Robert Edmond Jones papers
Scope and Contents
The Robert Edmond Jones papers contains Jones's correspondence, both incoming and outgoing, his manuscript writings, drawings and design materials, photographs, and printed materials including clippings related to the many plays and films on which he worked during his long career as a stage designer and color consultant. The papers document Jones's work in theater as a set designer in the United States during the early twentieth century and his involvement in motion picture making during the 1930s.
Correspondence - Contains incoming and outgoing correspondence from 1934 to 1950.
Writings - Contains manuscript writings by Robert Edmond Jones on topics related to theater and stagecraft, acting and actors, and motion pictures. Included in the manuscript writings are four folders of Jones's recorded dreams from 1944 to 1945. Also contains writings of others about Robert Edmond Jones from 1916 to 1954.
Design - Contains materials used and created by Robert Edmond Jones in his stage design work. Includes sketches and drawings, printed material, and photographs.
Printed Materials - Contains clippings of reviews and articles relating to Jones's work in theater and film from 1916 to 1950, programs from 1919-1957. Within the Printed Materials series, a note from Jones to his mother, dated 1930 is included in the clippings for Symphony Hall. Also within Printed Materials is a note by Kenneth Macgowan, which is located in the folder of programs for Three Plays by Ridgley Torrence. Series also includes a scrapbook containing clippings related to Jones's work as a color consultant from 1933 to 1935.
Audio Recordings - Contains audio recordings of Robert Edmond Jones's lectures, dated 1955 and 1963.
Oversize Material - Contains photographs of set designs, materials related to costume design, and large drawings for set design.
Dates
- Creation: 1916-1963
Creator
- Jones, Robert Edmond, 1887-1954 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
University records - Copyright held by Wesleyan University; all other copyright is retained by the creator - In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted
Some material is in public domain - No Copyright - United States
Biographical / Historical
Born in Milton, New Hampshire in 1887, Robert Edmond Jones graduated from Harvard University in 1910. Jones spent his career as a stage designer and rose to national prominence working with the Washington Square Players, Kenneth Macgowan and the Greenwich Village Theatre, Eugene O'Neill and the Provincetown Players, and the Theatre Guild, Inc. As a stage designer, Jones is best known for his simplified sets that complemented the action of a production and his dramatic use of color in costuming and lighting. In the 1930s, Jones was hired as a color consultant and designer by RKO studios, and worked on some of the first films to use the three-strip Technicolor process, Becky Sharp, La Cucaracha, and The Dancing Pirate. Jones published a number of articles on stagecraft, and authored Drawings for the Theatre (1925), The Dramatic Imagination (1941), and, with Kenneth Macgowan, Continental Stagecraft (1922).
Extent
7.5 Linear Feet (7 hollinger boxes, 1 record album box, and 1 oversize drawer)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Contains correspondence, manuscript writings, drawings and design materials, photographs, and printed materials. The papers document Jones's work in theater as a set designer in the United States during the early twentieth century and his involvement in motion picture-making during the 1930s.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into six series: Correspondence, Writings, Design, Printed Materials, Audio Recordings, and Oversize Materials. Correspondence is further divided into two categories, incoming and outgoing, and is arranged alphabetically. Writings are arranged alphabetically by title or subject. Many of the writings remain unidentified, and have been kept with the materials with which they were originally filed. These unidentified manuscripts may be parts or fragments of other manuscript drafts or notes written by Jones. The Design series contains materials created or used by Jones in his design work. The materials are arranged by form. Additional drawings and design materials are located in the Oversize Materials series. Printed Materials consist of clippings, programs, and ephemera related to Jones's work in theater and film. Oversize materials consist mainly of large drawings and other design related materials and are arranged in alphabetical order by title of the play and drawing number.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Given by Ralph G. Pendleton to the Wesleyan Theatre Department in the 1970s. Transferred to Special Collections & Archives in 1999.
Subject
- Jones, Robert Edmond, 1887-1954 (Person)
- Title
- Robert Edmond Jones papers, 1916-1963
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Andrea Benefiel, November 2008 Encoded by Andrea Benefiel, November 2008 Migrated to ArchivesSpace by Amanda Nelson, August 2020
- Date
- August 14, 2020
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the University Archives Repository