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The True Biographical
Facts
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I have
read a variety of brief biographies -- and autobiographies
-- of my grandfather, Armstrong Wells Sperry, which I
have posted verbatim at this website, but frankly, they
have all been less than accurate. This is a timeline
of his early career, as derived from the records of the
Yale Alumni Office, the Art Students League, ship passenger
lists (new!), and private correspondence from various
sources. When I have a confirmation of the dates of his
service in the Navy, and where he studied in Paris, I
will add it.
There is anecdotal
evidence that he studied at the Académie Colarossi
(10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière,
Paris), which closed in 1920, its archives
apparently destroyed by Madame Colarossi, wife of
the school's founder. I have not been able to prove
that he attended, however. |
| Dates |
Description |
Source |
| Jan. 23, 1894 |
Capt. Sereno Dwight Armstrong, Armstrong
Sperry's great-grandfather, died in New Haven, CT |
New Haven Vital Records |
| Nov. 7, 1897 |
Armstrong Wells Sperry born to Sereno
Clark Sperry, Sr. & Nettie (Alling) Sperry in New Haven, CT |
Family records |
| 1908 -> 1915 |
Stamford Preparatory School |
Application to Yale |
Oct. 1915 -> May 1916
Oct. 1917 -> May 1917
June 1917
October 1917 -> May 1918 |
Art Students League of New York
Studied with F. Luis Mora and George Bellows |
Art Students League Records |
| Fall Term 1918 |
Attended
Yale School of Art, Naval ROTC |
Yale Alumni Records |
| Sept.
12, 1918 |
Registered
for the Draft |
World
War I Selective Service System Draft Registration
Cards, 1917-1918, National Archives & Records Adminstration |
| Nov. 11, 1918 |
WWI Armistice |
|
| June 28, 1919 |
Treaty of Versaille |
|
| Oct. 1919 -> Nov. 1919
|
Attended
the Art Students League of New York |
Art Students League Records |
| Jan. 3, 1920
|
Living
at 362 Fountain St., New Haven, CT with parents
and older brother Paul, employed as a commercial
artist in the lithography industry. |
US
Census Records |
| May
1920 |
Attended
the Art Students League of New York |
Art Students League Records |
| Oct. 1920 -> May 1921 |
First Voyage to the South Pacific,
to Tahiti, Raiatea, Bora Bora, New Zealand, Australia, the Fiji Islands & Hawai'i |
Letters home to family |
| July 1921 |
Traveled from Honolulu to San Francisco on the ship "Maui" |
Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at San Francisco, 1893-1953 |
| Dec. 1921 |
Exhibit of paintings of the South
Seas at the Art Centre, NYC |
Review in the New York Times |
| Feb. 1922 -> May 1922 |
Attended
the Art Students League of New York |
Art Students League Records |
| Summer 1922 |
Introduced to Kenneth Emory, ethnologits
at the Bishop Museum, Honolulu, by foster sister Anne Kinnear |
Keneti, the biography of Kenneth
Emory by Bob Kraus |
| Oct. 1922 -> Mar. 1923 |
Attended
the Art Students League of New York |
Art Students League Records |
| Spring 1923 -> June 1923 |
Spent
time in Paris |
Yale Alumni Records |
| Oct. 1923 |
Attended
the Art Students League of New York |
Art Students League Records |
| Sep. 1924 -> May 1925 |
Second Voyage to the South Seas,
on the Kaimiloa, visiting Hawai'i, Fanning Island, Christmas Island, Malden
Island, Penrhyn Island, Tahiti, Bora Bora & Raiatea |
Letters home to family & Keneti |
| June 1925 |
Traveled from Papeete, Tahiti to San Francisco on the ship "RMS Tahiti" |
Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at San Francisco, 1893-1953 |
| April
5, 1930 |
Margaret Robertson living at 1803
King Avenue, Columbus, OH, paying $65/month
rent, employed as a "Medical Adviser" at Ohio
State University |
US
Census Records |
| April 21,
1930 |
Living at 319 West 18th St., Manhattan,
NY, paying $75/month rent, employed as a freelance
artist. |
US
Census Records |
| June 12, 1930 |
Married Margaret Mitchell Robertson,
M.D., of San Francisco, CA, in New York City |
Family
Records |
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