Scope and arrangement
The papers relate to the eminent American artist, James McNeill Whistler, (1834-1903) his mother, Anna M. Whistler, and his father, George Washington Whistler (1800-1849) who was a noted railroad engineer. Included are two letters by the artist; a diary kept by his mother in St. Petersburg, Russia, from Nov. 28-1843 to Sept. 1848; a photostat and typewritten copies of a report on the gauge of Russian railways prepared in 1842 by his father for Count Kleinmichel; a document signed by President Andrew Jackson commissioning George Washington Whistler an officer in the U. S. Artillery, 1830; copy prints of photographs and portraits of members of the Whistler family; and copies of articles about James McNeill Whistler.