Wanda Gág papers Ms. Coll. 310 Finding aid prepared by Maggie Kruesi, Christa Stefanski, and Jessica Dodson.
Last updated on July 14, 2020.
University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
1999 Wanda Gág papers
Table of Contents
Summary Information...... 3 Biography/History...... 4 Scope and Contents...... 12 Administrative Information...... 14 Controlled Access Headings...... 14 Other Finding Aids...... 15 Bibliography...... 15 Books written / translated and illustrated by Wanda Gág...... 16 Collection Inventory...... 17 Correspondence...... 17 Writings and ideas for publication...... 36 Diaries...... 56 Lecture notes; notes on writing; radio talks and readings; miscellaneous and unidentified notes...... 62 Artwork...... 63 Writings about Wanda Gág: Biographical articles, obituaries, and book reviews arranged chronologically...... 71 Wanda Gág financial records. Account books, royalties, lists...... 74 Wanda Gág estate...... 74 Newspaper clippings...... 78 Memorabilia...... 78 Happiwork...... 80 Photographs...... 81 Oversize artwork, photographs, clippings, blueprints...... 81
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Summary Information
Repository University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
Creator Gág, Wanda , 1893-1946
Title Wanda Gág papers
Call number Ms. Coll. 310
Date [inclusive] 1892-1968
Extent 40 boxes
Language English
Abstract Personal papers of Wanda Gág, including correspondence to and from Wanda, as well as letters to and from Alma Schmidt Scott, a biographer of Gág, and letters among Gág family members; writings, such as diaries, children’s books, autobiographical works, and juvenilia; notes for talks and for writings; artwork; exhibition catalogs and related publicity material; writings about Gág, including obituaries, biographical pieces, and book reviews; financial records; materials regarding the Estate of Wanda Gág; newspaper clippings; memorabilia; photographs; and examples of Happiwork, a product for children created by Gág.
Cite as:
Wanda Gág papers, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania
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Biography/History
Artist, illustrator, and writer Wanda Gág was born Wanda Hazel Gag on 11 March 1893 in the town of New Ulm, Minnesota, a German-speaking community of freethinking artisans and farmers. She was the oldest of seven children born to Anton Gag, a painter, photographer, and decorator, and his wife Elisabeth Biebl, also from an artistic family who made their living through cabinet making, photography, and farming. Gág described her parents, Anton and Lissi, as "iconoclasts" who did not practice the Catholicism of their Bohemian ancestors and raised their children in a home where drawing, painting, music, gardening, and sewing were the chief occupations of parents and children. Lissi designed and made her children's stylish clothes, a skill her daughters learned. As an older child Wanda Gág was amazed to discover that there were people who did not know how to draw--she and her brother and sisters were drawing before they entered school. Wanda Gág's earliest teacher was her father Anton. He painted church interiors and decorated houses as partner in the firm Heller & Gag. On Sundays he painted in his attic studio in their home. One of his paintings of the 1862 Indian Massacre in New Ulm (now referred to as the Dakota conflict of 1862) was exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893; others are in private collections, museums, and historical societies in Minnesota and elsewhere. Anton Gag was an immigrant, born near Neustadtbei Heide, Bohemia. Lissi Biebl was born in Pennsylvania of Bohemian parents, both families moved to New Ulm around the same time. After moving to New York, Wanda Gág altered the family name by adding an accent to it, because people so often mispronounced her name. Some of Wanda's siblings adopted this change in their name after Gág became well known. (See Gág's note in Growing Pains, hereafter GP, 471.) When her father was on his deathbed in May 1908 at the age of 48, he called Wanda to his side and told her "Was der Papa nicht thun konnt' muss die Wanda halt fertig machen" (What Papa couldn't do, Wanda will have to finish). Wanda was fifteen years old, her youngest sister Flavia was one year old, her mother was ill and often unable to do housework and they were left very little beyond their home at 226 Washington Street, New Ulm, and life insurance of $1200 which was made to last over the next six years. In October of that year, 1908, Wanda began keeping a record of her earnings, expenses, and events of her life in a ledger book that had belonged to her father. This was the start of her habit of keeping diaries, which she continued until her death. With her mother's approval, Wanda decided not to take work as a clerk or housekeeper. Instead she was determined to earn as much as she could by her art work-- drawing bookmarks, place cards, and postcards (at 5 cents each) which she sold locally. She illustrated her own stories and poems for submission to the Minneapolis Junior Journal, which paid a dollar for each published work. A year later, she was holding drawing classes in her home to earn money for the family. Wanda also decided that she and her sisters and brother would each finish high school. Her attendance at school was often interrupted by having to tend the baby at home when her mother was sick, and by doing the washing, cleaning, cooking, chopping firewood, and other chores. The story of these years and her earliest studies at art schools in St. Paul and Minneapolis is told in Wanda Gág's book Growing Pains, comprising excerpts from her diaries and letters from 1908 to 1917 and published in 1940.
- Page 4 - Wanda Gág papers Wanda balanced her sense of obligation to her siblings, who remained close to her throughout her life, and her desire to pursue art. The Wanda Gág Papers at the University of Pennsylvania include a significant amount of family correspondence plus Gág's writings about her family. Her siblings were her sisters Stella Gag Harm (1894-1962); Thusnelda Gag Stewart ( "Tussy," "Nelda" ) (1897-1973); Asta Gag Treat ( "Drift" ) (1899-1987); Dehli Gag Janssen ( "Dale," "Deli" ) (1900-1958); her brother, Howard Gag (1902-1961); and baby sister Flavia Gág ( "Flops" ) (1907-1978) who also became an author and illustrator of children's books (see Winnan, 78). Her mother's family, the Biebls, whom Wanda called "Grandma folks," were especially close to her. They included her grandmother; her uncle Joe ( "Josie" ) Biebl; her Aunts Mary and Magdalena ( "Lena" ) Biebl; and her uncle Frank Biebl, a woodcarver, cabinet maker, photographer, and musician. Wanda had a keen appreciation for music, learned from her family. She played the piano, sang in the Glee Club, arranged the school song in four parts, and was happy when her uncle Frank, who also made musical instruments, came to their house and played his guitar. She played duets at the piano with her friend Alma Schmidt ( "Schmidty," later Alma Schmidt Scott), who maintained a lifelong friendship with the Gág family and wrote a biography of Wanda, published in 1949. They graduated together from high school in New Ulm in 1912.
During the summer she returned to New Ulm and was visited by Charles Weschcke of St. Paul, who had known her father and was interested in Gág's talent. He offered to send her to the St. Paul Institute of Arts and Sciences and to pay her board at t he Y.W.C.A. Her sister Stella was able to teach school that year to support the family and in the fall of 1913 Wanda began classes, preparing for a career in illustration and commercial art. Wanda received early support from a number of individuals in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Among them was Arthur J. Russell, journalist and editor at the Minneapolis Journal and Minneapolis Junior Journal, where Wanda had submitted her stories and drawings since she was in her early teens. She wrote to him about her compulsion to draw, which she referred to as "fierce drawing moods" or "drawing fits" and her "myself and many me's" which occupied her thoughts in her diaries:
Myself is the part of me that sees its way out of my "self-to-me" arguments, as for instance the one above about cleverness; and Me is that part that writes things in diaries in angular words, angular phrases and angular thoughts. Like this :-Myself is inside, and Me is trying to sort of fit around the outside only it can't very well because it's so angular, you see, and can do no more than touch myself and feel that myself is there.
-- GP, 212-213
Russell gave her books to read and wrote to her for over thirty years encouraging her to pay attention to her unique view of her world and her work:
I am sure your me's will not worry you for you know now they are deciduous, if that is the word, or in other words they are crops of leaves that you are shedding as the seasons go. The real tree of you stands and will stand.
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--Russell to Gág, 24 November 1914
Wanda first met Arthur Russell on 28 November 1914. He introduced her to his editor, Herschel V. Jones, who was so excited by her work that Jones offered to pay Wanda's tuition, room, and board at the Minneapolis School of Art on the spot. Wanda considered this and then accepted and moved to Minneapolis in December 1914. She returned home to New Ulm for the Christmas holidays, where Dehli was recovering from a serious illness. Christmas was an important part of Gág's life. In New Ulm the holiday began with St. Nicholas's Day, December 6, but the tree trimming did not take place until December 24, and in the intervening weeks much effort went into making presents for every member of the family. The family practice of writing verses and riddles attached to Christmas gifts persisted throughout their lives and a large number of these have been preserved in Gág's Papers. After Wanda's return to Minneapolis in January 1915, she frequently mentions one of her classmates, artist Adolf Dehn (spelled Adolphe or Adolph in his letters to Gág). They became close friends, discussing immortality, art, books, and religion, and after a few years, the pros and cons of marriage. Although she greatly enjoyed the company of men, Wanda had always said that art came first in her life, and from her teenage years she thought seriously about remaining single. Dehn's declaration of his love for her in 1916 drove her to think about the question almost constantly. In January 1917, after she had returned to Minneapolis following the Christmas holidays in New Ulm, she received a message from Stella that she should return home immediately. Her mother had been ill over the holidays. The weather was bitterly cold and Wanda kept the fires and furnace going and tried to keep a normal routine for the youngest children. Two neighbors and the doctor were with Gág at her mother's bedside when she died early in the morning of January 31. Her mother was 48, the same age her father had been when he died almost ten years earlier. After a few months Wanda decided that the best chance of keeping the family together (some local families wanted to adopt the youngest children) and of giving them opportunities for education would be to sell their home in New Ulm and move to Minneapolis. In April of the same year Wanda Gág and Adolf Dehn both received notice that they were among twelve students nationwide who had won scholarships to the Art Students League in New York. Agai n, Herschel V. Jones offered to pay Gág's room and board, this time in New York. During the summer of 1917, Wanda, her sisters, and Adolf Dehn painted the house in New Ulm to ready it for sale and they sold most of their household goods. By the end of September the house had not sold and through that winter Asta stayed with the youngest children in New Ulm, while Stella and Nelda worked to support them in Minneapolis. Wanda borrowed $150 for the children from Jean Sherwood Rankin for whom she illustrated A Child's Book of Folk-lore: Mechanics of Written English (1917) a guide to assist immigrants in learning the English language. Wanda Gág, Adolf Dehn, and their classmate Arnold Blanch went to New York together at the end of September 1917. At the Art Students League Gág studied with Frank Vincent DuMond, Kenneth Hayes Miller, and Robert Henri. She took a class in etching from Mahonri Young, while attending lectures and classes with a number of other instructors including John Sloan. She roomed at the Studio Club of the Y.W.C.A. but moved to a room at 859 Lexington Avenue to save money to send home to New Ulm where the children were having a difficult winter. Gág began looking for commercial art jobs to earn extra money.
- Page 6 - Wanda Gág papers Gág returned to New Ulm for the summer of 1918, sold their house and moved her family to Minneapolis. Wanda returned to New York with an art school classmate, Lucile Lundquist, who had roomed with Stella in Minneapolis. Although her scholarship had been renewed, Gág was not able to study full time, and spent much effort trying to interest publishers in her work; trying to obtain work making covers for sheet music; and becoming involved in fashion advertising, which she hated. In her diary she describes the celebration at the end of World War I in New York City when the news came of Germany's surrender, with bits of paper falling everywhere from the sky. That November she took a job decorating lampshades for 25 cents an hour for a Danish woman named Mrs. Lund. Adolf Dehn had been drafted into the Army in June 1918, and served as a conscientious objector in a guard house in Spartanburg, South Carolina. While still in the Army, Adolf was able to visit Wanda in New York in January 1919. She described their meet ing in detail and wrote in her diary, "Adolphe, of course, is not greatly in favor of marriage, neither am I, but being a woman, & being also very fond of children, free love has as many disadvantages as marriage for me" [Diary 35, 1 February 1919]. She often wrote of the disadvantages of being a woman. When Dehn and sculptor and fellow Minnesotan John B. Flannagan wanted to hire on as deck hands on a merchant ship to China, Gág was very upset that Dehn didn't ever consider that it would be impossible for her to take the trip with him because she was a woman [Diary 36, 16 December 1919]. They did plan to travel to Europe together and began saving money for this. During the period 1920 to 1922 Gág was becoming more successful earning money through commercial art. In her diaries she was preoccupied with her relationship with Adolf, worried about the effects of her unsatisfied desires on her health and about his self-described "promiscuity." She investigated methods of birth control and exchanged information about sex with her roommate Lucile Lundquist, who was involved in a relationship with Arnold Blanch. Dehn and Gág became lovers but con tinued to “torture” (her word) each other and when he persisted with his wish to travel to Europe in October 1921 she did not go with him. At this time Gág was undertaking a business venture called "Happiwork," a series of activity kits for children. Gág designed and wrote stories for these; her partners were Janet and Ralph Aiken who lived in Connecticut. Gág still thought about joining Dehn in Europe once Happiwork was established. She wanted to travel to her ancestors' homelands in Austria and Czechoslovakia, in addition to spending time in Paris. But she became involved with Earle Marshall Humphreys, a friend of Adolf Dehn, who had been interred with him as a conscientious objector in South Carolina during the war. Earle Humphreys, a bookseller and writer, was born in Philadelphia and had graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. Meanwhile Dehn wrote to Gág on 24 February 1922 that he had fallen in love with Mura Ziperovitch, a young dancer, but that he wanted Gág to join him soon in Vienna. Gág obtained her passport on 11 March 1922, but never departed for Europe. Wanda Gág had her first art exhibition at the New York Public Library's East 96th Street Branch from 15 February to 1 April 1923. Her work was well received by fellow artists and she received notices in the press. Among her admirers was Carl Zigrosser, a founder of the Weyhe Gallery in New York, which specialized in prints. Throughout the 1920s Zigrosser encouraged her, wrote to her, sent books to her, and bought all her completed prints for Weyhe so that she would have some money to live on. Zigrosser organized her first exhibition at Weyhe, 1-20 November 1926, which was a critical success.
- Page 7 - Wanda Gág papers In 1923 the Happiwork venture failed. Gág did not like the pace of living in New York City year round and prized the times she had been able to spend in the country--at Mohegan Lake, New York in the summer of 1919 and in Connecticut with the Aiken family. Although she had a steady income from commercial art, her real desire was to make art for herself. She made the decision in 1923 to "go native" as she called it, to give up fashion drawing and go to the country to pursue art. She spent the summer and autumn of 1923 and 1924 in the country near Ridgefield, Connecticut and long summers from 1925 through 1930 at a rented farmhouse near Glen Gardner, New Jersey which she called "Tumble Timbers." Here she was able to plant a garden, to study the growth of nature and forms of the landscape, and to draw and paint every day. Gág sometimes expressed her experiences of the fundamental forces of nature by using musical analogies. In one diary entry she describes the forms of trees and masses of foliage as a symphony, the sound comprised not just of wavelengths, but volume [6 July 1923, Diary 40]. She wrote to Carl Zigrosser about her work and her determination.
...once and for all to get at the bottom of the principle which governs all this [the forms of hills, planes, conflicting fragments, big forms].... My aesthetic existence teems with forms which project themselves tauntingly toward me, recede elu sively from me, bulge, flow - and, worst of all, turn triumphantly over the edge of things, leaving me to wonder what's going on beyond. But of course that's exactly the place where I can't afford to give up...
--Gág to Zigrosser, 10 May 1926
Her companions in the country and during the winter at their apartments in New York City were Earle Humphreys and her sisters and brother. Thusnelda moved to New York in 1922, Asta in 1924, Dehli and Flavia (who had been living with Stella, now married in Minneapolis) in 1926, and Howard in 1927. Nelda, Asta, and Dehli married, but Flavia remained unmarried and spent a number of years living with Gág, as did her brother Howard, who supported himself as a musician at clubs in New York. Gág was involved in a number of collaborative efforts with artists in New York, including William Gropper, with whom she founded a magazine without an editor entitled Folio in 1924. Carl Zigrosser invited her to parties and exhibition openings, some of which she accepted, but many she turned down, preferring to spend her time working uninterrupted. She did accompany Zigrosser to Lake George, New York for a weekend in August 1928--an invitation from Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe. Stieglitz admired her work and an autobiographical article she had written for The Nation titled "These Modern Women: A Hotbed of Feminists" (22 June, 1927) and Gág enjoyed Georgia O'Keeffe's company. In 1928 Gág became nationally known with the publication of her first illustrated children's book, Millions of Cats. She followed this the next year with another book, The Funny Thing. Gág had been writing stories for children since her teens and had attempted to publish some of them during the early 1920s in New York. Her meeting with Coward-McCann editor Ernestine Evans at the time of Gág's exhibition at Weyhe Gallery in 1926 led to the publication of Millions of Cats. The period from 1924 to 1928 had been especially productive for her as an artist. Her innovative lithographs from sandpaper plates and her ink drawings and watercolors on sandpaper were widely acclaimed. Her drawings appeared in New Masses; her lithograph Elevated Station was selected as one of the Fifty Prints of the Year (1926) by the American Institute of Graphic Arts, an honor she received during each of the next five years. She exhibited in a number of group exhibitions around the country, and had a second exhibition at the Weyhe
- Page 8 - Wanda Gág papers Gallery, 19-31 March 1928. The royalties from her children's books gave her a substantial income for the first time in her life and when "Tumble Timbers," became unavailable for rent in 1931, Gág and Humphreys began looking for a rural property to buy. She wrote to Jean Sherwood Rankin, who was trying to get Gág to collaborate on another book:
I am planning to get myself a little country place somewhere-one where I can stay all the year round. I have quite “gone native” and I like to go in hiding for the purpose of greater freedom and concentration in my work.
--Gág to Rankin, 16 November 1930
They bought a farm of 193 acres in the Musconetcong mountains near Milford, New Jersey in June 1931, and set to work renovating the old farmhouse and planting the garden. The following year, they built a studio on the property for Gág which she named "All Creation," the name later applied to the whole property. This work occupied nearly all of Gág's time (and Humphreys' and Howard Gag's) for the second half of 1931. Gág highly prized her personal freedom and privacy for her own work. She had once written to Zigrosser that:
These are the times-this winter being one of them-when I am so intensely absorbed in my work that a love-affair just cannot hold out against it. Maybe that's cruel, but that's me! Way back in my art school days I used to say, "Art comes first-and men, much as I like them and need them, must come second." I think no one believed me then, but I meant it, and I have practiced it, I think, pretty consistently throughout my life.
--Gág to Zigrosser, 28 January 1929
Humphreys moved to Virginia in 1932 to make time for himself to work on a manuscript for a book, an endeavor in which Gág supported him. He returned in the summer and traveled with Gág to Walden and Concord, Massachusetts. Gág worked on her wood engravings and lithographs during the 1930s, but the number of prints she produced was fewer than in the 1920s. In March of 1932 her friends the artists Howard Norton Cook and his wife Barbara Latham stayed with her at "All Creation" while Howard Cook taught her the techniques of aquatint. Barbara was reading Gág's diaries (and evidently upset by Gág's views on sex and creativity) and Gág wrote of this to Earle:
I think it is this part of it that Barbara [Latham Cook] failed to see. I tried to explain to her that sex to me was not a neurotic desire for many experiences, but that it was like the earth to me-growth, breadth, creation.... I am inclined to think t hat a great personal pleasure is more potent for the purposes of aesthetic re-birth than a trip to another country.
--Gág to Humphreys, 4 April 1932
Gág's circle of friends in the 1930s and 1940s included Hugh Darby and his wife Eleanor Muriel Kapp, Louis and Stella Adamic, Carl Van Doren, Mark and Dorothy Van Doren, Joe Freeman, Mike Gold, and
- Page 9 - Wanda Gág papers Max Jacobs. Gág also had a close friendship with the writer Lewis Gannett and his wife Ruth Chrisman Gannett. In July 1934 she was invited by the Gannetts to a party for a Russian consul.
As soon as we got there, Ruth introduced me to a man who talked with me off & on for a great part of the evening. When I was about to go home I found out that it had been Morris Ernst. He was very different from what I expected him to be like. Theodore Dreiser was there too. I was introduced to him in passing. If I had known what to say I could easily have gotten into a conversation with him, I think, for he's not aloof.
--Gág to Humphreys, 16 April 1934
Gág was in demand as a lecturer. Her publisher, Coward-McCann, wanted her to produce more children's books and to give some time to promoting them. She was also asked to illustrate books for other authors. She refused most of these requests, but during the Depression, there was little demand for fine art; many of her artist friends were struggling (see, for example, letters from her friend J. J. Lankes) and her ability to earn a living and help support her siblings through the market for children' s literature was important. Between 1930 and 1940 she published seven more books, six for children plus her early diaries, Growing Pains, all for Coward-McCann. These included original stories by Gág and her illustrations and translations of the Kinder- und Hausmärchen of the Brothers Grimm. Gág had grown up hearing traditional stories and spoke only German until she entered school. She continued to work on her German langauge skills while she was in Minneapolis-St. Paul. She enjoyed the project of working on the Grimms' Fairy Tales, and not coincidently, published her illustrated Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs during the same year, 1938, that the Walt Disney movie was released. Gág served on art juries for the New York World's Fair in 1939 and she applied for a Guggenheim Fellowship that year, obtaining letters of reference from Lewis Gannett, Rockwell Kent, Lewis Mumford, and Carl Zigrosser. Zigrosser applied for and received a fellowship in the same year, but in a different category from Gág's application, which was not funded. In 1940 the Weyhe Gallery mounted a major retrospective of Gág's work, "Wanda Gág: 35 Years of Picture-Making," 21-31 October 1940. On this occasion the gallery published a special "Gág Number" of The Checkerboard, which includes a catalog of her works to date. She was also working in oils at this time. In her early career she had little experience with oils because she could afford neither paints nor canvas. The success of the autobiographical Growing Pains(1940) prompted her to start work on a sequel. Since 1939 Gág had been suffering from severe dizziness, poor eyesight, ringing in her ears, weight loss, and low energy which kept her from drawing and painting much of the time. She was still able to write, however, and continued her work on various writing projects. She was not able to get a clear diagnosis of her medical problems from the doctors she visited; they blamed her symptoms on menopause, dysentery, thyroid problems, and eventually on allergies. She had expressed concern about her hea lth as early as 1928 in a letter she wrote to Carl Zigrosser:
I'm not feeling at all well, and a certain trouble which I had hoped would decrease, has apparently increased instead. I did not tell you about this, because I do not like to talk about my ailments, and
- Page 10 - Wanda Gág papers the worse they are, the harder it is to get me to tell about them. It was chiefly about this that I went to the naturopath. He told me it was an enlarged gland in my left breast-resulting probably from a strain. But I was not at all reassured, and now-after having been careful to use my left arm very li ttle-it seems to bother me more than formerly.
--Gág to Zigrosser, 28 May 1928
Zigrosser was alarmed and recommended a doctor, Dr. Burton J. Lee, whom Gág continued to see over the next several years. Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe also recommended O'Keeffe's doctor. Evidently nothing substantive was done for Gág, and she continued to complain of pain in her side in her letters to Zigrosser in 1931 and 1934. Gág was depressed by her health and by the state of the world at the approach of the second World War. She contributed a drawing to the American League for Peace and Democracy for its 1939 calendar. She was committed to anti-Fascism and to the liberal causes that many of her artist friends espoused. Her contributions consisted of donating her prints for auctions and other fundraisers plus some small cash contributions. She held memberships in the American Artists Congress, the League of American Writers, and the Authors' Guild of the Authors' League of America through which she contributed to the National War Fund during World War II. Wanda Gág and Earle Humphreys were married at the end of August 1943, affirming their bond of more than twenty years. The church ceremony took place at the Central Baptist Church in New York City, on a rainy August 27, with Gág's brother-in-law Bob Janssen as witness. Robert Janssen, married to Wanda's sister Dehli, was very close to both Earle and Wanda. They married to quell criticism received by Earle at his defense job that he was living with an unmarried woman--criticism motivated by hos tility and distrust of Earle's union organizing activities in the plant. Although she felt all along that theirs had been a true and moral relationship, Wanda was positive about the marriage; she was glad to be able to be open about their relationship, particularly with Earle's family. Gág's work continued to be exhibited in group shows and traveling exhibitions. In 1944 she was represented in the First Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Drawings at the National Academy of Design and was awarded the Joseph and Elizabeth R. Pennell Purchase Prize by the Library of Congress for her lithograph Barns at Glen Gardner. By 1945 Wanda Gág was seriously ill, she wrote that she could not walk a block without panting and she frequently ran a fever. When she was hospitalized in February, several pints of fluid were removed from her left lung. X-rays and exploratory su rgery revealed that she was suffering from terminal lung cancer. Her doctors and husband, Earle Humphreys, decided not to inform her of this, the only people who were told were her brother Howard, Robert Janssen, and Carl Zigrosser. Wanda probably suspected the malignancy, she received radiation treatments and Earle determined that he would take care of her and make her as comfortable as possible, taking over all the maintenance of the household and garden so that she could continue to work. Late in December of 1945, Earle and Wanda left New York City and drove to Florida where they hoped the warmer climate would make Wanda more comfortable. She continued to work on this trip, producing drawings and working on translations for her next col lection of Grimms' tales. Returning to "All Creation," on May 17, Earle and Howard Gag planted the garden. Wanda became critically ill in June
- Page 11 - Wanda Gág papers and died at Doctor's Hospital in New York City, 27 June 1946 after a few days hospitalization. She was cremated and her ashes scattered at "All Creation." Gág's will was dated 13 December 1945. In it she named Humphreys and Zigrosser as co-executors. Earle Humphreys died 16 May 1950 of a heart attack before final settlement of the estate. His co-executor, Robert Janssen then represented the family in the final settlement. In accordance with Earle's instructions, Robert Janssen burned Humphreys' papers, including the manuscripts for his unpublished books. Her family's wish was that Wanda Gág's work be distributed widely and a number of memorial exhibitions of her work were held in New York, Philadelphia, and Minnesota. Few of Wanda's friends or colleagues had known how ill she was and her death at the age of 53 was a shock to the art world.
Scope and Contents
The Wanda Gág papers at the University of Pennsylvania are the primary repository for information on her personal and family life including, as they do, the nearly complete set of her diaries from 1908-1946. Gág's diaries were important to her. She had a compulsion to write that was as strong as her compulsion to draw. She read from her diaries to her close friends, she recopied long sections of them to use in later writings. In them she wrote about art, her family, her friendships, her lovers, her emotions, her ideals, women's roles in society, her health, marriage, money, education, and her passion for the natural world. Gág's diaries are the primary source for understanding her creative process, her views on art and the work of her contemporaries. She had developed the habit of analyzing her thoughts, motives, morals, moods, and creativity early in childhood and her writings provide an unusually rich inner portrait of a talented and driven artist who was a perfectionist in her work. The diaries incidently contain much of interest in regard to women's health, particularly women's reproductive health and treatment from the 1920s to the 1940s. Gág was frank in writing about her use of birth control, her sexual activity, and her suffering during menstruation (she suffered so severely from dysmenorrhea that she had to reschedule all her activities each month). In April and May of 1921, Gág feared that she was pregnant and went to see Margaret H. Sanger, whom she describes in her diary (she wasn't pregnant, but was given a regime to follow to induce her menstruation). There is also material related to the health of her sisters. Dehli suffered from depression and turned to Christian Science when she was eighteen, in part to gai n control over her thoughts. She saw a number of psychiatrists and other specialists after she moved to New York in 1926, with financial assistance from Wanda. Flavia, who became a successful author and illustrator of children's books by following Wanda's lead, also suffered from a number of health problems. The poor nutrition of the Gág family members in their childhood may have been responsible for at least some of their health problems later in life. Correspondence in the Wanda Gág Papers is focused predominantly on personal and family relationships. Her extensive correspondence with Adolf Dehn, 1915-1943, documents his life in a guardhouse as a conscientious objector in World War I, but is primarily an extension of their conversations on art, love, and marriage. He continued to write to her from Europe in the 1920s and his letters contain information
- Page 12 - Wanda Gág papers about artists they both knew. Gág's letters to Dehn are preserved in the Adolf and Virginia Dehn Papers and Dehn Family Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Her correspondence with Earle M. Humphreys spans the years 1931-1943 (from about the time he and Wanda purchased their farm in Milford, New Jersey) and does not date from the earliest years of their relationship. Correspondence with Carl Zigrosser is extensive, dating from 1924 until weeks before Gág's death in 1946. Zigrosser's letters in the Wanda Gág Papers and his own papers, also held by the Universit y of Pennsylvania (Ms. Coll. 6) contain a wealth of information about artists and the art world in the United States and Europe for the first half of the century. The Wanda Gág Papers were donated to the University of Pennsylvania by Zigrosser in 197 2 with the donation of his papers, and include items, in addition to their correspondence, which were gifts from Gág to Zigrosser. There are significant letters from each of Gág's siblings, and ongoing correspondence in particular with Dehli and with Flavia. Some of the earliest letters from her sisters Thusnelda and Stella to Wanda in New York show their struggles to feed the family and keep them warm in the harsh Minnesota winters after their mother died. Letters from Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe reflect the high regard they both felt for Gág. Other artists, authors, and activists whose work and/or lives are represented or discussed in the papers include Egmont Arens, George Biddle, Roger N. Baldwin, Arnold Blanch, Lucile Lundquist Blanch, Louise Bogan, Howard Cook, Adolf Dehn, Max Eastman, John B. Flannagan, Lewis Gannett, Ruth Chrisman Gannett, Mike Gold, Harry Gottlieb, Emil Ganso, Horace Gregory, William Gropper, Max Jacobs, Frida Kahl o, Spencer Kellogg, Jr., Rockwell Kent, Julius J. Lankes, Harold Atkins Larrabee, Barbara Latham, Thomas Gaetano Lo Medíco, John Marin, Edith Whittlesey Newton, Anton Refregier, Diego Rivera, Arnold Ronnebeck, Grace Cogswell Root, Hyman J. Warsager, Anthony Velonis, and Art Young, among others. The Papers include approximately 30 original drawings and watercolors, including a number of erotic drawings and paintings. The primary collection of Gág's prints is at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; representative prints were distributed by Zigrosser and Gág's family to a large number of museums around the world after her death. Exhibition catalogs and lists of Gág's works are not complete in these Papers, although lists of her work were compiled as part of the settlement of Gág's estate (Box 32). Financial records for Wanda Gág are incomplete, comprising only four items. There are notes recording her earnings from commercial art in 1921-1922; one item is an account book in which she kept a strict record of shared household expenses; one is her bank book for a savings account, which shows a balance of $3000-$6000 during the Depression years; and the last item is a book in which she kept handwritten accounts of royalties from book sales. These Papers include correspondence and partial records for the Estate of Wanda Gág, 1946-1968. Zigrosser and Earle Humphreys were co-executors of the Estate. Upon Humphreys's death in 1950, his co-executor (Wanda's brother-in-law) Robert Janssen became the family representative for Wanda Gág's estate. Production materials for Gág's children's books were sold after her death. The primary repository for these is the Children's Literature Research Collection, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Some Gág family correspondence, Wanda Gág photo albums, and papers of Alma Schmidt Scott are also part of that collection. The papers of Alma Scott, including her correspondence and research materials for her
- Page 13 - Wanda Gág papers biography of Wanda Gág, are located at the Minnesota Historical Society. The Gág and Biebl families donated family papers and artwork to the New Ulm Library in New Ulm, Minnesota.
Administrative Information
University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
1999 Finding aid prepared by Maggie Kruesi, Christa Stefanski, and Jessica Dodson.
Sponsor The processing of the Wanda Gág Papers and the preparation of this register were made possible by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Access Restrictions This collection is open for research use.
Use Restrictions The Wanda Gág Papers are available for consultation by researchers in the Reading Room, Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Pennsylvania. Permission to reproduce or publish materials from this collection must be obtained from a curator at the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, from the estate of Wanda Gág and/or from other holders of copyright for these materials.
Controlled Access Headings
Form/Genre(s)
• Correspondence • Diaries • Drawings (visual works) • Financial records
- Page 14 - Wanda Gág papers • Photographs • Prints • Watercolors (paintings) • Writings (documents)
Subject(s)
• Art • Artists • Authors • Authors, American--20th century • Children's literature • Children's literature, American • Women artists--United States • Women authors
Other Finding Aids
For a complete listing of correspondents, do the following title search in Franklin: Wanda Gág Papers.
Bibliography
Gág, Wanda. Growing Pains: Diaries and Drawings for the Years 1908-1917. New York: Coward McCann, 1940; reprint edition, St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1984. Hoyle, Karen Nelson. Wanda Gág. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1994. Focuses on Gág's work as a writer and illustrator of children's books. Scott, Alma. Wanda Gág, the Story of an Artist. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 1949. Alma Schmidt Scott was a lifelong friend of Gág and her family. She based this biography on her own cor respondence and Wanda's diaries. Scott worked on this project with Gág in 1944 and 1945, but did not complete the biography until after Gág's death. Winnan, Ardur H. Wanda Gág: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Prints. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992. This includes the most complete listing of Gág's exhibitions and publications; disc ussion of her printmaking techniques; a useful chronology of her life (which does, however, contain a few
- Page 15 - Wanda Gág papers inaccuracies); excerpts from Gág's later diaries; a biographical sketch and information about her family members.
Books written / translated and illustrated by Wanda Gág
Batiking at Home. 1926. New York: Crowell Publishing. Millions of Cats. 1928. New York: Coward-McCann. The Funny Thing. 1929. New York: Coward-McCann. Snippy and Snappy. 1931. New York: Coward-McCann. Wanda Gág's Story Book [ Millions of Cats, The Funny Thing, and Snippy and Snappy in one volume]. 1932. New York: Coward-McCann. The ABC Bunny. 1933. New York: Coward-McCann. Gone is Gone. 1935. New York: Coward-McCann. Tales from Grimm. 1936. New York: Coward-McCann. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. 1938. New York: Coward-McCann. Growing Pains. 1940. New York: Coward-McCann. Nothing at All. 1941. New York: Coward-McCann. Three Gay Tales from Grimm. 1943. New York: Coward-McCann. More Tales from Grimm. 1947. New York: Coward-McCann.
- Page 16 - Wanda Gág papers I. Correspondence
Collection Inventory
I. Correspondence, 1905-1961. 12 boxes. Series Description
Arranged alphabetically and then chronologically within folders, outgoing and incoming correspondence is interfiled. Undated correspondence was sometimes dated retrospectively by Wanda Gág or by Earle Humphreys whose notes and dates are found thro ughout the Papers. Readers should be aware that Gág was not careful about dates and attempts by later individuals to date materials in this collection are tentative.
Correspondence between Wanda Gág and her siblings is found in Boxes 3-5; family correspondence among her siblings is in the final correspondence subseries in Box 14. Carl Zigrosser's correspondence in reference to the estate of Wanda Gág is in Box 30.
A. Letters to and from Wanda Gág, 1905-1946.
Box Folder
Adamic, Stella, letter (1 item ), 1941. 1 1
Alwin, A. J., letter (1 item ), 1930. 1 2
American Artists Congress (1 item ), 1941. 1 3
American Artists School (1 item ), 1938. 1 4
American Cancer Society. New York City Cancer Committee (2 1 5 items ), 1942-1943.
American Council on Soviet Relations, letter written by Margaret I. 1 6 Lamont (1 item ), 1941.
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American League for Peace and Democracy, letter written by Frances 1 7 Fink (1 item ), 1938.
American Russian Institute, letters written by William W. Lancaster (2 1 8 items ), 1944.
American Youth for a Free World (1 item ), 1944. 1 9
Anderson, Grace E., letters from Grace and Carl A. Anderson (5 1 10 items ), 1941-1945.
Arens, Egmont, 1889-1966, letter regarding New Masses; as well as 1 11 a pencil drawing by Arens; a pencil drawing by Ruth Arens; and a Christmas card from both (4 items ), 1926-1927.
Arnold, William Harris, 1854-1923, letter from Arnold (signed 1 12 "Ronald") with offprints of his photograph and articles (6 items ), undated.
Art Students League (New York, N.Y.), catalogs for years Gág 1 13 attended the school (3 items), 1919-1922.
Artist's Front to Win the War, letter written by Sam Jaffe (1 item ), 1 14 1942.
Artists League of America, statement of membership dues signed by 1 15 Harry Gottlieb (1 item ), 1943.
Author's Guild (U.S.), letters, newsletters, invoices, and copy of the 1 16 constitution and by-laws (18 items ), 1939-1945.
Author's League of America, letter from Van Wyck Brooks, as well 1 17 as invoices, notices, and a copy of the Author's League Bulletin (8 items ), 1939-1945.
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Balokovic, Zlatko, 1895-1965, letter written by Balokovic writing on 1 18 behalf of the American Committee for the Yugoslav Relief Ship (1 item ), 1944.
Biebl, Frank, Gág's maternal uncle from New Ulm, Minnesota, draft 1 19 of letter from Gág to Biebl (10 items ), 1926-1942.
Biebl, John, letters to and from Biebl (3 items ), 1926-1941. 1 20
Biebl, Joseph, Gág's maternal uncle from New Ulm, Minnesota, letters 1 21 from Joseph Biebl (5 items ), 1930-1941.
Biebl, Magdalena, Gág's aunt Lena, from New Ulm, Minnesota, letters 1 22-28 to and from Biebl (73 items ), 1928-1945.
Biebl, Mary, letter from Biebl, in German (1 item ), 1914. 1 29
Ben Leider Memorial Fund, letter written by Judith C. Quat (1 item ), 1 30 1938.
Biddle, George, 1885-1973, letters from Biddle (4 items ), 1929, 1 31 undated.
Boas, Franz, 1858-1942, letter regarding a statement against Hitlerism, 1 32 with the names Louis Bromfield, Abraham Flexner, George Sarton, Preston Slosson, and Max Weber typed beneath his name (1 item ), 1941.
Blanch, Lucile, letters signed Lucile [Lundquist Blanch?] (2 items ), 1 32 1937-1939.
Bogan, Louise, 1897-1970, (2 items ), 1926-1930. 1 33
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Bridges, Harry, 1901-1990, letter of thanks for supporting the Citizens' 1 34 Committee for Harry Bridges, signed H. R. Bridges. (1 item ), 1942.
Canadé, Laura, letters (4 items ), 1943. 1 35
Chinese Red Cross Society, letter written by C. C. Beasley and letter 1 36 from Marion F. Exeter regarding the Art Exhibition and Sale for China Relief, Boston on behalf of the Chinese Red Cross (2 items ), 1939.
City and Suburban Homes Company (2 items ). 1 37
Coleman Defense Committee, letter requesting support for the case of 1 38 Festus Lewis Coleman signed Shaemas O'Sheel and a pamphlet titled "...Because of Race, Creed, Color...." (2 items ), 1945.
Collier's, letters from editor Henry La Cossitt (1 item ), 1945. 1 39
Latham, Barbara, 1896-1989, letters from Barbara Latham Cook, 1 40 signed Barbara Cook (one letter addressed to Wanda and Flavia Gág and one letter has a note appended from Howard Cook) (4 items ), 1931, undated.
Cook, Howard Norton, 1901-1980, letters (4 items ), 1931-1932, 1 41 undated.
Council for Pan American Democracy, letters from Clifford T. 1 42 McAvoy, with petition to the President and Congress of the United States regarding self-determination for Puerto Rico written by Luis Muñoz Marín and Samuel R. Quiñones (3 items ), 1943.
Crowninshield, Frank, 1872-1947, letter complimenting Gág on her 1 43 exhibition and asking her to speak with him about doing something for Vanity Fair (1 item ), 1926.
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Dehn, Adolf, 1895-1968, artist and concientious objector in World 1 44-46 War I who performed alternative service at Camp Wadsworth, Spartanburg, South Carolina, letters to and from Wanda Gág (largely relating to camp life and the work of conscientious objectors), as well as letters from Asta Gág, Flavia Gág and from Howard Gág to Dehn as well as a note and a story by Lucile Lundquist (later Lucile Blanch), illustrations by both Gág and Dehn (one by Dehn entitled "Our Trio at the Bolshevist Dinner!"), an illustrated story by Wanda Gág entitled "The Pictured Parable of the Youth Who Went in Search of Freedom," and a photograph o Dehn in military uniform (201 items ), 1915-1943.
Dehn, Adolf, 1895-1968, artist and concientious objector in World 2 47-67 War I who performed alternative service at Camp Wadsworth, Spartanburg, South Carolina, letters to and from Wanda Gág (largely relating to camp life and the work of conscientious objectors), as well as letters from Asta Gág, Flavia Gág and from Howard Gág to Dehn as well as a note and a story by Lucile Lundquist (later Lucile Blanch), illustrations by both Gág and Dehn (one by Dehn entitled "Our Trio at the Bolshevist Dinner!"), an illustrated story by Wanda Gág entitled "The Pictured Parable of the Youth Who Went in Search of Freedom," and a photograph o Dehn in military uniform (201 items ), 1915-1943.
Deml, Clara, a cousin of Gág (1 item ), 1929. 3 68
Dobbs, Rose, letter (1 item ), 1936. 3 69
Dwight, Mabel, letter (1 item ), 1944. 3 70
Eaton, Anne Thaxter, 1881-1971, letter (1 item ), 1940. 3 71
Eberhart, Adolph Olson, 1870-1944, letters (5 items ), 1942-1943. 3 72
Egilsrud, Johan, letter (1 item ), 1918. 3 73
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Faragoh, Francis Edwards, letter (1 item ), 1923. 3 74
Finger, Helen, letters, including a printed copy of her illustration for 3 75 the poem "Hayden Makes a Shepherd's Pipe," by Ann Cobb (3 items ), 1939-1940,undated.
Freeman, Joe, note with pencil sketch from Freeman (1 item ), 1925. 3 76
Gág, Anton, 1859-1908, Gág's father and a painter and decorator in 3 77 New Ulm, Minnesota, letter, in German (1 item ), 1907.
Treat, Asta Gág, 1899-1987, Gág's sister, letters to and from Wanda 3 78-82 Gág, with a drawing by Wanda , a print for a 1931 Christmas card made by Asta Gág (83 items ), 1917-1945.
Janssen, Dehli Gág, 1900-1958, Gág's sister, letters to and from 3 83-97 Wanda Gág, one letter includes a photograph of plants sent to Wanda from Dehli (308 items ), 1915-1945, undated.
Janssen, Dehli Gág, 1900-1958, Gág's sister, letters to and from 4 98-99 Wanda Gág, one letter includes a photograph of plants sent to Wanda from Dehli (308 items ), 1915-1945, undated.
Gág, Flavia, 1907-1978, Gág's youngest sibling, and an artist, 4 100-115 illustrator and author of children's books, letters to and from Wanda Gág, with a typescript story "Cocksure," two poems "Nocturnal Disturbance" and "A Man of Fifty Years," and a Christmas card with an illustration made for the Coward McCann publishing company, all by Flavia Gág (240 items ), 1913-1945, undated.
Gág, Howard, 1902-1961, Gág's brother, letters to and from Wanda 4 116-120 Gág (176 items ), 1916-1945, undated.
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Gág, Howard, 1902-1961, Gág's brother, letters to and from Wanda 5 121-123 Gág (176 items ), 1916-1945, undated.
Harm, Stella Gág, 1894-1962 (102 items ), 1911-1945. 5 124-139
Stewart, Thusnelda Gág, 1897-1973, Gág's sister, letters to Wanda 5 140-142 Gág, with one item from Thusnelda to Adolf Dehn (47 items ), 1918-1945.
Gannett, Lewis, 1891-1966, letters to Gág, letter from Hal Smith 5 143 to Lewis about Gág, a memo from the editor of the Nation with a notation by Gannett; a letter from both Ruth and Lewis Gannett, and a Christmas card from the Gannett family (34 items ), 1927-1945.
Gannett, Ruth Chrisman, letters from Gannett (see also manuscript 5 144 stories for children by Ruth Gannett, Folder 424) (3 items ), 1942, undated.
Gannett, Ruth Chrisman, letters from Gannett (see also manuscript 5 424 stories for children by Ruth Gannett, Folder 424) (3 items ), 1942, undated.
Gellert, Hugo, 1892-1985, letter to Gág regarding a meeting of the 5 145 Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts Sciences and Professions (1 item ), 1945.
Gibson, Lydia, letters to Gág (3 items ), 1939-1940. 5 146
Gold, Michael, 1893-1967, letters to Gág (3 items ), 1932. 5 147
Goodman, Susan, letters to Gág, illustrated with drawings (4 items ), 5 148 1941-1944.
Gray, James, 1899-1984, letter to Gág (1 item ), 1940. 5 149
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Greek American Committee for National Unity, letter from the 5 150 Committe signed by M. Mandelenakis (1 item ), 1944.
Gropper, William, 1897-1977, an autographed drawing by Gropper (1 5 151 item ), 1926.
Henri, Robert, 1865-1921, typescript of Henri's notes on portrait 5 152 painting, addressed "To the class" (1 item ), undated.
Howland, Garth A., letter to Gág (1 item ), 1929. 5 153
Humphreys, Earle Marshall, 1892-1950, Gág's husband, a writer and 6 154-173 bookseller who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, letters from Gág to Humphreys (432 items ), 1930-1943.
Humphreys, Earle Marshall, 1892-1950, Gág's husband, a writer and 7 174-185 bookseller who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, letters from Gág to Humphreys (432 items ), 1930-1943.
Independent Citizens Committee for the Arts, Sciences and 7 186-187 Professions, letters from Jo Davidson prior to his founding the Independent Citizens Committee regarding support for President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1944); as well as correspondence from Davidson, Alice Jayson, Williard D. Morgan, Fredric March, Adele Jerome, Hannah Dorner, and Henry Billings; notices; memos; a copy of the by-laws of the organization; and a special issue of the Independent (32 items ), 1944-1946.
International Labor Defense, letters from Anna Damon, Vito 7 188 Marcantonio, William Howard Melish, Ferdinand C. Smith, and William Hastie, including printed copies of open letters to President Roosevelt on labor issues (5 items ), 1941-1944.
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Janssen, Robert, letters from Gág to Janssen, her brother-in-law (183 7 189-193 items ), 1931-1945.
Janssen, Robert, letters from Gág to Janssen, her brother-in-law (183 8 194-196 items ), 1931-1945.
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Gág's statement in 8 197 request for a Guggenheim fellowship with response signed by Henry Allen Moe (2 items ), 1938-1939.
Johnson, Russell L., letters from Gág (11 items ), 1941-1942. 8 198
Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, letters from Edward K. Barsky, 8 199 Margaret Webster, and Howard Fast for the Committee, and receipts for contributions from Gág (6 items ), 1944.
Jones, Herschel V. (Herschel Vespasian), 1861-1928, letters to and 8 200 from Gág (6 items ), 1916-1927.
Kapp, Eleanor Muriel (1 item ), 1933. 8 201
Katz, Albert J., letters to and from Gág (16 items ), 1928-1940. 8 202
Keller, Helen, 1880-1968, letter from Keller with enclosures on behalf 8 203 of the American Foundation for the Blind (1 item ), 1945.
Kent, Norman, 1903-1972, (1 item ), undated. 8 204
Kent, Rockwell, 1882-1971, letters to and from Gág (3 items ), 8 205 1927-1939.
Klein, I., pencil drawing signed Klein (1 item ), undated. 8 206
Kuniyoshi, Yasuo, 1889-1953, letter to Gág (1 item ), 1937. 8 207
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Lance, Nancy (1 item ), 1930. 8 208
Lankes, Julius J., 1884-1960, letters to and from Gág (45 items ), 8 209-210 1926-1945.
Larrabee, Harold A. (Harold Atkins), 1894-1979 (1 item ). 8 211
League of American Writers, bulletins, memos, questionnaires, 8 212-219 articles, pamphlets, and letters from Benjamin Appel, Theodore Dreiser, Nan Golden, Marjorie Fischer, Franklin Folsom, Douglas Jacobs, May McNeer Ward, Ralph Roeder, and George Seldes on behalf of the League (92 items ), 1936-1943.
Lewiton, Mina, 1904-1970 (1 item ), undated. 8 220
Liberator (New York, N.Y.: 1918), letters to Gág (1 item ). 8 221
Lo Medico, Thomas Gaetano, 1904-1985, letters to and from Wanda 8 222 Gág, and a holiday card with drawing by Lo Medico (4 items ), 1942-1943.
Lovelace, Delos W. (Delos Wheeler), 1894-1967 (1 item ), undated. 8 223
McWhorter, Tyler, letters to Gág (7 items ), 1936-1940. 8 224-225
Medical Bureau to Aid Spanish Democracy. Boston Chapter, letters to 8 226 Gág, signed Albert Mallinger (2 items ), 1938.
Minnesota War Finance Committee, letter to Gág (1 item ), 1943. 8 227
Moore, Anne Carroll, 1871-1961, letters to Gág (5 items ), 1933-1938. 8 228
National Bureau for Blind Artists, letter to Gág (1 item ), 1939. 9 229
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National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners. Northern 9 230 California Branch, letters to Gág regarding the Scottsboro Case (2 items ), 1933-1934.
National Committee to Combat Anti-Semitism, letter to Gág (1 item ), 9 231 1943.
National Council of American-Soviet Friendship (U.S.), letters from 9 232 Alice Barrows, Corliss Lamont, Edwin S. Smith, Paul Manship, Hudson D. Walker, Herman Baron, and Henry Pratt Fairchild (13 items ), 1943-1944.
National Federation for Constitutional Liberties, letter from Arthur 9 233 Upham Pope and Lyman R. Bradley of the Academic Council of the organization (1944) and letter from George Marshall, chairman (1946) (2 items ), 1944-1946.
National Sharecroppers Week, letters from chairman Eduard C. 9 234 Lindeman, and letter from Twila Lytton Cavert (2 items ), 1942-1943.
National War Fund (U.S.), letter from Carl Van Doren on behalf of the 9 235 Authors' Division of the 1943 Red Cross War Fund of New York City and letter from Franklin P. Adams, chairman, Authors Section of the New York War Fund on behalf of the National War Fund (2 items ), 1943-1944.
Near East Foundation, letters from Edward C. Miller (3 items ), 9 236 1942-1943.
New masses, letters regarding art exhibitions and events to benefit 9 237 the publication New Masses from Art Young, William Gropper, Tiba Garlin, Rockwell Kent, Raphael Soyer, and Hugo Gellert; letter from the New Masses Emergency Committee signed by Ralph Bates, Paul de Kruif, Robert Forsythe, Dorothy Parker, Ruth McKenney, and
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Donald Stewart Odgen; and a copy of letter from H. S. Tei to George Willner in reference to the magazine (7 items ), 1938-1944.
New York Herald Tribune, letters from May Lamberton Becker of the 9 238 Books section (2 items ), 1932.
Newton, Edith Whittlesey, letter from Gág to "Whit," an artist also 9 239 known as E. W. Newton (1 item ), 1938.
O'Keeffe, Georgia, 1887-1986, letter congratulating and thanking Gág 9 240 for her books (1 item ), undated.
Osborne, Mabel C., letter to Gág (1 item ). 9 241
Pass, Joseph, editor of The Fight against War and Fascism, Christmas 9 242 greeting (1 item ), 1936.
Paul Robeson Birthday Party, letter from Lillian Hellman regarding 9 243 tribute to Robeson (1 item ), 1944.
Pierson, Mary C., letter to Wanda and Flavia Gág (1 item ), 1943. 9 244
Pope, Arthur Upham, 1881-1969, letter to Gág, including an open 9 245 letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt concerning U.S. war policy on Finland (2 items ), 1943.
Rankin, A. W. (Albert William), 1852-1941, promissory note for loan 9 246 to Gág (1 item ), 1917-1918.
Rankin, Jean Sherwood, letter from Rankin to the Weyhe Gallery 9 247 (1928) and letters to and from Gág (5 items ), 1928-1930.
Refregier, Anton, letter to Gág (1 item ), 1939. 9 248
Robeson, Paul, 1898-1976, letter to Gág (1 item ), 1943. 9 249
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Ronnebeck, Arnold, 1885-1947, letter to E. Weyhe, letter to Gág, 9 250 and letter from Ronnebeck's son, also Arnold Ronnebeck, to Gág (3 items ), 1929-1934.
Root, Grace Cogswell, born 1890, letters to and from Gág (8 items ), 9 251 1931-1936.
Russell, Arthur J. (Arthur Joseph), 1861-1945, letters to Gág (in two 9 252-253 letters, he cut out portions of her correspondence to him and pasted it onto his letters to her) (20 items ), 1913-1943, undated.
Russian War Relief, Inc., letters to and from various representatives of 9 254 the Russain War Relief, including members of its Women's Division (12 items ), 1941-1945.
Schappes Defense Committee, letter to Gág (1 item ), 1944. 9 255
Scott, Alma, born 1892 (344 items ), 1911-1945. 9 256-268
Scott, Alma, born 1892 (344 items ), 1911-1945. 10 269-286
Scott, Jane (19 items ), 1941-1945. 10 287
Scott, Omer, letter to Gág, with note added by Alma Scott (1 item ), 10 288 1931.
Scott, Patsy (7 items ), 1942-1945. 10 289
Seymour, Ellis G., letters to Gág (6 items ), 1930-1939. 10 290
Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee, pamphlet with petition from the 10 291 organization (1 item ).
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Somsen, Dempsey and Somsen, letters to and from Walter A. 10 293 Schweppe of the law firm regarding Beibl mortgage in New Ulm, Minnesota (6 items ), 1941-1942.
Spanish Refugee Relief Campaign, letters from Helen B. Green, 10 294 one on letterhead of the Spanish Refugee Relief Campaign, one on letterhead of the Providence Chapter Medical Bureau to Aid Spanish Democracy (2 items ), 1939.
Sternberg, Harry, letters to Gág regarding farewell party for Carl 10 295 Zigrosser (2 items ), 1940.
Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946, letters to Gág, one with a note from 10 296 Georgia O'Keeffe on the reverse (4 items ), 1928, undated.
Tiala, Viola Dehn, letter to Gág (1 item ), 1929. 11 297
Tóth, Ervin, letter to Gág, in German (1 item ), 1938. 11 298
Treat, Herbert, letters to and from Gág (6 items ), 1932-1942. 11 299
United China Relief (U.S.), letters to and from Gág, letters from J. 11 300 Calvitt Clarke on letterhead of China's Children Fund. (3 items ), 1942-1944.
United States Department of State, passport and birth certificate of 11 301 Wanda Gág, an extra passport photo of Gág, and notes on obtaining passport (4 items ), 1922.
University of Minnesota, letter from Josephine Litz of the University 11 302 regarding paintings by Anton Gág; letter from Wanda Gág, and a copy of a reference letter for Alma Scott in support of her biography of Wanda Gág (2 items ), 1940-1944.
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Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, letter signed by Herman 11 303 Shumlin and Dorothy Parker with statement from the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade against fascist Spain (1 item ), 1944.
Victory Book Campaign, letter from chairman, Norma E. Loos (1 11 304 item ), 1942.
Village Fair for Refugee Children, letters from Ann Cole Phillips, 11 305 chairman, art exhibition, and letter from Dorothy Fontaine regarding Gág's contributions (2 items ), 1939, undated.
Warsager, Hyman J., letter from Warsager and Anthony Velonis, and 11 306 letter from Velonis. (2 items ), 1940.
Weschcke, Charles, benefactor to Gág during the time she attended art 11 307 school, letters to and from Gág as well as Weschcke's correspondence with N. Henningsen, Philip Liesch of Liesch Printing Co., Mr. Mears of Buckbee Mears Company, and John Henle of Brown County, Minnesota, in reference to jobs and monetary support for Gág (36 items ), 1913-1946.
Weyhe Gallery, letter from Gág to Laura Canadé at Weyhe; and a 11 308 copy of a letter from Leila Mechlin of the American Federation of Arts to Gág, with response from Erhard Weyhe (4 items ), 1929.
Writers' War Board, letter from the Writers' War Board (1 item ), 11 309 1942.
Young, Art, 1866-1943, letter and holiday cards with artwork by 11 310 Young to Gág (5 items ), 1929-1941.
YWCA of the City of New York, letter from Dorothy Lee for the 11 311 Book Committee (1 item ), 1942.
- Page 31 - Wanda Gág papers B. Letters to and from Alma Schmidt Scott
Zigrosser, Carl, 1891-1975, personal and professional correspondence 11 312-326 with Zigrosser, who was the representative for Gág's work at the Weyhe Gallery, a few items in German (569 items ), 1924-1946.
Zigrosser, Carl, 1891-1975, personal and professional correspondence 12 327-344 with Zigrosser, who was the representative for Gág's work at the Weyhe Gallery, a few items in German (569 items ), 1924-1946.
Zigrosser, Carl, 1891-1975, personal and professional correspondence 13 345-347 with Zigrosser, who was the representative for Gág's work at the Weyhe Gallery, a few items in German (569 items ), 1924-1946.
B. Letters to and from Alma Schmidt Scott, 1912-1961.
Box Folder
Coward-McCann Publishers, letter from Rose Dobbs, editor, to Scott 13 349 with copy of Dobb's letter to Wanda Gág enclosed (regarding Scott's biography of Gág) (2 items ), 1945.
Treat, Asta Gág, 1899-1987, letters to Scott, includes holiday cards 13 350 with photographs of Asta's daughter, Barbara Jean Treat (11 items ), 1940-1959.
Janssen, Dehli Gág, 1900-1958, letters to Scott (32 items ), 13 351-352 1938-1957.
Gág, Flavia, 1907-1978, Gág's youngest sibling and an artist, 13 353-356 illustrator and author of children's books, letters to and from Flavia (69 items ), 1912-1960, undated.
Gág, Howard, 1902-1961, letters to Scott from Howard and his wife 13 357-358 Ida Rubin Gág; includes a photograph of a woodcarving made by Howard Gág (33 items ), 1944-1960, undated.
- Page 32 - Wanda Gág papers C. Family correspondence
Gág, Ida Rubin, letters to Scott from Ida, wife of Howard Gág (5 13 359 items ), 1958-1960.
Harm, Stella Gág, 1894-1962, letters to Scott from Stella (includes 13 360-365 7 drawings by Stella Gág) and letter from her son Gary Harm (74 items ), 1912-1961, undated.
Harm, Stella Gág, 1894-1962, letters to Scott from Stella (includes 14 366-367 7 drawings by Stella Gág) and letter from her son Gary Harm (74 items ), 1912-1961, undated.
Stewart, Thusnelda Gág, 1897-1973, letters to Scott from Thusnelda, 14 368-369 including one drawing (30 items ), 1912-1960.
Goetsch, Viola, letter to Scott (1 item ), 1944. 14 370
Janssen, Robert, letters, some regarding memorials to Wanda Gág and 14 371 regarding the estate of Earle M. Humphreys (30 items ), 1932-1960, undated.
Mayer, Leona V., letters (2 items ), 1914-1944. 14 372
University of Minnesota, letters to and from Theodore C. Blegen to 14 373 Scott, regarding the University's support for her biography of Wanda Gág (4 items ), 1945.
Weschcke, Charles, letter (1 item ), 1939. 14 374
C. Family correspondence, circa 1927-1946. Description
Correspondence among family members, not including Wanda Gág. Includes some items of correspondence between Gág's family, Earle M. Humphreys and Carl Zigrosser. Also included
- Page 33 - Wanda Gág papers C. Family correspondence
is correspondence between Humphreys and Zigrosser from 1932-1946. The continuation of their correspondence to 1950, which refers to the estate of Wanda Gág, is in Box 30.
At various times Wanda Gág shared her country homes with her sisters Flavia and Dehli, with her brother Howard, and with Earle M. Humphreys. Her other sisters and brothers-in-law visited and vacationed at her home, as did Carl Zigrosser. This network of close relationships is reflected in correspondence among various family members and friends.
Box Folder
Biebl, Magdalena to Dehli Gág and Alma Scott. 14 375
Biehn, Marcus to Earle M. Humphreys. 14 376
Gág, Asta to Dehli Gág. 14 377
Gág Asta to Flavia Gág. 14 378
Gág, Asta to Howard Gág. 14 379
Gág, Dehli to Flavia Gág. 14 380
Gág, Dehli to Jack Grass. 14 381
Gág, Dehli to Earle M. Humphreys. 14 382
Gág, Dehli from Robert Janssen. 14 383
Gág, Dehli to Carl Zigrosser. 14 384
Gág, Flavia to Howard Gág with appended note from Humphreys to 14 385 Howard Gág.
Gág, Flavia and Stella Gág. 14 386
Gág, Flavia and Thusnelda Gág. 14 387
- Page 34 - Wanda Gág papers C. Family correspondence
Gág, Flavia and Earle M. Humphreys. 14 388
Gág, Flavia and Robert Janssen. 14 389
Gág, Flavia and Carl Zigrosser includes typescript story by Flavia Gág 14 390 "The Self-Maid Man" .
Gág, Howard and Stella Gág, includes drawings made by Stella's child 14 391 Gary Harm.
Gág, Howard and Thusnelda Gág. 14 392
Gág, Howard to Earle M. Humphreys. 14 393
Gág, Howard and Robert Janssen. 14 394
Gág, Stella to Thusnelda Gág. 14 395
Humphreys, Earle M. and Robert Janssen. 14 396
Humphreys, Earle M. and Carl Zigrosser. 14 397 Description
Includes 2 photographs of Humphreys taken by Robert Janssen.
Humphreys, Earle Marshall. Condolences sent to Humphreys at 14 398-399 Wanda Gág's death, 1946.
Janssen, Robert to Zigrosser, Carl. 14 400
- Page 35 - Wanda Gág papers II. Writings and ideas for publication
II. Writings and ideas for publication, 1905-1945. 3 boxes. Series Description
Includes nearly all of Gág's writings found in her papers at the University of Pennsylvania, with the exception of her diaries and a few notes she prepared for lectures and radio talks. From the time of her childhood, Gág wrote with the idea of publishing her writings; after her father died in 1908, publishing became a necessity. Although these writings have been organized in a series separate from her artwork, readers should be aware that there was no clear division between ideas for art and ideas for writing in Gág's work. These notes, notebooks, and sketch books include drawings, sketches, and stories throughout. The series V. Artwork comprises completed drawings and prints, but also includes some notes and text for stories.
A. Published writings and artwork, 1923-1940. Description & Arrangement
Includes Gág's pamphlet, "Batiking at Home" and her article for The Nation, "A Hotbed of Feminists," plus copies of serials where her prints were published, which are arranged chronologically. In addition, a few of these published prints are in Oversize, box 40.
Box Folder
The Guild Pioneer, vol. 1 no.5 (May 1923). Prints by Wanda Gág. 14 401
Batiking at Home: A handbook for beginners, published by Woman's 14 402 Home Companion, 1926.
"These Modern Women: A Hotbed of Feminists," The Nation, 22 14 403 June 1927 .
Book Dial, vol. 5, no. 5 (Late Fall, 1928). Prints by Wanda Gág. 14 404
"A Scene From the Scandals," Theatre Guild Magazine. December 14 405 1928. Print by Wanda Gág.
- Page 36 - Wanda Gág papers B. Early writings
"There is a Green Hill Far Away." The American Sketch. January 14 406 1929. Print by Wanda Gág.
Wings: The Literary Guild Magazine, vol. 12, no. 7 (July 1938). 14 407 Illustrations by Wanda Gág.
Growing Pains. Illustrated order form, 1940. 14 408
B. Early writings, circa 1905-1920. Description & Arrangement
Comprises notebooks in which Gág copied andrecopied stories she had written for submission to periodicals, primarily the Minneapolis Junior Journal. Also includes two sketch books, containing more writing than sketches, which she kept during her student days in art school in Minneapolis and New York, and which were not included in her series of diaries. Arranged chronologically, titles of stories and poems are listed when possible. Edythe Vernon Younge was a pen name of Wanda Gág.
Box Folder
Early Writings, circa 1905-1906. 1 item (notebook). 15 409 Contents
* "Jocko" * "Goldenrod and Sylvia" * "To the Rescue" * "Violet! Our May Queen" * "Arizona and Co."
Early Writings, circa 1905-1906. 1 item (notebook, ill. with 15 410 watercolor). Contents
* "An Afternoon Trip" * "Doll Reggy and I"
- Page 37 - Wanda Gág papers B. Early writings
* "Ronnie's Trouble" * "Emerald Woods"
Early Writings, circa 1905-1906. 2 items (8 leaves). 15 411 Contents
* "Sally's Thoughts About Gardening" * "The Story of a Trip" * Ideas for stories
Early Writings, circa 1906-1907. 1 item (pocket notebook, ill). 15 412 Contents
* "A Little Mother's Cares" * "The Return" * "Lady Tulip Bulbs Visit" * "A Spring Sketch" * "Jocko, the Paper Parcel" [fragment] * "Vela's Glen" * "Sally's Thoughts About Gardening" * "Sally Has the Earache" * "Bobby's Black-and-Tan" [play] * "A Noise You Dislike. Why?" * "Hyacinthe's Garden" * "Two Little Innocent Thieves" * "Jane's Revenge" * "The Spring Garden"
Early Writings, "Jane's Revenge" and an early attempt at dialog, circa 15 413 1906-1907. 2 items (12 leaves).
- Page 38 - Wanda Gág papers B. Early writings
Early Writings, circa 1906-1907. 1 item (notebook). 15 414 Contents
Notebook with "I Am It" printed on front cover, ill. with pencil drawings, watercolor and illustrations cut out from magazines (fragile):
* "Ruth and her Dress" * "Thanksgiving Day" * "The Jolly Four" * "Mr. Bluebird's Misfortune" * "Child's Alphabet" * "The Great Resolve" * "Hyacinthe Abroad" * "The Prize Garden" * "How the Easter Rabbit Was Hatched" * "Easter Bonnets" * Lists of names for girls, boys, twins, last names and names of palaces
Early Writings, 1908. 2 leaves. 15 415
Early Writings, poems, 1910-1913. 5 items (9 leaves). 15 416 Contents
* "Her Twisted Way" * "Would You?" * "A Little-Girl Adventure" * "Indian Summer" * "The Walra" * "To L-"
- Page 39 - Wanda Gág papers B. Early writings
Early Writings, poems and songs, 1910-1913. 1 item (pocket 15 417 notebook). Contents
* "Just Dreams" * "Wanderer's Abschied" (in German) * "The Tables Turned" * "Who Is He? Can You Guess?" * "A Difference" * "The Snowstorm" * "Mother Goose's Party" * "The Coming of Spring" * "Easter Verse" * "Nonsense Verse" * "Great Grandmama's Chest" * "The Wind" * "Dedication to Mr. R. Graves" * "The Day is Done" * "Dedication to Miss Gould" * "Grandmother's Farm" * "Letter Limerick" * "The Garden of Dreams" * "Thanksgiving at Grandma's" * "Out of the Harbor, into the Sea" * "Indian Summer" * "Tragedy" * "Parody" * "A Thought" * "The Christmas Spirit" * "A Dream" * "The Walra" * "To L-" * "A Message"
- Page 40 - Wanda Gág papers B. Early writings
Early Writings, 1914-1915. 12 leaves. 15 418 Contents
* "A Rainy-Day Thought" * "An Artist's Thought" * "The First of May" * "The Garden of the Great Unknown" * "A Twentieth Century Wail" * Poems * "Personal Discoveries," writings about problems in drawing
Sketch book and commonplace book, circa 1914-1915. 1 item 15 419 (notebook). Description
Poetry, ideas for stories, sketches, meditations, reflections on books read while in art school; pencil sketches of people, self-portraits, watercolor ideas for Christmas cards, and fashion sketches.
Notes and reflections, 1914-1917. 30 leaves. 15 420 Description
Reflections on art, pencil sketches, diary entries, poems. Leaves are from notebooks, some fragments.
Commonplace book and reflections, 1915-1918. 1 item (notebook). 15 421 Description
Reflections on art theory, readings. Lists of art lectures, plays, music, excursions experienced in New York City, Lists of books in her library, a few diary entries, very few sketches, printed poems tipped in. 1 notebook, cloth binding, a number of pages torn out.
- Page 41 - Wanda Gág papers C. Children's literature
Early Writings, circa 1919-1920, undated. 4 items (12 leaves). 15 422 Contents
* "Growing Pains" * "Interlude" * Poems * "The Middle West Far East Colony," typescript story * Untitled story "One winter day two little children..."
Early Writings, undated. 13 leaves. 15 423 Contents
* "My Schoolhouse" * "Not a Poem" * "I Was Made For You" * "A Midsummer Night's Dream" * "The Love of an Adolescent"
C. Children's literature, circa 1920-1945, undated. Description
Notes on ideas for children's stories, some published, but most unpublished. The production materials for Gág's published children's books were sold after her death and are located in other repositories, primarily the University of Minnesota.
1. Original stories. Description
Includes some children's stories Gág worked on with Ruth Chrisman Gannett, which Gág attributes to Gannett, and stories by Gág.
- Page 42 - Wanda Gág papers 1. Original stories
Box Folder
Stories, 1930-1931. 15 424 Contents
Stories by Ruth Gannett: * "The Kitten Story" * "The Fuzzy Dog Story" * "Sleeping Away" * "Snowing" * "The Bird Story"
"Millions of Cats" puppet play, typescript, "Millienen von 15 425 Katzen," translation by Gág into German, and notes about cats, undated.
Stories, 1935 and undated. 15 426 Contents
* "Ivory Soap Stories" * "The Cry-Away Bird" [published in Delineator, May 1935 * "Round-Eyes and Roley-Eyes" * "The Lonely Mountains" * "The Pink Puppy and His Trees" (typescript, manuscript, and 5 colored pencil drawings by Gág) * Typescripts with ms. corrections
Stories. 15 427 Contents
* "Shoes" * "Invention" * "Bobo" * "Ooza"
- Page 43 - Wanda Gág papers 2. Translations from Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm
"Stories, ideas & notes, expressions" , circa 1930-1941. 1 item 15 428 (notebook, ill).
2. Translations from Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm. Description
Gág made her own translations from German of the Kinder- und Hausmärchen of the Brothers Grimm. Includes notes Gág took on other writers' translations of Grimms' Fairy Tales, and her research materials on the stories.
Box Folder
"The Griffon," "Poor and the Rich," "Cobbler and Elves," 15 429 "Golden Goose," "Die Rübe," "Three Men in the Woods," "The Juniper Tree" and more. 2 items (notebooks).
"The Old One in the Wood" notebook; "Red Riding Hood" and 15 430 manuscript notes for Grimms' tales.
"Reynard the Fox" research notes. 1 item (notebook). 15 431
3. Proposed "Baby's Bookshelf," Collection of stories and verse for young children, circa 1942-1944. Description
Ideas, including original verse, for an illustrated series for young children.
Box Folder
Stories and poetry for proposed "Baby's Bookshelf" . 2 items 16 432 (notebooks). Contents
* "My Gardens" * "Birds in the Branches"
- Page 44 - Wanda Gág papers D. Autobiographical writings
* "The Bumble Bee" * "The Kitten Story" * "The Bird Story" * "Birds and Bunnies" * "The Garden" * "Shoes" * "Roosterkin and Henniken and Home Sweet Home" * "Three Little Duckies" * "Hide and Seek" * "Two Little Fingers" * "A Very Little Flea" * "Barbara" * Other fragments and ideas
Stories and poetry for proposed "Baby's Bookshelf" . 16 433 Contents
* "Hide and Seek" * "Two Little Fingers" * "A Very Little Flea" * "Birds in the Branches" * "The Moon" * "Three Little Children" * "Of Olden Days and Fairy Ways" * Notes and drafts for unidentified children's stories
D. Autobiographical writings, 1918-1945, undated.
1. Proposed "Childhood Reminiscences" . Description
Stories told from the point of view of a young child, based on Gág's experiences growing up in New Ulm, Minnesota. Includes Gág's research on her family history, and a number of Gág's recollections
- Page 45 - Wanda Gág papers 1. Proposed Childhood Reminiscences
copied in multiple versions. One notebook from this series and three typed stories were gifts to Zigrosser and are located with correspondence in Folders 342 (notebook) and 344 (typescript).
Box Folder
Reminiscences, 1942. 1 item (notebook). 16 434 Contents
* "The Dentist Story" * "Wanda and God" * "Pre-school" * "Papa's Schulzeugnis"
Reminiscences, 1942. 1 item (notebook). 16 435 Contents
* "Meditation" * "Books" * "Etiquette books" * "School" (2nd - 8th grades) * "Worries" * "Odds and Ends" * "Abstract Experiences" ( "Rhythm," "Fairies," "Abstract Forms," "Accordion Pleats," "Art," "Sex" )
Reminiscences, 1942. 1 item (notebook). 16 436 Contents
* "Outline" * "Grown-ups" * "The Park Concert" * "Primavera" * "Story Behind the Picture"
- Page 46 - Wanda Gág papers 1. Proposed Childhood Reminiscences
Reminiscences, 1944. 1 item (notebook + 18 leaves). 16 437 Contents
* "I'm Two" * Notes on children including her niece Barbara Jean Treat
Reminiscences, 1945, undated. 2 items (notebooks). 16 438 Contents
* "All Christmas" * "Christmas Story"
Reminiscences, undated. 1 item (notebook). 16 439 Contents
* "Grandma's - general" (descriptions of family members, neighbors and friends, "Klaus Contingent," "Papa," "Mama" ) * Family Origins * "School" * "Going down the Rellrote Tracks" * "Paper Dolls at Grandma's" * Biographical information on family and more
Reminiscences, undated. 2 items (notebooks). 16 440 Contents
* "Meditation"
Reminiscences, undated. 1 item (notebook). 16 441 Contents
* Layout of New Ulm * Family origins * "Fate?"
- Page 47 - Wanda Gág papers 1. Proposed Childhood Reminiscences
* "Early Ideas, Superstitions, etc." * "Technique or Plan" * "Papa's Schulzeugnis" * "My First Home..." * "Prememory Items" * "Kindergarten" * "Primary School" * "Pre-school Memories" * "Our Home" * "First Grade" * "Early Drawing" * "What Home Meant to Me" * "Grown-up World and I" * "Wanda and God"
Reminiscences, undated. 1 item (notebook). 16 442 Contents
* "Wanda and God" * "Meditation" * "Primavera" * "The Park Concert"
Reminiscences, undated. 1 item (notebook). 16 443 Contents
* Playing Dentist * "Grab Bag" * "Christmas" * "Dolls" * "Puppet Show" * "Playing" * "Clothing"
- Page 48 - Wanda Gág papers 1. Proposed Childhood Reminiscences
* "Food" * "The First Show I Went to Alone" * "Weseparately" (descriptions of siblings Stella, Thusnelda, Asta, Dehli, Howard and Flavia) * "Vacation Days" * "Sand Stones" * "Playmates" * "Wash Day"
Reminiscences, undated. 1 item (notebook). 16 444 Contents
* Scenes from the House of Gág * The Gág Saga * "Art" * "Technique" * "Books" * "Clothing" * "Christmas" * "Eating" * "Feminism" * "Friends" * "The Grown-up World and I" * "Our Home" * "Infantile Doings and Sayings" * "Klaus Contingent" * Descriptions of Biebl relatives * "Grandma's" * "Neighbors" * "Obsessions, Superstitions and Queer Ideas" * "Odds and Ends" * "Playing" * "Papa" * "School"
- Page 49 - Wanda Gág papers 1. Proposed Childhood Reminiscences
* "This and That" * "We-separately" * "General Plan for book"
Reminiscences, undated. 2 items (notebooks). 16 445 Contents
* "Of Pennies and Pencils" (description of family and New Ulm)
* "First Memories, My Place in My Young World" (house in New Ulm)
Reminiscences, undated. 1 item (notebook). 16 446 Contents
* "About Fairies" * "The Dentist Story" * "About Teachers" * "Going down the Rellrote Tracks" * "Paper Dolls at Grandma's"
Reminiscences, undated. 1 item (notebook). 16 447 Contents
* "The Dentist Story" * "Going to the Barbershop"
Reminiscences, undated. 1 item (notebook). 16 448 Contents
* "Her First Show" * "Down at Grandma's" * "Her First Show Alone"
- Page 50 - Wanda Gág papers 1. Proposed Childhood Reminiscences
* "A Summer's Day"
Reminiscences, undated. 2 items (notebooks). 16 449 Contents
* "General Play" * "Dolls" * "The Sand Stone"
Reminiscences, undated. 1 item (notebook). 17 450 Contents
* "Kindergarten" * "Papa's Death" * "Our Block" * "Hermanje" * "The Rhythm Beat" * "Primary School" * "Accordion Pleats" * "Burying Children" * "Visit for Aunt Mary" * "Aunt Lena" * "Del-Floofy" * "Rhythm" * "Ruby" * "Mirror" * "Pins" * "Holzegens" * "Accordion Pleats" * "Papa and Mama" * "Decoration Day"
- Page 51 - Wanda Gág papers 1. Proposed Childhood Reminiscences
Early history of New Ulm and family origins, undated. 1 item 17 451 (notebook).
Reminiscences, undated. 1 item (notebook). 17 452 Contents
* "Rell Rote Tracks" * "Paper Dolls" * "Going to the Butcher Shop" * "Wanda and God" * "Meditation"
Notes, undated. 1 item (notebook + 31 leaves). 17 453 Contents
* Home * Pre-school memories * "Primavera" * "In the one-roomed school house" * "Books" * "House and Yard" * "Meditation" * "Duplicates of Childhood Reminiscences"
Reminiscences, undated. 42 leaves. 17 454 Contents
* "Tussy Sick" * "Measles" * "1901-1902" ”-Grandma's * "Down at Grandma's" * "A day at Grandma's" * "Paper Dolls"
- Page 52 - Wanda Gág papers 3. Proposed sequel to Growing Pains
* "The Barbershop" * "Show Alone" * "Wash Day" * "Snow"
Notes for proposed "Childhood Reminiscences" , undated. 38 17 455 leaves.
3. Proposed sequel to Growing Pains .
Description and Arrangment
Gág planned to publish additional excerpts from her diaries and letters from 1918 on, and for this she recopied portions of her diaries and correspondence with Adolf Dehn. This sequel was never completed. Arranged chronologically, the letters were later numbered by Wanda in reference to this project.
Box Folder
Notes re: proposed sequel to Growing Pains, undated. 58 17 459 leaves. Description
Lists of letters between Wanda Gág and Adolf Dehn, recopied letters and diary excerpts re: Adolf Dehn, 1920-1922 and more.
Recopied letters, book 3, 5½, undated. 1 item. 17 460 Description
Letters between Wanda Gág and Adolf Dehn and two poems dated 21 July 1918-27 April 1919.
- Page 53 - Wanda Gág papers 3. Proposed sequel to Growing Pains
Recopied letters, undated. 1 item (notebook). 17 461 Description
Letters between Wanda Gág and Adolf Dehn dated 14 October 1918 - 21 July 1919.
Recopied letters and diary entries, book 6, undated. 1 17 462 item (notebook). Description
Letters between Wanda Gág and Adolf Dehn dated 20 December 1918 - 29 April 1919.
Recopied letters and diary entries, book 6 ½, undated. 1 17 463 item (notebook). Description
Letters between Wanda Gág and Adolf Dehn dated 16 May 1919 - 8 June 1919.
Recopied letters and diary entries, book 7, undated. 1 17 464 item (notebook). Description
Letters between Wanda Gág and Adolf Dehn dated 25 June 1919 - 7 September 1919.
Recopied diary entries, book 8, undated. 1 item 17 465 (notebook). Description
Diary entries dated 25 July 1919 - 22 May 1920.
- Page 54 - Wanda Gág papers 3. Proposed sequel to Growing Pains
Recopied diary entries, book 9, undated. 1 item 17 466 (notebook). Description
Diary entries dated 22 May 1920 - 23 March 1921.
Recopied diary entries, book 10, undated. 1 item 17 467 (notebook). Description
Diary entries dated 30 March 1921 - 5 October 1921.
Recopied letters, undated . 1 item (notebook). 17 468 Description
Letters between Wanda Gág and Adolf Dehn dated 16 October 1921 - 28 December 1921.
Recopied letters, undated. 56 leaves. 17 469 Description
Letters between Wanda Gág and her siblings Asta, Dehli, Flavia, Howard and Thusnelda, and her friends Alma Schmidt Scott and Boris dated 16 January 1920 - 29 September 1921.
Notes for proposed "Childhood Reminiscences" , undated. 64 17 456 leaves.
- Page 55 - Wanda Gág papers 2. Growing Pains
2. Growing Pains .
Description
Materials from Gág's diaries and letters from 1908-1917 used or recopied for inclusion in Gág's book, published in 1940. Typed transcripts of these diaries were prepared for the book and have been filed with the original diaries. Gág's handwriting is sometimes difficult to read, and the transcripts, typed by Flavia Gág, make the diaries more accessible.
Box Folder
Notes on Growing Pains, "My Early Letters to Alma Schmidt" , 17 457 undated. 2 items (notebooks).
Miscellaneous notes on Growing Pains. 17 458
III. Diaries, 1908-1946. 9 boxes.
A. Diaries, 1908-1945. Description & Arrangement
Gág referred to these as her "Diaries Proper," and distinguished them from Day Diaries and other notebooks in which she wrote. The diaries were transcribed for Wanda Gág's book Growing Pains, published in 1940. The diaries were typed, for the most part, by Flavia Gág; typed transcripts are filed with the originals, and are arranged chronologically, numbered by Gág. Diaries numbered 1, 6, 12, 21, and 29 are missing and were not part of the papers when they were transferred to the University of Pennsylvania.
Box Folder
Diary 2, 12 October 1908 - February 1909. 18 470
Transcript of Diary 2, undated. 18 471
- Page 56 - Wanda Gág papers A. Diaries
Diary 3, 8 April 1909 - 26 September 1909. 18 472
Transcript of Diary 3, undated. 18 473
Diary 4, 25 September 1909 - 16 January 1910. 18 474
Transcript of Diary 4, undated. 18 475
Diary 5, 27 December 1909 - 28 February 1910. 18 476
Transcript of Diary 5, undated. 18 477
Diary 7, 1 March 1910 - 11 July 1910. 18 478
Diary 7B, 19 March 1910 - 15 June 1910. 18 479
Transcript of Diary 7B, undated. 18 480
Diary 8, 12 July 1910 - 21 August 1910. 18 481
Transcript of Diary 8, undated. 18 482
Diary 9, 29 August 1910 - 28 October 1910. 18 483
Transcript of Diary 9, Diary entries, undated. 18 484
Diary 10, 28 October 1910 - 21 January 1911. 18 485
Transcript of Diary 10, undated. 18 486
Diary 11, 23 January 1911 - 14 May 1911. 18 487
Transcript of Diary 11, undated. 18 488
Diary 13, 1 July 1911 - October 1911. 19 489
- Page 57 - Wanda Gág papers A. Diaries
Transcript of Diary 13, undated. 19 490
Diary 14, 25 December 1911 - 28 April 1913. 19 491
Transcript of Diary 14, undated. 19 492
Diary 15, 5 May 1913 - 8 August 1913. 19 493
Transcript of Diary 15, undated. 19 494
Diary 16, 13 August 1913 - 22 September 1913. 19 495
Transcript of Diary 16, undated. 19 496
Diary 17, 27 September 1913 - 17 January 1914. 19 497
Transcript of Diary 17, undated. 19 498
Diary 18, 8 January 1914 - 20 February 1914. 19 499
Transcript of Diary 18, undated. 19 500
Diary 19, 1 March 1914 - 5 April 1914. 19 501
Transcript of Diary 19, undated. 19 502
Diary 20, April 1914 - 6 May 1914. 19 503
Transcript of Diary 20, undated. 19 504
Diary 22, 25 May 1914 - 15 August 1914. 20 505
Transcript of Diary 22, undated. 20 506-508
Diary 23, 17 August 1914 - 2 October 1914. 20 509
- Page 58 - Wanda Gág papers A. Diaries
Transcript of Diary 23, undated. 20 510-511
Diary 23A, 6 October 1914 - 26 November 1914. 20 512
Transcript of Diary 23A, undated. 20 513-514
Diary 24, 27 November 1914 - 15 December 1914. 20 515
Diary 25, 18 December 1914 - 9 February 1915. 21 516
Diary 26, 15 February 1915 - 14 April 1915. 21 517
Diary 27, 14 April 1915 - 25 May 1915. 21 518
Diary 28, 25 May 1915 - 7 September 1915. 21 519
Diary 30, 18 February 1916 - 4 October 1916. 21 520
Diary 31, 14 October 1916 - 31 July 1917. 21 521
Diary 32, August 1917 - 30 November 1917. 22 522
Diary 33, 30 November 1917 - 10 June 1918. 22 523
Diary 34, 28 June 1918 - 29 October 1918. 22 524
Diary 35, 1 November 1918 - 25 June 1919. 22 525
Diary 36, February 1919 - February 1920. 22 526
Diary 36B, February 1920 - 23 March 1921. 22 527
Diary 37, 30 March 1921 - 7 November 1921. 22 528
Diary 38, 9 November 1921 - 2 May 1922. 22 529
- Page 59 - Wanda Gág papers A. Diaries
Diary 39, 3 May 1922 - 22 January 1923. 23 530
Diary 40, 22 March 1922 - 2 December 1922. 23 531
Diary 41, 29 January 1924 - 13 April 1925. 23 532
Diary 42, 25 April 1925 - 18 January 1928. 23 533
Diary 43, 18 January 1928 - 13 February 1928. 23 534
Diary 44, 14 February 1928 - 16 March 1929. 23 535
Diary 45, 17 March 1929 - 23 April 1929. 23 536
Diary 46, 2 May 1929 - 10 July 1929. 24 537
Diary 47, 10 July 1929 - 4 March 1930. 24 538
Diary 48, 6 March 1930 - 12 June 1930. 24 539
Diary 49, 20 June 1930 - 30 January 1931. 24 540
Diary 50, 30 January 1931 - 23 June 1931. 24 541
Diary 51, 10 March 1932 - 28 December 1932. 24 542
Diary 52, 28 December 1932 - 25 May 1933. 24 543
Diary 53, 3 June 1933 - 10 June 1933. 24 544
Diary 54, 10 June 1933 - 17 July 1933. 24 545
Diary 55, 17 July 1933 - 17 September 1933. 25 546
Diary 56, 17 September 1933 - 10 December 1933. 25 547
- Page 60 - Wanda Gág papers B. Day diaries
Diary 57, 10 December 1933 - 13 May 1935. 25 548
Diary 58, 14 March 1938 - 17 February 1942. 25 549
Diary 59, 17 March 1942 - 14 February 1945. 25 550
B. Day diaries, 1929-1946. Description
Gág referred to these as her "Diary Annex" as differentiated from the "Diaries Proper." For the most part they contain brief annotations about activities, although in some cases they include full diary entries. Included here are notebooks and day diaries kept by Wanda during her final illness.
Box Folder
1929-1932. 4 items (notebooks). 25 551
Day Diaries, 1933-1935. 3 items (notebooks). 25 552
Recopied Day Diaries for 1929-1935, undated. 1 item (notebook). 25 553
Day Diaries, 1936-1937. 2 items (notebooks). 25 554
Recopied Day Diaries for 1936-1937, undated. 1 item (notebook). 25 555
Day Diaries, 1940-1941. 2 items (notebooks + 10 leaves). 26 556
Day Diaries, 1942-1943. 2 items (notebooks). 26 557
Day Diaries, 1944-1945. 2 items (notebooks). 26 558
Recopied Day Diaries for 1944 - April 1945. 1 item (notebook). 26 559
Hospital Diary, 18 February 1945 - 5 April 1945. 1 item (notebook + 26 560 12 leaves).
- Page 61 - Wanda Gág papers IV. Lecture notes; notes on writing; radio talks and readings; miscellaneous a...
Recopied Hospital Diary for 11 March 1945 - 19 June 1945. 1 item 26 561 (notebook).
Trip to Florida Travelog, 1946. 2 items (notebooks). 26 562
IV. Lecture notes; notes on writing; radio talks and readings; miscellaneous and unidentified notes. 6 folders.
Box Folder
Lecture notes, "The artist and the child," for the Child Study Association, 27 563 typescript with ms. corrections, undated. 3 leaves.
Lecture notes on art and life with reference to Gág's print Grandma's 27 563 Parlor , undated. 1 item (notebook).
Notes for "Author! Author!" notes and partial story for appearance on 27 564 "Author! Author!" canceled due to illness, circa 1945, undated. 13 leaves.
Notes on writing, including grammar, word choice, etc. 2 items 27 565 (notebooks). Contents
* "My first radio effort June 1941" * Radio notes and ideas
Notes on art, marriage, undated. 12 leaves. 27 566 Contents
* "After our secret marriage..." * Lecture notes on art by Robert Henri, with explanation of "Diary Annex" on cubism, god, grownups
- Page 62 - Wanda Gág papers V. Artwork
* "Spaziergang" [three artists taking a stroll]
Chronological life history/autobiography by Gág from with related notes, 27 567 1912-1944. 9 leaves.
Unidentified notes. 27 568
V. Artwork, 1915-1948, undated. 1.5 boxes (+ oversize). Series Description
Includes published and unpublished drawings, prints, and Christmas cards. There are a number of erotic and humorous drawings, watercolors, and booklets; presumably most of these were gifts from Wanda Gág to Carl Zigrosser.
A. Drawings, watercolors and prints, 1915-1944, undated. Description & Arrangement
Includes published and unpublished drawings and prints; Christmas cards; sexually humorous booklets, drawings, and paintings; and rough sketches. A number of these were gifts to Carl Zigrosser. Arranged chronologically, titles in quotation marks are taken from the item if titled, and from Winnan, if untitled. See also 5 items in Oversize, Box 40.
Box Folder
Self-portrait, pastel, 1915. 1 item. 27 569
Untitled pencil sketches, 1921-1922. 3 items. 27 570
Drawings, watercolors and prints, 1924-1927. 3 items. 27 571 Contents
* Untitled pen, brush and ink related to Chidlow Tree, [Connecticut], 1924
- Page 63 - Wanda Gág papers A. Drawings, watercolors and prints
* Untitled nude, pencil, 1926-1927, gift to Carl Zigrosser, 1940 * Tumble Timbers, linoleum cut, 1927
Christmas Eve II , 1927. 10 items. 27 572
Description
Lithograph, with message "Greetings from the House of Weyhe 1927."
Drawings, watercolors and prints, 1928. 2 items. 27 573 Contents
* Siesta, soft ground etching, gift to Carl Zigrosser * A Morning in January, pen and ink, gift to Carl Zigrosser
The Cobbler's Shop, first print, not successful, 1931. 27 574
Adam and Eve, ink and pencil. Gift to Carl Zigrosser, 1923-1932. 1 27 575 item (booklet + 2 leaves).
Urformen der Natur, 1934. 1 item (booklet + 8 leaves). 27 576
Description
Watercolors, miniatures, some are detached from pages.
Christmas Cards, 1935. 27 577 Description
Christmas Tumble Timbers, Christmas Eve, Fireplace, Franklin Stove, Lantern and Fireplace. 5 cards with prints by Gág, published by the American Artists Group.
- Page 64 - Wanda Gág papers A. Drawings, watercolors and prints
Self-Caricature (Self Portrait) , 1940. 27 578
Description
Print from 1937 drawing, used for announcement for Wanda Gág retrospective exhibition at the Wehye Gallery.
Landscapes, 1944, undated. 2 items. 27 579 Contents
* Untitled landscape, pencil * Color reproduction of The Red Barn, watercolor
A Sinthesis of the More Exotic Vices, watercolor, undated. 1 item (8 27 580 leaves).
Six Little Gems of Modern Art with appreciations by Professor 27 581 Ernest De Fender, undated. 26 leaves. Contents
* Crescendo * Love's Young Dream * Nude with Egg-Beater * Interlewd * Ob Scene in Central Park * The Fountain of Youth * Preliminary drawings for each
Drawings, watercolors and prints, undated. 3 items. 27 582 Contents
* The Tree of Knowledge, pen and ink * Untitled [man and tree], pencil * Untitled [man and tree], pencil
- Page 65 - Wanda Gág papers B. Drawings and prints for children's books, projects for children
Love Among the Acrobats , sketches, pen and ink and pencil, circa 27 583 1934. 3 leaves.
Untitled female nude, pen, brush and ink, undated. 1 item. 27 584
Untitled (2 reclining figures), drawing on sandpaper, undated. 1 item. 27 585
Untitled, watercolor on sandpaper, undated. 2 items. 27 586
Untitled sketches, notes, poems, captions for drawings, undated. 16 27 587 leaves.
B. Drawings and prints for children's books, projects for children, circa 1921-1942, undated. Description
Artwork for children's books and a booklet created for Gág's niece, Barbara Jean Treat. Some of these items were gifts to Carl Zigrosser, laid into copies of Gág's books.
Box Folder
Early drawings, pencil, undated. 3 items. 28 588
Text for Happiwork Story Boxes, typescript, circa 1921-1923, 28 589 undated. Note
See Boxes 36-39.
Cats, 1928-1929. 4 items. 28 590 Contents
* Cat on Chair (Cat in Kitchen), wood engraving, sixth state, 1928. 1 item * Cats at the Window, wood engraving, 1929 2 copies
- Page 66 - Wanda Gág papers B. Drawings and prints for children's books, projects for children
* From Millions of Cats, two cards with prints from the book, promotion by Coward-McCann. 2 items
Tales From Grimm, 1936-1938. 3 items. 28 591
Contents
* Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle, preliminary pen and ink drawing for Tales From Grimm. Gift to Carl Zigrosser, 1936. 1 item * Six Servants, preliminary pen and ink drawing for Tales From Grimm. Gift to Carl Zigrosser, 1936. 1 item * Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, preliminary pen and ink drawing, 1938. 1 item
Nothing at All, 2 original drawings, signed. Gift to Carl Zigrosser, 28 592 1941.
Drawings and ideas for children's books. 4 items. 28 593 Contents
* Fanny and Bobo, pencil sketch, undated * The Wimble Wamble of Jimble Jamble, colored pencil, undated * Tin-canary, pen and ink, undated * Untitled watercolor (Girl sleeping, stockings on bed posts),undated
A Bedtime Story for Barbara Jean , circa 1941-1942. 1 item (booklet + 28 594 2 leaves).
Miscellaneous sketches for children, undated. 14 leaves. 28 595 Contents
* Kangarooster * Hippopotamustard * Sketches of cats, dogs, tiger, penguin, squirrel, elves, pencil
- Page 67 - Wanda Gág papers C. Family drawing and word games
C. Family drawing and word games, circa 1944-1945. Description
These drawings, made during family get togethers, include some completed and signed sketches by Wanda and Flavia Gág, Howard Cook, and Barbara Latham Cook, plus four-part people drawn by these and other family members who were Wanda's guests at "All Creation."
Box Folder
Drawing and word games, 1932. 16 items. 28 596 Description
By Howard Cook, Barbara Latham Cook, Flavia Gág, and Wanda Gág, pencil, most signed and dated by the artists.
Drawing and word games, circa 1944-1945. 28 597 Description
Includes sisters Stella, Dehli, Flavia, Bob Janssen, Earle Humphreys, Howard, Alma Scott and her daughters, Jane and Patsy.
Drawing and word games, undated. 28 598 Description
Includes Carl Zigrosser drawings, Gág notes on games and family rhymes. See also folder 689 for Christmas rhymes exchanged among family members.
Drawing games, four-part people, undated. 35 leaves. 28 599
Drawing games, four-part people, undated. 40 leaves. 28 600
- Page 68 - Wanda Gág papers D. Exhibition catalogs, announcements, and reviews
D. Exhibition catalogs, announcements, and reviews, 1926-1948. Description & Arrangement
Arranged chronologically, it contains catalogs for Gág's exhibitions and press reviews of her exhibitions. Not complete. Information on posthumous exhibitions is in Carl Zigrosser's correspondence, Box 30.
Box Folder
"Watercolors, Drawings and Lithographs by Wanda Gág." The 28 601 Weyhe Gallery, 3-20 November 1926. 3 items. Contents
* Catalog, introduction by Rockwell Kent. catalog. 1 item * Exhibition announcement. typescript. 1 leaf * Review, New York Evening Post, 13 November 1926. 1 leaf
"Watercolors, Drawings and Prints by Wanda Gág." The Weyhe 28 602 Gallery, 19-31 March 1928. 3 items. Contents
* Exhibition announcement * The Spinning Wheel, wood engraving, 3 copies * Exhibition announcement, typescript, 2 leaves
"Watercolors, Drawings and Prints by Wanda Gág." The Weyhe 28 603 Gallery, 13 January - 1 February 1930. Contents
* Exhibition announcement. 2 copies * "Gág Number." The Checkerboard, published on occasion by the Weyhe Gallery, January 1930, includes chronological list of prints. 3 copies, signed by the artist, one with notations by Carl Zigrosser
- Page 69 - Wanda Gág papers D. Exhibition catalogs, announcements, and reviews
Rīgas Grafiķu Biedrības. Joint exhibition. Exhibition catalog, 3-24 28 604 April 1932. 1 item.
"Wanda Gág: 35 Years of Picture-Making," retrospective show at 28 604 the Weyhe Gallery, Exhibition announcement, proof, 21-31 October 1940. 1 item.
"Art Sale and Auction to Aid the Defense in the Oklahoma Book 28 604 Trials," Puma Gallery [New York City], Announcement for joint exhibition and sale, 3-7 December 1941. 1 item.
Wanda Gág Memorial Exhibition. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 28 605 16 October - 24 November 1946. 3 items. Contents
* Wanda Gág Memorial Exhibition. Philadelphia Museum of Art. 16 October - 24 November 1946. Press releases. 2 items, 3 leaves * Review, Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct. 27, 1946 1 item, 2 leaves
Wanda Gág Memorial Exhibition. New York Public Library. 28 605 Announcement; introduction by Anne Carroll Moore, 23 June-1 November 1947. 1 item (1 leaf).
Wanda Gág Memorial Exhibition. Alfalfa Hill Barn, Milford, New 28 605 Jersey. 4-6 September 1948. Newspaper announcement, 20 August 1948. 1 item (2 leaves).
- Page 70 - Wanda Gág papers VI. Writings about Wanda Gág: Biographical articles, obituaries, and book revi...
VI. Writings about Wanda Gág: Biographical articles, obituaries, and book reviews arranged chronologically, 1927-1996. 1 1/2 box.
A. Biographical articles and obituaries, 1927-1996. Description & Arrangement
Arranged chronologically and includes a few items added to the collection since it was acquired by the University of Pennsylvania.
Box Folder
Mannes, Marya. "Wanda Gág: Individualist." Creative Art. Published 28 606 article and typescript, December 1927.
Herendeen, Anne. "Wanda Gág: The True Story of a Dynamic Young 28 607 Artist Who Won't Be Organized." The Century Magazine. offprint, with Carl Zigrosser's notes on cover, August 1928.
Foster, Helen Herbert. "Seven Little Gágs Grown Up." Eagle 28 608 (Brooklyn, N.Y.)., 11 November 1928. 1 item (1 leaf).
"New Ulm's Cinderella finds Art's Golden Slipper in New York." 28 609 Minneapolis Journal Magazine, circa 1928.
"Wanda Gág - Graver and Illustrator." The Index of Twentieth 28 610 Century Artists, vol. 3, no. 7, and Supplement, April 1936. 10 leaves.
Obituaries, Delaware Valley News, New York Herald Tribune, New 28 611 York Sun, New York Times, Publisher's Weekly, Hunterdon County Democrat , June-July 1946. 8 items.
- Page 71 - Wanda Gág papers A. Biographical articles and obituaries
Obituaries, 1946. 2 items. 28 612 Contents
* "Wanda Gág." Four Star Final * Evans, Ernestine. "Wanda Gág." Four Star Journal - Juvenile supplement.
"In Tribute to Wanda Gág." Horn Book Magazine , May-June 28 613 1947. 1 volume (21 leaves). Description
Includes articles by Alma Schmidt Scott, Carl Zigrosser, Ernestine Evans, Rose Dobbs, Lynd Ward, and Earle Marshall Humphreys. Typescript for Zigrosser's essay, "Wanda Gág: Artist." 2 copies. List of captions for Gág prints were written by Carl Zigrosser, with additional notes.
Bixler, Bernice. "A Memorial to Wanda Gág, an Artist-Author." 28 614 Delaware Valley News, 20 February 1948.
Beavin, Helen. Biographical information compiled from published 28 615 sources, University of Wisconsin Library School, Copy of typescript, June 1960.
Hoyle, Karen Nelson. "A Children's Classic: Millions of Cats," in 28 616 Manuscripts, 31, no. 4, offprint, Fall 1979.
Hanson, Doug. "Wanda Gág" and "An Interview with Ardur 28 617 Winnan," in The Window, vol. 2, no. pp. 4-13, 6 January 1995.
"Wanda Gág House." New Ulm Visitor's Guide , published by The 28 618 Journal , New Ulm, Minn., 1996. 1 volume.
- Page 72 - Wanda Gág papers B. Book reviews, including unpublished reviews of Growing Pains
"Wanda Gág," for National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 28 619 typescript, circa 1947.
Zigrosser, Carl. "Wanda Gág," Biographical essay and bibliography, 28 620 typescript and ms., circa 1955. 26 leaves.
B. Book reviews, including unpublished reviews of Growing Pains, 1928-1947.
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
Box Folder
Reviews and promotion for Millions of Cats and The Funny Thing , 29 621 1928-1929.
Unidentified reader's response to typescripts of the diaries for Growing 29 622 Pains, 1935.
Kenton, Edna. "Report on Anonymous Diary." Re: Growing Pains, 29 623 circa 1940.
Zigrosser, Carl. Foreword to Growing Pains, circa 1940. 29 624
Berryman, Florence S. "New Books on Art." The Magazine of Art. 29 625 Review of Growing Pains, 1940.
Zigrosser, Carl. Foreword and notes for More Tales From Grimm, 29 626 circa 1947.
Becker, May Lamberton. Review of More Tales From Grimm. New 29 627 York Herald Tribune, 16 November 1947.
- Page 73 - Wanda Gág papers VII. Wanda Gág financial records. Account books, royalties, lists
E.L.B. Review of More Tales From Grimm. New York Times , 16 29 628 November 1947.
VII. Wanda Gág financial records. Account books, royalties, lists, 1920-1942, undated. Series Description
Bank book, notes, and notebooks in which Gág kept financial records.
Box Folder
Accounts regarding employment, 1920-1921. . 29 629
Account books, 1924-1942. 29 630 Description
Household expense accounts, Bowery Savings Bank account, Royalty statements and Christmas lists.
Address lists, mostly for publishers, undated. 29 631
VIII. Wanda Gág estate, 1945-1968. 2 boxes. Series Description
In her will, Wanda Gág named her husband, Earle M. Humphreys and her friend Carl Zigrosser as co-executors of her estate. Humphreys took responsibility for financial matters and inventory and organization of her personal papers. Zigrosser took responsibility for her prints, overseeing the donation of Gág prints to major museums and locating prints which were in the stock of art dealers around the country. The estate was not completely settled at the time of Humphreys' death in May 1950. He appointed his brother, Warren Humphreys and brother-in-law Robert Janssen to be his co-executors. By agreement with Gág's siblings, Janssen became their representative in regard to the estate.
- Page 74 - Wanda Gág papers A. Zigrosser correspondence
A. Zigrosser correspondence, 1946-1948.
Box Folder
Becker, Leod (1 item ), 1946. 30 633
Bibliothèque Nationale de France (2 items ), 1968. 30 635
British Museum. Department of Prints and Drawings, letters from 30 636 curators concerning donation of Wanda Gág prints to the museum, includes one letter from Edward Croft-Murray to Robert Janssen. (5 items ), 1967-1968.
Coward-McCann Publishers, letters to and from editors Thomas R. 30 638 Coward, Rose Dobbs, Maureen McManus, Dorothy Nessler, and Dorothy Starr; some of which are addressed to Earle M. Humphreys, co-executor of the estate of Wanda Gág, regarding Gág's books (32 items ), 1946-1950.
Delaware River Artists' Group, letter from Leod Becker (1 item ), 30 639 1947.
Dictionary of American Biography, letters to and from editor Edward 30 640 T. James regarding Zigrosser's biography of Wanda Gág (5 item ), 1967-1968.
Gislason, Solveig (1 item ), 1948. 30 641
The Horn book magazine, letters from editors Bertha E. Mahony 30 646 Miller, Josephine Macri, Beulah Folmsbee, and Ernestine Evans, with responses from Zigrosser, regarding Wanda Gág (13 items ), 1946-1950.
Humphreys, Earle Marshall, 1892-1950, correspondence prior to 30 647-653 Wanda Gág's death in 1946 and in reference to the estate of Wanda
- Page 75 - Wanda Gág papers A. Zigrosser correspondence
Gág of which Zigrosser and Humphreys were co-executors; includes lists of Gág's royalties and a copy of a letter to Dorothy Starr of Coward-McCann, Inc., Gág's publisher, and a list of improvements to Gág's Milford, New Jersey property (143 items ), 1932-1950.
Janssen, Robert, letters and lists in reference to the estates of Wanda 30 656-658 Gág and Earle M. Humphreys; lists of books in the library of Gág; lists of Gág prints for final distribution; and copies of letters to Alma Scott and to all members of the Gág family in reference to the estate from Janssen (99 items ), 1944-1968.
Kansas State Teachers Association, letters to and from Ruth Gagliardo 30 659 of the Association regarding a traveling exhibition of the works of Wanda Gág, and a list of items in the exhibition (7 items ), 1948-1950.
Kellogg, Spencer, 1876-1944, letters in reference to printing work for 30 660 Wanda Gág (2 items ), 1927.
Lankes, Julius J., 1884-1960 (1 item ), 1927. 30 661
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, letters regarding donation of Wanda 30 663 Gág prints to the Institute, including an acknowledgment from Richard S. Davis, with a copy of his thank-you letter to Robert Janssen (6 items ), 1956.
New York Public Library, letters from librarians Maria Cimino, 30 666 Frances Clarke Sayers, and Esther Johnston regarding Wanda Gág exhibitions and gifts to the Library (9 items ), 1946-1950.
Newton, Edith Whittlesey (3 items ), 1932-1946. 30 667
Scott, Alma, born 1892, letters from Scott (2 items ), 1939-1948. 30 670
- Page 76 - Wanda Gág papers B. Legal documents, lists of assets, executors' accounts, notes
University of Minnesota Press, letters from Zigrosser regarding 30 674 corrections to Wanda Gág biography with response from editor Helen Clapesattle (2 items ), 1949.
Worcester Art Museum, letters from Minnie Goldstein Levenson, 30 676 George L. Stout, Jean M. Bigelow, and Earle M. Humphreys regarding Wanda Gág artwork included in a exhibition (8 items ), 1948-1949.
Museums, Responses to Zigrosser's query re museum holdings of Gág 30 677 prints and paintings, 1950.
B. Legal documents, lists of assets, executors' accounts, notes, 1945-1958.
Box Folder
Wanda Gág will, draft, carbon copy, 1945-1958. 31 678 Contents
* Note of explanation to family * Agreement re estate between Robert Janssen, Warren Humphreys and heirs, 23 December 1950, carbon copy * Agreement re Wanda Gág diaries, 5 February 1958
Note of explanation to family. 31 678
Agreement re estate between Robert Janssen, Warren Humphreys and 31 678 heirs, carbon copy, 23 December 1950.
Agreement re Wanda Gág diaries, 5 February 1958. . 31 678
Lists of prints and catalogues, Written by Earle Marshall Humphreys, 31 679 Robert Janssen, and Carl Zigrosser, 1949-1951, undated.
- Page 77 - Wanda Gág papers IX. Newspaper clippings
Lists of prints and catalogues, Written by Earle Marshall Humphreys, 31 680 Robert Janssen, and Carl Zigrosser, undated.
Carl Zigrosser notes, accounts. 31 681
Earle Humphreys' accounts for expenditures, 1946-1949. 31 682
Earle M. Humphreys' notes and envelopes. 31 683
IX. Newspaper clippings. 2 folders. Series Description
These appear to be clippings Gág collected. Most refer to the process of writing autobiography.
Box Folder
Clippings, 1908-1949. 32 684
Clippings, undated. 32 685
X. Memorabilia, 1857-1948, undated. 5 folders. Series Description
A few family items from New Ulm, Wanda Gág's membership cards, Christmas gift tags and verses, miscellaneous.
Box Folder
Strong Vocational Interest Blank (Stanford University Press) completed 32 686 by Gág, 1948.
- Page 78 - Wanda Gág papers X. Memorabilia
Wanda Gág membership cards, bookplate Anton Gag business card, circa 32 687 1938-1946.
Map to "All Creation" , 1857, undated. 32 688 Contents
* Sketch of house plan and exterior * New York Times * Classified ad * Mura Dehn concert announcement * Items related to family history: "Schulzeugnis," date of settlement at New Ulm * Inventory for Biebl family paintings and items donated to New Ulm Library and Museum See also blueprints for New Jersey house by Herbert Treat in Oversize, Box 40
Christmas gift notes, rhymes and riddles, by Gág family members and 32 689 friends.
Earle Marshall Humphreys and Gág. 32 690 Contents
* 8 keys * Cover to Wanda Gág's photo album. Dismantled. Photos are in archival album, Vol. 33
- Page 79 - Wanda Gág papers XI. Happiwork
XI. Happiwork, circa 1921-1923. 4 boxes. Series Descripton
From 1921-1923 Gág was engaged in a commercial venture to design and produce these play and activity sets for children. Several of the sets have been used and the boxes (with a color design by Gág on the cover) are generally in poor condition.
Box
Happiwork Story Boxes "Four Little Happy Workers;" Happiday Valentine 36 Package; Crinoline Girl Place Cards, P.F. Volland, Co., Chicago. Description
Original packaging damaged.
Happivillage. 37 Description
2 sets, 1 has been used and is missing the village plan. Original packaging damaged.
Happiwork Packages. 38 Contents
* Krinkle Chains * Foldabout Papers * Threadabout Papers
Happiwork Home Play Assortment (Cut-Ups, Weavings and Foldabout Papers); 39 Happiwork Story Boxes "Little Black Sambo;" and Coloring / Clay Modeling Cards. 3 items.
- Page 80 - Wanda Gág papers XII. Photographs
XII. Photographs, 1892-1946. 3 volumes. Series Description
Comprises a disassembled photograph album that belonged to Gág which includes photographs of her parents and some childhood photos. The second volume contains photographs of Gág, her family and friends, most taken by Robert Janssen and by Carl Zigrosser, arranged chronologically. The third volume comprises photographs of Gág's prints, drawings, and watercolors.
Volume
Wanda Gág photograph album, in original order, 1892-1933. 33
Photographs of Wanda Gág, family and friends, 1926-1946. 34 Description
Most photographs were taken by Robert Janssen and by Carl Zigrosser. Some of Janssen's photographs are described in his letters to Alma Scott (Folder 371). The first two numbers (in pencil, on reverse) on Janssen's prints indicate the year in which the photograph was taken. The album contains 204 black-and-whie prints plus 128 negatives.
Photographs of Gág artwork, 1923-1945. 35 Note
See also 1 photograph in Oversize, Box 40.
XIII. Oversize artwork, photographs, clippings, blueprints, 1924-1937, undated. 1 box. Series Description
Original artwork, clippings, a photograph, and blueprints for Milford, N.J. house.
- Page 81 - Wanda Gág papers XIII. Oversize artwork, photographs, clippings, blueprints
Box
Pencil sketch on tracing paper, undated. 40
Male nude, pencil on paper, undated. 40
Reclining figures, pencil on paper, undated. 40
Ephesian Diana , watercolor, undated. 40
Lantern and Fireplace , wood engraving, 1931-1932. 40
Photograph of Chidlow Tree , 1924. 40
Waves, illustrating poem by Thomas Hickey, printed in The Fight, p. 44, 1936. 40
Nativity, drawing printed in New York Herald Tribune - Books , 1936. 40
After a Visit from Franco, lithograph printed in The Fight. p. 44, 1937. 40
Blueprints for house in Milford, N.J., by Herbert R. Treat, 1933. 40
- Page 82 -