Oliver Ingraham Lay, Charles Downing Lay, and Lay family papers, 1789-2000, bulk circa 1870s-1996

This subseries contains biographical material on Charles Downing and various individuals from the Brown and Wait families. Files include handwritten accounts of Charles Downing by a family member and copies of obituaries on Charles Downing (Marian's uncle), a marriage certificate of William A. Brown and Phebe C. Brown, the wills of Robert Bagg and William Brown, respectively, and abstracts of the last Wills and Testaments of Robert Earle and his wife, Maria Earle (sister of William Brown).

Included are letters between Oliver Ingraham Lay and Marian Wait Lay, as well as the respective correspondence files of Oliver Ingraham Lay, Marian Wait Lay, Wilfrid Lay (Oliver's son), Charles Downing, and various family members, reflecting the mutual interaction between friends, acquaintances, and colleagues. Topics include daily events, personal reflections, creative activities, trips, and residences.

Oliver Ingraham Lay's letters to family members and friends describe his painting activities, working methods, and projects, including his commissioned portraits for Edwin Booth and Cyrus Field. Many contain references to Lay's prominent clients, such as Cornelia Curtis and family, Frederick and Mathilda Shelton, and Mary Shannon and the Shannon family. Also found are letters from Alexander Lawrie discussing his painting and financial difficulties. Lay's letters contain references to his colleagues, Henry Bellows, Fidelia Bridges, Sanford Gifford, Jervis McEntee, and William Trost Richards, among others. There are scattered references to Lay's exhibitions at the Artists' Fund Society, the Brooklyn Society of Artists, and the Century Association. One letter to Annie Brown describes his meeting with Oscar Wilde at the Century Association.

Condolence letters to Marian Lay upon Oliver Ingraham Lay's death include letters from Fidelia Bridges and George Henry Story. A file of transcriptions contains miscellaneous correspondence and two theatrical scenarios by Lay, reflecting the artist's enduring interest in the stage productions of his day.

Also of interest, are items found in the correspondence files of Lay family members. Charles Downing's letters to Marian Wait Lay discuss his experimental fruit plantings conducted at his residence in Newburgh, New York. The Brown family correspondence contains numerous references to Fidelia Bridges; also found is an illustrated letter from Annie Brown to Oliver Ingraham Lay. Letters exchanged between Samuel Wait and his son and namesake, Samuel, wholesale dealers in cattle and grain illustrate the manner in which mercantile activities were conducted during the early half of the nineteenth century.

This subseries houses the diaries of Marian Wait Lay, Oliver Ingraham Lay, Laura Brown, and Annie Brown.

Oliver Ingraham Lay's diaries record daily events, as well as include references to Lay's commissioned works, exhibitions, and professional and social activities; also found are loose items, including clippings, an exhibition announcement, receipts, letters, and sketches. Entries also contain numerous references to Lay's colleagues, including Samuel Putnam Avery, Fidelia Bridges, Henry Kirke Brown, Thomas Hicks, Eastman Johnson, John Sartain, William Trost Richards, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Worthington Whittridge, and Alexander H. Wyant, among others. Four volumes of Annie Brown's diaries record her daily activities and personal observations about family members and friends; entries also contain references to Fidelia Bridges.

This subseries houses Oliver Ingraham Lay's notebooks, notes and writings; Marian Wait Lay's scattered notes and writings; and the student notebooks of Wilfrid Lay.

Oliver Ingraham Lay's notebooks include handwritten transcriptions of literary excerpts and quotations; a record of the artist's exhibitions at the Century Association; and a record of payments for his artwork. Also found is a ledger with entries of daily activities from 1889-1890; included are transcribed letters, printed material, clippings, and obituary notices on Lay's death. One notebook contains a list of the works of art by Lay and others that were a part of the artist's personal collection at the time of his death. Also found are transcribed poems, various literary compositions by Lay, including handwritten essays and a poem to Fidelia Bridges.

Other files contain Annie Brown's handwritten essays, her notebook of transcribed literary extracts, and address book; biographical accounts of Charles Downing; and the miscellaneous writings and notes of various family members.

This subseries contains record books and various lists documenting Oliver Ingraham Lay's household expenses for the family's residences in New Rochelle, New York and Stratford, Connecticut. One notebook records the picture frames purchased by Lay for his paintings; included are a list of works of art sold and scattered receipts. A folder of loose receipts contains several items relating to Lay's business transactions on behalf of Alexander Lawrie.

Also found are a bill of sale to William Brown for property, miscellaneous receipts, Thomas Lee Gill's statement of expenses, and Mary Downing's handwritten bequest to Marian Wait Lay. An account ledger contains printed material, clippings, and reproductions.

This subseries houses an exhibition announcement for Oliver Ingraham Lay at Reichard's Gallery (New York) and news clippings, including obituaries and memorials for Andrew Jackson Downing, Charles Downing, and other family members.

This subseries contains the scrapbooks of Mary Downing's leaf and flower cuttings and Charles Downing's scrapbook of leaf cuttings. Two scrapbooks with notations by Mary Downing include sketches and miscellaneous letters.

Loose scrapbook pages include Oliver Ingraham Lay's sketches, handwritten literary extracts, letters, printed material, calling cards, and Charles Downing Lay's bookplate designs, reproductions, and printed material.

This subseries houses photographs, cartes de visites albums, tintypes, glass plate negatives, and one negative. There are images of Oliver Ingraham Lay, Marian Wait Lay, Charles Downing Lay, and Wilfrid Lay, individually and with others. Photographs of other Lay family members include Charles Downing, Mary Downing, Samuel Wait (Marian's brother), William A. Brown, Phebe C. Brown (William's wife), and their daughters, Alice, Annie, and Laura. Tintypes include Charles Downing Lay with an unidentified individual; two tintypes of Marian Wait Lay in her youth; three tintypes of Laura Brown; and three tintypes of an unidentified woman.

Three cartes de visites albums contain images of various family members and friends; many individuals are unidentified. The albums were received with numerous images missing. Also found are glass plate negatives of Oliver Ingraham Lay's portrait of Aaron Burr and his portrait of Edwin Booth as Hamlet.

Artifacts consist of locks of hair from Marian Wait Lay, a monograph cover, inscribed to Marian Wait Lay from Charles Downing on the verso, Annie Brown's stationery plate, and one silk purse.

This subseries contains biographical information on Charles Downing Lay and Laura Gill Lay. Files on Charles Downing Lay include school records from Columbia University, a marriage certificate, a birth certificate for Laurence Lay (son of Charles and Laura), registered architect certificates, application forms, a copy of a passport application, a passport, a death certificate, an insurance identification card, and a published biographical account. Also found is the Last Will and Testament of Thomas Lee Gill (Laura's father).

This subseries includes the letters between Charles Downing Lay and Laura Gill Lay before their marriage. Also found is the personal correspondence of Charles Downing Lay; the files also contain Laura Lay's correspondence with family members, her children, and friends.

Many of Charles Downing Lay's letters are to Laura Lay and relate to daily events and the activities of family members and friends. Also included are references to his landscape design projects and his painting activities. Among the correspondents are Homer Saint-Gaudens, Eugene Speicher, and Robert Wheelwright. Found are one letter from John C. Olmsted (1916) and one letter from Fidelia Bridges (undated). There is an illustrated letter by Charles Downing Lay to David Lay (Charles's son; 1934).

Also found are Century Association files documenting Lay's affiliation with the club through a variety of material, including correspondence, miscellaneous writings and notes, printed material, and photographs. Much of the correspondence relates to the admission of new members, especially the nominations of Eugene Speicher and Forbes Watson. Notable correspondents include John Taylor Arms, Royal Cortissoz, Homer Saint-Gaudens, Robert W. DeForest, William Henry Fox, and Gari Melchers. There is a group photograph of Charles Downing Lay with Henry Allen Moe and Geoffrey Parsons, (undated).

Professional files illustrate Lay's personal and professional interaction with a close-knit group of colleagues that included Gifford Beal, Reynolds Beal, Joseph P. Chamberlain, Edwin Lefevre, Henry Allen Moe, Geoffrey Parsons, and Allen Tucker. The files contain mostly correspondence; also found is biographical material, writings and notes, artwork, printed material, clippings, exhibition brochures, and a photograph.

Of special interest are Reynolds Beal's letters to Lay, in which he discusses exhibitions of his artwork held at Kraushaar Gallery (New York) and his various painting and literary projects; also found are Beal's personal reflections about his creative activities. Allen Tucker's files contain letters to Lay and others relating to his painting. Also included are the artist's lists of his artwork, and printed material, including exhibition brochures for his exhibits at the Century Association, Montross Gallery, and Macbeth Gallery. There is a pencil sketch by Allen Tucker of Charles Downing Lay's layout for the World's Fair (circa 1939). George C. Lay's correspondence relates to a work of art donated to the Phillips Collection by his father; found is one letter to Charles Downing Lay from Duncan Phillips (undated).

This subseries contains Charles Downing Lay's notebooks, school essays, and various notes. Two notebooks contain Lay's class notes when he was a student at Columbia University; also included are printed material, loose notes, and sketches of architectural design elements. Some notes and writings relate to the Century Association. Found in Laura Gill Lay's files are a miniature notebook of transcribed literary quotations, essays, draft versions of letters and essays, and scattered diary entries. There are also miscellaneous writings and notes of various Lay family members.

This subseries contains the personal business records of Charles Downing Lay and Laura Lay, as well as the scattered files of Lay family members. Included are various receipts, receipts of book purchases, a joint partnership agreement between Lay, Henry Vincent Hubbard, and Robert Wheelwright, family bequests, and a handwritten schedule of payments. Also folders include material relating to the Estate of Samuel Wait and an agreement pertaining to the distribution of assets to Gill family members.

This subseries houses Charles Downing Lay's sketches, a sketchbook, landscape designs, and a scrapbook of artwork; a sketch by Laura Lay; and loose sketches by various family members.

Charles Downing Lay's watercolor, pencil, and ink sketches depict head and figure studies, landscapes, interior layouts, and architectural design elements. Also found is Lay's pencil sketch of Oliver Ingraham Lay (1883). A scrapbook includes watercolor and pencil sketches, architectural design elements, book plate designs, printed material and reproductions used for art reference. Included are Lay's landscape designs for the residences of Anson W. Burchard (Locust Valley, Long Island), William Campbell (Watchung, New Jersey), J.P. Chamberlain (Middlebury, Connecticut), William Murray Crane (Dalton, Massachusetts), and James M. Willcox (Radnor, Pennsylvania), as well as landscape designs done with Robert Wheelwright for A. Bijur (Long Branch, New Jersey), William Murray Crane (Dalton, Massachusetts) and Frederick Bertuch (Babylon, New York).

This subseries consists of news, magazine, and journal clippings, reproductions of works of art, menus, calling cards, miscellaneous printed material, and monographs. News clippings include the wedding announcement of Charles and Laura Lay and obituaries of various Lay family members. Also found is an article in The Architectural Forum by Charles Downing Lay.

This subseries houses photographs of Gill, Brown, and Lay family members; many images are not identified. There are photographs of Laura Gill Lay, individually and with other family members. One folder contains images of Laura with Annie Brown on a trip to Europe taken before her marriage to Charles Lay. Included are photographs of Phebe Brown (Laura's grandmother); Alice Gill (Laura's mother); Donald, Harold, Philip, William Gill (Laura's brothers); Charles Downing Lay; and David and Alice Lay (children of Charles and Laura Lay).

Also found are transparencies of the Olympiad Berlin (Germany) medal awarded to Charles Downing Lay in 1936.

This subseries includes Fidelia Bridges' letters to Phebe Crowell Brown, Annie Brown, and other Brown family members, Oliver Ingraham Lay, and Charles and Laura Lay. Topics include painting activities, personal observations, visits with mutual friends and family, travels, and residences.

Letters contain references to Bridges' colleagues and friends, including William Trost Richards and his daughter, Anna Richards Brewster, John Sartain, the Shannon family, and Hannah Smith. Letters document the period Bridges studied painting with William Trost Richards in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the 1860s and her stay in England when she exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1879 to 1880. Also found are the artist's reflections during her travels to England, Germany, and Switzerland, as well as to Paris and Venice in the late 1860s-1890s; many letters are interspersed with Bridges' detailed descriptions of the landscape. Found is one illustrated letter from Fidelia Bridges to Annie Brown (undated). Files also contain typescripts of transcriptions of Bridges' letters and the letters exchanged between Brown family members.

This subseries also contains the scattered correspondence files of Henry Bridges (Fidelia's brother), Charles Downing Lay, George C. Lay, (Charles's son), and various Lay family members. Also found as attachments with other letters are business records, notes, miscellaneous printed material, and photographs. Letters from William T. Brewster to Charles Downing Lay discuss Bridges's relationship with the Richards family and the work of his wife, the painter Anna Richards Brewster. George C. Lay's correspondence with art historians, gallery dealers, and others provides biographical material on Bridges, as well as provenance-related information on several works by the artist.

This subseries contains George C. Lay's files relating to retrospective exhibitions that featured Fidelia Bridges's work; included are correspondence, loan agreements, a certificate of insurance, a facility report, various receipts, exhibition catalogues, printed material, photographs, and one slide. Exhibitions included the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Katonah Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, as well as at Anderson Fine Arts, Inc. (New York), the Connecticut Gallery and other venues.

This subseries contains index cards and a list of the curio collection bequeathed to Charles Downing Lay by Henry Bridges, a copy of a biographical account of Fidelia Bridges by Frederic A. Sharf, George C. Lay's handwritten notes relating to Fidelia Bridges, and a copy of a play written by Fidelia Bridges.

This subseries houses one pen and ink drawing by Anna Richards inscribed to Oliver Ingraham Lay, one watercolor portrait of Fidelia Bridges, and a watercolor sketch of a seascape.

This subseries includes Bridges' chromolithographs of her illustrated greeting cards, reproductions of artwork, exhibition invitations, announcements, exhibition catalogs, brochures, clippings, an offprint, and copies of photographs of artwork by Bridges. Several of the greeting cards are inscribed. Most clippings are reviews of the exhibitions. Also found are two published books illustrated by Fidelia Bridges, A Garland of Love, 1882 and Songs of Birds, 1886.

The subseries contains images of Fidelia Bridges, family and friends and residences, in addition to images of artwork, including installation shots, negatives, slides, and transparencies.

There are images of Bridges as a young woman with a group of women colleagues, Bridges with William F. Brown, and William Trost Richards, respectively, as well as a portrait image of Anne Whitney. Also found is one cyanotype of Bridges and one cyanotype of Oliver Ingraham Lay. Included are exterior and interior views of Fidelia Bridges' home in Canaan, Connecticut and of the Shannon residence in Newton, Massachusetts. Several photographs are inscribed from Mary Shannon to Oliver Ingraham Lay. Files also contain nature studies by Bridges.