Oral history interview with Merle Armitage
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 48 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Armitage, Merle, 1893-1975
label: Interviewer
content: Loomis, Sylvia Glidden
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: American Institute of Graphic Arts
label: Names
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: Public Works of Art Project
label: Names
content: Public Works of Art Project (Calif.)
label: Names
content: Bruce, Edward, 1879-1943
label: Names
content: Hatfield, Dalzell, 1893-1963
label: Names
content: Zornes, James Milford, 1908-2008
topic: label: Topic
content: Art and state
label: Topic
content: Federal aid to the arts -- California
label: Topic
content: Art -- Censorship
label: Topic
content: Arts administrators -- California -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Graphic artists -- California -- Interviews
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Armitage, Merle, 1893-1975
label: Interviewer
content: Loomis, Sylvia Glidden
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Merle Armitage (1893-1975) was an art administrator and graphic artist of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 23 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1964 February 6
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.armita64
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript: 35mm microfilm reel 3418 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Merle Armitage conducted 1964 February 6, by Sylvia Loomis, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Armitage speaks of his role as Public Works of Art Project regional chairman of Southern California, including his supervision of 126 artists involved in painting, drawing, sculpture, lithography and mural projects; experimental work in PWAP easel painting projects; censorship of subject matter in a mural for the Frank Wiggins Trade School; his opposition to government subsidized art programs; his impressions of Edward Bruce, Dalzell Hatfield, James Milford Zornes, and others associated with the PWAP. Armitage also speaks of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and contemporary book design.