Biographical material, correspondence with architects and artists (1903-1978), writings (1923-1969), a diary, an autograph book, subject files, printed material, photographs (1883-1979) and 5 photograph albums reflect the career of Walter Gropius, the activities of his wife Ise, and her recollections of the Bauhaus. Also included are 5 cassette tapes, untranscribed and unmicrofilmed.
REELS 2270-2283: Walter Gropius' correspondence concerns family matters (1903-1933), locating his sister in Berlin after World War II (1945-1946), and the Bauhaus Archiv (1957-1968). Ise Gropius' correspondents (1969-1978) include Alvar Aalto, Herbert Bayer, Hannes Beckmann, Arcangelo Cascieri, Ivan and Serge Chermayeff, Adolf Klarmann, Helmut Koch, Gerhard Marcks, Jack Pritchard, Hans Scharoun, and Konrad Wachsmann. Other correspondence concerns exhibitions about Gropius (1969-1976). Writings by Walter Gropius include lecture notes and short essays on architecture and design. A subject file (1945-1954) concerns visits to Japan. Printed material (1910-1978) includes galley proof sheets and clippings (1913-1957).
REELS 2284-2286: Photographs (1896-1937) show family members including Gropius' first wife Alma Schindler and their daughter Manon; Gropius' architectural projects including finished buildings, models, blueprints, and drawings (1906-1952); and an exhibition in London on Gropius.
REEL 2287: Biographical material (1883-1979) consists of Gropius' birth, marriage and death certificates, his military record (1914-1917), contracts, U.S. naturalization papers (1941-1944), financial documents (1945), Ise Gropius' will (1979), a list of works, a history of the Gropius family, real estate records, and membership cards. Excerpts from letters written by Marcel Breuer describe his European travels (1931-1937). A file on the Walter Gropius Foundation contains letters and notes (1969). An autograph book kept by Ise Gropius (1924-1981) contains illustrations by Herbert Bayer, Gyorgy and Juliet Kepes, Joan Miro, Kurt Schwitters, and Phyllis Terry, as well as autographs, notes and photographs. Writings by Ise Gropius include lecture notes and printed essays (1935-1943).
REEL 2287a: Twenty-six letters (1932-1952) from Herbert Bayer, written in German and English, to Gropius. Thirteen excerpts from Bayer's letters (1932-1949) are translated into English.
REELS 2330-2331: Photographs (1883-1979) show Walter Gropius, family members, and colleagues including Alvar Aalto, Bela Bartok, Herbert Bayer, Marcel Breuer, Alexander Calder, Arcangelo Cascieri, Naum Gabo, Julian Huxley, Gyorgy Kepes, Paul Klee, Le Corbusier, I. M. Pei, Diego Rivera, Jose Luis Sert, Kenzo Tange, Frank Lloyd Wright, and members of Gropius' firm, The Architects Collaborative. Other photographs show a skit by students of the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Bauhaus (1979).
REEL 2393: English translations of correspondence between Ise and Walter Gropius (1931-1969) and Ise's 1928 letter to a journalist commenting on Walter Gropius' resignation from the Bauhaus. A handwritten German copy (with a typewritten English translation) of a section of Ise Gropius' unpublished memoir describes her first meeting with Gropius and their courtship and marriage (1923-1929). A German transcript was not filmed. A typewritten English translation of Ise Gropius' diary (1924-1928) describes activities at the Bauhaus and mentions Josef Albers, Herbert Bayer, Marcel Breuer, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Otto Klemperer, Alma Mahler, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Georg Muche, Kurt Schwitters, Igor Stravinsky, and Franz Werfel. A handwritten translation is filmed on reel 4130.
REEL 2764: One photograph album (1925-1930) contains photographs of Walter and Ise Gropius and colleagues including Josef Albers, Herbert Bayer, Marcel Breuer, Lyonel Feininger, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Georg Muche, Claude Petit, and Joost Schmidt; construction of the Bauhaus (1925-1926); and sights in Germany and Italy. Four albums on the United States contain Gropius' photographs of New York City architecture, the Brooklyn Bridge, Chicago, California housing and industry, the Grand Canyon, and American Indians.
UNMICROFILMED: 5 cassette tapes, untranscribed, including a lecture delivered by Walter Gropius as part of "The Heritage of Man" lecture series, Cleveland, Ohio, February 13, 1952; an interview of Ise conducted by the Canadian Broadcasting Company, October 28, 1977; and 3 of a monologue delivered by Ise, 1978, in which she speaks of her early childhood.
Biographical / Historical:
Architect, educator and founder of the Bauhaus school. Born in Berlin, Walter Gropius studied at the University of Charlottenburg-Berlin and Munich. Following European travel and apprenticeship with Peter Behrens in Berlin, he established his own practice in 1910. After military service in WWI, he became director of the School of Applied Arts and the Academy of Arts, united the two and named the new institute Bauhaus Dessau in 1925. Between 1934 and 1937, he had a private practice in London. From 1938 to 1952, Gropius was chairman of Harvard's Graduate School of Design and maintained a private practice with Marcel Breuer from 1938 to 1941. Gropius married Alma Schindler, Gustav Mahler's widow, in 1915. In 1923, he married Ise (or Ilse) Franck (1897-1983).
Related Materials:
Additional photographs of Alma (Schindler) Mahler Werfel located at Bauhaus Archiv, Berlin, Germany.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming by Ise Gropius and her daughter, Beate Gropius Forberg Johansen, 1982-1983, except for selected items on reel 2393, the handwritten translation of Ise's diary on reel 4130 and cassette tapes, which were donated in 1981, 1983 and 1987, respectively. Some photographs from albums on reel 2764 which would not reproduce were not microfilmed.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The majority of the collection consists of project files, ca. 1932-1981, containing correspondence, sketches and printed material from Cascieri's many commissions of church sculptures. Also found are Cascieri's pencil studies as a student, ca. 1930's, sketches from his projects, and miscellaneous drawings.
The remainder consists of a resume, ca. 1970, general correspondence, ca. 1935-1982, legal papers, 1977, clippings, ca. 1930's-1980's,and printed material, ca. 1952-1967 and undated. Several association files containing annual reports, minutes of meetings, scattered correspondence, printed material and miscellany are found for Boston Architectural Center, 1935-1969, American Institute of Architects, ca. 1962-1969, Research and Design Institute, ca. 1966-1967, and Architectural League of New York, ca. 1966-1967. Also found are files on Cascieri's talks and lectures, ca. 1961-1981; a file on architect John F. Alter, 1955-1973; writings about Cascieri; and photographs of works of art and architecture, ca. 1920's, 1942 and undated.
Arrangement:
Project Files: arranged alphabetically by location by state, there under by city.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor, educator and administrator at the Boston Architectural Center (BAC); Boston, Mass. Cascieri died Jan. 14, 1997.
Provenance:
Donated 1980-1982 by Arcangelo Cascieri.
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.
Correspondence, notes, art works, clippings, and photographs document the sculptural projects, primarily for churches, undertaken by Andrew Dreselly and his colleagues.
Correspondence (1927-1972), primarily letters exchanged with sculptors, architects, and other colleagues, concerning sculpture projects; two pages of writings, and 2 drawings (one annotated) concerning the ornamentation of the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg, Va.; eight pencil outlines for crucifixion figures will related reproductions; an outline and 2 rubbings depicting a memorial stone for Katherine Sullivan (1938); and several clippings (1929-1933).
Photographs include one, taken by his son David, of Dreselly (ca. 1981) and prints and ca. 1000 unprinted negatives (1900-ca. 1960) of Dreselly's work and that of his colleagues, including John Angel, Arcangelo Cascieri, Edgar Keen, Johann Kirchmayer, and Ernest Pellegrini. Among the projects are the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, St. James Cathedral, and the Riverside Baptist Church in New York City; the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg, Va.; the Washington Cathedral in Washington, D.C.; and the East Liberty Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor, wood carver; Cambridge, Mass. Born in Cambridge to Bavarian immigrant parents. In 1907, he was apprenticed to Johann Kirchmayer at W. F. Ross Company, becoming foreman of the woodcarving and modeling shop upon Kirchmayer's retirement in 1921. During the 1920s and 1930s, Dreselly worked, through the Ross Company, on many large church projects in New York, Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, and Boston. Ancangelo Cascieri was Dreselly's apprentice. In 1943, Dreselly moved to the Schwamb Company and from 1948 until his retirement in 1967, he was head of carving and modeling at Irving & Casson.
Provenance:
Donated 1981 by Andrew Dreselly; a photograph of Dreselly was donated 1985 by his son, David Dreselly.
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.
Rockefeller, John D., Jr. (John Davison), 1874-1960 Search this
Extent:
36 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1981 June 26
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Andrew Dreselly conducted 1981 June 26, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Dreselly speaks of his childhood, apprenticeship, work with several different building firms based in Boston, Massachusetts, and his work with various donors and architects. He contributed craftwork to cathedrals and churches throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic States, as well as construction projects. He also recalls his time as a charter member of the Lexington Arts and Crafts Association. He recalls Johannes Kirchmayer, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and Arcangelo Cascieri.
Biographical / Historical:
Andrew Dreselly (1893-1985) was a wood carver and sculptor from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 34 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 others.
An interview of Arcangelo Cascieri conducted 1972 November 21-1974 January 24, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Cascieri speaks of his childhood in Italy; his art education, beginning with his apprenticeship to a wood sculptor; his early sculpture for churches; attending Massachusetts College of Art; early commissions; definitions and standards of beauty; studying at the Boston Architectural Center (BAC); meeting and becoming acquainted with Walter Gropius; becoming the administrator of the BAC; teaching experiences; changes in the BAC over the years; and his artistic philosophy.
Biographical / Historical:
Arcangelo Cascieri (1902-1997) was a sculptor, educator, and administrator at the Boston Architectural Center (BAC) of Boston, Massachusetts.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hrs., 15 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are 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 others.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Interviews Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Arcangelo Cascieri, 1972 November 21-1974 January 24. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
