Correspondence
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Alexander, John White, 1856-1915
setName: label: See more items in
content: John White Alexander papers
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.7 Linear Feet (Box 1)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1870-1942
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.alexjohn, Series 2
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement note
content: Correspondence is arranged chronologically, with undated correspondence filed at the beginning of the series. Additional correspondence is found in Scrapbooks. See Scrapbook series description and folder listing for more details. This series has been scanned in its entirety.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: This series contains personal and business correspondence of John White Alexander and his wife, Elizabeth Alexander. Correspondence from the 1870s and 1880s consists primarily of Alexander's letters home to his guardian, Colonel Edward Jay Allen, the Allen family, and his friend, E.E. Phelps, all in Pittsburgh, written from New York and Europe. 1876 letters detail his visit to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Many of these letters are found with typed transcriptions which contain scattered annotations which appear to be in Elizabeth Alexander's handwriting. In a couple of cases, transcripts exist for letters which are no longer found in the collection.

The remainder of correspondence consists of letters to Alexander from fellow artists, patrons, museums, arts organizations, and friends. Significant correspondents include Charles Dana Gibson, Florence Levy, Frederick Remington, Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry James, John La Farge, Francis Davis Millet, and Andrew Carnegie. These and other significant correspondents are noted in the folder listing. Letters dated after Alexander's death in 1915 are addressed to Elizabeth Alexander, with a single letter addressed to the Alexanders' son James.

A number of sketches by Alexander are found in his letters from Europe dated from 1877 to 1880. There are also scattered illustrated letters and an Illustrated letter from Ivan P. Pranishnikoff is found from 1898. Additional types of records found include scattered receipts and clippings.