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Inventors Oral History Collection

Creator:: Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. Search this

Interviewer:: Bedi, Joyce Search this; Daemmrich, Arthur Search this; Oswald, Alison Search this; Ott, Katherine Search this

Interviewee:: Hamilton, Marilyn, 1949- Search this; Hyatt, Gilbert P. , 1938- Search this; Lindahl, Lisa Search this; Miller, Hinda Search this; Reid, Tahira N. Search this; Smith, Polly Palmer Search this

Extent:: 855.63 Gigabytes (Interviews include .mp4, video/.mxf and .wav files. )

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Gigabytes; Born digital; Oral history; Transcripts

Date:: 2020-2021

Summary:: Born digital video oral history interviews and transcripts with inventors documenting a variety of subjects and disciplines.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged into one series, alphabetical by last name of interviewee.

Related Materials:: Materials in the Archives Center

JogBra, Inc. Records (NMAH.AC.1315)

Disability Reference Collection (NMAH.AC.1319)

Folia Water Materials (NMAH.AC.1407)

Materials at the Smithsonian Institution Archives

Program/Project Records, 1994-2017 (SIA Acc. 19-100)

Interview with Theresa Dankovitch, inventor of the Folia water filter.

Interview with David Stone, inventor of Ferrock, a carbon-negative substitute for concrete. Also includes interviewee Richard Pablo.

Interview with Amy Prieto, inventor of a rechargeable battery.

Interview with John Warner, co-founder of the field of green chemistry.

Program/Project Records, 1989-2010 (SIA Acc. 12-582)

Interview with Remo Belli, jazz drummer who developed and marketed the first successful synthetic drumheads and founded the Remo company.

Interview with Arthur Ganson, inventor, kinetic sculptor and musician.

Audiovisual Records, 1995-2014 (SIA Acc. 16-092)

Interview with Gary Fisher, inventor of the modern mountain bike.

Lemelson Center, Program/Project Records, 2006-2015 (SIA Acc. 16-043)

Interview with Doreen Lorenzo, former president of Quirky.

Interview with Corinna E. Lathan, co-Founder of AnthroTronix, Inc., a biomedical research and development company with a focus on assistive technologies.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research. Access and use of audiovisual materials available in the Archives Center reading room or by requesting copies of audiovisual materials at RightsReproductions@si.edu.

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.

Topic:: African American engineers Search this; Brassieres -- 20th century Search this; Computer science Search this; Disabilities Search this; Double Dutch Search this; Electrical engineering Search this; Electrical engineers Search this; Inventors Search this; Inventions -- 20th century Search this; Mechanical engineers Search this; Mechanical engineering and engineers Search this; Microprocessors Search this; Running Search this; Sports Search this; Sports bra Search this; Women inventors Search this; wheelchairs Search this; Inventors, Black Search this

Genre/Form:: Born digital; Oral history -- 2010-2020; Transcripts

Citation:: Inventors Oral History Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sponsor:: Funding for the Marilyn Hamilton, Lisa Lindahl, Hinda Miller, Tahira N. Reid, and Polly Smith interviews was provided by a Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee grant.

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.1504

See more items in:: Inventors Oral History Collection

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep85c072cbb-cb11-493e-a0e6-184df5e09c2e

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1504

Robinson and Via Family Papers

Collector:: Robinson, Franklin A., Jr., 1959- (actor) Search this

Names:: Capital Transit Company (Washington, D.C.) Search this; Serenity Farm, Inc. Search this; Howes, Grace Bourne, ?-1976 Search this; Robinson, Adina Theresa, 1963- Search this; Robinson, Amanda Baden, 1849-1940 Search this; Robinson, Elizabeth Bourne, 1892-1976 Search this; Robinson, Frank A., 1883-1970 Search this; Robinson, Franklin A., 1841-1905 Search this; Robinson, Franklin A., Sr., 1932- Search this; Robinson, Martha Walls, 1807-1897 Search this; Robinson, Robert David, 1962- Search this; Robinson, Robert Henry, 1851-1937 Search this; Robinson, Thomas Wells, 1803-1869 Search this; Townshend, Martha Robinson, 1880-1961 Search this; Via, Adina Mae, 1937-1966 Search this; Via, Ida Virginia Woods, 1914-2010 Search this; Via, Robert Delano, 1933- Search this; Via, Robert Milton, 1906-1983 Search this

Creator:: Conner, Mary Robinson, 1930-2009 Search this

Extent:: 31.1 Cubic feet (93 boxes, 3 map-size folders)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Motion pictures (visual works); Correspondence; Photographs; Postcards; Baby books; Phonograph records; Postcard albums; Ephemera; School yearbooks; Diaries; Albums; Housebooks; Snapshots; Home movies; Family papers; Scrapbooks; Funeral registers; Architectural drawings

Place:: Maryland -- Family farms; Washington (D.C.); Prince George's County (Md.); Arizona -- Motion pictures; Benedict (Md.); Charles County (Md.) -- Family farms; Calvert County (Md.) -- Family farms; California -- Motion pictures; Bahamas -- Motion pictures; Yosemite National Park (Calif.); Puerto Rico -- Motion pictures; Washington -- motion pictures; Oregon -- Motion pictures; Disneyland (California); Brandywine (Md.); St. Thomas, V.I. -- Motion pictures; Florida -- Motion pictures; United States of America -- Maryland -- Carroll County -- Westminster; United States of America -- Maryland -- Carroll County -- Marston; United States of America -- Maryland -- Carroll County -- New Windsor

Date:: 1838-2023, undated; bulk 1872-1985

Summary:: Papers documenting the farming and family life of the Robinson family of Prince George's County and after 1975, Charles County, Maryland. Papers documenting the farming and family of the Via family of Greene County, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Prince George's and Calvert Counties, Maryland, by 1949.

Scope and Contents:: An extensive and comprehensive collection of papers relating to family, farming, and the Southern Maryland tobacco culture, the Robinson and Via Family Papers cover many aspects of family and farm life. The papers are particularly important in regard to the tobacco culture that defined Southern Maryland for generations. The papers concern two distinct family groups, the Robinson and Via families who are connected through the marriage of Franklin A. Robinson and Adina Mae Via. The papers consist of material generated by the Robinson and Via families in their personal and working lives and as farm owners and operators.

The papers are especially strong in 20th century material. They consist of various types of farm records: account books, bills, receipts, tenant farming agreements, ephemera, land rental and purchase agreements, insurance policies, photographs and 8mm and 16mm films of farming practices and procedures, equipment and landscapes, related to the farming of tobacco, small grains, and livestock. The personal records include diaries, letters both personal and business, greeting cards, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, high school yearbooks, baby books, house plans, recipe books, photographs and 8mm films of birthdays, holidays, weddings, baptisms, family occasions, and family travel, oral histories, and funeral ephemera including photographs, and transcription discs. Of particular interest are the "Serenity Farm Tobacco Production Photographs" documenting the crop year 1999-2000 and the films detailing agricultural practices. There is a memorandum book for Black Walnut Thicket, 1885-1901, the Baden farm in Baden, Prince George's County.

This collection includes a comprehensive range of 8mm and 16mm films and photographs documenting farming practices and landscapes as well as family gatherings, birthdays, holidays, and vacations. The researcher is alerted to the fact that in some cases with the memorandum and account books, books printed for a given year were often saved and used for subsequent years, some were dated, some were not.

The collection is divided into seven series arranged by subject and most often chronologically at folder level within each series.

Arrangement:: The collection is divided into seven series:

Series 1: Ferndale Farm (Potomac Landing), Prince George's County, Maryland, 1861-1973, undated

Subseries 1.1: Farm papers, bill, and receipts, and publications, 1861-1973, undated

Subseries 1.2: Farm papers, bill, and receipts, 1945-1960, undated

Subseries 1.3: Farm papers, bills, and receipts, 1960-1965, undated

Series 2: Robinson Family, 1845-2017, undated

Subseries 2.1: Family Papers and Publications, 1845-1993, undated

Subseries 2.2: Townshend, Martha Robinson, 1896-1961, undated

Subseries 2.3: Robinson, Frank A., 1899-1970, undated

Subseries 2.4: Robinson, Elizabeth Bourne, 1841-1976, undated

Subseries 2.5: Conner, Mary Robinson, 1938-1985, undated

Subseries 2.6: Robinson, Franklin A., 1932-1997, undated

Subseries 2.6.1: Farming, 1948-1976, undated

Subseries 2.6.2: Financial, 1948-1988, undated

Subseries 2.6.3: 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA), 1945-1954, undated

Subseries 2.6.4: Travel, 1959-1970, undated

Subseries 2.7: Robinson, Jr., Franklin A., 1959-2001, undated

Series 3: Serenity Farm, Charles County, Maryland, 1962-2000, undated

Series 4: Via Farm, Calvert County, Maryland, 1954-1987, undated

Series 5: Via Family, 1932-2010, undated

Subseries 5.1: Family papers, 1941-1983, undated

Subseries 5.2: Via, Robert M., 1933-1987, undated

Subseries 5.3: Via, Ida Virginia, 1928-2010, undated

Subseries 5.4: Via, Robert D., 1933-1988, undated

Subseries 5.5: Robinson, Adina Via, 1937-1966, undated

Series 6: Photographs, Photographic Slides, and Photographic Negatives, 1860-2000, undated

Subseries 6.1: Photographs, 1872-2000, undated

Subseries 6.2: Photographic negatives, 1927--2000, undated

Subseries 6.3: Photographic Slides, 1955-1979, undated

Series 7: AudioVisual, 1943-1988

Biographical / Historical:: Robinson Family

The Robinson family is thought to be of Scottish origin and appear in the records of Prince George's County, Maryland by the early 18th century. The line has been definitively traced to James Robinson (?-1849). James' father was probably Benjamin Robinson (?-1810), of Prince George's County, Maryland. (Will Book TT1, pg. 15, Records of Prince George's County, Maryland, Maryland State Archives (MSA))

James Robinson and Sarah Wynn were issued a marriage license on February 28, 1802 in Prince George's County, Maryland. (Marriage Records of Prince George's County, Maryland) Eleven children lived to maturity (not listed in birth order); Thomas Wells (1803-1869), Ann, Priscilla, James Monroe, Benjamin (1813-1882), John C. (1819-1895), Mary Sophia, Thomas Stanley (1800-1874), Alfred, Sarah Ann, Matilda, and Rebecca Maria.

James worked as a farm manager for Benjamin Oden near Upper Marlborough, Prince George's County. (Oden Papers, Maryland Historical Society) The Robinsons and their children, moved to Wood County, Virginia (now West Virginia) by April 18, 1818 where James acted as Oden's land agent (Deed Book 6, pg. 123, Land Records of Wood County, West Virginia). They brought with them three enslaved described in the above reference as, "Kate a woman 45 years of age very black; Colonel a boy aged 8 years yellow complexion: and George a boy aged six years of a dark brown complexion." They settled on part of what was known as the "Burnt Mill" tract in the general area where the Hughes River meets the Little Kanawha River. (Deed Book 9, pg. 110 and Deed Book 14, pg. 40, Land Records of Wood County)

Thomas Wells Robinson may not have accompanied his family to Virginia as he has a presence in Prince George's County prior to 1822 and was employed as a farm manager for Benjamin Oden at least until 1832. He married Elizabeth J. Richards on December 15, 1829 (Robinson Family Bible). They had nine children; Richard Thomas (1831 1906), Rebecca Maria (1832-1895), Mary Wynn (1834-1916), James George (1835-1883), Virlinda Victoria (1837-1838), Elizabeth Ann (1839-1916), Sarah Ann Sophia (1840-1874), Franklin Alexander (1841-1905) and John Alfred (1843); seven lived to maturity. (Robinson Family Bible) Elizabeth died on August 17, 1843 from complications in childbirth. She was buried in the graveyard of Page's Chapel (later known as St. Thomas Episcopal Church), Croom, Prince George's County. In 1843, Thomas purchased the plantation of Dr. Benjamin B. Hodges for $10,000 or approximately $15 an acre. Hodges was a brother-in-law of Benjamin Oden. The deed dated September 7, 1843 describes the parcel as containing, "Six hundred and twenty nine acres of land more or less and constitute that plantation or Estate of the said Benjamin Oden heretofore commonly called "Brown's Quarter Place" being the Land tracts and parcels of land sold by the said Benjamin Oden to the said Benjamin B. Hodges and by deed bearing date the tenth day of December eighteen hundred and thirty five and recorded in Liber AB no. 10 folio 162 also one of the land Records of the County aforesaid". (JBB no. 3 pgs. 312 314, Land Records of Prince George's County) The land was level to rolling bordered on the north by a tributary of Piscataway Creek and generally termed "white oak land". Underlying the whole property was a large strata of gravel and sand. The entire parcel went by the name, Potomac Landing.

Thomas supplemented his land holdings with later purchases. With the exception of twenty acres purchased from Sarah Talbert in 1844, (JBB no. 3 pg. 475, Land Records of Prince George's County) and the purchase of lot #3 consisting of 195 acres, part of the estate of John Townshend in 1856, these purchases were not contiguous to Potomac Landing. By the time of his death in 1869 these non-contiguous parcels had been sold. Thomas sold eighty-six acres of Potomac Landing and Jeffries to Edward Eversfield in October of 1843. (JBB no. 3, pg. 198, Land Records of Prince George's County) On January 13, 1846 Thomas married the widow Martha Ann Walls, daughter of George and Martha Naylor Walls. They had two sons; Benjamin Wells (1848-1849) and Robert Henry (1851-1937).

In addition to his sons, Thomas owned enslaved. The number varied from six in 1849 (JBB 6, folio 186, Land Records of Prince Georges' County) to eleven as noted in the census for 1850, and finally six as noted in the census of 1860. The 1867 Maryland Slave Statistics noted that, "at the time of the adoption of the Constitution of Maryland, in the year 1864, . . ." Thomas owned six enslaved, their names and ages being; Isaac Franklin age 31, Alfred West age 19, Susan West age 17, Margaret Franklin age 14, Fannie Franklin age 12, and Peter Franklin age 9. All were noted as being in good physical condition. (Prince Georges' County Slave Statistics 1867 1869, C 1307 1, MdHR:6198, page 185, MSA)

Thomas's financial problems began in the mid-1800s when Deeds of Trust appear in the county records securing outstanding loans. In 1856 and 1857 Thomas joined with others as bondsman for his son, Richard who was serving as "Collector of the State and County Taxes" for the 4th collection district, making he and the other signatories liable for any uncollected taxes. This, coupled with poor investments, led to his almost being "sold out" in 1859-1860 by J.W. & E. Reynolds of Baltimore to pay his debts. He executed three drafts on Penn & Mitchell, also of Baltimore, to pay off J.W. & E. Reynolds. (Equity Case #597, Prince Georges' County) Thomas was in poor health and his son James managed the farm in 1857 and 1858, and again from 1861 to October of 1862 (Equity Case #873, Prince Georges' County)

In October of 1862 Thomas' two sons, James and Franklin, traveled to Richmond to join the Confederate States Army. James enrolled in the 5th Battalion, Local Defense Arsenal and Franklin enrolled in the 5th Virginia Infantry, the Stonewall Brigade. (CSA Military Records, National Archives) James visited home frequently but was captured by the Union Army in St. Mary's County, Maryland on May 15, 1864 and spent the remainder of the war in Point Lookout Prison Camp. He was released on May 14, 1865. Franklin was not able to visit home at all during the war but survived to return home in 1865. In 1865, Thomas surveyed a parcel of 172 acres for his daughter Rebecca Maria. Rebecca had married her second cousin, William B. Robertson, on November 18, 1855. He made a gift of fifty acres, and Rebecca agreed to purchase the remainder. The Robertsons named this parcel Holly Grove. In Equity Case #849 (1872) filed after Thomas' death, his widow Martha and Samuel H. Berry, as executrix and executor, sought to recover payment for this land. At that time, William B. Robertson described this 172 acres of Potomac Landing: "There was no fences on the line which separated this land from the old gentleman's land, but he was to put a fence on it which he agreed to do before we agreed to come there. The land was thin, unimproved, with gullies and scrubby pine. If witness had been a judge of land he would not have given five dollars for it. All the improvements were one comfortable quarter the other indifferent with a poor oak shingle roof, worn out which made it not tenantable." Further along in his testimony, William gave an account of a conversation, "In a few days my father in law Thos. W. Robinson came to Washington and told me there his children had returned from the South, his two sons, that his debts were small and he was a happy man." Rebecca and William built a house on the property, a side-hall, double parlor plan that most likely her brother James was builder. They also built accompanying farm structures. (Records of Prince George's County, Maryland, Equity Case #849, MSA)

Thomas' son, Franklin, managed the farm after the War. In December 1868 Thomas entered into a sharecropping agreement with Edward Hanson, an African-American. After about a year-long illness, on May 16, 1869, Thomas died, deeply in debt. He was buried beside Elizabeth in the graveyard at St. Thomas' Church. He named as executrix his wife, Martha, and his friend and lawyer, Samuel H. Berry, as executor. His will divided the farm into thirds, one third going to his wife and their son Robert Henry, one third to his son James, and one third to his son Franklin. The land was surveyed according to the will. His personal property was sold but not enough profit was realized to pay off his creditors. The Commissioners of Prince George's County sued the estate on behalf of Thomas' creditors. The outcome was that in 1876 the property was sold at public auction. The Notice of Sale dated September 1, 1876 in the local county newspaper, The Prince Georgian, describes the farm as, "containing 514 2/3 acres More or less. The Improvements consist of a SMALL DWELLING, Three Barns, Stabling, and other necessary outbuildings. It is well wooded and watered, and the soil of fair quality. It has recently been divided into three lots and will be offered in lots, a description of which will be given at the time of sale." The sale was held on September 27, 1876, Lot No. 1 was purchased by Robert for $6.00 an acre, Lot #2 was purchased by Franklin for $5.00 an acre and Lot #3 was purchased by James for $4.00 per acre. Robert and Franklin eventually paid off their mortgage, but James defaulted on his purchase and later moved to St. Mary's County, Maryland. His portion later came to be owned by the Hawkins family, some members who had worked on the Robinson farm. (Equity Case #873, Prince Georges' County, MSA)

Lot #1, purchased by Robert from his fathers' estate, consisted of 177-1/3 acres, including the dwelling and farm buildings. On July 24, 1872, he married Amanda Malvina Baden (1849-1940), daughter of Robert W. G. and Margaret Caroline Early Baden. The Baden and Early families were both prominent south county families. Robert and Amanda had eight children; Caroline Early (1873 1967), Lucy Tennent (1875 1958), Albert Henry (1878 1914), Martha Perry (1880 1961), Robert Gover (1882 1882), Frank Alexander (1883 1970), Margaret Baden (1886 1956) and Grace Malvina (1889 1965).

By 1880 Robert had paid off his debt on the property and was fully engaged in farming. Unlike his father, or perhaps because of his father, Robert did not add to his land holdings, choosing to remain relatively debt free for his lifetime. The only land transactions he participated in were the sales of 79-3/4 acres in 1921 of Amanda's inheritance from her father and her interest in two smaller parcels of her father's land sold in 1894 and 1928 respectively. In 1928 he transferred 3.09 acres to his son Frank.

As late as the Federal census of 1880, Franklin was living with Robert and his household, both men engaged in farming. Sometime after 1880, Franklin took up residence on his part of Potomac Landing. His brother James most likely built the side-hall double parlor house that copied the main house at Potomac Landing. On February 18, 1897, Martha Robinson, died at the age of ninety. She was buried in the graveyyard of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Baden, Prince George's County. Robert continued cultivation of tobacco and small grains as his father before him. The first reference to the farm being named Ferndale is found in the "Communion Record" of Robert's daughter, Martha Perry "Pattie", dated 1896. (Robinson and Via Family Papers) The exact origin or reason for this new name is lost but perhaps the name Potomac Landing held such bitter memories of debt and hardship that, as a symbolic break with the past, a new name was found. It also may have simply been a way to distinguish this portion of Potomac Landing from the others. The farm continued to be listed on tax bills as Potomac Landing well into the 20th century, but was known to the general public and businesses as the Ferndale Farm. (Robinson and Via Family Papers)

Robert served as deputy inspector at the State Tobacco Warehouse in Baltimore for eight years under W.B. Bowie. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Bank of Brandywine. In July of 1905, Franklin died, a bachelor farmer. He was buried facing south in the graveyard of the Church of the Atonement, Cheltenham, (a chapel in St. Thomas' Episcopal Parish) where he had served as vestryman, treasurer, and cemetery custodian. Franklin died intestate and a lengthy process of dividing his estate began. This resulted in the sale of his part of Potomac Landing (Lot #2) in July 1908 to William E. Boswell. The court declared Robert ineligible for any inheritance due to his being " . . . a brother of the half blood." The Boswell family later sold the property to the Billingsley family of St. Mary's County. (Equity Case 3209, Prince George's County)

In 1910, after living in the farm's original home for approximately sixty seven years, the Robinson family built a new home. It was described in a 1956 insurance policy as, "2 story, frame, metal roof, 16x43, wing 14x28, 9 rooms." (Robinson and Via Family Papers) The house design was a simple Victorian with plastered walls, and lit by carbide gas. Electrical lighting was installed in 1951. The house was built with monies from Robert and Amanda, and their son Frank, who served as builder and contractor.

On Tuesday March 9, 1937, "During a celebration in honor of his wifes birthday anniversary, Mr. Robinson collapsed at the table and died immediately without a word or a sigh." (Robinson and Via Family Papers) Robert was buried beside his mother in the cemetery at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Baden.

At Robert's death, Ferndale Farm was valued at $30.00 an acre, the total acreage, 174 acres, being valued in the whole at $5,220.00. Robert died intestate, again the fate of the land was in question. He left eight heirs, his widow, Amanda, six of his children and his son Albert Henry's only surviving child, R. Henry Robinson. Rather than have the farm sold and his mother's life disrupted, Frank purchased the estate and personal property from the heirs. Before this could take place, a deed had to be granted the heirs for the property since one had never been recorded after the 1876 sale. Equity case 873 was reopened sixty-two years after its supposed resolution. Frank testified, "over a period of about thirty years I would on a number of occasions, talk about the fact that he had purchased and paid for this property and that a deed had never been executed to him and [he] kept saying he was going to have someone straighten this matter out for him." It was discovered that Robert had fully paid for his part of Potomac Landing. On February 14, 1938 the farm was deeded from Amanda along with Robert''s heirs to Frank. (Book 499, page 334, Land Records of Prince George's County) According to the deed and a 1937 fire insurance policy the farm consisted of 177 1/3 acres, "1 two story dwelling, one tenant house, 1 barrack, 1 tobacco barn, 1 corn house & cow stable, 1 Stable, and 1 Granary & Stable." (Robinson and Via Family Papers)

Frank A. Robinson, now the sole owner of Ferndale Farm, was born August 17, 1883. He learned farming and in addition took up the trade of builder and contractor. As a young man, he worked in the general store of his uncle Robert Baden. He was the contractor for the first Bank of Brandywine and many homes in and around the town of Brandywine, including the home of his cousin Robert E. Baden, DDS. He was secretary of the Building Committee for construction of the Chapel of the Incarnation in Brandywine, a mission chapel for St. Thomas' Episcopal Parish. His success in the building trade gave him disposable income that he invested in land. His first purchase was in August, 1915 of a 2-9/100 acre of land in Brandywine that was being sold by the Board of County School Commissioners; the purchase price was $300. In March 1916 he purchased 38.09 acres of his Uncle Franklin's farm. This property adjoined Ferndale Farm. Over the next fifty-four years of his life, Frank bought and sold many pieces of real estate. Perhaps his most significant purchases were: 18-1/3 acres purchased from The German American Colonization Land Company of Maryland in October 1915 (Book 115, pg. 140, Land Records of Prince George's County); 147.99 acres purchased from August and Wilhelmina Noltensmeir in December 1917 (Book 129, pg. 263, Land Records of Prince George's County) and 320 acres called the Vineyard purchased from William M. Wilson in March 1928. Frank used these three parcels as collateral for other purchases. Never once did he mortgage Ferndale Farm, insuring that no matter what financial stormy seas might blow, his home was secure. Over the course of his life, especially in the case of the Noltensmeir farm, when cash was needed a parcel of land would be surveyed off and sold. He inherited his grandfather Thomas' love of land but had fortunately developed a shrewd business sense to go along with it.

On November 20, 1929, he married Elizabeth Freeland Bourne, daughter of Joseph Blake and Maria Gantt Bourne of Calvert County, Maryland. They had three children: Mary Elizabeth (1930-2009), Franklin Alexander (1932-2023), and Robert Lee (1935-1997). In addition to his construction business he continued farming, raising tobacco, hay, and small grains. He engaged in sharecropping with tenants on his various properties. He was active in community affairs serving on the Board of The Maryland Tobacco Growers Association (MTGA), the Vestry of St. Thomas Parish, and as sheriff of Brandywine. On January 9, 1940 Amanda Baden Robinson died. She was buried next to her husband at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Baden. In February 1958, Frank and Elizabeth conveyed 1.57 acres of Ferndale Farm to son Franklin where he and his fiancée, Adina M. Via, were building their new home prior to their marriage in July of that same year.

The booming economy and suburbanization of the Washington metropolitan area in the early 1960's led to the high quality gravel lying beneath Ferndale into becoming a valuable commodity. In October 1962, Franklin and his parents granted a three-year lease to William C. Nolte for mining sand and gravel on the Ferndale Farm at .174 per yard. (Book 2747, pg. 11, Land Records of Prince George's County) From now until 1975 when the property was sold, gravel would be mined from under the farm by various companies. In November 1962, Elizabeth and Frank transferred to Franklin the 38.09 acres Frank had purchased from Fitzhugh Billingsley in 1916. (Book 2754, pg. 99, Land Records of Prince George's County) That same year they transferred 6.754 acres, part of the Vineyard, to son Robert and his wife Lois, (Book 2765, pg. 201, Land Records of Prince George's County)

On December 28, 1965, Frank and Elizabeth participated in a land exchange/purchase of the farm of Ralph W. and Cordelia H. Brown located along the Patuxent River in Benedict, Charles County, Maryland. Franklin had rented this farm the year before and was impressed enough by its location and arability to work out a purchase. Frank and Elizabeth traded 65.9920 acres that would eventually become Franklin's under Frank's will. On February 21, 1966 they deeded the Charles County farm to Franklin and Adina. Adina named this property Serenity Farm. The property consisted of 480.66 acres. (Liber 179, page 708 etc., Land Records of Charles County)

On February 5, 1970, after a short illness, Frank died at Cafritz Memorial Hospital. He was buried at St. Paul's Episcopal Church near his parents. In his will, probated March 4, 1970 he left thirty acres of the property purchased from the German American Land Company and A. Noltensmeir to Elizabeth. He willed forty acres of the same parcel to daughter Mary Robinson Conner. The remainder of Ferndale Farm was willed to Franklin and the remaining acreage of the Vineyard was left to Robert Lee. Franklin Alexander Robinson was born August 13, 1932 at the Garfield Hospital in Washington, D.C.. He received his schooling in the public school system of Prince George's County, graduating from Gwynn Park High School in June 1951. He was a charter member of Gwynn Park's chapter of The Future Farmers of America. He was extremely active in FFA, achieving the Degree of Maryland Farmer in 1950 and their highest award, the Degree of American Farmer at their convention in Kansas City, Missouri in October 1953. He obtained his private pilots license in 1954. He entered the United States Army in February 1955 and went through basic training at Camp Gordon, Augusta, Georgia. After basic training he was transferred to Camp Hanford, Washington State. There he worked part time on the farm of Dick and Theresa Laurent during his off duty hours and began a lifelong friendship with them. He returned home to farming on an agricultural discharge in October of 1956. On July 27, 1958 he married his high school sweetheart, Adina Mae Via, daughter of Robert Milton and Virginia Woods Via. They had three children: Franklin Alexander (1959), Robert David (1962), and Adina Theresa (1963).

Franklin continued expanding and improving the farming operation by modern methods and means. At times, he farmed over one thousand acres, both owned and rented. On February 21, 1966, his parents deeded their purchase of the Ralph W. and Cordelia H. Brown farm in Benedict to he and Adina, later known as Serenity Farm Franklin and Adina engaged an architect to draft house plans for an anticipated new residence. A small A frame vacation home was built on the property so the family could spend weekends there.

On December 14, 1966, after a long illness, Adina died from complications associated with Hodgkin's Disease. She was buried in Trinity Memorial Gardens, Waldorf, Charles County. Franklin married Margaret Walker Lennox (nee Tallen, known as Rita) on August 21, 1970 (Marriage Records of Prince George's County, Maryland). This marriage ended in divorce in 1977. There were no children from this marriage.

On July 14, 1975 the Robinson family, Franklin, his second wife, Margaret, her daughter Margaret W. Lennox, Franklin, Jr., R. David, A. Theresa and Elizabeth B. Robinson, moved to Serenity Farm. On July 17, 1975 Franklin and Elizabeth sold the remaining acreage of Ferndale Farm to Brandywine Sand and Gravel, thus ending 131 years of ownership by the Robinson family. Elizabeth Bourne Robinson died on July 15, 1976 and was buried beside her husband at St. Paul's Church, Baden. Franklin married Hiltrud (Ceddie) Harris (nee Sedlacek) on July 15, 1978. (Robinson Family Bible) This marriage ended in divorce in 1986. There were no children from this marriage. Franklin married Diedre Gale Merhiage on April 19, 1989; this marriage ended in divorce in 1997. There were no children from this marriage. He married Remelda Henega Buenavista on January 13, 2007.

The Robinson family continue day-to-day operations of Serenity Farm. The land is well suited to the growing of tobacco and small grains, which crops, (with the exception of tobacco) along with a flock of sheep, are cultivated there to the present time. After the crop year 2001 the Robinson family took the tobacco buyout program offered by the state of Maryland and ceased growing tobacco. Franklin is active in farming and community affairs having served on the vestry of St. Thomas Episcopal Parish, the Board of Directors of the Maryland Tobacco Growers Association (MTGA), the Board of the Production Credit Association, the Boards of three schools, Holy Trinity Day School, Queen Anne School, and Calverton School, and numerous other organizations. Currently the farm consists of approximately 275 acres. In 1981 a state agricultural land preservation district of 222.755 acres was created. This was the first such district in Charles County and one of the first in the state of Maryland.

Via Family

The Via family traces its origins to the colony of Virginia, where the probable progenitor of the line, Amer Via, a French Huguenot, settled in Manakin Town, Albemarle County between 1670-1700. It is impossible to trace the Via line definitively due to the loss of Virginia county records during the Civil War.

The Via family line covered in this collection can be definitively traced to William Via of Fredericksville Parish, Louisa (later Albemarle) County, Virginia. The William Via family lived west of the present day town of Whitehall at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, an area commonly known as Sugar Hollow. William Via III served in the Virginia Line during the Revolutionary War. He married Mary Craig, daughter of Thomas Craig and Jane Jameson, on March 17, 1784. William died on June 27, 1836, in Albemarle County (Rev. War Pension Appl. 6363, National Archives). His son Thomas married Sally, widow Griffin, on January 1, 1811 (Albemarle County Marriage Records). Their son, Hiram Karl Via (1812-1893), married Harriet Ardenia Naylor by license dated March 7, 1836 (Albemarle County Marriage Records).

Hiram and Harriet's son, Robert St. Clair Via (1844-1925), served as a private in Company I, 7th Virginia Infantry of the Confederate States Army (CSA Military Service Records, National Archives). After the war he married his first cousin, Mary Frances Naylor, daughter of Samuel Chapman Naylor and Eliza Jane Gardner, on April 3, 1866 in Rockingham County (Rockingham County, Virginia, Marriage Records). Sometime between 1870 and 1872, they moved to Linn County, Missouri, and settled about seven miles from the town of Bucklin. Their son, Hiram Chapman Via (1872-1933), was born there. In 1893, the family returned to Virginia, and settled on a farm in Greene County near the town of Stanardsville.

Hiram Chapman Via operated a mill as well as a farm. On March 15, 1899, he married Adina Eleanor Eusebia Runkle, daughter of Milton D. L. Runkle and Roberta A. Beadles (Greene County, Virginia, Marriage Records). They had three children: Bernice Olive (1902-1999), Robert Milton (1906-1983), and Deward Daniel (1909-1977).

Robert moved to Washington, D.C.. In December 1927 he began employment with the Capitol Traction Company as a streetcar conductor (Robinson and Via Family Papers). During the early 1930s, Robert rented a townhouse at 715 A St., SE, where he lived with his sister Bernice V. McMullan and her son, William C. McMullan; his brother and sister in law, and his parents. Next door, at 717, lived the Moses Albright family, including Moses's stepdaughter Ida Virginia Woods (1914-2010), daughter of Jesse Lee Woods (1894-1918) and Donna Mae Barker (1896-1928) of Frederick County, Maryland. Robert and Virginia began a courtship and on September 3, 1932 were married in Frederick, Frederick County, Maryland (Frederick County, Maryland, Marriage Records).

After their marriage, Robert and Virginia lived in various locations in the Washington metropolitan area. Their first child, Robert Delano, was born on March 24, 1933, and their second child, Adina Mae, was born on April 12, 1937. Virginia was employed outside the home while her children were in school. Her first job before her marriage had been with Woolworth's in Martinsburg, WV working the candy counter and then before the birth of her son at The Hecht Company on F St. in Washington, D.C.. After her marriage she worked briefly for the United States Postal Service in Capitol Heights, Maryland. Beginning in the 1950s, she worked first at the Hecht Company department store on 7th Street in the District and later for Charles of the Ritz as a receptionist in their beauty salon located in Woodward & Lothrop's F Street store in Washington, D.C.. She also worked as salon manager at the Charles of the Ritz salons in the Woodward & Lothrop stores in Seven Corners, Virginia, and Chevy Chase, Maryland. She retired due to health reasons in 1973.

On September 10, 1941, Robert and Virginia purchased Lot #43 in Woodlane subdivision in Prince George's County. (Book 619, pg. 12, Land Records of Prince George's County) A house was designed for them for this lot by Clyde E. Phillips. They did not construct a home on this property due to the outbreak of World War II. Robert, due to his employment in public transportation, did not serve with the Armed Services in World War II. On October 18, 1946, they purchased approximately thirty acres bordering on Burch's Creek near the towns of Clinton, also know as Surrattsville, and T.B. in Prince George's County from Joseph H. and M. Pauline Blandford. (Book 873, pg. 483, Land Records of Prince George's County) Over the next three years, hiring private contractors, doing work themselves, and with the help of Robert's brother Deward, they built the two story house designed by Phillips in 1941. They moved to the farm from Capitol Heights in 1949. Robert raised hogs, small grains and a crop of tobacco yearly on this farm and also maintained his job with Capitol Transit (formerly Capitol Traction). In 1954, Robert and Virginia purchased a farm of approximately 150 acres in Island Creek, Calvert County, Maryland. The intention was for Robert and his son to enter into a full time farming operation on expanded acreage. Robert D. Via, known as Delano, graduated from Gwynn Park High School in June 1951. Delano was a part-time farmer and pursued a career as a country and western singer with Bashful Bob and the Rhythm Rangers, he being Bashful Bob. He was employed in various jobs, and began a tour in the Army in 1953. By the time the Via family moved to Calvert County in 1956, he decided to pursue careers other than farming. He eventually traveled and worked in various parts of the United States. He married first Delores Cooper, second Gloria J. Irick, and finally Candice Marinelli in December 1974, they had two children, Robert Marin (1975) and Kirstin Marin (1976).

On June 1, 1956 Robert resigned from his position at Capitol Transit due to health reasons. He and his family moved to the farm in Island Creek, Calvert County where he began full time farming. He and Virginia sold the thirty-acre farm in Prince George's County on June 21, 1956 to Melvin C. and Geraldine H. Rardia. (Book 2003, pg. 564, Land Records of Prince George's County) Virginia continued her employment with Charles of the Ritz. Adina, now a graduate of Gwynn Park High School, was employed by the USAF at Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, Maryland. They both commuted daily from Calvert County to their places of employment.

Robert farmed in Calvert County, raising hogs, cattle, small grains and tobacco. Over the course of the next twenty-seven years, Robert and Virginia sold smaller parcels off the farm. In 1974, Robert and Virginia built a small retirement home designed for them by Calvert Masonry Contractors. Robert died on December 22, 1983. He was buried beside his daughter Adina in Trinity Memorial Gardens. At the time of Robert's death, the farm consisted of 28.694 acres. In 1998, Virginia deeded the remainder of the farm, then less than six acres, to her grandson, Franklin A. Robinson, Jr. who sold all but a one-acre lot in April 1999.

Virginia continued to live on the farm in Calvert County, maintaining a small herd of cattle. In the fall of 1989 Franklin, Jr. went to live with her. In 1993, the onset of Alzheimer's Disease required her to move to Serenity Farm and take up residence with her granddaughter A. Theresa. Virginia participated in various studies on Alzheimer's Disease conducted by the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland beginning in 1992. She was profiled in the September 1997 issue of Washingtonian Magazine. In October of 1998 she moved to All American Senior Care in Brandywine, Maryland and in 1999 she moved to Morningside, an elderly care facility in Waldorf, Maryland. In 2002, she moved to St. Mary's Nursing Center in Leonardtown, Maryland. The remainder of the farm was sold in 1999 and 2002. She died January 14, 2010 and was buried at Trinity Memorial Gardens in Waldorf.

Adina Mae Via was born April 12, 1937 at the Homeopathic Hospital in Washington, D.C.. Adina grew up in Washington, D.C. attending public schools. She moved with her family to the Burch's Creek farm, Prince George's County, in 1949. She enrolled in the Prince George's County school system, and graduated from Gwynn Park High School in June of 1955. After graduation, she was employed by the USAF at Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs.

In July of 1956, she moved with her family to the Via farm in Island Creek, Calvert County. On July 27, 1958 she married Franklin A. Robinson at the Chapel of the Incarnation. They had three children: Franklin Alexander (1959), Robert David (1962) and Adina Theresa (1963). In the fall of 1958, she and Franklin took up residence in the home they had built on Ferndale Farm. She resigned from her position with the USAF in 1959.

On December 14, 1966, at Providence Hospital in Washington, DC, Adina died from complications due to Hodgkin's Disease. She had been battling this disease for many years prior to her death. She was buried in Trinity Memorial Gardens, Charles County.

Related Materials:: Materials at Other Organizations

The Maryland Historical Society holds items (costume, farming related implements) related to the Robinson and Via families.

Separated Materials:: Materials at the National Museum of American History

The Division of Work and Industry (Agriculture Collection) holds agricultural implements and artifacts associated with both the Robinson farms and the Via farm; the Division of Home and Community Life holds clothing, textiles (crib quilt), jewelry, cosmetics and Adina M. Robinson's sewing box and dress patterns; (Costume and Textiles Collection). See accession numbers: 1989.0688, 1990.0394, 1991.0010; 1991.0722, 1992.0184, 1992.0283, 1992.0321, 1992.0474, 1992.3106, 1994.0064, 1994.0304, 1997.0327, 1998.0038, 1998.0129, 2001.0196, 2002.0087, 2003.0015, 2005.0009.

Division of Armed Forces History (now Division of Olitical and Military History, National Numismatics Collection) holds the Robert M. Via Trolley Token Collection.

Provenance:: The collection was donated to the National Museum of American History, Archives Center, by Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., in November 1993.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research but negatives and audiovisuial materials are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Some papers of living persons are restricted. Access to restricted portions may be arranged by request to the donor. Gloves required for unprotected photographs. Viewing film portions of the collection and listening to LP recording requires special appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

Rights:: The Archives Center does not own exclusive rights to these materials. Copyright for all materials is retained by the donor, Franklin A. Robinson, Jr.; permission for commercial use and/or publication may be requested from the donor through the Archives Center. Military Records for Franklin A. Robinson (b. 1932) and correspondence from Richard I. Damalouji (1961-2014) are restricted; written permission is needed to research these files. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:: Farms -- Maryland Search this; Holidays Search this; Amusement parks -- California Search this; Children's parties Search this; Rural women Search this; Sheep ranches Search this; Parks -- California Search this; Rural families Search this; Tobacco -- Harvesting Search this; Tobacco -- Storage Search this; Street-railroads Search this; Street-railroads -- Employees Search this; Travel Search this; Urban transportation Search this; Work and family Search this; Tobacco curing Search this; Women in agriculture Search this; Farm equipment Search this; Farm buildings Search this; Family recreation Search this; Family festivals Search this; Farm ownership Search this; Farm life -- 20th century Search this; Farm management Search this; Illiterate persons Search this; Christmas Search this; Soldiers Search this; Students Search this; Family -- 20th century Search this; Family farms Search this; Easter Search this; Electric railroads Search this; Acting -- 1980-2000 Search this; Amateur films Search this; Agricultural machinery Search this; Agriculture -- 20th century -- Maryland Search this; Tobacco farmers Search this; Housewives -- United States Search this; Weddings Search this; Farmers Search this; Dairy farms Search this

Genre/Form:: Motion pictures (visual works); Correspondence -- 1930-1950; Photographs -- 20th century; Postcards; Baby books; Phonograph records; Postcard albums; Ephemera; School yearbooks; Diaries; Albums; Housebooks; Photographs -- 19th century; Snapshots; Home movies; Family papers; Scrapbooks; Funeral registers; Architectural drawings

Citation:: The Robinson and Via Family Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sponsor:: Preservation of the 8mm films in this collection was made possible, in part, by a grant from the National Film Preservation Fund.

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.0475

See more items in:: Robinson and Via Family Papers

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep86b1972cf-a789-45ec-8f3e-fb780d43456d

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0475

Online Media:

Isidore Konti papers

Creator:: Konti, Isidore, 1862-1938 Search this

Names:: Bitter, Karl Theodore Francis, 1867-1915 Search this; Daingerfield, Elliott, 1859-1932 Search this; Eickemeyer, Rudolf, 1862-1932 Search this; French, Daniel Chester, 1850-1931 Search this; Keck, Charles, 1875-1951 Search this; MacNeil, Hermon Atkins, 1866-1947 Search this; Manship, Paul, 1885-1966 Search this; Roth, Frederick George Richard, 1872-1944 Search this; Weinman, Adolph A. (Adolph Alexander), 1870-1952 Search this

Extent:: 1.8 Linear feet ((on 3 microfilm reels)); 1.3 Linear feet (Addition)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Drawings; Sketchbooks

Date:: 1879-1956

Scope and Contents:: Letters, award certificates, contracts, drawings, clippings, printed material, 2 scrapbooks, and photographs document Konti's sculpture projects.; Reel 1208: Photographs (1904-1936) show Konti, his family and his works of art. A scrapbook (1908-1928) contains photographs of works of art, clippings, and a letter to Konti's niece, Malvina Kaeyer, from Thomas Green requesting information about a Konti bronze he owns. Another scrapbook (1908-1956) contains a 1929 blueprint of Memorial Park, clippings, photographs of the Kelahan Memorial and the Spanish-American War Monument, and 2 exhibition catalogs (1938-1947).; Reels 1210-1211: Letters (1894-1949) concern sculpture projects and were written primarily by Konti's colleagues, including Karl Bitter, Elliott Daingerfield, Rudolf Eickemeyer, Daniel Chester French, Charles Keck, Hermon MacNeil, Paul Manship, Frederick G. R. Roth, and Adolph Weinman. Business materials include award certificates (1879-1956), contracts (1900-1929), copyright cards (1907-1911), receipts (1905-1926) from the Roman Bronze Works and records of sales (1913-1926). Art works consist of 92 drawings and a sketchbook. Printed materials include clippings (1928-1946), brochures on the Yonkers Art Association (1940) and exhibition and auction catalogs (1898-1940).; Unmicrofilmed: A 1902 letter from Karl Bitter concerns the fall exhibition. Other materials include account statements and receipts from the Gorham Company (1921-1937), the constitution and by-laws (1951) and a bulletin (1954) from the Hudson River Museum, a 1926 catalog on "Small Bronzes by Great Sculptors as Prizes" and six negatives of the Estelle Weaks Reilly Memorial.; Addition Unmicrofilmed Correspondence, certificates, photographs of works of art and people, newspaper clippings, three-dimensional sculpture of a profile 2" X 2", works of art on canvas board and photo albums, letters of condolence, biographical material [c. 1901- 1974].

Biographical / Historical:: Sculptor. Born July 9, 1862 in Vienna, Austria, emigrated to New York City in 1892, eventually settling in Yonkers, N.Y., where he lived the rest of his life. Konti had studied in Vienna, under Edmund Von Hellmer and Karl Kundmann, and in Rome. Konti worked in the Beaux Arts tradition. In New York, he became an associate of Philip Martiny, a former student of Saint-Gaudens, who sent him to work on decorative models at the World's Columbia Exposition in Chicago. In 1904, Konti created the fountains of the Atlantic and Pacific for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. During the following decades, he established his reputation, befriending many of the significant sculptors of the early 20th century. Died Jan. 11, 1938, Etaples, France.

Provenance:: The papers, originally lent for filming by the Hudson River Museum, were subsequently given by Konti's grandnephew, Richard E. Kaeyer. Loan material which was not part of the gift includes 2 oversize award certificates (Reel 1208:692 and Reel 1210:1351) and a biographical account (Reel 1211:570).

Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Occupation:: Sculptors -- United States Search this

Topic:: Decoration and ornament, Architectural -- United States Search this; Eclecticism in architecture -- United States Search this; Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- United States Search this

Genre/Form:: Drawings; Sketchbooks

Identifier:: AAA.kontisid

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9da24fe98-b9c9-4cb5-9683-76417444182d

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-kontisid

Thomas Warren Sears photograph collection

Topic:: Landscape architecture

Creator:: Sears, Thomas Warren, 1880-1966 Search this; Sears & Wendell Search this; Olmsted Brothers Search this; Harvard University Search this; American Society of Landscape Architects Search this

Donor:: Tibbetts, Eleanor Sears Search this

Extent:: 44.5 Cubic feet (4,317 glass negatives. 363 film negatives. 182 glass lantern slides. 12 photograph albums. 56 plans and drawings. 3 monographs. )

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Negatives; Blueprints; Albums; Plans (drawings); Lantern slides

Date:: 1899-1964

Summary:: The Thomas Warren Sears Photograph Collection documents examples of the design work of Thomas Warren Sears (1880-1966), a landscape architect and amateur photographer from Brookline, Massachusetts. Sears, who was based for most of his career in Philadelphia, designed a variety of different types of landscapes ranging from private residences, schools, and playgrounds to parks, cemeteries, and urban housing developments located primarily in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York. In addition to some of Sears' design work, images in the collection document Sears' domestic and foreign travels, design inspirations, and family. The collection includes over 4,800 black and white negatives and glass lantern slides dated circa 1899 to 1930. While most images show private and public gardens, there are a significant number of unidentified views and views photographed in Europe during two trips he took there in 1906 and 1908. Few images are captioned or dated. In addition, there are over 50 plans and drawings, most notably for Balmuckety in Pikesville, Maryland and Reynolda in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and 3 monographs by or about Sears.

Scope and Contents note:: The Thomas Warren Sears Photograph Collection documents examples of the design work of Thomas Warren Sears (1880-1966), a landscape architect and amateur photographer from Brookline, Massachusetts. Sears, who was based for most of his career in Philadelphia, designed a variety of different types of landscapes ranging from private residences, schools, and playgrounds to parks, cemeteries, and urban housing developments located primarily in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York. In addition to some of Sears' design work, images in the collection document Sears' domestic and foreign travels, design inspirations, and family. The collection includes over 4,800 black and white negatives and glass lantern slides dated circa 1899 to 1930. While most images show private and public gardens, there are a significant number of unidentified views and views photographed in Europe during two trips he took there in 1906 and 1908. Few images are captioned or dated. In addition, there are over 50 plans and drawings, most notably for Balmuckety in Pikesville, Maryland and Reynolda in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and monographs by or about Sears. Several of the glass lantern slides are duplicates of glass plate negatives in the collection. They apparently were chosen by Sears to illustrate some of his best design work, perhaps for lecture or client purposes.

In addition, there are 56 plans and drawings, most notably for Balmuckety in Pikesville, Maryland and Reynolda in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They range in date from 1917 to 1937 and from 1955 to 1964. Sears photographed some of his early plans; they are included in with the photographic images. Sears also photographed a handful of design plans by landscape architect Sibley Coslett Smith who practiced in Providence, Rhode Island; Sears and Smith shared the same business address there.

The Thomas Warren Sears Collection does not fully document the extent of Sears' design work. The use of glass plate negatives—which make up the bulk of the Thomas Warren Sears Collection—as a photography medium waned sometime during the first quarter of the twentieth century. As a result, the images in the Sears Collection capture examples of Sears' early to mid-career design work but they do not include jobs designed by Sears during the latter half of his design career.

Arrangement note:: The glass plate negatives were originally housed in numerous cardboard boxes manufactured for the sale of undeveloped glass plate negatives. Sears annotated the outside of the boxes with project or client names and/or locations, but the contents do not always match these labels. In addition, because very few of the glass plate negatives and lantern slides were labeled or captioned, it is not always evident where one job ended and another began if multiple projects were stored in the same carton. As a result, there are many instances in the Sears Collection where images have been inadvertently mislabeled because their identification is not apparent. Misidentified images are subject to correction as their proper identification is discovered. Each project has been assigned its own unique AAG job number based on its geographic origin. Those groups of images that have not been identified as to their location have been assigned a project number starting with 'SRS.' The collection is arranged into 3 series: 1) Photographic images (including glass plate negatives, film negatives, glass lantern slides, and photograph albums) 2) Plans and Drawings 3) Monographs

Biographical/Historical note:: Thomas Warren Sears was born in 1880 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1903 and Bachelor of Science degree in landscape architecture from the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard in 1906. Sears was an amateur photographer who won awards for his photography while at Harvard. In 1915 his images were published in the monograph, Parish Churches of England. After graduation he worked for the firm of Olmsted Brothers Landscape Architects for two years and then briefly practiced in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1913, Sears established a landscape design office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he spent the remainder of his professional career. Sears at one point was in a professional partnership; some of his design plans list the firm name of Sears and Wendell. He was made a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1921.

Sears designed many different types of landscapes ranging from private residences, schools, and playgrounds to parks, cemeteries, and urban housing developments. His designs were primarily located in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York. Just a few of his private landscapes include Marengo in Easton, Maryland; Sunnybrook, the Isaac H. Clothier, Jr. estate in Radnor, Pennsylvania; and Balmuckety in Pikesville, Maryland. In 1915, Sears started work on Reynolda, a country estate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He generated design plans for the property intermittently over the next two decades. Reynolda's formal gardens, greenhouses, and acres of fields and woodlands subsequently became part of Wake Forest University.

During World War I, Sears designed Army camps in Battle Creek, Michigan and Spartanburg, South Carolina. He also helped lay out Langley Field, at that time an experimental aviation field in Hampton Roads, Virginia. In the 1940s, Sears designed the amphitheater at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania for concerts, outdoor performances, and other special events. During that decade he also worked on Colonial Revival gardens at Pennsbury, William Penn's country estate in Bucks County, Pennsylvania located by the Delaware River. Sears retired in 1964 and died in 1966.

Related Archival Materials note:: The Philadelphia Architects and Buildings Project (PAB), administered by The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, includes references to design projects by Sears.

Harvard University's Loeb Library includes a number of images by Sears, some of them documenting gardens that he designed.

Harvard University's Fine Arts Library, Special Collections includes a collection of photographs and negatives of English parish churches by Sears, c. 1908. Some of the images were published in the monograph, Parish Churches of England.

The Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina includes plans by Sears of Reynolda in its Estate Archives.

Provenance:: Gift of Eleanor Sears Tibbetts, Sears' daughter, to the Horticulture Services Division (later Smithsonian Gardens) in 1992.

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.

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:: Photographers Search this; Landscape architects Search this; Gardens -- United States Search this; Gardens -- Switzerland Search this; Gardens -- Scotland Search this; Gardens -- Italy Search this; Gardens -- Germany Search this; Gardens -- France Search this; Gardens -- England Search this

Genre/Form:: Negatives; Blueprints; Albums; Plans (drawings); Lantern slides

Citation:: Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Thomas Warren Sears photograph collection.

Identifier:: AAG.SRS

See more items in:: Thomas Warren Sears photograph collection

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Gardens

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb68e184341-59d2-4612-8886-4cc747c92bfe

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aag-srs

Online Media:

Lili Réthi Papers

Artist:: Rethi, Lili, 1894-1969 Search this

Extent:: 8 Cubic feet (21 boxes, 8 map folders)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Bookplates; Books; Christmas cards; Drawings; Newspaper clippings; Photographs; Transcripts; Watercolor drawings

Date:: 1918-1969

Summary:: Papers document artist and illustrator Lili Réthi who was best known for her drawings of industrial subjects such as bridges, construction scenes and mines.

Scope and Contents:: Drawings, sketches, watercolors, biographical material, photographs, printed material, correspondence and books relating to the career of artist and illustrator Lili Réthi. The bulk of the collection consists of originals and copies of Réthi's drawings and sketches for various projects in Europe and the United States.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged into five series.

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1928-1968

Series 2: Projects, 1918-1969

Series 3: Exhibits, 1940-1943, 1965

Series 4: Portraits, 1919-1965

Series 5: Illustrated Books, 1916-1969

Biographical / Historical:: Lilly (Lili) Maria Réthi (1894-1969) was born in Vienna, Austria to Leopold Réthi (1857-1924), a professor of medicine and Marie née Mauther (1863-1955). Réthi had one sister, Elizabeth "Elsie" (1889-1970). Lili attended the Viennese Kunstschule für Frauen und Mädchen (The Art School for Women and Girls), established in 1897. The school existed until 1945, but it closed to Jewish women artists in 1938, when the school was subordinated to the municipality of Vienna and used to inculcate Nazi ideology. (Ben-Eli, 1999). Réthi learned to sketch the human form at the Vienna Anatomical Institute—training, no doubt, that her physician father encouraged. This training, which sharpened her sense of form and function, helped her later when drawing complicated machinery and illustrating Victor Hecht's book, Leitfaden der Physikalisch-Therapeutischen, (Guide to Physical Therapy, 1916). Réthi became fascinated with construction at a young age. "When I was a little girl in Vienna, I used to take walks and watch men building houses. I was fascinated by the men working as well as the excitement of watching the building grow." (Constructor, December 1967, page 25) Her burgeoning interest would grow, and she became one of the best-known illustrators of engineering, construction, and industrial sites. She was named a Royal Society of Art Fellow in 1961.

During the inter-war years (1918-1939) Réthi interrupted her academic studies to work across Europe, illustrating sites in Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. The bulk of her work captured coal mines, coal yards, factories, chemical plants, blast furnaces, iron foundries, shipyards, steel production, buildings, aircraft, and bridges.

In 1929, Réthi moved to Berlin where she worked recording engineering projects and was an illustrator for the magazine "Der Bücherkreis" (Book Circle). She illustrated many of the "Dortmunder Union" activities during this period. The Union, a vertically integrated mining group (mining and iron and steel production), was founded in 1872 and was located in the Ruhr area of Germany. This work for the Union resulted in an exhibition in Berlin at the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (1931) and "Wien- Berlin: Das Gesicht zwei Städte" (Vienna and Berlin: The Face of Two Cities") (1932); at the World Power Conference in Stockholm (1933); and the Technical Museum of Vienna (1934). While in the Ruhr, Rethi documented workers, elevating their significance as subjects in their own right. She recorded the working conditions, many of which depicted harsh and dangerous physical labor. Her published work Germinal (1924) highlighted, through seven lithographs, the terrible conditions in French mines. Her work with the Union provided exposure and elevated her growing artistic status, especially with the Third Reich. With war imminent in Europe, the erosion of her personal rights as a Jewish woman, and a commission invitation by Hermann Göring to create propaganda images for the Nazi Regime, she left for England, never to return to her homeland in Austria.

Her portfolio of work is immense and while she primarily focused on engineering, industrial and construction sites, trade publications, industry magazines and newspapers, she branched into other areas. She illustrated the German version of Upton Sinclair´s Letters to Judd, an American Workingman (Briefe an einen Arbeiter, Leipzig- Wien, 1932) and was widely published in Austrian, Danish and German newspapers such as Aften-Avisen, Bergland Wien, Børsen, Der Welt Spiegel, Beitbilder, and VDI Nachrichten. Later projects included books, primarily for children, commissions to sketch churches, portraits of individuals, illustrated book plates, pamphlets, and Christmas cards. Catholic entities such as St. John the Divine and the Capuchin Friars in New York, also sought her services to sketch church interiors and illustrate brochures. And, in 1950, Réthi sketched the interior renovation (1948-1952) of the White House during the Truman Administration.

The Illustrated London News hired Réthi in 1937 to sketch the coronation of King George. While in England, she also created sketches for a booklet issued by the London, North Eastern Railway (L.N.E.R.) posters for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (L.M.S.) and the General Post Office (GPO): Post Office Motor Transport Depot (1937); the Post Office Underground Mail Train (1935); and LMS Crewe Works, Building Coronation Class Engine (1937). The Illustrated London News sent her to the 1939 New York World's Fair where her introduction and love of New York City was launched. Réthi arrived in the United States on March 23, 1939, and became a citizen in 1944.

In the United States, Réthi continued illustrating engineering and construction activities, many of which were major post war projects. Réthi was attracted to the great industrial scene of 1940s America, and New York City provided a fertile location for most of her projects. The first public showing of her work in the United States was at the Architectural League of New York (1940) and her "American Industry at War" exhibit was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1943). She documented some of the most significant projects in North America such as the New York City Pavilion at the World's Fair (1964), the United Nations Building (1949), the Pan Am Building (1962), Pennsylvania Station (1965), and the World Trade Center (1967-1968).

She had commissions from Surveyer, Nenniger & Chênevert (an engineering and construction firm that used her images on company Christmas cards), Sperry Gyroscope Company, U.S. Tobacco Company, Turner Construction, Walsh Construction, Atlas Steel Plant, Bliss Manufacturing, George A. Fuller Company, Standard Chemicals, and the United States Pipe and Foundry Company, to name a few.

Réthi also worked with several book publishers, especially, McGraw-Hill and Harcourt Brace. She illustrated over 40 books, many for children. Her work also appeared on the covers of many trade publications and magazines such as Pencil Points, Service, Factory, Product Engineering, and the Journal of the American Society of Automotive Engineers. Réthi was one of a few, if not the only female artist who devoted her career to portraying engineering works.

Related Materials:: Materials at the Smithsonian Institution

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Bridges Reference Collection, NMAH.AC.1577

Contains negatives and prints of drawings for the Verranzo-Narrows Bridge, New York, New York

Smithsonian Instituton Archives

Records, circa 1948-1988

Contains documentation about a Lili Réthi exhibit, 1964-1965, curated by the then Museum of the History of Technology.

Archives of American Art

Associated American Artists Records, circa 1934-1983

Includes three file folders in the Series: Artists Files about Lili Réthi.

Materials at Other Organizations

Hagley Museum and Library

Sperry Gyroscope Company Division photographs and films (1986-273)

Contains Lili Réthi graphic arts, 1943, consisting of 24 reproductions.

Provenance:: The collection was bequeathed by Lili Réthi to the United States National Museum (now known as the National Museum of American History) through Herbert G. Fenison in 1971.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.

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.

Occupation:: Artists Search this; Book illustrators Search this; Illustrators Search this

Topic:: Bridges Search this; Buildings Search this; Construction Search this; Construction and civil engineering Search this; Engineering -- 20th century Search this; Illustrated books, Children's Search this; Women artists -- United States Search this

Genre/Form:: Bookplates; Books -- 20th century; Christmas cards; Drawings -- 20th century; Newspaper clippings; Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 19th-20th century; Transcripts -- 20th century; Watercolor drawings

Citation:: Lili Réthi Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.0749

See more items in:: Lili Réthi Papers

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep876ee6154-c5e2-4c2f-a217-9c4044b6a002

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0749

Online Media:

Draper Family Collection

Creator:: Draper, John William, 1811-1882 Search this; Draper, Henry, 1837-1882 Search this; Draper, John Christopher, 1835-1885 (chemist) Search this; Draper, Daniel, 1841-1931 (meteorologist) Search this; Mora, José Maria, ca. 1846-1926 Search this; Nye, Dorothy Catherine Draper Search this; University of the City of New York Search this; New York Meteorological Observatory. Search this

Extent:: 4.3 Cubic feet (13 boxes)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Wills; Certificates; Photomicrographs; Reprints; Photographs; Lectures; Diplomas

Date:: circa 1826-1936

Summary:: Miscellaneous documents and photographs related to the scientific careers of members of the Draper family. Includes publications of the University of the City of New York, with which the Drapers were associated, reprints of papers by John William Draper, F. Melloni, John C. Draper, and Henry Draper, publications of the New York Meteorological Observatory, photographs of the observatory, rare scientific photographs, including photomicrographs (paper prints) by the Drapers, correspondence addressed to Daniel Draper, certificates, diplomas, and other documents.

Scope and Contents:: This collection contains materials that revolve around the scientific interests, research, and professional activities of John W. Draper and his three sons. The materials are as diverse in subject as were these four men, with meteorology, solar observation, astronomy, chemistry, and optical science all represented. The collection contains a large number of separate journal issues and articles on these subjects as well as publications of the University of the City of New York, with which the Drapers were associated, mainly covering the periods of 1835, 1838, 1852, and publications of the New York Meteorological Observatory (NYMO), 1876. Included among the NYMO materials are correspondence addressed to Daniel Draper, some acknowledging receipt of publications from NYMO, circa 1892-1908, and photographs of NYMO. The collection also contains reprints of John William Draper, circa 1844-1877; M. Melloni, "A Radiation of Incandescence and Elementary Colors," 1848; John C. Draper, 1856; and reprints of Henry Draper, 1873, 1882.

Also included in the collection are some of the Draper's notebooks, lecture notes, experiment literature and notebooks, and experimental photographs concerning the Draper's professional endeavors in meteorology, chemistry, and astronomy in the late 19th century. There are also a number of materials relating to biographical information on the Draper family, including a substantial number of certificates and diplomas received by the Drapers. In addition, there is personal correspondence, articles on the members of the family, and a copy of Dorothy Catherine Draper Nye's will. While most of the documents are originals, the collection also contains many photocopied or reproduced documents.

A photograph by Mora in the collection, marked "J.W. Draper," does not appear to depict the same man as in Neg. No. 52,757.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged into five series.

Series 1: Draper Family, 1829-1936

Series 2: John W. Draper, 1811-1936

Series 3: Henry Draper, 1837-1882

Series 4: Daniel Draper, 1841-1931

Series 5: John Christopher Draper, 1835-1885

Biographical / Historical:: The Draper family made a number of important contributions to American science, particularly in the fields of meteorology, astronomy, and chemistry during the 19th and early 20th centuries. John William Draper (1811-1882), primarily a chemist, did pioneer work in photography, and on the chemical effects of radiant energy. He took the first photograph of the moon in 1839-1840 and the first photograph of the diffraction spectrum.

Draper's three sons also did notable work. John C. Draper (1835-1885) was a noted Physician and chemist. Henry Draper (1837-1882) was an early astronomical photographer and also did work on stellar spectra and spectrum analysis. Daniel Draper (1841-1931) was a meteorologist and established the New York Meteorological Observatory in Central Park in 1868. He served as its first director until 1911.

Provenance:: Deeded to the Smithsonian Institution by John William Christopher Draper and James Christopher Draper on January 2, 1972.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research.

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.

Topic:: Spectrum analysis Search this; Scientists Search this; Astronomy Search this; Astronomers Search this; Astronomical photography Search this; Physical sciences Search this; Physicians Search this; Photographers Search this; Meteorology Search this; Chemists Search this; Chemistry Search this; Photography Search this

Genre/Form:: Wills; Certificates; Photomicrographs; Reprints; Photographs -- 19th century; Photographs -- 1840-1850; Lectures; Diplomas

Citation:: Draper Family Collection, 1835-1908, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.0121

See more items in:: Draper Family Collection

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep89ca3d72c-70a4-4dfb-a1df-82693a26d337

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0121

Online Media:

Architectural League of New York records

Creator:: Architectural League of New York Search this

Names:: American Institute of Architects Search this; National Sculpture Society (U.S.) Search this; Gilbert, Cass, 1859-1934 Search this

Extent:: 114.9 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Scrapbooks; Annual reports; Photographs; Minutes; Lantern slides

Date:: 1880s-1974

Summary:: The records of the Architectural League of New York measure 114.9 linear feet and date from 1880s-1974 (bulk 1927-1968). The League's mission "to advance the art of architecture" is documented through administrative and business records, committee records and officers' files, exhibition files, records of functions and events, correspondence, publicity files, photographs, lantern slides, and 16 scrapbooks.

Scope and Content Note:: The records of the Architectural League of New York measure 114.9 linear feet and date from 1880s-1974 (bulk 1927-1968). The League's mission "to advance the art of architecture" is documented through administrative and business records, committee records and officers' files, exhibition files, records of functions and events, correspondence, publicity files, photographs, lantern slides, and scrapbooks.

League records prior to 1927 are limited in the collection and are mostly found among Administrative Files. The administrative files include a nearly complete collection of annual reports from 1889-1932 and various meetings minutes from 1889 through the mid-20th century. Also found is a history of the League written by founding member Cass Gilbert, documentation of the changes of the League Constitution and By-Laws during the first half of the 20th century, and other administrative records.

Over a third of the collection are records from committees, including voluminous records of the Executive Committee, Current Work Committee, House Committee, Finance Committee, Membership Committee, and Scholarships and Special Awards Committee. In addition, there are scattered records for minor committees. Materials include correspondence, meeting minutes, election ballots, financial records, membership records, documents related to awarding scholarships and awards, and other administrative and organizational committee records. Found is the original 1889 agreement between the Architectural League, the Art Students League, and the Society of American Artists to build the American Fine Arts Society building. Throughout the collection, but especially in the Membership Committee subseries, the records provide a glimpse into the struggles the League faced during the Depression through World War II to maintain dues-paying members.

Officers' Files includes collated records of the League Executive Secretary and Secretary, as well as correspondence of the League President and Treasurer. Materials found here are not comprehensive; similar materials can be found throughout the collection.

Financial records such as bank statements, correspondence, and ledgers; insurance correspondence and policies; and legal correspondence, are found in the Business Records series. This series does not include records prior to 1926.

Exhibition files provide detailed documentation of the exhibitions sponsored by, or held at, the League primarily from the 1930s to the early 1970s. Records related to the League Annual Exhibition, the National Gold Medal Exhibitions, and the 1939 World's Fair in New York are found here, as well as exhibition files arranged chronologically by exhibition date and miscellaneous administrative files. Materials include administrative files, applications, correspondence, printed materials, publicity files, and other records related to organizing and managing exhibitions. The files of the Exhibition Committee are also found here.

Other series which document activities held by, or held at, the League include Functions and Events series and Publicity Files series. Found is correspondence, printed materials, press releases, schedules, and other administrative documents created in organizing events such as dinners, lectures, receptions, balls, and outings. The Records of Other Organizations includes records relating to organizations that had business with the League, often regarding events, meetings, and exhibitions held at the League. Represented here are some records of the American Institute of Architects (A.I.A.) and the National Sculpture Society (N.S.S.).

Correspondence includes miscellaneous correspondence arranged alphabetically by subject or name, and collated correspondence arranged chronologically. Most of the chronological correspondence appears to be Secretaries' files. The materials in the Miscellaneous series seem to have been separated from their original files, or were never filed properly. Therefore, materials and contents are similar to those found in other series, such as correspondence, administrative records, some financial records, and handwritten notes.

Black and white photographs, a handful of colored photographs, nearly 350 lantern slides, and negatives of exhibitions, buildings, events, and portraits are found in the Photographic Materials series.

Sixteen scrapbooks include eight scrapbooks of clippings from 1880s-1960s, and seven scrapbooks of notices and printed materials from 1925-1930. Also found is a scrapbook of signatures of event attendees, a clippings scrapbook compiled by Hamilton M. Wright, and a scrapbook of the Archeological Institute of America.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged as 12 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Administrative Files, 1889-1969 (Boxes 1-10, OV 116; 9.7 linear feet)

Series 2: Committee Records, 1887-1974 (Boxes 10-54, 110, 114, OV 116; 44.7 linear feet)

Series 3: Officers' Files, 1900, 1923-1970 (Boxes 54-58; 3.9 linear feet)

Series 4: Business Records, circa 1926-1972 (Boxes 58-62, BVs 129-144; 7.35 linear feet)

Series 5: Exhibitions, 1887-1972, bulk 1930s-1960s (Boxes 62-83, 111, OVs 117-119; 21.85 linear feet)

Series 6: Functions and Events, 1909, 1931-1973 (Boxes 84-93, OV 120; 9.35 linear feet)

Series 7: Publicity Files, 1922-1972 (Boxes 93-95, 111; 2.5 linear feet)

Series 8: Records Relating to Organizations, 1908-1968, bulk 1930s-1960s (Boxes 95-101; 6.1 linear feet)

Series 9: Correspondence, 1929-1970 (Boxes 101-103, OV 120; 1.85 linear feet)

Series 10: Miscellaneous, circa 1936-1968 (Boxes 103-104; 1.3 linear feet)

Series 11: Photographic Materials, 1896-1960s (Boxes 105-108, 112, OVs 121-128; 4.3 linear feet)

Series 12: Scrapbooks, 1880s-1960s (Boxes 108-109, 113-115, BVs 145-148; 2.2 linear feet)

There are frequently similar and related materials in multiple series, as is indicated in the series' descriptions. The records may originally have been arranged by file owner (committees, secretary, etc.), then by League season (roughly May - April). Most series include a handful of folders in which the original folder title indicates the file owner and League season (i.e. Secretary 1938-1939).

Historical Note:: Modeling the organization's name after the Art Students League of New York, the Architectural League of New York was founded in New York City in 1881 by a group of architects who wished to gather and discuss architecture and its relationship to the arts. The group elected D.W. Willard as the first President of the League and they began gathering regularly to discuss and critique each other's sketches and hold competitions. The organization grew quickly and soon the League rented a room in a building on 14th Street between University Place and Fifth Avenue.

However, by the mid-1880s the founders and more active League members left New York, and membership began to falter. The League was reorganized in 1886, expanding membership beyond professional architects, and incorporated in 1888 with 166 members. In 1889, the League joined with the Art Students League of New York and the Society of American Artists to form the American Fine Arts Society. Thus, in 1892 the three organizations were able to erect a building at 215 West 57th Street where the League remained until 1927 when it moved to 115 East 40th Street.

The League was run by the Executive Committee and its officers, elected every two years. The beginning of each League season kicked off with an annual dinner in the spring. The League also formed numerous committees to organize activities and manage administrative tasks. Noteworthy committees include the Current Work Committee, House Committee, Finance Committee, Exhibition Committee, Membership Committee, and Scholarships and Special Awards Committee.

The League's interdisciplinary approach to architecture and the arts was expressed through sponsored forums and discussions with architects and artists. From the League's beginning, the Current Work Committee was established to organize educational forums for members. Recognition of achievement was awarded by an Annual Exhibition from the late 1880s until 1938. In 1950, the League began awarding the annual National Gold Medal Exhibition in various fields, including landscape architecture, engineering, and sculpture. Additionally, the League awarded numerous other scholarships each year. Architects, artists, and arts-related organizations could also rent space in the League building to hold meetings, discussions, and exhibitions.

The League admitted its first female member in 1934. Notable members of the League included Arnold W. Brunner (President, 1903-1905), Cass Gilbert (President, 1913-1915), Philip Johnson, Robert A.M. Stern, and Russell Sturgis (President, 1889-1893).

The Architectural League of New York continues to provide educational opportunities and scholarships to students and professionals.

Background information was gathered from a written history of the League by Cass Gilbert found in this collection and the Architectural League of New York website (http://archleague.org/category/archive/history-archive/).

Related Material:: Among the holdings of the Archives of American Art are several collections that contain Architectural League of New York records. The American Federation of Arts records, 1895-1993, include a significant amount of League records related to national awards programs and lantern slides from the "New Horizons in America" lecture series.

Provenance:: The Architectural League of New York records were donated in several installments from 1967-1980 by the Architectural League of New York.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers 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.

Topic:: Architecture Search this

Function:: Arts organizations

Genre/Form:: Scrapbooks; Annual reports; Photographs; Minutes; Lantern slides

Citation:: Architectural League of New York records, 1880s-1974, bulk 1927-1968. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund

Identifier:: AAA.archleag

See more items in:: Architectural League of New York records

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9a5b8a23f-5566-4bf5-ae3c-c89920c27dad

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-archleag

Online Media:

Graciela Papers

Creator:: Graciela, 1915-2010 Search this

Extent:: 10 Cubic feet (33 boxes, 2 map folders)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Music; Photographs; Clippings; Videocassettes; 45 rpm records; Concert programs; Phonograph records; Posters; Correspondence; Compact discs

Date:: 1934-2013

Summary:: Collection documents the personal life and professional career of Graciela Perez-Gutierrez, a well known Afro-Cuban singer. Born in Havana, she performed for over thirty years, first with the all-female Orquesta Anacaona and El Trio Garcia and then with her brother Machito before a solo career.

Scope and Contents:: Collection documents the music career of Graciela and the development of Afro Cuban jazz in the United States. It includes correspondence, music manuscripts, financial records, photographs, posters, flyers, newsclippings, and audiovisual materials. These materials primarily relate to Graciela's professional career but also include her personal papers. There is a substantial amount of material relating to other jazz artists including Machito, Mario Bauza, Celia Cruz, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, and Chico O'Farrill. In addition, the career of Maria R. Torres (Mappy), head of production for the Afro-Cu-Bar Company and manager of Graciela's music career, is also documented. The richest portion of the collection lies in the photographic and performance materials which include social gatherings and many of the performance spaces where Afro Cuban jazz (Danzón or Salsa) developed, including The Palladium and Lincoln Center. Music festival programs related to jazz and Latin rhythms; tribute concerts; song and lyric notes and music manuscripts composed by Bobby Manrique, Lou Perez, and Lillian Gonzalez document the creative process of the music. Finally, researchers interested in Cuban and Caribbean history, immigration, and Latin internet forums for Afro Cuban jazz will find materials of value in this collection.

The collection is arranged into seven series. Series one contains Graciela's personal papers. Series two consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence. Series three has business records. Series four comprises the largest portion of the collection and contains photographic materials. Series five includes materials relating to performances. Series six contains publications and Series seven includes audiovisual materials.

Arrangement:: The collection is divided into eight series:

Series 1: Personal Papers, 1934-2010, undated

Subseries 1.1: Personal Materials, 1934-2010

Subseries 1.2: Latin American Publications, undated

Series 2: Correspondence, 1944-2010, undated

Series 3: Business Records, 1937-2008, undated

Series 4: Photographic Materials, 1938-2009, undated

Subseries 4.1: Albums, 1938-2004, undated Subseries 4.2: Photographs, 1944-2009, undated

Series 5: Performance Materials, 1943-2009, undated Subseries 5.1: Music, 1943-2003, undated

Subseries 5.2: Concerts and Other Events, 1962-2009, undated

Subseries 5.3: Television and Film, 1991-2006, undated

Series 6: Publications, 1960-2009, undated

Series 7: Materials Relating to Other Artists and Friends, 1941-2008, undated

Series 8: Audiovisual Materials, 1974-2013, undated

Subseries 8.1: Interviews, 1985-2007, undated

Subseries 8.2: Performances, 1987-2013, undated Subseries 8.3: Documentaries, 1992-2005, undated Subseries 8.4: Personal, 1985-2008, undated

Subseries 8.5: Sound Discs, 1974-1989

Biographical / Historical:: Recognized as Queen of Boleros, First Lady of the Afro Cuban-Jazz, Graciela Perez Gutierrez was born in La Habana, Cuba, on August 23, 1915 and died in New York, United States on April 7, 2010 at the age of 94 years. Daughter of Marta Gutierrez Izquierdo and Rogelio Perez, Graciela started her professional career in the early 1930's at the age of sixteen with the all-female group "El Septeto Anacaona" at the famous Cuban bar "Tropicana" without the permission of her father. She stayed in the group for ten years and traveled to Puerto Rico, México, Panamá, the United States, Venezuela, Colombia, and France. She performed with the "Trio Garcia" for a year mostly in the Vedado, Cuba. In 1943, she decided to join, with her stepbrother (Frank "Machito" Grillo) and brother in law (Mario Bauza) in the band called "Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra." Graciela became the "First Lady of the Afro Cuban-Jazz" in the 1940's-1950's when mambo and Latin rhythms where at their peak and became accepted by American jazzmen. They performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Mann, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Lester Young, Polito Galindo, and many others. "Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra" stayed together for almost 35 years and their biggest hits were: "! Si, si, No, no! ," "Ay Jose," and "Caso Perdido". At this time Graciela became a famous solo star but she preferred to stay with Machito and Mario and they made almost 70 albums with the orchestra. In 1970, Graciela left Machito's Orchestra and joined "Mario Bauza and the Afro-Cuban Orchestra" as a lead singer for 20 years. Graciela, Machito and Mario recorded many albums including: "¿Dónde estabas tú?" (Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, 1952), "Esta es Graciela" (Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, 1963), "Íntimo y sentimiental" (Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, 1965), "Yo soy así" (1972), "Sí sí no no" (Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Mike Young, 1999), "Cubop City" (Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Howard McGhee, Brew Moore, Flip Phillips, 2000) and "Inolvidable" (Candido & Graciela, 2004). After Mario Bauzá died (1993), she decided to retire, but she continued recording singles in a very selective way; she recorded with Chico O'Farrill, Steve Turre, and other artist. Graciela was honored by the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2007 for her pioneering career as a Latin and jazz rhythms fusionist.

Related Materials:: Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros Papers (NMAH.AC1430)

Charismic Productions Records of Dizzy Gillespie (NMAH.AC0979)

Chico O'Farrill (NMAH.AC0892)

Tito Puente Papers (NMAH.AC0894)

Paquito D'Rivera Papers (NMAH.0891)

Mongo Santamaria Papers (NMAH.AC0893)

Leonard Gaskin Papers (NMAH.AC.0900)

W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Photoprints and Interviews (NMAH.AC0766)

Separated Materials:: Division of Cultural and Community Life, National Museum of American History

Dress, Accession number: 2018.0078.01

Dress, Accession number: 2018.0078.02

Dress, Accession number: 2018.0078.03.01

Jacket, Accession number: 2018.0078.03.02

Dress, Accession number: 2018.0078.04

Ring, Accession number: 2018.0078.05

Ring, Accession number: 2018.0078.06

Bracelet, Accession number: 2018.0078.07

Painting of Graciela by Erich Padilla, Accession number: 2018.0078.08

Print of Ballerina, owned by Graciela, Accession number: 2018.0078.09

Print of Three Birds, owned by Graciela, Accession number: 2018.0078.10

Latin Grammy awarded to Graciela in 2006, Accession number: 2018.0078.11

50 Years of Cuban Music Plaque, Accession number: 2018.0078.12

Microphone with case, Accession number: 2018.0078.13

Bible, Accession number: 2018.0078.14

Cigar box, Accession number: 2018.0078.15

Eyeglasses, Accession number: 2018.0078.15.01

Fan, Accession number: 2018.0078.15.02

Badges, Accession number: 2018.0078.15.03

Badge from Jazz '92, Accession number: 2018.0078.15.04

Artist Badge, Heimatklange 1992 Carnevale Caribe, Accession number: 2018.0078.15.05

Provenance:: Collection donated by Lisa Sokolov, 2017.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research. Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements must be made to view some of the audio-visual materials. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.

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.

Topic:: Music -- Performance Search this; Music -- 20th century Search this; Singers Search this

Genre/Form:: Music -- Manuscripts; Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints; Clippings; Videocassettes; 45 rpm records; Photographs -- Color photoprints; Concert programs -- 20th century; Phonograph records; Posters -- 20th century; Correspondence; Compact discs

Citation:: Graciela Papers, 1934-2013, undated, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Sponsor:: This collection received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.1425

See more items in:: Graciela Papers

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8bec91113-d966-41ca-8f7c-8d135672730d

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1425

Online Media:

Penn Station, New York, Photographs

Creator:: Pennsylvania Railroad. Search this

Architect:: McKim, Mead & White Search this

Collector:: National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology Search this; National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Search this; National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry Search this

Names:: Pennsylvania Station Search this

Photographer:: Dreyer, Louis H. Search this

Extent:: 10.5 Cubic feet (23 boxes)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Glass plate negatives; Photographs; Stereographs

Date:: 1904-1910

Summary:: Collection documents the construction of Penn Station and the Pennsylvania Railroad's work in New York City, including the Station foundations and the East and Hudson River tunnels.

Scope and Contents:: Photographs, stereographs, and glass plate negatives documenting the construction progress of the Pennsylvania Terminal, including the Pennsylvania Station Site, from pre-existing structures through the foundation construction ; construction of Sunnyside Yard; Construction of Sunnyside Yard Power House; and all aspects of the construction of the East River tunnels. The photographs depict machinery, equipment, techniques, and the men working on the site. The collection is also strong in depicting streets, buildings and the clothes worn by people at that time.

Arrangement:: The collection is arannged into three series.

Series 1: Photographs, 1904-1909

Series 2: Steregraph Cards, 1904-1909

Series 3: Glass Plate Negatives, 1908-1910

Series 4: Contract Material Vouchers, 1907-1908

Historical:: Pennsylvania Station, also known as Penn Station, is a railroad station located in New York City between Seventh and Eighth Avenues and 31st and 33rd Streets. It was named for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), and the project was initiated and lead by Alexander Johnston Cassatt (1839-1906), the seventh president of the PRR. Cassat's vision was to contruct tunnels under the Hudson River, bringing the PRR's line into New York City which enabled Pennsylvania Railroad trains to enter from New Jersey for the first time.

"Beginning with a double-track line across New Jersey's marshy Hackensack Meadows, they would dig two tunnels through Bergen Cliffs, continue down under the mile-wide Hudson, emerging deep underneath a great terminal. From there two tunnels, each with two tracks, would continue under and through Manhattan, becoming four separate tunnels under the East River. Two would be for the LIRR (Long Island Railroad), and would thus create a through ride all the way from the mainland to Long Island. The two other tunnels would serve the PRR, whose empty trains would terminate in Sunnyside, Queens." (Jonnes, page 84)

Construction of the tunnels began in 1904 and opened for service in 1910. The architects of the station building were McKim, Mead & White. The station building was demolished (1963-1966) and Madison Square Gardens was built above the station, opening in 1968.

Sources

"Completion of the Pennsylvania Railroad Tunnels and Terminal Station," Scientific American, Vol. 102, No. 20 (MAY 14, 1910), pp. 398-401.

Historic American Buildings Survey, Engineering Record, Landscapes Survey, (HABS) No. NY-5471, "Pennsylvania Station," 1968.

Jonnes, Jill. Conquering Gotham A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and Its Tunnels. New York: Viking Penguin Group, 2007.

Related Materials:: Materials at Other Organizations

New York Historical Society

McKim Mead & White Architectural Records Collection, circa 1875-1950

Columbia University, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library

McKim Mead & White architectural records and drawings, 1879-1958

Progress photographs taken by L. H. Dreyer and others during the construction of the Pennsylvania Terminal, New York City, 1907-1910

Hagley Museum and Library

Pennsylvania Railroad Company records, 1813-1968

Provenance:: The photographs and stereograph cards were purchased from Charles Lloyd, III, a dealer, in 1980.

Restrictions:: Collection open for research on site by appointment. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.

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.

Topic:: Railroads Search this; Railroads -- 20th century Search this; Railroad stations Search this; Tunnels -- New York Search this

Genre/Form:: Glass plate negatives; Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- 20th century; Photographs -- 20th century; Stereographs -- 1900-1910

Citation:: Penn Station, New York, Photographs, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.1048

See more items in:: Penn Station, New York, Photographs

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8087277d0-5bf6-463e-abfe-b77174e97db9

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1048

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Gertrude Abercrombie papers

Creator:: Abercrombie, Gertrude, 1909-1977 Search this

Names:: Algren, Nelson, 1909-1981 Search this; Armin, Emil, 1883- Search this; Armour, Richard Willard, 1906- Search this; De Diego, Julio, 1900- Search this; Evans, B. Search this; Huppler, Dudley, 1917-1988 Search this; Karidis, Jerome Search this; Priebe, Karl J., 1914-1976 Search this; Purdy, Carl Search this; Purdy, James Search this; Rollins, Sonny Search this; Rorem, Ned, 1923- Search this; Terkel, Studs, 1912-2008 Search this; Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964 Search this; Warren, Paul, 1916- Search this; Wilcox, Wendell Search this; Wilde, John, 1919-2006 Search this; Wilder, Thornton, 1897-1975 Search this

Extent:: 5.9 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Sketchbooks; Diaries; Drawings; Scrapbooks; Sound recordings; Sketches; Photographs; Writings

Date:: circa 1880-1986; bulk 1935-1977

Summary:: The papers of surrealist artist Gertrude Abercrombie date from circa 1880-1986, with the bulk of the material dated 1935-1977, and measure 5.9 linear feet. Found within are biographical material; correspondence (mostly incoming letters) with friends, museums, and galleries; files for artists that interested her; writings and notes, including five journal-type notebooks; scattered personal business records; two sketchbooks by Abercrombie and additional sketches and drawings, some by others; printed material, audio recordings, one scrapbook, photographs, and estate records.

Scope and Content Note:: The papers of surrealist artist Gertrude Abercrombie date from circa 1880-1986, with the bulk of the material dated 1935-1977, and measure 5.9 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical material; correspondence (mostly incoming letters) with friends, museums, and galleries; artists files; writings and notes, including five journal-type notebooks; scattered personal business records; two sketchbooks by Abercrombie and additional sketches and drawings, some by others; printed material, audio recordings, one scrapbook, photographs, and estate records.

Biographical material consists of biographical notes, Gertrude Abercrombie's will, address books, and a file titled "memorabilia." Personal and professional correspondence consists mainly of incoming letters and some drafts of Gertrude Abercrombie's outgoing letters. Letters from museums and galleries concern loans of paintings and exhibitions. A large amount of the personal correspondence consists of post cards including many antique ones, as well as cards containing original art work by Julio de Diego, Jerry [Jerome] Karidis, Karl Priebe.

Artist files consist of correspondence, printed material, and photographs concerning painters, writers, a jazz musician, and a photographer. The individuals represented are: Dudley Huppler, Jerome Karidis, Karl Priebe, James Purdy, Sonny Rollins, Carl Van Vechten, Wendell Wilcox, John Wilde, and Thornton Wilder.

Writings and notes include reminiscences, miscellaneous writings and notes, and a girlhood diary with brief entries. Five notebooks contain a variety of writings dating from 1953 through 1975, and undated. One volume concerns only her second husband Frank Sandiford.

Business records include a painting catalog on file cards, mailing and guest lists, and miscellaneous sales records. In addition, six notebooks record expenses, sales, inventories, mailing lists, a register of paintings, and a guest book.

There are two sketchbooks, Christmas card designs, sketches and drawings done by Gertrude Abercrombie. There are also prints, drawings, and a painting by Emil Arman, B. Evans, de Diego, and unknown artists.

Printed material consists of articles and clippings about Gertrude Abercrombie, exhibition catalogs, and reproductions. Also included are books by friends inscribed by the authors, among them: Nelson Algren, Richard Armour, Dudley Huppler, James Purdy, Ned Rorem, Paul Warren [pen name of Abercrombie's second husband, Frank Sandiford], Studs Terkel, and Thornton Wilder.

Audio recordings (33-1/3 rpm phonograph alums) are inscribed to Gertrude Abercrombie by the artists. Orlando's album cover, designed by Abercrombie, incorporates one of her paintings.

Records of the Estate of Gertrude Abercrombie and the Gertrude Abercrombie Trust, Donald Baum, Executor, consist mainly of correspondence with the institutions that were offered works of art by Gertrude Abercrombie and from her personal collection. Also included are general correspondence, financial and tax records, and legal documents.

There is one scrapbook dated 1943 containing photographs and printed material.

Photographs are of art work, people, places, and miscellaneous subjects; negatives, slides, and transparencies are included in this series, too. Photographs of art include the work of Gertrude Abercrombie, Karl Priebe, and Charles Sebree. People pictured are Gertrude Abercrombie and family, including her parents, Richard I. Livingston, Dinah Livingston, and Frank Sandiford. There are also 19th and early 20th century photographs of ancestors. Among the images of friends are: Ivan le Lorraine Albright, Arnold Blanch, Dudley Huppler, Doris Lee, Karl Priebe, and Richard Purdy. Photographs of jazz artists include: Louis Armstrong, George Davis, Erroll Garner, Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Hines, Orlando, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Sarah Vaughn, and the Modern Jazz Quartet. Of particular note the portraits of Gertrude Abercrombie and Dizzy Gillespie by Carl Van Vechten.Among the photographs of places are interior views of Gertrude Abercrombie's home and studio, unidentified landscapes, travel pictures of San Francisco and commercially produced stereopticon slides of other locations. Miscellaneous subjects are automobiles, cats, exhibition installations, and a still life setup.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged into 11 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1902-1976 (Box 1, OV9; 0.1 linear ft.)

Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1935-1977 (Boxes 1-2; 1.65 linear ft.)

Series 3: Artist files, circa 1935-1977 (Box 2; 0.25 linear ft.)

Series 4: Writings and Notes, circa 1919-1977 (Box 3; 0.1 linear ft.)

Series 5: Business Records, circa 1944-1977 (Box 3; 0.2 linear ft.)

Series 6: Art Work, circa 1939-1975 (Boxes 3, 7; O.2 linear ft.)

Series 7: Printed Material, circa 1906-1977 (Boxes 3-4; 1.6 linear ft.)

Series 8: Audio Recordings, circa 1970-1974 (Box 7; 0.1 linear ft.)

Series 9: Estate Records, circa 1976-1986 (Box 5; o.5 linear ft.)

Series 10: Scrapbook, circa 1943(Box 5; 1 folder)

Series 11: Photographs, circa 1880-1978(Boxes 5-7; OV8, 1.0 linear ft.)

Biographical Note:: Surrealist painter Gertrude Abercrombie (1909-1977) lived and worked in Chicago and was a prominent member of Chicago's Hyde Park arts community.

Abercrombie was known for surrealist oil paintings featuring dreamlike landscapes and fantasies. Her wide circle of friends included locally and nationally known artists, writers, and jazz musicians who made her home a popular avant-garde salon. She was the inspiration for Richie Powell's "Gertrude's Bounce" and, appeared as a fictional character in Malcolm, Eustace Chisholm, and as herself in Gertrude of Stony Island Avenue all by James Purdy.

The only child of Tom and Lula Janes [Jane] Abercrombie, Gertrude was born in Austin, Texas in 1909, while her opera singer parents were in town with a traveling company. In 1913, the family relocated to Berlin to further Jane's career, but the outbreak of World War I forced their return to the United States. They lived with Tom Abercrombie's family in Alledo, Illinois, before permanently settling in Chicago.

Gertrude Abercrombie had a facility with language and possessed musical and artistic talents. After graduation from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana with a degree in romance languages in 1929, she studied figure drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a short time. She then enrolled at the American Arcademy of Art, also in Chicago, for a year long course in commercial art. Her first job was drawing gloves for Mesirow Department Store ads, followed by a stint working as an artist for Sears.

By 1932, Gertrude Abercrombie began painting seriously. The following summer, she participated in an outdoor art fair in downtown Chicago where she made her first sale and received favorable mention in a newspaper review of the event. Abercrombie's work that featured self-portraits and recurring images of personal symbols - trees, horses, owls, keys, shells, doors, stairways, ladders - began to attract attention. Beginning in 1934, Gertrude Abercrombie was employment as a painter in the WPA Federal Art Project in 1934, enabling her to feel validated as an artist and move from the home of her conservative, Christian Scientist parents to her own apartment. The Chicago Society of Artists presented a solo exhibition of Abercrombie's work in 1934, and in 1936 she showed at the Katharine Kuh Gallery (along with Rita Stein and Nicola Ziroli). In 1936 and 1938 Gertrude Abercrombie won prizes at the Art Institute of Chicago's Annual Exhibition of Works by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity.

She left the WPA in 1940 and married lawyer Robert Livingston. Their daughter, Dinah, was born in 1942, and they soon moved to a large Victorian house on South Dorchester St. where Gertude lived for the remainder of her life. The couple divorced in 1948. That same year she married Frank Sandiford, a music critic whose pen name was Paul Warren. An accomplished improvisational pianist, Gertrude Abercrombie became friends with many prominent jazz artists whom she met through Sandiford; in fact, Dizzy Gillespie performed at their wedding. Abercrombie and Sandiford separated in 1964.

The 1940s through 1950s were Gertrude Abercrombie's most productive and prolific period. Although she no longer painted many portraits, he work remained focused on the same themes and symbols. She believed that art was about ideas rather than technique and insisted that "It is always myself that I paint." During this period, Amercrombie exhibited widely in group shows and had solo exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Associated American Artists (New York), and Leonard Linn, Inc. (Winnetka, Ill.)

By the late 1950s, Gertrude Abercrombie began a long decline. Alcoholism started to take a toll. She suffered serious financial reverses, and in 1964 separated from Frank Sandiford. Debilitating arthritis eventually landed her in a wheel chair, and she became reclusive. In 1977, very near the end of her life, Gertrude Abercrombie was honored with a well-received retrospective exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago. She was able to attend the reception and enjoy seeing the many old friends who were at the event.

Gertrude Abercrombie died in Chicago in 1977. Her will established The Gertrude Abercrombie Trust that cared for and distributed to various institutions her own paintings and a personal collection of works by other artists to selected institutions, mainly in the Midwest.

Related Material:: A photograph of Gertrude Abercrombie at home with her painting "Slaughter House", was donated by Donald Baum to the National Collection of Fine Arts in 1979 and transferred to the Archives of American Art that same year.

Provenance:: Donald Baum, executor of both the estate and trust of Gertrude Abercrombie, donated the papers to the Archives of American Art in 1978 and 1986.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers 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.

Occupation:: Painters -- Illinois -- Chicago Search this

Topic:: Women artists Search this; Women painters Search this; Surrealism Search this

Genre/Form:: Sketchbooks; Diaries; Drawings; Scrapbooks; Sound recordings; Sketches; Photographs; Writings

Citation:: The Gertrude Abercrombie papers, circa 1880-1986, bulk 1935-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:: AAA.abergert

See more items in:: Gertrude Abercrombie papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw93af9ed86-0dce-4ea7-9cb4-085eb5d48b67

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-abergert

Online Media:

Bobcat Company Records

Donor:: Nelson, Scott Search this

Creator:: Bobcat Company Search this

Extent:: 24 Film reels; 56 Cubic feet (128 boxes, 8 oversized folders); 10 Electronic discs (CD); 5 Electronic discs (DVD); 14 Videocassettes (BetacamSP); 38 Videocassettes (U-matic); 9 Videocassettes (VHS); 1 Videocassettes (Digital Betacam)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Film reels; Electronic discs (cd); Electronic discs (dvd); Videocassettes (betacamsp); Videocassettes (u-matic); Videocassettes (vhs); Videocassettes (digital betacam); Dvds; Compact discs; Christmas cards; Awards; Advertisements; Posters; Stickers; Tickets; Videocassettes; Photographs; Placemats; Invitations; Newsletters; Greeting cards

Place:: West Fargo (North Dakota); Gwinner (North Dakota)

Date:: 1940s-2009

Summary:: The Bobcat Company Records document a post-war invention process and American manufacturing system through the case study of a dynamic machine, the Bobcat skid-steer loader. The records focus primarily on Bobcat's products, marketing, and advertising through product literature, photographs, advertisements, posters, newsletters, and audiovisual materials.

Scope and Contents:: The records are divided into ten series which document a post-war invention process and American manufacturing system, through the case study of a dynamic machine, the Bobcat skid-steer loader. The records focus primarily on Bobcat's products, marketing, and advertising through product literature, photographs, advertisements, posters, newsletters, and audiovisual materials.

Series 1, Historical Background, 1965-2007 and undated, is divided into nine subseries: Subseries 1, Company Histories, 1965-1996 and undated; Subseries 2, Organizational Materials, 1970s-2003 and undated; Subseries 3, Factories/Plants, 1965-1996; Subseries 4, Union Materials, 1971, 2005-2007; Subseries 5, Kaizen Materials, 2003-2004 and undated; Subseries 6, Company Christmas Cards, 1965-1974 and undated; Subseries 7, Company Picnics, 1966-1979; Subseries 8, Awards, 1969-1988; and Subseries 9, Subject Files, 1963-1985.

Subseries 1, Company Histories, 1965-1998 and undated, consists of published and unpublished accounts of the early history of Melroe Manufacturing and its corporate evolution. Of note is the undated A Modern Guide to North Dakota. This guidebook is intended for "foreign" visitors (anyone from Minneapolis, Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Seattle, Canada, South America, Europe, Asia or outside the city limits of Gwinner, North Dakota) and provides historical background as well as information on the many diverse and interesting aspects of North Dakota.

Subseries 2, Organizational Materials, 1970s-2003 and undated, consists of mission statements, codes of conduct, a corporate directory, organizational charts, and letterhead. The organizational chart, while marketing and sales specific, does provide an overview of the company's administrative functions.

Subseries 3, Factories/Plants, 1965-1996, includes information about each plant.Factories represented include Belcourt, Bismarck, Cooperstown, and Gwinner, North Dakota; and Fort Benton, Montana. The materials document each plant and consist of a range of formats from articles and clippings to birthday cards, highway maps, fact sheets, field trip schedules, histories of the plant, service awards, product literature, guides, press releases, and employee information.

The Belcourt Plant was home to Melroe Manufacturing's welding division. Dedicated in 1975 at the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation (Chippewa Tribe), this plant was established to relieve the Bismarck Plant of a heavy workload in welding requirements. The plant closed in the 1980s.

The Fort Benton Plant manufactured thirty-two different models of chisel plows under Clark Equipment Company's Melroe Division for Ag Products. The Fort Benton Plant closed in 1982.

The Bismarck Plant served as Melroe Manufacturing's headquarters for the three Ag Product Plants: Bismarck, Benton, and Cooperstown. Opened in 1973, the Bismarck Plant made grain drills, the windrow pick-up combine attachment, the automatic reset plow and plow packers, and crop sprayer (the Spra-Coupe). The Bismarck Plant closed in 2009.

The Cooperstown Plant also manufactured Ag products such as grain augers, swathers, field sprayers, machinery trailers, raw crop harvesters, grain drill packers, steel buildings, and aluminum grain boxes. The best known products produced at this plant were the steel teeth for making hay stacks and the automatic reset moldboard plow. The plant also fabricated parts and components for the Bobcat skid-steer loader. Of note in the Cooperstown Plant materials are a black-and-white advertisement and programmatic brochures for Clark Equipment Company's 1975 International Teenage Exchange Program. Five teenagers from "Clark North America" were selected to live with Clark families in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, France, or Germany. The Cooperstown Plant closed in 1977.

The Gwinner Plant remains open today and is the main manufacturing facility for Bobcat of North America. The Gwinner folder contains a high school paper title "Melroe" by Craig Allen Knudson, undated, and remarks given at a Dealer Advisory Council Meeting by Jim Strande about the "B Series" from the Engineering Department.

Subseries 4, Union Materials, 1971, 2005-2007, includes information about the United Steel Workers Local 560, the union that is currently in place at the Bobcat Company. Employees formally voted to unionize on April 2, 1970, under the Allied Industrial Workers (A.I.W.). In the early 1990s, the A.I.W. was becoming too small and could no longer provide the best financial backing or representation to Melroe employees, and therefore the employees decided to merge with the United Paperworkers International Union (U.P.I.U.). In 2005, the U.P.I.U. decided to merge with the delegates of the United Steel Workers of America and form the United Steelworkers (U.S.W.). Today, the Bobcat Company is represented by the U.S.W. in District 11 which includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. The materials in this subseries consist of United Steel Workers Local 560 handbooks and agreements as well as authorized announcements from the local union members and Bobcat management that were posted for employees to read. These announcements/fliers were placed in authorized areas at the factory in Gwinner. There is one grievance record from 1971 detailing the request that certain jobs be posted so personnel can bid for the position.

Subseries 5, Kaizen Materials, 2003-2004 and undated, contains materials related to the Kaizen process, which is a Japanese philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement throughout all aspects of life. When applied to the workplace, Kaizen activities continually improve all functions of a business, from manufacturing to management and from the chief operating officer to the assembly line workers. These materials include An Introduction to the Bobcat Production System ( BPS), undated, and a booklet that provides a road map to all Bobcat employees in utilizing "lean" concepts versus traditional mass production manufacturing. The BPS is intended to redesign production systems, machinery and labor to be as efficient as possible. Other documents include copies of power point slides and materials from a Kaizen workshop.

Subseries 6, Company Christmas Cards, 1965-1974 and undated, includes Christmas cards sent by the Bobcat Company as well as "mock-ups" of cards created by Flint Communications. The Bobcat Company purchased merchandise from companies that specialized in promotional and specialty gifts. Additonal information from those companies is included in this subseries.

Subseries 7, Company Picnics, 1966-1979, contains information about the company's annual family picnic or "family feast" at Lisbon Park in Lisbon, North Dakota. The picnics typically included a program (musical entertainment), games for children, prizes, and a softball game. The documentation includes fliers announcing the picnic, tickets, and receipts and memos detailing the prizes available and the associated costs. Prizes included, but were not limited to, portable televisions, drills, binoculars, cookware, cameras, bicycles, camping equipment, vacuums, and clocks.

Subseries 8, Awards, 1969-1988, contains information about awards given to the Bobcat Company from external organizations as well as individual awards given by the company to its employees. The Export "E" Award is bestowed by the United States Department of Commerce. Awarded for success in boosting sales of American products abroad, Melroe Manufacturing won this honor in 1969 for its increased sales of farm implements and industrial equipment to Canadian and European markets. Material about the 'E" Award includes newspaper clippings and articles, presentation remarks, and photographs. The United States Senate Productivity Award is administered through the United States Senate Commerce Committee. Each United States senator is allowed to select one winner every year. The program was established to encourage competiveness in American industry and ensure its survival in the international marketplace through increased productivity. In 1984, Senator Mark Andrews (R) announced that the Melroe Division of Clark Equipment Company was a recipient of the Productivity Award. The file contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, black-and-white photographs of the presentation, a tour of the factory in Gwinner, North Dakota, and the medal itself. There are other files about awards that recognize employees: Employee Recognition Service Awards, Patents Awards Recognition Dinner, and the 1000 Club. These materials contain lists of awardees, award programs, invitations, and napkins.

Subseries 9, Subject Files, 1963-1985, captures a varity of documentation associated with the company's corporate structure such as testimonials from owners and users of Bobcat skid-steer loaders, the first invoice for the Bobcat skid-steer loader (1963), the celebration of the 100,000th Bobcat skid-steer loader being produced and the "Melroe Mission to Japan." In 1985, a cross-sectional group of Melroe employees were selected to tour Japanese manufacturing plants and examine new concepts in both manufacturing and engineering. The lessons learned from this valuable trip were implemented at Bobcat and ultimately manifested themselves in the Kaizen materials. See Series 1, Subseries 4. The report, Bobcat Reports: The Melroe Mission to Japan contains employee observations about the trip, insights into similarities and difference between Japanese plants and Melroe plants; life style differences; and what it meant individually to the employee.

Series 2, Clark Equipment Company, 1965-1994, contains documentation about the Clark Equipment Company, one of the largest producers of material handling equipment. There are three subseries: Subseries 1, Company Histories, 1965-1978, (not inclusive); Subseries 2, Annual Reports, 1974-1994 (not inclusive); and Subseries 3, Employee Information, undated. The histories consist of typescript documents that were used for various presentations as well as a printed history, "Growing Up with Clark," Clark Magazine, spring 1978, by Steve Lokker. The employee information contains an employee handbook titled "Your Circle of Security" detailing total compensation of pay, benefits, and career opportunities at Clark, and a Guide to Maintaining Non-Union Status and Combating Union Organizational Attempts, undated. The annual reports, 1974-1994, also include information about quarterly report and annual meeting summaries.

Series 3, Newsletters, 1965-2009, consists of published newsletters for both internal and external distribution. Arranged alphabetically by title, the newsletters represent a variety of Bobcat Company news items aimed at specific audiences such as current employees, former employees (alumni), dealers, prospective customers, and the industry. For example, Bobcat Briefs, a monthly publication, contains information for and about Melroe Manufacturing Company employees. The Summit (Bobcat Sales Masters) a monthly newsletter designed for salesmen at varying levels, allowed them to stay up-to-date on their progress in the Sales Masters Program. It was created to recognize the achievements of retail salesmen. Additional newsletters targeted at salesmen/dealers include the Bobcat's Pajamas, Feller Buncher Toppers, Melroe Scoop, Winners Circle, Territory Tales and Worksaver. Worksaver is published four times a year and sent directly to a dealer's mailing list of customers and prospects. Worksaver is part of the Bobcat Company's co-op advertising program, with the single most important feature being the ability to target the Bobcat sales message. Newsletters aimed at employees include Bobcat Briefs, Bobcat Messages, Melroe Pick-up, Clark Pick-up, Melroe and Messages. The only newsletter not represented in this series is the Spra-Coupe Reporter. See series 8 for this newsletter.

Series 4, Photographs, Negatives, Slides and Transparencies, 1960-2003 and undated, contains photographs, negatives, slides, and transparencies. The materials are arranged in alphabetical order following the original filing scheme created by the Bobcat Company. The only exception to this order is "Products" which are filed numerically by model number. For example, the B300 (Loader Backhoe), 2005, is filed before the 310 (Skid Steer Loader), 1977. Each model is identified parenthetically. The bulk of the materials consists of photographs, both black-and-white and color prints documenting the company's activities. They were created and assembled by Ernie Feland, the company's photographer for 37 years.

The images document almost every aspect of the company and its culture. Included are: products, employees, company picnics and outings, factory activities, trade shows, and dealerships. Well documented are the various company outings and activities that involved dealers and vendors. Elaborate theme-based activities were created for the dealers/vendors which were the highlight of the year. The company fostered a "family friendly" atmosphere and this is evident in the images. Many of the photographs documenting company products show the product in use in various industries and with various attachments. For example, there are photographs of skid-steer loaders removing snow, moving fertilizer, drilling holes, and hauling dirt.

Series 5, Dealer Materials, 1964-2003, documents the valuable connection between the customer, dealer, and the company. Dealers are an important part of the Bobcat success story. This series is further divided into eight subseries: Subseries 1, Dealer Advisory Council Meetings, 1967-1996; Subseries 2, Sales Meetings, 1964-1999; Subseries 3, District Manager Meetings, 1971-1990; Subseries 4, Conferences, 1973, 1974,1993; and Subseries 5, Specific Dealers, 1978, 1979, 2003; Subseries 6, Dealer Advertising and Sales Promotion Kits, 1967-1996; Subseries 7, Co-op Advertising Materials for Dealers, 1979-1982; and Subseries 8, Subject Files, 1965-2003.

Subseries 1, Dealer Advisory Council Meetings, 1967-1996, documents Dealer Advisory Council (DAC) activities and meetings. The first DAC was held in 1965 at the Ash Forks Camp on Lake of the Woods, Canada. Dealers competed in a sales contest prior to the meeting to determine which twelve of them would attend. Over the years the roster of dealers attending grew, and those chosen to serve on the council had an outstanding sales record. The company sought these dealers' advice on all aspects of Bobcat marketing, engineering and manufacturing, and both dealers and company management were encouraged to share their ideas and experiences. It is through a strong dealership system that the company sells its products and many times, it was a solid demonstration that sold the product. Dealers frequently were invited to the Bobcat Boot Camp in Lisbon, North Dakota, where they spent one week training on various Bobcat Company products as well as competitors' products.

To this day, dealers meet annually in different locations throughout the United States with particular emphasis on North Dakota, Minnesota, Idaho, Wisconsin, and parts of Canada. The meetings were well planned and followed a structure with receptions, orientations, dinners, plant tours, presentations, group discussions, and award presentations.

These records provide insight into the relationship between the company and its dealers with dealer distributor materials such as the dealer kits. The photographs in Series 4 document this aspect of the company well. Among one of the boot camp's first trainers was none other than inventor Cyril Keller.

The materials are arranged chronologically by meeting date and contain correspondence, agendas, memos, lists of dealers (in some instances with profiles), certificates (recognizing outstanding sales achievement), invitations, licenses for fishing, invoices for airline tickets, presentation scripts, photographs (the majority document fishing and hunting trips), and brochures. Many of the meetings also had programs for "ladies" since many of the dealer's wives accompanied them.

Subseries 2, Sales Meetings, 1964-1999, documents the annual gathering of all Bobcat dealers. Unlike the DAC Meetings, the annual sales meetings were larger in scale and had more programmatic functions. Meetings were held in a variety of locations throughout the United States, and almost all of the meetings were held either in January or February. The meetings are arranged chronologically and contain the location of the meeting if known. There is unevenness to the type and amount of documentation for each meeting. Many files include agendas, memos, correspondence, name tags, meeting programs, banquet programs, and presentation remarks. Some meetings contained more unusual materials. The 1974 Kona, Hawaii Meeting had a "Clark Money Tree Mid-Term Quiz" designed for dealers and dealer salesmen as a means of testing their knowledge of the Clark Retail Finance programs. The quiz was graded, and if the individual passed, a doctor of finance was issued along with a cash prize. Additionally, an audio disc from the 1974 Kona, Hawaii Meeting, Swing and Sway The Bobcat Way with Bobcat- The One and Only and Cattin Around was intended for use by dealers for a wide variety of promotional and selling situations: background music for radio and TV commercials, local fairs, exhibits, and conventions.

Subseries 3, District Manager Meetings, 1971-1990, consists of documentation for district managers' meetings which dealt with the "how" of demonstrating, advertising, financing, and servicing and the "why" of compact size, maneuverability, all-wheel drive, visibility, time, and labor for Bobcat products. These meetings appear to have been held in conjunction with the annual sales meeting.

Subseries 4, Conferences, 1973, 1974, 1993, includes speeches, photographs, agendas, invoices, memos, programs, and notes. The bulk of the materials consists of Clark Executive Conference materials from 1973.

Subseries 5, Specific Dealers, 1978, 1979, 2003, contains files for specific Bobcat dealers in the United States. The files are arranged alphabetically by dealership name and include advertisements, announcements, correspondence, and other branded materials with the Bobcat logo.

Subseries 6, Dealer Advertising and Sales Promotion Kits, 1967-1996, consists of folders filled with a memo or letter to the dealer, dealer lists, newsletters, logo types, line drawings, price lists, brochures, product information sheets, specifications, and posters designed to assist dealers in promoting a certain product, campaign, or sale. Reg Stansfield served as the dealer development manager (regional, European and worldwide) from 1978 to 1988. It's clear that the company was interested in measuring performance, seeking room for improvement, and knowing about problems. Stansfield had a great interest in training and in helping salesmen avoid making unnecessary mistakes. He created "Sales Success Strategy" cards with sales tips which were included in the dealer promotion kits. These tips were part of the "Melroe Success Formula," which was to promote, demonstrate, sell, and support. Arranged chronologically, these kits provide valuable information on what the company was sending its dealers and the accompanying instructions. The kits also provide a comprehensive overview of the types of industries using Bobcat products, such as colleges, cemeteries, landscapers, stockyards, rendering, and the poultry industry.

Subseries 7, Co-op Advertising Materials for Dealers, 1979-1982, includes materials that were assembled into binders and were distributed to dealers as a way to assist them in promoting and advertising Bobcat products. The binders were organized into categories: direct mail, newspaper, radio, television, Yellow Pages, specialties, signs and displays, and fairs and shows.

Subseries 8, Subject Files, 1965-2003, are arranged alphabetically by topic. These files include topics such as dealer financial profiles, golf tournaments, review guidelines, motivational concepts, sales specialist's guides, website programs, and Y2K compliancy. The dealer-initiated materials include examples of specific materials developed by dealers for promoting Bobcat products and sales. For example, the J.S. Equipment Company of Sacramento, California, developed a Bobcat Bulletin and the K.C. Bobcat of Kansas City, Missouri, developed a mailer card touting their Bobcat Center with equipment and accessories. Proper use of the Bobcat brand name adds value, helps develop customer loyalty and presents a consistent identity. Spelled out in a brochure of Brand Identity and Standards for Bobcat Dealers are the four trade name categories used by dealers: "Bobcat of (location);" "Bobcat (Name);" "(Name) Bobcat;" and "An Independent Trade Name." Additionally, it details unacceptable uses of the Bobcat trademark logo and the associated color standards.

The Melroe Annual Sands Hill One Invitational Engolfment (MASHIE) files chronicle the establishment of an annual golf tournament designed for the company (Melroe) and its dealers to get to know each other better and have fun while doing it. The golf tournament included visits to the factory and offices as well as an awards dinner.

The motivational concepts file contains a variety of notes and lists detailing motivational concepts for dealers. There is an untitled poem about Christmas, Santa, and a Bobcat as well as a 1977 planning session document from Flint Advertising. The Y2K compliancy materials consist of memos, correspondence, spreadsheets, and questionnaires for dealers about their computer compliancy for the year 2000.

Series 6, Marketing and Promotional Materials, 1954-2007, are divided into ten subseries: Subseries 1, Correspondence of Ferd Froeschle, 1974-1976, 1990; Subseries 2, Budget/Finances, 1961-2000 (not inclusive); Subseries 3, Advertisements, 1964-2001; Subseries 4, Artwork/Storyboards, undated; Subseries 5, Advertising Proof Books, 1954-1993; Subseries 6, Surveys/Profiles, 1977, 1979, 1990-1991; Subseries 7, Promotional Ideas/Retail Sales, 1970s-2007; Subseries 8, Sales Campaigns and Programs, 1972-2001; Subseries 9, Contests, 1965-1999, undated; and Subseries 10, Posters, 1977-2005, undated.

Almost all of the promotional pieces were created by Flint Communications of Fargo, North Dakota, under the direction of the Bobcat Advertising/Marketing Department. Flint was established in 1946, by Harold Flint. Today, Flint consists of a network of six companies, known as the Flint Group, serving a diverse list of businesses, industries, government entities, and not-for-profit clients. The Flint Group includes Flint Communications, Fargo, North Dakota; HatlingFlint, St. Cloud, Minnesota; SimmonsFlint, Grand Forks, North Dakota; WestmorelandFlint, Duluth, Minnesota; AadlandFlint, Anchorage, Alaska; and Flint Interactive, an online services firm with staff in multiple locations. In some instances the marketing and promotional pieces have a Knight Printing Company tag affixed to them. This tag provided critical information to both Flint and the Bobcat Company for reordering purposes and dating. For example KN-500-397-#650152-F translated means Knight Printing Company-quantity 500-March 1997-Bobcat Company job number, and the F equals Flint.

The marketing and promotional materials were intended for dealers in the Bobcat dealership network. Many of these pieces were distributed through targeted promotional programs which were designed to maintain regular contact with all existing users, to foster rental customers, and generate new inquiries. The promotional pieces consisted of giveaways, sponsorships, machine displays on dealership frontage, special displays at shopping centers, casual machine displays at stockyards and auctions, presentations and lectures to associations and colleges, group demonstrations, and highway billboards. The promotional methods included permanent advertisements, building and truck designs, ads in newspapers, local television and radio spots, envelope stuffers and stickers for correspondence, fairs, shows, and customer service schools, open houses at dealerships, handouts for salesmen and mechanics, and special telephone canvassing campaigns. These methods maximized the "Worksaver" Program.

Basic markets for the Bobcat include agriculture, agri-business (feed, fertilizer, grain elevators, meat packing), construction (excavating, landscaping, paving, utility, sewer, roofing, concrete, sand and gravel, snow removal, asphalt, and brick), industry (foundries, glass, steel mills, chemicals, coal and coke, lumber, papers, smelters and refiners, castings), forestry, rental yards, and miscellaneous (garbage, rubbish removal, waste paper, nurseries).

Subseries 1, Correspondence of Ferd Froeschle, 1974-1976, 1990, contains correspondence of Ferd Froeschle, the advertising manager and public relations director at Melroe Manufacturing from 1964 to 1981.

Subseries 2, Budget/Finances, 1961-2000 (not inclusive), includes budgets, price lists, advertising schedules (with proposed ad expenditures). There are monthly budget spreadsheets with actuals, budget, and variation for media, production, printing, film and photo, travel, conventions, co-op advertising, sales aids, and miscellaneous.

Subseries 3, Advertisements, 1964-2001, documents advertisements (both color and black and white), color proofs (used to evaluate the ads' final appearance), some examples of the four-color process-a printing process that combines different amounts of the four colors red, yellow, blue and black, copies and/or originals torn from trade and industry magazines. The advertisements are arranged chronologically and then alphabetically by language. There is some clip art with Bobcat Company logos and an advertising manual for the international market. The manual was intended to help dealers prepare their own advertising.

Subseries 4, Artwork/Storyboards, undated, include artwork-the visual components of many advertisements-with and without typeset text for a variety of Bobcat Company products. Many are black and color ink on tracing paper or a transparency such as a photographic image on clear plastic. Also included is documentation on the development of the Bobcat Company logo and storyboards for the Bobcat of Futureville with plans on how to set-up/lay out a Bobcat dealership.

Subseries 5, Advertising Proof Books, 1954-1993, consists of advertisements that were placed in newspapers or various industrial, construction, and farming publications. The proofs are arranged chronologically and then alphabetically by product or the industry in which the product was used; for example, agriculture, contruction, forestry, industry, and rental. In some instances, the alphabetical heading is further refined such as construction (regional) versus construction (national). This distinction was drawn to distinguish the type of advertisement and where it would appear. Advertisements appeared in publications such as The Dakota Farmer, Montana Farmer- Stockman, The Farmer, Canadian Machinery and Metalworking, and Heavy Construction News.

Subseries 6, Surveys/Profiles for Skid-Steer Loaders, 1977, 1979, 1990-1991, contains survey and summaries from research services that conducted interviews and analysis for the company on the use of skid-steer loaders. The testimonials contained within this section are from employees at Central Bi-Products, (a meat processing facility) in Long Prairie, Minnesota.

Subseries 7, Promotional Ideas/Retail Sales, 1972-2001, include pamphlets, brochures, point-of-purchase ads, stickers, calendars, and greeting cards (Christmas, birthday, and Thanksgiving).

Subseries 9, Contests, 1965-1999 and undated, contains documentation illuminating the company's many and varied contests. Held company-wide and worldwide, the contests were intended for dealers to promote the sale of new products. Incentives included cash, prizes, or attachments for various Bobcat skid-steer loaders. The Let's Do It! contest and campaign of 1972-1973, was a competiton for all employees to think more about their productivity efforts. Employees competed quarterly for corporate awards which were given to divisons and plants with the best nine month performance. Employees were judged on return on investment, inventory control, sales volume, and forecasting while the plants were judged on productivity improvement and inventory control.

Subseries 10, Posters, 1977-2005 and undated, consists of posters created by the company for dealers to use in conjunction with various campaigns, programs, and contests.

Series 7, Product Information, 1967-2008, contains brochures, specification sheets, and catalogs detailing the various products offered for sale by the Bobcat Company. Melroe product history file consists of histories of Melroe Ag products, memorable dates in the Melroe company history and speeches about Melroe Manufacturing.

Series 8, Melroe Ag Products/Spra-Coupe Materials, 1972-1998, is divided into two subseries: Subseries 1, Melroe Ag Products Division, 1973-1983 and Subseries 2, Spra-Coupe, 1972-1998, undated. Melroe Ag Products was a division of Melroe Manufacturing which specialized in farm equipment. The products included reset plows, multi-weeders, rock pickers, chisel plows, grain drills, harroweeders, windrow pick-ups and the Spra-Coupe. The Spra-Coupe materials consist primarily of advertisements, product information, and promotional materials. The Spra-Coupe was first built in 1963 by John D. Kirschmann and brought to market in 1965. In the spring of 1972, Melroe Manufacturing acquired the Spra-Coupe, which was designed to apply chemicals using a self-propelled sprayer. The Spra-Coupe was sold primarily to custom operators and was used to replace the airplane as a means of applying liquid spray.

Series 9, Press Related Materials, 1969-2005, is arranged chronologically and divided into four subseries: Subseries 1, Press Clippings, 1969-2005; Subseries 2, Scrapbook of clippings, 1977-1978; Subseries 3, Press Releases, 1972-1999, undated; Subseries 4, Press Conferences, 1978, 1989, 1994; and Subseries 4, Articles, 1967, 1979, 1993. The press releases were used by the company as "organizational announcements" and were released internally to announce promotions, new positions, scholarship recipients, and service awards. In some instances there are black-and-white photographs found in this series as well as "special" releases from 1972-1974 containing correspondence with television stations and industry specific publications such as the Montana Farmer- Stockman and Fertilizer Solutions.

Series 10, Audiovisual Materials, 1963-2007, is divided into seven subseries: Subseries 1, Corporate documentation, circa 1960s-2007, undated; Subseries 2, Promotional, 1967-2007, undated; Subseries 3, Sales, 1963-2003, undated; Subseries 4, Safety/training, circa 1970s-1983, undated; Subseries 5, Commercials, 2004, undated; Subseries 6, Spra-Coupe, 1988-1993, undated; and Subseries 7, Supplemental documentation, 1974-1975, 1983, undated.

Of note are the commercial films made by William Snyder. Snyder was born and raised in North Dakota, and after working in Hollywood, California, for Technicolor he returned to Fargo to form Bill Snyder Films, Inc. Most of Snyder's output was 16 mm film format in color and black-and-white for industrial programs produced by corporate entities and non-profit groups. Snyder supplemented this work by producing television commercials and commercial movies for industry, including Melroe Manufacturing. Melroe hired Snyder in the early 1960s to make a "short" demonstrating the company's skid-steer loader. Eventually more movies were made: The Story of the Bobcat Kid, Bobcat a Go- Go, and Farm Boy at Heart. The movies provide an insight into the marketing strategy of a small company looking for a new and creative marketing effort called the "info-mercial." Aired on local television in the five-state area (Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming) and using Melroe employees, these movies boosted sales for the company.

Subseries 1, Corporate documentation, circa 1960s-2007 and undated, contains footage of corporate events (primarily National Dealer Meetings), the manufacturing process in the two North Dakota factories, employees at work, and other company-related moving images.

Subseries 2, Promotional, 1967-2007 and undated, consists of films that promote various models of Bobcats and attachments to consumers and dealers. Many films highlight the features, capabilities, and different uses of specific models and associated attachments. CD-ROMs were probably given to potential customers based on their interest in Bobcat products or could have been used in dealerships for customers to access the same information.

Subseries 3, Sales, 1963-2003 and undated, documents the material shown to salesmen and dealers of Bobcats for sales purposes. Methods for improving sales, techniques for selling against competitors' machines, and detailed information about Bobcats' capabilities and features are highlighted to educate salesmen on the products. Numerous motivational and instructional videos were made with Reg Stansfield, Regional Sales Manager, offering strategies to improve sales and increase productivity. Some films in this subseries may have been shown to customers.

Subseries 4, Safety/training, circa 1970s-1983 and undated, documents education of the safe operation of Bobcat machines.

Subseries 5, Commercials, 2004 and undated, contains tapes of thirty second television commercials promoting Bobcat skid-steer loaders.

Subseries 6, Spra-Coupe, 1988-1993 and undated, consists of material relating to the Melroe Spra-Coupe and its electrostatic spraying process. Customer testimonials, descriptions of the use of the machine, and the features and capabilities of the Spra-Coupe are included.

Subseries 7, Supplemental documentation, 1974-1975, 1983, and undated, consists of brochures, scripts, and descriptions for some of the audio visual materials.

Arrangement:: Collection is arranged into ten series.

Series 1, Historical Background, 1965-2007

Subseries 1.1, Company Histories, 1965-1998 and undated

Subseries 1.2, Organizational Materials, 1970s-2007 and undated

Subseries 1.3, Factories/Plants, 1965-1996; 2007

Subseries 1.4, Union Materials, 1971, 2005-2007

Subseries 1.5, Kaizen Materials, 2003-2004 and undated

Subseries 1.6, Company Christmas Cards, 1965-1974 and undated

Subseries 1.7, Company Picnics, 1966-1979

Subseries 1.8, Awards, 1969-1988

Subseries 1.9, Subject Files, 1963-1985

Series 2, Clark Equipment Company, 1965-1994 and undated

Subseries 2.1, Company Histories, 1965-1978

Subseries 2.2, Annual Reports, 1974-1994

Subseries 2.3, Employee Information and undated

Series 3, Newsletters, 1965-2009 and undated

Subseries 3.1, Bobcat Alumni Newsletter, 1984 fall; 1987 spring

Subseries 3.2, Bobcat Brief, 1985-1993

Subseries 3.3, Bob Cat's Pajamas, 1965-2008

Subseries 3.4, Bobcat Messages, 2000

Subseries 3.5, Bobcat System, 1993

Subseries 3.6, Clark Pickup, 1975-1976

Subseries 3.7, Feller Buncher Toppers, 1984-1985

Subseries 3.8, Melroe Farm Reporter, 1973-1977

Subseries 3.9, Melroe Messages, 1987-1996, 1999

Subseries 3.10, Melroe Pickup, 1969-1975

Subseries 3.11, Melroe Scoop, 1970

Subseries 3.12, Newsloader, 1979-1982 and undated

Subseries 3.13, Scoop, 1991

Subseries 3.14, The Summit, 1990-1992

Subseries 3.15, Territory Tales, 1974-2002

Subseries 3.16, The Winner's Circle, 1983-1989

Subseries 3.17, Worksaver, 1977-2008

Series 4, Photographs, Negatives, Slides, and Transparencies, 1960-2003 and undated

Subseries 4.1, Alphabetical, 1960-2003 and undated

Subseries 4.2, Miscellaneous, 1963-1986 and undated

Series 5, Dealer Materials, 1964-2003

Subseries 5.1, Dealer Advisory Council Meetings, 1967-1996

Subseries 5.2, Sales Meetings, 1964-1999

Subseries 5.3, District Managers Meetings, 1971-1990

Subseries 5.4, Conferences, 1973, 1974, 1993

Subseries 5.5, Specific Dealers, 1978, 1979, 2003

Subseries 5.6, Dealer Advertising and Sales Promotion Kits, 1967-1996

Subseries 5.7, Co-op Advertising Materials for Dealers, 1979-1982

Subseries 5.8, Subject Files, 1965-2003

Series 6, Marketing and Advertising Materials, 1954-2007

Subseries 6.1, Correspondence of Ferd Froeschle, 1974-1976, 1990

Subseries 6.2, Budget/Finances, 1961-2000 (not inclusive)

Subseries 6.3, Advertisements, 1964-2001

Subseries 6.4, Artwork/Storyboards, undated

Subseries 6.5, Advertising Proof Books, 1954-1993

Subseries 6.6, Surveys/Profiles, 1977, 1979, 1990-1991

Subseries 6.7, Promotional Ideas/Retail Sales, 1970s-2007

Subseries 6.8, Sales Campaigns and Programs, 1972-2001

Subseries 6.9, Contests, 1965-1999, undated

Subseries 6.10, Posters, 1977-2005, undated

Series 7, Product Information, 1967-2008

Series 8, Melroe Ag Division/Spra-Coupe Materials, 1972-1998

Subseries 8.1, Melroe Ag Products Division, 1973-1983

Subseries 8.2, Spra-Coupe, 1972-1998, undated

Series 9, Press Related Materials, 1969-2005

Subseries 9.1, Press Clippings, 1969-2005

Subseries 9.2, Scrapbook of clippings, 1977-1978

Subseries 9.3, Press Releases, 1972-1999, undated

Subseries 9.4, Press Conferences, 1978, 1989, 1994

Subseries 9.5, Articles, 1967, 1979, 1993

Series 10, Audiovisual Materials, circa 1960s-2007, undated

Subseries 10.1, Corporate documentation, circa 1960s-2007 and undated

Subseries 10.2, Promotional, 1967-2007 and undated

Subseries 10.3, Sales, 1963-2003 and undated

Subseries 10.4, Safety/Training, circa 1970s-1983 and undated

Subseries 10.5, Commercials, 2004 and undated

Subseries 10.6, Spra-Coupe, 1988-1993 and undated

Subseries 10.7, Supplemental documentation, 1974-1975 and undated

Biographical / Historical:: The Bobcat Company Records document the evolution of the Bobcat skid-steer loader from a simple agricultural machine into a versatile and widely recognized tool. The Company's loaders, mini track loaders, and product attachments improved productivity in many industries such as shipping, landscaping, and construction. In 1958, approximately 20 loaders were built, and by the 1960s, the total number of units was in the few thousands. In the 1970s, 10,000 loaders were being manufactured a year. Today, Bobcat produces approximately 40,000 loaders a year and celebrated its 750,000th loader in 2008. Other companies, such as Caterpillar, Case, John Deere and New Holland all make loaders, but Bobcat dominates the market and its name is synonymous with the compact construction equipment industry. The records focus primarily on Bobcat's products, marketing, and advertising through product literature, photographs, advertisements, posters, newsletters, and audiovisual materials. The Bobcat Company is a story of individuals, simple ingenuity, independence, and innovation and improvement. The Kellers' problem of removing turkey manure from a barn was solved with a can-do, make-do ethos of the farm which spawned a global industry. The early roots of the Bobcat machine lie in the farming heritage of central Minnesota and the North Dakota plains with two blacksmith brothers, Louis (b. 1923-) and Cyril (b. 1922-) Keller. Out of farming necessity to make manual labor easier, a story of technology grew into a world-wide industry that would become known as the compact equipment industry and would be identified with the name Bobcat. In the fall of 1947, Louis Keller formed Keller Manufacturing (sometimes known as Keller Welding) in Rothsay, Minnesota, which provided a wide range of general repair services to customers, especially blacksmithing and welding services. In 1953, Cyril Keller joined his brother Louis as an equal partner in the business. The small family business noted that they "weld anything except a broken heart." In the summer of 1956, Eddie Velo, a local turkey farmer, approached the Kellers with the problem of cleaning manure out of his turkey barns after the turkeys had been taken to slaughter. Standard loader tractors could not be utilized because of their limited maneuverability, and they were too heavy to operate on the second story of a barn. Velo needed a tractor that could maneuver around the posts in his barn, move backwards and forward, and make sharp turns. The Kellers developed a drive system that was designed to provide the maneuverability required by Velo. A bucket was placed in the front, and a motor in the back. A third castor wheel was added to permit sharp turning. They employed a pulley-and-chain system to switch back and forth. They found that this system was too dangerous, and they abandoned it for a clutch system. The result was a system for "transmitting power from a power unit to propulsion wheels, drive shafts and the like, and in particular to a transmission system for self-propelled vehicles having independently rotatable propulsion or drive wheels."0F[1] A completed loader was delivered to Velo in fall 1957, but the Kellers continued to refine and test it. They manufactured six additional models on speculation and ultimately sold them to area poultry farms. To address the instability issues of having three wheels, they added a counter weight at the back. Additionally, they introduced attachments for the loader-snow blade, sweeper, a bucket, and a manure fork. The Kellers sought to mass-produce their loader. After pursuing various avenues, their uncle, Anton Christianson, a dealer with Melroe Manufacturing Company of Gwinner, North Dakota, introduced them to Melroe Manufacturing. Melroe Manufacturing Company was founded in 1947 by Edward Gideon "E.G." Melroe (d. 1955), a pioneer in agricultural technology. The Kellers were invited to bring their loader to the Melroe booth at the 1958 Minnesota State Fair, to determine the amount of interest in the loader. The interest was so great that Melroe decided to manufacture the loader. After the State Fair, an agreement was reached-Melroe would have exclusive manufacturing rights on a royalty basis. The Kellers would be employed by Melroe to further develop the loader. Access to the Melroe facilities allowed the Kellers' work to progress and be widely marketed. In the fall of 1958, Louis and Cyril Keller moved to Gwinner, North Dakota, to begin work. Louis worked on the manufacturing floor from 1958 to 1967 developing the loader, and Cyril worked from 1958 to 1980 as a salesman promoting and selling Melroe products and training dealers. Development of the first Melroe loader prototype (M60) began in November 1958 and was completed in early 1959. The prototype utilized the Keller patented drive design, which was used on various Melroe and later Bobcat models until 1982. The name "Bobcat" originated in 1962 with Lynn Bickett, of Gould, Brown and Bickett, a marketing agency in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Allegedly, Bickett found the word "bobcat" in the dictionary, and noted that it was a North American mammal that is "tough, quick, and agile." These traits perfectly described the Melroe loader to them, and the Bobcat slogan, "Tough, quick, and agile," was born. Officially designated the Bobcat Company in 2000, the company previously operated under the names: Melroe Manufacturing (1958-1969); Clark Equipment Company (1969-1995); and was also known as Ingersoll-Rand Company (1995-2007). In 1969, Clark Equipment Company of Buchanan, Michigan, acquired Melroe Manufacturing and pushed the Bobcat loader to even greater sales. Clark was a leader in forklifts, but adding the Bobcat product line expanded Clark's range and marketing potential. In 1995, Clark was acquired by Ingersoll-Rand (IR), a leading manufacturer of construction equipment and industrial machinery. IR wanted a strong brand name and the top market share that accompanied it, and Bobcat was just the thing. The IR Company provided Bobcat with a platform to focus on product innovation (front end attachments) and it encouraged global manufacturing and development. The Bobcat Company was acquired by Doosan Infracore International of South Korea in October 2007.

2 Louis Keller. Transmission system. US Patent 3,151,503, filed Dec. 1, 1958, and issued Oct. 6, 1964.

Related Materials:: These records complement many of the Archives Center's agricultural holdings such as the William C. Kost Farm Records (documenting a 20th century family-owned farm in Illinois); the Robinson-Via Family Papers (documenting daily farm life in Prince George's County, Maryland); the Everett Bickley Collection (documenting agricultural technology of bean sorting) and the Southern Agriculture Oral History Project Records (documenting the disappearing farm). These papers also complement the Archives Center's holdings of industrial equipment such as Caterpillar, Page Tractors, and B.B. Brown (documenting tractor engines). Construction related papers include the Clyde Learned Papers (documenting a highway engineer); Lloyd F. Rader Papers (documenting civil engineering); the Leon Struck Photo Album (documenting road building) and many of our collections of civil engineering materials.

Separated Materials:: The Division of Work and Industry holds one magnetic lifter, Accession 2007.0196.01-.02

Provenance:: This collection was donated by Scott Nelson, President of the Bobcat Company of North America on June 23, 2008.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Viewing the film portion of the collection without reference copies requires special appointment, please inquire. Do not use original materials when available on reference video, DVD, or audio tapes. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

Rights:: Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions. The Archives Center does not own rights to these photographs. All requests for permission to use these photographs for non-museum purposes must be addressed directly to the Bobcat Company. Potential users must receive written permission from appropriate rights holders prior to obtaining high quality copies.

Topic:: Construction industry Search this; Construction equipment Search this

Genre/Form:: DVDs; Compact discs; Christmas cards; Awards; Advertisements -- 20th century; Posters -- 20th century; Stickers; Tickets; Videocassettes; Photographs -- 20th century; Placemats; Invitations; Newsletters -- 20th century; Greeting cards

Citation:: Bobcat Company Records, 1940s-2009, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sponsor:: Processing of this collection was made possible, in part, by a gift from the Bobcat Company of North America.

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.1129

See more items in:: Bobcat Company Records

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8a2f6ef8d-f1c0-4127-be32-76de9e143114

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1129

Online Media:

Mr. Wizard Papers

Creator:: Herbert, Don (Donald Jeffry), 1917-2007 Search this

Names:: Mr. Wizard Search this

Donor:: Mr. Wizard Studios (Firm) Search this

Extent:: 26 Cubic feet (57 boxes, 1 oversize folder)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Television programs; Storyboards; Photographs; Research; Books; Scripts (documents); Speeches; Contracts; Videocassettes; Dvds; Slides (photographs); Notes; Awards; Scrapbooks; Motion pictures (visual works)

Date:: 1906-2008; bulk 1951-1995

Summary:: The collection documents, through printed materials, photographs, audio and moving image, Don Herbert's career as a science educator under the persona of "Mr. Wizard" from 1951 until the 1990s.

Scope and Contents:: The collection documents the career of science educator Don Herbert, who created and hosted child-oriented television programs on science subjects in which he assumed the persona of Mr. Wizard. In addition to a documentation about his early personal life, the collection also documents his Watch Mr. Wizard television show as well as his other television, radio, and educational activities.

The collection includes correspondence, contracts, writings, publications, newspaper clippings, speeches; awards, photographs; episode files relating to Watch Mr. Wizard and other educational programming, moving image, and audio recordings.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged into eight series.

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1906-2007

Series 2: Awards, 1948-2000

Series 3: Speeches, 1966-1994

Series 4: Publications/Writings, 1966-2004

Series 5: Newspaper Articles, 1944-2007

Series 6: Educational Programs/Projects, 1951-2008

Subseries 6.1: It's a Curious Thing, 1951, 1954

Subseries 6.2: Watch Mr. Wizard, 1954-1989

Subseries 6.3: General Electric Theater, 1956-1958

Subseries 6.4: Instructor Magazine, 1964-1965

Subseries 6.5: Experiment, 1963-2003

Subseries 6.6: Silence of Science, 1966

Subseries 6.7: CBS National Science Test, 1967

Subseries 6.8: General Electric, 1974-1976

Subseries 6.9: Mr. Wizard Collection...Fun Things, circa 1975

Subseries 6.10: Mr. Wizard Close-up, 1968, 1975

Subseries 6.11: Challenge with Mr. Wizard, 1976

Subseries 6.12: Science Twenty with Mr. Wizard, 1969-1974

Subseries 6.13: How About..., 1977-1989

Subseries 6.14: Mr. Wizard's Whadda Ya Know Show, circa 1981

Subseries 6.15: Correspondent Science News, circa 1987

Subseries 6.16: Just a Minute from Wizard, 1988

Subseries 6.17: Teacher to Teacher, 1993-2004

Subseries 6.18: Mr. Wizard's World, 1971-2004

Subseries 6.19: Mr. Wizard's Studio, 1990-1992

Subseries 6.20: Mr. Wizard Institute, undated

Subseries 6.21: Fan Mail, 1952-2007

Series 7: Photographs, 1951-2001

Series 8: Audio Visual Materials, 1951-2004

Subseries 8.1: Supplemental Documentation, 1972-2004

Subseries 8.2: Moving Image, 1951-2004

Subseries 8.3: Audio, 1966, 1977

Biographical / Historical:: Donald Herbert Kemske (1917-2007) was the creator and host of Watch Mr. Wizard (1951–1965), Mr. Wizard (1971–1972), Mr. Wizard's World (1983–1990), and other educational television programs for children devoted to science and technology. He also produced many short video programs about science and authored several popular books about science for children. So important was Mr. Wizard to scientific education on television that author Marcel LaFollette featured his photo on the cover of her book, Science on American Television: A History, University of Chicago Press, 2013.

Don Herbert was born Donald Herbert Kemske in Waconia, Minnesota on July 10, 1917. He was one of three children (sisters Betty and Dorothy) born to Herbert Kemske and Lydia Kemske (nee Poeppel). He officially changed his name in 1940 to Donald Jeffry Herbert. Herbert graduated from LaCrosse State Normal College in 1940 with a Bachelor of Science degree. In 1942, Herbert volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps and in 1943 began training as an aviation cadet and then pilot. During World War II, Herbert served in the 461 Bomb Group and 767 Bomb Squadron in Europe. He was discharged from the military service on July 29, 1945 as a captain and had earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. After the war, Herbert worked at a radio station in Chicago and acted in children's programs, including It's Your Life (1949). During this time Herbert developed the idea of Mr. Wizard. In 1939, Herbert married Maraleita Dutton (1923-1995) and the couple adopted three children: Jeffrey (1954); Jay (1955); and Jill (1960). He later divorced Maraleita Dutton and married Norma Nix Kasell (1918-2010) in 1972.

Premiering on March 3, 1951 on WNBQ, a 14-station network in Chicago, Herbert's Watch Mr. Wizard differed considerably from earlier attempts at scientific education on television. Those shows were either very technical, like the Johns Hopkins Science Review, or used magic tricks and comedy to hold viewers' attention, like ABC's Science Circus and CBS' Mr. I. Magination. From the beginning, Herbert planned a serious, informative show for children, rather than their parents. Even though he had only minimal scientific training in college—he had been an English major at La Crosse State Normal College in Wisconsin—in his persona as Mr. Wizard, Herbert conveyed a sense of authority and expertise.

The show, broadcast live, was carefully scripted, meticulously researched, and smooth-flowing. Each week, Mr. Wizard—described by LaFollette as a "nonthreatening, easygoing, intelligent man with a smiling face" in shirtsleeves and tie (and the occasional lab coat)—carefully guided his youthful assistants through simple experiments. Using ordinary household items such as eggs, balloons, milk bottles, coffee cans, and knitting needles, Herbert explained larger scientific principles like gravity, magnetism, and oxidation. Although seemingly complex, the experiments actually were simple enough to be re-created by his young viewers in the classroom or at home.

Herbert's winning combination of personality, grasp of science, and use of ordinary objects made Mr. Wizard a hit with viewers and made a lasting impression on science education in America. As LaFollette writes, the program "enjoyed consistent praise, awards, and high ratings throughout its history. At its peak, Watch Mr. Wizard drew audiences in the millions, but its impact was far wider. By 1956, it had prompted the establishment of more than five thousand Mr. Wizard science clubs, with an estimated membership greater than one hundred thousand." After over 500 shows over fourteen and a half years, NBC abruptly canceled Watch Mr. Wizard in 1965. The last program under contract with NBC aired on June 27, 1965.

From 1954 to 1962, Herbert, appearing as Mr. Wizard, delivered "Progress Reports" during commercial breaks of the General Electric Theater. As with most commercially-sponsored shows, the progress being reported on was almost exclusively made by General Electric. Following the cancellation of Watch Mr. Wizard, he continued to use his Mr. Wizard persona in science education. In 1965-1966, he produced an eight-film-series, Experiment: The Story of a Scientific Search, which was broadcast on public television, and a series of twenty-minute films, Science Twenty, designed to complement the current science curriculum in the classroom (circa 1970).

Herbert's television show was briefly revived in 1971-1972 as Mr. Wizard, in response to protests over the cartoons and commercials that flooded children's Saturday morning prime viewing time, but it did not receive enough network support. Herbert appeared in commercials for several companies during the 1970s and briefly lobbied Congress on behalf of General Electric in 1975. In the early 1970s, Herbert also produced Mr. Wizard Close-Ups, thirty second spots that aired on NBC in the Saturday morning slot. In the late 1970s, he began collaborating with the National Science Foundation to create a series of short news briefs for television called How About…How About was an adult-oriented series of 80-second reports highlighting advances in science and technology. The reports were designed for insertion into existing commercial television programs.

In the early 1980s, Herbert returned to television in Mr. Wizard's World, a faster-paced version of the original show that ran on the Nickelodeon network from 1983-1990. After its cancellation, reruns ran until at least 2000. During this time Herbert made numerous appearances on television news and talk shows, particularly the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, where he was a popular guest. In the 1990s, Herbert produced Teacher to Teacher with Mr. Wizard, a video series that debuted on September 27, 1994 on the Nickelodeon cable channel. The innovative educational series provided a candid, close-up and in-depth visit to classrooms of outstanding teachers using hands-on, inquiry-based techniques.

Herbert also published several books, including Mr. Wizard's Science Secrets (1952); Mr. Wizard's Experiments for Young Scientists (1959); Mr. Wizard's 400 Experiments in Science (1968); and Mr. Wizard's Supermarket Science (1980). Additionally, he designed science kits involving chemistry, crystal growing, ecology, and electronics, which were marketed by Owens-Illinois in the 1960s.

Herbert's hands-on techniques in demonstrating scientific concepts to children were the inspiration for numerous educators who followed his lead. As popular TV science educator Bill Nye wrote in a special to the Los Angeles Times, his "techniques and performances helped create the United States' first generation of homegrown rocket scientists just in time to respond to Sputnik. He sent us to the moon. He changed the world."

Don Herbert died in 2007, shortly before his 90th birthday. Soon after, the U.S. House of Representatives marked his passing: "Resolved, that the House of Representatives (1) expresses its appreciation for the profound public service and educational contributions of Don Jeffry Herbert, (2) recognizes the profound public impact of higher educational institutions that train teachers, (3) encourages students to honor the heritage of Don Herbert by exploring our world through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields; and, (4) extends its condolences to the family of Don Herbert and thanks them for their strong familial support of him."

Sources

LaFollette, Marcel. Science on American Television: A History, University of Chicago Press, 2013.

Nye, Bill. "Teaching Science with a Big `Poof!' Los Angeles Times, June 15, 2007.

Related Materials:: Materials at Other Organizations

UCLA Film and Television Archives

The collection consists of 770 moving image items in several formats: 16mm kinescopes; 1" videotapes; 2" videotapes; ¾" videotapes; and DVDs. The collection documents Don Herbert's career as Mr. Wizard, from the early 1950's to the mid 1990's and includes such programs as Watch Mr. Wizard, Mr. Wizard's World, and How About...

Separated Materials:: Materials at the National Museum of American History

Related materials were donated to the Division of Medicine and Science. See accession 2014.0141.

2014.0141.01, Mr. Wizard's Experiments in Ecology, Series One: Microbes (science kit)

2014.0141.02, Mr. Wizard's Experiments in Crystal Growing (science kit)

2014.0141.03, Mr. Wizard's Experiments in Chemistry (science kit)

2014.0141.04, Fun with the Mr. Wizard Science Set (science kit)

2014.0141.05, Mr. Wizard's Science Secrets (science kit)

2014.0141.06, Mr. Wizard's Experiments for Young Scientists (book)

2014.0141.07, Mr. Wizard's Supermarket Science (book)

Provenance:: The collection was donated by Mr. Wizard Studios, through Thomas E. Nikosey, President, and Kristen K. Nikosey, Vice President, in 2014.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research. Reference copies for audio and moving images materials do not exist. Use of these materials requires special arrangement. Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives.

Social Security numbers are present and have been rendered unreadable and redacted. Researchers may use the photocopies in the collection. The remainder of the collection has no restrictions.

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.

Topic:: Television personalities Search this; Television -- educational shows Search this; Science -- Study and teaching Search this

Genre/Form:: Television programs; Storyboards; Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- 20th century; Research; Books -- 20th century; Scripts (documents); Speeches; Contracts; Videocassettes; DVDs; Slides (photographs) -- 20th century; Notes; Awards; Scrapbooks -- 20th century; Motion pictures (visual works) -- 20th century

Citation:: Mr. Wizard Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.1326

See more items in:: Mr. Wizard Papers

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8361c8c90-5ad7-4fc1-b619-8394f77efda4

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1326

Online Media:

A. Bernie Wood Papers

Creator:: Wood, Arthur Bernie, 1921-1986 Search this

Extent:: 10 Cubic feet (27 boxes, 2 oversize folders)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Slides (photographs); Clippings; Negatives; Transparencies; Matchcovers; Placemats; Stationery; Business cards; Business records; Advertisements; Photographs; Drawings; Motion pictures (visual works); Design drawings

Date:: 1942-2001; bulk 1960-1969

Summary:: A. (Arthur) Bernie Wood (1921-1986) was an advertising designer, consultant, and inventor actively involved in the development of the restaurant franchise industry in America during the 1960s and 1970s. Particularly notable is his work with marketing, promotion, and merchandising for the McDonald's Corporation during its formative years.

Scope and Contents:: The collection documents the post-war development of the franchise business system from an insider's view. Wood participated in almost all aspects of franchising activities from design to ownership. The materials consist of a wide variety of corporate identity elements--primarily visual--developed by Wood under contract to various corporations in the food service industry. Wood delivered his services in design concepts and graphics for advertisers and industrial firms using photo graphics and lithographic media.

Arrangement:: The collection organized into seven series.

Series 1: Personal Materials, 1942-1986, undated

Series 2: Business Materials, 1959-2001, undated

Subseries 1: Franchise information, 1961-2001

Subseries 2: Design work, undated

Subseries 3: Reference materials, 1959-1972

Series 3: McDonald's Corporation, 1957-1985

Subseries 1: Background materials, 1963, 1985, undated

Subseries 2: Corporate materials, 1960-1984

Subseries 3: Newsletters, 1960-1964, 1983

Subseries 4: Advertising and marketing materials, 1957-1978, undated

Subseries 5: Packaging, 1964, undated

Subseries 6: Sales materials, 1963, 1964, [1972?], undated

Subseries 7: Drawings, 1960s-1970s

Series 4: Client Files, 1958-1984

Series 5: Patent and Trademark Materials, 1962-1976

Subseries 1: Patents and patent applications, 1962-1969, 1975-1976

Subseries 2: Trademarks, 1964-1970

Series 6: Photographs, Slides and Negatives, 1963-1975, undated

Subseries 1: Biographical, 1964, 1975, undated

Subseries 2: Client Work, 1963-1968

Subseries 3: Slide Presentations, 1963-1969, undated

Series 7: Audio and Moving Image Materials, 1963, 1964, 1968

Subseries 1: Audio Materials, 1963, 1964, 1968

Subseries 2: Moving Image Materials, undated

Biographical / Historical:: Arthur Bernie Wood (1921-1986) was born in Council Grove, Kansas. Wood graduated from Central High School in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1939 and subsequently attended several junior colleges and business and trade schools. Wood held a variety of positions in typesetting and lithographic services from 1940 until military service in the United States Navy (1942-1945). In the Navy, Wood served as a Laboratory Technician, 1st Class Photographic Specialist at the Naval Air Station, Glenview, Illinois. While in the Navy, Wood produced patentable material for a photo-litho process for instant printing techniques through photosynthesis. After being discharged from the Navy, Wood worked for an art studio that serviced advertising agencies. This work involved reproduction art, direct mailing services, mail order books, and newspaper art for Marshall Field's. From 1958 to 1960, Wood established the A. Bernie Wood Studio in Chicago to provide finished photographic art for leading advertising and print publications and television.

In 1961, Wood founded Admart, Inc., Advertising. As the president and creative director of Admart, he created, promoted, and merchandised the new fast-food corporate image of McDonald's Carry-Out Restaurants. While working for McDonald's, Wood designed interior food service floor plans, a logotype, direct mailing materials, posters, newspaper mat campaigns, and radio taped productions (1963-1964). Wood obtained several patents--beverage cup holder (1964), candy box (1967), finger-grip food product containers (1967), and a refreshment tray-forming template (1964) and trademarks--"Chick'n-2-Go" (1968);"NEATRAE" (1967); and "Ma and Pa's Country Candy Store" (1966). Wood, and Donald Conley formed Neat Containers Associates to promote the use of "Neatrae" and license it.

In 1965, Wood founded a franchise business called Ma and Pa's Country Candy Stores in Arlington Heights, Illinois, which he owned and operated with his wife Marilyn until 1972. They also owned another unit in Long Grove, Illinois. As the director and co-founder of this franchise, Wood was responsible for creating names, trademarks, copyrights, and image materials. He sold franchise rights to others, and there were other Ma and Pa's Country Candy Stores located in the United States, especially in St. Louis. He also designed store interiors and exteriors for other clients and supervised construction. From 1964 to 1965, Wood was a freelance designer and consultant on design, marketing, and franchising issues for restaurants and drive-ins. Other corporate images designed by Wood include: Prince Castle, Neba Roast Beef, and Friar Fish's Fish and Chips. Wood expressed his goal to design an image/logo as one "that would be recognized and one that would relate to products, packaging, properties, people, procedures and promotion. Put together, these elements communicated and coordinated the corporate image."

Wood also developed the concept Dial "All Wood," the use of a memorable association of letters rather than phone numbers (255-9663) and requesting specific phone numbers from the local Illinois Bell Telephone.

Wood married Marilyn Dewar (1923-1981) on May 27, 1942, in Kansas City, Missouri. They had five children: Ronald W.; Rhonda C.; Randall S.; Rayne Ann; and Rodger L.

Wood died on April 5, 1986.

Provenance:: The collection was donated by Rayne Ann Wood, daughter of A. Bernie Wood, on February 25, 2007.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

Rights:: Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:: Restaurants Search this; Trademarks Search this; Patents Search this; advertising Search this; Franchises (Retail trade) Search this

Genre/Form:: Slides (photographs) -- 20th century; Clippings -- 20th century; Negatives; Transparencies; Matchcovers; Placemats; Stationery; Business cards; Business records -- 1950-2000; Advertisements -- 20th century; Photographs -- 1950-2000; Drawings; Motion pictures (visual works) -- 20th century; Design drawings -- 1950-2000

Citation:: A. Bernie Wood papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.0962

See more items in:: A. Bernie Wood Papers

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8cfc4a0c6-0591-4be1-81c6-9a0a45f0fb25

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0962

Online Media:

John Wiley Appalachian Trail Lantern Slides and Maps

Creator:: Wiley, John Search this

Extent:: 0.25 Cubic feet (1 box, 1 oversize folder)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Lantern slides; Maps; Photographs

Place:: Appalachian Trail

Date:: 1904 - 1953

Summary:: The collection consists of maps of areas along the Appalachian Trail, some issued by clubs and trail conferences, and lantern slides depicting views of the Appalachian Trail, mountains, rivers, hikers, camp scenes, and canoeing, with special emphasis on Mt. Katahdin, Maine.

Scope and Contents:: Collection includes ten maps of areas along the Appalachian Trail, some issued by clubs and trail conferences, and 26 lantern slides of views of the Trail in New England, specifically Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

Series 1, Lantern Slides, circa 1922, consists of twenty-six 3¼" x 4" inch black-and-white mounted-glass lantern slides depicting views of the Appalachian Trail, views of mountains, rivers, hikers, camp scenes, and canoeing, near Mt. Katahdin, Maine. Some lanterns slides are cracked, and there is no arrangement.

Series 2, Maps, 1904-1951, consists of ten maps issued by Appalachian Trail clubs and conferences. Most of the maps are copies or blueprints. One map is on tracing paper. The maps are 33"x 34" or smaller and are arranged chronologically.

Arrangement:: The collection is divided into two series.

Series 1, Lantern Slides, circa 1922

Series 2, Maps, 1904-1953

Biographical / Historical:: The maps were presumably used by Wiley family members while hiking the Appalachian Trail and the lantern slides depict some Wiley family members and friends while hiking.

Related Materials:: Materials at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Earl Shaffer Papers, 1903-2002 (AC0828)

Provenance:: The collection was donated by John Wiley on April 5, 2010.

Restrictions:: The collection is open for research.

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.

Topic:: Hiking Search this; Trails Search this

Genre/Form:: Lantern slides; Maps; Photographs -- 20th century

Citation:: John Wiley Appalachian Trail Collection, 1904-1953, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.1194

See more items in:: John Wiley Appalachian Trail Lantern Slides and Maps

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep869f8eaf4-cbfc-4958-ade7-16ea804b8096

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1194

Online Media:

Marchal Landgren Papers

Creator:: Landgren, Marchal E. Search this

Names:: American Abstract Artists Search this; Art Students League (New York, N.Y.) Search this; Artists Equity Association Search this; Contemporary Arts (Gallery) Search this; Joseph Mitchell Gallery Search this; Municipal Art Committee (New York, N.Y.) Search this; Old Print Shop (New York, N.Y.) Search this; University of Maryland at College Park Search this; Washington, D.C.. Public Library Search this; Abbott, Berenice, 1898-1991 Search this; Albers, Josef Search this; Avery, Milton, 1885-1965 Search this; Beaton, Cecil Walter Hardy, Sir, 1904- Search this; Constant, George Search this; Cox, George Collins, 1851-1902 Search this; De Laittre, Eleanor, 1911-1998 Search this; Fitch, Clyde, 1865-1909 Search this; Force, Juliana, 1876-1948 Search this; Fruhauf, Aline, 1909-1978 Search this; Gallatin, A. E. (Albert Eugene), 1881-1952 Search this; Geist, Sidney Search this; Gershwin, George, 1898-1937 Search this; Glackens, Ira, 1907-1990 Search this; Greene, Balcomb, 1904-1990 Search this; Harari, Hananiah, 1912-2000 Search this; Higgins, Eugene, 1874-1958 Search this; Holtzman, Harry Search this; Hunt, William Morris, 1824-1879 Search this; Janauschek, Francesca Romana Magdalena, 1830-1904 Search this; Kane, John, 1860-1934 Search this; Kipling, Rudyard, 1865-1936 Search this; Laufman, Sidney, 1891- Search this; Logasa, Charles, 1883-1936 Search this; Mitchell, Donald Grant, 1822-1908 Search this; Newman, Robert Loftin, 1827-1912 Search this; Orr, Elliot, 1904-1997 Search this; Portinari, Cândido, 1903-1962 Search this; Ryder, Albert Pinkham, 1847-1917 Search this; Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 1848-1907 Search this; Sprinchorn, Carl, 1887-1971 Search this

Extent:: 15.3 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Christmas cards; Photographs; Scrapbooks; Sketches; Drawings

Date:: 1881-circa 1982; bulk 1930-1975

Summary:: The papers of Washington, D.C. art historian, librarian, author, educator, and art consultant Marchal Landgren measure 15.3 linear feet and date from 1881 to circa 1982, with the bulk of the material dating from 1930 to 1975. Included are biographical materials, correspondence, writings and notes, professional and organization files, research projects' files, scattered personal business records, printed materials, two clippings scrapbooks, photographical materials, and scattered artwork.

Scope and Contents:: The papers of Washington, D.C. art historian, librarian, author, educator, and art consultant Marchal Landgren measure 15.3 linear feet and date from 1881 to circa 1982, with the bulk of the material dating from 1930 to 1975. Included are biographical materials, correspondence, writings and notes, professional and organization files, research projects' files, scattered personal business records, printed materials, two clippings scrapbooks, photographical materials, and scattered artwork.

Biographical material includes address cards, an appointment book, curriculum vitaes, genealogical materials, and military records. Correspondence is with artists, clients, colleagues, museums, and universities, and is predominantly professional in nature. Correspondents include Albert E. Gallatin, George Gershwin, Ira Glackens, Sidney Laufman, Elliot Orr, Candido Portinari, and Carl Sprinchorn, among others.

Writings include miscellaneous published and unpublished writings and drafts by Marchal Landgren primarily those not associated with his major research projects. These include various articles written for magazines and journals, manuscript drafts, research notes, and notebooks. There is also a file of writings by others that includes the John Mitchell Gallery Notes.

Professional and organizational files document Landgren's positions and work for educational institutions and arts organizations, including the American Abstract Artists Group, Art Students League of New York, Association of Artists Equity of Washington D. C., Contemporary Arts, D. C. Public Library, Library Journal, New York City Municipal Art Committee, Old Print Shop, Inc., and the University of Maryland, among others. These files also contain correspondence, perhaps the most notable found in the file on the American Abstract Artists Group which includes letters from Josef Albers, Eleanor de Laittre, Sidney Geist, Balcomb Greene, Hananiah Harari, and Harry Holtzman.

Well over one-half of the collection consists of files for Landgren's ongoing research projects on numerous artists and photographers, Latin American art, as well as his bibliographic reference projects. The bulk of the files cover his research, writing, and curatorial work on Robert Loftin Newman. Files are also found for Berenice Abbott, Milton Avery, George Constant, George Collins Cox, Aline Fruhauf, Eugene Higgins, William Morris Hunt, John Kane, Charles Logasa, Elliot Orr, and Albert Pinkham Ryder, among many others.

Personal business records include personal and general expense documentation and scattered exhibition price lists. Printed materials include clippings, exhibition catalogs, and miscellaneous published articles and essays. There are two scrapbooks of clippings.

There are photographs, slides, and negatives of images of Landgren, other artists and notable figures in the art world, and of artwork. Of note is a portrait photograph of Juliana Force by Cecil Beaton, one photograph by Berenice Abbott, "Barclay Street Ferry", and 14 taken by George C. Cox of Rudyard Kipling, Clyde Fitch, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Madame Fanny Janauschek, Donald G. Mitchell, and others.

The papers also include scattered artwork, including holiday cards illustrated by artists, and sketches and drawings by other artists.

Arrangement:: This collection is arranged as 10 series.

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Materials, circa 1890-circa 1981 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1930-circa 1982 (0.6 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1932-circa 1982 (1.2 linear feet; Boxes 1-3)

Series 4: Professional and Organizational Files, circa 1910-circa 1977 (3.4 linear feet; Boxes 3-6)

Series 5: Research Projects' Files, 1881-circa 1982 (6.9 linear feet; Boxes 6-13, 15)

Series 6: Personal Business Records, circa 1934-circa 1982 (0.4 linear feet; Box 13)

Series 7: Printed Material, circa 1927-circa 1981 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 13-14)

Series 8: Scrapbooks, circa 1931-circa 1979 (0.2 linear feet; Boxes 14-15)

Series 9: Photographic Materials, circa 1930s-circa 1978 (0.2 linear feet; Boxes 14-15)

Series 10: Artwork, circa 1930s-circa 1940s (0.2 linear feet; Boxes 14-15)

Biographical / Historical:: Marchal E. Landgren (1907-1983) was an art historian, librarian, educator, author, and art consultant, active in New York and Washington, D. C.

As associate director and board member of Contemporary Arts, Inc. in New York, Landgren established a program for providing artists with their first solo exhibition in New York, including those of John Kane and Mark Tobey. In 1932, he directed the exhibition schedule at the New School for Social Research; and in 1935, Landgren served as the director of art activities for the New York City Municipal Art Committee where he facilitated many exhibitions over the course of five years, including Recent Paintings by Boris Aronson at Babcock Galleries in 1938.

Working as a freelance art consultant, researcher, and author, Landgren organized numerous exhibitions between 1932 and 1950 of the work of Milton Avery, George C. Cox, Elliot Orr, Robert Loftin Newman, and Albert Pinkham Ryder. He also edited several arts publications, including the Old Print Shop Portfolio, John Mitchell Gallery Notes, and arts manuscripts for Oxford University Press.

In 1939, Landgren was selected by the New York World's Fair Commision to prepare historical notes on Latin American art for the exhibition catalogs of the Latin American art exhibition. After the Fair, he continued his research on this topic and wrote several articles, as well as lecturing on Latin American painting at the Art Students League of New York, the Newark Art Club, and the National Education Association at the Boston Museum.

After serving in the U. S. Army Air Force during World War II, Landgren moved to Washington, D. C. in 1950 and began work as the arts division readers' advisor for the D. C. Public Library. For seventeen years, he built up the library's general collection of art books and created extensive files of art exhibition catalogs.

In 1967, he took a position as a bibliographic consultant for the fine arts department at the University of Maryland. He became director of the University's art gallery and of the art department museum training program. During his tenure at the University of Maryland, Landgren conducted graduate seminars in art history, edited and published exhibition catalogs, and organized exhibitions, including The Late Landscapes of William Morris Hunt in 1976.

Landgren was a visiting scholar at the Smithsonian Institution's National Collection of Fine Arts and curated an exhibition of paintings by Robert Loftin Newman held there from 1973 to 1974 and at the Tennessee Fine Arts Center in 1974.

Marchal Landgren authored two books: Years of Art: The Story of the Art Students League of New York (Robert M. McBride and Company, 1940), and Robert Loftin Newman (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1974). He was a regular reviewer of art books for the Library Journal from 1958 to 1972, and contributed reviews to Trend, Magazine of Art, and other journals. He was awarded a research grant by the American Council of Learned Societies in 1963 for his study of George C. Cox and did a great deal of research in American art and American art institutions for an unfinished manuscript. He also worked on a bibliography of art literature which he never completed.

Provenance:: The Marchal Landgren papers were donated by Landgren in 1974, and by the Landgren estate via David Huddle in 1983.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference 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.

Occupation:: Librarians -- Washington (D.C.) Search this; Educators -- Washington (D.C.) Search this; Authors -- Washington (D.C.) Search this; Art historians -- Washington (D.C.) Search this; Art consultants -- Washington (D.C.) Search this

Topic:: Art, American Search this; Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States Search this

Genre/Form:: Christmas cards; Photographs; Scrapbooks; Sketches; Drawings

Citation:: Marchal Landgren papers, 1881-circa 1982, bulk 1930-1975. 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.

Identifier:: AAA.landmarc

See more items in:: Marchal Landgren Papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw946a644a0-83cc-46a7-8c56-e9c63db0e1b4

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-landmarc

Spanish Language Broadcasting Collection

Creator:: WKAQ (Television station : San Juan, Puerto Rico) Search this; WNJU (Television station : New York, NY) Search this; Telemundo Group, Inc. Search this; Univisión (Television network) Search this; Mirós, Gilda Search this; Aguilar, Héctor Search this; Gazcón, Edgardo Search this

Extent:: 3.5 Cubic feet (27 boxes, 8 map-folders)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Advertisements; Floor plans; Motion pictures (visual works); Photographs; Statistics; Programs; Resumes; Scripts (documents); Videocassettes; Writings; Immigration records; Letters (correspondence); Diplomas; Commercials; Appointment books; Certificates; Clippings; Contracts; Dvds

Place:: Puerto Rico -- 20th century

Date:: 1940-2017

Summary:: The collection documents Spanish language television stations in America, and the Telemundo network.

Scope and Contents:: The collection documents Spanish language television stations in America, and the Telemundo network. The WNJU portion includes photographs of reporters and other station personnel; portrait shots of on-air personalities, both negatives and prints; photographs of the reporters at the anchor desk, including both negatives and pritns; a reel of motion picture film of a children's show.

Arrangement:: The collection is organized into four series.

Series 1: Gilda Mirós

Subseries 1.1: Personal Papers

Subseries 1.2: Audiovisual Materials

Series 2: Hector Aguilar

Subseries 2.1: Personal Papers

Subseries 2.2: Audiovisual Materials

Series 3: Telemundo Group, Incorporated.

Subseries 3.1: WKAQ Television Station

Subseries 3.3.1: Maria Kapetanakis Files

Subseries 3.3.2: Ariel Lipiz Files

Subseries 3.3.3: Alicia Soriano Files

Subseries 3.3.4: Susan Solano Vila Files

Subseries 3.3.5: Maria Cristina Barros Files Subseries 3.3.6: Marilys Llanos Files Subseries 3.3.7: Manuel M. Martinez Files Subseries 3.3.8: Audiovisual Materials

Subseries 3.2: WNJU Television Station

Subseries 3.3: WSCV Television Station

Series 4: Univision

Subseries 4.1: Edgardo Gazón Files

Subseries 4.2: Mayda Delgado Files

Subseries 4.3: Ismael Moctezuma Files

Subseries 4.4: Eduardo Kachscovsky Files

Biographical / Historical:: WNJU was the second television station to broadcast in Spanish in the United States. It eventually was owned by Telemundo. WKAQ was the first television station to broadcast in Spanish in the United States. Telemundo stations provide diverse programming, including variety shows, telenovelas, sports, reality television, news programming, and films. Their target audience is the Hispanic and Latin American population in America.

Provenance:: Initial donation by by Jose Cancela, President of WNJU, 2016. The 2016 accrual was donated by station WKAQ. The television stations WKAQ, WNJU, and WSCV also donated materials in 2017.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research.

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.

Topic:: Actresses Search this; advertising Search this; Broadcasting -- New York Search this; Broadcasting -- United States Search this; Ethnic television broadcasting Search this; Minorities in broadcasting Search this; Radio broadcasting Search this; Television Search this; Television broadcasting Search this; Television journalists Search this; Television advertising Search this; Television stations Search this; Theater Search this; Notebooks Search this; Awards Search this

Genre/Form:: Advertisements -- 20th century; Advertisements -- 21st century; Floor plans; Motion pictures (visual works) -- 20th century; Motion pictures (visual works) -- 21st century; Photographs -- Color negatives -- Acetate film -- 1980-2000; Photographs -- Color photoprints -- 21st century; Photographs -- Color photoprints -- 1980-2000; Photographs -- Color negatives -- Acetate film -- 21st century; Statistics; Programs; Resumes; Scripts (documents); Videocassettes; Writings; Immigration records; Letters (correspondence); Diplomas; Commercials; Appointment books; Certificates; Clippings; Contracts; DVDs

Citation:: Spanish Language Broadcasting Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sponsor:: This collection received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.1404

See more items in:: Spanish Language Broadcasting Collection

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8f72776c3-355d-48d4-aca0-49639fbecd73

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1404

Online Media:

Harold Weston papers

Creator:: Weston, Harold, 1894-1972 Search this

Names:: Adirondack Trail Improvement Society Search this; Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA). Americans-in-Britain Outpost Search this; Corcoran Gallery of Art Search this; Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors Search this; Food for Freedom, Inc. Search this; Harvard Lampoon (Organization) Search this; Harvard University -- Students Search this; International Association of Art. United States Committee Search this; Montross Gallery Search this; National Council on the Arts and Government Search this; National Endowment for the Arts Search this; New York State Council on the Arts Search this; Phillips Collection Search this; Studio House (Phillips Memorial Gallery) Search this; Carmichael, Leonard, 1898-1973 Search this; Dows, Olin, 1904-1981 Search this; Mumford, Lewis, 1895-1990 Search this; Phillips, Duncan, 1886-1966 Search this; Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962 Search this; Rosenfeld, Paul, 1890-1946 Search this; Sizer, Theodore, 1892-1967 Search this; Weston, Faith Search this

Extent:: 24.3 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Christmas cards; Notes; Etchings; Speeches; Articles; Postcards; Poems; Woodcuts; Sketches; Photographs; Scrapbooks; Glass negatives; Lantern slides; Copper plates

Place:: Adirondack Mountain Reserve (N.Y.)

Date:: 1894-1978; bulk 1912-1972

Summary:: The papers of modernist painter and activist Harold Weston (1894-1972) date from 1894 to 1978 and measure 24.3 linear feet. The papers focus on Weston's painting career and his involvement with humanitarian and artistic causes. Found are biographical materials, correspondence, personal business records, association and organization records, commission and project files, materials relating to Weston's book Freedom in the Wilds, writings, artwork, printed materials, two scrapbooks, and photographs.

Scope and Content Note:: The papers of modernist painter and activist Harold Weston (1894-1972) date from 1894 to 1978 and measure 24.3 linear feet. The papers focus on Weston's painting career and his involvement with humanitarian and artistic causes. Found are biographical materials, correspondence, personal business records, association and organization records, commission and project files, materials relating to Weston's book Freedom in the Wilds, writings, artwork, printed materials, two scrapbooks, and photographs. The papers document his involvement with the Committee to Defend America, Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, Food for Freedom, the International Association of the Plastic Arts, National Countil on the Arts and Government, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council for the Arts, Reconstruction Service Committee, and the YMCA in Baghdad.

Biographical materials include biographical sketches and resumes, including a short biography written by Faith Weston in 1969. There are records from his school years at Exeter Academy and Harvard University that include yearbooks, report cards, scholarship information, Harvard Lampoon materials, and a diploma from Harvard. Also found are materials relating to Faith Weston, membership cards, memorials information, passports and travel papers, and wedding wishes.

Correspondence from Harold Weston dates from his school years up until his death in 1972. In letters to his family, Weston discusses his education; his travel and activities in the Middle East during World War I; the Adirondacks; convalescense in France in the mid-1920s; his immediate family life; and exhibitions. Also found are holiday cards designed and printed by Weston. The majority of correspondence is with his father S. Burns Weston, mother Mary, sister Esther, brother Carl, Faith Weston and the Borton family, children Barbara, Bruce, and Haroldine, and others. Also found are letters between Weston and friend Theodore Sizer and Duncan Phillips of the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.

Personal business and financial records relating to Weston's exhibitions include delivery receipts, agreements, hand-drawn gallery plans for exhibitions, lists of exhibitions, framing invoices, legal information, pricelists, records of sales, and lists of works of art. Galleries with which Weston held exhibitions, sold, or lent works of art include Boyer Galleries, Corcoran Gallery, the Gallery in Paoli, Montross Gallery, the Phillips Collection, and Studio House Galleries.

Records relating to Harold Weston's memberships and involvement with professional associations and service organizations are from the Adirondack Trail Improvement Society, the Committee to Defend America, Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, Food for Freedom, International Association of the Plastic Arts/International Arts Association, National Countil on the Arts and Government, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Reconstruction Service Committee, and the Young Men's Christian Association, Baghdad. The files include correspondence, financial records, meetings and membership information, notes, organizational history, photographs, printed materials, programs and activities records, speeches, and writings.

Files that document Weston's Building the United Nations and the Treasury Relief Project sponsored "Procurement Building Murals" are found within the Commissions and Project files series. The files include correspondence, financial information, legal documents, photographs of the works of art and research photos, and printed materials. Correspondence of note includes letters written by Lewis Mumford, Duncan Phillips, Eleanor Roosevelt on behalf of Weston's Building of the United Nations and letters from Leonard Carmichael, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Letters from Olin Dows of the Treasury Relief Art Project are within correspondence relating to the "Procurement Building Murals." Also found are preliminary sketches of the murals.

The Freedom in the Wilds series contains materials relating to the book which combined Weston's autobiography with a history of the Adirondack Mountain Reserve. Additional writings and notes are by Harold Weston and others, and include articles, poetry, notes, speech notes and speeches, and lists. Harold Weston's articles include "Persian Caravan Sketches" published in 1921 discussing his travels throughout the Middle East. Other articles are written by Duncan Phillips, Paul Rosenfeld, Barbara Weston, and Faith Weston. Also found are postcards annoted with notes by Harold Weston about his travels.

Artwork inlcudes sketches, etchings, copperplates, and woodcuts. There are copperplates entitled "Shroud" and of the series Building the United Nations for the Harvard Alumni bulletin in 1957; an untitled etching by Weston; sketches including those from Baghdad and watercolor sketches; a woodcut of the 1924 Weston holiday card; and scattered unsigned sketches probably not by Weston.

Printed materials include calendars with notations; clippings; exhibition catalogs and announcements for Weston's exhibitions dating from 1922-1976 and for others; gallery tags or labels for paintings shown in exhibitions; reproductions of illustrations for the Harvard Lampoon and full issues from 1911-1916; materials relating to the Harvard production of Henry IV, for which Weston designed the sets; reproductions of works of art by Weston and by others; school seals; and various art related publications.

There are two scrapbooks compiled by Faith Weston about her husband. The first contains materials relating to Weston's activity with the International Association of the Plastic Arts Conference of 1963, including a letter and photograph of President John F. Kennedy. The second scrapbook dates from 1977 and consists of general clippings relating to Weston's career, dating from 1917 to 1952 with additional materials added by Faith in 1977.

Photographs are of Weston, family members, exhibitions and installations, and works of art by Weston and others. There are also numerous photographs of Weston's travel through the Adirondacks, the Middle East, Europe, and India. Also found are glass plate negatives of works of art painted in France between 1926-1930; scattered glass plate negatives of Baghdad and the Middle East; glass plates belonging to S. Burns Weston of the Adirondacks, circa 1900; and approximately 100 lantern slides of the various Middle Eastern cities and ruins - probably used by Weston to illustrate his talks given in the 1920s.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged as 11 series. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Information, 1896-1974 (Box 1, 38; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1894-1975 (Box 1-3, 38; 2.5 linear feet)

Series 3: Personal Business and Financial records, 1912-1977 (Box 4; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 4: Associations and Organizations records, 1916-1972 (Box 4-10, 37-38; 6.5 linear feet)

Series 5: Commissions and Project files, 1935-1965 (Box 10-12, 38, OV 39; 1.4 linear feet)

Series 6: -- Freedom in the Wilds -- records, late 1960s-1976 (Box 12-13; 1.8 linear feet)

Series 7: Writings and Notes, 1912-1975 (Box 13-14; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 8: Artwork and Artifacts, circa 1917-1967 (Box 14, 21; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 9: Printed Material, circa 1900-1978 (Box 15-18, 38; 2.5 linear feet)

Series 10: Scrapbooks, circa 1963-1977 (Box 17-18; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 11: Photographs, circa 1900-1975 (Box 18-20, 22-36, 38; 4.8 linear feet)

Biographical Note:: Modernist painter and federal Treasury Relief Art Project artist Harold Weston (1894-1972) worked primarily in New York City and St. Huberts, New York in the Adirondacks. Weston was president of the U.S. Commission of the International Association of Art/Plastic Arts and the Federation of Modern Painters and Scultors. He was also chairman of the National Council on the Arts and Government and active with various political and humanitarian causes.

Harold Weston was born in 1894 in Merion, Pennsylvania into a privileged family. He attended school in Europe as a teenager, where he began to draw and sketch. In 1910, Harold contracted Polio which left him with a weak leg. After graduating from Exeter Academy, Harold entered Harvard University with the class of 1916 and was active in the Delta Upsilon Club and the Harvard Lampoon, for which he illustrated.

Despite his leg, Weston was determined to serve in some form during World War I. He traveled to Baghdad and volunteered with the YMCA. Here he started the Baghdad Art Club and organized exhibitions of soldier art. He remained in the Middle East until 1919 and served as the official painter for the British Army. The colors and the landscape of the region also inspired later works of art.

Upon returning to the United States, Weston built a one-room cabin in the Adirondack Mountains, where he lived and painted. He had his first one-man exhibtition at the Montross Gallery in 1922. In 1923, he married Faith Borton who moved with him to the Adirondacks. His wife inspired his series of "landscape nudes" which treated the body with different techniques that would typically be used in landscape painting. After suffering from a kidney infection in 1925, Weston and his wife moved to Ceres, France to recover. Weston continued to paint and started a family with Faith while in France. In 1930, the family moved back to the United States and lived in Greenwich Village, New York.

From 1936-1938, Harold Weston worked with the federal Treasury Relief Art Project and painted murals in the Procurement Building in Washington, D.C. The murals represent the growth of public buildings during the Great Depression. He took on a second major project to document the contruction of the United Nations in a series of six paintings. Later, the Smithsonian Instution received the paintings as gifts through an independent committee.

In addition to painting, Harold Weston devoted himself to public service by becoming involved in humanitarian causes, artist professional organizations, and federal government support of the arts. Weston served as president or chairman of three different organizations including the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, the International Association of Art/International Association of the Plastic Art, and the National Council on the Arts and Government. Before the start of World War II, Harold Weston was named the Chairman of Essex County Committee to Defend America, which argued for financial support of the allied forces in World War II. After the start of the war, he helped form the Food for Freedom movement which urged American aid for European and Asian refugees. Similarly, Weston served as Executive Secretary for the Reconstruction Service Committee which was established to assist the rebuilding of Europe.

Later in life, Weston wrote a book Freedom in the Wilds, which combined his own autobiography with a history of the Adirondack Mountain Reserve. Harold Weston died on April 10th, 1972 in New York City.

Separated Material:: The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel N69-76) including biographic notes, exhibition material, clippings, a presentation album, and commemorative stamps. Some, but not all, of these papers were included in later donations. Materials not donated remain with the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.

Syracuse University also holds circa 14 linear feet of Harold Weston's papers.

Provenance:: Harold Weston lent the Archives of American Art materials for microfilming in 1969. Faith Borton Weston, Harold Weston's widow, donated the papers in several increments between 1972-1980 and lent materials for microfilming in 1977.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers 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.

Topic:: Painting, Abstract -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; Federal aid to the arts Search this; Art and state Search this; Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; World War, 1914-1918 Search this

Genre/Form:: Christmas cards; Notes; Etchings; Speeches; Articles; Postcards; Poems; Woodcuts; Sketches; Photographs; Scrapbooks; Glass negatives; Lantern slides; Copper plates

Citation:: Harold Weston papers, 1894-1978. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by 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.

Identifier:: AAA.westharo

See more items in:: Harold Weston papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw912c19da0-1e91-45ea-b15f-b3d423b2a075

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-westharo

Online Media:

J. B. Neumann papers

Creator:: Neumann, J. B. (Jsrael Ber) Search this

Names:: Artlover Search this; Gehenna Press Search this; New Art Circle Search this; Albers, Josef Search this; Baskin, Leonard, 1922-2000 Search this; Beckmann, Max, 1884-1950 Search this; Kandinsky, Wassily, 1866-1944 Search this; Morrison, Helen Balfour, 1901-1984 Search this; Namuth, Hans Search this; Rattner, Abraham Search this; Schmid, Elsa, 1897- Search this

Photographer:: White, Clarence H., 1871-1925 Search this

Extent:: 2.1 Linear feet (4 boxes)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Drawings; Photographs; Scrapbooks; Etchings

Date:: 1905-1967

Summary:: The papers of gallery director, art dealer and publisher Jsrael Ber Neumann (1887-1961) measure 2.1 linear feet and date from 1905 to 1967. The papers document Neumann's career as the director of galleries in Berlin and Munich, Germany (1910-1924) as well as the New Art Circle gallery in New York City (1924-1952). Neumann was a respected art dealer, publisher of Artlover periodical, founder of Gehenna Press, and frequent lecturer. Found within his papers are correspondence with artists and museums, writings, printed materials mostly comprised of exhibition catalogues, artwork, and photographic materials.

Scope and Contents:: The papers of gallery director, art dealer and publisher Jsrael Ber Neumann (1887-1961) measure 2.1 linear feet and date from 1905 to 1967. The papers document Neumann's career as the director of galleries in Berlin and Munich, Germany (1910-1924) as well as the New Art Circle gallery in New York City (1924-1952). Neumann was a respected art dealer, publisher of Artlover periodical, founder of Gehenna Press, and frequent lecturer. Found within his papers are correspondence with artists and museums, writings, printed materials mostly comprised of exhibition catalogues, artwork, and photographic materials.

Correspondence is between Neumann and friends, colleagues, and museums. There is also correspondence with notable artists, including Josef Albers, Leonard Baskin, Max Beckmann, Wassily Kandinsky, and Abraham Rattner, among others. There are also condolence letters from friends and colleagues to Elsa Schmid, Neumann's wife.

Scattered writings consist of typescript drafts of Neumann's speeches and one article on expressionism. There is also one speech written by curator Richard Klein.

Printed materials comprise the bulk of the collection and include a bound gallery guest register, a disbound scrapbook, exhibition catalogs and announcements, brochures, magazines, posters, and news clippings. There are many exhibition catalogs from Neumann's galleries in Berlin and Munich as well as from the New Art Circle gallery in New York. Artwork consists of two etchings and one drawing by an unknown artist or artists.

Photographic materials include black and white photographs and negatives, including notable portraits of Neumann by photographers Helen Balfour Morrison, Clarence White, and Hans Namuth.

Arrangement:: This collection is arranged as 5 series.

Missing Title

Series 1: Correspondence, 1925-1961 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Writings, 1919, 1954-circa 1960 (5 folders; Box 1)

Series 3: Printed Materials, 1910-1967 (1.7 linear feet; Box 1-4)

Series 4: Artwork, 1919-circa 1960 (3 folders; Box 3-4)

Series 5: Photographic Materials, 1905-circa 1950 (0.2 linear feet; Box 3-4)

Biographical / Historical:: J. B. (Jsrael Ber) Neumann (1887-1961) was a gallery director, art dealer and publisher. After immigrating to the U.S., Neumann founded the New Art Circle Gallery in New York City. Before then, he had art galleries in Berlin, Munich, Dusseldorf and Bremen, Germany.

J. B. Neumann was born in Austria in 1887. His father was an oil and lumber dealer. Neumann initially studied business but later apprenticed to a book and picture dealer when he was nineteen. While working as a clerk in a large bookstore in London, Neumann had the opportunity to work at the rare book dealer's table in the British Museum. The job allowed him to assess and handle fine and rare books, starting a lifelong passion, and Neumann went on to amass a substantial personal library.

In 1910, Neumann returned to Berlin, Germany and in 1911 opened a book and art shop where he exhibited the work of Edvard Munch and others. Neumann had many friends who were artists and in 1915-1916 he was secretary to the Berlin Secession, a prominent German artist association. By 1922 Neumann had branch offices in Bremen, Dusseldorf and Munich.

Neumann immigrated to America in 1923 and left the Berlin gallery to the directorship of Karl Nierendorf and the Munich gallery to Günther Franke. Neumann settled in New York City and one year later he opened a 57th Street gallery and bookshop, first called J.B. Neumann's Print Room and later the New Art Circle gallery. He supported numerous artists, including Wassily Kandinsky, Max Beckmann, Paul Klee, and Georges Rouault. Elsa Schmid, Neumann's wife, was an artist who worked in mosaics.

Neumann also worked as a publisher. He created the printing company Gehenna Press and published a series of periodicals including Bilderhefte (Berlin, 1920-1922) and Artlover (New York, 1926-1945, 1959). The New Art Circle gallery closed circa 1952 and, after working as its director for nearly three decades, Neumann became a consultant for museums and collectors. He was also a lecturer and he frequently spoke about art at universities, museums and galleries.

Neumann died in Rye, New York on April 28, 1961. He is survived by his widow, Elsa Schmid (d. 1970); two sons, Peter and Albrecht; and a daughter, Mrs. Johanna Lam.

Related Materials:: The Archives of American Art also holds a collection of Josef Albers letters to J. B. Neumann, 1934-1947 on microfilm reel 911.

Additional J.B. Neumann papers are also located at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The museum microfilmed a portion of these papers and donated a copy of that film to the Archives. This material may be viewed on reel NJBN5 at Archives of American Art offices, affliate centers, and via interlibrary loan.

Separated Materials:: Also available at the Archives of American Art are materials lent for microfilming (reels NJBN-1- NJBN-5) including correspondence with numerous artists, art critics, museum directors and others. The materials on reel NJBN-1- NJBN-4 were returned to Neumann's wife, Elsa Schmid and the original material on reel NJBN-5 is located at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY. Loaned material is not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:: Neuman's wife, Elsa Schmid and The Museum of Modern Art lent the Archives of American Art material for microfilming in 1966-1967. The rest of the J.B. Neumann papers were donated in several installments between 1973-2007 by Eva Lee (family friend), Joy Weber, Max Weber's daughter, Neil Richmond, and Hellie Neumann, J.B. Neumann's granddaughter.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers 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.

Occupation:: Gallery directors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; Art directors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this; Publishers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this

Topic:: Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States -- History Search this; Art -- Periodicals Search this

Genre/Form:: Drawings; Photographs; Scrapbooks; Etchings

Citation:: J. B. Neumann papers, 1905-1967. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation

Identifier:: AAA.neumjsra

See more items in:: J. B. Neumann papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9a841e037-5cca-486a-a45e-bb0239fc0adb

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-neumjsra

Online Media:

Cleve Gray papers

Creator:: Gray, Cleve Search this

Names:: Berry-Hill Galleries Search this; Betty Parsons Gallery Search this; Connecticut. Commission on Arts, Tourism, Culture, History and Film Search this; Jacques Seligmann & Co Search this; Neuberger Museum of Art Search this; Pratt Institute Search this; Princeton University Search this; Rhode Island School of Design Search this; Barzun, Jacques, 1907- Search this; Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976 Search this; Davis, Jim, 1901-1974 Search this; Dillenberger, Jane Search this; Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968 Search this; Ernst, Jimmy, 1920-1984 Search this; Gabo, Naum, 1890-1977 Search this; Grace, Louise N. Search this; Gray, Francine du Plessix Search this; Lipchitz, Jacques, 1891-1973 Search this; Marin, John, 1870-1953 Search this; Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956 Search this; Richter, Hans, 1888-1976 Search this; Smith, David, 1906-1965 Search this; Villon, Jacques, 1875-1963 Search this; Weber, Nicholas Fox, 1947- Search this

Extent:: 9.2 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Poems; Articles; Photographs; Reviews (documents); Notes; Illustrations; Notebooks; Sketches; Drafts (documents); Video recordings; Sound recordings; Interviews; Manuscripts; Paintings; Prints; Watercolors; Drawings; Lectures

Date:: 1933-2005

Summary:: The Cleve Gray papers, 1933-2005, measure 9.2 linear feet. Papers include biographical material, alphabetical files, writings, artwork, audio/visual records, artifacts, printed material, and photographs. Extensive alphabetical files contain personal and professional correspondence as well as subject files relating to projects and interests. Especially well-documented are: Gray's involvement with the Vietnam protest movement; and Threnody, his best-known work composed of fourteen large panels lamenting the dead of both sides sides in Vietnam, commissioned by the Neuberger Museum of Art.

Scope and Content Note:: The Cleve Gray papers, 1933-2005, measure 9.2 linear feet. Papers include biographical material, alphabetical files, writings, artwork, audio/visual records, artifacts, printed material, and photographs. Extensive alphabetical files contain personal and professional correspondence as well as subject files relating to projects and interests. Especially well-documented are: Gray's involvement with the Vietnam movement; and Threnody, his best-known work composed of fourteen large panels lamenting the dead of both sides sides in Vietnam, commissioned by the Neuberger Museum of Art.

Among the biographical material are award and membership certificates, biographical notes, and personal documentation.

The alphabetical files contain Cleve Gray's personal and professional correspondence, as well as subject files relating to projects and interests. Correspondence is with friends and family, colleagues, publishers, museum curators and directors, art dealers, collectors, and fans. Among the correspondents of note are: Jacques Barzun, James E. Davis, Naum Gabo, Louise N. Grace, Hans and Fridel Richter, and Jacques and Gaby Villon. Other substantial correspondence includes: Berry-Hill Galleries, Betty Parsons Gallery, Connecticut Commission on the Arts, Jacques Seligmann and Co., Neuberger Museum of Art, Pratt Institute, Princeton University, and Rhode Island School of Design. Subject files mostly consist of correspondence, but include printed material and some photographs. Among the subject files are: Art Collection of Cleve and Francine Gray, Artist-Dealer Consignments and Visual Artists' Rights Act of 1989, Artists' Tax Equity Act of 1979, Promised Gifts to Museums, Threnody, Vestments, and Vietnam Protest. Of particular interest are files relating to the Estate of Hans Richter (Cleve Gray, executor), and Gray's research correspondence and illustrations for his Cosmopolitan article "Women-Leaders of Modern Art."

Writings are manuscripts and drafts, research materials, notes, and miscellaneous writings by Cleve Gray and other authors. Those by Gray include articles and catalog introductions on a wide range of art-related topics, as well as book and exhibition reviews. Also found are a book proposal, texts and notes for lectures and talks, miscellaneous notes, poems, political statements, and student papers. Of particular interest are autobiographical notes in the form of a chronology that his biographer, Nicholas Fox Weber, cited as an "autochronology."

Among the writings by other authors are pieces about Cleve Gray including Nicholas Fox Weber's manuscript Cleve Gray. A significant amount of material relates to three books edited by Gray: David Smith by David Smith: Sculpture and Writings, Hans Richter, and John Marin. Research material survives for an unpublished volume, Naum Gabo. Also included are notes relating to his translation of A l'Infinitif by Marcel Duchamp. Jane Daggett Dillenberger is represented by a lecture, "The Resurrection in Art." The remaining items by other authors are unsigned; of particular interest is a small notebook of reminiscences and notes about Jackson Pollock.

Artwork by Cleve Gray consists mostly drawings and sketches, and a small number of paintings, prints, and watercolors. Works by other artists consist are an unsigned mobile of paper cut-outs, possibly by Alexander Calder, and a pencil drawing signed Dick (probably Richard Avedon).

Audio recordings are a radio broadcast featuring Cleve Gray, several lectures by Gray on John Marin, and a lecture titled "Meaning in the Visual Arts." Other recordings are of Hans Richter and an interview with Jimmy Ernst conducted by Francine du Plessix Gray. Also found is a videocassette of "Glenville School Students at SUNY (Lincoln Center Activity)."

Artifacts are a Chinese scroll representative of those that hung in Cleve Gray's studio, two of his paintbrushes, Aberdeen-Angus Breeders' Association blue ribbon, and Neuberger Museum of Art Lifetime Achievement Award.

The vast majority of printed material - articles, clippings, exhibition catalogs and announcements, reproductions of art work, etc. - are about or by Cleve Gray. Miscellaneous items and publications mentioning Gray consist of annual reports, brochures, calendars, newsletters, programs, etc. Clippings about Vietnam and Vietnam protest memorabilia reflect his passionate involvement in the anti-war movement; a small number of these items mention Gray or were written by him.

Photographs are of artwork, events, people, places, and miscellaneous subjects. Most of the art work appearing in the photographs is by Cleve Gray and includes images of destroyed paintings. Also found is an original print of Photo Abstraction by Gray, circa 1934. Of particular note are photographs of Threnody, among them preparatory drawings and views of the work in progress. Photographs of artwork by other artists include Louise N. Grace, Jacques Lipchitz, John Marin, Hans Richter, and Jacques Villon.

Photographs of people are mainly portraits of Gray, and views of him with his wife and sons. Other individuals appearing in photographs are Hans Richter and some of Richter's descendants. Pictures of places consist of Gray's studio.

Events are an unidentified exhibition opening. Miscellaneous subjects are mostly exhibition installations. Illustrations consist of photographs published in David Smith by David Smith: Sculpture and Writings. Also found are small number of negatives and color transparencies.

Arrangement:: The collection is organized into 8 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1943-circa 2001 (Box 1; 0.1 linear ft.)

Series 2: Alphabetical Files, 1936-2005 (Boxes 1-5, 9; 4.3 linear ft.)

Series 3: Writings, 1935-2000 (Boxes 5-6; 0.85 linear ft.)

Series 4: Artwork, circa 1933-1987 (Boxes 6, 9, OV 12; 0.45 linear ft.)

Series 5: Audio/Visual Records, 1971-1989 (Box 6; 0.25 linear ft.)

Series 6: Artifacts, 1957-1999 (Box 6, RD 11; 0.45 linear ft.)

Series 7: Printed Material, 1933-2005 (Boxes 7-8; 1.25 linear ft.)

Series 8: Photographs, circa 1934-2002 (Boxes 8-10; 1.15 linear ft.)

Biographical Note:: Abstract Expressionist painter, sculptor, and writer Cleve Gray (1918-2004) lived and worked in Connecticut where he was politically active in the Vietnam protest movement and other liberal causes.

Born Cleve Ginsberg in New York City (the family changed its name to Gray in 1936), he attended the Ethical Culture School and at a young age developed a fascination with color and paint. At the urging of friends, Cleve's parents allowed him to accompany a school friend for lessons with George Bellows' student Antonia Nell. She encouraged and inspired the young artist, and a still life he painted in her class was shown at the National Academy of Design's 1932 annual exhibition. Miss Nell also introduced him to Louise N. Grace, an artist who became a good friend and had a lasting influence on him. While a student at Phillips Academy, Cleve studied painting with Bartlett Hayes and aspired to paint in France. Upon his graduation in 1936, he was awarded the Samuel F. B. Morse Prize for most promising art student.

Gray's mother was always supportive of his career choice. His businessman father, who didn't understand his son's desire to be an artist, insisted on a college education. Cleve chose Princeton, where he majored in art and archaeology, and studied painting with James E. Davis. His senior thesis was on Chinese landscape painting; both Eastern philosophy and art were long-term influences on Gray's work and outlook. He graduated summa cum laude in 1940, and then spent several months painting while living at the farm of a family friend in Mendham, New Jersey.

When a doctor suggeted that a dry climate might relieve sinus and asthma problems, Gray moved to Tucson, Arizona. Once settled in the desert, he contacted Louise N. Grace, whom he had met as a young teenager through his art instructor. Miss Grace, an artist and daughter of the founder of W. R. Grace and Co., was a highly cultured and independent woman older than his parents. The summer before Gray entered Phillips Academy, she had hired him to brush ground color onto canvases for murals she was painting for "Eleven Arches," her home in Tuscon then under construction. Miss Grace invited Gray to visit "Eleven Arches" to see the completed murals, and despite the substantial age difference, their friendship deepened; Gray found in her intellectual and spiritual guidance that was lacking in his own family. He remained in Tucson until enlisting in the U. S. Army in 1942, and they corresponded frequently during the the war. When a stroke in 1948 prevented Miss Grace from participating in the extensive tour of Europe she was arranging for a small group of friends, including Gray, she provided sufficient funds and insisted he make the trip on his own. Another stroke, suffered while Gray was traveling, left her in a coma; he was not permitted to see her again. Upon her death in 1954, Gray inherited "Eleven Arches."

Between 1943 and 1946, Gray was stationed in England, France, and Germany, serving in Army Signal Intelligence. Most of his work was performed at night, and he spent his free time drawing. While in London, Gray produced many colored pencil drawings of buildings that had been bombed. In France, a Red Cross volunteered to introduce him to Jacques Villon; although unfamiliar with the artist, Gray knew of Villon's brother, Marcel Duchamp, and accepted the invitation. Jacques and Gaby Villon lived near Gray's billet and he became a frequent visitor. Their friendship was important to his development as an artist. After being discharged from the Army in 1946, Gray remained in France to work with Villon who introduced him to the study of color and the concept of intellectual quality in painting. Gray also studied informally with André Lhote, Villon's former teacher. "American Painters in Paris," an exhibition presented in 1946 at Galerie Durand-Ruel, included work by Cleve Gray.

He returned to New York City in 1946. In the tight post-war rental market Gray managed to find a small room upstairs from a grocery store on East 106th Street for use as a studio. He commenced painting the London Ruins series based on drawings he had made during the war, and began thinking about exhibiting in New York. Gray secured introductions to Pierre Matisse, Curt Valentin, and Dorothy Miller. They encouraged him, but no opportunities came his way until Germain Seligmann, whose gallery was expanding its scope to include contemporary art, followed the advice of Curt Valentin and looked at Gray's work. Gary's first solo exhibition, held at Jacques Seligmann and Co., included selections from the London Ruins series, paintings done in Maine and Arizona, and a few portraits. The New York Times called it "an auspicious first," and one of the London Ruins series was selected by Edward Alden Jewell for the "Critic's Exhibition" at Grand Central Gallery.

Gray found New York City too frenetic. In 1949 he bought a large, old house in Warren, Connecticut, and lived and worked at "Graystones" for the remainder of his life. Half of a 6-car garage was converted to a studio; many years later, his studio moved to a barn, its renovation and design planned by sculptor and architect Tony Smith.

He married Francine du Plessix in 1957. Always interested in literature and philosophy, in the 1960s Francine du Plessix Gray began contributing articles to The New Yorker and is still affiliated with the magazine. Her reviews and articles appeared in prominent publications, and she wrote several award-winning novels and biographies. Their sons, Thaddeus and Luke (now a painter), were born in 1959 and 1961. Francine's mother, Tatiana du Plessix (the hat designer Tatiana of Saks), and step-father, the sculptor Alexander Liberman (also former art director of Vogue and later editorial director of Condé Nast publications) became Cleve Gray's closest friends.

The paintings and drawings of Cleve Gray - first consisting of figures and portraits, and then abstract compositions - were often produced in series. The earliest series, London Ruins, grew from the colored pencil drawings made while stationed in London during World War II. Travels to France, Italy, Greece, Morocco, Hawaii, Spain, Egypt, Japan, and Czechoslovakia, inspired many series, among them: Etruscan, Augury, Ceres, Demeter Landscape, Hera, Morocco, Hawaii, Ramses, Perne, Hatshepsut, Roman Walls, Zen, and Prague. His hometown, the Holocaust, and musicians inspired other series: Warren, Sleepers Awake!, Bela Bartok, and Four Heads of Anton Bruckner. Some series were works on paper, others were collage canvases, and a few series later spawned prints. Gray began using acrylics in the 1940s. Although the medium offered many benefits, he did not always like its appearance and frequently returned to oils. Around 1966 Gray was painting almost exclusively with acrylic, and eventually developed a technique of thinning the paint and applying successive layers of color (sometimes by pouring or with a sponge) on cotton duck rather than traditional canvas.

Gray was attracted to sculpture, too, working in that medium at different points in his career. His first sculpture, in plaster, was completed in 1959. In the early 1960s he visited a commercial sand-casting foundry and became excited about learning to cast in bronze. He made about a dozen sculptures to cast in sand, but due to too much undercutting, their casting became too difficult a problem. Lava flows seen while in Hawaii during 1970 and 1971 inspired a return to sculpture. This time, he used wood, papier maché, and metal. Gray then decided these pieces should be cast in bronze, and he was determined to do it himself. Friends taught him the lost wax process and he began working at the Tallix Foundry in Peekskill, New York where, over the next year, he cast about forty bronzes.

Gray's best known work is Threnody, a lament for the dead of both sides in Vietnam. In 1972, Gray received a commission to fill a very large gallery of the soon-to-open Neuberger Museum of Art (State University of New York, College at Purchase) designed by Philip Johnson. Friends of the Neuberger Museum paid his expenses and Gray, who was enormously excited about the project he considered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, donated his time. Developing plans for the execution of Threnody consumed most of his time during 1972 and 1973. Composed of a series of fourteen panels, each approximately twenty feet square, the piece presented a number of technical challenges. It was constructed and painted in situ during the summer and early fall of 1973. Since then, Threnody has been reinstalled at the Neuberger Museum of Art on several occasions.

Gray was commissioned to design liturgical vestments for two Episcopal churches in Connecticut in the 1970s. A chasuble, stoles, and a mitre were commissioned by the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut in 1984.

He won the "Outdoor Art at the Station Competition," for Union Station, Hartford, Connecticut. His very large porcelain enamel tile mural, Movement in Space, was installed on the façade of the transportation center in 1988.

Gray began writing occasional articles and exhibition reviews in the late 1940s. His concern with rational structure in art led him to question Abstract Expressionism and write "Narcissus in Chaos." This article, published in 1959 by The American Scholar, drew considerable attention. In 1960, Cosmopolitan published "Women - Leaders of Modern Art" that featured Nell Blaine, Joan Brown, Elaine de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Sonia Gretchoff, Grace Hartigan, Ethel Magafan, Louise Nevelson, and Georgia O'Keeffe. Between 1960 and 1970, Gray was a contributing editor of Art In America, producing numerous articles (a few co-authored with Francine) and reviews for the periodical. He edited three books, David Smith by David Smith: Scupture and Writings, Hans Richter, and John Marin, all published by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, and translated Marcel Duchamp's A l'Infinitif.

During the early 1960s, Gray became intensely focused on the situation in Vietnam. His first artistic response came in 1963 with Reverend Quan Duc, painted to commemorate a Buddhist monk who had immolated himself. Francine, too, felt strongly about the issue and over time the couple became increasingly active in the anti-war movement. They joined a number of organizations and helped to found a local chapter of Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. The years 1968 and 1969 were an especially intense and active period for the Grays. They protested, wrote and spoke out against the war, raised funds to support anti-war political candidates, and on a few occasions were arrested and jailed. Writing for Art in America, editing the book series, and anti-war activities left little time for his art. In 1970 Gray refocused his attention on painting.

Beginning in 1947, Gray was always represented by a New York Gallery: Jacques Seligmann and Co. (1947-1959), Staempfli Gallery (1960-1965), Saidenberg Gallery (1965-1968), Betty Parsons Gallery (1968-1983), Armstrong Gallery (1984-1987), and Berry-Hill Galleries (1988-2003). He was represented by galleries in other cities, as well, but not as consistently or for such long periods.

He exhibited extensively in group and solo exhibitions throughout the United States and internationally. In addition to numerous solo exhibitions presented by the dealers who represented Gray, there were retrospective exhibitions at: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Brooklyn Museum, Columbus Museum of Art, Krannert Art Museum (University of Illinois, Champaign), Princeton University Art Museum, Rhode Island School of Design, and Wadsworth Atheneum.

Many museums' permanent collections include the work of Cleve Gray, among them: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Butler Institute of American Art, Columbus Museum of Art, Neuberger Museum of Art (SUNY, College at Purchase), the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Newark Museum, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Phillips Collection, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery (University of Nebraska, Lincoln), Smithsonian Institution, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, and Yale University Art Gallery.

Cleve Gray served as artist-in-residence at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art in 1963 and at the Honolulu Academy of Arts in 1970, both sponsored by Ford Foundation programs. In 1980, he was appointed an artist-in-residence at the American Academy in Rome, where Francine concurrently served as a writer-in-residence; they returned for shorter periods during each of the subsequent seven years. Cleve Gray was presented the Connecticut Arts Award in 1987, and the Neuberger Museum of Art Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. He was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Hartford in 1992, and was elected a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1998. In addition, he was a trustee of the Neuberger Museum of Art, New York Studio School, Rhode Island School of Design, and Wadsworth Atheneum.

Cleve Gray hit his head and suffered a massive subdural hematoma after falling on ice outside of his home. He died the following day, December 8, 2004.

Separated Material:: Exhibition catalogs and announcements and two scrapbooks donated to the Archives in 1967 and 1968 were microfilmed on reels D314-D315. Items on reel D315, transferred to the Smithsonian American Art Museum Library in 1975, are not described in this finding aid.

Provenance:: The Cleve Gray papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by Mr. Gray in 1967 and 1968. The bulk of the collection was given by his widow, Francine du Plessix Gray, in 2007 and 2008.

Restrictions:: Use of original material requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordigs with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

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:: Sculptors -- Connecticut Search this; Painters -- Connecticut Search this

Topic:: Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States Search this; Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Protest Movements -- United States Search this; Designers Search this; Women artists Search this; Women painters Search this; Women sculptors Search this

Genre/Form:: Poems; Articles; Photographs; Reviews (documents); Notes; Illustrations; Notebooks; Sketches; Drafts (documents); Video recordings; Sound recordings; Interviews; Manuscripts; Paintings; Prints; Watercolors; Drawings; Lectures

Citation:: Cleve Gray papers, 1933-2005. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:: AAA.grayclev

See more items in:: Cleve Gray papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw92d3d47d0-baa3-4085-80f2-9b5d1730c052

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-grayclev

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Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection

Creator:: Underwood & Underwood Search this

Publisher:: American Stereoscopic Co. Search this; H. C. White Co. Search this; Killela, J.J. Search this; Underwood, Bert, 1862-1943 Search this; Underwood, Elmer, 1859-1947 Search this

Photographer:: Ponting, Herbert George, 1870-1935 Search this; Underwood, Bert, 1862-1943 Search this; Underwood, Elmer, 1859-1947 Search this; White, Clarence W. Search this

Extent:: 160 Cubic feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Stereographs; Photographs; Stereoscopic photographs; Lantern slides

Date:: 1895-1921

Summary:: A collection of approximately 28,000 glass plate negatives showing views of a variety of subjects.

Scope and Contents:: The major part of the collection, series 1-4, contains nearly 28,000 glass plates, including original stereoscopic negatives, interpositives, and both negative and positive non-stereoscopic plates used to produce lantern slides and paper prints. The photographs were taken all over the world. The majority are from the Underwood & Underwood active files, but plates from other publishers are also included. Series 5 is a small collection of paper stereographs. Series 6 contains 4 Underwood & Underwood descriptive sales catalogs and 1 H. C. White & Co. catalog (numbers on the Underwood plates correspond to the numbers on catalog captions). Series 7 is apparatus--four stereoscopes.

The approximately 28,000 glass plates in this collection have not been completely inspected at this point due to handling problems associated with asbestos contamination of the collection. A preliminary survey, however, indicated that the selections of images cover the full range of subject matter encompassed by the "Underwood Travel System." The subject matter is most easily comprehended by consulting one of the Underwood sales catalogs which accompany the collection. The catalog captions are arranged geographically, for the most part, and generally represent an organized "tour" which could be purchased as a boxed set, complete with maps and guide book, although individual images could be purchased separately. The catalogs indicate that the Underwood files were continually updated, for extensive modifications in some of the sets can be seen from edition to edition, and actual inspection of published stereographs shows that alternate views with identical Underwood catalog numbers were substituted from time to time, and that new subjects (with new catalog numbers) were sometimes introduced into the sets and old subjects were retired. There are glass plate negatives as well as positives in this collection. The positive images were probably interpositives used for the production of duplicate negatives. Some of the original stereo negatives were cut apart and the images transposed; they were then bound with an additional glass support (in many cases the tape has deteriorated). Half stereo positives also appear in the collection: these probably were intended for use in lantern slide production. Frequently a drawer of plates contains several incarnations of a single image, including the original negative, a copy negative, an interpositive, and a positive lantern slide. In other cases a drawer may contain only a single mode, e.g., original negatives, while corresponding positives and/or lantern slides appear in separate drawers.

A small quantity of the Underwood & Underwood plates are not from the Travel System, but represent humorous and genre subjects which were cataloged and marketed separately. The work of several other publishers, usually without Underwood catalog numbers, is also represented, including H. C. White, American Stereoscopic Company, and J. J. Killela.

The arrangement of the collection seems to reflect a combination of permanent reference storage as well as active use files. The apparent anomalies or inconsistencies probably indicate the pulling of plates from permanent files into temporary work files, and the collection may consist of a combination of permanent storage and temporary working files. As the drawers do not appear to have been renumbered according to any easily discernible pattern, they have become intermixed and rearranged in storage. The contents of each drawer usually have been found in good order, however, and the plates were nearly always arranged numerically,usually with the low numbers at the rear of the drawer and the highest number at the front. As the plates have been rehoused, the reverse numerical order has been corrected. When all the plates have been rehoused and inventoried, consideration will be given to general collection rearrangement and renumbering of the containers, either strictly in numerical order or topically and/or geographically with a numerical sequence within each group.

The collection is in good condition for the most part, although conservation attention will be required. There is a certain amount of emulsion peeling or frilling at the edges of some plates, but this is a condition to which emulsions on glass frequently are prone. A few plates, bound in a sandwich arrangement between cover glass and acetate facing the emulsion, have suffered severe damage, peeling, and image losses through the apparent ferrotyping and sticking of emulsion to the plastic, probably under conditions of high humidity at some stage. There is surprisingly little glass breakage within the collection.

Most of the stereoscopic negatives and many of the positives are defaced with a double "XI' scratched into the emulsion of either the left or right side, as described above in the historical note. Of particular interest and presumed rarity are cards found interfiled with plates in many of the drawers. These cards, filed by Underwood (i.e., catalog) numbers, bear printing'or production dates and notes, along with the unique, chronological accession numbers which the company assigned to each plate, regardless of the "active" number which it might eventually receive. A check mark on a card usually refers to a plate actually in the collection and with which the card is found physically associated; additional accession numbers without check marks listed on the cards possibly refer to variant views which were discarded or may in fact be in the Keystone Mast Collection (pending further research). For ease of handling and in the interest of conservation, the cards have been separated from the plates within each drawer and are arranged as a group at the rear, but can still be located easily. Frequently when a plate and/or its original envelope does not bear both the "active" and accession numbers, the missing number can be located on one of these cards.

Photographers represented include Herbert G. Ponting and Clarence W. White. A photographer and/or publisher named J. J. Killela is also represented.

Arrangement:: This collection is arranged in seven series. Series 1, 2, and 3 are each divided into negative and positive subseries. Plates are arranged numerically in groups based on geographical and subject content. Controlled at the series level in the finding aid and at the item level in a computer database.

Series 1, H. C. White glass plates

Series 2, American Stereoscpopic Co. glass plates

Series 3, Underwood & Underwood glass plates

Series 4, Broken glass plates

Series 5, Original company catalogs

Series 6, Paper stereographs

Series 7, stereoscopes (viewers)

Biographical / Historical:: Underwood & Underwood was established at Ottawa, Kansas, by the young brothers Elmer and Bert Underwood in 1882. They initially operated as distributors for eastern photographers' stereographs to new markets in the West. Their activities included door to door canvassing with views by Charles Bierstadt, J. F. Jarvis, and Littleton View Co.(1) Underwood & Underwood, Publishers, opened a branch office in Baltimore in 1887.(2)

Soon Underwood & Underwood and other large stereograph publishers began recruiting college students to work as salesmen during summer months (1890). Underwood and Underwood claimed that their organization alone sent out as many as 3,000 college students in one Summer [sic]. With the other ... big companies each employing more than 1,000, it is easy to understand how the countryside of the Nation literally swarmed with stereograph salesmen throughout the summer months! ... The competition between the salesmen themselves was likewise aggressive, with no holds barred. Many successful business and professional men of today relate with considerable pride that they got their start on their careers in this practical and very effective school of salesmanship.(3)

The company moved its main office from Ottawa, Kansas to New York City (1891),(4) and gradually began to publish its own stereographs. Bert Underwood finally took photography lessons from M. Abel in Mentone, France during the same year.(5) B. L. Singley, erstwhile salesman for the Underwood & Underwood and James M. Davis & Co. firms, in 1892 formed the Keystone View Company of Meadville, Pennsylvania, which was to become Underwood & Underwood's chief competitor and imitator.(6)

Underwood & Underwood entered the education market (1895) by producing packaged sets of 100 or more stereographs with descriptive texts.(7) From 1897 the firm employed full time staff photographers as well as free lancers. By 1901 the Underwoods were publishing 25,000 stereographs per day (i.e.,total number of cards). Increasing production levels led them to gain control of the Jarvis, Bierstadt, and William H. Rau photoprinting facilities in 1897 1898.(8)

The Keystone view Company created its own Educational Department in 1898. This division sustained the Keystone View Company past the period of the stereograph's popularity. In this year Underwood & Underwood reprinted Oliver Wendell Holmes's series on the stereograph and stereoscope which originally appeared in The Atlantic Monthly between 1859 and 1863. This eighty page booklet included testimonials from eminent scholars on the value of the stereograph in education. The company had been test marketing what itlater called "The Underwood Travel System." This consisted of a boxed set of stereo views of a country or region, a guide book describing the significance of the places shown, and a map showing their location and the viewpoints from which the stereographs were taken. Captions on the backs of the stereographs were sometimes printed in six languages.(9) As stereographs began to be used in schools as visual aids, the firm promoted its Travel System with endorsements from prominent educators, citing the usage of the system by various schools and universities.(10)

The H. C. White Company, which had manufactured stereoscopes for several decades, entered the stereo publication field in 1899.(11) Much of its production seemed to imitate Underwood & Underwood cards, including typography and the color of mount stock. Underwood & Underwood expanded into news photography by 1910 and gradually decreased its stereographic work. Few new stereo negatives were added to the file after 1912 except for a flurry of activity during the early war years, 1914 1916. The total number of Underwood & Underwood "titles" in stereo were from 30,000 to 40,000 (there might be a substantially larger number of actual negatives, since the files frequently were updated with newer views for old catalog numbers).(12)

Underwood & Underwood sold a portion of its negative file to the educational division of Keystone View Company in 1912,(13) and between 1921 1923 conveyed to this competitor their remaining stereo stock (presumably both cards and negatives) and rights.(14) In addition to its involvement as a news photographic agency, the company eventually opened portrait studios which flourished during the World war II years. A former Smithsonian employee, Vince Connolly, worked for Underwood & Underwood, which competed with Harris & Ewing in general portrait work during that period: he did portraiture and other photography, but says he was unaware of his employer's earlier stereo publishing activities.

Underwood & Underwood donated approximately 6000 negatives to the Section of Photography of the Division of Graphic Arts (1964). These photographs are primarily 4" x 5", captioned glass plate and film negatives. The subjects are news events and theatrical, sports, and political subjects of the early 20th century. In a letter to the Smithsonian of March 25, 1966 (in accession number 270586), Mrs. John M. Stratton described another collection of Underwood & Underwood photographs, stating that her husband had been a partner in Underwood & Underwood Illustrations and owned Underwood & Underwood News Photos. In November of the same year Mr. and Mrs. Stratton donated this collection of glass plates by Underwood & Underwood and other publishers to the Division of Photographic History (then the Section of Photography of the Division of Graphic Arts) . This material consists of both negative and positive stereographic plates, as well as non stereoscopic plates, chiefly copies made from the stereographs, with some catalogs, stereoscopes, and other material. The donor estimated 12,900 plates, but in 1983 the Smithsonian Institution inventory yielded a total of approximately 28,000 plates.

The Keystone View Company's stereoscopic production continued much later than Underwood & Underwood's. It was not until 1939 when declining interest in stereography led the firm to discontinue stereograph production and enter the field of visual optometrics. The stereoscopic negative collection, including material obtained from Underwood & Underwood and other firms, was placed in storage in concrete vaults. The Mast family of Davenport, Iowa, eventually purchased the collection in 1963, and in 1977 donated the collection to the University of California for its California Museum of Photography in Riverside. The University took physical possession of this vast collection in 1979.(15)

Many of the Underwood & Underwood plates donated by the Strattons (which were transferred to the Archives Center in 1983), in effect have been cancelled by having diagonal lines (double "X" marks) scratched into the emulsion of either the left or right image of each stereo pair (never both sides). These cancellation marks do not appear on the Underwood & Underwood plates in the Keystone Mast Collection in Riverside. This leads to several theories: (a) that these cancellations were in fact the reason that the Smithsonian plates were not purchased by Keystone in either 1912 or 1921, since Keystone clearly intended to use the Underwood material for stereograph production and the defaced plates would be of no value to them for this purpose; or (b), as stereo collector John Waldsmith suggests, that the cancellations were part of an agreement between Underwood & Underwood and Keystone: Keystone may have asked Underwood & Underwood to cancel one side of each stereoscopic plate not being sold to Keystone so that Underwood & Underwood would no longer be able to compete with Keystone in the stereo market. The defaced plates, as well as other material which Keystone did not purchase, apparently remained in Underwood custody and eventually were acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Stratton. The cancellation marks in the Smithsonian's collection are the subject of further conjecture. Edward Earle at Riverside feels that, since Underwood & Underwood sought to abandonded stereograph production much earlier than Keystone's departure from the field in order to enter the non stereoscopic lantern slide market, the cancellation may have served to indicate which side of each sterescopic pair should be converted to lantern slide production use; the existence of the 4" x 5" copy negatives and positives from stereographs in this collection seem to corroborate this. The Underwood & Underwood conversion from stereograph to lantern slide materials seems to coincide with the ascendance of lantern slide projection as visual aids in schools. The company apparently modified the type of photographic product which they published at least partially in recognition of this new educational trend.

NOTES

1. edward W. Earle, ed., Points of View: The Stereograph in America A Cultural @ Visual 'g . E!Ltory, Rochester, F.Y., Th Studies Workshop ress, 1979, p. 60; William Culp Darrah, The World of Stereographs, Gettysburg, Pa., 1979, p. 46.

2. Tbid., p. 62.

3. George E. Hamilton, Oliver Wendell Holmes, His Pioneer SLtuereoscope and Later Industry, New York, New )men Society, 1949, p. 17, quoted in Points of 1=e w:, 6 4 . P.

4. Points of View., p. 66.

5. Darrah, p. 47.

6. points of View, p. 66.

7. Ibid., p. 68.

8. Darrah, p. 47.

9. Points of View, p. 70.

10. Howard S. Becker, "Steteographs: Local, National, and International Art Worlds," in Points of View, p. 95. 11. points of View, p. 72.

12. Darrah, p. 48.

13. Darrah, p. 48, quoted in Points of View, P. 82.

14. Darrah, p. 48.

15. Chris J. Kenney, introduction to "Perspective and the Past: The Keystone Mast Collection," CMP Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1982.

Related Materials:: California Museum of Photography, University of California--Riverside, Riverside, California 92521.

Underwood & Underwood stereographs in this collection and the Smithsonian Underwood & Underwood Collection originally were components of the same company file.

Provenance:: Collection donated by June Stratton (Mrs. John M.) on December 19, 1966.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

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.

Topic:: Traveling sales personnel Search this; Travel photography -- 1890-1930 Search this

Genre/Form:: Stereographs -- 1890-1930; Photographs -- Interpositives -- Glass -- 1890-1930; Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- Glass -- 1890-1930; Photographs -- 1900-1950; Stereoscopic photographs -- Glass -- 1890-1930; Lantern slides; Photographs -- 1890-1900

Citation:: Underwood &Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.0143

See more items in:: Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep86e358e26-e305-49a6-bf9b-f2d38d995ae0

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0143

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