Papers of Rini Templeton, former graphic artist, sculptor, and political activist.

Lucille Corinee "Rini" Templeton (July 1, 1935 – June 15, 1986) was born in Buffalo, New York. In 1943 her family moved to Washington, D.C. Early in her life, Rini exhibited her creative talents; at 10 her poem about the end of WWII in Europe was published in the Evening Star, a Washington D.C. daily, and at 13 she built her own darkroom. In 1946 the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where the next year, after unusually high IQ test results, Rini was given a full scholarship to the University of Chicago's Laboratory School. In 1949 Rini published her own collection of poems entitled Chicagoverse. By 1950 Rini was the editor of the school newspaper and from 1951-1952 she worked on the editorial board of the University's newspaper The Maroon. Rini hitchhiked around the United States from 1952-1954, and then from 1955-1957 she traveled around Europe; it was at the Bath Academy in Corsham, England where Rini began to study sculpture in 1956. Rini then spent the next 6 years living some of the time in Taos, New Mexico working as art editor for the progressive newspaper El Crepúsculo (The Dawn), spending most of the time traveling to Cuba to participate in the revolution and taking some time to study at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine and La Esmeralda, a respected printmaking workshop in Mexico City, Mexico (later integrated into the National Institute of Fine Art). From 1961-1962 Rini published articles and letters defending the revolution in Cuba in The National Guardian. While in Cuba, Rini taught in the Literacy Campaign for four months as well as pottery making as a means of self-sufficiency and helped to found the Taller de Grabado de Catedral de La Habana (Havana Cathedral Printmaking Workshop). Her participation in the Cuban revolution created problems for Rini; when she tried to return in 1964 and discovered her passport had expired, her father helped her to return and she was instructed by the U.S. government not to teach, nor speak about Cuba nor to make any propaganda in favor of the Revolution (Rini later regained her passport, after the Supreme Court decision to uphold the right of travel).

21.25 Linear Feet; (4 cartons, 29 document boxes, 1 half-size document box, and 22 oversize boxes)

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The collection is open for research.