Anna Coleman Ladd papers, ca. 1881-1950

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A Finding Aid to the Anna Coleman Ladd Papers, 1881-1950, in the Archives of American Art, by Jean Fitzgerald

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Table of Contents:

• Biographical Information
• Overview of the Collection
• How to Use the Collection
• Detailed Description and Container Inventory

Biographical Information

Born in 1878 in Philadelphia to John and Mary Watts, Anna Coleman Ladd (née Watts) was educated in private schools and Europe. She also studied in American under Charles Grafly.

She moved to Boston in 1905 and married Boston pediatrician Maynard Ladd. Working in her studio on Clarendon Street, Ladd became one of the city's most prolific sculptors, creating fountain pieces, portrait busts, memorials, and reliefs in addition to authoring two novels, Hieronymus Rides in 1912, and The Candid Adventurer in 1913.

Between 1907 and 1915 Ladd had solo exhibitions at the Gorham Gallery in New York, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., and at the Pennsylvania Academy in Philadelphia. She was also invited to exhibit her bronzes at the Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. In 1914 she executed a bronze statuette of Eleanora Duse for which the actress posed, and later completed portrait busts of Anna Pavlova and Ethel Barrimore.

In late 1917 in Paris, Ladd founded the American Red Cross Studio for Portrait-Masks to provide cosmetic masks to be worn by men who had been badly disfigured in World War I. Her services earned her the Légion d'Honneur Crois de Chevalier and the Serbian Order of Saint Sava.

For many years, Ladd maintained a summer studio "Arden" at Beverly Farms in Manchester, Massachusetts. In 1923, she received an honorary degree of Master of Arts from Tufts College.

Anna Coleman Ladd died June 3, 1939 in Santa Barbara, California.

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Overview of the Collection

Scope and Contents

The papers of sculptor Anna Coleman Ladd measure 4.2 linear feet and date from 1881 to 1950. Found within the papers are biographical material, scattered letters primarily from family members and friends, diaries containing brief daily annotations, financial material including miscellaneous receipts and an account book for her husband Dr. Maynard Ladd, notes and writings including notebooks on various subjects and typescripts for Ladd's book Hieronymus Rides, art work by Ladd and others, scrapbooks containing photographs, typescripts, and clippings, miscellaneous printed material, and photographs of Ladd, her family, friends, and art work. There is also a file concerning the American Red Cross Studio for Portrait-Masks containing letters, notes and writings, a scrapbook, and photographs documenting Ladd's creation of cosmetic masks to be worn by soldiers badly disfigured during World War I.

Arrangement and Series Description

The collection has been organized into 10 series. All series are arranged chronologically. Oversized material from various series has been housed in Box 6 (Sol) and OV 7, and is noted in the Series Descriptions/Container Listing section at the appropriate folder title with see also/see references.

• Series 1: Biographical Material, 1910-1950, undated (Box 1; 4 folders)
• Series 2: Letters, 1895-1937, undated (Box 1-2; 1.1 linear feet)
• Series 3: Diaries, 1903-1912 (Box 2; 2 folders)
• Series 4: Financial Material, 1899-1934, undated (Box 2; 6 folders)
• Series 5: Notes and Writings, 1888-1949, undated (Box 2, 6, OV 7; 44 folders)
• Series 6: Art Work, 1901-1928, undated (Box 2, 6, OV 7; 8 folders)
• Series 7: American Red Cross Studio for Portrait-Masks File, 1914-1925 (Box 2-3, 6; 12 folders)
• Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1900-1940 (Box 3; 17 folders)
• Series 9: Printed Material, 1889-1942, undated (Box 3, 6, OV 7; 55 folders)
• Series 10: Photographs, 1881-1932, undated (Box 4-6; 49 folders)

Subjects and Names

Provenance

The Anna Coleman Ladd papers were donated in 1991 by William Terry on behalf of Robert Edwards, a friend of Anna Coleman Ladd.

How the Collection was Processed

The papers were processed by Jean Fitzgerald in December 2005.

How to Use the Collection

Restrictions on Use

The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. research facility.

Ownership & Literary Rights

The Anna Coleman Ladd papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

How to Cite this Collection

Anna Coleman Ladd papers, 1881-1950. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

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Detailed Description and Container Inventory

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1910-1950, undated (Box 1; 4 folders)

This series includes biographical and genealogical notes for Anna Coleman Ladd and the Ladd family. There are also membership and award certificates.

Series 2: Letters, 1895-1937, undated (Box 1-2; 1.1 linear feet)

Letters are primarily from family members and friends including Countess Nora Balzani, Dr. Bindo de Vecchio, and painter Gabriella Fabbricotti. There are a few letters each from colleagues Emil Ahlborn, William Aldrich, Frances F. Brundage, Ralph Adams Cram, Willard Cummings, John Ettl, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Charles Grafly, Lilian Westcott Hale, Philip Leslie Hale, Natalie Hays Hammond, J. Scott Hartley, Malvina Hoffman, Anna Vaughn Hyatt, Leila Mechlin, Violet Oakley, Albin Polasek, Bertha Potter, Janet Scudder, Thomas Mott Shaw, Lorado Taft, and Rosamond Tudor. There are also letters from activists Elisabeth Achelis, Florence Peshine Eagleton, and Gabrielle Enthoven, actors Julie Opp Faversham, William Faversham, Frances Starr, and Gilda Varesi, composer Louisa P. Loring, dancers Beate Bolm, Michio Ito, and Anna Pavolva, and writers James Bryce, Maud Howe Elliott, Eirene Mungo-Park, Romain Rolland, Porter Sargent, Jessie Eldridge Southwick, and Riccardo Tramontano.

Series 3: Diaries, 1903-1912 (Box 2; 2 folders)

The diaries contain brief annotations describing Ladd's daily activities. The diary dated 1903-1905 also contains a list of relief sculpture. The other diary has a hand-worked suede cover, and primarily annotates daily activities in 1911. There is also a page of annotations describing activities dating from January 20 to 27, 1912, with an additional page listing names.

Series 4: Financial Material, 1899-1934, undated (Box 2; 6 folders)

Financial material consists of receipts for the sale of art work and for travel, stock certificates for the Alliance Oil Company, and a promissory note and account book relating to Maynard Ladd's medical practice.

Series 5: Notes and Writings, 1888-1949, undated (Box 2, 6, OV 7; 44 folders)

In addition to miscellaneous lists, this series includes notebooks and typescripts. Notebook 1 primarily contains lists of mythological and allegorical characters. Notebook 2 contains historical notes, listings of Italian authors and painters, poems, clippings, three drawings, and an illustrated letter. Notebook 3 contains notes from a class in composition. Notebook 4 contains lists of friends' names and records poems.

The guest register contains autographs of William Aldrich, Senator Albert J. Beveridge, Gabriella Fabbricotti, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Philip Leslie Hale, John Hays Hammond, Marie Danforth Page, Agnes Repplier, John Singer Sargent, Frances Starr. There are two small hand-made books by Anna Coleman Watts and Gabriella Fabbricotta. Miscellaneous poems include the poem "Hymn for Easter" by Dorothy Grafly.

Series 6: Art Work, 1901-1928, undated (Box 2, 6, OV 7; 8 folders)

Art work consists of sketchbooks, drawings, and a small plaster relief sculpture by Anna Coleman Ladd. Art work by others includes a drawing of Mademoiselle Monnier by E. Briant, a watercolor sketch by E. Hunter, and a cut-out silhouette of a woman.

Series 7: American Red Cross Studio for Portrait-Masks File, 1914-1925 (Box 2-3, 6; 12 folders)

This series contains material relating to Ladd's services to aid soldiers badly disfigured during World War I. Ladd established a studio in Paris in which she fashioned cosmetic masks to be worn by soldiers with terrible facial wounds. The notes and writings include a small notebook of price lists for sculpture. The scrapbook contains letters, clippings, and photographs of Maynard Ladd in the trenches and of disfigured soldiers both with and without their masks.

Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1900-1940 (Box 3; 17 folders)

Scrapbook 1 primarily contains photographs, clippings, and postcards showing works of art and architecture. Scrapbook 2 contains photographs of Ladd and her work, notes and writings, and clippings. Scrapbook 3 contains photographs of art work, typescript "Jesus and the Sleeping Child," a booklet, and clippings.

Series 9: Printed Material, 1889-1942, undated (Box 3, 6, OV 7; 55 folders)

Printed material includes clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, programs, prospectuses, posters, brochures, autographed menus, booklets, and books. The programs are from Salisbury Cathedral, the Park Theatre, and Vassar College. The posters primarily reflect World War I topics including warnings against gas bombs. Brochures are primarily for lectures by Ladd. The menu dated 1921 is autographed by Cass Gilbert and Alfred Harding, Bishop of Washington. Books Meditations in Verse and Sundial Mottoes are autographed by the authors. Miscellaneous printed material includes engravings of anatomical diagrams.

Series 10: Photographs, 1881-1932, undated (Box 4-6; 49 folders)

Photographs are of Anna Coleman Ladd, her family, friends, colleagues, her summer studio at Beverly Farms, Manchester, Massachusetts, her art work, and the art work of others. There is an autographed photo of Italian poet Giosuè Carducci, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1906. Photographs of art work include an image of Ladd's work autographed by Bela Lyon Pratt. There is also a photograph of sculptor John Ettl in his studio. Additional photographs are found in Scrapbooks and Ladd's file on her portrait masks.