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Louis and Elsie Freund Papers

1945-1994

Manuscript Collection 1297

INFORMATION ABOUT LOUIS AND ELSIE FREUND

Louis Freund, painter, illustrator, and educator, was born on September 16, 1905, in Clinton, Missouri. He attended the University of Missouri from 1923 to 1925 and the St. Louis School of Fine Arts from 1925 to 1929.  In 1929, he was awarded the Edmund H. Wuerpel Scholarship for Foreign Study which enabled him to study at the Colarossi Academy in Paris and travel throughout Europe from 1929 to 1930.  He worked as a professional artist in New York City from 1930 to 1932.  During the 1930s commissions granted by the Works Progress Administration allowed him to travel throughout rural Ozark areas in Arkansas and Missouri, painting murals for public buildings and scenes of American life.  From 1939 to 1946, he was a Resident Artist (1939-1941) and then Art Department Head (1941-1946) at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas.  He was awarded the Carnegie Fellowship for study in art history and attended Princeton University  in 1940 to 1941.  During World War II, he served as Visual Aids Director for the United States Army, painting murals at Camp Robinson in Little Rock and Fort Chaffee.  Freund attended the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center in 1946 to 1947, studying under Boardman Robinson.  From 1949 to 1967, Freund taught art at Stetson University in Deland, Florida.  He started art departments at Little Rock Junior College in 1940 and at Bishop College in Dallas, Texas, in 1968.  In 1940, he established the Summer Art School of the Ozarks in Eureka Springs, and served as director from 1940-1951, as well as serving as a Lecturer and Artist in Residence under the Association of American Colleges during the 1940s.  He continued his work as artist and educator after retiring to Eureka Springs in 1967, working to establish the Eureka Springs Art Gallery and taking an active role in art guilds and community art projects throughout Arkansas.  His work includes portraiture, landscapes, murals, genre scenes, protest paintings, Latin American culture paintings, and religious paintings.

Elsie Bates Freund, jewelry-maker, watercolorist, craftsperson, and educator, was born on January 12, 1912, in Mincy, Missouri.  In 1929, she graduated from high school in Branson, Missouri, and taught school for one year before attending the Kansas City Art Institute from 1930 to 1932.  During the 1930s she owned a gift shop in Branson, while working as an artist and craftsperson.  In 1936, she met Louis Freund whom she married in 1939 in Eureka Springs.  Elsie accompanied Louis to Hendrix College, teaching textile design, weaving and crafts.  Elsie continued teaching at Hendrix during World War II, then accompanied Louis to the Colorado School of Fine Arts, where she studied lithography and took a design class with George Van der Sluis.  She joined the faculty of Stetson University in Deland, Florida, teaching a variety of design classes from 1949 to 1967.   In the 1940s the Freunds purchased Hatchet Hall, the last home of Carry Nation, in Eureka Springs, which served as the site of the Summer School of the Ozarks from 1940 to 1951.  Here the Freunds conducted art programs, as well as pursuing their own careers as artists.  Elsie worked extensively with watercolor, textiles, jewelry and ceramics, developing a technique called "Elsaramics" of fused glass on ceramic forms in an enameling kiln.  When the Freunds retired to Eureka Springs in 1967, Elsie continued to work as an artist while remaining active in the art community and worked along with Louis Freund to preserve the historic character of Eureka Springs and to promote Arkansas art and artists.  In 1995, the Freunds moved to Little Rock.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE COLLECTION

The collection contains personal and professional correspondence, research files, catalogues, professional and personal photographs, postcards, slides, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, journal articles, pamphlets, brochures, original works of art and memorabilia.

The collection also contains materials which pertain to the writer Eleanor de la Vergne Risley (1876-1945), a cousin of Louis Freund.  Her books include Road to Wildcat (1930) and An Abandoned Orchard (1932). Several of her short stories were published in The Atlantic Monthly.  In 1939, Risley moved to Eureka Springs to live with the Freunds .  She was an active member of the artistic community until her death in 1945.  For further information regarding Eleanor Risley, see The Eleanor de la Vergne Risley Papers (MC 485) in Special Collections.
 

The Louis and Elsie Freund Papers were donated to Special Collections by Louis and Elsie Freund on July 6, 1994.

RESTRICTIONS APPLY.  Access to original works of art requires advance permission.  Photographs or slides of some original works of art are available in Series 4, Photographs, Postcards and Slides, and in Series 7, Oversize Material.  Rolled sketches in Box 12 may not be unrolled without the permission of the Head of Special Collections.

Processed by Georgia Ann Kunze, Special Collections Division, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas, in
June l999.
 

CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTION (5.5 linear feet and 7 items)

Series 1. Correspondence. Boxes 1-4

Series 2. General Files. Boxes 5-6

Series 3. Published Material. Boxes 7

Series 4. Photographs, Postcards and Slides. Boxes 8-10

  Subseries 1. Art Work
  Subseries 2. Professional and Personal

Series 5. Scrapbooks and Memorabilia. Box 11

Series 6. Original Artwork. Box 12

Series 7. Oversize Material. Box 13

Series 8. Eleanor Risley Material. Box 14

Series 1.  Correspondence (Boxes 1-4)

This series consists of personal and professional correspondence dating primarily from the 1960s and 1970s.  Included are letters, invitations, notes, Christmas cards, brochures, postcards and pamphlets.  Box 2,  Folder 1 contains correspondence between Louis and Elsie Freund, as well as copies of Christmas letters and Christmas cards sent by the Freunds.  Of particular interest are letters from John Gould Fletcher and Charlie May Simon from 1944 and 1945.  Materials are organized in alphabetical order by correspondent.  When more than one item of correspondence exists from an individual or organization, these materials are organized in chronological order.

Box 1

 1. Correspondence-A
 2. Correspondence-B
 3. Correspondence-C
 4. Correspondence-D
 5. Correspondence-E
 6. Correspondence-F

Box 2

 1. Correspondence-Freunds
 2. Correspondence-G
 3. Correspondence-H
 4. Correspondence-I
 5. Correspondence-J
 6. Correspondence-K
 7. Correspondence-L

Box 3

 1. Correspondence-M
 2. Correspondence-N
 3. Correspondence-O
 4. Correspondence-P
 5. Correspondence-R
 6. Correspondence-S to Si

Box 4

 1. Correspondence-Sm to St
 2. Correspondence-T
 3. Correspondence-U
 4. Correspondence-V
 5. Correspondence-W
 6. Correspondence-XYZ
 7. Correspondence-Unidentified

Series 2.  General Files (Boxes 5-6)

This series contains general files kept for personal and professional use by the Freunds. Included are materials regarding art, art collections, art education, art guilds, art history, art projects, art theory, plans and blueprints for the Eureka Springs Art Gallery, travels, other artists, educators, and colleagues.  Also included is a biography of Elsie Bates Freund written by Anne Allman in 1991 and a biography of Louis Freund written by Rita Caver in 1993.  Personal materials include correspondence and writings of Angus C. Avery and Rhoda Dodge Avery, maternal grandparents of Louis Freund, from 1854 to 1906, as well as Louis Freund's childhood writings and sketches dating from 1905 to 1916.  Also included is biographical information concerning Elsie Freund's sister, Goldie Owen (1907-1992).  Files are arranged alphabetically.


Box 5

 1. Addresses
 2. Arkansas State Capitol Mural Plans
 3. Art and Religion
 4. Art in Eureka Springs
 5. Art Invoices
 6. Art Lectures
 7. Ingmar Bergman
 8. Biography of Elsie Marie Bates-Freund by Anne Allman
 9. Rita Caver
 10. Clinton, Missouri
 11. Credo Material
 12. College of the Ozarks
 13. Curator Accounts
 14. Deland Exhibits
 15. Deland Post Office Mural
 16. Crescent Dragonwagon
 17. Educational
 18. Elsie Freund-Art and Jewelry
 19. Elsie Freund-Biographical Material
 20. Eureka Springs Art Gallery
 21. Eureka Springs Guild of Artists and Craftspeople
 22. European Travels 1929-1930

Box 6

 1. Faculty Artist Programs
 2. Fifty Year Retrospective
 3. John Gould Fletcher
 4. Florida Craftsmen
 5. Glen Gant
 6. H. Louis Freund: An Artist For Arkansas by Rita Caver
 7. Heber Springs Post Office Murals
 8. Hendrix College
 9. In Search Of A Public Art by Louis Freund
 10. Inspiration
 11. Louis Freund-Biographical Material
 12. Louis Freund-Childhood Memorabilia
 13. Louis Freund-Family Correspondence
 14. Carry Nation
 15. Goldie Owen
 16. Pocahontas Post Office Murals
 17. Paintings and Crafts for Identification and Insurance
 18. Preacher in Paint by Louis Freund
 19. Pre-Columbian
 20. Protest and Affirmation
 21. A Revival Meeting Or A Thanksgiving Celebration? by Louis Freund
 22. Eleanor Risley
 23. Larry Roof
 24. Seven Stages of Man
 25. Shaw University
 26. Stetson University
 27. Supply Catalogues
 28. Travel Saga 1954
 29. United States Government Project in the Arts



Series 3.  Published Materials (Box 7)

This series contains catalogues, journal articles, and newspaper clippings about the Freunds and their work as artists, educators and art promoters.  Catalogues include exhibit catalogues and brochures of their work.  Journal articles include articles and illustrations by Louis Freund, and are arranged alphabetically by journal title.  Newspaper clippings are arranged alphabetically by subject.

Box 7

 1. Catalogues
 2. Journal Articles
 3. Newspaper Clippings-Artwork
 4. Newspaper Clippings-Artwork-Deland Post Office Mural
 5. Newspaper Clippings-Artwork-Volusia County Courthouse Mural
 6. Newspaper Clippings-Elsie Freund
 7. Newspaper Clippings-Elsie and Louis Freund
 8. Newspaper Clippings-Eureka Springs Art Gallery
 9. Newspaper Clippings-Exhibits
 10. Newspaper Clippings-Florida Artist Group
 11. Newspaper Clippings-Florida Craftsman
 12. Newspaper Clippings-Louis Freund
 13. Newspaper Clippings-Miscellaneous
 14. Newspaper Clippings-Stetson University

Series 4. Photographs, Postcards and Slides (Boxes 8-10)

This series contains images relating to specific art works, as well as to the personal and professional lives of Louis and Elsie Freund.  Oversize photographs depicting works of art and a photograph of Louis Freund's family celebrating the silver anniversary of his maternal grandparents, Angus C. Avery and Rhoda Dodge Avery, have been removed to Box 13, Folder 1.

Subseries 1.  Art Works

  This subseries contains photographs, postcards and slides of paintings, prints and sketches by Elsie
  and Louis Freund.  Box 8, Folders 1 to 7 contain photographs and postcards of paintings by Elsie
  Freund.  Folder 7 contains works of art which have not been identified by title.  The remaining
  files contain photographs and postcards of paintings, prints and sketches by Louis Freund.  Files
  are arranged alphabetically by title of work.  Titles of works of art are in italics.  Box 9, Folder
  42 contains slides which were taken on May 19, 1999 of original works of art which are contained
  in the collection.
 
Box 8

 1. Impression of Sienna, Italy
 2. Mare and Colt
 3. Mountain Goats
 4. San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
 5. Voodoo Dance, Haiti
 6. Wheat Field
 7. Unidentified
 8. Agriculture, Tourism and Industry, Bank of Rogers, Arkansas, Mural
 9. Ancient Cultures of Latin America Exhibit
 10. Barber Shop
 11. Barrack's Life-Camp Robinson
 12. Bishop College, Zale Library Mural
 13. Black History USA, Shaw University Mural
 14. Cafeteria Lineup
 15. Cain and Abel (?)
 16. Centennial Mural, Eureka Springs, Arkansas
 17. Crescent Spring
 18. Crown of Thorns
 19. Crowned with Thorns
 20. Crucifixion Triptych (Crucifixion, The Agony, Descent From the Cross)
 21. Deland, Florida, Post Office Mural
 22. Descent From the Cross
 23. Down From the Tree
 24. Entombment
 25. Eureka Springs #1
 26. Eureka Springs
 27. Eureka Springs
 28. Eureka Springs (?)
 29. Expulsion
 30. First Ballyhoo
 31. Flight Into Egypt
 32. Flight Into Egypt
 33. Flight Into Egypt
 34. Flood 1961, Harrison, Arkansas, Mural
 35. Florida
 36. Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
 37. Garden of the Gods
 38. Gethsemane (?)
 39. Grief (Lithograph)
 40. Grief (Painting)
 41. Havana Roof Tops
 42. Heber Springs, Arkansas, Post Office Mural
 43. Herrington, Kansas, Post Office Mural
 44. Hiroshima
 45. Hill Towns of Mexico - Taxco and Guanajuato
 46. Idabel, Oklahoma, Post Office Mural
 47. Job
 48. Kill or Be Killed
 49. The Last Supper (Lithograph)
 50. The Last Supper (Painting)
 51. Madonna and Child
 52. Madonna and Child and The Omega Point
 53. Men Moving Rock
 54. Moses
 55. Moses (?)
 56. Mother and Child
 57. Nativity
 58. Nativity
 59. Old Man
 60. Osage, Arkansas - 1935
 61. Osage, Arkansas
 62. Osage, Arkansas
 63. Ozark Blacksmith Shop
 64. Ozark Market
 65. Panic Grass and Feverfew
 66. Pieta
 67. Pieta

Box 9

 1. Portrait of Debra Wiesel
 2. Portrait of Dr. Futrall
 3. Portrait of Dr. Harding
 4. Portrait of Frank Fellows
 5. Portrait of John Gould Fletcher
 6. Portrait of Louis Luster
 7. Portrait of Norma Webber
 8. Portrait of Putman Children
 9. Portrait of Unidentified Boy
 10. Portrait of Unidentified Boy and Girl
 11. Portrait of Unidentified Couple
 12. Portrait of Unidentified Girl
 13. Portrait of Unidentified Girl with Doll
 14. Portrait of Unidentified Man
 15. Portrait of Unidentified Man Playing Piano
 16. Portrait of Unidentified Man Seated at Desk
 17. Portrait of Unidentified Woman
 18. Portrait of Unidentified Woman
 19. Portrait of Unidentified Woman
 20. Portrait of Unidentified Woman
 21. Portrait of Unidentified Woman
 22. Portrait of Unidentified Woman and Boy
 23. Portrait of Unidentified Woman Seated at Window
 24. The Power and the Glory
 25. Red Rock
 26. Revival Meeting or Holy Rollers
 27. Road to Calvary
 28. St. Francisville Cemetery or Death in Louisiana
 29. Seven Ages of Man
 30. Seven Stages of Man
 31. Shape of Things to Come (Lithograph)
 32. Shape of Things to Come (Painting)
 33. Shrine of Guadalupe
 34. Speakers Table
 35. Springs of Eureka Springs
 36. Store at Osage
 37. Storm Over Osage
 38. Toby's Comedians
 39. West Volusia Memorial Hospital Mural
 40. White River Bluffs or White River Float Trip Country
 41. Unidentified
 42. Slides

Subseries 2. Professional and Personal Photographs

This subseries contains photographs of the Freunds involved in work as professional artists and educators, as well as family and personal photographs of the Freunds.  Folder 10 contains a photograph of the tree in Pea Ridge, Arkansas, which was the inspiration for the John Gould Fletcher poem Mockingbird at Pea Ridge.

Box 10

 1. Elsie Freund
 2. Louis Freund
 3. Louis and Elsie Freund
 4. Louis and Elsie Freund Working and With Works of Art
 5. Eureka Springs, Arkansas
 6. Events
 7. Students
 8. Studio
 9. Travels
 10. Tree at Pea Ridge
 11. Unidentified Artists and Other Individuals
 12. Unidentified
 13. Family
 14. Negatives
 

Series 5.  Scrapbooks and Memorabilia (Box 11)

This series contains three scrapbooks.  One contains postcards, letters, newspaper clippings, journal articles, photographs of paintings, personal photographs, pamphlets, exhibit notices, and bulletins from 1929 to 1937.  The second, containing similar material dating from 1938 to 1953, has been moved to Box 13, which contains oversize material.  Included in this scrapbook is a typed copy of the John Gould Fletcher poem After the Storm inscribed by the author and dedicated to Louis Freund.  The third scrapbook contains testimonial letters dedicated to the Freunds by various admirers from 1991.  Also included is Louis Freund's Beginners' Primer, 1911, which contains marginalia, as well as the medal presented to Louis Freund by International Business Machines Corporation to commemorate his participation in the 1939 World's Fair Exhibition in which Crossroad Forum was displayed.  Louis Freund's 1929 passport is also included.

Box 11

 1. Scrapbook 1929-1937
 2. Scrapbook 1991
 3. The Beginners' Primer
 4. IBM Honorary Award Medal
 5. Louis Freund's 1929 United States passport
  


Series 6.  Original Works of Art (Box 12)

This series contains original works of art by Louis Freund.  Included are preliminary pencil sketches, preliminary ink sketches, studies in tempera, studies done in paper and paint, pencil and crayon sketches, pen and ink washes, prints, magazine covers, paintings on canvas in oil and in acrylic. Folder 13 contains a pencil sketch of Eleanor Risley by an unidentified artist.  Access to original works of art is limited.  Researchers desiring access to rolled sketches of the Eureka Springs and Harrison murals should consult with the Head of Special Collections.   Slides depicting some of these original pieces are in Box 10, Folder 42.

Box 12

 1. The Agony (print 10 x 13")
 2. Black History USA, Shaw University Mural (16 ink and wash sketches 13 ½ x 17")
 3. The Country Home February 1936 (cover 8 ½ x 11 ½")
 4. Flood 1961, Harrison, Arkansas, Mural-Second Idea Sketch (ink and wash sketch 20 x 23")
 5. The Last Supper (pencil sketch 14 x 18")
 6. The Last Supper (pencil and crayon sketch 14 x 13" on 19 x 18" matt)
 7. The Last Supper (4 prints 13 x 11")
 8. Missouri Outlaw (covers: 2-7 ½ x 9" and 15-9 x 12")
 9. Portrait of Unidentified Woman (oil on canvas 16 x 20")
 10. Unidentified Composition (ink and wash 18 x 6")
 11. Unidentified Country Scene (ink and tempera 12 x 10")
 12. Volusia County Courthouse Mural-Proposed Plan (pencil and ink sketch 13 ½ x 8 ½")
 13. Portrait of Eleanor Risley (pencil on canvas 11 x 16 ½")
 14. Rolled Sketch, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, Mural (ink and wash 59" x 18")
 15. Rolled Sketch, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, Mural (pencil sketch 22 ½ x 16 ½")
 16. Rolled Sketch, Harrison, Arkansas, Mural (tempera and pencil 13 ½ x 177 ½")
 17. Folder in Mapcase in Special Collections Reading Room: Deland, Florida, Post Office Mural (tempera on cardboard 33 x 14 ½") and West Volusia Memorial Hospital Mural (paper and paint on board 44 x 11 ½")
  Art Work on Stretched Canvases and Framed Certificates housed in Special   Collections Vault:
 18. Portrait of Unidentified Man (oil on canvas 16 x 20")
 19. Portrait of Unidentified Young Woman (acrylic on canvas 16 x 20")
 20. Portrait of Unidentified Man Smoking a Pipe (oil on canvas 20 x 24")
 21. Unidentified Landscape (acrylic on canvas 16 x 20"; framed 18 ½ x 22 ½")
 22. Proclamation of Louis & Elsie Freund Day in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, May 22, 1994

Series 7.  Oversize Material (Box 13)

This series contains oversize material including oversize photographs, published material, certificates, and a scrapbook.

Box 13

 23. Oversize Photographs
 24. Published Material
 25. State of Arkansas Certificate of Recognition to Elsie Bates Freund, 1991
 26. State of Arkansas Certificate of Recognition to Louis Freund, 1991
 27. Scrapbook 1938-1953
 

Series 8.  Eleanor Risley Material (Box 14)

This series contains materials pertaining to Eleanor de la Verge Risley, cousin of Louis Freund.  Included is correspondence dating from 1935 to 1941, personal photographs, family photographs, and examples of  her literary work.  Included is a poem entitled The Evening Star and the foreword and a draft of Chapter IV of the manuscript of Sheep's Wall.

Box 14

 1. Correspondence
 2. Literary Work
 3. Photographs


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