Jessica Rummel interior decoration working files
1920s-1960s
- Collection Overview
- Historical note
- Scope and Contents of Collection
- Organization and Arrangement
- Administrative Information
- Related Materials
- Keywords for Searching Related Subjects
- Other Finding Aids note
- Collection Inventory

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.
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.
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.
Organization and Arrangement
The files are arranged alphabetically by subject.
Administrative Information
Publication Information
Kellen Design Archives - November 29, 2010
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.
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."
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.
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.
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
This collection guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.