Collection Information
Size: 7 Microfilm reels
Summary: Autobiographical and biographical material, letters, writings, printed material, photographs, a sketchbook, drawings and notebooks belonging to Charles Willson Peale and the Peale family, with notes and writings by Horace Wells Sellers.
Charles Willson Peale material including, part of the preliminary draft of his autobiography, ca. 1790, and a typed copy with notes and addenda by Horace Wells Sellers; typescripts of letterbooks, 1767-1827; a list of portraits and Washington portrait material; a notebook pertaining to paintings and a memo book containing recipes for medicines, colors and notes on painting technique; lectures and essays on natural history, health, domestic happiness and Peale's museum; and letters from John De Peyster.
James Peale's sketchbook; Rubens Peale's letterbooks, 1802-1824, lists of pictures painted at Riverside Farm and memorandum on his life; writings by Titian Ramsay Peale on techniques of miniature painting and a biography of Charles Willson; letters of Titian and Franklin Peale, 1831-1869, with biographical comments by Sellers; a history of the United Bowmen of Philadelphia, a club Titian and Franklin belonged to; material on Peale's Museum including, correspondence, minutes, articles of incorporation, and a handbook with a partial description of the museum's contents; Peale family photographs; and drawings and silhouettes.