Finding Aid to the Federal Art Project at the Southwest Museum Records MS.252
Holly Rose Larson and Anna Liza Posas
Library and Archives at the Autry
2012 August 3
210 South Victory Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91502
rroom@theautry.org
Contributing Institution:
Library and Archives at the Autry
Title: Federal Art Project at the Southwest Museum Records
Creator:
Mardis, Faye
Creator:
Jordan, Helen
Creator:
Rader, Albert
Creator:
Nadeau, Evelyn Hunt
Creator:
Gellert, Emery
Creator:
Cox, Gladys
Creator:
Hyde, Marie
Creator:
Halle, F. J. van
Creator:
Wardman, John W.
Creator:
Robinson, Helen
Creator:
United States. National Park Service.
Creator:
Harvey, Hazel
Creator:
Federal Art Project
Creator:
United States. Works Progress Administration.
Creator:
Hall, Ansel F. (Ansel Franklin)
Creator:
Cortez, Galileo
Creator:
Harrington, M. R. (Mark Raymond)
Identifier/Call Number: MS.252
Physical Description:
35.1 Linear Feet
(22 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1936-1939
Date (bulk): 1936-1937
Abstract: The Works Progress Administration of 1935 created a Federal Art Project to support artists and provide collection and exhibit
maintenance and reference material to museums during the Great Depression. The National Parks Service carried out one such
Federal Art Project at the Southwest Museum, with some work being completed at the Los Angeles Museum of History, Art, and
Science (now the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County) from 1936 to 1937. The records, photographs, and works of art
on paper document this Federal Art Project, and include one of two sets of documentary photographs made during this endeavor;
the other under the custodianship of the National Parks Service. The main focus of this documentation and collection of reference
material was historic and contemporary culture and life in the Southwest, including Native American tribes of the Southwest
and California.
Language of Material:
English
.
Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright has not been assigned to the Autry Museum of the American West. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Research Services and Archives. Permission for publication is
given on behalf of the Autry Museum of the American West as the custodian of the physical items and is not intended to include
or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
Federal Art Project at the Southwest Museum Records, 1936-1939, Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MS.252; [folder number] [folder
title][date].
Acquisition
Materials in this collection were deposited to the Braun Research Library (previously known as the Southwest Museum Library)
by Museum staff and departments, circa 1936-1937. A later donation from Charles Rozaire (linked materials found at the Natural
History Museum) was made in 1987.
Publication note
The Archeology of pleistocene Lake Mohave; a symposium by Elizabeth W. Crozer Campbell, William H. Campbell, Ernst Antevs [and others], Southwest Museum Papers, number
11, 1937.
Historical Note
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was a relief measure established in 1935 by executive order. From 1935 until its end
in 1943, the WPA employed more than 8.5 million people and established almost 1.5 million projects, including construction
of roads, dams, schools and other public facilities, murals in public buildings, written guides to each state, and the Historical
Records Survey. Administrative control of these projects was turned over to the states in 1939.
The Federal Art Project, a subdivision of the WPA, was created to support artists while enhancing the arts in America. One
of their projects, the Museum Art Project, was sponsored at the Southwest Museum by the National Park Service's Field Division
of Education. The goal of the Museum Art Project was to produce archeological, ethnological, and historical exhibits and reference
material of Southwestern culture for the use of the museums of the National Parks and Monuments in constructing their own
dioramas and exhibits. The project started April 8, 1936 and concluded July 10, 1937 with the only cost to the Southwest Museum
being housing and supervision. Ansel F. Hall of the WPA and Southwest Museum curator M. R. Harrington organized and directed
the project, creating a visual cache of information through photographs, line drawings, water colors, and oil paintings. All
materials were to be made in duplicate, with one copy going to the Southwest Museum and one copy going to the National Parks
Service. A collection of dioramas, miniatures, paintings, sculptures, labels and signs were created for exhibits in the Southwest
Museum and the Casa de Adobe, which were opened to the public on December 1, 1936.
In order to assist in reaching the goals of the Project, a Photography Project was also initiated to record the costumes and
artifacts in the Southwest Museum and the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art (now the Natural History Museum of
Los Angeles County), and to create photographic prints of the negatives by Charles Fletcher Lummis of Native Americans in
the Southwest. In the effort to capture the styles of dress, patterns of some of the apparel were drawn up and photographed,
as well. Two prints were made of each negative created for the project, with one copy staying with the Southwest Museum and
the other copy going to the National Parks Service.
Then entire project employed 32 people at its height, including painters, map makers, sculptors, a plaster worker, letterers,
a wood carver, a constructor of miniature costumes, a miniature vegetation maker for dioramas, a photographer, and two photographer's
assistants. Besides creating and updating exhibits and exhibit labels, other work accomplished during this project included
cataloging of photographic negatives, creation of hand-lettered labels for specimens, diorama cleaning and repair, and the
construction of a dark room for the photographic staff.
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of administrative records, Photographic Field Notes, photographic files, and works of art on paper
created during a Federal Art Project sponsored by the National Park Service at the Southwest Museum and the Los Angeles Museum
of History, Science, and Art from 1936-1937.
The first series contains administrative records, which include correspondence, instructions, personnel reports, and other
notes and records regarding the administration of the Federal Art Project.
The second series of these records includes Photographic Field Notes, Photographic File Notes, and photographs created for
this project. Photographic Field Notes document field serial numbers and headquarter serial numbers, and information regarding
the object being photographed and the photographer's technical information. The photographs created for this project are mostly
of clothing in the Southwest Museum and the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science, and Art and of artifacts at the Southwest
Museum. Some photographs are of the line drawings depicting patterns for clothing. Some of the WPA employees are also documented
in these photographs. This series contains mounted photos, photos and photo file notes in binders, and folders of additional
notes. These files may contain extensive hand-written or typed notes on the collection items.
The third series of this collection consists of works of art on paper, such as chalk drawings, ink drawings, maps, oil paintings,
and water colors depicting artifacts and clothing in the Southwest Museum collection as well as historical figures and imagined
scenes from historical California as well as contemporary Native American culture in the Southwest. Artists whose work is
contained in this collection are Galileo Cortez, Gladys Cox, Faye Mardis, Evelyn Hunt Nadeau, Francis van Halle, and John
Wardman.
Processing History
Initial processing by Glenna Schroeder, circa 1977-1981. Finding aid updated by Anna Liza Posas 2012 April 6. Additional
processing and finding aid completed by Holly Rose Larson, NHPRC Project Archivist, 2012 August 3 made possible through grant
funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).
- Series 1: Administrative Records
- Series 2: Photographic Field Notes and Files
- Subseries 2.1: Mounted photographs
- Subseries 2.2: Photograph Project Binders
- Subseries 2.3: Photograph Project Files
- Series 3: Works of Art on Paper
Related Archival Materials
Elizabeth W. Crozer Campbell and William H. Campbell Southern California Archaeological Inventories, 1929-1936, Braun Research Library, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MS.221.
Mark Raymond Harrington Collection, 1930-1961, Braun Research Library, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MS.214.
Record Group 69: Records of the Work Projects Administration, 1922-1944, National Archives, 398.
Southwest Museum Institutional Archives, 1901-2008, Braun Research Library, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MS.3
Custodial History
Some materials in this collection were previously associated with manuscript collection numbers MS.573 and MS.654. All materials
produced during the Federal Art Project at the Southwest Museum are now united and identified as MS.252. The collection numbers
MS.573 and MS.654 have been retired.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Negatives
Chalk drawings
Manuscripts
Ink drawings
Watercolors
Indians of North America
Photographs
Field notes
Art, American
Correspondence
Maps
Paintings
Southwest Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.)
box 1
Administrative records
1936-1937
Physical Description: 0.4 Linear Feet1 box
Scope and contents
This series contains papers from 1936-1937 regarding the administration of the Federal Art Project carried out at the Southwest
Museum and the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art between 1936 and 1937. Papers include correspondence, instructions,
personnel reports, and other notes and records.
Photographic Field Notes and Files
1936-1939
Physical Description: 5.45 Linear Feet
Scope and contents
This series of the Federal Arts Project records includes Photographic Field Notes, Photographic File Notes, negatives and
photographs created for this endeavor. Photographic File notes describe all newly created negatives. Photographic Field
Notes document field serial numbers and headquarter serial numbers, subject, ownership, location, local accessories number,
source, chronological date, dimensions, exhibit label information, color notes, and miscellaneous data. The field notes form
also includes photographic data, such as photographer, date and time of photograph, size, film used, filter, diaphragm stop,
exposure, and miscellaneous photographic data. The photographs created for this project are of clothing in the Southwest
Museum and the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science, and Art and of artifacts at the Southwest Museum. Some photographs
are of the line drawings depicting patterns for clothing. Some of the WPA employees are also documented in these photographs.
box 2
Mounted photographs
1936-1939
Physical Description: 0.4 Linear Feet
Scope and contents
This collection of photographs has been mounted on colored board and includes captions. The photographs were taken during
Federal Art Project contracts, from 1936-1939, and include copies of photographs found in other parts of the collection.
These mounted photographs with typed captions feature both Headquarter and Field Serial Numbers.
box 3, box 4, box 5, box 6
Photograph project binders
1936-1937
Physical Description: 1.75 Linear Feet
Scope and contents
This subseries consists of eight binders of Photographic Field Notes and Photographs depicting the clothing and accessories
documented in the project, as well as employees creating works for the project.
- Binders S1-S3: Spanish California Costumes
- Binder S4: Women's Dresses and Men's Shirts - Women's dresses, Native American; Men's Shirts includes Plains, Southwest and
Northwest Coast material
- Binder S5: Headdresses and Leggings - Headdresses: Contents include hair roaches, Apache Ceremonial Headdress, Pueblo Tableta,
Plains War Bonnets, Jemez Mask, Crow Headdress; Leggings: Includes Plains, Pueblo
- Binder S6: Pipe and Pipe Bags, Cradleboards, Hides - Pipes and Pipe Bags; Cradleboards: Includes Plains, Pueblo; Hides (decorated):
Includes Kicking Bear's "Battle of Little Big Horn", quilled, painted
- Binder S7: Pottery and Kachinas
- Binder S8: Southwest Museum artists who created dioramas and murals
box 1, box 7, box 8, box 9, box 10, box 11, box 12, box 13
Photograph project files
1936-1937
Physical Description: 3.3 Linear Feet
Scope and contents
This subseries includes Photographic Field Notes, Photographic File Notes, and other photographs and notes not contained in
the binders. Files for photographed items sometimes contain typed sheets of information which record Field Serial Numbers
and Southwest Museum accession numbers, descriptions of collection items, and job numbers or copies of job cards. [Location
of the job cards is currently unknown.] These files may contain extensive hand-written or typed notes on the collection items.
oversize-box PORT.12, oversize-box PORT.13, oversize-box PORT.21, oversize-box PORT.30, oversize-box PORT.49, oversize-box PORT.52, oversize-box PORT.76, oversize-box PORT.84, oversize-box PORT.106
Works of Art on Paper
1936-1937
Physical Description: 25.2 Linear Feet
Scope and contents
This series contains chalk drawings, ink drawings, maps, oil paintings, and water colors depicting artifacts and clothing
in the Southwest Museum collection as well as historical figures and imagined scenes from historical California and contemporary
Native American culture in the Southwest. Artists whose work is contained in this collection are Galileo Cortez, Gladys
Cox, Emery Gellert, Francis van Halle, Marie Hyde, Helen Jordan, Faye Mardis, Evelyn Hunt Nadeau, Albert Rader, Helen Robinson,
and John Wardman.
Faye Mardis and Gladys Cox created ink drawings on linen-backed paper of patterns for apparel items in the Southwest Museum
and Los Angeles Museum collections. These patterns were created as instructional tools for other FAP artists to make replicas
for miniature figures in the Southwest Museum's dioramas.
Some of the subjects of the oil painting portraits by van Halle are Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Kit Carson, General John C. Fremont,
Pio Pico, and Fray Junipero Serra. Watercolors and other line drawings depict examples of artifacts in the Southwest Museum's
collection, such as pottery and basketry. Other paintings and drawings depict scenes of life to be used as reference or for
dioramas.