Whitman Bailey (1884-1954) was the son of the Providence naturalist William Whitman Bailey (1843-1914) of Brown University. The younger Whitman grew up in Providence and then attended the art school of Howard Pyle in Delaware. Presumably the same Pyle who famously did pirate and medieval adventure-story illustrations. From there he went to work as a jobbing portraitist on the streets of Brooklyn, and took a one-year finishing course at the Pratt Institute.
He returned to Providence in 1914 and spent nine years working as an illustrator for Rhode Island newspapers and magazines. The selection presented in the ebook below is drawn from the 1914-1919 war years and a single magazine, and as such the pictures probably represent only a small part of his Rhode Island output. Nevertheless, those familiar with the life and places of H.P. Lovecraft will recognise many scenes.
He moved away in 1924 and the bulk of his life’s work was dedicated instead to depicting Stamford, where he submitted weekly drawings to the local newspaper for some thirty years.
It is to be hoped that this small insight into his Providence work, created because he depicted many scenes and places known by H.P. Lovecraft, may help to spur local historians to seek out and properly publish more of his work. His Stamford pictures are now held as an archive by the Marcus Research Library at Stamford. From which some of the above biographical details were found. It’s not known if the Providence pictures might also be in that same archive.
I am writing a book about Whitman Bailey and his numerous works of art that were published in the Rye (NY) Chronicle between 1924 and his death in 1954. As you note, his work was also published in the Stamford Advocate as well as a number of other local papers in Fairfield County CT and Westchester County NY.
Do you know of anyone else in Providence or elsewhere who is interested in Whitman Bailey and his art. I have been in touch with people in Stamford and New Canaan but none in RI. Also, where did you find the attached collection of his work?
Thanks for your interest in him.
I don’t recall anyone interested in Bailey re: Providence. But I can tell you the source after plugging some of the titles into Google Books. It was the Providence Magazine, previously the Providence Board of Trade Journal. Available as page scans on Hathi…https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010523425?type%5B%5D=title&lookfor%5B%5D=“Providence%20Board%20of%20Trade%20Journal”&ft=#viewability I imagine that much better copies could be made, if one had access to the original paper print pages, or even better the originals.
Apologies for not thanking you sooner for your helpful response.