Archives of American Art
Chenoweth Hall papers
Hall, Chenoweth, 1908-1999
AAA.hallchen
Archival Resource Key
5.9 Linear feet
circa 1870s-2001
bulk 1938-1999
The papers of sculptor, writer, and teacher Chenoweth Hall measure 5.9 linear feet and date from circa 1870s-2001, with the bulk of the records dating between 1938-1999. The papers document Hall's career through personal and professional files, correspondence, writing files, printed materials, photographs, and some artwork.
English
.
Conditions Governing Access
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Biographical / Historical
Chenoweth Hall (1908-1999) was a sculptor, writer, musician, and teacher from Prospect Harbor, Maine. Born in Indiana, Hall attended college at the University of Wisconsin where she was initially enrolled as an architecture student, but ultimately changed majors to study music. Hall moved to New York, took classes at Columbia University Teachers College, and became a licensed teacher in New York. There, her primary employment was account executive at an advertising agency, a position she subsequently credited with improving her writing.
After moving to Maine in the late-1930s, Hall became a free-lance fiction writer working on short stories, novellas, and novels, and met Miriam Colwell, a writer who became her lifelong partner.
Hall's stories were published in newspapers and magazines, and her novel, Crow on the Spruce, was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1946. In 1968, Hall wrote the text for photographer Bernice Abbott's Portrait of Maine.
Hall began exhibiting her sculpture in the 1950s, with one-man shows at Cape Split Gallery, Maine Art Gallery, University of Maine, Joan Whitney Payson Gallery, and the Philips Gallery. She also exhibited in group shows at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Portland Museum of Art, Shore Gallery, and Hobe Sound Gallery. Hall was commissioned by the Pierre Monteux Foundation to install a sculpture at the Monteux School in Maine. Her work is also found in the collection at the University of Maine, Orono, and in the homes of private collectors.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The collection was donated in 2001 by Miriam Colwell.
Processing Information
The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Christopher DeMairo in 2020.
Preferred Citation
Chenoweth Hall papers, circa 1870s-2001. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Scope and Contents
The papers of sculptor, writer, and teacher Chenoweth Hall measure 5.9 linear feet and date from circa 1870s-2001, with the bulk of the records dating between 1938-1999. The papers document Hall's career through personal and professional files, correspondence, writing files, printed materials, photographs, and some artwork.
Personal and professional files contain biographical materials such as resumes, biographical summaries, and family histories; gallery, exhibition, and financial files; papers related to talks given by Hall; education and employment records; an inventory of sculptures; and one VHS recording.
Correspondence is between Hall and Miriam Colwell and their families, as well as with publishers, literary agents, and fans regarding Hall's writings. Also found is correspondence with artists, galleries, and museums.
Hall's writing files form the bulk of the collection and include drafts, handwritten and typed, of her stories, novellas, novels, and plays; notebooks, notes and other writings; and a handwritten copy of Colwell's book, Young (1955). Printed materials include clippings, exhibition material, and other printed ephemera. Photographs depict Hall's sculptures, one exhibition at the University of Maine, and Hall's family and friends. Hall's artwork found in the collection includes illustrated folders, sketchbooks, and loose sketches.
Conditions Governing Use
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged as 6 series.
- Series 1: Personal and Professional Files, 1905-1989 (Boxes 1, 7; 0.5 linear feet)
- Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1938-circa 1981 (Boxes 1-2; 0.7 linear feet)
- Series 3: Writing Files, circa 1938-1970 (Boxes 2-5; 3.2 linear feet)
- Series 4: Printed Material, 1940-1999 (Boxes 5, 7; 10 folders)
- Series 5: Photographs, circa 1870s-1990s (Boxes 5-6, 8; 0.7 linear feet)
- Series 6: Artwork, 1937-1990 (Boxes 6-7; 8 folders)
Authors -- Maine
Sculptors -- Maine
Art teachers -- Maine
Women authors
Women artists
Women sculptors
Women educators
Scrapbooks
Video recordings
Sketchbooks
Drawings
Colwell, Miriam, 1917-
Personal and Professional Files
Series 1
Archival Resource Key
0.5 Linear feet
Boxes 1, 7
1905-1989
Scope and Contents
This series contains biographical materials such as addresses, resumes, biographical summaries, and family histories; personal business records including applications as well as gallery, exhibition, and financial files; papers related to talks given by Hall; education and employment records; and an inventory of sculpture. Also included is one VHS recording of Hall's home and sculpture.
Addresses and Lists
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940s-1960s
1
1
Art Shows
Archival Resource Key
1955-1986
1
2
Biographical Summaries and Resumes
Archival Resource Key
1970s-1980s
1
3
Cape Split Place Inc.
Archival Resource Key
1978-1979
1
4
Chenoweth Family History
Archival Resource Key
1974, undated
1
5
Chenoweth Halls's House and Sculpture
Archival Resource Key
1 Videocassettes (VHS)
1989
1
6
Dorothy Hall Childhood Book; Grocery List
Archival Resource Key
circa 1917
1
7
Education Records, University of Wisconsin; Columbia University Teachers College
Archival Resource Key
1931-1936
1
8
Employment Records
Archival Resource Key
1958-1976
1
9
Employment Records, University of Maine Summer Art Institute, Poster
Archival Resource Key
undated
7
1
Financial Papers
Archival Resource Key
1937-1980s
1
10
Greece, Talks and Wildflower Book
Archival Resource Key
1959-1964
1
11
Inventory of Sculptures
Archival Resource Key
1983
1
12
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Archival Resource Key
1946-1947
1
13
Marriage Announcement of Nellie Brewer and George Hall Jr.
Archival Resource Key
1905
1
14
Marsden Hartley, Research File
Archival Resource Key
1940, 1982, 1987
1
15
Musical Recordings; Bartok and Bohuslav Martinu
Archival Resource Key
1946-1957
1
16
Payson Waldron Gallery
Archival Resource Key
1979-1983
1
17
The Pierre Monteux Memorial Foundation
Archival Resource Key
1980-1986
1
18
Radcliff Institute for Independent Study, Application
Archival Resource Key
1962
1
19
Talks, Washington State College, Maine
Archival Resource Key
1965-1966
1
20
Miscellaneous Papers
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940s-1980s
1
21
Correspondence
Series 2
Archival Resource Key
0.7 Linear feet
Boxes 1-2
circa 1938-circa 1981
Scope and Contents
This series includes personal correspondence between Chenoweth Hall and Miriam Colwell as well as postcards and correspondence sent to both the Hall and Colwell families. Also found is correspondence with artists Paul Strand and John Marin Jr., Maine naturalist Olof Nylander, and Katherine Butler Hathaway and her brother. Professional correspondence primarily consists of letters from publishers, Hall's literary agents Ann Watkins and Henry Volkening, and others, including fan mail for Crow on the Spruce, regarding Hall's writings, or her artwork.
Colwell, Miriam
Archival Resource Key
1939-1943, 1966-1971
1
22-23
Colwell, Miriam and Chenoweth Hall, Post Cards
Archival Resource Key
1946
1
24
Hathaway, Daniel Rugg
Archival Resource Key
1942-1943
1
25
Hathaway, Katherine Butler
Archival Resource Key
1942
1
26
Houghton Mifflin Company
Archival Resource Key
1940-1947
1
27
Maclean's Magazine
Archival Resource Key
1943-1953
1
28
Marin, John, Jr.
Archival Resource Key
1946-1980
1
29
Nylander, Olof
Archival Resource Key
1940-1942
1
30
Strand, Paul
Archival Resource Key
1946-1947, 1976
1
31
Todd, Henry
Archival Resource Key
1942-1944
1
32
Volkening, Henry
Archival Resource Key
1950-1961
1
33
Watkins, Ann
Archival Resource Key
1940-1951
1
34-35
General, A-Z
Archival Resource Key
1939-1981
2
1-3
General, First Name Only
Archival Resource Key
circa 1938-1970s
2
4
Family
Archival Resource Key
1944-1947
2
5
Fan Mail
Archival Resource Key
1942-1943
2
6
Writing Files
Series 3
Archival Resource Key
3.2 Linear feet
Boxes 2-5
circa 1938-1970
Scope and Contents
Files mostly consist of drafts, both handwritten and printed, of Chenoweth Hall's short stories, plays, novellas, and novels. The files occasionally include correspondence, notes regarding which magazine and publishers the drafts went to, and whether the draft sold. Other materials include several notebooks that contain early drafts of Hall's writings, miscellaneous notes, and statements on her artwork and the German composer Richard Strauss. Also included is one illustrated folder and a handwritten draft of Miriam Colwell's book, Young (1955).
"The African, From the Interesting Narrative of the Life of Oloudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa; Edited by Chenoweth Hall"
Archival Resource Key
undated
2
7
"Again the Sun"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1950
2
8-10
"Allegro- Ma Non Troppo"
Archival Resource Key
1954
2
11
"The Apple"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
2
12
"The Bartender's Rabbit"
Archival Resource Key
1943, 1953
2
13
"Behind the Mountain"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
2
14
"The Betrayer"
Archival Resource Key
1950, 1953
2
15
"The Billings Girl"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
2
16
"Black and White"; Illustrated Folder
Archival Resource Key
1949-1950
2
17
"Blue Star"
Archival Resource Key
1944
2
18
"Boom and Bust"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
2
19
"Buttons and Novelties"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
2
20
"Cadenza"
Archival Resource Key
1950
2
22
"The Captain and the Bombardier"
Archival Resource Key
1942, 1944
2
21
"Cleptomania"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
2
23
"Come, Darling, Soon"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
2
30
"The Conjuror"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1952
2
24-26
"The Conjuror," Correspondence
Archival Resource Key
1950-1952
2
27
"Conversation After Midnight"
Archival Resource Key
1953
2
28
"Courage"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
2
29
"The Crow on the Spruce"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1945
2
31-32
"The Crow on the Spruce," Printers' Proofs
Archival Resource Key
1945
3
1
"The Crow on the Spruce," Letters and Notes
Archival Resource Key
1945-1946
3
2
"The Crow on the Spruce," Notebook
Archival Resource Key
1940
3
3
"The Daffodils Haven't Bloomed Yet"
Archival Resource Key
1944
3
4
"The Dance"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
3
5
"Family Picture"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
3
6
"The Fictitious 1"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1945-1956
3
7-12
"The Fire"
Archival Resource Key
1942, 1953
3
13
"Fire at Sea"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
3
14
"Flesh and Blood"
Archival Resource Key
1943
3
15
"The Flesh of the Other
Archival Resource Key
1940
3
16
"Friends with Confetti"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
3
17
"The Golden Room"
Archival Resource Key
1943
3
18
"Grandma Pearson's Ho'sses"
Archival Resource Key
1944
3
19
"The Heavenly Twins"
Archival Resource Key
1946-1953
3
20
"The Heir"; Guggenheim Foundation
Archival Resource Key
1948
3
21
"The House Next Door"
Archival Resource Key
1942
3
22
"Houses with Windows"
Archival Resource Key
1941
3
23
"The Important Thing"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
3
24
"The Innocents"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
3
25
"It's a Great Thing"
Archival Resource Key
1941
3
26
"The Last War"
Archival Resource Key
1942
3
27
"Liberty"
Archival Resource Key
1945
3
28
"The Lolitus Case"
Archival Resource Key
1960
3
29
"Look Out for August"
Archival Resource Key
1953
3
30
"Love, Louise"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1941
3
31
"Maine, An Article with Paintings and Photographs"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1970
3
32
"Merry Pranks and the Old Grey House"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
3
33
"Miss Gallivan"
Archival Resource Key
1941-1942
3
34
"Moon Forgot" (Published as The Crow on the Spruce)
Archival Resource Key
1940
3
35
"My Own"
Archival Resource Key
1940
3
36
"Never Stop Dreaming, Darling"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
3
37
"No Odds"
Archival Resource Key
1951-1953
3
38
"No Use"
Archival Resource Key
1941
3
39
"Not So Very Long Ago"
Archival Resource Key
1953
3
40
"The Novelist"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
3
41
"The Old Days"
Archival Resource Key
1957
3
42
"Old Maid"
Archival Resource Key
1941
3
43
"P. S. Personal Success"
Archival Resource Key
1960
3
44
"Penthouse and Soapsuds"
Archival Resource Key
1943
3
45
"The Plague"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
3
46
"Poor Little Ellen"
Archival Resource Key
1940
4
5
"Portrait of Maine," Papers and Correspondence
Archival Resource Key
1956-1968
3
47
"A Portrait of Maine"
Archival Resource Key
1968
4
1-2
"A Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man
Archival Resource Key
1943
4
3
"Potatoes"
Archival Resource Key
1943
4
4
"The Prism"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
4
6
"The Seeds of a Tiger Lily"
Archival Resource Key
1943, 1952-1953
4
7
"Sink or Swim"
Archival Resource Key
1943
4
8
"The Stone"
Archival Resource Key
1954-1964
4
9-11
"The Stone," Papers
Archival Resource Key
1954-1957
4
12
"Store Teeth"
Archival Resource Key
1941
4
13
"Swimming"
Archival Resource Key
1953
4
14
"Take a Slow Boat"
Archival Resource Key
1961
4
15
"A Tale Twice Told"
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1960
4
16-17
"Taygetus"
Archival Resource Key
1941-1960
4
18-21
"Taygetus," Notebook
Archival Resource Key
1941
4
22-23
"That Kid Drives Me Nuts"
Archival Resource Key
1944, 1952
4
24
"They Give Us No Belief"
Archival Resource Key
1942-1960
4
25
"They Give Us No Belief," Notebooks
Archival Resource Key
1942
4
26
"The Three Trees"
Archival Resource Key
1943
4
27
"Tomboy"
Archival Resource Key
1952
4
28
"Tomcat"
Archival Resource Key
1955
4
29
"Town Meeting"
Archival Resource Key
1940-1941
4
30
"Uncle Henry"
Archival Resource Key
1940
4
31
"Unimportant Little Man"
Archival Resource Key
1938
4
32
"Wedding Anniversary"
Archival Resource Key
1941
5
1
"The Whip"
Archival Resource Key
1954
5
3
"Willing to Work Conscientiously"
Archival Resource Key
1942
5
2
"The Wreathmaker"
Archival Resource Key
1945, 1952-1953
5
4
"You Can Pull Out Anytime"
Archival Resource Key
1942
5
5
Notebook, "The Fictitious 1"; "The Heir"
Archival Resource Key
1946-1948
5
6
Notebook, "The Heir"; and "Fire at Sea"
Archival Resource Key
1964
5
7
Notebook, "A Tale Twice Told"; "The Conjuror"
Archival Resource Key
1945
5
8
Fragments and Untitled Writings
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1970
5
9-10
Notebooks, Short Stories
Archival Resource Key
1940
5
11
Notebooks
Archival Resource Key
1939-1960s
5
12-13
Notes and Writings
Archival Resource Key
circa 1940-1980
5
14
Statements, On Art Work and Composer Richard Strauss
Archival Resource Key
1963, undated
5
15
"Young," Manuscript by Miriam Colwell
Archival Resource Key
1953
5
16
Printed Material
Series 4
Archival Resource Key
10 Folders
Boxes 5, 7
1940-1999
Scope and Contents
Included are clippings about Chenoweth Hall's artwork and her book The Crow on the Spruce; newspaper articles written by Hall, Maine artists, and general subjects; exhibition materials including announcements, invitations, programs, and catalogs; and one scrapbook documenting Hall's career through event programs and invitations, clippings, and press releases.
Clippings, Chenoweth Hall
Archival Resource Key
1942-1999
5
17
Clippings, Chenoweth Hall Writings
Archival Resource Key
1941-1942
5
18
Clippings, General
Archival Resource Key
1942-1983
5
19
Clippings, Maine Artists
Archival Resource Key
circa 1979-1989
5
20
Collections, University of Maine
Archival Resource Key
1958-1960, undated
5
21
Exhibition Material, Group Shows
Archival Resource Key
1962-1987
5
22
Exhibition Material, Solo Shows
Archival Resource Key
1965-1999
5
23
Exhibition Material, Other Artists
Archival Resource Key
circa 1941-1980s
5
24
Publishing Houses, Call for Authors
Archival Resource Key
1940-1941
5
25
Scrapbook
Archival Resource Key
1946-2001
7
2
Photographs
Series 5
Archival Resource Key
0.5 Linear feet
Boxes 5-6, 8
circa 1870s-1990s
Scope and Contents
Found here are photographs and negatives of Chenoweth Hall's sculpture as well as photographs of Chenoweth Hall, Miriam Colwell, and Hall's family. Also included is one photograph album that was given to Hall when she entered a nursing home in the 1990s; and one scrapbook from Hall's exhibition at the University of Maine, Orono, which includes printed material from the exhibition.
Artwork
Archival Resource Key
circa 1960-1990
5
26-27
Artwork; University of Maine
Archival Resource Key
1979-1984
5
28
Exhibition Scrapbook, University of Maine, Orono
Archival Resource Key
1979
5
29
Artwork, Drawings of Chenoweth Hall by Marlow Lucas
Archival Resource Key
circa 1950-1980s
5
30
Chenoweth Hall and Miriam Colwell
Archival Resource Key
circa 1938-1970s
5
31
Family Photographs
Archival Resource Key
circa 1870s-1910s
5
32
Family Photographs
Archival Resource Key
circa 1870s-1910s
6
1-2
Family Photographs, Negatives
Archival Resource Key
circa 1870s-1910s
8
Conditions Governing Access
Nitrate negatives closed to researchers.
Photograph Album
Archival Resource Key
1960s-1990s
6
3
Chenoweth Hall and Sculptures, Negatives
Archival Resource Key
1960s
6
4
Unidentified Landscape
Archival Resource Key
undated
6
5
Unidentified Man
Archival Resource Key
undated
6
6
Artwork
Series 6
Archival Resource Key
8 Folders
Boxes 6-7
1937-1990
Scope and Contents
Included are sketchbooks, some of which are labeled, loose sketches, and illustrated folders.
Illustrated Folders
Archival Resource Key
undated
6
7
Notes, Sketches for Paintings; Resource Material
Archival Resource Key
1937, undated
6
8
Sketchbook
Archival Resource Key
1957
7
3
Sketchbook, Maine Notes
Archival Resource Key
1954-1955
6
9
Sketchbook, Notes on Paintings
Archival Resource Key
1955-1960
6
10
Sketchbook, Notes on the Southwest
Archival Resource Key
1954-1956
6
11
Sketchbook, Sculpture Ideas
Archival Resource Key
circa 1960-1990
6
12
Sketches
Archival Resource Key
1960s-1990
6
13