The papers and films document the friendships between Elizabeth Fuller Chapman (1893-1980) and several writers and artists, most notably Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein and Thornton Wilder. Letters in Box 1 date from 1932-1976. Printed material in Box 1 includes theater programs, clippings on Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, and interview notes and transcripts from the filming of the 1970 documentary by Perry Miller Adato, "Gertrude Stein: When You See, Remember Me." The films in Box 2 are three reels of black and white 16mm motion picture film, duplicates made in 1982 of the original 16mm footage. One film, titled "Winter Parties," contains footage of parties at Chapman's home in Chicago between 1934 and 1935, and includes a scene from a 1934 holiday party with Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, and Thornton Wilder. The other two films, titled "Lectures," were made by Chapman during trips to Paris between 1934 and 1938. The films were used during Chapman's lectures. Scenes feature notable artists, writers, dancers, philosophers, and gallerists, including: Pedro Pruna, Constantin Brancusi, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Pablo Picasso, Colette, Thornton Wilder, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Marcel Duchamp, Igor Stravinsky, Nicolas Nabokov, Francis Poulenc, Salvador and Gala Dali, André Derain, Chick Austin, Christian Berard, Leonide Massine, Bernard Faÿ, Mary Garden, Louis Marcoussis, and Edouard Vuillard.
Connecticut's Archives Online 