The Robert Bechtle papers measure 13.9 linear feet and date from circa 1930s-2020. The collection documents his career as a photorealist painter in the San Francisco Bay area. Series include biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, exhibition and gallery records, writings which include artist statements interviews and texts by others, teaching files, printed material, photographic material and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The Robert Bechtle papers measure 13.9 linear feet and date from circa 1930s-2020. The collection documents his career as a photorealist painter in the San Francisco Bay area. Series include biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, exhibition and gallery records, writings which include artist statements interviews and texts by others, teaching files, printed material, photographic material and artwork.
Biographical material includes military service documents including infantry yearbooks, as well as academic records and degrees for Bechtle and his mother, who continued her education later in life. Also included are highschool yearbooks, the senior year issue featuring art direction from Bechtle, as well as resumes and other supplemental material used by Bechtle's employing institutions to grant sabbaticals and other paid leave. Correspondence is mostly from galleries and museums, in addition to letters from various peers. Also included are letters of recommendation written by Bechtle for faculty or graduate art programs, as well as numerous letters by Bechtle to his mother while he was in the military, including photographs of his travels in Europe, especially Germany. Personal business records include grant applications, applications for sabbatical and other paid leave, as well as studio expenses, planners, and miscellaneous travel documents. Exhibition and gallery records include planning documents for key exhibitions, correspondence, financial documents including sales information, and printed materials from galleries Bechtle worked with over the years, as well as mailing lists, print catalogs, print documentation, and inventory records.
Writings include artist statements and interviews, schoolwork including art history and philosophy papers and notebooks, and academic papers written on Bechtle's work. Teaching materials include lessons, readings, materials lists and syllabi particularly concerning painting, design and printmaking courses at San Francisco State University and other schools.
Printed material includes press clipping and a press scrapbook, as well as invitations and posters, press releases and exhibition catalogs, as well as other types of publications featuring Bechtle's artwork and miscellaneous books and pamphlets from Bachtle's European travel.Photographic material includes photographs of Bechtle and his friends and family, his classmates at CCAC and his military colleagues in Germany. Also included are photographs and slides of artwork by Bechtle and others, as well as photographs and slides used to make Bechtle's photorealistic paintings, drawings, and prints. The artwork series includes childhood and early career drawings including sketchbooks by Bechtle, as well as original materials made by Bechtle for his design work including the Kaiser Company, as well as watercolor and tempera works on paper including demonstration works made in the classroom setting.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as nine series:
Series 1: Biographical Material , circa 1940s-1999 (1 Linear foot: Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1950-2017 (1.2 Linear feet: Boxes 2-3)
Series 3: Personal Business Records (1 Linear foot: Boxes 3-4)
Series 4: Exhibition and Gallery Records, circa 1960s-2019 (1.3 Linear feet: Boxes 4-5)
Series 5: Writings, circa 1950-2015 (0.8 Linear feet: Boxes 5-6)
Series 6: Teaching Files, circa 1956-1988 (0.2 Linear feet: Box 6)
Series 7: Printed Material, circa 1939-2020 (4.6 Linear feet: Boxes 6-10, 13, Oversize 21)
Series 8: Photographic Material , circa 1930s-2010 (2.8 Linear feet: Boxes 10-15)
Series 9: Artwork, circa 1930s-1999 (1 Linear foot: Box 12, Oversize 16-20)
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Bechtle (1932-2020) was a photorealist painter, educator, and printmaker born in Alameda, California, and lived and worked primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area including a long-time residence in Oakland.
Bechtle completed both undergraduate and Master of Fine Arts degrees at the California College of Arts and Crafts by 1958, in between which he served a few year in the United States Military, primarily stationed in Germany. Like the other photorealist painters of his era, Bechtle engineered a style of painting which was based more on keen observation and excruciating detail than any visually discernible stylism. His subjects were largely suburban and mundane and often incorporated images of himself and family members. He would project photographs and incorporate those copied images directly into paintings. In addition to paintings, Bechtle eventually translated his practice into both charcoal drawing and printmaking. He taught at the San Francisco State University where he was named Professor Emeritus in 1999, as well as other schools.
One of the milestones of his career was a retrospective exhibition organized in 2005 by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, also traveling to the Corcoran Museum of Art in 2006. Robert Bechtle's work has been exhibited internationally and his paintings and other artworks are held in numerous collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Oakland Museum of California, Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art,and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington. Bechtle passed in October 2020 from Lewy Dementia and is survived by his second wife Whitney Chadwick and his two children Max and Anne, who were born from his first marriage to Nancy Dalton.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds a 1978 September 13- 1980 February 1 oral history intereview with Robert A. Bechtle and a 2010 February 8-9 oral history interview with Robert A. Bechtle.
Provenance:
Donated 2022 by the Robert Bechtle and Whitney Chadwick Revocable Trust via Robert Firehock, representative of the Estate of Robert Bechtle.
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.
The donor has retained all intellectual property rights, including copyright, that they may own in the following material: 40 demonstration works of art on papers by Robert Bechtle.
Occupation:
Printmakers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Painters -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Educators -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Names:
California College of Arts and Crafts -- Faculty Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Extent:
95 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
2002 July 31-October 10
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Bob Winston conducted 2002 July 31-2002 October 2002, by Suzanne Baizerman, for the Archives of American Art as part of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the artist's home in Concord, California.
Winston speaks of his early childhood and running away from home at 19 months old, being found in a garage and building things ever since; the numerous operations he had as a child; his dyslexia and how he got through college; the death of his father and move to Berkeley, California; teaching at Berkeley High school; 17 years teaching at California College of Arts and Crafts (1942-1959) and the growth of the school throughout that time period; moving to Arizona and teaching lost wax casting in an abandoned supermarket; his inventions, Win-Ox, an oxidizer, and Bubble-Be-Gone, a cleaner; his latest sale of Win-Ox; his title as "San Francisco's Most Professional Eccentric;" and finding that a lot of the people he teaches do not find the "magic" that he does in jewelry work. Winston then discusses his current studio layout in an former hospital building; his machines and different work rooms; his chemistry table, where he makes his Win-Ox solution; his collection; how he's accomplished so much despite his dyslexia; the Hunt brothers and how they made the price of gold drop; living from Art Festival to Festival on the road in his Jeep; his mentors John Haley and Chiura Obata; and his bike, which he still rides. Winston also recalls Aileen Webb, Margaret DePatta, Gene Bielawski, Mark Hopkins, Karl Kasten, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Bob Winston (1915-2003) metalsmith of Walnut Creek, California. Suzanne Baizermann, art historian, Alameda, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 41 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Topic:
Metal-workers -- California -- Interviews Search this
Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959 -- Photographs Search this
Extent:
13.3 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Diaries
Christmas cards
Designs
Interviews
Sketchbooks
Sketches
Sound recordings
Transcripts
Place:
Japan -- Description and Travel
Date:
1880s-1997
Summary:
The collection measures 13.3 linear feet, dates from the 1880s-1997 and documents the life and varied career of Rudolph Schaeffer, artist, designer, teacher, writer, collector of Asian art, and pioneer in the field of color study who founded the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design in San Francisco in 1926. The papers include biographical information, correspondence, subject files, writings, diaries, journals, artwork, scrapbooks, sound recordings, and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The collection measures 13.3 linear feet, dates from the 1880s-1997, and documents the life and varied career of Rudolph Schaeffer, artist, designer, teacher, writer, collector of Asian art, and pioneer in the field of color study who founded the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design in San Francisco in 1926. The papers include biographical information, correspondence, subject files, writings, diaries, journals, artwork, scrapbooks, sound recordings, and photographs.
Correspondence documents Schaeffer's personal and professional activities as well as the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design. Subject files contain various combinations of correspondence, photographs, printed material, and drawings reflecting Schaeffer's activities, projects, and interests. Within the subject files is correspondence with artists, including Mark Tobey. Extensive writings include manuscripts for published and unpublished articles and drafts, notes, and manuscripts of several unpublished books including Collected Lectures of Rudolph Schaeffer on Color and Design, Color and Design, Prismatic Color Theory, and Rhythmo-Chromatics, all undated. Diaries include a volume recording Schaeffer's 1936 trip to Japan. 42 volumes of journals, compiled between 1954 and 1987, contain entries on a wide range of subjects including lists of errands, invitation lists, class notes, drafts of letters, notes including staff assignments and staff meetings, autobiographical notes and reminiscences, and musings on religion and philosophy.
The Artwork series houses artwork by Schaeffer and his students. Found are hand-made Christmas cards, designs, sketches, and sketchbooks. Seven scrapbooks document Rudolph Schaeffer's career, his school and former students, and the San Francisco art scene. They contain printed material, photographs, letters, and a small amount of artwork. Volume 3 is devoted to East West Gallery, and volume 7 documents Rudolph Schaeffer's 90th Birthday and the 50th Anniversary of the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design.
Most untranscribed sound recordings (audio cassettes and reels) are of lectures by Schaeffer and others delivered at the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design.
Miscellaneous records includes a series of hand-baticked fabric samples from the Wiener Werkstatte, as well as transcripts of an oral history with Schaeffer and other interviews.
Printed material concerns the career of Rudolph Schaeffer, his school and former students, the San Francisco art scene, and general art topics. Included are articles and a book by Schaeffer, catalogs and other items produced by the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design, and miscellaneous items about or mentioning Schaeffer and his school. Items of note are announcements of courses taught by Schaeffer in Piedmont and San Francisco prior to the opening of his school, and theatre programs from productions with sets and some costumes designed by Schaeffer in the early 1920s.
Photographs are of artwork, people, places, events, stage designs, and miscellaneous subjects. Artwork includes some designs by Rudolph Schaeffer; people include Schaeffer, his family, friends, and students. Of particular note are a photograph of Frank Lloyd Wright's visit to the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design, and one of Rudolph Schaeffer and Imogen Cunningham. Places include interior and exterior views of the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design at its St. Anne Street and Mariposa Street locations. Also included are photographs by Ansel Adams of the home of Ed and Caroline Fey.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 10 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Information, 1900-1988 (Box 1; 0.1 linear ft.)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1906-1989 (Box 1, 19; 0.5 linear ft.)
Series 3: Subject Files, 1907-1988 (Boxes 1-2, OV 16; 1.3 linear ft.)
Series 4: Writings, circa 1910-1987 (Boxes 2-6, 15, 19, 21; 4.2 linear ft.)
Series 5: Artwork, 1911-1957 (Boxes 6-15, 19, 21 OV 17; 0.6 linear ft.)
Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1933-1976 (Boxes 6, 14, 19; 0.6 linear ft.)
Series 7: Sound Recordings, 1949-1986 (Boxes 11-13; 1.2 linear ft.)
Series 8: Miscellaneous Records, 1905-1986 (Box 7, 19, 22; 0.8 linear ft.)
Series 9: Printed Material, 1906-1994 (Boxes 7-8, 15, 19, 22; 1.2 linear ft.)
Series 10: Photographs, 1880s-circa 1988 (Boxes 8-10,15, 20, 22, OV 18; 1.8 linear ft.)
Biographical Note:
Rudolph Schaeffer (1886-1988), a proponent of the Arts and Crafts movement, aspired to unite technology, science, and lifestyle in order to live in harmony with nature. An individual with many talents and interests, he was best known for his work in the field of color study and as a teacher and the founder of the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design in San Francisco.
Born on a farm in Clare, Michigan in 1886, Rudolph Schaeffer displayed musical and artistic talent from a young age. Although he initially wanted to become a professional musician, he began focusing more on art when his musical abilities were compromised by an improperly set broken wrist. Schaeffer received his first formal art training as a high school student and then attended the Thomas Normal Training School in Detroit, where he studied music, art, and design. He continued studying independently, developing interests in calligraphy and metal craft.
In 1907, Schaeffer taught manual training courses in the Columbus, Ohio, public schools. The following summer he traveled to Paris and London. While in London he saw an exhibition of Josef Hoffman's modern interiors that had a great impact on his own design ideas. He then returned to Michigan and taught in schools close to home. In 1909, Schaeffer attended a design course in Minneapolis taught by A. E. Batchelder, director of Throop Polytechnic Institute in Pasadena. Both Batchelder and his course were strong influences on Schaeffer, as was Ralph Johnot, a proponent of Arthur Wesley Dow's design principles. In 1910 Schaeffer joined the faculty of Throop Polytechnic Institute, where he remained for five years.
The U. S. Commission on Education selected Schaeffer to be part of a delegation of twenty-five American teachers sent to Munich for several months in 1914 to investigate the exemplary industrial design curriculum offered in their secondary schools. Schaeffer subsequently expected to begin teaching at the Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles at the start of the 1914 school year, but World War I erupted while he was in Germany and his return to the United States was delayed so long that another teacher had to be hired to fill his place.
In 1915 Schaeffer was a manual training instructor at the California College of Arts and Crafts (formerly the Hopkins School), and taught design and metal crafts at the University of California Berkeley. For a number of years afterwards, he did free lance design work, taught private classes, and ran a small summer school in his Piedmont studio. Schaeffer was a visiting professor at Stanford University in 1918 when he was drafted and sent to drafting and surveying courses by the Army. Between 1917 and 1924 Schaeffer was on the faculty of the California College of Arts and Crafts where he taught design, color, handicrafts, and interior design. During this period he developed a new approach to teaching color and design based on the prismatic color wheel.
During the early 1920s Schaeffer worked as a set designer and as Art Director of Greek Theatre at the University of California at Berkeley, Schaeffer began applying prismatic color theory to set and costume design. He also designed sets for productions in Detroit. In 1925, Schaeffer saw the Paris Exposition and researched interior and stage design while in France.
The Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design which, in its early days was called the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Rhythmo-Chromatic Design, opened on St. Anne Street in San Francisco's Chinatown in 1926. In 1951 the school then moved to Union Street on Telegraph Hill where it remained for nearly a decade. In 1960, the school purchased a former boys' school on Mariposa Street, Portero Hill. Rudolph Schaeffer lived in a small cottage built for him at the rear of the property where he designed and tended a remarkable "Peace Garden."
The Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design was best known for its courses in color and interior design. Schaeffer was the first person in the United States to teach prismatic color theory, is credited with being the first to use the term "interior design" rather than "interior decoration" and the first to incorporate the use of models into interior design coursework. In 1959 the school's courses were expanded from 2 to 3-year programs and a diploma was awarded. Former students include many successful interior designers, textile designers, furniture designers, industrial designers, commercial artists, color consultants, teachers, and master flower arrangers.
In addition to the interior design and color diploma courses, the school offered a summer session, classes for children, a brief lecture series for the general public, and a wide variety of classes including advertising art, architecture and design, art history, art in public schools, calligraphy, color design, color for television, color for weavers, color theory, design, drawing, environmental aesthetics, fashion design, fashion illustration, flower arrangement, industrial design, interior design, Notan, sculpture, space planning, textile design, and weaving. Always struggling financially and sometimes lacking adequate enrollment, the school nevertheless managed to stay open for nearly 60 years. In 1984, the Board of Directors voted to remove Schaeffer from the board and close the school. Two years earlier the board had forced Schaeffer to retire, appointed him Director Emeritus, and brought in a new director charged with making the institution financially solvent, reorganizing the curriculum, and working toward accreditation. Unable to separate himself from the school (though he had done so legally when it was incorporated in 1953), Schaeffer balked and refused to cooperate with plans for revitalizing the institution.
One of the aims of the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design was to interpret Asian esthetic principles. To this end the East West Gallery was established at the school in 1950. A membership organization, it offered exhibitions, lectures, concerts, and other programs that encouraged cultural integration. Exhibitions alternated between East (Asian art and artifacts from Rudolph Schaeffer's collection or other sources) and West (student work or work of local artists illustrating the influence of the Asian esthetic on contemporary art and design). East West Gallery was a membership organization, the first space of its kind in San Francisco for Asian art and operated in each of the school's locations.
In addition to running the school Schaeffer was involved in many other activities. He wrote several articles about flower arrangement, color, and color theory that were published in popular magazines. In 1935, he published Flower Arrangement Folio I (said to be the first on the subject published in this country) and in 1942 edited and wrote the introduction to Sunset's Flower Arrangement Book by Nell True Welch. Over a period of many years, he worked on several monographs on color, design, and "rhythmo-chromatics." None were ever published.
A sought-after speaker on the subjects of color, interior design, flower arrangement, and myriad other art topics, Schaeffer frequently served as a juror for art exhibitions and flower shows. From the 1930s on, the San Francisco department store Emporium used his services as a color consultant, as did Dutch Boy paints, and numerous textile and clothing manufacturers. Builders also asked Schaeffer to select interior and exterior colors for suburban housing developments.
Schaeffer worked on planning and designing the decorative arts exhibition at the 1939-40 Golden Gate International Exposition. In 1943-44, he participated in the Red Cross's Arts and Skills program, using color therapy with shell-shocked soldiers in a psychiatric unit.
The Rudolph Schaeffer Collection of Asian Art began as a collection of ceramics, both historical and contemporary examples chosen for their form and color, which he used for flower arrangements and in set-ups for still life classes. It soon expanded to include color prints, paintings, screens, and other works of art and portions were exhibited frequently in the East West Gallery. Selections from this collection were exhibited in Kansas City in 1960 and at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco in 1976.
The City of San Francisco declared June 26, 1986, Schaeffer's 100th birthday, "Rudolph Schaeffer Day" and it was observed with great fanfare. He died at home on March 5, 1988, a few months before his 102nd birthday.
Provenance:
The Rudolph Schaeffer papers were donated in 1991 by Rudolph Schaeffer and the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design administrator Peter Docili, and in 1999 and 2000 by James Alexander, a friend of both Schaeffer and Docili, who had been storing portions of Docili's estate after his death in 1998, with the assistance of Frances Valesco, a fiber artist and researcher. An addition was received in 2007 by William Woodworth, a close friend and caretaker of Schaeffer's and in 2017 and 2018 by Frances Valesco.
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. Use of archival audiovisual recordings requires advance notice.
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:
Art teachers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Topic:
Artists -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Designers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- San Francisco Search this
The papers of painter, graphic and video artist, and educator Eleanor Dickinson measure 29.8 linear feet and 0.002 gigabytes, and date from 1947 to 2014. The collection comprises biographical materials; professional and personal correspondence; video and sound recordings of interviews for Dickinson's television program Art of the Matter; exhibition files; teaching files for the California College of Arts and Crafts and other professional and project files; research and subject files; membership records, including born-digital material, and sound and video recordings, for various organizations; personal financial and legal records; printed materials featuring Dickinson and her artwork; and photographic materials of Dickinson in her studio and with friends, colleagues, and family, as well as exhibitions and other art events, and works of art.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter, graphic and video artist, and educator Eleanor Dickinson measure 29.8 linear feet and 0.002 gigabytes, and date from 1947 to 2014.
The collection comprises biographical materials containing datebooks, certificates, resumes, and sketches; professional and personal correspondence; video and sound recordings of interviews for Dickinson's television program Art of the Matter; exhibition files for Spirit in the Land: Photographs from the Bible Belt (1987) and various group exhibitions; files documenting Dickinson's professional activities outside of teaching at the California College of Arts and Crafts; and files that include video recordings for projects on artist's models, Revival!, and gender discrimination in the art field.
Also found are research and subject files on Howard Finster, professionalism in art, and other topics; California College of Arts and Crafts teaching files consisting of student and faculty records, course material, and administrative records; membership records that include born-digital material, and sound and video recordings for Artists Equity Association, Women's Caucus for the Arts, and other organizations; records documenting Dickinson's personal financial and legal dealings that include artwork sales records, studio expenses, and lists of artworks in the Eleanor and Wade Dickinson Art Collection; printed materials featuring Dickinson and her artwork; and photographic materials depicting Dickinson in her studio and with friends and colleagues, family, exhibitions and art events, and works of art.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 12 series.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1957-2014 (1.0 linear feet; Box 1, OVs 32, 36)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1954-2013 (3.0 linear feet; Boxes 1-4)
Series 3: Interviews, 1976-2000 (2.5 linear feet; Boxes 4-7)
Series 4: Exhibition Files, 1960-2012 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 7-8)
Series 5: Professional Files, 1963-circa 2005 (0.5 linear feet; Box 8, OV 34)
Series 6: Project Files, 1955-2001 (4.5 linear feet; Boxes 8-13, OVs 32-33)
Series 7: Research and Subject Files, circa 1970-circa 1997 (1.5 linear feet; Boxes 13-15)
Series 8: California College of Arts and Crafts Teaching Files, 1962-2002 (1.5 linear feet; Boxes 15-16)
Series 9: Membership Records, 1947-2014 (8.0 linear feet; Boxes 17-24, 31, OV 34, ER01)
Series 10: Personal Business Records, 1957-2011 (2.0 linear feet; Boxes 25-26)
Series 11: Printed Materials, 1951-2011 (4.0 linear feet; Boxes 26-30, OVs 32-33, 35-36)
Series 12: Photographic Materials, 1958-2012 (6 folders; Box 30)
Biographical / Historical:
Eleanor Dickinson (1931-2017) was a painter, graphic and video artist, and educator in San Francisco, C.A.
Dickinson was born in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1931. Shortly after graduating from University of Tennessee in 1952 with a Bachelor of Arts, Dickinson moved to California and established a studio in San Francisco. There she immersed herself in the counterculture of the 1960s, becoming friends with Allen Ginsberg and producing a poster with Ginsberg's fellow Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Dickinson's continuing interest in and activism for the rights and well-being of artists also influenced her work with the Artists Equity Association, the Women's Caucus for the Arts, and numerous other organizations. Though extremely active in the art world of the West Coast, she never forgot her southern roots and continued to visit Tennessee annually. Dickinson's close connection to her birthplace is evident throughout her career, with Southern religion often being central to her work. Among her most prominent projects are the multifaceted exhibition Revival!, the documentary "Artist's Models of San Francisco," the ink drawings seen in Old Lovers, and illustrations for the books Complete Fruit Cookbook and That Old-Time Religion.
Dickinson was married to Wade Dickinson and had three children: Mark, Katy, and Daniel. Dickinson died in San Francisco, California, in 2017.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history with Eleanor Dickinson conducted on October 25, 2000 by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, in Dickinson's studio/home, in San Francisco, California.
Provenance:
The Eleanor Dickinson papers were donated from 1979 to 2005 by Eleanor Dickinson and in 2017 by the Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson Charitable Art Trust.
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 born-digital records or 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:
Painters -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Video artists -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Graphic artists -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Educators -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Eleanor Dickinson papers, 1947-2014. 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.
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 born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Eleanor Dickinson papers, 1947-2014. 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.
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 born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Eleanor Dickinson papers, 1947-2014. 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.
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 born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Eleanor Dickinson papers, 1947-2014. 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.
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 born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Eleanor Dickinson papers, 1947-2014. 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.
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 born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Eleanor Dickinson papers, 1947-2014. 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.
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 born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Eleanor Dickinson papers, 1947-2014. 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.
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 born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Eleanor Dickinson papers, 1947-2014. 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.
Dickinson was a Professor of Art at the California College of the Arts (CCAC) from 1971 to 2001. She also served as Department Director for painting and drawing, and was named a Professor Emerita. The files include class and faculty records, gallery history and procedures, student evaluations, committee files, and administrative records.
Collection 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 born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Eleanor Dickinson papers, 1947-2014. 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.
Paul Marioni (1941- ) is a glass artist from Seattle, Washington. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is a curator and writer, from San Francisco, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 11 digital wav files. Duration is 8 hrs., 18 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
An interview of Robert David Brady conducted 2008 March 10-12, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Berkeley, California.
Brady speaks of growing up in Reno, Nevada and developing a fondness for the desert and mountain environment around him; his first discovery and fascination with clay during junior high; a deep interest in symbols and the abstraction of language and how he has incorporated that into his work; studying art at California College of Arts and Crafts; continuing on to Mills College for graduate school; being drafted into the war and having to postpone his attendance to Mills College; finishing a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of California, Davis; wanting to become a college professor; teaching at California State University in Sacramento; wanting to depart from dependency on the vessel; exploring with figurative objects; abandoning the vessel and adapting an interest in object making and mixed media; the influence of Mexico, in particular, the imagery of the Day of the Dead, on his work; firing techniques he learned in Mexico; the influence from Hal Riegger toward his education and development; specific works and the inspiration and process behind them; his departure from clay and experimenting with wood; various shows and his experiences working with different galleries and curators; his trip to Guatemala and the emergence of angels and other religious motif in his work; other traveling experiences and the influence each had on his work; his desire to return to clay and continue making pots; the craft community; the influence of Japanese pots; his personal beliefs toward academically trained and non-academically trained artists; and his opinion toward various art and craft magazines. Brady also recalls Vernon Coykendall, Robert Arneson, William Wiley, Manuel Neri, Debbie Butterfield, John Buck, Dick Notkin, Nancy Rubins, Roy de Forest, Hal Riegger, Dale Chihuly, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Robert David Brady (1946- ) is a sculptor of wood and ceramics and a teacher from Berkeley, California. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is a curator and writer from San Francisco, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 14 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 47 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Topic:
Sculptors -- California -- Berkeley -- Interviews Search this
The bulk of this collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website, with the exception of the 2017 and 2022 addition. Use of material not digitized requires an appointment.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Louise Nevelson papers, circa 1903-1982. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for a portion of the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Additional processing received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
The bulk of Cook's papers consist of files relating her exhibition schedule through the 1970s and 1990s. Found are resumes, loan agreements, correspondence, printed materials, scattered photographs, slide lists and price or sales lists. Significant material is found for Cook's affiliation with the Allrich Gallery, B.Z. Wagman Gallery, and Fiberworks, Center for the Textile Arts. Major exhibitions include Cook's annual participation at the Lausanne Biennale, Painted Weavings by Lia Cook and Neda Al Hilali (1980) at Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, and California College of Arts and Crafts faculty art shows, among many others.
Arrangement:
Gallery files are arranged in alphabetical order while exhibition files are arranged in chronological order. Original folder titles were maintained in this series, however, at times they have been edited for clarity. This series is arranged as two subseries.
4.1: Gallery Files
4.2: Exhibition Files
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings and born-digital records with no duplicate copies requires advance notice.
Collection Citation:
Lia Cook papers, 1968-2012. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings and born-digital records with no duplicate copies requires advance notice.
Collection Citation:
Lia Cook papers, 1968-2012. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Allen, Florence W. (Florence Wysinger), 1913-1997 Search this
Container:
Box 1, Folder 6
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1980-1985
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Florence Allen papers, 1920-1997. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Ankrum Gallery records, circa 1900-circa 1990s, bulk 1960-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund
History of Smithsonian Folklife Oral History Interviews
Extent:
0.5 cu. ft. (2 half document boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Audiotapes
Transcripts
Date:
2005-2009
Introduction:
The Smithsonian Institution Archives (SIA) began its Oral History Program in 1973. The purpose of the program is to supplement the written documentation of the Archives'
record and manuscript collections with an Oral History Collection, focusing on the history of the Institution, research by its scholars, and contributions of its staff. Program
staff conduct interviews with current and retired Smithsonian staff and others who have made significant contributions to the Institution. There are also reminiscences and
interviews recorded by researchers or students on topics related to the history of the Smithsonian or the holdings of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Smithsonian Institution predoctoral fellow, William S. Walker, of Brandeis University, conducted a series of oral history interviews on the history of folklife presentation
at the
Smithsonian, as part of his dissertation research.
Descriptive Entry:
The History of Folklife at the Smithsonian Oral History Interviews consist of 13.2 hours of analog and digital audio interviews and 369 pages of transcript.
Historical Note:
Folklife studies are carried on in several organizational units of the Smithsonian Institution: the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History
(NMNH), the Festival of American Folklife (FAF), and the National Museum of American History (NMAH), and the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). Dr. Walker began
his project on the study and exhibition of folklife at the Smithsonian, focusing on the Folklife Festival and then expanded his interview scope to include other Smithsonian
cultural scholars and solicit their views on the FAF and cultural studies, exhibition and public programming at the Smithsonian.
JoAllyn Archambault (1942- ), Director of the American Indian Program at the National Museum of Natural History, is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
She earned her doctorate at the University of California in Berkeley in 1984. She was a faculty member of the Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukie,
Wisconsin (1983-86), and the Director of Ethnic Studies, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California (1978-83). As curator of Anthropology at the NMNH since
1986, she organized various exhibitions, including Plains Indian Arts: Change and Continuity, 100 Years of Plains Indian Painting, Indian Baskets and Their
Makers, and Seminole Interpretations.
Spencer Crew (1949- ) received the A.B. in history from Brown University in 1972 and holds a master's degree (1973) and a doctorate from Rutgers University (1979). He was
assistant professor of African-American and American History at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, 1978-1981; historian, 1981-1987, curator 1987-1989, Department
of Social and Cultural History, chair, 1989-1991, deputy director, 1991-1992, acting director, 1992-1994, director, 1994-2001 of NMAH. He then served as historical consultant
to the National Civil Rights Museum, in Memphis, Tennessee, from 1987-1991; consultant to the Civil Rights Institute, in Birmingham, Alabama, 1991-1994; and executive director
and chief executive officer for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center from 2001-2008; and was appointed Clarence Robinson Professor at George Mason University in
2008. At the Smithsonian, Crew curated several exhibitions, most notably Field to Factory: Afro-American Migration, 1915-1940
William W. Fitzhugh (1943- ), an anthropologist, specialized in circumpolar archaeology, ethnology and environmental studies. He received his B.A. from Dartmouth College
in 1964. After two years in the U.S. Navy, he attended Harvard University where he received his PhD in anthropology in 1970. He joined the Anthropology Department at NMNH
in 1970. As director of the Arctic Studies Center and Curator in the Department of Anthropology, NMNH, he has spent more than thirty years studying and publishing on arctic
peoples and cultures in northern Canada, Alaska, Siberia and Scandinavia. His archaeological and environmental research has focused upon the prehistory and paleoecology of
northeastern North America, and broader aspects of his research feature the evolution of northern maritime adaptations, circumpolar culture contacts, cross-cultural studies
and acculturation processes in the North, especially concerning Native-European contacts. He curated four international exhibitions, Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea
Eskimos; Crossroads of Continents: Native Cultures of Siberia and Alaska; Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People; and Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga.
Thomas W. Kavanagh (1949- ), an anthropologist, received the B.A. from the University of New Mexico in 1971, the M.A. from The George Washington University in 1980, and
the Ph.D. from University of New Mexico in 1986. He began his career at Indiana University and then joined the staff of the Smithsonian Institution. A scholar of Comanche
Indians of Oklahoma, he has published extensively on the Comanches and was appointed Consulting Anthropologist for the Comanche Nation. In the 2000s, he served as director
of the Seton Hall University Museum. His publications include Comanche Ethnography (2008), Comanche Political History (1996), North American Indian Portraits:
Photographs from the Wanamaker Expeditions (1996), and "Comanche" in the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 13 (Plains), Smithsonian Institution (2001).
Roger G. Kennedy (1926-2011) graduated from Yale University in 1949 and the University of Minnesota Law School in 1952, and pursued a diverse career in banking, television
production, historical writing, foundation management, and museum administration. He was appointed Director of the National Museum of History and Technology (NMHT) in 1979,
renamed it the National Museum of American History, and left in 1992 to become Director of the National Park Service. He focused on social and cultural history, and oversaw
controversial exhibits including A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the American Constitution and Field to Factory: Afro-American Migration, 1915-1940.
Keith E. Melder (1932- ) studied American history at Williams College (B.A. 1954) and Yale University (M.A. 1957; PhD, 1964). He was an intern at the NMHT in 1958 and returned
in 1961 as Curator of Political History until his retirement in 1996. His research focused on America political movements, especially the Women's Movement and the Civil Rights
era. Melder was also interviewed for two other Smithsonian Institution Archives projects, Record Unit 9603, African American Exhibits at the Smithsonian, and Record Unit 9620,
the American
Association of Museums Centennial Honorees Oral History Project, as well as for the Ruth Ann Overbeck Capitol Hill History Project of the Capitol Hill Historical Society.
Clydia Dotson Nahwooksy (1933-2009), a Cherokee, and her husband Reaves, a Comanche Nation member, worked most of their lives to preserve American Indian tribal culture.
Originally from Oklahoma, they spent 20 years in Washington, D.C., as cultural activists. In the 1970s, Clydia was director of the Indian Awareness Program for the Smithsonian
Institution's Festival of American Folklife. In 1986 both Nahwooskys entered the seminary, and the Rev. Clydia Nahwooksy was an active pastor and a member of the Board of
National Ministries and the American Baptist Churches USA General Board.
Ethel Raim (1936- ), Artistic Director of New York's Center for Traditional Music and Dance (CTMD), researched ethnic music and worked closely with community-based traditional
for almost five decades. Raim also had a distinguished career as a performer, recording artist, music editor, and singing teacher. In 1963 she co-founded and was musical director
of the Pennywhistlers, who were among the first to bring traditional Balkan and Russian Jewish singing traditions to the folk music world. Raim served as music editor
of Sing Out! magazine from 1965 to 1975. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, she developed ethnic programs for the Newport Folklife Festival and the Smithsonian's Festival
of American Folklife. In 1975 Raim joined Martin Koenig as Co-Director of the Balkan Folk Arts Center, which developed into the CTMD in New York City.
Joanna Cohan Scherer (1942- ) received the B.A. from Syracuse University in 1963 and the M.A. from Hunter College, City University of New York in 1968. A specialist in
visual anthropology especially of Native Americans, historical photography, women and photography, North American Indian photography, and cultural anthropology. She joined
the staff of the Anthropology Archives of the National Museum of Natural History in 1966 and in 1975 advanced to served as anthropologist and illustrations editor for the
Smithsonian's multivolume series Handbook of North American Indians.
Robert D. Sullivan (1949- ) was educated at St. John Fisher College with a B.S. in anthropology in 1970, the M.A. in education management from the University of Rochester
in 1979, and pursued the Ph.D. in human studies (ABD) at The George Washington University until 2006. He served as Chief of Museum Education at Rochester Museum and Science
Center from 1970 to 1980, Director at the New York State Museum from 1980 to 1990, and Associate Director for exhibitions at National Museum of Natural History from 1990 to
2007.
Peter Corbett Welsh (1926-2010) was a curator and historian at the Museum of History and Technology, now known as the National Museum of American History. He was born on
August 28, 1926, in Washington, D.C. He received his B.A. from Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio, in 1950 and completed a post-graduate year of study at the University
of Virginia. He received his M.A. from the University of Delaware where he was the first recipient of the Hagley Fellowship in 1956. Welsh served in the United States Army,
1951-1954. Prior to coming to the Smithsonian Institution, he was Research Assistant and Fellowship Coordinator at the Eleutherian-Mills Hagley Foundation, 1956-1959. Welsh
was Associate Curator in the Smithsonian's Department of Civil History, 1959-1969, and served as editor of the Smithsonian's Journal of History in 1968. As Curator he played
a major role in the development of the Growth of the United States hall for the opening of the Museum of History and Technology which depicted American civilization
from the time of discovery through the mid-twentieth century. Welsh was Assistant Director General of Museums, 1969-1970, and assisted with the implementation of the National
Museum Act through seminars on improving exhibit effectiveness. He also served as Director of the Office of Museum Programs, 1970-1971. After Welsh's tenure at the Smithsonian,
he became the Director of both the New York State Historical Association and the Cooperstown Graduate Program, 1971-1974. He then served as Director of Special Projects at
the New York State Museum in Albany, 1975-1976; Director of the Bureau of Museums for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission; President of The Welsh Group, 1984-1986;
and Curator (1986-1988) and Senior Historian (1988-1989) of the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, New York. In 1989, he became a full-time, independent museum consultant
and lecturer, and was a visiting professor of the State University of New York (SUNY) in 1992. Welsh was a contributor to numerous scholarly journals. He authored Tanning
in the United States to 1850 (1964), American Folk Art: The Art of the People (1967), Track and Road: The American Trotting Horse, 1820-1900 (1968), The
Art of the Enterprise: A Pennsylvania Tradition (1983), and Jacks, Jobbers and Kings: Logging the Adirondacks (1994).
Rights:
Restricted. Contact SIHistory@si.edu to request permission.
