Stephanie Ashley
Scope and Contents
The papers of New Hampshire landscape painter William Preston Phelps and his daughter, artist Ina Phelps Hayward, measure 1.1 linear feet and date from 1849-2001, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1890s to the 1920s. Papers include letters from Phelps, and correspondence regarding Ina Phelps Hayward's involvement in her father's 1917 estate sale; sales and legal records related to the Phelps estate; a scrapbook and printed material about William Preston Phelps; a sketchbook of sketches attributed to Phelps; sketches by Ina Phelps Hayward and her husband Roger Hayward; photographs of Phelps, his home and studio in Chesham, New Hampshire, and his artwork; and glass plate negatives, including two of Phelps and thirty-six of his artwork.
Language
English
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Peter Hayward, grandson of Phelps, donated the collection to the Archives of American Art in 1969. Hilda Hayward Parker, Phelps' granddaughter, lent a notebook for microfilming in 1973. Karl Gabosh, an art dealer who purchased the papers from the estate, donated additional material in 2009.
Separated Materials
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel 647) including a notebook kept by Ina Hayward containing notes on her father, William Preston Phelps, in preparation for a book on Phelps (never written). The notebook includes biographical information, data on a few of his paintings, and notes about his study in Munich, Germany. Her daughter, Hilda Hayward Parker, later added additional biographical data, and a description of the Phelps' homestead and family life in Chesham, New Hampshire. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Funding
Sponsor
Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Processing Information
Portions of the collection were microfilmed on reels 79 and 370 at some point after receipt. The glass plate negatives were re-housed in 2015 with a grant provided by the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund. The entire collection was merged and processed and a finding aid written by Stephanie Ashley in 2018.