The Winterthur Library

The Winterthur Library

The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, DE 19735

302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Creator: Gilborn, Craig A.

Title: Adirondack research papers

Dates: ca.1961-ca.2000, bulk 1980-2000

Call No.: Col. 871

Acc. No.: 10x51, 15x24

Quantity: 32 boxes, 1 oversize folder

Location: 10 E 1-3, 10 D 1-2

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

Craig A. Gilborn was the director of the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, New York. He graduated from the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture in 1961 and worked at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and at Winterthur before moving to New York. He has written several books, most focusing on the Adirondacks, particularly its camps and the rustic furniture made for them. Titles include Durant: The Fortunes and Woodland Camps of a Family in the Adirondacks, Adirondack Furniture and the Rustic Tradition, and Adirondack Camps: Homes Away from Home, 1850-1950. His wife Alice (Wolf) Gilborn is also an author.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

Research notes, photographs, and negatives pertaining to Gilborn’s interests in Adirondack camps and rustic furniture, particularly that made and used in the Adirondacks, and in the rustic tradition in architecture and the decorative arts throughout history. Gilborn was interested not only in the Great Camps, those large establishments which belonged to the wealthy, but also in the more ordinary, modest camps which belonged to or were frequented by average people seeking a rural vacation spot. His interest in rustic furniture focused not only on older, antique pieces and the makers of those pieces, but also on the workers who in the late 20^th century were continuing the rustic tradition. He gathered biographical information and photographs of these workers, their workshops, and their outputs. Included with Gilborn’s notes are a few 19^th century stereographs and early 20^th century postcards, but most of the photos are from the late 20^th century.

As well, the collection includes some of Gilborn’s notes and research accumulated while a student in the Winterthur program, and some notes about the shape of Coca-Cola bottles, together with 13 empty bottles. He used these to develop a teaching project. Also included is biographical information about Robert Bruce Inverarity, who, among his many activities, was first director of the Adirondack Museum.

ORGANIZATION

The papers are in three series: I. Adirondack and rustic decoration; II. photographs and videotapes (almost exclusively pertaining to Adirondack camps and rustic decoration); and III. other materials.

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

The materials are in English.

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.

PROVENANCE

Both accessions: gift of Craig A. Gilborn, in memory of Charles F. and Florence Montgomery, and Charles Montgomery, Jr.

ACCESS POINTS

People:

Inverarity, Robert Bruce, 1909-1999

Durrant family.

Topics:

Coca-Cola Company - Collectibles.

Winterthur Program in Early American Culture.

World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition (1884-1885 : New Orleans, La.)

Country furniture – New York (State).

Decoration and ornament, Rustic – New York (State).

Furniture – New York (State).

Furniture workers – 20^th century.

Furniture workers – New York (State).

Log cabins - New York (State) - Adirondack Mountains.

Museum directors - New York (State).

Workshops – Photographs.

Adirondack Mountains (N.Y.)

Central Park (New York, N.Y.) – Pictorial works.

Stereographs.

Postcards.

Video tapes.

DVDs.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Location: 10 E 1-3, 10 D 1-2

Series I: Adirondack files

Box 1: Rustic Tradition

Folder 1: 18^th century

Folder 2: 19^th century

Folder 3: 19^th century: Adirondacks

Folder 4: 19^th century: architecture: cabins, rural homes, do-it-yourself, camps, etc. (Europe and America)

Folders 5-6: 20^th century

Folder 7: Adirondacks: articles

Box 2: Rustic Tradition

Folder 1: Architecture: articles

Folder 2: Architecture: catalogs and advertisements

Folder 3: Architecture: “surprise dens”

Folder 4: Architecture: Switzerland and Scandinavia: articles

Folders 5-6: background: photos and slides

Folder 7: Bibliography

Folder 8: Cemeteries

Folder 9: Central Park (New York City) – includes stereograph of Rustic Arbor, 1894

Box 3: Rustic Tradition

Folder 1: China and Japan

Folder 2: Civil War

Folder 3: Classical world, Renaissance

Folder 4: Craftsman magazine articles on log cabins and rustic furniture

Folder 5: A. J. Davis, A. J. Downing, and F. L. Olmsted

Folder 6: Europe: illustrations

Folder 7: Furniture: Adirondack chairs

Folder 8: Furniture: Adirondack miscellaneous: photos

Folder 9: Furniture: Articles and bibliography

Folder 10: Furniture: Arts and Crafts and Mission styles

Folder 11: Furniture: Bentwood

Box 4: Rustic Tradition

Folder 1: Furniture: Bentwood style: photos

Folder 2: Furniture: Cast Iron

Folder 3: Furniture: catalogs and advertisements

Folder 4: Furniture: garden and park furniture, English-style, modern

Folder 5: Furniture: hickory furniture: Old Hickory Furniture Co. and Hickory Furniture Works

Folders 6-7: Furniture: hickory furniture: Indiana Hickory, Old Hickory Furniture Co.: photos

Folder 8: Furniture: Horn furniture

Folder 9: Furniture: miscellaneous photos

Box 5: Rustic Tradition

Folder 1: Furniture: Mosaic twig (text and photos)

Folder 2: Furniture: Mottville chairs

Folder 3: Furniture: pedestal tables, bird cage, root: photos

Folder 4: Furniture: stick: photos

Folder 5: Furniture: vernacular, American Indian, ramshackle

Folder 6: Furniture: Westport chairs (also includes slides of Adirondack chairs)

Folder 7: Furniture makers: Frank Alger, Joseph Asher, Brooklyn Chair Co., Chris. Brown

Folder 8: Furniture makers: Joseph Bryere

Box 6: Rustic Tradition

Folder 1: Furniture makers: Bunnell, Fred Burke, Reuben Cary, John Champney, H. C. Dexter Chair Co., Andrew Fisher, Frank Fortin

Folder 2: Furniture makers: Lee Fountain

Folder 3: Furniture makers: John Gerster, John Hanchett, Horace Inman, Billie Jones, Schuyler Kathan, Keene Valley Industries, Benj. A. Muncil, Elmer Patterson, Seth Pierce

Folder 4: Furniture makers: John Plumley, Earl Rector, Charles Rohlfs, D. Savage, Perry Sleeper, O. L. Snyder, Frank Sperry, George Starks

Folder 5: Furniture makers: Ernest Stowe

Folder 6: Furniture makers: E. E. Sumner, D. Swan and Henry Swan, Walter Turner, Charles Vandenberg, Westcott, George Wilson, Will Young

Folder 7: Gardens and parks

Folder 8: Grottoes

Box 7: Rustic Tradition

Folder 1: Illustrations (mostly photocopies): Adirondacks

Folder 2: manufacturers of rustic work, 19^th century

Folder 3: Miscellaneous articles, 19^th and early 20^th centuries, includes stereograph of Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, N.Y.

Folder 4: “National Park Service Rustic Architecture, 1916-1942,” by Tweed, Soulliere, & Law, with postcards

Folder 5: Native American influences

Folder 6: Naturalists and philosophers

Folder 7: New York: Mohonk Mountain House and Saratoga Springs

Folder 8: Rustic Carpentry (1907): photos of book illustrations

Folder 9: “The Rustic Use of Wood in Adirondack Camp Architecture, 1875-1929,” by Fiore and Jacob

Folder 10: Trade catalogs, 19^th century (copies)

Folder 11: Tree houses

Box 8: Rustic Tradition; Rustic Modern

Folder 1: Rustic tradition: United States: illustrations, includes stereograph of entrance to garden at World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, 1884-1885, in New Orleans

Folder 2: Rustic tradition: Weidenmann, Jacob: landscape architect

Folder 3: Rustic modern: book concept and notes

Folder 4: Rustic modern: catalogs

Folder 5: Rustic modern: correspondence, articles, etc.

Folder 6: Rustic modern: “Forever Wild”: essays on the Adirondacks and information about furniture makers

Folder 7: Rustic modern: furniture

Folder 8: Rustic modern: house plans (rough sketches)

Box 9: Rustic Modern

Folder 1: Negatives: houses, furniture, rustic workers

(prints in separate box; not all negatives have a print)

Folder 2: notebooks 1, 2, 3

Folder 3: Rustic workers: lists, business cards

Folder 4: Rustic workers: B-J [see also folder 6]

(Bauer, Becker, Brady, Bright, Chamberlain, Couture, Davis, Duffy, Farleigh, Greene, Hall, Harwell, Hawkins, Hay, Hayes, Hays, Heller, Hesseltine, Heuler, Himmen, Jacques)

Folder 5: Rustic workers: M-W [see also folders 1-2 in next box]

(Mack, Mackey(?), Mahoney, Mark, McConnell (Brant Lake Chair Co.), Mills, Porter, Pryor, Quinn, Raben(?), Rosenbarker, Ruaff(?), Sandborn, Schintzius, Schwertz, Sharrock, A. Smith, Bill Smith, J.L. Smith, Sparks, Turnbull, Vana, Van Hazinga, Vincent, Vipon, Voorhees, Waller, Wesiberg, Willsboro Wood Products)

Folder 6: Rustic workers: A-G [see also folder 4 above]

(Jean Armstrong, Bart Bailey, Barney Bellinger, Bertucci & Farrell, M. Cherry, Jay Dawson, Flynn-Devereux, Eric Gelsmann, Barry Gregson, Bruce Gunderson)

Box 10: Rustic Modern

Folder 1: Rustic modern: Rustic workers: H-O [see also previous box]

(Ken Heitz, Karl Henck, James Howard, Stuart Johnstone, Jack Leadley, John McEntee, Nick Nickerson, Raymond Overholser)

Folder 2: Rustic modern: Rustic workers: P-S [see also previous box]

(Thos. Phillips, David Robinson, Dennis Smith, Jamie Sutliff)

Folder 3: Rustic modern: Rustic workers: questionnaire and possible book

Folder 4: Rustic modern: Shows

Box 11: Adirondack Camps

Folder 1: Adirondacks: 19^th century articles and stories

Folder 2: Adirondacks: churches and chapels

Folder 3: Adirondacks: clubs and preserves

Folder 4: Camps: Architects and planners: slides

Folder 5: Camps: Architects: Coulter, William L.

Folder 6: Camps: Architects: Distin, William G.

Folder 7: Camps: Architects: Robert H. Robertson; Augustus D. Shepard; Wareham/Delair; Max Westhoff; William S. Wicks

Folder 8: Camps: compilation of articles, August 1992

Folder 9: Camps: Great Camps of Adirondacks tour, Preservation League of New York State, 1992

Folder 10: Camps: guides and miscellaneous workers

Folder 11: Camps: houseboats and floating camps

Folder 12: Camps: newsletters

Folder 13: Camps: notes of interviews, research, etc.

Box 12: Adirondack Camps

Folder 1: Camps: “Summer Architecture in the Adirondacks,” by R. Longstreth

Folder 2: Camps: tents

Folder 3: Camps: unknown [chiefly photos]

Folder 4: Camps: Vanderbilt genealogy

Folder 5: Camps: Vernacular: cabins, shanties, lean-tos [chiefly photos]

Folder 6: Camps by district: Cranberry Lake

(Buck Island Camp, Hotel Childwold, Rock Shanty, Sliding Rock Falls, Sanderson Lodge)

Folder 7: Camps by district: Fulton Chain camps (Eighth Lake west to Brantingham Lake)

(Camp Meenahga, Camp Paownyc, Pontiac Inn)

Folder 8: Camps by district: High Peaks: Keene Valley, Willsboro, Au Sable Forks

(Adirondack Lodge, Adirondack Mountain Preserve, Samuel Adsit Cabin, The Cliffs, Graves Mansion, Horace Learned Camp, Camp Lone Pine, Putnam Camp)

Folder 9: Camps by district: High Peaks: Lake Placid

(Camp Cavendish, Humdinger Hill, Camp Owaissa, Norton cottage, Lake Placid Club, Last Chance Ranch, Castle Rustico, Camp Joyland)

Folder 10: Camps by district: Lake Champlain: Crater Club

Folder 11: Camps by district: Lake George

(Sagamore Hotel, Fort Ticonderoga Pavilion, Horicon Pavilion, Knapp estate, Lake George House, Lakeside Inn, Silver Bay)

Folder 12: Camps by district: Malone district

(Fenton House, Sneed Creek fish camp, Camp Debar, High Falls camp, Camp Sage)

Box 13: Adirondack Camps

Folder 1: Camps by district: North Creek district (see also folder 2)

(Caughawauga Club, Demarest camp, W. L. Clarkson log house, Elk Lake Lodge, Goodnough Mountain Cabin, Camp Santanoni, Tahawus Club, Spaulding camp, Hukweem)

Folder 2: Camps by district: North Creek district (see also folder 1)

(Mossy Camp, North Woods Club, Tip Top, Camp Ziegler)

Folder 3: Camps by district: Saranacs (see also folder 4)

(Blagden camp/Saranac Inn, W. C. Floyd Jones camp, Henry Goldman camp, Edmund Guggenheim camp, Otto Kahn camp, Knollwood club, Adolph Lewisohn camp, Levi P. Morton camp/Eagle Island camp)

Folder 4: Camps by district: Saranacs (see also folder 3)

(Camp Pinebrook, Saranac Inn, Saranac Lake Village, Henry Smith camp, Wawbeek Inn, J. S. Bache camp/Wenonah Lodge, Camp Wildwood, William A. Rockefeller camp, Camp Windmere)

Folder 5: Camps by district: Speculator district

(Fish House and Mount Joy, Old Riley Tavern, Sacandaga Park)

Folder 6: Camps by district: St. Regis Lake and Osgood Pond (see also next box)

(Bay Pond camp, Paul Smith’s Hotel, St. Regis/Spitfire Lakes, Birch Island camp, Robert Garrett camp, Longwood, Camp Topridge)

Box 14: Adirondack Camps

Folder 1: Camps by district: St. Regis Lake and Osgood Pond (see also previous box)

(White Pine Camp, Camp Wildair, Camp Woodmere)

Folder 2: Camps by district: Tupper Lake district

(Ampersand Lake, Tarnedge, Follensby, Kildare Club, Litchfield Park, Nehasane, Read Camp, Camp Carolina)

Folder 3: Camps by district: Old Forge district (see also folder 4)

(Berkeley Lodge, Burdick’s camp, Covewood Lodge, Camp Crag, Dart’s Hotel, DeCamp, Forest Lodge, Higby camp, Hollywood Hills Hotel, Lake View Lodge, Moosehead Hotel, Charles E. Snyder cottages, Wilderness Park, Camp Wildwood)

Folder 4: Camps by district: Old Forge district: Adirondack League Club lodges (see also folder 3)

(Bisby Lake Lodge, Honnedaga Lake Lodge, Little Moose Lodge, Wicks camp)

Folder 5: Camps by district: Racquette Lake and Blue Mountain Lake (see also next box)

(Adirondack Museum, Aluminum Pond camp, Camp Stott, Carnegie camp, Camp Cedarlands, Camp Cedars, Crane Point Lodge/Care Naught Lodge, Daly-Baekeland camp, Deerlands, Eagle Nest)

Box 15: Adirondack Camps

Folder 1: Camps by district: Racquette Lake and Blue Mountain Lake (see also previous box and rest of this box)

(Camp Seven Pines, Endion, Camp Fairview, Fowler camp, Gardner-Ottoway camp, The Hedges, Kilcorawah/Heyer-Warner camp, Walter Hochschild camp, Camp Hoff)

Folder 2: Camps by district: Racquette Lake and Blue Mountain Lake (see also previous box and rest of this box)

(Camp Inman, Kwenogamac/Gerster, Laprarie House, Little Forked Lake camp, Loch Haven, Camp Lynx, Merwin’s Blue Mountain House)

Folder 3: Camps by district: Racquette Lake and Blue Mountain Lake (see also previous box and rest of this box)

(Minnewawa, Camp Minnowbrook, Camp Omonson, Camp Oteetiwi, Ottoway-Courtney camp, Prospect House/Hotel Utowana, Racquette lake hotels)

Folder 4: Camps by district: Racquette Lake and Blue Mountain Lake (see also previous box and rest of this box)

(Sagamore Lodge, Stearn/Buchman camp, Thacher Island camp, Camp Togus, R. P. Tubby camp, Twin Tower camps, Camp Uncas, George Wheelan cottage, Windy Barn/Storrs camp)

Folder 5: Camps by district: Racquette Lake and Blue Mountain Lake: Camp Pine Knot

(see also next box)

Box 16: Adirondack Camps; Durant camps

Folder 1: Adirondack Camps: Camps by district: Racquette Lake and Blue Mountain Lake: Camp Pine Knot: photos (see also previous box)

Folder 2: Adirondack Camps: Camps by district: Racquette Lake and Blue Mountain Lake: Brandreth Park camps

Folder 3: Adirondack Camps: Camps by district: Racquette Lake and Blue Mountain Lake: Kamp Kill Kare

Folders 4-5: Durant camps: Rose v. Durant, 1901 (copy)

Folder 6: Durant camps: Ella (play by Gilborn): desk copy, corrections

Folder 7: Durant camps: Ella (play by Gilborn): 1992 version

Box 17: Durant camps

Folder 1: Poppensiek, Neil: correspondence

Folder 2: Poppensiek, Neil: comments on Durant papers, cassette tape (have tape 2 of 2 only)

Folders 3-4: Objects in Adirondack Museum

Folder 5: Slides: camps

Folder 6: Slides: Durant family

Folder 7: Camps, furniture: photos and negatives

Folder 8: Family photos (mostly, some used in book)

Folder 9: Furniture, mostly for Camp Pine Knot: photos

Series II: Photographs, Videotapes, DVD

Box 1: Photographs

Folder 1: Adirondack Museum: exhibits and furniture, 1975-1986

Folder 2: Camps

Folder 3: Camps and miscellaneous

Folder 4: Camps: Elk Lake and furniture

Folders 5-6: Camps: Kamp Kill Kare

Box 2: Photographs

Folder 1: Camps: in chronological order, June-October 1973

[see index in front of this folder]

Folder 2: Camps: in chronological order, Nov. 1973-July 1, 1974