Mary Miller Smith and Frank Smart artwork, stereotype plates, and contract for "Don't Mind Me"
Overview
Original art, stereotype plates, and a contract for the unpublished children's newspaper comic "Don't Mind Me."
Dates
- Creation: circa 1940-1949
Condition Description
In good condition. Gloves required to directly handle stereotype plates.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research.
This collection is shelved offsite. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine retrieval policies and times.
Extent
.3 linear feet (1 box)Contains 67 art drafts (ink on paper cards) by Frank Smart for an unpublished children's newspaper comic created by Mary Miller Smith titled "Don't Mind Me," along with 12 corresponding stereotype plates; four of the plates correspond to drawings in the 67 cards. The comic focused on a faun and a bear. Each panel features the duo along with a rhyme. Also includes a signed publishing contract between Mary Miller Smith and the H.C. Allison Syndicate of Forth Worth (Tex.).
Biographical / Historical
Stereotyping was invented in the late 18th century as the printed book rose in popularity and the need for speed in printing and higher output increased. In printing, a stereotype uses a plaster mould, called a “flong”, made from the surface of a forme, or one side of a sheet. The mould is then used to cast a stereotype plate from hot metal. The resulting plate is more durable and stands up to the increased output of high-speed press runs. Multiple plates can also be run on multiple presses.
Source: Indiana State Library
Arrangement
Arranged as received.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Custodial History
Ownership prior to this acquisition is unknown.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2023MH-19. Purchased from Eclectibles with the Printing and Graphic Arts Art Reserve Fund, 2023 March 21.
Processing Information
This collection was processed to a basic level with minimal rehousing, organization, and preservation. (Aurora Charlow, 2023)
Genre / Form
- Title
- Mary Miller Smith and Frank Smart artwork, stereotype plates, and contract for "Don't Mind Me," circa 1940-1949, (MS Typ 1346): Guide
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University
- Date
- 2023 May 5
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- hou03554
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440
Houghton_Library@harvard.edu