7.18 Cubic feet (10 letter size document boxes, 3 legal size document boxes, one tall document box, and one oversize folder.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Place:
New Bern (N.C.)
Fort Greely (Alaska)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
Date:
1992-2015
Summary:
Phil Jordan was a Stamp Art Director for the United States Postal Service (USPS). Jordan's involvement with the USPS started in 1991 and ended 23 years later having worked on 300 stamps. The collection consists primarily of stamp design files created and maintained by Jordan during his time as a Stamp Art Director for the United States Postal Service (USPS) from 1991 to 2014. The majority of the files relate to stamps that were issued by the USPS while a smaller portion of the files are related to unissued stamps that Jordan worked on. As a Stamp Art Director, Jordan was responisbile for leading and providing direction for stamp designs and regularly worked with researchers, artists, painters, illustrators, photographers, and typographers to bring to fruition an aesthetic vision for each stamp.
Scope and Contents:
The Phil Jordan collection consists primarily of stamp design files created and maintained by Jordan during his time as a Stamp Art Director for the United States Postal Service (USPS) from 1991 to 2013. The majority of the files relate to stamps that were issued by the USPS while a smaller portion of the files are related to unissued stamps that Jordan worked on. As a Stamp Art Director, Jordan was responsible for leading and providing direction for stamp designs and regularly worked with researchers, artists, painters, illustrators, photographers, and typographers to bring to fruition an aesthetic vision for each stamp.
Of the some 300 stamps Jordan was responsible for, some that are represented in this collection include stamps related to hospice care (Jordan consider his work on this stamp to be amongst the most rewarding); legends of baseball; the Civil War Sesquicentennial; legends of Hollywood; the Indianapolis 500; literary arts; Owney the postal dog; the Washington, D.C. cherry blossom centennial; bicycling; ʻĪd al-Fiṭr; Grand Central Terminal in New York City; the USS Arizona Memorial; Wilt Chamberlain; the 225th anniversary of the U.S. Coast Guard; and the 50th anniversary of supersonic flight.
In addition, there are portfolios that provide visual documentation of Jordan's work on stamps, correspondence related to stamp design inquiries, and some biographical information.
Materials in the collection include correspondence, drawings, illustrations, color photographs, color transparencies, maps, news releases, notes, research materials, brochures, and clippings. Some materials are in electronic format.
Many of the stamps that Jordan worked on as Stamp Art Director can be found at the National Postal Museum.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into five series.
Series
Series 1: Issued Stamps Issued Stamps, 1999-2011
Series 2: Unissued Stamps, 1998-2006
Series 3: Portfolios, 1993-2015
Series 4: General Files, 1992-2013
Series 5: Oversize, 1994-2015
Biographical / Historical:
Phil Jordan was a Stamp Art Director for the United States Postal Service (USPS). Jordan's involvement with the USPS started in 1991 and ended 23 years later having worked on 300 stamps.
Jordan grew up in New Bern, North Carolina and attended East Carolina University. After a period of service with the Army Arctic Indoctrination School in Fort Greely, Alaska, Jordan graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in visual communications. Early in his career he worked as an artist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Baughman Company offset lithographers while attending school on the GI Bill.
Later he worked at the advertising agency Robert Kline and Co. Inc. as their art supervisor before serving as the assistant art director the United States Chamber of Commerce. Next, he joined Beveridge and Associates, Inc. guiding art direction for corporate, institutional and government design projects. Eventually becoming a partner at the firm, Jordan left after 18 years to form his own communications consulting firm where he managed projects for USAir, NASA, McGraw-Hill, IBM, the National Air and Space Museum, and Smithsonian Books.
Jordan was responsible for the formats of the Air and Space and Smithsonian magazines and was their Design Director for fifteen years. From there his work as consulting art director for the United States Postal Service's Stamp Development Department saw him art direct and produce 300 postage stamps as well as other stamp collateral publications for 23 years. Among some of the stamps he worked on include the 2011 Neon! Celebrate stamp, the 2012 Major League Baseball All-Stars stamps, the 2013 Civil War stamps; the 2012 Cherry Blossom Centennial stamps; the 1997 Classic American Aircraft stamps; and the 2003 First Flight stamp.
Jordan's work has been featured in a number of exhibitions and in publications such as Graphis, Society of Illustrators, and Communication Arts. A recipient of professional awards from these organizations over the years, he was also the recipient of the NASA Group Achievement Award. He is a past president of the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington and was an avid glider pilot, being a founding member of the Skyline Soaring Club and the former long-time editor of Skylines newsletter.
Provenance:
Donated by Phil Jordan, 2015. This collection was initially part of the museum collections (Accession 2015.2015), but was released to the NPM Archives in December 2023.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Access to original archival materials is by appointment only. Researchers must submit request for appointment in writing. Please direct reference inquiries to the National Postal Museum Archives: NPM_Archives@si.edu.
Rights:
The National Postal Museum Archives makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and the NPM Rights and Reproductions for additional information. Please direct reference inquiries to the National Postal Museum Archives: NPM_Archives@si.edu.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Margaret Tomkins, 1984 June 6. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Yvonne Jacquette, 1989 June 6-Dec. 13. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Faith Ringgold, 1989 September 6-October 18. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Yvonne Jacquette, 2010 Oct. 19-21. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Linda Crichlow White in honor of her aunt, Edna Stevens McIntyre
30 Cubic feet (2718 photographs: black and white; 450 glass lantern slides; 41 glass negatives; color records; plant patents; publications. )
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Black-and-white photographs
Lantern slides
Place:
Breeze Hill (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)
Pennsylvania -- Harrisburg
Date:
1899-1974
Summary:
The J. Horace McFarland Collection includes over 3,100 photographic images of private and public gardens throughout the United States, as well as some from foreign countries, dating from 1899 to 1963. Many of these images, generated for Mount Pleasant Press (later the J. Horace McFarland Company), were used to illustrate trade catalogs published by the firm as well as journal and newspaper articles. The collection also contains color records that were used as reference aids during the printing process, plant patents, and various publications of the McFarland Company.
Scope and Contents note:
The J. Horace McFarland Collection includes over 2,700 black and white mounted photographs, 448 glass lantern slides, and 41 glass plate negatives of gardens throughout the United States dating from 1899 to 1963. A small number of images show gardens in Austria, Canada, England, Mexico, Scotland and Wales. Many of the images, which were generated and used by the J. Horace McFarland Company to illustrate trade catalogs and journal and newspaper articles, indicate the publication(s) in which they appeared. A series of portraits of rosarians, many of them featured in Modern Roses 6, rounds out the image collection. The McFarland Collection also includes color records, plants patents, and miscellaneous publications. Color records are plant 'portraits' that were painted by McFarland Company staff artists in watercolor. They were referenced by the printing department in order to render illustrations of plants in colors as close to the originals as possible. The plant patents are patents for plants issued by the United States Patent Office. They include the plant name, source, filing and patent dates, patent number, and growth characteristics. Most are accompanied by a colored image of the plant identified in the patent. The miscellaneous publications are various pamphlets and booklets published by the J. Horace McFarland Company.
Dr. J. Horace McFarland (1859-1948) was an influential civic leader, author, publisher, horticulturist, and authority on roses. His printing company, Mount Pleasant Press (later the J. Horace McFarland Company), was based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It published many of the seed and nursery trade catalogs in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century and was one of the first to apply color processes to commercial print applications. J. Horace McFarland Company staffers photographed thousands of different gardens and plant specimens throughout the United States. These images were used to illustrate numerous nursery and seed catalogs, journals and books. Among its many services, the firm sold various themed lectures illustrated by sets of hand-colored glass lantern slides.
McFarland wrote over 200 articles in popular journals as well as a dozen books on roses and gardening. He served as the first president of the American Civic Association from 1904-1924 and led several local and national campaigns to protect communities and scenic areas from urban blight and overdevelopment including the city of Harrisburg and Niagara Falls. McFarland, who served as the president of the American Rose Society (1930-1932) and helped establish a standardized rose identification and registration method, used the gardens on his own 2.5 acre property in Harrisburg, "Breeze Hill," to test hundreds of varieties of roses and plant cultivars. "Breeze Hill" was used as the backdrop for many photographs taken by McFarland's firm.
Related Materials:
The Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania includes the J. Horace McFarland Company Records (Manuscript Group 453) and the J. Horace McFarland Papers (Manuscript Group 85).
The Historical Society of Dauphin County in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania includes the J. Horace McFarland Collection (MG 229).
Separated Materials note:
The Smithsonian Institution's Botany and Horticulture Library includes seed and nursery trade catalogs, books, and published materials from the J. Horace McFarland Company.
The United States Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, Maryland has various photographic images, nursery catalogs, publications and miscellaneous records from the J. Horace McFarland Company in its J. Horace McFarland Collection.
Provenance:
Donated in 1992 by James W. Walsh, who purchased the J. Horace McFarland Company from its founder's heirs. (The business was later renamed the Roebuck Printing Company.)
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
