Descriptive Summary
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
Administrative Information
Related Materials
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Charles Lanman papers
Date (inclusive): 1840-1987
Number: 930071
Creator/Collector:
Lanman, Charles,
1819-1895
Physical Description:
1 Linear Feet
(3 boxes)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
Business Number: (310) 440-7390
Fax Number: (310) 440-7780
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: Artist and author Charles Lanman's
output was informed by and representative his nature travels east of the Rocky Mountains,
and wrote about the major personalities of his field and time. The collection includes
twenty- three unpublished manuscripts about these subjects, as well as a family history;
official documents relating to the administration of Lanman's estate and art collections;
personal and professional correspondence; photographs; newspaper clippings; and ephemera
relating to an exhibition about Lanman. It also contains reproductions of Lanman's artwork,
transcripts, notes, biographical and literary lists, and correspondence generated by E.
Maurice Bloch, a scholar and collector specializing in American art who undertook research
on Charles Lanman in the second half of the twentieth century.
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Language: Collection material is in
English.
Biographical / Historical
Charles Lanman was born in 1819 and spent his childhood exploring the wilds of Michigan.
From 1835 to 1845, Lanman studied and worked in New York, where he was associated with the
Hudson River School. In 1848, Lanman moved to Washington, DC, where he married Adeline Dogge
in 1849. During his time there, he served as librarian of the War Department, the Department
of the Interior, the House of Representatives, and the Washington City Library; and as
private secretary to Daniel Webster. He was a prolific landscape and character painter, and
also wrote extensively about many major New York artists and political figures of the early
to mid-nineteenth century with whom he was associated, including George Caitlin, John James
Audubon, and Daniel Huntington. One of the first non-native travelers to use a birch bark
canoe, Lanman recorded his adventures on the rivers east of the Rocky Mountains in more than
1000 oil studies, 700 pencil sketches, 33 books and numerous newspaper articles. He died in
Washington, DC in 1895.
Biographical / Historical
E. Maurice Bloch, American art historian, professor, curator and collector, was born in New
York City on October 26, 1916. Bloch enrolled at New York University, first as an
undergraduate in the School of Architecture and Allied Arts, then as a graduate student in
the Institute of Fine Arts, for which he wrote a dissertation on George Caleb Bingham (not
completed until 1967). He taught at the University of Missouri (1944-1945), New York
University (1945-1946), and the University of Minnesota (1946-1947). He was curator of
prints at Cooper Union Museum (1952- ca. 1957). His tenure at the University of California,
Los Angeles, began in 1956 and lasted until his retirement in 1982, and he was the founding
director of UCLA's Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts. Additionally, he was actively
involved with the Western Division of the Archives of American Art, and helped negotiate a
cooperative arrangement between the AAA, the Virginia Steele Scott Gallery, and the
Huntington Library. His scholarly interests were in American art. Bloch died December 1989
in Los Angeles.
Administrative Information
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Charles Lanman Papers, 1840-1987, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no.
930071.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa930071
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired in 1993.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Lori Dedeyan, under the supervision of Andra Darlington,
in 2014. It was initially rehoused by the Registrar's Office.
The finding aid was reviewed by members of the Anti-Racist Description Working Group in
2021 and no revisions were made.
Related Materials
E. Maurice Bloch Papers, 1925-1989 (Collection 910003).
Charles Lanman Papers, 1840-1892 (Collection 827). UCLA Library Special Collections,
Charles E. Young Research Library.
Scope and Content of Collection
These materials are the product of the activities of two people: Charles Lanman, the
nineteenth century artist, writer and collector, and Maurice Bloch, a scholar undertaking
research about Lanman in the second part of the twentieth century. Materials generated by
and concerning Charles Lanman primarily include manuscripts and correspondence, notes, bills
of sale, and official documents regarding his estate. Also included are a photographic print
of Lanman and his wife, Adeline, and an 1845 edition of Lanman's book,
Letters from a Landscape Painter. Materials by Bloch include
transcripts of letters and writings by Lanman; correspondence with various individuals,
universities, libraries, and historical societies; notes and lists; and reproductions of
artwork.
Arrangement
This collection has been arranged in the following series:
Series I: Charles Lanman materials,
1840-1985;
Series II. Maurice Bloch materials, 1967-1987.
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Names
Lanman, Charles, 1819-1895
Subjects - Topics
Artists -- United States
Contributors
Bloch, E.
Maurice
Lanman, Charles,
1819-1895