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Guide to the Jessica Rummel interior decoration working files, 1920s-1960s

Collection Overview

Repository

Kellen Design Archives

Collection Identifier

KA.0084

Creator

Rummel, Jessica

Title

Jessica Rummel interior decoration working files, 1920s-1960s

Extent

3.9 linear ft: 9 boxes, 13 oversize folders

Summary

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 The New School for Design) in the Interior Architecture and Decoration Department from 1921 through 1934.

Preferred Citation note

[Identification of item], [date (if known)], Jessica Rummel interior decoration working files, KA.0084, box __, folder __, New School Archives and Special Collections, The New School, New York, New York.

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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.

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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.

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Organization and Arrangement

The files are arranged alphabetically by subject.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

Kellen Design Archives - November 29, 2010

66 5th Ave./
lobby level
New York, NY, 10011
212.229.5942
archivist@newschool.edu

Preferred Citation note

[Identification of item], [date (if known)], Jessica Rummel interior decoration working files, KA.0084, box __, folder __, New School Archives and Special Collections, The New School, New York, New York.

Conditions Governing Access note

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.

Immediate Source of Acquisition note

Donated by Willson Powell, a friend of Jessica Rummel, in 2008.

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Related Materials

A 1931 article written by Rummel published in Good Furniture & Decoration may be found in the New School Archives' Designer files collection (PC.08.04.01) under "R."

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Keywords for Searching Related Subjects

Corporate Name(s)

  • Harding & Rummel, Inc.

Genre(s)

  • Clippings (information artifacts).
  • Renderings.
  • Sketches.
  • Textile design drawings.

Subject(s)

  • Decoration and ornament, Architectural -- United States -- 20th century.
  • Interior decoration rendering.
  • Interior decoration.
  • Interior decorators.
  • Women-owned business enterprises.

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Other Finding Aids note

For selected item-level description and images from the Jessica Rummel interior decoration working files, see The New School Archives Digital Collections at http://digitalarchives.library.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/collections/KA0084.

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Collection Inventory

Box Folder
Bars 
 1 1
Beds 
 1 2-5
k_OSxx-5 9
Bedspreads 
 1 6-7
Bookcases 
 1 8
Carpet designs 
 1 9-11
k_11 11
Chairs 
 1 12
Chests 
 1 13
Chinese furniture 

Encompasses furniture from Japan and other Asian countries.

 1 14-15
k_11 11
Coffee tables and Chinese tables 
 1 16-17
Color charts and reference 
 1 18
Curtains 
 2 1-6
k_11 12
k_OSxx-5 9
Decorative motifs 
 2 7-8
k_11 10
k_OSxx-5 10
k_OSxxx-4 1
Desks 
 2 9
Dining rooms 
 2 10
Dining tables 
 2 11
Dynamic Symmetry 
 2 12
Early American furniture 
 3 1-4
k_OSxx-5 10
Early American interiors 
 3 5-6
Egyptian 
 3 7
End tables 
 3 8
English architecture 
 3 9-10
k_OSx-3 11
k_OSxxx-4 1
English furniture 
 4 1-5
English houses 
 4 6
Fireplace equipment 
 4 7
Fireplaces 
 4 8-9
k_OSx-3 11
Flowers 
 5 1-2
Franklin stoves 
 5 3
French architecture 
 5 4-6
k_11 11
French furniture I 
 5 7-8
French furniture II 
 5 9-10
French furniture III 
 5 11-13
k_11 13
French wall decorations 
 6 1-2
k_11 14
Furniture design and decoration 
 6 3-10
k_OSx-3 12
k_OSxx-5 11
Garden details 
 6 11-12
Garden furniture 
 6 13-14
Greek decorative details 
 6 15
Interior design and architecture 
 6 16-20
k_OSx-3 12
k_OSxx-5 12
Italian architecture 
 7 1
Italian furniture 
 7 2-4
Italian wall decoration 
 7 5-6
k_11 14
k_OSx-3 13
Ladders 
 7 7
Lamp shades 
 7 8-13
k_11 15
Lighting fixtures 
 8 1-3
k_OSxx-5 12
Mirrors 
 8 4-6
k_OSx-3 13
k_OSxxx-4 1
Modern furniture 
 8 7
Modern interiors 
 8 8
Needlepoint 
 8 9
Notes and sketches 
 8 10
Objets d'art 
 8 11-12
Pictures 
 8 13
k_11 16
Prints and tracings 
 9 1
Quilting 
 9 2
Tables 
 9 3
Tiles and flooring 
 9 4
Vendor and dealer price lists and mailers 
 9 5
Wall decoration, design and panels 
 9 6-10
k_11 17
k_OSx-3 13
Wallpapers 
 9 11-14

Collection Guide Last Updated: 02/28/2017

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