Kurzgefasste Abhandlung über die Aetz-Kunst und die geätzten 84 Blätter / welche durch Johann Heinrich Tischbein ... herausgegeben sind zur Belehrung für angehende Künstler und Liebhaber
Freeze-etching: techniques and applications; edited by Ennio Lucio Benedetti and Pierre Favard; [published by] Société française de microscopie électronique
De la maniere de graver a l'eau forte et au burin et de la gravûre en maniere noire [microform] : avec la façon de construire les presses modernes, & d'imprimer en tailledouce / par Abraham Bosse
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
Collection Citation:
Captain Michael Gitt Papers, Acc. NASM.2003.0033, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
National Museum of History and Technology. Division of Graphic Arts and Photography Search this
Extent:
5 cu. ft. (5 record storage boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Floor plans
Manuscripts
Black-and-white photographs
Clippings
Illustrations
Architectural drawings
Date:
1882-1969
Descriptive Entry:
These records consist of correspondence, accession lists, blueprints for the Hall of Graphic Arts, historical information about the Division, annual reports, staff
lecture notes and papers, materials pertaining to The Printing Ink exhibition, biographies of important contributors in the field of printing technology, exhibition labels
and photographs, correspondence logs, and newspaper clippings pertaining to activities of the Division.
Historical Note:
In December 1882, George Brown Goode, the Assistant Director in charge of the United States National Museum (USNM), wrote to arts scholar Sylvester Rosa Koehler of
Boston, requesting his assistance in creating a Graphic Arts collection for the Smithsonian Institution. Koehler agreed to collaborate with Goode, and together they laid out
plans for such a collection over the next four years. When the Section of Graphic Arts was established in 1886, Kosehler became its part-time Curator. The Section was under
the Department of Arts and Industries, which reported to the Division of Anthropology in USNM. During this period Koehler collected numerous artifacts for the Section, developed
a print collection that became a permanent exhibition at USNM, and published extensively in the arts field.
The Section of Graphic Arts began reporting to the Department of Anthropology when USNM was reorganized in 1897. After Koehler's death in 1900, the Graphic Arts collections
were administered by the Smithsonian Library. In 1904, however, the Section was renamed the Division of Graphic Arts, which continued to submit reports to the Department of
Anthropology. Paul Brockett was made Custodian of the Division that year, and later, in 1912, Ruel Pardee Tolman became his aide. When another reorganization of USNM occurred
in 1920, the Division of Graphic Arts began reporting to the Department of Arts and Industries. Tolman was placed in charge of the Division as the Assistant Curator, and the
following year Ralph Clifton Smith assumed the position as aide.
From 1924 to 1932, the Division of Graphic Arts reported to a merged Department of Arts and Industries and the Division of History. Tolman prepared monthly exhibitions
at the Smithsonian Building during these years, which consisted of works largely solicited from living artists. One year after Tolman was promoted to Curator in 1932, the
Division of Graphic Arts began submitting reports again to a re-established Department of Arts and Industries. In 1938, the Department of Arts and Industries was organized
as the Department of Engineering and Industries, which included the Division of Graphic Arts. Tolman hired Jacob Kainen as an aide in 1942, who became Curator of the Division
when Tolman was reassigned as Director of the National Collection of Fine Arts in 1946.
When USNM was reorganized in 1957, the Division of Graphic Arts began reporting to a Department of Arts and Manufactures in the Museum of History and Technology (MHT).
Prior to this reorganization, Kainen worked on developing the color printmaking collection and added more antique printing presses to the collections of prints and tools,
with assistance from museum aides Eugene J. Fite and Fuller O. Griffith III. In 1960, Eugene N. Ostroff joined the Division as Associate Curator and eventually became Curator
of the Division of Graphic Arts at Kainen's retirement in September 1966.
In 1969, MHT was organized as the National Museum of History and Technology, and the Division of Graphic Arts merged with the Section of Photography to become a Division
of Graphic Arts and Photography, which reported to the Department of Applied Arts.
Research of the Division of Graphic Arts centered on the history of printing technology. The Division documented the techniques, materials, and equipment used in writing,
drawing, line engraving, etching, photogravure, lithography, halftone printing, silk-screen stencil, papermaking, calligraphy, and bookbinding. The Division also prepared
exhibitions of tools, heavy machinery, and supplies used in the printmaking process, most of which became part of the Hall of Graphic Arts.
Curators and staff of the Division included Sylvester Rosa Koehler, Curator, 1886-1900; Paul Brockett, Custodian, 1904-1920; Ruel P. Tolman, museum aide, 1912-1919, Assistant
Curator, 1920-1931, Curator, 1932-1946; Ralph Clifton Smith, museum aide, 1921-1926; C. Allen Sherwin, museum aide, 1935-1937; Jacob Kainen, museum aide, 1942-1945, Curator,
1946-1966; Eugene J. Fite, museum aide, 1947-1950, Assistant Curator, 1951; Fuller O. Griffith III, museum aide, 1955-1957, Assistant Curator, 1958-1960, Associate Curator,
1961-1964; Peter Morse, Associate Curator, 1965-1967; Eugene N. Ostroff, Associate Curator, 1960-1966, Curator, 1966- ; and Elizabeth M. Harris, Assistant Curator, 1965- .
Traicté des manieres de graver en taille douce sur l'airin : par le moyen des eaux fortes, & des vernix durs & mols : ensemble de la façon d'en imprimer les planches & d'en construire la presse,& autres choses concernans lesdits arts / par A. Bosse ..
Traité des manieres de graver en taille-douce sur l'airain : par le moyen des eaux fortes & des vernis durs & mols : D'imprimer les planches, & de construire la presse / Par le sieur Bosse, graveur en taille-douce
