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Start Over Date range 1892 Names Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Benjamin L. Wigfall Artist Archives and Mary Carter Wigfall Personal Papers, 1880/2023

21.875 Linear Feet 50 boxes; 63 folders
The collection documents the life and work of Benjamin L. Wigfall, African American abstract expressionist artist. Benjamin L. Wigfall was the second African American artist to have a painting aquired by the VMFA, as well as the youngest ever artist to do the same. In addition to his work as an artist, Wigfall also taught and mentored in both Virginia at Hampton Institute, as well as New York at SUNY New Paltz and in his own community. Additionally, the collection contains documents related to the life and career of artist and educator, Mary Carter Wigfall, Benjamin L. Wigfall's wife. Mary C. Wigfall founded and directed the Migrant Childcare Center in New York from the early 1970s until her retirement in 1992.
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Benjamin L. Wigfall Artist Archives and Mary Carter Wigfall Personal Papers, 1880/2023 21.875 Linear Feet 50 boxes; 63 folders

Wigfall, Benjamin L., 1930-2017
The collection documents the life and work of Benjamin L. Wigfall, African American abstract expressionist artist. Benjamin L. Wigfall was the second African American artist to have a painting aquired by the VMFA, as well as the youngest ever artist to do the same. In addition to his work as an artist, Wigfall also taught and mentored in both Virginia at Hampton Institute, as well as New York at SUNY New Paltz and in his own community. Additionally, the collection contains documents related to the life and career of artist and educator, Mary Carter Wigfall, Benjamin L. Wigfall's wife. Mary C. Wigfall founded and directed the Migrant Childcare Center in New York from the early 1970s until her retirement in 1992.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Records of Virginia Arts Organizations (SC-03), 1888/1942

0.5 Linear Feet 1 box, 12 folders; 113 items
The collection documents the rich history of Richmond's artistic culture and community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Drawing upon the legacy of the first Academy of Fine Arts in the United States, founded in Richmond in 1786, the Richmond Academy of Arts was revived in 1930, and records created throughout the organization's history comprise the majority of the collection. The Academy provided the most cohesive and active arts organization in Richmond before the founding of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Even after the museum's opening in 1936, the relationship between the Academy and the museum is notable; from the correspondence between Thomas C. Colt, the museum's first Director, and two Presidents of the Academy, to the creation of Richmond's first "Salon des Refuses," and to the repeated overlapping of artist and patron names within the organizations.
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Records of Virginia Arts Organizations (SC-03), 1888/1942 0.5 Linear Feet 1 box, 12 folders; 113 items

Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts
The collection documents the rich history of Richmond's artistic culture and community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Drawing upon the legacy of the first Academy of Fine Arts in the United States, founded in Richmond in 1786, the Richmond Academy of Arts was revived in 1930, and records created throughout the organization's history comprise the majority of the collection. The Academy provided the most cohesive and active arts organization in Richmond before the founding of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Even after the museum's opening in 1936, the relationship between the Academy and the museum is notable; from the correspondence between Thomas C. Colt, the museum's first Director, and two Presidents of the Academy, to the creation of Richmond's first "Salon des Refuses," and to the repeated overlapping of artist and patron names within the organizations.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

R.E. Lee Camp, No. 1, Confederate Veterans Papers (SC-21), 1885/1958

0.2 Linear Feet 3 boxes; 13 items
The collection documents the history of R.E. Lee Camp, No. 1, Confederate Veterans, a large residential complex for poor and infirm Confederate veterans of the Civil War. Altogether a total of nearly three thousand veterans from thirty-three states called the camp home, and after the camp's closing, the Commonwealth eventually granted use of the buildings and land to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The collection is comprised of photographs and postcards that document the changing landscape of the camp over 50 years, a rare guest register that includes thousands of guest signatures and a page signed by ten members of the Blackfeet Nation, and two extremely rare artifacts – reunion ribbons – provide material testimony to the reconciliation efforts of Confederate and Union veterans only twenty years after they faced each other as enemies during the Civil War.
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R.E. Lee Camp, No. 1, Confederate Veterans Papers (SC-21), 1885/1958 0.2 Linear Feet 3 boxes; 13 items

The collection documents the history of R.E. Lee Camp, No. 1, Confederate Veterans, a large residential complex for poor and infirm Confederate veterans of the Civil War. Altogether a total of nearly three thousand veterans from thirty-three states called the camp home, and after the camp's closing, the Commonwealth eventually granted use of the buildings and land to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The collection is comprised of photographs and postcards that document the changing landscape of the camp over 50 years, a rare guest register that includes thousands of guest signatures and a page signed by ten members of the Blackfeet Nation, and two extremely rare artifacts – reunion ribbons – provide material testimony to the reconciliation efforts of Confederate and Union veterans only twenty years after they faced each other as enemies during the Civil War.

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