James, Alexander, b. 1890 d. 1946

Alexander Robertson James papers, 1893-1983 1914-1946 (bulk dates)

Loan: 49 items (on partial reel of microfilm)
Gift: 3.6 linear ft. (on 7 microfilm reels)
Reel(s): 3828 and 4195-4201

Family and professional correspondence; exhibition and sales records; sketches; sketchbooks; photographs and printed materials documenting the career and activities of Alexander James.

Reel 3828, Loan: Bound volume containing 37 letters from William James to his youngest son, Alexander James, one letter from his mother, Alice Howe Gibbens James, and 11 postcards.

Reels 4195-4201, Gift: A marriage certificate; a genealogy of the James family; autobiographical notes; passports for James and his wife Frederika Paine James; a diary with entries by both James (1907) and his mother (1921); loose pages from diaries kept by James and his wife (intermittent, 1917-1939). Correspondence to and from James family members, including eight letters from his father, William James; letters to and from colleagues, friends, museums, galleries, clients, and posthumous exhibition correspondence. Correspondents include Abbott Handerson Thayer, Rockwell Kent, and Eric Gugler.

There are also biographical notes on Abbott Handerson Thayer; a notebook containing James' description of his gesso techniques; Frederika James' notes on her husband's paintings and her account of a family trip to France; reminiscences of James by Barry Faulkner and Thornton Wilder; exhibition files containing correspondence, lists of works, address lists, guest books, clippings and catalogs (1937-1978); commission files; a card file with information on James' paintings, exhibitions and sales; sketches of landscapes and people including sketches of his father and John Singer Sargent.

Five sketchbooks (one too faint to film); an oil study of his father; three watercolors of Giverny, France; three pigment studies (unfilmed); 12 woodcuts by Julius J. Lankes; and a sketch of James by his brother, William James; expense journals; bank records; tax returns; insurance figures for paintings; a notebook of sales' records; price lists; invoices and receipts for materials; deeds; a will; certificates of name changes; photos of James, his studio and his work; photos and a photo album of William James and other family members; two albums of exhibition photos; photos of two sketches of James, one by John Singer Sargent, and the other by Barry Faulkner.

Location of Originals: Original letters are owned by the donor, Michael James.

Papers on reel 3828 were subsequently donated to the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The donor, Michael James, is the son of Alexander James.

How to Use this Collection

• Reel 3828: Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce must be obtained from: Alexander R. James, Glandore, County Cork, Ireland.
• Microfilm reels 3828 and 4195-4201 available at all Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
• Selected images of documents in this collection are online.
• For more information on using resources at the Archives of American Art, please visit our Ask Us page