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Howard Dearstyne

A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress

Prepared by Harry G. Heiss

Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

1992

Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html

Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2001

Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms001012

Latest revision: 2004-09-20

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

Names:

Subjects:

Occupations:

Administrative Information

Provenance:

Processing History:

Transfers:

Copyright Status:

Preferred Citation:

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

Organization of the Papers

Container List

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.

Names:

Subjects:

Occupations:

Administrative Information

Provenance:

The papers of Howard Dearstyne, architect, photographer, architectural historian, and educator, were deposited in the Library of Congress by Marjorie Smolka in 1988. The deposit was converted to a gift in 1991.

Processing History:

A description of the Dearstyne Papers appears in Library of Congress Acquisitions: Manuscript Division, 1988, pp. 30-35.

Transfers:

Items have been transferred from the Manuscript Division to other custodial divisions of the Library. Slides, drawings, and some photographs have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division. Maps of Germany, Berlin, Dessau, Hessen, Thuringen, central European railways, central Europe and the Berlin Crisis of 1960, and fighting fronts of World War II have been transferred to the Geography and Map Division. An audiotape of a lecture by Dearstyne on the Bauhaus has been transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. Books, articles, and pamphlets have been transferred to the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. All transfers are identified in these divisions as part of the Howard Dearstyne papers.

Copyright Status:

The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Howard Dearstyne is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).

Preferred Citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Howard Dearstyne Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Howard Best Dearstyne (1903-1979) span the years 1911-1986, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period from 1953 to 1971. The collection relates almost exclusively to Dearstyne's research interest in the Bauhaus, the influential German art and architecture school founded by Walter Gropius in 1919. Included are correspondence, exhibit brochures and catalogs, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, reports, and a book draft.

The collection is arranged in two series, a Subject File and a Writings File. The Subject File comprises 80 percent of the collection and contains mostly secondary materials collected by Dearstyne in support of his lifelong interest in the Bauhaus and its two best-known masters, Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. In this series are newspaper and magazine articles on the Bauhaus, its history, and especially its influence on the development of modern art and twentieth-century architecture. Dearstyne corresponded with many of the school's instructors and graduates, as well as with other architects, designers, and artists influenced by Bauhaus principles, and his papers include exhibit brochures and catalogs of their work, together with letters and some original artwork sent to him. Principal correspondents include Josef Albers, Hermann Blomeier, George E. Danforth, Werner Drewes, Henry Dubin, Wils Ebert, Helmut von Erffa, Werner Graeff, Ludwig Hilberseimer, Paul Klee, Kurt Kranz, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the Museum of Modern Art, Eckhard Neumann, Karl Nierendorf, Pius E. Pahl, Walter A. Peterhans, Oskar Schlemmer, and Erdmann Schmocker There is also material documenting Dearstyne's pursuit of photography as a serious art form, including magazine articles written by him and texts of his lectures. Some material in the Subject File is in German.

Dearstyne published on a wide array of subjects, including the architecture of colonial Virginia--especially Williamsburg--modern art, architectural design and city planning, design in nature, art photography, and the Bauhaus.. The Writings File includes drafts of three reports Dearstyne wrote in 1953-1954 on the King's Arms Tavern, the King's Arms Barber Shop, and the Alexander Purdie House and its outbuildings in Williamsburg. Another work, which was "in progress" during most of Dearstyne's teaching career, was Inside the Bauhaus, a history of the design school and his experience there. The only American graduate of the Bauhaus, Dearstyne was immensely affected by its teachings and concepts, especially those of its last master, Mies van der Rohe. Twenty-three years after being a student of Mies at the Bauhaus, Dearstyne became a professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology's School of Architecture, then under the direction of his former teacher. An early draft of the book and related correspondence, primarily requests for permission to publish copyrighted photographs or illustrations, are in the Writings File. Other writings by Dearstyne may be found in the Subject File.

Organization of the Papers

The collection is arranged in two series:

• Subject File, 1911-1986, n.d.
• Writings File, 1948-1978, n.d.

Container List