John B. Walker Cut-Outs Collection
name: label: Artist
content: Walker, John Brown, 1815-1908
label: Collector
content: Coats, Helen Hotchkiss
place: label: Place
content: Kentucky
label: Place
content: Michigan
label: Place
content: Ohio
label: Place
content: Pennsylvania
label: Place
content: Indiana
topic: label: Occupation
content: Folk artists -- United States
label: Topic
content: Cutwork
label: Topic
content: Artisans
label: Topic
content: Folk art
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Mrs. Helen H. Coats, 1986, December 2.
creator: label: Artist
content: Walker, John Brown, 1815-1908
label: Collector
content: Coats, Helen Hotchkiss
abstract: label: Summary
content: John B. Walker was an itinerant artist who made paper cut-out designs that he sent to his friends as presents, decorations, and commemorations. His collection did not come to light until the early 1960s in Geauga County, Ohio.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: A collection of the cutwork of itinerant John Brown Walker came to light in Geauga County, Ohio in the early 1960s.  Walker had been making his living cutting fancy paper designs in rural areas of Pennsylvania, northeastern Ohio, Indiana and Michigan in the last decades of the 19th century.

Except for the record in Mason, Michigan, of his death on November 12, 1908 in the Ingham County Poor House, all information now known about Walker comes from his designs and his words in greetings he sent to friends in Geauga County, Ohio.  In his last written letter of December 24, 1907, he said he was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania on March 25, 1815.  

Helen Hotchkiss Coats and her sister, Hilda Hotchkiss Hosmer, preserved more than 100 pieces of his work.  These items were created for three generations of the Phillips Hotchkiss family of Burton Township in the years from 1880 1907.  His letters indicated that, although an itinerant, Walker was a participant in the life of the areas where he worked by his inquiries about the community, crops, and individuals.

During his last 20 25 years, he traveled through Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Indiana making and selling family records.

Eighty years after he had cut a greeting and written a verse for her, Nettie Shanower remembered Walker as "a medium large man with a long white beard"   the only description of his appearance.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.33 Cubic feet (1 Box)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1815-1908
container: label: Container
content: Box 1
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0249
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Stencils
label: Type
content: Designs
label: Type
content: Letters (correspondence)
label: Type
content: Cutouts
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Barbara Kemp, 1987
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Stencils
label: Genre/Form
content: Designs
label: Genre/Form
content: Letters (correspondence) -- 1900-1950
label: Genre/Form
content: Letters (correspondence) -- 1850-1900
label: Genre/Form
content: Cutouts
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: John Brown Walker made paper cut out designs for friends and acquaintances and perhaps for some profit.  These cut outs were used for presentation, decoration, and commemoration and can best be characterized as folk artistry.

Walker's work includes graceful scrolls, birds, leaves, rimes and hearts all reflecting a Pennsylvania Dutch influence.  He was a highly skilled craftsman   a warm, friendly person with a sense of humor and a strong religious faith which are reflected in his cut outs and stencils. 

The personalized cut outs and rimes were created for Helen Hotchkiss and members of her family.  There is no indication for whom the general works were done.

Much of this information comes from: "Your Wellwisher, J.B. Walker"; a Midwestern Paper Cut Out Artist   an exhibition of his work at the Museum, Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, 1979.  Catalog of 57 pages.