Archives West Finding Aid

Established in 1960, the Outdoor Sculpture Collection at Western Washington University is an acclaimed collection of public art by internationally known sculptors of the late twentieth century. This archival collection contains letters, memos, and press coverage documenting the Outdoor Sculpture Collection’s history and public perception, as well as university relations with the collection’s leading supporter, Virginia Wright, who, with her husband Bagley Wright, was a major art collector and patron of the arts at WWU and elsewhere. One folder of letters and newspaper articles relates to WWU’s Art Acquisition Committee, chaired by Professor Richard Lee Francis. It focuses primarily on local attitudes toward the sculpture collection and vandalism in the 1980s. Sarah Clark-Langager, longtime director of the Western Gallery, is connected to most of the correspondence from 1988 onward. Material on Lawrence Hanson, the sculpture collection’s first curator, is available in folder 9. Folders 10-22 contain newspaper and magazine articles, art guides, and other published material documenting how the Outdoor Sculpture Collection was promoted and critiqued at the regional and national level.