Finding Aids

Visual Arts

57th Street Art Fair. Records

This collection contains the planning and promotional materials for the 57th Street Art Fair, including meeting minutes, reports, posters, textiles, banners and buttons.

Abraham, Alton. Collection of Sun Ra

Alton Abraham (1927-1999), entrepreneur and hospital technician, was a longtime friend and business associate of Sun Ra (1914-1993), the influential jazz composer and musician. Alton Abraham collected manuscripts, business records, printed ephemera, artifacts, photographs, audio and video recordings, and other documents of his work with Sun Ra. The collection contains textual, graphic, and audio-visual records of the work of Sun Ra and his collaborators, as well as professional and personal papers of Alton Abraham. The collection spans 1822-2008, with material concentrated in the late 1950s-1980s.

Albright, Ivan, Medical drawings made direct from patients & in operating room in Base Hospital # 11 located at Nantes, France, Manuscript (Ms 1560)

Medical drawings of soldiers’ wounds by artist Ivan Albright, made in a military hospital in Nantes, France, 1918-1919. Codex Ms 1560.

Altrocchi, Rudolph and Julia Cooley Altrocchi. Papers

Rudolph Altrocchi (1882-1952), professor of Italian and writer. Julia Cooley Altrocchi (1893-1972), poet and novelist. The collection includes letters sent to Rudolph and Julia Altrocchi by University of Chicago President Harry Pratt Judson, author Henry Blake Fuller, playwright Alice Gerstenberg, artist Lorado Taft, and others. Also contained in the collection are reprints of articles by Altrocchi.

Altscheler, Brent. Collection of Photographs of Kentucky

The Altscheler Collection of Photographs of Kentucky primarily consists of negatives of photographs taken by Brent Altscheler of historical sites in Kentucky between 1921 and 1932. Also included in the collection are positives, manuscript notes, newspaper clippings and postcards. The bulk of the material dates between 1921and 1925.

Ames, Polly Scribner. Papers

Polly Scribner Ames (1908-1993) was a painter, sculptor, and writer who lived in Chicago, New York, and Europe. The Polly Scribner Ames papers contain manuscripts, correspondence, journals, and records of exhibitions and sales of artwork.

Bakwin, Dr. Harry and Dr. Ruth Morris Bakwin. Soviet Posters. Collection

This collection contains nineteen Soviet political posters produced in the early 1930s, collected by the American physicians Dr. Harry Bakwin and Dr. Ruth Morris Bakwin during two trips to the Soviet Union. The majority of the posters promote the First Five Year Plan (1928-1932), a series of industrial targets designed by the Stalinist regime to build up heavy industry in the Soviet Union. Most of the posters are in Ukrainian, with the remainder in Russian. The posters depict various aspects of the industrialization and militarization drive of this period, as well as general themes in the communist worldview and important moments in Marxist history.

Baldridge, Cyrus Le Roy. Collection

Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge (1889-1977), artist. The Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge papers includes notes, correspondence, telegrams, articles about or by Baldridge and his wife Caroline Singer, as well as original and/or unpublished works of art from Baldridge, ranging from cartoons drawn during childhood to unfinished drafts.

Bartolozzi, Francesco. Collection

Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815) was an Italian engraver, who spend much of his career in London and helped to found the British Royal Academy of the Arts. The collection contains six engravings by Bartolozzi and one letter written by Bartolozzi. .

Bennett, A. Milo. Papers

A. Milo Bennett was a leading theatrical booking agent in Chicago in the early twentieth century. This collection contains mainly incoming correspondence, ca. 1900s-1930s, sent to A. Milo Bennett. It also contains an autograph collection and two pen-and-ink cartoons related to Bennett's life and work.

Bewick, Thomas. Wood Blocks

The original wood blocks used for the following prints from the Memorial Edition of Thomas Bewick's Works. Vol.1: p. xxxi-xxxv. Vol.2: p. 2, 14, 113, 123, 124, 146, 251, and 324. Vol. 3: p. 222, 281, 394 and 459. Vol. 4: p. 199. Vol. 5: p. 347. The printed work can be found in the Special Collections Research Center under the call number: QL3.B57 Rare.

Bill, Charles A. Collection of Yousuf Karsh. Photographs

This collection contains photographs by Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002), collected by Charles Anton Bill. Yousuf Karsh, a Turkish and Canadian photographer, is best known for his portrait photographs of significant cultural and political figures. This collection contains Karsh's silver gelatin prints of Winston Churchill, Pope John XXIII, and John F. Kennedy. Throughout his career, Karsh was celebrated for his dramatic use of lighting to portray the likeness of his subjects. The three images in the collection date from 1941 to 1960.

Book of hours (use of Châlons-sur-Marne.) Manuscript (Ms 26)

French Book of Hours made for use at Châlons-sur-Marne. The text includes a calendar of Châlons-sur-Marne in French, Hours of the Virgin, Seven penitenial Psalms, Litany, Office of the Dead, Prayers and Antiphons in Latin and French. Text in French and Latin. Codex Ms 26.

Chicago Society of Artists. Records

Founded in 1888, the Chicago Society of Artists supports the work of professional artists in the Chicago area, and is the oldest continuously-operated art association in the United States. This collection consists of annual calendars, featuring block prints produced by CSA members, which were produced as fund-raising and promotional tools for the organization.

Chute, Hillary. Collection of Catwoman

The Hillary Chute Collection contains 27 comics from 1972-1994, including four issues of Marvel’s The Cat (1972-3), 20 issues of DC’s Catwoman from 1989-1994, and one issue each of Green Arrow (DC, 1994), Felicia Hardy: The Black Cat (Marvel, 1994) and Wizard Magazine (1994). Collected by Hillary L. Chute, professor of American literature and art.

Clowes, Daniel. Archive

Daniel Clowes (b. 1961) is an American artist and writer known for his comic-book series Eightball, and for graphic novels such as

Cohen, Jerry, Photograph Collection

Jerrold “Jerry” Ernest Cohen (b. February 3, 1943, d. November 26, 1991) was a photographer and activist who helped found over a dozen organizations and held several leadership positions in Chicago’s LGBTQ community from the late 1960s through the early 1990s. The collection contains negatives, contact sheets, photographic prints, slides, handwritten notes, correspondence, and newspaper clippings. Materials date between 1975 and 1992, with the bulk of the material dating between 1975 and 1987. The photograph collection primarily documents aspects of gay community life in Chicago from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s.

Cruikshank, George. Collection

George Cruikshank (1792–1878) British cartoonist and illustrator. The collection includes sketches by Cruikshank, drafts of letters, publications, and prints.

Dopierala, Walter C. Comic Book Collection

This collection of mid-twentieth century comic books was built by Walter C. Dopierala, an alumnus of the University of Chicago (A.B. 1966). It contains over 2,000 comic books, representing a wide variety of popular titles. Comic books are arranged by genre, including comedy-fantasy, adventure, western, Classics Illustrated, and superheroes.

Dugan, Dave. Zen Comix. Collection

The Dave Dugan Zen Comix Collection contains five artworks from 2015-2017: The Beerfoot Servants, Jack in the Box, and Tampon Platitudes from 2015, Electric Mud from 2016, and an untitled collection of 14 large-scale comics from 2016-2017.

Eggan, Joan Rosenfels. Papers

Joan Rosenfels Eggan (1906-1999) photographer and psychotherapist, well known for her photographs of anthropologists. As the wife of University of Chicago Professor of Anthropology Fred Eggan, she accompanied her husband on research trips to the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and England where she photographed many local people. The majority of the photographs in this collection are of children and families, as Eggan was particularly interested in the psychology of children.

Fraser, Claud Lovat. Collection

Claud Lovat Fraser (1890-1921) was an artist known primarily for his work in illustration and theater design. This collection consists primarily of printed material produced by Fraser, or featuring his artwork. Items in the collection include prints, chapbooks, periodicals, advertisements, greeting cards, visiting cards, stationery, dust jackets, theatre and concert handbills, posters, postcards, and musical scores.

Goetz, Rachel Marshall. Papers

Rachel Marshall Goetz was a writer, researcher, and activist who spent much of her career focused on national and local Hyde Park politics. These papers include much of Goetz’s early writing advocating the use of new media in state and local governments. She worked as a speechwriter on Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson’s 1956 presidential campaign, and many of her drafts, memos, position papers, and letters are included here. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Goetz was an important figure in Hyde Park-Kenwood’s urban renewal, and her papers hold many drafts, clippings, and notes relating to that project. Late in her life, Goetz and her sister, Barbara Frye, dedicated themselves to making elaborately decorated ornamental eggs. Many photographs, articles, and letters about her egg artwork are included here. The collection also holds clippings, correspondence, and photographs relating to Goetz’s father, Leon Carroll Marshall.

Greene, Wesley H. Papers

Wesley H. Greene operated a Chicago-based film distributorship, and also worked as an educator, administrator and activist focused on film and the visual arts. His distribution concerns, including International Film Bureau, College Film Center, and Trans-World Films, handled a variety of film genres and served schools, colleges and universities, churches, clubs and businesses. This collection includes records of Greene's film distribution companies; posters and other movie publicity material; records of the Chicago Film Council; programs from Greene's international film series at University of Chicago; records of the Committee to Preserve the Ferguson Fund for Sculpture and Greene's litigation against the Art Institute of Chicago; and personal correspondence and memorabilia.

Greene-Mercier, Marie Zoe. Papers

Marie Zoe Greene-Mercier was an artist, writer and arts activist who worked in the United States and Europe in the mid- to late-twentieth century. Educated at Radcliffe College, Greene-Mercier was also a student at the New Bauhaus School of Design in Chicago. Greene-Mercier worked in a variety of media, but was best known for the abstract metal sculptures she produced in the 1950s-1970s. Materials in this collection include correspondence, writings, gallery and exhibition records, photographs, artifacts and works of art.

Grzeca, Dan. Collection

Dan Grzeca artist, painter, and printmaker. The Dan Grzeca Collection contains posters, programs, and print works for various concerts and venues.

Hansen, Mikkel. Collection of Henry Moore

Correspondence, ephemera, photos, and news coverage related to the commission and installation of Nuclear Energy by Henry Moore. Program, invitation, ticket, and news coverage for December 2, 1967 unveiling ceremony commemorating the 25th anniversary of the first man-made self-sustaining nuclear reaction, which took place on December 2, 1942 at the University of Chicago under the direction of Enrico Fermi. Includes 1985-1987 correspondence with Roger Berthoud, author of The Life of Henry Moore (Faber and Faber, 1987.)

Haydon, Harold. Papers

Harold Haydon (1909-1994), Chicago-based visual artist, educator and art critic. University of Chicago Ph.B, 1930, A.M. (Philosophy), 1931. Professor of Art 1944-1975. Collection includes biographical material and ephemera, and sketchbooks.

Hutchins, Maude Phelps McVeigh. Collection

Maude Phelps McVeigh Hutchins (1899-1991), artist, wife of University of Chicago President Robert M. Hutchins. Collection comprises Christmas cards designed by Maude Hutchins, three intaglio prints, a copy of Foreground Magazine, a copy of the poem "Baptism,” and other materials relating to Hutchins.

Jackson, William Henry. Photographs

William Henry Jackson, photographer (1843-1942). The William Henry Jackson Photograph collection consists of 85 unique photographs and 17 duplicate prints of the West taken for the U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories (1870-78). Areas include Colorado, Mexico, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. Prints in box 4 are not identified as part of the Survey, but appear to be from roughly the same time period.

Kristof, Ladis Donabed. Soviet Posters. Collection

Fifteen posters produced in the Soviet Union and Romania between 1963 and 1990, collected by Romanian-born political science professor Ladis Donabed Kristof. The majority of the posters date from 1963-1971 and celebrate space exploration and holidays or community events, or commemorate Lenin. The two posters from 1990 promote The Christian Democratic National Peasants’ Party, a Romanian political party created after the revolution ending communist rule in Romania in 1989.

Kuaua Kiva Drawings. Collection

The Kuaua Kiva Drawings Collection contains quarter-size reproductions of murals found in a ceremonial underground room (a kiva) built between 1300 and 1600 by the people of Kuaua, a Tiwa settlement near Bernalillo, New Mexico. The images reproduce to-scale paintings made during the excavation of Kuaua beginning in 1934.

Lan, Ching Huong . Watercolor Sketches Showing Details of Buying, Curing, Packing, and Shipping Tea

Consists of 12 original watercolors on the tea trade in China. Also includes 12 photographs, reproducing 4 watercolor images 3 times each, in prints of various sizes.

Lincoln Collection. Cartoons, Drawings and Photographs

The Lincoln Cartoons, Drawings, and Photographs collection forms part of the William E. Barton Collection of Lincolniana. The vast majority of the collection consists of cartoons, drawings, and lithographs from the American Civil War period.

Lincoln Collection. Currier & Ives Lithographs

This collection of lithographs from the Currier & Ives Printmaking Company forms a portion of the William E. Barton Collection of Lincolniana. Images located here are related to Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War and issues in politics pertaining to this time and the antebellum north in the second half of the nineteenth century through caricatures of migrant African Americans.

Lincoln Collection. Lincoln Portraits

The Lincoln Portraits collection contains photographic and lithographic image replications of Abraham Lincoln from during the course of his life. Images include those which represent him as a young man up until the time of his death on the 15th of April 1865. It forms a part of the William E. Barton Collection of Lincolniana.

Longstreet, Stephen. Collection

Stephen Longstreet was a writer, cartoonist, and painter. He published over one hundred novels. This collection contains watercolors, sketches, and collages.

Maloof, John. Collection of Vivian Maier

This collection contains photographic prints, ephemera, and artifacts from the John Maloof Collection of Vivian Maier. It includes black and white and color prints taken by Maier, most of which are street photographs of Chicago and New York City from the 1950s-1970s. Also included are some travel photographs, the largest fraction of which were taken in France. The collection also contains photographic equipment and cameras, film boxes and processing envelopes, newspaper clippings, correspondence, financial records, notes, empty film canisters, clothing, shoes, and miscellaneous personal items. The material ranges in date from circa 1900-circa 2010, with the bulk dating from the 1950s-1980s.

Manby, George William. Sketches Made in Greenland

108 pencil sketches, sepia wash, or watercolor drawings of ice formations and artic wildlife (whales and seals), with manuscript annotations. Drawn by Manby on a trip from Liverpool to Greenland on the Baffin, 1821 April 5. Also includes pen & ink, hand-colored map of the Polar Ice region by W. Scoresby, Jr., 1821; manuscript list of explorer's terms; and two letters.

Maser, Edward. Papers

Edward Andrew Maser (1923-1988) was an Art Historian, a museum curator, and an art collector. The collection contains correspondence, notes, and manuscripts, typescripts for speeches, published articles, photographs, photographic negatives, and slides. The collection documents Maser’s academic research as well as his personal art collection and his involvement with university galleries, the Smart Museum, and The Art Institute of Chicago. Materials date between 1947 and 2004, with the bulk of the material dating between 1965 and 1985.

Mead, Irene Tufts, Collection of Alice Boughton. Photographs

The Irene Tufts Mead Collection contains five portrait photographs by Alice Boughton (1865-1943). All of the images date to 1904. Subjects include George Herbert Mead, Alice Chipman Dewey, Lucy Dewey, Evelyn Dewey, and Sabino Dewey. George Herbert Mead was Irene Tufts Mead's father-in-law. The Deweys were immediate family members of John Dewey who was a friend of George Herbert Mead.

Mead, Mildred. Photographs

The collection contains more than 1000 8x10 photographs and slides by the freelance photographer Mildred Mead. Between 1947 and 1962, Mead documented architecture and living conditions in Chicago, particularly on the south side.

Middle Eastern Posters. Collection

The Middle Eastern Posters collection comprises posters produced by government offices and private organizations, primarily in Iran and Afghanistan.

Modern Poetry Photograph Collection

Includes photographs or sketches of T. S. Eliot, Harriett Monroe, Robert Lowell, Archibald MacLeish, Edgar Lee Masters, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Marianne Moore, Carl Sandburg, Albert Schweitzer, William Carlos Willams, Yvor Winters, William Butler Yeats, Walt Whitman and others.

Nef, Elinor Castle. Papers

Elinor Castle Nef (1894-1953) was the first wife of University of Chicago professor John U. Nef, Jr. and the daughter of a prominent Hawaiian family. She was a prolific diarist and letter writer, corresponding with many important artists and intellectuals of the twentieth century. When she was not sharing in her husband's work and travel, she devoted her time to the writing of personal letters, notes, and essays some of which were edited and published posthumously by her husband in a book entitled Letters and Notes, Volume 1 (Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1953). Materials in the collection date between 1891 and 1966, with the bulk of the material dating between 1920 and 1953. The papers primarily document Elinor's extensive correspondence with artists and thinkers throughout the United States and Europe, and her written reflections on life in twentieth-century America.

Nef, Evelyn Stefansson. Papers

Evelyn Stefansson Nef was a puppeteer, librarian, and philanthropist. She was married to Committee on Social Thought founder John U. Nef, Jr. for 35 years. The collection contains her correspondence, personal papers and photographs, dating from 1914 to 2010. The bulk of the collection dates from 1964 to 2009.

Paper Dolls. Collection

This collection consists of paper dolls and accompanying paper clothing and accessories. The dolls were found in an 1839 volume of the New York Mirror, a weekly gazette of literature and the fine arts. Made by hand from scraps of magazines and wallpaper, the dolls are each unique, well-preserved examples of a typically fragile and ephemeral folk art.

Patton, Phyllis J. Container Corporation of America. Collection

Print publications, calendars, and coasters produced by the Container Corporation of America between 1936 and 1983.

Raphael. Spurious Letters

The collection contains three letters once attributed to the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael, but later determined to be forgeries. Also included are transcripts and notes related to the letters.

Rickert, Margaret. Papers

Margaret Rickert (1888-1973), art historian. The Papers document Rickert’s research on medieval art and illuminated manuscripts.

Rosenthal, Earl. Papers

Earl Edgar Rosenthal (b. August 26, 1921, d. September 13, 2007) was an art history professor at the University of Chicago for over forty years, scholar of Spanish renaissance art and architecture, and War World II veteran. The collection contains college yearbooks, notebooks documenting his early research trips to Europe and Mexico, notebooks on his dissertation about Spanish architecture, reading notes, timelines of Spanish and French art and architecture, bibliographies, and course lectures. Materials date between 1942 and 1998, with the bulk of the materials being notes taken and revised from about 1990 to 1998. The papers primarily document Rosenthal's early work as an observant art historian in Spain, Italy, and Mexico, his continuously revised notes on the scholarship of his field, and his course lectures on the diffusion of the arts throughout renaissance Europe.

Salloch, William and Marianne, Collection of Prints and Drawings: “People with Books.”

The eight prints and drawings in the collection depict people reading or holding books in various settings. The works date from the 16th through 19th centuries. Two etchings by Rembrandt are included.

Schütze, Eva Watson. Photographs

Includes photographs of John Dewey, George Herbert Mead, James Hayden Tufts, Jane Addams, Henry Castle Mead, Elinor Castle Nef, John Nef, Mabel Wing Castle, William Butler Yeats and others.

Silbert, Layle. Papers

Layle Silbert (1913-2003) was a photographer and writer. Noted for her portraits of authors, Silbert also wrote poetry, essays and fiction. The collection documents Layle Silbert's work in photography, writing, civil service and social work. It also contains material related to Silbert's travels, activist interests, and personal life. Materials in the collection include photographs, manuscripts, publications, correspondence, printed ephemera, and administrative records.

Simson, Otto G. von. Papers

Otto Georg von Simson (1912-1993), historian of medieval and Renaissance art and architecture, served on the faculties of the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought and Department of Art from 1945-1957. This collection documents Otto von Simson's work at the University of Chicago as an art historian, administrator, teacher and advocate for German and Austrian scholars. Material in the collection includes correspondence, drafts and proofs of publications and lectures, meeting agendas, research proposals, and course materials.

Stieglitz-Mathieu. Correspondence

The collection contains correspondence between the American Photographer, Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) and the publisher, Aron M. Mathieu, from 1943-1945.

Trowbridge, Raymond W. Rockefeller Chapel Album

Raymond W. Trowbridge (ca. 1886-1936) was an architect and photographer in Chicago. He is best known for his photographs of Chicago’s buildings. This collection is a scrapbook of his photos of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at the University of Chicago.

Tuttleman Family, Edna S. and Stanley C. Collection of Nineteenth-Century Photographs

The Edna S. and Stanley C. Tuttleman Family Collection of Nineteenth-Century Photographs consists of 234 nineteenth century travel and topographical photographs of historic sites, natural environments, and scenes of everyday life. Regions represented include the Middle East, Greece, Italy, the United States, England and Scotland. Photographers include Abdullah Frères, Thomas Annan, Francis Bedford, Giacomo Brogi, Francis Frith, G. Lekegian and Company, Andrew J. Russell, Giorgio Sommer, Seneca Ray Stoddard, James Valentine, George Washington Wilson, and Zangaki.

University of Chicago. Arts, Science and Culture Initiative. Records

Founded in 2010, the Arts, Science + Culture Initiative (ASCI) at the University of Chicago cultivates collaboration, active exchange, and sustained dialogue among those engaged in artistic and scientific inquiry within the University and beyond. This collection includes promotional materials, and student projects.

University of Chicago. Midway Studios. Records

Midway Studios, the fine arts studios of the Art Department at the University of Chicago since the mid-1940s, founded by the sculptor Lorado Taft in 1906. This collection contains correspondences, newspaper clippings, drawings, photographs, academic journals, notes, brochures, and exhibit signs. Materials document Taft’s work and legacy, and the later history of the studio, particularly the work of Director Harold Haydon.

University of Chicago. Postcards.Collection

The collection contains postcards featuring the University of Chicago campus.

Uretz, Vi Fogle. Papers

This collection contains the papers of Vi Fogle Uretz (1916-2007), a University of Chicago alumna, artist and community activist. The collection includes material related to the organization of the 57th Street Art Fair and the threatened closure of the university's International House. Also included are samples of Uretz's artwork, such as sketches and photographs of urban renewal in Hyde Park.

Van Pappelendam, Laura. Papers

Laura Van Pappelendam, artist, teacher. The Laura Van Pappelendam Papers consist of slides of Van Pappelendam's work, exhibition lists, exhibition brochures, clippings, and correspondence.

Van Vechten, Carl. Photograph Collection

The Carl Van Vechten Photograph Collection consists of 347 mounted photographs taken by American photographer Carl Van Vechten between 1932 and 1956. The bulk of the collection consists of portrait photographs of artists, entertainers and other prominent subjects. A smaller portion of the collection is an assortment of American landscapes.

Weil, Roman, Collection of Boris Artzybasheff

This collection contains illustrations by the Russian-American artist Boris Artzybasheff (1899-1965) produced from 1929 to 1965, and collected by Roman Weil. The material in the collection ranges from magazine covers, industrial advertisements, a map, large advertising poster prints, and a woodblock print. Like the wide-ranging media found in the collection, a researcher can expect to find a wide range in subject matters within the collection. The images describe foreign leaders, American political leaders, anthropomorphized machinery, descriptive maps, technological innovations, political satire, and poetic figurations.

Wolfe, Richard J. Collection of Paper Marbling and Allied Book Arts. Marbled Paper Specimens Collection

Richard J. Wolfe (1928-2017) was a historian, librarian, and author of