This record group documents the activities of the Art Department in organizing and staging an exhibition of American and foreign works of art at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition held in St. Louis in 1904.

The largest series is Correspondence, covering the years 1901-1907 and is subdivided into the following sub-series:

A. Intra-departmental This is a key group of material since it reflects the department’s activities and concerns from the inner viewpoint. Especially illuminating is the correspondence between the Chief and Assistant Chief, Halsey C. Ives and Charles M. Kurtz. Their separate trips to Europe to promote the department’s interests with foreign artists, foreign art commissions, as well as American artists residing abroad reveal many of the difficulties involved in the work both in Europe and at home. Ives’s struggles with Cass Gilbert, architect of the art buildings, are also documented in letters to Kurtz. By 1903, Kurtz was spending much of his time in New York overseeing operations in the East which required the selection of advisory committee members, promotion of the department’s work, solicitation of invited art, and the organization of juries of selection. Early in 1904, staff members Frederick A. Whiting and William H. Fox were also in the East, Whiting on behalf of the Applied Arts Division of the department, and Fox handling operations in the Philadelphia area as Kurtz’s counterpart. Meanwhile in St. Louis, Ives was directing the department with the assistance of Charles Hamblin, while George Corliss ran the shipping and receiving station.

In addition to this correspondence which is so interrelated that it has been interfiled in one sub-series, there are two separate, intra-departmental groups: correspondence with Will H. Low, Superintendent of the Loan Division and designer of the Exposition diploma; and correspondence with George Julian Zolnay, Superintendent of Sculpture. These sub-series are self contained, as Low and Zolnay had little contact with any other department staff members other than Ives. (For a full list of department staff, see Appendix A.)

B. Correspondence with American Artists Residing Abroad This sub-series contains letters from those American artists living and working temporarily in Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Holland. Advisory committees and juries were organized to promote the department’s interests and to handle the selection and shipping of art submitted by Americans abroad. The greatest amount of information may be found in the correspondence of Joseph Pennell (for the London committee) and Gari Melchers and Seymour Thomas (for the Paris committee). However, there is no correspondence either among the committee members or between the members and their fellow expatriates. Thus the letters to Ives tend to request information of to summarize activities in Europe. (For a full list of Advisory Committees abroad, see Appendix C.)

C. General Correspondence This very large sub-series contains letters from artists across the United States, usually requesting information about the submission of art to the Exposition. While the correspondence is largely routine, there are numerous letters to and from prominent artists, often giving details about works they were sending. This sub-series also includes correspondence with members of Advisory Committees (U.S.). When topics other than committee concerns were the major subjects of the letters.

D. Foreign Commissions, Commissioners, and Consulates Correspondence with a number of Special Exposition Commissioners sent abroad on the standard mission of promotion and organization is followed by a sub-series of correspondence with the delegates of foreign countries which were sending their own art exhibitions to the Exposition for installation in the Art Buildings. The researcher should be aware that the records of the Art Department contain little or no information on activities within these countries to select pieces for their exhibitions. The entire selection procedure lay in the hands of the foreign commissions and commissioners. Rather, the letters deal primarily with assignments of space in the Art Buildings, decorating schemes, installation problems, etc. (For a full list of foreign commissioners, see Appendix B.)

E. Foreign Correspondence This small sub-series contains letters from foreigners interested in participating in the art exhibition. These letters received a routine response in which the correspondent was referred to the commissioner of his country for further information.

F. Louisiana Purchase Exposition Departments and Other Related Entities This complex sub-series holds correspondence between Halsey Ives and many of the Exposition’s bureaus, commissions, divisions, and departments. Of particular value is the Director of Exhibits sub-series. Ives was in constant communication with the Director, his administrative superior, and much important information filtered up and down between the two departments. Other noteworthy sub-series are: Director of Works--correspondence with Isaac S. Taylor and others concerning design and construction of the Art Buildings; Secretary of Awards--correspondence about the judging of art for awards; St. Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts--correspondence with Edmund H. Wuerpel, in charge of daily affairs during Ives’s tenure Chief of the Art Department; and the Office of President and Secretary correspondence with David R. Francis and Walter B. Stevens on Exposition procedures and policies.

G. Advisory Committees and Juries Contained in this sub-series are two sections. First is the Committee of Fine Arts, an advisory group of St. Louis businessmen interested in the work of the department. This committee conducted its most important work from 1901-1902 on the subject of the design and construction of the Art Buildings. Correspondence with the chairman, Isaac W. Morton, is of interest. After Morton’s death in 1903, the chairmanship was assumed by William K. Bixby; letters from him concern the organization of the Loan Collection and some routine matters.

The second part of this sub-series is Advisory Committees, Juries of Selection and Award. Each committee was composed of leading artists in each of the department’s classification groups. (For a complete classification list, see Appendix D.) Committee members were asked to interest fellow artists in participating in the exhibition. The members served on juries to select those works not admitted “on list”. These juries met in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and St. Louis to judge all works of art submitted by application. Correspondents of note are Thomas Allen, William J. Baer, Ralph E. Clarkson, J. M. Donaldson, Henry S. Fleming, Daniel Chester French, Charles Grafly, J. C. Nicoll, and Harry W. Watrous. Two National Advisory Committee members who were of primary importance in the organization of the Loan Collection and are well represented in this sub-series are Charles L. Freer and Charles L. Hutchinson. (See Appendix C.)

The second series of this group of records is Lists, Reports, Minutes, and Publicity Material in handwritten or typewritten format. The researcher should scan the inventory’s container list for this series to observe the wide range of subjects represented. Noteworthy are the materials relating to the Committee of Fine Arts, the Advisory Committees, and Departmental and International Juries (membership lists, minutes, and reports); lists of medals awarded; Art Department reports to the Director of Exhibits; suggestions for gallery space and arrangement; various lists of accepted works of art; shipping lists; and several writings and one lecture promoting the Exposition and describing the prospective art exhibition.

The third series is Applications which is divided into two sub-series. The smaller and less significant is Applications for passes to Art Buildings which indicate not only the names and positions of various Art Department staff members, but also the names of artists who visited the Exposition. The larger and more useful sub-series is Applications for Works Submitted to Juries of Selection. Every artist who was not invited either to send a specific work or to choose one or more of his own was required to submit an application to the department and later to ship his work to a regional judging location. The applications for the Philadelphia and New York juries were duplicated by the clerical staff and were sent to the juries for use in judging (it is unclear whether the original applications were sent to the juries and the duplicates filed in St. Louis or vice versa). In the case of the Boston jury, which met earlier than the others, no duplicates appear to have been made and this sub-series contains virtually none of the applications submitted by artists of the New England area.

The applications vary widely in amount and quality of information included on them about each art object. The department made little effort to add to of update these forms, particularly after the juries had met. An exception is the group of applications from American artists living in Great Britain. Joseph Pennell, chairman of the Advisory Committee working in London, indicated the acceptance or rejection of pieces on the applications.

The researcher should be aware that except for the applications from Americans in Britain, the collection does not contain any other group of overseas applications, from either Americans or foreign artists. In the case of American artists, the committee chairman abroad simply did not send the applications to St. Louis after they had finished using them. In the case of foreign artists, the foreign commissions charged with organizing their national art exhibitions were under no requirements to involve the department in their selection procedures nor to send any reports or applications to the department.

The final series, Printed Material, contains information about the department’s procedures and activities. There are also a number of circulars and brochures on other Exposition departments. Samples of circulars to artists, form letters, application blanks, lists of rules and regulations, and catalogues to the art exhibition are included.

As with any archival collection, the records of the Art Department have gaps and resulting weaknesses which may frustrate the researcher. Perhaps the greatest is the lack of substantial information in much of the correspondence between the department and individual artists. Letters from recognized artists whose works were accepted either on list or through jury action often prove routine: an acknowledgment of a circular and application blank received; a request for shipping instructions; a complaint about a work not yet returned; and so on. This situation, often augmented by incomplete entries on application forms, results in obvious limits to research on particular artists.

The researcher will generally find more information about specific art objects in the case of those artists who exhibited their works through an institution’s or manufacturer’s exhibit in the Applied Arts Division. For example, there is significant material on Newcomb Pottery, Tiffany & Co., Rookwood Pottery, Gorham, and the exhibit of American Indian art. Even the individuals exhibiting in this division seemed to include more information about their pieces in their correspondence than did other artists.

Despite these impediments to some types and subjects of research, the user will find this group of records to be of broad range and of considerable depth. It is recommended that the researcher consult reference works about the Exposition for an overview of the entire operation. It is also advisable to consult the Missouri Historical Society which holds the records of all other Exposition departments, as well as numerous pictorial materials, books, scrapbooks, and artifacts. Of particular importance is the Art Department report (in the form of a letter to the Director of Exhibits) which may be found in their Louisiana Purchase Exposition collection, Series III, Sub-series II, folders 1-4.