Henry Mosler papers, 1856-1929

Letters are primarily written to Mosler with scattered letters written by him. Of particular note is a letter to his parents written from 3 miles outside Corinth, Mississippi on 22 May 1862 in which he describes the scene during the Siege of Corinth following the Battle of Shiloh.

Calling/congratulation cards were sent in response to Mosler's winning the gold medal at the Paris Salon in 1888 and being awarded the Ordre National Légion d'Honneur in 1892.

Correspondents include members of the military regarding his service in 1861-1863 and can be found in several places. A folder of Civil War letters includes Brigadier General R. W. Johnson's request for Mosler to serve as aide-de-camp, and a March 1863 letter from a friend (Bradley?) encamped at Murfreesboro and referring to the building of fortifications there following the Second Battle of Murfreesboro. Letters from Harper's Weekly include a summary of Mosler's military service from 1861-1863 and a handwritten account of his experiences in September 1861 in and around Louisville, Kentucky. Also found are letters from the United States Army and the Department of the Interior in 1885 introducing Mosler as a "distinguished artist" visiting the West. Included are 3 letters from General Philip Sheridan in which he refers to the "indians, in their uncivilized state," and Mosler's desire "to be able to depict them in a correct light."

Other letters are from museums and art associations, Mosler family members, including Mosler's children, artist Gustave Henry Mosler and Edith Mosler, friends and colleagues including artists James Henry Beard, Julien Dupré, Gabriel Ferrier, François Flameng, Ernest Hébert, William Henry Howe, Heinrich Mücke (history painter and Mosler's Düsseldorf professor), J. Francis Murphy, William Ordway Partridge, and Leon Germain Pelouse, among others. Letters from the Ministere de l'Instruction Publique et des Beaux-Arts include the 1879 purchase certificate for Mosler's painting Le Retour, and a letter assigning the painting to the Luxembourg Museum.

Letters from the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States confirm Mosler's election as a Member-at-Large to the order in 1896. Also found is a list of autographs of Cincinnati Artists representing a petition to suggest that the Cincinnati Museum purchase Mosler's painting The Last Moments.

Many of the letters are in French and German.

The bulk of the series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent in general files or in named files if there are 5 or more letters from an individual correspondent. A group of files arranged by subject can be found at the beginning of the series.