Yeung, N. W., et al. 2017. Type specimens of Hawaiian land snails in the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, with lectotype designations. Smithson. Contrib. Zool. 647: 1-30.
Gould, A. A. 1846. Descriptions of New Shells, Collected by the United States Exploring Expedition, and Belonging to the Genus Helix. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 2: 170-173.
Yeung, N. W., et al. 2017. Type specimens of Hawaiian land snails in the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, with lectotype designations. Smithson. Contrib. Zool. 647: 1-30.
Gould, A. A. 1847. Descriptions of expedition shells of the genera Achatinella and Helicina. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 2: 200-203.
Hyatt, A. & Pilsbry, H. A. 1911. Manual of conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species. Second series: Pulmonata. Volume 21. Achatinellidae (Amastrinae). 65-387.
Gould, A. A. 1847. Descriptions of expedition shells of the genera Achatinella and Helicina. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 2: 200-203.
Yeung, N. W., et al. 2017. Type specimens of Hawaiian land snails in the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, with lectotype designations. Smithson. Contrib. Zool. 647: 1-30.
Gould, A. A. 1847. Descriptions of expedition shells of the genera Achatinella and Helicina. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 2: 200-203.
Pilsbry, H. A. & Cooke, C. M. 1912-1914. Manual of Conchology. Structural and systematic. With illustrations of the species. Second series: Pulmonata. Vol. 22. Achatinellidae.
Gould, A. A. 1847. Descriptions of the following species of Partula, Pupa, and Balea, collected by the Exploring Expedition. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 2: 196-200.
Yeung, N. W., et al. 2017. Type specimens of Hawaiian land snails in the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, with lectotype designations. Smithson. Contrib. Zool. 647: 1-30.
Gould, A. A. 1845. Descriptions of Species of Land Shells, from the Sandwich Islands, Supposed to be Hitherto Undescribed. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 2: 26-28.
Yeung, N. W., et al. 2017. Type specimens of Hawaiian land snails in the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, with lectotype designations. Smithson. Contrib. Zool. 647: 1-30.
Yeung, N. W., et al. 2017. Type specimens of Hawaiian land snails in the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, with lectotype designations. Smithson. Contrib. Zool. 647: 1-30.
The papers of weaver, textile designer, and consultant Dorothy Liebes date from circa 1850-1973 (bulk 1922-1970) and comprise 24.9 linear feet. Through biographical material including a sound recording of an interview, family and general correspondence, writings including a draft of Liebes's autobiography, subject files providing detailed records of her influential consulting work, financial and legal files, printed material, scrapbooks, artwork, textile samples, and photographic material picturing a wide variety of career and personal activities, the collection provides rich and extensive documentation of Liebes's career and personal life.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of weaver, textile designer, and consultant Dorothy Liebes date from circa 1850-1973 (bulk 1922-1970) and comprise 24.9 linear feet. Through biographical material including a sound recording of an interview, family and general correspondence, writings including a draft of Liebes's autobiography, subject files providing detailed records of her influential consulting work, financial and legal files, printed material, scrapbooks, artwork, textile samples, and photographic material picturing a wide variety of career and personal activities, the collection provides rich and extensive documentation of Liebes's career and personal life.
Biographical material consists of awards, biographical notes, membership and identification cards, passports, a will, and a sound recording of a 1945 interview with Liebes.
Correspondence is personal with family and friends, and general with friends and colleagues including artists, and fellow weavers and designers. Notable correspondents include Dorr Bothwell, Daren Pierce, Beatrice Wood, and Frank and Olgivanna Lloyd Wright.
Diaries and calendars record Liebes's busy professional and personal life, with notations on daily activities and, beginning in 1952, detailed notes by staff recording activities at the studio on days when Liebes was absent.
Writings by Dorothy Liebes include notes, drafts, and manuscripts of published and unpublished writings, including an autobiography, speeches, and drafts for an unpublished book on weaving.
Subject files contain correspondence, printed material, photographs, and miscellaneous items in varying combinations, and focus heavily on Liebes's consulting work for businesses in the textile industry, including her work with DuPont, Bigelow-Sanford, Goodall, Dow, and others. The files document the importance of her work as a colorist and show how she successfully adapted craft weaving to machine methods. Furthermore, they record how Liebes used her marketing instincts and broad media appeal to rebrand the image of companies such as DuPont from one of chemistry and utility, to one that represented high style and glamor in durable and practical fabrics that were affordable and desirable in home furnishings. Other subject files document organizations, individuals, and topics of interest to Liebes, including files recording her involvement with arts and crafts organizations, her role as director for the Decorative Arts Display at the Golden Gate Exposition in 1939, her work as director of the Red Cross's Arts and Skills workshop, scattered exhibition records, and files on weavers and weaving. Files on Liebes's extensive promotional work for multiple clients are also included here, as are files documenting Liebes's relationship with Relman Morin, such as correspondence and scattered records of Morin's career as a Pullitzer Prize winning journalist.
Financial and legal records are comprised of accounting records from the 1930s-1940s, financial summaries, investment statements, personal and business inventories, personal and business tax returns, and some legal records.
Printed material includes advertisements, articles, and exhibition announcements and catalogs, recording Liebes's career. This material is supplemented by thirty-three bound scrapbooks of printed publicity material, photographs, and documents recording Liebes's career in substantial depth.
Artwork by Dorothy Liebes consists of designs, feather weavings, a small hooked composition, and tapestry samples. Artwork by others includes prints by Dorr Bothwell, designs by Lawrence J. Colwell, and painted sketches of clothing designs by Daren Pierce. Two linear feet of samples consist primarily of textile swatches primarily designed by Dorothy Liebes Studio, Inc.
Photographic material includes professional portraits of Liebes and others, photos of Liebes at events and parties, with staff and other weavers, at work in her studio, and traveling. Of note are a series of pictures taken at Taliesin West with Frank and Olgivanna Wright, Relman Morin, and others. Photographic material also provides examples of Liebes's design work in homes, hotels, offices, and elsewhere, and shows her work pictured in exhibitions and showrooms. Photographs of other subjects include portraits of unidentified women by Man Ray and Consuela Canaga.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 11 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1934-circa 1970 (Box 1, OV 23; 0.28 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1922-1973 (Boxes 1-2; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 3: Diaries and Calendars, 1948-1971 (Boxes 2-4; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 4: Writings, 1920-circa 1971 (Boxes 4-5; 1.05 linear feet)
Series 5: Subject Files, circa 1933-1971 (Boxes 5-13, 20, 43, OVs 23, 59; 8.43 linear feet)
Series 6: Financial and Legal Records, circa 1935-1972 (Box 13, 20; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1897-1971 (Boxes 14, 20-21, OV 38; 1.1 linear feet)
Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1933-1972 (Box 21-22, 24-36; 5 linear feet)
Series 9: Artwork, circa 1920s-circa 1960s (Boxes 14, 22, OVs 23, 39, 42, RD 37; 1.24 linear feet)
Series 10: Samples, circa 1850-1855, circa 1930s-circa 1970 (Boxes 15-16; 2.0 linear feet)
Series 11: Photographic Material, circa 1875, circa 1897-circa 1970 (Boxes 17-19, 36, 43, OVs 38, 40-41; 2.2 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
California and New York weaver, textile designer, and consultant Dorothy Wright Liebes (1899-1972) was known for distinctive textiles featuring bold color combinations and unusual textures achieved through the use of materials such as glass rods, sequins, bamboo, grass, leather, ribbon, wire, and ticker tape. Her work with companies in the synthetic fiber industry to make craft weaving compatible with man-made fabrics and machine looms, produced an innovative and exciting new aesthetic in interior design that was both functional and affordable, and made Liebes a mid-century household name.
Born Dorothy Wright in Santa Rosa, California, Liebes was the daughter of chemistry professor Frederick L. Wright and teacher Bessie Calderwood Wright. She studied art, education, and anthropology at San Jose State Teachers College and the University of California, Berkeley. During her college years, a teacher encouraged her to experiment with weaving and textile design since many of her paintings resembled textiles.
Liebes was a teacher for several years before deciding to pursue a career in textile design. She then studied weaving at Hull House in Chicago and traveled to France, Italy, Guatemala, and Mexico to learn the traditional weaving forms of those cultures. Upon her return to the United States, Liebes opened her first professional studio for weaving and textile design on Powell Street in San Francisco; Dorothy Liebes Design, Inc. was established in 1934, and eventually employed a staff of weavers. Liebes moved her studio to 545 Sutter Street in 1942.
Her first client in the industry was Goodall-Sanford Mills, with whom Liebes worked as a consultant for more than a decade. As her client base expanded, she decided to open a New York studio and maintained both studios until 1948 when she closed her San Francisco operation and relocated to New York City.
Liebes became a color and design consultant to corporations such as DuPont, Dow, and Bigelow-Sanford and tested and promoted newly developed synthetic fibers. She advised textile chemists in the development of fibers that were versatile enough to produce many different textures and worked with engineers and technicians to develop new machines that could reproduce the irregularities of hand-loomed fabrics. Liebes became a sought-after speaker by textile industry and consumer groups, and sometimes taught workshops on color and design.
Liebes's commissions included the United Nations Delegates Dining Room, the Persian Room at the Plaza Hotel and the King of Saudi Arabia's traveling royal throne room. Between 1937 and 1970, Liebes participated in more than thirty solo and group exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, de Young Museum, Cranbrook Museum, Detroit Institute of Art, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, and other venues. She received prizes and awards from institutions and corporations such as Lord and Taylor, Neiman-Marcus, the Paris Exposition, the American Institute of Decorators, the American Institute of Architects and the Architectural League. She was also awarded the Elsie de Wolfe Award and an honorary degree from Mills College in 1948.
Liebes's other notable activities included her work a director of the Decorative Arts Display for the 1939 San Francisco World's Fair, which she credited with establishing her as an authority in the field, and her work as organizer and director of "Arts and Skills," a Red Cross occupational therapy project that included training in weaving for soldiers injured in World War II. In the 1950s, she worked with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, journeying though the southwest to study Indian schools and weaving techniques.
Liebes was married to businessman Leon Liebes from 1928 until their divorce in 1940 and continued to use the name Liebes for the remainder of her life. In 1948, she married Pulitzer prize winning Associated Press special correspondent Relman "Pat" Morin.
During the last year of her life, Dorothy Liebes was semi-retired due to a heart ailment. She died in New York City on 10 September 1972.
Provenance:
Gift of the Estate of Dorothy Liebes through Relman Morin, 1972, and Ralph Higbee, 1973-1974.
Restrictions:
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.
Rights:
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.
Occupation:
Textile designers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Textile designers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Weavers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Weavers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art consultants -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Dorothy Liebes papers, circa 1850-1973. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of the Dorothy Liebes papers was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Funding for the digitization of the collection was provided by the Coby Foundation.
The Formica Collection consists of textual files, photographs, slides, negatives, drawings, blueprints, posters, advertisements, product brochures, newsletters, and informational pamphlets documenting the history of the Formica Corporation and the use of Formica brand plastic laminate.
Scope and Contents:
The Formica Collection, 1913-2003, consists of textual files, photographs, photo slides, drawings, blueprints, posters, advertisements, product brochures, informational pamphlets, and research notes documenting the history of the Formica Corporation and the use of Formica brand plastic laminate.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series.
Series 1: Corporate Records, 1920-1992, 2003
Subseries 1.1: Annual reports, 1949, 1966, 1988
Subseries 1.2: Correspondence and company identity, 1920-1988
Subseries 1.3: Corporation histories and timelines, 1949-1991, undated
Subseries 1.4: Newspaper clippings and articles, 1934-2003
Subseries 1.5: Awards, 1940s-1987
Subseries 1.6: Patent information, 1925-1994
Subseries 1.7: Photographs, 1927-1966
Series 2: Personnel Records, 1943-1992
Series 3: Newsletters, Magazines, and Press Releases, 1942-1990
Subseries 3.1: Newsletters, 1942-1988
Subseries 3.2: Press releases, 1973-1990
Series 4: Product Information, 1948-1994
Series 5: Advertising and sales materials, 1913-2000
Subseries 5.1: Advertising materials, 1913-2000
Subseries 5.2: Sales materials, 1922-1993
Series 6: Subject Files, circa 1945, 1955-1991, 2002
Series 7: Exhibits, 1981-1994
Series 8: Grace Jeffers Research Materials, 1987-1997
Series 9: Audio Visual Materials, 1982-1995, undated
Series 10: Martin A. Jeffers Materials, 1963-1999
Subseries 10.1: Background Materials, 1965-1999
Subseries 10.2: Employee Benefits, 1963-1998
Subseries 10.3: Product Information, [1959?]-1997
Subseries 10.4: Advertising and Sales Records, 1987-1999
Biographical / Historical:
Since its founding in 1913, the history of the Formica Company has been marked by a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship. The history begins with the discovery of Formica by two men who envisioned the plastic laminate as breakthrough insulation for motors. Later, Formica became a ubiquitous surfacing material used by artists and architects of post-modern design. The various applications of the plastic laminate during the twentieth century give it a prominent role in the history of plastics, American consumerism, and American popular culture.
The Formica Company was the brainchild of Herbert A. Faber and Daniel J. O'Conor, who met in 1907 while both were working at Westinghouse in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. O'Conor, head of the process section in the Research Engineering Department, had been experimenting with resins, cloth, paper, and a wide array of solvents in an effort to perfect a process for making rigid laminate sheets from Kraft paper and liquid Bakelite. O'Conor produced the first laminate sheet at Westinghouse by winding and coating paper on a mandrel, slitting the resulting tube, and flattening it on a press. The finished product was a laminated sheet with the chemical and electrical properties of Bakelite that were cut into various shapes and sizes. O'Conor applied for a patent on February 1, 1913, but it was not issued until November 12, 1918 (US Patent 1,284,432). Since the research was done on behalf of Westinghouse, the company was assigned the patent, and O'Conor was given one dollar, the customary amount that Westinghouse paid for the rights to employees' inventions.
Herbert Faber, Technical Sales Manager of insulating materials, was excited about O'Conor's discovery. Faber saw limitless possibilities for the new material. However, he quickly became frustrated by Westinghouse's policy limiting the sale of the laminate to its licensed distributors. After failing to persuade Westinghouse to form a division to manufacture and market the new material, Faber and O'Conor created their own company. On May 2, 1913, the first Formica plant opened in Cincinnati, Ohio. On October 15, 1913, the business incorporated as the Formica Insulation Company with Faber as president and treasurer and O'Conor as vice-president and secretary. The company began producing insulation parts used in place of or "for mica," the costly mineral that had been used in electrical insulation.
Like most new companies, Formica had modest beginnings. Faber and O'Conor faced the challenge of looking for investors who would let them maintain control over the company. Finally, they met J. G. Tomluin, a lawyer and banker from Walton, Kentucky, who invested $7,500 for a one-third share in the Formica Company. Renting a small space in downtown Cincinnati, Faber and O'Conor began work. The company's equipment list consisted of a 35-horsepower boiler, a small gas stove, and a variety of homemade hand screw presses. By September 1913, Tomluin had brought in two more partners, David Wallace and John L. Vest. With the added capital, O'Conor, Faber, and Formica's eighteen employees began producing automobile insulation parts for Bell Electric Motor, Allis Chalmers, and Northwest Electric.
Initially, the Formica Company only made insulation rings and tubes for motors. However, by July 4, 1914, the company obtained its first press and began to produce flat laminate sheets made from Redmenol resin. Business gradually grew, and by 1917 sales totaled $75,000. Fueled by World War I, Formica's business expanded to making radio parts, aircraft pulleys, and timing gears for the burgeoning motor industry. In the years that followed, Formica products were in high demand as laminate plastics replaced older materials in washers, vacuum cleaners, and refrigerators. By 1919, the Formica Company required larger facilities and purchased a factory in Cincinnati.
During this time, patent battles and legal suits emerged to challenge Formica's success. On June 11, 1919, Westinghouse sued Formica for patent infringement on its laminated gears; Formica won. Later that year, Westinghouse brought two new lawsuits against Formica. The first was for a patent infringement on the production of tubes, rods, and molded parts; the second was over an infringement based on a 1913 patent assigned to Westinghouse through O'Conor. Formica prevailed in both suits.
Legal battles did not deter the company. Having to defend itself against a giant corporation gave Formica a reputation as a scrappy contender. Finally, Faber and O'Conor made a quantum leap in 1927, when the company was granted a U.S. patent for a phenolic laminate utilizing lithographed wood grains of light color, forming an opaque barrier sheet which blocks out the dark interior of the laminate. In 1931, the company received two more patents for the preparation of the first all paper based laminate and for the addition of a layer of aluminum foil between the core and the surface, making the laminate cigarette-proof. These patents would allow Formica to move from a company dealing primarily with industrial material to the highly visible arena of consumer goods.
In 1937, Faber had a severe heart attack which limited his activity within the company. O'Conor continued as president, encouraging new product lines, including Realwood, as a laminate with genuine wood veneer mounted on a paper lamination with a heat-reactive binder. With the introduction of Realwood and its derivatives, manufacturers started using Formica laminate for tabletops, desks, and dinette sets. By the early forties, sales of Formica laminate were over 15 million dollars. The final recipe for decorative laminate was perfected in 1938, when melamine resins were introduced. Melamine was clear, extremely hard, and resistant to stains, heat, light, less expensive than phenolic resins. It also made possible laminates of colored papers and patterns.
Due to World War II, Formica postponed the manufacturing of decorative laminate sheets. Instead, the company made a variety of war-time products ranging from airplane propellers to bomb buster tubes.
The post-World War II building boom fueled the decorative laminate market and ushered in what would come to be known as the golden age for Formica. The company, anticipating the demand for laminate, acquired a giant press capable of producing sheets measuring thirty by ninety-six inches for kitchen countertops. Between 1947 and 1950, more than 2 million new homes were designed with Formica brand laminate for kitchens and bathrooms.
Formica's advertising campaigns, initially aimed at industry, were transformed to speak to the new decorative needs of consumer society, in particular the American housewife. Formica hired design consultants, Brooks Stevens, and, later, Raymond Loewy who launched extensive advertising campaigns. Advertising themes of durability, cleanliness, efficiency, and beauty abound in promotional material of this time. Advertisers promised that the plastic laminate, known as "the wipe clean wonder," was resistant to dirt, juices, jams, alcohol stains, and cigarette burns. Atomic patterns and space-age colors, including Moonglo, Skylark, and Sequina, were introduced in homes, schools, offices, hospitals, diners, and restaurants across America.
The post-war period was also marked by expansion, specifically with the establishment of Formica's first international markets. In 1947, Formica signed a licensing agreement with the British firm the De La Rue Company of London for the exclusive manufacture and marketing of decorative laminates outside North America, and in South America and the Pacific Basin. In 1948, Formica changed its name from the Formica Insulation Company to the Formica Company. In 1951, Formica responded to growing consumer demand by opening a million square foot plant in Evendale, Ohio, devoted to the exclusive production of decorative sheet material. In 1956, the Formica Company became the Formica Corporation, a subsidiary of American Cyanamid Company. A year later, the international subsidiaries that Formica formed with De La Rue Company of London were replaced by a joint company called Formica International Limited.
The plastic laminate was not merely confined to tabletops and dinette sets. Formica laminate was used for skis, globes, and murals. Moreover, well-known artists and architects used the decorative laminate for modernist furniture and Art Deco interiors. In 1960, Formica's Research and Development Design Center was established, adjacent to the Evendale plant, to develop uses for existing laminate products. In 1966, the company
opened the Sierra Plant near Sacramento, California. Such corporate expansion enabled Formica to market its laminates beyond the traditional role as a countertop surface material.
In 1974, Formica established its Design Advisory Board (DAB), a group of leading designers and architects. DAB introduced new colors and patterns of laminate that gained popularity among artists and interior designers in the 1980s. In 1981, DAB introduced the Color Grid, a systematic organization of Formica laminate arranged by neutrals and chromatics. The Color Grid was described as the first and only logically arranged collection of color in the laminate industry. DAB also developed the Design Concepts Collection of premium solid and patterned laminates to serve the needs of contemporary interior designers.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the corporation continued to produce laminates for interior designers, artists, and architects. In 1982, Formica introduced COLORCORE, the first solid-color laminate. Due to its relatively seamless appearance, COLORCORE was adopted by artists for use in furniture, jewelry, and interior design. The introduction of COLORCORE also marked the emergence of a wide variety of design exhibitions and competitions sponsored by the Formica Corporation. In 1985, Formica Corporation became independent and privately held. Formica continues to be one of the leading laminate producers in the world with factories in the United States, England, France, Spain, Canada, and Taiwan.
For additional information on the history of the Formica Corporation, see:
DiNoto, Andrea. Art Plastic: Designed for Living. New York: Abbeville Press, 1985.
Fenichell, Stephen. Plastic: The Making of a Synthetic Century. New York: Harper/Collins, 1996.
Jeffers Grace. 1998. Machine Made Natural: The Decorative Products of the Formica Corporation, 1947-1962. Master's thesis. Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts.
Lewin, Susan Grant, ed. Formica & Design: From Counter Top to High Art. New York: Rizzoli, 1991.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Archives Center
Leo Baekeland Papers, 1881-1968 (NMAH.AC.0005)
DuPont Nylon Collection, 1939-1977 (NMAH.AC.0007)
J. Harry DuBois Collection on the History of Plastics, circa 1900-1975 (NMAH.AC.0008)
Earl Tupper Papers, circa 1914-1982 (NMAH.AC.0470)
The Division of Medicine and Science holds artifacts related to this collection. See accession # 1997.0319 and #1997.3133.
Provenance:
This collection was assembled by Grace Jeffers, historian of material culture, primarily from materials given to her by Susan Lewin, Head of Formica's New York design and publicity office when the office closed in 1995. The collection was donated to the Archives Center by Grace Jeffers in September 1996.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The Eleanor Weller Collection dates from circa 1978-2006 and consists of photographic images and research files relating to The Garden Club of America's Slide Library of Notable American Parks and Gardens (later donated to the Smithsonian Institution as The Garden Club of America Collection) and the book, The Golden Age of American Gardens: Proud Owners, Private Estates, 1890-1940, co-written by Weller and Mac Griswold, as well as thousands of photographic images of historic and contemporary gardens compiled or taken by Weller. Materials include correspondence, research notes, clippings, brochures, lecture scripts, photocopied images from archival repositories, and original and duplicate 35mm slides.
Scope and Contents note:
The core of the collection consists of thousands of 35mm slide images photographed or amassed by Eleanor Weller. The latter come from numerous sources including books, magazines and archival repositories. The images document thousands of private gardens and public spaces (including parks, historic sites, and sculpture gardens) throughout the United States. Duplicates of a significant number of images from the Eleanor Weller Collection can be found in The Garden Club of America Collection at the Archives of American Gardens. There is also a smaller grouping of photographs of gardens taken by Weller.
Complementing this collection of images are numerous vertical files with magazine and newspaper clippings and brochures, etc. relating to hundreds of public and private gardens in America. A significant number of the files relate to gardens profiled in the book co-authored by Weller, The Golden Age of American Gardens: Proud Owners, Private Estates, 1890-1940.
The collection also includes correspondence regarding the recompilation of The Garden Club of America's collection of historic glass lantern slides as well as correspondence and research materials relating to the compilation of 35mm slides for the GCA's Slide Library of Notable American Parks and Gardens from both public and private sources.
Another portion of the collection documents the research and image compilation for The Golden Age of American Gardens manuscript. While similar in nature to the research materials relating to the GCA Slide Library, the portion of the collection encompassing the book's preparation represents a change in focus from collecting a representative sampling of 35mm slides for gardens throughout the U.S. to gathering specific high quality images intended for The Golden Age of American Gardens. This portion of the collection also contains a nearly complete draft of the manuscript as well as drafts of the footnotes and appendix.
Because of the similar nature of the GCA Slide Library and The Golden Age of American Gardens book projects and the fact that they overlapped for a time, the files frequently intertwine closely. Some files identified with one project may include documents for the other project and visa versa. An example of this is seen in The Golden Age of American Gardens' Image Reference Files arranged according to Archival Repository. The files include packets from archival repositories throughout the U.S. with photocopies of select images in their collections. These images were used to facilitate both the selection of images for The Golden Age of American Gardens book project and the GCA Slide Library, and are occasionally annotated. In some cases, a review of both series may be necessary to ensure that relevant files are not overlooked.
Other noteworthy aspects of this collection are materials that deal with the origins and operations of the Smithsonian's Archives of American Gardens, including correspondence regarding one of its future collections, The Chimneys Collection. Also present are several slide scripts corresponding with the GCA's historic glass lantern slide collection, as well as materials in the GCA Slide Library (now The Garden Club of America Collection).
It should be noted that while the creator of this collection is Eleanor Weller, significant portions of the files relating to the GCA Slide Library and The Golden Age of American Gardens were compiled by Helen Rollins in her position as research assistant for The Golden Age book project. It is possible that Rollins also helped compile the files in The Golden Age of American Gardens' Image Reference Files arranged by state.
Lastly, the collection includes contemporary color photographs of historic sites and gardens taken by Richard Marchand. Weller had previously worked with Marchand, the donor of the Richard Marchand Historical Postcard Collection at the Archives of American Gardens, to compile historic garden images for the GCA Slide Library.
Biographical/Historical note:
Eleanor Weller Reade is a horticulturist, garden lecturer, interior designer, and co-author of the book The Golden Age of American Gardens: Proud Owners, Private Estates, 1890-1940. As a member of The Garden Club of America, she played a ciritical role in the compilation of the GCA's Slide Library of Notable American Parks and Gardens which was subsequently donated to the Archives of American Gardens as The Garden Club of America Collection.
Provenance:
Donated by Eleanor Weller Reade to the Archives of American Gardens in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2012.
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.
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.
Collection Citation:
Lee Nordness business records and papers, circa 1931-1992, bulk 1954-1984. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collection Care Preservation Fund
