Collection inventory

printer friendly version

Aaron Bohrod Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Bohrod, Aaron.
Title: Aaron Bohrod Papers
Dates: 1932-1963
Quantity: 4 linear ft.
Abstract: Correspondence (family, art organizations and associations, educational institutions, galleries and museums, patrons, fellow artists), artwork, writings, memorabilia of the American realist painter.
Language: English
Repository: Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
222 Waverly Avenue
Syracuse, NY 13244-2010
https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center

Biographical History

American realist painter (1907-1992). Participant in the Federal Art Project and the U.S. Army War Unit's project on the pictorial history of World War II.

Return to top

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Spanning 1932 to 1963, the Aaron Bohrod Papers comprises correspondence, artwork, writings, and memorabilia of the American realist painter and art educator (1907-1992). The collection focuses on the professional career, rather than the personal life, of the Chicago-born artist who taught for more than two decades at the University of Wisconsin.

Documenting Bohrod's participation in the U. S. Army War Unit's project on the pictorial history of World War II, Family correspondence consists almost entirely of Bohrod's letters from the South Pacific to his wife Ruth and son Mark. A number of later family letters were written from Europe during Bohrod's assisgnment as artist correspondent for Life magazine.

Incoming letters with some outgoing handwritten drafts and typescript carbons constitute the Correspondence-subject files, which forms the bulk of the collection. Correspondents include art critics (John Canaday, Emily Genauer, Frank Getlein, Eleanor Jewett); authors (August Derleth, Albert Halper, Moss Hart, Gwendolen Haste); cartoonists (David and Irv Breger); ceramist F. Carlton Ball; entertainers (Edward G. Robinson, Meredith Wilson); and patrons (Orville Bulman, Edward C. Burman, Nathan Cummings, Arthur Fleischman, Lawrence A. Fleischman, Albert Hydeman, William J. Poplack, W. A. Sheaffer, Helene Tash, Charles D. Tenney). Among fellow painters, correspondence which is of greatest depth and duration includes that of Will Barnet, Cameron Booth, Howard Cook, Adolf Dehn, Kaj Klitgaard, Georges Schreiber, Samuel Schwartz, Burnett Shryock, Lawrence Beall Smith, Raphael Soyer, Frederic Taubes, Stuyvesant Van Veen, and Grant Wood. Other artist correspondents include Ivan and Malvin Albright, Minna Citron, Irvin Cowen, Stuart Davis, Thomas Dietrich, Ernest Fiene, Joseph Hirsch, Edward Hopper, Leon Kroll, Henry Lee McFee, Eugene Speicher, and A. Reid Winsey.

Organizational correspondence encompasses that with artists' associations (American Artists Group, Associated American Artists); educational institutions (Ball State Teachers College, DePauw University, Indiana University, Iowa State Teachers College, Lawrence College, Southern Illinois University, University of Wisconsin); galleries (Grand Central Art Galleries, Increase Robinson Gallery, Milch Galleries, Frank J. Oehlschlager Galleries, Frank K. M. Rehn); museums (Art Institute of Chicago, Butler Institute of American Art, Carnegie Institute, Detroit Institute of Arts, Los Angeles County Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Milwaukee Art Institute, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Whitney Museum of American Art); and publications to which Bohrod contributed (Chicago Tribune, Esquire, Family Circle, Fortune, Holiday, Life, Look, Time). Materials relating to the Federal Art Project and the U.S. Treasury and War Departments illustrate the relationship between government and the artist.

The remainder of the collection -- Artwork, Writings, and Memorabilia -- includes three original sketches, a diary from Bohrod's time at Camp Barnes, the manuscript for A Pottery Sketchbook as well as other manuscript and published pieces, clippings, exhibit catalogs, price lists, etc.

Return to top

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Return to top

Subject Headings

Persons

Albright, Ivan, 1897-1983.
Barnet, Will, 1911-2012.
Bohrod, Aaron.
Booth, Cameron, 1892-1980.
Breger, David, 1908-1970.
Citron, Minna, 1896-1991.
Cook, Howard Norton, 1901-1980.
Dehn, Adolf, 1895-1968.
Derleth, August, 1909-1971.
Florsheim, Richard A., 1916-1979.
Getlein, Frank.
Hart, Moss, 1904-1961.
Klitgaard, Kaj.
Schreiber, Georges, 1904-
Smith, Lawrence Beall, 1909-1995.
Soyer, Raphael, 1899-1987.
Taubes, Frederic, 1900-1981.
Wood, Grant, 1891-1942.

Corporate Bodies

American Artists Group.
Associated American Artists.
Federal Art Project.
United States. -- Department of the Treasury.
United States. -- War Department.

Subjects

Art, American -- 20th century.
Art, American.
Artists -- Societies, etc.
Federal aid to the arts -- United States.
Painters -- United States.
Painting, American -- 20th century.
Painting, American.
Realism in art.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Art and the war.

Genres and Forms

Articles.
Correspondence.
Manuscripts for publication.
Reviews (documents)
Sketches.
Speeches (documents)

Occupations

Artists.
Painters.

Return to top

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Aaron Bohrod Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Bulk of collection, gift of Aaron Bohrod, 1963.

Diary, purchased, 2021

Finding Aid Information

Created by: KM
Date: Jun 1994
Revision history: 10 Jun 2005 - EAD file created (MRR); 9 Jun 2023 - diary added, items shifted into new box 9 (MRC)

Return to top

Inventory

Family correspondence
Box 1 Bohrod, Milton (brother) 1958, 1961
Box 1 Bohrod, Ruth (wife) 1939, 1943-1946 1955 (5 folders)
Box 1 Bohrod, Mark (son) 1943-1945
Correspondence-subject files
Box 2 A (misc) (1 folder)
Box 2 Adams, Jean Crawford undated
Box 2 Albright, Ivan undated
Box 2 Albright, Malvin 1942, 1943
Box 2 American Art Research Council 1943
Box 2 American Artist 1953, 1958
Box 2 American Artists Group, Inc. 1939-1942, 1962
Box 2 American Federation of Arts 1934, 1943, 1955
Box 2 Anderson, Walter and Marguerite 1942, undated
Box 2 Art Association of Indianapolis, Indiana 1949, 1952-1959
Box 2 Art Institute of Chicago 1932-1945, 1958
Box 2 Associated American Artists 1937-1947 (9 folders of 18)
Box 3 Associated American Artists 1948-1958, undated (9 folders of 18)
Box 3 Associated Magazine Contributors, Inc. 1946-1947
Box 3 Atlanta Art Association 1954-1958
Box 3 B (misc) (1 folder)
Box 3 Baldinger, Wallace 1937
Box 3 Ball, F. Carlton undated
Box 3 Ball State Teachers College 1949-1956
Box 3 Barnet, Will 1939-1942
Box 3 Barto, Emily 1952
Box 3 Bates, Kenneth Francis 1959
Box 3 Bekker, David 1942
Box 3 Beloit College 1950
Box 3 Benton, Rita P. (Mrs. Thomas Hart Benton) 1960
Box 3 [John Nelson] Bergstrom Art Center and Museum 1959-1961
Box 3 Best Articles & Stories 1960-1961
Box 3 Bethers, Ray 1950, undated
Box 4 Blanch, Arnold 1945
Box 4 Bocour, Leonard 1959
Boni, Charles
See Living American Art, Inc.
Box 4 Booth, Cameron 1938-1942
Box 4 Breger, David 1937, 1940-1945, 1954, 1960, undated
Box 4 Breger, Irv 1938, undated
Box 4 Britton, Edgar 1942
Box 4 Brook, Alexander 1935
Box 4 Brown, Ethel Crouch 1941, undated
Box 4 Brown, Isidore and Gladys 1959-1961
Box 4 Bulman, Orville undated
Box 4 Burg, Copeland Charles 1937, 1942
Box 4 Burkhart, Robert 1956, 1961
Box 4 Burman, Edward C. 1941-1942
Box 4 Butler Institute of American Art (Youngstown, Ohio) 1942, 1957-1961
Box 4 C (misc) (1 folder)
Box 4 California Water Color Society 1940-1942
Box 4 Canaday, John 1961
Box 4 Carnegie Corporation 1940-1943
Box 4 Carnegie Institute 1936-1949, undated
Box 4 Ceramics Monthly 1953-1959, undated
Box 4 Chaliapin, Boris 1954
Box 4 Chapin, Francis and Vivian 1953, 1959-1961, undated
Box 4 Chidsey, G. Alan 1940, undated
Box 4 Chicago Daily News 1935-1939
Box 4 Chicago Tribune 1948, 1959-1963, undated
Box 4 Church, C. Howard 1946
Box 4 Citron, Minna 1941, undated
Box 4 Cole, Sylvan 1952
Box 4 Coler, Stella 1961
Box 4 Cook, Howard 1943
Box 4 Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.) 1943
Box 4 Coronet Magazine 1937, 1938
Box 4 Cowen, Irvin 1961
Cox, John Rogers
See Swope Art Gallery (Terre Haute, Ind.)
Cromie, Robert
See Chicago Tribune
Box 4 Cummings, Nathan 1947-1961
Box 4 Cunningham, Marion 1943
Box 4 D (misc) (1 folder)
Box 4 Davis, Gladys Rockmore undated
Box 4 Davis, Stuart 1935
Box 4 Dehn, Adolf 1945, 1953-1960, undated
Box 4 DePauw University 1957-1959, undated
Box 4 Derleth, August 1954
Box 4 Detroit Institute of Arts 1952-1957, undated
Box 4 Dietrich, Thomas 1950, 1958-1959
Box 4 Downtown Gallery (New York, N.Y.) 1933-1934
Box 4 Duschnes, Philip C. 1941-1946
Box 4 E (misc) (1 folder)
Box 4 Ely, Frances undated
Box 4 Encyclopaedia Britannica 1944-1946, 1950, 1958
Box 4 Endicott, Robert R. 1954-1957
Box 4 Engle, Harry 1941, undated
Box 4 Esquire 1940-1943, 1955
Box 4 F (misc) (1 folder)
Falls Civic Art Center
See Richard, Jack
Family Circle Magazine
See Endicott, Robert R.
Box 4 Farrar & Rinehart 1940-1942
Box 5 Federal Art Project 1935-1936
Box 5 Fiene, Ernest 1942, 1956
Box 5 Findlay Galleries Inc. 1962
Box 5 Fleischman, Arthur 1959-1960
Box 5 Fleischman, Lawrence A. and Barbara 1956-1959, undated
Box 5 Florsheim, Richard A. 1958, undated
Box 5 Ford Foundation 1958-1959
Box 5 Fortune 1938-1949
Box 5 Fracassini, Silvio Carl 1951
Box 5 Fredenthal, David undated
Box 5 G (misc) (1 folder)
Box 5 [Leon] Garland Foundation, Inc. 1943, 1952
Box 5 Geis, Bernard 1937-1943, undated
Box 5 Genauer, Emily 1951, 1955
Box 5 Getlein, Frank 1961, undated
Box 5 Gimbel Brothers 1948-1951
Box 5 Glasell, Criss 1950
Goldberg, Sidney
See Lawrence, Sidney
Box 5 Golden Gate International Exposition 1938-1939
Box 5 Grand Central Art Galleries 1943, 1956-1958
Box 5 Greenburg, Samuel 1956
Box 5 Greenwood, Marion 1957, 1961
Box 5 Griffen, Davenport 1933-1934, undated
Box 5 Grigore, Julius and Doris 1959-1961
Gross, Earl
See Stevens, Gross Studios, Inc. (Chicago, Ill.)
Box 5 Groth, John undated
Box 5 [John Simon] Guggenheim Memorial Foundation 1935-1938
Box 5 H (misc) (1 folder)
Box 5 Halper, Albert 1952
Halpert, Edith
See Downtown Gallery (New York, N.Y.)
Box 5 Hannon, James F. 1961
Box 5 Hart, Moss 1940-1941
Box 5 Hartford, Huntington 1956-1959
Box 5 Hartl, Leon 1960
Box 5 Haste, Gwendolen 1939
Box 5 Head, Lois 1942
[John] Herron Art Institute (Indianapolis, Ind.)
See Art Association of Indianapolis, Indiana
Box 5 Hirsch, Joseph 1958
Box 5 Hodgell, Robert 1949
Box 5 Hoffman, Bernie 1960-1961
Box 5 Holiday 1950-1951
Box 5 [Henry] Holt and Company, Inc. 1952-1953
Box 5 Hopper, Edward 1939
Hughes, Odien
See Nu-Art Engraving Company
Box 5 Hydeman, Albert L. 1950-1954, undated
Box 5 I (misc) (1 folder)
Box 5 Illinois State Fair 1950-1954
Box 5 Indiana University 1940-1944
Box 5 Iowa State Teachers College 1956
Box 5 Irving Galleries Incorporated (Milwaukee, Wis.) 1961-1962
Box 5 J (misc) (1 folder)
Box 5 Jewell, Edward Alden 1935-1939
Box 5 Jewett, Eleanor 1955, undated
Box 5 K (misc) (1 folder)
Box 5 Kaufmann, Edgar undated
Kent, Norman
See American Artist
Box 5 Klitgaard, Kaj 1938-1941
Box 5 Krentzin, Earl 1961, undated
Box 5 Kroll, Leon 1950, 1951, undated
Box 5 Kuniyoshi, Yasuo 1937, 1947
Box 5 L (misc) (1 folder)
Box 5 Lahey, Richard 1943
Box 5 Lankes, Julius J. 1942
Box 5 Lawrence, Sidney 1938, 1940
Box 5 Lawrence College (Appleton, Wis.) 1950-1959
Box 5 Lax, David undated
Box 5 Levin, Meyer undated
Box 5 Life 1939-1961, undated (2 folders)
Box 6 Eli Lilly and Company 1959-1961
Box 6 Lion, Stephan 1957-1958
Box 6 Living American Art, Inc. 1936-1940
Longman, Lester D.
See Parnassus
Box 6 Look 1951-1961, undated
Box 6 Lorant, Stefan 1956, 1960
Box 6 Los Angeles County Museum 1934-1944
Box 6 Lukosh, June 1949, 1961
Box 6 Lundgren, Eric and Marion 1939
Box 6 M (misc) (1 folder)
Box 6 McFee, Henry Lee 1935
Box 6 Mallan, Lloyd 1941, 1961
Box 6 Mandel, Estelle 1951, 1956
See also Associated American Artists
Box 6 Marsh, Reginald and Felicia 1935, 1954
Box 6 Martyl undated
Box 6 Maryan, Hazel 1958
Box 6 Massin, Eugene 1950, 1951
Box 6 Massine, Leonide 1942
Box 6 Mayer, Chester 1951
Box 6 Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) 1941-1950
Box 6 Milch Galleries (New York, N.Y.) 1939, 1957-1961
Box 6 Miller, George C. 1949
Box 6 Miller, Julius A. 1945
Box 6 Milwaukee Art Center 1958-1961, undated
Box 6 Milwaukee Art Institute 1937, 1948-1950, undated
Box 6 Mount Mary College (Milwaukee, Wis.) 1957-1959
Box 6 Musick, Archie undated
Box 6 N (misc) (1 folder)
Box 6 Nash, Katherine undated
Box 6 National Academy of Design 1950-1961, undated
Box 6 [Elizabeth] Nelson Galleries (Chicago, Ill.) undated
Box 6 New York World's Fair, 1939 1938-1939
Box 6 North Shore Art League (Winnetka, Ill.) 1960-1961
Box 6 Northern Michigan College (Marquette, Mich.) 1953
Box 6 Nu-Art Engraving Company 1951-1957
Box 6 Nutting, Myron 1932
Box 6 O (misc) (1 folder)
Box 6 O'Brien's Art Emporium (Scottsdale, Ariz.) 1961-1963
Box 6 Oehlschlager, Frank J. 1950-1962, undated (2 folders)
Box 6 Ohio University 1949-1954
Box 6 Ohio Wesleyan University 1953-1954
Box 6 P (misc) (1 folder)
Box 6 Parnassus 1940-1941
Box 6 Pearson, Ralph M. 1941
Box 6 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 1942-1943
Box 6 Pershing, Louise 1944
Box 6 Philadelphia Art Alliance 1942-1952
Box 6 Poor, Henry Varnum 1935
Box 6 Poplack, William J. and Eleanor 1955-1959, undated
Box 7 Proxmire, William and Ellen 1958-1959
Box 7 R (misc) (1 folder)
Box 7 [Frank K. M.] Rehn, Inc. 1935-1939
Box 7 Richard, Jack 1955-1961
Box 7 Richardson, Constance 1960
Box 7 Ripon College (Ripon, Wis.) 1958-1960
Box 7 Rittenberg, Henry R. 1956
Box 7 Robinson, Edward G. 1948
Box 7 [Increase] Robinson Gallery (Chicago, Ill.) 1933
Box 7 Rockford Art Association 1942-1956
Box 7 Rosenberg, Samuel and Mrs. 1940, 1941
Rowan, Edward B.
See United States. Treasury Department
Box 7 Russian War Relief, Inc. 1942
Box 7 S (misc) (2 folders)
Box 7 Salpeter, Harry 1937, 1940
Box 7 Sample, Paul 1960
Box 7 Schreiber, Georges 1944-1960
Box 7 Schuyler, Remington undated
Box 7 Schwartz, William S. and Mona 1942, 1950, 1959
Box 7 Sepeshy, Zoltan 1952-1957
Box 7 Shane, Frederick 1941-1942, 1961
Box 7 Shannon, Charles 1943
Box 7 Sheaffer, W. A. 1940-1941
Box 7 Shryock, Burnett H. 1938-1957, undated
See also Southern Illinois University
Box 7 Simons, Hi 1937-1942
Box 7 [Erik] Simonsen Art Agency (New York, N.Y.) 1956-1958, undated
Box 7 Sivard, Robert 1958
Box 7 Sloan, John 1944
Box 7 Smith, Jacob Getlar 1933-1935
Box 7 Smith, Lawrence Beall 1942-1951
Box 7 Southern Illinois University 1939-1952
see also Shryock, Burnett H.
Box 7 Soyer, Raphael 1939-1954, undated
Box 7 Speicher, Eugene 1936, undated
Box 7 Stevens, Gross Studios, Inc. (Chicago, Ill.) 1952/1956, undated
Box 7 Stites, Raymond S. 1936
Box 7 Swope Art Gallery (Terre Haute, Ind.) 1942-1943, undated
Box 7 T (misc) (1 folder)
Box 7 Targ, William 1944-1962
Box 7 Tash, Helene 1956-1961, undated
Box 7 Taubes, Frederic undated
Tenney, Charles D.
See Southern Illinois University
Box 7 Thomas, Byron 1944
Box 7 Time 1951-1961
Box 7 Tracy, Elizabeth 1940
Trieglaff, Helen
See Parnassus
Truman, Harry S. (secretary)
See Encyclopaedia Britannica
Box 7 U (misc) (1 folder)
United States. Public Buildings Administration
See United States. Treasury Department
Box 7 United States. Treasury Department 1935-1945
Box 7 United States. War Department 1943-1946
Box 8 University of Illinois 1934, 1956-1958
Box 8 University of Minnesota 1938-1953
Box 8 University of Wisconsin 1940-1962, undated
Box 8 V (misc) (1 folder)
Box 8 [John H.] Vanderpoel Art Association 1936
Box 8 Van Veen, Stuyvesant undated
Varga, Margit
See Life
Box 8 W (misc) (1 folder)
Box 8 Watson, Forbes
See United States. Treasury Department
Box 8 Watson, Jean 1961
Box 8 [Anna L.] Werbe Galleries (Detroit, Mich.) 1955-1956, undated
Box 8 Werner, Nat 1942
Box 8 Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, N.Y.) 1933-1946
Box 8 Wilson, Charles 1941
Box 8 Wilson, Meredith 1958
Winsey, A. Reid
See DePauw University
Box 8 Wisconsin Academy Review 1954-1956
Box 8 Wisconsin Rural Artists Association 1955-1961
Box 8 Wisconsin State College 1949-1960
Box 8 Wood, Grant 1935-1939, undated
Box 8 World Publishing Company
see Targ, William
Box 8 Y-Z (misc) (1 folder)
Box 8 Zigrosser, Carl 1933, 1940, undated
Box 8 Ziroli, Nicola 1951, undated
Box 8 Unidentified
Artwork
Box 8 Reproductions
Box 8 Sketches (3 items)
Writings
Box 8 Articles - manuscripts, published material
Books
Box 8 A pottery sketchbook
Box 8 Notes on a pottery collaboration - manuscript
Box 8 Critiques on paintings of other artists
Box 8 Diary 1943-1944 - covering approximately 5 months while Bohrod was at Camp Barnes in New Caledonia; includes correspondence regarding loan of diary for a show
Purchase, 2021
Box 8 Reviews - manuscripts, published material
Box 8 Speeches (2 folders)
Box 8 Statements on art
Box 9 World War II art projects for Life magazine
Memorabilia
Box 9 Award
Box 9 Clippings 1943-1944 1961, undated
Box 9 Exhibition catalogs 1935-1948
Box 8 Leases
Box 9 Lists of paintings with descriptions, some with prices (2 items)

Return to top