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

 

BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS

Box 1, Folder 1

Resume ca. 1987

Box 1, Folder 2

One-page biography 2006

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 11

Notes, undated

Box 1, Folder 12

Mexico grant, SDSU

Box 1, Folder 13

Photographs

Box 1, Folder 14

Alhambran yearbook 1937

 

CORRESPONDENCE

Box 1, Folder 15

Miscellaneous

Box 1, Folder 16

Letters, Mingei International Museum 20th Anniversary 1998 May

Box 1, Folder 17

"Leanne" letters

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

 

MINGEI FILES

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 25

Exhibitions

Box 1, Folder 26

Mingei Legacy Resource Foundation 2013

 

NOTEBOOKS

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.
 

SUBJECT FILES

Box 2, Folder 7

L.H. Butcher Co. Ceramic Tips newsletter 1948-1950

Box 2, Folder 8-9

Native American art

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