Alice Morgan Wright Papers, 1873-1994
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Sophia Smith Collection Smith CollegeNorthampton, MA
Finding aid encoded in NoteTab Pro. Encoded by Margaret Jessup. 2007-05-03
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Alice Morgan Wright Papers
Creation of Alice Morgan Wright Papers
Time of Creation of Alice Morgan Wright Papers
Wright, Alice Morgan
Biographical History for: Alice Morgan Wright Papers
Biographical Note Alice Morgan Wright and friend, n.d. Alice Morgan Wright, sculptor, suffragist, and animal welfare advocate, the daughter of Henry Romeyn Wright, a prosperous wholesale grocer, and Emma Jane Morgan, was born on October 10, 1881, in Albany, New York. She attended the St. Agnes School in Albany (now the Doane Stuart School) and then graduated from Smith College in 1904. Wright worked for the Collegiate Equal Suffrage League and began studying sculpture at the Art Student League in New York City. In 1909 the League awarded her both the Gutzon Borglum and the Augustus Saint-Gaudens prizes for her outstanding art work. She went on to study art at the Académie des Beaux-Arts and at the Académie Colarossi in Paris. While in Europe, Wright involved herself in both the British and French suffrage movements. She organized a meeting in Paris at which English suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst spoke in 1910 and arranged for Pankhurst to make an appearance in Albany during her tour of the United States in 1911. During a suffrage demonstration, Wright was arrested and spent two months in London's Holloway Gaol. During this time she modeled a small bust of Emmeline Pankhurst, her prison-mate, with art supplies she had smuggled into the prison. When she returned to Paris she organized a petition drive demanding the release of jailed British suffragists. By 1913 Wright's art work had won several prizes, and had been exhibited in New York, Paris, and London. After returning home in 1914, she became the recording secretary of the New York State Women's Suffrage Party, and only returned full time to her sculpture after the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Wright's lifelong companion was Edith J. Goode, whom she met at Smith, and together they worked tirelessly for peace and justice. Wright's love of animals increasingly drew her to the cause of animal protection, and although she was heralded as one of the leading young American sculptors, art increasingly took a backseat to her reform activities. By 1945 she was devoting all her time to the cause, founding the National Humane Education Association, and working with various other animal protection organizations. Russell Sage College awarded her an honorary degree in 1947. Wright died in Albany at the age of 93, on April 8, 1975.
Scope and Contents of the Collection The Alice Morgan Wright Papers include biographical material, correspondence, writings, postcards, scrapbooks, artwork and photographs of her work as a sculptor; subject files, and memorabilia. Wright's career as a sculptor and her activism are well-documented; personal material is more fragmentary. Topics include art, women's suffrage, women's rights, women companions, birth control, world peace, animal welfare, the International Police Force and the United Nations, and Navajo Indians. Her postcards provide a vivid and interesting account of Wright's travels, especially her years as an art student in Paris. Also included are reminiscences of the Pankhursts and of Wright's confinement in Holloway Gaol where she spent two months after her arrest at a suffrage demonstration in England. Notable correspondents include Florence E. Allen, Emily Greene Balch, Mary Ellen Chase, Helen Keller, Stella Newsome, Ada Comstock Notestein, Emmeline Pankhurst, Alice Paul, Emmeline Pethink-Lawrence, Adlai S. Stevenson, Elisabeth Telling, Mary E. Woolley, Edith J. Goode (Wright's lifelong partner), and her mother, Emma Morgan Wright.
Animal welfare--History--Sources
lcsh
Art--Study and teaching--History--Sources
Female friendship--History--Sources
Humane education--History--Sources
Sculptors--United States--Biography--Sources
Suffragists--Great Britain--History--Sources
Suffragists--United States--Biography--Sources
Women artists--United States--Biography--Sources
Women sculptors--United States--Biography--Sources
Women--Suffrage--Great Britain--History--Sources
Women--Suffrage--United States--History--Sources
Pankhurst, Emmeline, 1858-1928
lcnaf
Pethick-Lawrence, Emmeline, 1867-
Whitehouse, Vira Boarman, 1875-
Wright, Alice Morgan, 1881-1975
Smith College--Students--History--Sources
Art Students League (New York, N.Y.)
New York State Woman Suffrage Party
Women's Party (Great Britain)
Paris (France)--Description and travel--Sources
series
SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS (1873-1990)
This series contains articles, clippings, and notes by and about Wright. It also contains her telephone and address books. Materials pertaining to her education at Smith College, such as notebooks, sketchbooks, correspondence and the Ivy Oration by Wright, are also included. Awards and citations, including the honorary degree she received from Russell Sage College in 1947, speeches, memorabilia, and miscellaneous family material are contained in this series. Also present are her obituaries, her will, and the instructions to its executors.
[See also SERIES IV. WRITINGS AND SPEECHES - WLG 1838 and WLG 1874 commemorative verse and writings]
SERIES II. CORRESPONDENCE (1909-78)
Correspondence includes letters from Florence E. Allen, Emily Greene Balch, Mary Ellen Chase, Helen Keller, Stella Newsome, Ada Comstock Notestein, Emmeline Pankhurst, Alice Paul, Emmeline Pethink-Lawrence, Adlai S. Stevenson, Elisabeth Telling, and Mary E. Woolley. Postcards provide a vivid and interesting account of Wright's travels, especially her years as an art student in Paris, and include correspondence between Edith J. Goode, Wright's lifelong partner, and her mother, Emma Morgan Wright.
SERIES III. SCRAPBOOKS (1903-75)
Wright's scrapbooks contain clippings pertaining to subjects that were of great interest to her. The Whiteface Mountain scrapbook focuses on current affairs. She devoted one scrapbook entirely to art clippings (1903-75, n.d.) and another to theatre programs and pictures (1904, n.d.). This series also includes a scrapbook entitled "For Alice Morgan Wright - A Friend of Pussy-Cats" (n.d.) containing animal pictures and poems that was probably compiled by a friend and gifted to Wright.
SERIES IV. ARTWORK (1907-78)
This series contains Wrights artwork and related materials. It also includes the Mary Augusta Jordan medal presented to Wright; two metal plates for the L. Clarke Seelye bas relief done by her; various sketches and drawings - including those done for greeting cards for the National Humane Education Society; and the bookplate done for the Anna Cutler Fund, Smith College Library. The series also contains verse by Wright, clippings and writings about her artwork, exhibit catalogues and materials, and original artwork by others, including works by Shirley Thomson.
SERIES V. SUBJECT FILES (1912-94)
The subject files, like Wright's scrapbooks, contain materials pertaining to subjects that were of interest to her and with which she was actively involved. This series includes materials regarding animal protection; birth control; women's rights; the International Police Force and the United Nations; Navajo Indians; and Suffrage, including memorabilia, such as a knife and a hunger strike medal, of the time Wright spent in confinement in Holloway Gaol after her arrest at a suffrage demonstration in England.
SERIES VI. PHOTOGRAPHS (1893-1970s)
This series contains portraits of Wright; and photographs of her with friends, animals, and her artwork. There are photographs pertaining to Smith College, including photographs of John M. Greene, and of Wright's classmates. The series also contains a sub series devoted entirely to photographs of Wright's artwork - contact prints of her artwork and studio, bas relief (including the one of L. Clarke Seelye), busts, and sculpture. Another sub series contains various negatives.
OVERSIZE MATERIALS
SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS
Contents
Articles, clippings, and notes by and about A.M.W
General, 1918-90, n.d.
"Alice Morgan Wright (1881-1975)," by Marla Frances Wagshal, 1978
Telephone and address books (5)
Index cards with addresses
Education: Smith College
Notebook, correspondence and ivy oration by AMW, 1903-63, n.d.
"Verses," notebook with notes and sketches, n.d.
"A. Morg. Wright," sketchbook with notes, n.d.
Awards and citations
Miscellaneous, 1948-71, n.d.
Russell Sage College Honorary Degree, 1947
Speeches, 1948, n.d.
Memorabilia, 1908-53, n.d.
Obituaries, 1967-75
Will and instructions to executors, 1954-67
Miscellaneous family material, 1873-1946, n.d.
SERIES II. CORRESPONDENCE
Miscellaneous correspondence with and regarding family, 1941, n.d.
A-Z (includes Florence E. Allen, Mary Ellen Chase, Helen Keller, Stella Newsome, Ada Comstock Notestein, Alice Paul, Adlai S. Stevenson, Elisabeth Telling, Mary E. Woolley), 1910-78, n.d.
Balch, Emily Greene, 1948, n.d.
Benoit, Maria. 1948, n.d.
Bispham, David, 1917
Gobinot, B., 1946, 1969
Grierson, Margaret S. and Marine Leland (includes letters to Edith Goode), 1947-63, n.d.
Guilbert, Yvette, 1917, 1920
Lefaucheux, Marie Helene, 1949-50
Lutz, Bertha, 1947-52, n.d.
Mehta, Shrimati Hansa, 1948-53
Menon (Pandit), Vijaya Lakshmi, 1949-62, n.d.
Pankhurst, Emmeline, 1911-13
Pethick-Lawrence, Emmeline, 1912, 1948-52
Pethick-Lawrence, Frederick, 1948-57
Shepard, Edith, 1909-13, n.d.
Undset, Sigrid, 1941
Whitehouse, Vira B., 1918-20
Unidentified, 1912-57, n.d.
Business, 1910-51 (includes Ruth Benedict)
Postcards
From AMW to the Wright family, 1908-27, n.d.
From AMW to parents and others, 1909-31, n.d.
To AMW, circa 1905-31, n.d.
Miscellaneous unidentified, 1910-30, n.d.
SERIES III. SCRAPBOOKS
Whiteface Mountain Amendment (1), 1941
Whiteface Mountain Amendment (2), 1941
Art clippings, 1903-75, n.d.
Theatre programs and pictures, 1904, n.d.
"For Alice Morgan Wright - A Friend of Pussy-Cats," n.d.
SERIES IV. ARTWORK
"Pastorale" bas relief; bronze medal for fifty years of service at the College of the City of New York, 1907; Mary Augusta Jordan medal; 2 metal plates for the L. Clarke Seelye bas relief
Sketches and drawings
"Elizabeth Edmond," sketchbook with notes, n.d.
Betsy Fahlman
Correspondence, 1974-75
"Catalogue of works of sculpture contained in the studio of Alice Morgan Wright (1881-1975)," 1975
"Sculpture and Suffrage: The Art and Life of Alice Morgan Wright, 1881-1975," catalogue of exhibition at Albany Institute of Art, 1978
Drawings, mostly greeting cards, for National Humane Education Society, n.d.
Bookplate done for Anna Cutler Fund, Smith College Library, n.d.
Clippings, 1911-75, n.d.
Exhibit catalogues and materials, 1915-78, n.d.
Miscellaneous, 1910-75, n.d.
Original artwork by others, including works by Shirley Thomson, 1912-39, n.d.
Verse by Alice Morgan Wright, n.d.
SERIES V. SUBJECT FILES
Animal protection
Correspondence, 1952-67, n.d.
Humane Society of the United States, 1954-79
Miscellaneous, 1946-66, n.d.
National Humane Education Society, 1949-94, n.d.
UNESCO and UN, 1950-59, n.d.
Birth control: correspondence (letters from Margaret Sanger, others at Planned Parenthood, and A. H. Askanasy), 1948-61, n.d.
Women's rights, 1948-50, n.d.
International Police Force and UN, 1947
Navajo Indians, Toadlena, N.M., 1932-34, n.d.
Suffrage
Prison in England
Notes, writings, and memorabilia, 1912, n.d.
Correspondence: letters from, and visiting cards of, French associates, 1912, n.d.
Mementos: hunger strike medal and knife, n.d.
Clippings, 1912-17, n.d.
Miscellaneous, 1915-16, n.d.
Parade New York, Oct 1917: clippings
United Nations: reports and "Christmas Message" by AMW, 1948, n.d.
SERIES VI. PHOTOGRAPHS
Alice Morgan Wright, 1893- circa 1970s, n.d.
AMW and others: art classes, studio, and with animals, n.d.
Others: studio, miscellaneous, and unidentified, n.d.
AMW and a friend: glass negatives, n.d.
Smith College
John M. Greene and others, n.d.
Classmates from scrapbook, n.d. (circa 1902-07)
Artwork
Contact prints of artwork and studio, n.d.
Bas reliefs, n.d. (Seelye circa 1914; Doleman circa 1922)
Busts, n.d.
Sculpture, n.d.
Artwork by others, n.d.
Negatives
AMW in New York State Suffrage Party booth, n.d.
Artwork and studio, n.d. (circa 1910-13)
Friends and animals, n.d.
OVERSIZE MATERIALS (Flat file)
Art folio of original drawings and sketches by Alice Morgan Wright
Certificate from the Women's Social and Political Union, signed by Emmeline Pankhurst
"Clacton's Welcome to Released Suffragettes": clipping, 4 May 1912
Suffrage Parade: clipping, 4 Nov 1917
Art show for cause of suffrage: poster from New York Tribune 10 Oct 1915