Edward A. Darby
About the Artist
Edward Allen Darby (1877–1966) was born December 28, 1877, in Charleston, South Carolina, to William and Emily Darby.
Before working as a Federal Art Project (FAP) artist, Darby owned an advertising and commercial illustrating business in Atlanta, Georgia. The June 13, 1909, issue of the Atlanta Constitution announced the opening of Darby’s new offices in Atlanta’s Prudential Building. The article mentioned that Darby would be "better equipped to handle his rapidly increasing business," which included preparing booklets, circulars, and catalogs in addition to newspaper advertising for retail stores. Darby also placed ads for his business in the Constitution in 1908 and 1909, which described his business: "I plan, write, illustrate and have printed high-class booklets; and will be glad to let you see the work in all its stages." Sometime after 1918, Darby moved his business to Baltimore, Maryland, where he continued offering commercial illustration services. Darby's business card lists his office at Baltimore's Keyser Building.
By 1936, Darby was living in Franklin, Virginia, when he was hired by the Works Progress Administration's Federal Project Number 1 to produce illustrations for the Virginia State Commission on Conservation and Development's Division of History and Archaeology. Under the direction of Hamilton J. Eckenrode, the division had begun to make a record of historic houses in Virginia for a publication on the subject. The division's field assistant Rex M. Allyn took photographs of the houses while on assignment to the Historic Highway Marker program and supplied the photos to Darby and other artists assigned to the project.
Compensated at a monthly rate of $46.20 by the WPA, Darby rendered more than fifty pen and ink drawings from the photographs during the mid-1930s. In some cases, the Division asked him to make adjustments to the home's architectural details to produce a drawing that more closely represented the original structure. In February 1936, Allyn wrote to Darby regarding photographs of Gunston Hall, Mason Place, and Shellfield, asking him to remove cables that supported the chimney of Gunston Hall, a fence that was shown in front of Mason Place, and a modern porch at Shellfield. He also suggested that Darby "not show the little buildings and additions in the back part of the picture, or the swings and seats scattered about the yard" at Shellfield.
Darby's drawings won the attention of Federal Art Project state director Adèle Clark and others. In April 1936, Darby wrote to Allyn about sending several of his best drawings of historic buildings to Clark to be included in a WPA art exhibition. In May, Darby received word from Allyn about the exhibition: "Your drawings have been greatly admired both here in the office and at the W.P.A. exhibit." Allyn also notified Darby that he had sent several of his drawings to the American Automobile Association (AAA) to be used in an advertisement. The National Touring Bureau of the AAA admired Darby's work and contacted the history division about a possible permanent position for Darby.
By mid-1937, Darby's work for the division temporarily ended as he was assigned to another WPA art project. But this transfer was not an indication of the quality of his work. In a July 1937 letter to Adèle Clark, division director H. J. Eckenrode praised the work of Edward Darby and Dorothea Farrington, another artist assigned to the WPA art project. He wrote, "We have been trying to get drawings that would reproduce well, and both Mr. Darby's and Miss Farrington's work have that quality. I believe the work they have been doing will be of very great value to the State, and I should like very much to have at least one of them continue with the project until it is brought to completion." Later that month, Allyn wrote to FAP assistant director Thomas C. Parker asking to keep Dorothea Farrington on the project, noting that Darby had been transferred. He also commented, "I realize it is becoming necessary to reduce the number employed on many projects." The project likely began to diminish due to a lack of funding.
But Darby had already secured work on other projects. Under the direction of Adèle Clark, Darby began working as an artist for the Index of American Design (IAD), a WPA art program that began in 1935 and continued for six years, providing temporary work for about one thousand artists nationwide. The IAD artists were charged with recording examples of original American crafts. Darby was commissioned to produce illustrations of furniture and other decorative objects, although not all of the drawings were completed by the time Clark submitted her final report for the project in 1942.
In 1940 and 1941, Darby was once again employed by the WPA to produce art for the Division, but this time working in different media, including oil painting. In 1940, the commission published thirteen of Darby's drawings in Virginia: A Guide to the Old Dominion, a book that was compiled by workers of the WPA's state-sponsored Virginia Writers' Project. The small "head and tail" illustrations of iconic landmarks and historic sites appeared throughout the guide.
By 1942, as the Federal Art Project came to a close, Darby had produced several oil paintings for the Commission. In July, Darby wrote to Clark about sending her a painting of a dairy scene. He also mentioned the possibility of accepting a job with the art unit of the Statewide Recreation Project—where some of the FAP artists were transferred—and inquired about the pay. But the recreation project likely didn't work out. Still living in Franklin, Virginia, Darby listed himself as self-employed on a 1942 World War II draft registration card.
In a May 1942 memorandum regarding the transfer of Art Project employees, Adèle Clark described Edward Darby as "an artist of considerable talent, an excellent letterer, his work in pen and ink is especially good, and he has illustrated booklets for the Conservation Department . . . He has had experience in commercial work as well as in the fine arts." In 1966, Edward Darby died and was buried in his hometown, Charleston, South Carolina.
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References
Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.
Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.
Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Ancestry.com. Web: South Carolina, Find A Grave Index, 1729–2012 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Edward A. Darby. (1909, July 4). [Advertisement for Edward A. Darby]. The Constitution, p. 8A.
Edward A. Darby Opens New Office. (1909, June 13). The Constitution, p. M5.
Letter, Edward A. Darby to Adèle Clark, 1 July 1942, Adèle Goodman Clark Papers, Collection no. M9, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Letter, Edward A. Darby to Adèle Clark, 11 July 1942, Adèle Goodman Clark Papers, Collection no. M9, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Letter, Edward A. Darby to R. M. Allyn, 18 April 1936, WPA Artists Project Folder, Virginia Department of Conservation and Development, Division of History, Records, 1927–1950. Accession 24806a-c, 25913, and 41571, State Records Collection, the Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Letter, H. J. Eckenrode to Adèle Clark, 8 July 1937, WPA Artists Project Folder, Virginia Department of Conservation and Development, Division of History, Records, 1927–1950. Accession 24806a-c, 25913, and 41571, State Records Collection, the Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Letter, R. M. Allyn to Edward A. Darby, February 1936, WPA Artists Project Folder, Virginia Department of Conservation and Development, Division of History, Records, 1927–1950. Accession 24806a-c, 25913, and 41571, State Records Collection, the Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Letter, R. M. Allyn to Edward A. Darby, 14 May 1936, WPA Artists Project Folder, Virginia Department of Conservation and Development, Division of History, Records, 1927–1950. Accession 24806a-c, 25913, and 41571, State Records Collection, the Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Letter, R. M. Allyn to Thomas C. Parker, 12 July 1937, WPA Artists Project Folder, Virginia Department of Conservation and Development, Division of History, Records, 1927–1950. Accession 24806a-c, 25913, and 41571, State Records Collection, the Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Memorandum, Adèle Clark to Loula W. Richardson, 27 May 1942, Box 179, Adèle Goodman Clark Papers, Collection no. M9, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Report of Production of Division of Professional and Service Projects Form, Federal Works Agency, Works Projects Administration, Report for Art Production for Period October 1, 1941, through December 31, 1941. Adèle Goodman Clark Papers, Collection No. M9, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Works Progress Administration, W.P.A.-Sponsored Federal Project Number 1, Request for Project Approval Form, WPA Artists Project Folder, Virginia Department of Conservation and Development, Division of History, Records, 1927–1950. Accession 24806a-c, 25913, and 41571, State Records Collection, the Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.