REGINALD MARSH (1898-1954) was rarely without a sketchbook. The Archives has microfilmed two hundred and twelve of Marsh's sketchbooks, along with hundreds of individual drawings. Most contain variations on his favorite themes -- street scenes in New York City, bather's at Coney Island, and burlesque houses. This sketchbook includes pen and ink nudes and figure studies in conté crayon.
Reginald Marsh Sketchbook, undated, 12 3/4: x 9 1/2 (sketchbook no. 36), Reginald Marsh Papers, Archives of American Art.
Description of Reginald Marsh's Papers |
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| CREATOR: | Marsh, Reginald, 1898-1954. |
| TITLE: | Reginald Marsh papers, 1887-1955. |
| PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: | 8.9 linear ft. (partially microfilmed on 27 microfilm reels) reels D308-D309, NRM 1-NRM 20, 2233-2235, 2288 and 3829 |
| BIO/HISTORICAL NOTE: | Painter, illustrator, etcher; New York, N.Y. Marsh was a lifelong free-lance illustrator for the New Yorker, Esquire and many other national magazines. Best known for his scenes of vaudeville, night clubs, burlesque, and New York City. After his divorce from sculptor Betty Burroughs in 1933, he married painter Felicia Meyer in 1934. |
| SUMMARY: | Correspondence; diaries; notebooks; photographs; scrapbooks; art works; biographical documents; financial material; exhibition catalogs and announcements; and printed material. |
| REELS D308-D309: | Ca. 1,250 letters; 2 lists of art works; accounts, bills, and receipts; contracts; some photographs and sketches; invitations and an exhibition catalog; clippings; obituaries; and miscellany. Among the correspondents are: Thomas Hart Benton, Isabel Bishop, Edward Bruce, Betty Burroughs Woodhouse, Robert M. Coates, Lloyd Goodrich, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Edward Laning, Owen Merton, Thomas Merton, Kenneth H. Miller, Llewelyn Powys, Katherine Schmidt (Shubert), Alec Waugh, and others. |
| REELS NRM 1-NRM 20: | 20 diaries, 1912-1952; 2 engagement books, 1953-1954; and 4 desk calendars, 1931-1934; 4 undated notebooks including notes on addresses, models, sales and consignments; letters from Marsh to his wife "Timmy," 1934-1945; 197 sketchbooks; anatomical drawings and a manuscript of a book by Marsh about anatomy; photograph albums of paintings; photographs of Marsh's works and New York City locales; statements of account with the Rehn Gallery, 1929-1954; and Marsh's prints and small paintings at the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City. |
| REELS 2233-2235: | Biographical documents; correspondence with Mabel Randall; an estate inventory; a catalog of watercolors; receipts and bills; notes; exhibition catalogs and announcements; watercolors and sketches; clippings and printed matter; 14 notebooks containing lists of art work with prices and sales information, correspondence, and descriptions of painting methods and materials; and 11 scrapbooks containing reproductions and photos of art work and clippings. |
| REEL 2288: | Photographs, 1887-ca. 1950. Included are photos of his family; Marsh as a child and adult; sets designed for the Paramount Theatre; exhibitions of work at the Carnegie Institute; etchings, watercolors, woodcuts, and drawings; and graphic works by other artists such as John Sloan, George Bellows, and Edward Hopper. Color negatives of his murals for the U.S. Customs House have not been microfilmed. |
| REEL 3829: | An childhood letter from Marsh to his mother describing his visit with his grandparents in Boston; an undated sketch of Marsh as a child by his mother; and an undated booklet of poems by Marsh. |
| REELS 4473-4475: | Drawings by Marsh, mostly undated, of New York City, Coney Island, Europe, portrait sketches, and other subjects, many related to specific paintings and prints. Included are a scrapbook of drawings, compiled by Marsh's mother beginning in 1900, and a sketchbook, 1954. Also included are numerous portrait and landscape drawings, paintings and sketchbooks by Felicia Meyer Marsh, and individual works by Herbert Meyer, Lloyd Goff, Kimon Nicolaides and Guy Pene du Bois. |
| UNMICROFILMED: | Magazine articles, 1944-1945; a certificate from the National Academy of Design and an award; reproductions of drawings by Denys Wortman done as Christmas greetings to the Marshes; a transparency of a drawing by Marsh; ca. 53 photographs of Marsh as a child, his family, travel locales, as an adult in New York City and Coney Island and of Marsh and other artists working on murals for the U.S. Customs House; and 3 volumes of typed manuscripts prepared ca. 1955 by Norman Sasowsky cataloging Marsh's work including his large Chinese ink paintings and watercolors (vol. I), prints (vol. II, subsequently published), and paintings (vol. III) listing titles, dates, dimensions of the work, an assigned catalog number, owners of the work, descriptions and condition reports. |
| RESTRICTIONS: | Microfilmed portion must be consulted on microfilm. Use of unmicrofilmed portion requires an appointment and is limited to Washington, D.C. storage facility. |
| PROVENANCE: | Material on reels NRM 1-NRM 20 lent for microfilming 1963 by Marsh's widow, Felicia Meyer Marsh. In 1964 she donated material on reels D308-D309 and the 3 v. Marsh catalog (unfilmed). Material on reels 2233-2235, 2238 and unfilmed were donated 1979 after Mrs. Marsh's death in 1978, along with some material previously lent, including diaries, desk calendars, notebooks and correspondence (reels NRM 1-NRM 3), photograph albums (7 v.) and photos of works and statements from Rehn Gallery (NRM 17-18). Sketchbooks (NRM 3-17) were given to Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art and New York Public Library; NYPL also received the anatomy drawings and photos of New York locales. 3 items on reel 3829 (NRM 17) donated by Alice Heffernan, 1984. Drawings on reels 4473-4475 were bequeathed to the Whitney Museum of American Art by Felicia Meyer Marsh, and donated to AAA in 1987, including 5 sketchbooks previously lent. |
| FINDING AIDS: | Reels NRM 1-NRM 20: Finding aid available in AAA offices. |
| ADDITIONAL FORMS: | 35mm microfilm reels D308-D309, NRM 1-NRM 20, 2233-2235, 2288 and 3829 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. |
| LOCATION OF ORIGINALS: | Reels NRM 19-NRM 20: Originals returned to Felicia M. Marsh after microfilming. Reels NRM 3-17, Some sketchbooks and anatomy drawings only: Originals in Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Public Library and Whitney Museum of American Art. See Finding aid for disposition. Reels NRM 19-20: Originals in Pierpont Morgan Library. |
