George Demetrios Collection

Creator:	George Demetrios; John A. Huybers; Cape Ann Museum
Dates:	1892-1986
Quantity:	1 linear foot (2 Document Boxes)
Acquisition:	Gift of Riverrun LLC (c/o Kerrie White): a collection of items from the estate of Lucette D. White, 2017. Accession #: 2017.52
Identification:	A105; Archival Collection #105
Citation:	George Demetrios Collection. [Box #, Folder #, Item #], Cape Ann Museum Library & Archives, Gloucester, MA.
Copyright:	Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be addressed to the Librarian/Archivist.
Language:	English, French, Greek
Finding Aid:	Helen Ives, volunteer, 2024, classified box two contents as belonging to John A. Huybers ; supervisor, Trenton Carls.

George Demetrios was born in 1896 in Pyrgoi, Macedonia, Greece and lived until 1974. After coming to the United States at the age of 15, he then joined the Boston Museum School and spent four years studying in Philadelphia under sculptor Charles Grafly. After winning a scholarship to complete his education at the Paris Ecole des Beaux Arts, he began his own career in teaching. Demetrios returned to Boston in 1927 to open the George Demetrios School of Drawing and Sculpture. By 1931, he married his wife Virginia Lee Burton, who had been one of his students. In 1932 the couple moved to Folly Cove in Gloucester, where Burton began producing children’s books and prints with her group The Folly Cove Designers. Demetrios and Burton had two children, Micheal and Aristides. In Folly Cove, Demetrios continued his teaching by instructing live figure drawing classes and lessons in sculpture.

Also included in the collection are diaries, correspondence, and news clippings collected by John A. Huybers. Huybers was the editor and illustrator of George Demetrios’s book When I Was a Boy in Greece. According to Barbara Elleman, Huybers had met George on the street shining shoes and drawing the faces of people walking by. Huybers, impressed by George’s talents, arranged for him to get a scholarship to attend the School of Fine Arts in Boston. Huybers, in the editor’s preface of When I Was a Boy in Greece states,

In the Spring of last year, at the house of some Greek friends in Boston I heard a boy of sixteen, who had recently arrived from Southern Macedonia, tell in his own language, to some of his own people, the story of Xenophon’s “Retreat of the Ten Thousand.” The boy stood facing his audience. He spoke without a book. He did not make of it a tedious school lesson; he knew the narrative well, and he put it in his own way in the beautiful modern language

…I was much interested, and I thought, “Here is an opportunity of hearing something of his own country and life and boyhood.” We spoke French, and he expressed his regret at having to give up his studies and relinquish the promise of a university education…

…In taking down all the boy had to tell me, I was a careful listener, and I tried to preserve-in the medium of translation- as far as possible, his thoughts, expressions, and words. I soon perceived- and felt an amused sense of it- that, in spite of the disparity of age between us, I occupied the place of the taught, not the place of the teacher….

Biographical Note

George Demetrios was born in 1896 in Pyrgoi, Macedonia, Greece and lived until 1974. After coming to the United States at the age of 15, he then joined the Boston Museum School and spent four years studying in Philadelphia under sculptor Charles Grafly. After winning a scholarship to complete his education at the Paris Ecole des Beaux Arts, he began his own career in teaching. Demetrios returned to Boston in 1927 to open the George Demetrios School of Drawing and Sculpture. By 1931, he married his wife Virginia Lee Burton, who had been one of his students. In 1932 the couple moved to Folly Cove in Gloucester, where Burton began producing children’s books and prints with her group The Folly Cove Designers. Demetrios and Burton had two children, Micheal and Aristides. In Folly Cove, Demetrios continued his teaching by instructing live figure drawing classes and lessons in sculpture.

Also included in the collection are diaries, correspondence, and news clippings collected by John A. Huybers. Huybers was the editor and illustrator of George Demetrios’s book When I Was a Boy in Greece. According to Barbara Elleman, Huybers had met George on the street shining shoes and drawing the faces of people walking by. Huybers, impressed by George’s talents, arranged for him to get a scholarship to attend the School of Fine Arts in Boston. Huybers, in the editor’s preface of When I Was a Boy in Greece states,

In the Spring of last year, at the house of some Greek friends in Boston I heard a boy of sixteen, who had recently arrived from Southern Macedonia, tell in his own language, to some of his own people, the story of Xenophon’s “Retreat of the Ten Thousand.” The boy stood facing his audience. He spoke without a book. He did not make of it a tedious school lesson; he knew the narrative well, and he put it in his own way in the beautiful modern language

…I was much interested, and I thought, “Here is an opportunity of hearing something of his own country and life and boyhood.” We spoke French, and he expressed his regret at having to give up his studies and relinquish the promise of a university education…

…In taking down all the boy had to tell me, I was a careful listener, and I tried to preserve-in the medium of translation- as far as possible, his thoughts, expressions, and words. I soon perceived- and felt an amused sense of it- that, in spite of the disparity of age between us, I occupied the place of the taught, not the place of the teacher….

Container List

Box #1

Series 1: 1986 Exhibition on George Demetrios at CAM/ CAHA

File 1: 122 letters (majority photocopies) photocopies of correspondence between Cape Ann Historical Society (CAHA) (largely by Director Harold Bell), Mrs. Bell, Lucette white, and donors regarding funding leading up to 1986 Exhibition on the works of George Demetrios. Includes One two photocopies of newspaper articles, and one envelope. Correspondence also concerning loan agreements for statues included in the show as well as donations to the museum.

File 2: Promotional Exhibition Material and publicity concerning Demetrios. Made by CAHA for the Demetrios Exhibition.

Includes;

Four invitations to the show

Seven catalog flyers

Three copies of the same letter by Harold Bell advertising the Exhibition to Ellen Story

A packet of biographical information on Demetrios

Two copies of the Demetrios Exhibition catalog

Two promotional cards for and exhibit of Demetrios’s work at Grace Horne Galleries

One photocopy of an invitation to a Dolls and Richards exhibition of sculptures by Demetrios

One biographical pamphlet invitation to 1986 CAHA exhibition

One invitation to Making Moses: George Demetrios’s Largest Commission, a lecture at CAHA

An invitation to a cocktail party from Lucette White and Harold White, likely in celebration of exhibition

A photocopy of a biographical paper by Lawrence Fane about Demetrios

A 1974 newspaper article by Paul Kenyon

Six collected photocopies of news clippings about Demetrios, and of the cover of the book sleeve for book When Greek Meets Greek

The book sleeve cover for When Greek Meets Greek by George Demetrios

Undated newspaper article written by Paul Kenyon (1986?)

1963 newspaper article by Virginia Bohlin about Demetrios and wife, Burton

Included also is promotional material for an exhibition on the art of Virginia

1955 newspaper article about George Demetrios’s early years in the United States

Photocopy of 1959 invitation and program to the unveiling of Demetrios’s sculpture Moses for the Temple B’nai Jehudah.

Lee Burton entitled “ Those Telling Lines” put on by The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

One note sheet of to do list and phone numbers for Demetrios Exhibition

File 3: Fourteen photos likely taken for Demetrios Exhibition. Includes three 6 strips of photos negatives, three photos of Atomic Peace, two nude figure drawings, two photos of William Neimi: The Merry Carpenter, and one photo of each of the following; Marcia Gronbald: Finnish Girl, Nude Study I, a nude figure drawing, and two sculptures of couples dancing.

Fifty one photos taken at CAHA 1986 Demetrios Exhibtion

Two black and white exhibition photos of taken during 1886 exhibition, one labeled as being of Nado Cassattari and Estelle Gauld

File 5: Documents concerning display and layout or f1986 Demetrios exhibition. Includes;

Drafts of plans for Demetrios exhibition layout

Magazine clippings, likely for layout inspiration

A clipping advertising custom made display cases

A drafted handwritten list and photocopy of same list regarding works featured in exhibition (owner, condition, size, etc)

Note to Costa Demetrius concerning the statues, with attached typed list of the exhibition’s inventory

A photocopied letter to Costa concerning exhibition layout

Correspondence between Martha Oaks (curator) and Demetrios Exhibit Committee concerning a tentative exhibition calendar

Papers concerning general discussion topics of exhibition and potential works to display

A one page recap of the Demetrios Exhibit Committee meeting

Correspondence between Ellen Story and Lucette White regarding exhibition preparation

A handwritten to-do list regarding meetings and preparation for the Demetrios exhibit

A BMDG cost proposal for the CAHA Demetrios exhibition

Series 2: George Demetrios (photos)

File 4: 7 photos of George Demetrios at various ages. Includes one photo of Demetrios working in studio, and one slide photo of a profile view of Demetrios corresponding to a larger version of the same photo. Includes one copy of a sketch of Demetrios by Leon Kroll

Series 3: Sculpture by George Demetrios

File 6: Photos of George Demetrios’s Sculptures

132 photos of 82 different sculptures made be George Demetrios at various points in time.

Box #2

Series 4: John A. Huybers

File 1: 1892 Diary of John A. Huybers. Written in French and English

File 2:1909 Diary of John A. Huybers. Written in French and English

File 3: 1909 Diary of John A. Huybers. Written in French, Greek, and English

File 4: 1915 Diary of John A. Huybers. Written in French and English

File 5: 1916 Scrapbook/Diary of John A. Huybers. Written in Greek and English

File 6: John A. Huybers Correspondence. Contains 36 different letters from

File 7: John A. Huybers Diary Fragments/Manuscript? Contains 13 different diary/ manuscript fragments (referred too also as manuscript as Huybers appears to have conducted a lot of autobiographical work of himself and/or reporting regarding Greek events and culture. Entries are in French and English.

Diaries/Manuscripts are entitled as follows:

With Serbians at Vido

Untitled, begins “An American said to me recently…”

American Work in Athens

American Work in Athens: The American School of Classical Studies

En Route to Greece. Naples in War Time. December 1915

Salonica

In a Greek Macedonia Village

A Greek Easter

Copie Conforme from Page 5

Corfu: In the English Cemetery

THRACE: A) Western Thrace (Bulgarian Thrace)

Before 1 .a.m of Jan 21 1920 (A Wireless in Athens)

4 am. Wireless

File 8: John A. Huybers Sketch Fragments. Contains two sketches depicting the profile of unknown figures. From roughly 1889-1920

File 9: John A. Huybers Newspaper Clippings. 13 clippings total (two separate pairs found together, one “clipping’ contains multiple in a scrapbook layout).

Article topics include:
2 clippings, found together, concerning New Authority/ a New Regime in Greece

1917 allied leading force ‘Ambushed on their Advance to Athens’

‘Portions of Letter to N.Y. Evening Post Jan 22, 1916

Found together- ‘hail Venizelos’ and ‘John A. Huybers Dead’

‘Venizelos and His Opponents’

‘When I Was a Boy in Greece’

‘Anxieties Over Outbreak in Athens’

Greek Newspaper clipping concerning Huybers

Multiple page clipping from ‘The Nations’

Greek Newspaper clipping concerning Huybers

New York Evening Post Interview (part one and two) concerning an interview with Venizelos

Except from ‘The Nation’ concerning ‘Allied Pressure on the Greek King’