Allan Randall Freelon papers
name: label: Creator
content: Freelon, Allan Randall, 1895-1960
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
label: Occupation
content: Educators -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
label: Topic
content: African American artists
label: Topic
content: African American painters
label: Topic
content: African American educators
label: Topic
content: Impressionism (Art)
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Allan Randall Freelon papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 2019 by Nnenna and Maya Freelon as part of the Archives' African American Collecting Initiative funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. Nnenna is the widow of Phil Freelon, Allan Randall Freelon's grandson. Maya Freelon is Nnenna and Phil's daughter.
creator: label: Creator
content: Freelon, Allan Randall, 1895-1960
setName: label: See more items in
content: Allan Randall Freelon papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of African American painter and educator Allan Randall Freelon, who was based in Pennsylvania, measure 4.4 linear feet and date from 1830 to 2018. The collection contains biographical material, including appointment books and family history material; correspondence; writings; material related to professional activities, including exhibitions and school visits; personal business records, including estate records; printed material; scrapbooks; photographic material; and artwork and artifacts.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Allan Randall Freelon Sr. (1895-1960) was painter and educator in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania known for his impressionist paintings.  

Freelon studied at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts), the University of Pennsylvania, and the Tyler School of Art of Temple University. He also spent summers studying painting with Hugh Breckenridge in Gloucester, Massachusetts.  

His work was included in exhibitions at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, traveling exhibitions with the William E. Harmon Foundation, the Albright-Knox Gallery, the National Gallery of Art, the Howard University Gallery of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He was also one of seven Black artists included in the exhibition Art Commentary on Lynching, organized by the NAACP.

Freelon married Marie Cuyjet in 1918 and they had one son Allan Randall Freelon Jr. Freelon and Cuyjet eventually divorced and Freelon married Mary Kouzmanoff.

Freelon taught art in the Philadelphia public school system and in 1921 was appointed as assistant director of art education. In 1939 he was named the special assistant to the director of art in the Philadelphia public schools. Freelon also taught painting at Windy Crest, his studio in Telford, Pennsylvania, where he passed away in 1960.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 4.4 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1830-2018
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.freealla
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Diaries
label: Type
content: Drawings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: This collection is arranged as nine series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1919, circa 1938-2001 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1878-2010 (Box 1; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings, 1879-1880, 1922-1959 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 4: Professional Activities, circa 1935-1957, 2000-2005 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 5: Personal Business Records, 1856-1957, 1995-2018 (Boxes 1-2, OV 6; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1849-2015 (Box 2, Box 4; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1923-1960 (Box 2, Boxes 4-5; 0.7 linear feet)

Series 8: Photographic Material, circa 1880-circa 2006 (Boxes 2-3, Box 5, OV 6, MGP 6, Box 7; 1.6 linear feet)

Series 9: Artwork and Artifacts, circa 1912-circa 1960 (Box 3; 0.2 linear feet)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Rayna Andrews in 2021 with funding from the Henry Luce Foundation. The collection was fully processed and prepared for digitization by Rihoko Ueno in 2023 with funding provided by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: The bulk of the collection was digitized in 2023 and is available on the Archives of American Art website. The nitrate negatives in the photographic materials series have not been digitized.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Diaries
label: Genre/Form
content: Drawings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of African American painter and educator Allan Randall Freelon, who was based in Pennsylvania, measure 4.4 linear feet and date from 1830 to 2018. The collection contains biographical material, including appointment books and family history material; correspondence; writings; material related to professional activities, including exhibitions and school visits; personal business records, including estate records; printed material; scrapbooks; photographic material; and artwork and artifacts.  

Biographical material include address lists, certificates, appointment books, and family history material. 

Correspondence includes a mixture of personal and professional correspondence with families, friends, galleries, museusm, and and Philadelphia area schools. 

Writings consist of Freelon's MFA thesis, notes and notecards. There is also a fair amount of writings by others, such as essays, poems, reports, and even a travel diary from 1879-1880 by someone with the initials "I. J. G." 

Materials related to professional activities include exhibition, project, and committee files. There are also assorted materials related to Freelon's work as the Art Director for Philadelphia public schools. 

Also included are personal business records, which contain estate records (which includes a audiovisual recording), auction records, condition reports, inventories, property records, and sale records.

Printed material consists of clippings, magazines, newsletters, and exhibition catalogs and announcements. 

There are three scrapbooks, which primarily contains a mixture of photographic material, correspondence, and printed material. 

Photographic materials include slides, photographs, and negatives of Freelon, his paintings, studio, friends and family, and various other location. 

Artwork and artifacts include sketchbooks, sketches, and one souvenir spoon from the Sesqui-Centennial Exposition of 1926.