American Academy of Arts and Letters

honor society

The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 250-member honor society. Its goal is to support excellence in American literature, music, and art. It is in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is in Audubon Terrace on Broadway between West 155th and 156th Streets, with the Hispanic Society of America and Boricua College.

Audubon Terrace, the campus that the academy shares

The academy's galleries are open to the public. Exhibits include paintings, sculptures, photographs and works on paper from contemporary artists chosen by its members. Also works by newly elected members and award winners are shown. A permanent exhibit of the recreated studio of composer Charles Ives was opened in 2014.[1]

Musicians and engineers like to record live there because the acoustics are among the city's finest. Hundreds of commercial recordings have been made there.[2][3]

Membership

change

Members are chosen for life. They have been some of the leading people in American art. Members are in committees that give annual prizes to help new artists.[4]

Women were not elected to membership in the early years.[5] In 1908, poet Julia Ward Howe was elected to the AAA, becoming the first female member.[6]


This is a list of some past members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute and Academy of Arts and Letters:[7]

References

change
Notes
  1. "The American Academy Of Arts And Letters Announces The Opening Of The Charles Ives Studio". American Academy of Arts and Letters. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
  2. John Updike, ed. A Century of Arts & Letters, Columbia University Press (1998), p. 263.
  3. Barbara S. Christen and Steven Flanders, eds. Cass Gilbert, Life and Work: Architect of the Public Domain, W. W. Norton and Company (2001), p. 12.
  4. "Rival to the Great French Academy Limited to 50 Members, Receives Official Recognition From the U.S. Senate; Something About Those on the Original List", The New York Times. January 26, 1913.
  5. "Immortals' Plan Hall of Fame Here; Women Would Be Eligible- But "Better Form a Hall of Their Own", The New York Times. November 16, 1913.
  6. First woman elected to American Academy of Arts and Letters, Jan. 28, 1908.
  7. The history of the National Institute of Arts & Letters and the American Academy of Arts & Letters as Told, Decade by Decade, by Eleven Members: Louis Auchincloss, Jack Beeson, Hortense Calisher, Ada Louise Huxtable, Wolf Kahn, R. W. B. Lewis, Richard Lippold, Norman Mailer, Cynthia Ozick, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.- John Updike, Editor, Columbia University Press, New York, 1998.
  8. 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 8.14 8.15 8.16 8.17 8.18 8.19 8.20 8.21 8.22 8.23 "Academicians Meet Here This Week; Members of Institute Will Join Them in Sessions at the Ritz-Carlton. France to send Greeting; Concert Wherein All Works Are by American Composers Will Be Heard", The New York Times. November 12, 1916.
  9. 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 9.11 9.12 9.13 9.14 9.15 9.16 9.17 9.18 9.19 9.20 9.21 "Two New Members for the Academy; Dr. Barrett Wendell and Garl Melchers, the Painter, Honored at Meeting", The New York Times. November 16, 1916.
  10. American Academy of Arts and Letters: Deceased Members Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
  11. "W. R. Thayer Wins Medal; J.G. Huneker and Others Elected to Arts and Letters Institute.
  12. 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 12.10 "Academy Honors John Burroughs; Naturalist Praised by Bliss Perry and Hamlin Garland at Memorial Meeting", The New York Times, November 19, 1921.
  13. "Hortense Calisher | Jewish Women's Archive". Jwa.org. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  14. Associated, The (December 10, 1987). "Arts Academy Elects Dickey and Styron". The New York Times. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  15. "Bob Dylan not coming to Stockholm to accept Nobel Prize for literature". The Plain Dealer. November 16, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  16. The Los Angeles Times, May 30, 1943, p. 49.
  17. "William Gaddis". Albany.edu. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  18. "Elected to Academy; Brand Whitlock and Hamlin Garland in Arts and Letters", The New York Times. January 12, 1918.
  19. "Dr. Griffis, Friend of Japan, Dies; Educator Who Helped Japanese Adapt Themselves to Western Civilization", The New York Times. February 6, 1928.
  20. Wertheim, Stanley (1997). A Stephen Crane Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-313-29692-5.
  21. "Huntington Gives Site for Academy; Men of Arts and Letters to Erect Building Near Riverside Drive and 155th St. Next to Hispanic Museum; National Institute and American Academy Accept Offer of Eight City Lots for Site", The New York Times. January 25, 1915.
  22. "Pg. 19". Archived from the original on April 28, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  23. "American Academy of Arts and Letters - Deceased Members". Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
  24. Caemmerer, H. Paul. "Charles Moore and the Plan of Washington." Records of the Columbia Historical Society. Vol. 46/47 (1944/1945): 237–258, 254.
  25. Joseph Pennell, Noted Artist, Dead; Won High Honors as Etcher and Illustrator — Later Taught Art and Wrote Books", The New York Times. April 24, 1926.
  26. "Academy Elects Gay and Lippman; Artist and Journalist Named to Vacancies Left by Deaths of Platt and Shorey", The New York Times. November 9, 1934.
  27. Schoenberg, Arnold (1987). Stern, Erwin (ed.). Arnold Schoenberg Letters. University of California Press. p. 244. ISBN 978-0-520-06009-8.
  28. "First Women Elected to Institute of Arts; Edith Wharton Among the Four Chosen — American Academy Makes Two Men Members", The New York Times. November 12, 1926.
  29. "Would Encourage Study of Classics; Academy of Arts and Letters Suggests Courses for Schools and Colleges; Sees Aid to Civilization; Resolution Says Opposite Policy Would Lower the Culture of the American People", The New York Times. December 16, 1918.
  30. "Streep would like to thank the (arts) academy" "DesMoines Register." April 12, 2010.
  31. "Mr. Lorado Taft Dies; Leading Sculptor; Creator of Some of Country's Outstanding Monuments is Stricken at 76; Was Teacher in Chicago; Fountain of Time and Columbus Memorial in Washington Among Chief Works", The New York Times. October 31, 1936.
  32. "American Academy of Arts and Letters — Deceased Members". Artsandletters.org. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
  33. "American Academy of Arts and Letters — Deceased Members". Artsandletters.org. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
Sources

Other websites

change