Regenia A. Perry Personal Papers (VA-07), 1907/2019

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

Email: roxanne.winfield@vmfa.museum

Phone: (804) 340-1497

Email: library@vmfa.museum

Phone: (804) 340-1495

Web: vmfa.museum

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The collection is subject to all copyright laws. Upon donation, Perry assigned to the VMFA Archives all of her available rights of copyright in the materials. Transmission or reproduction of other materials protected by copyright, beyond that allowed by fair use, requires the researcher to obtain permission of copyright holders.

In Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Preferred citation:

Regenia Perry Personal Papers (VA-07). Gift of Regenia Perry. VMFA Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

Summary

Extent:

2 Linear Feet 8 boxes; 17 folders

Creator:

Perry, Regenia and Perry, Regenia

Abstract:

The collection documents the life, work, and research interests of Dr. Regenia Perry (1941-), an African American art historian. Dr. Perry is the first African American woman to hold doctorates in art history and American art, and has focused her career on researching and collecting African American folk art. In addition to her work as a professor, Dr. Perry served as a guest curator for The Metropolitan Museum's "Selection of Nineteenth-Century Afro-American Art," the first comprehensive exhibition of African American art at the museum.

Language:

English .

Preferred citation:

Regenia Perry Personal Papers (VA-07). Gift of Regenia Perry. VMFA Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection documents the life, work, and research interests of Dr. Regenia Perry. The collection's inclusive dates are 1907-2019, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1970s-1990s. This collection contains correspondence, ephemera, negatives, photographs, publications, and other manuscript material.

This series contains articles, ephemera, negatives and transparencies, newspaper clippings, photographs, slides, and a U-Matic documenting the life and career of Dr. Regenia Perry.

This series contains articles, ephemera, and photographs that document the lives and careers of African American artists whose artwork Dr. Perry researched and collected.

This sub-series contains a photograph of artist Ralph Arnold.

This sub-series contains articles and photographs documenting the life and artwork of John Willard Banks.

This sub-series contains articles and a photograph documenting the life of artist John Biggers.

This sub-series contains articles and photographs documenting the life and artwork of Sam Gilliam.

This sub-series contains an article and photographs documenting the life and artwork of Bessie Harvey.

This sub-series contains photographs documenting the life and artwork of Clementine Hunter.

This sub-series contains articles and ephemera documenting the life and artwork of Bill Hutson.

This sub-series contains correspondence and photographs documenting artwork created by Ted Joans.

This sub-series contains photographs of artwork created by W. B. Jung.

This sub-series contains ephemera and a photograph documenting the life and artwork of Juan Logan.

This sub-series contains articles, ephemera, and photographs documenting the life and artwork of Ruth Mae McCrane.

This sub-series contains albums, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and slides documenting the life and artwork of Sister Gertrude Morgan.

This sub-series contains print material documenting the life and artwork of Leslie J. Payne.

This sub-series contains ephemera documenting artwork created by Winfred Rembert.

This sub-series contains the funeral program of artist Royal Robertson.

This sub-series contains photographs documenting the life and artwork of Willie Stokes.

This sub-series contains articles, ephemera, and photographs documenting the life and artwork of Renée Stout.

This sub-series contains articles and ephemera about James VanDerZee in addition to photographic materials such as negatives, reprints, and photographs taken by VanDerZee. Subjects include the Virginia Period, Harlem, VanDerZee and his family, and Regenia Perry.

This sub-series contains photographs documenting artwork created by Luster Willis.

This sub-series contains photographs documenting artwork created by Kenneth Young.

Biographical / historical:

Regenia Alfreda Perry, African American art historian, was born in 1941 in Virgilina, Virginia. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from Virginia State College (now Virginia State University) in 1961, and went to Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University) in Cleveland, Ohio, where she received a Ph.D. in Art History in 1966. Perry is the first African American woman to hold doctorates in art history and American art. She has published books on African American art, including James Van Der Zee, Photographer (1973), The Folk Tradition in Black American Art (1975), Black Folk Art in America (with John Beardsley, 1982), and Harriet Powers Bible Quilts (1994). She also has taught at numerous colleges and universities, including Howard University (Washington, D.C.), though the majority of her professorial career was spent at Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, Virginia). Perry also founded Raven Arts, an art consulting firm that represents African American folk artists.

Source: Regenia Perry papers finding aid by the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University

Custodial history:

The collection was donated to the VMFA Archives by Regenia Perry in 2021.

Processing information:

Publications were removed and added to the VMFA Library's holdings. Titles include "Tales of the conjure woman", "Dear Robert, I'll see you at the crossroads: a project by Renée Stout", "Harriet Powers's Bible quilts", "Astonishment and power: Kongo minkisi: the art of Renée Stout", "Free within ourselves: African-American artists in the collection of the National Museum of American Art", "Hidden heritage: Afro-American art, 1800-1950", "Something to keep you warm: the Roland Freeman Collection of Black American quilts from the Mississippi Heartland", and "Between the lines: 70 drawings and 7 essays".

Original newspaper clippings are photocopied, with photocopies being integrated into mixed material folders and originals being retained in their own folders.

This sub-series was processed at the item-level as part of a digitization project for the 2021 documentary, "Thank You, Sister".

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into 2 series, and items are generally arranged chronologically within each series. Items with no date are generally placed at the end of each series. Sub-series are arranged alphabetically by artists' surnames.

Series 1: Biographical, 1941-2015
Series 2: Artists, 1907-2019

Indexed terms

Subjects:: African American folk art
Women art collectors
Women art historians
Art historians as collectors
Art -- Collectors and collecting
Names:: Perry, Regenia
Perry, Regenia

Collection