Scope and Contents
The collection consists of 6 boxes of records that contain: lecture and research notes; note cards; drafts for outlines and essays; bibliographies and lists of objects; and photographs of Byzantine art and architectural drawings. These items were primarily created by Paul Underwood between 1936 and 1950 and by Albert Mathias Friend, Jr. between 1945 and the mid-1950s.
The collection includes Underwood’s research papers as a graduate student in the Department of Art and Archeology at Princeton University and as a Junior Fellow and Assistant Professor of Art and Archaeology in the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. The materials illustrate Underwood’s research process for the two major research projects he conducted before becoming the Field Director of the Byzantine Institute in 1950: “The Fountain of Life in Manuscripts of the Gospels,” an article published in the Dumbarton Oaks Papers (hereafter, “The Fountain of Life”), and the reconstruction of the Church of the Holy Apostles. The collection also includes Albert Mathias Friend, Jr.’s research notes related to the Church of the Holy Apostles project and the original reconstruction drawings produced by Underwood, as well as photographs and negatives of the drawings.
Dates
- ca. 1936-1950
Creator
Language of Materials
English
Conditions Governing Access
An appointment is required to consult the collection. Please submit appointment requests here: http://www.doaks.org/research/library-archives/access-and-hours/schedule-an-appointment. For research queries, contact the staff of Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives (icfa@doaks.org).
Conditions Governing Use
Duplication of materials in the collection may be governed by copyright and other restrictions.
Extent
1 collectionBiographical Note
Paul Atkins Underwood was American archaeologist and art historian. A Byzantinist and Dumbarton Oaks Scholar, he began his career at Princeton. He undertook a study of the decoration sources of the Church of the Holy Apostles with Albert Friend in 1945. After Thomas Whittemore's death in 1950, Underwood became the Field Director of the Byzantine Institute. He completed Whittemore's Hagia Sophia work and then supervised the excavation work at Kariye Djami. In 1960, he became a full professor at Dumbarton Oaks. Six years later, Underwood published his Istanbul research in the three-volume "The Kariye Djami." He died shortly after editing the fourth volume.
Biographical Note
Albert Friend attended Princeton University and served in World War I. He remained in Europe after the war to study the art and architecture damaged by the fighting. He became a professor at Princeton and remained on the faculty his entire life, while also devoting himself to Dumbarton Oaks. He directed symposia at DO, and was a resident scholar and a Director of Studies. He was also responsible for the Research Archive Program. He died in New Jersey in 1956.
Arrangement
This collection is divided into 5 series and the contents are roughly arranged in chronological order, based on the creators’ biographical information, and by subject of research. A sixth series constitutes an Addendum, containing research materials accumulated by ICFA staff.
Other Finding Aids
- ICFA catalog record: http://atom.doaks.org/atom/index.php/research-papers-of-paul-atkins-underwood
- PDF version: http://www.doaks.org/library-archives/icfa/underwood.pdf
Archival history
This collection was likely transferred from Paul Underwood’s office to the Dumbarton Oaks Archives in the late 1960s or after his death in 1968.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
On May 25, 1999, the Underwood files were moved to the Byzantine Photograph and Fieldwork Archives (BPFA), now known as the Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives (ICFA). After the transfer, former ICFA staff may have included the collection in the Byzantine Institute and Dumbarton Oaks fieldwork archives since Paul Underwood served as the Field Director of the Byzantine Institute from 1950 to 1961. Overall, because there is no documentation, it is difficult to determine the collection’s acquisition history.
Bibliography
- Underwood, Paul A. "Notes on Bernini's Towers for St. Peter's in Rome," Art Bulletin 21, 3 (September 1939): 283-287.
- Underwood, Paul A. “Drawings of Saint Peter's on a Pilgrim's Staff in the Museo Sacro.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 3, 1-2 (October 1939-January 1940): 147-153.
- Underwood, Paul A. “Some Principles of Measure in the Architecture of the Period of Justinian,” Cahiers archéologiques: Fin de l’Antiquité et Moyen Âge 3 (1948): 64-74.
- Underwood, Paul A. “The Fountain of Life in Manuscripts of the Gospels.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 5 (1950): 41-138.
Reference List
- Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Report. 1945-1946.
- Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. “Albert Mathias Friend, Jr. (1894-1956),” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 12 (1958): ii, 1-2.
- Kitzinger, Ernst. “Paul Atkins Underwood (1902–1968).” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 23 (1969): 1-6.
- Sorensen, Lee. “Friend, Albert M[athias], Jr.” Dictionary of Art Historians. http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/frienda.htm.
- Sorensen, Lee. “Underwood, Paul A[tkins].” Dictionary of Art Historians. http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/underwoodp.htm.
- Weitzmann, Kurt. Sailing with Byzantium from Europe to America: The Memoirs of an Art Historian. München: Editio Maris, 1994.
Processing Information
Finding aid, collection arrangement, and processing were completed by Rona Razon, Archivist, in September 2011. The finding aid was edited by Shalimar White, Manager of ICFA, and Günder Varinlioglu, former ICFA Byzantine Assistant Curator, between September 2011 and October 2012.
This collection was identified within the archive of The Byzantine Institute and Dumbarton Oaks Fieldwork Records and Papers, ca. late 1920s – 2000s by Laurian Douthett, former Archivist Assistant, in the Summer of 2011. ICFA staff determined that Underwood’s research on the “Fountain of Life” and the Church of the Holy Apostles did not relate to any of the fieldwork projects that were conducted by the Byzantine Institute or Dumbarton Oaks. Since its relation to the Byzantine Institute and Dumbarton Oaks fieldwork archive was doubtful, ICFA staff believed that Underwood’s research papers should be a separate collection in order to fully highlight his various research projects as a graduate student at Princeton University and as a Junior Fellow and an Assistant Professor at Dumbarton Oaks, before he became the Field Director of the Byzantine Institute in 1950.
- Anastasis
- Architecture
- Baptismal font
- Baptistery
- Byzantine
- Christ Pantocrator
- Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople
- Cross
- Der Nersessian, Sirarpie, 1896-1989
- Dome
- Downey, Glanville, 1908-1991
- Draft
- Drawing
- Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1940-
- Early Christian
- Friend, Albert Mathias, Jr., 1894-1956
- Gospel book
- Greece
- Iconography
- Istanbul
- Italy
- Jerusalem
- Lecture
- Manuscript illumination
- Manuscripts
- Medieval
- Metamorphosis
- Mosaic
- Naples
- Nea Ekklesia in Constantinople
- Negative
- Pentecost
- Photographic print
- Primary source
- Princeton, NJ
- Reconstruction
- Research notes
- Rome
- Symposium
- Underwood, Paul A. (Paul Atkins), 1902-1968
- Virgin Mary
- Washington, DC
Creator
- Title
- Underwood, Paul A. Friend, Albert Mathias. Paul Atkins Underwood research papers, circa 1936-1950: Finding Aid
- Author
- Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- dca00010
Repository Details
Part of the Dumbarton Oaks Repository
Dumbarton Oaks holds archival collections in its Rare Book Collection, Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives, and the Dumbarton Oaks Archives. The collections include: the papers of noteworthy scholars in the three fields that Dumbarton Oaks supports (Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, and Garden and Landscape); image collections depicting objects or sites of topical interest to scholars in the three fields; Beatrix Farrand’s personal archive of letters and original drawings that document the development of the Dumbarton Oaks Garden; and institutional records and architectural plans and drawings documenting the history of Dumbarton Oaks. For more information about hours and to make an appointment to consult any of the collections listed here, please fill out the request form: https://www.doaks.org/research/library-archives/schedule-an-appointment