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Doris Lee Papers Doris Lee, née Doris Elizabeth Emrick, was born on February 1, l905 in Aledo, Illinois. In 1927, Lee graduated from Rockford College in Wake Forest, Illinois, majoring in art and philosophy. She enrolled in the Kansas City Arts Institute in 1929 to study painting under Ernest Lawson. The following year, she studied under Arnold Blanch at the San Francisco School of Art. In 1935, her painting Thanksgiving won the prestigious Logan Prize at the Chicago Art Institute. Only days after receiving the Logan Prize, Lee was awarded a commission from the United States Department of the Treasury to paint two murals for the General Post Office in Washington, D.C. (now the Ariel Rios Federal Building, which houses the Environmental Protection Agency). Her painting Catastrophe was purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1937. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Lee undertook several commissions for Life magazine, including travel articles and illustrations that took her to such faraway locales as North Africa, Cuba and Mexico. The sketchbooks from these trips are part of this collection. The Doris Lee Papers consist of a great variety of materials. Personal objects such as photographs, correspondence, awards, and financial and legal documents make up a large portion of the collection. Ephemera such as periodicals, clippings, calendars, postcards, exhibition catalogs are included in the collection. The collection also contains original work by Lee, which is made up of figural sketches, sketchbooks, and drafts for commissioned work. A unique part of the collection is the series called Work Notes, which consists of clippings and photographs of people, animals, and places used by Lee as visual references. The objects have been divided into nine series. The series in the collection
are Photographs; Periodicals and Clippings; Printed Matter; Sketches;
Book Projects; Work Notes; Correspondence; and Awards, Financial and Legal
Documents and Notes. Materials in the collection range in date from 1924
to1984, with the majority of the materials dating from the years 1935
to 1968. The collection is contained in twenty-seven boxes and is in generally
good condition. Many of the clippings are brittle and frail; however,
photocopies of most are available. Some of Lee’s drawings are on
tracing paper, which has become brittle. Most of the other original works
are in good condition, with the exception of some tape damage. Finding Aid for the Doris Lee Papers
as PDF Back to Special Collections | |
|  Open by appointment only to researchers: Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. To schedule an appointment or submit an information request, please call 202-783-7365. 
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