Beverly Buchanan papers
name: label: Creator
content: Buchanan, Beverly, 1940-2015
label: Names
content: Bernice Steinbaum Gallery (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Steinbaum Krauss Gallery (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Lippard, Lucy R.
label: Names
content: Scott, Arden
label: Names
content: Sims, Lowery Stokes
topic: label: Occupation
content: Sculptors -- Georgia
label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Georgia
label: Occupation
content: Environmental artists -- Georgia
label: Topic
content: Environment (Art)
label: Topic
content: African American artists
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women painters
label: Topic
content: Women sculptors
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Beverly Buchanan papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 2018 by Jane Bridges, and in 2021 by Bridges and Susan Welsh, Buchanan's executors.
creator: label: Creator
content: Buchanan, Beverly, 1940-2015
setName: label: See more items in
content: Beverly Buchanan papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of African American sculptor, painter, and land artist Beverly Buchanan measure 17 linear feet and 34.2 gigabytes, and date from 1912 to 2017 with the bulk of the material dating from the 1970s to the 1990s. The collection contains biographical material, including audiovisual and born-digital interview recordings; correspondence; writings; and exhibition and project files, including audiovisual documentation from Bernice Steinbaum Gallery/Steinbaum Krauss Gallery. Material related to professional activities; personal business records; printed material, including born-digital and audiovisual records; scrapbooks; photographic material, including photograph albums; and artwork are also found in the collection.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Beverly Buchanan (1940-2015) was an African American sculptor, painter, and land artist in Macon, Georgia. Born in Fuquay, North Carolina and raised in Orangeburg, South Carolina, Buchanan studied medical technology at Bennett College before going on to earn two master's degrees in parasitology and public health from Columbia University in 1968 and 1969. Her artistic career began in 1971 when she enrolled in a class at the Art Students League in New York City taught by Norman Lewis. She moved to Georgia in 1977.

Buchanan is most well known for her "shack" sculptures and paintings, depictions of houses tied to Southern identity and memory.

Buchanan has been included in exhibitions at institutions such as Cinque Gallery, Truman Gallery, the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon, GA, the Chrysler Museum, and a traveling retrospective exhibition organized by the Montclair Art Museum. Her work is included in the permanent collections of institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, High Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Beverly Buchanan has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the Anonymous Was a Woman Award, and the Women's Caucus for Art lifetime achievement award, among others. She died in 2015 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 17 Linear Feet
label: Extent
content: 34.2 Gigabytes
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1912-2017
label: Date
content: bulk 1970s-1990s
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.buchbeve
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Gigabytes
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Sketchbooks
label: Type
content: Photograph albums
label: Type
content: Motion picture film
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: This collection is arranged as ten series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1917-2015 (Box 1, Boxes 19-20, Box 24; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1919-1954, 1967-2017 (Boxes 1-2; 0.9 linear feet; ER01, 0.017 GB)

Series 3: Writings, 1960-circa 2009 (Boxes 2-3, Box 24; 0.7 linear feet)

Series 4: Exhibition and Project Files, 1974-2001, 2010-2017 (Boxes 3-4, Box 24, OV 21, FCs 22-23; 1.9 linear feet; ER02, 0.020 GB)

Series 5: Professional Activities, 1962, 1979-2005 (Box 4, Box 19, Box 24; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Personal Business Records, 1966-2010 (Box 4; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 7: Printed Material, 1912, 1923-2014 (Boxes 4-7, Box 19, Box 25, OV 21; 3.9 linear feet)

Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1970-circa 1977 (Box 7, Box 20; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 9: Photographic Material, circa 1920s-2013 (Boxes 7-13, Boxes 16-18, Box 20; 8.8 linear feet; ER03, 1.03 GB)

Series 10: Artwork, 1956-2013, undated (Boxes 13-15, Box 20; 0.7 linear feet)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was minimally processed and a finding aid prepared by Rayna Andrews in 2019 with funding from the Henry Luce Foundation. Born-digital materials were processed by Jess Purkis in 2019 and George Apodaca in 2021. The 2021 addition was processed in 2021 by Rayna Andrews with funding provided by the Roy Lichtenstein foundation.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketchbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Photograph albums
label: Genre/Form
content: Motion picture film
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of African American sculptor, painter, and land artist Beverly Buchanan measure 17 linear feet and 34.2 gigabytes, and date from 1912 to 2017 with the bulk of the material dating from the 1970s to the 1990s. The collection contains biographical material, including audiovisual and born-digital interview recordings; correspondence; writings; and exhibition and project files, including audiovisual documentation from Bernice Steinbaum Gallery/Steinbaum Krauss Gallery. Material related to professional activities; personal business records; printed material, including born-digital and audiovisual records; scrapbooks; photographic material, including photograph albums; and artwork are also found in the collection. 

The Beverly Buchanan papers contain biographical material including address books, calendars, awards and education certificates, identification documents, family history research material, and audiovisual and born-digital interview recordings; correspondence with friends and colleagues including Lucy Lippard and Lowery Stokes Sims, and with galleries and museums such as Bernice Steinbaum Gallery/Steinbaum Krauss Gallery, the Georgia Museum of Art, and the High Museum of Art. Also included are writings such as artist's statements, journals and notebooks, notes, and writings by others about Beverly Buchanan; exhibition and project files including audiovisual documentation from Bernice Steinbaum Gallery and Steinbaum Krauss Gallery of various exhibitions; material related to professional activities including teaching files and grant and fellowship applications; personal business records such as sales and consignment records; printed material including clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, magazines, posters, audiovisual and born-digital recordings, including A World of Art profile, and other published material; and scrapbooks, including one documenting Buchanan's City Walls series, containing primarily photographs and artwork with some printed material. The collection also contains photographic material including photographs, snapshots, negatives, and photograph albums; and artwork including sketchbooks, drawings, folded cardboard artwork, and illustrated cards.