The Wilna Hervey and Nan Mason papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by Daniel Gelfand, a friend of Wilna Hervey and Nan Mason, in 2008.
The collection was processed by graduate intern Sarah Haug in March, 2009.
Wilna Hervey and Nan Mason papers, 1883-1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
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Wilna Hervey was born in 1894 and grew up in Far Rockaway, New York. She met Nan Mason (1896-1982), daughter of silent film actor Dan Mason, while on production of
As a young woman in the late 1910s, Hervey took art lessons at the Art Students League in New York City, Winold Reiss' studio at 4 Christopher Street, New York City, and during the summer of 1918 in Woodstock, New York. In 1919, she joined the Betzwood Studios in Audubon, Pennsylvania to play the role of "The Powerful Katrinka" in
Around 1919-1920, Hervey's father bought Wilna a small studio in Bearsville, New York. From 1922-1929 Hervey and Nan Mason split their time between painting and farming in Woodstock, New York, and pursuing acting while living with Dan Mason in California. In 1926-1927, the women traveled to Europe and North Africa together to see museums, art, and architecture.
After the death of Dan Mason in 1929, Hervey and Nan Mason made Bearsville their permanent home. Beginning in the late 1950s, Hervey and Mason began spending winters in Anna Maria, Florida and summers in New York. Hervey and Mason achieved success as artists in the 1960s - Hervey as an enamel painter, and Mason as a painter and photographer.
Wilna Hervey passed away in 1979, and Nan Mason died in 1982.
Sources consulted include "The Biggest Girl" by Joseph P. Eckhardt (http://faculty.mc3.edu/jeckhard/biggestgirlarticle/thebiggestgirl.html).
The papers of artist and silent film actress Wilna Hervey and her lifelong companion painter Nan Mason date from 1883 through 1985 and measure 4.9 linear feet. The collection is comprised mostly of letters to Hervey and Mason from friends, colleagues, and Mason's father, Dan Mason, also a silent film actor. Also found are personal photographs and snapshots, Hervey's handwritten memoirs, as well as twelve folders of Dan Mason's papers.
Biographical materials include a personal narrative, notes on family history, newspaper clippings related to family, legal and financial records, and Wilna Hervey's notes on artwork.
Hervey and Mason were friends with many artists and their correspondence includes letters from artists such as Albert Heckman, Georgina Klitgaard, Manuel Komroff, Leon Kroll, Doris Lee, Fred Dana Marsh, Henry Lee McFee, William Pachner, Caroline and Paul Rohland, Andrée Ruellan, Eugene Speicher, and Dorothy Varian. There are very few letters written by Hervey or Mason, and the correspondence is mostly personal in nature. There are over 250 letters from Elsie Speicher, wife of portrait artist Eugene Speicher. Correspondence to Dan Mason has been separated and is filed in a separate series.
Wilna Hervey wrote a a number of handwritten memoirs of her days in the
This collection also includes a few pieces of artwork; three small watercolor sketches by an unidentified artist, and a print by Edward Chavez.
Photographs are mostly snapshots of friends and family, life in Woodstock, New York and Anna Maria, Florida. Negatives originally housed in an un-postmarked envelope with a return address labeled "Betzwood Film Co.," appear to be from the filming of
The personal files of Dan Mason include letters from Hervey and Nan Mason, the bulk from their trip to Europe and North Africa in 1926-1927. This series also includes Dan Mason's own handwritten and typed memoirs, newspaper clippings, and financial records.
The collection is arranged into six series:
This series includes a personal narrative, notes on family history, newspaper clippings related to family, legal and financial records, and Wilna Hervey's notes on artwork.
Correspondence is mostly personal letters and covers subjects such as personal matters, updates on the lives of Woodstock residents, and the careers of artist friends. Early correspondence highlights Wilna Hervey's film career and travels. Other than the letters written by Nan Mason to Wilna Hervey, there are very few letters in this series written by either Hervey or Mason.
Notable correspondents include artists and friends Albert Heckman, Georgina Klitgaard, Manuel Komroff, Leon Kroll, Doris Lee, Fred Dana Marsh, Henry Lee McFee, William Pachner, Caroline and Paul Rohland, Andrée Ruellan, Eugene Speicher, and Dorothy Varian. There are over 250 letters from Elsie Speicher, wife of portrait artist Eugene Speicher. The bulk of Elsie Speicher's correspondence is from the months of November - March; between April to October each year the Speichers were usually in Woodstock with Hervey and Mason. Speicher occasionally sends correspondence from friends in common, notably Louise Lindin, Daphne Mattson, Caroline Rohland, Jean Rosen, and Andrée Ruellan.
Early correspondence from Karin Whiteley concerns a project to publish Hervey's memoirs (which were never published). Whiteley's correspondence also includes numerous enclosed newspaper clippings regarding Dan Mason's acting career. Additional correspondence from Karin Whiteley regarding the memoirs is located in Series 3: Memoir Book Production, 1883-1959. Other items of interest in this series includes a letter from Robert Pollack (1918) that includes a Smileage Book (movie coupons from the Military Entertainment Service), a New York City subway ticket, and caricatures drawn by Wilna Hervey, illustrated letters by cartoonist John Striebel, and occasional snapshots of artists and friends. Correspondence to Dan Mason from Hervey and Nan Mason has been separated and is filed with the other personal files of Dan Mason in Series 6, 1919-1928.
This series also includes correspondence that was neither written by Hervey or Mason, nor sent to them. It may be that the letters were sent to Hervey and Mason as enclosures in other correspondence. Such correspondence is arranged at the end of this series as Miscellaneous Collected Correspondence.
See Appendix for list of selected correspondents in Series 2.
Correspondence is arranged alphabetically by the correspondent's last name and then chronologically within folders; undated letters are located at the end of the folder. Correspondents with fewer than five letters are filed by last name in folders labeled alphabetically. Letters from unidentified correspondents are filed at the end of the series.
Wilna Hervey intended to publish memoirs of her days involved in
This series also includes research materials such as typed synopses of two
The majority of the correspondence is to Hervey from Karin Whiteley (additional correspondence from Karin Whiteley regarding the memoir is located in Series 2: Correspondence, 1890-1985). Correspondence also includes Hervey's contract with The Paul Gerson Pictures Corporation dated 1922, and typed and handwritten writings by Dan Mason.
Items are arranged in original order.
This series includes three small watercolor sketches by unidentified artist, and a print by Edward Chavez.
Photographs in this series are mostly snapshots of friends and family, life in Woodstock, New York and Anna Maria, Florida. Black and white snapshots contain photos of unidentified costumed people at an outdoor party, Wilna Hervey gardening, Elsie and Eugene Speicher, Charles Rosen, Nan Mason and Wilna Hervey in Italy in 1926, and of a home in a forested setting. Color snapshots are of gardens, beach scenes, and unidentified women. Negatives were originally found in an un-postmarked envelope with a return address labeled "Betzwood Film Co." and include six negatives of people on a boat, including Wilna Hervey and Dan Mason. Twenty-one negatives appear to be from a camera shoot for the
The personal files of Dan Mason include correspondence to Mason, Mason's own handwritten and typed memoirs, newspaper clippings, and financial records mostly related to the death of his wife, Millicent Mason in 1919. The bulk of the correspondence is written by Wilna Hervey and Nan Mason, and chronicles their trip to Europe and North Africa in 1926-1927, as well as their close relationship with Dan Mason. Correspondence also includes a few family snapshots.
Correspondence is arranged alphabetically and then chronologically. Memoirs, financial records, and newspaper clippings are arranged chronologically.