Martha Longenecker Papers
Finding aid prepared by Special Collections & Archives
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, California, 92093-0175
858-534-2533
spcoll@ucsd.edu
Copyright 2016
Descriptive Summary
Title: Martha Longenecker Papers
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0784
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, California, 92093-0175
Languages:
English
Physical Description:
1.2 Linear feet
(3 archives boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1916-2013
Abstract: Papers of Martha Longenecker, ceramic artist, professor of art, and founding president of Mingei International Inc., a non-profit
foundation dedicated to furthering understanding of arts of the people. The collection contains Longenecker's notebooks documenting
her glazing techniques, some files on Mingei International Inc. and the Mingei International Museum, and a small amount of
biographical materials, correspondence, and subject files on ceramics and Native American art.
Creator:
Longenecker, Martha
Scope and Content of Collection
Papers of Martha Longenecker, ceramic artist, professor of art at San Diego State University, and founding president of Mingei
International Inc., a non-profit foundation dedicated to furthering understanding of arts of the people. The collection contains
Longenecker's notebooks documenting her glazing techniques, some files on Mingei International Inc. and the Mingei International
Museum, and a small amount of biographical materials, correspondence, and subject files on ceramics and Native American art.
The subject files include material on sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle, whose work has been extensively exhibited at the Mingei.
Arranged in five series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) MINGEI FILES, 4) NOTEBOOKS and 5) SUBJECT FILES.
Publication Rights
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Biography
Martha Williams Longenecker was born on May 18, 1920 in Oklahoma City. She earned her B.A. from the University of California,
Los Angeles and her M.F.A. from Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, California, where she studied painting with the artist
Millard Sheets. In 1952, while attending a week-long graduate seminar, Martha met and was profoundly influenced by Dr. Yanagi
Soetsu, founder of the
mingei ("art of the people") folk arts movement in Japan. She decided to devote her life to art which had a practical use. Longenecker
went on to do post-graduate study of ceramics in Japan under Shoji Hamada and Tatsuzo Shimaoka and became an accomplished
ceramics artist.
Longenecker was an art professor at San Diego State University from 1955-1990. With support from her late husband, Sydney
Martin Roth, she founded Mingei International, a non-profit public foundation for furthering understanding of arts of the
people. She also served as director of the Mingei International Museum of World Folk Art in San Diego from 1978-2005. While
at the Mingei, she supervised its 1996 move from University Towne Centre to its current location in Balboa Park, and directed
or designed nearly 130 art exhibitions, 33 exhibition documentary publications, and 19 videos.
Longenecker was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun from the Emperor of Japan in 2003 for her lifelong contribution to world
folk art. She died October 29, 2013 at the age of 93.
Preferred Citation
Martha Longenecker Papers, MSS 784. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Longenecker, Martha -- Archives
Mingei International Museum.
Saint-Phalle, Niki de, 1930-2002
Art museums -- California -- San Diego
Pottery -- 20th century
Women potters -- California -- San Diego
Box 1, Folder 3
Biographical outline form (completed)
undated
Box 1, Folder 4
Interview transcript. "Re-recording session 1 with Martha Longenecker"
undated
Box 1, Folder 5
Interview questions and answers from the Consulate General of Japan
2003
Box 1, Folder 6
Interview questions and answers relating to the founding of the Mingei
Box 1, Folder 7
Interview with Terry W. Roberts. Notes and partial transcript
2007
Box 1, Folder 8
Tribute by Richard Armour
1980
Box 1, Folder 9
Letter confirming honorary degree of Dean of Fine Arts, SDSU
2007
Box 1, Folder 10
Klee Wyk Society (San Diego Museum of Man) membership booklet
Box 1, Folder 16
Letters, Mingei International Museum 20th Anniversary
1998 May
Box 1, Folder 18
Hiroshi, letter and invitation with mounted photographs to pottery exhibition in Tokyo
1962
Box 1, Folder 19
The Family Circle (group letters for spiritual renewal)
Box 1, Folder 20
Letters from John Longenecker
1944, 1960
Box 1, Folder 21
Photographs of galleries (some with Longenecker)
undated
Box 1, Folder 22
Mingei Sixth Anniversary gala invitation
1984
Box 1, Folder 23
Leadership transition binder
2005
Box 1, Folder 24
Members' reception invitation for Millard Sheets retrospective
1987
Box 1, Folder 26
Mingei Legacy Resource Foundation
2013
Box 2, Folder 1-2
Notebook 1
General note
Miscellaneous jottings, some loose papers laid in.
Box 2, Folder 3-4
Notebook 2
General note
Includes formulas for ceramic materials and glazes. Some loose papers laid in.
Box 2, Folder 5-6
Notebook 3
General note
Includes formulas for ceramic materials and glazes. Some loose papers laid in.
Box 2, Folder 7
L.H. Butcher Co.
Ceramic Tips newsletter
1948-1950
Box 2, Folder 10
Syllabus for Beginning Pottery, USC Dept. of Fine Arts
ca. 1959
Box 3, Folder 1
Anderson, Patricia. A guide for creative activities with clay, San Diego City Schools
1961
Box 3, Folder 2
Leach, Bernard. Letter, pottery catalog and exhibition ephemera
1954-1967
Box 3, Folder 3
Watercolor of potter by an unidentified artist
undated
Box 3, Folder 4
Pamphlets on Japanese gardens
1999
Box 3, Folder 5-7
de Saint Phalle, Niki
General note
Correspondence, flyers for exhibits, writings and press releases.
Oversize FB-071, Folder 5
Black and white family photographic portrait
1916