Violet Oakley papers
name: label: Creator
content: Oakley, Violet, 1874-1961
label: Names
content: Pennsylvania State Capitol (Harrisburg, Pa.)
topic: label: Occupation
content: Stained glass artists -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
label: Occupation
content: Muralists -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
label: Topic
content: Artists' materials
label: Topic
content: Artists' studios -- Photographs
label: Topic
content: Mural painting and decoration -- United States
label: Topic
content: Painters -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women painters
label: Topic
content: Women muralists
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Violet Oakley first loaned the Archives of American Art materials for microfilming in 1959. Edith Emerson, Oakley's longtime friend and companion, donated and lent papers for microfilming in 1977 and 1984. The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, who had received the papers from Emerson's estate, donated two feet of materials in 1988.
creator: label: Creator
content: Oakley, Violet, 1874-1961
setName: label: See more items in
content: Violet Oakley papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of painter, stained glass artist, and muralist Violet Oakley measure 56.5 linear feet and date from 1841-1981.  Found within the papers are biographical materials; personal and business correspondence; writings, including essays, lectures, and project drafts; diaries and journals; financial material; artwork; printed material, including scrapbooks; and photographs, 3 albums, 322 glass plate negatives, and 1600 film negatives of Oakley, her family and friends, and her work.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Painter, muralist, and stained glass designer Violet Oakley (1874-1961) lived and worked in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was known for her Renaissance-revival style of art and the series of murals she completed for the Pennsylvania State Capitol.

Born in Bergen Heights, New Jersey, to a family of artists, both of Violet Oakley's grandfathers were painters and members of the National Academy.  In 1892, she began her art studies at the Art Students' League and traveled abroad a year later to study in Paris at the Academie Montparnasse, and in England with Charles Lazar. Upon her return to the states in 1896, she continued her studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and at Drexel Institute with Howard Pyle.  

For fourteen years, Oakley shared her early studios at Red Rose Inn and Cogslea Estate with fellow artists and illustrators Elizabeth Shippen Green and Jessie Willcox Smith.  These two studio homes were managed by their friend Henrietta Cozens in a cooperative arrangement which allowed all three artists to focus on their work as commercial artists. Early in her career, Oakley designed covers for magazines such as Collier's Weekly and Century Magazine, and also found work as a stained glass designer for the Church Glass and Decorating Company of New York.  In 1900, she received her first major commission to design and execute two large murals and six stained glass pieces for the All Angels' Church in New York City.  

In 1902 Oakley was approached by architect Joseph Huston to design 13 murals for the Governor's reception room in the new Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg.  She eventually completed two additional mural commissions for the Capitol's Senate (1911-1920) and Supreme Court (1917-1927) chambers.  Her studies of William Penn in connection with her murals for the State Capitol inspired Oakley to work for international peace and eventually led to the publication of a portrait folio depicting League of Nations delegates (1932).  Other significant works include murals, panels, and stained glass commissions completed for the Vassar College Alumni house, Charlton Yarnall house (Philadelphia), and Cuyuhoga County courthouse.

While working as an established artist, Oakley also taught courses at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, arranged a yearly lecture series, and published folios and other writings on topics ranging from art history to Christian Science under the Coslea Studios imprint.  Her later studio, Lower Cogslea, was shared by artist and lifelong companion Edith Emerson, who after Oakley's death in 1961, established a memorial foundation in her name.  

Oakley was the first woman elected to the National Society of Mural Painters, was a recipient of the Gold Medal of Honor of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and was the first woman to receive the Gold Medal of Honor from the Architectural League of New York.  Her writings include The Holy Experiment: A Message to the World from Pennsylvania (1922) and Law Triumphant: The Opening of the Book of Law (1933).
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 56.5 Linear feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1841-1981
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.oaklviol
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Diaries
label: Type
content: Glass plate negatives
label: Type
content: Renderings
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Sketchbooks
label: Type
content: Visitors' books
label: Type
content: Sketches
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 8 series.  A comprehensive index of individidual correspondents for the chronological correspondence is found in the first folder of the chronological correspondence in box 5, folder 41. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers, but listed where they fall intellectually within the collection.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1841-1970 (2.9 linear feet; Boxes 1-3, OV 69, OVs 71, 72)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1857-1979 (26.7 linear feet; Boxes 3-30)

Series 3: Notes and Writings, 1899-1976 (10.6 linear feet; Boxes 30-38, 58-64, OV 66, OV 70)

Series 4: Diaries and Journals, 1891-1958 (0.9 linear feet, Boxes 38-39)

Series 5: Financial Material, 1874-1977 (3.1 linear feet; Boxes 39-42)

Series 6: Artwork, 1883-1955 (0.7 linear feet; Boxes 43-43, 64, OV 67, OV 71)

Series 7: Printed Material, 1866-1981 (7.3 linear feet, Boxes 43-50, 65, OV 67)

Series 8: Photographs, 1890-1980 (5.3 linear feet; Boxes 50-57, 65, OV 68)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Materials received a preliminary level of arrangement after donation and correspondence within the collection was microfilmed onto reels 3716-3745.  In 1985, nitrate negatives were removed and duplicated onto safety based film. In 1988, 8 photos were professionally conserved. The collection was further processed to a minimal level and a finding aid prepared by Judy Ng in 2014, with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.  

The Archives of American Art has implemented minimal processing tactics when possible in order to increase information about and access to more of our collections.  Minimal processing included arrangement to the series, subseries, and folder levels.  Generally, items within folders were simply verified with folder titles, but not arranged further.  The collection was rehoused in archival containers and folders.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Portions of the collection and material lent for microfilming are available on 35mm microfilm reels 1204, P12, 1187-1188, 1272, 1194-1195, and 3716-3745 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Diaries
label: Genre/Form
content: Glass plate negatives
label: Genre/Form
content: Renderings
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketchbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Visitors' books
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketches
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of painter, stained glass artist, and muralist Violet Oakley measure 56.5 linear feet and date from 1841-1981.  Found within the papers are biographical materials; personal and business correspondence; writings, including essays, lectures, and project drafts; diaries and journals; financial material; artwork; printed material, including scrapbooks; and photographs, 3 albums, 322 glass plate negatives, and 1600 film negatives of Oakley, her family and friends, and her work.

Biographical materials include certificates, family records, curriculum vitae, and identification cards, and studio guest books.  About one-half of the collection is comprised of correspondence with family, friends, and business associates.  Writings include Oakley's notes, essays and lectures, and writings related to 16 of her major artworks and publications, including her work on the Pennsylvania Capitol murals in Harrisburg.  Diaries and journals include Oakley's travel notes and research on planned artworks.

Financial materials include a catalog of artworks and price lists, accounting records, and art supply receipts.  Artwork includes early childhood juvenilia, a sketchbook, sketches of travel and friends, architectural renderings, and artwork by others.  Printed materials include books, clippings, exhibition catalogs, programs, and reproductions of artwork by Oakley and others.  Photographic materials include photographs, albums, and negatives depicting Oakley, her friends and family, her studio at Cogslea, and reproductions of artwork.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Also found among the holdings of the Archives of American Art are the Violet Oakley Memorial Foundation records and the Violet Oakley autograph and photograph.  The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts holds the Violet Oakley Foundation Art Collection, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art holds the Violet Oakley Collection.
separatedmaterial: label: Separated Materials
content: The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reels 1204, P12, 1187-1188, 1272, and 1194-1195).

Reel 1204 consists of two scrapbooks (circa 1896-1952) containing clippings from magazines of illustrations by Violet Oakley and her sister, Hester, and of Violet's murals for the State Capitol at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  Reel P12 is of a scrapbook (1898-1936) containing a photograph of Oakely at her easel, clippings, and letters.  Reels 1187-1188 consist of five scrapbooks (1920-1962) containing letters, clippings, exhibition announcements, catalogs, and awards. One of the scrapbooks is devoted to "The Holy Experiment", a limited edition publication by Oakley which commemorating William Penn, and which includes reproductions of Oakley's capitol murals in Harrisburg.  

Reel 1272 contains two albums (circa 1900-1949) containing photos of Oakley working on murals in her studio, as well as her works of art, including stained glass windows at the Church of All Angels, New York; murals at the Harrisburg State Capitol; preliminary drawings and site photographs of "Dante's Window"; the lunettes and window for the Yarnall House; murals and preliminary drawings for the Cuyahoga Court House; the mural and dedication ceremonies for the Vassar Alumnae House; and photos and printed material on "Divine Presence--Christ at Geneva," "The Life of Moses," "Great Women of the Bible," and triptychs for the Army and Navy. 

Reels 1194-1195 cobsist of photograph albums (circa 1870-1960) containing photographs of the Oakley and Swain families, of Violet Oakley, Edith Emerson, Jessie Willcox Smith, Elizabeth Shippen Green, friends, her home, Oakley's "Red Rose" studio in Villanova, Pennsylvania, her "Cogslea" studio in Philadelphia, and of her works of art, mainly portraits of her friends and of delegates to the League of Nations.  

Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.