintings and sculptures, and works of art by fellow artists. There are also photos of various scenes in New York City, Coney Island, and Venice, Italy. Also included are slides, negatives, and transparencies of Melcarth's works.
- Restrictions
- This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
- Record ID
- ebl-1596270686014-1596270686015-0
- Metadata Usage
- CC0
In the Collection
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