Art - Overview
The National Museum of American History is not an art museum. But works of art fill its collections and testify to the vital place of art in everyday American life. The ceramics collections hold hundreds of examples of American and European art glass and pottery. Fashion sketches, illustrations, and prints are part of the costume collections. Donations from ethnic and cultural communities include many homemade religious ornaments, paintings, and figures. The Harry T Peters "America on Stone" collection alone comprises some 1,700 color prints of scenes from the 1800s. The National Quilt Collection is art on fabric. And the tools of artists and artisans are part of the Museum's collections, too, in the form of printing plates, woodblock tools, photographic equipment, and potters' stamps, kilns, and wheels.
"Art - Overview" showing 9 items.
- No Image Available
Thomas Garvin Korean War Scrapbook, 1951-1953
- Notes
- Garvin was a fighter pilot during the Korean War and also edited an Air Force magazine called "Air Scoop"
- Summary
- One scrapbook of illustrated envelopes drawn in ink by Thomas Garvin during his service in the Korean War
- Cite as
- Thomas Garvin Korean War Scrapbook, 1951-1953, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of Gail Vines
- Date
- 1950
- 1950-1953
- 1951-1953
- 1930-1970
- 1900-1950
- artist
- Garvin, Thomas
- donor
- Vines, Gail
- Local number
- 2001.3029 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Albert W. Hampson Commercial Artwork Collection, 1926-1968
- Summary
- Materials documenting the commercial artwork of Albert Hampson, including advertisements, sketches, photographs, color slides, magazine ads, and point of purchase displays
- Cite as
- Albert W. Hampson Commercial Artwork Collection, 1926-1968, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1926
- 1968
- 1926-1968
- 20th century
- donor
- Hampson, Albert W (artist) 1911-1990
- Local number
- 1996.3060 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Domestic Life Glass Photograph Collection, ca. 1900
- Summary
- Miscellaneous glass photonegatives and lantern slides, originally housed in cardboard plate boxes, some containing newspaper clipping separators with dates as late as 1961. Subjects include a flood in 1911, family photographs and portraits, and buildings, with labels indicating locations such as Chicago, St.Paul, etc. The lantern slides depict art historical subjects and may be academic lecture materials
- Cite as
- Domestic Life Glass Photograph Collection, ca. 1900, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1900
- ca 1900
- 1910-1920
- 1900-1920
- collector
- Domestic Life, Division of (NMAH, SI)
- Domestic Life, Division of (NMAH, SI)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Teodoro Vidal Collection, 1592-1992
- Notes
- Collector of art, artifacts and documents on the history, culture and people of Puerto Rico. Vidal donated his artifact collection to the National Museum of American History in 1997
- Summary
- Maps, prints, posters, religious articles, publications and photographs, relating to the history and culture of Puerto Rico. Mr. Vidal's family and personal papers are also included
- Cite as
- Teodoro Vidal Collection, 1592-1992, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1592
- 1592-1992
- donor
- Vidal, Teodoro
- Local number
- 1997.3059 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Division of Community Life Dissertation Series: Lange, Yvonne: "Santos: The Household Wooden Saints of Puerto Rico," 1975
- Notes
- "Santos" is a term used in Latin America to describe the locally made wooden sculptured representations of the Roman Catholic celestial hierarchy. In the nineteenth century this form of folk art developed in the central highlands of Puerto Rico. These cheerful images were deeply revered by the peasant farmers as the embodiment of an invisible and powerful presence which brought sympathetic feeling and fellowship to the community
- Summary
- One copy in four volumes (872 pp.) of the typescript of Lange's dissertation "Santos: The Household Wooden Saints of Puerto Rico (1975)" by Yvonne Lange. The dissertation, written for the Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife at the University of Pennsylvania, attempts to analyse the phenomenon of the "santos" by describing its major features and to explain its existence through the historical, socio-economic, and religious factors that influenced it. This work is illustrated with photographic prints, most of which were taken by the author, mounted on text pages. Some of the santos described and illustrated are from Smithsonian collections, including the Teodoro Vidal Collection
- Cite as
- Division of Community Life Dissertation Series: Lange, Yvonne, Santos: The Household Wooden Saints of Puerto Rico (1975), AC NMAH
- Date
- 1975
- author
- Lange, Yvonne (Director Emerita, Museum of International Folk Art) 1918-2003
- collector
- Community Life, Div. of, NMAH, SI
- Subject
- Vidal, Teodoro
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Samuel Yellin Collection, ca. 1928-1930; 1971-1975
- Notes
- Yellin, born in Poland, began learning ironwork at seven. He migrated to America in 1906 and taught at the Pennsylvania Museum and the school of Industrial Art. In 1910, he built the Arch Street Metalworker's studio, which eventually employed more than 200 craftsmen. Yellin was also an avid collector of fine examples of ironwork
- The photographs were made by Richard Hofmeister on a visit with curator Richard Ahlborn to the Samuel Yellin Metalworkers factory, Philadelphia, 1 April 1975. The master's thesis and article by Davis relate to an exhibition of Yellin's work at the Dimock Gallery, George Washington University
- Summary
- Two films, one showing Yellin working; a master's thesis on Yellin and an article about him by Myra Tolmach Davis; and 86 photographs of Yellin's studio, factory, and home
- Films: (1) "The Making of Wrought Iron" produced by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (250 ft.), shows an artist sketching a grille and Yellin shaping a grille for a chair. (2) "The Florida Film" (175 ft., ca. 1928), shows examples of Yellin's first work as used in the Singing Tower, Mountain Lake, Florida. Both distributed by Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
- Thesis: Myra Tolmach Davis, "Sketches in Iron: Samuel Yellin," to George Washington University (Washington, D.C.), for Master of Museology degree, June 6, 1971. 67 pp
- Article: Myra Tolmach Davis, "Samuel Yellin's Sketches in Iron," Historic Preservation, vol. 23, no. 4 (Oct.-Dec.), 1971, pp. 4-13
- Photoprints: 86 prints from 35mm negatives by Richard Hofmeister, Office of Printing and Photographic Services, SI, April 1, 1975, with checklist, "The Samuel Yellin Metal Working Building & Collection, Philadelphia..."The photographs show SI curator Richard Ahlborn during his visit to the Yellin shop, along with Samuel Yellin's son Harvey, and the exterior of the building, library, factory, study, and collection rooms
- Cite as
- Samuel Yellin Collection,1971-1975, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1928
- 1975
- ca 1928-1930 1971-1975
- 1950-2000
- 20th century
- photographer
- Hofmeister, Richard
- author
- Davis, Myra Tolmach
- collector
- Community Life, Div. of, NMAH, SI
- Subject
- Yellin, Samuel 1885-1940
- Yellin, Harvey
- Ahlborn, Richard E
- Samuel Yellin Metalworkers
- Local number
- 75-4495 to 75-4499 (OIPP Neg.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Ming-Ju Sun Garfinckel's Fashion Drawings, 1972-2002
- Notes
- Fashion illustrator for Garfinckel's Department Store from 1972-2002. She signed her drawings with the name Amie Ambrose
- Summary
- Fashion drawings created by Ming-Ju Sun for Garfinckel's Department Store newspaper advertisements, tear sheets of the newspaper advertisements, Garfinckel's catalogs and advertisements which Ming-Ju Sun photographed
- Cite as
- Ming-Ju Sun Garfinckel's Fashion Drawings, 1972-1979, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1972
- 1972-2002
- 1970-2010
- 20th century
- donor
- Sun, Ming-ju
- artist
- Ambrose, Amie
- Subject
- Garfinckel's (Department store)
- Local number
- 2005.3072 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Division of Cultural History Judaica Collection, 1639-1980
- Summary
- The collection is a compilation of gifts from numerous donors, of documents relating to Judaism in numerous countries and the United States. Documents include betrothal contracts, bills of divorcement, eulogies, memorial plaques, candle labels, Jewish calendars, certificates of ritual slaughter, prayers, poems, sermons, and other types of documents
- Cite as
- Division of Cultural History Judaica Collection, 1639-1980, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1639
- 1639-1980
- 19th century
- donor
- Adler, Cyrus 1863-1940
- Ahlborn, Richard E
- Cohen, Henry Reverand
- Deinard, Ephraim
- Harris, Michael
- Hartogensis, Henry S
- Howland, S. S
- Kantrowitz, J.H
- Krauss, S Father
- Lipkowitz, Sylvia E
- Luchs, Leopold
- Marks, Cara Goldberg
- Marks, Michael Neil
- Neeman, Zipora
- Sulzberger, Mayer 1843-1923
- Sulzberger, S
- Local number
- 22338 (NMAH Acc.)
- 23610 (NMAH Acc.)
- 25362 (NMAH Acc.)
- 25711 (NMAH Acc.)
- 25771 (NMAH Acc.)
- 25878 (NMAH Acc.)
- 26121 (NMAH Acc.)
- 32757 (NMAH Acc.)
- 34414 (NMAH Acc.)
- 34508 (NMAH Acc.)
- 38989 (NMAH Acc.)
- 39535 (NMAH Acc.)
- 39909 (NMAH Acc.)
- 64944 (NMAH Acc.)
- 65066 (NMAH Acc.)
- 83695 (NMAH Acc.)
- 207992 (NMAH Acc.)
- 285049 (NMAH Acc.)
- 1978.2106 (NMAH Acc.)
- 1980.0903 (NMAH Acc.)
- 1982.0477 (NMAH Acc.)
- 1986.0965 (NMAH Acc,)
- 1987.0806 (NMAH Acc.)
- 1998.0465 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Jules Olitski and Mark Golden Lecture [audio tapes], 1997
- Notes
- Jules Olitski is a major figure in American painting and Mark Golden is a paint manufacturer and president of Golden Artist Colors, Inc
- Summary
- Tapes document Jules Olitski and Mark Golden delivering a lecture entitled "The Artist's View: Color, Technology, and Style in Postwar Art" as part of the Color Symposium held in the Museum Nov. 11-Nov. 16, 1997, in the Lemelson Center's New Perspectives series. Harry Rand served as moderator
- This lecture and discussion offers an unusual look at how the invention of new pigments, often at the urging of artists, together with new methods of application, advance the vocabulary and depth of painting
- Cite as
- Jules Olitski and Mark Golden Lecture, 1997, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1997
- 1940-2000
- 1990-2000
- creator
- Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
- presenter/lecturer
- Olitski, Jules 1922-2007
- Golden, Mark
- moderator
- Rand, Harry Z (NMAH curator)
- Subject
- Golden Artist Colors, Inc
- Local number
- 1998.3018 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH