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Cornish School of Allied Arts records, 1893-1989

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Cornish School of Allied Arts (Seattle, Wash.)
Title
Cornish School of Allied Arts records
Dates
1893-1989 (inclusive)
Quantity
39.5 cubic feet, (70 boxes, 1 oversize folder, microfilm reels)
Collection Number
2654
Summary
Records of Seattle school of the arts
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Open to all users.

Some records stored offsite; advance notice required for use.

Request at UW

Languages
Collection materials are in English.
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was partially provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Historical Note

The Cornish School of Allied Arts was founded by Nellie C. Cornish in 1914 as the Cornish School of Music, located in the Booth Building at Broadway and Pine Street in Seattle. Nellie Cornish wanted to educate artists through exposure to all art forms, and within the next few years, expanded the curriculum to offer courses in dance, visual arts, theater, and design. The school became the first in the western United States to offer comprehensive training in all of the arts.

Nellie Cornish recruited both famous and unknown artists for her faculty, including painter Mark Tobey, dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, and artists fleeing from the Russian revolution, such as Peter Merenblum. Her focus, however, was not to bring art to a privileged elite, but to nurture creativity in the average person and enrich the lives of all, not just the talented, by means of art.

After World War I, and faced with the Cornish School's impending financial crisis, a group of prominent, welthy women and their husbands formed a Board of Trustees to raise funds for a new facility. In 1921, the School moved to a new, picturesque building on East Roy Street, with Nellie Cornish living in an upstairs apartment.

While the School's programs flourished, Cornish faced repeated financial crises. In 1924, with the school unable to pay the mortgage on its property, a group of benefactors formed the non-profit Cornish School Foundation to manage finances, and named Nellie Cornish the lifetime director of educational programs, working in coordination with the Foundation's Board of Trustees and the Women's Advisory Committee. After 1939, with the resignation of Nellie Cornish, a Faculty governing Board directed the school until 1946. The Music and Art Foundation, a women's civic organization formed in 1923 to encourage young people to develop their creative and artistic talents, assumed ownership and administrative responsibility of the Cornish School in 1954.

In 1977, Cornish School of Allied Arts became Cornish Institute of Allied Arts, a fully accredited college offering Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees. In 1986, the college was renamed the Cornish College of the Arts. Cornish College opened a new campus in downtown Seattle in 2003.

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Content Description

Correspondence, minutes, reports, subject files, clippings, scrapbooks, phonodiscs, film, catalogues; 1893-1989.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Creator's literary rights not transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged in 8 accessions:

  • Accession No. 2654-001, Cornish School of Allied Arts records, 1893-1978 (bulk 1955-1973)
  • Accession No. 2654-002, Cornish School of Allied Arts records, 1893-1969
  • Accession No. 2654-003, Cornish School of Allied Arts records, 1929-1978
  • Accession No. 2654-004, Cornish School of Allied Arts records, 1975-1979
  • Accession No. 2654-005, Cornish Institute of Allied Arts records, 1977-1981
  • Accession No. 2654-006, Cornish School of Allied Arts records, 1937-1945
  • Accession No. 2654-007, Cornish School of Allied Arts records, 1953-1989
  • Accession No. 2654-008, Cornish School of Allied Arts records, 1918-1948

Preservation Note

Some records stored offsite; advance notice required for use.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Acting--Study and teaching--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Art schools--Washington (State)--Seattle--Archives
  • Art--Study and teaching--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Arts--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Conservatories of music--Washington (State)--Seattle--Archives
  • Dance schools--Washington (State)--Seattle--Archives
  • Dance--Study and teaching--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Music--Instruction and study--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)
  • Small colleges--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Universities and colleges--Washington (State)--Seattle

Form or Genre Terms

  • Catalogs
  • Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.)
  • Correspondence
  • Ephemera
  • Financial records
  • Minutes
  • Phonograph records
  • Programs
  • Reports
  • Scrapbooks

Other Creators

  • Personal Names

    • Bird, Bonnie--Correspondence
    • Browne, Ellen Van Volkenburg, 1882- --Correspondence
    • Cage, John--Correspondence
    • Cornish, Nellie Centennial, 1876-1956
    • Irvin, Karen, 1910?-1999
    • Tobey, Mark--Correspondence

    Corporate Names

    • Cornish College of the Arts (Seattle, Wash.)
    • Cornish Institute of Allied Arts (Seattle, Wash.)
    • Cornish School of Allied Arts (Seattle, Wash.)--Archives
    • Cornish School of Allied Arts (Seattle, Wash.) Dance Department
    • Cornish School of Allied Arts (Seattle, Wash.) Registrar
    • Music and Art Foundation (Seattle, Wash.)


2007 (Last modified: 11/30/2017)

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