Deborah Goldsmith Throop Family Collection

This collection contains provenance information related to artworks by Deborah Goldsmith Throop and the role of multiple generations of the Goldsmith Throop family in maintaining the artist's oeuvre. This collection can be a useful resource for those interested in the artist Deborah Goldsmith Throop and examining family records that preserve the artist's work and legacy.

Many of the records and correspondences found in this collection originated from the following members of the multigenerational Goldsmith Throop family: Olive Cole Smith, Dan Addison Throop, Dan Throop Smith, and Martha V. Smith.

The papers within the collection primarily consist of Dan and Martha Smith’s correspondences, receipts, appraisal documents, donation letters and deeds, and loan agreements in relation to the donation of Deborah’s works to various exhibits and institutions between 1975-1989. Some of the institutions include the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art, The Museum of American Folk Art, the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the New York State Historical Society.

Also included in the collection are two scrapbooks created by Olive Cole Smith, which contain photographs and handwritten descriptions of the works of Deborah, her grandmother. Miscellaneous information about the Goldsmith Throop family can also be found within the collection, including newspaper and magazine articles, a student thesis about Deborah, and the book American Folk Painting by Mary Black and Jean Lipman, which includes an inscription by Dan Throop Smith in 1972.