Guide to the Hobart O. Skofield oral history OH 6
Preliminary arrangement and description by Special Collections staff; latest version, D. Tambo and Zachary Liebhaber, Mar.
29, 2017.
UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara 93106-9010
special@library.ucsb.edu
2017 April 19
Title: Hobart O. Skofield oral history
Identifier/Call Number: OH 6
Contributing Institution:
UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
0.45 linear feet
(1 document box, 4 audiocassettes)
Date: circa 1982
Physical Location: Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
Use Restrictions
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Research Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Research Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the Department of Special Research Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of Item], Hobart O. Skofield oral history, OH 6. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara
Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Scope and Content
The collection contains tapes and transcripts of interviews with Hobart O. Skofield, conducted by UCSB Library Oral Historian
David E. Russell in 1982. Skofield discusses family and life history, working at the Printing House of William Edwin Rudge,
life in Santa Barbara, California, collecting works on printing, donating and helping build the collection at the University
of California Santa Barbara Library.
Related Material
American Institute of Graphic Arts Collection, ca. 1923-1977 [bulk dates 1971-1977]. Correspondence, flyers, invitations, memoranda, notices, and other mailings, mainly relating to the AIGA Fifty Books of the
Year Show and other organization activities. Mainly items sent to Hobart Skofield, who was an AIGA member from 1932. Provenance:
Gift of Hobart Skofield. Printers Mss 3.
American Printing History Association Collection, ca. 1974-1983. Bylaws, membership directories and information, flyers, conference notices and programs, and other mailings relating to
activities of the American Printing History Association (APHA), including the Southern California Chapter of APHA. These
mainly are items sent to Hobart Skofield, who was an APHA member. Printers Mss 4.
Beilenson [Peter] Collection, ca. 1929-1980. Biographical information, lists, prospectuses, printing specimens, and other ephemera, mainly about Peter Beilenson, Peter
Pauper Press (Mount Vernon, NY), and the Walpole Printing Office (New Rochelle, NY). Early in his career, Beilenson was associated
with the William Edwin Rudge firm. Also, correspondence between Edna Beilenson (widow of Peter Beilenson) and Hobart Skofield
(former Rudge associate), who assembled the collection. Printers Mss 5.
Dothard [Robert Loos] Collection, ca. 1938-1963. Correspondence, Christmas cards, stock certificates and ephemera of Robert Loos Dothard, ca. 1938-1963, mainly relating
to the printing firm of William E. Rudge's Sons, Inc. Dothard was one of the five original partners of the firm and the firm's
typographer for several years. He later had a long, distinguished career as a book designer, with many of his books being
accepted for the Fifty Books exhibitions of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. .2 linear ft. Printers Mss 6.
Duenewald [Ralph M.] Collection, ca. 1971-1983. Mainly correspondence between Duenewald and Hobart Skofield, re the William E. Rudge printing firm, ca. 1971-1983. .4 linear
ft. Printers Mss 7.
Erickson [Edward O.] Collection, 1972-1984. Mainly copies of correspondence between Edward O. Erickson and Hobart Skofield, both William Edwin Rudge Press alumni, about
the history of Rudge and other printing firms, and associates such as Ralph Duenewald, Milton Glick, and Bruce Rogers. .2
linear ft. Printers Mss 8.
Glick [Milton] Oral History, 1971-1973. Interviews about printing, with Milton Glick, a former printer associated with the William Edwin Rudge firm and Viking Press.
OH 43.
Rudge Chapbook Archive, 1978-1985. Correspondence, research files, drafts, artwork, proofs, and other material relating to the publication of Typophiles Chapbook
57: William J Glick, William Edwin Rudge (New York: Typophiles, 1984). Hobart O. Skofield, former Rudge associate and creator
of the UCSB Printers Collection, worked extensively with Glick on the project. .8 linear ft. Printers Mss 9.
Skofield [Hobart Oliver] Collection, ca. 1927-1987. The collection contains two main series, the Personal/Family series, which primarily includes material re Hobart O. Skofield,
his father Ray L. Skofield, and a large number of genealogical files; and the Printers/Presses series, which includes a large
amount of material relating to Hobart O. Skofield's association with the Rudge printing firm, as well as long-term correspondence
with other prominent printers, and research files on numerous mostly-American presses. The UCSB Special Collections Printers
Collection is named after Skofield, who also donated several thousand printed items and established an endowment to support
the collection. 47 linear ft. For further details, see guide to the collection. Printers Mss 1.
Skofield [Hobart O.] Portfolio, ca. 1926-1931. Two volumes, containing approximately 217 items representing printing specimens collected by Hobart O. Skofield. Call Number:
Special Coll., Printers Collection Z232.S5 A4 1926. Tape # AS13602/R7 includes information about the portfolio.
Skofield [Hobart O.] Scrapbook, n.d. Mounted specimens of typographic ephemera designed by Peter Beilenson, Edmund B. Thompson, Richard W. Ellis and others, collected
by Hobart O. Skofield. Special Coll., Printers Collection Z232.S5 A2.
Thompson [Edmund B] / Hawthorn House Collection, ca. 1920s-1984. Edmund B. Thompson (1897-1974) began his career with William Edwin Rudge in the 1920s. In 1929 he joined Peter Beilenson
as a partner in the Walpole Printing Office (New Rochelle) but in 1932, suffering from poor health, he moved to the quiet
of Windham, Connecticut where he set up Hawthorn House in his home. There he and his wife set type by hand, printing for
others and publishing Thompson's own works such as A Printer's Common-place Book (1937). The collection contains material
relating to Edmund B. Thompson and his printing career, mainly at his Hawthorn House (Windham, Connecticut). Gift of Mr.
and Mrs. Edmund B. Thompson, ca. 1965-1977, and Hobart O. Skofield, ca. 1970s-1984. Printers Mss 19.
William Edwin Rudge [Firm] Collection, ca. 1903-1983 [bulk 1940s-1950s]. The collection was acquired over many years, ca. 1966-1999, from family members Fred Rudge and Edwin Rudge (WERIII), as well
as Edwin Rudge's daughter, Joanna Rudge Long. Former Rudge employee and UCSB Special Collections consultant Hobart O. Skofield
did much of the work accumulating the manuscript and related Rudge imprint collection, and also acquired materials from other
Rudge alumni and various dealers. The collection contains the following series: Series I: Biographical/ /Family/Bibliographical;
Series II: Rudge Business Files; Series III: Presses and Printers; Series IV: Rudge Alumni. Series V: Photographs; Series
VI: Artifacts; Series VII: Oversize. ca. 48 linear ft. For further details, see the guide to the collection. Printers Mss
2
Background/Research Materials
Bibliography of Soundings articles relating to William Edwin Rudge firm and other printing subject matter
1970-1975
Copy of "In Memoriam: Hobart O. Skofield," by Christian Brun, Soundings
1991
Early – some arranged by tape number and some by chapter
Finished Oral History: Reminiscences of a Printer's Devil (Santa Barbara, CA: UCSB Library Oral History Program, 1982), 54
pages.
Ch. 1: Family – ancestors, early life in Maine, growing up in New York City, father's occupation as financier, attending
Choate School in senior high, then Amherst College, short career in banking in New York City, beginning interest in fine printing,
meeting William Rudge, working in composing room at Rudge firm but seldom seeing Rudge, Bruce Rogers
Ch. 2: California – leaving Rudge firm and coming to Santa Barbara where parents were living, staying at their ranch, flying
lessons, road trip out to California in 1931 and living at different ranch owned by father.
Ch. 3: World War II – with Patton's Third Army after D-Day, received Bronze Star for meritorious service, earlier in 1930s
leaving Shauer's printing firm and coming out to California, going on Rancheros Visitadores trek and being member of that
group, riding with H. L. Hitchcock, other friends including Samuel J. Stanwood.
Ch. 4, UCSB, Printers Collection – started collecting books on printing while at Rudge's, gave collection to Santa Barbara
College of the University of California, when it was on the Riviera campus (the initial collection of 450 items was second
special collection at the library, after the Wyles collection), helped Head of Special Collections Chris Brun build the collection,
discussion of Printing House of William E. Rudge's Sons, Inc and how it changed over the years, William Rudge Sr. and Jr.,
Aquatone Process, Smithsonian Process, decline of Rudge company with later managers, and eventual closure in 1936.
