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Helen Cornelison Interior Design Sketchbook

 Collection
Identifier: SC MS0361

Scope and Contents

Her Sketchbook of Interior Designs contains exquisitely drawn illustrations of architectural features, interior room design, jewelry designs, lamp shade design and furniture, along with some class notes and brief histories of particular furniture design eras, ie: Louis XIV and XVI, Elizabethan, Sheraton, Chippendale, etc.. Collection contains 45 pencil drawings on stained heavy ivory paper bound in a greyish brown buckram two ring binder measuring 27.5 x 21 x 2.5 cm wrapped in a mylar plastic cover protecting a loose sheet in sepia and red ink in ivory with the title: INTERIOR DESIGN SKETCHBOOK 1915-1919 HELEN ROBINSON CORNELISON, 24 loose sheets and three magazine articles. Inside the cover upper left corner is handwritten: Mrs. Hubert L. Cornelison 1861 Belmore Rd. E. Cleveland Ohio. Loosely added in back of binder are 24 sheets of ivory paper are pencil drawings beginning with a “title page” started as: Helen M. Robinson 2074 East 96th Street Cleveland Ohio Cleveland School of Art 1915.

Dates

  • Creation: 1915 - 1919
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1915 - 1919

Conditions Governing Access

Collection housed remotely. Users need to contact 24 hours in advance.

Conditions Governing Use

Collection is open for research. Please inquire about copyright information.

Biographical / Historical

Helen M. Robinson Cornelison was a celebrated early 20th century interior designer and decorator in Cleveland, Ohio. As a student in the Cleveland School of Art, she studied with Louis Rorimer who taught architectural design, modeling and interior design at the Cleveland School of Art (later the Cleveland Art Institute) from 1895 to 1919. Helen began interior design classes with Louis Rorimer in 1915 according to her class notes but also based on her jewelry design sketches she may also have taken some classes with him in that regard as well. She begins her classes in 1915 as Helen M. Robinson reflected by her lecture notes but by 1918 she uses Helen Robinson Cornelison on her sketches for class assignments. She was married to Hubert L. Cornelison who was a mechanical engineer. They lived in East Cleveland, Ohio. She held Patent No. 1,391,462 for a cabinet design dated September 20, 1921. Much of her design work reflected Rorimer’s style which is evident in her sketchbook. Louis Rorimer (1872-1939) was also a graduate of the Cleveland School of Art. He considered himself and artist above all and liked revivalism to charaterize most of his designs which coordinated interior furnishings with exterior architecture. His interest in arts and crafts coincided with Gustav Stickley’s era but Prof. Rorimer drew inspiration from William Morris in his approach to art. Rorimer was considered the dean of “high style in Cleveland.” In 1904 along with three of his students: Mary Blakeslee, Ruth Smedley and Carolyn Hadlow, he started the Rokesley Shop which created a line of jewelry featuring silver and enamel now known as “Chicago silver.” In 1910 he and Edward Brooks established the Rorimer-Brooks Studio workshop in Cleveland. Among their clients were the Statler Hotel chain, the Greenbrier Resort and attorney Homer Johnson, whose son Philip, became one of the United States’ premier modern architects. Rorimer was the United States delegate to the Paris Exposition in 1925. His son James, affliated with the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, was a World War II U.S. Army “Monuments Man” - a group of Allied military people selected for their knowledge of art designated to save the monumental art collections in Europe especially in France from the invading Germans.

Extent

1 binders; x linear feet : One 2-ring binder bound in greyish-tan buckram measuring 28 x 21 x 2.5 cm with clear plastic book cover.

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

No particular format.

Physical Location

Lehigh University, Linderman Library, Special Collections

Other Finding Aids

Lehigh University’s Special Collection contains a number of sketchbooks - student and manufacturers.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The sketchbook was acquired by purchase October 2018. Brooklyn Books, a book dealer has posted pages of the sketchbook on the Internet.

Related Materials

Gottlieb Buehler & Company Furniture sketchbook 1892-1932, SC MS XXXX? Winterthur Portfolio. 1988. “Louis Rorimer.” University of Chicago Press, v.23, n. 4, pp. 243-264. Louis Rorimer Papers. Western Reserve Historical Society MS 4718. Pina, Leslie A. 1990. Louis Rorimer: A Man of Style. Kent State University Press. Theiss, Evelyn. 2010. “Louis Rorimer’s elegant original design defined public and private places: Elegant Cleveland. The Plain Dealer. January 20.

Separated Materials

Winterthur Portfolio. 1988. “Louis Rorimer.” University of Chicago Press, v.23, n. 4, pp. 243-264. Louis Rorimer Papers. Western Reserve Historical Society MS 4718. Pina, Leslie A. 1990. Louis Rorimer: A Man of Style. Kent State University Press. Theiss, Evelyn. 2010. “Louis Rorimer’s elegant original design defined public and private places: Elegant Cleveland. The Plain Dealer. January 20.

Title
Helen Cornelison Interior Design Sketchbook
Author
Ilhan Citak and Eleanor Nothelfer
Date
October 15, 2018
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Lehigh University Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Lehigh University
Linderman Library
30 Library Drive
Bethlehem PA 18045 USA
610-758-4506
610-758-6091 (Fax)