Search Results

Interviewee:

Sun Ra  Search this

Gaskin, Leonard, 1920-  Search this

Taylor, Billy  Search this

Sullivan, Maxine, 1911-1987  Search this

Wells, Ronnie  Search this

Whiting, Margaret  Search this

Towers, Jack  Search this

Venuti, Joe, 1903-1978  Search this

Pullen, Don, 1941-  Search this

Roney, Wallace  Search this

Pizzarelli, Bucky, 1926-  Search this

Pizzarelli, John, 1960-  Search this

Shaw, Artie, 1910-2004  Search this

Shepp, Archie, 1937-  Search this

Sanders, Pharaoh  Search this

Grant, Felix, 1918-1993  Search this

Scott, Jimmy  Search this

McPhail, Jimmy  Search this

McPartland, Marian  Search this

McFerrin, Bobby  Search this

Krall, Diana  Search this

O'Connell, Helen  Search this

Mulligan, Gerry  Search this

Metheny, Pat  Search this

McShann, Jay  Search this

Horn, Shirley, 1934-  Search this

Hinton, Milt, 1910-2000  Search this

Hill, Andrew, 1937-  Search this

Hendricks, Jon, 1921-  Search this

Keane, Helen  Search this

Kaminsky, Max, 1908-  Search this

Jordan, Sheila, 1928-  Search this

Humes, Helen, 1913-1981  Search this

Hampton, Lionel  Search this

Harris, Eddie, 1934-  Search this

Heath, Jimmy, 1926-  Search this

Frishberg, Dave  Search this

Ennis, Ethel  Search this

Farmer, Art, 1928-  Search this

Flanagan, Tommy, 1930-  Search this

Hampton, Slide  Search this

D'Rivera, Paquito, 1948-  Search this

Daniels, Billy  Search this

Davison, Bill  Search this

Donegan, Dorothy, 1922-  Search this

Crouch, Stanley, 1945-2020  Search this

Conyers, John, 1929-  Search this

Cruz, Celia, 1924-2003  Search this

Byard, Jaki  Search this

Brown, Ruth  Search this

Carter, Betty, 1930-  Search this

Byron, Don  Search this

Betts, Keter, 1928-  Search this

Bellson, Louis  Search this

Bowie, Lester, 1941-  Search this

Blakey, Art, 1919-1990  Search this

Allen, Steve, 1921-2000  Search this

Adderly, Nat, 1931-  Search this

Bailey, Benny, 1925-  Search this

Collector:

Stokes, W. Royal, Dr., 1930-  Search this

Names:

Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971  Search this

Davis, Miles  Search this

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974  Search this

Gillespie, Dizzy, 1917-  Search this

Extent:

10 Cubic feet (39 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Audiotapes

Photographs

Publicity photographs

Date:

1940s-2005

Summary:

Publicity photographs of musicians and entertainers, mostly jazz musicians, such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, and Dizzy Gillespie, but including many rock and even a few classical performers. The collection also contains tape recorded radio interviews conducted between 1970 and 2003. In addition there are posters relating to musical performances.

Scope and Contents:

This collection was formed by W. Royal Stokes in the course of his professional work as a music and arts critic. It is composed primarily of publicity portraits of musical performers, both single acts and groups. The emphasis is on jazz musicians and singers, although many rock stars and groups, and other popular musical performers are included. Even a few classical musicians are represented. The pictures are primarily mass-produced black and white publicity photographs distributed to newspapers, writers, etc., by agents for entertainment personalities. Some prints were made from the original negatives, while others clearly were made from copy negatives after typography was stripped together with a print and re-photographed. However, there are some rarer original photographs included in the collection, such as personal color snapshots, higher quality prints by art photographers, etc. Nearly all the prints are unmounted, and are 8 x 10 inches or smaller in size. The bulk of the photographs date from circa 1970 to 2000, however, a number of the earlier photographs are included as well as slightly later examples.

Arrangement:

The collection is divided into nine series.

Series 1, Photographs of Musicians and Ensembles, circa 1970-2000; undated

Subseries 1.1, Musicians and Ensembles

Subseries 1.2, Recording Company Photographs

Subseries 1.3, Unidentified Musicians

Series 2, Photographs of Performances, 1987-2002; undated

Subseries 2.1, Music Festivals, 1987-2002; undated

Subseries 2.2, Concerts, Music Clubs and Other Venues, 1920s-1940s and circa 1980s-1990s; undated

Series 3, Formal and Informal Groups, circa 1980s-2000; undated

Series 4, Photographs of Musicians in Films, Radio, Television and Theater, 1940s-2000; undated Series 5, Photographs of Subjects and Products related to Musicians and Music, 1970-2000; undated

Series 6, Photographs of Non-Musicians, circa 1980s-2000; undated

Series 7, Interviews with Musicians, 1970-2003

Series 8, Audiovisual Materials, 1970-2003

Subseries 8.1, Audio Recordings - Audiocassettes

Subseries 8.2, Audio Recordings-Audiotapes

Series 9, Posters, 1976-1990; undated

Biographical / Historical:

Born in Washington, D.C., W. Royal Stokes served in the Army and then embarked on an academic career, teaching at the University of Pittsburgh, Tufts University, Brock University and the University of Colorado. He left the academic profession in 1969 and become a writer, broadcaster and lecturer, journalist, and critic and authority on jazz music. A follower of jazz since his teens in the 1940s, Stokes has written about music for such publications as Down Beat, Jazz Times, and the Washington Post, and hosted the public radio shows "I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say . . ." and "Since Minton's". Today he is the editor of the quarterly Jazz Notes, and is the author of The Jazz Scene: An Informal History From New Orleans to 1990 and Swing Era New York: The Jazz Photographs of Charles Peterson.. He is also the author of Living the Jazz Life: Conversations with Forty Musicians about Their Careers in Jazz (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000). Dr. Stokes lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of Ameican History:

Duke Ellington Collection, 1928-1988 (AC0301)

Herman Leonard Photoprints, 1948-1993

Frank Driggs Collection of Duke Ellington Photographic Reference Prints [copyprints], 1923-1972

Jazz Oral History Collection, 1988-1990

Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection, 1910s-1970s (mostly 1930s-1960s)

Jeffrey Kliman Photographs

Stephanie Myers Jazz Photographs, 1984-1987, 2005

Chico O'Farrill Papers

Paquito D'Rivera Papers, 1989-2000.

Louis Armstrong Music Manuscripts, undated

Tito Puente Papers, 1962-1965.

Audrey Wells "Women in Jazz Radio Series, 1981-1982

Mongo Santamaria Papers, 1965-2001

Ramsey Lewis Collection, 1950-2007

Earl Newman Collection of Monterey Jazz Festival Posters, 1963-2009

James Arkatov Collection of Jazz Photographs, 1995-2003

Francis Wolff Jazz Photoprints, 1953-1966

Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, circa 1920s-2006

Jazz Oral History Program Collection, 1992-2009

Leslie Schinella Collection of Gene Krupa Materials

Provenance:

Donated by W. Royal Stokes to the Archives Center in 2001.

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:

Jazz musicians -- 1950-2000 -- United States  Search this

Musicians  Search this

Publicity  Search this

Portraits -- Musicians  Search this

Popular music -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Entertainers  Search this

Rock music  Search this

Genre/Form:

Audiotapes

Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 1950-2000

Publicity photographs

Citation:

W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0766

See more items in:

W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Photoprints and Interviews

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b79b5a94-c967-451e-bafb-e62dc2d8ff45

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0766

Creator:

United States of America, Department of State (issuer)  Search this

Donor:

Strange, Susan B.  Search this

Collection Creator:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History  Search this

Ravnitzky, Michael  Search this

Extent:

1 Item (12" x 8.5".)

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs

Passports

Date:

1925

Scope and Contents:

Photographer unidentified. Back and inside of passport has visas for France, Great Britain and Holland.

Local Numbers:

AC0404-0000037.tif (AC Scan)

General:

In Passports box.

Restrictions:

Unrestricted research use on site by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.

Collection Rights:

Possible copyright and/or trademark restrictions on material in collection. Consult repository.

Topic:

Travel -- 1920-1930  Search this

Tourism -- 1920-1930  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 1920-1930 -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin

Passports -- 1920-1930

Collection Citation:

Archives Center Business Americana Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

See more items in:

Archives Center Business Americana Collection

Archives Center Business Americana Collection / Passports

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep82e0842c1-6695-47ee-b8df-3540d13cff6b

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0404-ref1561

Creator:

Davis, Ruth A.  Search this

Donor:

Strange, Susan B.  Search this

Collection Creator:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History  Search this

Ravnitzky, Michael  Search this

Extent:

1 Item (5.25" x 8".)

Type:

Archival materials

Address books

Photographs

Date:

1913

Scope and Contents:

Addresses, mostly in ink, with tiny portrait prints pasted in.

Biographical / Historical:

Miss Davis probably lived in New England, as most addresses are from that area; photographers unidentified.

Local Numbers:

AC0404-0000038.tif (AC Scan: double-page spread, open to B's)

General:

In Photography, Folder 3.

Restrictions:

Unrestricted research use on site by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.

Collection Rights:

Possible copyright and/or trademark restrictions on material in collection. Consult repository.

Topic:

Portraits -- 1910-1920  Search this

Genre/Form:

Address books -- 1910-1920

Photographs -- 1910-1920 -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin

Collection Citation:

Archives Center Business Americana Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

See more items in:

Archives Center Business Americana Collection

Archives Center Business Americana Collection / Photography

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8558157df-bcea-4edc-91eb-7e394146a938

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0404-ref1562

Photographer:

Dementi Studio  Search this

Donor:

Strange, Susan B.  Search this

Names:

Bonynge, Marjorie Elizabeth  Search this

Strange, Hinman Foot  Search this

Collection Creator:

Smith-Howard, Kendra  Search this

Strange, Susan B.  Search this

Thompson, Anthony Mills  Search this

Toda, Mitchell  Search this

Hall, Priscilla E.  Search this

Hann, Kinh  Search this

Hann, Leila Poursedehi  Search this

Scherbak  Search this

DiStefano, Carrie  Search this

DiStefano, Josh  Search this

Earl-Thompson, Yolonda  Search this

Gil, Christiane  Search this

Toda, Sharon  Search this

Archives Center, National Museum of American History  Search this

DeFelice, David  Search this

Extent:

1 Item (Silver gelatin on paper., 9" x 7.5".)

Container:

Box 1, Folder 1

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs

Date:

1945

Scope and Contents:

Wedding on November 24, 1945 of Marjorie Elizabeth Bonynge and Hinman Foot Strange at Christ Episcopal Church, Gordonsville, Virginia.

Local Numbers:

AC1131-0000001.tif (AC Scan)

Collection Restrictions:

The collection is open for research and access on site by appointment. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.

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.

Topic:

Marriage -- 1940-1950  Search this

Church buildings -- Virginia  Search this

Weddings -- 1940-1950  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 1940-1950 -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin

Collection Citation:

Archives Center Weddings Documentation Collection, 1945-2008, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

See more items in:

Archives Center Weddings Documentation Collection

Archives Center Weddings Documentation Collection / Bonynge-Strange Wedding, Gordonsville, Virginia

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep876699e52-0d7d-4554-811c-6ff13fd18259

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-1131-ref519

Creator:

Miles Laboratories, Inc.  Search this

Collection Creator:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History  Search this

Extent:

1 Item (Silver gelatin on paper., 9.6" x 7.3")

Container:

Box 14, Folder 2

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs

Date:

undated

Scope and Contents:

Spokes figure for Alka-Seltzer.

Local Numbers:

AC0184-0000001 (AC Scan No.)

Restrictions:

Unrestricted research use on site by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves.

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.

Topic:

advertising  Search this

Mascots  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 1950-2000 -- Color photoprints

Collection Citation:

Alka-Seltzer Oral History and Documentation Project, 1953-1987, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

See more items in:

Alka-Seltzer Documentation and Oral History Project

Alka-Seltzer Documentation and Oral History Project / Series 6: Photographs / Speedy Alka-Seltzer

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8ceb090a5-91b6-4d7f-8bb1-d3cc64b46c31

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0184-ref823

Creator:

Miles Laboratories, Inc.  Search this

Collection Creator:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History  Search this

Extent:

1 Item (Silver gelatin on paper., 10.0" x 8.1")

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs

Date:

Circa 1980

Scope and Contents:

Frames from twelve classic commercials.

Arrangement:

In Center for Advertising History Collection black copy photo notebook page 317. Original color poster exists.

Local Numbers:

AC0184-0000002 (AC Scan No.)

Restrictions:

Unrestricted research use on site by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves.

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.

Topic:

advertising  Search this

Television advertising  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 1950-2000 -- Color photoprints

Collection Citation:

Alka-Seltzer Oral History and Documentation Project, 1953-1987, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

See more items in:

Alka-Seltzer Documentation and Oral History Project

Alka-Seltzer Documentation and Oral History Project / Series 7: Alka-Seltzer Posters / Alka Seltzer Commercial Classics

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8bff29d2b-c929-44e0-a4c7-45523f0fc850

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0184-ref824

Names:

Robinson, Robert H.  Search this

Collection Collector:

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

Extent:

1 Item (Silver gelatin on paper., 5.1" x 3.1".)

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs

Place:

Confederate States of America

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865

Date:

1872

Scope and Contents:

Photoprint of Robert H. Robinson wearing the Confederate (CSA) uniform of his brother James G. Robinson of the 5th Virginia Inf., CSA, Prince George's County, Maryland. This is most likely a wedding photo taken in 1872 upon his marriage to Amanda M. Baden at Black Walnut Thicket, the bride's home.

Local Numbers:

AC0475-0000062 (AC Scan No.)

General:

In Box 18, Folder .

Civil War Selections from the Archives Center

Collection 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.

Collection 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:

Military uniforms  Search this

Uniforms  Search this

Soldiers -- Civil War  Search this

Weddings -- 1860-1900.  Search this

Civil War, 1861-1865  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 1870-1880 -- Black-and-white photoprints

Collection 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.

See more items in:

Robinson and Via Family Papers

Robinson and Via Family Papers / Series 6: Photographs, Photographic Slides, and Photographic Negatives / 6.1: Photographs / Robinson and allied families

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep89bb42ba9-65dd-4138-91b5-6c63a020638a

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0475-ref1504

Names:

Robinson, Franklin A., 1841-1905  Search this

Collection Collector:

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

Extent:

1 Item (Silver gelatin on paper., 5" x 3.7".)

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs

Copy photographs

Copy prints

Tintypes

Place:

Confederate States of America

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865

Date:

undated

Scope and Contents:

Black-and-white photograph of an original tintype, Franklin A. Robinson (1841-1905) of Brandywine, Prince George's County, Maryland. He was the son of Thomas Wells Robinson and Elizabeth I. Richards. Served in the Confederate States Army, 5th Virginia Infantry.

Local Numbers:

AC0475-0000126 (AC Scan No.)

General:

In Box 18, Folder ?

Civil War Selections from the Archives Center

Collection 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.

Collection 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:

Civil War, 1861-1865  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 1860-1870 -- Tintypes

Copy photographs

Copy prints

Tintypes

Collection 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.

See more items in:

Robinson and Via Family Papers

Robinson and Via Family Papers / Series 6: Photographs, Photographic Slides, and Photographic Negatives / 6.1: Photographs / Robinson and allied families

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep87dcf6f09-fea6-4547-a5f3-0a2f85121b7d

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0475-ref1508

Names:

Via, Adina Mae, 1937-1966  Search this

Collection Collector:

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

Extent:

1 Item (Silver gelatin on paper., 3-1/2" x 5".)

Container:

Box 6, Folder 1

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs

Date:

[1955.]

Scope and Contents:

She is holding a piglet and the photo is taken from above. She enclosed the snapshot in a letter to Franklin Robinson on March 7, 1955. Photographer unidentified.

Local Numbers:

AC0475-0000160.tif (AC Scan No.)

Restrictions:

Unrestricted research access on site by appointment. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.

Collection 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

pigs  Search this

Courtship  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 1950-1960 -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin

Collection 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.

See more items in:

Robinson and Via Family Papers

Robinson and Via Family Papers / Series 2: Robinson Family / 2.6: Robinson, Franklin A. / 2.6.1: Correspondence, diaries, personal ephemera / Correspondence received from Via, Adina M.

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8ca2d92ac-06ce-4618-a561-13ae95312837

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0475-ref1510

Names:

Via, Adina Mae, 1937-1966  Search this

Collection Collector:

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

Extent:

1 Item (Silver gelatin on paper., 5" x 3".)

Container:

Box 6, Folder 1

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs

Date:

[1955.]

Scope and Contents:

Evidently her senior photograph, enclosed in a letter to boyfriend Franklin Robinson 26 March 1955.

Local Numbers:

AC0475-0000161.tif (AC Scan No.)

Restrictions:

Unrestricted research access on site by appointment. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.

Collection 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:

Strapless dresses  Search this

Farms -- Maryland  Search this

Courtship  Search this

Evening gowns  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 1950-1960 -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin

Collection 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.

See more items in:

Robinson and Via Family Papers

Robinson and Via Family Papers / Series 2: Robinson Family / 2.6: Robinson, Franklin A. / 2.6.1: Correspondence, diaries, personal ephemera / Correspondence received from Via, Adina M.

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep823233c82-7bfd-4588-b438-c40a59dcd6df

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0475-ref1511

Creator:

Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944  Search this

Names:

Bakelite Corporation  Search this

Nepera Chemical Co.  Search this

Extent:

15 Cubic feet (49 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Professional papers

Clippings

Laboratory notes

Personal correspondence

Photographs

Notebooks

Diaries

Date:

1976

1863 - 1968

Summary:

The papers document Leo H. Baekeland, a Belgian born chemist who invented Velox photographic paper (1893) and Bakelite (1907), an inexpensive, nonflammable, versatile plastic. The papers include student notebooks; private laboratory notebooks and journals; commercial laboratory notes; diaries; patents; technical papers; biographies; newspaper clippings; maps; graphs; blueprints; account books; batch books; formula books; order books; photographs; and correspondence regarding Baekeland, 1887-1943.

Scope and Contents:

Baekeland documented his life prolifically through diaries, laboratory notebooks, photographs, and correspondence. These constitute the bulk of the collection. The Bakelite company history is also incompletely documented in this collection through Baekeland's correspondence, the commercial laboratory notebooks, and some company ledgers.

Arrangement:

Series 1: Reference Materials, 1863-1868 and undated

Subseries 1.1: Biographical, 1880-1965

Subseries 1.2:Company History, 1910-1961

Subseries 1.3: Related Interests, 1863-1968 and undated

Series 2: Published and Unpublished Writings (by Leo H. Baekeland), 1884-1945

Series 3: Correspondence, 1888-1963 Subseries 3.1: Personal Correspondence, 1916-1943

Subseries 3.2: Charitable Donations, 1916-1938

Subseries 3.3: Family Correspondence, 1888-1963

Subseries 3.4: Clubs and Associations, 1916-1943

Series 4: Diaries, 1907-1943

Series 5: Reading and Lecture Notes, 1878-1886

Series 6, Laboratory Notebooks, 1893-1915

Series 7: Commercial Laboratory Notebooks, 1910-1920

Series 8: Bakelite Company, 1887-1945

Series 9, Patents, 1894-1940

Series 10: Bakelite Corporation Ledgers, 1910-1924; 1935; 1939

Series 11: Photographs, 1889-1950 and undated

Subseries 11.1: Photographs, 1889-1950 and undated

Subseries 11.2: Film Negatives, 1900-1941 and undated

Subseries 11.3: Photoprints, 1894-1941

Subseries 11.4: Stereographs, 1888-1902 and undated

Subseries 11.5: Film and Glass Plate Negatives, 1899-1900 and undated

Series 12: Audio Materials, 1976

Biographical / Historical:

Leo Hendrik Baekeland was an industrial chemist famous for his invention of Bakelite, the first moldable synthetic polymer, and for his invention of Velox photographic paper. Baekeland's career as an inventor and innovator was punctuated by an urge to improve existing technologies and a willingness to experiment both meticulously and daringly. Born in Ghent, Belgium in 1863, Baekeland was a distinguished chemistry student and became a young professor at the University of Ghent. He had a long standing interest in photography and sought to further photographic technology with his expertise in chemistry. In 1887 he obtained his first patent for a dry plate which contained its own developer and could be developed in a tray of water. With the support of a business partner/faculty associate, Jules Guequier, he formed a company named Baekeland et Cie to produce the plate, but the venture failed due to lack of capital.

On August 8, 1889, he married Celine Swarts, daughter of his academic mentor Theodore Swarts, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Ghent. After his wedding he travelled to different countries using a traveling scholarship he had been awarded two years previously. His travels ended in the United States where he was offered a job researching chemical problems associated with manufacturing bromide papers and films with A. and H.T. Anthony and Company, a photographic supply producer. Leo and Celine Baekeland had three children: George, Nina and Jenny (1890-1895).

He left Anthony and Company in 1891 to be a consulting chemist. During that time he invented a photographic print paper using silver chloride which could be developed in artificial light instead of sunlight and thus offered more flexibility and consistency to photographers. In 1893, with financial support from Leonard Jacobi, a scrap metal dealer from San Francisco, he formed the Nepera Chemical Company in Yonkers, New York, to manufacture "gaslight" paper under the trade name Velox. The paper became quite popular and the company expanded its operations after its first three years. Finally, George Eastman bought the company for a reported $750,000 which afforded Baekeland the time to conduct his own research in a laboratory he set up on his estate, "Snug Rock," in Yonkers.

Baekeland worked on problems of electrolysis of salt and the production of synthetic resins. He was hired as a consultant to work with Clinton P. Townsend to perfect Townsend's patented electrolytic cell. Baekeland's work there contributed to the success of the Hooke Electrochemical Company which began in operations in Niagara Falls in 1905.

Simultaneously, in 1902 Baekeland began researching reactions of phenol and formaldehyde, and by 1907 was able to control the reactions and produce a moldable plastic (oxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride) which he named Bakelite. Although the process was not perfected for another couple of years, Baekeland applied for a patent for Bakelite right away. He announced his discovery to the scientific community in 1909, and in 1910 formed the General Bakelite Company. Bakelite was a thermosetting resin that, unlike Celluloid became permanently solid when heated. It was virtually impervious to heat, acids, or caustic substances. It could be molded into a wide variety of shapes and was an excellent electric insulator that came to replace hard rubber and amber for electrical and industrial applications. It was also suitable for a wide variety of consumer products such as billiard balls, jewelry, pot handles, telephones, toasters, electric plugs, and airplane instrument knobs. Two companies challenged Bakelite with significant competition, Condensite Corporation of America and Redmanol Chemical Products Company. Bakelite finally merged with these two companies in 1922 to become the Bakelite Corporation. Union Carbide finally bought the corporation in 1939.

Baekeland sustained his interest in photography by taking numerous photographs throughout his lifetime. He also devoted much of his spare time to professional societies and received various honorary degrees and awards such as the Perkin Medal. He had several hobbies such as boating, wine and beer making, and, exotic plants. He also traveled extensively throughout the world, which is documented in his diaries and photographs.

Baekeland spent his final years mostly in his Coconut Grove, Florida home where he became increasingly eccentric until his mind failed him and he was institutionalized. He died in 1943 at the age of eighty.

Scope and Content: Baekeland documented his life prolifically through diaries, laboratory notebooks, photographs, and correspondence. These constitute the bulk of the collection. The Bakelite company history is also incompletely documented in this collection through Baekeland's correspondence, the commercial laboratory notebooks, and some company ledgers.

Related Materials:

Materials in the Archives Center

Albany Billiard Ball Company Records (AC0011)

Celluloid Corporation Records (AC0009)

J. Harry DuBois Collection on the History of Plastics (AC0008)

Materials at Other Organizations

The Hagley Museum and Library, Manuscripts and Archives Department in Delaware also several related collections including: the Directors of Industrial Research Records, 1929 -982; the Du Pont Viscoloid Company, Survey of the Plastics Field, 1932; The Society of the Plastics Industry, 1937-1987; the Roy J. Plunkett Collection, 1910-1994 (inventor of Teflon); and the Gordon M. Kline Collection, 1903.

Separated Materials:

The National Museum of American History, Division Medicine and Science has several artifacts associated with Baekeland including the original "Bakalizer" the apparatus in which Bakelite was first made. See accession numbers: 1977.0368; 1979.1179; 1981.0976; 1982.0034; 1983.0524; 1984.0138.

Provenance:

The bulk of the collection was donated to the National Museum of American History's Division of Physical Sciences in November, 1981, by Celine Karraker, Leo H. Baekeland's granddaughter.

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:

Phenolic resins  Search this

Travel -- Photographs  Search this

Chemists -- 1880-1970  Search this

Inventors -- 1880-1970  Search this

Plastics -- 1880-1970  Search this

Chemistry  Search this

Genre/Form:

Professional papers -- 1880-1970

Clippings -- 1880-1970

Laboratory notes

Personal correspondence -- 1880-1970

Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- Glass -- 19th-20th century

Notebooks -- 1880-1970

Diaries -- 1880-1970

Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 19th-20th century

Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- Nitrate -- 19th-20th century

Citation:

Leo Baekeland Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0005

See more items in:

Leo H. Baekeland Papers

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep846e88df6-033d-4805-99e2-b308002a75f4

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0005

Names:

Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944  Search this

Collection Creator:

Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944  Search this

Extent:

1 Item (Silver gelatin on paper, mounted on card, 7.1" x 4.5")

Container:

Box 37, Folder 19

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs

Date:

1932

Scope and Contents:

Baekeland is sitting in a chair holding two leopard cubs. Photographer unidentified.

Local Numbers:

AC0005-0000119.tif (AC Scan)

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

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.

Topic:

Zoos  Search this

Leopard  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 1920-1930 -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin

Collection Citation:

Leo Baekeland Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

See more items in:

Leo H. Baekeland Papers

Leo H. Baekeland Papers / Series 11: Photographs, Film Negatives, Photoprints, Stereographs and Glass Plate Negatives / 11.1: Photographs / Leo H. Baekeland at the Berlin Zoo

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep865612786-478c-4568-8922-339ab6d24b31

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0005-ref3078

Creator:

Maury, Curt  Search this

Extent:

12.7 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Dye coupler transparencies

Place:

Gujarat (India)

Karnataka (India) -- Social life and customs

Kerala (India)

Maharashtra

Rajasthan (India)

India

Date:

1953-circa 1985

Summary:

The Curt Maury papers, dating from 1953 to circa 1985, measure 12.7 linear feet and include writings and notes for planned and published books; travel files and expense ledgers for trips to India; photograph ledgers; and extensive photographs and slides of India.

Scope and Contents:

The Curt Maury papers, dating from 1953 to circa 1985, measure 12.7 linear feet and consist of writings and notes for planned and published books; travel files and expense ledgers for trips to India; photograph ledgers; and extensive photographs and slides of India.

The collection was created by Maury primarily in preparation for an unpublished book to be titled, "India's Folk Tradition as the Mirror of Mankind's Religious History." Materials include manuscript and typescript drafts and notes for this book, as well as for published book, Folk Origins of Indian Art (1969). Travel files include printed maps of India, Maury's sketched map outlines of cities in India, and five travel expense ledgers. Photographic materials consist of black and white prints and slides depicting Indian folk art, including religious artifacts and structures, and Indian cultural activities and surroundings. Nine photograph ledgers describe images and locations of photographs and slides with roll and image number.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 3 series.

Series 1: Writings and Notes, circa 1960s-circa 1970s [3.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-5, 7-11]

Series 2: Travel Files, 1953-1975 [0.4 linear feet; Box 5, 1 OV Folder]

Series 3: Photographic Material, circa 1960-circa 1985 [8.5 linear feet; Boxes 6, 12-44]

Biographical note:

Curt Maury (1909-1989) was a writer, social services administrator, and scholar of Indian art. He was born in Germany, earned a PhD in German Literature from the University of Vienna in 1935, and immigrated to the United States in 1939. While pursuing a literary career through the publication of novels, plays, and poems, Maury developed an interest in India, which he visited many times from the 1950s through the 1970s. He conducted research on Indian folk art, and kept extensive photographic records.

Provenance:

The papers were donated to the Archives after Curt Maury's death in 1989 by his brother, Hans Tischler.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Due to cold storage requirements, digital surrogates are prefered for access. One week's notice is required prior to access originals.

Rights:

Permission to reproduce and publish an item from the Archives is coordinated through the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's Rights and Reproductions Department. Please contact the Archives in order to initiate this process.

Topic:

Art, Hindu  Search this

Indian art  Search this

Cave temples  Search this

Taj Mahal (Agra, India)  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 1950-1960 -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin

Dye coupler transparencies

Citation:

Curt Maury Papers. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Mr. Hans Tischler.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund.

Identifier:

FSA.A1989.05

See more items in:

Curt Maury Papers

Archival Repository:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/dc3fab29f43-0ae6-4370-b3ff-be6afcd35342

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-fsa-a1989-05

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Community Life  Search this

Interviewer:

Ahlborn, Richard E., 1933-2015  Search this

Martin, Juana  Search this

Author:

Martinez, Emiliano  Search this

Extent:

0.15 Cubic feet (1 box)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Audiocassettes

Audiotapes

Interviews

Oral history

Photographs

Transcripts

Place:

Fort Chaffee (Ark.)

Date:

1984

Summary:

Papers, oral history, and transcripts relating to Emiliano Martinez, a Cuban immigrant.

Scope and Contents:

Papers and photographs related to the immigration experience of Cuban refugee Martinez: a story from the Washington Post, March 12, 1984; a 45-minute cassette recording of an interview (in Spanish) by Richard E. Ahlborn with Martinez; a transcription in Spanish of the interview; six photographs of the hut taken by a zoo photographer; a covering memorandum from Ahlborn; a copy of Martinez's earnings from the sale of cans; and a diagram of his hut. Ahlborn, a curator in the Division of Community Life, was assisted by Juana Martin, a social worker.

Biographical / Historical:

The story of Emiliano Martinez, a Cuban refugee, was publicized as an example of the ingenuity and survival skills of recent immigrants to this nation. Martinez fled Cuba in one of the freedom flotillas of 1980. After a year in a refugee camp at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, he arrived in Washington, D.C. in April 1981. He shared apartments with other Cuban refugees until October 1982. Using his carpentry skills, he constructed a hut on undeveloped land at the National Zoo, where he lived from December 1982 until March 1984. He then moved into a boarding house in the Adams-Morgan neighborhood. He made his livelihood by selling aluminum cans to a Safeway grocery store for an average of sixty-five dollars a month.

Provenance:

Collection donated by Emilio Martinez.

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:

Carpentry  Search this

Emigration and immigration  Search this

Hispanic Americans -- 1950-2000  Search this

Homelessness  Search this

Housing  Search this

Political refugees  Search this

Poverty  Search this

Genre/Form:

Audiocassettes

Audiotapes

Interviews -- 1980-2000

Oral history

Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 1980-2000

Transcripts

Citation:

Emiliano Martinez Collection, 1984, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0176

See more items in:

Emiliano Martinez Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep86b08cf62-f39f-45dc-888b-2a21680f2041

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0176

Creator:

Beirne, Barbara T.  Search this

Names:

Anderson, Kay  Search this

Baker, Dave  Search this

Berrigan, Philip  Search this

Bolden, Jackie  Search this

Cleaver, Eldridge, 1935-1998  Search this

Coffin, William Sloane  Search this

De Gennaro, Jane  Search this

Garrell, Nancy  Search this

Hawk, David  Search this

Hoffman, Bruce  Search this

Keegan, Leone  Search this

Knight, Dee  Search this

Lewis, John  Search this

Libby, John  Search this

McAllister, Elizabeth  Search this

McNamara, Craig  Search this

Montfort, Bill  Search this

Montfort, Susan  Search this

Moore, Irma  Search this

Rubin, Jerry  Search this

Simon, Doug  Search this

Extent:

0.1 Cubic feet (1 box)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Date:

circa 1980s

Summary:

Twenty portraits, taken in the 1980s, of twenty-one men and women who were active in the civil rights and peace movements of the 1960s.

Scope and Contents:

The collection consists of twenty silver gelatin prints, as described on the container list attached. These are exhibition-quality prints, matted, signed by the artist, with subject identification. The prints are arranged in no particular order, but are numbered according to the list. Note that each print therefore has an individual museum catalog number, e.g., 1991.0886.01- unlike the majority of Archive Center collections--and these numbers should be referenced in exhibition and loan transactions.

Arrangement:

Collection is arranged into one series.

Biographical / Historical:

Barbara T. Beirne hold a Master of Fine Arts in Photography form Pratt Institute, Brooklyn New York, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts form Marymount College, Tarrytown, New York. She has been a free-lance photographer, working extensively for non-profit organizations, corporations and newspapers, has shown her work in many solo and group exhibitions, and has been photographer and/or author of a number of children's books (see bibliography, She photographed the subjects of this portfolio for a book by J. and R. Morrison, From Camelot to Kent State.

Ms. Beirne has been a teacher and lecturer in numerous school and libraries in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and at this writing is an adjunct professor of photography at County College of Morris, Randolph, New Jersey.

Historical:

In 1985, Joan Morrison and her son Robert K. Morrison conducted approximately one hundred oral history interviews with a wide variety of Americans about their experiences during the 1960s. They also collected photographs of the interviewees--pictures taken during the 1960s and other taken at the time of the interview. Portions of some of these interviews and the photographs are published in their 1987 book, mentioned above. Some of the new photographs, taken by Barbara T. Bierne, were exhibited at the Bridge Gallery, The New School, New York City, from Oct. 2 to Oct 31, 1998. The Morrison collection of audiotapes, transcripts, and other materials form this project was donated to the Archives Center as Collection no. 359. Later in 1991, Barbara Beirne donated twenty exhibition quality, matted photographs from this project (the Morrison Collection was received first, and the earlier number for the Beirne Collection is due to the recycling of an unused number). These prints apparently were made in 1989 and were included in the New School exhibition.

Bibliography

Author and photographer, A Pianist's Debut. Carlrhoda Books, 1990. Author and photographer, Under the Lights. Carlrhoda Books, 1988.

Photographer, What Do You Mean I Have a Learning Disability? Walker Publishers, 1991.

Photographer, Water is Wet. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1985.

Photographs in: Joan and Robert K. Morrison. From Camelot to Kent State: The Sixties Experience in the Worlds of Those Who Lived It. New York: Times Books, 1987.

Provenance:

Collection donated by Barbara T. Beirne, September 6, 1991.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Rights:

Barbara Beirne retains copyright. A nonexclusive license was conveyed to the Archives Center through a Deed of Gift signed by the donor. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:

Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Protest Movements  Search this

Civil rights  Search this

Peace movements -- 1960-1970  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 1980-2000

Citation:

Barbara Beirne Portrait Photoprints, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0356

See more items in:

Barbara Beirne Portrait Photoprints

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep821bc12f2-560d-429c-8704-1ac336f36c52

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0356

Creator:

Morrison, Joan, -2010  Search this

Morrison, Robert K.  Search this

Beirne, Barbara T.  Search this

Names:

Gold Star Mothers, Inc.  Search this

Peace Corps (U.S.) -- 1960-1970  Search this

Moore, Harold (Gold Star parent)  Search this

Moore, Irma (Gold Star parent)  Search this

Extent:

6 Cubic feet (20 boxes )

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Audiocassettes

Transcripts

Photographs

Oral history

Audiotapes

Date:

1985 - 1987

Scope and Contents:

The collection is comprised of 139 audiocassettes (original copies only), 80 transcripts and tape summaries, and photographs (including some negatives). The transcripts and photographs also exist in single copies only, but they may be used with care by researchers.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in four series.

Series 1: Original Audio Cassette Tapes, 1983-1986

Series 2: Transcripts/Tape Summaries, 1984-1986

Series 3: Photographs, 1984-1986

Series 4: Reference Tapes and CDs, undated

Biographical / Historical:

In 1985, Joan and Robert Morrison conducted approximately 100 oral history interviews with a wide variety of Americans about their experiences during the 1960s. They also collected photographs of each of their interviewees—one taken during the 1960s and the other taken at the time of the interview. Portions of fifty-nine of those interviews were published in their 1987 book, From Camelot to Kent State: The Sixties Experience in the Words of Those Who Lived It (Times Books). Some of the new photographs, which were taken by Barbara Beirne, also were exhibited at The New School in 1989.

The interviewees include civil rights activists, anti-war activists, Vietnam War soldiers, Gold Star mothers, Peace Corps members, Weathermen, black leaders, and counter culture figures. Some of the narrators are members of the rank-and-file, others played leading roles. The in-depth interviews focus on three main questions: 1) What motivated you to act as you did in the Sixties? 2) What actions did you take and what were the results? 3) How did your experiences in the Sixties affect the way your life has developed since then?

Source Information taken from memo to National Museum of American History Collections Committee.

Provenance:

The Morrison's donated this collection of audiocassettes, transcripts, and photographs to the National Museum of American History Archives Center in 1989.

Restrictions:

Tape recordings not available for playback until researcher copies are made; researchers must use transcripts until then.

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.

Some original interviews have restrictions; these have been withheld by the Morrisons' until they can get clearances from the interviewees.

Topic:

African Americans -- Civil rights  Search this

United States -- History -- 1960-1990  Search this

Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Protest Movements  Search this

Peace movements -- 1960-1970  Search this

Soldiers -- 1960-1970  Search this

Civil rights  Search this

Portraits -- 1960-1970  Search this

Civil rights workers  Search this

Genre/Form:

Audiocassettes

Transcripts

Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 1950-2000

Oral history

Audiotapes

Citation:

Joan and Robert K. Morrison Collection, 1983-1987, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0359

See more items in:

Joan and Robert K. Morrison Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep822fab27b-07fb-46f8-90e2-3cdf43e1aabc

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0359

Artist:

Cornell, Joseph  Search this

Names:

Benton, Elizabeth Cornell  Search this

Cornell, Robert  Search this

Extent:

196.8 Linear feet

186 Nitrate negatives

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Nitrate negatives

Photographs

Place:

New York, New York

Date:

1750-1980, bulk 1930-1972

Summary:

The Joseph Cornell Study Center collection measures 196.8 linear feet and dates from 1750 to 1980, with the bulk of the material dating from 1930 to 1972. Documenting the artistic career and personal life of assemblage artist Joseph Cornell (1903-1972), the collection is primarily made up of two- and three-dimensional source material, the contents of the artists' studio, his record album collection, and his book collection and personal library. The collection also includes diaries and notes, financial and estate papers, exhibition materials, collected artifacts and ephemera, photographs, correspondence, and the papers of Robert Cornell (1910-1965) and Helen Storms Cornell (1882-1966), the artist's brother and mother.

Scope and Contents:

The Joseph Cornell Study Center collection measures 196.8 linear feet and dates from 1750 to 1980, with the bulk of the material dating from 1930 to 1972. Documenting the artistic career and personal life of assemblage artist Joseph Cornell (1903-1972), the collection is primarily made up of two- and three-dimensional source material, the contents of the artists' studio, his record album collection, and his book collection and personal library. The collection also includes diaries and notes, financial and estate papers, exhibition materials, collected artifacts and ephemera, photographs, correspondence, and the papers of Robert Cornell (1910-1965) and Helen Storms Cornell (1882-1966), the artist's brother and mother.

Correspondence is with collectors, museums, galleries, artists, friends, family, charity organizations, admirers and those admired by Cornell, and World War II European pen pals. Discussions about the appreciation, donation, sale, purchase, and exhibition of Cornell's works are frequent, with the inclusion of shipping and loan documentation or notices of payment installments. Galleries and museums frequently request that Cornell agree to an exhibition, which he often declines, and fans request free works be mailed or affordable works be sold to them. With friends, artists, and those he admired, Cornell discussed topics that fascinate him, included bits of poetry or philosophical musings, sent clippings or a collaged letter, and occasionally discussed a project or work in process. After World War II, when so many were displaced by the war in Europe, Cornell answered ads for pen pals in the "Christian Science Monitor," often responding to requests for clothing or other goods, and sometimes exchanging many letters over several years. Family correspondence is with his mother, sisters, brother, and others, and often notes activities of the day, foods eaten, and general musings, as well as occasionally mentioning a project or artwork. Correspondents of note include Stan Brakhage, Betty Freeman, Charles Henri Ford, Allegra Kent, Yayoi Kusama, Roberto Matta, Marianne Moore, Octavio Paz, Sonia Sekula, Pavel Tchelitchew, Parker Tyler, Dorothea Tanning, and Betsy von Furstenberg, among others.

Cornell was often preoccupied with his thoughts, feelings, memories, a project or thematic "exploration," and jotted notes on seemingly any surface available. Notes and musings are on napkins, the backs of envelopes, newspaper clippings, and paper bags from record and magazine stores. Frequently, an observation would trigger a lengthy nostalgic moment, or a "feé," fairy-like child or girl, would capture his imagination and lead him to thoughts of 18th-century ballerinas and silent film stars. Cornell wrote longer diary notes, sometimes expanding on an earlier notation or emotion, and often wrote when he experienced trouble sleeping or woke early. Drafted letters to imaginary muses or admired individuals are interspersed among diaries, often revealing Cornell's yearnings to find emotional intimacy and human connection. Over time, Cornell revisited his notes and occasionally made further notations about renewed thoughts on a topic, dating the note with "revisited" or "reviewed." Notes are often written in a stream-of-consciousness style, for example, jumping from the mention of a record album or composer, to a ballerina of the same period, a note about a French poet, the memory of childhood, or an observation made earlier in the day, all in the space of a few lines. Notes about artistic processes or meanings behind works or images do occasionally emerge from the tangled, poetic notations. Notes also often provide insights into Cornell's internal emotional state and give clues about his intentions behind an artwork or a particular thematic fixation.

Financial materials document Cornell's professional and personal business activities, including the sale of artworks, annual expenses for supplies and household incidentals, payments and schedules for personal assistants, receipts for donations to charities and nonprofits, and tax documents. There is also information about who worked as assistants, or "helpers," in his later years and where Cornell purchased art supplies. Additionally, specific details are documented through receipts and invoices, such as what kind of paint he purchased. Estate records include preparations made for Cornell's artworks after his death, and clippings about other deceased artist's estates show that he thought often about such arrangements in his later years.

Exhibition files highlight several select solo exhibitions for Cornell, as well as preparations and planning for the "Robert Cornell: Memorial Exhibition" in honor of his brother in 1966. Also included are several early exhibition catalogs and announcements, including "Surréalisme" (January 9-29, 1932) and "Exhibition of Objects (Bibloquet) by Joseph Cornell" (December 6-31, 1939) at the Julien Levy Gallery, and "Romantic Museum: Portraits of Women, Constructions and Arrangements by Joseph Cornell" (December 1946) at the Hugo Gallery.

Film projects and collected film materials consist of files related to Cornell's various experimental film projects: "Aviary," "Cappuccino," "Centuries of June," "Fable for Fountains," "Nymphlight," "Serafina's Garden," and unrealized film scenario "Monsieur Phot." Files include film-making notes, correspondence, and photographs. Cornell's interest in film also led him to collect film-related materials, such as film stills, film posters, and screening programs. Scattered correspondence documents the interest other institutions and individuals had in purchasing and viewing his collection. Though most of his collected film stills and movie posters were donated to the Anthology Film Archives, film stills from "Escape Me Never" (1935) and "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1928) are still within the collection, as well as film-screening programs for Cornell's collection of films.

Writing and design projects document Cornell's work authoring articles and designing issues of specialty dance magazine "Dance Index," and his layouts for popular magazines like "Good Housekeeping," "House and Garden," and "Mademoiselle." Other writing projects include brochures dedicated to opera singers Maria Malibran and Giulia Grisi, "Maria" and "Bel Canto Pet." Materials used for these brochures, such as copper photo engraving plates, are also found. Design work includes a series of Christmas cards created with The Museum of Modern Art as well as traced patterns ("textile tracings") and design clippings from Cornell's time working as a "textile designer" for Traphagen Commercial Textile Studio.

Cornell acquired troves of source material from bookstalls, antique stores, sporting good and department stores, hardware stores, and magazine and record shops. He kept boxes and files of material on admired individuals, such as actresses, artists, dancers, and singers, as well as on art projects or thematic "explorations." Files are on general topics such as American history, scientific phenomena, animals, plants, and humankind, as well as on series of artworks, such as "Castles," "Homage to the Romantic Ballet," and "Medici Slot Machines." Focused "exploration" projects include "Celestial Theatre," "Colombier," "GC 44," and "Switzerland," among others. Materials include photographs, photostats, maps, book fragments, autographed letters, notes, collage clippings and cutouts, collected prints and engravings, box and collage fragments, and scattered artifacts.

Collected ephemera includes large amounts of blank postcards and greeting cards, stamps, collected bus and train tickets, food labels and packaging, decals, and other materials. Artifacts are three-dimensional collected objects and source objects, which include found objects from the streets, dried flowers, and pieces of nature gathered from walks around his neighborhood. Cornell may have gathered materials because they inspired a memory or nostalgic feeling, or because they fit with a bin of other similar objects to select from for an artwork in progress.

Photographs found within the collection are of Cornell at work and as a child with family. Also found are assorted personal and family photographs, photographs of Cornell's attic and garage storage, and photographs of his Utopia Parkway house. Photographs of artwork include few installation photographs, in addition to photographs of Cornell's boxes and collages. Collected photographic materials include vintage photographs, such as tintypes, a cyanotype, stereoscopic glass slides, albumen prints, cabinet cards, and cartes-de-visite. Cornell also collected cased photographs, such as daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and one opalotype. Negatives and photostats were often produced from various prints and even other photographs and used in Cornell's boxes and collages. Images are of men and women, actors, authors, dancers, performers, well-known men and women, royalty, places, and artwork. Photographs of note include those by Hans Namuth of Willem and Lisa de Kooning and of Edward Hopper's bedroom; photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson; a photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron; photographs by Brassai; and a photogravure by Alfred Stieglitz from "Camerawork."

Also found in the collection are works of art by others, including a sketch by Pavel Tchelitchew, as well as artwork by Cornell, such as unfinished collages, Rorschach drawings or ink blots, and childhood artwork. Printed material includes assorted bulletins, flyers, exhibition materials for other artists, journals, and sent printed membership and charity materials. Magazines, including "View," are also included, and often have annotations by Cornell or a note to "cut" or "review" with page numbers. A large amount of magazine and newspaper clippings are in the collection, sometimes collected with a group of like material by Cornell, and at other times simply gathered in heaps. Occasional annotations are also found on the clippings.

Cornell's personal library and book collection includes over 2500 titles, ranging from fiction, poetry, and cinema, to history, science, and travel. Notable among the titles are "Baedeker's" travel guides that Cornell often sourced for his "Hotel" box series, as well as an influential publication by Max Ernst, "La Femme 100 têtes," which includes a typed letter and exhibition flyer tucked within. Books often have annotations, some fairly extensive, by Cornell, and assorted collected items, notes, and correspondence tucked between pages. Pages were often cut by Cornell, either to make photostats and use in a box, or to file with other thematic "explorations." A wide range of authors and topics provide insight into Cornell's interests and to ideas behind artwork and diary notes. Cornell's collection of record albums includes over 145 records. These contain inserted notes and clippings and are often referenced in diary notes Cornell made, noting a recent album or song listened to while at work in his studio.

The papers of Cornell's mother, Helen Storms Cornell, and his brother, Robert Cornell, are also included in the collection. Both lived with Cornell his whole life, spending the most time with him at their home at 3708 Utopia Parkway. Financial materials document shared responsibilities for billing, utilities, household fixes and chores, and expenditures, and Helen kept detailed financial records in a series of ledgers. Robert notes when he borrowed money from Cornell, or when he means to pay Cornell back for the purchase of a typewriter. Activities documented in diaries also occasionally cross paths with Cornell, noting his visitors or an exchange of letters continued after introductions through Cornell. Personal activities, such as Robert's interest in his train collection and his drawing projects and cartoon series, are also documented.

Arrangement:

The Joseph Cornell Study Center Collection is arranged into 15 series:

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1917-1972 (Boxes 1, 98, OV118; 0.9 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1813, 1934-circa 1973 (Boxes 1-8, 86; 6.5 linear feet)

Series 3: Diaries and Notes, 1940-1976 (Boxes 8-10, 98-99, 135, OV108, OV119; 3.5 linear feet)

Series 4: Personal Business and Estate Records, 1950-1978 (Boxes 10-14; 4.1 linear feet)

Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1932-1973 (Box 14; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Film Projects and Collected Film Materials, circa 1924-1972 (Boxes 14-16, 100, 133; 1.6 linear feet)

Series 7: Writing and Design Projects, circa 1910s, 1936-1962 (Boxes 16-18, 86, 100, 131-132, OV109-OV111, OV120-OV122; 3.6 linear feet)

Series 8: Source Material, 1750-circa 1911, 1926-1972 (Boxes 19-49, 86-92, 96, 100-105, 126-130, 132-137, OV112-OV115, OV125; 42.2 linear feet)

Series 9: Artifacts and Ephemera, 1768, circa 1839-1972 (Boxes 49-52; 3.2 linear feet)

Series 10: Photographic Material, circa 1800s-1972 (Boxes 52-56, 80-86, 93, 106, 128, 133, OV116, OV123-OV124; 7.5 linear feet)

Series 11: Artwork, circa 1810-1972 (Boxes 56-57, 107, OV117; 1.2 linear feet)

Series 12: Printed Material, 1855-1972 (Boxes 57-76, 94-96, 107; 16 linear feet)

Series 13: Book Collection and Personal Library, 1722-1980 (99.8 linear feet)

Series 14: Record Album Collection, circa 1925-1974 (3.2 linear feet)

Series 15: Cornell Family Papers, 1910-1980 (Boxes 77-79, 97, 107; 3.2 linear feet)

Biographical / Historical:

Joseph Cornell (1903-1972) was a self-taught assemblage and collage artist, and filmmaker, active in New York City. He was born in Nyack, New York on December 24, 1903, and died of heart failure at his home in Queens, New York on December 29, 1972. The oldest of four children, he was born Joseph I. Cornell to his mother, Helen Storms Cornell (1882-1966), and his father, Joseph I. Cornell (1875-1917). Cornell had two younger sisters, Elizabeth ("Betty") Cornell Benton (1905-2000) and Helen ("Sissy") Cornell Jagger (1906-2001), as well as one brother, Robert Cornell (1910-1965), who had cerebral palsy.

Cornell attended the Phillips Academy, a preparatory boarding school in Andover, Massachusetts, beginning shortly after his father's death in 1917. He attended for four years but did not receive a diploma, and soon began work as a textile salesman for the William Whitman Company in Manhattan. His work took him, by foot, through the city, visiting secondhand bookshops on Fourth Avenue, browsing music stores and magazine shops, and catching early shows at the Metropolitan Opera House. He would occasionally wait outside the stage doors for favorite singers and dancers to emerge, requesting signatures on photographs or bits of costumes.

Around 1926, Cornell joined the Christian Science Church, joined by his brother Robert shortly thereafter, and both continued to be lifelong members. Cornell kept a number of books in his personal library on Christian Science teachings and regularly subscribed to "The Christian Science Monitor."

After living in several rental houses in Bayside, New York, Cornell's mother purchased a house for the family in 1929 in Flushing, Queens. Cornell, along with his mother and brother, would live at 3708 Utopia Parkway, for the rest of their lives. His two sisters soon married and moved away, eventually settling in Westhampton, Long Island and in the poultry-farming business.

With no formal art training to speak of, Cornell's first work was a Max Ernst-inspired collage, "Untitled (Schooner)," created in 1931. He was especially inspired by Ernst's collage novel, "La Femme 100 têtes," published in 1929. French artist Odilon Redon was also among the few artists Cornell named as an influence on his art. His first sculptural works were small, cardboard pill boxes with bits of ephemera, costume adornments, and nature hidden inside. Cornell also created a series of glass bell jar works, placing small trinkets and Victorian-era-like compositions within. It was these early collages and bell jar works that were included in Cornell's debut exhibition, "Surréalisme" (January 9-29, 1932), a group show at the Julien Levy Gallery. Cornell designed the announcement for the show and exhibited alongside Max Ernst, Man Ray, Pierre Roy, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Eugène Atget, George Platt Lynes, Jean Cocteau, and Salvador Dalí. Months later, Cornell was invited to have his first solo show, "Objects by Joseph Cornell: Minutiae, Glass Bells, Shadow Boxes, Coups d'Oeil, Jouets Surréalistes" (November 26-December 30, 1932), also at the Julien Levy Gallery.

In 1932, after eleven years of work, Cornell was laid off from the William Whitman Company due to the Great Depression. Soon after, he took on more responsibility in the church, working part-time as an attendant in the Christian Science Reading Room in Great Neck, New York. Beginning in 1933, he taught Sunday school classes for three years and in 1935, became the Sunday school librarian. However, his religious activities and artistic ventures continued to remain separate.

In the early 1930s, Cornell progressed from movie lover to filmmaker. When Julien Levy began his New York Film Society in 1933, holding screenings of various experimental films in the gallery, Cornell began buying and collecting films and film stills in earnest. He set up a 16-millimeter projector in his home to screen favorites, such as those by Georges Méliès, D.W. Griffith, and Louis Feuillade. His collection quickly grew to over 2,500 film stills and several hundred films, and included silent era films, such as nature documentaries, goofy newsreels, travelogues, early cartoons, and slapstick comedies, as well as several feature films. In 1933, Cornell wrote a screenplay, or "scenario," entitled "Monsieur Phot." Between 1935 and 1937, Cornell also occasionally created publicity photomontages for Universal and Columbia studios. Of the nearly thirty films Cornell created, periods of activity can generally be separated into two areas: collage films of the late 1930s, consisting of combined elements from films in his own collection, and films he directed in the 1950s, which were collaborations with other filmmakers set in New York City. "Rose Hobart," Cornell's most celebrated collage film, was created and shown in the Julien Levy Gallery in 1936 and includes clipped footage from "East of Borneo." Later films were directed and filmed with cinematographers Stan Brakhage, Rudy Burckhardt, and Larry Jordan.

In 1934, Cornell began a job at the Traphagen Commercial Textile Studio as a "textile designer," a job he held for six years. Continuing to work at his kitchen table in the evenings, Cornell completed his first assemblage box construction, "Untitled (Soap Bubble Set)," in 1936. It was first exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art's show, "Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism" (December 9, 1936-January 17, 1937). This work was also the first to be acquired by a museum, purchased for $60.00 by the Wadsworth Atheneum in Massachusetts in 1938. Cornell's European debut was also in 1938, as one of three Americans represented in the "Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme" (January 17-Febuary 24, 1938) at the Galerie Beaux-Arts in Paris, alongside Man Ray and Anne Clark.

At the end of 1939, Cornell began corresponding with poet Charles Henri Ford, founder of avant-garde magazine "View," Pavel Tchelitchew, and Parker Tyler. After his "Soap Bubble Sets," this period saw the development of Cornell's homages to singers and actresses, including "Untitled (Fortune-Telling Parrot for Carmen Miranda)," the destroyed "Garbo (Greta Garbo in the Legendary Film 'The Crystal Mask,' c. 1845)," and "Dressing Room for Gilles." He also began using photostats of art reproduction prints, as with the print of Jean Antoine-Watteau's painting, "Pierrot" (circa 1719), used in his "Gilles" box.

In the 1940s, the Romantic ballet emerged as Cornell's new topic of interest. Through his friend Pavel Tchelitchew, Cornell was introduced to the School of American Ballet and New York City Ballet founders, Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine. Cornell collected dance memorabilia and had a great love of the Romantic ballet. His favorite dancers were primarily ballerinas of the nineteenth century, including Fanny Cerrito, Marie Taglioni, Fanny Elssler, Lucille Grahn, and Carlotta Grisi. Cornell's "Homage to the Romantic Ballet" works largely took the shape of jewel-box style wooden boxes with glass overlays and included bits of velvet, tulle, sequins, crystals, and chiffon, occasionally collected from dancers themselves. His most well-known work of this series is "Taglioni's Jewel Casket" (1940). Cornell also admired several living ballet dancers, including Tamara Toumanova, Zizi Jeanmaire, and Allegra Kent, who would all make their way into Cornell's box works and/or collages. Collecting for the "exploration," "Portrait of Ondine," Cornell's cased portfolio dedication to Fanny Cerrito and her role in the ballet "Ondine," began in the 1940s, though not completed until around 1960.

In late 1940, Cornell quit his job at Traphagen to concentrate on freelance commercial magazine design and editorial work during the day and his artwork at night. That same year, Charles Henri Ford started "View" magazine to promote Surrealists and Neo-Romantics in New York City and often asked Cornell to contribute. Published in the December 1941-January 1942 issue, one of his early contributions was a collage dedication to stage actress Hedy Lamarr: "Enchanted Wanderer: Excerpt from a Journey Album for Hedy Lamarr" (1941). Along with writing the accompanying text, he created a photomontage of Lamarr with her face overlaying the painted portrait of a Renaissance boy by Italian painter Giorgione. Peggy Guggenheim, at the advice of Marcel Duchamp, purchased multiple Cornell works prior to opening her new gallery, Art of This Century. Cornell also befriended Roberto Matta Echaurren, another Surrealist living in exile, who introduced him to Robert Motherwell.

After deciding to fully dedicate his time to his art in early 1940, he set up a studio in his basement. Complete with floor-to-ceiling wooden shelving, he kept his large collection of boxed source material stacked with handwritten labels in cardboard boxes. Themed folders of materials such as "Stamps" or "Maps" were kept in stacks and works in progress and finished works were stored in the basement, garage, and attic. Entering a renewed period of productivity, Cornell embarked on many new and important box projects in 1942. One of the first boxes created in his new basement studio, and the first of the "Penny Arcade" or "Medici Slot Machine" series, was "Medici Slot Machine" (1942), which includes a photostat of "Portrait of Marquess Massimiliano Stampa" (1557) by Sofonisba Anguissola. Another work from this time is the first of his "Castle" or "Palace" series, "Setting for a Fairy Tale" (1942), which uses a photostat of a French building from Jacques Androuet du Cerceau's book, "Les Plus excellents bastiments de France" (1576). "Untitled (Pharmacy)" (circa 1942) was the first of his "Pharmacy" series and included twenty-two apothecary jars. Cornell tended to work in series and created thirteen "Palace" boxes between 1942 and 1951, and ultimately created six "Pharmacy" works.

In 1943, Cornell began working at an electronics company, the Allied Control Company, Inc., to do his part to contribute to the defense effort during the war. He also sent correspondence and care packages to displaced Europeans, who listed their needs in "The Christian Science Monitor." Influenced by World War II, one of his strongest works to emerge in 1943 was "Habitat Group for a Shooting Gallery." Another notable work to come out of this period, "The Crystal Cage (Portrait of Berenice)," was an excerpt from one of his album "explorations" that was published in the January 1943 issue of "View."

Cornell left his job at Allied Control in 1944, but soon began working at the Garden Centre in Flushing, owned by a fellow Christian Scientist. Cornell was often nostalgic for this time in his life, devoting an entire "exploration" of material fondly remembered as "GC 44." He rode a bicycle to work and enjoyed collecting trips gathering dried grasses, driftwood, shells, and other relics of nature on the same bicycle as he rode through the streets of Queens. During this time, he continued to tend to his projects for "Dance Index," a magazine founded in 1942 by Lincoln Kirstein, but taken over by Donald Windham in 1944. Cornell designed several covers for the magazine and was given control of the entire summer 1944 issue, which he devoted to the Romantic ballet. He also devoted a special 1945 issue to Hans Christian Andersen, making great use of the New York Public Library Picture Collection.

Throughout the 1940s, Cornell continued to support himself with commercial design work for magazines like "Vogue," "Good Housekeeping," "Harper's Bazaar," "Town & Country," and "Mademoiselle." In 1946, after thirteen years at the Julien Levy Gallery, he joined the Hugo Gallery. In December 1946, Cornell's solo exhibition, "Romantic Museum at the Hugo Gallery: Portraits of Women by Joseph Cornell," celebrated his favorite movie stars, singers, and ballet dancers, and included his work created for the show, "Untitled (Penny Arcade Portrait of Lauren Bacall)." Cornell's "Greta Garbo" box, as well as "Souvenir for Singleton," an homage to Jennifer Jones and her role in the film "Love Letters," were also included in the show. In late 1948, his West Coast debut was in the exhibition, "Objects by Joseph Cornell," held at the Copley Gallery. The end of the 1940s saw the final issue of "View" magazine in 1947, the closure of the Julien Levy Gallery in April 1949, and Cornell's departure from the Hugo Gallery after his last show in November 1949.

In late 1949, Cornell joined the Charles Egan Gallery, known primarily for showing Abstract Expressionists. At this time, Cornell was working on a new series of boxes known as his "Aviary" works, most of which include a white-painted box with cutouts of birds mounted on wood. Though he had worked on bird-related boxes before, including an "Owl" series in the mid-1940s, his "Fortune Telling Parrot" (1939), and "Object 1941" (1941), these newer works were stripped of French elements and left "clean and abstract" by design. His first show at the Egan Gallery, "Aviary by Joseph Cornell" (December 7, 1949-January 7, 1950), included twenty-six "Aviary" works, nearly all created in 1949. Donald Windham agreed to write the foreword for the exhibition catalog, a single folded sheet, and Cornell gave him one of the boxes in the show, "Cockatoo: Keepsake Parakeet," in appreciation. Through the Egan Gallery, Cornell became friends with a new group of artists, including Franz Kline, Jack Tworkov, and Willem de Kooning. Cornell also held two screenings of a selection of his collected films at Subjects of the Artist, an art school founded by Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, David Hare, and William Baziotes.

In 1950, Cornell's second show at the Egan Gallery, "Night Songs and Other New Work" (December 1, 1950-January 13, 1951), introduced his new "Observatory" series. These works are largely defined by stark, whitewashed spaces with astronomical charts and constellations replacing colorful birds. The Museum of Modern Art purchased its first Cornell work from this show in early 1951, "Central Park Carrousel, in Memoriam" (1950).

For three months in 1951, Cornell was beset by various ailments and had trouble finding the energy to create new work. He worried more for his aging mother and the health of his brother. After a monthlong vacation with his sisters in Westhampton, he returned with renewed interest in Emily Dickinson's poetry. His whitewashed boxes took on a new form in his newest "Dovecote" series, using grids and circular cutouts. The works then transformed into homages to Dickinson, notably "Toward the Blue Peninsula: For Emily Dickinson" (circa 1953), and then to his "Hotel" series. Cornell's "Hotel" boxes include photostats of vintage European ads for hotels collected from vintage travel guides, especially "Baedeker's," adhered to the back walls of the boxes. Another new series of work, his "Juan Gris" series, was dedicated to Cubist artist Juan Gris. Between 1953 and the mid-1960s, Cornell created at least fifteen "Juan Gris" boxes, which often include a cutout of a white cockatoo in a Cubist-collage habitat. Cornell's third and last show at Egan Gallery, "Night Voyage" (February 10-March 28, 1953), included some of these newest works. After leaving Egan Gallery, his work was introduced to Chicago collectors in a solo show at the Frumkin Gallery, "Joseph Cornell: 10 Years of His Art" (April 10-May 7, 1953), which included nearly thirty pieces. Cornell's first museum retrospective was this same show held at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (July 12-August 30, 1953).

As New York City continued to change, Cornell grew more nostalgic for the city he had explored since the 1920s. The impending closure of the Third Avenue El train prompted him to dream up a film project to capture its last days, resulting in "Gnir Rednow," a reworking of Stan Brakhage's 1955, "Wonder Ring." During this time, Cornell joined the Stable Gallery, run by Eleanor Ward, interacting often with Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, and Joan Mitchell, remaining there until the end of the 1950s. His astronomy-themed exhibition, "Winter Night Skies" (December 12, 1955-January 13, 1956), included his "Night Skies" series of work with celestial chart fragments, Greek mythological figures, and paint-splattered "windows" representative of star-filled night skies. In 1956, he became aware of ballerina Allegra Kent, and began a series of work devoted to her, the first of which was "Via Parmigianino (Villa Allegra)" (1956), which included a photostat of a painting by Parmigianino, "The Madonna of the Long Neck" (circa 1540). In late 1957, after two years, Cornell had his last show at Stable Gallery, "Joseph Cornell: Selected Works" (December 2-31, 1957), consisting of a series of "Sand Fountain" boxes and "Space Object" or "Celestial Navigation" works. The "Sand Fountain" boxes included different colors of sand meant to flow within, often from the tops into cordial glasses. His "Celestial Navigations" included galaxy-like compositions set within the boxes, with rolling, painted cork balls, metal rings, and constellation charts, sometimes hovering over cordial glasses or clay pipes. This last Stable Gallery show earned him his first published profile, written by Howard Griffin for the December 1957 issue of "Art News." Also in 1957, he won the Kohnstamm Prize for Construction at the Art Institute of Chicago's 62rd Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture.

Towards the end of the 1950s, Cornell spent less time creating new bodies of work, and focused more on revisiting previous series and reviewing piles of collected source material. In 1959, Cornell returned to making collages, frequently sourcing popular magazines. In December 1959, Cornell was awarded $1,500 for his "Orion" collage, entered in the Art Institute of Chicago's "63rd American Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture." Also in December, he was offered a show at Bennington College in Vermont, which he titled, "Bonitas Solstitialis: Selected Works by Joseph Cornell and an exploration of the Colombier" (November 20-December 15, 1959). The show included one of his newest "explorations" of collected material related to "colombier," or pigeon houses.

By 1962, Cornell was working diligently on new collages, using Masonite boards and colorful magazine clippings. He also began creating collages using nude images interspersed with constellation clippings or hazy blue dyes. As in previous decades and art movements, Cornell became acquainted with new artists, spending less time in the city and more time hosting visitors at his Utopia Parkway home. Visitors included artists Walter De Maria, Robert Whitman, Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist, and Robert Indiana. Tony Curtis also became a frequent visitor and friend, introduced by Richard Feigen in 1964. The early 1960s was also the first time Cornell put out an advertisement for assistants in the "Long Island Star-Journal," employing a number of young men and women who helped organize clippings and run errands. Cornell also met Joyce Hunter, a young runaway waitress at a city coffee shop, who would occupy his thoughts and diary notes for the next several years. When she was murdered at the end of 1964, Cornell paid for her funeral. He went on to make several "Penny Arcade" collages in memoriam to her, including, "Penny Arcade (re-autumnal)" (1964).

In 1964, Cornell began friendships with several women including artist Carolee Schneeman, who was his first assistant in the early 1960s. He also met artist Yayoi Kusama through art dealer Gertrude Stein. After becoming friends, she visited him often and they exchanged letters and notes. As he did with other artist friends, Cornell supported her by purchasing several of her early watercolor paintings, and they stayed connected until his death in 1972.

Cornell's life greatly changed in 1965 with the death of his brother, Robert. By this time, his mother lived with his sister in Long Island, and Cornell was alone in the Utopia Parkway house for the first time. He exchanged frequent letters and phone calls with his mother and devoted much time to thinking about Robert and Joyce, often aligning them in his diary notations. Cornell also created a series of collages dedicated to his brother's memory, incorporating photostats of Robert's hundreds of drawings into Cornell's work, as with the later collage, "The Heart on the Sleeve" (1972). Cornell's "Time Transfixed" series of collages were also dedications to Robert's memory, referencing Magritte and Robert's love of trains. He mounted an exhibition, "Robert Cornell: Memorial Exhibition" (January 4-29, 1966), at the Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, where he showed Robert's artwork alongside his newly created collage dedications.

After Robert's death, Cornell relied more heavily on assistants, going through many part-time "helpers." In October 1966, Cornell's mother died, adding her to his constant thoughts and diaries. Though he was still grieving, he was given two major retrospectives in 1967. The first was at the Pasadena Art Museum, put on by James Demetrion and Walter Hopps, "An Exhibiton of Works by Joseph Cornell" (January 9-February 11, 1967). The second retrospective was at the Guggenheim Museum just three months later, "Joseph Cornell" (May 4-June 35, 1967), organized by Diane Waldman. After these shows, he was highlighted in the December 15, 1967 issue of "Life" in the article, "The Enigmatic Bachelor of Utopia Parkway."

In 1968, Cornell was given an "award of merit," which included a medal and $1,000, by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He was also given a medal and $1,000 by the Brandeis University Creative Arts Awards in the painting category, along with an exhibition. Days later, "The New York Times" announced Cornell the winner, along with Donald Judd, of India's first Triennale of Contemporary World Art. The Brandeis exhibition, "Boxes and Collages by Joseph Cornell" (May 20-June 23, 1968), was organized by William Seitz and concentrated on Cornell's more recent 1960s collages. Cornell was also included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's hundredth anniversary show, "New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940 to 1970" (October 18, 1969-February 1, 1970), where twenty-two of Cornell's boxes were shown in their own gallery. At the end of 1970, Cornell was given a solo show at the Metropolitan, "Collages by Joseph Cornell" (December 10, 1970-January 24, 1971), which included forty-five of his newest collages.

Now preferring to stay closer to his home in Flushing, Cornell was more interested in sharing his art with young adults and children, than an adult audience. He hosted a group of high school students, sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's education department, at his home in conjunction with his collage show (1970-1971). He also showed his work in the art department of Queens College of the City University of New York. Cornell still hosted visitors on occasion, having Yoko Ono and John Lennon at his home at least once. Leila Hadley, Betsy von Furstenberg, and Anne Jackson also made frequent visits. With his deteriorating health, Cornell worried about what would happen to his work after his death and hired lawyer Harry Torczyner to help him plan his estate and get his affairs in order.

In 1972, Cornell had a show at the Cooper Union, a college in New York, specifically for children. He displayed his boxes and collages at child-height and had cherry soda and brownies at the opening reception on February 10. He then held a show at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, also for children: "Children's Preview of the Exhibition of Joseph Cornell – Collages and Boxes (April 18-June 17, 1972). In the winter of 1972, at the request of the Phoenix House drug treatment and prevention program, Cornell contributed to a charity project compiling limited-edition lithographic prints for a portfolio, which included artists like David Hockney, James Rosenquist, and Ellsworth Kelly.

On December 29, 1972, a week after turning sixty-nine, Cornell died of heart failure at his home. He was cremated and interred near the graves of his mother, father, and brother, overlooking the Hudson River in Nyack, New York.

Works Cited:

1. Hartigan, Lynda Roscoe. "Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination." New Haven, Connecticut and London: Yale University Press, 2007. Exhibition Catalog.

2. McShine, Kynaston. "Joseph Cornell." New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1980.

3. San Francisco Cinematheque and The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "Joseph Cornell: Films." 2007. Exhibition Program. (Presented in conjunction with SFMOMA's exhibition of "Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination").

4. Schaffner, Ingrid and Lisa Jacobs. "Julien Levy: Portrait of an Art Gallery." Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: The MIT Press, 1998.

5. Solomon, Deborah. "Utopia Parkway: The Life and Work of Joseph Cornell." New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997.

Separated Materials:

The Smithsonian Archives of American Art houses the Joseph Cornell papers, 1804-1986, bulk 1939-1972.

Provenance:

The Joseph Cornell Study Center collection was donated to the Smithsonian American Art Museum by Joseph Cornell's sister and brother-in-law, Elizabeth Cornell Benton and John A. Benton, in 1978, which prompted the creation of the Joseph Cornell Study Center. Additional materials were donated in installments by the artist's estate, the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, from 1985 to 1997. Elizabeth and John A. Benton originally donated 66 linear feet of three-dimensional and non-textual source material and 50 linear feet of books to the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, which were subsequently transferred to the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Joseph Cornell Study Center in 1994 and 1995.

Restrictions:

Access to the collection requires an advanced appointment. Contact collection staff at least two weeks prior to preferred date, at AmericanArtCornellStudy@si.edu.

Series 9: Artifacts and Ephemera, Series 13: Personal Library and Book Collection, and Series 14: Record Album Collection, are still undergoing processing and preservation and may not be available for research use. Record albums are unavailable for playback. Contact collection staff for full lists of publications and record albums.

Rights:

Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Occupation:

Collagists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Assemblage (Art)  Search this

Assemblage artists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Found objects (Art)  Search this

Works of art  Search this

Celebrities  Search this

Filmmakers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 1900-1950 -- Photoprints -- Silver gelatin

Photographs -- 1860-1870 -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver albumen -- Cartes-de-visite

Photographs -- Daguerreotypes -- 1840-1860

Citation:

Joseph Cornell Study Center collection, 1750-1980, bulk 1930-1972. Joseph Cornell Study Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was generously provided by the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.

Identifier:

SAAM.JCSC.1

See more items in:

Joseph Cornell Study Center Collection

Archival Repository:

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Research and Scholars Center

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ih7d97fc249-474d-41bf-953d-5305df1e4c06

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-saam-jcsc-1

Photographer:

Butler, Opisc (photographer)  Search this

Names:

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974  Search this

Collection Creator:

Fitzgerald, Ella, 1917-1996  Search this

Extent:

1 Item (photoprint, Silver gelatin on paper, unmounted, 10 x 8".)

Container:

Box 14, Folder 10

Type:

Archival materials

Portraits

Photographs

Date:

[1923.]

Scope and Contents:

The young Ellington, wearing a hat, suit and tie. Inscribed in ink: "To my darling Mother- / in-Law who always / says, 'Ellington's / right' / Your Son / Duke". "Opisc [?] -Butler / New York" in negative, at lower right Date in pencil on verso, as well as "Washington-- [illegible letter] James."

Local Numbers:

03041502.tif (AC Scan No.)

General:

Another copy of this print, trimmed flush and in worse condition, is in the folder.

Exhibitions Note:

Scan file sold to Historical Society of Washington, D.C. (Laura Schiavo, contact), warm-toned print for exhibition use, 2003/03/13.

Forms part of:

Ruth Ellington Collection Photographs (Series 9).

Restrictions:

Unrestricted research use on site by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.

Collection Rights:

The Archives Center can provide reproductions of some materials for research and educational use. Copyright and right to publicity restrictions apply and limit reproduction for other purposes. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:

African American composers  Search this

Genre/Form:

Portraits -- African American men

Photographs -- 1920-1930 -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin

Collection Citation:

Ella Fitzgerald Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

See more items in:

Ella Fitzgerald Papers

Ella Fitzgerald Papers / Series 2: Photographs / 2.4: Ella Fitzgerald with Family, Colleagues, and Friends / Duke Ellington various shots, various dates

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep81e867d68-531e-4872-a0a0-8ec1b84676d7

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0584-ref2774

Photographer:

Scurlock, Addison N., 1883-1964  Search this

Names:

Grace, Daddy, Bishop, 1882-1960  Search this

Series Creator:

Scurlock, Robert S. (Saunders), 1917-1994  Search this

Scurlock, Addison N., 1883-1964  Search this

Custom Craft  Search this

Scurlock Studio (Washington, D.C.)  Search this

Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005  Search this

Extent:

1 Item (photoprint)

Culture:

African Americans  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Portraits

Date:

[undated]

Scope and Contents:

Contact print of two images (2 poses).

Series Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.

Series Rights:

When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:

Clergy  Search this

African American clergy  Search this

Cults and nonconventional religious groups  Search this

Genre/Form:

Portraits -- African American men

Series Citation:

Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution

Sponsor:

The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

See more items in:

Scurlock Studio Records, Series 1: Black and White Photographs

Scurlock Studio Records, Series 1: Black and White Photographs / 1.1: Clients Black and White Photographs / Grace (Bishop)

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8f3059cec-1c9c-42b3-a9b4-2d8859b61699

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0618-s01-ref7885

Advertiser:

Texaco, Inc.  Search this

Collection Creator:

Ayer (N W) Incorporated.  Search this

Extent:

1 Item (8" x 10".)

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs

Date:

1953

Scope and Contents:

Ad text - "Something a lady appreciates! Registered rest room." Photographer unidentified.

Arrangement:

In Series 17, Box 3, Folder 19.

Local Numbers:

AC0059-0000230.tif(AC Scan)

Restrictions:

Unrestricted research use on site by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.

Collection Rights:

Publication and production quality duplication is restricted due to complex copyright, publicity rights, and right to privacy issues. Potential users must receive written permission from appropriate rights holders prior to obtaining high quality copies. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:

Billboards -- Los Angeles (Ca.)  Search this

Gasoline  Search this

Petroleum industry and trade  Search this

advertising -- Outdoor  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 1950-1960 -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin

Collection Citation:

NW Ayer & Sons, incorporated Advertising Agency Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

See more items in:

N W Ayer Advertising Agency Records

N W Ayer Advertising Agency Records / Series 11: Cunningham & Walsh, Incorporated, Materials / 11.1: Printed Advertisements / Photographs of Texaco advertisements

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep887020bad-4550-419b-bf05-86530932f2be

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0059-ref8409