The Beinecke Library has recently acquired the Willard Dryden Paddock Photographs and Papers collection; the archive was the gift of of Francesca Calderone-Steichen.

The collection, chiefly from 1912 to 1941, documents the work of American artist Willard Dryden Paddock and his activities with his wife Charlotte Elizabeth Smith Paddock, as well as related material collected and created by his nieces Mary Steichen Calderone and Charlotte “Kate” Rodina Steichen from 1954 to 1988. Photographic material in the collection includes a photograph album created by Charlotte Paddock and Kate Steichen that documents activities on a small farm owned by the Paddocks in South Kent, Connecticut, 1912-1936. Other photographs in the collection document sculptures created by Paddock, with many depictions of Sundial, Boy With Spider (1916-1918), an outdoor sculpture and functional sundial that depicts a boy sitting cross-legged with an open scroll in his lap and holding a twig with a spider affixed to the wire that acts as the gnomon. A small quantity of papers in the collection document some of his sculptures and paintings, including an illustrated catalog of sculptures, as well as programs for exhibitions and dedications, circa 1929-1941. Other papers, 1978-1988, document his nieces’ interests in his artwork and the home in South Kent, Connecticut. (MM)

A detailed description of the collection can be found online: Guide to the Willard Dryden Paddock Photographs and Papers YCAL MSS 848.