Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Merritt, Francis Sumner, 1913-2000
setName: label: See more items in
content: Francis Sumner Merritt papers
label: See more items in
content: Francis Sumner Merritt papers / Series 4: Professional Files
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1955-1979
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.merrfran, Subseries 4.1
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Correspondence is arranged in chronological order. Researchers should note that letters from Haystack artists and administrators may be found within series 2, however those letters are of a personal nature such as thank you notes and holiday cards.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Among the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts material are planning materials, correspondence, financial records, student information, printed material, and photographs for various sessions held at the school. A reel to reel audio tape includes a talk concerning a trip to Nigeria during the school's "Afro-American Session" in 1977. General correspondence is from students and instructors or other institutions. Formal letters of recommendation, requests for a letter of recommendation by Merritt, inquiries for information on upcoming sessions, and letters detailing items left at Haystack and a fowarding address are frequently found. Artworks include unsigned doodles and painted mockups for posters.

Correspondents include Fiske and Claire Boyd, Dale Chihuly, Diane Itter, Peter Jacobi, Jack Lenor Larsen, Maine Coast Artists, and Kenneth Quick. Many letters from artists are friendly and familiar and are signed with first names only.