Frederick and Mary Hill Fried Folk Art Archives
name: label: Creator
content: Fried, Frederick, 1909-1994
label: Creator
content: National Carousel Association.
label: Creator
content: Fried, Mary Hill
topic: label: Occupation
content: Wood-carvers
label: Topic
content: Periodicals
label: Topic
content: Merry-go-round art
label: Topic
content: Signs and signboards
label: Topic
content: Weather vanes
label: Topic
content: Coin-operated machines
label: Topic
content: Architecture -- Details
label: Topic
content: Amusement ride equipment industry
label: Topic
content: Amusement rides
label: Topic
content: Folk art
label: Topic
content: Merry-go-round
label: Topic
content: Figure sculpture -- United States
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection a bequest of the Frederick Fried Estate.
creator: label: Creator
content: Fried, Frederick, 1909-1994
label: Creator
content: National Carousel Association.
label: Creator
content: Fried, Mary Hill
setName: label: See more items in
content: Frederick and Mary Hill Fried Folk Art Archives
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Frederick P. Fried was born December 11, 1908 in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn where his father         owned a clock business across the street from Charles Carmel, a carousel carver. Fried                 acquired a fine-arts education in the 1930s with an emphasis on sculpture.  He served with the Air Force during the Second World War.  After a successful military career, Fried worked as art director in several fashion agencies. He met Mary McKenzie Hill, an academically trained artist in one of the studios. 

Mary McKenzie Hill was born in 1914 in Baltimore, Maryland.  She graduated from the Maryland Institute of Fine Arts.  After graduation, she spent a year abroad studying before she returned to the United States to work as a fashion illustrator in Baltimore and New York. During World War Two Hill was a draftsman for a firm of architects.  

Fried and Mary Hill married in 1949.  The couple had two children Robert Hazen and Rachel. Around 1953 Fried began to collect architectural ornaments in New York.  Fried served as the art director for Bonwit Teller in New York City from 1955-1962. He left the fashion world in 1962 to pursue his passion for collecting and writing full time. Fried published his first book, Pictorial History of Carousels in 1964. In 1967, Fred and Mary Fried purchased a forty-acre farm in Bristol, Vermont where the family spent their summers. 

In 1968, Fried led a national campaign to preserve the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse (Seamen's Church Institute at South Street).  He also became active in politics and served as the campaign manager for a New York State senator.  His interest in Indian cigar store figures resulted in his publication Artists in Wood: American Carvers of Cigar Store Indians, Show Figures and Circus published in 1970.  The focus of the book was Samuel Anderson Robb a New York wood carver. Fried co-founded the National Carousel Association in 1973. In 1978, Fried wrote America's Forgotten Folk Art with his wife Mary.  This publication covered subjects such as carousels, banner painting, scarecrows, beach sand sculpture, tattoos, cast iron toys, amusement park architecture and trade signs. 

Fried's collecting goal was to first preserve artifacts and to then make them available through his writings and exhibitions. His most treasured relics were the items he salvaged from the ruins of Coney Island.  Fried referred to such artifacts as the uncelebrated arts. He became one of the founders of the Anonymous Arts Recovery Society a group of individuals who saved architectural ornaments from the wreckers' balls.  In addition, he was one of the founders of the National Carousel Round Table which was created to preserve hand-carved merry-go-rounds.  As a result of his collecting, research and writing Fried became recognized as the authority on carousels, coin-operated machines, and cigar store figures. He served as a consultant to many Museums; in particular as chief consultant on American Folk Art for the Smithsonian Institution.

Frederick and Mary Hill worked together in many ways to document, collect, preserve and increase the awareness about primarily the folk arts. Mary McKenzie Hill Fried passed away in 1988 at the age of seventy-four.  Frederick P. Fried died July 1994 at the age of eighty-six.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 36 Cubic feet (89 boxes, 10 map-folders)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1662-1999, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0528
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Advertisements
label: Type
content: Clippings
label: Type
content: Blueprints
label: Type
content: Books
label: Type
content: Auction catalogs
label: Type
content: Design drawings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Series 1, Professional Materials, 1930-1995, undated


Subseries 1.1, Lectures, 1968-1989, undated


Subseries 1.2, Research Notes, 1962-1975, undated


Subseries 1.3, Published and Unpublished Materials, 1960-1990, undated


Subseries 1.4, Exhibitions, 1966-1985, undated


Subseries 1.5, Correspondence, 1945-1995, undated


Subseries 1.6, Office Files, 1930-1991, undated

 
Series 2, Sculptors and Ship Carvers, 1855-1987, undated 


Series 3, Ship Carving Reference Files, 1875-1990, undated


Series 4, Show Figures, 1847-1989, undated 


Subseries 4.1, Carvers, 1847-1987, undated


Subseries 4.2, Reference Files, 1864-1989, undated


Series 5: Carousels, 1851-1999, undated


Subseries 5.1, Reference Files, 1851-1990, undated


Subseries 5.2, Manufacturerst, 1854-1999, undated 


Subseries 5.3, Carvers, undated


Subseries 5.4, Foreign, 1902, undated 


Subseries 5.5, Organizations, 1974-1991, undated


Subseries 5.6, Museum Collections, 1959-1989, undated


Series 5.7, Sites, 1962-1991, undated 


Series 6, Charles W. Parker Company, 1904-1905; 1922-1924, undated


Subseries 6.1, Glass Plate Negatives, 6x8, 1904-1905, undated


Subseries 6.2, Glass Plate Negatives, 8x10, 1922-1924, undated


Series 7, Amusements Parks, 1917-1992, undated


Series 8, Amusement Industry, 1662-1994, undated


Subseries 8.1, Companies, 1903, undated


Subseries 8.2, Reference Files, 1662-1994, undated


Series 9, Circus, 1902-1992, undated 


Series 10, Architectural Ornaments, 1832-1988, undated


Subseries 10.1, Residential Architecture, 1899-1985, undated 

Subseries 10.2, New York City Municipal Parks, 1968-1988, undated 


Subseries 10.3, South Street Seaport, 1965-1970, undated 


Subseries 10.4, New York Civic Sculpture, 1832-1977, undated 


Subseries 10.5, Architectural Ornamentation, 1873-1985, undated 


Series 11, Weathervanes, 1854-1981, undated

 
Series 12, Automatic, Coin Operated, and Vending Machines, 1960-1980, undated

 
Series 13, Banner Paintings and Painters, 1892-1999, undated


Series 14, Folk Arts, 1783-1999, undated


Subseries 14.1, Reference Files, 1831-1988, undated


Subseries 14.2, Clocks and Watches, 1869-1876; 1976, undated 


Subseries 14.3, Eagles, 1843-1989, undated


Subseries 14.4, Musical Instruments, 1963-1999, undated


Subseries 14.5, Painters and Paintings, 1950-1990, undated


Subseries 14.6, Signs and Symbols, 1974, 1976, undated 


Subseries 14.7, Other Materials, 1872-1988, undated


Subseries 14.8, Miscellaneous, 1783-1954, undated  


Series 15: Photographic Materials, 1832-1988, undated 


Subseries 15.1, Photographs and Contact Sheets, 1940-1984, undated


Subseries 15.1.1, America's Forgotten Arts, undated


Subseries 15.1.2, Artists in Wood, undated


Subseries 15.1.3, General, 1940-1984, undated


Subseries 15.2, Slides, 1832-1987, undated


Subseries 15.3, Negatives, undated


Subseries 15.4, Glass Plate Negatives, undated


Subseries 15.5, Snapshots, 1964-1988, undated


Subseries 15.5.1, Artists, Manufacturers, and Dealers, undated


Subseries 15.5.2, Museum Collections, 1964, undated


Subseries 15.5.3, Parks or Other Locations, undated


Subseries 15.5.4, Private Collections, 1987-1988, undated


Subseries 15.5.5, General, 1983-1988, undated


Series 16, Audiovisual Materials, 1940-1991, undated 


Subseries 16.1, Audiocassette Tapes, 1971-1988, undated


Subseries 16.1.1, Lectures, 1974-1986, undated


Subseries 16.1.2, Interviews, 1971-1984, undated


Subseries 16.1.3, Music, 1972-1988, undated


Subseries 16.2, Audiotapes, 1940-1977, undated


Subseries 16.2.1, Lectures and Performances, 1969-1973, undated


Subseries 16.2.2, Interviews, 1940-1976, undated 


Subseries 16.2.3, Conferences and Meetings, 1973-1977


Subseries 16.2.4, Music, 1956, undated


Subseries 16.2.5, Other, undated


Subseries 16.3, Videotapes, 1982-1991, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Craig Orr, archivist, (1999); Jennifer Shaifer (intern), October-December 2008; Ramona Williamson (volunteer), November 2008; Sarah Allan, November 2008; Matthew Kuhnert, volunteer, 2014; supervised by Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, supervisory archivist.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Advertisements
label: Genre/Form
content: Clippings
label: Genre/Form
content: Blueprints -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Books
label: Genre/Form
content: Auction catalogs
label: Genre/Form
content: Design drawings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Collection primarily documents American folk art collected by Frederick Fried (1908-1994) and his wife Mary McKensie Hill Fried (1914-1988).  It includes photographic materials, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, research files, lecture notes, unpublished manuscripts, brochures, drawings, printed advertisements, blueprints, books, patents, correspondence, trade literature, sheet music, auction catalogs, oral history interviews, and commercially recorded music.  Of particular interest is the material relating to carousels.  There is a substantial amount of material relating to New York architecture, wood carvings, show figures, weathervanes, mechanical and coin operated machines, amusement parks, the circus, tattoos and lesser-known folk arts.  The collection is arranged by subject or genre in the order maintained by Frederick and Mary Fried.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History

E. Howard Clock Company Records (NMAH.AC.00776)

M. Francis Misklea Carousel Collection (NMAH.AC.0665)

Archives Center Carousel Collection (NMAH.AC.0675)

Messmore and Damon, Incorporated Company Records (NMAH.AC.0846)

Anthony W. Pendergast Collection (NMAH.AC.0882)

Frank Paulin Photoprints (NMAH.AC.1373)

Wurlitzer Company Records (NMAH.AC.0469)

Industry on Parade (NMAH.AC.0507)

Reel #191, Craftsmen of the Carousel, 1954. Manufacturing merry-go-rounds for amusement reports. Arrow Development Co., Mountain View, California. 

Materials at Other Organizations

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Frederick Fried Coney Island collection, 1847-2001

The collection consists of materials used by Frederick Fried in his research and writing about folk art and material culture, especially related to Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York. A significant portion of the collection consists of the personal archive of William F. Mangels, which was purchased by Fried in 1955. Mangels was a designer and manufacturer of amusement rides and founder of the American Museum of Public Recreation at Coney Island. Subjects include amusement parks, amusement rides, architecture, bathing pavilions, beaches, beauty contests, carousels, carousel animals, Brooklyn, coin-operated machines, Coney Island, exhibitions, games of chance and skill, hotels, mechanical rides, mechanization, parades, pleasure railways, recreation, roller coasters, sideshows, transportation, and other subjects related to American material culture and popular amusement.