Archive of Renowned Art Historian, Allen Staley, Acquired from the US

Exploring British art in its widest context and addressing gaps in our holdings are both key goals of Paul Mellon Centre’s (PMC’s) recently revised Archive Collection policy. With this in mind, we are delighted to announce an acquisition that fulfils both aims: the Allen Staley Archive was kindly donated to the PMC in July 2024.

Allen Percival Green Staley (1935–2023) was an art historian, educator, curator and author. He specialised in British art of the Victorian period and was a key figure in precipitating a revival of public and professional interest in the Pre-Raphaelite movement during the twentieth century. Living and working in the US his whole life, Staley’s Archive provides a valuable insight into the perception and reception of British art outside the geographical boundaries of the British Isles. Focused almost exclusively on British art of the nineteenth century, the material also addresses significant gaps in our archive holdings, which were previously slight in this area.

When Staley began his career in the 1960s, he was perhaps an unusual figure in the field of art history: an American focused on what was then amongst the least fashionable movements in British art – the Pre-Raphaelites. His PhD, awarded by Yale in 1962, was concerned with this subject. After relatively short-term positions at New York's Frick Collection and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Staley secured a post at Columbia University and went on to teach in the field for over thirty years, retiring as Professor Emeritus over thirty years later in 2000.

An inspirational teacher, the next generation of notable scholars included more than a handful of Staley’s former students. Alongside his teaching responsibilities, Staley authored a number of seminal publications including The Pre-Raphaelite Landscape (1973) and The Paintings of Benjamin West (1986). He curated various exhibitions in the US and Europe including two groundbreaking Pre-Raphaelite shows at Tate in 1984 and 2004. Throughout all this work Staley collaborated extensively with scholars in the US and the UK.

Staley’s Archive, which contains material from his time as an undergraduate to the end of his life, documents all of these activities. Most notable is the extensive correspondence exchanged with former students, colleagues and professionals, illuminating a transatlantic exchange of scholarship. Like many art historians of his generation, Staley also built up an extensive body of material on the artists of his period. The archive contains over five hundred such files. Those pertaining to artists with whom he was principally concerned, such as William Holman Hunt (1827–1910) and John Brett (1831–1902), are particularly rich. Other material includes lecture notes, opinion files and an unpublished memoir.

The Staley Archive, then, presents a valuable research resource. Not only does it illustrate the pivotal role Staley played in cultivating interest in British art beyond the UK, it also reveals much about changing trends in the field. Furthermore, through the voices of his students, colleagues, professionals and others, the archive illuminates both perceptions of British art and its reception amongst a wide audience. The Staley Archive has not yet been catalogued but a boxlist is available and the material is open for consultation.

We are grateful to the Staley family for donating the Archive.

For more information on the PMC’s collections see here.

The Centre’s revised Archive Collection Development Policy is available here.