Frederick Stuart Church collection
Scope and Contents
Frederick Stuart Church's works hang in public and and private collections throughout the country. (He should not be confused, however, with the better known Hudson River School artist Frederic Edwin Church). Church did primarily fantasy art incorporating women or children and animals. He did advertising illustrations and illustrations for several magazines of the period. Some copies of these illustrations are in this collection while others may be found in the original periodicals located in the Library's general periodicals. He did sketches on letters to family, friends, patrons and others, some of which are located in other GRPL archival collections. He is also known to have done portraits of family members, patrons and friends, which are only included in this collection within reference documents.
The Frederick Stuart Church Collection primarily documents the gift of Church's work from the Estate of famous art patron Charles L. Freer in 1920. The Freer donation includes two framed paintings, one of which is “Knowledge is Power,” one of the best known of Frederick S. Church's work today. Also found are etchings, reproductions and photographs, which are currently housed in buckram folders by an apparently locally assigned volume. A list of the items assigned to each volume shows that one item was removed sometime before 1999 and its location is unknown. As other accessions of F.S. Church materials are discovered in the Library's holdings, they are being added or documented in this collection. Also, images or items associated with the Church family continue to be discovered or better documented, often providing additional reference resources for Church researchers. Added to this collection are items found to contain illustrations of Church works, as well as copied or digital reference reproductions contributed by Church researchers Dale and Rosie Horst, Deborah V. Hobler and others.
The Archives at the Grand Rapids Public Library has objects and information of national/international significance in various collections. But, the combination of both a nationally and internationally known Grand Rapids born artist with an internationally known art patron from Detroit, Michigan, places this collection in a more national usage community.
Dates
- n.d.
Creator
- Church, Frederick S. (Frederick Stuart) (Artist, Person)
Biographical / Historical
Frederick Stuart Church (1842-2/18/1924) was the son of Thomas Brownell Church (1813?-7/31/1890) and Mary Elizabeth Church (d. 3/13/1905), daughter of Col. Stuart of Battle Creek and later Marshall, Michigan. The couple were married ca. 1841 or 1842. Thomas Church was a prominent Grand Rapids citizen, lawyer and politician and one time newspaper editor. Mrs. Church is known to have been active in the formation of an early benevolent society which became the Female Union Charitable Assoc. (Lydens, p 571), and was for many years an organist at St. Marks Episcopal Church. Two photographs in this collection show the house which was the birthplace of Fred Church, on Louis St., and also another family home on Prospect St.
According to Baxter's History of the City of Grand Rapids, Fred Church almost suffocated to death as an infant, when the stagecoach in which he and his mother were riding overturned and he was tossed into the mud. Baxter also states that Marinus Harting (1815?-1861), a Dutch-born artist, came to Grand Rapids in 1854 and shortly after acquired two young students who were to become nationally known artists, Lawrence Earle and Frederick S. Church. Church himself states, in a letter to Grand Rapids Public Library Director Samuel Ranck, ca. 1920, that he left Grand Rapids when he was 13. He is known to have moved to Chicago in 1855, where an aunt had found him a job as a money delivery clerk for American Express Co. He held this position until he was 25, except for three years of service in Company A, Chicago Light Artillery, in the Civil War.
An 1886 certificate from the National Academy of Design, located in this collection, states that F.S. Church was certified as an academician.
This collection primarily documents the gift of Church's work from the Estate of famous art patron Charles L. Freer in 1920. Freer was a personal friend of the artist. Freer was aware that Church continued to exhibit in Grand Rapids and communicate with relatives living in Grand Rapids, including Caroline Campbell and Rebecca Richmond, who were strong patrons of the Grand Rapids Public Library. Church's letters to Campbell and Richmond, with original sketches, are found in their own collections at the Grand Rapids Public Library, but listed in the Appendix within this finding aid.
Extent
20.5 Linear Feet (Five boxes plus folios, framed portraits and hanging art. )
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Frederick Stuart Church (1842-1924) was an American artist who was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This is a devised collection that brings together original holdings and reference material. Most significant are the paintings, sketches, etchings, reproductions and photographs of work by Church that were recieved in March 1920 from the estate of the famous art collector and philanthropist Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919).
Paintings Location Note
In 1999, the folios given by Freer were moved from the Rare Book Room in the Reference Department to the Archives, where they could be documented and cared for as part of the Local History holdings. The two framed art works were hung in the Zonta Lounge until they were moved with the rest of the Library's collections for the 2000-2003 Library Renovation project.
An earlier information card, undated, states that Triad previously hung over the fireplace in the Reference Room (2nd floor Ryerson?) and Knowledge is Power was hanging at that time on the north wall of the Browsing Room. (1st floor Ryerson?).
As of January 2011, Knowledge is Power is located in the VanderVeen Center on the 4th floor of the library and Triad is located in the 5th floor gallery.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Charles L. Freer Estate, March 1920; Hughes, 1939/1940. Also accession number P2011.110 and various.
- Title
- Finding aid for the Frederick Stuart Church collection
- Subtitle
- including the Charles L. Freer Collection of Art Work by Church
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- R. Mayne
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Grand Rapids History Center Repository
Grand Rapids Public Library
111 Library Street NE
Grand Rapids Michigan 49503 USA
616-988-5497
localhis@grpl.org