Dorothy Weiss Gallery records, circa 1964-2001, bulk 1984-2000

This series contains files for artists represented by the gallery, or featured in the gallery's exhibitions. There are also files for artists in whom Weiss had an interest but with whom she never pursued a business relationship. While some artists are represented by only a single file, others are represented more fully. The latter include Hank Murta Adams, Rudy Autio, Annette Corcoran, Philip Cornelius, Wouter Dam, Ruth Duckworth, Jack Earl, Tony Hepburn, Jun Kaneko, Michael Lucero, Beverly Mayeri, William Morris, Jay Musler, Barbara Bell Smith, Statom Therman, Yoshio Taylor, Robert Turner, Jamie Walker, and Stan Welsh.

Files typically include any or all of the following: announcements and press releases for exhibitions held at the gallery; correspondence with artists, buyers, collectors, museums and art institutions; biographical material such as résumés and artist statements; consignment, loan and shipping records; inventories and price lists; printed material; photographs of artists; and photographs of artwork.

Correspondence generally includes original incoming letters and drafts or copies of outgoing letters. To preserve the original order of the collection, records relating to a particular artist were broken down according to the system imposed by the creator. Consequently, files labeled "correspondence" may also include material such as price lists, inventories, consignment and loan records, invoices, and shipping records.

Photographic material generally consists of images of artwork and may also contain images of gallery installations or photographs of work in an artist's studio. Photographs of artists are filed separately and/or noted in the container list.

Additional slide transparencies of artwork by many of the artists represented here can be found at the end of the series. These were separated from the artist files in which they were originally housed for storage reasons. Researchers should check the list of transparencies for additional information about any artist of interest. "SB" next to the box number indicates the slide box in which particular slide transparencies are housed.

Files are arranged alphabetically by artist. When there is more than one folder for an artist they are arranged alphabetically by folder title, with the exception of photographs of artists and photographic material which are placed at the end of each group. Transparencies of artwork are arranged alphabetically by artists, and chronologically by date of artwork (not the date that the transparency was developed which is often unknown), with undated transparencies at the beginning of each group.

This series contains records of approximately twenty-five group exhibitions held at the gallery. Files typically contain announcements, press releases, correspondence with participating artists, price lists, and photographs of artwork. Researchers should note that records of other exhibitions can be found in the artist files.

For several exhibitions, such as the Alfred Show (1989), and some of the New Glass exhibitions and Teapot Invitationals, Weiss requested that participants submit black and white sketches, rather than photographs of artwork, for the exhibition announcements. She asked that the sketches "suggest the character and spirit of the work" to be included in the exhibition. Many of these original black and white drawings, with accompanying letters from the artists, can be found in this series. One oversized letter with accompanying teapot drawings by Juta Savage, is housed in Series 1: Artist Files, and can be found in OV 21.

See Appendix for a list of exhibitions at Meyer Breir Weiss Contemporary Crafts, Inc., and the Dorothy Weiss Gallery.

Files are chronologically by date of exhibition which appears in parentheses after the title and is followed by span dates for the folder. Some files contain records of several exhibitions of the same title over a period of years, for which no specific exhibition years are given. These folders are placed at the beginning of the series. Within folders, material is generally arranged chronologically. However, in cases where the gallery collected records relating to individual artists in a single exhibition, material is arranged alphabetically by artist and then chronologically.

The subject files that comprise this series include general correspondence concerning gallery activities arranged by type of client, documentation of outgoing and returned loans, and records relating to several projects involving other institutions in which the gallery was involved. The Chicago Art Fair folder contains photographs of Dorothy Weiss Gallery installations at the Fair.

Records are arranged alphabetically by subject.