Oral history interview with Jacob Alexander Elshin
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 10 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Elshin, Jacob Alexander, 1892-1976
label: Interviewer
content: Bestor, Dorothy K., 1913-
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: Federal Art Project (Wash.)
label: Names
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: Public Works of Art Project
label: Names
content: Inverarity, Robert Bruce, 1909-1999
label: Names
content: Rowan, Edward Beatty, 1898-1946
label: Names
content: Tobey, Mark
topic: label: Topic
content: Art and state
label: Topic
content: Federal aid to the arts
label: Topic
content: Mural painting and decoration
label: Topic
content: Muralists -- Washington (State) -- Seattle -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Painters -- Washington (State) -- Seattle -- 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: Elshin, Jacob Alexander, 1892-1976
label: Interviewer
content: Bestor, Dorothy K., 1913-
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Jacob Alexander Elshin (1892-1976) was a painter in Seattle, Washington.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 44 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1965 April 21-22
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.elshin65
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 3419 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 Jacob Elshin conducted by Dorothy Bestor on 1965 April 21-22 for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Elshin speaks of his background in Russia and China; moving to Seattle in 1923; his work as a free-lance commercial artist and working as a greeting card artist; painting for the Public Works of Art Project; working on murals for the WPA Federal Art Project; political problems with the WPA; the destruction of some of the work that was produced by the project; some of the injustices he suffered during his years with the WPA. He recalls Robert Bruce Inverarity, Edward Rowan and Mark Tobey.