The scattered papers of industrial designer Viktor Schreckengost measure 0.7 linear feet and date from 1933 to 1995. Largely, this selection of papers deals with Schreckengost's dinnerware design career, specifically with the American Limoges pottery firm of Sebring, Ohio. Found is correspondence with the American Limoges China Company and the Crockery and Glass Journal; printed materials featuring his designs; a photo of Schreckengost and his ceramics; sketches and large-scale renderings of dinnerware; and three VHS videocassettes. One videocassette dates from 1993 and contains an interview of Viktor and Don Schreckengost, a 1994 videocassette concerns the history of Schreckengost's art, and a third tape contains a slide show.
Scope and Contents:
The scattered papers of industrial designer Viktor Schreckengost measure 0.7 linear feet and date from 1933 to 1995. Largely, this selection of papers deals with Schreckengost's dinnerware design career, specifically with the American Limoges pottery firm of Sebring, Ohio. Found is correspondence with the American Limoges China Company and the Crockery and Glass Journal; printed materials featuring his designs; a photo of Schreckengost and his ceramics; sketches and large-scale renderings of dinnerware; and three VHS videocassettes. One videocassette dates from 1993 and contains an interview of Viktor and Don Schreckengost, a 1994 videocassette concerns the history of Schreckengost's art, and a third tape contains a slide show.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Series 1: Viktor Schreckengost papers, 1933-1995 (Box 1-3; 0.7 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Viktor Schreckengost (1906-2008) was an industrial designer, teacher, and sculptor in Cleveland, Ohio.
Schreckengost was born in Sebring, Ohio--a major dinnerware manufacturing community. He began odd jobs at the potteries as a child and created his first dinnerware design while still in high school. After attending the Cleveland School of Art (now Cleveland Institute of Art), he studied in Vienna, Austria under Michael Powolny. Returning to Cleveland, Schreckengost accepted a teaching position at the institute. Also, he worked at Cowan Pottery located in Rocky River, Ohio where he designed the Jazz Bowl commissioned by Eleanor Roosevelt.
Schreckengost remained an instructor at the Cleveland Institute of Art for over seventy years as faculty and professor emeritus and founded the CIA's school of industrial design. He was equally prolific in design and produced a body of work consisting of fine art ceramics, every day kitchen and dinnerware, sculpture, watercolor and industrial designs including a pedal car and a bicycle. At thirty-seven, he enlisted in U.S. Navy and fought in World War II. He designed prosthetics to help his fellow soldiers.
For the American Limoges China Company (Sebring, Ohio) and the Salem China Company (Salem, Ohio), Schreckengost designed dinnerware for the everyday American table. Influenced by the Great Depression, he believed good design did not need to be expensive. Additionally, he created complimentary design lines so that different patterns and styles could be mixed together.
He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2006. A lifelong Clevelander, Viktor Schreckengost passed away in Tallahassee, Florida while on vacation in 2008.
Related Materials:
The of bulk Viktor Schreckengost's papers are housed at Cleveland State University, Michael Schwartz Library, Special Collections in Cleveland, Ohio.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel 1078) including three scrapbooks dating from 1929-1949 and photographs from 1929-1954. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Viktor Schreckengost lent material for microfilming in 1975. Chip Nowacek, Executive Director of the Viktor Schreckengost Foundation donated papers in 2006.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate copies requires advance notice.
The maritime archaeology of shipwrecks and ceramics in Southeast Asia / Jeremy Green and Rosemary Harper ; The Ko Si Chang Three shipwreck excavation, 1986 / by Jeremy Green, Rosemary Harper and Vidya Intakosi
