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Guide to the Lea Van Puymbroeck Miller Papers, 1944-1958
BANC MSS 89/199 c
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Lea Van Puymbroeck Miller Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1944-1958
Collection Number: BANC MSS 89/199 c
Creator:
Miller, Lea Van Puymbroeck
Extent:
Number of containers: 1 box
Linear feet: .4
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: Primarily correspondence concerning her weaving and exhibitions, her contributions to periodicals on weaving and textile arts,
and her search for newly developed fabrics as weaving materials.
Languages Represented:
English
Collection is open for research.
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.
[Identification of item], Lea Van Puymbroeck Miller Papers, BANC MSS 89/199 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley.
The Lea Van Puymbroeck Miller papers were transferred to The Bancroft Library from the Lowie Museum of Anthropology in December
1988, after being received there from the California Academy of Sciences.
Lea Van Puymbroeck Miller was born in Oswego, Oregon, on May 2, 1898 of Belgian parents. She received a BFA and MFA from the
University of Washington in 1924 and 1934, and at various points between and after these degrees worked privately with a number
of sculptors and designers. Before coming to the University of California, Berkeley, Miller taught art and design in Seattle
high schools and at the University of Washington.
Subsequently Miller became better known as a weaver, specializing in gauze techniques, stimulated by an interest in Peruvian
textiles derived from the research of Lila O'Neill. She was interested in the utilization of new, synthetic materials in her
weaving, adapting them to the gauze techniques in which she specialized. She exhibited her works extensively and won an impressive
number of awards, recognizing her importance in developing and extending modern weaving design and technique.
Miller's career at the University of California began in 1941, when she was appointed as a Lecturer in the Department of Decorative
Art; she retired as full Professor in 1965 from the Department of Design, College of Environmental Design. She was apparently
an enthusiastic teacher and also served as a student adviser in the College of Letters and Science. Lea Van Puymbroeck Miller
died on December 13, 1979.
The Lea Van Puymbroeck Miller Papers consist almost entirely of correspondence, and represent only a portion of her career,
mainly from about 1945 to 1958, although most of the correspondence is concentrated in the 1949-1953 period. Major topics
are her weaving and exhibitions, her contributions to periodicals on weaving and textile arts, and her search for newly developed
weaving materials. There are a few letters which deal with her work as a student adviser and one folder, at the end, contains
a small number of personal and family papers.