Joseph Coletti Papers, 1919-1973 | Boston Public Library Archival and Manuscript Finding Aid Database

Joseph A. Coletti (1898-1973) was a sculptor active in Boston from the 1920s through the early 1970s. He was known for his religious sculpture, public monuments, portrait busts, and medals. Working first as an apprentice to sculptor John Evans and then as an assistant to painter John Singer Sargent, Coletti attended Harvard University (1919-1923) and studied sculpture at the American Academy in Rome. Coletti opened his studio in Boston in 1926 after traveling throughout Europe honing his craft. Much of his work was commissioned by public or private institutions, or by private individuals.

The Joseph A. Coletti Papers (1919-1973) consist of drawings, photographs, personal memorabilia, and correspondence. The bulk of the collection includes visual material: sketches drawings, and photographs of Coletti’s work. The collection charts the arc of Coletti’s career from his beginning as an assistant to Boston painter John Singer Sargent to his maturity as a sculptor, with particular richness in the period of his education at Harvard (1919-1923) and travel in Europe (1923-1926). The range of Coletti’s work is represented in his papers, from the fanciful to the utilitarian. The records of Coletti’s commission's document his continuing relationship with Harvard, as he designed panes for Memorial Chapel, a memorial plaque for the Countway Medical Library, as well as various other sculptural projects. Coletti’s methods and techniques are documented in the many sketches that make up the collection, in which he developed designs for medals, panels, and fountains, as well as other commissions. The extent of the photography throughout the collection points to Coletti’s use of the media as a supplementary format in his sculpture. Many of Coletti's commissions required close collaboration with architects; the many sketches of architectural designs with Coletti’s annotations on placement reveal his interest in achieving harmony between his design and its architectural surroundings. Finally, the assemblage of visual source material, apparently a lifelong collection, shows Coletti’s continuing interest in past and current works of art as sources of inspiration.

The collection is made up of 25 boxes separated into eight series: Personal Documents and Biographical Materials, Personal Correspondence, Professional Documents and Correspondence, Academic Notes and Reference Materials, Lectures and Writings, Photographic Materials, Artwork, and Oversized Materials.

Series 1: Personal Documents and Biographical Materials (1919-1973)

This Series is comprised of papers collected by Coletti and pertaining to his personal life. These files contain biographical materials, documents of will and estate, tax and financial records, investment records, social security records, medical receipts, credit cards, and club and society membership documents. Ephemera collected by Coletti has also been filed here and include postcards, articles, newspaper clippings, and event programs. The included biographical materials consist of an autobiographical sketch of Joseph Coletti written to aid in the authorship and publication of an article about Coletti’s career. This sketch is in both typed and handwritten drafts, and includes information beginning from Coletti's birth and extending to 1945. Subjects range from biographical milestones to an index of his work to date, with focus on information relevant to Coletti’s career. This series also contains a small amount of correspondence concerning the publication of the aforementioned article.

Series 2: Personal Correspondence (1923-1973)

This Series includes correspondence between Coletti and others pertaining to all subjects besides professional dealings. These files include communications between Coletti and family members, friends, and colleagues, on subjects including intimate family issues, casual socialization, award ceremonies, and the like. This series is mostly comprised of handwritten letters, typed letters, and postcards, but also contains various other papers relevant to the contained communications.

Series 3: Professional Documents and Correspondence (1926-1974)

This Series is comprised of communications and related papers concerning Joseph Coletti’s professional work. The majority of this series pertains to the commissioning of Coletti for sculpture, including both correspondence with commissioners, and other professionals needed for the casting and construction of Coletti’s artworks. Related receipts and contracts resulting from these interactions, professional contacts, papers from his time heading the Massachusetts Art Commission, and other professional ephemera have also been filed here.

Series 4: Academic Notes and Reference Materials (1922-1953)

This Series includes notes taken by Coletti on artworks and artists, notes taken by Coletti during art history lectures at Harvard University, books used in Colletti’s courses at Harvard, photographs of rubbings Coletti took of varying reliefs, and notes authored by others for Coletti’s benefit.

Series 5: Lectures and Writings (1961-1975)

This Series contains lectures, speeches, and articles authored by Coletti. Within these works Coletti discusses art history and theories of sculpture, gives context to his own works, reviews books, and authors encyclopedia articles.

Series 6: Photographic Materials (1920-1967):

This Series includes photographic prints and negatives sorted into subseries by these formats. The primary subject of these photographs is Coletti’s own work, including his medals, religious works, memorials and portraits, classical sculpture, and his sculptures at the St. George Chapel, Newport, RI, as well as at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Baltimore, MD. Photographs from these latter two locations have been filed together, as they were while stored by Coletti himself. Other photographic subjects encompass Joseph Coletti, his family and friends, references used during Coletti’s artistic work, unidentified photographs, and a group of slides collected by Coletti.

Series 7: Artwork (1921-1971):

This Series includes sketches and architectural drawings by Joseph Coletti in sketchbooks, and on drafting paper, as well as Joseph Coletti’s collection of medals. The subjects of Coletti’s drawings include medals and sculptures designed by Coletti, as well as sketches he drew while studying at the American Academy in Rome as a Sachs fellow (1924). The medals in this series were in most cases designed by Coletti. Some were sculpted by others. A small number of the medals in this collection were awarded to Coletti.

Series 8: Oversized materials:

This Series includes oversized photographic prints and architectural drawings. These prints and drawings are almost entirely of Coletti’s work. Items in this series have been arranged within other series, but stored separately from the rest of the collection in Room 430 in the Boston Public Library Arts Department.