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Archives of American Art
Oral history interview with Cyril Stanley Smith
Summary
- Collection ID:
- AAA.smith92
- Creators:
-
Smith, Cyril Stanley, 1903-1992Brown, Robert F.
- Dates:
-
1992 March 18-April 1
- Languages:
-
English.
- Physical Description:
-
2 Itemssound cassettes (2 hr., 35 min.)analog.50 PagesTranscript
- Repository:
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
An interview with Cyril Stanley Smith conducted 1992 March 18-April 1, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art. Smith speaks of his childhood in Birmingham, England; early immersion in analysis of materials; education at Cambridge University; research at Yale University; his work as chief metallurgist on the Manhattan Project, Los Alamos, N.M., where the atomic bomb was developed, his colleagues there, including Enrico Fermi, Hans Bethe, and J. Robert Oppenheimer; the development of the interdisciplinary research center at the University of Chicago; his position at MIT, where he has been Institute Professor since 1961; and research in the connections between fabrication and aesthetics of art forms and technology.
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
Cyril Stanley Smith (1903-1992) was a metallurgist from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Smith received a doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1926 and taught there from 1961 until his retirement in 1969. His title of Institute Professor Emeritus of Metallurgy and the History of Metallurgy, one rarely conferred and only on those whose work goes beyond traditional disciplines, reflects the high esteem in which he was held. Smith has had great influence on contemporary metalsmiths, experts in ceramics, and students of Japanese art, among others.
Administration
Sponsor
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Existence and Location of Copies
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These interviews are part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Digital Content
More Information
General
General
Originally recorded 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 35 min.
Keywords
| Keyword Terms | Keyword Types | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Decorative arts | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Interviews | Genre Form | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Sound recordings | Genre Form | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Physicists | Occupation | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Metallurgists | Occupation | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Bethe, Hans A. (Hans Albrecht), 1906-2005 | Personal Name | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Fermi, Enrico, 1901-1954 | Personal Name | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967 | Personal Name | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Archives of American Art
750 9th Street, NW
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions
