Cornish School photograph collection, circa 1914-1960

Overview of the Collection

Collector
Cornish School of Music (Seattle, Wash.)
Title
Cornish School photograph collection
Dates
circa 1914-1960 (inclusive)
Quantity
982 photographic prints (6 boxes)
Collection Number
PH0235
Summary
Photographs from Seattle school of the arts, now Cornish School of the Arts
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

The collection is open to the public.

Request at UW

Additional Reference Guides

Languages
English

Historical NoteReturn to Top

The Cornish School of Allied Arts was founded by Nellie C. Cornish in 1914 as the Cornish School of Music, located in the Booth Building at Broadway and Pine Street in Seattle. Nellie Cornish wanted to educate artists through exposure to all art forms, and within the next few years, expanded the curriculum to offer courses in dance, visual arts, theater, and design. The school became the first in the western United States to offer comprehensive training in all of the arts.

Nellie Cornish recruited both famous and unknown artists for her faculty, including painter Mark Tobey, dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, and artists fleeing from the Russian revolution, such as Peter Merenblum. Her focus, however, was not to bring art to a privileged elite, but to nurture creativity in the average person and enrich the lives of all, not just the talented, by means of art.

After World War I, and faced with the Cornish School's impending financial crisis, a group of prominent, welthy women and their husbands formed a Board of Trustees to raise funds for a new facility. In 1921, the School moved to a new, picturesque building on East Roy Street, with Nellie Cornish living in an upstairs apartment.

While the School's programs flourished, Cornish faced repeated financial crises. In 1924, with the school unable to pay the mortgage on its property, a group of benefactors formed the non-profit Cornish School Foundation to manage finances, and named Nellie Cornish the lifetime director of educational programs, working in coordination with the Foundation's Board of Trustees and the Women's Advisory Committee. After 1939, with the resignation of Nellie Cornish, a Faculty governing Board directed the school until 1946. The Music and Art Foundation, a women's civic organization formed in 1923 to encourage young people to develop their creative and artistic talents, assumed ownership and administrative responsibility of the Cornish School in 1954.

In 1977, Cornish School of Allied Arts became Cornish Institute of Allied Arts, a fully accredited college offering Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees. In 1986, the college was renamed the Cornish College of the Arts. Cornish College opened a new campus in downtown Seattle in 2003.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The collection is arranged to reflect the activities of the school in the areas of art, music, drama and dance from circa 1914 to circa 1960. Participants identifiable with a particular activity of the school were placed in a subject catagory. Those individuals who were unidentified were placed in the unidentified catagories.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Alternative Forms Available

View the index to identified individuals from this collection

Restrictions on Use

Restrictions may exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Contact Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries for details.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Related Materials

Cornish School of Allied Arts Records (Manuscripts Collection 2654)

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

 

Series A: Portraits - Identified, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 1

Series B: Group Portraits - Identified, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 1

Series C: Portraits - Unidentified, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 1

Series D: Group Portraits - Unidentified, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 2

Series E: Stage Productions - Identified, 1926, 1929, undatedReturn to Top

Container(s): Box 2

Cornish Follies of 1926; The Gondoliers; Manickie and Minikie; Passion Play; Pierrot; The Prodigal Princess Who Wouldn't Say Die (Summer 1929); Tidings Brought to Mary

Series F: Stage Productions - Unidentified, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 2

Series G: Stage Productions - Miscellaneous, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 2

Series H: Art, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 2

Container(s) Description Dates
Box
2
Subseries 1. Portraits - Identified
circa 1914-1960
2
Subseries 2. Design: a. Costume b. Interior
circa 1914-1960
3
Subseries 3. Drawing and Painting
circa 1914-1960
3
Subseries 4. Miscellaneous
circa 1914-1960
3
Subseries 5. Art Work
circa 1914-1960

Series I: Dance, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 3

Container(s) Description Dates
Box
3
Subseries 1: Portraits - Identified
circa 1914-1960
3
Subseries 2: Productions - Identified
Concetante Queen of the Night (Dec. 1932); Spectrum; Theft of the Brooch
1932; undated
3
Subseries 3: Productions - Unidentified
circa 1914-1960
3
Subseries 4: Ballet
circa 1914-1960
3
Subseries 5: Eurythmics
circa 1914-1960
3
Subseries 6: Miscellaneous
circa 1914-1960

Series J: Drama, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 4

Container(s) Description Dates
Box
4
Subseries 1: Portraits - Identified
circa 1914-1960
4
Subseries 2: Portraits - Unidentified
circa 1914-1960
4
Subseries 3: Group Portraits - Identified (from unknown productions)
circa 1914-1960
4
Subseries 4: Productions
circa 1914-1960
5
Subseries 5: Miscellaneous
circa 1914-1960

Series K: Music, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 5

Container(s) Description Dates
Box
5
Subseries 1: Portraits - Identified
circa 1914-1960
5
Subseries 2: Productions - Identified (A Letter to Emily)
1952
5
Subseries 3: Cornish Trio
circa 1914-1960
5
Subseries 4: Horns
circa 1914-1960
5
Subseries 5: Piano
circa 1914-1960
5
Subseries 6: String
circa 1914-1960
6
Subseries 7: Symphony
circa 1914-1960
6
Subseries 8: Voice
circa 1914-1960

Series L: Puppetry, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 6

Container(s) Description Dates
Box
6
Subseries 1: Portraits - Identified
circa 1914-1960
6
Subseries 2: Activities
circa 1914-1960

Series M: Radio, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 6

Series N: Children's Activities, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 6

Series O: Audiences, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 6

Series P: Buildings, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 6

Series Q: Documents, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 6

Series R: Photographers' Proofs, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 6

Series S: Miscellaneous, circa 1914-1960Return to Top

Container(s): Box 6

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Acting--Study and teaching--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Art schools--Washington (State)--Seattle--Archives
  • Art--Study and teaching--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Arts--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Conservatories of music--Washington (State)--Seattle--Archives
  • Dance schools--Washington (State)--Seattle--Archives
  • Dance--Study and teaching--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Music--Instruction and study--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Small colleges--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Universities and colleges--Washington (State)--Seattle

Corporate Names

  • Cornish College of Allied Arts (Seattle, Wash.)--Archives
  • Cornish College of Allied Arts (Seattle, Wash.)--Students--Photographs
  • Cornish School of Music (Seattle, Wash.)--Archives
  • Cornish School of Music (Seattle, Wash.)--Students--Photographs

Other Creators

  • Corporate Names
    • Cornish College of Allied Arts (Seattle, Wash.) (creator)

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Visual Materials Collections (University of Washington)