New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
New York World's Fair (1939-1940 : New York, N.Y.) Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Place of publication, production, or execution:
California
Physical Description:
13 Pages, Transcript
General Note:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 54 minutes.
Access Note / Rights:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Summary:
An interview of William Abbenseth conducted 1964 November 23, by Mary Fuller McChesney, for the Archives of American Art.
Abbenseth discusses his training in photography; his WPA assignments including photomurals of San Francisco architecture, for the Index of American Design, and the California Housing Authority, the Artists at Work series, documentation of the New York World's Fair, and other projects; his relationship with Benjamin F. Cummingham, Ray Dannenbaum, Joseph A. Danysh, Hy Hirsch, and Beatrice Judd Ryan; and his involvement with the f/64 Group.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with William Abbenseth, 1964 November 23. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Funding:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Biography Note:
William Abbenseth (1898-1972) was a photographer in San Francisco, California.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
