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Lillian Wilhelm Smith collection, 190[?]-1974

MS-158

Biographical Note

Lillian Wilhelm Smith (1882-1971) was born Lillian Wilhelm in New York City to Henry and Lenore Wilhelm. In her youth, she demonstrated an interest in art, thus her education was focused on honing her natural artistic skills. She received her art training at the Art Students League in New York, the National Academy, and the Leonia School of Art in New Jersey. She first visited Arizona in 1913 with author Zane Grey (1872-1939), a cousin by marriage, to illustrate his western-themed books. After a period of return visits – during which she became inspired by the people and landscapes of Arizona – she decided to move permanently to the state in 1916. She was briefly married to Westbrooke Robertson from 1916-1924; the two were separated for the final two years.

In 1923, Lillian met Jesse (Jess) Raymond Smith (1886-1960), a ‘good-natured cowboy’ and U.S. Army veteran of World War I; they married shortly after her divorce to Robertson was finalized in 1924. Although the couple never had children, they had a wide variety of friends, including famous playwright Porter Emerson Browne (1879-1934). During her career, Lillian was acknowledged as one of the first white women to venture into the more inaccessible regions of Northern Arizona, and much of her work was inspired by Arizona’s natural geological formations and expansive desert vistas, as well as Hopi and Navajo people and their ceremonies. Mrs. Smith designed china with Indigenous motifs; some of her patterns were in Goldwater’s in Phoenix. She later operated guest ranches in Tuba City and Sedona, and operated an art shop in the Baltimore Hotel in Phoenix for three years. Her paintings were exhibited in the Arizona Museum in Phoenix, and elsewhere across North America.

After Jess’s death, Lillian isolated herself in southern Arizona, where she remained until her passing in February 1971. By her side for her final years was close friend Kay Manley. Her eulogy highlighted her significance to the artistic community to which she was so closely tied:

Her brush captured vividly in oil and water color the characteristics of this great land – mountains, canyons and desert. In our opinion she was a fine artist but many of the years through which she lived were difficult years economically for the American people and this fact, coupled with the fact that Arizona was still within the first early years of its founding, never brought to this fine artist the recognition locally to which she was truly entitled.

Scope and Content

Records consist of sketches, photographs, writings, and correspondence between the Smiths and some of their friends created shortly after Lillian’s arrival in Arizona in 1916 until close to her death in 1971. This collection is notable for its inclusion of watercolor studies and sketches by Smith of geographic locations within and the people of Northern Arizona – particularly Hopi Kachinas – and Indigenous motifs used in china and other works. Complementing these studies and sketches are a series of photographs of similar locales, people, and personal acquaintances. An accompanying scrapbook uniquely contains both sketches and photographs highlighting Smith’s personal and professional life until 1968. A group of clippings of a possible personal interest are included with the correspondence. There is also correspondence between the Smiths and Porter Emerson Browne, a writer and close friend, as well as a three-act play written by Browne. Much of the correspondence created after 1971 describes the transfer of Wilhelm’s materials from Mrs. Kay Manley to the Museum of Northern Arizona.

Arrangement

Restrictions

Conditions Governing Access

This material contains culturally sensitive images and thus many individual images are restricted. Restrictions were placed by staff at the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office (HCPO) in 2007. Advance permission is required by the HCPO to view restricted materials. Please contact the MNA Archivist for more information and to obtain permission for viewing these materials.

Conditions Governing Use

Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Related Material

A group of original works by Lillian Wilhelm Smith are available for viewing in the MNA Fine Arts collection. Further archival materials may be found at the Sharlot Hall Museum and others through the Arizona Historical Society. Prints of many of the images are found in the Photo Archives collection; these are not included in the final count of the physical extent of the material in this collection, but the negatives are.

Controlled Access Terms

Administrative Information

Custodial History

Materials created and/or donated between 1971 and 1974 were in the custody of Mrs. Kay Manley until their eventual donation to the museum sporadically over those years.

Preferred Citation

Lillian Wilhelm Smith collection, MS-158 [Box Number]. Museum of Northern Arizona. Flagstaff, Arizona.

Acquisition Information

The first accession of material was received from Lillian Wilhelm Smith’s sister, Mrs. Claire Carlin, in December 1970. It was assigned accession # MS-158 by the MNA Library. Further accruals were received from Mrs. Kay Manley between 1971 and 1974.

Processing Information

Processed in November of 2008.

Accruals

No further accruals are expected.

Other Finding Aid

Earlier inventory listings for these materials are available in the collection’s accession file. This finding aid was based on the most recent inventory done in 2007. This detailed inventory is available upon request.

Bibliography

Materials in this collection were used for the following publication:

Ashworth, Donna. Arizona Triptych: A Story of Northern Arizona Artists. Flagstaff: Small Mountain Books, 1999.

Container List