Guide to the Ted Freedman Papers, 1926-1974

Processed by The Bancroft Library staff

The Bancroft Library.

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California, 94720-6000

Phone: (510) 642-6481

Fax: (510) 642-7589

Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu

URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu

Note

Social Sciences --Publishing Arts and Humanities --Book Arts

Guide to the Ted Freedman Papers, 1926-1974

Collection number: BANC MSS 79/79 c

The Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California

Contact Information:

The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu

Processed by:: The Bancroft Library staff
Date Completed:: ca. 1965
Encoded by:: Padma Rubiales

Collection Summary

Collection Title: Ted Freedman Papers,

Date (inclusive): 1926-1974

Collection Number: BANC MSS 79/79 c

Creator: Freedman, Ted

Extent: 4 boxes, 1 oversize folder

Repository: The Bancroft Library

Berkeley, California 94720-6000

Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Abstract: Correspondence with private and small press owners; records of his press, The Platen Press, in Orinda; clippings, including some on labor unions. Contains material on the Rounce and Coffin Club and the William Morris Society.

Languages Represented: English

Information for Researchers

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred Citatation

[Identification of item], Ted Freedman Papers, BANC MSS 79/79 c, The Bancroft Library, Universtity of California, Berkeley

Administrative Information

Note

No printing types or allied materials are in Bancroft. They are at South Hall Press, School of Library and Information Studies. [K. Levenson]

Biography

A printer by trade, employed by the University of California Press in Berkeley from 1944, Ted Freedman also delighted in printing as a hobby. In 1935, when living in Los Angeles, he borrowed a platen press to publish his first work with the Platen Press imprint, Annunciation by Meridel Le Sueur, in an edition of five hundred copies signed by the author. A gift in August 1944 of a Pilot platen press revived the Platen Press imprint, this time in Orinda, leading to the design and publication of greeting cards and numerous small pieces, many of which were distributed to members of the Typophiles and other organizations interested in fine printing.

Scope and Content

This collection of papers, given to The Bancroft Library by Freedman's widow, Mrs. Stella Freedman, on January 25, 1979, consists primarily of letters written to Freedman by fellow printers, such as H. Richard Archer, Jack W. Stauffacher, Frederick Folger Thomas and William Cheney, in which are discussed current projects and problems. Included also are a few records for the Platen Press itself, with some accounts, mock-ups, texts, designs for ornamentation, etc.

Photographs and printed material from private presses have been removed for separate cataloging.

A key to arrangement and a partial list of major correspondents follow.

Box 1

Letters written by Freedman, 1926-1959.

Scope and Content Note

17 letters, mainly carbon copies.

Box 1 - 3

Letters written to Freedman

Scope and Content Note

Mainly from owners of other small presses, many of them in California, discussing printing projects and technical problems, and exchanging information and publications. The letters have been arranged alphabetically by author or organization, then chronologically within each folder. A partial list of correspondents follows the Key. Unlisted letters have been placed in miscellanies preceding each letter of the alphabet.

Box 1

A - Cq

Box 2

Cr - M

Box 3

N - Z

Box 4

Platen Press records

Accounts for paper and ink, 1944-1952

Accounts for type-face, printing equipment, 1944-1961

Articles about the Press, including some bibliographical material

Publications

Annunciation by Meridel Le Sueur.

Scope and Content Note

1935. Typescript

Letter from San Jose by Charles White

Scope and Content Note

[for Glen Dawson's Early Travel Series]. 1955. Mock-ups; accounts, paper samples, etc.

[Monterey County Fair book and print exhibit. 1952]:

Scope and Content Note

text, galley and page proof

The Nonpareil and the Fly Trap [by Ted Freedman. 1953]

Scope and Content Note

Manuscript

Proofreader's Mind by Christopher Morley.

Scope and Content Note

Mock-up, printed sheet.

Retrospect by Oscar Lewis.

Scope and Content Note

1946. Text; mock-ups; leaf drawings Miscellaneous fragments

Rounce and Coffin Club

Membership cards;

Scope and Content Note

1948 membership list; materials re. Western Books, including certificate of award of merit for the Nonpareil and the Fly Trap.

William Morris Society

Membership cards; membership lists;

Scope and Content Note

lists of greeting cards for sale by the Society, etc.

Freedman, Ted

Miscellaneous accounts, 1945-1953;

Scope and Content Note

membership cards; business cards

Clippings

re Freedman

re Commonwealth College, Mena, Arkansas

re labor unions

Miscellany

portfolio Oversize portfolio:

Card signed by co-workers at retirement party for Freedman

Abbe, Dorothy

5 letters, 1953-1955

Adams, Frederick Baldwin, 1910-

Letter, Feb. 13, 1947

Albertus Magnus Press, Oakland, Calif.

see

Everson, William

Allen, Lewis, 1908-

2 letters, 1951 and n.d.

(Allen Press, Kentfield, Calif.)

Allen Press, Kentfield, Calif.

see

Allen, Lewis

American Friends of the Plantin-Moretus Museum

2 letters, 1967-1971, by L. Voet.

American Institute of Graphic Arts

2 letters, [1959]-1961, by Eugene M. Ettenburg, Robert M. Jones and Joyce Morrow. Form letters re traveling exhibit, with related materials.

American Notes and Queries

Postcard, Sept. 9, 1948, by B. Alsterlund

Ampersand Press, Pasadena, Calif.

see

Dahlstrom, Grant

Andrews, Joseph L

Letter, June 11, 1954

Archer, Horace Richard, 1911-1978

187 letters, 1947-1971, containing many enclosures, including samples of printing from his press, the Hippogryph Press. Some written for the Rounce and Coffin Club.

See also: Cheney, William Murray

Archer, Margot (Mrs. H. Richard Archer)

3 letters, 1950-1961

Arnold, Melvin Luxton, 1913-

3 letters, 1953. Writing as editor for the Beacon Press, Boston, and for the Christian Unitarian Register.

Arundo Press, Berkeley, Calif.

see

Thomas, Frederick Folger

Ashton, S. H.

Letter, Apr. 16, 1953, re. his portable proof press.

Baker, Russell Wayne, 1925-

2 letters, 1963

Barr, Allen H.

see

Northern California Service Board for Conscientious Objectors

Beach, Warren, 1914-

see

Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego

Beacon Press, Boston

see

Arnold, Melvin Luxton

Bell, Philip Wilkes, 1924-

2 Christmas letters, 1964-1970. 1964 letter re. experiences in Kampala.

Bender, J. Terry

see

Stanford University. Libraries

Bennett, Paul A., 1897-

31 letters, 1945-1961, mainly in behalf of and re. the Typophiles. Some comments on Brother Antoninus and on H. Richard Archer.

Berger, Sanford L.

Letter, Sept. 10, 1967

Berland, Abel Edward, 1915-

Letter, Feb. 19, 1959

Bliss, Carey S.

8 letters, 1948-1956, written mainly on behalf of the Henry E. Huntington Library and the Rounce and Coffin Club.

Book Club of California

9 letters, 1947-1972, by Elizabeth Downs, George L. Harding, Carroll T. Harris, Oscar Lewis,Teressa Fryworth, Dorothy and Kerwin Whitnah.

See also: Lilienthal, Theodore M.; Borden, John W.; and Shumate, Albert.

Book of the Private Press

Letter, Nov. 28, 1957. Printed, filled in; signed by Thomas Rae.

Borden, John W.

2 letters, 1953-1955. 1955 letter written on behalf of the Book Club of California.

Briggs, Ronald Charles Hawkswell

see

William Morris Society

Calder, Grace J.

2 letters, 1973, re. William Morris Society

California. University. President

Letter, June 20, 1963. Clark Kerr, enclosing a certificate of appreciation.

Carpenter, Edwin Hager, 1915-

35 letters, 1949-1963. Some written on behalf of the Rounce and Coffin Club

Carpenter, Kenneth J.

Letter, Oct. 24, 1956

Castle Press, Pasadena, Calif.

see

Dahlstrom, Grant

Cheney, William Murray, 1907-

57 letters, 1948-1961. Many undated. Also included: notes on bits of printing. Some letters include notes by Grant Dahlstrom and H. Richard Archer.

Christian Unitarian Register

see

Arnold, Melvin Luxton

Crittenden, Walter

7 letters, 1955-1956, re. type.

Dahlstrom, Grant

8 letters, 1951-1955

(Ampersand Press; Castle Press).

See also: Cheney, William Murray; Rounce and Coffin Club; Thomas, Frederick Folger

Dawson, Glen, 1912-

8 letters, 1950-1955, mainly re. the printing of Letter from San Jose.

Dawson, Muir

8 letters, 1948-1958

Deal, Borden, 1922-

Letter, May 11, 1971

Dean, Mallette, 1907-

4 letters, 1951-1963

Dreis, Hazel

3 letters, 1963 and n.d.

Dunlap, Joseph Riggs, 1913-

42 letters, 1959-1975. Mainly on behalf of the William Morris Society.

Eissler, Frederick, 1922-

see

Sierra Club

Elliott, James W.

3 letters, 1947-1952

(Taylor and Taylor, San Francisco)

Equinox Press; Berkeley

see

Everson, William

Eshelman, William R.

2 Christmas messages, 1968 and n.d.

Ettenburg, Eugene M., 1903-

see

American Institute of Graphic Arts

Evans, Henry Herman, 1918-

3 letters, 1955-1958

(Porpoise Bookshop, San Francisco)

Everson, William, 1912-

11 letters, 1948-1961. Some written while Brother Antoninus.

(Equinox Press; Albertus Magnus Press)

Fahey, Herbert, 1894-1959

Letter, Jan. 29, 1951

Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego

Letter, Mar. 2, 1960, by Warren Beach, re. exhibit Private Press Printing - A Fine Art.

Glick, Evelyn (Harter)

see

Harter, Evelyn

Goertzel, Victor, 1914-

3 cards, 1963-1965

Golden Hind Press, Madison, N. J.

see

Rushmore, Arthur W; and Rushmore, Edna

Gould, Charles Perry, 1909-

Letter, Apr. 12, 1958

Grabhorn, Jane Bissell, 1911-1973

Postcard, [Aug. 29, 1955]

Grabhorn, Robert, 1900-1973

Postcard, [Nov. 21, 1952]

Graphic Roundtable of San Francisco

see

Wilson, Adrian

Gray Dawn Press, Pasadena, Calif.

see

Spalding, Graydon E.

Green, Ralph, 1893-

see

Thomas, Frederick Folger

Greenwood Press, San Francisco

see

Stauffacher, Jack Werner

Griddle Press, Yokohama

see

Wesson, Sheldon C.

Grove, Lee Edmonds, 1909-

16 letters, 1940-1963

Grover, Sherwood

Letter, n.d.

Hagedorn, Hermann, 1882-

Letter, Dec. 23, 1946

Harding, George Laban, 1893-1976

see

Book Club of California

Harmsen, Tyrus George, 1924-

2 letters, 1953. February letter written for the Rounce and Coffin Club.

Harris, Carroll Timanus, 1890-1975

see

Book Club of California

Hart, James David, 1911-

6 letters, 1947-1967

Harter, Evelyn

Letter, Feb. 22, 1948

Hendrickson, James

Letter, Jan. 26, 1948

Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, Calif.

see

Bliss, Carey S

Herity Press, White Plains, N.J.

see

Lieberman, J. Ben

Hippogryph Press

see

Archer, H. Richard

Hubben, William, 1895-

Letter, Dec. 19, 1955, addressed to Henry Pommer.

Huggins, Dorothy Harriet

3 letters, 1951-1954

Jones, Robert Marion, 1919-

see

American Institute of Graphic Arts

Journeyman Press, London

see

Sinclair, Peter

Kelley, Donald Greame, 1913-

Christmas card, with note, [Dec. 1950]

Kennedy, Alfred Brooks

2 letters, I949 and n.d.

Kerr, Clark, 1911-

see

California. University. President.

Knowles, Squire

3 letters, 1951-1952

Lansburgh, Mark

Letter, Feb. 12, 1957

Lederer, Wolfgang

Postcard, [Nov. 23, 1952]

LeSueur, Meridel

3 letters, 1946 and n.d. Signed copy of poem also included. Enclosure to undated letter: manuscript, Shirley's Temple.

Levenson, Roger

2 letters, 1955-1963

Lewis, H. H.

5 letters, 1937 and n.d. Also included are manuscripts of some of his poems and articles.

Lewis, Oscar, 1914-

5 letters, 1946-1947.

See also: Book Club of California.

Lieberman, J. Ben

6 letters, 1961-1964.

(Herity Press)

Lilienthal, Theodore M.

4 letters, 1947-1948. 1954 letter on behalf of the Book Club of California.

See also: Book Club of California

McCune, Donovan James, 1902-

2 letters, 1958

McLean, Edward

7 letters, 1952-[1965?]

McManaway, James Gilmer, 1899-

Letter, Aug. 6, 1952

Marks, Lilian

Letter, June 2, 1965

(Plantin Press, Los Angeles)

Marks, Saul, 1905-1974

4 letters, 1944-1963. August 14, 1944 letter describes equipment of the press.

(Plantin Press, Los Angeles)

Mason, John, 1901-

17 letters, 1948-1958, re. special Papers from England.

Melcher, Frederic Gershorn, 1879-

see

Publishers' Weekly

Middleton, Robert Hunter, 1899-

see

Society of Typographic Arts

Miller, Alec, 1879-

5 letters, 1958

Miller, George Paul, 1891-

Letter, Mar. 15, 1949

Morley, Christopher Darlington, 1890-

Letter, Apr. 18, 1945

Morley, Grace Louise (McCann), 1900-

see

San Francisco (City). Museum of Art

Morrow, Joyce (Knoedler), 1917- (Mrs. Richard Stevens Morrow)

see

American Institute of Graphic Arts

Neel, Marvin H.

Letter, May 12, 1956

New Harmony Press, San Francisco

See Philpott, Arlen Henri

New York (City). Public Library

3 letters, 1954-1955. Letter of Jan. 22, 1955 by L. M. Stark

New York Times

Letter, Dec. 16, 1963, by Irvin S. Taubkin

Northern California Service Board for Conscientious Objectors

Letter, Dec. 4, 1942, by Allen H. Barr.

Olmsted, Duncan Houx

Letter, Apr. 18, 1958

Orton, Vrest Teachout, 1897-

Letter and postcard, 1934-[1935]. 1935 letter includes mock-up and suggestions for improving the printing of the Commonwealth College Fortnightly.

Peacock Press, Berkeley, Calif.

see

Underhill, Wanda

Pearson, Reuben

5 letters, 1949-1953

Philpott, Arlen Henri

38 letters, 1952-1961

(New Harmony Press).

Enclosure to letter of Jan. 12, 1953: postcard from W. P. Wreden.

Plantin Press, Los Angeles

see

Marks, Lilian; and Marks, Saul.

Pommer, Henry Francis, 1918-

4 letters, 1955-1957

Porpoise Bookshop, San Francisco

see

Evans, Henry Herman

Powell, Lawrence Clark, 1906-

2 letters, 1949-1953

Print

Letter, July 15, 1951 by W.E. Rudge.

Private Press of the Indiana Kid, Nappanee, Ind.

see

Weygand, James Lamar

Privateer Press, Front Royal, Va.

see

Watts, Stevens Lewis

Publishers' Weekly

Letter, July 23, 1946, by Frederic G. Melcher

Rae, Thomas, 1928-

see

Book of the Private Press

Ransom, Will, 1878-1955

4 letters, 1947-1951

Ritchie, Ward, 1905-

Letter, [1958?].

See also Rounce and Coffin Club.

Rounce and Coffin Club

Form letter, May 30, 1953, signed by the Board of Governors - Grant E. Dahlstrom, Ward Ritchie, and J. I. Zeitlin.

See also: Archer, H. Richard; Bliss, Carey S.; Carpenter, Edwin Hager; and Harmsen, Tyrus George.

See also subject file in Box 4.

Rudge, William Edwin, 1908-

see

Print

Rushmore, Arthur Wisner, 1883-1955

10 letters, 1940-1954

(Golden Hind Press)

Rushmore, Edna (Mrs. Arthur Wisner Rushmore)

2 letters, 1956-1966. 1956 letter re. death of her husband. Mrs. Rushmore continued the Golden Hind Press after her husband's death.

San Francisco (City). Museum of Art

4 letters, 1958, by Grace L. McCann Morley and Katherine Baker.

San Francisco (City). Public Library

Letter, Aug. 15, 1967, by Harold D. Martelle, Jr.

Schmoe, Floyd Wilfred, 1895-

3 letters, 1966

Sequoia Press, Kalamazoo, Mich.

see

Stone, William

Shapiro, S. R., 1911-

Letter, July 15, 1953

Shumate, Albert, 1904-

3 letters, 1958 and n.d. Undated letter written on behalf of the Book Club of California.

Sierra Club

4 letters, 1958, by Fred Eissler, re. clean-up campaign, with related clippings, etc.

Sinclair, Peter

Letter, Sept. 24, 1974

(The Journeyman Press)

Society of Typographic Arts

Letter, May 13, 1947, by R. H. Middleton.

Spalding, Graydon E.

3 letters, 1953-1966,

(Gray Dawn Press)

Sperisen, Albert, 1908-

Letter, n.d.

Standard, Paul, 1900-

3 letters, 1947

Stanford University. Libraries

2 letters, 1955, by J. Terry Bender and E. M. Grieder.

Stark, Lewis Morgrage, 1908-

see

New York (City). Public Library

Stauffacher, Jack Werner, 1920-

21 letters, 1950-1971. Comments on Mardersteig and his press; life and printing in Italy; work at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pa. (Greenwood Press)

Stephenson, Blake and Co., Ltd., Sheffield, Eng.

4 letters, 1950-1952, re. purchase of type.

Stinehour, Roderick D.

Letter, Nov. 3, 1954

(The Stinehour Press)

Stinehour Press, Lunenburg, Vermont

see

Stinehour, Roderick D.

Stone, William

4 letters, 1949-1953

(Sequoia Press)

Tamalpais Press, Berkeley, Calif.

see

Levenson, Roger

Taylor and Taylor, San Francisco

see

Elliott, James W

Thomas, Frederick Folger, 1885-

96 letters, 1951-1968. Copies of letters by Ralph Green included in letter of April 22, 1953; letter from Grant Dahlstrom is enclosure to letter of Oct. 7, 1953. Miscellaneous annotated printing samples at end of second folder.

(Arundo Press, Berkeley, Calif.)

Tommasini, Amadeo R.

4 letters, 1966-1967

Typophiles

see

Bennett, Paul A

Underhill, Wanda

4 letters, 1965 and n.d.

(Peacock Press, Berkeley, Calif.)

Van Patten, Nathan, 1887-

3 letters, 1951-1955

Voet, Leon

see

American Friends of the Plantin-Moretus Museum

Walter, Florence S. (Mrs. John I. Walter)

Letter, Apr. 19, 1958

Watts, Stevens Lewis, 1895-1966

3 letters, 1958-1965

(The Privateer Press)

Wesson, Sheldon C.

2 letters, 1956

(The Griddle Press, Yokohama)

Weygand, James Lamar

7 letters, 1953-1970

(Private Press of the Indiana Kid)

White, Minor

5 letters, [1951]. Included are portions of text and revisions of captions for his book of photographs.

Whitnah, Dorothy L.

see

Book Club of California

William Morris Society

20 letters, 1957-1972, by R. C. H. Briggs, Freeman Bass and Alan Fern. Some addressed to Adrian Wilson. Miscellaneous membership lists etc. at the end of the folder.

See also: Dunlap, Joseph Riggs; and Wilson, Adrian.

Wilson, Adrian, 1923-

6 letters, 1958-1962, mainly re. and in behalf of the William Morris Society. 1962 letter written for the Graphic Roundtable of San Francisco.

Wreden, William Paul, 1910-

Postcard, Nov. 20, 1952.

See also Philpott, Arlen Henri.

Yaukey, Grace (Sydenstricker), 1899-

2 letters, 1961-1967

Zeitlin, Jacob Israel, 1902-

Postcard, May 14, 1954.

See also Rounce and Coffin Club.