Sketchbooks and Drawings
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Tam, Reuben
setName: label: See more items in
content: Reuben Tam papers
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2.2 Linear Feet (Boxes 7, 9-10, OV 11, Boxes 12-13, OV 14)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1936-1975
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.tamreub, Series 7
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The material in this series has been loosely grouped by medium and format (drawings, portraits, prints, sketchbooks, etc.).  The sketchbooks have been arranged chronologically.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: The bulk of this series has been digitized, except for blank pages.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: This series includes Reuben Tam's drawings, watercolors, prints, and two drawings by others, but the bulk of the materials consist of Tam's sketchbooks. Some of these works are from Tam's student days at the University of Hawaii. Seventeen large sketchbooks contain Tam's pencil, ink, and watercolor sketches of the rocky landscapes of Monhegan Island, Maine. Most of the New York sketchbooks contain abstract drawings, possibly preliminary sketches for paintings, rather than landscapes. Other locations depicted in the sketchbooks include Provincetown, Massachusetts; Maui and (possibly) Kauai, Hawaii; Mystic, Connecticut; Ontario, Canada; and places in Oregon and Alaska. Many of the sketchbooks also include scattered poems, notes, and journal entries. Drawings by others include one pastel portrait, possibly of Tam, is by an unidentified artist, and one sketch by Geraldine Tam is titled "Reuben Tam Typing."