Catherine Wiley Collection.

The original gift was made long ago in 1978, by Agnes Wiley as administrator on behalf of the Wiley family. The idea of a representative collection showing the range of Catherine’s work through time came in good part from her sister, Eleanor McAdoo Wiley. The McClung Historical Collection agreed to accept the entire collection consisting of documents, photographs, slides, drawings and especially paintings, from across the span of her life as an artist.

The scrapbook, a very important source of insight into Catherine’s life and work, has been microfilmed. It is obviously very fragile. There are ribbons and exhibition cards attached to the brittle of the scrapbook. There is one small box of catalogs and issues of magazines which Catherine kept intact.

The two medals which Catherine won were framed together for the 1990 retrospective exhibit. Catherine’s palette is quite fragile now, having separated into two or three parts in the last few years. The easel which Catherine used is coated in historic coal dust from the Fort Sanders family home. The folding chair is the one used when painting—see the small photograph of her sitting in the chair with a painting on the easel. There is also a lovely copy photograph of a youthful Catherine at the peak of her beauty.

We have, oddly enough, three paintings of Mary Catherine Wiley by her daughter Catherine. This very small painting is quite charming and different from the other two. “The Goose Girl” was a small painting which Catherine particularly liked and exhibited. She gave the painting as a personal gift to Agnes Wiley from whom we acquired it.

There are two studies from Catherine’s time in New York in art school. One has been given conservation treatment and framed. It shows a class of young women painting a male nude. Catherine’s study is interesting because it shows her classmates at work. The other, a female nude, is original, untreated condition.

There are some works on paper, only a few of which have been exhibited. Most, but not all, have had conservation treatment. One box contains sketches on paper; the other, watercolors and pastels. It is fairly obvious that Catherine aspired to be an illustrator. The painting of “The Water Babies” is a good example. There are a few small framed items which have rarely been exhibited.

The very touching greeting cards that Catherine made for family members during her years in Norris, Pennsylvania at the mental hospital are the only artwork which she is believed to been able to do during the last thirty years of her life. The cards which we have were kept in a scrapbook by her sister June Lettorey and donated to us by Agnes Wiley.

One very important painting of two young girls under an umbrella at the beach was sold in 1986, at the suggestion of the original donor, to raise money to have conservation work done on the remaining paintings. There are thirty paintings and a number of drawings in the collection, ranging from museum quality works to student work and small studies. Agnes said that Catherine could rarely afford models and painted family and friends. A rare exception was the young woman painted twice, in front of a large number of irises and again in front of a mass of tiger lilies. The latter painting is now in the Johnson Collection.