Finding aid for the Everett Ellin papers, 1928-2013
Julie Park
Descriptive Summary
Title: Everett Ellin papers
Date (inclusive): 1928-2013
Number: 2015.M.22
Creator/Collector:
Ellin,
Everett
Physical Description:
6 Linear Feet
(14 boxes; 5 audiocassettes; 4 audio discs; 1 computer disc; 3
videocassettes)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: Everett Ellin was the polymathic owner
of two well-regarded art galleries in Los Angeles during the late 1950s and the early 1960s.
He invigorated the local art scene by bringing major artists from New York to Los Angeles.
He also created a vital link between technology and museums by founding the Museum Computer
Network. After leaving the art world, he worked as an entrepreneur in energy management and
medical imaging technology, as an inventor of media devices, an executive for SONY, and as a
business consultant. The papers document Ellin's professional life, including his work with
the Everett Ellin Gallery, French & Company, and the Museum Computer Network. A small
quantity of personal papers is also present.
Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials
described in this inventory through the
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Language: Collection material is in English
Biographical Note
Everett Ellin was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1928 and died in 2011 in Diana, Texas. While
he is most known in the art world as a Los Angeles dealer of contemporary art, his BS in
Industrial and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan (1949) and JD from
Harvard Law School (1952) allowed him to follow diverse career paths before and after he ran
the Everett Ellin Gallery (1957-1958) and Everett Ellin Gallery, Inc. (1960-1963). Ellin is
regarded as one of the key local gallery owners responsible for animating the mid-century
Los Angeles art scene by showcasing contemporary art from New York. Before opening the
gallery, Ellin served as a US Air Force officer in the Korean War, assisted the Vice
President of the William Morris Agency, clerked for a justice of the California Supreme
Court, and served as Deputy House Counsel for Columbia Pictures. In 1959 he opened the
Everett Ellin Gallery on Santa Monica Boulevard, a move which developed out of his
experience of writing gallery contracts for his girlfriend and future wife, the painter Joan
Jacobs, and her artist friends. In this first iteration of his gallery, he showed California
abstract expressionist artists, including Bruce Beasley, to whom he gave his first show.
Ellin's hunger to see the world of abstract expressionism in its native environment led him
to take a job in New York as Director of the Contemporary Art Department at French &
Company. Recommending him for the job was Clement Greenberg, "the mastermind and spiritual
leader of the gallery," as Ellin put it in the
Smithsonian
Interview.
Greenberg also served as his mentor during his directorship. It was
this experience at French and Company that brought him into direct contact with the most
high-profile figures in contemporary art at the time, including David Smith, whose
successful show at the gallery was organized by Ellin. When French and Company changed
leadership in 1960, he returned to Los Angeles to open his second gallery, Everett Ellin
Gallery Inc., on Sunset Boulevard, where he organized a version of his David Smith show. His
time in New York also allowed him to bring the works of Jean Arp, Helen Frankenthaler,
several Dadaists, Arshile Gorky, and Jasper Johns (in a retrospective show among others), to
Los Angeles.
After closing his second gallery in 1963, Ellin was hired by Frank Lloyd to work at the
Marlborough Gallery upon its opening, where he organized a Jackson Pollock retrospective
exhibition. This was followed by a post at the Guggenheim Museum as Officer-in-Charge of
Public Affairs, a position that required him to build attendance numbers at the museum and
increase its publicity. His success in increasing museum attendance to reach "the millions"
resulted in his promotion to Assistant Director. He left the Guggenheim not long after he
became interested in "bringing the electronic age to museums" after reading Marshall
McLuhan. His article "Museums as a Medium" reveals the formation of the ideas that led him
to leave the Guggenheim to create the Museum Computer Network, an initiative funded by the
Mellon Foundation and hosted by the Museum of Modern Art from 1968 to 1970. A pioneering
digital humanist, Ellin was perhaps the first to think of digitizing museum images and
textual records to make them widely accessible. The Museum Computer Network is still a
thriving organization today.
Ellin's work in promoting the digitization of museum information can be viewed as the
transition point between his work in the art world and his subsequent work in decidedly
non-art-related areas, such as medical digital imaging technology. Following the direction
illuminated by reading McLuhan, and building on his college degree in industrial and
mechanical engineering, Ellin left the art world at the end of his period as Executive
Director of the Museum Computer Network to pursue a multifarious and largely entrepreneurial
career as a developer and inventor of different media technologies, an executive at Sony
Corporation, a management consultant, a professor of marketing, business and technology, and
a regional/urban planner. In his later years he was regularly sought after to give lectures
at museums about Jackson Pollock, his work as a consultant, and the art world in general.
Sources cited: John Tain, Acquisition Approval Form for "Everett Ellin papers, 1928-2013,
accession no. 2015.M.22," January 27, 2015.
Administrative Information
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers. Audiovisual and born digital materials unavailable
until reformatted.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Everett Ellin papers, 1928-2013,The Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 2015.M.22.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2015m22
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired in 2015
Processing Information
Processed by Julie Park under the supervision of Kit Messick, Fall 2018.
Related Archival Materials
Everett Ellin papers, [circa 1958-1963]. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian
Institution.
Everett Ellin Gallery records relating to David Smith, 1960-1963. Archives of American Art,
Smithsonian Institution.
Oral history interview with Everett Ellin, 2004 April 27-28. Archives of American Art,
Smithsonian Institution.
French & Company records, 1911-1998 (bulk 1950-1969), Getty Research Institute,
Accession No. 990051.
Two published works have been transferred next hit to the library's general collection and
may be found by searching the
Library Catalog for Everett Ellin.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains both personal papers and material relating to Ellin's professional
activities, particularly as related to the operation of the Everett Ellin Gallery. Also
present is material related to his directorship of the contemporary art gallery of French
& Company, his work as Public Affairs Officer at the Guggenheim Museum, and as founder
of the Museum Computer Network. Ellin's other professional endeavors are documented in
business files, correspondence, clippings and offprints, and audio and video recordings. A
small quantity of personal papers and photographs is also present.
Arrangement
Aranged in three series: ; ;
Series I. Personal papers,
1928-2013
Series II. Gallery and museum files,
1957-2008
Series III. Other professional files,
1952-2008.
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Names
Smith, David, 1906-1965
Ellin, Everett
Subjects - Corporate Bodies
Museum Computer
Network
French & Company (New
York, N.Y.)
Everett Ellin
Gallery
Subjects - Topics
Art galleries, Commercial -- California -- Los Angeles
Art dealers -- California -- Los Angeles
Art dealers -- Archives
Contributors
Ellin,
Everett
Everett Ellin
Gallery
Everett Ellin
Gallery
Series I.
Personal papers,
1928-2013
Physical Description:
2.5 Linear
Feet
(4 boxes)
Scope and Content Note
Contains vital and legal documents including diplomas and certificates, academic
transcripts, curricula vitae, financial records, obituaries, school activities, and
personal and family photographs.
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
School and military records,
1928-1969
Box 1, Folder 1
Early school and personal records,
1928-1945
Box 1, folder 2-4
University of Michigan,
1946-1949
Box 1, Folder 6-7
Harvard Law School,
1949-1952
Diplomas and certificates,
1950-1969
Box 1, Folder 9
Correspondence,
approximately 1952-2009
Photographs,
1957, 2008-2011
Box 1, folder 11
Family,
approximately 1957
Box 2, Folder 1-2
CVs, resumes and profiles,
approximately 1971-2006
Box 2, Folder 3
Material relating to New York properties,
1974-1976
Box 2, Folder 4
Personal miscellany,
approximately 1968-2003
Scope and Content Note
Includes a fitness report, slides of the moon, and a publication by Ellin's newphew,
political scientist Mitchell A. Orenstein.
Box 2, Folder 5
Financial records,
1998-2006
Box 2, Folder 6
Community work in Longview, Texas,
approximately 1999-2002
Box 2, Folder 8
Harvard Magazine article,
2002
Box 2, Folder 9
Condolences and memorial,
2011-2012
Box 2, folder 9
Condolence letters to Renate Nunn,
2011-2012
Box 10
Photographs of memorial service,
2012
Box 13, Folder D1
Recording of memorial service,
2012
Scope and Content Note
1 audio disc: digital, mono; 4 3/4 in. On disc: Everett's Memorial with some of
William's Sound Rec. 9-29-2012.
Series II.
Gallery and museum files,
1957-2008
Physical Description:
3.75 Linear
Feet
(9 boxes)
Scope and Content Note
Contains artists' files, catalogs, publicity, lectures, notebooks and interviews
related to Ellin's art career, including his eponymous galleries on Santa Monica and
Sunset Boulevards, and work for the Museum Computer Network.
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
Box 4, Folder 8
Barnett Newman,
1959-2004
Box 4, Folder 9
John Graham,
1966
Scope and Content Note
With text by Ellin.
Jackson Pollock,
approximately 2001-2002
Lectures,
approximately 2001-2002
Box 13, item CM1
Cleveland Museum of Art,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 computer disc (floppy disk) : 3 1/2 in.
Born digital material unavailable until reformatted
Box 5, folder 6
Unidentified venues,
approximately 2001-2002
Box 12, Item C11
"Jackson Pollock Revisited July 19, 2001; Charlie Wyle/Dr. Everett
Ellin,"
2001
Scope and Content Note
1 audiocassette: analog, 1 7/8 lps; 3 7/8 x 2 1/2 in., 1/8 in tape.
Box 12, Item C12
"Jackson Pollock Revisited 7.19.01; Wylie/Ellin--Horchow",
2001
Scope and Content Note
1 audiocassette: analog, 1 7/8 lps; 3 7/8 x 2 1/2 in., 1/8 in tape.
Item 12, Item C13-C14
"Jackson Pollock Revisited By Everett Ellin January 25, 2002; Cleveland
Musem of Art",
2002
Scope and Content Note
1 audiocassette: analog, 1 7/8 lps; 3 7/8 x 2 1/2 in., 1/8 in tape.
box 14, Item V1
"Pollock Revisited",
approximately 2002
Scope and Content Note
1 videocassette (VHS) (120 min.): sound, color; 1/2 in.
box 14, Item V2
"Jackson Pollock Revisited; By Everett Ellin; January 25,
2002,"
2002
Scope and Content Note
1 videocassette (VHS) (120 min.): sound, color; 1/2 in.
Box 5, Folder 10
Robert Motherwell,
2004-2008
Everett Ellin Gallery,
approximately 1957-2004
Box 3, Folder 1-2
9083 Santa Monica Boulevard,
approximately 1957-1966
Scope and Content Note
Includes photographs, promotional material, and clippings.
Box 3, Folder 3
Everett Ellin Gallery exhibition catalogs,
1957-1982
Box 3, folder 4
Other exhibition catalogs,
1957-1982
Scope and Content Note
Catalogs from various American exhibitions.
Box 3, Folder 5
Publicity material,
1959-2006
Scope and Content Note
Includes clippings, exhibition checklists, photographs, and contemporary notes
and images of Smith's work annotated by Ellin.
Box 10
Color slides,
1960-1961
Scope and Content Note
Twelve slides in sleeve.
Joan Jacobs,
approximately 1959-1962
Box 3, Folder 6
Papers
Scope and Content Note
Various papers relating to Joan Jacobs, her work, and her exhibition at Everett
Ellin Gallery, including news clippings, posters, exhibition checklists, marriage
certificate, and wedding invitation.
Box 9
Color slides and negatives of paintings
undated
86540 Sunset Boulevard,
approximately 1960-1963
Box 3, folder 7
Promotional materials,
Scope and Content Note
Includes posters and photographs.
Slides and negatives of paintings,
approximately 1961-1965
Box 3, Folder 8
Black and white negatives of paintings
Box 9
Color slides and negatives of paintings;
Scope and Content Note
Five identified as Clayton Pinkerton, one more with duplicate possibly by him
(1961 Pinkerton show at Ellin Gallery); two strips of unidentified gallery
paintings; one sleeve of color negatives of two Clyfford Still paintings, one
Willem de Kooning (Stenographer) and two John Graham paintings; separate sleeve of
color negatives of Adolph Gottlieb, de Kooning (Stenographer) and two unidentified
paintings.
Box 4, Folder 1
Arshile Gorky exhibition catalog,
1962
Box 4, Folder 2
Jasper Johns exhibition catalog,
1962
Box 4, Folder 3
Jean Tinguely exhibition ephemera,
1962
Box 4, Folder 4
Notebook,
approximately 1962-1963
Scope and Content Note
Detailed notes on contemporary artists, including price lists, and and material
concerning deals with other dealers including Leo Castelli and Virginia Dwan.
Jean Arp,
approximately 1963
Box 10
Color slides
Scope and Content Note
Six slides
Box 4, Folder 6
Bruce Beasley artist file,
1963-2005
Box 4, Folder 7
Research file,
2003-2004
Scope and Content Note
Contains research on the Everett Ellin Gallery collected by Ellin. Material has
largely been collected from the internet.
French & Company,
1959-1960
Box 4, folder 10
David Smith artist file,
1959-1960
Scope and Content Note
Includes catalogs from two exhibitions, notes, and an offprint discussing Smith's
work.
Box 4, Folder 11
Hiring announcement,
1960
Box 10
Color slides
Scope and Content Note
Twelve slides.
Box 4, Folder 13
Morris Louis artist file,
1960
Scope and Content Note
Includes price list.
Box 4, Folder 14
Guggenheim,
1964-2001
Scope and Content Note
Clippings and information about the Guggenheim, as well as a 1968 photograph of Ellin
with Kirk Douglas at the museum.
Museum Computer Network,
approximately 1966-2004
Box 4, Folder 15
Publications,
1966-1969
Scope and Content Note
Belmont Report includes writing by Ellin (marked by lines and
tabs).
Box 5, Folder 1
Conference activities,
approximately 2000-2004
Box 13, Item D4
Conference Talk "MCN--Everett Speaking in Toronto, Canada; October
2002",
2002
Scope and Content Note
1 audio disc: digital, mono; 4 3/4 in.
Box 5, Folder 2
Notes, correspondence, slides, consulting work,
approximately 1990-2008
Scope and Content Note
Three unidentified black-and-white slides of art work.
Box 10
Color art history study slides,
approximately 1990
Box 5, Folder 3-4
Writings and lectures,
approximately 1965-2008
Box 5, Folder 5
Notebook,
approximately 1998-2001
Scope and Content Note
Notebook incompletely filled out with some art-related notes interspersed with notes
on inventions and ideas for new projects.
Box 5, Folder 7
Clement Greenberg research,
2002-2005
Box 5, Folder 9
Getty Research Institute: Modern Art in LA,
2004
Box 6, Folder 1
Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Art Oral History
Interview,
2004-2007
Box 6, Folder 2
"Study Guide to Art History,"
2005
Box 13, Item D3
"All Art Talk,"
approximately 2006
Scope and Content Note
1 audio disc: digital, mono; 4 3/4 in.
Everett Ellin interview about David Smith with Galleries
Guggenheim,
approximately 2006
Box 12, Item C7
Cassette
Scope and Content Note
1 audiocassette (90 min.): analog, 1 7/8 lps; 3 7/8 x 2 1/2 in., 1/8 in tape.
Box 13, Item D2
Compact disc
Scope and Content Note
1 audio disc: digital, mono; 4 3/4 in. On disc: David Smith-a.o.-Everett Ellis
[sic]-Galleries-Guggenheim Tape 4 Side 1.
Box 6, Folder 3
"Art world contacts" and "Diary",
undated
Scope and Content Note
Diary includes word processed list of meetings with dealers, collectors and artists
Ellin met with over the course of 1962-1963, including Ellin's notes for each meeting.
Also included are documents downloaded from websites. Though content dates from the
1960s, the documents were created at a later date.
Series III.
Other professional files,
1952-2008
Physical Description:
1.66 Linear
Feet
(4 boxes)
Scope and Content Note
Series III. contains materials pertaining to Ellin's other professional endeavors,
including his work as an inventor, engineer, medical imaging technology developer, and
consultant.
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
Box 6, Folder 4
Legal career,
approximately 1952-1999
Box 6, Folder 5
Letterhead and business cards,
approximately 1971-2000
Box 6, Folder 6
Papers,
1972-1974
Scope and Content Note
Includes advertisements, product leaflet and brochures, black-and-white photographs
of company visit to Japan.
Box 10
Color photographs of trip to Japan,
approximately 1972-1974
Inventions, technology initiatives and entrepeneurship,
approximately 1973-1996
Box 6, Folder 7
Invention drawings,
approximately 1973-1996
Box 12, Item C1
Word Processing Institute,
1973
Scope and Content Note
1 audiocassette (90 min.): analog, 1 7/8 lps; 3 7/8 x 2 1/2 in., 1/8 in tape. On
cassette: Word Processing Institute 12/4/73.
Box 12, Item C2
Everett speaking; demonstration tape recording on Audioopticon,
1973
Scope and Content Note
1 audiocassette (60 min.): analog, 1 7/8 lps; 3 7/8 x 2.
Box 12, Item C3
Answers of E. Ellin; designing business answering phone,
approximately 1973
Scope and Content Note
1 audiocassette (30 min.): analog, 1 7/8 lps; 3 7/8 x 2 1/2 in., 1/8 in tape.
Box 12, Item C4
Entrepeneurship class,
1976
Scope and Content Note
1 audiocassette (60 min.): analog, 1 7/8 lps; 3 7/8 x 2 1/2 in., 1/8 in tape. On
cassette: 1/16/76.
Box 6, Folder 8
University of Maine Product Creation Conference proceedings,
1977
Box 6, Folder 9
Energy management,
approximately 1979
Box 7
A Region's Struggling Savior: Small Business in New
England
,
1979
Scope and Content Note
Includes essay by Ellin: 208-239
Box 7, Folder 1
Writings and notes,
1979-2003
Box 12, Item C4
"PBS Trains + a minute of Everett classroom talk",
approximately 1970s
Scope and Content Note
1 audiocassette (90 min.): analog, 1 7/8 lps; 3 7/8 x 2 1/2 in., 1/8 in tape.
Box 7, Folder 2
Enerflux,
approximately 1980-1982
Scope and Content Note
Encompasses Ellin's work as a technology consultant on energy analysis and
management.
Santa Fe Historic Design Board,
approximately 1984-1991
Box 7, Folder 3
Design board clipplings,
approximately 1984-1991
Box 8, Folder 1
Correspondence, statements, minutes, research,
approximately 1986-1990
Box 12, Item C10
"Automobile talk w. Everett and House in New Mexico talk--Everett
questions",
approximately 1984
Scope and Content Note
1 audiocassette (60 min.): analog, 1 7/8 lps; 3 7/8 x 2 1/2 in., 1/8 in tape.
Scantech,
approximately 1984-1993
Box 8, Folder 3
Correspondence and clippings,
approximately 1984-1993
Scope and Content Note
Correspondence includes letter from Senator Jeff Bingaman commending Ellin's
achievement as technology developer for Scantech
box 14, Item V3
"Going for it; Everett Ellin; Scantech,"
approximately 1990
Scope and Content Note
1 videocassette (VHS) (60 min.): sound, color; 1/2 in.
Box 8, Folder 3
Corporate information,
1996
Scope and Content Note
Contains correspondence, business plan, certificate of incorporation, and project
proposal for an airport bag-matching system.
Box 10
Passport photograph,
1996
Medical Imaging,
1996-2008
Box 12, Item C8
"Radiography of new machines /Varian--Everett Talking",
1994
Scope and Content Note
1 audiocassette (90 min.): analog, 1 7/8 lps; 3 7/8 x 2 1/2 in., 1/8 in tape
Box 8, Folder 4
Correspondence, briefs, agreements and invoices,
1996-2008
Box 10
Color photographs,
approximately 1996
Scope and Content Note
Six photographs of Ellin viewing and using medical imaging equipment.
General publicity,
1999-2008
Box 8, Folder 7
News stories about Ellin in local and national press,
approximately 1999-2008
Box 10
Color photograph of Ellin sitting in plane,
1999
Scope and Content Note
Image used in
Longview News Journal article
published 24 October, 1999.
Box 8, Folder 8
Pacific Photonics and Team daVinci,
approximately 2000-2004
