American Model: Origins of the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project

 Words on Pictures: Romana and the New York Public Library’s Picture Collection. edited by Anthony T. Troncale. New York: Photo | Verso Publications, LLC, 2020.   ISBN 978-1-7346409-0-8 (hardcover)  Identifiers ISBN  978-1-7346409-1-5 (ebook)

 American Model: Origins of the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project



 American 20th Century
Teapot, 1935/1942
watercolor, graphite, and colored pencil on paper overall: 20 x 25.4 cm (7 7/8 x 10 in.)
Index of American Design
1943.8.16986
 IAD-20140728-0019.jpg 
One of the more successful projects emanating from the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project was one of its first: The Index of American Design. Its origins came from users of the Picture Collection like Ruth Reeves, the textile designer who was working on a major commission to design the rugs and tapestries for the new Radio City Music Hall in 1932. Reeves would often discuss the lack of documentation in American design with the supervisor of the Picture Collection, Romana Javitz. So when the opportunity arose in 1935 to hire a network of unemployed illustrators, artists and photographers to render images of selected American designs, Romana wrote a proposal that did just that. It eventually would be applied across the country. 

If there was anyone who would understand the idea and concept of the Index of America Design, it would be Edgar Holger Cahill (1887-1960). Hired by John Cotton Dana in 1921 to be curator at the Newark Museum, Cahill staged pioneer exhibitions there entitled American Primitives (1930) and American Folk Sculpture (1931). As acting director of the Museum of Modern Art from 1932-1933, he presented exhibits including American Sources of Modern Art, American Folk Art: Art of the Common Man in America and a survey exhibition, American Painting and Sculpture 1862–1932. These and other projects placed Cahill at the epicenter of the modern American art movement and in 1935 he was the recruited to become the national director of the Federal Art Project. Cahill’s interests and intellect were perfectly in tune with Romana Javitz and they became life-long friends and colleagues.

By 1949 the Index was deposited at the National Gallery and Cahill was asked to write an introduction for Erwin O. Christensen’s book: The Index of American Design (New York: Macmillan, 1950).  

In the upcoming publication of Words on Pictures: Romana Javitz and the New York Public Library’s Picture Collection, a previously unpublished letter to Cahill from Javitz recounts the development of the idea behind the Index of American Design. Enclosures include the full original proposal and other supporting correspondence.


“Our staff was constantly frustrated by the lack of pictures to answer constant inquiries. We were besieged by foreign visitors and recently emigrated artists who asked over and over again for the American record – What kind of clothes the farmer wore in 1810; was there a tradition in the use of overalls in America; did we have pictures of all sides of the sun bonnet; where could they see a cigar Indian? It seemed shameful to me then that we had not developed pride enough in our own past to record the appearance of what the people wore, the details of their kitchens, their tools, their houses, their shops and toys.”


The Index of American Design was the answer to two pressing needs for Javitz, which she recalls with great clarity. One was to fill what she saw were large gaps in the historical American record, and the other was to provide relief to out of work illustrators and artists. The Index of American Design was a picture collection designed from scratch and was an “amplification and a natural growth of the service we were then giving the public”.



Photograph of WPA artist Magnus S. Fossum at work on Boston Town Coverlet (below) for the Federal Art Project's Index of American Design. National Archives, Records of the Work Projects Administration  (69-N-22577)  National Archives.


Boston Town Coverlet. 1770.   Watercolor rendering created for the Index of American Design

Fossum, Magnus S.American, 1888 – 1980. 1935/1942 watercolor, pen and ink, and graphite on paper overall: 67.3 x 54.2 cm (26 1/2 x 21 5/16 in.) Original IAD Object: 84" long; 96" wide.  Index of American Design.   1943.8.2895


Federal Art Project (N.Y.) and Robbins. Index of American Design at Macy's Department Store, NYC, 1938 July 30. Holger Cahill papers, 1910-1993. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.



Holger Cahill, national director of the Federal Art Project, speaking at the Harlem Community Art Center. October 24, 1938.


Index of American Design exhibition, Downtown Gallery, 113 W. 13th St.

New York City.  Federal Art Project Photographic Division. phot- Von Urban. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian.



The Index of American Design was a collaboration of federal, state and local governments that was a success and a model program for the relief of artists in need. The artists would record everything from iron railings to furniture, toys to tools, kitchens to carpentry. Administered by Ruth Reeves, Carl Tranum and Frances Pollack, the Index soon sprouted offices in thirty-four states across the West Coast, Rocky Mountains, Midwest, South, New England, and New York. 

The thousands of watercolors and photographs that were produced now form an important record of American crafts and design. The watercolor and photographic plates were produced by artists from thirty-four states in six regions of the US: The results were exhibited widely and circulated as educational tools for years. Exhibits included Edith Halpert’s Downtown Gallery, the WPA Federal Art Project Gallery, Macy's Department store, and the Harlem Community Art Center.  

Today, the Index plates are now fully digitized and presented on the National Gallery web site where it still serves researchers and scholars. There is also a collaborative effort with Google Arts and Culture.

American 20th Century
Dress, 1935/1942
watercolor and graphite on paperboard overall: 30.6 x 23 cm (12 1/16 x 9 1/16 in.) Index of American Design
1943.8.9566
IAD-20130730-0019.jpg


American 20th Century
Interior of Pullman Coach, 1888, 1935/1942 watercolor, gouache, and pen and ink on paper overall: 56.8 x 44 cm (22 3/8 x 17 5/16 in.) Index of American Design
1943.8.7635
IAD-20140731-0034.jpg 


J. Herman McCollum
American, active c. 1935
Bonnet, c. 1940
watercolor and graphite on paperboard overall: 42.5 x 43 cm (16 3/4 x 16 15/16 in.) Index of American Design
1943.8.1055
IAD-20130821-0015.jpg

IAD-20130731-0057.jpg American 20th Century
Churn, c. 1940
watercolor and graphite on paperboard
overall: 29 x 22.7 cm (11 7/16 x 8 15/16 in.) Original IAD Object: 10 3/4" high; 5" in diameter Index of American Design
1943.8.17317


IAD-20130723-0064.jpg
Fanchon Larzelere
American, active c. 1935
Bonnet, c. 1937
watercolor, graphite, and colored pencil on paper overall: 29.8 x 22.7 cm (11 3/4 x 8 15/16 in.) Index of American Design
1943.8.3113

 Words on Pictures: Romana and the New York Public Library’s Picture Collection. edited by Anthony T. Troncale. New York: Photo | Verso Publications, LLC, 2020.   ISBN 978-1-7346409-0-8 (hardcover)  Identifiers ISBN  978-1-7346409-1-5 (ebook)


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