Robert B. Honeyman, Jr. Collection of Early Californian and Western American Pictorial Material

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Summary

Creators:
Honeyman, Robert B.
Extent:
2371 items: oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, lithographs, engravings, etchings, lettersheets, clipper cards, ephemera, objects, etc. 2271 digital objects
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

The Robert B. Honeyman Jr. Collection of Early Californian and Western American Pictorial Material is comprised of over 2300 items, with formats and media ranging from original oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, lithographs, engravings, etchings, lettersheets, clipper cards, and ephemera, to plates and spoons featuring western themes, and a fore-edge painting. The collection focuses on pictorial interpretations of the old West, with emphasis on the early California and Gold Rush periods. Views depict the changing landscape of the West under the impact of westward migration, the development of towns and cities, early settlements, California missions, railroads, gold mining scenes, pioneer and frontier life, native populations, social history, and many other topics.

Many items in the collection are of unique historical value as they represent some of the earliest records of a particular scene, location, or event. Included are the earliest known views of the Presidio of Monterey, Mission Carmel, San Francisco, and Yosemite. Geographically, the collection focuses primarily on California, but also includes images from the Pacific Northwest, other Northern American states, South and Central America, Oceania, Europe, Russia, and other locations. The entire collection covers from ca.1790 through the early 1930s, with the bulk of works dating between 1850 and the 1870s.

The Honeyman Collection contains original watercolors and drawings from important early voyages and scientific expeditions to the Pacific Coast and California including: the Malaspina expedition (1791-1792); the Vancouver expedition (1791-1795); the Rezanov, Kruzenshtern, and Langsdorff expeditions (1803-1807); the Otto von Kotezebue expedition (1816); and others. These works include some of the earliest known depictions of native populations of North America and indigenous peoples from Oceania and the Pacific Coast.

Numerous well-known painters of the West are represented in the collection, as noted by Susana Bryant Dakin in a brochure produced by The Friends of The Bancroft Library in 1963 to aid in fundraising for the purchase of the collection:

"Well-known painters of the West... are represented by oils and watercolors and drawings in the collection. Charles Christian Nahl may be considered the most important resident artist of the early American period in California history. Besides a sketch-book, dated 1853 and 1854, Mr. Honeyman managed to acquire five Nahl oils, including the beautiful and exciting Incident on the Chagres River. A watercolor by Charles Russell, The War Party, is small but of prime quality. Alexander Edouart's Blessing of the Enrequita Mine, New Almaden, in the Year 1859 is a superb documentary of an important mining activity. There is a magnificent oil painting of Mokelumne Hill by A. D. O. Browere; and impressive scenes by the French artist E. E. Narjot de Francheville, an early arrival on the West Coast, attracted by news of gold."

In addition, the collection includes works by Albert Bierstadt, Augusto Ferran, Alfred Jacob Miller, Jules Tavernier, William B. McMurtrie, Charles Wimar, Joseph Lee, Thomas Hill, William Keith, Edward Jump, and other prominent artists. Lithographs, engravings, etchings, and other prints were produced by such well known firms and individuals as Britton & Rey, Currier & Ives, Louis Nagel, Charles B. Gifford, Sarony & Major, and others. Lesser known artists are also represented in this collection, as well as artists of various nationalities, including French, British, Italian, Spanish, and Russian, many of whom were lured to the Pacific Coast by the California gold fields.

Biographical / historical:

Robert Brodhead Honeyman graduated in 1920 from Lehigh University, Pennsylvania, with an engineering degree. Mr. Honeyman was an avid collector throughout his lifetime. He collected in a variety of areas including art, science, American and English literature, stamps, British orders, decorations, medals, and others. His collection of books and manuscripts in the history of science was quite significant, and was later auctioned at Sotheby's. Mr. Honeyman maintained two homes, one in Rye, New York, and the other in Southern California, near Mission San Juan Capistrano, where he built his private museum at Rancho Los Cerritos. He died in 1987 at 90 years of age.

Arrangement:
History of Arrangment

The Honeyman Collection arrived at The Bancroft Library in various stages and was primarily unarranged. A systematic inventory of the collection was never done by Mr. Honeyman, however, the collection was accompanied at the time of acquisition by a sales catalog created by Warren Howell of John Howell Books of San Francisco. The present physical arrangement of the collection was carried out at The Bancroft Library by Joseph Armstrong Baird Jr. from 1964-1965. Call numbers were assigned sequentially and, whenever possible items were arranged in logical groupings, such as pictorial lettersheets, sketchbooks, etc. Items were described in detail by Baird in the Honeyman Collection Inventory Sheets (hereafter referred to as Inventory Sheets) following standard American museum accession methods. Out of his work grew a publication Catalogue of Original Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors in the Robert B. Honeyman, Jr. Collection published by the Friends of the Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, 1968, which has been a valuable resource in the creation of this finding aid.

Arrangement of Container List

For purposes of this finding aid, the container list was organized into three hierarchical groups. The arrangement of these groups does not reflect the physical arrangement of the collection, but was created in order to facilitate online display and browsing. The groupings do not represent all items in that area; other items may be searched via controlled terms or by keyword. The three groups are as follows:

I. Individual items by geographical location:
Items, the primary subject matter of which was a geographical location, were organized based on locations predominantly represented in the collection.

  • Northern California: Sacramento
    Pacific Northwest
    West (U.S.): Nevada

II. Individual items by subject or format:
Items, the primary subject matter of which does not represent a specific geographic location, were organized under general subject or format groupings.

  • California Gold Rush
    Indians of North America
    Cartoons/Caricatures
    Ephemera: Certificates

III. Series groupings:
Items which comprise a series or prearranged group (i.e. sketchbooks, survey drawings, albums, published series, collections by format, etc.) were organized under a general series headings.

  • William B. McMurtrie drawings and watercolors
    Clipper ship advertisement cards
    Kruzenshtern/Rezanov/Langsdorff expeditions

Access and use

Location of this collection:
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
Contact:
510-642-6481
bancref-library@berkeley.edu
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