Research
For students and scholars.
Whether you are writing a school report, a thesis or a book, this is where to start. We are glad to help with questions the site doesn't answer.
At a glance
Eugene Kingman.
Eugene Kingman, 1967.
American Regionalist painter, muralist and museum director. The full story is on His Life.
- Born
- Providence, Rhode Island, 1909
- Died
- Lubbock, Texas, February 20, 1975
- Trained
- Moses Brown School; RISD Saturday classes; Yale (BA 1932, BFA in mural painting 1935)
- Career
- National Park Service commission for the 1931 Paris Exposition; mural instructor at RISD, 1935–1939; three Treasury Section post office murals, 1937–1939; first director of the Philbrook, Tulsa, 1939–1942; OSS cartographer, 1942–1945; Joslyn Art Museum, 1946–1969 (director from 1947); Museum of Texas Tech University, 1969–1975
- Known for
- Landscapes of the national parks and the Great Plains, New Deal murals, The New York Times world map mural (1948), lithographs, and museum exhibit design
Primary sources
Where the record is.
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Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
The Eugene Kingman papers
His papers, 1932–1975, lent for microfilming by his widow in 1984 and now digitized: six folders you can read online. See below.
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Eugene Kingman Collection
His card-file catalogue
Kingman kept an index card for nearly every work from about 1927: catalogue number (year and sequence, such as 31.01), title, date, place, size, exhibitions, and on the back the sales, gifts and loans. About 826 painting files, 46 lithograph cards and some 40 drawings survive, scanned in 2013. The cards are online, with private details redacted, and every one is searchable by number, title, place, state, region and subject.
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Eugene Kingman Collection
The family archive
Letters, photographs, exhibition records, press clippings from 1930 on, his Mexico postcards of 1936, a 1970 interview and his widow's 1978 oral history. Ask us about access.
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This site
Press and documents
Ninety-six years of newspaper coverage, most with scans, and a library of catalogues, programs and family histories.
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This site
Books about Kingman
Kingman's Nebraska, Amidst Nature's Wonders, Stairway to Magical Cornfields and the family profile, two of them to read in full.
In his own words.
Writing by Kingman.
- “Painters of the Plains” ↗
American Heritage, December 1954
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A paper on plains art
The Heritage of the Middle West, 1958
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“Omaha's Joslyn Museum of Art”
Museum News, 1959
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
His papers at the Smithsonian.
The Eugene Kingman papers, 1932–1975, are on microfilm reel 3292 at the Archives of American Art, and all six folders can be read online, page by page. The frame numbers show where each folder sits on the reel.
- 1 Book Compiled on Eugene Kingman's Career ↗ Biographical sketch, résumé, clippings and photographs n.d. Frames 536–658
- 2 Three Books of Photographs of Paintings and Lithographs ↗ Photographs of his works, with typed notes on each n.d. Frames 659–735
- 3 Clippings, Catalogues, and Articles ↗ Press coverage and exhibition catalogues 1932–1975 Frames 736–848
- 4 “Ideas on Art, Environment, and Museums” ↗ An interview with Kingman by his daughter 1970 Frames 849–860
- 5 “Research in Exhibit Design, the Llano Estacado (Staked Plains) Exhibit” ↗ Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock 1971, 1973 Frames 861–891
- 6 “Applying the Philosophy of Design: Art Museums” ↗ Illustrated paper from the Mountain-Plains Museum Conference, Abilene 1974 Frames 892–900
At the Smithsonian Institution Archives
The Smithsonian's own records hold three more files on Kingman, including one on him as a candidate for director of the National Collection of Fine Arts. They are not online. To see them, email osiaref@si.edu.
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RU 50, Office of the Secretary, 1949–1964
Exhibits, Modern, of Eugene Kingman, 1957–1960
Box 45
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RU 104, Assistant Secretary for History and Art, 1965–1972
NCFA Directorship Candidates: Kingman, Eugene
Box 1, Series 1: Bureau Files
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RU 104
Eugene Kingman (under Museum Programs)
Box 12, Series 2: Alphabetical Subject Files, 1964–1970
Finding aid for Record Unit 104: SIA.FARU0104.pdf ↗
See the work
In public collections.
Contact the institution before a visit: not every work is on view. The Media Gallery lists every work we know of.
- National Park Service, Washington
- Paris Exposition paintings of Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Sequoia and Crater Lake, 1931
- Library of Congress
- Lithographs, including Ozark Farm (Pennell Collection, 1943)
- Yale University Library
- Five lithographs, 1937
- Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha
- Paintings including Pioneer Trail into Council Bluffs and Davis Farm Scene, Autumn, and lithographs
- Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa
- Arkansas Cabin, about 1943, and lithographs
- Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearney
- Melting Snows and Missouri River near Tekamah
- Durham Museum, Omaha
- Omaha Waterfront During the 1870's, 1954
- Denver Art Museum
- Cliff Ruins #1, Mesa Verde, lithograph, 1938
- Joslyn Castle, Omaha
- The Kingman Room, with Corn Country #1 and #2
- Omaha Central Library
- The New York Times mural, 1948
- Post offices
- Hyattsville, Maryland; Kemmerer, Wyoming; East Providence, Rhode Island
Teaching resources
For the classroom.
A free curriculum kit on Kingman and The New York Times mural was made for third- and fourth-grade classes by Omaha teachers working with historian Maureen McCann Waldron, who led the effort to bring the mural home. The kit includes a teacher guide, student guides, a classroom poster and a slide presentation.
Teachers can pick up a copy at the Joslyn Castle, 3902 Davenport Street, Omaha.
Questions about using it? Ask us.
Citing and images
Using this site.
Cite a work by title, date and Kingman's catalogue number where there is one, for example: Eugene Kingman, West of Omaha, 1967, acrylic, catalogue no. 67.03, Eugene Kingman Collection.
Images on this site are for study. To reproduce one in a publication, please ask us first.
Questions
Ask the family.
Kingman's daughter and grandson run the collection and are glad to help students and researchers. We can check a date, find a card or point you to a source.
Or email info@eugenekingman.com.