Project Files
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Beach, Chester, 1881-1956
setName: label: See more items in
content: Chester Beach papers
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1.6 Linear Feet (Boxes 1-2, 11, OV 12-13)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1846-1999
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.beacches, Series 2
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Materials are arranged alphabetically by artwork title or by name of subject.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: This series has been scanned in its entirety.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Project files document commissions and a few proposals for commissions not awarded, as well as Beach's own projects. The files - some sparse, and others extremely detailed - may include correspondence, financial records, notes, drawings, printed material, and photographs. Photographs are mainly of completed sculpture, but many files also contain views of maquettes, work in progress, and pictures of sitters. Found less frequently are site photographs and pictures of events such as unveilings and dedication ceremonies.

Sun and Earth, Fountain of the Waters, and Zodiac produced for the Fine Art Gardens of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Edward W. Bok Memorial in Mountain Lake, Florida, are among Beach's most extensively documented commissions. These projects were done in conjunction with Frederick Law Olmsted, and their respective files contain correspondence with Olmsted and members of his firm.

Other well-documented projects of note are: Riders of the Elements, commissioned for the 1939 New York World's Fair; Brewster (NY) Civil War Monument, Crosby Post #302, with documentation of its late 20th century restoration; six busts commissioned for the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, 1924-1932; and portrait busts, President William Henry Harrison for the Virginia State Capitol and Senator Oscar W. Underwood for the United States Capitol. The project file for The Legend of Archmere contains numerous finished drawings.

Nineteenth century items consist of a few publications and prints used as reference sources for portraits. Posthumous material in these files was added by Eleanor Beach Fitchen who ran the Chester Beach Memorial Studio, acted as the estate's sales agent, and maintained her father's archive.