Call Number:

PH-00376

Collection Name:

Frederic Allen Williams Papers and Photography Collection

Creator:

No. of Items:

38700 items (100 document boxes, 4 oversize boxes, 6 cartons)

Span Dates:

circa 1930s-1950s

Description:

Approximately 27,375 gelatin silver prints, 10,000 negatives, as well as albums, clippings, correspondence, manuscript materials, and ephemera document the career and life of artist Frederic Allen Williams, from 1890s-1955, bulk from after the 1920s. The collection is arranged in four series: Series I. Artistic Career Subject Files; Series II. Artwork by Williams; Series III. Personal and Career-Related Materials; and Series IV. Williams Family.

Series I. Artistic Career Subject Files is the largest series with approximately 16,100 prints and 7,300 negatives. It consists of research materials (primarily photographs but also related correspondence, clippings, and ephemera) which provided inspiration for Williams’ own artwork. The series is organized alphabetically by subject. Williams’ primary areas of interest included animals, aviation and aviators, Native Americans, and rodeos and cowboys. This series also includes images of models in various types of costume and portraits of friends which were used as reference for figurative sculptures.

Series II. Artwork by Williams consists of about 3,300 prints and 325 negatives documenting Williams’ artwork, which was primarily sculpture but included some painting and drawing. The images show works in progress and completed. Some images include the models with the artwork, and some depict Williams at work.

Series III. Personal and Career-Related Materials is comprised of a variety of items which document William’s life and career. Included are several albums compiling photographic reproductions of artwork by Williams and by others with notes and essays by Williams. Additionally, this series contains card files, clippings, correspondence, postcards, and snapshots and commercial photographs from Williams’ travels, as well as portraits of Williams and images of his studios. There are approximately 7,300 prints and 2,250 negatives in this series.

Series IV. Family consists of items belonging to Avis Elizabeth Williams-Baier (Williams’ sister), Sarah Paine Williams (Williams’ mother), Cordelia Paine (Williams’ grandmother?), and various other family members. Items include about 700 prints, 100 negatives, 7 glass negatives, as well as diaries, correspondence, and ephemera.

All items are black and white gelatin silver prints, 8x10” or smaller, unless indicated otherwise. Titles of artwork and albums in quotation marks were taken from Williams’ inscriptions; others were supplied by the archivist. The number count for each folder includes only photographic material.

Items are housed physically by format and size:

Boxes 1-70, 106: Prints (8x10” and smaller) and manuscript material

Boxes 71-79: Prints (11x14”)

Boxes 80-82, 109-116: Oversize prints and albums

Box 83: Card files

Boxes 84-105, 107-108: Negatives

File cabinets (PH FC): Glass negatives

Please request materials through the collection finding aid that contains folder-level listings for the 105 boxes in the collection.

Accession No(s):

960:0003:0001- ; 958:0116:0001; Transfer, 1976

Finding Aid URL:

https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00795

Location(s):

Request materials through the collection finding aid Williams, F.A., Boxes 106-108
Click here to request this item from the reading room

Request materials through the collection finding aid Williams, F.A., Boxes 109-116 (Albums)
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Flat File (958:0116:0001)
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Request materials through the collection finding aid Williams, F.A., Boxes 1-105
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Item(s):

See Also:

Frederic Allen Williams Papers and Photography Collection. Lantern Slides

Frederic Allen Williams Papers and Photography Collection. Postcards Collection

Frederic Allen Williams Collection

Frederic Allen Williams Art Collection: Related works of art by and collected by Williams are located in the Frederic Allen Williams Art Collection (AR-00297).