Eileen Cowin papers, 1961-2015

This series consists of diplomas from undergraduate and graduate school, passports, dismantled rolodexes, and faculty identification cards. Also included are legal documents, interview transcripts, and miscellaneous documents. There is one external hard drive containing computer backup files of inventories, grant files, research files, personal photographs, and photographs of artwork.

The material in this series are grouped by document type, then arranged chronologically within each grouping.

Personal and professional correspondence is with family, friends, colleagues, artists, art collectors, gallery owners, museums, and universities. Notable correspondents include Carl Chiarenza, Darryl Curran, Maria Gonzalez, Robert Heinecken, Ellen Korsower, William Larson, Min Gallery, Roy Boyd Gallery, and Aaron Siskind.

Family correspondence is at the beginning of the series, followed by alphabetical correspondence, then chronological correspondence. Folder titles in quotation marks indicate that the original folder heading and arrangement of contents were retained.

Access restricted correspondence with Michael Dorris and Louise Erdrich and correspondence with Robert Fichter are in 2 boxes at the end of the series.

Writings include 4 notebooks from graduate school and universities where Cowin taught, numerous annotated appointment calendars and wall calendars, lecture drafts and notes, artists statements, a graduate thesis, drafts of essays, drafts of a fictionalized “interview” for a project, 2 exhibition guest registers, and a few writings by others. There are 3 sound cassettes and 2 sound discs (CD), primarily of lectures. One of the sound discs of a lecture at Pasadena City College also includes an interview with Cowin.

The material in this series are grouped by document type, then arranged chronologically within each grouping. Writings by others are grouped together at the end of the series and arranged alphabetically by the writer's last name.

Files are from Eileen Cowin’s teaching position at the California State University, Fullerton. There are a few files, mostly contracts, from Franconia College and other universities where she taught workshops or had brief faculty appointments. The files include student evaluations, promotion notifications, faculty grant proposals, notes, and limited correspondence.

This series is arranged alphabetically by the name of the college or university. Folders within each grouping are further broken down into document type, then rough chronological order.

Project files include professional files and files documenting projects and commissions. Files may contain project proposals, publication agreements, correspondence, printed material, application forms, contracts, research notes, invoices, and photographic material. Notable projects include various commissions for artwork on billboards, light boxes installation for a MTA Metro Art project, Pasadena City College Artist Residency, and material related to Eileen Cowin’s first design for her website. Video art projects are found in the Artwork series.

This series is arranged alphabetically by project title.

This series consists of exhibition announcements, catalogs, publicity, reviews, correspondence, exhibition lists, price lists of artwork, and other material for Eileen Cowin’s group and solo shows. A few highlights are the exhibition with Louise Erdrich at Domestic Settings Gallery and , Eileen Cowin's mid-career survey show. This series includes 1 floppy disk for the exhibition , 1993.

The series is arranged chronologically by exhibition date.

Printed materials consist primarily of “Eileen Cowin Press” folders containing clippings about Eileen Cowin that mention her name in reference to shows. Exhibition catalogs, announcements, books, periodicals, and clippings about Cowin and other artists are also in this series. Although most of the materials are related to Cowin, there is some printed material on other subjects that reflect Cowin’s research and interests.

The material in this series is grouped together by document type, then arranged chronologically within each grouping. Material about Eileen Cowin is arranged at the beginning of the series and printed material on other subjects, such as her research interests, come later. Folder titles in quotation marks indicates the original headings were retained.

The bulk of this series consists of 26 videocassettes containing video artworks by Eileen Cowin. In addition to the video recordings, there is 1 sketchbook, a few college art projects from State University of New York, New Paltz, and miscellaneous drawings that were scattered throughout the collection.

The audiovisual material is grouped together at the beginning of the series and is arranged alphabetically by the title of the artwork. Sketchbooks and other artwork are grouped at the end of the series in chronological order.

Photographic material includes prints, proofs, contact sheets, slides, negatives, video image stills, transparencies, and test shots . There are photographs of installations, press prints, artwork, and images for exhibition mock-ups. There are also several folders of “research photos” which were photographs Cowin took of film scenes she used as reference for her own photography and video work. There is also one folder of photographs of Cowin and scattered photographs of people at exhibitions, openings, and other events.

The photographs of Eileen Cowin come first, followed by art photographs, then photographs loosely grouped by project and subject, and finally oversized photographs. The photographs within each grouping are arranged alphabetically. Folder titles in quotation marks indicates that the original folder heading was retained.