Livingston L. Biddle, Jr. papers
name: label: Creator
content: Biddle, Livingston, 1918-2002
label: Names
content: Bryn Mawr College
label: Names
content: Fordham University
label: Names
content: National Endowment for the Arts
label: Names
content: Alexander, Jane
label: Names
content: Asawa, Ruth
label: Names
content: Biddle, Catharina Baart, 1912-2005
label: Names
content: Carter, Jimmy, 1924-
label: Names
content: Davis, R. A.
label: Names
content: Drexel, Katharine Mary, Saint, 1858-1955
label: Names
content: Edwards, Bob, 1947-
label: Names
content: Glenn, John, 1905-
label: Names
content: Hammer, Armand, 1898-1990
label: Names
content: Hanks, Nancy
label: Names
content: Jessup, Peter, 1958-
label: Names
content: Johnson, Lady Bird, 1912-2007
label: Names
content: Kennedy, Edward M. (Edward Moore), 1932-2009
label: Names
content: King, Susan
label: Names
content: Lawrence, Jacob, 1917-2000
label: Names
content: Maxwell, Barb
label: Names
content: Mondale, Walter F., 1928-
label: Names
content: O'Connor, Sandra Day, 1930-
label: Names
content: Oliphant, Pat, 1935-
label: Names
content: Pell, Claiborne, 1918-2009
label: Names
content: Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008
label: Names
content: Rosenquist, James, 1933-
label: Names
content: Rostropovich, Mstislav, 1927-2007
label: Names
content: Schieffer, Bob
label: Names
content: Scholder, Fritz, 1937-2005
label: Names
content: Temple, Louann
label: Names
content: Watson, Howard N.
topic: label: Occupation
content: Authors -- Washington (D.C.)
label: Occupation
content: Arts administrators -- Washington (D.C.)
label: Topic
content: Art -- Political aspects
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Livingston L. Biddle, Jr. papers were donated in 2013 by Thomas O'Callaghan, a close friend of Biddle's who inherited the papers.
creator: label: Creator
content: Biddle, Livingston, 1918-2002
setName: label: See more items in
content: Livingston L. Biddle, Jr. papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of government arts administrator and novelist Livingston L. Biddle, Jr. (1918-2002) measure 40.2 linear feet and date from circa 1940 to 2002. The papers are comprised of biographical materials, correspondence, interviews, writings, numerous files reflecting his work to establish the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), political committee files, personal legal records, printed materials, scrapbooks, and photographs.  Throughout the collection are video and sound recordings.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Livingston L. Biddle, Jr. (1918-2002) was a federal government arts administrator and novelist active in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. 

Livingston L. Biddle was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in 1918 to a distinguished and wealthy family.  He graduated from Princeton University in 1940.  During World War II, Biddle volunteered as an ambulance driver in Africa for the American Field Services.  

While working as a special assistant to Rhode Island Democratic Senator Claiborne Pell in the 1960s, Biddle drafted the legislation for the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965, which led to the creation of the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) one year later.  Biddle served as deputy chairman of the NEA from 1966 to 1967, as congressional liaison director in 1975, and as chairman from 1977 to 1981. In 1976, he served as director of the Congressional Subcommittee on Education, Arts, and Humanities. 

Also a writer, Biddle wrote four novels, all set in Philadelphia, including Sam Bentley's Island published in 1961. From 1968 to 1970, he was a professor and chairman of Fordham University's arts division.  Biddle also published a non-fiction book about his experiences establishing and working for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) titled Our Government and the Arts: A Perspective from the Inside in 1988. 

Biddle married artist Catharina Baart in 1973 after his first wife, Cordelia Frances Fenton, died in 1972. Biddle died in Washington, D.C. in 2002.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 40.2 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1940-2002
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.biddlivi
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Video recordings
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Sketches
label: Type
content: Diaries
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Manuscripts
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Transcripts
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 11 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1950-2002 (2.5 linear; Box 1-3, 41, OV 43)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1956-2001 (2 linear feet; Boxes 3-5)

Series 3: Interviews, 1978-2002 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 5-6)

Series 4: Writings, 1940-2002 (12 linear feet; Boxes 6-18)

Series 5: National Endowment for the Arts, 1964-2000 (10 linear feet; Boxes 18-27, 42)

Series 6: Committees and Political Campaigns, 1944-2001 (3.5 linear feet; Boxes 27-30)

Series 7: Personal Legal Records, 1952-1986 (1 linear foot; Boxes 30-31)

Series 8: Printed Materials, circa 1950-2000 (3.5 linear feet; Boxes 31-34, 41, OV 44)

Series 9: Scrapbooks, 1970-1998 (0.3 linear feet; Boxes 34, 42)

Series 10: Photographs and Video Recordings, circa 1950-2002 (4.6 linear feet: Boxes 34-40, OV 44)

Series 11: Artwork, 1976-1989 (0.3 linear feet; Box 40, OV 44)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: This collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Sarah Mundy in 2016 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund. The Archives of American Art has implemented accelerated processing when possible to increase information about and access to more of our collections. For this collection, accelerated processing included arrangement to the series, subseries and folder levels, adhering to the creator's original arrangement as much as possible. Generally, folder contents were simply verified with the original folder titles, but items within folders were not arranged further. All materials were rehoused in archival folders and boxes for long-term stability, but staples and other fasteners have not all been removed.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Video recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketches
label: Genre/Form
content: Diaries
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Manuscripts
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Transcripts
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of government arts administrator and novelist Livingston L. Biddle, Jr. (1918-2002) measure 40.2 linear feet and date from circa 1940 to 2002. The papers are comprised of biographical materials, correspondence, interviews, writings, numerous files reflecting his work to establish the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), political committee files, personal legal records, printed materials, scrapbooks, and photographs.  Throughout the collection are video and sound recordings.

Biographical materials consist of awards; diplomas; genealogy records; resumes; and files for Biddle's work at Fordham, his nomination for the National Medal of Arts award, and about his second wife Catharina Baart. Correspondence is with family, friends, and professional and political contacts such as Jane Alexander, President Jimmy Carter, Armand Hammer, Nancy Hanks, Edward Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Sandra Day O'Connor, Claiborne Pell, Robert Rauschenberg, Slava Rostropovich, and others.

Interviews with Biddle include transcripts, four sound recordings, and two video recordings of Biddle with R.A. Davis, Bob Edwards, Peter Jessup, Susan King, Bob Schieffer, and Louann Temple. 

Among the writings are journals, articles, poetry, speech notes, manuscript drafts of Our Government and the Arts: A Perspective from the Inside and Sam Bentley's Island, one video recording of "Art/Work/USA" by Barbara Rose, and one sound recording of a film introduction entitled "The Eagle".  

Files concerning the establishment and early years of the National Endowment of the Arts consist of correspondence; congressional briefing books, committee files, and reports; financial material; drafts of the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965; one sound reel titled "Swearing-In of L.L. Biddle, Jr.," and three video recordings. Additional files concerning Biddle's work for congressional committees and political campaigns include correspondence, meeting agendas and notes, and printed material concerning multiple arts organizations and the political campaigns for Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, and Claiborne Pell.  Family and real estate records, a partnership agreement, and will are in personal legal records. 

Printed materials include booklets, clippings, event invitations and programs, flyers, magazines and journals, and posters autographed by Jacob Lawrence, Fritz Scholder, and John Glenn. Additionally, one commercial sound cassette recordings of National Public Radio's program Performance Today is also found. Two mixed-media scrapbooks contain memorabilia from Biddle's professional life and international travel.  

Photographs are of family, travel, and friends and colleagues at various events. Six video recordings are home movies of Bryn Mawr and documentaries about St. Katherine Drexel. Artwork in the form of pencil and watercolor sketches is by Ruth Asawa Lanier, Barb Maxwell, Pat Oliphant, James Rosenquist, and Howard N. Watson.