Jessica Rummel interior decoration working files
Online Access
Available digital items: https://digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/collections/KA0084.
Abstract
Ranging from the 1920s through the 1960s, this collection consists of files Jessica Rummel kept for her New York City-based interior decoration business, which operated during at least part of this period as Harding & Rummel, Inc. The files, which Rummel arranged, include small drawings, watercolors, site plans, and tracings of decorative elements, furniture, textiles, and interior layouts produced by Rummel in the course of her business.
The collection also includes vendor literature, magazine and catalog clippings, postcards, price lists, and business correspondence. Rummel was on the faculty of the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (later, Parsons The New School for Design) in the Interior Architecture and Decoration Department from 1921 through 1934.
Dates
- 1920s - 1960s
Creator
- Harding & Rummel, Inc (Organization)
- Rummel, Jessica (Person)
Extent
5.1 Cubic Feet (9.5 boxes, 13 oversize folders)
Language of Materials
English
Scope and Contents of Collection
The Jessica Rummel interior decoration working files consist of original tracings, sketches, rapid watercolor renderings, stencils, floor plans, and other preparatory design work produced on a wide variety of backings, including envelopes, scrap paper, the back side of vendor stationery, paper bags, and other inexpensive papers. Rummel's watercolors, while delicate and revealing her skill as a renderer, are often only partially completed, finished just enough to furnish clients with an idea of their options. These files provide fragmentary evidence of a thriving business in which Rummel traveled around the New York metropolitan area working with auction houses, antique stores, vendors and establishments specializing in a range of decorative elements and furniture. The files also include reference materials, including newspaper, magazine, auction, museum, and other catalog clippings, dealer postcards and photographs. Most of the original work is undated, while published reference materials range from the 1920s through the 1960s. Sketches, paintings, vendor literature, and other materials are often annotated with calculations, dimensions, style numbers, prices, descriptions, and comments on designs. Some files include correspondence between Rummel and clients related to purchases and design decisions. File titles and ordering by subject reflect Rummel's original titling and arrangement.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research use. Please contact archivist@newschool.edu for appointment.
Use Restrictions
To publish images of material from this collection, permission must be obtained in writing from the New School Archives. Please contact: archivist@newschool.edu.
Historical note
Ranging from the 1920s through the 1960s, the Jessica Rummel interior decoration working files consist of the files Rummel kept for her New York City-based interior decoration business, which operated during at least part of this period as Harding & Rummel, Inc. The files, which Rummel arranged under subjects such as "Fireplace equipment," "Quilting," "Decorative motifs," and "Egyptian," include small drawings, watercolors, site plans, and tracings of decorative elements, furniture, textiles, and interior layouts produced by Rummel in the course of doing business. The collection also includes vendor literature, magazine and catalog clippings, postcards, price lists, and business correspondence. Rummel was on the faculty of the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (later, Parsons School of Design) in the Interior Architecture and Decoration Department from 1921 through 1934.
Organization and Arrangement
The files are arranged alphabetically by subject.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Willson Powell, a friend of Jessica Rummel, in 2008.
- Clippings (information artifacts) (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Decoration and ornament, Architectural -- United States (Subject) (Places) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Interior decoration (Subject) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Interior decoration rendering (Subject) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Interior designers (Occupation) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Renderings (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Sketches (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Textile design drawings (Type of Material) Subject Source: TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms
- Women interior decorators (Subject) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Women-owned business enterprises (Subject) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Guide to the Jessica Rummel interior decoration working files
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- New School Archives and Special Collections Staff
- Date
- November 29, 2010
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
Revision Statements
- 2021 January 22: The New School Archives staff added 20 small watercolors by Jessica Rummel to the collection, donated to The New School Archives in 2020.
- 2021 September 17: New School Archives staff added one folder constituting a new category: Dressing tables. A folder of other materials were integrated into existing folders.