Charles Henry Hart autograph collection
name: label: Creator
content: Hart, Charles Henry, 1847-1918
label: Names
content: Anshutz, Thomas Pollock, 1851-1912
label: Names
content: Audubon, John James, 1785-1851
label: Names
content: Chase, William Merritt, 1849-1916
label: Names
content: Church, Frederic Edwin, 1826-1900
label: Names
content: Copley, John Singleton, 1738-1815
label: Names
content: Cox, Kenyon, 1856-1919
label: Names
content: Eakins, Thomas, 1844-1916
label: Names
content: McEntee, Jervis, 1828-1891
label: Names
content: Morse, Samuel Finley Breese, 1791-1872
label: Names
content: Peale, Charles Willson, 1741-1827
label: Names
content: Peale, Raphaelle, 1774-1825
label: Names
content: Peale, Rembrandt, 1778-1860
label: Names
content: Peale, Rubens, 1784-1865
label: Names
content: Peale, Titian Ramsay, 1799-1885
label: Names
content: Smillie, James David, 1833-1909
label: Names
content: Stuart, Gilbert, 1755-1828
label: Names
content: Sully, Thomas, 1783-1872
label: Names
content: Thayer, Abbott Handerson, 1849-1921
label: Names
content: Vanderlyn, John, 1775-1852
label: Names
content: Vedder, Elihu, 1836-1923
label: Names
content: Ward, John Quincy Adams, 1830-1910
label: Names
content: West, Benjamin, 1738-1820
label: Names
content: Whistler, James McNeill, 1834-1903
topic: label: Topic
content: Autographs -- Collections
label: Topic
content: Artists -- United States -- Portraits
label: Topic
content: Autographs -- Collectors and collecting
label: Topic
content: Artists -- United States -- Autographs
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Charles Henry Hart autograph collection was donated to the Archives of American Art in 1954 as an anonymous gift.  It is assumed that Hart assembled the letters.  Original collation was two letterbooks entitled "The History of Art in America as Told in a Remarkable Collection of Autograph Letters and Documents of Celebrated American Artists of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Century." Six additional items were donated in 2021 by Ty West, who found the compiled material among his grandfather-in-law's belongings.
creator: label: Creator
content: Hart, Charles Henry, 1847-1918
setName: label: See more items in
content: Charles Henry Hart autograph collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: The Charles Henry Hart autograph collection dates from 1731-1917 and measures 1.71 linear feet comprised of circa 230 letters, portrait prints, and other documents signed by American artists.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Charles Henry Hart (1847-1918) was a historian, lawyer, writer, and director, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1882-1904. Widely, he published on the subject of 18th and 19th century portraiture in the United States.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1.71 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1731-1918
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.hartchar
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 1 series.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The original letterbooks were microfilmed onto reel D5 after receipt. The bulk of the collection was digitized in circa 2004 and a finding aid was prepared by Jayna Josefson in 2014 with funding from the the Terra Foundation for American Art. Digitized images were linked to the finding aid in 2020 and the addition was digitized in 2025.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: The collection has been digitized and is available on the Archives of American Art website.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The Charles Henry Hart autograph collection dates from 1731-1917 and measures 1.71 linear feet comprised of circa 230 letters, portrait prints, and other documents signed by American artists. 

Originally titled by Hart as "The History of Art in America as Told in a Remarkable Collection of Autograph Letters and Documents of Celebrated American Artists of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Century," the collection includes letters and other items signed by Thomas Anshutz, John J. Audubon, William Merritt Chase, Frederic Edwin Church, John Singleton Copley, Kenyon Cox, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Jervis McEntee, Samuel F.B. Morse, Charles Willson Peale, Raphaelle Peale, Rembrandt Peale, Rubens Peale, Titian Peale, James Daivd Smillie, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully, Abbott Handerson Thayer, John Vanderlyn, Elihu Vedder, John Quincy Adams Ward, Benjamin West, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and many others.

An additional folder of items at the end of the collection includes 3 typed and annotated lists of autographs of artists in the Hart collection, and an 1892 Winslow Homer letter.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: The Archives of American Art also holds the personal papers of Charles Henry Hart, dating from 1774-1930, bulk 1888-1918.

Papers of Charles Henry Hart, 1888-1894, are also located at The New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts.