Ed Colker papers
name: label: Creator
content: Colker, Ed, 1927-
label: Names
content: Atelier Desjobert
label: Names
content: Haybarn Press
label: Names
content: United States. Army
label: Names
content: Barnet, Will, 1911-2012
label: Names
content: Johnson, J. Curtis
label: Names
content: Konner, Melvin
label: Names
content: Norris, Kathleen, 1947-
label: Names
content: Pease, Deborah
label: Names
content: Takaezu, Toshiko
label: Names
content: Walker, Jeanne Murray
topic: label: Occupation
content: Arts administrators -- United States
label: Occupation
content: Painters -- United States
label: Topic
content: Printmakers -- United States
label: Topic
content: Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- United States
label: Topic
content: Printing
label: Topic
content: Art -- Study and teaching
label: Topic
content: Transcripts
label: Topic
content: Design
label: Topic
content: Educators -- United States
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated by Ed Colker in 1991, 2013 and 2020.
creator: label: Creator
content: Colker, Ed, 1927-
setName: label: See more items in
content: Ed Colker papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of painter, printmaker, educator and administrator Ed Colker are dated 1944-2020 and measure 3.4 linear feet. Colker's painting, printmaking, and Haybarn Press, as well as his career as an art teacher and university administrator, are documented through biographical materials, correspondence, interviews, writings, subject files, printed material, and photographs. There is a 0.2 linear ft. addition to the collection donated in 2020 that includes lists of works of art, exhibition information, letters to Colker, talks and lecutres by Colker, printed material and miscellany.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Ed Colker (b. 1927) is a painter, printmaker, educator, and administrator who has worked in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City. Colker founded the not-for-profit fine art publisher Haybarn Press. He is married to artist Elaine Galen and resides in Mt. Kisco, NY.

After high school, Colker was awarded a scholarship and began his art education at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Arts. He interrupted his studies to serve in the U.S. Army (1944-1946). He graduated in 1949, by which time the school had become the Philadelphia Museum School of Art; today it is the University of the Arts. He taught art in the Philadelphia area before moving to New York City in 1956. Later, Colker earned degrees from New York University (B.S. Ed, 1964; M.A., 1985). 

Colker taught art and design courses at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle, Cornell University, Pratt Institute, and Philadelphia College of Art. By the 1980s, he had become an administrator as well as a professor. Throughout his academic career, Colker published and lectured widely, served as a visiting artist, acted as a consultant, and participated in professional organizations. He occasionally organized exhibitions and served on exhibition juries.

Since 1960, under the imprints Editions du Grenier, Haybarn Editions, and Haybarn Press, Colker has published limited edition books, portfolios, broadsides, individual pages, and folders of poetry. Most are accompanied by Colker's etchings and lithographs inspired by the texts. Haybarn Press, under the Ambor Edition imprint, also produced four portfolios with text and drawings by Elaine Galen, 1996-2008. From its inception, the work of Haybarn Press has been featured in many exhibitions of book arts. Colker also participated in group shows throughout the United States and enjoyed solo exhibitions of his paintings and prints. Haybarn Press productions and Colker's prints and paintings are in the permanent collections of Brown University, Cornell University, Harvard University, Library of Congress, Museum of Modern Art, New York Public Library, University of Arizona Museum of Art, and others. 

Now retired from university administration and teaching, Colker continues to operate Haybarn Press and occasionally serves as an exhibition juror and visiting artist.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 3.4 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1944-2020
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.colked
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Video recordings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 8 series:

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1946-circa 2011 (Box 1; 1 folder)

Series 2: Correspondence,1954-2011 (Box 1; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 3: Interviews, 1981-2008 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 4: Writings, 1961-1990s (Box 1; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 5: Subject files, 1952-2013 (Boxes 2-3; 1.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Printed Material,1944-2011 (Box 3; 0.7 linear feet)

Series 7: Photographs, circa 1960s-2010 (Box 4; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 8: Unprocessed Addition, circa 1963-2020 (Box 5; 0.2 linear feet)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: This collection was processed to a minimal level and a finding aid prepared in 2015 by Catherine S. Gaines.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Video recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of painter, printmaker, educator and administrator Ed Colker are dated 1944-2020 and measure 3.4 linear feet. Colker's painting, printmaking, and Haybarn Press, as well as his career as an art teacher and university administrator, are documented through biographical materials, correspondence, interviews, writings, subject files, printed material, and photographs. There is a 0.2 linear ft. addition to the collection donated in 2020 that includes lists of works of art, exhibition information, letters to Colker, talks and lecutres by Colker, printed material and miscellany.

Biographical materials include official letters regarding Colker's performance in the Army, caricatures of him, diplomas, resume, awards, and certificates.

Correspondence, mainly professional in nature with a few scattered personal letters, concerns Colker's academic and artistic work, Haybarn Editions, exhibitions, projects, and various interests. Poet correspondents are J. Curtis Johnson, Kathleen Norris, Deborah Pease, and Jeanne Walker; translators include Melvin Konner and others.

Interviews with Ed Colker, conducted between 1982 and 2008 for various purposes, are preserved as 1 sound cassette and published transcripts.  Also found are 1 sound cassette, 1 videocassette, and a published transcript of interviews Colker conducted  with Will Barnet  and Toshiko Takaezu  in 1981 and 1994 respectively.

Among Colker's writings are the published versions of several articles and the manuscript of an unpublished one; two proposed books for students of design and typography; lectures delivered to students (3 videocassettes), miscellaneous writings, notes, and 1 videocassete of readings by artists from one of Colker's  Haybarn Press poetry portfolios.

Subject files document many of Colker's  professional interests, activities, projects, and relationships. Also of note are files about Haybarn Press. 

The bulk of the printed material consists of exhibition catalogs, announcements, and school catalogs. Almost all is about or mentions Colker, or features reproductions of his work. Of note is the first and only issue of Re-Art: A Reflection of Current Ideas on the Arts (1954), published by Colker and Gene Feldman. 

Photographs are of Colker and his family; Colker at events related to his artistic, academic, and publishing activities; artwork by Colker, and his work as reproduced in Haybarn Editions. Also found are an exterior view of the barn studio and one of printers working at Desjobert Press.