Short Talks at 3:00pm
Free and Open to the Public
Cranbrook Archives is on the move! Join the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research for an afternoon of behind-the-scenes tours of the new Archives Reading Room, mini lectures, and a chance to view our collections up-close and personal.
Join the Center to learn about the exciting new developments in the Cranbrook Archives. We spent the summer creating a new Reading Room for the Archives within the Collections Wing of Cranbrook Art Museum. Occupying the former Art Museum Seminar Room, the new Reading Room has been custom-designed to provide storage for the Archives’ most important collections and access for visiting scholars and researchers and the general public.
Hear presentations on new research about Iraq, Pewabic Pottery, and the General Motors Technical Center, as well as the restoration of Cranbrook’s Alumni Courtyard and Tower Cottage.
Our Open Archives afternoon will include tours of the new Reading Room with archivists sharing highlights of the collections; tours of the Collections Wing Vault to see the Center’s Cultural Properties, including Saarinen rugs from Kingswood School for Girls; and presentations of new Cranbrook-related research by scholars from around the region.
1:00 – 3:00pm | Archives Reading Room Open for Exploration
1:15, 1:45, and 2:15pm | Tours of the Main Vault featuring Kingswood’s Cultural Properties
3:00 – 4:00pm | Short Talks by Regional Scholars in deSalle Auditorium
4:00 – 5:00pm | Archives Reading Room Open for Exploration
4:15pm | Final Tour of the Main Vault featuring Kingswood’s Cultural Properties
SHORT TALKS: NEW RESEARCH/OLD DOCUMENTS
The Center’s Open Archives afternoon will feature a series of short, ten-minute talks by scholars from around the region that have been using the Archives’ varied collections to make important new discoveries. These mini lectures in deSalle Auditorium will be introduced by Gregory Wittkopp, Director of the Center, who also will share information about Cranbrook’s vision to create an expanded permanent home for the Archives in the Albert Kahn-designed Stonelea House (Lyon House) near Cranbrook’s Woodward Entrance. The afternoon’s featured presenters include:
- Jean-Claude Azar, Director, Capital Projects, Cranbrook Educational Community – “Restoring Cranbrook Schools’ Alumni Court: The Role of Blueprints, Vintage Photographs, and Original Documents”
- Nancy Villa Bryk, Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, Eastern Michigan University – “Cranbrook’s Tower Cottage: A Case Study for the Eastern Michigan University Field School”
- Cara Catallo, Author and Communications Coordinator for Pewabic Pottery – “Pewabic Pottery, Mary Chase Perry Stratton, and the Patronage of George Gough Booth”
- Kaitlin Scharra Eraqi, Manager of Museum Programs, The Henry Ford – “Between Archaeological and Authoritarian Iraq: The Unforeseen Significance of Dr. Robert Hatt’s 1950s Documentation through Cranbrook Institute of Science”
- Susan Skarsgard, Manager, GM Design Archive & Special Collections – “General Motors Design and the Cranbrook Academy of Art Connection: Architecture and Cars”
The Open Archives afternoon will take place at Cranbrook Art Museum, which is located at 39221 Woodward Avenue in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Free parking is available in the Art Museum’s parking lot on the east side of the Art Museum. Visitor’s that would like assistance, including barrier-free access to the Art Museum, are encouraged to call the Center in advance of the Open Archives afternoon.
For more information, please contact the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research at 248.645.3307. The Center’s Administrative Assistant, Alissa Seelmann-Rutkofske, may be reached at 248.645.3307 (Tuesday through Friday, 9:00am – 5:00pm).
PHOTO CREDITS (FROM TOP TO BOTTOM)
Letterhead from the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research Exhibition at Cranbrook Art Museum, Ephemera: The Stories that Letterhead Tells (2014 – 2015). Letterhead from the Collection of Cranbrook Archives. Photography by Justine Tobiasz; Courtesy Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research.
Henry Wood Booth and his Daughter, Alice Booth Miller, in front of Tower Cottage, March 1916. Collection of Cranbrook Archives. Photography Courtesy Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research.
“Pink Panther” Automotive Design for General Motors by Suzanne Vanderbilt (CAA Metalsmithing, ’65). Collection of Cranbrook Archives, Suzanne Vanderbilt Papers. Photography Courtesy Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research.
Four Cranbrook School Seniors in Alumni Court, January 1944. Photography by Harvey Croze. Collection of Cranbrook Archives. Photography Courtesy Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research.