The University of Tennessee Knoxville's University Libraries has the rare opportunity to purchase the Beauford Delaney archive that is currently held at the Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA). In partnership with the Beck Cultural Exchange Center and the Knoxville Museum of Art, UT Libraries will leverage their collective Delaney holdings through programs, exhibitions, digital projects, and other programs and initiatives for the advancement of Beauford's legacy.
In addition to material documenting his work and life, the archive contains correspondence with leading artistic and literary greats such as James Baldwin, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Henry Miller, as well as sketchbooks containing drawings, daily musings, and preliminary studies for some of Beauford's major paintings. Many of these sketches were shown for the first time at Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin: Through the Unusual Door, the outstanding exhibition curated by Stephen Wicks, Barbara W. and Bernard E. Bernstein Curator at KMA, at the museum in 2020.
I had the pleasure of visiting Knoxville and attended the opening of this exhibition. The archival materials displayed there were extraordinary.
Display from Through the Unusual Door
Photograph by Les Amis de Beauford Delaney
© The Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Display from Through the Unusual Door
Photograph by Les Amis de Beauford Delaney
© The Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Blue ink on sketchbook paper, 5 ½ x 3 ½ inches
Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, Tennessee
Photograph by Bruce Cole
© The Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The archive will be an indispensable resource for scholars working locally to internationally in art history, Black cultural studies and aesthetics, Modernism, American civil rights history and cultural studies, and queer theory/history.
The cost to purchase the collection is $1,000,000, and UT Libraries anticipates an additional $100,000 in processing and digitization costs once it procures the archive. With the University of Tennessee agreeing to invest $500,000 for the purchase, the overall fundraising goal for the acquisition is $600,000.
UT Libraries is seeking pledges for contributions from philanthropic organizations and individuals interested in preserving Beauford's legacy and retaining the archive in his hometown of Knoxville. The Henry Luce Foundation has already expressed interest in contributing to costs associated with processing the collection.
All pledges must be secured by March 1, 2022. Donors will be allowed to make multi-year payments.
To learn more about the Beauford Delaney Archive or to make a donation, contact:
Stacy Palado, Director of Advancement
University of Tennessee Libraries
1015 Volunteer Blvd.
Knoxville, TN 37996-1000
865-974-0055 (office) or 865-274-7529 (cell)
Addendum: The University of Tennessee Knoxville successfully acquired the Beauford Delaney archives in March 2022.
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