Records of Staff: Directors and School of Fine Arts Faculty
name: label: Collection Creator
content: American Academy in Rome
setName: label: See more items in
content: American Academy in Rome records
label: See more items in
content: American Academy in Rome records / Series 4: Rome Office
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1903-1947, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.ameracar, Subseries 4.1
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement note
content: Records of the directors comprise the bulk of the subseries and are first in the subseries. Records of faculty members Frank P. Fairbanks and Felix Lamond are at the end of the subseries. Director and faculty member names are indicated in bold at the top of each file group.

File groups for each individual begin with any general correspondence and are then arranged alphabetically by subject or name of individual to whom the file relates.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: This subseries consists primarily of the office files of the Rome office directors but also contains four folders of records of the School of Fine Arts faculty. The records document the administration of the School of Fine Arts, the School of Classical Studies, and their facilities in Rome. The most extensive and complete files are those of Gorham Phillips Stevens (1.25 linear feet, reels 5796-5798). Records of other directors, H. Siddons Mowbray (reel 5795), George Breck (reel 5795), Jesse Benedict Carter (reel 5795-5796), James Monroe Hewlett (reel 5798), Chester H. Aldrich (reel 5798), Amey Aldrich (reel 5798), Charles R. Morey (reel 5798), Laurance P. Roberts (reel 5798), Frank P. Fairbanks (reel 5799), and Felix Lamond (reel 5799) are quite incomplete and range in size from 1 folder to 0.5 linear feet.

H. Siddons Mowbray's correspondence includes letters to McKim about the Villa Aurora, expenses, exhibition, and the King and Queen attending the academy opening; a letter from Charles Keck about his studio; and correspondence concerning endowment fundraising.

George Breck's correspondence includes a letter to Secretary Millet about appraisal of the Villa Mirafiore and Madam Loyson's idea of starting a girls' school in Rome that would be a branch of the American Academy in Rome. It also includes letters from Rockefeller's secretary declining to participate in the academy's proposed endowment.

General correspondence of Jesse Benedict Carter concerns competitions, use of the terms "fellowship" and "scholarship," an exhibition, Committee on the School of Classical Studies business, a request for extension of fellowship time, and activities of fellows. Endowment fundraising correspondence concerns Carter's lecturing activities on behalf of the academy's endowment fund and appeals to individuals for contributions. A folder concerning the Villa Mirafiore contains correspondence regarding an agreement to use the Villa Mirafiore as a hospice for mutilated Italian soldiers.

Gorham Phillips Stevens Stevens served as director in 1912. During Carter's tenure as director, from 1913 to 1917, Stevens was director of the School of Fine Arts and served as acting director during Carter's frequent absences. He was acting director following Carter's death in 1917, and in 1919 became the director. His general correspondence includes "Suggestions for the Management of the Academy during the absence of the Director in America;" correspondence about a proposed publication; requests for museum passes; letters of introduction; inquiries about fellowship competitions; travel arrangements; letters concerning shipment of art work, concerns about war conditions, and Daniel Chester French's opinion of the proposed purchase of an enlarging machine for the sculptors; George Breck's comments on prices set by artists for their work; and letters concerning summer school, housing for women, the possibility of McKim's daughter giving his medals and diplomas to the academy, and the trustees decision to inaugurate a new educational policy under a new director.

There is one folder of material relating to Amey Aldrich, sister of Chester H. Aldrich, who acted as an assistant and official hostess during his tenure, and probably served as acting director for a brief time following Mr. Aldrich's death. The folder includes a report on the administrative situation of the academy, ideas about closing the academy during World War II, and evaluation of staff. Material also concerns repairs to buildings, staffing, and receipts for academy funds held by Chester Aldrich and returned after his death.