Cleveland Museum of Art Archives

The CMA has always celebrated the holiday season with the community. In 1929, children in museum classes enacted the Russian holiday story ‘Babushka and her Bag of Toys’. The middle child in this picture is the artist John Paul Miller.

In the midst of global and personal troubles it’s important to be mindful of all we have to be thankful. Gestures of heartfelt gratitude are meaningful both for the recipient and the sender. Following World War II the American people donated over 700 train cars of food and other necessities to the war ravaged countries of Europe on the Friendship Train. In gratitude, the French people responded with gifts to the 48 states and District of Columbia. The Cleveland Museum of Art received this 16th century Flemish tapestry Gideon Selecting his Army. 

In honor of Veterans Day we salute museum director Sherman Lee, seen here with his father, Emery, in 1942. Lee served in the U.S. navy in the Pacific theater during WWII, achieving the rank of lieutenant. Following the war he served as arts advisor in the Arts and Monuments Division of Allied General Headquarters in Tokyo, identifying and protecting Japanese national treasures.

Archives connect people to the wider collective memory. They connect families, protect the rights of citizens, renew our lands, and can save lives. Access to trusted information is vital to democracy. As Veterans Day nears we share a letter from Ens. Sherman Lee to his beloved wife, Ruth, during WWII. Dr. Lee went on to become one of the most influential art historians of his era, and director of the Cleveland Museum of Art for 25 years.

Celebrating Archives Month. The best protection for your photographs and papers is a cool, dry, stable environment. Don’t store valuable paper collections in an attic or basement, which are commonly subject to excessive heat and/or moisture. Hang photos away from radiators, heating ducts, fireplaces, and other heat-producing appliances.  Light also causes damage. Preserve valuable photos by displaying high-quality copies instead. Store documents unfolded to prevent breaking the paper. Local archives are happy to assist you with preserving your family memories.

Archives are not accidental. They are not mysterious, hidden, dusty, or moldy. Archivists treasure every item in their care and are constantly learning how to preserve them for future generations. We do a little ‘archives happy dance’ when we discover an important autograph, beautiful drawing, or a new story revealed in a collection’s documents.

] Archivists are the keepers of memory. Without memory, we don’t know who we are, where we came from, or where we’re going. Archives strengthen collective memory by creating a trusted and reliable information bank with access to an irreplaceable asset – primary sources. These resources protect the rights, property, and identity of citizens; and are essential in supporting society’s increasing demand for accountability and transparency in government and public and private institutions.  Don’t forget #AskAnArchivist day on October 7!

On October 7, archivists around the country will take to Twitter to answer your questions about any and all things archives. This day-long event, sponsored by the Society of American Archivists will give you the opportunity to connect directly with archivists in your community - and around the country - to ask questions get information, or just satisfy your curiosity. As professional experts who do the exciting work of protecting and sharing important historical materials, archivists have many stories to share about the work they do every day in preserving fascinating documents, photographs, audio and visual materials, and artifacts. Archival work extends beyond the physical and includes digital materials. #AskAnArchivist Day will give you a chance to connect with archivists who are tackling the challenges of preserving our digital heritage for the future. To participate, all you need is a Twitter account. Ask your questions including the hashtag #AskAnArchivist. Include @IngallsLibrary for questions specific to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Any and all archive-y questions are welcome!

Do you care for family photos, letters, greeting cards, home movies, and documents in your home? Congratulations! You have an archive. The work you do to preserve these memories is similar to the work that professional archivists do to preserve the historical memory of institutions, companies, towns and cities, and the nation. While your archives is personal and private, public archives make their treasures available to the world.

October is American Archives Month!  This annual collaborative effort by professional organizations and repositories around the nation highlights the importance of records of enduring value. CMA’s archive preserves the history of the museum and its relationship with our community and the world of art. Our collections include photos, drawings, three-dimensional works of art, film, and ephemera in addition to documents.

Museum archives digital initiatives began in 2007 with the goal of providing universal access to primary resources. Our first project focused on historic photographs of exhibitions, programs, and other editorial images. Created on glass plate, nitrate, and acetate film, these assets were slowly deteriorating in file cabinets located in a remote closet near the photo studio. Once in our care, we began the arduous process of inventorying, rehousing, and digitizing over 22,000 large format negatives. Archives assistant Peter Buettner did the lion’s share of the work, sometimes with two scanners operating at once. The last negative, digitized on August 12, 2020, is a picture of ta Tiffany fireplace surround in the museum director’s office. The fireplace is now located in the archives and special collections reading room. Smaller collections have also been digitized. All are available at digitalarchives.clevelandart.org. On to the next collection!

An archives benefactor has donated a rare group of records relating to Cleveland artists including a scrapbook of material on the Kokoon Arts Club, one of Cleveland’s most active arts organizations of the early to mid twentieth century. Founded as a reaction to traditional, representational art by Carl Moellman and William Sommer, the club espoused ‘new art’ but was best known around town for it’s Bal Masque, a celebration of Cleveland’s bohemian community (yes, Cleveland can be a wild and crazy place...). The Bal featured exotic and risque costumes, enormous props and decorations, and lots and lots of liquor. This donation complements our collection of Kokoon Club membership applications, which has been digitized and can be found on the Internet Archive  https://archive.org/details/kokoonclubapplications

Democracy in action as viewed by American photographers in the CMA collection.

This adorable Cat, by Howard Kottler, won first prize for ceramic sculpture in the 1956 May Show. This little piece marked a watershed in the exhibition’s history. Up to this time, artists were encouraged to offer multiples of objects for sale. It was the museum’s way of supporting their work. Everyone wanted a Cat of their own, and at $5 it was affordable for many May Show attendees. However, after receiving nearly 200 orders, Kottler became so frustrated he smashed the mold. The museum determined that the exhibition should feature unique works of art and revamped the scope of the show. Cat was recently donated to the archives by a benefactor who also donated records of the Kokoon Arts Club and the Cleveland Society of Artists.

I’m a tad late acknowledging the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. We’ve been working on applying universal design principles throughout the museum with the archives focusing on descriptive text for digital images in our digital archive (https://digitalarchives.clevelandart.org/digital/). I began with our collection of renderings by the goldsmith John Paul Miller, whose work is based on amorphous shapes in nature. I hope that I at least succeed in conveying the general appearance of these beautiful pieces for screen readers. There are many more image collections to tackle and I look forward to more training on descriptive techniques!

The city of Cleveland is celebrating its 224th birthday this week. In honor of the occasion, here are a few works by Cleveland artists in the museum collection, whose artist papers are also in the museum archives. Happy birthday Cleveland!

This week’s adventures in archiving focused on the fabulous archive of one of America’s premiere arts and crafts designers and jewelers, Horace Potter. His company, founded in 1899, was a mainstay in Cleveland frequented by a who’s who of local society. The archive includes full color renderings of the beautful jewelry designs (to be digitized soon), artist hallmarks, ring boxes, and a number of pieces of original designs. This little enamel test bowl is my favorite. Small, beautiful, and luminous.