Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the William E. Katzenbach Papers, circa 1840-1975, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.katzwill
Creators:
Katzenbach, William
Dates:
circa 1840-1975
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
4.2 Linear feet
Repository:
The papers of William E. Katzenbach measure 4.2 linear feet and date from circa 1840-1975. They illustrate his career through correspondence, exhibition files, personal business records, printed and photographic material, and artwork.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The William E. Katzenbach papers measure 4.2 linear feet and date from circa 1840-1975. Correspondence is with colleagues, family, and friends. Exhibition files includes materials related to two exhibitions by Katzenbach Threads of History and Please Be Seated. Included are correspondence with sponsors, craftsmen, the textile and furniture industries, and museums as well as forty photographs of the exhibits, business records, and printed materials. Personal business records include a set of biographical notes, meeting minutes for the Advisory Board of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Design, two scrapbooks of textile samples, and financial records for sales.
Printed material includes exhibition catalogs, copies of the monthly publication Appalachia, materials related to the Appalachia region, and material regarding the American Federation of Arts and The Decorative Arts Exhibition Program. Photographic material includes photographs of Worthington Whittredge and one of his wife, Euphemia Foote Whittredge, five photographs, including one color transparency, of William and Lois Katzenbach and their children and photographs of exhibitions. Artwork includes four silkscreened samples of wallpaper with artwork designed by Alexander Calder, Henri Matisse, Roberto Matta, and Joan Miro, as well as a roll of wallpaper samples by Katzenbach.

Arrangement

Arrangement
This collection consists of six series.
  • Series 1: Correspondence, circa 1963-1971 (1 Linear foot: Box 1)
  • Series 2: Exhibition Files, circa 1963-1971 (.8 Linear feet: Box 2)
  • Series 3: Personal Business Records, circa 1962-1970 (.4 Linear feet: Box 2 and BV 6)
  • Series 4: Printed Material , circa 1934-1975 (1.3 Linear feet: Boxes 3-4)
  • Series 5: Photographic Material, circa 1840-1970 (.1 Linear feet: Box 5)
  • Series 6: Artwork, circa 1945-1960 (.6 Linear feet: Box 5 and RD 7)

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
William E. Katzenbach (1904-1975) was a designer and lecturer who worked mainly in New York.
Katzenbach was born in Union, New Jersey on August 30, and grew up in Summit, New Jersey. In 1939, he moved to New York City, and lived in Palisades, Rockland, New York in 1945. Katzenbach attended Princeton and Oxford Universities, and in 1928 he cofounded Katzenbach and Warren Incorporated, where he produced wallpaper. The company was the sole licensed manufacturer of Colonial Williamsburg representative wallpapers. He and his wife, Lois Carrell, also wrote two books together titled The Practical Book of American Wallpaper (1951) and Cooking Plain and Fancy for Family and Friends (1966). Katzenbach was also coordinator of the Decorative Arts Exhibition Program of the American Federation of Arts.
Katzenbach died on December 25, 1975 in Oak Bluffs, Dukes, Massachusetts at the age of seventy-one.

Administration

Author
Allessandra Liberati
Sponsor
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Papers were donated in 1974 by William E. Katzenbach. Microfilmed material was donated 1983-1984 by Katzenbach's widow, Lois Katzenbach, and microfilmed in 1987.
Existence and Location of Copies
Portions of the collection and material lent for microfilming are available on 35mm microfilm reels 3891 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.
Processing Information
This collection was processed, and a finding aid prepared, by Allessandra Liberati in 2023.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Use
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Preferred Citation
William E. Katzenbach papers, circa 1840-1975 Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Design -- New York (State) -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Decorative arts -- New York (State) -- New York -- Exhibitions Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Architects -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Designers -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wallpaper -- Design Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Katzenbach, Lois Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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