Biographical Material and Other Papers
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Spencer, Lilly Martin, 1822-1902
setName: label: See more items in
content: Lilly Martin Spencer papers
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.3 Linear Feet (Box 1, OV 3)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1853-1959
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.spenlill, Series 1
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: This series is digitized in entirety.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: In addition to biographical material this series contains scattered documentation relating to different aspects of Spencer's life and career. There are five calling cards and a card with Spencer's signature; a certificate for a silver medal awarded for Spencer's painting Power of Fashion; exhibition invitations and tickets including a member's ticket to the 1860 National Academy of Design annual exhibition, and Spencer's identity card for the 1876 International Exhibition in Philadelphia; and legal documentation of Spencer's 1857 purchase of real estate in Newark, New Jersey, and a document granting power of attorney in 1901. 


A folder of notes and writings by Spencer includes an 1858 list of her pictures for a raffle, a poem about her Hudson River home, and a fragment of a notebook with a "List of subscribers" for a photograph of Spencer's painting, Truth Unveiling Falsehood. Records related to Spencer's membership in the professional women's association, Sorosis, include documentation of her election as a member in 1869, and invitations to events. Records relating to Truth Unveiling Falsehood include published descriptions of the painting, a poem and a letter written by unidentified people in response to the picture, and a photograph of the painting by A. J. Daniels of London, England, where it was probably sold by Spencer's daughter, Lilly Spencer Redding, circa 1914. Also found is a lithograph by A. Sirouy.

Other posthumous records include a folder of receipts for storage of Spencer's paintings in various warehouses; and records related to Campus Martius Museum, including a list of Spencer's records given to the museum by the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society in Columbus, Ohio; a typescript of "examples of work to be on display" at the museum including transcribed letters and printed material relating to Spencer; and genealogical notes on the Martin family.