Margaret Merwin Patch papers, 1885-1986

Found are scattered biographical materials relating to Margaret Merwin Patch, her husband George Patch, and members of the Merwin and Patch families. Found for Margaret Merwin Patch are awards, identification cards and passports, school records, an end of life decree, scattered receipts, and a wedding invitation. Material concerning Rachel Merwin-Coggeshall trace Margaret Patch's sister's career as an architect. A file for Buckland house and orchard includes plans, letters regarding the construction and building of the home, greeting cards featuring drawings of the home, deeds and inventories. Also found are a couple of photos of Patch's cousin, Ruth Merwin, who was accidentally shot and killed by United States Vice President Adlai Stevenson when he was a teenager. The file also includes an article about Stevenson.

Margaret Patch's correspondence is with friends; family including her sister Rachel Merwin-Coggeshall, her cousin Hester Merwin Ayers, her niece Julie Upton, and her uncle Louis Merwin; and various organizations and institutions.

Correspondents include Mrs. A.C. Aldrich, American Friends Service Committee, Archives of American Art, Arts Council of Franklin County, Dr. R. Balamohan, Feliciano Bejar, Columbia University, Craft International, Tjokrda Raka Dherana, Enamel Guilt West, Rose-Marie Eggmann, Kenji Fujimori, Martin Foley, Berta Frey, Donald G. Gill, Robert King Hall, Mrs. J.W. Halloway, Karel Hettes, Dorothy Johnson, Herta Kaiser, H. Kawai, Kent State Unviversity, Luba Kruja, Janet Leach, Doris Leeper, Lucille Leigh, Dora Mangauairn, Massachusetts State Federation of Women's Clubs, Jack Mershou, Charles Merwin, James Zee Min-Lee, Jose Chavez Morado, William Murai, Museum of Arts and Sciences New Smyrna Beach, M. Natarajan, Anna Mae Neely, Fern O'Brien, George W. Patch, C. Portanier, Despina Pyrglogli, N. Roopmanthi, jewelers Mary and Frances Schimpff, Nelly H. Sethma, Shelburne Falls Women's Club, South Carolina Historical Society, Olga Valkova, R. Wissa Wassef, Aileen Osborn Webb, Wiltsie's Weaving Expeditions, Wolfe Worldwide Films, Beatrice Wood, and Mrs. Robert Woodroofe.

Three line-a-day diaries span the years 1912 to 1926. These were kept after Patch graduated from the University of Illinois and include her time at the University of Chicago and travel to London to attend the London School of Economics and the Paris Peace Conference with the American Section of the Allied Maritime Transport Council.

Found are Patch's manuscript concerning her climb of the Alpine Mont Blanc and three typescripts concerning world crafts, poems, and a glass making symposium. Writings by others include the unpublished memoir of Aileen Osborn Webb Almost a Century and Touching Certain Things written and hand colored by Beatrice Wood.

Subject files may include correspondence, photographs, writings, and financial records concerning some of the many organizations and institutions for which Patch worked as a professional and arts administrator. Material from the Merwin-Davis Statistical Services company includes printed examples of their work. Travel files date from the 1930s and include correspondence and travel souvenirs from Mexico, Central America, Italy, Sicily, and Greece. The Shelburne Falls Art Center file includes a sound recording.

Records from the American Craftsmen's Council include letters, writings and notebooks, printed material, and slides. Notebooks were kept during trips to Asia, India, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.

Records from the World Crafts Council create the bulk of this collection. Found are administrative history documents, by-laws, financial reports and notes, annual reports, directories of officers and members, printed materials, slides and photographs, files from allied organizations, and correspondence. Letters are from Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Kenji and Chika Dujimori, Ake Huldt, and James Plaut among many others.

There are files pertaining to twenty-five regional and general assembly meetings of the World Crafts Council which may include planning documents, correspondence, minutes, and printed material. Also found are records from the First World Crafts Exhibition (1974). Subject material from Patch's year-long travel through Africa with the World Crafts Council and her study of African crafts are also found. These files contain photographs with notes, printed material, and scattered correspondence.

Files concerning twenty-five international conferences and meetings are arranged in rough chronological order.

Found are clippings about Patch and her family and colleagues, exhibition catalogs, and published books including The Crafts of the Modern World by Margaret Merwin Patch, Rose Slivka, and Aileen O. Webb.

Photographs are of the Patch and Merwin families and include snapshots and portraits of Margaret Patch, her husband George Patch, sister Rachel Merwin-Coggeshall, cousin Hester Merwin Ayers, and other members of the family. A photo album contains photos of the Patch family and orchard. Photos of homes include Buckland House and Orchard and the Patch's home in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts.