Biographical/historical information

Francis Wayland Speight was born September 11, 1896 and died November 14, 1989. Speight received a private education at home during primary school and entered public school when he was eleven. After High School, he enrolled in Wake Forest College and began taking art lessons. In 1917 he was drafted into the military, but was never deployed. Upon his return home he enrolled at the Corcoran School or Art in Washington, and shortly left to go to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Speight taught as an art and design instructor for forty years at the Country School in Chester Springs, PA before moving to Greenville, NC and becoming an artist-in-residence at East Carolina University. He was an elected member of the National Academy of Design and the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

Scope and arrangement

The bulk of this collection contains correspondence between Francis Speight and others. People Speight wrote to are R. Philip Hanes, Jr., Francis Speight, William Hull, Eric C. Hulmer, and C. Barbour Strickland III, his wife Sarah Blakeslee Speight and their friends David M. Warren and his wife Rebecca Drane Warren.

Administrative information

Custodial History

July 16, 2018, 0.04 cubic foot; This collection contains correspondence (1965-1975, 2001) between R. Philip Hanes, Jr., Francis Speight, William Hull, Eric C. Hulmer, and C. Barbour Strickland, III, related to North Carolina and Pennsylvania artist Francis Speight's paintings, especially "Winter Scene." Gift of William H. Taft, Jr.

March 20, 2019, 0.01 cubic foot; Included is correspondence (1962-1995) between Francis Speight and his wife Sarah Blakeslee Speight and their friends David M. Warren and his wife Rebecca Drane Warren, a clipping, and a talk (1995) given by Claiborne Smith about Francis Speight. Gift of Rebecca Drane Warren

Source of acquisition

Gift of William H. Taft, Jr.

Gift of Rebecca Drane Warren

Processing information

Processed by Ashlyn Racine, August 2023

Copyright notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.

Key terms

Personal Names

Blakeslee, Sarah--Correspondence
Hanes, R. Philip, 1926-2011--Correspondence
Hull, William--Correspondence
Hulmer, Eric C.--Correspondence
Smith, Claiborne T., Jr., 1924-2005
Speight, Francis, 1896-1989
Strickland, C. Barbour--Correspondence

Topical

Artists--North Carolina--Greenville
Painting, American--20th century

Container list