Correspondence to Jack Eyerly and Martha Gies from friends, 1988-1990

The Jack Eyerly collection encompasses seven decades of notes, correspondence, artists’ papers, gallery showcards, posters, artworks, sketchbooks, and other assorted pieces of historical material exchanged between Eyerly and artists from across the Northwest and beyond. With more than 200 artists represented in the collection, there is a clear sense that Eyerly crafted this archive over his lifetime with the goal of establishing a definitive catalogue of Northwest artists that touches upon as many subjects as possible. Though largely correspondence, this collection has many examples of original artworks by Eyerly’s artist-friends that were given as gifts or as remuneration, as well as material documentation of the careers of many Northwest artists composed of clippings, gallery showcards, paperwork, and letters detailing the artistic process behind their projects.

These papers also document Eyerly’s life and personal interests, including the planning of Downtown Portland, homelessness, his personal faith, his work as a caregiver, and other topics related to Eyerly outside of the artworld. While these topics are never far from his artistic interests, they are shown through their own collections of clippings and xeroxes of articles relating to the changing landscape that affected Eyerly’s personal life.

The Jack Eyerly collection on Pacific Northwest Art is still undergoing processing and additional material will continue to be added to the finding aid. The series still undergoing processing include artwork, publications, and organizations.