The records of the Boston-based Society of Arts and Crafts measure 1.0 linear feet and date from 1899 to 1960. The scattered documentations contain administrative records, correspondence, writings and notes, printed materials including twenty-two issues of Handicraft, and a photograph.
Scope and Contents:
The records of the Boston-based Society of Arts and Crafts measure 1.0 linear feet and date from 1899 to 1960. The scattered documentation contains administrative records, correspondence, writings and notes, printed materials including twenty-two issues of Handicraft, and a photograph.
Administrative records include lists of members, historical sketches, by-laws. Scattered correspondence dates from 1946 to 1960 and is from Humphery Emery's time as director of the society. Writings consist of a speech by Henry Pasco, a draft of a letter to the editor, general notes and notes between sales agents and society members, and lists. Creating the bulk of the collection are printed materials issued by the society including twenty-two issues of Handicraft from 1902 to 1912, annual reports, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and bulletins. Also found is one photograph of a work of art labeled to be by Fred K. W. Allen.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection, the papers are arranged as one series.
Series 1: Society of Arts and Crafts Records, 1899-1960 (1.0 linear feet; Box 1)
Biographical / Historical:
Founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1897, the Society of Arts and Crafts was formed to develop and encourage higher artistic standards in handicrafts. The organization is still active.
When formed, the Society of Arts and Crafts became the first national craft organization in the United States. According to their website, the missions of the Society of Arts and Crafts are to encourage the creation, collection, and promotion of the work of contemporary craft artists and to advance public appreciation of fine craft. The society has had many respected individual directors including Frederic Allen Whiting and Humphery J. Emery. Since its founding, the Society of Arts and Crafts has held special exhibits showing ancient and modern craft; established a sales room and permanent exhibition space voted on by a jury with advice and criticism; and held meetings educational programming for members and the community.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is the American Handicraft Council records, circa 1937-1940, an organization closely affiliated with the Society of Arts and Crafts.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reels 142, 300-322, 429, and 3468-3469. The loaned papers include photographs of buildings and sales rooms, a record book, craftsmen and exhibition files, six scrapbooks, organizational material, and sales records. These records are now located at the Fine Arts Department, Boston Public Library and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The Society of Arts and Crafts donated these records to the Archives of American Art in 1972.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires and appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted 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.
Society of Arts and Crafts (Boston, Mass.) Search this
Extent:
6 microfilm reels
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Microfilm reels
Date:
1875-1934
Scope and Contents:
Biographical materials, including an autobiographical sketch, brief biographies by family members, and certificates of naturalization and membership; correspondence, 1897-1931, with family members, ceramic manufacturers, potters, art educators, museum curators and administrators, and former students; subject files on: the American Ceramic Society, the Charles Fergus Binns Medal; Ceramic Alumni Association, and exhibitions of Binns' work. Subject files include correspondence, meetings minutes, and printed materials. Also included are lectures and speeches by Binns; writings; and 10 photographs, undated & 1901-1935, of Binns and of his works of art.
Arrangement:
Correspondence is organized chronologically and then alphabetically within each year or group of years.
Biographical / Historical:
Charles Fergus Binns (1857-1934) was a ceramist, educator, and art administrator. From 1900 until his retirement in 1931, Charles F. Binns was Director of the New York State School of Clayworking and Ceramics at Alfred University. Binns was a frequent contributor to ceramic periodicals and publications including monthly columns of technical advice. He helped found the American Ceramics Society in 1899 and served as its president in 1901 and secretary from 1918 to 1922. Among the awards Binns received for his work in art pottery and glazes are the Logan Medal from the Art Institute of Chicage in 1919 and the Medal of the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts in 1922.
Provenance:
The Charles Fergus Binns papers consist of three sections, each given to the New York State College of Ceramics by different donors. Biographical materials and photographs were donated by Binns grandchildren. The "Office Files" of the collection, which primarily contain general correspondence, were discovered on the ceramic school campus in March, 1981, by W. Richard Ott, Dean of the College, and placed in the College Archives. The lectures, speeches, and writings (listed on the Alfred University inventory as "Manuscripts and Typescripts") were given circa 1978 by John McMahon, former Dean of the College.
Correspondence for the years 1910-1920 has not been found, except for the letters between Binns and Adelaide and Samuel Robineau from 1914 to 1920. In addition, no letters from Binns, filed under A-L, have been located for the year 1922. Only selected portions of the lectures, speeches, and writings have been filmed. Technical correspondence, correspondence with prospective students, and requests for clay analyses have not been filmed.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Charles Fergus Binns papers, 1875-1934. Alfred University, New York State College of Ceramics. Microfilmed by the Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Art.
An interview of Boris Bally conducted 2009 May 26-27, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Bally's home and studio, in Providence, Rhode Island.
The artists speaks of his current studio in Providence, Rhode Island; working without a studio assistant; the benefits of working with studio assistants without an art-school background; apprenticing with Swiss metalsmith Alexander Schaffner when Bally was 19; his own de facto apprenticeship program with his studio assistants; his parents as role models; his vision at age 19 for his career plan; his early interest in CAD; growing up with Swiss-born parents, both with art/design backgrounds; visiting Switzerland as a child; his father's studies with Buckminster Fuller in the late 1950s; his mother's class with L. Brent Kington, whom Bally later studied with; growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; his first home metal shop at nine years old; his first formal metal class at about 14 years old; making and selling jewelry throughout his teens; informal apprenticeship with Jeff Whisner; his father's design firm, launched in his last year of high school; summer studying at the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts; year-long apprenticeship in Switzerland; watching Schaffner make and sell a wide variety of objects, which later informed Bally's own perspective; his continuing relationship with Schaffner; undergraduate studies at Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; studying with Daniella Kerner and Vickie Sedman at Tyler; transferring to Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to study with Carol Kumata; making a "happiness machine"; transition from jewelry to larger sculptures; using found and scavenged materials; meeting Rosemary Gialamas (Roy) and their eventual elopement; moving to the Boston area; work as an industrial design model-maker; the New York art scene of the 1980s; representation with Archetype Gallery, New York, New York; slow but steady artistic recognition and commercial success of his functional objects; Sliding Perfections, flatware; teaching Gialamas metalsmithing and collaborative works by the two; early teaching experience in adult education classes in Cambridge, Massachusetts, then at Massachusetts College of Art, Boston; return to Pittsburgh in 1989, where Bally took a teaching position at Carnegie Mellon in the design department; studio on Bigelow Boulevard; difficulties in his marriage; a commission from the Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, Massachusetts, and the beginnings of his traffic sign pieces in a collaborative piece with Gialamas; starting his platters series; the dissolution of his marriage to Gialamas in 1993; meeting Lynn, whom he later married; his love of teaching and his teaching philosophy; teaching at Penland School of Crafts, Penland, North Carolina; move to Providence, Rhode Island, to devote his time to studio work; the pros and cons of craft and arts schools versus university settings; the intersection of art, design, and industry: his Humanufactured line of products; functional work in the late '80s, and the influence of a trip to Haiti in the 1980s; bottle cork pieces; Trirod vessels; "More than One: Contemporary Studio Production" exhibition, American Craft Museum, New York, New York, 1992-94; philosophy of making; working in series form; truss pieces; perforation pieces and Vessel with a Silver Heart (1993); armform series; "Jewelries, Epiphanies" exhibition, Artists Foundation Gallery at Cityplace, Boston, Massachusetts, 1990; inclusion in One of a Kind: American Art Jewelry Today, by Susan Grant Lewin. (New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, 1994); series Dig Wear and Eat Wear bracelets; Calimbo vessel and the Fortunoff prize; gold Tread Wear brooches in the mid-1990s; creating his first chair; moving from hand-made solo work to furniture and a design and production focus; starting to patent his designs in the mid-1990s; further exploration of design and technique in his chairs; "GlassWear: Glass in Contemporary Jewelry," Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York, 2009; Pistol Chalice and work with the Pittsburgh gun buyback program; traveling exhibition for the project; Gun Totem; Brave necklace; BroadWay armchair; Subway chair; new techniques for graphics on the furniture; his relationship with former scrapyard Paul Warhola, brother to Andy Warhol; commission work, and the importance of commerce in his career and worldview; commission for Comedy Central television network; the changing craft market and the boom times of the 1980s; work with galleries, including: Patina, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Velvet da Vinci, San Francisco, California; Snyderman-Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Nancy Sachs Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri; the Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, Massachusetts; seeing one of his pieces used on a set for a daytime television soap opera and in the movie Sex and the City ; the recent "green" (environmentally conscious) trend; blurring boundaries of design and art and craft; growing acceptance of artist-made and -designed multiples; pros and cons of computer technology in art and craft; the pros and cons of the DIY (do-it-yourself) craft movement; influential writers, including Rosanne Raab, Marjorie Simon, Steven Skov Holt and Mara Holt Skov, Bruce Metcalf, Toni Greenbaum, Matthew Kangas, Gail Brown; his involvement in the Society of North American Goldsmiths; making metal benches for his children. He also recalls Heather Guidero, Julian Jetten, Pam Moloughney, Dennis Kowal, Ursula Ilse-Neuman, Bob Ebendorf, Jason Spencer, Rob Brandegee and Ava DeMarco, Stefan Gougherty, Flo Delgado, L. Brent Kington, Curtis Aric, Ralph Düby, Steve Korpa, Joe Wood, Joe Ballay, Yves Thomann, Andy Caderas, James Thurman, Nicholas (Nico) Bally, Elena Gialamas, James Gialamas, Elvira Peake, Ronald McNeish, Johanna Dahm, Jerry Bennet, Kathleen Mulcahy, Nelson Maniscalco, Tom Mann, Otto Künzli, Stanley Lechtzin, Christopher Shellhammer, David Tisdale, Dean Powell, Daniel Carner, Donald Brecker, Robert Schroeder Phil Carrizzi, Lucy Stewart, Elisabeth Agro, Rachel Layton, Sarah Nichols, Peter Nassoit, Dan Niebels, Mary Carothers, Ward Wallau, Ivan Barnett and Alison Buchsbaum, Jonathan Bonner, Raymond and Patsy Nasher, Beth Gerstein, George Summers Jr., Pavel Opocensky, Buddy Cianci, David Cicilline.
Biographical / Historical:
Boris Bally (1961- ) is a metalsmith and designer who lives and works in Providence, Rhode Island. Bally was educated at Carnegie Mellon University and Tyler School of Art.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 11 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 56 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Society of Arts and Crafts (Boston, Mass.) Search this
Extent:
54 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1989 June 6-15
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Herta Loeser conducted 1989 June 6-15, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art, in Cambridge, Mass. Loeser speaks of her childhood in England as a German refugee; marrying a refugee schoolmate and rearing a family in Cambridge, Mass.; making jewelry and enamels; running a volunteer agency in Boston; running the Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, 1980-1988, and putting it on a solid footing; development of the Society during her administration, including sales, marketing, and education; the Society's current plans for a crafts museum; exhibitions held during her tenure as president of the Society.
Biographical / Historical:
Herta Loeser was the President of the Society of Art and Crafts of Boston, 1980-1988.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hrs., 3 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Topic:
Arts -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Management Search this
Correspondence; financial records; a draft of a proposed publication about Cranbrook; letters regarding a biography of founder, George G. Booth, and of the Scripps family; miscellaneous items, including an address by George Booth to the Cranbrook School; and clippings.
Among the individual correspondents are Albert Kahn, M. W. Childs, Emil Lorch, Oscar Bach, Mario Karbel, Francis Scott Bradford, Jr., Katherine McEwen, I. Kirshmayer, René Gimpel, Sheldon Cheney, Carl Milles, John M. Lyle, Cecil Billington, Cyril Arthur Player, and Arthur Neville Kirk. Organizations figuring in the correspondence include the American Federation of Arts, the Society of Arts and Crafts, Detroit, the Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1974 by the Cranbrook Foundation.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Certificate of Incorporation; draft of articles of incorporation and by-laws; minutes of A.H.C. meetings, April 1939-January 1940; 12 reports regarding progress of activities and council objectives; fundraising file containing correspondence (some photocopies) between A.H.C. and possible contributors, 1937-1939, and a list of possible sponsors; files on the economic study of handicrafts in the United States under grant from the Carnegie Corporation including surveys of craftspersons' production, marketing, and financing skills and experiences; photographs of samples of handicrafts; financial records; and miscellany.
Biographical / Historical:
Founded 1939; Wilmington, Delaware. Humphery Emery, who figures in this collection, was director of the Society of Arts and Crafts in the 1930's and subsequently secretary of the American Handicraft Council when that organization was founded. The two organizations worked closely together in 1939 and 1940 to conduct an economic survey of handicrafts, first in New England and later in the United States. As Emery kept papers concerning to both organizations, additional material pertaining to the American Handicraft Council can be found in the papers of the Society of Arts and Crafts.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1982 and 1985 by the Society of Arts & Crafts.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Society of Arts and Crafts (Boston, Mass.) Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1899-1960
Scope and Contents:
Administrative records include lists of members, historical sketches, by-laws. Scattered correspondence dates from 1946 to 1960 and is from Humphery Emery's time as director of the society. Writings consist of a speech by Henry Pasco, a draft of a letter to the editor, general notes and notes between sales agents and society members, and lists. Creating the bulk of the collection are printed materials issued by the society including twenty-two issues of Handicraft from 1902 to 1912, annual reports, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and bulletins. Also found is one photograph of a work of art labeled to be by Fred K. W. Allen.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires and appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Society of Arts and Crafts records, 1899-1960. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Society of Arts and Crafts (Boston, Mass.) Search this
Container:
Box 1, Folder 14
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1910s-1960s
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires and appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Society of Arts and Crafts records, 1899-1960. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Society of Arts and Crafts (Boston, Mass.) Search this
Container:
Box 1, Folder 15
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1950-1956
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires and appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Society of Arts and Crafts records, 1899-1960. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Society of Arts and Crafts (Boston, Mass.) Search this
Container:
Box 1, Folder 16-17
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1899-1927
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires and appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Society of Arts and Crafts records, 1899-1960. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Society of Arts and Crafts (Boston, Mass.) Search this
Container:
Box 1, Folder 18-23
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1902-1912
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires and appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Society of Arts and Crafts records, 1899-1960. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Society of Arts and Crafts (Boston, Mass.) Search this
Container:
Box 1, Folder 24
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
circa 1910-1950s
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires and appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Society of Arts and Crafts records, 1899-1960. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Society of Arts and Crafts (Boston, Mass.) Search this
Container:
Box 1, Folder 25-26
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1920s-1960s
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires and appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Society of Arts and Crafts records, 1899-1960. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
