Gladys Brannigan Papers, 1882-1944

Collection number: MC 61
Size: 3 boxes (1.53 cu.ft.)

About Gladys Brannigan

Gladys Ames Brannigan was born June 14, 1882 in Hingham, MA. When she was seven years old, her family moved to New Hampshire. By 1900 Brannigan was living in Washington D.C., where she attended Georgetown University, earning her B.A. in 1903 and M.A. in 1904, and later studied at the Corcoran College of Art and Design. In 1910 she exhibited at the WCC, and in 1911 with the Society of Washington Artists, of which she was a member. She also worked as an artist on the staff of the Washington Evening Star. By 1921 Gladys had married Robert A. Brannigan, a patent lawyer, and was residing in New York City, where she studied at the Art Students’ League and the National Academy of Design with H.B. Snell.

In 1929 Gladys Brannigan moved to Portsmouth, NH, where she resided until 1941, at 32 Livermore Street. She also resided for a time at 4 Church St. in Dover, NH. During the 1930s she continued to keep a residence in New York City, traveling back and forth between Portsmouth and the city. Her driver’s licenses from this time show her holding both New Hampshire and New York State licenses for the years 1932-1934. She was also known to be the Head of the Art Department at Hollins College in Roanoke, VA at some point during this time, although the exact dates are unknown.

In 1930 Brannigan had two exhibitions, one, from March 4th to 17th in New York City at the Macbeth Gallery located on 15 East 57th St., and the other, from April 9th to the 22nd, in Boston at Doll and Richards, located at 71 Newbury Street. Both exhibits featured her watercolors, which appears to have been her preferred medium.

Gladys Brannigan is best known for her mural work produced during the 1930s as part of the W.P.A. She was among three New Hampshire artists commissioned to paint a series of murals for the University of New Hampshire Library (then located in Hamilton-Smith Hall). The murals were painted under the direction of Omer T. Lassonde, State Supervisor of the New Hampshire WPA Art Project. Brannigan painted the murals for the Newspaper Room (Room 103). The remaining mural is in Room 141.

Others of her murals in NH were in Parker Hall, Keene, the Municipal Building in Dover, and a series mural of “Landmarks of Portsmouth” in the historic Livermore House. Portsmouth Public Library owns sketches for the murals that once adorned the Portsmouth Junior High School (now the Middle School).

Outside of NH her paintings are at George Washington University in Washington D.C.; Wesleyan College in Macon Georgia; the American Museum of Natural History in NYC, and Women’s University College in NYC. She also painted the reredos for St. John’s Church in Massena, NY, and has a lithograph in the collection of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.

Gladys Ames Brannigan died in New York City on April 27, 1944.

About the Gladys Brannigan papers

The Gladys Brannigan papers consist of a few research notebooks and sketchbooks for the artist’s New Hampshire murals, a small amount of correspondence from and to Brannigan and her husband, some of her poetry, and photographs of the artist and of her work, and miscellaneous other items, such as her driver’s licenses from the early thirties. The bulk of the collection is from the 1930s. Unfinished art work, most of it thought to be the work of Gladys Brannigan, though some is clearly by an artist named M.A. Harris, was added in 2009. This can be found in oversize box 1.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

This collection is open.

Copyright Notice

Contents of this collection are governed by U.S. copyright law. For questions about publication or reproduction rights, contact Special Collections staff.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], [Folder], [Box], Gladys Brannigan Papers, 1924-1939, MC 61, Milne Special Collections and Archives, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, NH, USA.

Acquisitions Information

Donation, Nancy Beck, Portsmouth NH, 2005 (Accession number: 2005.13)

Transfer, Portsmouth Athenaeum from the estate of Dorothy Vaughan, 2009

Collection Contents

Series 1: Papers

Box 1
Box 1, Folder 1Correspondence from and to Gladys Brannigan and Robert Brannigan, 1924-1939
Box 1, Folder 2Sketch books: Peabody research and sketches, undated
Box 1, Folder 3Sketch books: research and sketches for mural for the Dover Municipal Building, N.H., undated
Box 1, Folder 4Sketch books: mainly human figures, undated
Box 1, Folder 5Sketch books: research and sketches for mural for Parker, Keene, N.H., 1937
Box 1, Folder 6Notebooks: background research for "Landmarks at Portsmouth" (?), undated
Box 1, Folder 7Notebooks: Irish language notes, undated
Box 1, Folder 8Notes: background notes on Ireland and the Irish, undated
Box 1, Folder 9Poetry, undated
Box 1, Folder 10Exhibition announcements, 1930
Box 1, Folder 11Various licences, registrations, receipts, etc., undated
Box 1, Folder 12Publications: Purple and Gold, Vol. 4, No. 7, November 1936. Contains a description of the murals at Portsmouth Junior High School, pp.9-10
Box 1, Folder 13Publications: The Living Church, January 21, 1936. Contains obituary of Rev. William Walter Webb, p. 355. Webb's relation to Gladys Brannigan is not known, although there are also three photographs of him in the collection (see f.18.
Box 1, Folder 14Publications: The American Magazine of Art, October 1936
Box 1, Folder 15Miscellaneous items: papers and wallet, undated
Box 1, Folder 16Landscape Photographs
  • 1-4: "Landmarks of Portsmouth": four sketches for the residence of Rear Admiral Dismukes, USN. Photographer: Willet Art Studios, 115 W. 57th St. NYC. Sepia 7 x 9", undated
  • 5: "On White Bluff Road (near Savanah [sic]." Photographer: Peter A. Juley and Son, 219 E. 39th St. NYC, undated
  • 6: "Pagan Gods." Part of John Singer Sargent's "Triumph of Religion" murals located at the Boston Public Library, Copley Square, Boston MA. Photographer unknown Sepia 7 x 9", undated
  • 7: "The Witches Hollow, Connemara." By Marion MacIntosh, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester MA. Photographer unknown. Sepia 8x10", undated
Box 1, Folder 17Brannigan Portraits
  • 1. Full length portrait. Photographer: Harris V. Ewing, Washington, D.C. Some discoloration. Matted. Sepia 7.5 x 9.5", undated
  • 2. As above, but posed sitting on chaise lounge. Matted, undated
Box 1, Folder 18Portraits cont.; Kenya Photographs
  • 1. Portrait of Gladys. Side view of upper body, face turned towards camera. Photographer unknown. Inscription on back of photograph reads "Gladys Brannigan, Pen + Brush Club." Sepia 2 x 3", undated
  • 2. Gladys Brannigan. Photographer unknown. Inscription on back of photograph tells birthday,height, weight, hair color, and eye color. Black and white 2x2", undated
  • 3. Kenya: two children, boy and girl standing side by side. Photographer unknown. Black and white 2x2", November 1936
  • 4. Kenya: same two children sitting on stoop inside house. Photographer unknown. Black and white 2x2", November 1936
  • 5. Kenya: Truck stuck in mud. Inscription on back reads: "N.F.D. Near Ijara, our car stuck in mud." Photographer unknown. Black and white 2x2", undated
  • 6. Photograph: Kenya: Ruins in forest. Inscription on back reads: "Old Persian ruins found in clearing coast forest." Photographer unknown. Black and white 2x2", undated
  • 7. Kenya: Fort near water. Inscription on back reads: "Fort on Manda Island at entrance to Lamm Harbour." Photographer unknown. Black and white 2x2", undated
  • 8. Kenya: House in front of beach. Inscription on back reads: "Sands in front of house at low tide. Lamm Island" Photographer unknown. Black and white 2x2", undated
  • 9. Kenya: House in front of beach. Inscription on back reads: "Sands in front of house at low tide. Lamm Island" Photographer unknown. Black and white 2x2", undated
  • 10. Kenya: Street scene with men. Inscription on back reads: "Lamm: Street scene." Photographer unknown. Black and white 2x2", undated
  • 11. Kenya: River. Inscription on back reads: "Tara River." Photographer unknown. Black and white 2x2", undated
  • 12. Kenya: Mount Kilimanjaro in distance. Inscription on back reads: "Mt. Kilimanjaro from Arusha (nearby)." Photographer unknown. Black and white 2x3", undated
  • 13. Kenya: Mount Kilimanjaro. Inscription on back reads: "View of Mt. Kilimanjaro from near Arusha." Photographer unknown. Black and white 2x3", undated
  • 14. Oval portrait of Rev. Willam Walter Webb. Photographer Klein A. Guttenstein, Milwaukee, WI. Matted. Sepia 3x4", undated
  • 15. Portrait of Rev. Willam Walter Webb. Photographer: Morrison, Haymerket Theatre Bldg., 161 West Madison St., Chicago IL. Matted. Sepia 4x5", undated
  • 16. Portrait of Rev. Willam Walter Webb. Photographer Klein A. Guttenstein, Milwaukee, WI. Matted. Sepia 4x6", undated
Box 2
Box 2, Folder 1 Sketch Book: Kenya, animals, people and notes, undated
Box 2, Folder 2Misc. papers and sketches from Sketch Book of Kenya, undated
Box 2, Folder 32 Sketch Books with landscapes and instruments, undated
Box 2, Folder 4sketch Book with Guatemala and branches, undated
Box 2, Folder 520 water colors, mostly 8 1/2 by 61/2
Box 2, Folder 6Newspapers articles, 1936 and 2010

Series 2: Art Work

Oversize Box 1
Oversize Box 1, Item 1Eight oil paintings on canvas, unframed, and two watercolors, unframed, thought to be the work of Gladys Brannigan, undated
Oversize Box 1, Item 2Two watercolors on board, five pencil sketches, and one ink drawing by Gladys Brannigan, undated
Oversize Box 1, Item 3Twenty-nine studies, some watercolors, some pencil drawings, various sizes, thought to be the work of Gladys Brannigan, undated
Oversize Box 1, Item 4Eight pencil sketches by M.A. Harris, 1880-1890
Oversize Box 1, Item 5Fourteen oil paintings on canvas, artist unknown, undated
Finding Aid Image TEMP
Collection
Gladys Brannigan

Formats

Photographs, Slides & Negatives
Sketches & Illustrations