Lecture Series 1876-1920

The Pennsylvania Academy presented occasional lectures and musical concerts in its second building on Chestnut Street, although few details about them are preserved. The practice was resumed soon after the new edifice at Broad and Cherry Streets opened in order to increase attendance, which had diminished after the centennial crowds of 1876. Within a few years a lively series of art lectures and musical concerts was underway. Documentation for the musical concerts presented by the Germania Orchestra from 1879 to 1899, and other series which followed it includes programs (rich with advertising of the day), items of printed ephemera, and correspondence

      The Academy's well-attended events constituted an important part of Philadelphia's cultural life since the Academy was essentially the center of the city's art community until the 1920s. The list of lecture titles below is provided to document this little-known aspect of Philadelphia’s art world.    

Lecture titles and dates are taken from several sources, including annual reports, minutes of the Committees on Instruction and Exhibitions, and surviving printed tickets.

    Full texts of the papers presented are preserved in the few cases where noted. The general correspondence files frequently contain letters concerning arrangements for speakers.

   In addition, the annual reports and printed matter of the Fellowship (the Academy's first alumni association, founded in 1897) are a rich source of information. Its many public lectures are included here, indicated with an asterisk, since they were held in the Academy lecture room and were almost always open to the public. Audiences of over one hundred were common. The printed announcements of its regular meetings often list informal talks, discussions and dramatic readings, however these are too numerous to list here.

     The printed tickets and texts for lectures have been microfilmed by the Archives of American Art, in either the special events or Fellowship series. This revised and expanded lecture list supersedes that filmed by the Archives of American Art in 1989. Further research using newspaper clippings, correspondence, school catalogues, annual reports, and committee minutes may provide additional information about both lectures and concerts.

Written by Cheryl Leibold (PAFA's Archivist, 1985-2010)

Date Lecturer Title of Lecture
10/30/1876 Christopher Dresser Art Industries
11/2/1876 Christopher Dresser Art Museums
11/6/1876 Christopher Dresser Art Schools
10/3/1876 Earl Shinn The History of Aesthetics
10/10/1876 Earl Shinn The History of Aesthetics
10/17/1876 Earl Shinn The History of Aesthetics
12/3/1878 William H. Good Year DiCesnola Collection (note 1)
12/9/1878 William H. Goodyear Egyptian Art
12/10/1878 William H. Goodyear Greek Temple Architecture
12/16/1878 William H. Goodyear Roman Art
12/17/1878 William H. Goodyear Cathedral Architecture
12/28/1883 F. Seymour Haden Etchings and Etchers
12/30/1883 F. Seymour Haden Etchings and Etchers
2/12/1883 Eadweard Muybridge The Romance and Realities of Animal Locomotion
2/14/1883 Hubert Herkomer, R.A. Talk on Art
2/17/1885 Felix Moscheles Talk on Art with Portrait Painting Demonstration
5/2/1885 J. Liberty Tadd  Michael Angelo: Life and Work
5/9/1885 J. Liberty Tadd  Raphael: Life and Work
5/15/1885 George C. Lambdin Invention and Development of Oil Painting
5/22/1885 Thomas Eakins The Zoetrope with Illustrations of the Movement of a Horse
1/1/1886 Henry Blackburn  Six Lectures on Watercolor
1/2/1886 Henry Blackburn  Six Lectures on Watercolor
1/3/1886 Henry Blackburn  Six Lectures on Watercolor
2/1/1886 Henry Blackburn  Six Lectures on Watercolor
2/2/1886 Henry Blackburn  Six Lectures on Watercolor
2/3/1886 Henry Blackburn  Six Lectures on Watercolor
12/1/1892 Frank Miles Day Four Lectures on Italian Renaissance Architecture
12/2/1892 Frank Miles Day Four Lectures on Italian Renaissance Architecture
12/3/1892 Frank Miles Day Four Lectures on Italian Renaissance Architecture
12/4/1892 Frank Miles Day Four Lectures on Italian Renaissance Architecture
10/13/1893 Beisen Kubota  Japanese Art
11/25/1893 Herbert H. Gilchrist  Early English Painting
1/8/1894 Mrs. Cornelius Stevenson Greco-Egyptian Painting
1/24/1894 Mrs. Cornelius Stevenson  The Portrait in Antiquity
2/10/1894 J. Wells Champney Pastels and Pastellists
2/10/1894 W. Lewis Fraser Pencil and Graver in American Books for Two Hundred Years
2/17/1894 W. Lewis Fraser Illustration: What It Is and How to Draw for It
3/1/1894 Ernest F. Fenollosa Four Talks on the Study of Japanese Art (note 2)
4/3/1894 Rev. Jacob Weidman John Wiclif Lectures: Wat Tyler, Geoffrey Chaucer,  John Wiclif,  and John of Gaunt
4/6/1894 Rev. Jacob Weidman John Wiclif Lectures: Wat Tyler, Geoffrey Chaucer,  John Wiclif,  and John of Gaunt
4/10/1894 Rev. Jacob Weidman John Wiclif Lectures: Wat Tyler, Geoffrey Chaucer,  John Wiclif,  and John of Gaunt
4/13/1894 Rev. Jacob Weidman John Wiclif Lectures: Wat Tyler, Geoffrey Chaucer,  John Wiclif,  and John of Gaunt
1/15/1895 John La Farge Essential Divisions of the Work of Art
1/18/1895 John La Farge Personality and Choice
1/22/1895 John La Farge Suggestion and Intention
1/25/1895 John La Farge Misapprehensions of Meaning
1/29/1895 John La Farge Maia or Illusions
2/1/1895 John La Farge Sincerity
2/8/1895 Thomas Hovenden What Is the Purpose of Art?
2/15/1895 John Sartain About Engravers and Engraving
4/2/1895 Jean-Francois Raffaelli The French School of 1830 and the Impressionists
4/5/1895 Jean-Francois Raffaelli Art from the Romans to the Nineteenth Century
3/1/1896 Miss Kingsley Four Talks on French Art: Classics to Impressionists
4/1/1896 Miss Kingsley Four Talks on French Art: Classics to Impressionists
4/6/1896 J. W. Fosdick The Actual Use of the Hot Iron: A Talk on Fire-Etching
4/6/1896 Miss Kingsley Shakespeare in Warwickshire
4/21/1896 Sir Henry Irving [title unknown]
4/21/1897 Dr. H. M. Hiller Borneo and Its Inhabitants
1/1/1898 W. Lewis Fraser Six Practical Talks on Illustration
1/2/1898 W. Lewis Fraser Six Practical Talks on Illustration
1/3/1898 W. Lewis Fraser Six Practical Talks on Illustration
4/1/1898 W. Lewis Fraser Six Practical Talks on Illustration
4/2/1898 W. Lewis Fraser Six Practical Talks on Illustration
4/3/1898 W. Lewis Fraser Six Practical Talks on Illustration
1/28/1898 Arthur J. Eddy Esq. Days with Whistler
4/18/1898 Charles Henry Hart Hints on Portraiture and How to Catalogue Them* (full text preserved)
11/28/1898 H. Kent Day Monumental Brasses*
1/1/1899 W. Lewis Fraser Six Practical Talks on Illustration (second season)
1/2/1899 W. Lewis Fraser Six Practical Talks on Illustration (second season)
1/3/1899 W. Lewis Fraser Six Practical Talks on Illustration (second season)
4/1/1899 W. Lewis Fraser Six Practical Talks on Illustration (second season)
4/2/1899 W. Lewis Fraser Six Practical Talks on Illustration (second season)
4/3/1899 W. Lewis Fraser Six Practical Talks on Illustration (second season)
1/24/1899 Ripley Hitchcock Antoine Louis Barye
4/24/1899 Cornelius Stevenson Old Armor*
5/18/1899 William M. Chase Velasquez and His Influence on the Art of Our Time*
11/27/1899 Stewart Culin Primitive American Art*
1/19/1900 Arthur J. Eddy Esq. Auguste Rodin,  Sculptor
2/12/1900 Jean-Francois Raffaelli Impressions and Recollections
2/14/1900 William B. Van Ingen Japanese Perspective*
4/16/1900 Charles E. Dana Le Puy France*
2/21/1901 Arthur J. Eddy Esq. The Lost Sense of the Beautiful
4/15/1901 Mrs. Cornelius Stevenson The Ancient Portrait*
11/26/1901 Henry C. Mercer Tiles: Reproducing Ancient Processes*
3/20/1902 William M. Chase Great Portrait Painters*
4/24/1902 Frank Miles Day Intended Improvements to Washington D.C.
12/1/1902 John McLure Hamilton Civil Costume*
2/6/1903 Dr. Denman W. Ross Painting and the Principles of Design*
3/24/1903 Charles E. Dana Talks on Armor*
3/31/1903 Charles E. Dana Talks on Armor*
12/1/1903 William L. Price The Value of an Art Education in the Handicraft Movement*
1/25/1904 William M. Chase Pictures in the Seventy-Third Annual Exhibition
1/27/1904 Arthur J. Eddy Esq. Whistler as a Colorist
2/10/1904 Carleton Noyes The Personal Estimate in Art*
2/19/1904 John F. Lewis Early History of Engraving
4/15/1904 John F. Lewis Woodcuts and Wood Engravings: History and Technique
11/25/1904 J. Liberty Tadd Elementary Art and Manual Training in Education
11/28/1904 Agnes Repplier The Plague of Letters*
2/11/1905 Bolton Coit Brown Old Japanese Prints*
2/17/1905 Dr. S. Weir Mitchell François Villon and His Time* 
3/8/1905 Henry C. Mercer Pottery and Tiles*
4/13/1905 William M. Chase Whistler the Man and His Art*
2/16/1906 Agnes Repplier The Temptations of Eve*
2/26/1906 Bliss Carman Art and Life
3/23/1906 Harvey M. Watts Newspaper Illustration from the Editor's Viewpoint
3/1/1906 Charles H. Caffin Eight Lectures on the History of Art
3/2/1906 Charles H. Caffin Eight Lectures on the History of Art
3/3/1906 Charles H. Caffin Eight Lectures on the History of Art
3/4/1906 Charles H. Caffin Eight Lectures on the History of Art
12/1/1906 Charles H. Caffin Eight Lectures on the History of Art
12/2/1906 Charles H. Caffin Eight Lectures on the History of Art
12/3/1906 Charles H. Caffin Eight Lectures on the History of Art
12/4/1906 Charles H. Caffin Eight Lectures on the History of Art
1/1/1907 Charles H. Caffin Nine Lectures on the History of Art [included one on James McNeil Whistler]
1/2/1907 Charles H. Caffin Nine Lectures on the History of Art [included one on James McNeil Whistler]
1/3/1907 Charles H. Caffin Nine Lectures on the History of Art [included one on James McNeil Whistler]
2/1/1907 Charles H. Caffin Nine Lectures on the History of Art [included one on James McNeil Whistler]
2/2/1907 Charles H. Caffin Nine Lectures on the History of Art [included one on James McNeil Whistler]
2/3/1907 Charles H. Caffin Nine Lectures on the History of Art [included one on James McNeil Whistler]
3/1/1907 Charles H. Caffin Nine Lectures on the History of Art [included one on James McNeil Whistler]
3/2/1907 Charles H. Caffin Nine Lectures on the History of Art [included one on James McNeil Whistler]
3/3/1907 Charles H. Caffin Nine Lectures on the History of Art [included one on James McNeil Whistler]
2/8/1907 Charles H. Caffin The Pictures in the 102nd Annual Exhibition*
2/12/1907 Lorado Taft Modern French Sculpture
2/20/1907 John F. Lewis William Hogarth and His Engraving
3/15/1907 Dr. George McClellan The Strolling of a Player's Head* (Note 3)
4/18/1907 William M. Chase Velasquez*
12/9/1907 John F. Lewis Line Engravings upon Copper and Steel*
1/23/1908 Charles E. Dana Tapestry
2/6/1908 Morris Jastrow Jr. Babylonian and Assyrian Art
2/14/1908 Charles H. Caffin The Pictures in the 103rd Annual Exhibition*
2/21/1908 T. Louis Comparette Medals of the Renaissance
2/27/1908 Mrs. Cornelius Stevenson The Beginnings of Art
3/13/1908 Cecilia Beaux The Public and Modern Art
3/18/1908 Cecilia Beaux Portraiture
3/27/1908 John F. Lewis Line Engravings upon Copper and Steel with some considerations on their History and Technique
4/28/1908 Henry R. Poore The Reason of Design
3/22/1909 Charles E. Dana A Talk about Heraldry
3/31/1909 Charles H. Caffin Three Talks on Realism and Idealism in Painting (full text preserved)
4/7/1909 Charles H. Caffin Three Talks on Realism and Idealism in Painting (full text preserved)
4/14/1909 Charles H. Caffin Three Talks on Realism and Idealism in Painting (full text preserved)
4/8/1909 Emily Sartain A Talk on Some Early Artists in Philadelphia
4/29/1909 John G. Rolfe The Mirrors of the Ancient Greeks and Etruscans
1/13/1910 Henry R. Poore Pictorial Form
12/5/1910 Violet Oakley The Master Decorators*
1/30/1911 Katherine Cohen Sculpture*
3/10/1911 Frank Miles Day The American Academy in Rome
4/5/1911 T. Louis Comparette Contemporary Metallic Work
4/28/1911 John E. D. Trask A Visit to the South American Exposition*
1/29/1912 Paula B. Himmelsbach and Joanna Boericke A Visit to Greece*
3/1/1912 William M. Chase Contemporaneous Art*
3/1/1912 T. Louis Comparette Five Lectures on Greek Sculpture
3/2/1912 T. Louis Comparette Five Lectures on Greek Sculpture
3/3/1912 T. Louis Comparette Five Lectures on Greek Sculpture
3/4/1912 T. Louis Comparette Five Lectures on Greek Sculpture
4/1/1912 T. Louis Comparette Five Lectures on Greek Sculpture
5/9/1912 Joseph Pennell Illustration and Decoration
2/17/1913 William B. Van Ingen Mural Painting*
3/3/1913 George M. Haushalter Old Masters vs. Modern Painters, Comparison of Methods and Materials*
12/12/1913 Edward Hornor Coates Art in the Eighteenth Century and William Rush
1/23/1914 Laurence B. Saint Stained Glass*
2/23/1914 Mary G. Shearer Ada Drake and Frank Applegate Three Talks on Pottery*
3/27/1914 Emil Carlsen Mechanics of Painting*
4/1/1914 John F. Lewis Mezzotints and the English Portrait Painters of the Eighteenth Century
11/1/1915 Herbert E. Everett Lectures on the History of Art
3/1/1916 Herbert E. Everett Lectures on the History of Art
1/15/1915 Georgiana King Harvey Watts, William Price, Morton Schamberg, New Movements in Art*
2/26/1915 Arthur Hoeber Fashions in Art*
3/10/1915 William Henry Goodyear Architectural Asymmetries and Refinements*
3/26/1915 Walton Brooks McDaniel Baiae: The Newport of Ancient Greece*
1/13/1916 Louis Edward Levy The Development and Recent Advances in the Techno-Graphic Arts
1/17/1916 Arthur W. Dow Art in Japanese Gardens*
3/15/1916 Henry McCarter Ancient and Modern Art*
3/29/1916 Cecilia Beaux What American Artists Owe to France*
12/7/1916 Edwin H. Blashfield Preparedness in Art*
2/2/1917 Christian Brinton Manet and Impressionism*
12/7/1917 Joseph Pennell Illustration: Yesterday and Today*
1/18/1918 Dr. William C. Farabee Primitive Art in South America*
2/8/1918 I. B. Stoughton Holborn Art, Civilization, and War
3/12/1918 John McClure Hamilton Art, a Necessity
4/29/1918 J. Henry Scattergood Reconstruction Work in France*
2/14/1919 Ettore Cadorin How Italy's Art Was Saved and Protected*
3/13/1919 Paul Bartlett Violet Oakley,  Joseph Pennell, and others, Talks on Art Memorials*
4/9/1919 Warren P. Laird Placement of the Delaware River Bridge*
4/22/1919 Raymond Wyer The British War Paintings and Drawings
5/1/1919 Harvey M. Watts Art and the War
5/8/1919 Edward Biddle Colonial Portraits of the Academy's Collection
5/15/1919 [Unknown speaker] The French Pictures of the Gibson Collection
5/22/1919 Miss Curtis Wager-Smith Sir Benjamin West
11/17/1919 Albert Kelsey Environment as a Factor in Education*
12/2/1919 Charles Stinson Reproducing Your Drawings*
1/6/1920 Langdon Warner Origins of Painting in the Far East*
1/25/1920 Nicola D'Ascenzo The Evolution of Stained Glass Windows from Drawings to Completion*
2/3/1920 Capt. George Harding A War Artist at the Front*
2/26/1920 Margaretta Hinchman Helping France*
3/18/1920 Philip L. Hale Opinion in Art*
3/24/1920 Joseph Pennell, et al.   Billboards: An Artistic Disgrace*
4/29/1920 Frederick H. Shelton Adolph Ulrich Wertmuller: Noted Artist of Sweden, France, and the U.S.
4/30/1920 Timothy Cole, N.A.  Art by the Way*
12/6/1920 Charles Vezin Old-Hat-O-Phobia,  Two Eras of Bad Taste: The Mid-Victorian and the Mid-Victrolian*