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Brandywine Workshop records
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Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19107
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Since its founding in 1972, the Brandywine Workshop has become an internationally recognized center for printmaking and a vital part of the Philadelphia arts community. Its mission is dedicated to the “creation, documentation and preservation of a legacy of culturally diverse American art” while “ensuring the participation of multi-ethnic artists in the field of fine arts printmaking and related media technologies.” Committed to the creation of prints and broadening the appreciation of printmaking as a fine art form, the workshop actively engages diverse artists and communities.
In addition to working with local artists and offering a wide array of educational programs, the workshop has sponsored nearly 300 residencies for artists from 35 states and 15 foreign countries. Since its successful capital campaign during the 1990s, the Brandywine Workshop has expanded its programming space through the creation of new facilities, notably the “Avenue of the Arts” cultural district in Center City, Philadelphia. The Brandywine Workshop’s commitment to implementing and maintaining creative partnerships is evident in its organizational linkages and cultural exchange programs with international artists and communities, such as Wales, United Kingdom and Santiago, Chile. Additionally, the workshop has toured exhibitions in over thirty cities in Europe, the Middle and Near East, Africa, and Latin America. In 2012, the Brandywine Workshop celebrated its 40th anniversary.
The Brandywine Workshop records house the institutional records of the Brandywine Workshop of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This collection dates from the 1970s to 2014, with bulk dates 1982 to 2014, and consists of a range of printed and graphic materials that document this internationally recognized printmaking center’s organizational initiatives and range of activities. Specifically this collection includes audio-visual materials; photographic prints; negatives; contact sheets; slides; audit and financial reports; meeting minutes; proposals; grant materials; annual reports; capital campaign materials; published books and exhibition catalogs; brochures, pamphlets, and other promotional materials; newsletters; correspondence with artists; community outreach files; and publicity files.
This collection addresses a variety of arts-related topics through the lens of a Philadelphia arts organization. It focuses on areas of art history; printmaking as a historical and fine arts medium; the role of educational centers, community organizations, and outreach programs; urban renewal initiatives; arts exhibitions and publications; development and fundraising initiatives; and international cultural exchanges. Researchers interested in the administrative aspects of the Brandywine Workshop, its development since the 1970s, and its specific programming and exhibitions will find this collection to be a valuable resource.
This collection is arranged into three series: I. Administrative and financial records, 1970s-2013, II. Events and fundraising, 1972-2013, and III. Artists and exhibitions, 1972-2014.
Series I. Administrative and financial records dates from the 1970s to 2013, with bulk dates from 1982 to 2013. It contains records pertaining to the organization and operations of the Brandywine Workshop. These materials may be a valuable resource for researchers interested in the administrative aspects of a non-profit urban arts organization. This series is arranged alphabetically.
This series contains three- and five-year organizational plans – informative self-assessments that provide an overview of the Brandywine Workshop’s existing structure and its future objectives. Minutes are featured from various departments and committees, such as the Board of Directors and Artist Advisory Panel. Also included are a few scattered annual reports from the 1970s to 2000s. Specific projects are mentioned throughout this series, such as the “Art in Place” development project from 2012, the Pennsylvania Cultural Data Project, and ongoing initiatives for the Avenue of the Arts programs and the Firehouse Arts Center.
Series I contains information regarding the Board of Directors, including meeting minutes and member lists. This series also contains useful information for researchers interested in the history of the Brandywine Workshop through histories, chronologies, bylaws, and procedures of the organization. The Brandywine Workshop successfully completed a capital campaign during the mid-1990s, largely for the creation of its Avenue of the Arts facilities in Center City, Philadelphia. The Brandywine Workshop hired Robert R. Hesse Associates, Limited to assist during the capital campaign; many of the materials in these folders feature financial records of consultancy fees and information regarding Hesse Associates’ workshops and seminars for development and major gifts projects.
Series I includes printed and graphic materials regarding the Brandywine Workshop’s community outreach projects. Photographs depict artists and students participating in programs, while project proposals and community support letters note citations, awards, and initiatives. Projects and programs featured in this series include the Artists/Printmakers Video Training Series; the Bearden Project; City Kids’ We the Youth Project; the Philly Panache Project; the Summer Mural Project; the Visual Artist in Public Service Program (VAPS); the Youth Work Experience Training Program; and various projects with the Philadelphia School District, guest artists, and student exhibitions.
Series I also contains financial records, mostly related to budgets, financial statements and audit reports. These records also include grant materials, mostly applications for various visual arts grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and for the Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Series II. Events and Fundraising dates from 1972 to 2013 and contains materials relating to Brandywine Workshop’s fundraising and donation activities as well as various events, excluding exhibitions. Prominent among these records are materials from the annual Van Der Zee Awards (later the Achievement Awards) in which the organization recognized the achievements of various local artists. Also prominent in this series are letters of acknowledgement from various universities, museums, and other institutions thanking the Brandywine Workshop for donating either funds or artwork. The fundraising proposals that are present in this series are mainly connected to the annual awards. Therefore, this series does not accurately represent how the Brandywine Workshop received funding for its other operations. This series is relatively small and is arranged chronologically.
Series III. Artists and exhibitions dates from 1972 to 2014, with bulk dates from 1987 to 2014, and includes administrative and promotional material regarding artist collaborations as well as exhibition planning and installation. This series may be valuable for researchers interested in contemporary American art, especially from diverse ethnic backgrounds, as exemplified by various exhibition catalogs and planning materials. This series is arranged alphabetically by project title or artist name, followed by an alphabetical run of miscellaneous materials in various formats.
Particularly well-documented exhibitions in this series include “African-American Abstraction in Printmaking” (1990), “Full Spectrum: Prints from the Brandywine Workshop” (2012), and “Three Decades of American Printmaking: The Brandywine Workshop Collection” (2005-2008). Brandywine Workshop exhibitions have been featured at various museums, galleries, and cultural centers, both local and international, including the Glass Lobby Gallery, Nyangomas Gallery, Terminal F of the Philadelphia International Airport, University of Pennsylvania, William Penn Memorial Museum, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, and Snyderman-Works Gallery. Cultural exchange programs have included the Wales/Philadelphia Visual Arts Exchange Program with the South Wales Arts Association, the Pittsburgh/Philadelphia Visual Arts Exchange Program, and the Santiago/Philadelphia Visual Arts Exchange Program.
Documentation of residencies and outreach projects in Series III includes correspondence among museum professionals, artists, and logistics crews, as well as proposals that outline the Brandywine Workshop’s exhibition objectives and contracts and loan agreements for artworks and exhibition venues. Most folders contain exhibition checklists, which range from basic inventories of works on display to installation planning materials as well as invoices (generally for framing, preservation work, and installations) and price lists, especially for exhibitions mounted in gallery spaces.
Promotional materials include newspaper and magazine clippings, brochures, postcards, pamphlets, and printed inter-office email announcements, as well as general newsletters, press releases, and schedules for opening nights and events. Many promotional materials refer to organizational activities that are documented elsewhere in the collection, such as exhibitions found in Series III, as well as programs and projects that are documented through administrative records in Series I, including the opening of the Broad Street location.
Finally, Series IIII artist files contain visiting artist applications, resumes, and graphics of the artists’ work. In some cases, the Brandywine Workshop’s exhibitions feature the work of a single artist, such as James Van Der Zee’s exhibition at the Hann Gallery. Other artists of note include Romare Bearden, Edward Hughes, Calvin Jones, Jacob Landau, Patwood Williams, Joseph Barley, Jerry Schutte, and Danny Torres.
While this collection does not comprehensively represent the Brandywine Workshop, the records provide a valuable general overview of the operations and activities of a successful Philadelphia community arts organization. The collection does not contain complete documentation regarding the governance of the organization or funding for daily operations. However, researchers interested in Philadelphia area artists will find the photographs of artworks, exhibition details, and funding information from the late 20th and early 21st centuries particularly useful. Additionally, grassroots and collaborative activities with the surrounding community are highlights of the collection, including the revitalization of the Avenue of the Arts and local education through artistic inspiration.
Deposited by the Brandywine Workshop, 2014.
This collection was processed in 2014 as part of an experimental project conducted under the auspices of the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries to help eliminate processing backlogs in sixteen Philadelphia repositories. The project used a less intensive processing methodology than traditionally thought necessary to make a collection ready for use by researchers. When citing sources from this collection, researchers are advised to defer to folder titles provided in the finding aid rather than those provided on the physical folder.
Employing processing strategies outlined in Mark Greene's and Dennis Meissner's 2005 article "More Product, Less Process: Revamping Traditional Processing Approaches to Deal With Late 20th-Century Collections," the project team processed at an average rate of 4 hours per linear foot of records, a fraction of the time traditionally reserved for the arrangement and description of collections. Among other time saving strategies, the project team did not extensively review the content of the collections or complete any preservation work.
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Megan Evans, Chase Markee, and Evan Peugh
- Sponsor
- The creation of the electronic guide for this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources’ “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project.
- Access Restrictions
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This collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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The reproduction of materials in this collection may be subject to copyright restrictions. Please contact HSP's Rights and Reproductions department for questions concerning the use of potentially copyrighted items.