Recently, I fulfilled a long held wish of mine to discover the stories behind several of the artifacts that were documented with watercolors by the Index of American Design. I visited the archives of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and spent the day going through boxes of data sheets and photographs, finding the answers to many of my questions. I have to thank the National Gallery archivists who could not have been kinder or more helpful.
The
data sheet for this silver concha states that it belonged once to
Joseph Jesus Velarde of Calabasas (near Los Angeles). Originally, it was
four inches in diameter but was cut down by his son, Tomas Velarde, to a
two inch diameter, backed with black leather, and attached to a bridle
he owned. The date is likely accurate since the original owner, Jospeh
Jesus died in 1901, aged about 86, and his son inherited it directly
from him.
Briefly, the Index of American Design was created in the late 1930s by the United States government as part of the Works Progress Administration. The idea was that during the crisis of the Great Depression, skilled artists should be kept employed by giving them various jobs that not only saved them from abandoning art for any work that would feed them and their families. This also benefited the nation by, in the case of the Index, documenting our shared cultural heritage through recording important examples of America's rich tradition of hand made objects. Many of the pieces documented were in private collections at the time and have, as far as I know, disappeared since. Without these watercolors, data sheets, and sometimes photographs, we would have no record of their existence.
This
wooden chandelier was said to date to 1817-1820, and to have been the
work of a Native Californian neophyte at Mission Santa Ines. Since the
data sheet states that this was based on "tradition," there is no way to
confirm the date, but it doesn't seem unlikely. The brass arms with
glass pendants were thought at the time the Index of American design
compiled data on this chandelier, to be later additions. Originally, it
states, this chandelier probably had iron arms ending in spikes to hold
the candles. I don't know if this chandelier still exists.
I first learned of the Index of American Design many years ago from friends at California State Parks who gave me color slides of some of these images. Unfortunately, they either didn't have copies of the data sheets connected with these images, or forgot to give them to me. I knew that the original watercolors were in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., but the curators of these items have cataloged them according to the artists who created them. This system is useless to those of us who wish to see, specifically, what images they have, such as iron work, farm utensils, clothing, etc.
This hat was said to have been made of wheat straw and stitched together. The date given for the hat was 1840-1860, according to the then resident padres at San Luis Rey, and to have been made by someone named Julian Dely. It was in fair condition in 1939, though I don't know if it still survives. The post-mission era date, and the chance that it was made by someone named Dely (possibly a French surname) makes sense, since earlier mission neophytes would have used their fine basket weaving skills to make a hat.
That's where the data sheets come in. One was created for every artifact that was examined by the Index's workers, and these are cataloged by the museum's archive by location, then by material or class (architecture, carving, etc.), and finally by name. These records are digitized and searchable, thank goodness.
The
data sheet for this baptismal font cover states that its date of 1820
was established by mission records, but then on the revers side of the
page was added the note that mission records could not establish the
date because they seldom mention specific items of manufacture at the
mission. Nevertheless, the photograph in the file, taken from the exact
same angle, is even better at showing how superb the tooling was on this
piece.
The system still has its quirks, including several different numbering systems that don't seen to correspond to one another, vague descriptions (i.e. men's calzoneras are listed as "trousers"), location classifications are divided between "California" and "Southern California," and appear in separate parts of the spreadsheets, and many objects that were described were never photographed or painted. Still, I was able to answer many questions by my visit and now can share a few with you here. I cannot, however, share my copies of photos or data sheets, which are for research purposes only.
The
Index of American Design data sheet states that this scabbard belonged
to Jose Maria Varela in circa 1831, and was used by him at the Battle of
Cahuenga Pass, which was fought by Californio landowners against the
unpopular Mexican governor, Manuel Victoria. The data sheet notes that
such scabbards were commonly carried on the saddle, under the rider's
left leg. Two points about this piece support those conclusions. The
first is that there appears to be only one point of suspension, the four
holes at the top, which _may_ have been used to attach a wide leather
loop that hung the sword from the saddle horn. Inspection of the
original (which luckily still survives) would help to clarify this. The
other point is that the embroidery is only at the top and bottom of the
scabbard, and not along its full length. This suggests that that space
was left bare of ornament because the rider's leg would have worn it
down. In other words, this scabbard was carried over the mochila, not
beneath it.
Here is a link to the California section of the Index of American Design: https://www.nga.gov/collection-search-result.html?artobj_credit=Index%20of%20American%20Design&artobj_vbnationality=American&artobj_lifespan=1930_1945&sortOrder=DEFAULT&artobj_imagesonly=Images_online&artobj_location=North%20and%20Central%20America-%3A%3A-United%20States-%3A%3A-California&pageSize=30&pageNumber=1&lastFacet=artobj_location
This
mecha was made up of a tube of purple silk covering a long wick of
cotton fiber. The cotton was drawn out through the metal tube and was
ignited by sparks from a fire steel and piece of flint. The tube and
chain were, by tradition, made from gold that was found in the San
Francisquito Canyon years before the Sutter's mill discovery. The
records go on to state that this mecha belonged orginally to Antonio
Ygnacio Avila, circa 1842, and was donated to the Los Angeles County
Museum by members of the del Valle Family. I recall seeing a similar
mecha at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana..
The
owner of this cross and chain in the late-1930s was a descendant of
Petra de Boronda of Monterey. Again, the current location is unknown.
