Collections consists of the records of both the Norcross Greeting Card Company founded in New York City in the 1920s and The Rust Craft Greeting Card Company, founded in Kansas City, Missouri, 1906. Both the Norcross and Rust Craft companies collected antique greeting cards. Also includes a small number of modern cards by other manufacturers, circa 1930-1980. Collection represents development of the greeting card industry, social trends in the United States and technology of the printing industry from 1924 through 1978.
Scope and Contents:
The Norcross Greeting Card Collection consists of cards and a few records of both the Norcross Greeting Card Company and the Rust Craft Greeting Card Company, circa 1911 1981; antique greeting cards, circa 1800 1930 (bulk 1880 1900) collected by both these companies and their executives; and a small number of modern cards by other manufacturers, circa 1939 1960. According to Norcross Company officials in 1978, this collection represents "not only a history of the development of the greeting card industry but also a history of social trends in the United States" and gives "an indication of the quality and technology of the [printing] industry from 1924 through 1978."
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series.
Series 1: Norcross Company Records, 1920-1981
Series 2: Antique Greeting Card Collection, circa 1800-1930 (bulk 1880-1990)
Series 3: Rust Craft Company Records, circa 1920-1980
Series 4: Greeting Cards by Other Manufacturers, 1939-1960
Series 5: Norcross Company Permanent Files, 1911-1981
Series 6: Rust Craft Company Permanent Files, 1927-1981
Biographical / Historical:
Arthur D. Norcross founded the Norcross Greeting Card Company in New York City in the nineteen twenties. From the start Norcross cards had a "look" which contributed to their selling success although, through the years, the company commanded only a small share of the greeting card market. In 1974 the company relocated to West Chester and Exton, Pennsylvania, where in 1981 Norcross and the Rust Craft Greeting Card Company merged to form divisions of a parent company.
At some point, Norcross executives realized the value of collecting and preserving antique greeting cards. The company built a large collection of antique cards, a number of which traveled in shows around the country bringing attention not only to the cards themselves but also to the Norcross Company.
Arthur Norcross died in 1968, and the company had four owners from then until 1982. One of the owners, the Ziff Corporation, a New York publisher, picked up the Norcross Company to augment the floundering Rust Craft Greeting Card Company that it had purchased primarily for its television holdings. Finally the Norcross and Rust Craft combination was acquired by Windsor Communications, Inc., a privately held company. In August 1981 Windsor entered into Chapter 11 proceedings under the Federal bankruptcy law and ceased producing greeting cards. Factors leading to bankruptcy included the expensive consolidation of Norcross and Rust Craft, a doubtful marketing strategy, and unsuccessful efforts to continue producing two distinct lines of greeting cards.
The Rust Craft Greeting Card Company, some of whose records are contained in this collection, was begun as a little bookshop by Fred Rust, (1877? 1949) in Kansas City in 1906. Later that year he created a plain Christmas folder which he called a "letter," perhaps a forerunner of the greeting card. These "letters" proved successful sellers prompting Rust to increase his publications over the years and expand his line to include post cards, greeting cards with envelopes, calendars, and blotters, in addition to lines of cards for New Year's and birthdays.
Donald Rust, his brother, soon joined him to take over manufacturing, and in 1908, Fred Rust, seeking to increase distribution, carried his line to Boston while Donald carried his to California. The original bookshop was retained until 1910 when all retailing was discontinued. After building a considerable volume of business, the firm was consolidated in Boston in 1914 and became known as Rust Craft Publishers.
Sales mounted as the company issued cards for various seasons. Many of the sentiments were written by Fred Rust himself. Around 1927 Ernest Dudley Chase joined the firm as an associate in charge of creation and advertising. In the 1950s the company relocated to Dedham, Massachusetts and finally in 1981 merged with the Norcross Company in West Chester and Exton, Pennsylvania.
A popular innovation of the Rust Craft Company was a card bearing the sentiment printed on the card itself with four or five extra sentiments tucked in as part of the message and design. This card was so popular that it was patented with the name Tukkin. The Rust Craft Company also collected some antique greeting cards.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
AC0109 Division of Domestic Life Greeting Card Collection, circa 1854-1975
AC0126 Burris and Byrd Family Card Sample Case, circa 1920
AC0468Archives Center Scrapbook Collection, circa 1880-circa 1960
AC0579 Greeting Card Collection, 1920s-1970s
AC0886 Ernest Dudley Chase Papers, 1930s-1940s
AC1198 Beatrice Morgan Steyskal Collection of Greeting Cards, 1958-1970
AC0060 Warshaw Collection of Business Americana
AC1251 L.F. Pease Greeting Card Company Collection, circa 1908-1913
AC 1252 Sandford Greeting Card Company and Family Papers, circa 1840-1990
AC 0062 Hoffmania (or Hoffman Collection
AC0295 Rocky Herosian Collection, 1910-1943
AC0674 Jean Clairmook Radio Scrapbook, 1930-1932
AC0136 Celia K. Erskine Scrapbook of Valentines, Advertising Cards, and Postcards, circa 1882-1884
The Valentine & Expressions of Love [videocassette], 2000 within the
Archives Center Miscellaneous Film and Videotape Collection, (AC0358)
Provenance:
Norcross Greeting Card Company, West Chester, Pennsylvania, 1982-1985.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Viewing the film portion of the collection without reference copies requires special appointment, please inquire.
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.
Genre/Form:
Lithographs
Business records -- 20th century
Chromolithographs -- 1880-1900
Color slides
Greeting cards -- ca. 1800-1980
Valentines
Trade cards
Postcards
Motion pictures (visual works) -- 1960-1980
Advertisements
Scrapbooks
Slides (photographs) -- 1950-2000
Citation:
Norcross Greeting Card Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
The collection contains: twenty-nine silver gelatin photoprints mounted on Fome-Core, Masonite, and cardboard, ranging in size from 5-1/2" x 9-1/4" to 10-11/16" x 13-13/16"; three 5" x 7" unmounted silver gelatin photoprints; a scrapbook which originally contained 56 silver gelatin photoprints, ranging in size from 2" x 3" to 7-1/2" x 9-1/2"; and silver gelatin film negatives (presumably acetate) for the prints. The scrapbook includes a New York Daily News clipping about Rivers: "Builds a Bridge to Students" by Anthony Burton (dated May 12, 1970 by Rivers) with a photograph showing him speaking to a crowd,
Most of the photographs depict the construction of the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings--iron workers on the job and relaxing during breaks, and pictures of the buildings at various stages of completion. Other subjects are: a demonstration to prevent World War II (1935), a color photoprint of the Civil Rights March and Demonstration in Washington, D.C. (1963), and two magazine clippings from a Soviet publication, New Times, in which Rivers's prize-winning "Self Portrait" (1930) was reproduced.
Most of these prints were made by Charles Rivers many years after the creation of the original negatives, probably ca.1970s 1980s. The collection is in generally good condition, except that many of the print surfaces are scratched.
Biographical / Historical:
Charles Rivers created a certain amount of confusion about his origins, whether accidentally or intentionally. Born Constantinos Kapornaros[1] (or Kostandinos Kapernaros)[2] in the small town of Vahos in Mani, an isolated area in the southern Peloponnesian region of Greece, on May 20, 1904, he emigrated to the United States as a child of five or six with his parents. His school record showed that he was enrolled in 1911 at the age of seven.[3] The family lived in Maine or New Hampshire, then Massachusetts, and later other locations in New York state. It is believed that his new name was derived from the Charles River in Boston.[4] The change may have been occasioned by a need to conceal his deep involvement in left-wing political and union activities.[5]
Mr. Rivers settled in New York City in 1950 and resided there until 1993.[6] He sometimes identified his birthplace as Denver, Colorado,[7] but this may have been a fabrication or simplification, based on the fact that Greek church baptismal records were kept in Denver.[8] His sons James and Ronald believe that he never became an official American citizen. Late in life, in order to visit his birthplace, he was issued a passport, based on his school records, which stated that he was born in Denver.
Rivers photographed the construction of the Chrysler Building (1929) and the Empire State Building (1930) in New York City. He was inspired to take up photography by seeing the work of the influential documentary photographer Lewis Hine, whose famous images of working children helped win passage of protective child labor laws. Rivers and Hine both photographed the Empire State Building and the men building it, yet Rivers apparently was unaware until years later that his idol had been present. Employed as an iron worker, Rivers traded his pail of tools for a Zeiss Ikon[9] camera during his lunch hour or when photographic opportunities arose. While the workers depicted in some of the photographs clearly are aware of the photographer's presence, Rivers's project presumably was conducted more or less surreptitiously. It is not known for certain if the paths of Rivers and Hine ever crossed, but his son Ron considers it unlikely: Hine photographed only the Empire State Building in connection with his "Men at Work" project,[10] not the earlier Chrysler Building, and Rivers did not work on the Empire State Building for a very long period. His self-portrait on the Empire State Building, "The Bolter-Up," may have been intended as a memento during one of his last days on that job.[11]
Rivers became unemployed in the Depression and consequently became involved in national efforts to create Social Security, unemployment insurance, and housing programs. These experiences apparently encouraged his active participation in politically leftist activities, as coverage about him in Soviet publications attests. A pacifist, in 1935 he was involved in demonstrations aimed at preventing World War II, and in the 1960s he took part in anti-Vietnam demonstrations and encouraged young people to continue such resistance.
In the 1950s Rivers worked in steel fabrication, in a chemistry lab as a technician, and briefly as a legislative aide for a New York state senator.
In 1986 Rivers submitted his 1930 self-portrait, posed on the Chrysler Building, to the International Year of Peace art contest sponsored by the New Times, published in Moscow: it was awarded a prize and diploma.
Mr. Rivers died in 1993, only two weeks after moving to Arlington, Texas to enter a nursing home near his sons' homes.
1. The page on Rivers in New York University=s Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives web site (http://laborarts.org/collections/item.cfm?itemid=82) --noted 5 June 2002), claims Rivers was born in 1905 and changed his name Ato resemble those of the Mohawk Indians working on the high steel of New York City=s skyscrapers and bridges".
2. This spelling is given in an e-mail from James Rivers to Helen Plummer, Aug. 19, 2002.
3. Ibid.
4. Telephone conversation between Ron Rivers and the author, 6 June 2002. Additional information was provided by Ron Rivers in electronic mail messages, 5 June and 12 June 2002.
5. James Rivers, op. cit.
6. Telephone conversation with Ron Rivers, 6 June 2002.
7. In a biographical statement for the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art (copy supplied by Helen Plummer), Charles Rivers called Denver his birthplace. The George Eastman House photographer database also included this apparently erroneous information, probably derived from the Amon Carter statement (telephone conversation with Helen Plummer, 3 June 2002).
8. Ron Rivers, telephone conversation, 6 June 2002.
9. Identified by Charles Rivers as the camera used in the skyscraper photographs: interview by Carol Sewell, "Photographer looked at U.S. from high view," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dec. 27, 1986. Rivers also used a Rolleiflex, according to Ron Rivers (see note above), but the folding Zeiss Ikon camera would have been a more convenient addition to a lunchbox than the bulkier Rolleiflex. The collection negatives are not in the Rolleiflex square format, moreover.
10. See Judith Mara Gutman, Lewis W. Hine and the American social conscience. New York: Walker, 1967.
11. Ron Rivers, telephone conversation, 6 June 2002.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Smithsonian Institution
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Included Rivers's self-portrait, "The Bolter Up," in its summer 2002 exhibition, "Metropolis in the Machine Age," in the form of a new print made from a digital copy of the Archives Center's original negative. The author discussed the new print from the Rivers negative and other photographs in this exhibition in an invited gallery lecture, "The Skyscraper Photographs of Lewis Hine and Charles Rivers," Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, June 6, 2002.
Materials at Other Organizations
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
See Barbara McCandless and John Rohrbach, Singular moments: photographs from the Amon Carter Museum, with select entries by Helen Plummer. Reproduction of a Rivers photograph, with description and analysis, p. 30. Additional information has been generously supplied by Ms. Plummer, curatorial associate, and Barbara McCandless, curator of photography, Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth Texas.
Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University
Museum of the City of New York
Some of his photographs were included in the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art exhibition, "Looking at America: Documentary Photographs of the 1930s and 1940s," December 1986.
Provenance:
The collection is a gift from Mr. Charles Rivers, 1989.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Archives Center claims copyright. Rights were conveyed to the Archives Center through a Deed of Gift signed by the donor.
Image of art work by Andrea Del Verrocchio from the colletion of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Arrangement:
In series ?, box 26, grouping Greeting Cards - Holidays
Local Numbers:
AC0200-0000035 (AC Scan)
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Collection 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.
In series ?, box 26, grouping Greeting Cards - Holidays
Local Numbers:
AC0200-0000036 (AC Scan)
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Collection 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.
The papers of Cambridge sculptor and illustrator, Lilian Swann Saarinen, measure nine linear feet and date from circa 1909 to 1977. The collection documents Saarinen's career through correspondence with artists, architects, publishers, and gallery owners; writings and notes, including manuscripts and illustrations for children's books and publications; project and teaching files; financial records; artwork, including numerous project sketches; and photos of Saarinen and her artwork. Saarinen's personal life is also documented through diaries and correspondence with friends and family members, including Eero Saarinen, to whom she was married from 1939-1953.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Cambridge sculptor and illustrator, Lilian Swann Saarinen, measure nine linear feet and date from circa 1909 to 1977. The collection documents Saarinen's career through correspondence with artists, architects, publishers, and gallery owners; writings and notes, including manuscripts and illustrations for children's books and publications; project and teaching files; financial records; artwork, including numerous project sketches; and photos of Saarinen and her artwork. Saarinen's personal life is also documented through diaries and correspondence with friends and family members, including Eero Saarinen, to whom she was married from 1939-1953.
Biographical material consists of resumes and biographical sketches, as well as a 1951 blueprint for the Eero Saarinen and Associates Office Building in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Correspondence documents Saarinen's personal and professional life through letters to and from Eero Saarinen and other family members, including six letters from Loja Saarinen; correspondence with artists and architects, including Merle Armitage, Charles and Ray Eames, Carl Koch, Henry Kreis, Carl Milles, Laszlo and Sibyl Moholy-Nagy, Robert Venturi, and Harry Weese; and friends and colleagues at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and Knoll Associates. Also documented is Saarinen's business relationship with Midtown Galleries and Caresse Crosby, and publishers and publications including Child Life, Interiors, Otava Publishing Company, and Reynal & Hitchcock, Inc.
Writings and Notes document Saarinen's work on several children's publications, including Picture Book Zoo (1935) and Who Am I? (1946), through correspondence, notes, manuscript drafts, and extensive sketches. This series also includes Saarinen's ideas for other publications and incorporates some early writings and notes, as well as typescripts of her reminiscences about Eliel Saarinen, the Saarinen family, and the Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Diaries consist of bound diary volumes, loose-leaf journal entries, and heavily annotated engagement calendars, documenting Saarinen's personal life, artistic aspirations, and career development from the 1930s-1970s. This material provides a deeply personal view of the emotional landscape of Saarinen's life, her struggles to balance her identity as a working artist with the roles of wife, mother, and homemaker, and the complex, and often competing, relationships within the renowned architectural family into which she married.
Project files document Saarinen's work on book cover designs, federal and post office commissions in Bloomfield, Indiana, Carlisle, Kentucky, and Evanston, Illinois, reliefs for the Crow Island School in Winnetka, Illinois, and other important commissions including the Harbor National Bank Clock in Boston, Massachusetts, the KLM Airlines installation at JFK Airport, the Fountain of Noah sculpture at the Northland Center in Detroit, Michigan, and the interior of Toffenetti's restaurant in Chicago, Illinois. Also documented is her role in designs for the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, with Eero Saarinen.
Teaching files document Saarinen's "Language of Clay Course" which she taught at Cambridge Art Center and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Financial records document exhibition and sales expenses for two exhibitions, including her show at G Place Gallery in 1944.
Printed material consists of clippings about Saarinen and her family, exhibition announcements and catalogs for herself and others, and reference files from the 1930s-1940s, primarily comprising clippings of animals.
Additional printed material documenting Saarinen's career can be found in one of two scrapbooks found in the collection. An additional scrapbook consists of clippings relating primarily to Saarinen's parents.
Artwork comprises extensive sketches, particularly animal and figure sketches, in graphite, crayon, ink, pastel, and watercolor. The sketches demonstrate in particular Saarinen's developing interest in and skill with animal portraiture from her childhood to the 1960s.
Photographs are primarily of artwork and Saarinen's 1944 exhibition at G Place Gallery. Also found are one negative of Saarinen, probably with Eero Saarinen, and a group photo including Lilian, Eero, and Eliel Saarinen with the model for the Detroit Civic Center, circa 1940s.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 11 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1930s-1960s (3 folders; Box 1, OV 12)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1920-1974 (1.9 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, 8, OV 12)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1920s-1973 (1.3 linear feet, Boxes 2-3, 8, OVs 13-16)
Series 4: Diaries, 1930-1973 (1.4 linear feet, Boxes 3-5, 8)
Series 5: Project Files, 1931-1966 (1.7 linear feet, Boxes 5-6, 8, OVs 17-19)
Series 6: Teaching Files, 1966-1970 (3 folders, Box 6)
Series 7: Financial Records, 1940s-1970s (2 folders, Box 6)
Series 8: Printed Material, circa 1930s-1970s (0.2 linear feet, Box 6)
Series 9: Scrapbooks, circa 1909-1974 (2 folders; Boxes 6, 9)
Series 10: Artwork, circa 1920s-circa 1960s (1.7 linear feet, Boxes 6-7, 9-10, OVs 20-27)
Series 11: Photographs, circa 1940s, 1977 (0.5 linear feet, Boxes 7, 11, OV 27)
Biographical / Historical:
Cambridge artist and sculptor, Lilian Swann Saarinen (1912-1995), studied at the Art Students League with Alexander Archipenko in 1928, and later with Albert Stewart and Heninz Warneke from 1934-1936, before moving to Michigan where she studied with Carl Milles at the Cranbrook Academy of Art from 1936-1940. Saarinen was an accomplished skier and a member of the 1936 US Olympic ski team.
At Cranbrook, Swann met architect Eero Saarinen, whom she married in 1939. She subsequently worked with Saarinen's design group on a variety of projects, including the Westward Expansion Memorial, which later became known as the "Gateway Arch" in St. Louis. Lilian and Eero had a son, Eric, and a daughter, Susie, before divorcing in 1953.
Saarinen, who had developed an affinity for drawing animals in childhood, specialized in animal portraits in a variety of sculptural media. In 1939, she exhibited her sculpture Night, which depicted Bagheera the panther from Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book, at the World's Fair. The sculpture was placed in the Boston Public Garden in 1986. In the 1930s and 1940s Saarinen was commissioned to work on a variety of architectural projects, including reliefs for post offices in Bloomfield, Indiana, Carlisle, Kentucky, and Evanston, Illinois, and the Crow Island School in Winnetka, Illinois. She also executed commissions for the Harbor National Bank in Boston, KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) at JFK Airport, the Northland shopping Center in Detroit Michigan, and Toffenetti's Restaurant in Chicago.
Saarinen was a contributing author and illustrator for a variety of publications, including Child Life, Interiors and Portfolio: An Intercontinental Quarterly. In 1935 she illustrated Picture Book Zoo for the Bronx Zoo and in 1946 Reynal & Hitchcock, Inc. published Who Am I?, a children's book which Saarinen wrote and illustrated.
Saarinen taught ceramic sculpture to soldiers for the Red Cross Arts and Skills Unit rehabilitation program in 1945, served on the Visiting Committee to the Museum School at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from 1959-1964, where she taught ceramics, and later taught a course entitled "The Language of Clay" at the Cambridge Art Center and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One of Saarinen's private students at Cambridge was her cousin, Edie Sedgwick.
Saarinen died in Cohasset, Massachusetts, in 1995 at the age of 83.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reels 1152 and 1192) including a scrapbook containing clippings, copies of letters and telegrams received, and reproductions of Saarinen's work. There is a copy of Saarinen's book, "Who Am I?", and three albums containing photographs of Saarinen, photographs and reproductions of her work, a list of exhibitions, quotes about her, and writings by her about sculpture. Lent material was returned to the lender and is not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Lilian Swann Saarinen donated the collection in 1975. She lent additional materials for microfilming in 1976.
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:
Sculptors -- Massachusetts -- Cambridge Search this
Lilian Swann Saarinen papers, circa 1909-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by The Walton Family Foundation; and John R. & Barbara Robinson and Deborah Schmidt Robinson & Dr. R. Perry Robinson, The Widgeon Point Charitable Foundation.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Valentine Gallery records, circa 1890-1960. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art
The papers of studio assistant Andre Thibault/Teabo regarding African American painter Romare Bearden measure 0.9 linear feet and date from circa 1930s to 2003 with the bulk of the material dating from 1980 to 1998. The papers consist of administrative records such as financial and gallery records. Correspondence includes letters from Romare Bearden, his wife Nanette and Andre Thibault. Of note is correspondence between Thibault and Nanette concerning the signature on a Bearden painting. Printed material includes exhibition catalogs, posters, magazines, art books and source material used by Bearden. Artwork consists of a self-portrait, a sketchbook, collage pieces, and oversize drawings by Bearden. Photographic material is comprised of photographs of Bearden, his art, studio, Andre Thibault/Teabo, Russell Goings and others.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of studio assistant Andre Thibault/Teabo regarding African American painter Romare Bearden measure 0.9 linear feet and date from circa 1930s to 2003 with the bulk of the material dating from 1980 to 1998. The papers consist of administrative records such as financial and gallery records. Correspondence includes letters from Romare Bearden, his wife Nanette and Andre Thibault. Of note is correspondence between Thibault and Nanette concerning the signature on a Bearden painting. Printed material includes exhibition catalogs, posters, magazines, art books and source material used by Bearden. Artwork consists of a self-portrait, a sketchbook, collage pieces, and oversize drawings by Bearden. Photographic material is comprised of photographs of Bearden, his art, studio, Andre Thibault/Teabo, Russell Goings and others.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in five series.
Series 1: Administrative Records, 1985-1988 (Box 1; 2 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1987-1996 (Box 1; 3 folders)
Series 3: Printed Material, 1949-1958, 1971-2003 (Box 1-2, OV 3; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 4: Artwork, circa 1930s-1940s, circa 1980-1988 (Box 2, OV 3; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 5: Photographic Material, 1983-1991 (Box 2, OV 3; 0.2 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Andre Thibault/Teabo (1948?- ) is an artist in New York, N.Y. and was Romare Bearden's studio assistant from 1980-1988.
Romare Bearden (1911-1988) was an African American painter who worked in New York, N.Y. Bearden worked in various mediums and is known for his colorful abstract paintings depicting the lives of African American people and for his work in collage. In 1963 he co-founded the African American artistic group named Spiral that endeavored to answer the question "What is Black Art?" and in 1968 was involved in founding the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. The following year Bearden co-founded the Cinque Gallery which promoted and exhibited the works of African American artists. In 1976 he received a Gold Medal from the Governor of North Carolina for the advancement of the arts and posthumously received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1988.
Provenance:
The papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by André Thibault/Teabo in 2017.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to originals papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
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:
Artists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Collagists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of New York abstract painter Leon Polk Smith measure 7.2 linear feet and date from 1921 to 1997. The papers consist of biographical material, business and personal correspondence, interview transcripts and an interview video recording, writings, financial records for the corporate entity Leon Polk Smith, Inc., printed material, photographic material, and a scrapbook of newspaper clippings.
Scope and Contents note:
The papers of New York abstract painter Leon Polk Smith measure 7.2 linear feet and date from 1921 to 1997. The papers consist of biographical material, business and personal correspondence, interview transcripts and an interview video recording, writings, financial records for the corporate entity Leon Polk Smith, Inc., printed material, photographic material, and a scrapbook of newspaper clippings.
Biographical material includes official affidavits, certificates, passports, expense receipts, and a travel expense notebook. A curriculum vitae, family history, and medical records are also included in the series.
Correspondence, both business and personal, comprises the bulk of the collection. This includes correspondence between Smith and his life companion, Robert Jamieson; art critics Arthur C. Danto, Claudine Humblet, and David Galloway; and artists Gego (Gertrude Goldschmidt) and Ray Johnson. Business correspondence relates to Smith's various gallery and museum exhibitions, loans, and sales. There is extensive correspondence between Smith and the Brooklyn Museum, Butler Institute of American Art, Di Laurenti Gallery, Edition and Galerie Hoffmann, Galerie Denise Rene, Meyers/Bloom Gallery, Washburn Gallery, and the Wilhelm-Hack Museum. The business subseries also includes correspondence between Smith and his alma mater, East Central University, formerly known as Oklahoma State University.
Interviews consist of six typewritten transcripts of interviews conducted with Smith over the course of his professional career from 1950 to 1993, a 1995 video interview of museum director Robert T. Buck discussing the Brooklyn Museum's exhibition of Leon Polk Smith for the television program National Arts, and a 1965 interview transcript with gallery owner Lucile Horsley.
Writings include sixteen published and unpublished scholarly essays on Smith and his work. The series also includes notes and a brief artist's statement by Smith regarding the pros and cons of modern art galleries.
Financial records are 1978-1989 federal income tax filings and routine tax preparation and payment receipts for the corporate entity Leon Polk Smith, Inc. Smith's personal filing records from 1987-1989 are also included in this series.
Printed material consists of two books, including the Brooklyn Museum's monograph Leon Polk Smith: American Painter, newspaper clippings reviewing Smith's work, and exhibition announcements and catalogs of Smith's museum and gallery shows from 1941 to 1997.
A scrapbook contains newspaper clippings documenting Smith's years as an educator and artist in Oklahoma in the 1930s and 1940s.
Photographs are of Smith and his acquaintances circa 1920-1960, and a representative selection of photographs and color slides of Smith's artwork from 1939 to 1960.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged as 8 series:
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1938-1994 (Box 1, OV 10; 11 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1939-1997 (Boxes 1-5, 9, OV 10; 5 linear feet)
Series 3: Interviews, 1950-1995 (Boxes 5-6; 8 folders)
Series 4: Writings, 1963-1996 (Box 6; 13 folders)
Series 5: Financial Records, 1979-1990 (Box 6; 15 folders)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1941-1997 (Boxes 6-7, 9; .5 linear feet)
Series 7: Scrapbook, 1930-1940 (Box 8; 1 folder)
Series 8: Photographic Material, 1920-1990 (Box 8; 8 folders)
Biographical/Historical note:
Leon Polk Smith (1906-1996) worked primarily in New York City as a painter, educator, and lecturer. He is considered one of the founders of the hard edge style of minimalist abstract art.
Smith was born in Chickasha, Indian Territory one year before its formal incorporation into the Oklahoma Territory. Both of his parents were of Cherokee ancestry and he was raised in a small farming community that included Cherokee and Choctaw Indians. After receiving his teaching degree in 1934, Smith worked as an educator in rural Oklahoma communities and, at the same time, took the opportunity to introduce arts programs to local schools. In 1936, he enrolled in Columbia University's Teachers College to pursue a graduate degree in arts education and began painting full time. That summer, he visited the Albert E. Gallatin Gallery of Living Art at New York University, where he was first introduced to the work of the European modernists Constantin Brancusi, Jean Arp, and most importantly, Piet Mondrian.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Smith accepted university teaching positions at Rollins College in Florida, and New York University and Mills College of Education in New York. During this time, Smith moved beyond his early explorations of neo-plasticism and began to paint in a more hard edge style, typified by geometric lines, curving shapes of color, and the use of tondo (disk shaped) canvases. In 1958, Betty Parson's Section Eleven Gallery showcased his new work in two one-man exhibitions, which introduced him to a wider audience of museum curators and art collectors. In the 1960s, Smith's work was included in two of his most important group exhibitions, The Responsive Eye at the Museum of Modern Art (1965) and Systemic Painting at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1966). In 1995, the Brooklyn Museum curated Leon Polk Smith: American Painter, a retrospective exhibition of Smith's career.
Smith produced works exploring shapes and lines, minimalist use of color, and modularity well into the 1990s and exhibited at a number of affiliated galleries, including the Stable Gallery, Galerie Chalette, Galerie Denise Rene, Washburn Gallery, and ACA Galleries. Smith died in 1996 in his home in Manhattan, at the age of 91.
Provenance:
The papers of Leon Polk Smith were donated by the artist's partner, Robert Jamieson, in 1998 and 2002.
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:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Leon Polk Smith papers, 1921-1997. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Leon Polk Smith Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Walker, Hudson D. (Hudson Dean), 1907-1976 Search this
Extent:
3.6 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 2 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sketchbooks
Date:
1909-1989
Scope and Contents:
Biographical material, correspondence, business records, writings and notes, printed material, scrapbooks, and photographs document Nordfeldt's career as a painter and instructor, and his widow's involvement after his death in exhibitions, biographies, and sales of his work.
REELS D166-D167: Biographical material includes a biographical sketch by Stanton L. Catlin, several letters from Nordfeldt's first wife Margaret to his second wife, Emily, and his nephew, Leonard Olson, in response to requests for biographical information, and biographical documents; correspondence of Emily and B.J.O., 1909-1959, with museum directors, gallery owners, patrons, artists, friends, universities, and others, mainly regarding the sale and exhibitions of his paintings and his teaching positions; artists' statements; exhibition catalogs; photographs of Nordfeldt; an excerpt from The Man on the Hilltop, by Arthur Davison Ficke; 5 sketchbooks; 3 scrapbooks; and an extensive catalog of Nordfeldt's paintings compiled by Emily, containing photographs and descriptive information.
Among the correspondents are Dewey Albinson, Watson Bidwell, Gina Knee Brook, Victor Candell, Howard N. Cook, Edward L. Davison, Howard Devree, William Dickerson, Constance Forsyth, Harriet Hanley of Harriet Hanley Gallery, Raymond Jonson, William Lester, A. Hyatt Mayor, Georgette Passedoit of the Passedoit Gallery, his student Roberta Shelton, Homer Saint-Gaudens, and Hudson D. Walker. Some of the letters are illustrated.
UNMICROFILMED: Resumes; correspondence, undated, 1923-1979, includes excerpts of letters from Nordfeldt to Constance Forsyth, 1942-1943 and Emily Abbott Nordfeldt, 1944; Emily Abbott Nordfeldt's correspondence with art collectors, art dealers, galleries and museums regarding exhibitions, gifts and sales of Nordfeldt's work; with Nordfeldt's biographers F. Van Deren Coke and J. Douglas Hale; and with the University of Minnesota, University Gallery, 1970-1972 regarding a Nordfeldt exhibition and the Nordfeldt Fund established by Emily; receipts and other business records; 1944-1979; writings and notes by Emily, ca.1930-1950, and others including the preface by Sheldon Cheney for Nordfeldt, the Painter by Coke, 1972;
a transcript of an interview with Raymond Jonson by Coke; printed material, including clippings, 1912-1984, exhibition catalogs, posters and announcements, undated, 1915-1991, notably a catalog of Nordfeldt's etchings shown at the Arthur H. Hahlo & Co. with an introduction by Robert W. Bruere, 1915; reproductions of graphic work for The Outlook and Harper's Monthly Magazine, 1910; miscellaneous printed material; a scrapbook of clippings and printed material, 1971-1980; photographs of Nordfeldt, undated 1910-1955, of the Santa Fe Players' production of "Grumpy," 1921; 3 photo albums of works of art, ca. 1930-1940; 10 seconds of motion picture film; and 2 sketches by Nordfeldt.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, etcher, block printer, engraver, lithographer, watercolorist, teacher; Santa Fe, N.M. and Lambertville, N.J. Born in Tullstorp, Scania, Sweden, and came to the United States in 1891. Taught at the Minneapolis School of Art and the University of Texas. Moved to Lambertville, N.J. in 1937 from Santa Fe, N.M.
Provenance:
Material on reels D166-D167 lent for microfilming 1963 by Emily Abbott Nordfeldt, Bror's widow. In 1991 her estate donated additional material as well as portions of the previously microfilmed material. Material previously lent but NOT subsequently donated includes portions of the biographical material; several letters; artists' statements; a few personal photographs; the 5 sketchbooks; items from the scrapbooks; and the catalog of paintings. (The collection file contains a list of specific reel and frame numbers.)
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.
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) Search this
Extent:
0.6 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
circa 1935
circa 1983
Summary:
Bryson Burroughs photographs of artwork measure 0.6 linear feet and date from circa 1935 and circa 1983. The collection consists of glass plate negatives and copy prints of artwork, primarily paintings, by Burroughs.
Scope and Contents:
Bryson Burroughs photographs of artwork measure 0.6 linear feet and date from circa 1935 and circa 1983. The collection consists of glass plate negatives and copy prints of artwork, primarily paintings, by Burroughs. The glass plates were possibly made for the memorial exhibition for Burroughs held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1935.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as one series.
Series 1: Bryson Burroughs Photographs, circa 1935, circa 1983 (0.43 linear feet; Box 1, MMs)
Biographical / Historical:
New York painter and museum curator Bryson Burroughs (1869-1934), studied at the Art Students League in New York and at the Académie Julian in Paris. Later, he became an associate, then a full member, of the National Academy of Design in New York. From 1909 to 1934 he was the Curator of Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A memorial exhibition for Burroughs was held at the museum in 1935.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Archives of America Art in 1983 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art via John K. Howat.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
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 -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art museum curators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Citation:
Bryson Burroughs papers, circa 1935, circa 1983. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Exhibition Collectors Historical Organization Search this
Names:
New York World's Fair (1939-1940 : New York, N.Y.) Search this
Extent:
130 Cubic feet (417 boxes, 23 map-folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Souvenirs
Photographs
Pamphlets
Guidebooks
Date:
1835-1992
Summary:
Collection documents the 1939 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York. Also includes materials on other world's fairs, the Exhibition Collectors Historical Organization (ECHO), New York City tourism and Disney.
Scope and Contents:
The collection contains the archival materials collected by Edward Orth including postcards, newspaper clippings, exhibitor's literature, photographs, scrapbooks, tickets, pamphlets, brochures, magazines, books, and motion picture film.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series.
Series 1, Edward J. Orth Personal Papers, 1939-1989
Subseries 1.1: Correspondence, 1939-1989
Subseries 1.2: Other Materials, 1915-1989
Series 2, Exhibition Collectors Historical Organization Records, 1942-1990
Subseries 2.1, Organizational History, 1960-1988
Subseries 2.2: Correspondence, 1942-1990
Subseries 2.3: Classified Ads, 1956-1988
Subseries 2.4: Financial Records, 1976-1989
Subseries 2.5: Newsletters, 1969-1988
Subseries 2.6: Membership applications, renewal notices and cancellations, 1977-1987
Series 3, New York World's Fair, Inc. Records, 1900-1988
Subseries 3.1: Administrative Files, 1900-1971
Subseries 3.2: Amusement Zone, 1937-1940
Subseries 3.3: Communications and Business Systems Zone, 1939-1965
Subseries 3.4: Community Interest Zone, 1939-1940
Subseries 3.5: Food Zone, 1939-1975
Subseries 3.6: Government Zone, 1939-1940
Subseries 3.7: Production and Distribution Zone, 1939-1940
Subseries 3.8: Transportation Zone, 1939-1940
Subseries 3.9: Ephemera, 1939-1988
Series 4, Photographic Materials, 1876-1969
Subseries 4.1: General
Subseries 4.2: Amusement Zone
Subseries 4.3: Business Systems Zone
Subseries 4.4: Communications Zone
Subseries 4.5: Community Interest Zone
Subseries 4.6: Food Zone
Subseries 4.7: Government Zone
Subseries 4.8: Production and Distribution Zone
Subseries 4.9: Transportation Zone
Subseries 4.20: Miscellaneous
Subseries 4.21: Oversize
Subseries 4.22: Color Slides
Subseries 4.23: Color Transparencies
Series 5, Scrapbooks, 1938-1981
Series 6, Postcards, 1906-1985
Series 7: Publications Related to World's Fairs, 1922-1989
Subseries 7.1: Magazines, 1922-1988
Subseries 7.2: Newspaper Articles, 1935-1989
Subseries 7.3: Other Publications, 1939-1973
Subseries 7.4: Other Subjects, 1962-1989
Series 8: Materials Relating to Other Fairs, 1951-1988
Subseries 8.1: Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations/Crystal Palace Exhibition
Subseries 8.2: New York Crystal Palace Exhibition
Subseries 8.3: Centennial Exposition
Subseries 8.4: World's Columbian Exposition
Subseries 8.5: Exposition Internationale D'Anvers (Antwerp, Belgium)
Subseries 8.6: Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition
Subseries 8.7: Trans-Mississippi Exposition
Subseries 8.8: South Carolina Inter-State and West Indian Exposition/Pan-American Exposition
Subseries 8.13: Bronx International Exposition of Science, Arts and Industries
Subseries 8.14: Sesquicentennial Exposition
Subseries 8.15: Barcelona International Exposition
Subseries 8.16: L'Exposition Coloniale, Paris
Subseries 8.17: Olympics
Subseries 8.18: Century of Progress
Subseries 8.19: California Pacific International Exposition (San Diego)/Brussels International Exposition
Subseries 8.20: Great Lakes Exposition/Texas Centennial Central Exposition
Subseries 8.21: Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne
Subseries 8.22: Golden Gate International Exposition
Subseries 8.23: Festival of Britain
Subseries 8.24: Milan Fair
Subseries 8.25: Exposition Universelle et venti Internationale de Bruxelles
Subseries 8.26: Moscow
Subseries 8.27: Century 21 Exhibition
Subseries 8.28: Expo 67
Subseries 8.29: Long Beach, California (cancelled)
Subseries 8.30: HemisFair 68
Subseries 8.31: Expo 70
Subseries 8.32: Expo 74
Subseries 8.33: Expo 75
Subseries 8.34: American Revolution Bicentennial, 1776-1976
Subseries 8.35: Queens Bicentennial Festival
Subseries 8.36: Expo 81, (cancelled)
Subseries 8.37: Portopia 81
Subseries 8.38: 1982 World's Fair
Subseries 8.39: Louisiana World Exposition
Subseries 8.40: Olympic Games
Subseries 8.41: Expo 85
Subseries 8.42: Queens Festival
Subseries 8.43: Expo 86
Subseries 8.44: World Expo 88
Subseries 8.45: Expo 92
Subseries 8.46: Expo 2000
Subseries 8.47: Combined Fairs
Subseries 8.48: General information about world's fairs
Series 9: Ephemera, 1934-1987
Subseries 9.1: New York (arranged first by subject and then general materials)
Subseries 9.2: Other States and Countries (alphabetical by location)
Subseries 9.3: Disney and Wizard of OZ Materials (chronological order)
Series 10: Audio Visual Materials, 1939, 1964-1965
Subseries 10.1: Moving Images, 1939; 1964-1965
Subseries 10.2: Sound Recordings
Series 11: Oversize, 1835-1992
Biographical / Historical:
Edward J. Orth grew up relishing history, particularly the history of the New York World's Fair. His experience of visiting the fair as a twelve year old boy led to a life long passion of collecting. At the time of his death, he had amassed a collection that filled two houses in California. The collection not only included materials of the 1939 New York World's Fair but also documented events before and after the fair. He also collected materials from a number of other fairs. Edward Orth was also instrumental in creating an organization for people who wanted to collect information and trade artifacts and relating to world's fairs materials.
Mr. Orth was born April 19, 1927 to Andrew Joseph Orth and Florence Minnie Gordon Orth in New York. The family would later include another son George, some six or seven years younger than Edward. In the 1930's, the Orth family lived in a number of locations in New York including Ridgewood, Brooklyn, Glendale, and Queens. In 1935, the family eventually moved to St. Albans, Queens, New York where Orth lived seven miles from Flushing Meadow Park, future site of the New York World's fair.
The year 1939 was a particularly painful one for the family due to a number of deaths. Edward Orth's paternal grandmother died on April 22nd. His grandfather, Michael Orth, also passed away in April. Three months later his grandmother Gordon died on July 22th. The severe losses to the Orth-Gordon families limited many social activities; however, the family did drive by the grounds of the future site of the world's fair. For the first time Edward Orth glimpsed the Trylon and Perisphere. Later, Orth would remark that the sight appeared to be magic.
In the summer of 1939, Edward Orth went to the fair with his class at Public School 136. The next summer Edward and his father walked over to an elementary school in Hollis, Queens, New York and purchased a 10 admission ticket for elementary school students. Edward Orth saved every souvenir and every bit of information he could find about the fair. He filled scrapbooks with photographs from newspapers and the 1939 Curt Teich and Manhattan PC Company postcards that were on sale at the corner candy store. When his family moved from an apartment to a house he acquired an old world's fair bench which he kept in the backyard.
In 1941, Orth attended Newton High School in Elmhurst, and Queens, New York. The high school offered a special college preparatory technical course which involved heavy emphasis on mathematics, science, mechanical drawing and workshop courses. Such educational pursues coupled with the motion picture films which he saw at the fair, including Thomas Edison's "The City of Light", Ford Motor Company's "Road of Tomorrow", "Democracy" and General Motors' "Futurama" inspired Orth's interest in architecture and landscaping. This inspiration formed the basis of his decision to become a city planner for California.
By 1943, Orth began to explore used magazine and book stores in New York City to continue his collecting of world's fairs materials. Two days after graduation in 1945 he was enlisted in the army. Upon his discharge he resumed buying and trading worlds' fairs' postcards. From 1948-1953, Orth continued his education at the University of California and the University of Connecticut where he studied architecture and landscape design. Between these years he posted advertisements in various postcard collector clubs publications in his continued pursue of world's fairs materials. In March 1953, Mr. Orth moved to Los Angeles, California. It was during his time in Los Angeles that he really began to make contact with other World's fairs buffs and formed lasting friendships based on this common interest. By 1967, Orth and a number of his closest friends including Peter Warner, Oscar Hengstler, David Oats, Larry Zim, and Ernest Weidhaas conceived the idea of a world's fair collector's society. By the summer of 1968 this group had formally created the Exhibition Collectors Historical Organization (ECHO).
Edward Orth was always concerned about the welfare of his collection and did not want the materials to be broken into parts and sold. Instead he wanted it to go to a museum. Mr. Orth stipulated in his will that the collection would be given to the Smithsonian Institution upon his death.
In 19??, Jon Zackman, former Smithsonian employee, conducted two interviews on micro cassettes. One interview was conducted with George Orth, brother of the collector. The other interview is with Peter Warner, another world's fairs collector. Orth and Warner had corresponded extensively and had traded objects. Mr. Orth primarily covered the west coast area while Peter Warner was his east coast counterpart.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana (AC0060)
Larry Zim Collection (AC0519)
Materials at Other Organizations
New York Public Library
The New York World's Fair 1939 and 1940 Incorporated Records, 1935-1945, MssCol 2233
Separated Materials:
Materials at the National Museum of American History
Artifacts from the collection include several thousand souvenirs and examples of memorabilia commemorating the fair to include buttons and badges, ceramics, glassware, clothing, costume jewelry, coins and medals, commemorative spoons and flatware, toys and games, and philatelic material which are all part of the Division of Home and Community Life's holdings.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow. Viewing film portion of collection requires special appointment, please inquire. Do not use when original materials are available on reference video or audio tapes.
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:
Exhibitions -- 1930-1940 -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Collection consists of a bound volume used as both a log of visitors to the shop and a scrapbook containing newspaper clippings, ephemera, magazine articles, announcements, and invitations to fashion shows. The first few pages of the volume are the guest book. The remaining pages were used as the scrapbook and is in reverse chronological order. There are also loose pages from the volume and its wooden covers, with a portion of a map of the Audencia of Guadalajara used as the cover illustration. Of particular interest are the typewritten manuscripts documenting Kemp's ideas for starting the California Shop. In addition, there are photographs of the shop, possibly in 1941, and Helen Kemp.
Arrangement:
Materials are arranged as a single series.
Biographical / Historical:
Helen Misch Kemp opened the California Shop on November 15, 1938 at 677 Madison Avenue in New York City. Kemp was born April 22, 1894 in New York to Moses and Jennie Misch but had moved to California in 1936 where she worked in the women's clothing trade. Some time later she moved back to New York and noticed a distinction between the clothing and merchandise created in California as opposed to what was being offered in New York. California was also gaining a reputation in the fashion industry for its women designers who were combining chic styles, comfort, and unique colors for the American female market. Armed with a keen eye for fashion and shrewd business sense Kemp opened her shop to provide California craftsmanship to an eastern market. Kemp took annual trips to California to select what she considered was the best for her customers. While the California Shop sold mostly women's clothing it also offered products such as preserves, copper household utensils, cookware, trays, wastebaskets, spice jars, wall pockets, flower containers, pottery, and jewelry. On October 15, 1940, the shop moved to 674 Madison Avenue, where it occupied a larger space. Kemp closed her shop in 1942 due to war time difficulties in getting merchandise from California. Helen Kemp died on February 13, 1948, at the age of fifty-four.
Related Materials:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Collections relating to women in business and fashion industry
Estelle Ellis Collection (AC0423)
Brownie Wise Papers (AC0509)
Dorothy Shaver Papers (AC0631)
NW Ayer Advertising Agency Records (AC0059)
Division of Costume Audiovisual Collection (AC0801)
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana (AC0060)
Ming-Ju Sun Garfinckel's Fashion Drawings (AC0897)
Carolyn and Donald Grepke Paper Doll Collection (AC752)
Virginia "Jimmie" Booth Collection (AC0729)
Joseph Magnin Poster Collection (AC0355)
Provenance:
Barbara Kemp
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. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: reproduction fees may apply. All duplication requests must be reviewed and approved by Archives Center staff.
3 Items (Ink and paint on paper., 13.5 cm x 21.5 cm.)
Container:
Box 13, Folder 8
Type:
Archival materials
Advertising
Posters
Date:
undated
Local Numbers:
AC0906-0000006.tif (AC Scan No.)
AC0906-0000007.tif (AC Scan No.)
AC0906-0000008.tif (AC Scan No.)
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research use on site by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
Collection 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.
Caption (on negative) : "Tube Center / 60 Hudson St. / New York." Shown are four female employees and three male employees.
Local Numbers:
AC0205-0000019.tif (AC Scan)
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research access by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
Collection 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.
This collection contains fieldnotes, drawings and illustrations from Efron's research on gesture language among Sicilian and Lithuanian Jewish immigrants on the lower east side of New York City. The several hundred original captioned illustrations in the collection were created by Stuyvesant Van Veen. The collection also includes a 115-page Bibliography of Gesture and Posture, which Efron apparently never published, and one item on Native American gesture language from 1890.
Biographical / Historical:
A student of Franz Boas, David Efron conducted his gesture study to examine differences in the gestural repertoire of different neighboring immigrant communities, as well as the effect of assimilation on the range of gestures used by their first generation descendants. Efron's demonstration of the cultural basis of gestural style challenged Nazi "scientific" claims that gestural style was racially inherited. The results of his research were published as Gesture and Environment (King's Crown Press, 1941), republished as Gesture, Race and Culture (Mouton, 1972).
Efron collaborated on his gesture research with Stuyvesant Van Veen (1910-1988), a New York City artist who studied at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students league and worked with the muralist Thomas Hart Benton. Van Veen is also known in anthropological circles for the illustrations he produced for Franz Boas' research on Kwakiutl dances.
Efron's was perhaps the first ethnographic research to combine meticulous participant observation and artistic collaboration with the analysis of everyday social behavior recorded on motion picture film.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 2004-07
Other Archival Materials:
Stuyvesant Van Veen's papers are maintained by the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, which also has a 1981 interview with Van Veen in which the artist discusses his work with Boas.
"Lively" song, vocal with accompaniment. Cover illustration, signed "Leff", shows smiling man in bow tie and knickers on miniature golf course. In "Sports" 7.6, folder B.
Local Numbers:
97-9617 (OPPS Neg. No., for cover only)
Publication:
New York, N.Y., Mills Music, Inc., 1930
Series Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Copy prints available. Reproduction restrictions due to copyright. Cover illustration: order from neg. no. 97-9617.
Topic:
Golf, Miniature -- Sheet music -- 1930-1940 Search this
Genre/Form:
Sheet music -- 1930-1940
Series Citation:
The Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
