, 1821-1915. A Research Guide. Watertown Free Public Library, Watertown, MA. Prepared by Patrick Ford, Library Volunteer, September 2009, and Autumn Haag, MISt, Library Volunteer, March 2010.

Biography:

Anne Whitney was an American sculptor and poet. She was born in Watertown, in 1821, a direct descendent of the earliest settlers of Watertown. The youngest of seven children, she grew up in a prosperous, Unitarian family. From 1846-1848 she ran a small women’s school in Salem, MA and began writing poetry and verse. She initially published short stories in Harpers and Atlantic Monthly; her collected poems were published in 1859 and received much critical attention.

In the 1850’s she began to take her work as a sculptor more seriously; she started making portrait busts of her family around 1855, spent 1859-60 modeling and drawing in New York City and Philadelphia, studied anatomy at a Brooklyn Hospital, and in 1862 worked in a studio adjacent to that of her teacher, William Rimmer. Whitney went to Rome in 1866 and lived and worked there for several years. She returned to the in 1871, and was commissioned to sculpt a full-length statue of . In 1875, she entered and won a national competition to produce a of abolitionist . However, she was denied the commission on the grounds “that a woman could not accurately sculpt a man's legs”.

She bought a home/studio in Boston’s Beacon Hill in 1876 where she worked for almost twenty years. She later taught at in 1885, and spent summers in Shelburne, VT with her companion, the painter Abby Adeline Manning. She was a supporter of abolition, women’s suffrage, and the conservation movement, themes which often show up in her work. Her most well-known works include portrait of , , Samuel Adams, Toussaint L’Ouverture, Keats, and , along with “Roma” and “Africa”.

She died in Boston on January 23, 1915, and is buried in in Cambridge, MA.

Scope and Content:

This collection consists primarily of published material about Anne Whitney, including books, exhibition catalogues, and newspaper and journal articles. The library also has three of her sculptures.

Inventory:

Hirshler, Erica E., Janet L. Comey, Ellen E. Roberts. A Studio of Her Own: Women Artists in Boston, 1870-1940. Exhibition Catalogue. Boston, MA: MFA Publications, 2001.

Gerdts, William H., Jr., Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Maire H. Morrisson, and Carol Ockman. The White, Marmorean Flock: Nineteenth Century American Women Neoclassical Sculptors. Exhibition Catalogue. Poughkeepsie, New York: Vassar College Art Gallery, 1972. n.p.

Tufts, Eleanor. “An American Victorian Dilemma, 1875: Should a Woman Be Allowed to Sculpt a Man?” Art Journal 51, No. 1 (Spring 1992): 51-56.

Garfinkle, Charlene G. “‘Those Who Step Boldly Forward’: and Anne Whitney, Pioneers in Nineteenth Century American Sculpture.” MA thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1986.

LaBarre, Margaret Wendell. “Harriet Hosmer: Her Era and Art.” MA thesis, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, 1966.

Watertown Free Public Library. Watertown's Victorian Legacy: A Bicentennial Art Exhibition. Watertown, MA: Watertown Free Public Library, 1976.

Watertown Free Public Library. Discover Art: A Guide to the Art Collection at Watertown Free Public Library. Watertown, MA: Watertown Free Public Library, 2000.

Tuckerman, Henry T. Book of the Artist. American Artist Life, Comprising Biographical and Critical Sketches of American Artists: Preceded by an Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of Art in America. New York: G.P. Putnam & Son, 1867

Jarves, James Jackson. Art Thoughts: The Experiences and Observations of an American Amateur in Europe. New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1869.

Fowler, Harold North. A History of Sculpture. New York: Macmillan, 1916.

Taft, Lorado. The History of American Sculpture. New York: Macmillan, 1925.

Sherwood, Dolly. Harriet Hosmer, American Sculptor, 1830-1908. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1991.

Gerdts, William H. American Neo-Classic Sculpture: The Marble Resurrection. New York: The Viking Press, 1973.

Tufts, Eleanor, Gail Levin, Alessandra Comini, and Wanda M. Corn. American Women Artists 1830-1930. Washington, D.C.: The National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1987.

A Hollinger box with the following:

Reitzes, Lisa B. “The Political Voice of the Artist: Anne Whitney’s Roma and Harriet Martineau.” American Art 8 (Spring 1994): 44-65.

Watertown Free Public Library. Watertown's Victorian Legacy: A Bicentennial Art Exhibition. Watertown, MA: Watertown Free Public Library, 1976.

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1990.

Burgard, Timothy Anglin. and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Images and Identities. Art Museums Gallery Series, Number 14. Cambridge, Mass.: Fogg Art Museum, 1995.

Folder within Archives box contains photocopies of:

Clement, Edward H. “Miss Anne Whitney,” [Publication Unknown] January 25, 1915. Obituary.

Payne, Elizabeth Rogers. “Anne Whitney: Art and Social Justice.” The Massachusetts Review 12 (Spring 1971): n.p.

Payne, Elizabeth Rogers. “Anne Whitney, Sculptor.” The Art Quarterly 25 (Autumn 1962): 244- 261.

Vertical File:

DeMarco, Darcy. “Her Stories.” Newton Tab 22 Mar. 1988: n.p. Original and photocopy.

Black and white photograph of sculpture of Charles Sumner by Anne Whitney.

Two black and white photographs of sculpture of Lady Godiva by Anne Whitney.

Black and white photograph of sculpture of Leif Eriksson by Anne Whitney

Three black and white photographs of sculpture of John Keats by Anne Whitney

Sellers, Connie. “Watertown sculptor carved monumental niche despite odds.” Equinox Aug.- Sept. 1977: Pgs. 4 & 18. Multiple copies.

Meehan, Michael. "Fountain vandalized." News Tribune 28 July 1997: Pg. 13.

Letter to the editor. “Fountain restoration planned.” Newton Tab 16 Mar. 1993: n.p. Original and photocopy.

Editorial. "Volunteers restore more than a sculpture." Newton Tab 28 August 1995: Pg. 26.

“Ask the Globe.” Boston Globe 18 Sept. 1977: n.p. Multiple copies.

LeBlanc, Steve. "Fighting to save a city landmark.” Newton Graphic 29 Apr. 1993: City Beat, Pg. 3.

“World’s oldest sculptor gone .” Boston Sunday Globe c. 1915: n.p. Original and photocopy. Multiple copies.

Payne, Elizabeth Rogers. “Anne Whitney: Art and Social Justice.” The Massachusetts Review 12 (Spring 1971): n.p.

Invitation to celebrate restoration of West Newton Fountain, 1995.

Clement, Edward H. “Miss Anne Whitney.” [Publication Unknown] 25 Jan. 1915: n.p. Obituary. Multiple copies.

“Getting the brush-off.” Boston Globe 22 Sept. 1988: n.p.

"To Note Centennial of Bust of Keats.” Watertown Press 15 Feb. 1973: n.p. Multiple copies.

Fairman, Charles E. Works of Art in the Building. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1913. Pgs. 78-79.

"Women Artists Will Have Their Own Museum.” The New York Times 23 Nov. 1986: The Arts, n.p.

Harris, John. “Some great moments on Cambridge Common.” Boston Globe 17 Aug. 1986: n.p.

Rackham, Joyce. "Andalusia, the ‘Cradle’ of the Great Discovery.” The New York Times 17 May 1970: Pg. 13. Multiple copies.

Invitation to join the Smith College Museum of Art. Handwritten note on it indicated Whitney’s sculpture “The Chaldean Shepherd” is in this collection.

Clipping about Anne Whitney. No author, no date. Lists ones of her poems.

“Anne Whitney’s Statue of Leif Ericsson.” Boston Sunday Globe Magazine 4 Oct. 1970: Pg. 22.

Riley, Arthur A. "Boston Statues Face to Face.” [Publication Unknown] n.d: n.p.

Fowler, William M. Jr. "A vote for the Norseman.” Boston Globe 12 Oct. 1998: n.p.

Payne, Elizabeth Rogers. “Anne Whitney, Sculptor.” The Art Quarterly 25 (Autumn 1962): 244- 261. Bound copy inscribed by the author to the Watertown Free Public Library.

The Massachusetts Review Amherst, M.A.: The Massachusetts Review, 1959. Volume 12, Number 2, Spring, 1971.

Letter from Elizabeth R. Payne to Joseph Hopkins, Librarian Watertown Free Public Library. 6/13/1964. Includes article about Elizabeth R. Payne from the Wellesley Alumnae Magazine, May, 1963,

Copy of a letter from Elizabeth R. Payne to the Librarian and Trustees of the Watertown Free Public Library. 11/27/1964. She offers them a statuette of Shakespeare by Whitney.

Letter from Guest Perry, Librarian, Houghton Mifflin Company to Mary McNally, Librarian Watertown Free Public Library. 1/18/1972.

Niederkorn, William S. “A Scholar Recants on His ‘Shakespeare’ Discovery.” New York Times, June 20, 2002, Arts section, Midwest edition.

Reitzes, Lisa B. “The Political Voice of the Artist: Anne Whitney’s Roma and Harriet Martineau.” American Art 8 (Spring 1994): 44-65.

Note on Harvard University Art Museums regarding Anne Whitney material. No author, not dated.

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1990.

Payne, Elizabeth Rogers. “Anne Whitney, Sculptor.” The Art Quarterly 25 (Autumn 1962): 244- 261.

Payne, Elizabeth Rogers. “Anne Whitney: Art and Social Justice.” The Massachusetts Review 12 (Spring 1971): n.p.

Payne, Elizabeth Rogers. “Anne Whitney: Art and Social Justice.” The Massachusetts Review 12 (Spring 1971): n.p.

Clement, Edward H. “Miss Anne Whitney,” [Publication Unknown] January 25, 1915. Obituary. Ektachrome slide of “…Fountain” sculpture by Anne Whitney with a note of attribution on an index card. Taken in 1982.

Polaroid of bust of Anne Whitney. Unknown location. Taken in 1989.

Photographs (all are on the WFPL’s online Photograph Collection):

Portrait of Anne Whitney. Portrait of Anne Whitney. Anne Whitney’s Birthplace.

Sculpture:

Charles Sumner Plaster model, 1875 29 1/2” high Gift of Mr. Whitney, the artist’s brother, 1889

Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream Plaster model, 1897 31” high On loan from the Watertown Historical Society

John Keats Plaster model