Sketchbooks

This series contains 78 sketchbooks with pencil, charcoal, pastel, ink, and wash sketches, drawings, and studies. Subjects are similar to those found in Beal's paintings, with many life drawings, casual sitters (probably family members), circus scenes, marine subjects, genre scenes, cityscapes, landscapes, and buildings. Two sketchbooks contain significant writings: one appears to be a lecture about art education, possibly written around 1925, and the other contains diary entries dated 1942. Scattered annotations regarding color are found throughout the sketchbooks. A sketchbook belonging to Gifford Beal, Jr., contains a couple of sketches by Gifford Beal, Sr. as well. Where possible, sketchbooks are arranged chronologically, but the majority of dates were estimated during processing, and many remain undated. Date estimates are based largely on women's attire in drawings and the assumption that they were drawn from life and not retrospectively. Each group of sketchbooks is arranged by size, from small to large.