An interview of David Ellsworth conducted 2007 July 16, by Josephine Shea, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Ellsworth's home, in Quakertown, Pennsylvania.
Ellsworth speaks of living and growing up in Iowa for the first fourteen years of his life; moving to Boulder, Colorado when his father became the director of libraries; being the youngest of two boys; his parents meeting at Oberlin College; his early interest and skill in leatherwork and woodwork as a child; spending time with the family at their cabin up in the mountains in Colorado; his experiences with music, vocals, and woodshop in junior high; attending a preparatory high school that had a very strong art program; singing in the Army for the Army Air Defense Command; traveling around with the band; being sent to the headquarters of United States Army of Europe in Heidelberg as a speed typist; studying and learning German while abroad; getting admitted into the architecture department at Washington University in St. Louis; flunking out after three semesters; going to New York City to follow a love interest as well as to study art; attending The New School for Social Research; moving back to the Midwest due of the heavy toll of city life; enrolling in the sculpture department at the University of Colorado and receiving both a bachelor of fine arts and a master of fine arts; his first independent show at Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colorado; working as a designer for a stainless steel food services equipment company called Green Brothers; working at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colorado; opening up a private studio in Boulder; partaking in various craft shows; working with the Belles Artes Gallery in New York City and Santa Fe, the Del Mano Gallery in Los Angeles, The Hand and the Spirit Gallery in Scottsdale which became Materia Gallery, the Gargoyle Gallery in Aspen; and the Cooper-Lynn Gallery in New York City; working as a teacher at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg; his experiences working with resin; his past experiences working with various kinds of wood; his past divorce; the influence of Native American and Southwest architecture and landscape on his work; the lack of reviews on woodturners and woodturning exhibitions; the difficulty of writing about craft art because of the lack of language; turning down commission work because of the limitations it imposes on the artist or creator; the direction in which he believes the craft of woodturning is going; woodturning as predominantly a hobby for retirees seeking to satisfy a need for creative energy; woodturning as a male-dominated craft; the surprisingly large number of well-known men in the fiber field today; designing and making his own line of tools; creating tutorial videos; holding woodturning classes at his home studio; his working process and how it has changed over time; how he and his wife Wendy ended up in Quakertown, Pennsylvania; and how he came up with his various series and how each developed. Ellsworth also recalls Ed Moulthroup, Melvin and Mark Lindquist, JoAnn Rapp; Steven Hogbin, Lois Moran, James Prestini, Irving Lipton, Albert LeCoff, Rick Mastelli, Clay Foster, Michelle Holzapfel, Mark Sfirri, Virginia Dodson, Betty Scarpino, Bonnie Klein, Arthur and Jane Mason, Fleur and Charlie Bressler, Giles Gibson, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
David Ellsworth (1944- ) is a studio woodworker from Quakertown, Pennsylvania. Josephine Shea (1958- ) is a curator from Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan.
General:
Originally recorded 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 41 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.
Mary Slusser (1918-2017) was a prominent scholar of Nepalese art, architecture, and cultural history. This collection contains personal files, professional correspondence, research files, travel documents, and photographs. The research files relate to her study of specific subjects and contain mixed media. Photographic materials include prints, slides, negatives, contact sheets, and digital images on compact discs in both color and black and white. Most of the collections are related to her study of Nepal, though other countries are represented including Tibet, Laos, China, and Vietnam. Subjects include firsthand observations of objects and sites; notes on secondary sources; correspondence with fellow scholars; manuscript drafts; and records of her work on the gallery space, and guide to, the Patan Museum. The earliest materials date from 1951 during the beginning of her time living abroad alongside her husband, while both worked for the State Department. The materials continue through 2017, reflecting her dedicated scholarship and travel through the end of her life.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into five series:
• Series 1: Biographical Materials
• Series 2: Correspondence
• Series 3: Research Files
• Series 4: Travel Files
• Series 5: Photographic Materials
Biographical / Historical:
Dr. Mary Slusser (1918-2017) was born as Mary Shepherd in Welland, Ontario to George Percy and Ethel Mary Shepherd. Her family moved to Michigan the following year and Slusser became a naturalized US citizen in 1934. Slusser followed her sister, Dorothy Shepherd (1916-1992), to the University of Michigan, where Mary graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1942. During her studies at Michigan, she met Robert Slusser, whom she would marry in 1944. Slusser moved to New York City in 1942, again following the path of her sister, Dorothy, who had enrolled in graduate school at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts. Slusser undertook some coursework at NYU as a part-time student. Slusser would eventually complete her graduate studies at Columbia University, earning a PhD in anthropology in 1950. She completed some of her coursework at Harvard University, while her husband studied at nearby Tufts University. Her dissertation was titled "Preliminary archeological studies of northern Central Chile."
Next, Slusser worked as a research analyst at the US State Department. Her husband also worked at the agency and spent much of his career completing foreign service appointments as an economist with USAID. Slusser accompanied her husband to his various overseas posts, beginning in 1954 in Vietnam. The Slussers would live and work abroad in Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Guinea, Nepal, and Tunisia. Slusser continued to work for the State Department as a field anthropologist. Mary received funding from the Smithsonian to acquire a small collection of Nepalese artifacts. She immediately took to learning about the art and culture of the region. She found a dearth of English-language information on the area and did her own field work and engaged with local scholars to fill in the gaps. She remained in Nepal for five years, contracted by the Smithsonian to write a guide to Nepal. Her research would lead to Nepal Mandala: A Cultural Study of Kathmandu Valley, a two-volume set of text and images, predominantly her own photographs, which was published in 1982.
Robert Slusser retired in 1980, and he and Mary permanently settled in Washington, DC. Her scholarly work took her to museums, first at the Museum of African Art as a curatorial assistant from 1975 to 1978, and then a post-doctoral fellowship at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in 1989. After her fellowship, Slusser was asked to remain at the museum as a research associate, an unpaid position she held for the rest of her career. Slusser continued to publish works on Nepalese art, including the 2010 book, The Antiquity of Nepalese Wood Carving: a Reassessment, co-authored with Paul Jett, a conservator at the museum. Slusser used carbon dating tests to show that many Nepalese wood sculptures were much older than originally thought. Slusser also contributed to the establishment of the Patan Museum in Nepal, which opened in 1997. She served as the museum's cultural advisor and curator and wrote the museum guide and many of the exhibition materials.
Slusser continued to travel to Nepal and other parts of central Asia well into her eighties, often visiting remote sites on foot with the aid of local guides. Slusser stayed active at home, continuing her research work despite declining eyesight and hearing. She died in 2017 at age 98.
Related Materials:
Mary Shepherd Slusser papers, circa 1950 – circa 1995, National Museum of National History, National Anthropolgical Archives, NAA.1983.0407
Dorothy Shepard Photographs, National Museum of Asian Art Archives, FSA.A2015.12
Russell Hamilton Postcard and Photograph Collection, National Museum of Asian Art Archives, FSA.A2001.13
Russell Hamilton postcards, between 1900-1909, National Museum of African Art, Eliot Elisophon Photographic Archives, EEPA.2003-001
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce and publish an item from the Archives is coordinated through the National Museum of Asian Art's Rights and Reproductions department. Please contact the Archives in order to initiate this process.
3609 Cyanotypes (photographic prints) (b&w, 16 cm. x 21.7 cm)
343 Copy prints (b&w)
3,890 Glass plate negatives (b&w, 13 cm. x 18 cm)
42 Lantern slides (color, 10 cm. x 15 cm)
8,541 Photographic prints (b&w, various dimensions)
Type:
Archival materials
Cyanotypes (photographic prints)
Copy prints
Glass plate negatives
Lantern slides
Photographic prints
Glass negatives
Place:
Asia
Iran
Iraq
Jordan
Lebanon
Syria
Turkey
Mesopotamia
Aleppo (Syria)
Bakun, Tall-e (Iran)
Baʻlabakk (Lebanon)
Bīshāpūr (Extinct city)
Bisutun Site (Iran)
Damascus (Syria)
Fīrūzābād (Iran)
Ḥimṣ (Syria)
Iṣfahān (Iran)
Luristān (Iran)
Nahāvand (Iran)
Naqsh-i Rustam (Iran)
Paikuli (Iraq)
Palmyra (Syria)
Pasargadae (Extinct city)
Persepolis (Iran)
Petra (Extinct city)
Sāmarrāʼ (Iraq)
Sīstān va Balūchistān (Iran)
Taq-e Bostan Site (Iran)
Tripoli (Lebanon)
Date:
1903-1947
1899-1947
Scope and Contents:
The prints are from three sources: (1) those from glass negatives; (2) those from cut film; and (3) those for which there are no negatives.
The Archive contains Herzfeld's glass negatives, numbered from 1 to 3850. Of most of these he had blueprints made which he had arranged in 16 binders by general categories--i.e. Prehistoric pottery, bronzes, stone; Persepolis; Sasanian monuments; Syrian monuments, Persian architecture and landscapes, etc.--irrespective of the number on the negative. These formed the nucleus for the preparation of the Photo Files. The 16 binders of blueprints have been replaced by Photo Files, Nos. 1--6. The prints in each File are arranged in the same order as the blueprints; and the number of the negative is enclosed in parentheses. Following a brief identification, is a reference to the place where the print has been published, if that is the case and such publication has been located.
In addition to the blueprint binders there were three Albums - Photo Files 25 (Sasanian buildings), 27 (Parthian and Sasanian sculptures) and 28 (Pre-Achaemenian monuments and Pasargadae)--in which Herzfeld had arranged prints in a sequence for study or publication purposes. The order in those Photo Files retains that in the Albums.
In addition to the glass negatives, there is an even larger number of cut films. On his archaeological study trips, Herzfeld was accustomed to supplement his photographs on glass plates with photographs on cut film--sometimes of the same subjects, often of other subjects. Some prints to these negative were identified on the back or could be identified from other prints; but in many instances, especially of landscapes, it has not been possible to place them, except in general categories.
Prints from the cut films have been organized, so far as feasible, in groups of related material and placed in the Photo Files of similar subject matter. The negative number appears in the Photo File. Herzfeld also collected prints from many sources for study purposes. Of those there are no negatives, So far as possible, the prints have been identified and placed in the appropriate Photo File.
The Samarra material, Photo Files 19--23, is in a special category. Files 22 and 23 were arranged in Albums labeled "Paläste und Moscheen-I and -II", respectively. The only identification was written on the backs of the prints, glued to the pages of the Albums. These notations have been transferred to the captions in the Photo Files. These two Albums apparently were arranged by Herzfeld with a view to a publication of the architecture of Samarra which was never prepared. The drawings for such a publication are in this collection.
With such a large number of prints, especially in view of the fact that some were arranged in different fashions for different purposes, it is inevitable that there should be some duplication and that related material may be found in several Photo Files. The only way a user can be sure he has not missed material concerning his particular interest is to examine the Photo File Lists where every print is recorded. Inasmuch as scholars study the same monument from different points of view, the fact that a photograph has been published in one context does not diminish its value in another context.
Note: Photo Files 35--42 consist of Oriental Institute prints of which the negatives are in Chicago. The prints may be published only with the written permission of the Oriental Institute.
- "Ernst Herzfeld Papers, Series 4: Photographic Files," which is composed of b&w glass negatives, color lantern slides, b&w photographic prints (both modern and original), b&w cyanotypes, large format b&w films, and b&w duplicate prints (both modern and original), iwas originally organized into three subseries, the glass n and covers Herzfeld's travels and surveys of the most major archaeological sites in Persia, Mesopotamia and Northern Syria, from 1923 to 1931. It also covers the field activities at Pasargadae (Spring 1928) and of the Persepolis Expedition (1931).
- The Herzfeld Papers in the Archives contains 3,890 glass negatives (FSA A.6 04.GN.0001- to FSA A.6 04.GN.5075), which includes eight sketchbooks (Skizzenbücher I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII), covers Herzfeld's travels and surveys of the most major archaeological sites in Persia from 1923 to 1924.
The Herzfeld Papers in the Archives contains 3,890 glass negatives, numbered from 1 to 5,066, without any apparent organization. Of most of these, Herzfeld had blueprints made which he had arranged in 16 binders by general categories—i.e. Prehistoric pottery, bronzes, stone; Persepolis; Sasanian monuments; Syrian monuments, Persian architecture and landscapes, etc.—irrespective of the number on the negative.
In addition to the glass negatives and blueprints, there are a series of 16 binders made of photographic prints (Photo Files, Nos. 1-16) and three albums (Photo Files, Nos. 25, 27, and 28). As well, approximately 1,069 photographic prints, which have no negatives, arranged in Photo Files 19-23, are in a special category. In File 19, prints of illustrations in Die Ausgrabungen von Samarra, vol. 1: Der Wandschmuck der Bauten von Samarra und seine Ornamentik. In File 20, prints of illustrations in Die Ausgrabungen von Samarra, vol.2: Die Keramik von Samarra von F. Sarre, supplemented by unpublished photos of ceramics. In the same file, prints of illustrations in Die Ausgrabungen von Samarra, vol.6: Die Geschichte der Stadt Samarra. In File 21, prints of illustrations in Die Ausgrabungen von Samarra, vol.3: Die Malereien von Samarra. At the end of the file, there are unpublished photographs. Files 22 and 23 were arranged in Albums labeled "Paläste und Moscheen-I and -II", respectively. These two Albums apparently were arranged by Herzfeld with a view to a publication of the architecture of the palaces, mosques and private houses of Samarra which was never prepared. The only identification, written on the backs of the prints which were glued to the Album page, had a first number in red crayon used in the captions as the negative number. In some cases, an additional number is given in blue crayon, possibly indicating a revision of the list or an alternative negative. The encircled number on the margin gives the position in the Album.
In addition to the glass negatives and the Photo Files, there is an even larger number of cut films and a package of duplicate prints which are, for the most part, unpublished. On his archaeological study trips, Herzfeld was accustomed to supplement his photographs on glass plates with photographs on cut film—sometimes of the same subjects, often of other subjects.
Arrangement:
- Glass Negatives, numbered from 1 to 5,075, originally stored in 80 wooden boxes of approximately 50 photographs each, are housed in document boxes and stored on shelves.
- Prints are organized in sequential number following publication series, "Die Ausgrabungen von Samarra." They are arranged in photo file folders which are housed in document boxes, and stored on shelves.
Biographical / Historical:
"Ernst Emil Herzfeld (1879-1948) was an orientalist whose many talents led him to explore all phases of Near Eastern culture, from the prehistoric period to Islamic times and from linguistics and religion to art and architecture." [Margaret Cool Root, 1976: "The Herzfeld Archive of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 11, pp. 119-124."]
Local Numbers:
FSA A.06 4
General:
Titles are provided by Xavier Courouble, FSg Archives cataloger, based on Ernst Herzfeld's publications and on Joseph Upton's Catalogue of the Herzfeld Archive.
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
The Papers primarly relate to Herzfeld's survey of the monuments, artifacts, and inscriptions of Western Asia between 1903 and 1947 and particularly to his excavations at Istakhr (Iran), Paikuli (Iraq), Pasargadae (Iran), Persepolis (Iran), Samarra (Iraq) and Kuh-e Khwaja (Iran), as well as various archaeological expeditions throughout Cilicia, Mesopotamia, Northern Syria, and Persia. Additional research material, probably collected by Moritz Sobernheim and Max Freiherr von Oppenheim but preserved by Ernst Herzfeld, was part of a broader project, that of Max van Berchem's "Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum."
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
The abbreviations used in captions of published drawings are:
IAE -- Iran in the Ancient East, Herzfeld
AMI -- Archaeologische Mitteilungen aus Iran, Herzfeld
Corpus -- Materiaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum. Part II, Tome II (Aleppo), Herzfeld
ID -- Iranische Denkmä, Lieferung 3/4 Niphauanda, Herzfeld
SA-I -- Ars Islamica, IX, "Damascus:Studies in Architecture, I. The Mukarnas Dome. The Madrasa," Herzfeld
SA-II -- Ars Islamica, X. Same study, II."The Cruciform Plan. Syrian Architecture, Period of Nur al-din," Herzfeld
SA-III -- Ars Islamica, XI--II. Same study, III. "The Ayyubid Madrasa. The Turba," Herzfeld
SA-IV -- Ars Islamica, XIII--IV. Same study, IV. "The Mosque," Herzfeld
TA -- Am Tor von Asien, Herzfeld
Drawings D-405 through D-485 (water-colors) are mounted on mats numbered PI.XXXIII through PI.LXI. They were apparently prepared for some publication not yet located. Other water-colors have similar notations. The large numbers, such as No.3445, apparently refer to a catalogue or inventory, not located.
- Approximately 1,562 drawings and plans that reflect Herzfeld's fine draftmanship and architectural training , with observations on topography, landscape, archaeological remains, architecture, and artifacts. Renderings are in pencil, ink, and watercolor. The published and unpublished drawings reveal Herzfeld's working methodology, in which he often employed tracings to rework his original field sketches. In addition, there are drawings by Friedrich Krefter, the architect who worked in association with Herzfeld for many years, and by drafting assistant Karl Bergner and Donald E. McCown.
- Approximately 70 maps dating from 1899 to the 1930s, including original maps prepared by Herzfeld, Karl Bergner or Friedrich Krefter, as well as various maps from German archaeologists such as Moritz Sobernheim and Max Freiherr von Oppenheim.
Arrangement:
Drawings are arranged roughly by size and then in number sequences, housed in document boxes or in flat file folders and stored in map case drawers.
Biographical / Historical:
"Ernst Emil Herzfeld (1879-1948) was an orientalist whose many talents led him to explore all phases of Near Eastern culture, from the prehistoric period to Islamic times and from linguistics and religion to art and architecture." [Margaret Cool Root, 1976: "The Herzfeld Archive of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 11, pp. 119-124."]
Local Numbers:
FSA A.06 05
General:
- Title is provided by Xavier Courouble, FSg Archives cataloger, based on Joseph Upton's Catalogue of the Herzfeld Archive."
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
The Papers primarly relate to Herzfeld's survey of the monuments, artifacts, and inscriptions of Western Asia between 1903 and 1947 and particularly to his excavations at Istakhr (Iran), Paikuli (Iraq), Pasargadae (Iran), Persepolis (Iran), Samarra (Iraq) and Kuh-e Khwaja (Iran), as well as various archaeological expeditions throughout Cilicia, Mesopotamia, Northern Syria, and Persia. Additional research material, probably collected by Moritz Sobernheim and Max Freiherr von Oppenheim but preserved by Ernst Herzfeld, was part of a broader project, that of Max van Berchem's "Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum."
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Circa 1939 brochure for Tralette mini-trailers, meant for carrying salesman samples, delivering merchandise, storing luggage, camping and carrying dogs. Light enough to be hitched to a motorcycle, they could also be hitched to an automobile.
Includes:
Trade catalog and price lists
Black and white images
Color images
Physical description:
1 piece; 1 box
Language:
English
Type of material:
Trade catalogs
Trade literature
Place:
Detroit, Michigan, United States
Date:
1900s
Topic (Romaine term):
Luggage; travel; travel services and traveling accessories (including trunks; briefcases; and other traveling accessories) Search this
