Currie Fry (Nelle) Collection, ca 1948-1986

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Summary

Title:
Nelle Currie Fry Collection
Dates:
ca 1948-1986
Creators:
Currie Fry, Nelle (1906-1986) Johnson, Milton (1924-2021)
Abstract:
The collection consists of a broad range of materials created and accumulated by Nelle Currie Fry throughout her professional life as an interior designer in the Monterey area and after the death of interior designer Frances Elkins, her associate and supervisor.
Extent:
11 boxes
Language:
Preferred citation:

Nelle Currie Fry Collection, MSS 002, Monterey Peninsula College Library, Archives and Special Collections Department

Background

Scope and content:

Group 2. Nelle Currie Fry Series 1. Private and commercial client files. Client files consist mainly of correspondence and invoices as well as textile samples used in client homes. Series 2. Personal & Financial files consist of Nelle’s work with Monterey adobes, banking, tax, travel, and correspondence with friend Countess Elsie Gozzi, owner of Fortuny Fabrics, Venice, Italy. Series 3. Photographs consist of Nelle’s work, family, clients, friends and business associates, and furniture. Series 4. Blueprints, Drawings, Periodical article clippings, and textiles. Blueprints are from Nelle’s son’s work, architect Milton Johnson. Drawings are from clients homes and decorator furnishings. Periodical clippings are about clients, Nelle’s work, decorating. Textiles are filed with associated clients. Textiles with no associated client file are included here. Series 5. Scrapbooks and Contacts/Addresses include scrapbooks with magazine photos and articles about decorating and Nelle’s rolodex file of clients. Series 6. Vendor Catalogs of decorating items. Series 7. Periodical clippings about interior designers, historic homes and their designers, famous people/celebrities, collectors items (porcelain dishes and figurines)

Biographical / historical:

Nelle Currie Fry (1906-1986) was an interior designer in the Monterey area for nearly forty years from ca. 1948-1986. She moved to Monterey from the San Francisco Bay area to help run the design house of Frances Elkins assisting her in many of her large commissions. Prior to her move, the 1940 census shows Nelle living in Oakland with her husband Thomas L. Currie, her parents, and working as a bookkeeper. By 1950, the census shows Nelle divorced and living in Carmel with the occupation of interior decorator. After Frances Elkins’ death in 1953, Nelle continued in her own interior design business called Nelle Currie and Associates for nearly 40 years until her death in 1986. She set up her business in the Pine Inn, Carmel in 1953 and eventually leased a warehouse on Cannery Row to store her objets d'art. She retained some of Elkins' clients and gradually added new private and commercial clients of her own including the Pine Inn, Carmel in 1959, the Old Capitol Club, Monterey in 1960, the Cypress Point Club, Pebble Beach in 1963, Stanford University's Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity, Palo Alto in 1966, and Monterey Peninsula Country Club, Pebble Beach in 1969. By 1965, Nelle had remarried Alfred G. Fry and moved her place of business to 580 Calle Principal in Monterey between the Frances Elkins Memory Garden and the old Gutierrez adobe. The 2nd floor was the office of her son from a prior marriage, Milton Johnson, A.I.A. with whom Nelle collaborated on some projects. In 1976, Nelle was named Carmel's Woman of the Year and in 1978, Nelle moved her office to 140 W. Franklin Street in Monterey.

Acquisition information:
The collection was donated to Monterey Peninsula College’s Family and Consumer Science Department by Nelle Currie Fry’s son in 2005, Milton Johnson of Hollister. Mr. Johnson donated items belonging to both Frances Elkins and Nelle Currie. In 2015, the Family and Consumer Science Department transferred the items to Monterey Peninsula College Library Archives and Special Collections.
Processing information:

These records were organized and cataloged in 2024 by Mary Housel

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Mary Housel, 2024.
Date Prepared:
ca 1948-1986
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using Record Express for OAC5 on July 14, 2025, 2:55 p.m.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection open for research by advance appointment.

Terms of access:

Property rights reside with Monterey Peninsula College Library, Archives and Special Collections Department. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heirs for permission to publish.

Preferred citation:

Nelle Currie Fry Collection, MSS 002, Monterey Peninsula College Library, Archives and Special Collections Department

Location of this collection:
980 Fremont Street
Monterey, CA 93940, US
Contact:
(831) 646-4095
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