Alvord Eiseman research material concerning Charles Demuth, circa 1914-2005

Correspondence dates from 1969-1991 and is primarily comprised of letters to Eiseman, however some drafts and copies of outgoing letters are also included. Correspondence is predominantly related to provenance and authenticity research for the Demuth catalogue raisonné project. Other letters relate to publication prospects, authentication requests, and obtaining photographs of works. In addition to numerous individual collectors, Eiseman corresponded with institutions including Amherst College, Barnes Foundation, Brooklyn Museum, Columbus Museum of Art, Demuth Foundation, Denver Art Museum, Hirshhorn Museum, National Endowment for the Arts, Parrish Museum, Philadelphia Art Museum, Phillips Collection, Provincetown Art Association, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Sotheby's, Toledo Museum, Wadsworth Athenaeum, Walker Art Center, Whitney Museum, and Yale University. Galleries, historical societies, publishers, and magazines are also among the correspondents. A small number of photographs and printed materials are included with the letters.

Writings date from circa 1941-1985 and include original clippings that date from circa 1914. The bulk of material in this series is a manuscript of Eiseman's unpublished "Catalogue Raisonné of the Complete Works of Charles Demuth," which includes five parts, as well as numerous lists, appendices, a bibliography, and multiple drafts of certain sections. Eiseman's dissertation "The Study of the Development of an Artist: Charles Demuth, Volumes I and II" is also found here, as well as numerous other writings about Demuth, and a few of his writings as a student. Writings by others about Demuth are arranged at the end of the series.

Artwork files date from circa 1970-2003 and are comprised of three sets of index cards that Eiseman used to collate his research on each individual work of art by Demuth. The third set is by far the most complete (beginning in Box 4, Folder 4 and ending in Box 9, Folder 7), and includes hundreds of index cards organized by artwork date, containing the size, medium, signature location, collection, exhibitions, reproductions, and provenance of each work. Most cards are also accompanied by a reproduction of the artwork. While Eiseman's index cards serve as the foundation of this series, subsequent researchers, including the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco and later Ulrich Hiesinger, added additional information to the files, including photocopies and internet research. These later additions to Eiseman's card index account for the dates of files after Eiseman's death in 1991. A small number of index cards are also included with the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco's artwork research files (see Box 10, Folders 9-12).

Printed and research material dates from circa 1966-1986. Printed material is comprised of a binder of clippings and loose clippings saved and compiled by Eiseman about Demuth, as well as a few publications including an auction catalog, exhibition catalog, a magazine, and brochures. Research material includes copies of archival documents such as correspondence and school records. Copies of writings by Demuth are also arranged here. The dates of publication or creation of copied material is circa 1917-1980.

Photographic material dates from circa 1970-1972 and includes photographic prints, transparencies, contact sheets, negatives, and slides. One undated folder contains copy print photographs of Demuth and his family. The bulk of the material is photographs of Demuth's artwork that Eiseman collected over the course of his research. Some materials, especially the slides, have descriptive labeling identifying the title, medium, and year, while other materials are unlabeled. Other research photographs include views of the Demuth house, the town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and pages of a book about Demuth. Additional photographs of artwork ar included in Series 3: Artwork Files.

The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco catalogue raisonné research material dates from circa 1970-2005, but predominantly contains materials dating after Alvord Eiseman's death in 1991, at which time his research material was given to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco by Eiseman's friend Grete Meilman. The catalogue raisonné research continued until 2001, although the project was never completed. Meilman then handed the project over to historian Ulrich Hiesinger in 2003, but the raisonné was still never published. Material in this series dating from before it was given to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco is mostly the photographic prints originally accumulated by Eiseman. The bulk of material here is artwork research files and authenticating correspondence. Artwork research files expand on Eiseman's research found in Series 3: Artwork Files, but do not reflect Demuth's complete oeuvre. In a few instances, Eiseman's original index cards were included with this newer research. Also found here are a few inventory lists, example catalogue raisonné formats, and largely unsorted photographic material and reproductions.