Rose O'Neill collection
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
The collection includes a small number of documents concerning the artist and poet, Rose Cecil O'Neill (1874-1944), best known for her creation of the Kewpie cartoon character. Among the documents are eight original drawings by O'Neill, three photographs of O'Neill (one of which was taken by Jessie Tarbox Beals), and the checklist of O'Neill's 1922 exhibition at Wildenstein Galleries in New York. Other documents are programs and other print matter with O'Neill's drawings and poetry, clippings, and a reproduction of a poster illustrated with O'Neill's Kewpies advocating women's suffrage.
Biographical / Historical
Rose Cecil O'Neill (1874-1944) was an American artist, author and poet perhaps best known for her creation in 1909 of the cartoon character Kewpies. O'Neill was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Nebraska. In her youth she took an avid and successful interest in drawing; as a teenager she worked as an illustrator for Omaha newspapers. Recognizing her talent and potential, O'Neill's father took her to New York City in 1893, where she joined the staff of Puck. O'Neill's father returned to the Midwest, settling in the Ozarks of Missouri on a property he called Bonniebrook. O'Neill would visit Bonniebrook often over the years, eventually purchasing it and living the last years of her life there.
Through the first decade of the 1900s, O'Neill continued to work as an illustrator, including for a novel of her own and for those of her second husband, Harry Leon Wilson, an assistant editor at Puck (they married in 1902 and divorced in 1907). In 1909, O'Neill's Kewpie creation premiered in a comic strip in Ladies' Home Journal, later appearing in Good Housekeeping and elsewhere. In 1912 a German firm began manufacturing Kewpie dolls, and O'Neill traveled to Europe to oversee production. The Kewpie success made her a millionaire. Among the properties she purchased with her earnings was an apartment on Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, consistent with her emerging reputation as a bohemian and suffragist.
Over time, the nature of O'Neill's work shifted, becoming more experimental. She returned to Europe, staying in Paris from 1921 to 1926. Her work was exhibited in Paris in 1921 and at the Wildenstein Galleries in New York in 1922. By the late 1920s, though, she had returned to the United States. With the Kewpie craze faded, tastes in commercial art shifting, and the impact of the Great Depression, O'Neill's fortune slowly disappeared and by the late 1930s she had returned permanently to Missouri, where she died of heart failure in 1944.
(The above was based largely on O'Neill's Wikipedia entry.)
Arrangement
The collection is arranged by document type.
For the drawings, titles enclosed in "quotation marks" are original titles found on the drawing. Titles in [brackets] were supplied by the processing archivist.
Scope and Contents
The collection includes a small number of documents concerning the artist and poet, Rose Cecil O'Neill. Eight original drawings by O'Neill are in the collection. One of these is dated January 1900; the others are undated. They are listed individually in the container list.
Three original photographs of O'Neill are in the collection, including one by Jessie Tarbox Beals. Print matter in the collection, such as magazines and an exhibition checklist, include examples of O'Neill's drawings. A reproduction of a poster advocating women's suffrage also includes a drawing by O'Neill.
A copy of a supplement to "Poetry Folio" of 1928 has five of O'Neill's poems. Completing the collection are a few newspaper articles by or about O'Neill.
Subjects
Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers by appointment only.
Conditions Governing Use
Permission to reproduce any Department of Prints, Photographs and Architectural Collections holdings through publication must be obtained from: Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 270. Fax: (212) 579-8794. rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org
Preferred Citation
The collection should be cited as: Rose O'Neill collection, PR 369, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of the Rose O'Neill Foundation, care of David O'Neill, August 2018.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Initially processed by archivist Larry Weimer in August 2018, with drawings added in October 2018.
Repository
View Inventory
Drawing. [Untitled. Portrait of a Woman], undated
Scope and Contents
Pen. Not signed.
Drawing. "Austrian Officer" and "Square built American Ideal", undated
Scope and Contents
Two drawings on one sheet. Pen. Both signed.
Drawing. "Ramming them back into their desks.", undated
Scope and Contents
Drawing of a schoolboy, perhaps misbehaved, being pressed back into his desk chair by a schoolgirl; an apparently well-behaved boy looks on in surprise. Pen. Signed. Noted also as "Property of R. O'Neill Wilson, Day P.O., Taney Co., Mo. (To be returned)"
Drawing. [Untitled. Man in Suit Gazing at Painting of a Woman], undated
Scope and Contents
Noted on back "For Story--Not Published." Pencil. Signed.
Drawing. "Arthur Davisson Ficke. Alcibiades", undated
Scope and Contents
Portrait. Pencil. Not signed.
Drawing. "A European Beauty", undated
Scope and Contents
Profile portrait. Pen. Signed. Original penned title has a pencilled insertion to make it "A typical European Beauty," but the entirety is crossed out in a different pencil, with the notation "paint out."
Drawing. "A quaint change in the masculine form", undated
Scope and Contents
Contrast of two men in differing dress clothes and bearing. Pen. Signed.
Drawing. [Untitled. Woman, Boy, Girl, Toys], 1900
Scope and Contents
Dated on back as "Jan. 16/1900--1 pm", then dittoed except for time of "4" pm. Pen. Signed as O'Neill Latham.
Photograph by Jessie Tarbox Beals., undated
Scope and Contents
Signed by Beals. 11x7 inches with mounting. Captioned on back as "Rose, N.Y." O'Neill pictured standing at open window, facing camera.
Photograph by Paul Thompson, 1914
Scope and Contents
Captioned "Rose at No. 12 Fifth Ave., Summer 1914. Painting Kewps. They look like ones for Woman's Home Companion paper dolls." Photographer's stamp: Paul Thompson, 10 Spruce Street, New York City.
Photograph by Lorraine Studio, Inc., undated
Scope and Contents
O'Neill pictured with a group of people. Captioned as "at 62 Washington Sq [Square], N.Y." People are identified by first name: Thorbjorn, Birger, Matta, Callista, Inger, Patty (mostly obscured), Dhan. Photographer stamp: Lorraine Studio, Inc., 47 West 42nd Street, New York.
"Actors' Fund Fair Program", 1917
Scope and Contents
Souvenir of the Fair, also referred to as the Actors' Fund Bazaar, held 12-21 May 1917 in support of the Actors' Fund of America. The title page, page 25, includes a drawing by O'Neill.
"Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture by Rose O'Neill", [1922] March
Scope and Contents
Checklist for O'Neill's exhibition at Wildenstein Galleries. The checklist, referred to as a catalogue, has an O'Neill drawing on the cover and opens with a translation of the introduction from the catalogue of O'Neill's Paris exhibition.
"International Studio," Volume LXXV, No. 299 (25th Anniversary Number), 1922 March
Scope and Contents
Issue includes the article "Rose O'Neill's Sculptured Drawings" by Edythe H. Brown, with eight illustrations, on page 63.
Exposition of Women's Arts and Industries. Program, 1926
Scope and Contents
Program for the 5th annual exposition, held at the Hotel Astor in New York from 27 September to 2 October, 1926. A drawing by O'Neill is on the cover and she is noted on page 36 in the list of "The Woman's Who Who."
"Poetry Folio. Rose O'Neill Supplement", 1928
Scope and Contents
Sixth Issue. April-May 1928. Four page supplement is inscribed by O'Neill to the Johnses. The cover page has an O'Neill drawing with her poetry filling out the other three pages.
"The Book Dial." Volume VI, No. 3, Summer 1929, 1929
Scope and Contents
The issue includes a drawing by O'Neill on the cover and six drawings on pages 18-22.
Women's International Exposition. Program Cover (photocopy), 1953
Scope and Contents
Photocopy of the program cover for the exposition sponsored by the Women's National Institute, held at the 71st Regiment Armory in New York, 2-8 November 1953. A drawing by O'Neill is on the cover.
Newspaper Clippings, 1921, 1942?, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Photocopies of two articles: "Women who Lead the Way" from the New York Times (20 February 1921) and "Cameras and Corsets" from Modern Photography (1942?). The latter is about Jessie Tarbox Beals, but includes one of Beals's photos of O'Neill.
Newspaper Article by O'Neill. Oversize, circa 1914?
Scope and Contents
An oversize newspaper clipping of an article written by O'Neill comparing the characters of Americans and Europeans, illustrated with a photo by Jessie Tarbox Beals and drawings by O'Neill.
Newspaper Clippings. Oversize, 1914, 1916, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Three clippings: Evening World (19 June 1914) and Evening Sun (27 June 1914) about O'Neill and her observations upon returning to New York, illustrated with photographs of her and drawings by her; and Evening World (21 March 1916), referencing O'Neill in an article about short hair for women, illustrated with a photograph.
Poster (reproduction). Women's Suffrage. Oversize, undated
Scope and Contents
Color reproduction of a poster supporting the right of women to vote, illustrated with Kewpies.