Betty Carpenter papers
name: label: Creator
content: Carpenter, Betty
label: Names
content: Frost, J. O. J. (John Orne Johnson), 1852-1928
label: Names
content: Lothrop, George E., Jr.
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art historians -- Massachusetts
label: Occupation
content: Biographers -- Massachusetts
label: Occupation
content: Collectors -- Massachusetts
label: Topic
content: Art -- Collectors and collecting
label: Topic
content: Women art historians
label: Topic
content: Marine painting
label: Topic
content: Folk art
label: Topic
content: Primitivism in art -- United States
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated 1972 by Peter Carpenter.
creator: label: Creator
content: Carpenter, Betty
setName: label: See more items in
content: Betty Carpenter papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of Betty Carpenter measure 2.8 linear feet and date from circa 1867-1971, with the bulk from 1927-1963. The papers document Betty Carpenter's extensive research of John Orne Johnson (J.O.J) Frost and George E. Lothrop, the primitive style painters whose work she collected. Included are: drafts, notes and manuscripts of Carpenter's unpublished book on Frost; primary source material including letters from Frost to his grandchildren, copies of articles by Frost; photographs of Frost, his family and paintings; scrapbooks compiled by Carpenter and Frost, respectively; exhibition catalogs; printed material such as newspaper clippings on Frost and his hometown Marblehead, Massachusetts; notes on George E. Lothrop and photographs of his paintings.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Betty Carpenter, was an art historian, biographer and collector from Massachusetts. Her collection comprised the work of Massachusetts folk artists John Orne Johnson and George E. Lothrop. In 1943 Carpenter and her husband began collecting Frost's work from his son Frank Frost. From there Mrs. Carpenter developed friendships with Frost's family and in 1948 she helped arrange an exhibition of Frost's work (along with George Lothrop's) at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.

In addition to collecting the work of these two artists, Carpenter gathered primary source material, such as Frost's scrapbooks and diaries, as well as utilizing secondary sources; this, exclusively, in the case of George E. Lothrop on whom information was rather more limited; for the purpose of compiling biographies of the two. After both Carpenter and her husband had died, the art collection was sold at auction and the reposit of the source materials facilitated by an agent of the auction house. The source material, through Parke-Bernet, was eventually given to the Archives.

John Orne Johnson Frost (1852-1928), also known and self referred to as J.O.J Frost, was a self taught artist from Marblehead, Massachusetts. Originally a fisherman and restaurant owner, Frost only began to paint and sculpt at after his first wife Annie Frost's death in 1919. His naive style paintings depict scenes from his youth at sea, and the history of Marblehead and how it developed from its early wilderness beginnings through the American Revolution and the Civil War. George Lothrop (1967-1939), was from Dighton, Massachusetts and also began painting later in life. Lothrop was highly interested in poetry and theater, but by trade worked as a wood carpenter at a piano factory where he would carve frames for many of his paintings. He held a second job as a night security guard at the Howard Watch Company, which is where he did most of his painting. Many of his works are of fanciful or mythical scenes in oil.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2.8 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1867-1971
label: Date
content: bulk 1927-1963
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.carpbett
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The Collection is arranged as eight series. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.

Series 1: Correspondence, 1912-1968 (0.4 Linear feet: Box 1)

Series 2: Writings, circa 1868-1966 (1.1 Linear feet: Box 1-2)

Series 3: Exhibition Files, 1948-1949 (1 Folder: Box 2)

Series 4: Personal Business, 1943-1964 (6 Folders: Box 2)

Series 5: Printed Material, 1902-1971 (0.5 Linear feet: Box 2)

Series 6: Scrapbooks, circa 1868-1954 (0.5 Linear feet: Box 3)

Series 7: Photographic Material, circa 1852-1965 (0.4 Linear feet: Box 3-4, MGP4)

Series 8: Artwork, circa 1939-1950 (2 Folders: Box 4)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed, and a finding aid prepared by Sabine Lipten in 2023.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of Betty Carpenter measure 2.8 linear feet and date from circa 1867-1971, with the bulk from 1927-1963. The papers document Betty Carpenter's extensive research of John Orne Johnson Frost and George E. Lothrop, the primitive style painters whose work she collected. Materials included are correspondence related to Carpenter as well as the Frost Family. Betty Carpenter's letters are with museums, historical societies, publishers, and writers regarding the selling, loaning, book planning and exhibitioning of art work by J.O.J Frost and George Lothrop. There are also letters from the Frost family to Carpenter discussing both J.O.J Frost's life as well as matters of Carpenter's personal friendship with the family. The Frost Family correspondence is comprised of letters from J.O.J Frost to his granddaughters Ethelyn Frost Flagg and Irena Frost Greatorex as well as letters from J.O.J Frost's son Frank A. Frost to his daughter Ethelyn; and miscellaneous letters to J.O.J Frost. Writings primarily consist of manscripts and notes related to catalogs and an unpublished biography on Frost that Carpenter was working on. Additional writings include essays and notes by J.O.J Frost, biographical notes on George Lothrop and notes on American folk art. Also found are exhibition files; personal business records such as expense receipts and documenation of a probate court trial related to the ownership of some of Frost's work; scrapbooks respectively complied by Carpenter and Frost. Printed material such as newspaper clippings and exhibition ephemera, photographs and negatives of Frost, his home and artwork as well as photographs and negatives of Lothrop's paintings. Additionally, there is an artwork series which contains 35 figurative pencil sketches signed "IL Prado", an unidenfied pen and ink sketch and a pen sketch sent to Carpenter on an unsigned postcard.