The Index of American Design: picturing a national identity

Magazine Antiques, Dec, 2002 by Virginia Tuttle Clayton

(29.) The Index included face jugs made by African-Americans that belonged to the Nadelmans in the 1930s and are today in the collection of the New-York Historical Society in New York City. One is illustrated and described in Drawing on America's Past: Folk Art, Modernism, and the Index of American Design (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2002), No. 23.

(30.) The index of American Design Manual provided recommendations for finding suitable objects. Further advice was given in "Federal Art Project, Works Progress Administration, Index of American Design: Suggested Procedure for Setting Up index Projects" (folder 7, box 5, record group 69, WPA, National Archives).

(31.) This problem was discussed by William L Warren, the art administrator of the Connecticut project, during an interview conducted by Geoffrey Swift on October 11,1965, as part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program (p.7, William Warren folder, artists' files, Gallery Archives). Also see the letter of June 3, 1936, from Glassgold to Thomas G. Parker (T. C. Parker folder, box 4, record group 69, WPA, National Archives).

(32.) Holger Cahill, "Introduction," in Erwin O. Christensen, The Index of American Design (Macmillan, New York, and National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1950), p. xiv.

(33.) A memorandum from Nina Collier to Cahill and Reeves, dated February 22. 1936, recounts the meeting between Index administrators and the museum staff (frame 1021, reel 1107, Cahill papers).

(34.) See the 1986 interview with Chapman (Suzanne Chapman folder, artists' files, Gallery Archives).

(35.) Glassgold recalled in a letter to Christensen dated January 24, 1947: "I believe these demonstration portfolios probably played the most effective role in producing generally the almost uniformly high quality of workmanship, and uniformity of method" (pp. 2-3, "Copy of information on the development of the Index of American Design contained in Adolph C. Glassgold's letter to Mr. Christensen of 24 January 1947," Adolph C. Glassgold folder. Correspondence--Alphabetical, Gallery Archives).

(36.) On documentary art of the 1930s, see William Stott, Documentary Experssion and Thirties America (Oxford University Press, New York, 1973); and Documenting America, 1935-1943, ed. Carl Fleischhauer and Beverly W. Brannan (University of California, Berkeley, with the library of Congress. Washington, D.C., 1988).

(37.) On evaluating artists' talents, see Cahill, "The Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration," p.3 (frames 282-292, reel 1105, Cahill papers). See also typescripts of interviews with the artists Dorothy Hay Jensen in 1986 (p. 3), and Elmer Kottamp (b. 1911) in 1985 (p.2); and a letter from Austin Davison (1909-1992) to Charles Ritchie, 1986, pp.4-5. (The preceding documents are in the folders for, respectively. Jensen, Kottcamp, and Davison in artists' files, Gallery Archives.) It was not unusual for artists to work on more than one project, serving on the Index alternately with the cased painting or mural projects.