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Collection Rights:
The Henry P. Whitehead collection is the physical property of the Anacostia Community Museum. Literary and copyright belong to the author/creator or their legal heirs and assigns. Rights to work produced during the normal course of Museum business resides with the Anacostia Community Museum. For further information, and to obtain permission to publish or reproduce, contact the Museum Archives.
Topic:
African American women -- Societies and clubs Search this
Genre/Form:
Programs
Collection Citation:
Henry P. Whitehead collection, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Michael A. Watkins.
The papers of collagist and teacher Dorothy Bushnell Cole measure 0.8 linear feet and date from 1895 to 1977. Found are appointment books, correspondence, a recording of a lecture, personal business records, photographs and slides, printed material and scattered writings and notes. The papers focus on Cole's career giving lectures around New York and New England on how to create collage and her works. Also found are letters between Cole's parents, Harry and Belle Hyman, to American-born Swedish suffrage activist Ruth Randall Edström and her husband industrialist Johannes Sigfrid Edström.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of collagist and teacher Dorothy Bushnell Cole measure 0.8 linear feet and date from 1895 to 1977. Found are appointment books, correspondence, a recording of a lecture, personal business records, photographs and slides, printed material and scattered writings and notes. The papers focus on Cole's career giving lectures around New York and New England on how to create collage and her works. Also found are letters between Cole's parents, Harry and Belle Hyman, to American-born Swedish suffrage activist Ruth Randall Edström and her husband industrialist Johannes Sigfrid Edström.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Collagist and teacher Dorothy Bushnell Cole (1893-1990) was active in Chicago, Illinois and New York City, New York. She gave lectures and talks around New York and New England on creating collage.
Dorothy Bushnell grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Her sister, Elaine Hyman was also an accomplished artist who took the name Kyra Markham. Cole attended Vassar College and returned to Chicago where she married Laurence Cole, a Chicago lawyer, and together they had four children. Upon the death of Cole, she married Nathan Blumberg in the late 1930s.
In 1951, Cole traveled to Mexico on a convalescence trip where she learned to free-hand cut paper and photographs to create collage. Recognizing how it helped her own mental health, she taught a workshop at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago to help others. She moved to New York City and continued her workshops for women's groups, museums, and schools.
Cole died in New York City in 1990.
Provenance:
Donated 1977 by Dorothy Bushnell Cole.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Collagists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
