Leslie Cheek, Jr. Personal Papers (SC-02)

Access and use

Location of collection:
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
VMFA Archives
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Margaret R. and Robert M. Freeman Library
200 N. Arthur Ashe Boulevard
Richmond, VA 23220-4007
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Roxanne Winfield
Phone: (804) 340-1497
Phone: (804) 340-1495
Restrictions:

The collection is open for research. A limited number of files are restricted. Access to restricted materials may require written permission of the donor and/or the VMFA Director.

Terms of access:

The collection is subject to all copyright laws. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright, beyond that allowed by fair use, requires the researcher to obtain permission of copyright holders.

Preferred citation:

Leslie Cheek, Jr. Personal Papers (SC-02). Gift of Mary Tyler Cheek McClenahan, Leslie Cheek III, Richard W. Cheek, and Elizabeth C. Morgan. VMFA Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

Summary

Extent:
19.4 Linear Feet 16 boxes; 596 folders and 48 oversized items
Creator:
Cheek, Leslie, 1908-, McClenahan, Mary Tyler Freeman Cheek, 1917-, Temple, K. Richmond, Rouse, Parke, 1915-1997, Yale University, Joseph and Margaret Muscarelle Museum of Art‏, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Skylark Farm, and Washington and Lee University
Abstract:
This collection documents a portion of the life of Leslie Cheek, Jr., the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' second and longest-tenured Director (1948-1968). One series includes material from his early career and activities before the VMFA, as well as his tenure at the museum, and through his retirement. Two series document the publication of two photobiographies about Cheek, "Living by Design" and "Designing for the Arts." Another series is comprised of materials about Skylark Farm, the house and tree farm located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, owned, designed and furnished by the Cheeks between 1967 and 1977 when it was donated to Washington and Lee University. Other series document the Cheeks' personal world travels in the 1950s-1980s, some of Cheek's awards, and finally, a number of framed architectural drawings done by Cheek as a student in the 1930s.
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Leslie Cheek, Jr. Personal Papers (SC-02). Gift of Mary Tyler Cheek McClenahan, Leslie Cheek III, Richard W. Cheek, and Elizabeth C. Morgan. VMFA Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection's inclusive dates are 1931-1993, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1960s-1980s. The collection is comprised of correspondence, plans, photographs, financial records, interviews, book drafts, exhibition records, travel itineraries, and other ephemeral material.

This series is comprised of correspondence, plans, and photographs related to Skylark Farm, a house and tree farm located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, owned, designed and furnished by the Cheeks between 1967 and 1977 when it was donated to Washington and Lee University. The Cheeks were also involved in the transformation of the house into a conference center for the University in the 1990s.

This series is comprised of correspondence, interviews, and exhibition details related to the 1985 publication of "Living by Design: Leslie Cheek and the Arts," which was written by Parke Rouse, Jr. and researched by K. Richmond Temple. The photobiography was released at the same time that a corresponding exhibition entitled "Cheek and the Arts" opened at the Muscarelle Museum of Art in December 1985.

This series is comprised of correspondence, drafts, and financial details related to the 1990 publication of "Designing for the Arts: Environments by Leslie Cheek," which was written by K. Richmond Temple. It was designed as a photo essay, and served as volume two to the previously published "Living by Design" in 1985.

This series is mainly comprised of correspondence related to a myriad of activities and projects that Cheek took on throughout his career and during his retirement. There is a considerable amount of material created during his tenure as Director of the VMFA. This series also contains oversized materials, including many drawings done by Cheek while in school in the 1930s and after, as well as photographs, mounted clippings, and some bound volumes and drawings.

This series is comprised of correspondence about and the actual awards and degrees conferred upon Cheek throughout his life.

This series is comprised of correspondence, itineraries, and programs detailing the Cheeks' personal travels around the world.

Biographical / historical:

Leslie Cheek, Jr. was the second and longest-tenured Director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. During his 20 year Directorship (1948-1968), he transformed the museum from a regional gem to a museum that operated on the international stage.

Born in Nashville, Cheek was the son of Mabel Wood and Leslie Cheek, Sr., who became rich by investing in the family formula for Maxwell House Coffee. Cheek studied art at Harvard University before taking up architecture at Yale University and Columbia. After graduation, he headed to William and Mary College where he founded and headed up the Department of Fine Arts from 1937-1939. In 1939, he married Richmonder Mary Tyler Freeman, daughter of Pulitzer Prize winning author Douglas Southall Freeman. From 1939-1942, Cheek served in his first Directorship at the Baltimore Museum of Fine Art. He left the museum in 1942 to join the Army Corps of Engineers in WWII.

After the war, he was hired as the Associate Editor of Architectural Forum Magazine and lived in New York City for three years. In 1948, he came to the VMFA as Director, spending 20 years building the collections, endowments, and reputation of the museum. He was known for the Artmobile, a mobile art program which brought the museum's collections all over the state of Virginia, and the Virginia Museum Theatre which opened in 1955 and successfully integrated the performing and visual arts.

After retiring in 1968, Cheek stayed active in the arts, and two books were published about his life and career, "Living by Design" and "Designing for the Arts." In 1967, the Cheeks purchased a mountaintop home named Skylark Farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains, which they donated to Washington and Lee University in 1977.

Source: The Dictionary of Art Historians

Source: Virginia Commonwealth University's Guide to the Mary Tyler Freeman Cheek McClenahan Papers

Custodial history:

This collection is comprised of materials donated by Leslie Cheek, Jr.'s family members. The bulk of this collection was donated to the VMFA Library by Leslie's widow Mary Tyler Freeman Cheek McClenahan in 1993. The remainder of the material was donated by Leslie's children in 2005.

Processing information:

Processing and description were performed by Jennie Runnels in the mid-1990s. Original folder titles were retained. Publications were removed and added to the VMFA Library's holdings. Framed items were disassembled and the materials stored in flat files, with the exception of the few framed items which used archival mats.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into six series, folders are arranged in the original order maintained by Cheek, and retain their original folder titles when provided.

Series 1
Skylark Farm, 1966-1992
Series 2
"Living by Design" and "Cheek and the Arts," 1945-1989
Series 3
"Designing for the Arts," 1984-1991
Series 4
Personal Files, 1934-1992
Series 5
Awards and Degrees, 1931-1993
Series 6
Trips, 1952-1980