Philadelphia Area Archives Research Portal (PAARP)

Albert LeCoff (born 1950) is a co-founder and the Executive Director of The Center for Art in Wood (formerly known as the Wood Turning Center) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since the mid 1970s, Albert has worked to promote the art of woodturning, woodworking, and the artists involved in these pursuits through developing programs at the Center, organizing conferences and exhibitions across the United States, and lecturing internationally. The Albert LeCoff early records of the Center for Art in Wood, 1982-2008, consist largely of slides of artworks and other materials that pertain to exhibitions, conferences, and symposia. To a lesser extent there are administrative and publicity materials relating to the early administration of the Center; photographs; printed materials; ephemera; and correspondence. (View full finding aid.)

The John Grass Wood Turning Company, in business in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia from 1863 to 2003, specialized in creating tool handles, flag poles, furniture legs, and other wooden objects shaped on a lathe. Its longevity illustrates Philadelphia's importance as a longstanding industrial center in America's history. The John Grass Wood Turning Company records, 1910-1952, 1993-2002, consist primarily of financial records of the John Grass Wood Turning Company from two significant periods in its history: a forty-year duration beginning just before the company's incorporation in 1911, and a decade-long span leading up to the company's closure in 2003. (View full finding aid.)

Michael A. Stone (born 1954) is a scholar of contemporary American crafts and woodworking. He wrote the book Contemporary American Woodworkers (1985), and articles which have appeared in American Craft, Fine Woodworking, The New York Times, and other publications. The Michael A. Stone research files on woodworking artists, 1980-1995, include research articles, interviews, photographs and slides of works, correspondence with artists and descendants of artists, exhibition catalogs and ephemera, artist curricula vitae, press releases, and related documents. Garry Bennett, Arthur Carpenter, Wharton Esherick, and other well-known woodworking artists are represented in the collection. (View full finding aid.)

Palmer Sharpless (1922-2002) was an American woodworker and woodturner. He taught woodworking for 38 years at George School in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and was a founding member of the American Association of Woodturners. The Palmer Sharpless papers, circa 1970-1995, consist of five of Palmer Sharpless' sketchbooks, several photographs, and a few framed items. (View full finding aid.)

Paul W. Eshelman (1906-1977) was a well known wood craftsman and professor in the Industrial Arts Department at Millersville State College (renamed Millersville University in 1983) in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Paul Eshelman papers, 1950-1977, consist of a scrapbook, a notebook, a photograph, and newspaper clippings, all of which relate to the artist or his work. (View full finding aid.)

Established in 1986, The Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia, PA is an arts and education institution that is dedicated to promoting and advancing the field of woodworking and woodturning, the use of wood in creation and design, and the artists who work in this field through its programs, gallery space, and research library. The Center for Art in Wood artist research files, circa 1976-2014, consist of files about woodworking artists; galleries, exhibitions, and symposia featuring woodworking; and other topics related to woodworking, such as particular types or styles of furniture. The files contain materials such as photographic documentation of artworks, artist curricula vitae, applications for exhibitions and residency, catalogs and ephemera, newspaper clippings. (View full finding aid.)

Established in 1986, The Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia, PA is an arts and education institution that is dedicated to promoting and advancing the field of woodworking and woodturning, the use of wood in creation and design, and the artists who work in this field through its programs, gallery space, and research library. The Center for Art in Wood video collection, 1990-2005, consists of VHS tapes and a few DVDs of conference, panel, and event proceedings at The Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia, PA and elsewhere; instructional videos about woodturning and woodturning history; and other topics relating to wood in art design and creation. (View full finding aid.)