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Catalog Data

Creator:
Fried, Frederick, 1909-1994  Search this
National Carousel Association.  Search this
Fried, Mary Hill  Search this
Extent:
36 Cubic feet (89 boxes, 10 map-folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Advertisements
Clippings
Blueprints
Books
Auction catalogs
Design drawings
Date:
circa 1662-1999, undated
Scope and Contents:
Collection primarily documents American folk art collected by Frederick Fried (1908-1994) and his wife Mary McKensie Hill Fried (1914-1988). It includes photographic materials, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, research files, lecture notes, unpublished manuscripts, brochures, drawings, printed advertisements, blueprints, books, patents, correspondence, trade literature, sheet music, auction catalogs, oral history interviews, and commercially recorded music. Of particular interest is the material relating to carousels. There is a substantial amount of material relating to New York architecture, wood carvings, show figures, weathervanes, mechanical and coin operated machines, amusement parks, the circus, tattoos and lesser-known folk arts. The collection is arranged by subject or genre in the order maintained by Frederick and Mary Fried.
Arrangement:
Series 1, Professional Materials, 1930-1995, undated Subseries 1.1, Lectures, 1968-1989, undated Subseries 1.2, Research Notes, 1962-1975, undated Subseries 1.3, Published and Unpublished Materials, 1960-1990, undated Subseries 1.4, Exhibitions, 1966-1985, undated Subseries 1.5, Correspondence, 1945-1995, undated Subseries 1.6, Office Files, 1930-1991, undated Series 2, Sculptors and Ship Carvers, 1855-1987, undated Series 3, Ship Carving Reference Files, 1875-1990, undated Series 4, Show Figures, 1847-1989, undated Subseries 4.1, Carvers, 1847-1987, undated Subseries 4.2, Reference Files, 1864-1989, undated Series 5: Carousels, 1851-1999, undated Subseries 5.1, Reference Files, 1851-1990, undated Subseries 5.2, Manufacturerst, 1854-1999, undated Subseries 5.3, Carvers, undated Subseries 5.4, Foreign, 1902, undated Subseries 5.5, Organizations, 1974-1991, undated Subseries 5.6, Museum Collections, 1959-1989, undated Series 5.7, Sites, 1962-1991, undated Series 6, Charles W. Parker Company, 1904-1905; 1922-1924, undated Subseries 6.1, Glass Plate Negatives, 6x8, 1904-1905, undated Subseries 6.2, Glass Plate Negatives, 8x10, 1922-1924, undated Series 7, Amusements Parks, 1917-1992, undated Series 8, Amusement Industry, 1662-1994, undated Subseries 8.1, Companies, 1903, undated Subseries 8.2, Reference Files, 1662-1994, undated Series 9, Circus, 1902-1992, undated Series 10, Architectural Ornaments, 1832-1988, undated Subseries 10.1, Residential Architecture, 1899-1985, undated Subseries 10.2, New York City Municipal Parks, 1968-1988, undated Subseries 10.3, South Street Seaport, 1965-1970, undated Subseries 10.4, New York Civic Sculpture, 1832-1977, undated Subseries 10.5, Architectural Ornamentation, 1873-1985, undated Series 11, Weathervanes, 1854-1981, undated Series 12, Automatic, Coin Operated, and Vending Machines, 1960-1980, undated Series 13, Banner Paintings and Painters, 1892-1999, undated Series 14, Folk Arts, 1783-1999, undated Subseries 14.1, Reference Files, 1831-1988, undated Subseries 14.2, Clocks and Watches, 1869-1876; 1976, undated Subseries 14.3, Eagles, 1843-1989, undated Subseries 14.4, Musical Instruments, 1963-1999, undated Subseries 14.5, Painters and Paintings, 1950-1990, undated Subseries 14.6, Signs and Symbols, 1974, 1976, undated Subseries 14.7, Other Materials, 1872-1988, undated Subseries 14.8, Miscellaneous, 1783-1954, undated Series 15: Photographic Materials, 1832-1988, undated Subseries 15.1, Photographs and Contact Sheets, 1940-1984, undated Subseries 15.1.1, America's Forgotten Arts, undated Subseries 15.1.2, Artists in Wood, undated Subseries 15.1.3, General, 1940-1984, undated Subseries 15.2, Slides, 1832-1987, undated Subseries 15.3, Negatives, undated Subseries 15.4, Glass Plate Negatives, undated Subseries 15.5, Snapshots, 1964-1988, undated Subseries 15.5.1, Artists, Manufacturers, and Dealers, undated Subseries 15.5.2, Museum Collections, 1964, undated Subseries 15.5.3, Parks or Other Locations, undated Subseries 15.5.4, Private Collections, 1987-1988, undated Subseries 15.5.5, General, 1983-1988, undated Series 16, Audiovisual Materials, 1940-1991, undated Subseries 16.1, Audiocassette Tapes, 1971-1988, undated Subseries 16.1.1, Lectures, 1974-1986, undated Subseries 16.1.2, Interviews, 1971-1984, undated Subseries 16.1.3, Music, 1972-1988, undated Subseries 16.2, Audiotapes, 1940-1977, undated Subseries 16.2.1, Lectures and Performances, 1969-1973, undated Subseries 16.2.2, Interviews, 1940-1976, undated Subseries 16.2.3, Conferences and Meetings, 1973-1977 Subseries 16.2.4, Music, 1956, undated Subseries 16.2.5, Other, undated Subseries 16.3, Videotapes, 1982-1991, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Frederick P. Fried was born December 11, 1908 in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn where his father owned a clock business across the street from Charles Carmel, a carousel carver. Fried acquired a fine-arts education in the 1930s with an emphasis on sculpture. He served with the Air Force during the Second World War. After a successful military career, Fried worked as art director in several fashion agencies. He met Mary McKenzie Hill, an academically trained artist in one of the studios. Mary McKenzie Hill was born in 1914 in Baltimore, Maryland. She graduated from the Maryland Institute of Fine Arts. After graduation, she spent a year abroad studying before she returned to the United States to work as a fashion illustrator in Baltimore and New York. During World War Two Hill was a draftsman for a firm of architects. Fried and Mary Hill married in 1949. The couple had two children Robert Hazen and Rachel. Around 1953 Fried began to collect architectural ornaments in New York. Fried served as the art director for Bonwit Teller in New York City from 1955-1962. He left the fashion world in 1962 to pursue his passion for collecting and writing full time. Fried published his first book, Pictorial History of Carousels in 1964. In 1967, Fred and Mary Fried purchased a forty-acre farm in Bristol, Vermont where the family spent their summers. In 1968, Fried led a national campaign to preserve the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse (Seamen's Church Institute at South Street). He also became active in politics and served as the campaign manager for a New York State senator. His interest in Indian cigar store figures resulted in his publication Artists in Wood: American Carvers of Cigar Store Indians, Show Figures and Circus published in 1970. The focus of the book was Samuel Anderson Robb a New York wood carver. Fried co-founded the National Carousel Association in 1973. In 1978, Fried wrote America's Forgotten Folk Art with his wife Mary. This publication covered subjects such as carousels, banner painting, scarecrows, beach sand sculpture, tattoos, cast iron toys, amusement park architecture and trade signs. Fried's collecting goal was to first preserve artifacts and to then make them available through his writings and exhibitions. His most treasured relics were the items he salvaged from the ruins of Coney Island. Fried referred to such artifacts as the uncelebrated arts. He became one of the founders of the Anonymous Arts Recovery Society a group of individuals who saved architectural ornaments from the wreckers' balls. In addition, he was one of the founders of the National Carousel Round Table which was created to preserve hand-carved merry-go-rounds. As a result of his collecting, research and writing Fried became recognized as the authority on carousels, coin-operated machines, and cigar store figures. He served as a consultant to many Museums; in particular as chief consultant on American Folk Art for the Smithsonian Institution. Frederick and Mary Hill worked together in many ways to document, collect, preserve and increase the awareness about primarily the folk arts. Mary McKenzie Hill Fried passed away in 1988 at the age of seventy-four. Frederick P. Fried died July 1994 at the age of eighty-six.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History E. Howard Clock Company Records (NMAH.AC.00776) M. Francis Misklea Carousel Collection (NMAH.AC.0665) Archives Center Carousel Collection (NMAH.AC.0675) Messmore and Damon, Incorporated Company Records (NMAH.AC.0846) Anthony W. Pendergast Collection (NMAH.AC.0882) Frank Paulin Photoprints (NMAH.AC.1373) Wurlitzer Company Records (NMAH.AC.0469) Industry on Parade (NMAH.AC.0507) Reel #191, Craftsmen of the Carousel, 1954. Manufacturing merry-go-rounds for amusement reports. Arrow Development Co., Mountain View, California. Materials at Other Organizations Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book & Manuscript Library Frederick Fried Coney Island collection, 1847-2001 The collection consists of materials used by Frederick Fried in his research and writing about folk art and material culture, especially related to Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York. A significant portion of the collection consists of the personal archive of William F. Mangels, which was purchased by Fried in 1955. Mangels was a designer and manufacturer of amusement rides and founder of the American Museum of Public Recreation at Coney Island. Subjects include amusement parks, amusement rides, architecture, bathing pavilions, beaches, beauty contests, carousels, carousel animals, Brooklyn, coin-operated machines, Coney Island, exhibitions, games of chance and skill, hotels, mechanical rides, mechanization, parades, pleasure railways, recreation, roller coasters, sideshows, transportation, and other subjects related to American material culture and popular amusement.
Provenance:
Collection a bequest of the Frederick Fried Estate.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Reproduction restricted due to copyright or trademark. Fees for commercial reproduction.
Occupation:
Wood-carvers  Search this
Topic:
Periodicals  Search this
Merry-go-round art  Search this
Signs and signboards  Search this
Weather vanes  Search this
Coin-operated machines  Search this
Architecture -- Details  Search this
Amusement ride equipment industry  Search this
Amusement rides  Search this
Folk art  Search this
Merry-go-round  Search this
Figure sculpture -- United States  Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs -- 20th century
Advertisements
Clippings
Blueprints -- 20th century
Books
Auction catalogs
Design drawings
Citation:
Frederick and Mary Hill Fried Folk Art Archives, circa 1662-1999, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0528
See more items in:
Frederick and Mary Hill Fried Folk Art Archives
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep86ee1b419-6b88-4312-8172-ee9f05d72195
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0528