Norman Bel Geddes Theater and Industrial Design Papers, 1873-1964 (bulk 1914-1958).

ArchivalResource

Norman Bel Geddes Theater and Industrial Design Papers, 1873-1964 (bulk 1914-1958).

The voluminous papers of Norman Bel Geddes document his industrial design and theater work in equal measure and, frequently, in great detail. Most of the collection (the Industrial Design and Theater Files series) pertains either to theatrical productions staged or designed by Bel Geddes, or to design projects undertaken on behalf of corporate clients. Coverage ranges from a single folder to hundreds of items. The collection also reveals the contributions and perspectives of Bel Geddes' clients and collaborators, in particular the photographers Francis Bruguière, Maurice Goldberg, and Frances Waite whose photographs and negatives are found throughout the collection. Bel Geddes designed, produced, or directed more than one hundred dramas, spectacles, marionette plays, musical comedies, motion pictures, and operas, working with Max Reinhardt, Winthrop Ames, Robert Edmond Jones, the Yale Puppeteers, Ringling Brothers, and others. Bel Geddes also designed television studios for NBC in the 1950s, but his most elaborate (albeit unrealized) architectural designs were for the buildings and grounds of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. The theater segment of the collection includes models, renderings, drawings, scripts, scores, production record books, photographs, publicity, correspondence, programs, legal documents and contracts, specifications, and source data. From the 1920s to the 1950s Bel Geddes designed cars, stoves, cigarette cases, and other objects for a diverse clientele that included Chrysler, General Motors, IBM, and the Toledo Scale Co. His industrial design work is documented with correspondence, proposals, presentation books, contracts, research data, budgets, estimates, specifications, drawings, models, and publicity materials such as clippings and photographs. In addition, files for most projects from the 1930s and 1940s include job diaries and photographic record copy books. The Office and Clipping Files contain correspondence with prospective clients, contracts, information about plays Bel Geddes considered producing, directing, or writing, articles by and about Bel Geddes, and information about exhibitions of his works. Also included are a large number of clippings arranged by subject, and other sources of design ideas such as manuscripts of plays and pictorial and graphic materials. The Personal Files document Bel Geddes' personal life, from the cars and homes he owned to travel and family matters. Included are hundreds of letters from authors, architects, journalists, actors, designers, directors, and photographers. Family correspondence is extensive, particularly between Norman and his fourth wife Edith Lutyens Bel Geddes. Family photographs and professional photographs of Bel Geddes are present. Other files document Bel Geddes' overseas offices and residences during the 1950s. Numerous books and commercial sound recordings received with the collection were withdrawn and cataloged in the Ransom Center Library. Bel Geddes' films and noncommercial audio recordings were transferred to the Film Collection and to Ransom Center Sound Recordings.

569 document boxes,103 oversize boxes, 48 models, 7 bound volumes, 99 flat file drawers, 36 framed/oversize items, 29 rolled items, ca. 2,000 sound recordings (ca. 400 linear feet).

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http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64k17bp (corporateBody)

Major international circus also known as "The Greatest Show on Earth". Originally competitors, Ringling Brothers purchased Barnum and Bailey Circus in 1907, and as a result of World War I locomotive fuel shortages, the two combined in 1919, giving the circus its present title. From the description of Collection, 1973-1979, 1976-1977. (Texas Tech University). WorldCat record id: 23196743 ...

New York World's Fair (1939-1940 : New York, N.Y.)

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Century of Progress International Exhibition (1933-34 : Chicago, Ill.)

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National Broadcasting Company

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Ames, Winthrop, 1870-1937

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60686h4 (person)

Theatrical manager, producer, director and writer, Winthrop Ames was born on November 25, 1870 into a wealthy and socially prominent family in North Easton, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard and began a career in publishing because of his family's strong opposition to a career in theater. In 1904, however, he traveled to Europe to study the "new stagecraft" and on his return became joint manager of the Castle Square Theatre in Boston with Loren F. Deland. This led to his appointment in 1...

International Business Machines Corporation

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Yale Puppeteers

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Goldberg, Maurice,

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qk736s (person)

Lutyens, Edith

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vf4bd3 (person)

Jones, Robert Edmund

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69318w0 (person)

Robert Edmond Jones was born in 1887, and spent his career as a theater set designer. He also worked on the production of early Technicolor films as a color consultant. As a stage designer, Jones is best known for his simplified sets that complemented the action of a production and his dramatic use of color in costuming and lighting. From the description of Robert Edmond Jones papers, 1916 - 1963. (Wesleyan University). WorldCat record id: 299159602 Jones graduated from Harv...

Waite, Frances Wise

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Chrysler corporation

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On Jan. 4, 1980, the Chrysler Corp. permanently closed its Hamtramck Assembly Plant, commonly called "Dodge Main", marking the end of nearly 70 years of continuous manufacturing operations at the facility. John Frances and Horace Elgin Dodge were pioneers in the automobile industry, beginning with a machine shop to supply auto plants with parts, working with both Ransom E. Olds and Henry Ford, and eventually building a new plant on a 30 acre site in Hamtramck in 1910. Wanting to build their own ...

General motors corporation

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Toledo Scale (Firm)

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Reinhardt, Max, 1873-1943

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wh2rcv (person)

Epithet: film actor and director, born Maximilian Goldmann British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001305.0x0003ac Austrian actor, manager, and director, Ernest Julian Reinhardt (1876-1954) was a creative innovator in scenery and staging. He produced plays and spectacles in Germany, Austria, England and the United States and founded the Salzburg Festival in 1920. From the guide to the Max Reinhardt collecti...

Norman Bel Geddes & Co.

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Bruguière, Francis Joseph

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gf2gm8 (person)

Geddes, Norman-Bel 1893-1958

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gf0t85 (person)

American designer, author and theatrical producer. From the description of Letter, 1916 May 25, to "Wiff" [i.e., Helen Belle Sneider Geddes]. (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (HRC); University of Texas at Austin). WorldCat record id: 122648343 American stage designer and industrial designer. From the description of Norman Bel Geddes Theater and Industrial Design Papers, 1873-1964 (bulk 1914-1958). (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (HRC); University...