THE JOHN W. GEIGER COLLECTION
FOR THE STUDY OF
ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE
Frank Lloyd Wright Research Materials
Series 2: Essays, Articles, and Excerpted Works
The 24 folders in this series contain manuscripts and publications focused largely on biographical aspects of Frank Lloyd Wright, his family, and associates. These materials were collected by John Geiger over the years as a function of his ongoing interest in understanding how personal relationships impacted the architectural production of the Wright studio. Reminiscences of Wright family members include writings by Miriam Noel, Elizabeth Heller Wright, and Svetlana Allilueva. Other documents discuss the creative environment of the Taliesin Fellowship and events affecting the life of that community. Essays, articles, and editorial correspondence by noted historians such as William Cronon, Paul Kruty, Jack Quinan, and Robert Twombly refer to Wright-designed buildings, exhibitions of work by the architect, and relationships with other significant artists. A small number of similar documents printed from the Internet are also present.
Files
Some of the essays and other writings seen in these folders are of the same type or in a few instances duplicate those found in the Periodicals series of this record group, where they were retained by Geiger in the context of their original publications and shelved as part of his library.
Folder: "Taliesin -- A Masque" (1907)
Excerpt from the play/poem by Richard Bovey (1907). [Box 18]
Folder: "A Goodly Fellowship" (1939)
Photocopy; excerpt from a book by Mary Ellen Chase; folder also contains "Are You Afraid of Snakes" by Chase, from Reader's Digest (July, 1956), and letter signed "John and Martha." [Box 18]
Folder: "The Story of My Life," by Elizabeth Heller Wright (1929)
Photocopy of typescript from the collection of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. [Box 18]
Folder: "The Romance of Miriam Wright" (1932)
Photocopy of typescript dated Sunday, May 8, 1932, being the reminiscences of Miriam Noel, second wife of Frank Lloyd Wright. [Box 18]
Folder: "Spring Green Bridge Collapses" (1948)
Photocopies of newspaper reports of bridge failure that killed Svetlana Lloyd Wright. [Box 18]
Folder: "Frank Lloyd Wright in Philadelphia" (1951)
Typescript of article appearing in The Nation (2/10/1951). [Box 18]
Folder: "The Faraway Music" (1984)
Publication by Svetlana Allilueva, biographical recollections of her time at Taliesin and becoming the wife of William Wesley Peters. [Box 18]
Folder: "Creativity" (1961)
Essay appearing in Carnegie Corporation of New York Quarterly (July, 1961 [vol. IX, #3]).
[Box 18]
Folder: "The Taliesin Experience" (1985)
Photocopy of typescript of paper by Robert Siegel (May, 1985), with cover letter from Siegel to John Geiger (2/7/2001); paper resulting from survey of life in the Taliesin Fellowship for class taught by Robert Twombly. [Box 18]
Folder: "Henri Cartier-Bresson: Portrait of the Artist, circa 1947" (1982)
Essay by John Malcolm Brinnin appearing in Camera Arts (January/February, 1982, pp. 14--17, 20-24, 28, 110-113); attached correspondence from Tom Rickard. [Box 20]
Folder: "From House to HQ" (1989)
Essay by Daralice Boles regarding the Charnley house appearing in Progressive Architecture (April, 1989 [vol. 70], pp. 76-81). [Box 20]
Folder: "The Wonderful World of Taliesin: My Twenty Years on Its Fringes" (1989)
Essay by Carpenter Grant Manson appearing in Wisconsin Magazine of History (Autumn, 1989 vol. 73, #1], pp. 33-41); photocopy autographed to Virginia Kazor by Manson (1/28/1990). [Box 20]
Folder: "Heurtley to Bluemmer: Early Impressions of Frank Lloyd Wright" (1993)
Essay by Paul Kruty appearing in Illinois Historical Journal (Summer, 1993 [vol. 86, #2], pp. 85-94, 144). [Box 20]
Folder: "Exhibition: Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect" (1994)
Review of MOMA exhibition appearing in Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (September, 1994 [vol. 53], pp. 343-347). [Box 20]
Folder: "Inconstant Unity: The Passion of Frank Lloyd Wright" (1994)
Essay by William Cronon, appearing in Frank Lloyd Wright: Architect (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1994; Terence Riley, editor, pp. 8-31). [Box 20]
Folder: "Wright, Spencer, and the Casement Window" (1995)
Essay by Paul Kruty, appearing in Winterthur Portfolio (Summer/Autumn, 1995 [vol. 30, #2-3], pp. 103-127). [Box 20]
Folder: Letter to the Editor of the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (1995)
Letter from Anthony Alofsin regarding Frank Lloyd Wright exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art appearing in JSAH (March, 1995 [vol. 54, #1], pp. 114-115). [Box 20]
Folder: "The Wright Way" (1998)
Essay by Peter Aleshire "The Wright Way," [pp. 55-67]; and "Wright Here," [pp. 68-71], appearing in Phoenix Magazine (December, 1998). [Box 20]
Folder: "Engineering the Organic: The Partnership of Jaroslav J. Polivka and Frank Lloyd Wright" (2001)
Essay by Jack Quinan presented during an exhibition (September 30, 2000 - January 7, 2001) at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society. [Box 20]
Folder: "At Work in the Oak Park Studio" (2003)
Essay by Paul Kruty appearing in ARRIS, Journal of the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians (2003 [vol. 14], pp. 17-31). [Box 20]
Folder: "Frank Lloyd Wright As Educator: The Taliesin Fellowship Program, 1932-1959" (1995)
Essay by Richard Candida Smith, published in Architecture and the Sites of History, Iain Borden and David Dunster, editors. [Box 24]
Folder: "Organic Living: Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin Fellowship and Georgi Gurdjieff's Institute for the Harmonius Development of Man"
Essay by Robert C. Twombly appearing in Wisconsin Magazine of History (Winter, 1974-1975, pp. 126-139), including photocopy annotated by John Geiger. [Box 24]
Folder: "Frank Lloyd Wright in Spring Green, 1911-1932" (1980)
Essay by Robert C. Twombly appearing in Wisconsin Stories, reprint of Wisconsin Magazine of History (Spring, 1968 [vol. 51], pp. 200-217). [Box 24]
Folder: Miscellaneous Publications
Various printouts of Internet bulletin board postings, articles, etc. [Box 20]