Collection inventory

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Canaday, John,1907-
Title:	John Canaday Papers
Inclusive Dates:	1954-1966
Quantity:	12.5 linear ft.
Abstract:	Papers of the American author, New York Times art critic. Correspondence, biographical materials, manuscript reviews and articles.
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

John Canaday (1907-) was an American writer and art critic for the New York Times.

Born in Fort Scott, Kansas, on Feb. 1, 1907, Canaday received his B.A. from the University of Texas in 1929 and his M.A. from Yale in 1933. From 1938 to 1950, Mr. Canaday taught art history in the department of architecture at the University of Virginia. From 1950-1952, he served as director of the Newcomb School of Art at Tulane University. In 1953, he became Chief of the Division of Education of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a position which he held until 1959. Beginning in 1959, Canaday served as art critic for the New York Times. He wrote a series, "Metropolitan Seminars in Art," as well as Mainstreams of Modern Art, Embattled Critic, and articles for various magazines. He also published seven mystery novels under the pseudonym "Matthew Head."

Return to top

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The John Canaday Papers consist of biographical material, correspondence, and manuscripts. Correspondence, which includes both incoming and outgoing, is almost entirely related to Canaday's articles; the small amount which does not is at the end of the series. Manuscripts are of articles, all untitled, and book reviews.

Return to top

Arrangement of the Collection

Correspondence, both incoming and outgoing, is arranged chronologically according to the date of publication of the article to which it relates. Correspondence unrelated to any specific article is arranged alphabetically by subject. Manuscripts are subdivided by type (articles and reviews).

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

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

Return to top

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

John Canaday Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of John Canaday, 1966-1969.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: [Summit record]
Date: 2001-01-01
Revision history: 12 Mar 2007 - converted to EAD (MRC); 24 Nov 2015 - updated scope and contents (MRC)

Return to top

Inventory

	Biographical material
Box 1		Miscellaneous

	Correspondence
Box 1		Sept. 6, 1959 "Happy New Year!" (2 folders)
Box 1		Sept. 6, 1959 "Happy New Year!" - re letters of comment, published 9/20/59
Box 1		Sept. 13, 1959 "A Manet Sextet"
Box 1		Sept. 20, 1959 "American Prints"
Box 1		Sept. 22, 1959 "New Directions in Architecture"
Box 1		Sept. 27, 1959 "A Blue Note"
Box 1		Oct. 4, 1959 "Feeling Better"
Box 1		Oct. 18, 1959 "The Delights of Drawing"
Box 1		Oct. 21, 1959 "Wright vs. Painting"
Box 1		Nov. 1, 1959 Rodman, Selden
Box 1		Nov. 1, 1959 "Welcome Home"
Box 1		Nov. 8, 1959 "Cezanne's Way"
Box 1		Nov. 15, 1959 "Dubuffet and Picasso"
Box 1		Nov. 18, 1959 "Whitney and Modern Museums Show Wares"
Box 1		Nov. 21, 1959 "An Unfinished Art Story"
Box 1		Nov. 22, 1959 "Art and Display"'
Box 1		Nov. 29, 1959 "Plain but Honest"
Box 1		Dec. 6, 1959 "Before Columbus"
Box 1		Dec. 20, 1959 "Courbet's World"
Box 1		Dec. 29, 1959 "Art Disinherited"
Box 1		Jan. 3, 1960 "Two American Painters"
Box 1		Jan. 10, 1960 "Survey with a Hopeful Ear to the Ground"
Box 1		Jan. 17 1960 "Tenth Street"
Box 1		Jan. 20, 1960 "A Contemporary Landscape"
Box 1		Jan. 31, 1960 "Evolution of a Public"
Box 1		Feb. 9, 1960 "Sculptured Pictured"
Box 1		Feb. 14, 1960 "Cross-Purposes"
Box 1		Feb. 21, 1960 "Secondarily Art"
Box 1		Feb. 28, 1960 "A Quiet Market"
Box 1		Mar. 6, 1960 "It Talks Good!"
Box 1		Mar. 6, 1960 (Magazine section) "Monet's Eye and the Camel's Eye"
Box 1		Mar. 13, 1960 "A World of Light"
Box 1		Mar. 27, 1960 "Odd Kind of Art"
Box 1		Apr. 3, 1960 "Word of Mouth"
Box 1		Apr. 10, 1960 "Degas and People"
Box 1		Apr. 17, 1960 "Sir Herbert Read: In Defense of Abstract Art"
Box 2		May 1, 1960 "On Innocence"
Box 2		May 8, 1960 "Children, Amateurs, and Artists"
Box 2		May 10, 1960 "An Italian Sculptor"
Box 2		May 15, 1960 "An American Survey Tour"
Box 2		May 22, 1960 "New York, U.S.A."
Box 2		May 29, 1960 "Dali for a Dollar"
Box 2		June 5, 1960 "Perfect Company"
Box 2		July 24, 1960 "Promising Mutations"
Box 2		July 31, 1960 "Easy Does It"
Box 2		Aug. 7, 1960 "People at a Museum"
Box 2		Aug. 14, 1960 "Museum Treat"
Box 2		Aug. 21, 1960 "Fifth Avenue and 42nd"
Box 2		Aug. 28, 1960 "Of the Peaceable Kingdom"
Box 2		Sept. 4, 1960 "Perhaps Drastic"
Box 2		Sept. 4, 1960 (Magazine section) "Lesson for the Clinic-Museums"
Box 2		Sept. 11, 1960 "In the Gloaming"
Box 2		Sept. 18, 1960 "A Broader Canvas
Box 2		Sept. 25, 1960 "Oddly Matched"
Box 2		Oct. 2, 1960 "The Blind Artist"
Box 2		Oct. 2, 1960 "Visionary Architecture"
Box 2		Oct. 9, 1960 "A Gallery Remembers"
Box 2		Oct. 9, 1960 "Abstract Premises"
Box 2		Oct. 16, 1960 "American Finds"
Box 2		Oct. 16, 1960 (Magazine section) "Search for Art's True Magic"
Box 2		Oct, 23, 1960 "Odd Forces of Modern Criticism"
Box 2		Oct. 30, 1960 "You're Welcome, Come In"
Box 2		Oct. 31, 1960 Newsweek
Box 2		Nov. 6, 1960 "What's Inside"
Box 2		Nov. 20, 1960 "Artists and Materials"
Box 2		Nov. 27, 1960 "Art, Duty, and Pleasure
Box 2		Nov. 28, 1960 "The Victim of Velasquez"
Box 2		Dec. 4, 1960 "Nostalgia and the Forward Look"
Box 2		Dec. 11, 1960 "Third Dimension"
Box 3		Dec. 18, 1960 "Barnes: Open at Last"
Box 3		Dec. 18, 1960 "Memory Lane"
Box 3		Jan. 1961 Conant, Howard
Box 3		Jan. 8, 1961 "Arrived Safely"
Box 3		Jan. 15, 1961 "Arts of Thailand"
Box 3		Jan. 15, 1961 "Corcoran Awards"
Box 3		Jan. 22, 1961 "Is Less More, and When for Whom
Box 3		Jan. 29, 1961 "It Didn't Work"
Box 3		Feb. 5, 1961 "The Telephone Mystery"
Box 3		Feb. 7, 1961 "Modern Classes at Guggenheim"
Box 3		Feb. 12, 1961 "For the Record"
Box 3		Feb. 19, 1961 "Vote of Confidence"
Box 3		Feb. 26, 1961 "Calder and Miro"
Box 3		Mar. 5, 1961 "Loplop the Waterwitch"
Box 3		Mar. 5, 1961 "Italian Drawings"
Box 3		Mar. 12, 1961 "Violence, Mystery, Evocation"
Box 3		Mar. 12, 1961 "The Splendid Century"
Box 3		Mar. 19, 1961 "Sculpture Alive"
Box 3		Mar. 26, 1961 "Whither Art?"
Box 3		Apr. 2, 1961 "Art and the Fire Department"
Box 3		Apr. 2, 1961 "Art Critic Finds Hint of Sanity in Auto Design"
Box 3		Apr. 6, 1961 "Sculptures Spin in Recital Art Museum"
Box 3		Apr. 30, 1961 "Letter on a Dilemma"
Box 3		May 7, 1961 "A Private Road"
Box 3		June 11, 1961 "Or Not to Be"'
Box 3		June 18, 1961 "Trial by Drawing"
Box 3		June 25, 1961 "Hammock Reading"
Box 3		June 25, 1961 "Instruments as Art"
Box 3		July 2, 1961 "Delicious Innovator"
Box 3		July 9, 1961 "Provincetown Up"
Box 3		July 23, 1961 "True Story, Happy Ending"
Box 3		July 27, 1961 "West Coast Note"
Box 3		July 30, 1961 "The World's Fair"
Box 3		July 30, 1961 "Transubstantiation at the Prado"
Box 3		July 31, 1961 "Artist Tenants Association"
Box 3		Aug. 1, 1961 "15 Polish Painters"
Box 3		Aug. 6, 1961 "Monster in Small Format"
Box 3		Aug. 6, 1961 (Magazine section) "Who's Who and Why of Collectors"
Box 3		Aug. 6, 1961 Book Review, Painting in 20th Century
Box 3		Aug. 13, 1961 "Rembrandt, Plus"
Box 3		Aug. 20, 1961 "Monster in Small Format"
Box 3		Aug. 27, 1961 "Ointment Plus Fly"
Box 3		Aug. 27, 1961 (Magazine Section) "Lessons of the Very Young Masters"
Box 3		Sept. 3, 1961 "Buy Prints, Buy American"
Box 4		Sept. 10, 1961 "Big Show, Even Bigger Question"
Box 4		Sept. 17, 1961 "Feat or Folly"
Box 4		Sept. 24, 1961 "Sequeiros"
Box 4		Oct. 1, 1961 Bernard Rader
Box 4		Oct. 8, 1961 "A Mixed-Up Show"
Box 4		Oct. 15, 1961 "American Nudes"
Box 4		Oct. 20, 1961 "Mike Wallace Show"
Box 4		Oct. 22, 1961 "Magritte-Courbet"
Box 4		Oct. 27, 1961 "International Exhibition Open in Pittsburgh"
Box 4		Oct. 29, 1961 "This Way, Please"
Box 4		Nov. 5, 1961 "A Very Painful Truth"
Box 4		Nov. 5, 1961 "Tragic World of Kaethe Kollwitz"
Box 4		Nov. 12, 1961 "Julius Bissier"
Box 4		Nov. 15, 1961 "The Whitney Turns 30"
Box 4		Nov. 26, 1961 "A Banner Year, Of Sorts"
Box 4		Dec. 3, 1961 "Red Stars and Bread"
Box 4		Dec. 3, 1961 "Art and the Artist, and the Bookmaker, Too"
Box 4		Dec. 4, 1961 "Street of Strugglers"
Box 4		Dec. 10, 1961 "Address: North Pole"
Box 4		Dec. 14, 1961 "Art of Grandma Moses"
Box 4		Dec. 17, 1961 "Whitney Again"
Box 4		Dec. 24, 1961 "An Art Almanac"
Box 4		Dec. 31, 1961 "Delights at the Frick"
Box 4		Jan. 1, 1962 "Sculpture Coming Up"
Box 4		Jan. 14, 1962 "Philadelphia American"
Box 4		Jan. 21, 1962 "Whole Men and Fragments"
Box 4		Jan. 28, 1962 "Art, History, Commerce"
Box 4		Feb. 4, 1962 "Soviet Children and Art"
Box 4		Feb. 11, 1962 "An Impossible Exhibition"
Box 4		Feb. 11, 1962 "Letter From the Editor"
Box 4		Feb. 25, 1962 "Jean Dubuffet"
Box 4		Mar. 4, 1962 "Fernand Layer"
Box 4		Mar. 4, 1962 Book Review, Painter of Record
Box 4		Mar. 11, 1962 "Marsden Hartley"
Box 4		Mar. 11, 1962 "Prints in Brooklyn"
Box 4		Mar. 18, 1962 "Two Round Trips"
Box 4		Mar. 25, 1962 "Moore and Calder"
Box 4		Mar. 25, 1962 "When You Call Me Good, Smile"
Box 4		Apr. 1, 1962 "The Mysterious Visitors"
Box 4		Apr. 8, 1962 "Change of Pace"
Box 5		Apr. 15, 1962 "Pride of Drawings"
Box 5		Apr. 18, 1962 Letters, Daily Paper Article
Box 5		Apr. 22, 1962 "Master Building"
Box 5		Apr. 29, 1962 "Seattle Art Show"
Box 5		May 1, 1962 "Picasso Editorial"
Box 5		May 6, 1962 "Bay Area Report"
Box 5		May 13, 1962 "Leonard Baskin"
Box 5		May 20, 1962 "Sculpture Lesson"
Box 5		May 27, 1962 "Welcome Wind-Up"
Box 5		June, 1962 "Amy Crush"
Box 5		June, 1962 "Nation's Future TV"
Box 5		June 3, 1962 "Art in a Democracy"
Box 5		June 10, 1962 "Camera Vs. Painter"
Box 5		June 17, 1962 "Provincetown Report"
Box 5		June 24, 1962 "Some Pending Research"
Box 5		July 1, 1962 "Hogarth and 1962"
Box 5		July 8, 1962 "Shopper's Progress"
Box 5		July 15, 1962 "Bouquet for Mike Belmont"
Box 5		July 22, 1962 "Obscure But Exemplary"
Box 5		Ju1y 29, 1962 "Forty Americans"
Box 5		Aug. 5, 1962 "Big Museum Question"
Box 5		Aug. 12, 1962 "University Amateurs"
Box 5		Aug. 17, 1962 "Museum Directors"
Box 5		Aug. 19, 1962 "An Open Letter to X"
Box 5		Sept. 23, 1962 "Arthur B. Daires and Modern Prints"
Box 5		Sept. 30, 1962 "Special Problem"
Box 5		Sept. 30, 1962 (Magazine section) "Sculpture"
Box 5		Oct. 7, 1962 "A Happy Week"
Box 5		Oct 14, 1962 "Art in Colleges"
Box 5		Oct. 21, 1962 "In Minneapolis"
Box 5		Oct. 28, 1962 "Visitors from the West"
Box 5		Nov. 4, 1962 "Kline and Wyeth"
Box 5		Apr. 7, 1963 "Armory Show, or, Whatever Became of Avant-Garde?"
Box 5		Apr. 14, 1963 "Temple In Extremes"
Box 5		Apr. 21, 1963 "Douanier (Rousseau) the Magic Man"
Box 5		Apr. 28, 1963 "Two Ways to Do It: DeKooning and Anderson"
Box 5		May, 1963 "Rodin"
Box 5		May 5, 1963 "Rodin as a Silver Cord"
Box 5		May 12, 1963 "Manhattan is an Island"
Box 5		May 19, 1963 "Goodbye Forever"
Box 5		May 22, 1963 "Americans 1963"
Box 5		May 26, 1963 "Americans Once More"
Box 5		July 21, 1963 "Handy Little Hot Weather Manual for Prospective Art Critics"
Box 5		Aug. 18, 1963 "Fly on the Wall"
Box 5		Aug. 21, 1963 "Larry Rivers"
Box 5		Aug. 25, 1963 "Liturgical Art"
Box 5		Sept. 1, 1963 "And So To Labor Day"
Box 5		Sept. 1, 1963 "Braque"
Box 5		Sept. 8, 1963 "A Public Sight"
Box 5		Oct. 12, 1963 "Biennale de Paris"
Box 5		Oct. 13, 1965 "Irish Painters"
Box 5		Oct. 20, 1963 "Concentrated Delights"
Box 5		Oct. 27, 1963 "Stella Vs. Stella"
Box 5		Nov. 3, 1963 "Milton Avery"
Box 5		Nov. 10, 1963 "Crowded We"
Box 5		Nov. 11, 1963 "Nagare"
Box 5		Nov. 17, 1963 "Maecenas and Midas"
Box 6		Nov. 20, 1963 Matthew Head Letter to Editor
Box 6		1963 Soviet Article
Box 6		Nov. 24, 1963 "Leon Glub"
Box 6		Dec. 1, 1963 "Hedda Sterne"
Box 6		Dec. 8, 1963 "Small Packages"
Box 6		Dec. 15, 1963 "Whitney Annual"
Box 6		Dec. 22, 1963 "Toys by Artists"
Box 6		Dec. 29, 1963 "Dear Reader"
Box 6		Jan. 5, 1964 "A Wee Plug for a Worthy Cause"
Box 6		Jan. 5, 1964 (Magazine section) "Russian Art"
Box 6		Jan. 7, 1964 "Girlie Show"
Box 6		Jan. 12, 1964 "Hello, Goodbye"
Box 6		Jan. 19 1964 "Jackson-Pollack"
Box 6		Jan. 26, 1964 "Razzle-Dazzle"
Box 6		Feb. 2, 1964 "Hop, Skip, Jump"
Box 6		Feb. 5, 1964 "African Weaponry"
Box 6		Feb. 9, 1964 "Baskin and the Sooty God"
Box 6		Feb. 16, 1964 "American Via Maine"
Box 6		Feb. 23, 1964 "Gaston Lachise"
Box 6		Feb. 27, 1964 "Keane"
Box 6		Mar. 1, 1964 "Re Conscience"
Box 6		Mar. 8, 1964 "Painter's Eye"
Box 6		Mar. 15, 1964 "Philadelphian (Watkins)"
Box 6		Mar. 16, 1964 "Capital Salesroom"
Box 6		Mar. 22, 1964 "Tchelitchen"
Box 6		Mar. 28, 1964 "Oh Dada, Poor Dada"
Box 6		Mar. 29 1964 "Pardon the Heresy"
Box 6		Apr. 5, 1964 "The Mitch Master- Van Gogh"
Box 6		Apr. 12, 1364 "Claes Oldenburg"
Box 6		Apr. 12, 1964 "Maybe Hopeful"
Box 6		Apr. 14, 1964 "Sincerely Yours"
Box 6		Apr. 20, 1964 "Pieta"
Box 6		Apr. 25, 1964 "Art of World's Fair"
Box 6		Apr. 26, 1964 "Pre-Raphaelites"
Box 6		Apr. 28, 1964 "Spanish Pavilion"
Box 6		May 3, 1964 "The Fair as Art"
Box 6		May 10, 1964 "Ray of Light"
Box 6		May 19, 1964 "Oh Fly With Me"
Box 6		May 24, 1964 "Negroes in Art"
Box 6		May 25, 1964 "My Fair Lady"
Box 6		May 26, 1964 "MOMA"
Box 6		May 31, 1964 "No Place Like It"
Box 6		May 31, 1964 (Magazine section) "Pop Art"
Box 6		June 7, 1964 "Maxfield Parrish, Target Artist"
Box 6		June 14, 1964 "Add Fair Art"
Box 6		June 19, 1964 "Mort Sahl"
Box 7		June 21, 1964 "Notes on Daubigny"
Box 7		June 21, 1964 "Notes on Daubigny"
Box 7		June 28, 1964 "This Way (and That) to the American Art Shows"
Box 7		July 5, 1964 "Van Gogh Again, and Better"
Box 7		July 12, 1964 "Far, Far Out On Broadway"
Box 7		July 19, 1964 "Side Report"
Box 7		July 26, 1964 "The Pieta and One Avalokiteshvan"
Box 7		July 26, 1964 (Magazine section) "Drawings"
Box 7		Aug. 2, 1964 "Horizontal Monologue"
Box 7		Sept. 27, 1964 "Auspicious Debut"
Box 7		Oct. 4, 1964 "Edward Hopper"
Box 7		Nov. 15, 1964 "Straw Without Brick"
Box 7		Nov. 18, 1964 "The Lounge-TV"
Box 7		Dec. 6, 1964 "The Case of the'200,000 Weekend Guests"
Box 7		Dec. 27, 1964 "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ-1234567890" 1965
Box 7		Jan. 1965
Box 7		Jan. 3, 1965 "Thanking You In Advance"
Box 7		Jan. 31, 1965 "Come Back Michelangelo"
Box 7		Feb. 28, 1965 "Responsive Eye"
Box 7		Mar. 2, 1965 "Sometimes You Feel Sorry"
Box 7		Mar. 14, 1965 "That's Right, It's Wrong"
Box 7		Mar. 28, 1965 "A Gentle Revelation"
Box 7		May 30, 1965 "Sorry, Can't Help You at All"
Box 7		July 4, 1965 "1920's Revisited"
Box 7		July 11, 1965 "Trouble, Trouble. Trouble"
Box 7		July 31, 1965 "Our National Pride"
Box 7		Aug. 1965
Box 7		Aug. 1, 1965 "Sad Dream World of Gordon G."
Box 7		Aug. 11, 1965 "Carousel"
Box 7		Aug. 22, 1965 "Overboard Comments About Cartoons"
Box 7		Aug. 30, 1965 "Catlin Show"
Box 7		Sept. 5, 1965 "Butler Show"
Box 7		Sept. 12, 1965 "Trozco Show"
Box 7		Oct. 17, 1965 "Robert Motherwell"
Box 8		Nov. 14, 1965 "Why Artists Paint"
Box 8		Dec. 5, 1965 "Da Vinci"
Box 8		Dec. 7, 1965 "Munch Exhibition"
Box 8		Dec. 18, 1965 "Dali"
Box 8		Dec. 19, 1965 "The Quiet Necromancer"
Box 8		Dec. 23, 1965 "Durer Drawings"
Box 8		Jan. 1966
Box 8		Jan. 1966 "Postscript"
Box 8		Jan. 2, 1966 Today Show
Box 8		Feb. 1966

	Correspondence by subject
Box 8		Auction Letters Jan.-Feb. 1966 (2 folders)
Box 8		G-H
Box 8		Invitations, talks - lectures, committees, juries
Box 8		Metropolitan seminars & "Mainstreams"
Box 8		Miscellaneous, answered A-P 1964-1965 (2 folders)
Box 9		Miscellaneous, answered R-Z 1964-1965
Box 9		Miscellaneous , unanswered 1965 (2 folders)
Box 11		Miscellaneous, answered 1966 (3 folders)
Box 9		Miscellaneous, unanswered 1966 (3 folders)
Box 11		Miscellaneous, unanswered 1966 (2 folders)
Box 11		Miscellaneous, unidentifiable 1966
Box 9		Miscellaneous recent, unanswered
Box 10		Miscellaneous interesting letters
Box 10		Miscellaneous - requests for advice, reviews, clarifications, jobs, favors etc.
Box 10		O'Doherty, Brian
Box 10		"Onions"
Box 10		"Orchids" (3 folders)
Box 10		Russian assignment 1963
Box 10		Tobey, Mark

	Manuscripts
Box 11		Articles Feb. 1966-Sept. 1966
Box 10		Reviews, untitled

	Oversize material
Oversize 1		"Printed Present"
Oversize 1		Sketch, "The Critic" by M. Ponce de Leon
Oversize 2, 3		Television interview, New Orleans (2 boxes)

Return to top