Jane Teller papers
name: label: Creator
content: Teller, Jane
label: Names
content: Albright-Knox Art Gallery
label: Names
content: Montclair Art Museum
label: Names
content: Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: National Council on the Aging
label: Names
content: Newark Museum
label: Names
content: Noyes Museum
label: Names
content: Parma Gallery (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Princeton Gallery of Fine Art
label: Names
content: Squibb Gallery (Princeton, N.J.)
label: Names
content: Whitney Museum of American Art
label: Names
content: Brodsky, Judith K.
label: Names
content: Caparn, Rhys, 1909-1997
label: Names
content: Dehner, Dorothy, 1901-1994
label: Names
content: Fuller, Sue, 1914-
label: Names
content: Gatch, Lee, 1902-1968
label: Names
content: Johnson, Margaret K. (Margaret Kennard)
label: Names
content: Kadish, Reuben, 1913-1992
label: Names
content: Lamis, Leroy, 1925-
label: Names
content: Lassaw, Ibram, 1913-2003
label: Names
content: Siskind, Aaron
topic: label: Occupation
content: Printmakers -- New Jersey
label: Occupation
content: Sculptors -- New Jersey
label: Topic
content: Printmakers -- New Jersey
label: Topic
content: Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- United States
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women sculptors
label: Topic
content: Women printmakers
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Jane Teller papers were donated by Jane Teller in 1990 and in 1991 by Walter Teller, widower of Jane Teller.
creator: label: Creator
content: Teller, Jane
setName: label: See more items in
content: Jane Teller papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of printmaker and sculptor Jane Teller measure 8.6 linear feet and date from 1911 to 1991. The papers include biographical materials, correspondence, business records, notes, writings, three sketchbooks, sketches and prints, five scrapbooks, printed material, subject files, photographs, sound and video recordings, and motion picture film.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Jane Teller (1911-1990) worked as a printmaker and sculptor primarily in New Jersey. She specialized in working with wood and studied at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Skidmore College, and Barnard College. She also attended Federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) classes in New York City, studying sculpture with Aaron J. Goodelman and wood carving with Karl Nielson. She later studied welding in the studio of Ibram Lassaw. She was also a lifelong friend of photographer Aaron Siskind. In 1960, she was awarded the Mary and Gustave Kellner Prize at the National Association of Women Artists Annual Exhibition at the National Academy of Design in New York, and in 1966 the Sculpture Prize at the Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition, Philadelphia Art Alliance in Philadelphia. She exhibited mainly in New York and New Jersey and was married to author and editor Walter Teller.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 8.6 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1911-1991
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.telljane
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Video recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Prints
label: Type
content: Sketchbooks
label: Type
content: Slides (photographs)
label: Type
content: Motion pictures (visual works)
label: Type
content: Sketches
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 11 series. Records are generally arranged by material type and chronologically thereafter.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1911-1985 (Box 1; 4 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1956-1991 (Box 1; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 3: Business Records, 1961-1990 (Box 1; 5 folders)

Series 4: Notes, 1960-1987 (Box 1; 13 folders)

Series 5: Writings, 1960-1989 (Boxes 1 and 9; 5 folders)

Series 6: Artwork, circa 1950s (Boxes 1 and 9; 6 folders)

Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1948-1990 (Boxes 1-2; 0.7 linear feet)

Series 8: Printed Material, 1957-1991 (Boxes 2-3 and 9; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 9: Subject Files, 1951-1990 (Boxes 3-5; 2.5 linear feet)

Series 10: Photographs, 1934-1985 (Boxes 5-9; 2.5 linear feet)

Series 11: Audio-Visual Materials, 1961-1989 (Box 8, FC 10-12; 0.6 linear feet)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was arranged by Jean Fitzgerald in 1994. Eden Orelove created the finding aid in 2011. 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: Video recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Prints
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketchbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Slides (photographs)
label: Genre/Form
content: Motion pictures (visual works)
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketches
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Content Note
content: The papers of printmaker and sculptor Jane Teller measure 8.6 linear feet and date from 1911 to 1991. The papers include biographical materials, correspondence, business records, notes, writings, three sketchbooks, sketches and prints, five scrapbooks, printed material, subject files, photographs, sound and video recordings, and motion picture film.

Biographical material includes a birth certificate, school work, and passports. General correspondence includes letters from several artists including Rhys Caparn, Sue Fuller and Lee Gatch, and from art galleries, including the Museum of Modern Art, Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Additional correspondence is found in the Subject Files.

Business records include an account book, lists of expenses and prices of art works, and sales records. Notes and writings include Teller's notes about art and travel, artists' statements, autobiographical writings, and a compilation of many artists' statements regarding "The Nine Bean Question." 

Artwork includes three sketchbooks, 30 sketches and three prints primarily depicting nature and sculpture designs.

Five scrapbooks contain clippings, exbition announcements and catalogs. Additional printed material includes magazines, exhibition announcements and catalogs, a booklet by Teller entitled Art, Age and the River, published posthumously by her husband, and a manuscript of Poems or Poetic Expressions of Sculptors, collected by L. Lamis.

Subject files are arranged by name or subject and may contain letters, photographs, and printed material. Many of the files focus on galleries and museums, including the Montclair Art Museum, the Newark Museum, Noyes Museum, Parma Gallery, the Princeton Gallery of Fine Art and the Squibb Gallery. There are also subject files for associations, travel, projects, and colleagues including Margaret K. Johnson, Reuben Kadish, Ibram Lassaw, Aaron Siskind and Dorothy Dehner. 

Photographs and slides depict Teller, her friends, works, gallery installations, and travels. Also included are photographs of trees, bark, and other natural formations used by Teller in her work.

The audio-visual materials include several sound recordings, videocassettes and 16 mm motion picture films. The videocassettes include television programs in which Teller, printmaker Judith Brodsky and actor Harry Hamlin are interviewed, a retrospective at Skidmore College and a film featuring Teller speaking for the National Council on Aging. Sound recordings include two interviews and a "Talk on Malta" by Teller and Joan Needham. The 16 mm films are black and white footage of Teller's first Parma Gallery show.