Paul Preston Davis 1931-2021 Collection
Scope and Contents
The Paul Preston Davis Collection consists of an array of media, including manuscripts, books, scrapbooks, periodicals, programs, brochures, catalogs, ephemera, and research notes. Notable primary sources include correspondence (both original and photocopied), original sketches and art, and photographs (originals, prints, and photocopies); as well as Davis’s research notes and copies of research publications by other authors. Please note: these copies are to be used for reference purposes only—please consult the original publication for reference and citations.
The collection at the Brandywine Museum of Art’s Walter and Leonore Anneberg Research Center covers research and materials on four artists local to the Delaware-Pennsylvania region: Alexander Charles Stuart (1831-1898), Henry Louis Stephens (1824-1882), Howard Pyle (1853-1911), and John Sloan (1871-1951). Each subject ties back to Davis’s research interests, whether that be for his publication of the book Howard Pyle--His work, His Life (Howard Pyle), or collecting subjects such as advertisement illustration (Henry Louis Stephens), Wilmington business and industry (Alexander Charles Stuart), or personal connections made during his time conducting research and volunteering at the Delaware Art Museum (John Sloan and Helen Farr Sloan).
In the case of Howard Pyle and John Sloan, these series reflect a following of their career, personal life, and accolades. For Alexander Charles Stuart and Henry Louis Stephens, these series connect to aspects of Davis’s scope as a collector of Wilmington-related businesses, industry, and illustration in advertisement.
Materials pertaining to the history of business and industry in Wilmington, Delaware are present in several of the series, particularly with Howard Pyle and Alexander Charles Stuart. However, more comprehensive materials from Davis’s collection may be found at the Delaware Historical Society located in downtown Wilmington, Delaware (see: Related Collections).
Dates
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1880 - 2000
- Creation: 1820 - 2021
Creator
- Davis, Paul Preston, 1931-2021 (Donor, Person)
- Sloan, Helen Farr, 1911-2005 (Person)
- Colflesh, Julie, 1997 (active) (Person)
- Gause,, J.T., 1887 (active) (Person)
- Smith, T.B., 1882 (active) (Person)
- Stuart,, Alexander Charles, 1831-1898 (Person)
- Harlan & Hollingsworth Company of Wilmington, Delaware (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for researchers by appointment only. Please contact the Research Center for information on access and research.
Conditions Governing Use
Materials held within the Research Center may be protected by copyright. Authorization to reproduce, publish, or quote from any restricted material requires permission from the copyright holder and is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain.
Paul Preston Davis (1931-2021)
Paul Preston Davis (1931-2021) was a native of Wilmington, Delaware and a meticulous collector and historian. He attended night classes at the Wharton School of Business, served in the Coast Guard during the Korean War, and retired from the Delmarva Power Company as the General Manager of Employee Relations in 1990. Davis joined the Delaware Bibliophiles in 1977, where alongside other members traveled to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a regional hub for paper collecting, and cultivated relationships with dealers throughout the Delaware Valley.
Davis notably collected Howard Pyle, his students, illustration in advertising and periodicals, and Delaware history. His collection contained materials ranging from watch papers to photographs, bound periodicals to original works, and writing. Subjects he captured often hold a connection to Wilmington, Delaware businesses, advertisements, and local photography. Davis began collecting illustrated children’s publications, and by 1980 his collection found its focus on Howard Pyle, a subject introduced to him by Wilmington book dealer Mort Rosenblatt. Davis’s collecting intensified following his retirement from Delmarva in 1990.
Davis sought primary sources for research, but as a meticulous collector found all kinds of manuscripts, objects, and publications—and notably kept multiple copies if possible. Over the course of four decades, Davis had amassed a major collection of photographs, publications, ephemera, memorabilia, and more. His home library included all publications in which Pyle’s illustrations were published, such as Scribner’s Magazine and Harper’s Weekly. Many of these rare and important materials were donated to the Delaware Historical Society where they formed the multi-part exhibit, “Collecting Wilmington: Place, Perspective & Memory,” which ran from November 2019 until 2025.
In 2020, Davis downsized to a home within a retirement community. Any final donations, including to the Delaware Historical Society and Brandywine Museum of Art, were made between 2019 and 2021. On March 23, 2021, Paul Preston Davis passed away at the age of 89.
Extent
10.07 Linear Feet (11 boxes (processed material))
xxx Linear Feet (unprocessed material)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Paul Preston Davis Collection contains secondary and tertiary research materials that cover four artistic subjects local to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Delaware regions: Alexander Charles Stuart, Henry Louis Stephens, Howard Pyle, and John Sloan.
Arrangement
This collection is broken into four primary series in order of their receipt at the museum as documented by their accession records. Within the Henry Louis Stephens and Howard Pyle series, several sub-series are present in their organization. Sub-series follow divisions imposed by the creator of the materials. Only the Alexander Charles Stuart materials did not include sub-series levels present, perhaps due to their scale. In the instance of the John Sloan series, creator divisions were not separated into subseries since original order was not strictly maintained in the processing of these items. See Research Center staff for additional details and original order documentation for the John Sloan materials.
The order for the collection is as follows:
Series I – Alexander Charles Stuart
Series II – Henry Louis Stephens
- Subseries 1: Advertisement Work
- Subseries 2: Periodical Work
- Subseries 3: Book Illustration and Writing
Series IV – Howard Pyle
- Subseries 1: Family, genealogy, residences, business and photographs
- Subseries 2: Childhood, education
- Subseries 3: Dissertations, Theses and mixed writings pertaining to Pyle. [Subseries 3 contains a mix of published and unpublished material that is about Pyle’s work, mention Pyle’s work, or media created by Pyle.]
- Subseries 4: Jigsaw puzzles
- Subseries 5: Awards and honors
- Subseries 6: Directories
- Subseries 7: Correspondence
- Subseries 8: Pyle’s school of art
- Subseries 9: Pyle’s studio
- Subseries 10: Pyle’s students
- Subseries 11: Women Students
- Subseries 12: Recognition of Pyle
- Subseries 13: Pyle in teaching guides
- Subseries 14: Paintings for the Bibliophile society
- Subseries 15: Owners of Pyle works
- Subseries 16: Pyle similarities
- Subseries 17: Fakes and forgeries
- Subseries 18: Sales of art and books
- Subseries 19: Murals
- Subseries 20: Exhibition history
- Subseries 21: Expositions
- Subseries 22: Prints and reproductions
- Subseries 23: Newspapers and bound volumes
- Subseries 24: Pamphlets, ads, ephemera
- Subseries 25: Magazines
- Subseries 26: Clubs and organizations
- Subseries 27: Christmas seal
- Subseries 28: Bookplates
- Subseries 29: Battleship Delaware
- Subseries 30: Theatrical designs
- Subseries 31: Unique ephemera
- Subseries 32: Audiovisual
- Subseries 33: Pyle Collectors, Dealers, and Scholars
- Subseries 34: Howard Pyle: His Life, His Work research materials
- Subseries 35: Ian Schoenherr
- Subseries 36: Brandywine Museum of Art
- Subseries 37: Delaware Art Museum
- Subseries 38: State of Delaware
- Subseries 39: Delaware Historical Society
- Subseries 40: Board of Park Commissioners, Wilmington, DE
- Subseries 41: Kelly Collection of American Art
- Subseries 42: McClure’s
- Subseries 43: Flat boxes
- Subseries 44: Mixed ephemera and clippings
- Subseries 45: Correspondence [currently in binders]
- Subseries 46: Clippings [currently in binders, stored with periodicals]
- Subseries 47: Mixed Accruals
- Subseries 48: Flat Files. Subseries additionally contains materials that have been stored on top of the flat file system [inventory to be conducted for contents on top of map case
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gifts of Paul Preston Davis, 2011-2021
Accession numbers: 41083.1, 41083.2, 49098, 49099, 50076, 51049, 51050, 51063, 51064
Accruals
A series of donations were made between the years 2011 and 2021:
- Alexander Charles Stuart series - 41083.1, in 2011.
- Henry Louis Stephen series - 41083.2, in 2011.
- John Sloan series - Initial donation in 2019, which began as an extended loan starting in 2018, 49099; first accrual in December 2020 and approved March 2021, 51050; Final accrual donated in September 2021 and approved March 2021, 51064.
- Howard Pyle series - Initial donation in 2019, 49098; first accrual 50076 in 2020; final accruals donated in September 2021 and approved March 2021, 51049 and 51063.
Sources
DiEleuterio, Rachael (Librarian and Archivist at the Delaware Art Museum) and Coyle, Heather Campbell (Curator of American Art at the Delaware Art Museum) in discussion with Bri Cronin, March 24, 2025.
Doherty, Thomas E., Delaware Bibliophiles: Endpapers, “Remembering Paul Preston Davis,” September 2021.
Englehart, Lora B., “A Life’s Work,” Delaware Today, June 2005, pages 17, 33-34, 36.
“Official Obituary of Paul Preston Davis.” DellaVecchia, Reilly, Smith & Boyd Funeral Home, Inc. March 19, 2021. https://www.dellafh.com/obituary/Paul-Davis
Rifenburg, Leigh (Chief Curator at the Delaware Historical Society) in discussion with Bri Cronin, January 9, 2025.
Harmful Content Statement
The Walter & Leonore Annenberg Research Center’s library, archives, and special collections contain historical and contemporary materials documenting artistic expression and lived experience, thus some content includes harmful, offensive, distressing, or inappropriate images or language, including but not limited to materials that document violence or hate speech. Research Center patrons may encounter images and language that are now recognized as offensive and unacceptable; some may have been widely viewed as unacceptable when they were created. As archivists and librarians, we strive in our profession to present historically accurate information and content with integrity. Here at the Research Center, we uphold these principles, while acknowledging that some content within does not represent current socially or culturally appropriate viewpoints. Inclusion of such content within Research Center collections is not an endorsement of its language, images, or ideology. The Research Center upholds the importance of fostering access in a responsible and transparent way, that openly rejects oppressive views that may be reflected in collections.
Processing Information
When each series of this collection was first received, they were processed as stand-alone collections by their respective subject/artist. During a reprocessing project that began in 2024, the individual collections were identified as part of a greater series of donations made by Paul Preston Davis. A decision was made to combine the research materials together to maintain their provenance, as each series reflects the research subjects and interests of the donor.
Each series received a minimum inventory and assessment upon their arrival. The labor for processing the collection was divided between the years 2019 and 2025 and included the efforts of Research Center staff Virginia O’Hara and Lillian Kinney, a volunteer, two interns Christopher Sassaris and Bri Cronin, and a grant-funded archivist Eileen Fay. Initial processing of each series had primarily been completed by summer interns with an exception to the Howard Pyle series, of which was processed by the grant-funded archivist.
Subject
- Bibliophile Society (Boston, Mass.) (Organization)
- Collier's (Magazine) (Organization)
- Pyle, Howard, 1853-1911 (Person)
- Sloan, John, 1871-1951 (Person)
- Stephens, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1824-1882 (Person)
- Stuart,, Alexander Charles, 1831-1898 (Person)
- Arthurs, Stanley Massey, 1877-1950 (Person)
- Ashley, Clifford W. (Clifford Warren), 1881-1947 (Person)
- Bates, Bertha Corson Day, 1875-1968 (Person)
- Chambers, Jay, 1877-1929 (Person)
- Duer, Douglas (Person)
- Dunn, Harvey, 1884-1952 (Person)
- Elliott, Elizabeth Shippen Green (Person)
- Foster, William Harnden, 1886-1941 (Person)
- Harding, Charlotte, 1873-1951 (Person)
- Henook-Makhewe-Kelenaka (Person)
- Koerner, W. H. D. (William Henry Dethlef), 1878-1938 (Person)
- Leach, Ethel Pennewill Brown (Person)
- Masters, F. B. (Frank B.), 1873-1955 (Person)
- Oakley, Thornton, 1881-1952 (Person)
- Oakley, Violet, 1874-1961 (Person)
- Oliver, Ellis A. (Ellis Augustus), 1872-1937 (Person)
- Peck, Henry J. (Henry Jarvis), 1880-1964 (Person)
- Pyle, M. C. (Margaret Churchman), 1825-1885 (Person)
- Pyle, Katharine, 1863-1938 (Person)
- Rush, Olive, 1873-1966 (Person)
- Schoonover, Frank E., 1877-1972 (Person)
- Schoenherr, Ian (Person)
- Smith, Jessie Willcox, 1863-1935 (Person)
- Stephens, Alice Barber, 1858-1932 (Person)
- True, Allen Tupper, 1881-1955 (Person)
- Wyeth, N.C. (Newell Convers), 1882-1945 (Person)
- Title
- Paul Preston Davis 1931-2021 Collection
- Status
- In Progress
- Author
- Bri Cronin, 2025; Eileen L. Fay, 2019; Virginia O’Hara, 2021-2022; Christoforos Sassaris, 2021; Lillian Kinney, 2024-2025
- Date
- 2025
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Walter & Leonore Annenberg Research Center - Archives & Special Collections Repository
1 Hoffman's Mill Road
PO Box 141
Chadds Ford PA 19317 United States
610-388-8310
research@brandywine.org