William Henry Holmes artists' files
name: label: Creator
content: Holmes, William Henry, 1846-1933
label: Names
content: Smithsonian American Art Museum
label: Names
content: Washington Water Color Club (Washington, D.C.)
label: Names
content: Brooke, Richard Norris, 1847-1920
label: Names
content: Closson, William Baxter Palmer, 1848-1926
label: Names
content: Fraser, James Earle, 1876-1953
label: Names
content: Johnston, Reuben Le Grand, 1850-1914
label: Names
content: La Farge, John, 1835-1910
label: Names
content: Melchers, Gari, 1860-1932
label: Names
content: Messer, Edmund Clarence, 1842-1919
label: Names
content: Moran, Thomas, 1837-1926
label: Names
content: Moser, James Henry, 1854-1913
label: Names
content: Nichols, Hobart, 1869-1962
label: Names
content: Oakley, Violet, 1874-1961
label: Names
content: Pennell, Joseph, 1857-1926
label: Names
content: Ream, Vinnie, 1847-1914
label: Names
content: Sharp, Joseph Henry, 1859-1953
label: Names
content: Walcott, Mary Vaux, 1860-1940
label: Names
content: Weller, Carl F., 1853-1920
label: Names
content: Weyl, Max, 1837-1914
label: Names
content: Wiles, Irving Ramsay, 1861-1948
label: Names
content: Zolnay, George Julian, 1862 or 1863-1949
place: label: Place
content: Museum directors -- Washington (D.C.)
topic: label: Occupation
content: Curators -- Washington (D.C.)
label: Topic
content: Art, American
label: Topic
content: Artists -- United States
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: These files were transferred from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art Library (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum) to the Archives of American Art in two installments in 1981 and 1992.
creator: label: Creator
content: Holmes, William Henry, 1846-1933
setName: label: See more items in
content: William Henry Holmes artists' files
abstract: label: Summary
content: The artists' files of William Henry Holmes, curator and director of the Smithsonian's National Collection of Fine Arts (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum) in Washington, D.C., measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1879 to 1955.  The artists' files consist mostly of correspondence, but also include a few photographs, artwork in the form of sketches, and printed material.  There is also one file relating to Holmes' affiliation with the Washington Water Color Club.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: William Henry Holmes (1846-1933) was a curator, museum director, artist, scientific illustrator, archaeologist, geologist, and anthropologist.  He served in various positions in the Smithsonian Institution, and finally as director of the Smithsonian's National Gallery of Art (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum) from 1920-1932.  

Holmes was born in Harrison County, Ohio in 1846.  In 1870, he graduated from McNeely Normal School in Ohio and, after a short time of teaching at that school, moved to Washington, D.C. in 1871 to study art under Theodore Kaufmann.  Thanks to his artistic skills, he was soon hired by Smithsonian paleontologist Francis B. Meek to do scientific drawings.  In 1872, Holmes joined the geological survey of Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, as an artist and topographer of the survey of Yellowstone National Park and surrounding area, and other regions in the west.  In 1879, Holmes went to work for the newly founded U.S. Geological Survey.  There he worked as a geologist and chief of scientific illustration.  In addition to art and geology, his interests and expertise expanded into archaeology and anthropology.  

Holmes worked as chief curator at the Field Columbian Museum (now the Field Museum of Natural History) in Chicago before returning to the Smithsonian in 1897, where he served as curator of anthropology and chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology.  In 1910, he became chairman of the Division of Anthropology.  In 1920, Holmes became director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Gallery of Art (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum), a position he held until 1932.  William Henry Holmes died one year later.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.2 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1879-1955
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.holmwill
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Sketches
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: This collection is arranged as 1 series.

Series 1: Artists' Files, 1879-1955 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Portions of the collection were microfilmed onto reels 2227 and 5438 after receipt.  The collection was processed and prepared for digitization by Rihoko Ueno in 2017 with funding provided by The Walton Family Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: This collection was digitized in 2017 and is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketches
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The artists' files of William Henry Holmes, curator and director of the Smithsonian's National Collection of Fine Arts (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum) in Washington, D.C., measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1879 to 1955.  The artists' files consist mostly of correspondence, but also include a few photographs, artwork in the form of sketches, and printed material.  There is also one file relating to Holmes' affiliation with the Washington Water Color Club.

Notable artists represented in the files include R.N. Brooke, William B. P. Closson, James Earle Fraser, Vinnie Ream Hoxie, Reuben Le Grand Johnston, John LaFarge, Gari Melchers, Thomas Moran, Henry Moser, Hobart Nichols, Violet Oakley, Joseph Pennell, Joseph Henry Sharp, Mary Vaux Walcott, Carl F. Weller, Max Weyl, Irving R. Wiles and George Julian Zolnay.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Collections about William Henry Holmes are also located at other Smithsonian Institution archival units, including the National Anthropological Archives and Smithsonian Institution Archives.