Records documenting silversmith production by Arthur J. Stone, his workshop, and Stone Associates.
Included are ca. 11,000 drawings, including bench drawings, designer's master drawings, architect's drawings, and ca. 1,000 "scales" or templates, made from full scale drawings; files from Stone's workshop containing an index to photographs, information on clients, and work summaries including dimensions, name, craftsmen's initials, hours, weight, and price; stock number cards, circle and gauge cards, and daily hours cards; files for Stone Associates containing work summary and stock cards.
Also found are photographs of Stone, his workshop, and silver pieces, (mainly taken by his wife, Elizabeth Bent Stone, 1912-1937), and objects made by Stone Associates; photograph albums of duplicate prints; clippings, 5 exhibition catalogs, and brochures; 17 letters; 2 essays on silverware by Jerome A. Heywood; records on stock number card categories; lists of silver gauges, weights, and circles; ten sections of plaster casts of chased silver forms by Arthur J.Stone; and a trade catalog of James Dixon and Son, Sheffield, England, undated. A microfiche of a card file is included with the records.
Records from the Arthur J. Stone workshop, including measured drawings; templates; albums of photographs of work, including commissions for leading Episcopal churches and churchmen, Yale and Harvard Universities, private patrons in Boston and N.Y., and for Stone's leading client, George Booth of Cranbrook, Michigan; photographs of an exhibition, and of Stone, his workmen, and his shop. Also included are Stone's copies of a few English silver and metalwork trade catalogs, ca. 1824-ca. 1937.
Biographical / Historical:
Arthur J. Stone was a leading silversmith from Gardner, Massachusetts. He was trained and worked in Sheffield, England, and Edinburgh, Scotland prior to coming to the U.S. in 1884. He was one of the last silversmiths in America to train apprentices to carry out designs in handwrought silver.
In 1901, Stone set up a workshop in Gardner, which operated under his name until its sale in 1937 to Henry Heywood, a Gardner businessman, who renamed it first as The Stone Silver Shop, changing it later to Stone Associates. Heywood died in 1945, and his sons Henry, Jr. and Jerome ran it until 1957, when they disbanded.
Provenance:
Donated by Jerome A. Heywood, 1979-1980 and Janet J. Loop, 1997. When Stone sold his shop to Heywood, he included the records to insure the continuity of the work. Stone retained records relating to his early work. These were donated to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston by Stone's family. According to Stone's niece, Elenita Chickering, who processed the papers, approximately 3 trunks of accounts and letters were destroyed in the 1940s by Stone's widow, Elizabeth Bent, to insure client's anonymity. The 1 ft. of records donated by Janet Loop, daughter of Herman Glendenning, were given to Glendenning by Stone's widow. Loop donated them along with some of her father's own designs and other papers, which are cataloged separately under Glendenning.
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:
Silversmiths -- Massachusetts -- Gardner Search this
Topic:
Decorative arts -- Massachusetts -- Gardner Search this
Papers relating to silversmith Arthur J. Stone, including: five ink drawings [ca. 1920] of a tea set by Stone; a scrapbook containing biographical data on Stone, two letters from Stone, 1920 and 1925, a letter from his widow, Elizabeth, 1938, clippings, and photographs of Stone, his home, and his silverwork; an exhibition catalogue, SILVER BY ARTHUR STONE (Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Mass., 1941); newspaper clippings and printed material on Stone and his associates, 1942 and 1948; and twelve photographs of craftsmen in the Stone workshop and of silver by Stone.
Biographical / Historical:
Harold and Mabel Bowdoin were close friends of silversmith Arthur J. Stone and his wife Elizabeth from the 1920's on. Harold was a business partner of Norman Bell Geddes, the designer, and Mabel ran the Little Gallery in New York City until it was sold to Leah Curtiss-Gould and moved to Connecticut.
Provenance:
Donated 1983 by William and Sally Rhoads, who bought the papers at auction.
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.
Included are Glendenning's designs and templates for trays and dishes for Leah Curtiss (Leah Curtiss-Gould); and a book of illustrated twentieth century American silver flatware patterns.
Biographical / Historical:
Glendenning was a silversmith in the Gardner, Mass. workshop of Arthur J. Stone (later Stone Silver Shop and Stone Associates), beginning as a helper in 1913, an apprentice in 1920, and as workman until 1936 when he left to form a partnership with George C. Erickson, another Stone workman. He attained the Master Craftsman rank of the Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, 1927. Stone's workshop derived its classic approach to silver design and and its emphasis on traditional techniques from founder Arthur J. Stone, who had a traditional English silversmithing background prior to coming to the U.S. in 1884. After working for various silver manufacturers, Stone set up his own workshop at 17 Winter St., Gardner, Massachusetts in 1901. He established himself as a leading designer and silversmith, and was one of the last in America to train apprentices and craftsmen to render designs in handwrought silver.
Glendenning ended his partnership with Erickson in 1971, and opened his own shop. In 1975 he moved to Westminster, Mass. where he made jewelry and special orders for silverware. He retired from silversmithing in 1985.
Provenance:
Donated 1983 by Herman Glendenning and in 1997 by his daughter, Mrs. Lloyd Loop, Saugerties, N.Y. Ca. 1 ft. of rthur J. Stone workshop records which were given to him by Elizabeth Bent Stone (Mrs. Arthur J. Stone) were placed with Arthur J. Stone workshop/Stone Silver Shop/Stone Associates records.
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.
Unpublished memoir of the life of Leah Curtiss Gould.
Biographical / Historical:
Art dealer; New York, N.Y. and Conn. Curtiss-Gould was a dealer in Arthur J. Stone silver from ca. 1936-1975. During the period 1936-1950, she worked in a shop, Portraits, Inc., in New York City where Stone silver was sold. Eventually, she opened her own business in Connecticut, the Curtiss Gallery, and sold it in 1970.
Provenance:
Donated 2001 by Thomas Beddall.
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.
An interview of Herman Glendenning conducted 1979 Aug. 9-Oct. 31, by Robert Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Herman Glendenning (1906-1997) was a silversmith from Westminster, Mass. Before working on his own, Glendenning apprenticed at Arthur J. Stone Associates in Gardner, Mass., a workshop patterned after English silversmith shops stressing traditional techniques and hand wrought designs.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' 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.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Herman Glendenning, 1979 Aug. 9-Oct. 31. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
