Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005 Search this
Scurlock, Robert S. (Saunders), 1917-1994 Search this
Extent:
2 Negatives (photographic) (silver gelatin)
Container:
Box 61
Type:
Archival materials
Negatives (photographic)
Scope and Contents note:
Job Number: 45262
Subseries Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Series 8: Business Records, Subseries 8.1: Studio Session Registers are restricted. Digital copies available for research. See repository for details.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Subseries Rights:
When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Subseries Citation:
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Scurlock, Robert S. (Saunders), 1917-1994 Search this
Container:
Box 219
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1950
Scope and Contents note:
Subject/Sitter: Hall, Doris Elaine
Job Number: 54730
Subseries Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Subseries Rights:
When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Subseries Citation:
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
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:
Swetzoff Gallery records, 1941-1968. 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
An interview of Merry Renk conducted 2001 January 18-19, by Arline M. Fisch, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Renk's home and studio, San Francisco, California.
Renk speaks of her family background; growing up during the Depression; her father's creativity and encouragement; early inspiration from "the structure of nature"; attending the School of Industrial Arts in Trenton, N.J., and later the Institute of Design in Chicago; student life at the Institute of Design; establishing a studio and gallery, 750 Studio, at 750 North Dearborn, in Chicago, in 1947, with two other students, Mary Jo Slick [Godfrey] and Olive [Bunny] Oliver; managing 750 Studio and organizing exhibitions of Harry Callahan, Henry Miller, Lazlo Maholy-Nagy, Warren and Ethel MacKenzie, Doris Hall, and others; working with enamels; early "primitive" spirals; decision to be a jeweler; the importance of the "wearability" of jewelry; moving to San Francisco in 1948; living in Paris, 1950-1951; relationship with Shinkichi Tajiri; visiting Constantin Brancusi; traveling with Lenore Tawney through Spain and Morocco; settling in San Francisco; friendship with sculptor and neighbor Ruth Asawa; learning about Josef Albers from Asawa, resulting in experiments with folded metal; meeting her second husband, potter Earle Curtis on Halloween 1954; purchasing and remodeling their home; teaching part-time at the University of California, Berkeley and in workshops; her children, Baunnie and Sandra; managing motherhood and jewelry making in a two-artist household; drawing as a form of inventory; the influence of Lee Nordness; learning the plique-à-jour technique of enameling through trial and error; early influence of Doris Hall's work; working with wire; use of natural forms and interlocking forms; the process of making Wedding Crown (1968) for the exhibition Objects USA; making wedding crowns for her daughters; her shift from non-objective art to portraiture and symbolic imagery in the early 1970s; making large-scale sculpture in 1974, then "drifting back" to jewelry; importance of working independently; her "memory paintings" in the 1980s; evolution of her name from Mary Ruth Gibbs to Merry Renk Curtis (married Stanley Renk in 1941); her involvement with local guilds such as the Metal Arts Guild of San Francisco and national organizations such as the American Craft Council (ACC); lack of critical writing about her work; the value of exhibitions; various pieces in museum collections; early ACC conferences; her long friendship with photographer Imogen Cunningham; posing for Cunningham; becoming an ACC fellow; her jewelry tools; the process of painting compared to jewelry making. She also mentions Kenneth Bates, Trude Guermonprez, Irena Brynner, the Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and her mentor Margaret de Patta.
Biographical / Historical:
Merry Renk (1921-2012) was a jeweler, painter, and sculptor from San Francisco, California. Arline M. Fisch (1931-) is a metalsmith from San Diego, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 9 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.
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.
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:
Yasuo Kuniyoshi papers, 1906-2016, bulk 1920-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by Stephen Diamond, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, and the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Introduction:
The province of Alberta, which celebrated its centennial in 2005, is a land of contrasts. Its landscape is among the most diverse in North America, with badlands, prairies, boreal forests, rolling foothills, enormous freshwater lakes such as the Athabasca, and mighty rivers including the Peace and the North Saskatchewan. Its western border is defined by the spectacular ranges of the Rocky Mountains; its eastern border by the Great Plains. Alberta's true wealth, however, is not its landscape or its natural resources, but its people - a diverse, hardworking, innovative population whose "can-do spirit" has transformed a frontier territory into a prosperous province with a vibrant cultural landscape.
In its one hundred short years as a province, Alberta has grown in ways that would have astonished its earliest founders. From a frontier outpost, Alberta has transformed itself and its diverse population into a distinctive culture unlike any other. Drawing on its history, cultural strengths, and ingenuity, Alberta enters its second century poised to make increasingly significant contributions to Canadian, North American, and international culture. The many participants who joined the Festival were typical Albertans, drawing upon the best of Alberta's past and present as they laid the cultural foundations that will shape its future.
The Festival program showcased the music and dance of Alberta's folk, country, and ethnic traditions, but Alberta also supports equally vibrant jazz, blues, rock, world, and classical music scenes. The one thing shared by all the 2006 Festival performers was their focus on Alberta, in their lyrics and their styles. Cultural life in Alberta is also enriched by a vibrant theater scene. In fact, Alberta prides itself as being the birthplace of "Theatresports." Theatresports pits two teams of improvisers against one another on a given topic, with judges awarding points to the funniest team; Festival visitors had the chance to enjoy this and other entertainments.
Ranching is a major factor in Alberta's economy, and for many Albertans ranching and cowboy culture are the symbols of what it means to be an Albertan. Similarly, agriculture remains a major factor in the Alberta economy. With the arrival of European settlers, Alberta became famous for the excellent quality of its beef and its ample harvests of grain - particularly wheat, oats, and barley. Throughout the province, well-attended farmers' markets allow distinguished chefs and dedicated home cooks to buy fresh, local ingredients directly from the farmers and ranchers who produce them. Alberta's ethnic diversity is reflected in the profusion of available restaurant cuisines, a sampler of which were demonstrated for Festival audiences.
Careful workmanship is highly valued in Albertan culture, and artisans of all descriptions thrive throughout the province. The 2006 Festival highlighted several distinctive regional craft traditions - those practiced by the First Nations peoples of Alberta, those practiced by immigrants to Alberta, and the western crafts that grew out of Alberta's early ranching culture. The province is still home to thousands of working cowboys and the industries that provide them with the equipment and gear they need to follow their profession. The primary factor driving Alberta's economy today is the energy sector. Presentations at the Festival highlighted the occupational folklife of workers in three major components of Alberta's energy sector: oil and gas drilling, the oil sands, and laying and maintaining pipelines.
The responsibility of being stewards of some of North America's most pristine and extensive wilderness areas is one that Albertans take seriously. Protection, management, and sustainability of resources in wilderness areas generate considerable public debate and are the focus of extensive government policies. Recreation and sports are also important aspects of life in Alberta that were shared with Festival visitors. Several coaches traveled to the Festival to discuss the important role that amateur ice sports play in the culture of towns and villages throughout Alberta.
Nancy Groce was Program Curator; Dorey Butter was Program Coordinator; and Beverly Simons was Program Assistant. The Alberta Steering Committee included: Jeffrey Anderson, Terri-Lynn Bradford, AI Chapman, Neelam Chawla, Wayne Clifford, Drew Hutton, Bruce McGillivray, Steve Pritchard, Murray Smith, Tristan Sanregret, and Hugh Tadman. The Alberta at the Smithsonian Advisory Committee consisted of: Giuseppe Albi, Lorna Arndt, Tommy Banks, Susan Berry, Garry Berteig, Anne Brodie, Margaret Cardinal, Daniel Cournoyer, Barbara Dacks, Michael Dawe, Trevor Gladue, Jim Gurnett, Lorain Lounsberry, Allison G. MacKenzie, Tom McFall, Peter North, Andy Nueman, Michael Payne, Holger Petersen, Regula Qureshi, Anne Ramsden, Sol Rolingher, Robert Rosen, Jane Ross, John Short, Fred Stenson, Denis Tardif, Linda Tzang, and Ron Ulrich.
The program was produced in partnership with the Government of Alberta, with the collaboration of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Ministries of Community Development and International and Intergovernmental Relations. Lead support was received from the Government of Alberta, the City of Calgary, and the City of Edmonton, with major support from the Athabasca Regional Issues Working Group (RIWG), ConocoPhillips, Enbridge Corporation, EnCana Corporation, and Suncor Energy Inc., and contributions from Alberta Beef Producers, Canadian Forces, The Fairmont Washington D.C., Nova Chemicals Corporation, and PetroCanada. Major in-kind assistance was provided by Caterpillar Incorporated, KitchenAid, Weatherford International Ltd., and Whole Foods Market. Collaborative support was provided by Alberta Canola Producers Commission, Australian Outback Collection (Canada) Limited, and City Lumber Corporation.
Researchers:
Susan Berry, Juliette Champagne, Brian Cherwick, James Deutsch, Maurice Doll, Linda Goyette, Gail Hall, Sylvia Larson, Terri Mason, Melissa Jo Moses, Jane Ross, Linda Tzang
Presenters:
Karen Andrews, Betty Belanus, Kevin Blackerby, Allison Grace Brock, Robert Gordon Chelmick, James Deutsch, Hal Eagletail, John Franklin, Ben Gadd, Cia Gadd, Linda Goyette, Gail Hall, Doris Daley, Allison Mackenzie, Jim McLennan, Lynda McLennan, Monica Miller, Melissa-Jo Moses, Diana N'Diaye, Holger Peterson, Lionel Rault, Darcie Roux, Amy Schriefer, Atesh Sonneborn, Luka Symons
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
School of Industrial Design (Trenton, N.J.) Search this
University of California, Berkeley. Department of Art Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Type:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Merry Renk, 2001 January 18-19. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
