The Vivian L. Aunspaugh Art Club was organized in 1945 by former and current students of Miss Vivian Louise Aunspaugh and others interested in studying art in Dallas. Miss Aunspaugh, a native of Virginia, studied art in New York and France prior to moving to Dallas in 1891. She soon taught art classes in local colleges and in 1898, with sculptress Clyde Chandler, established joint studio classes in Dallas. In 1902 the Aunspaugh Art School was founded in the Dreyfuss Building in downtown Dallas, the first art school in the southwest to offer classes in fine and commercial art. The following year Clyde Chandler moved to Chicago but Vivian Aunspaugh remained in Dallas and eventually moved the school to 3509 Bryan Street. Miss Aunspaugh taught art in Dallas for over 50 years until shortly before her death in 1960. The Vivian L. Aunspaugh Art Club met continuously until 1986, when the organization ceased operation.
The Vivian L. Aunspaugh Art Club collection consists of archival materials that include clippings, correspondence, documents, ephemera, photographs, publicity, published works, and two matted photographs. The three Vivian L. Aunspaugh Art Club scrapbooks contain ephemera, correspondence, documents, magazine and newspaper clippings, meeting minutes, photographs, and yearbooks relating to club business and art exhibits, club members, and to the life and career of Vivian L. Aunspaugh.
Please take a look at the detailed finding aid available through Texas Archival Resources Online.
Image: Courtesy of Vivian L. Aunspaugh Art Club records, Bywaters Special Collections, Hamon Arts Library, Southern Methodist University