Call Number:

SCRC 42

Repository:

Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center

Extent:

• 13.35 linear feet (14 boxes + 13 map folders)
• 0.592 gigabytes (1,967 digital files)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Tyler School of Art Collection, SCRC 42, Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Date:

1906-2008 (inclusive) and 1935-2008 (bulk)

Creator:

Tyler School of Art

Form:

Administrative records, Broadsides, Clippings, Compact disks, Correspondence, Directories, DVDs, Ephemera, Financial records, Genealogies, Histories, Ledgers (account books), Logs, Mailing lists, Manuscripts, Maps, Membership lists, Pamphlets, Phonograph records, Photocopies, Photographs, Posters, Press releases, Proofs, Publications, Reports, Scrapbooks, and Sound recordings

Abstract:

In 1935, Stella Elkins Tyler donated a family estate in Elkins Park to Temple University for the purpose of creating a school of fine arts, specifying that it should be under the direction of Boris Blai. Tyler had been a student of Boris Blai, who served on the faculty of Temple's Oak Lane Country Day School. Temple named Blai, a noted sculptor, the first Dean of the Tyler School, and he served in that capacity until his retirement in 1960. Blai wanted the school's curriculum to include the liberal arts along with the fine arts, and to require the study of various art techniques before specialization in one. Charles Le Clair succeeded Blai as Dean in 1960 and expanded the curriculum to include graphic arts, a Master of Fine Arts degree, and the study abroad program in Rome in 1965.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Tyler's curriculum continued to grow, with the addition of classes in design, ceramics, glass, metals, and photography. Tyler developed the Art, Art Education, and Art History departments on Temple's main campus in North Philadelphia. Tyler graphic arts students developed the Temple "T" symbol in 1983. Exhibitions of the work of students and faculty, as well as local, national and international artists were held on the Tyler campus. Visiting scholars and artists offered lectures and classes. The school added an exhibition gallery to the University's Center City building at 1619 Walnut Street in 1985, which then moved to the Old City gallery district in 1996.

After many years of deliberation among the university administration, Tyler faculty, and students, largely during the tenure of Dean Rochelle Toner, the University relocated Tyler School of Art to Temple's main campus in a specially constructed building in 2008.

This collection was part of the Tyler Archives Project established by the Tyler library at the Elkins Park campus to document the work of Tyler faculty and alumni. Materials retained as part of this collection include library administrative files as well as material of historic interest from the school. Advertising material and catalogs for the school as well as from summer sessions and the Rome campus, scrapbooks, guest books and financial ledgers are also included. Memos, correspondence, and clippings tracing the history of various plans to move the school to the Main Campus are a significant part of the collection. The collection ends with the move in 2008.

The collection is arranged into 6 series as follows:

• Series 1: Administrative records, 1935-2008
• Series 2: Financial ledgers, 1935-1948
• Series 3: Catalogs, brochures, and advertising materials, 1937-2005
• Subseries 3.1: General catalogs, brochures, and advertising materials, 1937-2005
• Subseries 3.2: International programs, 1966-2001
• Series 4: Scrapbooks and guest books, 1963-1979
• Series 5: Audiovisual materials, 1963-2001
• Series 6: Memorabilia and ephemera, 1906-1991