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Gerry (Vance) and the Weather Bird Press Archive
Press coll. Archives Weather Bird
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Contributing Institution:
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Title: Vance Gerry and the Weather Bird Press Archive
Creator:
Gerry, Vance
Identifier/Call Number: Press coll. Archives Weather Bird
Physical Description:
32.6 Linear Feet
(49 boxes, 1 map drawer)
Date (inclusive): 1962-2005
Abstract: This collection contains the artistic and commercial output of Vance Gerry and his Weather Bird Press. Materials largely consist
of Gerry's printed works and the production materials created during his work process, as well as his sketchbooks and some
of his research and correspondence files. Though there are some materials his work at documenting his work at Disney, his
extensive interests in toy trains, and his personal life, most material here relates to the work of the Weather Bird Press.
Language of Material:
English
.
Collection is open for research.
Vance Bryden Gerry was born August 21, 1929 in Pasadena, California, to Francis Bryden Gerry and Clella White Gerry. He was
interested in art and drawing from a very young age. As a teenager during World War II, he worked for Grant Dahlstrom of the
Castle Press, where he learned the basics of printing. In a 1989 oral history, Gerry described himself as a "pretty bad student"
who had "always thought [he] would be a commercial artist." He studied at both Woodbury College and the Art Center for Design;
later, after serving in the Korean War, he attended Chouinard Art Institute for 2 years with funding from the G.I. Bill.
Realizing he was unlikely to find work as a magazine illustrator, Gerry left Chouinard and began working as a layout and story
sketch artist at Disney Studios in 1955. Over the years, Gerry would retire and then return to Disney several times, often
coming back to work as a consultant for specific films. During his time with Disney, Gerry contributed to films including
Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Tree,
The Sword in the Stone, and
Beauty and the Beast.
In 1956, Vance Gerry married Mary Blessing Palmer in Los Angeles. The daughter of trade magazine publisher Russell Palmer
and Mona McCarthy Palmer, Mary grew up in Altadena and attended Mayfield Senior School, Cal State Los Angeles, and USC. She
worked as law firm secretary and as an administrative assistant at the Mayfield School, where she also taught classes in Business
and History. Her interests in gardening, cooking, horses and dogs (especially Cocker Spaniels) often appear in Vance Gerry's
work, both in his sketchbooks documenting their life and travels, and in his printed work.
Relatively early in his career at Disney, Gerry began thinking about printing as something he could do at home in his own
time, and in the early 1960s, Mary gave him a font of type as a Christmas gift. In the early days of Vance's printing career,
Mary would assist with binding and other work, though her work in this area tapered off over time. Throughout the early 1960s,
Vance would print very small editions of works in the public domain or by friends under the name of the Peach Pit Press. In
1967, he moved the press out of their house and into a building in South Laguna in Orange County; he and Mary renamed it the
Weather Bird Press.
Between 1968 and about 1994, Vance moved between Laguna, Pasadena, and Fallbrook multiple times, and set up (and dismantled)
several different incarnations of the Weather Bird Press. He worked briefly in partnership with printer Patrick Reagh from
1980-1981, where Mary worked as their bookkeeper. Though he did some commercial work at various points in his career, much
of Gerry's printed work was either completely self-generated (he wrote several books under the pseudonym Bunston Quayles,
in addition to writing under his own name), or was printed for friends, groups such as the Rounce and Coffin Club, or other
fine press publishers, such as Herb Yellin's Lord John Press. Many of his printed books were also illustrated by him and he
was well known for his mastery of pochoir (a stencil technique).
In addition to printing, Gerry was a serious toy train collector and created his own line of historic figurines under the
name Rainyday.
Gerry died March 5, 2005 in Pasadena, California. Mary Palmer Gerry died in 2011.
Sources Used:
* Gerry, Vance, and Rebecca Ziegler. The books of the Weather Bird Press oral history transcript, 1989 : Vance Gerry / interviewed
by Rebecca Ziegler, Oral History Program, University of California, Los Angeles, 1992. Clark Library call number: Z232.W36
G3
* Gerry, Vance, et al. Vance Gerry and the Weather Bird Press / with contributions by Vance Gerry, Simon Lawrence, David
Butcher, Patrick Reagh, James Lorson and John Randle and with a checklist of publications compiled by David Butcher. The Whittington
Press, 2018. Clark Library call number: Press coll. Whittington F008
* Mary Palmer Gerry obituary, San Gabriel Valley Tribune,
link here accessed 5 Jan 2023.
* Russell Palmer obituary, Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, 1940
link here , accessed 5 Jan 2023.
This collection consists of materials acquired through many different gifts and purchases, many of them directly from Vance
Gerry or his estate. Most materials given to the Clark Library by Vance Gerry in 1988 and 1992 are the call cataloged with
the call number "Press coll. Archives Weather Bird," as are other items for which there is no acquisition information. All
other materials originating in known later accessions are described and housed accordingly.
Gift, 1988 (Six boxes), Vance Gerry.
Gift, 1992 (Two boxes), Vance Gerry.
Gift, 2002 (MS.2002.007), Vance Gerry.
Gift, 2005 (MS.2005.009), Mary Palmer Gerry.
Gift, 2008 (MS.2008.010), Jeff Weber.
Purchase, 2009 (MS.2009.007), Jeff Weber.
Purchase, 2010 (MS.2010.021), Jeff Weber.
Gift, 2011 (MS.2011.013), Teri Nicoll-Johnson.
Purchase, 2017 (MS.2017.019), Jeff Weber.
[Identification of item], [Box/Folder number, where appropriate], Vance Gerry and the Weather Bird Press Archive, Press coll.
Archives Weather Bird. UCLA William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, Los Angeles, California.
This collection was originally described and physically arranged in 1997 by Lori Chin. Most materials currently housed under
the call number Press coll. Archives Weather Bird were described at that time.
In 2022, Rebecca Fenning Marschall reorganized the legacy finding aid to this collection, and also cataloged all additional
Gerry material acquired since 2000.
Related Collections at the Clark Library
* Patrick Reagh Printers Archive, Press coll. Archives Reagh,
Online Finding Aid
* Marion Kronfeld Collection, MS.2019.011,
Online Finding Aid
This collection consists of the artistic and commercial output of Vance Gerry's Weather Bird Press from about 1966 until Gerry's
death in 2005. Though there are some personal materials, as well as documentation of Gerry's work for Disney and his extensive
interests in toy trains, most material here relates to the work of the Weather Bird Press.
The largest portion of this collection comprises Gerry's pre-publication production files for his various projects, and include
drawings, proofs, dummies, correspondence, research files, pochoir stencils, and typography studies, as well as paper samples
and fabric swatches. Because Gerry kept all materials related to a project filed together, it is possible to trace his development
of a project and his work processes through his files. The files for projects such as
The Standing and the Waiting,
The Butterfly's Ball and Grasshopper's Feast, and
San Pasqual Press are particularly extensive, though not all projects are documented to the same extent. The Clark Library owns an large collection
of Gerry's printed work; these books and other works are cataloged individually and can be found through
UC Library Search . Duplicate copies of printed books are housed and enumerated in Series 1 of this finding aid.
Series 2 of this finding aid contains Gerry's sketchbooks and notebooks, which document Gerry's creative process beyond his
printing activities. Though there are sketches, drawings and other things related to his printing work, they also contain
glimpses into Gerry's other interests, especially the world of toy trains and historical machinery.
Series 3 and 4 contain a small number of Gerry's other files, including some of his printing-related correspondence with booksellers
and librarians, as well as with other printers, such as John Randle of the Whittington Press. A small collection of cards
from artist Marion Kronfeld to Gerry are also described here. Series 3 also contains some of Gerry's research and topical
files.
This collection is arranged in 4 series: (Series 1) Publications and Production Materials; (Series 2) Sketchbooks and Notebooks;
(Series 3) Files, Notes, and Clippings; and (Series 4) Correspondence.
Series 1: Publications and Production Materials makes up the vast majority of this collection. Vance Gerry's original organizational
structure has been lost, but his general filing system gathered together all materials produced for a specific project in
an envelope or folder. We have physically separated oversize items for preservation reasons, and Gerry's original file folders
and envelopes for organizing these items have been retained in many cases.
Copyright has not been assigned to the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of
the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Printers -- California -- 20th century