Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Conditions Governing Access

No special access restriction applies.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], David and Ann Wilkins, Art Historians, Research Material regarding Architect Cass Gilbert and the West Virginia State Capitol, A&M 4010, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Acquired from Cuthbert, John, 2014 April 25. Gift of Shultz, Bernie, circa 2017.

Biographical / Historical

Dr. Ann Thomas Wilkins taught in the Department of Classics at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Her publications include research on the ancient author Sallust, the Tullianum and the Ara Pacis in Rome, and Bernini. Her interests span from ancient Greece and Rome to Mussolini's Italy and 19th- and 20th-century American architecture. Dr. David G. Wilkins is Professor Emeritus of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh. His publications include Donatello, History of Italian Renaissance Art, and Art Past/Art Present, among many others.

From: Vojnovic, Paola. "Conversation with David and Anne Wilkins." Italian Renaissance, 2 April 2024, https://www.paolavojnovic.com/post/23-conversation-with-david-and-ann-Wilkins.

Cass Gilbert (1859-1934), an American architect was an early proponent of skyscrapers, his works include the Woolworth Building, the United States Supreme Court building, the state capitols of Minnesota, Arkansas, and West Virginia, the Detroit Public Library, the Saint Louis Art Museum and Public Library.

From: "Cass Gilbert." Wikipedia, 2 April 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cass_Gilbert

Scope and Contents

This collection contains facsimiles of historic documents gathered by the authors of the book Cass Gilbert's West Virginia State Capitol by Ann Thomas Wilkins and David G. Wilkins. The authors, both art historians, thoroughly researched both the West Virginia State Capitol from an artistic perspective, as well as the architect Cass Gilbert. The first part of the collection consists of documents in folders by year, 1923-1934, and include Cass Gilbert's correspondence regarding building of the Capitol, Gilbert's contract, reports from the Capitol Building Commission, financial details including payment to Gilbert and cost of various ornamentations, details regarding the selection of inscriptions and state animals, public opinion expressions, and completion and dedication of the building. The facsimiles of reports, entire books and journals, full archives finding aids, blueprints and more come from the archives of the New York Historic Society, the West Virginia State Archives, the Library of Congress, the National Museum of American History, the Northwest Architectural Archives, and the Smithsonian Institution.

The remainder of the collection covers Cass Gilbert's life, family, and work. One folder contains research on the Woolworth Building, one of Gilbert's major achievements. Other folders highlight the Roman mythology included in the ornamentation. There are edited manuscripts and pre-publication reviews of the Wilkins' book at the end of the collection.

Copious architectural plans and photographs are included in this collection. While some of the photographs are of current architectural features in the West Virginia State Capitol, including decorative elements such as cornices, columns, mythological symbols, and other symbology, some are facsimiles of historic photographs documenting Gilbert's life, construction of the Capitol, and the architecture of various other buildings.

An oversize folder contains an artistic rendering by Raymond Agius of a decoration on the Capitol Dome.

Related Material

The Wilkins' book titled Cass Gilbert and the West Virginia State Capitol is available for reading in the West Virginia Regional History Center as well as for check out in the general Downtown Library book collection, among other locations.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Decoration and ornamentation, Architectural, in art -- West Virginia
• Gilbert, Cass, 1859-1934
• Schultz, Bernie
• West Virginia Capitol Complex (Charleston, W.Va.)