Walter Tittle was born in Springfield, Ohio on October 9, 1883. When he was eighteen, he left for New York to study in Robert Henri’s famed New York School of Art. His classmates there included Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, Vachel Lindsey, and George Bellows. Hopper and Tittle later shared studio space at 3 Washington Square North. Tittle is best known for his dry point portraits of writers, actors, and political leaders. Particularly notable are his portraits of the principals at the Washington Conference on the Limitation of Armaments, held in 1921-1922. He has had paintings in the National Portrait Gallery in London, and sittings by many well-known people, including Presidents Harding, Coolidge, Taft, Wilson, and Roosevelt. His work included illustrations and cartoons in Harper’s Magazine, Scribner’s Century, Life, etc. After living in England and France during much of the 1920s and 30s, he and his wife Helen retired to their farm near Danville, Connecticut, where he painted landscapes and wrote his memoirs. They moved to the West Coast in 1964 because of his health. He died March 27, 1966 and is buried in Monterey, California.
"Wittenberg University is privileged to own the Walter Tittle Collection. His work, both written and graphic, can tell us a great deal about the early twentieth century American art world. Included are etchings and paintings, correspondence and diaries, photographs, and clippings. The time span covers from 1902 until several years after his death in 1966.
A collection represents not only the work of the creator of the materials, but also of a number of people who cared enough to collect the items, to preserve them, and to make them accessible to scholars. Foremost among those to whom we owe gratitude is Helen Tittle, who graciously donated almost everything in the collection and who has maintained a strong interest in it. Both Walter and Helen Tittle felt that the proper place for the collection is in Springfield, Ohio, Walter’s hometown. Bob Lee Mowery, Director of Libraries at Wittenberg from 1964-82, facilitated placement of the materials at Wittenberg and was responsible for the excellent transcript of the diaries. Virginia Weygandt, a senior history major, devoted an internship n Special Collections to organizing, conserving and inventorying the collection. Many other people have assisted also in a variety of ways and although they remain unnamed here, they also take place in this long-term cooperative effort."
Regina Entorf, Special Collections Librarian for Wittenberg University in 1988
Creator
Walter and Helen Tittle
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research. Contact Suzanne Smailes for more information
The Tittle Collection holds a portion of Walter Tittle's correspondence, his memoirs, posthumous biographical information, his diaries from 1902 to 1958, photographs of some of his paintings, early drawings, his Disarmament Conference Portfolio (1921-1922), unframed etchings, scrapbooks, and 74 books from Walter Tittle's own library.
Extent: 9 Hollinger boxes, 14 oversize boxes, 2 journals, 18 volumes,11 notebooks, loose painting and drawing, and 74 books
Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian, Walter Tittle's Diaries copies on microfilm reels;
https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/walter-tittle-diaries-13434
National Portrait Gallery Walter Tittle page;
https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp07646/walter-tittle
I. Correspondence
Volume: 1 Hollinger box with approximately 150 letters and photographs
Time Span: 1921-1978
Description: Correspondence with Dignitaries- 1921-1953
Letters to the National Gallery in London- 1960-1963
Condolences on Walter Tittle’s death- 1966
Includes letters to Wittenberg University- 1963-1978
Remarks: There are 36 letters to Wittenberg University. The originals are in the Advancement Office and the Library Director’s (Bob Lee Mowery’s) Correspondence File.
II. Notebooks
Volume: 10 Black notebooks; fourteen linear inches. The notebooks each measure 9 ½ inches wide by 11 ¼ inches long.
Description: Notebooks no. 1-4: Articles 1925-1958, some newspaper clippings 1940, 1964
Notebooks no. 5-10: Autoiography
No. 5: Life and Pursuit of Happiness
No. 6: Autobiography, not used in 1949 revision
No. 7: Duplicate to Vol. 2, 1949; 1949 version of Pursuit of Happiness, first carbon
No. 8: This Much I Have by Walter Tittle as first written
No. 9: This Much I Have by Walter Tittle as first written, Vol. 4
No. 10: Roosevelt as an Artist saw him by Walter Tittle, with portraits and illustrations by the author. Now York: Robert M. McBride and Company
III. Diaries
Volume: 18 Volumes
Time Span:
Volume 1: 1902-1903
Volume 2: 1903-1904
Volume 3: 1904-1905
Volume 4: 1905-1907
Volume 5: 1907-1911
Volume 6: 1911-1915
Volume 7: 1915-1918
Volume 8: 1918-1921
Volume 9: 1922-1923
Volume 10: 1923-1924
Volume 11: 1924-1928
Volume 12: 1929-1931
Volume 13: 1932-1935
Volume 14:1935-1938
Volume 15: 1938-1942
Volume 16: 1942-1947
Volume 17:1947-1952
-Change of handwriting starting Feb. 28, 1952 (Possibly his wife, Helen)
Volume 18: 1952-1958
-Original handwriting reappears beginning 1953
Description: Diaries are written in Tittle’s own hand, except as noted above.
IV. Journals
Volume: 2 Journals
Time Span: 1953, 1955
Description: One journal, A Trip to the Middle East, 1953. One journal, A Trip to Sicily, 1955.
V. Etchings
Volume: Four clamshell boxes
-Box 1: Etchings no. 1-65
-Box 2: Etchings no. 66-189
-Box 3: Etchings no. 190-229
-Box 4: Etchings no. 230-271
Box Description: There are some famous people depicted. All the etchings are signed by Tittle, but only a few of them are signed by the subjects. Some of the people featured are Chief Justice Taft, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and G. K. Chesterton.
Remarks: Helen Tittle writes in a 1987 letter that the copper plates for these were given to the war effort in the 1940s. The numbers are included in a notebook called Painting Reports which accompanies the collection.
VI. Photographs of Paintings
Volume: 1 Hollinger box containing approximately 110 photographs
Time Span: Undated
Description: Most have identification on the back. The photographs range in size from 8 by 10 to 5 ½ by 7 ½.
VII. Autographed Photographs of Celebrities
Volume: 1 Hollinger box containing approximately 20 photographs
Time Span: Undated
Description: The photographs include the following celebrities and other unintelligible signatures
-Lord Balfour; folder contains 1 original (fragile), 1 copy, and 1 negative
-Admiral de Bon
-Billie Burke
-Joseph Conrad; folder contains 1 original (fragile), 1 copy, and 1 negative
-James M. Cox
-Douglas Fairbanks
-Geraldine Farrar
-Warren G. Harding
-Oliver Wendell Holmes; folder contains 1 original (fragile), 2 copies, and 1 negative
-Charles Hughes
-Henry Festing Jones
-Mary Pickford
-Lord George Riddell
-William H. Taft; folder contains 1 original (fragile), 2 copies and 1 negative
-Norma Talmadge
Remarks: There are 5 oversized photographs which can be found in the clamshell box marked Box of Sketches, Drawings of People, Trial Proofs and Original Drawings. They include the photographs of Balfour, Harding, Bill Gilliard, Joan (??), and Davin Westin.
VIII. Box of Miscellaneous Items
Volume: 1 Hollinger box containing 2 folders and a boxed book
Description: 1 folder of 9 exhibit programs dating from 1922-1946. 1 folder which is a miscellaneous collection of 30 poems, short stories, and articles written by or about Walter E. Tittle. 1 memorial record, a guest book from Walter Tittle’s funeral 1966.
IX. Disarmament Conference Portfolio
Volume: 1 clamshell box. It contains 25 portraits signed by Tittle and autographed by the subjects.
Time Span: 1921
Description: This collection includes portraits of representatives from Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, China and Japan.
Lord Riddell, publisher of News of the World
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge
Senator Carlo Schanzer, Foreign Minister of Italy
Admiral Baron Kato, Premier of Japan
President Warren G. Harding
Hon. Elihu Root, Secretary of State
Albert Sarraut, Minister for the Colonies of France
Prince Tokagawa, President of the House of Peers of Japan
The Rt. Hon. David Lloyd-George, Prime Minister of England
Baron de Cartier de Marchienne, Belgian Ambassador to America
Hon. John W. Garrett, Secretary General of the Conference
General the Earl of Cavan, Chief of Staff, British Army
Astride Briand, Premier of France
Sir Auckland Geddes, British Ambassador to the U.S.
The Earl of Balfour, Foreign Minister of Great Britain
The Marquis Giovanni Visconti Venostor, Delegate from Italy
Lord Beatty, Order of Merit, Admiral of the Fleet of Great Britain
Hon. Charles Evans Hughes, American Secretary of State
Dr. Sze, Chinese Minister to America
Admiral de Bon, French Navy
Viscount Lee of Fareham, First Lord of the Admiralty
M. Fournier Sarloveze, Member of Chamber of Deputies of France
Sir Maurice Hankey, Secretary of the British Cabinet
Admiral Sir Ernle Chatfield, British Navy
Sir Robert Borden, Premiere of Canada
X. Early Tittle Drawings
Volume: 1 clamshell box of early Tittle drawings and 4 oil paintings
Time Span: Unknown
Description: Drawings are undated and the locations that they were done at are unknown. There is also a folder of ink drawings done when Tittle was at Shaffer St. School in Springfield, Ohio.
The four oil paintings are:
Remarks: All of these drawings are numbered according to the Painting Report notebook, beginning with the section marked drawings. The paintings are oversized and can be found in the map case.
XI. Tittle Sketches and Drawings
Volume: One clamshell box of Tittle’s drawings, sketches, and trial proofs. There are a total of 90 items in the box.
Time Span: 1896-1941, most are undated
Description: This box contains 8 sketches, 60 drawings of people, and 22 trial proofs and original drawings of buildings.
Remark: These are not in any order and are numbered
XII. Scrapbooks
Volume: 1 Hollinger box and 2 clamshell boxes
Time Span: Unknown
Description
Box 1: Folders of cards and clippings, mostly from newspapers. These originally came in a red three-ring notebook
Box 2: 3 scrapbooks. One says Trip to Italy on the front flap and contains mostly postcards and a few photographs. Second scrapbook is a continuation of Trip to Italy with postcards. Third scrapbook is titled Voyage to the Middle East- 1953. It contains postcards and photographs, including some of the United States at the end of the scrapbook.
Box 3: 1 notebook that contains numerous photographs and some postcards. The box also contains some sample pages of the front page of different magazines and there is a folder of article copies.
XIII. Typed Transcripts of Tittle’s Diaries
Volume: 3 Hollinger boxes of transcripts
Time Span: 1902-1952
Description:
Box 1: Vol. 1 1902-1903
Vol. 2 1903-1904
Vol. 3 1904-1905
Vol. 4 1905-1907
Vol. 5 1907-1911
Folder 1: 1907-May 1980
Folder 2: May 1908-Jan. 1910
Folder 3: Jan. 1910- July 1911
XIV. Books from Walter Tittle’s Library
Volume: 74 Books
Remarks: All of these books are part of the Tittle Collection housed in the Special Collections Library of Thomas Library. There is a second copy of some titles in Thomas Library’s circulating collection
Metadata for Gallery Above Completed by Megan Bobb in 2015:
1. TR PS 2872 .A7 1909 folio (Two Copies)
Location: XIV. Books from Walter Tittle's Library
Title: My Country: An illuminated and illustrated version of the American National Anthem
Author: Walter Tittle, 1883-1964
Publication Date: 1909
Publication Location: New York, NY
Publisher: The Tandy-Thomas Company
Language: English
Subject: National Anthem; Walter Tittle
Type: Art book
Size: 29.5 cm
Other Physical Descriptions: Cover is white with an extensive illumination bearing the title and author. Spine echoes cover, with short title, author, and publisher. On back is E Pluribus Unum seal (eagle etc.). Each page bears a line from the song “My Country,” and an illumination surrounding the line. Done for all three verses. Music for the song is included at the beginning of the book, and each new verse is shown before those lines are illuminated.
Pagination: Unnumbered. 36 one-sided card-weight leaves.
Collation: None.
Notes: Two copies. One copy (staining to cover and very loose spine covering) bears a photograph of a young woman on the front pastedown and inscriptions on the front endpaper from Tittle and the daughter of the woman in the photo. There are also some loose papers, including a newspaper article about a woman who sat for a Tittle portrait.
2. Romance
Location: V. Etchings in Framed Etchings Box 1
Title: Romance
Artist: Walter Tittle, 1883-1964
Subject: Reading
Type: Etching
Size: 37.5 cm H x 42.5 cm W (with frame); 23 cm H x 28 cm W (without frame or matting)
Other Physical Descriptions: Black and white etching depicts a young woman sitting in a chair in front of a window, reading a book. Framed in textured white mat and black frame.
Notes: Signed by Walter Tittle. Back of frame bears brown paper backing, a wire for hanging, and two stickers – one gold and yellow logo sticker: Closson Cincinnati Established 1866; and one for The Closson Galleries, with spaces for title (Romance, handwritten) and artist (blank). Below title is: No. 185 (accession number?). Note written in ink on paper backing: P/D 1226, 5 call.
3. Sparrow Hawk
Location: X. Early Tittle Drawings
Title: Sparrow Hawk – from nature
Artist: Walter Tittle, 1883-1964
Date of Completion: c. 1898?
Subject: Hawk; Birds
Type: Ink Drawing
Size: 25.5 cm H x 20.5 cm W
Other Physical Descriptions: This unframed original early ink drawing, done in black ink on tan card-weight paper, is of a hawk on a tabletop perch, with the views outside two windows behind it partially visible along with curtains, and a painting within the drawing.
Notes: Signed by Walter Tittle, and with title in Tittle’s handwriting. A note on the bottom left corner of the drawing, presumably written by Tittle, reads: “I owned this hawk. The drawing must have been made when I was about 15 years old, or less.” Using this note, we can calculate a possible completion date of around 1898 or earlier.
4. President Harding
Location: IX. Disarmament Conference Portfolio
Title (from portrait): President Harding, Autographed by the President
Series (from portrait): The Arms Conference Memorial Portfolio
Series Note: From portrait: “25 Autographed Portaits, Done from Life, Autographed by Each Sitter.” Twenty-five political, military and diplomatic representatives from the U.K., Italy, Japan, France, Belgium, Canada and the U.S. sat for portraits.
Artist: Walter Tittle, 1883-1964
Date of Completion: August 19, 1920
Subject: Arms Conference of 1921
Type: Etching
Size: 46 cm H x 35.5 cm W
Other Physical Descriptions: Black and white etching of President Harding’s right profile (sitting down) signed by President Harding: “Very Truly Yours, Warren G Harding.”
Notes: Signed by Walter Tittle. Includes a note from Tittle: “Directly on copper from the life, Walter Tittle, August 19, 1920, ©1920.”
5. Diary Excerpts from Volume 8 (1918-1921)
Location: III. Diaries- Volume 8
Title: Vol. 8 Diary
Author: Walter Tittle, 1883-1964
Dates Covered: Mon. October 28, 1918 – Thurs. June 30, 1921
Excerpted Dates: Wed. August 17, 1920 – Thurs. August 26, 1920
Language: English
Subject: Walter Tittle (artist); Diaries and journals
Type: Journal
Size: 25 cm
Other Physical Descriptions: Volume 8 of Tittle’s diaries is a hardback black ledger/journal with gilt-edged red corners and spine edges at front and back. Spine is missing binding, bare burlap? Exposed. On front spine edge: Vol. 8 Diary of Walter Tittle Oct. 1918 to July 1921. On spine, in crayon?: 1918 to 1921. On front pastedown: Diary of Walter Tittle, New York Studio (with New York address) and Home Studio (with Springfield, OH address). Front and back hinges have been repaired with tape. Moderate shelf-wear to binding and discoloration of back cover. Extensive pink crayon? Marks.
Pagination: 304 numbered pages: 1-4: blank; 5-6: “A list of my collection of original works by prominent artists”; 7-253: journal; 254-301: personal expense accounts; 302-303: blank; 304: “Bonds and securities I hold.”
Notes: See above.
Transcripts: Yes.