John DeWitt papers
name: label: Creator
content: DeWitt, John, 1910-1984
label: Names
content: America 1976 (1976-1978: Washington, D.C.)
label: Names
content: American artist and water reclamation (1973: Washington, D.C.)
label: Names
content: Hereward Lester Cooke Foundation
label: Names
content: United States. Bureau of Reclamation
label: Names
content: Celmins, Vija, 1938-
label: Names
content: Dodd, Lamar
label: Names
content: Magafan, Ethel, 1915 or 1916-1993
label: Names
content: McCoy, Ann Wyeth
label: Names
content: Raffael, Joseph, 1933-
topic: label: Occupation
content: Arts administrators -- Washington (D.C.)
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The John DeWitt papers were donated in 1987 by DeWitt's widow, Miriam Hapgood DeWitt.
creator: label: Creator
content: DeWitt, John, 1910-1984
setName: label: See more items in
content: John DeWitt papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The scattered papers of federal arts administrator John DeWitt date from 1962-1979, and measure 1.4 linear feet. The collection primarily documents 1970s arts programs sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, an agency of the Department of the Interior. Found within the papers are correspondence concerning the department's art projects and exhibition files for The American Artist and Water Reclamation, 1972,  and America 1976.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: John DeWitt was born in 1910 and was a wood sculptor and federal arts administrator in Washingon, D.C. 

DeWitt began his career as a professional writer and was a wood sculptor connected with the Veerhoff Gallery in Washington, D.C. His wife, Miriam Hapgood DeWitt, was a painter. In the late 1960s, DeWitt was the Director of Art Programs for the Bureau of Reclamation, an agency of the Department of Interior responsible for water conservation in arid regions of the United States. At this time, the Bureau initiated a program to present its accomplishments to the public through arts commissions and exhibitions. Under the direction of DeWitt and Lloyd Goodrich of the Whitney Museum of American Art, some 40 artists including Ralston Crawford, Peter Hurd, and Norman Rockwell, were invited to depict the scope of reclamation projects in the American West. The artists were given a free hand to depict any scene in any medium as long as the subject matter pertained to the Bureau of Reclamation's program. The resulting artwork was displayed in an exhibition, The American Artist and Water Reclamation, that opened at the National Gallery of Art in April 1972, and then toured the country in a traveling exhibition sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution.

As the Director of the Visual Arts Program for the Department of the Interior, DeWitt celebrated the Bicentennial by organizing the exhibition America 1976, for which he hired over forty realist painters including Vija Celmins, Ralston Crawford, Alex Katz, Philip Pearlstein, and Wayne Thiebaud, to depict a diverse range of Americana. DeWitt was employed by the Department of the Interior until 1977.

John DeWitt died in 1984.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1.4 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1962-1979
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.dewijohn
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 3 series; each series is arranged chronologically.

Series 1: Correspondence, 1965-1979 (Box 1; 10 folders)

Series 2: Exhibition Files, 1962-1978 (Box 1, 2; 1.3 linear feet)

Series 3: Photographs, 1970-1974 (Box 2; 1 folder)
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
scopecontent: label: Scope and Content Note
content: The scattered papers of federal arts administrator John DeWitt date from 1962-1979, and measure 1.4 linear feet. The collection primarily documents 1970s arts programs organized by DeWitt while working for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, an agency of the Department of the Interior. Found within the papers are scattered correspondence concerning the department's art projects, including the Preservation of Endangered Species Art Program and activities of the Hereward Lester Cooke Foundation. There are letters from artists Vija Celmins, Lamar Dodd, and Ethel Magafan. 

Files for the two exhibitions organized by DeWitt for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, The American Artist and Water Reclamation and America 1976, include a wide variety of materials. There are correspondence, lists of artwork, printed materials, a scrapbook, financial materials, audio recordings of interviews with DeWitt, audio recordings of a symposium on America 1976, and numerous photographs of exhibited artwork and participating artists. There are also additional photographs of DeWitt and his colleagues and artists Joseph Raffael and Ann Wyeth McCoy.