Mailing Address:
Special Collections
College of Charleston Library
66 George Street
Charleston, SC 29424

Phone:
(843) 953-8016

Title: William Halsey Papers

Collection #: 0067

Dates: 1937-1999

Size: 4 linear feet

Biographical Note: William M. Halsey is an American artist (1915-1999) and former member of the Faculty of the College of Charleston (namesake of the Halsey Gallery in the Simons Center for the Arts). Halsey's work is represented in the permanent collections of museums throughout the United States; he has had numerous one-man exhibitions; and his work has been widely published.

Scope and Content Note: This collection of ink drawings, publications and typescripts includes sketchbooks which Halsey used to design the layout for his "Maya Journal" (1977) and publications about him and his work (museum catalogs of exhibitions, magazine articles, clippings, etc.); and a collection of photographs of him and his work.

Halsey used ten sketchbooks and additional sets of loose pages to design a volume of sketches he selected from ones made on numerous trips throughout the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and at Copan in Honduras: Halsey, William. Maya Journal = Diario Maya. Columbia, S.C.: R.L. Bryan Company, 1976. The principal subjects are ruins of ancient Mayan building, ancient Mayan sculpture, and the present way of life of native speakers of Mayan who live in the Yucatan. Halsey wrote the text as well as providing the illustrations and book design.

Monographs in the collection include: Morris, Jack A. Jr. William M. Halsey: Retrospective. Greenville, SC: Greenville Country Museum, 1972 and Halsey, William. The Charleston story in a panorama of murals by Halsey. [Charleston, S.C.]: Sears, Roebuck and Co., [1954], a complete visual record of an extensive group of murals executed for Sears, Roebuck and Co., but destroyed when the Charleston Museum's original building burned in 1982.

Periodicals in the collection have articles about Halsey and his work, articles written by Halsey (sometimes co- authored by his wife Corrie McCallum) and illustrations by Halsey (sometimes also done in cooperation with his wife). Articles about Halsey's work appearing in such publications as "Art Digest, South Carolina Magazine, Sandlapper, and other magazines are included in the collection. printed ephemera includes postcards with artwork by Halsey.

The article Halsey wrote on Ft. Sumter for the "Ford Times" (March 1961) was reprinted as exemplary writing in: Powers, Walter L. Optimum reading achievement: book one. Chicago: Psychotechnics, 1966. A file of printed ephemera includes postcards with artwork by Halsey.

A collection of approximately 100 exhibition catalogs, 1937-1977, includes works by Halsey and by Corrie McCallum . Halsey had one-man shows at the Bertha Schaefer Gallery, NY; the Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA; Domus, Mexico City; the Greenville County Museum of Art, SC; and elswhere.

Subject Headings:

Halsey, William, 1915-1999 -- Exhibitions.
McCallum, Corrie, 1914- -- Exhibitions.
Halsey, William, 1915-1999. Maya journal = Diario maya.
Mayas -- Antiquities -- Mexico -- Yucatán (State)
Artists -- South Carolina.
Drawing -- 20th century.
Modernism (Art) -- Catalogs.

Inventory:

1. Finding aids 1/1

2. Biographical information 1/2

3. Maya Journal: designs for layout 1/3-2/2

4. Monographs

(A) Retrospective 2/3
(B) Charleston Story 2/4
(C) Optimum Reading Achievements 2/5

5. Periodicals

(A) Art Digest 2/6
(B) Art Gallery 2/7
(C) Ford Times 2/8
(D) Fortune 3/1
(E) Gateway 3/2A
(F) Lincoln Mercury Times 3/2B
(G) New Yorker 3/3
(H) Sandlapper 3/4
(I) South Carolina Magazine 3/5

6. Exhibition catalogs and clippings (arranged chronologically)

1939-1949 4/1
1950 4/2
1951 4/3
1952 4/4
1953 4/5
1954 4/6
1955 4/7
1956 4/8
1957 4/9
1958 4/10
1959 4/11
1960 5/1
1961 5/2
1962 5/3
1963 5/4
1964 5/5
1965 5/6
1966 5/7
1967 5/8
1968 5/9
1969 5/10
1970-79 6/1
1980-89 6/2
1990-1999 6/3
Undated 7/1

7. Miscellaneous

(A) Correspondence 7/2
(B) Album of photographs 8
(C) Oversized (3 items) File E-15-A