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Eleanor Merritt [Darlington] Collection, 1950-2019, bulk 1990-2019

 

Summary

Abstract:
The Eleanor Merritt Collection holds printed materials, lectures, records, news clippings, audio-visual materials, and correspondence related to Eleanor Merritt's life-long career as an artist, teacher, and advocate for community arts organizations. Materials focus on Merritt's life in Long Island, New York and Sarasota, Florida. Her formative years are captured in essays while a college student, planning notebooks as an art history teacher, and printed materials documenting her early artistic career. Her involvement with the arts community primarily pertains to her work with the Women's Caucus of Art (WCA), Women of Color (WOCA), the Petticoat Painters, Community Art in Public Paces (CAPP), Florida Artists Group, Pierian Spring Academy, and as a docent and board member of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. There are a significant number of art history lecture outlines and source materials on African American, Feminist, and minority artists.
Extent:
5.3 Linear Feet 17 Boxes
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Eleanor Merritt [Darlington] Collection, 1950-2019.

Background

Scope and content:

The Eleanor Merritt [Darlington] Collection holds printed materials, lectures, records, news clippings, audio visual materials, and correspondence which capture Eleanor Merritt's life-long career as an artist, teacher, and leader of community arts organizations. This collection documents how Merritt organized and recorded her substantial involvement with the Sarasota County arts community and the growth of her career as an artist and teacher overtime. The collection reflects Merritt's life-long advocacy for women and women of color in the arts. This interest is apparent in the types of organizations she was involved with, the themes of her artwork, and teaching materials, all highlighting the history of minority artists.

The collection is arranged by subject in chronological order spanning from 1950 – 2019, with the majority of the collection dating after 2000. Material from prior to 1980 pertains to Merritt's life in New York. Notable in these files are illustrated high school reports of art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an art lesson planning book she illustrated while at Westbury High School, and her numerous essays on pedagogical theory while at Hofstra University.

Merritt documented her career, involvement with community art organizations, and her art within the binders in this collection. The binders hold numerous photographs of her artworks, exhibition pamphlets, and related newspaper and magazine clippings, with many arranged in a scrap-book style. Especially present within these files are printed materials relating to the Women Contemporary Artists (WCA). From Merritt's late career teaching art history, there are a large number of lecture outlines and reference materials on minority artists.

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open to all researchers. The Eleanor Merritt [Darlington] Collection can be accessed on site at The Ringling Archives. Archives collections may be viewed by appointment. Use of certain materials is restricted by statute, by the office of origin, or by the donor. For the protection of its collections, the Archives also reserves the right to restrict access to records which are not arranged, are being processed, or are exceptionally valuable or fragile. In some cases, copies may be substituted for the originals.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Chief Archivist of the Ringling Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Eleanor Merritt [Darlington] Collection, 1950-2019.

Location of this collection:
The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art
5401 Bay Shore Road
Sarasota
FL
34243
USA