Guide to the David P. Becker Research Files, 1983-2007, undated
Some materials restricted; restrictions noted in container list.
David P. Becker Research Files, George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine
The George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, like all archives and special collections libraries, is the creation of human beings who have collected, organized, and described things in ways that reflect personal, cultural, societal, and institutional biases. Although we strive to preserve and present collections in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections, we acknowledge that our systems are neither neutral nor perfect. We encourage you to let us know if you encounter materials, descriptive language, or practices that are offensive or harmful, particularly those for which inadequate context or warning is offered. We are committed to modifying and updating our descriptive practices to use respectful and inclusive terminology and appreciate your help in this work. We look forward to supporting you in your research and learning together.
David Pillsbury Becker (1947-2010), Bowdoin Class of 1970, was a collector and curator of prints, drawings, and rare books. Becker, worked at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art as an undergraduate, and following graduation served as an assistant curator, acting curator, and registrar at the Museum. He held positions in the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts at the Houghton Library at Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston where he was the Pamela and Peter Voss Curator of Prints and Drawings, and the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard. Becker served Bowdoin College as an overseer (1986-1996) and trustee (1996-1998), and in June 2010, was awarded the Alumni Service Award in recognition of his volunteer service to the College. David Becker died on November 26, 2010.
David Becker's research files on printmaking in Maine compiled in the process of writing his book The Imprint of Place: Maine Printmaking 1800-2005, published in conjunction with the Maine Print Project. Subject files contain course material for a printmaking class taught at Bowdoin College as well as correspondence, background material, notes, and drafts for writing projects, exhibitions, and lectures for the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Frick Collection, among others.
This series contains correspondence, information about artists, print copies of images, and articles collected by Becker for The Imprint of Place: Maine Printmaking 1800-2005. Also included are drafts of portions of the book, drafts of talks given by Becker, exhibition information, and reviews related to the state-wide celebration of printmaking in Maine.
Arrangement and folder headings established by David Becker.
The Imprint of Place: Maine Printmaking 1800-2005 documents the history of Maine prints and the contributions Maine printmaking has made to American art. Published in 2006, it launched "Celebrating 200 Years of Printmaking in Maine," a series of exhibitions, education programs, and symposia about all aspects of Maine printmaking. Organized by the Maine Print Project, a statewide collaboration of twenty-five art museums and non-profit arts institutions, the events marking 200 years of printmaking in Maine took place from August 2006 through February 2007.
Fan letters, 2006-2007, n.d.
Correspondence, 2004-2006, n.d.
Correspondence - Earle Shettleworth notes and articles, 2002, 2005, n.d.
Correspondence - Maine print history: editing design, 2005-2006, n.d.
Reviews, publicity, 2005-2007
Project brochures, 2006
Down East Books (includes catalog), 2006
Notes, miscellaneous, 2005, n.d.
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Allen, Judith
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Arms, John Taylor
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Bacon, Peggy
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Barnet, Will
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Baskin, Leonard
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Beckman, Siri
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Bellows, George
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Benson, Frank
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Berry, Carroll Thayer
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Bileck, Marvin
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Cambronne, James
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Cook, Howard
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Cooney-Porter, Barbara
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Cornell, Thomas
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Dohanos, Stevan
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Dougherty, Paul
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Drewes, Werner
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Driskell, David C.
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Eames, John H.
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Easton, Linwood
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Eby, Kerr
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Estes, Richard
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Fisher, Jonathan
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Fiske, Gertrude
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Groce, Susan
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Hardy, Pat
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Hartley, Marsden
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Haskell, Ernest
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Hepler, Anna
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Herman, Adriane
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Hewes, Horace G.
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Hewitt, Charles
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Hildreth, Alison
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Hodsdon, Frances
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Hopper, Edward
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Hultberg, John
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Indiana, Robert
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Jacquette, Yvonne
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Jensen, Dorothy Hay
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Katz, Alex
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Kent, Rockwell
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Kimball, Charles F.
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Kuhn, Walt
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Kuniyoshi, Yasuo
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Lozowick, Louis
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Marin, John
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Moran, Emily and Peter
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Morang, Alfred
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Muench, John
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Nevelson, Louise
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Nineteenth century publishers and artists - Stinson; Hallett / engravers et al
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Patterson, Margaret J.
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Peirce, Waldo and Alzira
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Porter, Fairfield
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Schrag, Karl
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Skolfield, Raymond
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Staley, Tom
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Stephan, Aaron and Scribner, Meghan
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Walker, John
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Washburn, Cadwallader
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Welliver, Neil
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Wengenroth, Stow
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Woodbury, Charles
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Zorach, William and Marguerite
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Close possibilities; Maybes
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Others (20*)
Correspondence, artist information, and print images: Others (Contemp)
Correspondence, collection information and print images: Bates College Museum of Art, 2005, n.d.
Correspondence, collection information and print images: Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 2005, n.d.
Correspondence, collection information and print images: Colby College Museum of Art, 2005-2006, n.d.
Correspondence, collection information and print images: John Day, collector, 2005, n.d.
Correspondence, collection information and print images: Farnsworth Art Museum, 2004, n.d.
Correspondence, collection information and print images: Maine Historical Society, 2005, n.d.
Correspondence, collection information and print images: Ogunquit Museum of American Art, 2004, 2005
Correspondence, collection information and print images: Portland Museum of Art, 2005, n.d.
Correspondence, collection information and print images: University of Maine Museum - Bangor, 2004-2005, n.d.
Correspondence, collection information and print images: Maine Print Project - collection inventories, 2005, n.d.
Correspondence, collection information and print images: History of collecting - exhibiting
Correspondence, collection information and print images: Maine Print Project - related exhibitions 2006
The Imprint of Place: Maine Printmaking 1800-2005: Introduction - drafts
The Imprint of Place: Maine Printmaking 1800-2005: Bibliography - articles
The Imprint of Place: Maine Printmaking 1800-2005: Glossary - samples/drafts
The Imprint of Place: Maine Printmaking 1800-2005: Current drafts
The Imprint of Place: Maine Printmaking 1800-2005: Checklist
The Imprint of Place: Maine Printmaking 1800-2005: Photo orders
The Imprint of Place: Maine Printmaking 1800-2005: Images for Maine printmaking history
The Imprint of Place: Maine Printmaking 1800-2005: Maine Historical Society exhibit, 2006 Sep-Dec
The Imprint of Place: Maine Printmaking 1800-2005: Maine Historical Society talk, Portland, 2006 Sep 28
The Imprint of Place: Maine Printmaking 1800-2005: Center for Maine Contemporary Art talk, Rockport, 2006 Oct 21 28
The Imprint of Place: Maine Printmaking 1800-2005: Baxter Society talk, Portland, 2006 Sep 13
Course material for a 2001 History of Printmaking class taught by David Becker at Bowdoin College, as well as information about his 1994 gift to the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, and material for catalogue entries prepared by Becker for the Baltimore Museum of Art catalogue and for New York's Frick Collection catalogue. Also includes correspondence, notes, printed background material, and drafts for lectures, gallery talks, exhibitions, statements, and articles by Becker.
Arrangement and folder headings established by David Becker.
Some materials restricted; restrictions noted in container list.
Griffiths review - Print Quarterly, articles and drafts, 2005, n.d.
Baltimore Museum of Art catalogue - Odilon Redon, 2004, n.d.
Baltimore Museum of Art catalogue - Adolphe Hervier, 2004-2005, n.d.
Bowdoin College Museum of Art - Ad Hoc Art Museum Study Group, 2001 Mar
Newspaper clipping re: Bowdoin College Museum of Art, "The Portland Phoenix," 2000 Nov 17-23
Bowdoin College Museum of Art Executive Advisory Council and reopening committee, 2004-2006, n.d. [RESTRICTED until 2026]
Correspondence - miscellaneous, 1986-1989
Bowdoin print course - bibliographies
Bowdoin History of Printmaking class - lists of prints and books shown, 2001
Bowdoin History of Printmaking course - lectures, 2001
Bowdoin print course - articles and notes
Bowdoin History of Printmaking class - final exam, 2001 Fall
Bowdoin History of Graphics course, 2001
Bowdoin History of Printmaking class - Special Collections visit, 2001 Oct 10
Bowdoin print course - miscellaneous notes and slide copies
Frick Collection catalogue correspondence, 1997-2003
Frick Collection catalogue - final entries and loose ends, n.d.
Frick Collection correspondence, 1986-1998
Frick Collection - Albrecht Durer
Frick Collection - Anthony Van Dyck
Frick Collection - Rembrandt van Rijn
Frick Collection - Charles Meryon
Frick Collection - James McNeill Whistler
Frick Collection - Jacob Maris
Frick Collection - British mezzotinto portraits
Frick Collection - British/Cincinnati - Francesco Bartolozzi, Charles Knight
Frick Collection - British mezzotints
Frick Collection talk - lecture notes, 1993 Mar 24
Illustrated books - modern
Bowdoin College Museum of Art - Looking at Prints, 1992
Trees - correspondence with Josephine Aldridge, exhibition information, notes prints, lists, 1991-2007
Bowdoin College Museum of Art/1994 D. P. Becker gift
Bowdoin College Museum of Art/D. P. Becker show - invites, talk, fan mail, 1995-1996
Bowdoin College Museum of Art/D. P. Becker show - catalogue, 1994-1995
Bowdoin College Museum of Art - Print collection statement, 1991-1992
Art - miscellaneous jobs: Bowdoin College Museum of Art - value and art exchange, 2002 Spring
Art - miscellaneous jobs: Bowdoin College Museum of Art - Dante show proposal, 1997
Art - miscellaneous jobs: annotation, Bowdoin College library copy of Dirk van Gelder's book re: Rodolphe Bresdin
Art - miscellaneous jobs: Peregrine Press jurying, 2003 Apr 19
Art - miscellaneous jobs: Marsden Hartley biography, 2003
Art - miscellaneous jobs: Jessica Gandolf essay, 1999-2000
Lectures: Leonard Baskin as a Collector, Baxter Society talk, 2001 Jan 10
Lectures: Andy Warhol gallery talk, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 2001 Nov 14
Lectures: Renaissance Prints and Drawings, Maine College of Art class, 1994 Mar 2
Lectures: Baskin Old Master Prints, Bates College, 1992 Nov 12
Lectures: "Speaking of Prints," Portland Museum of Art, 1994 Feb 12
Lectures: Drawings for prints, Susan Wegner's Drawing class, Bowdoin College, 1994 Nov 9
Lectures: Stephen Harvard talk, Baxter Society, Portland, 1993 Apr 14
Lectures: Vinalhaven Press, St. Anselm's College, 1993 Dec 2
Lectures: Monotype lecture, Maine Coast Artists, Rockport, Maine, 1993 Sep 17
Lectures: Introduction of Michael Mazur and Robert Pinsky, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 1997 Jan 29
Gallery talks: Meryon gallery talk, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 1990 May
Gallery talks - miscellaneous, 1983-1996, n.d.
David P. Becker bookplates