Frances Rich Papers, 1914-1980
General International Standard for Archival Description
Sophia Smith Collection Smith CollegeNorthampton, MA
Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Laura Cutter. 2003-06-12
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Frances Rich Papers
Creation of Frances Rich Papers
Time of Creation of Frances Rich Papers
Rich, Frances
Biographical History for: Frances Rich Papers
Biographical Note Frances Rich was born in Spokane, Washington in 1910, daughter of actress Irene Rich. She received a B.A. from Smith College in 1931. In 1933 she met sculptor, Malvina Hoffman, and studied with her in Paris for two years. On her return to the U.S., Rich did intensive work at the Boston Museum School and established her own studio in New York City. Between 1937 and 1940 she was a resident student at Cranbrook Academy of Art, where she met sculptor Carl Milles, with whom she worked for the next eighteen years. She has been featured in many publications and has exhibited in major art centers. Her works include portrait busts at Smith College; the Army-Navy Nurse Monument in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.; a bronze pelican in front of Pelican Building, University of California, Berkeley; marble bust of Alice Stone Blackwell for the Boston Public Library; and portrait busts of Lotte Lehmann, Margaret Sanger, Diego Rivera, Katharine Hepburn, and others. Rich was a Lieutenant Director in the U.S. Navy Reserve from 1942 to 1946 and Director of Public Relations at Smith College from 1947 to 1950. Frances Rich died in 2007.
Scope and Contents of the Collection Papers focus primarily on Rich's career as a sculptor, with a small amount of material on her work as Director of Smith College Public Relations, and her service in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Types of material include correspondence, biographical articles, research files, clippings, exhibit catalogs, posters, scrapbooks (including a scrapbook of her student years at Smith College), and photographs of her work and family. Photographs, exhibition catalogs, and correspondence document her sculptures of such notable people as Lotte Lehmann, Diego Rivera, Katherine Hepburn, Margaret Sanger, and Alice Stone Blackwell. The Papers are arranged as follows: Biographical materials, Smith College, U.S. Navy, Artwork, and Exhibitions. Biographical materials consists of articles, photographs, interviews, correspondence, newspaper clippings and scrapbooks. The Smith College section includes materials from Rich's time as both a student and the Director of Public Relations. The U.S. Navy material includes photographs, correspondence and articles from Rich's time as Lieutenant Director in the U. S. Navy Reserve. Artwork consists mostly of photographs of Rich's work, but also contains some related correspondence. The Exhibitions section includes primarily photographs and correspondence regarding exhibits by Rich.
Sculptors--United States--History--20th century--Sources
lcsh
Women sculptors--United States-History--20th century--Sources
Blackwell, Alice Stone, 1857-1950
lcnaf
Hepburn, Katharine, 1909-
Lehmann, Lotte
Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957
Sanger, Margaret, 1879-1966
Smith College--Students--History--Sources
United States. Naval Reserve. Women's Reserve--History--Sources
BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS
Newspaper clippings, 1975-77, n.d.
Articles about Rich, 1932-81
Newspaper clippings, 1931-77, n.d.
Interview by Mayme Ober Paak, n.d.
Scrapbooks, 1952-59
Correspondence: miscellaneous, 1931-58, 1977
Photographs
Frances Rich, 1914-77
Frances Rich with others, n.d.
Frances Rich with Irene Rich, n.d.
Irene Rich alone, circa 1941
Studios, Hope Ranch, 1954
Shumway Ranch, 1968
Frances Rich with Diego Rivera painting a fresco of Rich, n.d.
Lotte Lehmann, 1953
SMITH COLLEGE
Student scrapbook (contents only), 1931
Student and alumnae articles, 1931, 1979
Director of Public Relations, 1947-50
Correspondence: "This is Smith College", 1949
Press releases, newspaper clippings
U.S. NAVY
Photographs, 1941-45
Second anniversary celebration, 1944
Events: Smith and Northampton, 1939-45
Correspondence: oral history of Admiral Nimitz and the Waves, 1969-70
ARTWORK
General, 1931-46
Laura Scales, 1936
Army/Navy nurse, Arlington National Cemetery, 1937
Diego Rivera, 1941
General, 1950-60
Lotte Lehmann, 1952
St. Francis
Photographs, 1952-66
Clippings, articles and printed materials, 1952-66
Questing Madonna, 1954
St. Joseph, 1956
Margaret Sanger, 1956-57
Pelican, 1957
Seated female figure, 1958
Alice Stone Blackwell, 1958-59
Katherine Hepburn (four separate works), 1958, 1961
General, 1960-70
Our Lady of Combermere, 1960
St. Catherine of Sienna, 1968
General, 1970-86
Roadrunner, 1972
Spirit of the Grape, 1976-77
[See also Oversize Materials]
Birds in Flight, 1980
Photographs containing more than one work or unidentified works, n.d.
Drawings (originals), 1944-46, n.d.
EXHIBITIONS
California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1955
Palm Springs Desert Museum, 1969, 1977, n.d.
Catalogues, 1952-73
Correspondence to Priscilla Cunningham, 1979-88
BOOKS ON SHELF
Armitage, Merle, The Sculpture of Frances Rich, Manita Press (four copies), 1974
OVERSIZE MATERIALS
Photographs: Spirit of the Grape; Birds in Flight; Jane, Frances and Irene Rich; Frances and Irene Rich, Morris Denfeldt
Certificate from the American Bicentennial Research Institute, 1974
Posters: St. Francis, Spirit of the Grape, Seated Woman with Child, Harboe Nude
Plans for Rich Studies and caretakers cottage, Shumway Ranch (5), geographical map of area