A Finding Aid to the Marlene Park and Gerald E. Markowitz research materials on New Deal Art,
1931-1999
, in the Archives of American Art
AAA.parkmarl
Biographical Note
Art historians Marlene Park and husband Gerald E. Markowitz conducted research on New Deal art projects. Their work resulted in an exhibition "New Deal for Art: The Government Projects of the 1930's with Examples from New York City and State" (1977) and a catalog with the same title. 7), and a book,
Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal
(1984). Both were on the faculty of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Marlene Park served on the Public Art Preservation Committee from 1979-1982.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged as 4 series:
Series 1: Artists' Files, 1931-1999 (Boxes 1-5, 7, OV 8-10; 4.8 linear feet)
Series 2: Subject Files, 1934-1999 (Boxes 5, 7, OV 10; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 3: Printed Material, 1977-1989 (Box 5; 0.2 linear ft.)
Series 4: Sound Recordings, 1974-1976 (Boxes 5-6; 0.3 linear ft.)
Scope and Content Note
The Marlene Park and Gerald E. Markowitz research files on New Deal art are dated 1931-1999 and measure 5.8 linear feet. The research files document New Deal art projects and artists through some original correspondence with artists, printed material, interview transcripts, and several sound recordings of interviews with artists of the period. Subject files relate to WPA era art and art projects; many contain numerous photocopies of records from the Personnel Records Center and the U. S. Treasury Relief Arts Projects now in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration.
The collection consists primarily of artists' files documenting the WPA, The National Personnel Records Center, the Public Art Preservation Committee, and the U.S. Treasury Relief Art Project. Also found are lists of artists arranged by category, correspondence, transcripts of interviews, printed material, exhibition catalogs, monographs, photographs, slides, and sound recordings. Among the artists are: Charles Alston, Will Barnet, Ilya Bolotowsky, Louis Bouche, James Brooks, Charles Burchfield, Paul Cadmus, Minna Citron, Robert Cronbach, Hugo Gellert, Adloph Gottlieb, Leo Katz, Roy King, Albert Kotin, Edward Lanning, Ethel Magafan, William Palmer, Anton Refregier, Philip Reisman, Lincoln Rothschild, Joseph Solman, Harry Sternberg, Stuyvesant Van Veen, and Marion Walton.
The Marlene Park and Gerald E. Markowitz research materials on New Deal Art were donated to the Archives in 1999 by art historians Marlene Park and Gerald E. Markowitz.
Processing Information
The papers were processed to a minimal by Justin Brancato in 2004.
The Archives of American Art has implemented minimal processing tactics when possible in order to increase access to more of our collections. Minimal pocessing included arrangement to the series and folder levels. Generally, items within folders were simply verified with folder titles and dates but not arranged further. Staples and other fasteners were not removed.
Image assets for this folder have not been fully processed.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
