Andrew Bucci Collection (Z/2385)

Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: Andrew Bucci Collection (Z/2385).
Creator/Collector: Andrew Bucci; and others.
Date(s): 1900-2022.
Size: 21.00 cubic feet.
Language(s): English; Italian.
Processed by: MDAH staff, Laura Heller, 2022.
Provenance: Gift of Margaret Bucci on behalf of the Andrew Bucci Estate, of Jackson, MS, on January 27, 2021; Z/U/2021.001.
Provenance: "Andrew Bucci Day" Senate Resolution: Gift of Andrew Bucci Estate, of Jackson, MS, on January 12, 2022.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

Rights and Access:

Access restrictions: Collection is open for research. 

Publication rights: The Andrew Bucci Estate claims all copyright interest in items created by Andrew Bucci and Bucci family members. (Permission to publish is required.)

For all materials in the Andrew Bucci Collection not created by Andrew Bucci or his family members, all requests for permission to publish or quote from the collection must be submitted in writing to Reference Services, with Attention: Manuscripts Curator. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the MDAH as the owner of the physical items and as the owner of the copyright in items created by the donor. The respective creator may still hold copyright in some items in the collection. For further information, contact Reference Services.

Copyright notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). Sketchbooks and original artwork must have copyright owner permission for publication; Contact curator for assistance.

Preferred citation: Andrew Bucci Collection (Z/2385), Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

Biography:

Andrew Anthony Bucci, Jr. was born on January 12, 1922, in Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi, the second son of Andrew Anthony Bucci, Sr., and Christine Cavallo Bucci. He had two brothers, Donnie Richard Bucci (1920-2010) and Robert Joseph Francis Bucci (1924-2011).

While Bucci attended St. Aloysius High School he studied drawing from Mary Clare Sherwood at All Saints’ College in 1937. He was editor-in-chief of the school’s student-run newspaper, The Golden Quill, during his senior year, graduating in 1938 at 16 years old. His brother Don was the circulation manager, and both contributed articles to every issue. Bucci regularly appeared on the honor roll, and he was active in his journalism course, the theatre group, and the carnival court.

He enrolled in Louisiana State University, where he studied architectural engineering from 1938-1943. While at LSU, Bucci took an art course led by abstract artist Ralph Wickiser, who had studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. During the summer, Bucci began working for the Mississippi Highway Department in Jackson, where his uncle Emile Cavallo was employed as a civil engineer. His uncle introduced him to Marie Atkinson Hull and Bucci began taking watercolor lessons in her Belhaven home. This mentorship would grow into a lifelong friendship that was mutually influential for both artists.

After earning his Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering on January 29, 1943, Bucci entered into the United States Army Air Forces and attended weather officer training through New York University. He graduated on September 6, 1943, then promoted to second lieutenant. He served on air bases in England and Scotland during World War II, while his brothers Don and Bob also served in the military in the European theatre. Later Don became a civil engineer and Bob became a pathologist, both with support from the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, known as the G.I. Bill.

Bucci studied life-drawing at the Académie Julian in Paris, France, between 1945 and 1946 while stationed at Orly Air Base. His studies included fashion illustration in Madame Miguel Norero’s course. He worked in rotating shifts as a weatherman at the base and found ways to travel into Paris for art classes via the bus service. On December 18, 1946, the United States Armed Air Forces promoted Bucci to first lieutenant. He returned to Vicksburg to work at the local United States Weather Bureau office. In October 1947, he left the local weather bureau.

In October 1947, Bucci left the local weather bureau, and like his brothers, he applied and received support from the G.I. Bill, which he used to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, where he studied under Paul Wieghardt, among other well-known artists. With further encouragement from Mississippi artist Marie Hull, Bucci began submitting his artwork in galleries and exhibitions, with one drawing winning first place in the Mississippi Capitol Street Art Show in Jackson in 1946. Bucci’s art was exhibited in 1947 for the first time by the Mississippi Art Association, which would later become the Mississippi Museum of Art, as well as the Wolfe Gallery in Jackson. In December 1948, one of his paintings won first prize for traditional watercolors in the Memphis Biennial Exhibition of Paintings at Memphis Academy of Art. He also exhibited in the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, and in the Corpus Christi Art Exhibit and Sale in Texas. By August 1949, Bucci exhibited a solo show at Allison’s Wells Hotel in Way, where Mississippi’s first art colony was established; he taught painting workshops when the colony was in session. During the summer of 1950, Bucci studied and painted with the art colony in Ogunquit, Maine. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts on June 8, 1951. He attended courses and became friends with fellow artists Eugene Bennett, Joe Greenburg, Helen Harkonen, Eugenia Lynde, Yvonne Mamula, and John Miller.

During the summer and fall of 1951, Bucci attended fashion design and illustration courses at the Parsons School of Design in New York. Some of his courses were taught by William Wallace Rosenbauer, who taught there from 1950-1953. It was at this time during the Korean War that Bucci was called back into service as a weather officer at Lockbourne Air Force Base in Columbus, Ohio, and served there for fifteen months. In September 1953, he was released from military duty; however, he continued his military service in the Air Force Reserve and retired at the rank of major. He returned to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to earn his Master of Fine Arts on June 11, 1954. During this time, his art gained considerable notice in Mississippi and exhibited for the first time at Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel, the Mississippi Delta Art Association in Greenwood, the Municipal Art Gallery in Jackson, and Mississippi State College for Women (Mississippi University for Women) in Columbus. Although SAIC offered Bucci a teaching job, he decided he wanted to dedicate more time to creating his own artwork. He returned to Vicksburg and the local U.S. Weather Bureau office rehired him. Later in 1954, his work won first purchase prize in the National Oil Painting Exhibition presented by the Mississippi Art Association.

In April 1955, the U.S. Weather Bureau transferred Bucci to Greenville, South Carolina. He competed and exhibited art in Greenville regularly, including a solo show at the Greenville Art Gallery. In April 1956, the bureau again moved Bucci, this time to the National Weather Analysis Center outside Washington, D.C. This would be his final job transfer and where he would make his home for nearly six decades.

Bucci remained active in art circles, exhibitions, competitions, and organizations in both Mississippi, the regional South, and in the greater Washington, D.C. area. In 1960, he took time off from the National Weather Service to travel in Europe for six weeks, where he concentrated on art museums and galleries. He also exhibited a lot in Mississippi, from solo shows with the Mississippi Art Association and the Municipal Art Gallery in Jackson, Mississippi College in Clinton, and Allison’s Wells in Way. Beginning in 1963, he served a two-year term as president of the Washington Water Color Association. Bucci was the first painter to receive the Henry H. Bellamann Foundation Award of $1,000 for outstanding achievement in the arts. In Mississippi in the late 1960s, he taught art workshops at Allison’s Wells Art Colony and at Hosford Fontaine’s artist workshops in La Font Inn.

On December 11, 1967, the United States Postal Service issued the 5-cent postage stamp designed by Andrew Bucci to commemorate Mississippi’s 150th anniversary of statehood. The stamp featured one of his paintings of a magnolia, the state’s official flower. By 1972, he moved from an apartment in Washington, D.C., to a home in rural Fort Washington, Maryland, near the Potomac River. Throughout the 1970s, Bucci exhibited art in solo shows, taught art workshops, and won awards for his paintings. He travelled with his brothers Don and Bob to Italy to visit Rome, Florence, Venice, Como, and Milan in May 1979. In September of the same year, he retired from the National Weather Service after more than 25 years of service. In 1983, he briefly resided in Cleveland, Mississippi, while he served as an artist-in-residence for the fall semester at Delta State University; he taught painting and drawing while his art exhibited at the Fielding L. Wright Art Center.

On February 26, 2009, at the age of 87, Andrew Bucci received the Mississippi Arts Commission Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts for lifetime achievement in the visual arts during a ceremony at Galloway Methodist Church in Jackson. On June 9, 2012, Bucci was the recipient of a Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Lifetime Achievement Award. Although he desired to attend, he fell ill and was briefly hospitalized just days prior to the awards ceremony.

Unfortunately, in April 2014, Bucci was forced to evacuate his Fort Washington home of 41 years after a landslide caused by heavy rainfall prompted Prince George’s County officials to declare the neighborhood unsafe. While homes were not damaged, the incident left many residents stranded indefinitely without utilities.

Bucci served as the official artist of the 2014 USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi. On June 17, 2014, Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson hosted “Mississippi Homecoming 2014,” a program honoring Bucci as the USA IBC’s official artist. In September 2014, he was invited by Jack Kyle, then senior director of arts development at Belhaven University, to present a retrospective of his work in the university gallery. They agreed the exhibition would take place after Bucci completed his move back to Mississippi. The exhibition of his work, Andrew Bucci: Rediscovered, would open on May 26, 2015 and run through August 29 that year.

In late October 2014, shortly after resettling in Vicksburg, Bucci began experiencing a series of health problems and hospitalizations. On November 16, 2014, Andrew Anthony Bucci, Jr., died at the age of 92 at Hospice Ministries in Ridgeland, Madison County, Mississippi; he is interred in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi, near his parents and other relatives.

The Andrew Bucci Collection was donated to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in January 2021 by the Andrew Bucci Estate. On January 12, 2022, the Mississippi Senate designated January 12th as “Andrew Bucci Day” in celebration and recognition of Bucci’s contributions to the arts in Mississippi.

Andrea Gaetano Antonio Bucci was born May 18, 1886 in Castel Frentano, a town in the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of Italy, to parents Domenico Bucci (1853-1921) and Giovanna Piattelli (1851-1922). He had brothers Tacitus Romolo Porsenno Bucci (1893-1977), Umberto Luigi Amadeo Bucci (1882-1942), and sister Carmela Bucci (ca. 1875 – ca. 1950). Andrea, who chose Andrew Anthony Bucci as an English form of his name, arrived in the United States at the Port of New York on October 20, 1904, aboard the ship Prinze Oscar from Naples, Italy. On January 30, 1908, Andrew Bucci signed his first declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States in Warren County, Mississippi.

Later, Andrew’s brothers arrived in the United States and became citizens. Umberto Bucci, at the age of 20, left Naples, Italy, on September 5, 1902, and arrived at the Port of Boston, Massachusetts, on September 23, 1902. He stated his occupation as a musician, merchant, and tailor. Umberto sometimes used the name Humbert. Tacitus Bucci, at the age of 27, was aboard the ship S.S. Lapland from Cherbourg, France, on December 24, 1920, and arrived at the Port of New York, on January 3, 1921. He was coming to visit his cousin Alfonso de Francesco in New York. Again, at the age of 30, Tacitus was aboard the S.S. Dante Alighieri which departed from Naples, Italy, on September 23, 1923, to arrive at New York, on October 6, 1923. Tacitus sometimes used the name Tacito. He had taken charge of the band at Vicksburg’s catholic boys’ school, St. Aloysius High School, by March 1938. In 1939, Tacitus was reported as the founder and first conductor of the Jackson Federal Orchestra.

It is likely that Umberto Bucci and his wife Rosa Coccaro were married in late 1904 or early 1905, and that is how Andrew came to live with them from 1904 to 1913 in Lexington, Kentucky. Additionally, in 1910, Rosa’s niece Christine Cavallo visited her aunt in Kentucky, while Umberto worked as an orchestra musician and Andrew as a tailor. On March 3, 1914, Andrew departed from Naples after visiting his father Domenico in Castel Frentano, Italy. He was aboard the S.S. America to arrive at the Port of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 24, 1914. Andrew stated he was rejoining his brother Umberto in Lexington, Kentucky.

Andrew had relocated to Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi, as early as October 1918. On June 1, 1919, Christine Cavallo and Andrew Anthony Bucci married in Vicksburg. Shortly thereafter on August 5, 1919, Andrew resubmitted his declaration of intention to the U.S. Department of Labor to become a citizen of the United States. By 1920, Umberto and Rose Bucci had moved to Vicksburg, where Umberto worked as a retail merchant of groceries and the family could remain close to Andrew, Christine, and other Italians who settled in the Mississippi Delta. His store was called Neighborhood Cash Store at 1001 North First Street, Vicksburg.

On March 12, 1923, Andrew Bucci received his appointment as Italian consular agent of Mississippi. He and Christine were invited to a reception in honor of the Italian Ambassador Fulvio Suvich, on April 4, 1938. Tacitus Bucci and the St. Aloysius Band performed for the ambassador during his visit.

Andrew Bucci owned the Bucci Brothers tailor shop first in Lexington, Kentucky, at 162 West Main Street, and later in downtown Vicksburg, Mississippi, at 1309 Washington Street, in which he and relatives, such as Philip Angelucci, worked in the tailoring business and sold men’s clothing. He maintained his consular agency separate from the tailor shop, and the costs accrued from his work with Italian immigrants strictly covered the costs of fees for certification of the legal documents; it was not a source of income.

Ordered by the State Department to leave the county in 1941 at the outbreak of World War II, Andrew closed the Bucci Bros. Tailor Shop, packed his belongings, and visited his nephew Dominick Paione living in New York City. He saw the docks where ships were preparing to depart and decided he could not go back to Italy and leave his family in Mississippi. Dominick helped Andrew meet with Senator Theodore G. Bilbo, after which Andrew received special consideration from the State Department and returned to Vicksburg. He reopened his tailor shop; however, he had to close his consular agency. On November 17, 1942, Andrew Bucci, Sr., petitioned for naturalization and the certificate was issued on the same date.

Andrea Gaetano Antonio Bucci, Sr., died on December 5, 1951, in Vicksburg, and he is buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery, Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi, alongside his wife Christine.

Christine “Chris” Cavallo was born May 14, 1900, to parents Orsola Coccaro (1877-1962) from Valle dell’Angelo, Italy, and Joseph Cavallo (1860-1902), a barber from Colliano, a town in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of southwestern Italy. She was then baptized on July 5, 1900, at St. Paul’s Church, Vicksburg, Warren County. She had one brother, Emile Barton Cavallo (1897-1980), who was a pianist, and one sister, Philomenia Cavallo (1899-2000), who married Thomas Dominick Pantoliano of another prominent Italian family around Vicksburg.

Christine’s mother Orsola Coccaro, at the age of 18, arrived at the Port of New York on May 14, 1894 on the ship S.S. Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm, which departed from Naples, Italy. Aboard the ship with Orsola were her parents Philomena Lannuzzi (1851-1912) and Barbato Coccaro (1847-1931), her sisters Mary Angelina (1882-1958) and Rose (1885-1967), and her paternal grandmother and namesake Orsola Teresa Coccaro (1823-1904).

Christine and Andrew Anthony Bucci married on June 1, 1919. Soon, their first son, Donnie Richard Bucci, was born on October 9, 1920. Their next son, Andrew Anthony Bucci, Jr., was born on January 12, 1922. Their last son, Robert Joseph Francis Bucci was born on January 24, 1924. All three brothers were born in Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi. The couple was involved in their children’s lives and education, introducing them to the visiting Italian ambassador and other immigrants who settled in the Mississippi Delta. After her husband’s death in December 1951, Christine continued to remain active in her sons’ lives. She was often writing letters and attending Andrew Bucci, Jr.’s many art gallery exhibitions.

When Andrew Bucci, Jr., moved in April 1956 to the Washington, D.C., area, he convinced his mother Chris to move nearby in New Jersey. She attended the Hannah Harrison Career School which provided free housekeeping management training for women. After completing the program, she was employed by hospitals in the northeast where she eventually settled in East Orange, New Jersey. Christine Cavaollo Bucci died on May 21, 1987, at the age of 87 in Lakewood, New Jersey. She is buried alongside her husband in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi.

Scope and Content Note:

The collection documents the early studies and career of the artist Andrew Anthony Bucci, Jr., from Vicksburg, Warren County. The collection consists of nearly a hundred sketchbooks, nine scrapbooks, a stamp collection, photographs, certificates from Saint Aloysius School, five Louisiana State University yearbooks, two degrees from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, assignments from Académie Julian and Parsons School of Design, holiday cards from artist friends, other records, and many sketches, etchings, and lithographs. Also included are the papers of his father, Andrew Anthony Bucci, Sr., who owned Bucci Bros. Tailor Shop in Vicksburg, and was an appointed Italian consular agent helping immigrants in the Mississippi Delta. Lastly, the collection contains a few personal papers for Bucci’s mother, Christine “Chris” Cavallo Bucci, and his uncle, Tacitus “Tacito” R. Bucci.

See the Andrew Bucci Collection (Z/2385) Box and Folder List. 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Christine and Andrew Anthony Bucci, Sr., and Family Papers. 

Subseries 1.1: Andrew Anthony Bucci, Sr., Papers. 1918-1948; 1951; 2003; n.d.

The papers in the Andrew Anthony Bucci, Senior, subseries include important immigration documents such as his declaration of intention from August 5, 1919, and his certificate of citizenship dated November 17, 1942. The papers include a crest for Bucci Brothers’ stationary, a tailor shop owned and managed by Andrew Bucci, Sr., and Philip Angelucci, first in Lexington, Kentucky in 1919, then by the mid-1920s in Vicksburg, Warren County. Researchers should note that Andrew Anthony Bucci, Senior’s name varies among the records, including Andrea Gaetano Antonio Bucci, his original Italian name, and at times documents and letters within this series may use variances of his name.

Additionally there are legal records, some in English but most in Italian, related to Andrew Bucci’s role as appointed honorary consular agent of Italy in Vicksburg. The certificate of this appointment as consular agent, dated March 12, 1923, is included in this series. The consular agency, under the New Orleans Italian Consulate, operated as a part-time service. He assisted Italian immigrants with legal matters between Italy and the United States. Of particular interest will be the petitions, legal papers, statements, and correspondence between Bucci, his lawyer John B. Brunini, U.S. Representative Ross Collins, Governor Paul B. Johnson, and U.S. Senators Theodore G. Bilbo and Senator Edward P. Terry, among others. This correspondence records exchanges concerning the closing of the consular agency and requests for the consular agents to return to Italy in 1941. However, in Bucci’s case, having married Christine Cavallo, a native-born American citizen who filed for U.S. citizenship again and repatriated in May 1940, he also applied for his naturalization papers in May 1940. They were still pending when the U.S. Government requested Italian consular agents to leave the country during World War II.

Box 1, Folders 1-40
Box 2, Folders 1-14
Box 87, Folder 2

Subseries 1.2: Christine Cavallo Bucci Papers. 1900; 1919 [1940]; n.d.

The papers in the Christine Cavallo Bucci subseries include an original and copy of her certificate of baptism at St. Paul’s Church, Vicksburg, Warren County, as well as her certificate of citizenship dated May 20, 1940. Although Christine Cavallo Bucci was an American citizen by birth, when she married Andrew Bucci, an immigrant who was not yet a naturalized citizen, she needed to declare her citizenship to the United States. A May 13, 1940 certified copy of their marriage certificate, recording their marriage date on June 1, 1919, is included. Lastly, a newspaper clipping from the Ocean County Daily Times (Lakewood, New Jersey), shows Christine Bucci with others on the personnel policies committee of the Paul Kimball Hospital in Lakewood, New Jersey. Researchers should note that Christine Bucci’s name varies among the records, recording Mary or Marie as her middle name.

Box 2, Folders 15-18

Subseries 1.3: Tacitus “Tacito” Bucci Papers. 1939; 1975.

This subseries of Tacitus “Tacito” Bucci papers include two items: a May 6, 1939 program of the Jackson Federal Orchestra, of which Tacitus was conductor, and an October 19, 1975 newspaper clipping from the Vicksburg Sunday Post that revisits Tacito Bucci’s illustrious career as musician and conductor of the first symphony orchestra in Jackson, Hinds County, organized in 1936.

Box 2, Folders 19-20

Series 2: Andrew Anthony Bucci, Jr., Personal and Biographical Papers. 1922 [1942]; 1984; 1988; 1991; 1998; 2015-2016.

This subseries of Andrew Anthony Bucci, Jr.’s personal papers include a 1942 certified copy of his birth certificate. In Bucci’s own handwriting is a synopsis of his art career up to January 1984 and a chronology of art shows between 1946 and 1998. Bucci donated an art collection including works by Lucas Van Leyden, H.S. Beham, Rembrandt, Goya, and others to the Mississippi Museum of Art in 1988 as evidenced by a deed of gift and inventory. He donated an accretion to the art collection at MMA in 1991, featuring works of art by Matisse, Virginia Bath, Anna Baker, Ray Yoshida, Jack Alford, Don Kunz, David Fink, Kathleen Blackshear, Eugene Bennett, Charles Reddington, Quinn Tyler, Ray Trail, and Marie Hull, among others. Included are two email exchanges between Bucci’s niece Margaret Bucci and Rosemary Torre in 2015 to gather information about his studies at Parsons School of Design, and with Dr. Bill Rice in 2016 concerning Bucci’s work in the weather bureau.

Box 3, Folders 1-5

Series 3: Education. 

Subseries 3.1: Saint Aloysious School. 1934; 1937-1938.

In this subseries are certificates and diplomas from Bucci’s studies at Saint Aloysious School, Vicksburg, Warren County. First, he received a certificate from the Diocese of Natchez and St. Aloysius School on June 7, 1934. Second, he received a certificate award for typewriting on January 10, 1937. Lastly, Andrew Bucci’s diploma from St. Aloysius College, Vicksburg, Mississippi, which he received on June 5, 1938. Of special interest is The Golden Quill, a bound volume of the student-led publication at St. Aloysius College, Vicksburg, Mississippi, containing issues from December 1937 to June 1938. Bucci was editor-in-chief and his brother Don was circulation manager of newspaper, and both contributed articles. Bucci was active in his school, listed on the honor roll, and pictured with the journalism class, theatre group, legislature tour, and carnival court. There are two articles about Tacitus Bucci leading the St. Aloysious Band in the March and April issues. One will find an advertisement for Bucci Bros. Tailor Shop in every issue with exception of the January. Box 89 contains a decorative ribbon and paper that kept the 1938 diploma rolled.

Box 87, Folders 3-6
Box 89

Subseries 3.2: Louisiana State University. 1938; 1940-1943.

Among the Louisiana State University ephemera Bucci kept are two student ticket books for 1940 and 1943. These ticket books include a portrait of the student on the cover. Included is a letter from the President of LSU enclosing a scholarship for Andrew Bucci, as well as grade reports dated May 31, 1941 for brothers Andrew and Donnie. The leather cover accompanies Bucci’s degree certificate, a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering, dated January 29, 1943. This subseries has five yearbooks, The Gumbo, for Bucci’s years at Louisiana State University, 1939-1943. Lastly, Bucci received a life membership certificate from the Louisiana State University Alumni Federation on March 3, 1943.

Box 3, Folders 6-9
Boxes 4 – 8 (Yearbooks)
Box 87, Folder 7

Subseries 3.3: New York University. 1943.

Bucci studied meteorological training from the United States Army Air Forces through New York University during the autumn of 1943. In this subseries, researchers will find an assignment from the department of meteorology, a letter from the NYU Chancellor to Bucci’s parents, and his course record in the College of Engineering. Items pertaining to his graduation include a yearbook titled Synopsis, a certificate, a diploma, and program and invitation for graduation exercises on September 6, 1943. One should note that the inside covers of the yearbook feature meteorological drawings by Bucci.

Box 3, Folders 10-16

Series 4: Military. 1942-1981.

There are letters of character recommending Andrew Bucci for service in the United States armed forces in 1942, a letter in response to Bucci’s application for a specialized course in meteorology, and a qualifications report of the Aviation Cadet Examining Board, as well as coursework at New York University. Further papers continue to record Bucci’s status in the armed forces and studies in meteorology. Bucci received a certificate of honorable discharge on September 5, 1943. He was promoted to First Lieutenant on December 18, 1946. The collection has both sets of separation papers, 1946 and 1953, for his service in the United States Armed Air Forces. A certificate of service lists his awards: the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, American Campaign Medal, and Victory Medal World War II. Documents recording his military service of particular interest will be the States of Personal History, his Air Force service cards, applications for federal employment, assignment letters, and records of air weather service.

Box 3, Folders 17-39

Series 5: Art Course Work. 

Subseries 5.1: Académie Julian. 1945-1946.

While studying at the Académie Julian, Bucci created numerous sketches, for his own studies and as part of assignments. These boxes contain work produced during the time of his studies at the Académie Julian, however the works do not refer to assignments or specific dates. In box 9, the first three folders feature fashion and figure pencil sketches from Mme. Miguel Norero’s course, followed by three folders of sketches that also include watercolor or ink in the illustrations. Bucci identified some of these sketches from Norero’s course, or otherwise estimated from the same time. In box 10, folders contain two sketchbooks identified as “from classes at Académie Julian in Paris, Winter, 1945-1946” in Bucci’s handwriting on the covers. Sketches are primarily in pencil, with a few in watercolor, and feature fashion, faces, and studies of nude female figures. The first sketchbook is a flip-top pad and the second is a spiral-bound notebook. One folder contains sketches that have come loose from the first sketchbook.

Box 9
Box 10

Subseries 5.2: School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 1947-1954; n.d.

Bucci received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1951 and his Master of Fine Arts in 1954 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Included in this subseries are syllabi, art assignments, and exam books from his History of Art courses, as well as course notes from an anatomy class in 1950 and art history notes circa 1948-1949. A program for closing graduation exercises dated June 8, 1951, and both diplomas (BFA in June 8, 1951, and MFA in June 11, 1954) are included in this subseries.

Box 11
Box 12
Box 13
Box 87, Folders 1; 8-9

Subseries 5.3: Parsons School of Design. 1951.

In the summer and fall of 1951, Bucci studied at the Parsons School of Design in New York City. This subseries consists of some syllabi for a History of Art III course taught by Wallace Rosenbauer, as well as notebooks, sketches, and studies of fashion design. Box 14 includes an unbound notebook containing successive assignments in fashion illustration, in pen and ink, pencil, and watercolor. There are loose items and glued pieces that are beginning to lift from the artwork and design; Handle with care. Also included are sketches in colored pencil of fashion concepts. Box 15 contains oversized sketches and photographs from Bucci’s assignments at Parsons, some of which illustrated fashion design, mounted on matt board.

Box 14
Box 15

Series 6: Early Artwork. 1939; 1940s-1960s, n.d.

This series consists primarily of loose sketches, drawings, and work otherwise not associated with specific coursework or location. When available, dates were determined broadly to assist the researcher. Much of the work here is evidence of Bucci’s prolific nature to sketch and paint watercolor of faces, fashion, landscapes, flora, fauna, and abstract designs. Box 16 contains colored pencil sketches, works on construction paper, landscape artwork created in Marie Hull’s class, chicken designs, and a design based on weather symbols, among other sketches. Also included are some sketches from his Composition Criticism Class, especially of note the geometric self-portrait. Box 17 contains several drawings and artwork Bucci created in Marie Hull’s class, as well as sketches made on Mississippi State Highway Department manual pages, and a variety of pen and ink sketch series, including one with a Daphne theme and one of a nativity scene. Box 18 consists of pencil and ink sketches, colorful pencil drawings of male and female figures, ink and watercolor figures, and sketches of dancers, geometric figures, and fish and sea creatures. Of particular interest are some ink drawings and washes created for but not used in Eva Davis’ Mississippi Mixin’s, a Vicksburg cookbook published in the early 1960s.

Box 16
Box 17
Box 18

Series 7: Sketchbooks. Circa 1930s – 1954; n.d.

There are 96 sketchbooks included in this series. The sketchbooks begin in the late 1930s and continue through 1954, with several undated. Sketches largely feature fashion, faces, figures, theatrical themes, landscapes, flora, tribal masks and designs, chickens, city street scenes, food, and some doodles.

Please view the Sketchbooks Inventory List, which lists box, folder, sketchbook number, type of sketchbook, overall sketch themes, location associated with the sketchbook, and dates. Please note, there are two sketchbooks not included in this list that are in Subseries 5.1 (Box 10) containing Bucci’s work during his studies at the Académie Julian.

Box 19 – Box 61

Series 8: Etchings and Lithographs. 1949; 1953; n.d.

This series consists mostly of artworks identified as etchings and lithographs created by Andrew Bucci in 1949 and some in the early 1950s. In box 62, some etchings are dated by month, day, and year, from January to April of 1949, and were possibly part of an assignment; however, there is no mention of a particular course or instructor. Themes include female figures, faces, kites, horses, fish, and abstract designs. Box 63 contains larger etchings and lithographs, placed in groups in oversized folders. Most appear from 1949 and include some of the same themes. Additional themes include a figure clothed in flowers, a muse, calligraphy-like designs, stars, and plants. There are many geometric designs, and two particularly interesting etchings, one in black and white and one in color.

Box 62
Box 63

Series 9: Scrapbooks. 1940s-2021; n.d.

Andrew Bucci collected letters, newspaper clippings, brochures, flyers, and other ephemera and memorabilia related to his life, family, artistic career, and the lives of his friends and loved ones. He organized these items into nine oversized three-ring binders and stored several items together in clear pocket sleeves in the binders, arranged chronologically from the 1940s through 2009, with some additional items added by his niece Margaret Bucci posthumously. The ephemera of the scrapbooks give wonderful snapshots into what was important to Bucci.

Please view the Scrapbooks Inventory List, which retains the original order by scrapbook and page numbers, and an itemized list of the items from that scrapbook page. Photographs in the scrapbooks were moved to the Photographs Series; color photocopies are placeholders where the photographs were originally stored.

Box 64: Scrapbook 1, 1943-1954; n.d.
Box 65: Scrapbook 2, 1952-1957.
Box 66: Scrapbook 3, 1957-1961.
Box 67: Scrapbook 4, 1962-1969; n.d.
Box 68: Scrapbook 5, 1964; 1968-1980; 2021; n.d.
Box 69: Scrapbook 6, 1980-1991; n.d.
Box 70: Scrapbook 7, 1991-1999; Scrapbook 8, 1999-2001; n.d.
Box 71: Scrapbook 8, 2001-2003; Scrapbook 9, 2004-2015; 2017; 2021.

Series 10: Stamps.

Subseries 10.1: Mississippi Statehood Sesquicentennial Stamp. 1966-1969.

This series consists of correspondence, magazines, newspaper clippings, and sheets of the 5-cent Mississippi Statehood Sesquicentennial U.S. postage stamp. Also included are several sketches and drawings that Andrew Bucci considered using for the sesquicentennial stamp, however he settled on the magnolia, the official Mississippi state flower. The 5-cent Mississippi Statehood Sesquicentennial U.S. postage stamp’s first day of issue was December 11, 1967. Note: Donated with the collection was a navy blue leather folder, with Bucci’s name and “Stamp Designer” embossed on the front, containing a sheet of the sesquicentennial stamp; it is stored in museum collections storage.

Box 72

Subseries 10.2: Stamp Collection. 1962-1999; n.d.

This series consists of numerous stamps and first day of issues collected by Andrew Bucci, some of which he came by through friends who mailed them to him. Box 73 consists of sheets of stamps, identified by name and arranged in chronological order date of issue, July 4, 1968 to March 12, 1999. Box 74 contains first day of issue envelopes or postcards of a variety of American stamps, including the Mississippi Statehood Sesquicentennial, and one of these includes a 1975 letter from Tom D. Pantoliano to Andrew Bucci. A few include British first day of issues with a letter from a friend, Molly Murray, to Bucci. Box 75 continues with more first day of issue envelopes, mostly American stamps. Box 76 contains more British first day of issue envelopes, most arriving from Molly Murray, sometimes including a lengthy letter for him.

Box 73
Box 74
Box 75
Box 76

Series 11: Smithsonian Holiday Cards. 2010-2011.

This series includes a letter from Mary Savig, curatorial archives specialist at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, writing to Andrew Bucci thanking him for granting permission to print reproductions of one of his Christmas cards that he sent to artist Prentiss Taylor. The image, “Three Wise Men,” was printed on a set of twelve cards that were sold in 2011, with the funds from the sale used to raise awareness about the Archives of American Art to the public. This series contains three of these holiday cards, along with blank envelopes, and the original box that contained the cards.

Box 77

Series 12: Photographs. 1900-2012, n.d.

There are 170 photographs in this series, arranged in chronological order. Photographs concerning Andrew Bucci, Sr., include a portrait made in Castel Frentano, Italy, circa 1900; a wedding portrait of Bucci and Christine Cavallo in Vicksburg, circa 1919; and a photograph of Bucci standing in the Bucci Bros. Tailor Shop in Vicksburg, circa 1925-1935. Also included are some images of Mr. and Mrs. Bucci at the Italian Consulate Dinner on April 4, 1938 in Vicksburg. There is a great image of the family at the dinner table in July 1947. Photographs of Andrew Bucci, Jr., include images on a bicycle circa 1924; with coworkers at the State Highway Department in 1939; various portraits and candid photographs of Bucci in uniform with family, photographs of Bucci at work at Orly Field, France, in 1946; and Bucci at the U.S. Weather Bureau in Vicksburg in 1947. Several images from the late 1940s and early 1950s feature Bucci with classmates from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. There are some notable portraits of Bucci by Prentiss Taylor from the early 1970s. There are more photographs from parties, gallery shows, and trips with friends are included. Please view the Photographs Inventory List for folder number, photograph description, and photograph number.

Box 78
Box 79

Series 13: Eugene Bennett. 1952-2013; n.d.

Eugene “Gene” Peart Bennett of Oregon attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees in 1951 and 1954, at the same time as Andrew Bucci. The two artists became lifelong friends who remained in touch regularly, and traveled together throughout the United States and sometimes Europe. Gene Bennett died on November 2, 2010 in Jacksonville, Oregon. This series, in Box 80, contains a copy Bennett’s resume, Bucci’s eulogy notes for Bennett, and some correspondence from Bennett to Bucci and Chris Bucci. Many announcements of Bennett’s art shows and galleries are in both boxes 80 and 81.

Box 80
Box 81

Series 14: Christmas Cards from Friends. 1949-2002; n.d.

Andrew Bucci befriended many artists throughout his long life, and many of them shared their art by sending homemade Christmas or holiday cards to Bucci. Friends remember Bucci sent annual Christmas cards featuring the three wise men. This series contains cards from Halcyone Barnes, Virginia Bath, Chuck Brown, Yvonne Miller Brunton, Martha Caldwell, M. Noche Crist, Robert “Bob” Allan Dunaway, Joe Greenberg, Mas Hamadas, Helen Harkonen, Grace “Hike” Kaplan, Elizabeth Pajerski, Roderick Quiroz, Raymond Toloczko, Rosemary Torre, Mildred N. Wolfe, and Jean Yates, among some cards from Bucci and Coccaro relatives.

Box 82
Box 83

Series 15: USA International Ballet Competition. 2014-2015.

Bucci’s painting, “Figure in Green,” was chosen as the signature image of the 2014 USA International Ballet competition in Jackson, Mississippi. On October 8, 2013, he participated in the poster unveiling and media event at Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson. Bucci served as the official artist of the 2014 USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi. This series consists of correspondence from the Executive Director of the USA International Ballet Competition Sue Lobrano, an invitation to the Friends of the IBC fundraiser “Ballet, Blues, and Bucci,” an IBC program, rack card, brochure, and press packet, as well as newspaper clippings. Also included is a transcription by Margaret Bucci of a video recording of the USA International Ballet Competition's Mississippi Homecoming 2014 program that took place June 17, 2014, in Trustmark Hall at the Mississippi Museum of Art. It was a question-and-answer event with Andrew Bucci, the official artist of the competition, moderated by Betsey Bradley, director of the MMA. Other presenters included Sue Lobrano, executive director of the IBC, and Malcolm White, executive director of the Mississippi Arts Commission. A DVD recording of this program is cataloged separately: USA International Ballet Competition, Mississippi Homecoming; Call Number Disk 0279.

Box 84

Series 16: Andrew Anthony Bucci, Junior, Funeral and Memorial. 2014-2015.

On November 16, 2014, Andrew Anthony Bucci, Jr., died at the age of 92 at Hospice Ministries in Ridgeland, Madison County, Mississippi. Shortly after Bucci’s passing in November, friends at Brown’s Framing and Fine Arts, Inc., invited guests to write their thoughts and memories of Bucci into a guestbook to give to the family. Funeral liturgical services were held at St. Paul Catholic Church, Vicksburg, Mississippi, on May 22, 2015. The memorial book provided by the church is mostly blank with the exception of signatures from relatives and friends in attendance of the funeral liturgy.

Box 85

Series 17: Printed Materials. 1936; 1971-1972; 1978; 1984; 1997; 2001-2003; 2016; n.d.

This series consists of printed or published items such as newspaper clippings, weekly newspapers, and books. Several newspaper clippings include articles concerning St. Aloysius High School where Bucci and his brothers studied in the late 1930s. Nelli Wieghardt forwarded a Chicago Tribune article about Paul Wieghardt, an artist and painting instructor whom Bucci said was his most influential teacher at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Also included are books and exhibition catalogs for Boris Anisfedt and Paul Wieghardt, and a tribute book honoring Kathleen Blackshear.

Box 86

Series 18: “Andrew Bucci Day” Senate Resolution. January 12, 2022.

Mississippi Senator W. Briggs Hopson, III, of District 23, presented the Mississippi State Senate Resolution designating January 12, 2022 as “Andrew Bucci Day” in celebration of what would have been his 100th birthday and recognizing Bucci’s lifetime of contributions to the arts in Mississippi and the nation. Hopson and Lieutenant Governor C. Delbert Hosemann, Jr. signed the resolution dated September 20, 2021.

Box 88