Scope and Contents
The collection is divided into three series: (1) Motion pictures; (2) Documents; and (3) Photographs. There are two 16mm silent black-and-white films, one showing Yellin working; a master's thesis on Yellin and an article about him, both by Myra Tolmach Davis; and 86 photographs of Yellin's studio, factory, and home.
The films are: (1) "The Making of Wrought Iron", produced by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, shows an artist sketching a grille and Yellin shaping a grille for a chair. (2) "The Florida Film" shows examples of Yellin's first work as used in the Singing Tower, Mountain Lake, Florida. Both are distributed by Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
The documents are two items by Myra Tolmach Davis: "Sketches in Iron: Samuel Yellin," a copy of a typescript addressed to George Washington University (Washington, D.C.), for Master of Museology degree, June 6, 1971. 67 pp. The article, "Samuel Yellin's Sketches in Iron," published in Historic Preservation, vol. 23, no. 4 (Oct. Dec.), 1971, pp. 4 13, is virtually identical to the text of her thesis. The photographs (Series 3) are 86 prints from 35mm negatives by Richard Hofmeister, Office of Printing and Photographic Services, Smithsonian Institution, April 1, 1975, with an itemized checklist, "The Samuel Yellin Metal Working Building & Collection, Philadelphia..." These photographs show Smithsonian curator Richard Ahlborn during his visit to the Yellin shop on April 1, 1975, and the exterior of the building, library, factory, study, and collection rooms. The original 35mm negatives by Richard Hofmeister, who accompanied Ahlborn on this research trip, are in the Office of Imaging, Printing and Photographic Services (OIPP) negative library, nos. 75 4495 to 75 4499.
The photographs were made by Richard Hofmeister on a visit with curator Richard Ahlborn to the Samuel Yellin Metalworkers factory, Philadelphia, 1 April 1975. The master's thesis and article by Davis relate to an exhibition of Yellin's work at the Dimock Gallery, George Washington University.