Content Description

One (1) photocopy of a one hundred twenty-two page "Catalog of Portraits by Clarence Mattei and Charles Mattei 1924-1947" compiled by John Woodward from the approximate four hundred (400) 5" x 7" negatives he acquired from Joel Conway in 2010.

Acquisition Type

Donation

Provenance

Gift of John Woodward. Provenance of the Mattei reproductions according to donor: Clarence Mattei had a studio in El Paseo from 1924-1947, directly above Ed Borein’s studio. When Etta Fauldings went out of business in 1948, Joel Conway bought up all of her stock which included about four hundred (400) 5” x 7” negs of the Mattei portraits. John Woodward received the Mattei negatives when he bought Joel Conway’s collection of 300,000 photographs in 2010. The four hundred (400) 5” x 7” Mattei negatives were in their original sleeves with the name of the subject written on the sleeve when the donor acquired the collection. Only about 30 of the 400 negatives are unidentified. Woodward rehoused the negatives in archival sleeves, captured the subject identifications, and made contact prints of the negatives. The donor created a catalog to the negatives using a home-grown system based on the subject's last name. All of these items were compiled into a catalog in a three-ring binder. Woodward visited Michael Redmon and the Gledhill Library in 2014 to compare his positives of the Mattei portraits with the Museum’s original Mattei artwork and reproductions so any labeling inconsistencies could be trued up for the benefit of both the Museum’s and the donor’s holdings. Woodward's handwritten notes from that effort are included in the binder/catalog.

Restrictions Apply

No