Gladys Nelson Smith Papers
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Smith, Gladys Nelson, 1890-1980
setName: label: See more items in
content: Gladys Nelson Smith papers
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1.2 Linear Feet (Boxes 1-2)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1891-1989
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.smitglad, Series 1
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Biographical materials consist of compiled material and writings by Josephine Nelson on Gladys Nelson Smith and their father, Joseph Kibler Nelson. Material focuses on Smith's early life, health issues, and death and also includes correspondence. Genealogy of the Nelson family focuses on the descendants of Joseph Nelson and Ida May Brown. Also found are Joseph Nelson's recollections of growing up in Cassoday, Kansas, edited by Josephine Nelson. 

Scattered personal correspondence is between Gladys Nelson Smith and her sisters Josephine and Lorraine Nelson. Professional correspondence includes letters from Nelson's art dealers, Marie Witwer in Kansas of The What-Not Shop, the Turner Art Galleries, and the Thurber Galleries. A letter from the Art League of Washington includes a membership card. 

A diary was kept during a trip to Europe in 1930 to 1931 along with a letter from Smith to her parents describing the trip. An exhibition file consists of clippings, price lists, printed material, and correspondence from group and solo exhibitions held in Kansas and around Washington, D.C.. Personal business records include an agreement with Thurber Galleries, scattered pricelists, and sales records. 

Photographs depict Smith, the Nelson family, and friends as well as homes and farms, and works of art. Writings are by Gladys Nelson Smith and includes a notebook with notes about handicrafts such as rugs and frames, poetry, and short stories. Short stories may also include correspondence with publishers and editors and many are based on her experiences as a painter. Also found are stories written by Archer Grantin. It is unclear if this is a pen name or what the relationship is to Nelson or Smith. 

Three textbooks used by Smith as a school girl include painted and pencil sketches of landscapes and small portraits.