Description
Correspondence, typescripts, journal and newspaper
articles and clippings, photographs, notes, scrapbooks, original artwork, and other
materials, the bulk dating from 1908-1938, relating to the life and career of
educator, author, poet, and philosopher Hartley Burr Alexander (1873-1939). The bulk
of the collection relates to Alexander’s research on the philosophy, culture,
traditions, art, and music of Native North Americans, and includes original works by
Pueblo and Plains artists, and large-scale photographic reproductions of images from
the ledger of artist Amos Bad Heart Bull, which is no longer extant. The collection
includes correspondence, photographs, architectural drawings and blueprints,
newspaper clippings, and other materials documenting Alexander's non-academic career
as "thematic designer" of sculpture, inscriptions, and other ornamentation for large
public buildings, including the Nebraska State Capitol, Lincoln, Nebraska; the Los
Angeles Public Library; and Rockefeller Center, New York City. The collection also
contains typescripts and offprints of journal articles by Alexander on philosophy,
music, and the interpretation of symbols in art and architecture, as well as many of
Alexander's own literary works, including poetry, plays, pageants, and operas, many
based on Native North American themes. Other materials include extensive
correspondence files; papers documenting Alexander's teaching careers at the
University of Nebraska and at Scripps College; personal papers of the Alexander
family and Nathan Kirk Griggs; and photographs, including many of the Turlington W.
Harvey family and estate in Syracuse, Nebraska.