Singleton Peabody Moorehead Collection(1923–1972)
- MS 1989.23
This collection of papers documents the career of Colonial Williamsburg architect, Singleton Peabody Moorehead (1900–1964). Included are finished drawings, reproductions, artwork, postcards, correspondence, printed material and oversized architectural drawings. Much of the material relates to Williamsburg or Virginia buildings. The material is housed in five oversize flat file boxes, five other boxes, and an oversize drawer in the Architectural and Archaeological Drawings Archives.
Included are Moorehead’s graduate school drawings; field sketches for studies of various Virginia buildings; index card notes on various locations; and reproduction and original art work. A portion of the papers includes work for Colonial Williamsburg, such as plans for the Theater of 1716 and 18th-century fair materials. However, the majority of his Colonial Williamsburg work and correspondence is in the Foundation’s Corporate Archives. There is a very small amount of correspondence, collected articles, and other miscellaneous papers.
Inventory
| Item | Item Format | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Box 1 | ||
| Series I: Finished Drawings | While not “true” architectural drawings (with borders, scales, plate numbers, etc.), this series includes very precise and complete renderings, elevations, and details. Also includes rough sketches and notes which appear in later series. The watercolor and pen-and-ink wash drawings are located in Oversize. | |
| Sketch Book of Details | 152 pp. | Boxed notebook containing drawings (elevations and details) of houses in Williamsburg and Virginia. |
| Portfolio | Folder (22 items) | Drawings (elevations and details) of houses in Williamsburg and Virginia. |
| Portfolio Covers | Leather portfolio covers that originally contained the drawings. | |
| Measured Drawings | Folder (67 items) | Drawings (elevations and details) of houses in Williamsburg and Virginia. |
| Assorted Plans and Additions | 29 items (Oversize) | Some of Moorehead’s Architectural School drawings. |
| Box 1–2 | ||
| Series II: Field Notes | This series includes sketches and notes that Moorehead made for various projects, both American and European. The Virginia material, Williamsburg material, and miscellaneous material were originally from the notebooks. | |
| Field Drawings—Virginia | 2 folders (171 items) | |
| Field Drawings—Williamsburg | 150 items | |
| Field Drawings—Miscellaneous | 57 items | |
| Miscellaneous Sketches | 1 folder (10 items) | These ten sketches were all found together in a drawer in the Architectural Drawings Archive. They are now in the Library’s Rare Book Room. |
| Gazebo and Wall | 1 item (Oversize) | |
| House Elevations | 1 item | Front and side elevations of an unspecified house. |
| Mailboxes | 3 items | |
| Door | 1 item | |
| Pen Sketch of Mendelsohn House (Location Work) | 1 item | |
| Street Corner Sketch | 1 item | |
| Cherub | 1 item | |
| Roman Architectural Details | 1 item (Oversize) | |
| Memorandum Book | 1 book | This item contains a rough alphabetical listing of Virginia colonial houses. In the back of the book there are addresses and expenses from various trips and notes Moorehead made to himself. |
| Notebooks 1–23 | 23 notebooks | Several of the papers from these notebooks have been cut out and can be found in the various Field Drawings folders. |
| Field Notebook | 92 pp. | A note on the inside cover says “sketches—not to scale—of Williamsburg Colonial Architecturedetails and ensembles—with Miscellaneous Additions.” The “additions” include colonial-era buildings outside of Williamsburg. The 92 remaining pages of the notebook have been numbered straight through, but as with the notebooks, several pages have been cut out and are probably in one or more of the “Field Drawings” folders. |
| Drawings—French Locations | 23 items (Oversize) | Petit Trianon and 22 other items. French locations. |
| Box 3 | ||
| Series III: Photoreproductions | This series consists of photocopies of several of the items from the field drawings and field notes. [See also: Series VII Oversize Assorted Photocopies of Architectural Research.] Also included are photocopies and copies of drawings SPM made for decorative ciphers, similar to those presently sold at the Craft House [See also: Correspondence file—Series V for SPM’s letters to and from members of ______ who produced the cyphers.] The last items in this series are two folders relating to plans for the Theater of 1716 (one of blueprints and one of photocopies of mechanical aspects of stage scenery), which show several phases in the development of thinking about the theater. There is also one folder on 18th-century fairs; included in this series because the blueprints are copies of other materials presumably in the CW Archives. | |
| Disbound Portfolio | 52 items | This portfolio of drawings was originally covered in brown paper held together with brass clips and marked “Personal Property—Singleton P. Moorehead.” They are now numbered in the order in which they were originally bound. The items are mainly reproductions of the items in the Measured Drawings folder. |
| Photocopies—“Sketch Book of Details” | 52 items | A copy of all the pages from the Sketch Book of Details that included drawings. It lacks the two loose sheets found in the back of the sketchbook. [See list in Series I.] |
| Photocopies—“Field Drawings—Virginia” | 41 items | As the title of the folder states, mainly from field drawings Virginia materials. There is, however, one copy of a cartouche. |
| Photocopies—Assorted | 67 items | |
| Architectural Renderings | 2 folders (Oversize) | These two folders have been removed to the oversize drawer in the Architectural Drawings Archive. These items often contain copies of two items from other places in the collection, mostly from “Portfolio” and a few from “Disbound Portfolio.” |
| Ciphers | 1 folder (21 items) | Photocopies of various ciphers. There are some letters between SPM and [?] as well as ciphers in the correspondence file. |
| Different Ciphers | 13 items | Photocopies (both positive and negative) of different ciphers. #9–13 are stamped, “Photocopy negative made by New York Public Library.” |
| “GW” & “TJ” Ciphers | 7 items | Photocopies of SPM’s drawings of ciphers of “GW” & “TJ.” |
| Theatre of 1716 Plans | 1 folder (34 items) | This group includes four sets of blueprint plans for a proposed colonial theatre that was to be built in Williamsburg, but never was. |
| May 14, 1951 | 5 items | #1–5: stamped on reverse “printed May 14, 1951.” |
| June 6, 1951 | 7 items | #6–12: marked “Preliminary June 6, 1951” on item 6. |
| June 10, 1951 | 8 items | #13–20: plan of lawn attached showing location of original theatre is dated June 10, 1951. |
| October 8, 1951 | 8 items | #21–28: stamped on reverse “printed Oct. 8, 1951”; item 22 marked “SPM set.” |
| Lighting Fixtures | 6 items | Items and plans for lighting fixtures for the theatre. |
| Theatre Photocopies | 26 items | 23 items are photocopies of photographs (both positives and negatives) lent by Richard Southern in August 1952. |
| Trap Doors | 15 items | #1–15: plans for trap doors. |
| Constructed Trap | 4 items | #16–19: pictures of a constructed trap. |
| Cloud Machine | 4 items | #20–23: plans and pictures of a cloud machine. |
| Miscellaneous Items | 2 items | Plan of Covent Garden Theatre in 1732, a photocopy showing scenery, and an admission ticket. |
| 18th-century Fairs | 10 items | Plans and sketches and an article on peep shows, as well as plans for merry-go-round and ferris wheel-like contraptions. They are all photocopies except for one sketch on tracing paper. |
| Box 4–5 | ||
| Series IV: Artwork | Subseries IVa: SPM’s “original” art work, mainly sketches of architectural features not originally grouped with any of the field notebooks because they are primarily European in origin. Other original material includes his Christmas card designs, watercolors and pen and ink drawings of trees. Subseries IVb: Reproductions—mainly of woodblocks and engravings but also other materials such as Greek vases and paintings. |
|
| Subseries IVa: Original Artwork | This subseries contains items that were made by SPM’s hand which includes some items copied from books but are mainly sketches of and facsimiles from various locations. | |
| Original Artwork | 16 items | These items have a wide variety of subjects: Christmas cards, a church out west, architectural details, a colonial schoolhouse, and a ship; Moorehead uses a wide variety of mediums: pen and ink, watercolors, woodblock, and pencil. Several items are only copies of sketches from a book. The following two parts of this collection were originally stored together. |
| Various Prints—Sketches and Drawings | 64 items | The items in this folder are highly eclectic. Most deal with architectural subjects from Europe, but also the western U.S. |
| Subseries IVb: Reproductions | 1 folder | Various prints, sketches, and drawings. 1 portfolio notebook. The material in this folder comes from a large variety of areas. There is a photograph showing Williamsburg from the capital on a snowy day (not certain that it was done by Moorehead so it is in this subseries) and some prints of architectural materials. |
| Miscellaneous Artwork | 62 items | The items in this folder are mainly reproductions of engravings and woodblocks but there are several other items here. |
| Oeuvre of A. Mantegna (Paris, 1878) | 1 folio | 26 of Andrea Mantegna’s engravings are reproduced here by Amand. Durand with an introduction by Georges Duplessis. This folio has its original cover. |
| Greek Vases | 14 items | Pages taken from a German folio. |
| Album—Coats of Arms and French Architecture | 1 album | Includes heraldic emblem album, as well as several loose ones. They appear to have been cut out of a book. There are a few pictures of French buildings at the beginning of the album. |
| Box 5–6 | ||
| Series V | Includes papers, photographs, and miscellaneous materials. There is a copy of the Boston Evening Transcript for Feb. 19, 1927. There is a limited amount of correspondence from several sources, as well as some printed articles. The miscellaneous papers include Moorehead’s response to a questionnaire about becoming a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, as well as other papers for a bibliography of journals and diaries to information on the Craft House. There are photographs from Italy and Mexico and a few (with negatives) from Virginia locations. | |
| Boston Evening Transcript (Saturday, February 19, 1927) | There are three copies of the real estate section in this folder, and one of just the first six pages. The front page of that section discusses a housing development designed by Kilham, Hopkins & Greeley, the firm Moorehead worked for in the summer of 1926. | |
| Correspondence 1923–1972 | 30 items | There is both inter and extra CW materials in this file, most of which falls in the 1930s and 1950s. |
| Papers—Miscellaneous | 20 items | Includes: Moorehead’s “resume” in application for fellowship in the American Institute of Architects, a report on the Virginia Gazette Building, a contact relating to work to be done at “Eastover,” information on the crafts house, a bibliography of diaries arranged chronologically, and a floor plan of Trinity College at Oxford. |
| Articles and Bulletins | 13 items | These are mostly pages from architectural magazines and a few fine arts bulletins. Also included are a weekly card showing features playing at the Williamsburg Theater and a Stutz Car catalogue. |
| Photographs—Italy and Mexico | 115 items | |
| Photographs—Miscellaneous | 1 folder (54 items) | There are 51 photographs in this file. Two sheets of negatives and a photocopy of the top of the box in which these pictures and negatives were stored are included. [See also: Series II—Field Notes—VA Material Item #89] |
| SPM by a Garden Urn | 1 item | SPM by a large outdoor urn. |
| Woman by a Garden Urn | 2 items | A woman (SPM’s wife?) by the same garden urn as above. |
| People Shooting Handguns | 8 items | People shooting handguns at targets. |
| A Resort? | 8 items | Miscellaneous shots, no location given—it looks like a resort. |
| Cascades Inn | 1 item | “Cascades Inn Oct 48” |
| Cannon | 7 items | Photos of a cannon. |
| Old Sweet | 11 items | “Old Sweet Oct 48.” |
| Haystacks | 4 items | Haystacks, from “Warm Spring Oct 48.” |
| Haystacks | 9 items | Haystacks, probably from same place and date as the above. |
| Negatives | 2 items | Two sheets of negatives. |
| Box Photocopy | 1 item | A photocopy of the top of the box in which these pictures and negatives were stored. |
| Box 6–10 | ||
| Series VI: Notebooks | 8 boxes | There are eight boxes of note cards that Moorehead kept on varied subjects. Subjects include architecture, recipes, militaria, antiques, the Wren Building, miscellaneous, and theatre study notes. |
| Series VII: Postcards and photographs | The postcards in this series focus on architectural details in the works of Jean Lepautre (1618–1682) and Giambattista Piranesi (1720–1778). The photographs have been preserved as SPM arranged them (by subject) and include photographic studies of American and European architecture. There is a detailed list of the photographs and postcards. | |
| Oversized Drawer (Architectural Drawings Archives) | ||
| Series VIII: School of Architecture Drawings | This series consists of two folders, both in this collection’s oversize drawer. One folder contains several of SPM’s large works, from different times in his school career, six of which are on display in the Department of Architectural Research. This series also contains one folder of ten drawings for his master’s thesis, which was a design for a “Civic Art Center.” | |
| Renderings from Architecture School | 1 folder (13 items) | These renderings highlight the technical virtuosity that is and was demanded of architecture students. A wide variety of mediums are used and a great selection of architectural styles are depicted. |
| Masters Thesis—Civic Arts Center | 1 folder (10 items) | Executed in 1927, these drawings involve the use of pencil, ink and wash. These 10 items he submitted for the master’s thesis include: a plot plan, basement plan, first floor plan, second floor plan, front elevation, perspective view, side elevation, rear elevation, sections, and portico details. |
| From Series I: Assorted Plans and Additions | ||
| From Series II: Petit Trianon and other French Drawings | ||
| Photocopies—Assorted Architectural Renderings | (2 folders) | |
| Series “N” | Series I: Item #21 from Portfolio. Series I: Items #[52] Toddsbury Details and [65] UNK—details from Measured Drawings. Series II: Item #123 from Field Drawings—Virginia Materials. |
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