Archives Open House

 

 

Students and faculty are invited to the Drawings + Document Archive's open house on the first day of classes to learn more about the collections and how we can support their academic endeavors this year. The Open House will be Monday, August 19, from 2-4 p.m.

 

In honor of the 100 year anniversary of Formica, we have an exhibit of Formica pattern books and samples from our Trade Catalog Collection. Examples include early, 1920s Formica sample chips with their hand-written identification labels and thick pattern books with perforated tear sheets that architects used to give to clients in the 1950s and 1960s. It's definitely worth stopping by to see the souvenir book from the 1964 World's Fair House Formica exhibit, which contains some rather unbelievable uses for Formica.
 

 

Also on display is the set of Wysor Grand Opera House drawings by Fort Wayne architect H. W. Matson, from 1891. This impressive building stood at the corner of Jackson and Mulberry Streets in downtown Muncie until it was razed for a parking lot. Local architects Kibele & Garrard were hired to do later renovations to convert the opera house to a movie theater, and likely acquired the original Matson drawings at that time. The entire collection of Kibele & Garrard drawings is currently being digitized and will be online soon.

Images: Formica Brand Laminated Plastic: Colors and Patterns cover, 1966; Detail of Roulette pattern from New Citation Series for Professional Specifiers: Solid Colors, Special Designs: Formica Laminated Plastic, 1960; Wysor Grand Opera House details, 1891, Kibele & Garrard Architectural Records, Drawings + Documents Archive, Ball State University.