Collection Information
Size: 0.5 Linear feet
Summary: The scattered papers of art and music patron and educator Olive Thompson Cowell measure 0.5 linear feet and date from circa 1940 to 1982. Found are biographical materials including sound recordings, a photo album and snapshots, and files on artists including Claire Falkenstein, Trude Guermonprez, and Frans and Marguerite Wildenhain.
Biographical/Historical Note
Olive Thompson Cowell (1887-1984) was an arts and music patron and educator in San Francisco, California. Cowell attended Barnard College and worked as an educator in California. Later she received an MA from the University of California, Berkeley. She founded the international relations department at San Francisco State University, where she taught until 1956. Married to Henry Clayton Blackwood Cowell, she was the stepmother to pianist Henry Cowell.
Provenance
Donated 1994 and 1998 by Alan W. Ford, who inherited and resided in Cowell's home and received the papers from Cowell. He destroyed all other Cowell papers at her request. Ford subsequently resided in a house designed by architect Lilian Bridgman, and donated a group of Bridgman's papers as well; these are cataloged separately.
Language Note
English .
Funding Note
Processing of this collection received support from the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative.
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