Carolyn Nesbitt Wagenseller student work
1960-1963
- Collection Overview
- Biographical Note
- Scope and Content of Collection
- Administrative Information
- Related Materials
- Keywords for Searching Related Subjects
- Collection Inventory
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Guide to the Carolyn Nesbitt Wagenseller student work, 1960-1963
Collection Overview
- Repository
- Kellen Design Archives
- Creator
- Wagenseller, Carolyn Nesbitt
- Title
- Carolyn Nesbitt Wagenseller student work, 1960-1963
- Extent
- 0.4 linear ft: 10 folders
- Summary
- The collection consists primarily of lecture notes and course-related notebooks maintained by designer Carolyn Nesbitt Wagenseller ('63) during her studies in Parsons School of Design's Interior Design Department.
Biographical Note
Carolyn Ralston Nesbitt Wagenseller studied in the Interior Design Department of Parsons School of Design, receiving her certificate in 1963. In the months between her second and third years of study, Wagenseller participated in what was known as the "Grand Tour," a summerlong study excursion encompassing England, France, Germany and Italy, under the leadership of faculty member Stanley Barrows.
Since her graduation from Parsons School of Design, Carolyn Nesbitt Wagenseller has designed for Smyth, Urquhart & Marckwald, Inc., and Ellen L. McCluskey Associates, and has owned a firm for which she created wallpapers and textile lines. She also served as manager and buyer for retail stores in Florida and has exhibited artwork.
Sources:
http://web.mac.com/carolynwag/Parsons_Summer_School/Welcome.html (accessed May 9, 2011) http://www.societydecorator.com/Society_Decorator/Carolyn_Wagenseller_career.html (accessed May 10, 2011)
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection consists of course notebooks, lecture notes, transcribed letters, and watercolor renderings, as well as a transcription of personal correspondence created during a European tour.
The ungraded lecture notes concern furniture and architectural history. According to Wagenseller, these are museum notes taken during a class taught by Stanley Barrows.
The course notebooks cover the first two semesters of Wagenseller's first year at Parsons School of Design, from the fall of 1960 to late spring of 1961. Notebooks are divided into tabbed sections, labeled "Lectures," "Research," "Tracings," and "Book Reports." Faculty members Robert Castle and James Woodruff appear to have given most of the lectures Wagenseller attended during her first year. Wagenseller's research recorded in the notebooks primarily concerns architecture and includes short reports on modern architects. The notebooks are graded according to the practice at Parsons during this era. Inserted into the notebooks are an exam and small watercolor renderings of home furnishings. A third, untitled notebook possibly represents notes taken during a second-year history class.
Renderings, executed in watercolor, depict perspective drawings and elevations. Several are graded and one includes comments by an undidentified instructor.
The typed, transcribed correspondence consists of Wagenseller's letters to her father and stepmother written during her European tour and is illustrated with digital reproductions of snapshots. This document was created by the donor prior to accessioning by the Kellen Design Archives.
Administrative Information
Publication Information
Kellen Design Archives September 13, 2011
66 5th Ave./lobby level/
New York, NY, 10011
212.229.5942
archivist@newschool.edu
Use Restrictions
To publish images of material from this collection, permission must be obtained in writing from the Kellen Design Archives. Please contact: archivist@newschool.edu.
Existence and Location of Copies note
The Kellen Design Archives holds photographic documentation of Wagenseller's 1962 summer tour and leisure activities while studying at Parsons. Original snapshots returned to donor. Image files acessible upon request.
Photographs depict Wagenseller's trip to Europe, an Ides of March-themed costume party at Parsons, and social gatherings of students and instructors. Individuals depicted include Interior Design faculty members Stanley Barrows, Maria Fenyo, John Kacere, and Allen Tate in addition to students Charles Brunelle, Susan Forbes, Karin Stockar Hardy, Reiko Taguchi Ide, Ann Kneedler, and Charles Rowan (all Class of '63).
Related Materials
The Stanley Barrows papers (KA.0002) in the Kellen Design Archives include documentation on the teaching and tour organizing activities of one of Wagenseller's primary teachers at Parsons. The Dero Darwin (KA.0051) collection includes work created by a fellow Interior Design student from approximately the same time as Wagenseller.
Keywords for Searching Related Subjects
Corporate Name(s)
- Parsons School of Design. Interior Design Dept.
Genre(s)
- Digital images.
- Drawings.
- Lecture notes.
- Notebooks.
- Renderings.
- Reports.
- Student projects.
Personal Name(s)
- Barrows, Stanley, 1914-1995
Subject(s)
- Architecture -- Study and teaching -- New York (State) -- New York -- 20th century.
- Europe -- Description and travel.
- Interior decoration -- Study and teaching -- New York (State) -- New York -- 20th century.
Collection Inventory
| Title | Box | Folder | ||
| Image files | ||||
| Title | Box | Folder | ||
| Lecture notes | k_12 | 1 | ||
| Notebooks | k_12 | 2-8 | ||
| Renderings | k_4 | 5 | ||
| Transcribed correspondence | k_12 | 9 | ||