Kermit Champa papers, 1977-2000

John Hay Library , Special Collections
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401-863-2146
email: hay@brown.edu

Published in 2013

Collection Overview

Title:	Kermit Champa papers
Date range:	1977-2000
Creator:	Champa, Kermit Swiler
Extent:	2.0 Linear feet
Abstract:	The Kermit Champa papers document Champa's tenure as faculty in the Department of History of Art and Architecture at Brown University. The bulk of the collection comprises student work, including honors theses written under Champa's direction, other student papers, teaching materials, and a series of loan agreements between the University and a host of institutions. Materials date from 1977 to 2000.
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	John Hay Library , Special Collections
Collection number:	OF.1UF.C2

Scope & content

Access Points

Subject Organizations

• Brown University--Faculty.
• Brown University. Dept. of History of Art and Architecture.
• Brown University.

Subject Topics

• Art and history
• College students' writings, American--Rhode Island--Providence
• Education

Occupations

• College teachers

Document Types

• Essays

Subject Topics

• Education

Arrangement

The collection is organized in two series:

• I. Honors Theses, 1980-2000
• II. General files, undated

Biographical/Historical note

Kermit Swiler Champa (1939-2004): French and American Impressionist painting scholar; Brown University Professor of Art and Architecture, 1970-2004. Champa was initially interested in music. He studied the trombone in grade school and toured Europe as part of Yale's marching band. In his academic classes at Yale, Champa studied art history. He graduated from Yale with a BA in 1960, continuing at Harvard where he studied with the art critic Clement Greenberg, and wrote his doctoral degree in 1965 under Frederick Deknatel (q.v.) in Impressionism. He returned to Yale to teach art history as an assistant professor. He joined the art history faculty of Brown University in 1970. In 1974 became a full professor at Brown. Champa had the dubious honor of being named one of the "ten sexiest professors in America", by Esquire magazine in 1975. Champa wove film into his art courses as well, and caused a furor when, in 1989, he planned to show (overtly racist) Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith for its ground-breaking film techniques. His The Rise of Landscape Painting in France: Corot to Monet appeared in 1991, a book using music as the framework for the intellectual importance of French landscape painting. He married Judith Tolnick Champa, a director director. Again, in Masterpiece' Studies: Manet, Zola, Van Gogh and Monet (1994) Champa emphasized the interrelatedness of music, art and literature on French painting of the 1880's. He was named the first Andrea V. Rosenthal Chair of History of Art and Architecture a Brown in 1995, an endowed professorship named after a pupil of his who had died in the Lockerbie plane bombing. He fought a prolonged battle with lung cancer from which he died. At the time of his death, he was revising The Slang of Aestheticism: The Anglo-American Color-Music Project 1898-1950, another project examining the correlation between art and music.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are some restrictions on access. In accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), student records are currently restricted. In addition, some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Use of the materials:	Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation:	Kermit Champa papers, OF-1UF-C2, Brown University Archives.
Contact information:	John Hay Library , Special Collections Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Tel: 401-863-2146 email: hay@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid prepared by Brown University Library staff
Encoding:	This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2013 January 15
Descriptive rules:	Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)
Sponsor:	Processing funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Additional Information

Inventory

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