Collection Information
Size: 1.8 Linear feet, (partially microfilmed on 3 reels)
Summary: The papers of cermaicist Marlis Schratter (1919-2014) measure 1.8 linear feet and date from circa 1956-2004. Included are correspondence, technical notes, business records, scrapbooks, printed material, photographs, a motion picture film, and fired clay samples documenting Schratter's ceramic techniques and her artistic and teaching activities.
REEL 970: Notes concern marketing and methods of attracting customers, record sales and customer reactions, and list supply purchases and prices for her work (1960-1975). The collection also contains 6 letters from Schratter's colleagues (1971-1973), a clipping, and a blueprint for a kiln.
REELS 982-983: Thirty-nine letters to Schratter from colleagues concern her exhibitions and her work (1957-1975). One notebook contains technical information concerning topics related to ceramics (1956- 1974). A second notebook concerning the construction of a gas kiln contains 16 letters, a receipt, and kiln log sheets. Seven letters and miscellaneous notebook pages concern glazes, slab construction, and related topics (1956- 1974). Eight pages from a kiln log contain notes and 5 firing charts recording the kiln's performance. A scrapbook contains clippings, exhibition announcements, and catalogs (1956-1975). Photographs show Schratter's work (1967-1974). The collection also contains 2 resumes and 2 artist's statements.
UNMICROFILMED: Six letters to Schratter from colleagues concern her exhibitions and work (1974-1983). A card file contains glaze and slip recipes. Three notebooks contain technical notes on clay bodies, chemicals, recipes, glazes and teaching (1956-1975), and gas kilns (1965-1975). Nineteen course evaluation sheets are from Schratter's class at the DeCordova Museum (1974- 1975). Printed material consists of a clipping (1972) and an announcement and catalog for the exhibition "The Potter's Wheel" at the DeCordova Museum (1976). Photographs and slides show Schratter and her work. An 8mm motion picture "Pots" by Richard Morehouse shows Schratter teaching a class (1968). Thirty- two fired clay test samples are annotated with formulas. Also included is a three-ring binder containing biographical information, photographs of works of art and of Schratter, Also included are loose sheets of correspondence, newspaper clippings and additional biographical information.