The papers of jewelry designer and metalsmith Miye Matsukata measure 13.45 linear feet and date from circa 1900 to 1982, with the bulk of the material dating from 1964 to 1981.The papers include correspondence, interviews, journals, writings and lectures, exhibition files, Janiye business records, printed materials, scrapbooks, artwork, sketchbooks, and photographic materials that document Matsukata's work as a jeweler and owner of Janiye, an atelier located in Boston, Massachusetts.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of jewelry designer and metalsmith Miye Matsukata measure 13.45 linear feet and date from circa 1900 to 1982, with the bulk of the material dating from 1964 to 1981.The papers include correspondence, interviews, journals, writings and lectures, exhibition files, Janiye business records, printed materials, scrapbooks, artwork, sketchbooks, and photographic materials that document Matsukata's work as a jeweler and owner of Janiye, an atelier located in Boston, Massachusetts.
Correspondence is with family, James Hubbard, various customers, galleries, and colleagues. Interviews include recordings of Matsukata and Takashi Oka, Judy Hickey and Miyo, and two interviews from 1968.
Eleven journals contain Matsukata's writings about her work, travel experiences, impressions of Mikimoto, and include some sketches. Writings and lectures consists of five appointment books; biographical statements and resumes; essays; lecture recordings, manuscripts, and slides; twelve memo books; notes; two travel itinerary books; and writings by James Hubbard that include an essay about Matsukata.
Exhibition files consist of correspondence, price and invitations lists, loan forms, and drafts for jewelry shows at the Art Asia Gallery, Fitchburg Art Museum, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Principia College, and other galleries. Business files for Janiye include donations, financial and legal material, inventory books, publicity files, and sales records; and client and vendor files containing invoices, correspondence, and special order details for works produced by Matsukata and other jewelers at Janiye.
Printed materials include booklets, clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, an invitation, press releases, and Janiye sales catalogs. Two scrapbooks feature clippings and sketches of dinnerware, and early brochures and photographs of Janiye.
Artwork consists of sketches of jewelry, dinnerware, mountains, and landscapes. Additionally, 47 sketchbooks of travel, jewelry, and dinnerware are found in the collection. Photographic materials include photographs, negatives, slides, and several glass slides depicting Matsukata, her family, Janiye, jewelry and dinnerware, and travel.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 11 series.
Series 1: Correspondence, 1957-1981 (0.4 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Interviews, 1968-1978 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 3: Journals, 1966-1981 (0.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 4: Writings and Lectures, 1962-1982 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 2-3)
Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1964-1980 (0.3 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 6: Janiye Business Records, 1948-1982 (7.1 linear feet; Boxes 3-10, 17)
Series 7: Printed Material, circa 1965-1982 (0.2 linear feet; Box 10)
Series 8: Scrapbooks, circa 1945-1980 (0.2 linear feet; Box 15)
Series 9: Artwork, 1946-1981 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 10, 15)
Series 10: Sketchbooks, circa 1950-1981 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 10-11, 15)
Series 11: Photographic Material, circa 1900-1982 (2.3 linear feet; Boxes 11-14, 16)
Biographical / Historical:
Miye Matsukata (1922-1981) was a Japanese American jewelry designer and metalsmith based in Boston, Massachusetts. She worked at her jewelry firm Janiye in Boston from 1950 to her death.
Matsukata was born in Japan to Shokuma and Miyo Matsukata and had four sisters named Haru, Naka, Taneko "Tane," and Mari. After coming to the United States in 1940, Matsukata attended Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, graduating in 1944. Afterwards, she attended The Museum School in Boston. In 1950 she established Janiye, a jewelry atelier, with former classmates Naomi Katz Harris and Janice Whipple Williams. The name Janiye is a combination of the three co-owners' names. By 1958, Matsukata became the sole owner of the company with James Hubbard, a stone cutter, serving as business manager and agent. Nancy Michel, Alexandra Watkins, and Yoshiko Yamamoto became the leading team of jewelers to execute Matsukata's designs.
Matsukata traveled extensively to Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Peru, India, western and central Europe, and to Scandinavia after winning a scholarship in 1950. She also spent a substantial amount of time in Japan, especially during her collaboration with the Japanese pearl company Mikimoto. Her work was inspired by the places she visited and she often documented the sources of her inspiration through her writings and sketches.
Matsukata died in 1981 in Boston. Janiye remained open after her death with Michel and Watkins as the new owners.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds several collections related to Miye Matsukata, including Photographs of Miye Matsukata, Slides of jewelry designed by Miye Matsukata, Alexandra S. Watkins papers concerning Miye Matsukata, Miye Matsukata note with sketch to Mrs. Bartlett, Jane England Chandler papers regarding Miye Matsukata necklace, and Photographs of Miye Matsukata jewelry.
Provenance:
The Miye Matsukata papers were donated in 1984 by Mrs. Edwin O. Reischauer, Matsukata's sister and in 2008 and 2017 by Ann Hubbard Gaddis, the sister of Matsukata's business partner and heir, James Hubbard.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings and born-digital records with no duplicate copies requires advance notice.
United States of America -- Hawaii -- Honolulu County -- Honolulu
Hee Family Garden (Honolulu, Hawaii)
Scope and Contents:
13 digital images (2022) and 1 file folder
General:
This property had a house built in 1940 and an overgrown garden of tropical plants, especially invasive strawberry guava trees when the current owners acquired it in 1970. In 1990 landscape architect James C. Hubbard created a half-acre back garden, removing the invasives and planting a fresh tropical garden. His design used swathes of grass to open up views of Ko' olau Mountains and the neighboring protected forest's bamboo and tropical trees including kukui or candlenut, employing the Japanese concept shakkei, or the art of borrowed scenery. In 2015 the owners built a contemporary style house for their multigenerational family that is sprawling and tiered and hugs the mountainside. They needed a new garden for the new house that would reflect their Asian heritage and Hawaiian location, designed by landscape architect Stephen F. Mechler.
The garden's gathering place is a large, covered patio with a lava rock wall. The plant colors are mainly green, white and blue from swathes of agapanthus and hydrangea from the earlier garden, and green and white in the front garden. There is a 70-year-old avocado tree from the original garden, an inherited lychee, Meyer lemon, vegetable and herb gardens in raised boxes to protect them from snails and slugs, and two varieties of taro that are protected from wild boar. Vegetables include green onion and beets; herbs include rosemary and basil. As the area receives 107 inches of rain each year the family does not irrigate nor do they use any synthetic chemicals in their gardens.
Generations of family are respected throughout the garden, exemplified by the lychee and inherited gray bricks that border a small Zen garden. Accessories include antique Chinese ceramic pots once used for wine and thousand- year Chinese eggs, now planted with orchid and lotus. A teardrop shaped patch of mondo grass represents and modernizes the Zen garden, usually comprised of stone. Hawaiian plants include native gingers, stumps from other gardens, and so-called canoe plants – species brought to the islands by early settlers. Seeds and cuttings from family, friends and other native island plants replace the invasives that once dominated the property.
Persons associated with the garden's design: James C. Hubbard (1990), Stephen F. Mechler (2016)
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.
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 -- Hawaii -- Honolulu County -- Honolulu
Scope and Contents:
The folder includes a landscape plan, a plant list, a slide list and a worksheet done by GCA researcher.
General:
"A wandering garden - overlooking ocean. Four levels - swimming pool - trees bearing orchids. Rock garden of bromeliads, giant monkey pod, rocky waterfall and koi pond. Small water gardens and a garden house. Tropical - ginger, anthurium, friliconia, agapanthus & eucalpytus trees. Located high on side of mountain on steep terraces in back of house."
Persons associated with the property include: James C. Hubbard (landscape architect, 1965-1966); Allison Holland (designer); and Gilbert Bowles (former owner, 1925-1962).
Related Materials:
Maunalani related holdings consist of 1 folder (17 35 mm. slides)
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.
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 -- Hawaii -- Honolulu County -- Honolulu
Scope and Contents:
The folder includes worksheets, site plans, narrative histories of the site and Walter Lamb furniture, and other information.
General:
Pu'u Panini means "hill of cactus," an apt description of the arid landscape (less than 10 inches of rainfall annually) of coral outcroppings, cactus, and kiawe trees that is the natural environment of this three-acre garden. Despite its lack of water, the property has a dramatic view of the ocean and Koko Head. A house was first built on the site in the early 1930s and was renovated and modernized many times in the 1950s and 1960s under the direction of architect Vladimir Ossipoff. Landscape architects James C. Hubbard and Paul Weissich were retained to help plan the gardens. Maintenance was a concern and planting was limited to lawns and large trees to control winds and yet maintain the views. The current owner acquired the property in 1983 and at that time the grounds began to evolve into what they are today. A pavilion, tennis court, and new swimming pool (to replace an old one) were built. In the 1990s landscape architect Stephen F. Mechler was retained to direct the landscaping of the grounds and he continues to refine and maintain the property under the supervision of the owners. In addition to the views and sculpture that provide the garden's visual elements, large trees are another highlight. Specimens include Chilean mesquite (Prosopis chilensis), Banyan fig (Ficus retusa), monkey pod or rain tree (Samanea saman), and autograph tree (Clusia rosea). Of additional interest is the collection of Walter Lamb outdoor furniture.
Persons associated with the garden include James C. Hubbard (landscape architect,1960-1970), Paul Weissich (landscape architect, 1960-1970), Stephen F. Mechler (landscape architect, 1975 to date), Boyd MacNaughton (former owner, 1945-1975), and Roberta MacNaughton (former owner, 1975-1983).
Related Materials:
Pu'u Panini related holdings consist of 1 folder (13 35 mm. slides (photographs))
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.
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.
