Collection inventory

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Shaw, Charles Green, 1892-
Title:	Charles G. Shaw Papers
Inclusive Dates:	1916-1964
Quantity:	4 linear ft.
Abstract:	Papers of the American author, illustrator, novelist, painter, poet. Correspondence (1916-1963); manuscript drafts of writings and poetry with original drawings by Shaw; exhibition catalogs; photographs; and scrapbooks of magazine articles and clippings compiled by Shaw of his and his friends' work (1921-1935). Incoming correspondence includes that of Josef Albers, Ruth Chatterton, George Gershwin, Sinclair Lewis, H.L. Mencken, George Jean Nathan, The New Yorker, Maxwell Perkins, Smart Set, Deems Taylor, and Monty Woolley.
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

Charles Green Shaw (1892-1974) was an American writer, poet, illustrator, and abstract painter.

Born in New York City on May 1, 1892 to parents Charles and Eva (Morris), Shaw attended the Friends School and Berkely School, earned his Ph.D. at Yale in 1914, and did graduate work at Columbia in 1915. He served overseas in World War I.

Shaw began writing in 1919 and painting in 1932. He had numerous one-man shows of his art in the United States, England, and France and his work is represented in major galleries across the U.S. and Europe. Besides murals and paintings, Shaw created posters, magazine covers, and montages. Among other awards, he received the Nantucket Art Association Award (1958), Michael Strange Poetry Award (1954), and 1st prize in Nantucket Art Association (1960).

Shaw is the author of Heart in a Hurricane (1927), The Low Down (1928), and many other works, and he was a regular contributor to House and Garden, the New Yorker and other national publications.

Shaw also owned and assembled The C. G. Shaw Theatrical Print Collection, and was a member of various artistic and poetic societies including The Poetry Society (London) and the Institute of Arts and Letters. His published poems include "Into the Light" (1959) and contributions to periodicals and poetry magazines.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Charles G. Shaw Papers consist of correspondence, subject files, manuscripts and published versions of his writings, and scrapbooks.

Correspondence consists of incoming and a small amount of outgoing correspondence.

Subject files consist of announcements, bills, a certificate, photographs, receipts, and vouchers.

Manuscripts consist of bound and unbound drafts of books or articles by Shaw, often including his original drawings.

Published material includes books, exhibitions, newspaper clippings, poems, and published brochures.

Scrapbooks contain Shaw's collections of his magazine articles, press clippings of his work, and articles done by his friends and other writers.

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Arrangement of the Collection

Correspondence is arranged alphabetically (incoming) or chronologically (outgoing). Subject files are arranged alphabetically by topic. Manuscripts are subdivided into bound and unbound; unbound are arranged alphabetically by title but bound volumes are in no particular order. Published material is subdivided by type and arranged alphabetically by title; books have been transferred to Rare Books for cataloging. Scrapbooks are arranged chronologically based on the earliest dated item in each volume.

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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.

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Related Material

Special Collections Research Center has the papers of many other artists and illustrators, including fellow abstract expressionists Grace Hartigan and Irving Lehman. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Associated Titles

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Charles G. Shaw Papers
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Finding Aid Information

Created by: --
Date: 16 Aug 1966
Revision history: 20 Jul 2009 - converted to EAD, renumbered (MRC)

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Inventory

	Correspondence
		Incoming
Box 1			A
Box 1			Albers, Joset
Box 1			American Play Company
Box 1			B
Box 1			The Bookman, Burton Rascoe
Box 1			C
Box 1			Chatterton, Ruth
Box 1			D-E
Box 1			F
Box 1			G
Box 1			Gallatin
Box 1			Gershwin, George
Box 1			Guggenheim, S. R.
Box 1			H
Box 1			J-K-L
Box 1			Lewis, Sinclair
Box 1			M
Box 1			McB., Henry
Box 1			Mencken, H. L.
Box 1			N
Box 1			New Yorker Magazine
Box 1			New Yorker Magazine, Harold W. Ross
Box 1			New Yorker Magazine, James G. Thurber
Box 1			P-R-S
Box 1			Perkins, Maxwell
Box 1			Smart Set
Box 1			Smart Set, George Jean Nathan
Box 1			T-Y
Box 1			Taylor Deems
Box 1			Vanity Fair
Box 1			Wills Helen
Box 1			Wooley, Monty
Box 1			Unidentified
		Outgoing
Box 1			Miscellaneous

	Subject files
Box 1		Announcements for one-man shows
Box 1		Certificate from American Mercury
Box 1		Photos of Shaw
Box 1		Photos of Shaw's paintings
Box 1		Vouchers, receipts, bills

	Manuscripts
		Unbound manuscripts
Box 2			Guess Again
Box 2			Heart Failure
Box 2			It Wasn't Spilt Milk
Box 2			Love's Lexicon
Box 2			The Reason Why
Box 2			Sketches, drawings, studies for paintings, etc 1920's and 1930's
Box 3			Sketches, miscellaneous
Box 3			The Uncommon Man
Box 3			What's the Date
		Notebooks and bound manuscripts
Box 3			List of bound manuscripts of Charles G. Shaw
Box 3			The Adventures of Hally
Box 3			Birthday Party
Box 3			Heart in a Hurricane
Box 3			Izzi
Box 3			Jumble Pie
Box 3			The Little Mouse
Box 3			The Low-Down
Box 3			The Marvelous Mirror
Box 3			Me
Box 3			Merry-go-round House
Box 3			Most of Us Look Like Animals
Box 3			Mother Booze's Nursery Rhymes
Box 3			The Noo Book
Box 3			No Such Animal
Box 3			Red, Blue, and Yellow
Box 3			Robin Detective
Box 3			Robin Posts a Letter
Box 3			Sunrise and Sunset
Box 3			The Tale of a Kite
Box 3			Train Ride
Box 3			The Unplucked Rocking Chair
Box 3			What in the World Was It?
Box 3			What in the World Was It? [not the same book as preceding]

	Published Material
		Books
			Transferred to Rare Books for cataloging
			The Apple that Jack Ate The Giant of Central Park The Blue Guess Book Heart in a Hurricane Image of Life Into the Light It Looked Like Spilt Milk Lady by Chance The Low-Down The Milk That Jack Drank New York-Oddly Enough Pitter Patter Toy Parade The Water That Jack Drank The Winter Noisy Book
Box 4		Exhibitions
Box 4		Newspaper clippings
		Poems
Box 4			The Creative Review (magazine)
Box 4			The Sphinx (magazine) (magazine)
Box 4			Stem (magazine)
Box 4			Wisconsin Poetry Magazine
Box 4		Publishers brochures

	Scrapbooks
Box 4		Miscellaneous clippings December 1921-March 1929
Box 5		"Notes on Women" 1922-1928
Box 5		"American Institutions" from the "Smart Set" 1923
Box 5		From "Vanity Fair" and the "Smart Set" May 1924
Box 5		Press clippings on "Heart in a Hurricane" Mar 1927-Nov 1927
Box 6		Press clippings on "The Low-Down" Feb 1928-Feb. 1929
Box 6		Press clippings on "Night-Life" Sep-Dec 1931
Box 6		Press clippings on "Lady by Chance" March 1932-April 1933
Box 6		Miscellaneous clippings January 1932-May 1935

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