The collection is arranged as one series.
William Preston Phelps (1843-1923) was known as "the painter of Monadnock," for his paintings of his native New Hampshire and the state's most prominent peak.
Phelps grew up working on his family's farm in Chesham, New Hampshire, and by his early twenties owned his own sign business in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, his first exhibition of paintings in Lowell, Massachusetts, attracted the attention of some local businessmen who funded an education for Phelps in Europe. During the late-1870s to the mid-1880s, Phelps studied in Munich and Paris with William Merritt Chase and others. Upon returning to the United States via England and Scotland, Phelps set up a studio in Lowell and then traveled west in 1886 where he painted a notable series of western landscapes, with subjects including the Grand Canyon. Following his father's death, Phelps took over and settled on the family farm, and painted the New Hampshire landscapes for which he is best known.
Following his son's death in an accident in 1901, and his wife's death six months later, Phelps's financial situation began to unravel and his health entered a steady decline. In 1914 he turned over his estate to an auctioneering firm, J. E. Conant & Co., from which he had borrowed money for a number of years. Phelps's daughter, Ina Phelps Hayward, herself an artist, attempted to ensure that her father's property was handled fairly in the estate sale, but much of his property and paintings, including some of his best known pictures, were sold for very little or disappeared with no record of provenance. Phelps, who was in the Concord State Hospital at the time, died five years later and his daughter's attempts to pursue J. E. Conant & Co. through the courts, were unsuccessful.
Phelps's paintings can be found in the collections of the William Benton Museum of Art, the New Hampshire Historical Society, the Shelburne Museum, and others.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
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Portions of the collection and material lent for microfilming are available on 35mm microfilm reels 79, 370 and 647 at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.
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.
William Preston and Ina Phelps Hayward papers, 1849-2001, bulk 1890s-1920s. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
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.
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.
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.
Correspondence includes letters from William Preston Phelps to John I. Coggeshall, posthumous letters to Ina Phelps Hayward from various people and institutions regarding Phelps exhibitions, and Karl Gabosh's correspondence relating to his interest in, and research on, Phelps. One letter written in reply to Gabosh encloses a photograph taken by Phelps of Mount Monadnock.
Correspondence and legal records related to the Phelps estate include correspondence with auctioneers J. E. Conant and Co., and with Phelps's attorney; payments and receipts kept by Ina Phelps Hayward documenting her work done on behalf of her father's estate and payments she made to him such as allowances and expenses; legal documentation of Phelps Hayward being appointed her father's guardian; and records of her attempts to protect the integrity of his estate prior to, and after, the 1917 estate sale. Phelps Hayward's notes for the estate sale catalog provide biographical information about her father and lists of his paintings and exhibitions.
A scrapbook contains news clippings primarily about Phelps, two family letters, an invitation to Phelps's studio, an announcement for the exhibition of Phelps's Grand Canyon painting, a catalog of his paintings for sale in 1878, and a loose copy of "A Painter of Monadnock" by Charles E. Hurd, reprinted from
A sketchbook, labeled "W. P. Munchen" is attributed to William Phelps and contains figure sketches and sketches of rural and city scenes in pencil. Twelve sketches in pencil and watercolor are by Ina Phelps Hayward and her son, Roger Hayward. Printed material consists primarily of photocopies of articles about Phelps, and scattered exhibition invitations. Of note are a copy of a 1900 exhibition catalog of Phelps's work with prices, and a copy of the estate sale catalog. Later news clippings document posthumous interest in Phelps's work up to 2001.
Photographs include two studio portraits of Phelps and a photograph of him reclining in his orchard. Also found are photos of an unidentified woman and a baby; a print made from a negative of the Phelps estate sale; photos of Phelps's Chesham home, studio, and surrounding landscape; and photos of his paintings.
Glass plate negatives include two portraits of Phelps and thirty-six negatives of his paintings.
Glass plate negatives have been scanned.
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence Regarding Estate
Correspondence Regarding Estate
Estate Records, Legal Documents
Estate Records, Notes for Estate Sale Catalog
Estate Records, Payments and Receipts
Estate Records, Payments and Receipts
Clippings
Photocopied Research Material
(not scanned)
Clippings and Exhibition/Auction Announcements
Glass Plate Negatives, of Phelps and Artwork by Phelps