MARY MOULTON CHENEY:
An Inventory of Her Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
OVERVIEW
| Creator: | Cheney, Mary Moulton, 1871-1957, creator. | |
| Title: | Mary Moulton Cheney papers. | |
| Dates: | 1892-1957. | |
| Language: | Materials in English. | |
| Abstract: | Brochures, price lists, sample books, monograms, calligraphy bookplates, drawings, greeting cards, calendars, cover designs, stationery, photographs, letters (undated and 1892-1927), newspaper clippings (1897, 1927, 1929), and biographical data reflecting the life and work of a Minneapolis artist and teacher. The papers also include material related to Cheney's career as an art teacher and director of the Minneapolis School of Art (1897-1926) and a summer art school she owned and operated near Walker, Minnesota during the 1930s. | |
| Quantity: | 2.25 cubic feet (5 boxes, including 2 volumes, and 4 oversize folders, unboxed). | |
| Location: | See Detailed Description for shelf locations. |
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Mary Moulton Cheney was born in 1871 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She graduated with a baccalaureate degree from the University of Minnesota in 1892 and then studied at the School of Painting and Drawing at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Upon her return to Minneapolis in 1897 she opened her own studio and began teaching design at the Minneapolis School of Art.
Cheney owned and operated the Artcraft Shop, Sign of the Bay Tree, an outlet for imports, local and national crafts, her own designs, and other printed work. She was also a partner in a small printing business called the Chemith Press which created and produced many hand-bound books and book plates, illuminations, and greeting cards.
Cheney's teaching career at the Minneapolis School of Art, her professional design work, and her publishing and importing business coexisted from 1897 through 1917. She became director of the school in 1917 and remained as an administrator and teacher until 1926.
From 1928 to 1942 she taught art at Minneapolis Vocational High School. During the 1930s she also owned and operated a summer art school at Camp Danworthy near Walker, Minnesota. She retired to Bend, Oregon in 1950, and died there in 1957.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
The bulk of the papers comprise pencil and ink drawings that represent Cheney's professional design work. During the early 1900s Cheney owned and operated the Artcraft Shop, Sign of the Bay Tree--an outlet for imports, local and national crafts, her own designs, and other printed works--and the Chemith Press, which created and produced many hand-bound books, bookplates, illuminations, and greeting cards.
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Availability:
The collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Mary Moulton Cheney Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.
Accession Information:
Accession number: 7143; 14,808
Processing Information:
Processed by: Frank Hennessy, July 1993.
Catalog ID number: 990017300200104294
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
| Box | |||||||||||
| P1973 | 1 | Arts and crafts and the Artcraft Shop: | |||||||||
| Brochures and price lists, undated, 1903-1932. | |||||||||||
| Eight price lists, postcards, and promotion folders from the Artcraft Shop; a brochure describing the Minneapolis Society of Arts and Crafts and a cover designed by Cheney from the society's third exhibition (Jan. 20-24, 1903); a brochure, letterhead, and advertisement for the Mary Cheney School of Art at Camp Danworthy near Walker, Minnesota (June 25-Aug. 20, 1930); a price list from Cheney's Studio 1 at the Handicraft Guild; and a brochure describing the Handicraft Guild's summer school session (June 19-July 20, 1907). | |||||||||||
| Sample book. 4 folders. | |||||||||||
| A scrapbook divided into 5 sections and labeled "Book #1." The book contains approximately 330 colored samples of the Artcraft Shop's product line including greeting cards, bookmarks, calendars, and stationery, together with a price list, stock numbers, and notes. Four additional Artcraft Shop price lists are located in the first folder. | |||||||||||
| Duplicate samples. 2 folders. | |||||||||||
| Approximately 75 samples which are duplicates of the items found in the sample book. Sizes vary and some are uncolored or with variations of coloring found in the sample book. There are also two ink preparatory drawings of items contained in the sample book and 2 items which are not contained in the sample book or price list. | |||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||
| P1973 | 2 | Duplicate samples. | |||||||||
| Lettering and advertising work: | |||||||||||
| Alphabet, monograms, letterhead, and name designs, undated, 1907-1940. 5 folders. | |||||||||||
| Disassembled albums containing pencil drawings consisting primarily of lettering designs and personal and commercial monograms. | |||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||
| P1973 | 3 | Alphabet, monograms, letterhead, and name designs, undated, 1907-1940. | |||||||||
| Printed matter, undated, 1898-1920. | |||||||||||
| Approximately 35 items including letterheads, covers, invitations, advertisements, and calligraphy designed by Cheney for various businesses, civic groups, and publications. Among the organizations represented are the Soo Line Railroad, the Fire Insurance Protective Association of America, the Fred L. Gray Company, the Business Women's Club of Minneapolis (undated and 1920), the Minnesota Congregational Club (1898), the St. Anthony Park Record published by the St. Anthony Park Congregational Church (April 1898), the Pioneer Press (1899), and a number of transatlantic shipping lines. | |||||||||||
| Calligraphy and stencils, undated, 1905-1933. | |||||||||||
| The calligraphy includes two pages of blueprint paper and an ink tracing of the second page bearing terminology used on architectural drawings (July 1907), a pencil design for the title page of Martha Scott Anderson's wedding book (1905), and five pages of miscellaneous pencil designs. There are also five hand-cut stencils, one of which was used to print a design on a small piece of white fabric that is also included. | |||||||||||
| Bookplates: | |||||||||||
| Volume 1. | |||||||||||
| An album containing 54 custom bookplate samples of varying sizes and designs. Two of the plates are colored. The plates were designed by Cheney and the volume is labeled "only complete set." | |||||||||||
| Volume 2. | |||||||||||
| A binder containing 95 preparatory drawings for bookplates. The majority of the drawings are done in pencil with one in ink and 2 colored. Most bear Cheney's notation, "not used." | |||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||
| P1973 | 4 | Bookplate duplicates. | |||||||||
| A disassembled album containing 47 custom bookplate samples, the majority being duplicates of those contained in Vol. 1. Ten duplicates mounted on brown cards, two unmounted duplicates, and two preparatory drawings done in black ink on white card are also included. | |||||||||||
| Drawings: | |||||||||||
| Christmas drawings, 1925-1954. 3 folders. | |||||||||||
| Approximately 120 drawings related to the nativity and Christmas themes. The drawings are primarily in pencil on a variety of types, sizes, and colors of paper. A linoleum print (1930) and four poppy and floral drawings are also included. | |||||||||||
| Plant and floral drawings, 1894-1952. 2 folders. | |||||||||||
| 72 Drawings of various flowers and plants done in pencil, ink, and watercolor. They are arranged according to a more complete inventory located at the beginning of the first folder that indicates the subject, medium, date, type of paper, and size of each item. | |||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||
| P1973 | 5 | Miscellaneous drawings, undated, 1910-1951. 2 folders. | |||||||||
| Approximately 75 pencil drawings including flowers, buildings, Christmas scenes, geometric and floral motifs, birds, and toys. One of the drawings is in color. They are arranged according to a more complete inventory located at the beginning of the first folder that indicates the subject, quantity, medium, year, type of paper, and size of each item. | |||||||||||
| Photographs. | |||||||||||
| Subjects include a variety of objects designed by Cheney including a ceiling fixture, two pages of calligraphy, and the bindings for two books. The preparatory drawings for the text of the book entitled Chapter Thirteen of the First Epistle to the Corinthians are filed as +211. There are also photographs of five candlestick designs, including one purchased by Louis Tiffany. A letter of payment from Tiffany Studios is included (June 12, 1902). | |||||||||||
| Letters, newspaper clippings, and biographical data, undated, 1892-1929, 1957. | |||||||||||
| Includes letters (undated and 1892-1927) to Cheney from a number of artists and engravers she worked with, including responses from artists she had asked to lecture in Minneapolis. The newspaper clippings (1897, 1927, 1929) discuss Cheney's art work in Minneapolis and two artists that attended the Minneapolis School of Art, Joseph Kiselewski and Harry Gottlieb. Photocopies of Cheney's obituary (March 29, 1957), an article from Who's Who Among Minnesota Women (1924), and information from the biography file at the Minneapolis Public Library are also included. | |||||||||||
| Folder | |||||||||||
| +211 | 1 | Drawings. | |||||||||
| Includes 14 drawings, all but one in pencil, of Christmas scenes, geometric and floral designs (1932, 1951), a rooster, a Japanese woman, and two copies of a memorial to Ethel Morrison Van Derlip done in red and black ink calligraphy on velum. | |||||||||||
| Folder | |||||||||||
| +211 | 2 | Drawings. | |||||||||
| Includes several pencil drawings of flowers and plants (1894, 1913-1914, 1952), a drawing of a toy horse, a page of lettering designs, two ink drawings of a bridge and cityscape, cover designs for the Commercial Bulletin & Northwest Trade (Aug. 4, 1900), a work commemorating forty years of the University of Minnesota (1910), and a box that held jelly labels. | |||||||||||
| Folder | |||||||||||
| +211 | 3 | Drawings, 1903. | |||||||||
| Includes 13 ink drawings for a book entitled Chapter Thirteen of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. | |||||||||||
| Folder | |||||||||||
| +211 | 4 | Watercolor paintings and pencil drawing, approximately 1898. | |||||||||
| Includes two watercolor paintings mounted with a photograph and a pencil drawing of three stained glass windows Cheney designed for the St. Anthony Park Congregational Church. The text included on the pencil drawing provides historical information on the piece and indicates that the windows were not preserved when the building was disposed of. | |||||||||||
CATALOG HEADINGS
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
- Topics:
- Art schools -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.
- Artists' studios -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.
- Christmas in art.
- Decoration and ornament -- Art nouveau.
- Flower painting and illustration.
- Women artists -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.
- Organizations:
- Artcraft Shop, Sign of the Bay Tree (Minneapolis, Minn.)
- Chemith Press (Minneapolis, Minn.)
- Minneapolis School of Art.
- Document Types:
- Bookplates.
- Calligraphy.
- Drawings.
- Greeting cards.
- Letterheads.
- Lettering.
- Logos.
- Monograms.
- Photographs.
- Sample books.
- Stencils (images)
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