Oral history tapes, recorded by Alma Gilbert and Stephen Crimmin , 1979

The Maxfield Parrish Museum Collection contains materials curated and kept by Alma M. Gilbert during her years as director the Maxfield Parrish Museum, which was located within “The Oaks,” the personal home of Parrish. Personal and artistic activities of Maxfield Parrish are recorded in the collection, with many items pertaining to this home in Plainfield, New Hampshire. Such materials include receipts for household, property expenses, and artist supplies and materials from companies such as: Dwight Tuxbury & Sons, F. P. Whitcomb, John Wanamaker, Winsor & Newton, Nash, Winslow, & Co, and other retailers in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Family materials include numerous drawings, photographs, and notes that document some of the activities of his four children Dillwyn, Maxfield Jr., Stephen II, and Jean. These include Dillwyn Parrish’s weekly planner and two class notebooks from college, postcards from travels in the United States and Europe sent to the Parrish children, and two scrapbooks containing drawings by the children. There is even a small glimpse into the life of Stephen Parrish, Maxfield Parrish’s father, whose copy of the 1896 play Izeyl by Armand Sylvestre and Eugene Morand is preserved in the collection.



Materials within the collection that pertain to the career of Maxfield Parrish include scrapbooks, such as one on the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado, who commissioned Parrish in 1921, and a cut of canvas depicting a hill painted in blue and gold found inserted between the pages of a third scrapbook. Also preserved in the collection are glass plate negatives and positives used as reference photographs by Parrish of his family, landscapes, The Oaks, and rock formations staged in his studio. Additional reference photographs include Susan Lewin posing in various costumes and portraits of Maxfield. Many examples of Parrish’s published work are captured in the collection, including “Edison Mazda Lamps” calendars, tear sheets of cover illustrations for Collier’s and Ladies’ Home Journal, advertisements for Djer-Kiss perfume, and several jigsaw puzzles.



Finally, the collection includes fourteen oral history tapes on mini cassettes recorded by Alma Gilbert and Stephen Crimmin. They contain interviews with friends, acquaintances, and employees of Parrish and his wife Lydia.