TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary of the Collection
Administrative Information
Biography of John Alden Carpenter
Scope and Content of the Collection
Organization
Selected Search Terms
Container List
Series 1: Correspondence, 1904-1963
Series 2: Works, 1915-1945
Series 3: Miscellaneous, 1917-1961
Series 4: Photographs, 1890-1964
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The Newberry Library Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special
Collections 60 West Walton Street Chicago, Illinois 60610-7324 USA Phone: 312-255-3506 Fax: 312-255-3646 E-Mail: specialcolls@newberry.org URL: http://www.newberry.org
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by
Martha Briggs,
2004.
©2004.
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| Creator |
Carpenter, John Alden,
1876-1951
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| Title |
John Alden Carpenter
Papers
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| Dates |
1890-1964, |
| Dates |
bulk 1900-1950 |
| Extent |
3 linear
feet (3 boxes, 1 oversize
box)
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| Abstract |
Correspondence, mostly
incoming, to American composer John Alden Carpenter, wife Rue W. Carpenter and
daughter Genevieve; also material relating to Carpenter’s works; a miscellany
of personal records; and a collection of photographs, many of them of
well-known musicians.
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| Language |
Materials are in
English.
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| Repository |
Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department
of Special Collections
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| Collection Call Number |
Midwest MS Carpenter |
| Collection Stack Location |
3a 37 1 |
John Alden Carpenter Papers, The Newberry Library, Chicago.
Gift of Mrs. Patrick Hill (daughter Genevieve Carpenter), 1977; gift
of Mrs. Ivor LeClerc (Joan Pirie LeClerc, granddaughter of Carpenter’s second
wife Ellen), 1979, 1987.
Virginia H. Smith, 2004.
Access
The John Alden Carpenter Papers are open for research in the Special
Collections Reading Room; 5 folders at a time maximum, and items in each folder
will be counted before and after delivery to the patron (Priority I).
Ownership and Literary Rights
The John Alden Carpenter Papers are the physical property of the
Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or
assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this
collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special
Collections.
Return to the Table of Contents
American composer.
John Alden Carpenter was born in Park Ridge, Illinois in 1876. His
first piano teacher was his mother and he later studied in Chicago with Amy
Fay, who was a student of Liszt’s, and W.C.E. Seeboeck, who had been a pupil of
Brahms and Rubinstein. After graduating from Harvard, Carpenter returned to
Chicago to work for George B. Carpenter and Company, a family shipping-supplies
company of which he eventually became vice-president. He then began dividing
his time between business and musical composition.
Carpenter studied briefly with Edward Elgar, and from 1909-1912 with
Bernard Ziehn in Chicago. In 1913, he established his reputation with his
song-cycle Gitanjali, based on poems of Rabindranath Tagore. In 1915 he
produced his first major orchestral work, Adventures in a Perambulator –
inspired in part by his only child, Genevieve (Ginny) and Concertino for piano
and orchestra. Carpenter composed ballet scores: The Birthday of the Infanta in
1919, Krazy Kat, based on the cartoons of George Herriman, in 1922, and
Skyscrapers in 1926.
Carpenter is perhaps most famous for his great output of piano pieces
and songs, among which are Looking-Glass River, with lyrics based on the poems
of Robert Louis Stevenson, Two Night Songs, with lyrics by Siegfried Sassoon,
and Four Negro Songs, based on poems of Langston Hughes. His work in general
has an impressionistic lightness, but ranges widely in expression from light
and humorous to the poetic and moody, from jazz-inspired to patriotic, and from
the popular to the non-Western. After 1937 Carpenter devoted himself mainly to
revising and rearranging earlier scores. One of his last compositions was The
Seven Ages (1945), based on the Shakespearean soliloquy.
Carpenter married Rue Winterbotham, a designer and interior decorator,
in 1900 and following her death in 1931, he married Ellen Borden. Besides his
composing, he was active in the Chicago musical scene, guiding the musical
activities of the Chicago Arts Club, and directing the Chicago Allied Arts,
which staged dances by Ruth Page and Adolph Bohm. Although Carpenter had great
success in his lifetime – his concert music was presented by leading conductors
and his songs performed by acclaimed singers – by the twenty-first century the
majority of his scores have fallen into obscurity. However, he remains an
important figure for creating works which are recognized as distinctly
American.
Carpenter died in Chicago in 1951, after spending much time in his
Sarasota, Florida, home.
Return to the Table of Contents
Most of the correspondence relates to Carpenter’s musical activities,
and includes letters written not only to him but also to his wife, Rue, and his
daughter Genevieve (Ginny). There is one folder of drafts or carbons of
Carpenter’s outgoing correspondence and one folder of correspondence with his
music publisher, G. Schirmer, Inc.. Among the well-known correspondents of
Carpenter, his wife and daughter are John Barrymore, Sarah Bernhardt, Marcel
Duchamp, Percy Grainger, George Herriman, Langston Hughes, Serge Koussevitsky,
Fernand Leger, Vachel Lindsay, John McCormack, Pierre Monteux, Gerald Murphy,
Sir William Nicholson, Eugene Ormandy, Serge Prokofieff, Artur Rodzinski,
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, John Philip Sousa, Adlai Stevenson, Igor Stravinsky,
George Szell, Alice B. Toklas, Louis Untermeyer, Bruno Walter and Thornton
Wilder.
Also, material regarding Carpenter’s ballet music, including a
printed copy of the score of Krazy Kat and sketches of the costumes and staging
of Skyscrapers by Robert Edmond Jones; a small collection of autographs
including four with cartoons by Clare Briggs, Charlie Chaplin, George Herriman
and Charles Schulz; clippings and miscellaneous programs, financial records
both personal and professional, a radio interview, and information on his
memorial in 1960. There is one folder of material relating to Rue Winterbotham
Carpenter, including a lock of her hair. Also, one box of photographs of family
and many celebrities, the most interesting of which are shots of Picasso and
Stravinsky and one group photo featuring Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks.
In an oversize box are photos of Arthur Rubinstein and of a vast banquet given
for Frederick A. Stock, plus a few designs for Skyscrapers.
Narrative descriptions of the subject matter, types of material, and
arrangement of each series are available through the Organization section of
the finding aid.
Return to the Table of Contents
Papers are organized in the following series:
Return to the Table of Contents
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the Newberry Library's public catalog. Researchers desiring
additional materials on a particular topic should search the catalog using
these headings.
Names
- Barrymore, John,
1882-1942
- Bernhardt, Sarah,
1844-1923
- Briggs, Clare A.,
1875-1930
- Carpenter, John Alden,
1876-1951
- Carpenter, Rue
Winterbotham, d. 1931
- Chaplin, Charlie,
1889-1977
- Duchamp, Marcel,
1887-1968
- Fairbanks, Douglas,
1883-1939
- G. Shirmer,
Inc.
- Grainger, Percy,
1882-1961
- Herriman, George,
1880-1944
- Hill, Genevieve
Carpenter
- Hughes, Langston,
1902-1967
- Jones, Robert Edmond,
1887-1954
- Koussevitsky,
Serge
- Leger, Fernand,
1881-1955
- Lindsay, Vachel,
1879-1931
- McCormack, John,
1884-1945
- Monteux, Pierre,
1875-1964
- Murphy, Gerald,
1888-1964
- Nicholson, William, Sir,
1872-1949
- Ormandy, Eugene,
1899-1985
- Picasso, Pablo,
1881-1973
- Prokofieff,
Serge
- Rodzinski, Artur,
1892-1958
- Rubinstein, Artur,
1887-
- Saint-Gaudens, Augustus,
1848-1907
- Schulz, Charles
M.
- Sousa, John Philip,
1854-1932
- Stevenson, Adlai E.
(Adlai Ewing), 1900-1965
- Stravinsky, Igor,
1882-1971
- Szell, George,
1897-1970
- Toklas, Alice
B.
- Untermeyer, Louis,
1885-1977
- Walter, Bruno,
1876-1962
- Wilder, Thornton,
1897-1975
Subjects
- Actors --
Correspondence
- Actors --
Correspondence
- Actors --
Portraits
- Artists --
Correspondence
- Artists --
Portraits
- Cartoons --
1917-1920
- Composers --
Correspondence
- Conductors (Music) --
Correspondence
- Correspondence --
1901-1950
- Correspondence --
1951-2000
- Costume design
drawings
- Manuscripts,
American
- Musicians --
Correspondence
- Musicians --
Portraits
- Photographs --
1851-1900
- Photographs --
1901-1950
- Set design
drawings
Return to the Table of Contents
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| Letters to John Alden Carpenter, Rue Winterbotham Carpenter and
Genevieve (Ginny) Carpenter Hill from a range of persons involved in music,
theater and the arts; one folder of copies of letters written by Carpenter
himself regarding his compositions and one folder of correspondence with his
music publisher, G. Schirmer, Inc. Among the correspondents are John Barrymore,
Sarah Bernhardt, Marcel Duchamp, Percy Grainger, George Herriman, Langston
Hughes, Serge Koussevitsky, Fernand Leger, Vachel Lindsay, John McCormack,
Gerald Murphy, Sir William Nicholson, Eugene Ormandy, Artur Rodzinski, Augustus
Saint-Gaudens, John Philip Sousa, Adlai Stevenson, Igor Stravinsky, George
Szell, Alice B. Toklas, Louis Untermeyer, Walter Bruno and Thornton Wilder.
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| Letters to all three Carpenters arranged alphabetically by
correspondent.
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| Box |
Folder |
Contents |
| 1 |
1 |
Alexander, Irene, Oct. 17, 1949 |
| 1 |
2 |
Ames, Winthrop, June 14, 1918 |
| 1 |
3 |
Arliss, George (2 letters), 1926-1929 |
| 1 |
4 |
Austin, Warren, June 7, 1946 |
| 1 |
5 |
Baerwald, Hellmut, Oct. 30, 1946 |
| 1 |
6 |
Barrymore, John, n.d. |
| 1 |
7 |
Barzin, Leon, Apr. 11, 1947 |
| 1 |
8 |
Belloc, Hilaire, July 7, 1925 |
| 1 |
9 |
Bennett, Robert Russell, Feb. 11, 1950 |
| 1 |
10 |
Bernhardt, Sarah, 1918 |
| 1 |
11 |
Boulanger, Nadia, Mar. 15, 1939 |
| 1 |
12 |
Brancusi, Constantin (card), n.d. |
| 1 |
13 |
Busch, Fritz (4 letters), 1948-1949 |
| 1 |
14 |
Cabijos, Marcel, Dec., 1948 |
| 1 |
15 |
Calve, Emma, Mar., Aug., 1923 |
| 1 |
16 |
Capeau, J., Aug. 16, 1920 |
| 1 |
17 |
Carpenter, Hubbard (2 letters), 1946-1948 |
| 1 |
18 |
Carpenter, John Alden, 1928-1950 |
| 1 |
19 |
Cassidy, Claudia, Dec. 9, 1948 |
| 1 |
20 |
Castle, Irene (fragment), n.d. |
| 1 |
21 |
de Mouvel, Barnard, n.d. |
| 1 |
22 |
Donahue, Lester, Oct. 18, 1949 |
| 1 |
23 |
Doolittle, J.H., Feb. 7, 1950 |
| 1 |
24 |
Drew, John, Nov. 11, 1922 |
| 1 |
25 |
Duchamp, Marcel (2 letters), n.d., 1929 |
| 1 |
26 |
Egerinsky, Leopold, Mar. 21, 1948 |
| 1 |
27 |
Ewen, David, May 4, 1946 |
| 1 |
28 |
Ferguson, Elsie, n.d. |
| 1 |
29 |
Flagstad, Kirsten, Nov. 20, 1949 |
| 1 |
30 |
Gale, Zona, Feb. 11, 1936 |
| 1 |
31 |
Gilbert, Richard, Aug. 17, 1948 |
| 1 |
32 |
Gluck, Alma, n.d. |
| 1 |
33 |
Grainger, Percy (2 letters), 1916-1940 |
| 1 |
34 |
Gross, Bethuel, Aug. 29, 1950 |
| 1 |
35 |
Hannikainen, Tauno, Mar. 27, 1950 |
| 1 |
36 |
Hart, Elizabeth, May 3, 1949 |
| 1 |
37 |
Heidenson, Mona (4 letters), n.d., 1949-1950 |
| 1 |
38 |
Herriman, George, n.d. |
| 1 |
39 |
Hill, Ginny Carpenter (2 letters), 1950 |
| 1 |
40 |
Homer, Sidney, Oct. 31, 1914 |
| 1 |
41 |
Hughes, Langston (with typewritten poems), Nov. 1, 1926 |
| 1 |
42 |
Janssen, Werner (4 letters), 1948-1949 |
| 1 |
43 |
Johnson, Burgess, Nov. 9, 1904 |
| 1 |
44 |
Johnson, Nelson T., Jan. 13, 1936 |
| 1 |
45 |
Jones, Robert E. (6 letters), n.d., 1931-1947 |
| 1 |
46 |
Judd, George E., July 1, 1949 |
| 1 |
47 |
Kerr, Harrison, Feb. 9, 1948 |
| 1 |
48 |
Kimball, W.W., Dec. 27, 1948 |
| 1 |
49 |
[Knoblock, Edward], Apr., 1916 |
| 1 |
50 |
Koussevitsky, Serge (4 letters), 1939-1948 |
| 1 |
51 |
Laurencin, Marie, n.d. |
| 1 |
52 |
Lavery, John, Sept. 16, 1915 |
| 1 |
53 |
Leginska, Ethel, Mar. 15, 1949 |
| 1 |
54 |
Leger, Fernand (2 letters), n.d., 1931 |
| 1 |
55 |
Lindsay, Vachel, Feb. 26, 1917 |
| 1 |
56 |
Lippmann, Walter (2 letters), 1946-1961 |
| 1 |
57 |
McArthur, Edwin, Oct. 6, 1949 |
| 1 |
58 |
McCormack, John, n.d. |
| 1 |
59 |
McEvoy, Ambrose, n.d. |
| 1 |
60 |
MacLeish, Archibald, Aug. 25, 1950 |
| 1 |
61 |
Marcoux, Vanni (2 letters), 1917-1918 |
| 1 |
62 |
Massee, Jordan, Jr., Nov. 27, 1944 |
| 1 |
63 |
Mei Lan-Fang, Apr. 12, 1930 |
| 1 |
64 |
Merritt, A. Tillman (2 letters), 1944-1945 |
| 1 |
65 |
Miller, Christine, n.d. |
| 1 |
66 |
Mohr, Richard, Apr. 29, 1949 |
| 1 |
67 |
Monteux, Pierre to Serge Diaghilev; to J.A.Carpenter,
n.d., July 11,
1947,
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| 1 |
68 |
Murphy, Gerald, 1924 |
| 1 |
69 |
Nicholson, Sir William (2 letters), 1937-1942 |
| 1 |
70 |
Norton, Spencer H., May 6, 1948 |
| 1 |
71 |
O'Connell, Charles (2 letters), 1938-1941 |
| 1 |
72 |
Oden, Bonnie, Oct. 19, 1949 |
| 1 |
73 |
Ormandy, Eugene (5 letters), n.d., 1946-1959 |
| 1 |
74 |
Orpen, William, n.d. |
| 1 |
75 |
Paderewska, Helena, Apr. 27, 191? |
| 1 |
76 |
Philpot, Glyn W., n.d. |
| 1 |
77 |
Pleasant, Richard (2 letters), 1940-1947 |
| 1 |
78 |
Prokofieff, Serge, Apr. 15, 1921 |
| 1 |
79 |
Rodzinski, Artur (6 letters), 1942-1949 |
| 1 |
80 |
Roth, George (7 letters), 1948-1950 |
| 1 |
81 |
Ryerson, Edward, Jan. 12, 1950 |
| 1 |
82 |
Sackville, Victoria, n.d. |
| 1 |
83 |
Sargent, John Singer, Mar. 12, 1918 |
| 1 |
84 |
Scaife, Roger L., n.d. |
| 1 |
85 |
Schelling, Ernest, n.d. |
| 1 |
86 |
Schindler, Kurt, (fragment), n.d. |
| 1 |
87 |
Schirmer, Rudolph E., Mar. 10, 1914 |
| 1 |
88 |
Scott, Carlyle, Mar. 26, 1913 |
| 1 |
89 |
Segovia, Andres, Feb. 2, 1931 |
| 1 |
90 |
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, n.d. |
| 1 |
91 |
G. Schirmer, Inc., ca. 1940-1950 |
| 1 |
92 |
Sevitsky, Fabien (2 letters), 1943 |
| 1 |
93 |
Smith, Carleton, Aug. 2, 1950 |
| 1 |
94 |
Sousa, John Philip, May 20, 1917 |
| 1 |
95 |
Spalding, Albert, Nov. 10, n.d. |
| 1 |
96 |
Stevenson, Adlai (2 letters), 1952-1963 |
| 1 |
97 |
Stock, Frederick A., n.d. |
| 1 |
98 |
Stravinsky, Igor (3 letters), 1928-1935 |
| 1 |
99 |
Szell, George, June 15, 1943 |
| 1 |
100 |
Swainson, Dorothy, n.d. |
| 1 |
101 |
Swift, Harold H., May 31, 1949 |
| 2 |
102 |
Teyte, Maggie (3 letters), n.d., 1919 |
| 2 |
103 |
Toklas, Alice B., Apr. 17, 1935 |
| 2 |
104 |
Untermeyer, Louis (2 letters), 1912 |
| 2 |
105 |
Wallace, Robert K., May 28, 1948 |
| 2 |
106 |
Walpole, Hugh, May 7, 1920 |
| 2 |
107 |
Walter, Bruno (2 letters), 1940-1947 |
| 2 |
108 |
Wilder, Thornton, June 2, 1938 |
| 2 |
109 |
Young, Stark, n.d. |
| 2 |
110 |
Young, Victor, 1950 |
| 2 |
111 |
Unidentified, n.d., 1918-1950 |
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| Manuscript material relating to Carpenter's ballet scores,
including a drawings of sets and costumes for Skyscrapers, 1926, by Robert
Edmond Jones. Also, a published score for Krazy Kat, and a folder containing a
piece of music he sent to his daughter, a typescript of an article subtitled
"J.A.C. amateur columnist, 1932"; and a Christmas book list.
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| Ballet material arranged alphabetically by title; the remaining
folder titled Miscellaneous.
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| Box |
Folder |
Contents |
| 2 |
112 |
Adventures in a Perambulator, 1915 |
| 2 |
113 |
Birthday of the Infanta, 1919 |
| 2 |
114 |
Krazy Kat (printed score), 1922 |
| 2 |
115 |
Krazy Kat, 1926, 1929 |
| 2 |
116 |
The Seven Ages, ca. 1945 |
| 2 |
117 |
Skyscrapers, 1926 |
| 2 |
118 |
Skyscrapers: sketches for sets and costumes by Robert
Edmond Jones (large drawings removed to Oversize)
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| 2 |
119 |
Miscellaneous music, article and book list |
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| Autographs (some with small cartoons by Clare Briggs, Charlie
Chaplin, George Herriman and Charles Schulz); clippings, financial records,
memorabilia, programs and a radio interview. Also, material relating to a
Carpenter memorial in 1960, and a folder relating to Rue Winterbotham
Carpenter, including a lock of her hair.
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| Arranged alphabetically by type of material. |
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| Box |
Folder |
Contents |
| 2 |
120 |
Autographs, A-Z |
| 2 |
121 |
Autograph with cartoon: Clare Briggs, 1917 |
| 2 |
122 |
Autograph with cartoon: Charlie Chaplin, 1920 |
| 2 |
123 |
Autograph with cartoon: George Herriman, 1917 |
| 2 |
124 |
Autograph with cartoon: Charles Schulz, n.d. |
| 2 |
125 |
Clippings, ca. 1921-1951 |
| 2 |
126 |
Financial records: home maintenance and repair,
1945-1949
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| 2 |
127 |
Financial records: personal, ca. 1947-1950 |
| 2 |
128 |
Financial records: royalties statements, 1947-1950 |
| 2 |
129 |
Memorabilia and personal items, 1921-1949 |
| 2 |
130 |
Memorial material, 1960 |
| 2 |
131 |
Programs (see also Oversize), 1928-1942 |
| 2 |
132 |
Programs, 1946-1961 |
| 2 |
133 |
Radio interview, 1949 |
| 2 |
134 |
Rue Winterbotham Carpenter material, with memorial and
lock of hair, 1930-1931
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| A collection of photographs of celebrities in music and the arts,
including Arthur Rubinstein, Igor Stravinsky and Theodore Thomas; several
folders of images of Carpenter and members of his family, including his wife
Rue Winterbotham Carpenter, his daughter Genevieve (Ginny) Carpenter Hill and
his granddaughter Rue Diane Hill; and a few miscellaneous shots of places.
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| Organized into celebrity, family and place photographs. Each
category is arranged alphabetically.
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| Box |
Folder |
Contents |
| 3 |
135 |
Adams, Maude, 1917 |
| 3 |
136 |
Arliss, George, n.d. |
| 3 |
137 |
Barrymore, John, 1917 |
| 3 |
138 |
Calve, Emma, n.d. |
| 3 |
139 |
Caruso, Enrico, 1918 |
| 3 |
140 |
Chaplin, Charlie (with Douglas Fairbanks and Edward
Knoblock), n.d.
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| 3 |
141 |
Churchill, Sir Winston, n.d. |
| 3 |
142 |
Curey, Ameli Sagalli, 1917 |
| 3 |
143 |
Drew, John, 1915 |
| 3 |
144 |
Edvina, Marie-Louise, 1916 |
| 3 |
145 |
Grainger, Percy |
| 3 |
146 |
Koussevitsky, Serge, 1940 |
| 3 |
147 |
Kreisler, Fritz, n.d. |
| 3 |
148 |
Paderewski, Ignace Jan, n.d. |
| 3 |
149 |
Picasso, Pablo, n.d. |
| 3 |
150 |
Remisoff, Nicolas, n.d. |
| 3 |
151 |
Rubinstein, Arthur (removed to Oversize), n.d., 1964 |
| 3 |
152 |
Stravinsky, Igor. n.d., 1936 (one n.d. with
Debussy)
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| 3 |
153 |
Taylor, Laurette, n.d. |
| 3 |
154 |
Tempest, Marie, n.d. |
| 3 |
155 |
Thomas, Theodore, 1892 |
| 3 |
156 |
Vanni-Marcoux, 1918 |
| 3 |
157 |
Carpenter, John Alden, ca. 1890-1940 |
| 3 |
158 |
Carpenter, Rue Winterbotham and Carpenter, Genevieve
(Ginny), ca. 1903-1935
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| 3 |
159 |
Hill, Rue Diane, ca. 1934-1946 |
| 3 |
160 |
Family, unidentified; Sarasota, n.d. |
| 3 |
161 |
Bohemian Club of Chicago: banquet for Frederick A. Stock
(removed to Oversize), 1930
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| 3 |
162 |
Detroit Art Institute, n.d. |
| 3 |
163 |
John Adams High School, Cleveland: mural, 1943 |
| 3 |
164 |
John Alden Carpenter Memorial Theatre, n.d. |
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