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Catalog Data

Creator:
Packard, Emmy Lou, 1914-1998  Search this
Subject:
Covarrubias, Miguel  Search this
Edmunds, John  Search this
Rivera, Diego  Search this
Reynolds, Malvina  Search this
Refregier, Anton  Search this
Lange, Dorothea  Search this
Kahlo, Frida  Search this
O'Higgins, Pablo  Search this
O'Gorman, Juan  Search this
American Civil Liberties Union  Search this
Public Works of Art Project  Search this
Type:
Scrapbooks
Sketches
Photographs
Interviews
Diaries
Place of publication, production, or execution:
United States
Physical Description:
9.5 Linear feet
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 15 series. Series 1: Biographical Material, 1942-1985 (Box 1; 1 folder) Series 2: Correspondence, 1919-1990 (Box 1-3; 2.6 linear feet) Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1945-1985 (Box 3; 21 folders) Series 4: Interview Transcript, 1979 (Box 3; 1 folder) Series 5: Notes, 1900-1985 (Box 3-4, 10; 1.1 linear feet) Series 6: Reference Files on Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, 1929-1986 (Box 5, 10, OV 11; 0.9 linear feet) Series 7: Writings by Packard, 1953-1984 (Box 6; 17 folders) Series 8: Writings by Others, 1955-1984 (Box 6; 19 folders) Series 9: Artwork, 1921-1976 (Box 6; 10 folders) Series 10: Exhibition Files, 1950-1964 (Box 6, OV 11; 5 folders) Series 11: Project Files, 1953-1985 (Box 6-7, 10, OV 11; 1.8 linear feet) Series 12: Photographs, 1914-1982 (Box 8, 10; 0.8 linear feet) Series 13: Scrapbooks, 1947-1950 (Box 8, 10; 0.2 linear feet) Series 14: Printed Material, 1936-1988 (Box 8-9, 10; 1.0 linear foot) Series 15: Artifacts, 1984 (Box 9-10, OV 11; 2 folders)
Access Note / Rights:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Summary:
The Emmy Lou Packard papers measure 9.5 linear feet and date from 1900 to 1990, and focus on the career of painter, printmaker, muralist, and sculptor Emmy Lou Packard. Also found are extensive materials relating to Packard's personal and professional relationship with muralist Diego Rivera and painter Frida Kahlo, with whom Packard lived for one year in Mexico. Papers include correspondence, financial records, notes, writings, exhibition files, photographs, and printed material. Also found is a motion picture film documenting a mural/mosaic project that Packard did with the children at Hillcrest Elementary School in San Francisco, 1956.
Citation:
Emmy Lou Packard Papers, 1900-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
The bulk of the collection was digitized in 2012 and is available via the Archives of American Art's website. Blank pages, blank versos of photographs, photographs of artwork, duplicates, and exhibition catalogs of other artists have not been scanned. In most cases, the cover, title page, and individual relevant pages have been scanned from published materials.
The unpublished sound recording in this collection was digitized for research access in 2012 and is available at the Archives of American Art offices. Researchers may view the original cassette for the archival notations on them, but the original cassette is not available for playback due to fragility.
Funding:
Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Use Note:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Emmy Lou Packard conducted by Mary Fuller McChesney in 1964.
Biography Note:
Emmy Lou Packard was born in Imperial Valley, California on April 15, 1914, to Walter and Emma Leonard Packard. In the late 1920s she lived with her family in Mexico City where she became acquainted with Diego Rivera, from whom she received regular art criticism and encouragement. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and completed courses in fresco and sculpture at the California School of Fine Arts in 1940. That year and the next, Packard worked as a full-time painting assistant to Rivera on his 1,650 square-foot fresco at the World's Fair in San Francisco. During this project, Packard became very close to Rivera and Frida Kahlo and returned to Mexico with them and spent a year living with the couple.
Language Note:
The collection is in English.
Provenance:
Emmy Lou Packard donated her papers to the Archives of American Art from 1984-1988. An additional 16mm reel of motion picture film donated in 2023 by Donald Cairns, Packard's son.
Digitization Note:
This site provides access to the papers of Emmy Lou Packard in the Archives of American Art that were digitized in 2016. The papers have been scanned in their entirety, and total 13,162 images.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Printmakers -- California -- San Francisco  Search this
Mural painting and decoration, American  Search this
Mural painting and decoration, Mexican  Search this
Latino and Latin American artists  Search this
Women artists  Search this
Women muralists  Search this
Women printmakers  Search this
Women painters  Search this
Women sculptors  Search this
Theme:
Latino and Latin American  Search this
Women  Search this
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)5519
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211816
AAA_collcode_packemmy
Theme:
Latino and Latin American
Women
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211816