Collection Summary
Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin
Beale, Joseph Boggs,
1841-1926
Joseph Boggs Beale Collection
circa 1870s-2005
4 oversize boxes, 2 document boxes, 1 flat box (2.67 linear feet)
Ranging in date from 1865 to the
2000s, the Joseph Boggs Beale Collection consists of Beale's watercolor paintings
used for magic lantern slide, glass slides, publications that highlight the artist,
and merchandised reproductions of his work. The majority of this collection contains
Beale's watercolor paintings.
English
Film Collection FI-078
Acquisition:
Gift, 2012 (12-11-006-G)
Provence Note:
Forty one watercolor painting were acquired from the American National Insurance Co.
(ANICO), which purchased over 673 of Beale's magic lantern watercolor painting in
the early 1970s. Glass magic lantern slides, reproduced illustrations, and published
materials featuring Beale's work were acquired from Terry and Deborah Borton.
Access:
Open for research
Processed by:
Stephanie Tiedeken, 2013
Biographical Sketch
Famed magic lantern slide artist Joseph Boggs Beale was born in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, on December 10, 1841. He was the eldest child of Louise Boggs McCord
(1815-1887) and Dr. Steven Thomas Beale (1814-1899), a prominent dentist and founder
of the Pennsylvania Association of Dental Surgeons. Beale demonstrated an aptitude
for drawing while attending the prestigious Philadelphia's Central High School and
later the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In 1862, the twenty-year-old Beale
returned to Central High School as a professor of writing and drawing, winning the
position over realist painter Thomas Eakins.
During the Civil War, Beale served with the Company D, 2nd Regiment, Blue Reserves of
Philadelphia. He was quickly appointed to regimental artist and created battle
sketches for various publications. After the war, he became an illustrator for
numerous magazines including,
Harper's, Frank Leslie's Weekly, and the Daily Graphic. Beale lived in Chicago for several years with his wife,
Mary Louise Taffart, before returning to Philadelphia in the early 1870s. Much of
the artist's work was lost in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
After Beale's return to Philadelphia, the prosperous glass slide dealer Caspar W.
Briggs & Sons hired the talented illustrator to produce original slide
designs for early projectors, known as magic lanterns. Illustrated glass slides were
placed inside these machines and the image was projected onto a screen as a form of
entertainment. Beale created 1,804 black and white paintings during his time at
Caspar W. Briggs & Sons. The artist used a range of dark paints on charcoal
gray paper, highlighted with Chinese opaque watercolors. The result, luminous and
detailed illustrations with dramatic color contrast. Many of Beale's paintings
chronicle American history from Native American folklore, colonization, the federal
period, Civil War, to Victorian life. His illustrations also capture, Biblical and
popular narrative stories.
By the time of his death on February 26, 1926, Beale had become renowned for his
realistic magic lantern paintings. Several years after the artist's death, a large
quantity of his work was discovered in the home of a glass slide producer from
Germantown, Pennsylvania. Since then, Beale's paintings have been dispersed into
public and private collections.
Sources
Robb, David M., Jr., and Frances Osborn Robb.
Star-Spangled
History, Drawings by Joseph Boggs Beale. Compiled by American National
Insurance Company. Galveston, TX: American Printing Company, 1975.
Speaking of Pictures.LIFE Magazine, January 8, 1940, 4-6.
Wainwright, Nicholas B., and Joseph Boggs Beale.
Education of an Artist: The Diary of Joseph Boggs Beale, 1856-1862.The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography,
October 1973, 485-510, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20090791. (accessed 14 July
2013).
Scope and Contents
Ranging in date from 1865 to the 2000s, the Joseph Boggs Beale Collection consists of
Beale's watercolor paintings used for magic lantern slides, glass slides,
publications that highlight the artist, and merchandised reproductions of his work.
The majority of this collection is made up of Beale's watercolor paintings, which
were produced in Philadelphia beginning in the 1870s. The collection is divided into
two series: I. Joseph Boggs Beale's paintings; II. Related Materials.
Beale's watercolor paintings, which makeup the first series, are arranged
alphabetically by painting title and primarily depict various periods of American
history. Some of the paintings, like
Columbus Predicts
Eclipse, document European exploration of the American continent. Others
detail the colonial and early federal periods. Five paintings, part of an incomplete
sequence, chronicle the life and death of President Ulysses S. Grant. The largest
volume of paintings illustrate Edward Everett Hale's short story, A Man Without A Country, published in the December
1863 issue of the Atlantic. The narrative follows an
American Army Lieutenant, Philip Nolan, who renounces his country during a treason
trial. Nolan is forced to live the rest of his life at sea without speaking or
hearing news of the United States. The story is a Civil War allegory and intended to
promote the Union cause. Illustrations of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl, remain the only non-historical
paintings in the collection. The Little Match Girl
sequence is incomplete, missing one of the eight paintings adapting the Danish
author's short story.
Series II. Related Materials include artifacts and printed items which place Beale's
work in the context of his own life and the magic lantern industry. Particularly
notable, are the glass magic lantern slides produced from Beale's paintings. Three
of the eight glass slides in the collection do not depict illustrations painted by
Joseph Boggs Beale. The January 8, 1940 issue of
LIFE
Magazine published a brief two-page biography on Beale, containing eight
of his paintings and a photograph of the artist. The series additionally contains
(but not limited to) Beale illustrated postage stamps, a commemorative plate, sheet
music, and a short religious film.
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia houses the Arthur Colen
Collection of Joseph Boggs Beale Papers (1856-circa 1973).
The DVD performance of The American Magic Lantern Theater was cataloged with the
Moving Image collection and placed into cold storage.
Index Terms
People
Beale, Joseph Boggs,
1841-1926.
Organizations
Caspar W. Briggs & Sons.
Daily graphic (New York, N.Y.).
Frank Leslie’s illustrated
newspaper.
Subjects
Artists--American--19th Century.
Lantern projection.
Lantern slides--1860-1900.
United States--History.
Places
Philadelphia (Pa.).
Document Types
Lantern slides.
Paintings (visual works).
Postage stamps.
Serials (publications).
Sheet music.
Container List
Series I. Paintings, circa 1870s
1.2
Balboa Discovers Pacific, May 1543, circa 1870s
1.3
Battle of Buena Vista, 1847, circa 1870s
1.4
Burial of De Soto, 1543, circa 1870s
1.5
Columbus and Crew, 1492, circa 1870s
1.6
Columbus Predicts Eclipse, 1493, circa 1870s
1.7
Daniel Boone, circa 1870s
1.8
Death of Maxmillian, 1847, circa 1870s
1.9
Decatur at Tripoli, 1804, circa 1870s
1.10
Discoveries of the Cabots, 1497, circa 1870s
1.11
Fremont as the Pathfinder, 1842, circa 1870s
2.1
General Wolfe Climbing the Heights of Abraham, September 12,
1759, circa 1870s
2.2
Grant Aiming Cannon at Chapultepec, circa 1870s
2.3
Grant, Death of U. S. Grant, July 23, 1885, circa
1870s
2.4
Grant, Funeral of Grant, circa 1870s
2.5
Grant, Grant Lying in State, circa 1870s
2.6
Grant, Inauguration of Grant, circa 1870s
2.7
Hunter and Indians, circa 1870s
2.8
Impressment of American Soldiers for the British Navy, Cause of
the War of 1812, circa 1870s
2.9
The Little Match Girl, No. 1, circa 1870s
2.10
The Little Match Girl, No. 2, circa 1870s
3.1
The Little Match Girl, No. 3, circa 1870s
3.2
The Little Match Girl, No. 4, circa 1870s
3.3
The Little Match Girl, No. 6, circa 1870s
3.4
The Little Match Girl, No. 7, circa 1870s
3.5
The Little Match Girl, No. 8, circa 1870s
3.6
The Man without a Country, No. 3, Damn the U.S., circa
1870s
3.7
The Man without a Country, No. 7, Dancing aboard French Ship,
circa 1870s
3.8
The Man without a Country, No. 2, Derision by Others, circa
1870s
3.9
The Man without a Country, No. 12, Discussing the Map, circa
1870s
3.10
The Man without a Country, No. 1, Discussion with Burr, circa
1870s
4.1
The Man without a Country, No. 9, A Gift of Sword to Nolan, circa
1870s
4.2
The Man without a Country, No. 10, If Anyone Died, circa
1870s
4.3
The Man without a Country, Nolan Aiming the Gun, circa
1870s
4.4
The Man without a Country, No. 4, Nolan Reading, circa
1870s
4.5
The Man without a Country, Nolan Transferring Ships, circa
1870s
4.6
The Man without a Country, No. 11, Tell Them They Are Free, circa
1870s
4.7
The Man without a Country, No. 5, Threw the Book to Sea, circa
1870s
4.8
Queen Annie's War, 1702 & 1713, St. Augustine, Florida,
circa 1870s
4.9
Scott Entering Mexico, 1847, circa 1870s
4.10
Settlement of Delaware, 1638, circa 1870s
4.11
U.S. Scouts Overtaken by Indians, circa 1870s
Series II. Related Materials, circa 1870s-2005, undated
5.1
Catalog of lantern slides, undated
5.2
Film, Yield Not To Temptation, circa 1965
Glass magic lantern slides
5.12
Home From the War, circa 1870s
5.13
Light, circa 1870s
5.14
The Mayflower, circa 1870s
5.15
Sunset Glows With Rubies, circa 1870s
5.16
Untitled (not Beale slide), circa 1870s
5.17
Untitled (not Beale slide), circa 1870s
5.18
U.S. History 1 (not Beale slide), circa 1870s
5.19
Village Blacksmith, circa 1870s
Merchandised reproductions
7.1
Betsy Ross Showing The First Flag, commemorative plate,
undated
5.3
Paul Revere's Ride, prints, undated
5.4
Reproduced Beale illustrations, undated
Published material
5.5
The American Magic Lantern Theatre, publicity material, circa
2005 (DVD separated to Moving Image collection)
5.6
The Grade Teacher, journal, November 1939
1.1
Harper's Weekly Journal, 1865
5.7
Joseph Boggs Beale's, American Pictorial History,
undated
5.8
LIFE Magazine, 8 January 1940
1.1
Professor Teel's Grand Moral Entertainment Art Show!, poster,
undated
5.9
Star-Spangled History, drawings by Joseph Boggs Beale,
1975
5.10
Sheet music, Star-Spangled Banner, undated
Postage stamps
5.11
Lincoln Douglas Debate 1858-1958, stamps, circa
1958
5.11
Seven Wonders of the World, stamps, circa 1997