This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information and to make an appointment, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
The Olive Emslie papers documents the interior designer's career and major projects. The collection consists of professional papers, interior renderings, floor plans, sign designs, and project photographs.
Series I: Professional Papers includes Emslie's resume, correspondence, a magazine and newspaper clipping, and an award.
Series II: Project Records is mostly devoted to three major commissions: the two Pennsylvania Kaufmann's stores in Monroeville and Pittsburgh along with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The materials include floor plans and specifications, graphic studies, designs for signs, invoices, contracts, and conference reports for various projects. There are also interior renderings of numerous departments in the Kaufmann's stores, many of which are intricate and colorfully drawn with pencil and color samples. Although the bulk of the material belongs to the Kaufmann's store and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, there are also folders for other smaller projects, such as the Robert Simpson Co. Ltd., G. Fox & Co. Inc., and Columbia University's "Man's Right to Knowledge" campaign for their bicentennial. The Project Records series also includes Project Sample Boards, which include color and black & white photographs and images from various projects meant as a portfolio for presentation purposes, all backed on cardboard.
Series III: Other Papers/Materials includes a small box of architectural tools and Emslie's husband's architectural degree and certificate.
1951-1978
This collection is arranged in four series: Professional Papers, Project Records, Project Samples, and Other Papers.
This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information and to make an appointment, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
Permission to publish must be obtained in writing from the Director, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, 1172 Amsterdam Ave., MC 0301, New York, NY 10027.
Olive Emslie papers, 1951-1978. Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
Source of acquisition--Toni Zwickut. Method of acquisition--Donated;; Accession number--1996.021.
Columbia University Libraries, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
Processed; Rihoko Ueno 2011.
2011-03-01 File created.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
Olive Emslie was an interior designer who worked on projects for various shopping centers and stores in America and Canada from the 1950s to the early 1970s. Emslie received a bachelor's degree in architecture from Cornell University and worked for various architectural and design firms, such as Levy and Levy, Ketchum Gina and Sharp, and Victor Gruen Associates, before opening her own practice in 1966.
Emslie also owned a patent for her design of a fountain pen from her time as a product designer at Van Doren, Knowland and Schaldermundt. Noteworthy projects include the planning and designing of different floors of two Kaufmann's stores in Pennsylvania - Pittsburgh and Monroeville - as well as Color Print Shop of NY's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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includes Emslie's resume, correspondence, a magazine and newspaper clipping, and an award.
Box 01 Folder 01
Box 01 Folder 02
Brief C.V. for all the architects at Ketchum, Gina & Sharp architecture firm, where Emslie worked, along with a list of commissions.
Box 01 Folder 03
Includes assorted correspondence, along with a telegram and one pay order for a contract.
Box 01 Folder 04
Includes magazine and newspaper article mentioning Olive Emslie's work in Yorkdale Shopping Centre in North York, Canada and A.J. Frieman Ltd in Ottawa.
Box 01 Folder 05
Small commemorative plaque from Columbia University in "Bicentennial Year 1954" for her work on "Man's Right to Knowledge" commission.
is mostly devoted to three major commissions: the two Pennsylvania Kaufmann's stores in Monroeville and Pittsburgh along with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The materials include floor plans and specifications, graphic studies, designs for signs, invoices, contracts, and conference reports for various projects. There are also interior renderings of numerous departments in the Kaufmann's stores, many of which are intricate and colorfully drawn with pencil and color samples. Although the bulk of the material belongs to the Kaufmann's store and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, there are also folders for other smaller projects, such as the Robert Simpson Co. Ltd., G. Fox & Co. Inc., and Columbia University's "Man's Right to Knowledge" campaign for their bicentennial. The Project Records series also includes Project Sample Boards, which include color and black & white photographs and images from various projects meant as a portfolio for presentation purposes, all backed on cardboard.
Box 01 Folder 06
2 floor plans.
Box 01 Folder 07
Includes photographic proofs for "Man's Right to Knowledge and the Free Use Thereof" commission for Columbia University's Bicentennial Anniversary along with one copy of final booklet and a page of pencil notes for layout.
Box 01 Folder 08
1 blue line print of mall elevation for Hochschild Kohn, Harundale.
Box 01 Folder 09
1 album of fabric samples and wallpaper, plus correspondence and notes for G. Fox & Co., Inc.
Drawer 204 Folder 04
24 blue line floor plans.
Oversize 01
Color as well as black and white photographs and images of various projects, including A.J Frieman's, Ottawa, Canada; Hochschild Kohn, Baltimore, MD; The Robert Simpson Co., Toronto, Canda; Kaufmann's, Pittsburgh, PA.
Drawer 204 Folder 01
4 blue line prints with color pencil and color samples; type: interior renderings of various departments.
Box 02 Folder 01
Regarding the main level/first floor of Monroeville Kaufmann's store.
Box 02 Folder 02
On the main level/first floor of Monroeville Kaufmann's store.
Box 02 Folder 03
For work on main level of Monroeville Kaufmann's store; includes small ledger book listing expenses.
Box 02 Folder 04
contract for work on main level of Monroeville Kaufmann's store.
Box 02 Folder 05
29 black and white photographs of each department on main level of Monroeville Kaufmann's; each photo numbered and corresponds to blue line prints of main level floor plans.
Box 02 Folder 06
9 blue line prints; 1 pencil on trace; floor plans for departments on main level/first floor of Monroeville Kaufmann's.
Box 02 Folder 07
12 blue line print; floor plans for departments on main level/first floor of Monroeville Kaufmann's.
Box 02 Folder 08
12 blue line print; floor plans for departments on main level/first floor of Monroeville Kaufmann's.
Drawer 204 Folder 03
1 blue line print of ceiling and lighting plan for the main level/first floor of Monroeville Kaufmann's.
Box 02 Folder 09
Krimstock Brothers Corporation proposal bidding on the signing for the Monroeville Kaufmann's store; includes Emslie's signage designs on trace paper.
Drawer 204 Folder 02
16 graphic studies and signage designs for various departments.
Box 02 Folder 10
Pencil on trace drawings numbered 1-69, with numerous unnumbered pages of designs and drafts; includes index referencing design numbers and revisions.
Box 02 Folder 11
5 pencil on trace; 9 blue line prints; miscellaneous notes and designs for cabinetwork and floor plans.
Box 02 Folder 12
33 blue line prints with color pencil and color samples; interior renderings and floor plans for the individual departments of the Monroeville Kaufmann's main; each rendering and floor plan is numbered on the bottom corner of paper's reverse side; includes a master plan of the entire main floor with numbers corresponding to the renderings and floor plans (media: brown line print with pencil).
Box 01 Folder 10
Interior drawings with color pencil on trace paper of various departments on third floor of Kaufmann's and designs for signage.
Box 01 Folder 11
Designs for signage as well as color and wallpaper samples for third floor of Pittsburgh Kaufmann's.
Box 01 Folder 12
Spiral-bound notebook listing travel expenses.
Box 01 Folder 13
Expense reports and correspondence found in a folder labeled "1964 Emslie-Baldon" (Robert Baldon of Associated Store Designers, a NY design firm where Emslie worked); also includes several black and white photos of Pittsburgh Kaufmann's interior.
Box 01 Folder 14
Blue line floor and fixture plans for various sections (Boys, Girls, Infant Furniture, Teens, etc.).
Box 01 Folder 15
26 pencil drawings on trace paper; type: cabinetwork and interiors of departments on fifth floor and one drawing of fitting rooms
Box 01 Folder 16
Box 01 Folder 17
Regarding the fifth floor of Pittsburgh Kaufmann's store.
Box 01 Folder 18
Regarding the fifth floor of Pittsburgh Kaufmann's store.
Box 01 Folder 19
For the fifth floor of Pittsburgh Kaufmann's store.
Box 01 Folder 20
For work on the fifth floor of Pittsburgh Kaufmann's store.
Box 01 Folder 21
1 trace paper graphic study of peacock feather for baseboard; 1 watercolor on paper version of the same pattern.
Box 01 Folder 22
includes blue line preliminary studies and floor plans for various sections - Women's Dresses, Sportswear, Maternity Shop, Junior Accessories, etc. - on the fifth floor of the Pittsburgh Kaufmann's store
Box 01 Folder 23
packet labeled on first page "5th FL Kaufmann's Pittsburgh, PA Jan 1967 - Sept 6 (last trip) complete," includes color and fabric samples for various sections
Box 02 Folder 13
2 copies of specifications for cabinet work & millwork as well as electrical work; one copy includes detailed blue line prints of cabinetwork.
Box 02 Folder 14
Includes correspondence, notes, floor plans, and cabinetwork dimensions.
Box 02 Folder 15
18 blue line print drawings of Metropolitan Museum of Art's Print Department; includes three paint samples of Print shop ceiling and wall.
Box 02 Folder 16
1 drawing.
Box 02 Folder 17
Design plans and specifications on trace paper for Metropolitan Museum of Art sales desk and sales office.
Box 02 Folder 18
Floor plans and specifications on trace for Metropolitan Museum of Art book shop offices.
Box 02 Folder 19
Blue line prints and pencil on trace drawings.
Box 02 Folder 20
Box 02 Folder 21
Box 02 Folder 22
includes a small box of architectural tools and Emslie's husband's architectural degree and certificate.
Box 02 Folder 23
Roll A056.04
Architectural degree and certificate.