1 Photograph (lantern slide, hand-colored, 3.25 x 4 in.)
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Lantern slides
Place:
Washington (State) -- Tacoma
Thornewood (Tacoma, Washington)
United States of America -- Washington -- Pierce County -- Tacoma
Date:
1933 Aug.
General:
Mount reads: "Asahel Curtis; Commercial Photographer; 625 Colman Block, Seattle."
Collection Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Gardens -- Washington (State) -- Tacoma Search this
Genre/Form:
Lantern slides
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
Sponsor:
A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Gardens -- Washington (State) -- Tacoma Search this
Genre/Form:
Lantern slides
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
Sponsor:
A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
1 Photograph (lantern slide, hand-colored, 3.25 x 4 in.)
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Lantern slides
Place:
Washington (State) -- Tacoma
Thornewood (Tacoma, Washington)
United States of America -- Washington -- Pierce County -- Tacoma
Date:
1933 Aug.
General:
Mount reads: "Asahel Curtis; Commercial Photographer; 625 Colman Block, Seattle."
Historic plate number: "photographers ID label: negative no. "60071"."
Collection Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Gardens -- Washington (State) -- Tacoma Search this
Genre/Form:
Lantern slides
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
Sponsor:
A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Gardens -- Washington (State) -- Tacoma Search this
Genre/Form:
Lantern slides
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
Sponsor:
A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
1 Photograph (lantern slide, hand-colored, 3.25 x 4 in.)
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Lantern slides
Place:
Thornewood (Tacoma, Washington)
United States of America -- Washington -- Pierce County -- Tacoma
Date:
circa 1920-1935
General:
Mount reads: "Asahel Curtis; Commercial Photographer; 625 Colman Block, Seattle."
Collection Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Gardens -- Washington (State) -- Tacoma Search this
Genre/Form:
Lantern slides
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
Sponsor:
A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
United States of America -- Washington -- Pierce County -- Tacoma
Lakewold (Tacoma, Washington)
Scope and Contents:
13 4 X 6in. photographic prints, 11 postcards, approximately 88 35mm slides (originals and reproductions), and 2 folders. Folder 1 includes extensive information about the garden (newspaper clippings, annual meeting brochures, etc.), correspondence between Mrs. Corydon Wagner, a copy of a 1930 booklet created by the Tacoma Garden Club for the 1930 Garden Club of America annual meeting, and Eleanor Weller and research on findings for the Olmsted Brothers.
Biographical / Historical:
Eulalie Merrill (1904-1991) was born on October 16, 1904 in Seattle to Dwight and Eula Lee Merrill. She was an avid golf player who held The Pacific Northwest Ladies title for three straight years. She and Corydon Wagner acquired the Lakewold property in 1938 and gardening became more important than golf. She received the Garden Club of America Medal of Merit in 1968, the Montague Award in 1978, the Creative Leadership award in 1984, and the Zone Horticultural Achievement Award also in 1984. Mrs. Wagner gave the gardens to The Friends of Lakewold, an organization with the specific purpose of assuming responsibility for its care.
Varying Form:
Inglewood, formerly known as.
General:
Located on ten acres, this garden is a collection of several gardens surrounding a Georgian home on Gravelly Lake in Lakewold, a suburb of Tacmoa. Mr. and Mrs. Cordydon Wagner purchased the estate in 1938. The perimeter fence, gate and brick walkway were part of the early design. However, the original designer is unknown. In the 1950s, landscape architect Thomas Church redesigned the gardens to include a quatrefoil-shaped swimming pool, a shade garden around a 200-year-old Douglas fir (considered a "wolf" tree), a lookout to the rock gardens, waterfalls and pools leading to the lake. Church discouraged the development of a rock garden since it would cause the neglect of the formal areas, but Mrs. Wagner insisted.
The property is dominated by giant Douglas Fir trees and features an extensive collection of rhododendron. It features a brick walkway leading to a vine-covered summer house. The walk is bordered by boxwood parterres, one shaped in a quatrefoil which repeats the design of the swimming pool. The pool is on an axis with a view of Mt. Rainier framed by trees across Gravelly Lake. The garden also features an Elizabethan knot garden planted with herbs, a rock garden, and an exotic tree collection. When the garden was redesigned in the 1950s by Thomas Church, 200 firs were felled to balance the woods with the openess of the site. Dressing rooms and a kitchen were added to the teahouse and gazebo, the port-cochere was removed from the house and a motor court was added to accomodate space for twenty cars, and a glassed-in room with a Plexiglass roof was added to the side of the house that faced the swimming pool.
Persons associated with the property include: Mr. and Mrs. H. F. Alexander (former owner, before 1924), Mrs. Evertt Griggs (former owner, 1924), Mr. and Mrs. Corydon Wagner, Jr. (former owner, 1938), The Friends of Lakewold Foundation (owner, circa 1989), Thomas Church (landscape architect, 1953)
There is no direct connection between Mr. and Mrs. Alexander and the Olmsted firm. A tenuous link may exist through E.C. Griggs (job number 3725). Mr. Everett Griggs wrote to the Olmsted firm, specifically to James Dawson, in January of 1911, sending them a topographical survey, which he had prepared for the property. He noted that he had been in touch with Alex MacDougall, superintendent of the Thorne estate who had worked on several Olmsted gardens in the area. The next letter in the file is from May 1923 from Alex MacDougall (working in the Highlands in Seattle) to James Dawson.
Related Materials:
Related materials are located with Mrs. Wagner's family, Tacoma Public Library, and Washington Historical Society.
Provenance:
Extensive garden documentation compiled by Eleanor Weller for the Slide Library of Notable American Parks and Gardens. Updates were made by Mrs. Joseph L. Carman, III of Tacoma, Washington.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Topic:
Gardens -- Washington (State) -- Tacoma Search this
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
Sponsor:
A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
United States of America -- Washington -- King County -- Seattle
Reed Garden - Shinka Suru (Seattle, Washington)
Scope and Contents:
11 digital images (2014-2016, 2022) and 1 folder (digital).
General:
The owners refer to their garden as "Japanese Fusion", meaning the application of Japanese landscape design principles on a property in the Pacific northwest. Their lakefront location and view of Mount Rainer provide two important Japanese garden elements, water and mountains. The property comprises just over one acre and is roughly rectangular with a "handle" to Lake Washington. The garden, first installed in 2009, is curvilinear surrounding the house with layers of colors and textures. The Japanese term Shinka Suru translates to unfolding which incorporates an empathic response to nature and location. This includes acknowledgment and expression of the seasons with a dwarf crab apple that berries in winter. Cloud pruning is another technique employed as a visual expression of the sky on earth. Structure is achieved through the selection and placement of stones and boulders which provide elevation, irregularity, texture, and viewing platforms.
Two other hardscape features are meaningful in this garden. A moon gate in a side garden separates two symbolically different planting schemes. One approaches the moon gate under a canopy of golden bamboo that feels protective and emerges in the "mountains and water" symbolized by moss covered boulders that lead to an arc of white birch. The other structure is an asymmetrical bridge over two ponds that leads to the front door with a hidden fountain adding the sound of water. Japanese millstones are giant steppingstones in grass. There are more than 200 different trees, shrubs, ferns, perennials and herbs in the design including 52 different varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas. The plant selection near the sandy shoreline is limited by the county but blueberries are allowed and are grown there. In 2013 a vegetable garden was installed in custom designed nonlinear Cor-ten steel raised beds that are visually impactful as well as practical.
Persons associated with the garden's design: Terry Welch, landscape architect (2008); Cameron Scott, landscape architect for update of vegetable garden (2013).
Collection Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Topic:
Gardens -- Washington (State) -- Seattle Search this
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
Sponsor:
A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
Consists primarily of material relating to education. Subjects include the English language, farming, and agriculture. Some of the materials are from the University of California. In addition, there are a few black and white photographs of unidentified white women. Materials are arranged in chronological order.
Biographical:
Hilario Samson Cuevas was born on January 14, 1900 in Larena, Siquijor, Philippines. At the age of twenty-six, according to a Washington state passenger and crew list, Cuevas arrived at the port of Seattle, Washington aboard the S. S. President McKinley from Manila, Philippines in May 1926. Information relating to his initial settlement or early occupation in the United States could not be found. On February 14, 1942, Cuevas registered for the World War II draft stating that he lived in California and was employed at Mare Island, a shipyard in Vallejo. City directories for 1947, 1948, 1949, and 1950 documented his home residence at 203 East Hazelton Avenue, Stockton, California, where he worked as a laborer. During this time Cuevas was a member of the Daguhoy Lodge of the Legionarios del Trabajo with his closest relative, Julio Samson, who also lives at the same residence in California.
Sources:
Ancestry.com. United States, City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, Utah, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Incorporated, 2011. Original Data: Original sources vary according to directory. The title of the specific directory being viewed is listed at the top of the image viewer page. Check the directory title page image for full title and publication information.
Ancestry.com. Philippines, Select Marriages, 1723-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, Utah, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Incorporated, 2014. Original Data: Philippines, Marriages, 1723-1957. Salt Lake City, Utah: Family Search, 2013.
National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, DC; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving At Seattle, Washington; NAI Number: 4449160; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85
National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, DC; Index to Filipino Arrivals At Seattle, Washington, and At Pacific Seaports of Canada; NAI Number: 3725165; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85
National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards For California, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 402
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Filipino Agricultural Workers Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Sponsor:
Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the FY23 Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool.
The papers of ceramicist Robert Sperry measure 13.6 linear feet and 0.907 GB and date from 1951-2002. The collection documents Sperry's career as an artist, teacher, and filmmaker through biographical information, correspondence, exhibition files, gallery files, material on projects and workshops, writings, a scrapbook, financial files, printed and digital material, photographs, moving image materials, and artwork.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of ceramicist Robert Sperry measure 13.6 linear feet and 0.907 GB and date from 1951-2002. The collection documents Sperry's career as an artist and teacher through biographical information, correspondence, exhibition files, gallery files, material on projects and workshops, writings, a scrapbook, financial files, printed and digital material, photographs, video recordings, films, and artwork.
Biographical files contain items outlining Sperry's career including resumes, teaching evaluations, awards, and interviews. Correspondence includes general correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, schools, galleries, art organizations, and publications as well as named files for those with whom Sperry exchanged a significant amount of correspondence over a long period of time. The Exhibition Files contain materials on group and solo exhibitions Robert Sperry participated in, while Gallery Files hold material, such as correspondence and contracts, related to the galleries which exhibited Sperry's work primarily after 1979. The Project and Workshop Files in Series 5 contain material related to public commissions he completed and workshops he gave during the 1980s and 1990s.
Writings encompass writings by Sperry and others. Sperry's writings vary greatly and include drafts of articles, a family history, poetry, notes and a screenplay, while writings by others are primarily essays on art. Within this series Sperry's event calendars are also found. Sperry compiled a scrapbook which spans 1955 to 1964 and includes correspondence and printed material about exhibitions and newspaper clippings which feature his artwork. He and his wife, Patti Warashina, also compiled Financial Records primarily of their business and living expenses from 1976 to 1984 and earnings as artists and professors at the University of Washington.
The largest series in this collection, Printed Material, provides information largely on Sperry's career through press clippings, exhibition announcements, catalogs, and publications, and also includes other materials on ceramics in general. The Photographs series contains both photos and negatives from Sperry's trip to Japan to film "Village Potters of Onda" as well as photographs of his artwork and his family. Also found in this collection are a few sketches and drawings by Sperry and one drawing by Patti Warashina. Moving image material includes video recordings and motion picture film with a wide range of content, including documentaries about Sperry, studio footage, and experimental and narrative films created by Sperry in a range of styles and genres, including animation such as the animated film "Henry," hand colored film, live action footage, abstract design, and narrative short films by Sperry. There are digital research copies of some of the films.
Arrangement:
The Robert Sperry papers are arranged as thirteen series, according to type of material. Each series is arranged either in rough chronological or alphabetical order.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Files, 1954-circa 2000, undated (Box 1; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence Files, 1951-2000, undated (Boxes 1-2; 0.9 linear feet)
Series 3: Exhibition Files, 1963-1999, undated (Boxes 2-3; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 4: Gallery Files, 1960-2000, undated (Boxes 3-4; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 5: Project and Workshop Files, 1967-1996, undated (Box 4; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 6: Writings, 1966-1990, undated (Box 5; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 7: Scrapbook, 1955-1964 (Box 5; 8 folders)
Series 8: Financial Records, 1961-1995, undated (Boxes 5-6; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 9: Miscellaneous Subject Files, 1975-1998, undated (Box 6; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 10: Printed Material, 1955-2002, undated (Boxes 6-10; 3.4 linear feet)
Series 11: Photographs, 1963, undated (Box 10; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 12: Sketches and Drawings, 1984, undated (Box 10; 2 folders)
Series 13: Moving Image Material, circa 1962-1998, undated (Boxes 10-12, FC 13-18; 3.1 linear feet, ER01; 0.907 GB)
Biographical Note:
Robert Sperry was born in Bushnell, Illinois, in 1927. He grew up on his family's farm in Druid, Saskatchewan, Canada, and in 1945 was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he first developed an interest in art. After serving in the military, he returned home and completed his B.A. at the University of Saskatchewan in 1950 and a B.F.A. at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1953. While working on his B.A. he met and married Edyth MacDonald and they had one child, Van, in 1950. Sperry spent one summer as Artist in Residence at the Archie Bray Foundation, in Helena, Montana, and then moved his family to Seattle so that he could complete his M.F.A. at the University of Washington. After graduating in 1955 he stayed at the University and became a professor, teaching ceramics until retiring in 1982. During this time, Sperry widely exhibited his clay vessels in both group and solo exhibitions and was active in the American Craft Council.
When not teaching, Robert Sperry pursued his interest in photography and filmmaking and, in 1963, traveled to Japan to make "Village Potters of Onda," a project that included a documentary film and a collection of black and white photographs. Sperry continued experimenting with film and, in 1967, created a fictional film entitled, "Profiles Cast Long Shadows," which was shown at film festivals throughout the United States. After abandoning another film project in 1970 while going through a divorce, he returned to ceramics as his focus. During the 1970s Sperry developed his techniques, modifying glazes and moving away from the vessel shape. In 1976 Sperry married Patti Warashina, fellow ceramicist and professor at the University of Washington. He began producing murals, which led to several public commissions such as a mural for the IBM Field Engineering Educational Center in Atlanta, created in 1983. Robert Sperry: A Retrospective, was exhibited in 1985-1986 at the Bellevue Art Museum, however, Sperry would continue producing and exhibiting new work, and giving lectures and workshops for thirteen more years, until his death in 1998.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the Patti Warashina papers, circa 1900-1991. An online finding aid is available.
Provenance:
The Robert Sperry papers were donated by Sperry's wife Patti Warashina in 2003 and 2004.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use 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.
The papers of jeweler and educator Ramona Solberg measure 8.3 linear feet and date from 1926 to 2007. The collection documents Solberg's career through biographical materials including interview transcripts, correspondence between Solberg and friends and colleagues including Russell and Marjorie Day and Malathi Ramswarthy, organizational and professional files, printed materials, artwork including jewelry sketches, photographs of Solberg and her work, and motion picture films containing footage of artwork and travel.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of jeweler and educator Ramona Solberg measure 8.3 linear feet and date from 1926 to 2007. The collection documents Solberg's career through biographical materials including interview transcripts, correspondence, organizational and professional files, printed materials, artwork including jewelry sketches, photographs of Solberg and her work, and motion picture films containing footage of artwork and travel.
Biographical materials contain Solberg's Women's Army Corps records, student records, awards and diplomas, material for Solberg's memorial service, a Christmas newsletter by Solberg, interview transcripts and notes, and a detailed chronology of Solberg's life events and career accomplishments.
Correspondence is between Solberg, various friends and colleagues including Russell and Marjorie Day, Malathi Ramswarthy, and others, and with her nephew's partner Sharon Dwinnell-Smith, who served as the point of contact during Solberg's hospitalization in 2004 and after her death in 2005.
A set of organizational files includes correspondence, agreements, printed and photographic materials, sales information, loan forms, and other material regarding exhibitions, workshops, and other events. Solberg's professional files include annotated calendars, workshop material, files containing personal letters and material concerning a film project on Solberg by Jack Stoops, drafts and photographs for Solberg's book Inventive Jewelry-Making, instructional material, research and notes on beads, a few exhibition files, and teaching and travel files.
Printed materials include booklets, brochures and pamphlets, clippings, announcements and catalogs for Solberg's exhibitions, flyers, and a poster. Artwork includes Solberg's childhood drawings, jewelry sketches, and a few other items. Photographic materials include photos of Solberg, travel, and works of art, in addition to approximately 40 motion picture film strips containing footage of artwork and travel.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1939-2007 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1, OV 9)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1966-2007 (0.7 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 3: Organizational Records, 1955-2007 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 4: Professional Files, circa 1955-2006 (2.0 linear feet; Boxes 2-4, OV 10)
Series 5: Printed Materials, circa 1957-2006 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 4-5)
Series 6: Artwork, 1926-circa 2000 (0.2 linear feet; Box 5, OV 11)
Series 7: Photographic Materials and Motion Picture Film, circa 1940-circa 1990s (3.0 linear feet; Boxes 5-8, FC12)
Biographical / Historical:
Ramona Solberg (1921-2005) was a jeweler and educator in Seattle, W.A.
Solberg was born in Watertown, S.D. but moved to Seattle as a baby. She enlisted in the Women's Army Corps in 1943 and served until 1950. Over the course of her service, she had the opportunity to travel around the United States, as well as abroad to Heidelberg and Stuttgart. After leaving the Army, Solberg used her GI benefits to study jewelry making and textiles in Mexico at Bellas Artes and the University of Michoacan. She received both her Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts degrees from the University of Washington in 1951 and 1953. Solberg taught high school before becoming an associate professor at Washington State College from 1956 to 1967. She returned to her alma mater, the University of Washington, in 1967 to teach until her retirement in 1983. In 1972, she published, Inventive Jewelry-Making, a book for beginners. She became a fellow at the American Craft Council in 1975 and won the Washington State Governor's award in 1987.
Solberg died in 2005.
Related Materials:
Also in the Archives of American Art is an interview of Ramona Solberg conducted on March 23, 2001 by Vicki Halper for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Solberg's apartment, Seattle, W.A.
Provenance:
The Ramona Solberg papers were donated in 2003 by Ramona Solberg and in 2008 by Ramona Solberg's estate via Larry Metcalf, executor, as part of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America.
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 records 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.
Woman's Building (Los Angeles, Calif.) Search this
Container:
Box 8, Folder 54
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1981
Collection Citation:
Woman's Building records, 1970-1992. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Getty Foundation. Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by The Walton Family Foundation and Joyce F. Menschel, Vital Projects Fund, Inc.
Biographical material includes appointment and address books; education and personal identification certificates and documents; awards, certificates, curriculum vitae, and chronologies; biographical material related to other individuals, including identification documents and memorial programs; and transcripts of interviews with Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight.
The correspondence series includes extensive personal and professional correspondence with family, friends, artists, admirers (including students in a number of elementary and middle schools), university students, government agencies, art schools, galleries, museums, publishing houses, and others. Included in this series are condolence letters received by Gwendolyn Knight after Jacob Lawrence's death in 2000.
Writings include published and unpublished writings by and about Jacob Lawrence, as well as writings by others. These writings include speeches, notes, essays, articles, lists, and short stories. Also included is a visitor comment book from the Los Angeles County Museum exhibition of Jacob Lawrence's Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass series.
Printed material includes books; brochures; business cards; clippings; exhibition and event announcements, invitations, catalogs, and programs; magazines; newsletters; posters; post cards; and press releases. Books in this collection may include illustrations by Jacob Lawrence or have personal inscriptions from the author to Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight.
Photographs include photographs of Jacob Lawrence artwork, photographs and reproductions of Gwendolyn Knight artwork, and photographs of Jacob Lawrence, Gwendolyn Knight, and other individuals. Also included in this series are photographs and reproductions of work by others.
Personal business records include a ledger; consignment, financial, and shipping records related to the Terry Dintenfass Gallery; contracts and agreements; and estate documents.
Artwork includes sketches by Jacob Lawrence, a blank sketchbook inscribed by Jacob Lawrence to Gwendolyn Knight, and artwork by other artists.
The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation and Related Material series includes founding documents and foundation bylaws, correspondence, financial documents, reports, and proposals. Found within this series are materials related to the Lawrence Center for the Visual Arts, a subsidiary foundation of the Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation.
Professional files include material related to projects and exhibitions, teaching files and inclusion in curricula, files regarding possible fake Jacob Lawrence works, and gallery files.
The honors series is divided into two subseries: awards and certificates, and government honors. Awards and certificates includes honorary degrees, arts prizes, and any other honors awarded to Jacob Lawrence or Gwendolyn Knight. Government honors include resolutions, proclamations, and keys to cities. Also included in this series are correspondence related to awards and honorary degrees, commencement programs, plaques, and medals.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in 11 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1914-2005 (Boxes 1, 11, 26, OV 10; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1943, 1952-2005 (Boxes 1-5, 12-14, 26; 7.7 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings, 1954-1959, 1973-2005, undated (Boxes 5-6, 14-15; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1816, 1926, 1937, 1945-2008 (Boxes 6-9, 15-17, 26, OV 30, OV 31; 6.8 linear feet)
Series 5: Photographs, circa 1970-1997, undated (Boxes 9, 17, OV 10; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 6: Personal Business Records, 1962-2005 (Boxes 9, 17; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 7: Artwork, 1984, 1990-1994, undated (Boxes 9, 18, 26; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 8: Jacob Lawrence Catalogue Raisonne Project Records, 1982-2002 (Boxes 18-23, Box 26; 5.1 linear feet, ER01; 0.001 GB)
Series 9: Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation and Related Material, 1997-2005 (Box 23; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 10: Professional Files, 1964-2004 (Boxes 23-24; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 11: Honors, 1948, 1966-2005 (Boxes 24-25, 27-29, OV 30; 2.3 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Modernist painter and educator Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) was born in 1917 as Jacob Armstead Lawrence in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He began his art studies at the Utopia Children's Center in New York City's Harlem district where he studied under the painter Charles Alston. Lawrence dropped out of high school at the age of sixteen to continue his art instruction with Alston, this time at the Harlem Art Workshop, where he met several artists associated with the Harlem Renaissance including the sculptor Augusta Savage.
Gwendolyn Knight (1913-2005) was born in Barbados and moved to New York City with her adoptive parents when she was seven. She attended New York's Wadleigh High School and later Howard University in Washington, D.C. where she studied fine arts with Lois Mailou Jones and James Porter. Forced to leave her studies at Howard because of the Depression, Knight returned to Harlem and continued her artistic pursuits in Augusta Savage's workshop. In 1935, Knight joined the Harlem Mural Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) working under Selma Day and Charles Alston. Lawrence and Knight met in Savage's workshop and married in the summer of 1941.
During the Depression, Lawrence also joined the WPA Federal Arts Project in Harlem. Finding WPA murals overwhelming, Lawrence concentrated on traditional painting instead. He produced his first major works in the late 1930s, most notably the Toussaint L'Ouverture series, images that document the life of the revolutionary hero and Haiti's struggle for independence. Other significant works include visual narratives of the lives of abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. In 1940, Lawrence received the prestigious Julius Rosenwald Fellowship, which made it possible for him to purchase his first art studio on 125th Street in the heart of Harlem. He soon portrayed Harlem street life in paintings that became commentaries on the role of African Americans in United States society with highly developed themes of resistance and social opposition. That same year, Lawrence began his most celebrated series, The Migration of the American Negro, multiple tempera panels depicting the exodus of African American sharecroppers in the south to northern industrial cities in search of better employment and social opportunities. Edith Halpert exhibited the works in their entirety at her Downtown Gallery in 1941, establishing Lawrence as the first African American artist to exhibit in a top New York gallery. The following year, New York's Museum of Modern Art and the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC each bought half of the sixty panels in the series, helping to further Lawrence's career within the larger world of American art.
In the summer of 1946, the artist Joseph Albers invited Lawrence to teach at North Carolina's Black Mountain College. It was the first in a series of teaching positions in prestigious art schools including Pratt Institute (1956-1971), Brandeis University (1965), The New School (1966), the Art Students League (1967), and others. During the 1950s and 1960s, Lawrence's work continued to focus on racism and political activism but in the late 1960s shifted to themes of racial harmony.
Both Lawrence and Knight continued independent careers in art. Knight pursued her art studies at the New School in New York and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. In the mid-1960s, she collaborated with other female artists to form the Studio Gallery in New York City. Knight's main body of work consists of portraits and still-lifes that incorporate expressions of African sculpture, Impressionism, dance, and theater. Focusing on gesture, her art is described as light and airy with a minimum of lines allowing empty space to define the work. In 1970, Lawrence traveled to Seattle to teach as a visiting artist at the University of Washington. He was hired on a permanent basis the following year and remained on staff until his retirement in 1986.
Jacob Lawrence died June 9, 2000, in Seattle, Washington at the age of 83. Gwendolyn Knight continued to paint and exhibit her work around the country until her death on February 18, 2005 in Seattle, Washington at the age of 92.
Related Material:
Also found at the Archives of American Art are an oral history interview with Jacob Lawrence conducted by Carroll Greene (1968 October 26), interviews conducted by Avis Berman (1982 July 20-August 4), and an oral history interview with Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight conducted by Paul Karlstrom (1998 November 18). The Archives of American Art also holds a collection of Jacob Lawrence papers, available on microfilm only, reels D286 and 4571-4573. Originals reside at Syracuse University Library, Special Collections.
Provenance:
The Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in five accretions between 1979 and 1997. Additional papers were donated in 2012 by the Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation via Barbara Earl Thomas, representative.
Restrictions:
Use of 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:
Painters -- Washington (State) -- Seattle Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Educators -- Washington (State) -- Seattle Search this
Topic:
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- United States Search this
Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight papers, 1816, 1914-2008, bulk 1973-2001. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the 2007 processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Funding for the 2018 processing of this collection was provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Joanna Eckstein, 1983 April 7. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art patronage -- Washington (State) -- Seattle Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Kenneth Callahan, 1982 October 27-December 19. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Artists -- Northwestern States -- Interviews Search this
