Esta Nesbitt papers
name: label: Creator
content: Nesbitt, Esta
label: Names
content: Parsons School of Design -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Whitney Museum of American Art
label: Names
content: Xerox Corporation
label: Names
content: Ambert, Anibal
label: Names
content: Beckett, Samuel, 1906-1989
label: Names
content: Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955
label: Names
content: English, Merle
label: Names
content: Ginsberg, Allen, 1926-1997
label: Names
content: Leder, Alan J.
label: Names
content: Lyle, David
label: Names
content: Wood, R. F.
title: label: Topic
content: Everyman (motion picture)
topic: label: Occupation
content: Educators -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Motion pictures (visual works)
label: Topic
content: Filmmakers -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Xerography
label: Topic
content: Copy art
label: Topic
content: Illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Women filmmakers
label: Topic
content: Women illustrators
label: Topic
content: Women educators
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Esta Nesbitt papers were donated by Saul Nesbitt, her husband, to the Archives of American Art in 1981.
creator: label: Creator
content: Nesbitt, Esta
setName: label: See more items in
content: Esta Nesbitt papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of illustrator, xerography artist, filmmaker, and educator Esta Nesbitt measure 10.05 linear feet and date from circa 1942-1981.  Found within the papers are biographical material, correspondence, writings, xerography research files, project and exhibition files, and printed material.  Much of the collection relates to Nesbitt's xerography art work.  Additionally, the collection includes motion picture film and sound recordings related to her film and performance work.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Esta Nesbitt (1918-1975) was an illustrator, xerography artist, filmmaker, and educator who lived and worked in New York City.  She was a fashion illustrator for about two decades before becoming a children's book illustrator, performance artist, xerography artist, and filmmaker.  

Nesbitt taught at Parsons School of Design from 1964 to 1974. Around 1970, Nesbitt created the piece Walk Up --Tape On with her Parsons students. The piece involved documenting social interaction by taping themselves to each other and then others as they walked through New York City, creating what Nesbitt called a "living organism," before presenting themselves to the Whitney Museum of American Art.  The event was documented with film, photography, and audio recordings.  

In 1970, Nesbitt contacted Xerox Corporation about creating experimental art investigations of the Walk Up --Tape On  documentation using Xerox machines in their New York City office.  During Nesbitt's time at Xerox, she experimented with many different copying machines, materials, and techniques to create what came to be known as xerographic artworks. She invented three xerography techniques: transcapsa, photo-transcapsa, and chromacapsa. A transcapsa work is created by moving a piece of material over the copier's window during the printing cycle. A photo-transcapsa work is created by moving a photographic image over the copier's window during the printing cycle. Chromacapsa is a process of adding color to xerographic works using Xerox copiers.  Nesbitt referred to her work at Xerox as "Xerox Xplore," which culminated with the exhibition "Xerography - Extensions in Art" (1971-1972) and the commission of the print All the Lines are Nines.

To demonstrate "the media bombardment surrounding 'everyman' today," Nesbitt created a film and sound performance piece titled "Everyman as Anyman, or Putting On, On, On, On, On" in 1969.  The performance consisted of five Super 8 film projectors and a multi-layered soundtrack. Nesbitt further experimented with filmmaking and xerography with the films "Folding/Struck" and "Light Times 499," which was created with Anibal Ambert.  Her interest in xerography is further illustrated in the exhibition "Electrostatic Structures: 'New Morphs'" (1972-1973).  The exhibition "1000 Empty 49.3 Grams: A participatory environment" was a culmination of her interest in participatory art.

Nesbitt died November 30, 1975 in New York City.  Three posthumous exhibitions include "Esta Nesbitt: Xerography Prints" (1976) at The Art Center of Waco, "Memorial Exhibition of Drawing and Illustrations by Esta Nesbitt" (1977) at Parsons School of Design, and "Electroworks" (1979-1981) at the George Eastman House.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 10.05 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1942-1981
label: Date
content: bulk 1964-1975
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.nesbesta
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sketches
label: Type
content: Transcripts
label: Type
content: Diaries
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Photographs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged into 6 series:

Biographical Materials, 1964-circa 1981 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1, 11)

Correspondence, 1942, 1964-1976 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1, OV 14)

Writings, 1959-circa 1973 (1.3 linear feet; Box 1-2, 12, OV 15)

Xerography Research Files, circa 1966-1974 (2.5 linear feet; Box 2-4, 11, OV 16)

Project and Exhibition Files, circa 1966-1981 (5.2 linear feet, Box 4-8, 11, 13, OV 17-19, 21, FC 22-23)

Printed Material, 1942-circa 1944, circa 1963-1977 (0.9 linear feet; Box 9-10, OV 20)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was fully processed and a finding aid was prepared by graduate intern Christina Meninger in 2013 with funding provided by the Council on Library and Information Resources' Hidden Collections grant program. Motion picture film reels were inspected and re-housed in 2016 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sketches
label: Genre/Form
content: Transcripts
label: Genre/Form
content: Diaries
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of illustrator, xerography artist, filmmaker, and educator Esta Nesbitt measure 10.05 linear feet and date from circa 1942-1981.  Found within the papers are biographical material, correspondence, writings, xerography research files, project and exhibition files, and printed material.  Much of the collection relates to Nesbitt's xerography art work.  Additionally, the collection includes motion picture film and sound recordings related to her film and performance work.

Nesbitt's primary collaborators, correspondents, and subjects of investigation are not concentrated in any one series but rather recur throughout the collection. Nesbitt worked closely with Anibal Ambert, Merle English at Xerox Corporation, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. She read and wrote about the accrual of information, Albert Einstein, Asian religion and philosophy, communication, computer technology, documentation practices, energy, psychology, Samuel Beckett, and states of consciousness. Chinese characters and an image of Allen Ginsberg appear repeatedly in Nesbitt's works. Subjects of study and experimentation include 3M and Kodak technologies, color, film, morphology, participatory and performance art, shadows, sound, street works, xerography, and Xerox machines.  

Biographical material revolves mostly around Nesbitt's work as a professor at Parsons School of Design. Records include Nesbitt's resumé, an exhibition history, motion picture film of the inside of her studio, and teaching files.

Correspondence contains personal letters from family members, and professional correspondence with fellow artists and employees of Xerox Corporation. Much of the series is correspondence between Nesbitt and fellow artists Alan Leder, David Lyle, and R.E. Wood, and is philosophical in nature. Correspondence with Xerox Corporation documents her relationship with the corporation between 1970 and 1972, when they underwrote her experiments in xerography.  

Writings include illustrated journals, journals, notebooks, loose notes, and transcripts.  The content of the writings varies widely throughout the series and includes artwork, sketches, diagrams, annotated clippings, transcripts of conversations, Nesbitt's writings about her dreams and family, details about her daily life, and notes about artists' materials, film, and sound.

Xerography Research Files document Nesbitt's experiments with xerography, which she often refers to in her papers as "Xerox Xplore." Contents include Nesbitt's definitions of xerography terms; Xerox equipment brochures; clippings; xerography studies; notebooks about Nesbitt's plans, work with color, and xerography study details; and slides and transparencies of completed xerography prints. 

Project and Exhibition Files consist of a variety of documentation related to Nesbitt's books, exhibitions, films, performance and participatory art, and other projects.  This series contains the bulk of the collection's motion picture films and sound recordings.  The film and sound performance piece titled "Everyman as Anyman, or Putting On, On, On, On, On," the piece Walk Up --Tape On, the film "Light Times 499," and exhibitions of Nesbitt's xerography work and her series of work called Shadow Paintings are the most prominent subjects of the series.

Printed Material includes books, clippings, magazines, exhibition announcements, catalogs, and press releases about Nesbitt's interests, artwork, exhibitions, and galleries that exhibited her work.  Some of the material is annotated.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: The Esta Nesbitt papers at Center for Creative Photography at University of Arizona contain 3 linear feet related to her xerography artwork and exhibitions, dated 1966-1983.  

Papers related to Nesbitt's fashion illustrations are found at the Kellen Design Archives at The New School in New York City.  T

he Esta Nesbitt papers at the University of Minnesota Libraries Children's Literature Research Collections are related to Nesbitt's children's book illustrations, dated 1964-1969.