Correspondence, articles, clippings, and gallery literature.
Among the correspondents are Charles Avery Aiken, Grace Albee, Ernfred Anderson, John Taylor Arms, Ralph H. Avery, William J. Aylward, Merrill A. Bailey, Vernon Howe Bailey, George Biddle, Louis Bouche, Fiske Boyd, J. Paul Bransom, Charles Burchfield, Clarence H. Carter, Asa Cheffetz, Eliot C. Clark, Howard N. Cook,Dean Cornwell, James H. Daugherty, E. Hubert Deines, Fritz Eichenberg, Ralph Fabri, Robert Fawcett, James D. Havens, Wilmot Emerton Heitland, Peter Helck, J. Lars Hoftrup, Philip Kappel, Rockwell Kent, Julius J. Lankes, Clare Leighton, Warren B. Mack, Roy M. Mason, Leo Meissner, John C. Menihan, Henry C. Pitz, Ogden Pleissner, Grant T. Reynard, William S. Rice, Norman Rockwell, Sven Birger Sandzen, Alice P. Schafer, Eric Sloane, Charles W. Smith, James Swann, Donald Teague, Nora S. Unwin, Robert Von Neumann, Lynd Ward, Herbert O. Waters, Aldren A. Watson, Stow Wengenroth, Frederic Whitaker, Esther Williams, Edward A. Wilson, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Illustrator, educator, lithographer, engraver, painter and writer; studied at Rochester Institute of Technology and was active in New York State. Former editor of AMERICAN ARTIST.
Related Materials:
Additional Norman Kent papers pertaining to American Artist also located at: George Arent Research Library Syracuse University.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1965 by Norman Kent.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
The Commercial Decal, Incorporated records consist of decals, photographs and advertising materials that trace the business transactions of Commercial Decal, Incorporated from its early creation through its closing in 1992. Most of the actual decals and patterns are from the early 1970s through 1992. The records of product orders, however, date back to 1926. Background information on Commercial Decal, Incorporated and its parent company, Pictorial Productions, Incorporated is also included among the materials. There are also several photographs of the plant and its employees from the 1940s.
The collection is arranged into eight series in thirty nine boxes. Series one contains historical and background materials. Series two consists of the corporate records of Commercial Decal, Incorporated and Pictorial Productions, Incorporated. These materials include articles, newsletters, annual reports, and photographs. Series three consists of the work order cards for individual orders. Order cards follow pieces of work through the several stages of decal production. Series four includes work orders and patterns for specific orders. These orders are written out on pressroom and proofing jackets that are similar to work order cards. Unlike series three, a copy of the pattern used is included with the order jackets. Series five and six contain original and copied decals that were used between the 1970s and 1990s. Series five contains copies of a variety of patterns and series six mainly focuses on special and commemorative decals. Series seven includes advertising materials created by Kleb Associates, Incorporated for Commercial Decal, Incorporated. Series eight contains materials relating to the artistic career of surrealist artist Charles Seliger, Commercial Decal's vice-president of design. There are several catalogues from Seliger's art shows in the United States and Europe dating from the 1970s to the early 1990s.
Arrangement:
Divided into 8 series: (1) Background and Historical Information, 1935-1993; (2) Corporate Records, 1964-1991; (3) Work Order Cards, 1926-1972; (4) Work Orders and Patterns, 1940-1985; (5) Patterns, 1974-1989; (6) Commemorative and Special Decals, circa 1970-1990; (7) Advertising Mmaterials, dates unknown; (8) Charles Seliger Artwork, circa 1970-1990.
Biographical/Historical note:
Commercial Decal, Incorporated Corporate Records, was a pictorial printing company opened in Mount Vernon, New York, in 1912. The company was one of the few American firms that produced decorative decals for major ceramic companies. The company supplied decals to most of the ceramics industry, including such major firms as Haviland, Homer Laughlin, Lenox, Hallcraft, Bradford, Corning, Anchor Hocking, and Salem China. They also produced decals for glass and plastic products. Most of the company's decals featured straightforward, edge-of-the-plate designs in floral, abstract, or geometric patterns. Other products included decals of reproductions of famous art works (Norman Rockwell was particularly popular), commemorative and historical designs, advertising decals for products (including Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and Quaker Oats), and original patterns and designs for china sets and cookware. In 1935, Commercial Decal, Incorporated Corporate Records designed a new set of dishes for the White House at the request of Eleanor Roosevelt, who gave them to her husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt, as a Christmas present. In 1973, company President Charles Silberstein, introduced a new method of transfer, the four color or camera separation process, which revolutionized the business by making colors more reproducible and accurate and production time faster. In the mid-1980s, the company began to lose customers to increased competition. Then, in the late-1908s, the New York State Department of Environmental Control imposed heavy fines on the company for serious violations of environmental laws. Between lost customers, increased competition, and the need to install environmentally-friendly new equipment, the company was unable to pay the fines. By August of 1992 the company had gone out of business.
Related Materials:
Materials held by the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Salem China Company, 1930s-1981, undated
Provenance:
Collection donated by Commercial Decal, through Charles Seliger, Febuary 1993.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but a portion of the collection remains unprocessed and is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Correspondence, 1898-1965, including letters from Daniel Chester French and Norman Rockwell; scrapbooks of reviews, 1901-1911; printed material, 1901-1984, including exhibition catalogs and clippings; a ledger of sales and inventory of paintings, 1897-1934; photographs, 1896-? of Johansen, MacLane and their work; and 12 unsigned sketches.
Biographical / Historical:
Painters; New York, N.Y. and Massachusetts.
Provenance:
Donated 1986 by Margaret Johansen Worthington, Johansen and MacLane's daughter.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of art historian, curator, and professor Robert Rosenblum measure 38.3 linear feet and 1.17 GB and date from circa 1927 to 2009, with the bulk dating from 1950 to 2006. They include biographical material, extensive personal and professional correspondence; lectures, writings, and writing project files by Rosenblum and others; exhibition files; research reference files; teaching files; personal business records; printed and digital material; photographs; and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of art historian, curator, and professor Robert Rosenblum measure 38.3 linear feet and 1.17 GB and date from circa 1927 to 2009, with the bulk dating from 1950 to 2006. They include biographical material, extensive personal and professional correspondence; lectures, writings, and writing project files by Rosenblum and others; exhibition files; research reference files; teaching files; personal business records; printed and digital material; photographs; and artwork.
Biographical materials include Rosenblum's bibliography and resume materials, various school related ephemera and diplomas, a transcript of an interview with Amy Newman for Artforum, and a digital video recording of a Josef Levi interview. Extensive personal and professional correspondence is with friends, family, colleagues, publishers, museums, and others. Some of the correspondents include Melvin Becraft, the Guggenheim, Harry Abrams, Inc., Hilton Kramer, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the National Museum of American Art. Also found are numerous postcards.
Lectures, writings, and writing project files document Rosenblum's prolific writing and speaking career, and include notes, copies, and manuscript drafts of lectures, articles, catalog essays, and books, as well as additional materials related to the writings and the publication of books, such as as correspondence, editing feedback, photographs, and lists of photographs. There are manuscript, notes, and other materials related to many of Rosenblum's notable books, including Transformations in Late Eighteenth-Century Art, Paintings in the Musee D'Orsay, 19th-Century Art, The Dog in Art, Ingres, Modern Painting and the Northern Tradition, and others. Also found are Rosenblum's dissertation and other student writings. There is also a series containing writings by or about others, such as students and colleagues.
Rosenblum planned and facilitated numerous exhibitions that are well-documented within the exhibition files, including French Painting, 1774-1830: The Age of Revolution (1974), 1900: Art at the Crossroads (2000), Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People (2001), Best in Show: Dogs in Art from the Renaissance to the Present (2006), and Citizens and Kings: Portraits in the Age of Revolution, 1760-1830 (2007), among many others. Contents of each exhibition file vary considerably but often include correspondence, lists of artwork, proposals, notes, catalog drafts and outlines (see also series 3), and printed materials. There are a few sound cassettes, including a recorded interview with James Rosenquist with transcripts. Also included are digital photographs of Norman and Irma Braman Collection exhibition.
Research reference files cover a wide variety of art related topics, but are arranged within a separate series because they are not related to specific named projects as are the files in Series 3. These files contain research notes, bibliographies, and syllabi kept by Rosenblum presumably for a variety of publications, research interests, and teaching references.
Teaching files and class notes document Rosenblum's professorial career at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University, University of Michigan, Yale College, and Yale University, and include a variety of course materials.
Personal business records consist of various financial and legal documents, expense and income records, publishing and speaking contracts, and royalties received.
The papers also include a variety of printed materials, photographs, student sketches by Rosenblum, and an unidentified collage.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 11 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1927-2006 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1, 1.00 GB; ER02)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1927-2006 (4.5 linear feet; Boxes 1-5)
Series 3: Lectures, Writings, and Writing Project Files, 1940-2006 (13.5 linear feet; Boxes 5-16, OV 39-41, 0.063 GB; ER01)
Series 4: Writings by Others, circa 1954-2006 (2.9 linear feet; Boxes 16-19)
Series 5: Exhibition Files, circa 1965-circa 2006 (5.2 linear feet; Boxes 19-24, 0.109 GB; ER03)
Series 6: Research Files, circa 1927-2006 (2.9 linear feet; Boxes 24-27)
Series 7: Teaching Files and Class Notes, 1955-2006 (4.3 linear feet; Boxes 27-31)
Series 8: Personal Business Records, 1951-2009 (4.4 linear feet; Boxes 31-36)
Series 9: Printed Material, 1927-2009 (2.4 linear feet; Boxes 36-38)
Series 10: Photographs, circa 1950s-circa 2000 (0.3 linear feet; Box 38, OV 41)
Series 11: Artwork, circa 1940s-circa 1980s (0.1 linear feet; Box 38)
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Rosenblum (1927-2006) was an art historian, curator, and professor who worked primarily in New York City.
Rosenblum received his B.A. from Queens College, his M.A. from Yale, and his Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Art at New York University in 1956. He spent a year teaching art at the University of Michigan before becoming an associate professor at Princeton, ultimately accepting a Professor of Fine Arts position at NYU in 1966, where he spent the rest of his professorial career interspersed with visiting professorships at Oxford University and Yale University. Rosenblum was named Henry Ittleson, Jr. Professor of Modern European Art at NYU in 1976, and received the Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art Criticism in 1981. After being appointed Stephen and Nan Swid Curator of 20th-Century Art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1996, Rosenblum went on to curate such exhibitions as 1900: Art at the Crossroads (2000) and Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People (2001). Prior to this appointment, he was one of the organizers of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's French Painting, 1774-1830: The Age of Revolution (1974). He received a Distinguished Teaching Award from NYU in 2005, and continued to curate, lecture, teach, and write.
Rosenblum was a prolific author, and his seminal works include: Cubism and Twentieth-Century Art (1959), Transformations in Late Eighteenth-Century Art (1967), Modern Painting and the Northern Romantic Tradition: Friedrich to Rothko (1975), and 19th-Century Art (co-authored with H.W. Janson, 1984).
Rosenblum married Jane Kaplowitz in 1978. He died in New York City in 2006.
Provenance:
The papers were donated in multiple accessions by Robert Rosenblum between 1986 and 2003, and by his widow, Jane Kaplowitz between 2010 and 2013.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information. Use of archival audiovisual recordings and electronic media with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Series 6: Roach-Fowler Company "The Hope of a Nation" Posters, 1929
Series 7: Miscellaneous Posters, 1950s
Biographical / Historical:
F.F. Randolph was a New York businessman and collector of posters.
Related Materials:
Four posters by Norman Rockwell, the "Four Freedoms" series, transferred from this accession to the Division of Political History (now Division of Political and Military History).
Provenance:
Donated by Mr. and Mrs. F.F. Randolph to the Archives Center in 2005.
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.
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.
Collection Citation:
Mr. and Mrs. F.F. Randolph Poster Collection, 1923-1950s, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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.
Collection Citation:
Mr. and Mrs. F.F. Randolph Poster Collection, 1923-1950s, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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.
Collection Citation:
Mr. and Mrs. F.F. Randolph Poster Collection, 1923-1950s, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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.
Collection Citation:
Mr. and Mrs. F.F. Randolph Poster Collection, 1923-1950s, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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.
Collection Citation:
Mr. and Mrs. F.F. Randolph Poster Collection, 1923-1950s, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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.
Collection Citation:
Mr. and Mrs. F.F. Randolph Poster Collection, 1923-1950s, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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.
Collection Citation:
Mr. and Mrs. F.F. Randolph Poster Collection, 1923-1950s, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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.
Collection Citation:
Mr. and Mrs. F.F. Randolph Poster Collection, 1923-1950s, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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.
Collection Citation:
Mr. and Mrs. F.F. Randolph Poster Collection, 1923-1950s, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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.
Collection Citation:
Mr. and Mrs. F.F. Randolph Poster Collection, 1923-1950s, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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.
Collection Citation:
Mr. and Mrs. F.F. Randolph Poster Collection, 1923-1950s, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
