The papers of ceramicist and educator Mary Chase Stratton measure 0.5 linear feet and date from circa 1846 to 1959. The collection provides scattered documentation of Stratton's career through artwork including a lithograph signed by Gwen Lux; an award to William Stratton and an honorary degree to Stratton; correspondence from Stratton's father and a few others; personal photographs of Stratton, family members, and photographs of works of art; and a photograph of Charles Lang Freer by Edward Steichen. Also found are printed materials including a brochure for Pewabic Pottery, and several writings.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of ceramicist and educator Mary Chase Stratton measure 0.5 linear feet and date from circa 1846 to 1959. The collection provides scattered documentation of Stratton's career through artwork including a lithograph signed by Gwen Lux; an award to William Stratton and an honorary degree to Stratton; correspondence from Stratton's father and a few others; a partial license to dig for gold in the Colony of Victoria; personal photographs of Stratton, family members, and photographs of works of art; and a photograph of Charles Lang Freer by Edward Steichen. Also found are printed materials including a brochure for Pewabic Pottery, and several writings.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Mary Chase Stratton (1867-1961) was a ceramicist and educator, and a founder of Pewabic Pottery in Detroit, Michigan.
Stratton was born in Hancock, Michigan, to Dr. William Walbridge Perry and Sophia Barrett Perry. Stratton and her mother moved to Ann Arbor after the murder of Dr. Perry in 1877. Stratton's artistic interests were encouraged by her mother who hired art teacher Lily Chase to instruct her. The family later moved to Detroit where Stratton became a prominent figure in the art world. She co-founded Pewabic Pottery with Horace J. Caulkins around 1903 and after a few years in business they found a permanent home for the pottery studio in a Detroit building designed by William Stratton, who would become Stratton's husband in 1918.
The studio, now a National Historic Landmark, created architectural tiles found at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the Kingswood School for Girls in Cranbrook, the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Detroit, and numerous other public buildings. Stratton taught at Wayne State University and the University of Michigan where she established the ceramics department.
Stratton died in 1961.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the Pewabic Pottery records, 1891-1973.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent by Mrs. Ella Peters, secretary to Stratton, for microfilming on reel 593 including a 144-page unpublished autobiography of Mary Chase Stratton. Loaned materials were returned to the donor and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Mary Chase Stratton in 1961. Some material was lent for microfilming in 1973 by Mrs. Ella Peters, secretary to Stratton.
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.
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.
Biographical sketches; correspondence with Mast's family and others; photographs of Mast, his family, John Carroll's art class at the Society of Arts and Crafts in Detroit and other art classes, WPA murals, and other works of art; three sketchbooks, 1935-1952; ca. 50 loose sketches; writings, including manuscripts of "Egg Tempera" and "Philosophy of Art"; exhibition catalogues; clippings; and printed materials.
ADDITION: Correspondence, photographs, a sketchbook, 1928, and drawings from the 1930's and 1940's, including a sketch for the mural, "Nature's Kin" for the Children's Section of the Herrick Public Library, Holland, Mich.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, mural painter, mosaicist, and educator, Grand Rapids, Mich./Providence, R.I.
Provenance:
Donated 1978-1982 by Gerald Mast's daughter, Mrs. Gordon V.K. (Betsey M.) Reid.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The papers of Emil Weddige measure 3.1 linear feet and date from circa 1926-1979. The papers detail Weddige's time spent as a professor of art at the University of Michigan College of Architecture and Design, and as an artist and lithographer through biographical material, correspondence, writings, personal business records, exhibition files, printed materials, photographs, and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The Emil Weddige papers measure 3.1 linear feet and date from circa 1926-1979. Included biographical materials consist of a resume, and an interview transcript. Correspondence is composed of letters to and from Weddige regarding his personal and professional life. Writings includes lectures, speeches, various writings, notes, and comments. Exhibition and Gallery Files consists of materials related to various exhibits Weddige took part in. Personal Business Records includes documents and materials related to Weddige's time as an instructor and his activities as a lithographer. Printed Material is composed of exhibition announcements and catalogs, magazine and newspaper clippings, and yearbooks. Photographic material includes photos of Weddige, his artwork, and professional activities. Artwork consists of sketches and drawings, original sketches for color lithographs, and paintings.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as eight series. Nitrate negatives are housed separately and closed to
researchers.
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1940-1969 (.1 Linear feet: Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1930-1973 (.9 Linear feet: Box 1)
Series 3: Writings, circa 1940-1979 (.2 Linear feet: Box 2)
Series 4: Exhibition and Gallery Files, circa 1950-1969 (.1 Linear feet: Box 2)
Series 5: Personal Business Records, circa 1940-1974 (.5 Linear feet: Box 2)
Series 6: Printed Material, circa 1930-1973 (.7 Linear feet: Boxes 2-3)
Series 7: Photographic Material, circa 1926-1970 (.3 Linear feet: Box 3)
Series 8: Artwork, circa 1940-1972 (.3 Linear feet: Box 3 and OV 4)
Biographical / Historical:
Emil Weddige (1907-2001) was a lithographer and teacher who worked primarily in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was born in Sandwich, Ontario, Canada to American parents of French, German, and Windot background. In 1934 Weddige earned a bachelor's degree from Eastern Michigan University and studied under Morris Kantor at the Art Students League in New York and Emil Ganso in Woodstock, New York. In 1937 he became a teaching fellow at the University of Michigan where he went on to become an instructor in 1957. While acting as a teaching fellow he earned a Master of Design degree. In 1949 Weddige established a second studio in Paris, France to which he travelled intermittently. In 1957 he was appointed Professor Emeritus by Eastern Michigan University and was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts.
Weddige held more than one hundred one-man shows in both the United States and Europe, received more than twenty-five major art awards, and published a book on his techniques, Lithography, in 1966. Weddige's work is in permanent collections of more than a dozen museums including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. His lithographs appear in public buildings throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. Weddige died in 2001 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Related Materials:
The archives also hold an interview of Emil Weddige conducted 1977 Dec. 17-1978 Feb. 11 by Stephen Hamp.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material donated for microfilming (reels 950 and 987-990) including: correspondence, sketches, drawings and watercolors, essays, writings and lectures, lists of Weddige's works, exhibition catalogs and announcements, notes, and brochures.
Provenance:
Papers were lent for microfilming in 1973 by Emil Weddige. The bulk of the microfilmed material and additional papers were donated 1973.
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.
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:
Lithographers -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor Search this
Emil Weddige papers, circa 1926-1979 Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
The papers of Washington, D.C. area painter and art instructor Robert Franklin Gates date from 1910-1988, bulk 1928-1988, and measure 2.3 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials; letters from government agencies, museums, galleries, and colleagues; business records primarily concerning transactions with the Jack Rasmussen Gallery; artwork including scattered drawings by Gates and block prints by Joe Goethe and D. Neufeld; two scrapbooks; printed materials; and photographs of Gates, family members, models, artwork, and exhibition installations. There are also photograph albums and miscellaneous photographs documenting a 1936 voyage to the Virgin Islands commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of Washington, D.C. area painter and art instructor Robert Franklin Gates date from 1910-1988, bulk 1928-1988, and measure 2.3 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials; letters from government agencies, museums, galleries, and colleagues; business records primarily concerning transactions with the Jack Rasmussen Gallery; artwork including scattered drawings by Gates and block prints by Joe Goethe and D. Neufeld; two scrapbooks; printed materials; and photographs of Gates, family members, models, artwork, and exhibition installations. There are also photograph albums and miscellaneous photographs documenting a 1936 voyage to the Virgin Islands commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Biographical material includes resumes, biographical accounts, award certificates, records for employment through a State Department Specialists Grant, address lists, teaching notes, writings about Gates, and a guest book signed by colleagues celebrating Gates' forty years at American University. There is a also a group of Navy Department records documenting Gates' employment designing three-dimensional photo-surfaced topography models for use by troops during World War II.
Letters are primarily from the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Works Agency discussing commissions, including the painting of post office murals in Maryland and West Virginia, and from various museums and galleries discussing exhibitions and other art-related activities. There are one or two letters each from colleagues Alice Acheson, Adelyn Breeskin, Charles Burchfield, Alida Conover, John Gernand, Duncan Phillips, Henry Varnum Poor, and Prentiss Taylor. Some letters are Christmas cards decorated with original block prints.
Business records primarily document Gates' interaction with the Jack Rasmussen Gallery in Washington, D.C., but also include miscellaneous sales records and pay stubs from American University.
Artwork consists of scattered drawings of modern houses by Gates and abstract sketches by others, and small block prints by Joe Goethe and D. Neufeld. Two Scrapbooks contain clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and scattered letters.
Additional printed material includes clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs for Gates and others, prospectuses for art exhibitions, press releases, calendars of events, booklets about color and lenses, brochures for art schools and books, and an unannotated calendar containing a reproduction of one of Gates' paintings.
Photographs are of Robert Gates, various family members including Gates with his first wife photographed by Prentiss Taylor, models, artwork, and exhibition installations. There are two photograph albums and unbound photographs documenting a 1936 voyage to the Virgin Islands commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department. Images of this trip are of Gates and colleagues including Mitchell Jamieson, the ship Doris Hamlin, the crew, markets, a cock fight, miscellaneous buildings, town squares, and the countryside of the Virgin Islands.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 7 series. Each series is arranged chronologically:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1928-1975 (Box 1, OV 4; 34 folders)
Series 2: Letters, 1930-1988 (Box 1; 25 folders)
Series 3: Business Records, 1961-1982 (Box 1; 5 folders)
Series 4: Artwork, circa 1962 (Box 1; 6 folders)
Series 5: Scrapbooks, 1932-1939 (Box 1-2; 4 folders)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1916-1988 (Box 2; 48 folders)
Series 7: Photographs, 1910-1982 (Boxes 2-3, OV 4; 20 folders)
Biographical Note:
Robert Franklin Gates was born on October 6, 1906 in Detroit, Michigan. He studied at the Detroit School of Arts and Crafts, and from 1929 to 1930 attended the Art Students' League in New York. Between 1930 and 1932, Gates studied under C. Law Watkins at the Phillips Gallery Art School in Washington, D.C., later becoming an instructor in life drawing and painting there. During this time, he met fellow student Margaret Casey, and they married on January 7, 1933. Between 1934 and 1938, Robert Gates was an art instructor at the Studio House in Washington, D.C.
In 1934, Gates received a commission from the U.S. Treasury Department Section of Fine Arts to create a series of watercolors of Charles Gardens, South Carolina, and from 1929-1940, murals for post offices in Bethesda, Maryland, Oakland, Maryland, and Lewisburg, West Virginia. In 1936, the Treasury Department also commissioned Gates and fellow artists Mitchell Jamieson and Prentiss Taylor to create series of watercolors of the Virgin Islands, arranging for several voyages there.
Between 1937 and 1942, Gates was a guest instructor at the University of Florida, taught art classes at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland and at the Washington County Museum of Art in Hagerstown, Maryland. He also taught at the Phillips Gallery Art School in Washington, D.C. while his wife was employed as the school secretary. In 1938, Gates received a summer scholarship to study under Henry Varnum Poor at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.
During World War II, Gates worked as a civilian technician for the Navy Department doing model making and camouflage design, receiving the Distinguished Civilian Service Award for his work.
After the war, and the closing of the Phillips Gallery Art School, Gates attended classes taught by Bill Calfee at American University. In 1946, he joined the faculty and eventually becane chairman of the Art Department in 1954. Robert and Margaret Gates were divorced sometime in the mid-1950s. From 1966 to 1967, Gates was Artist-in-Residence at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, under the Department of State Educational and Cultural Exchange Program. In 1967, he married his second wife, Sarita, while in Baghdad.
Gates is represented in the permanent collections of the American University, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Dumbarton Oaks collection, the Phillips Collection, and the Lewisshon collection.
Robert Franklin Gates died on March 11, 1982 in Alexandria, Virginia.
Related Material:
Also in the Archives of American Art are the papers of Gates' first wife Margaret Casey Gates, 1934-1988,
Provenance:
The Robert Franklin Gates papers were donated in 1995 by Sarita W. Gates, the artist's widow, via legal representative Bradford G. Weekes III.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
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.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Glen Michaels, 1981 July 1. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Walter Midener, 1981 Aug. 3. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Zubel Kachadoorian, 1974 Apr. 1-13. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Walter Midener, 1974 July 10-17. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Guy Palazzola, 1974 June 16. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
