Harriet Meserole papers

Collection

Identifier: SC.52

Scope and Contents

The Harriet Meserole papers primarily hold a portfolio of artworks, illustrations, and designs created by artist Harriet Meserole throughout her career. The collection holds original artworks, studies, and sketches, but mostly magazine tear sheets, magazine issues, cards, and other products wherein Meserole's work was published. The collection also holds correspondence from professional associations, much of it interpersonal, as well as photographs of her extended family and friends. Photographs of Harriet's ancestors include members of the prominent Brooklyn Meserole family.

Dates

Creation: circa 1850-1989

Creator

Meserole, Harriet (1893-1989) (Creator, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Access is open to researchers by appointment at the Fashion Institute of Technology Library, Department of Special Collections and FIT Archive. If you wish to schedule an appointment to view this material or have any questions, visit our website.

Full Extent

approximately 6 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

This collection was donated to the FIT Library in 1989, however Harriet Meserole was in contact with the library's director, John Touhey, for a number of years prior. When the collection was processed beginning in 2025, no documentation was found regarding collection arrangement.

Retaining the original order of this collection was not entirely possible due to the length of time between the donation and the processing date. There is evidence that the collection was obtained in portions over a long period of time, and that some of it was transferred to other collections or to the main FIT library. Therefore, a large portion of the collection's arrangement has been devised, organized by format or subject.

Notes and annotated envelopes describing contents of the collection, some addressed to John Touhey, were found throughout the collection, often dissociated from the items they referred to. These orphaned documents have been kept as part of the Harriet Meserole papers collection, and placed together in Series 2: "Documents, notes, and correspondence." Where notes clearly corresponded to the items they were with, original order was retained.