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Peggy Bacon Papers

An inventory of her papers at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: -
Date: Jan 1967

Biographical History

Peggy Bacon (1895-1987) was an American author, caricaturist and illustrator.

Margaret "Peggy" Bacon was born in Ridgefield, Connecticut, on May 2 1895, the only child of Charles R. Bacon and his wife Elizabeth, both professional painters, and grew up in an artistic and literary environment. In an interview in 1973 with Paul Cummings for the Archives of American Art, she recalled that "[My parents] were passionate readers of Henry James as fast as his novels came out. Every evening there was reading aloud....[T]here were quantities of books, endless books arriving. And a great deal of charm. They were people of taste. Father was very well-read in French. He spoke French so well that French people mistook him for a Frenchman."

Peggy was largely educated by tutors and governesses until the age of fourteen when she was sent to Kent Place School in Summit, New Jersey. She displayed her artistic talents at an early age and rather than entering college decided to study at the Art Students League in New York City. In 1920 she married fellow student Alexander Brook (with whom she later had two children, Alexander and Belinda) and began her career as artist, writer and teacher.

Peggy Bacon taught at the Corcoran Art School in Washington DC, the Fieldstone School, the Art Students League, Hunter College, and the New School in New York. At the same time, she began exhibiting her pastels, prints, etchings and caricatures in many of the country's major museums. She had had her first one-man show in 1915 and beginning in 1922 she had a show almost every year at various galleries in New York. Like many of her compatriots, she worked for Associated American Artists but did not stay with them long.

Along with her art, Peggy was also a talented writer. She contributed articles, short stories, and witty verse to leading magazines such as The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and the Saturday Review, including a review in verse of The Women, which "earned [me] two lifelong enemies -- Clare Booth Luce and Henry Luce." Her first children's book, The Lion-hearted Kitten, was published in 1926 and several more quickly followed, as well as illustration work on more than sixty books for both children and adults. In 1952 her first novel, a mystery entitled The Inward Eye, was published and won favorable reviews.

In 1934 Bacon won a Guggenheim Fellowship and a few years later an award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters. She retired to Cape Porpoise, Maine in 1961 where she lived until her death in 1987.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Peggy Bacon Papers consist of artwork originals, artwork reproductions, biographical material, correspondence subject files, legal material, memorabilia and writings.

Artwork originals is a variety of sizes of pencil, ink and watercolor drawings, some done when Bacon was a child.

Artwork reproductions consists of published copies of illustrations she did for her own and other people's writing.

Biographical material includes brief biographies for shows and other purposes as well as curriculum vitae and obituaries.

Correspondence subject files includes Peggy Bacon's correspondence as well as Alexander Brook's correspondence and some of their early correspondence with each other.

Legal material is composed of notes about Peggy Bacon's estate that were made by her daughter Belinda and a copy of Peggy Bacon's birth certificate.

Memorabilia consists of awards and honors, clippings, exhibition announcenments and catalogs, photgraphs, post cards, and a scrapbook.

Writings includes manuscript and published copies of articles, books, poems, reviews and short stories as well as some compositions Bacon wrote as a High School student.

Arrangement of the Collection

General correspondence is arranged chronologically and all other material is arranged alphabetically by type and within type by title where titles exist.

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.

Related Material

Special Collections Research Center has the papers of a number of American artists from the same time period. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing.

Subject Headings

Persons

Bacon, Charles R. (Charles Roswell), 1868-1913.
Bacon, Peggy, 1895-1987.
Benet, S.V. (Stephen Vincent), 1898-1943.
Bishop, Isabel, 1902-1958.
Bouche, Louis, 1896-1969.
Brook, Alexander.
Cramer, Konrad, 1888-1963.
Duffy, Edmund, 1899-1962.
Fine, Irving, 1914-1962.
Force, Juliana, 1876-1948.
John, Augustus, 1878-1961.
Porter, Katherine Anne, 1890-1980.
Sunami, Soichi, 1885-1971.
White, E.B. (Elwyn Brooks), 1899-1985.

Subjects

Art, American -- 20th century.
Art, American.
Illustrators, United States.
Painters, United States.
Painting, American -- 20th century.
Painting, American.
Women artists, United States.
Women authors, American.
Women painters, United States.

Genres and Forms

Articles.
Awards.
Clippings (information artifacts)
Correspondence.
Drawings (visual works)
Juvenilia.
Notes (documents)
Obituaries.
Photographs.
Poems.
Sketchbooks.
Sketches.

Occupations

Artists.
Authors.
Illustrators.
Painters.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Peggy Bacon Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Peggy Bacon, 1964.

Table of Contents

Artwork, original

Artwork, reproductions

Biographical material

Correspondence subject files

Legal material

Memorabilia

Writings

Inventory