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Martha Wilson Papers

Call Number

MSS.175

Dates

1950-2021, inclusive
; 1964-2006, bulk

Creator

Wilson, Martha, 1947-
Wilson, Martha, 1947- (Role: Donor)

Extent

92 Linear Feet
in 100 containers

Extent

3 DVDs

Extent

700 Megabytes
in one computer disc.

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Abstract

The Martha Wilson Papers consist of comprehensive documentation of the life and career of Martha Wilson, artist and Founding Director of Franklin Furnace, Inc. Materials include journals, correspondence, flyers and posters, articles, clippings, juvenilia dating from grade school onward, video recordings, and a computer disc. The collection also contains materials related to Wilson's son Comly Cook-Wilson, and restricted materials dealing with Wilson's finances and medical history.

Biographical Note

Martha Wilson is an artist and the Founding Director of Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc., a multifaceted arts organization active from 1976 to the present. Born in Philadelphia in 1947, Wilson attended The George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from Ohio's Wilmington College in 1969. She attended graduate school at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia where she received her M.A. in English Literature in 1971. She completed one year of doctoral studies at Dalhousie (leaving after a dispute with her dissertation advisor) and taught English at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NASCAD) from 1972-1974. Wilson began her work as a performance and conceptual artist in Nova Scotia and found early recognition when her piece Breast Forms Permutated (1974) was included in Lucy Lippard's show of conceptual art by women, c. 7500, at the California Institute of the Arts.

Wilson moved to New York City in 1974 and performed at venues such as The Kitchen, The Whitney, Hallwalls (Buffalo), and P.S. 1. In 1976 Wilson founded Franklin Furnace in her loft on Franklin Street in TriBeCA as a space for the display of artists' books. In 1978 Wilson joined DisBAND, an all-female conceptual band with artists Ilona Granet, Donna Henes, Ingrid Sischy, and Diane Torr (at various times also including Barbara Ess, Daile Kaplan, and Barbara Kruger.) During this time Franklin Furnace was developing not only as a place for artists' books, but for temporary installation art and performance art, eventually presenting artists such as Ida Applebroog, Eric Bogosian, David Cale, Patty Chang, Guillermo Gomez-Pena, Ann Hamilton, Murray Hill, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Sherrie Levine, Liza Lou, Robbie McCauley, William Pope.L, Paul Zaloom, and three of the so-named NEA 4: Karen Finley, Holly Hughes, and John Fleck. The Furnace's performance space was closed in 1990 after a citation for being an illegal social club leading to its first season in exile at Judson Memorial Church. In 1993 Franklin Furnace's collection of artists' books from 1960 on, at the time the largest such collection in the world, was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art. In 1997 The Furnace sold its loft space in TriBeCa and became a virtual institution existing primarily on the Internet.

In her own art work Wilson is known for her satirical portrayals of Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, and Tipper Gore. Wilson received National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in Performance Art in 1978 and 1983, the Skowhegan School Governor's Award for Service to the Arts in 1991, an Obie Award in 1992 for commitment to artists' freedom of expression and a Bessie for commitment to artists' freedom of expression in 1992. In 2001 Wilson received a New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship in Performance Art. More recently her work has been seen at venues such as White Columns in New York (Gloria: Another Look at Feminist Art in the 1970s,2002) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (2007WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution).

Sources:

Goldberg, RoseLee. Performance: Live Art, 1909 to the Present. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1979.

Jones, Amelia, editor. Sexual Politics: Judy Chicago's Dinner Party in Feminist Art History. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1996.

Lippard, Lucy R. The Pink Glass Swan: Selected Feminist Essays on Art. New York: The New Press, 1995.

Reckitt, Helena and Peggy Phelan. Art and Feminism: Themes and Movements. London: Phaidon Press, 2001.

Rosen, Randy, and Catherine C. Brawer. Making Their Mark: Women Artists Move into the Mainstream, 1970-1985. New York: Abbeville Press, 1989.

Stiles, Kristine and Peter Selz, eds. Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.

Wark, Jayne, "Martha Wilson: Not Taking It at Face Value," Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture and Media Studies. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2001.

---"Conceptual Art and Feminism: Martha Rosler, Adrian Piper, Eleanor Antin, and Martha Wilson": Woman's Art Journal, Vol. 22, No. 1 Spring - Summer, 2001.

Arrangement

Where possible original order was maintained, especially in the subject files. However, this collection had little original order; where the original arrangement was unclear, items were arranged in chronological or alphabetical order.

Journals are arranged in chronological order. Correspondence and subject files (where appropriate) are arranged alphabetically. Flyers and clippings are in chronological order.

The Collection has been arranged into nine series:

Series I: Journals
Series II: Correspondence
Series III: Subject Files
Series IV: Juvenilia
Series V: Medical and Financial Files (Restricted)
Series VI: Flyers, Invitations and Programs
Series VII: Clippings, Articles and Magazines
Series VIII: Objects
Series IX: Bibliographic Materials

Some items were removed to oversize boxes, and are listed at the end of the finding aid.

Scope and Contents

The Martha Wilson Papers consist of materials related to the life and career of Martha Wilson. The bulk of the collection is comprised of Wilson's journals from 1969 to 2017, correspondence from 1964 to 2013 and a large collection of flyers and invitations. Subject files related to Wilson's life, art, and work also comprise a significant part of the collection. These materials span the years from 1960-2011. Strengths of the collection include the large amount of correspondence between Wilson and her family, and materials related to art projects and intellectual collaborations. There collection also contains a few video recordings and one computer disc.

Materials date from 1950 to 2017 with the bulk of the materials covering 1964 to 2006.

Conditions Governing Access

Series V. Medical and Finacial Files, Series III. Subject Files - Subseries G: Poconos House, and a few files containing student records are restricted. Researchers should contact special.collections@nyu.edu for more information.

The remainder of the collection is open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by Martha Wilson was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; Martha Wilson Papers; MSS 175; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University.

Location of Materials

Materials are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please request materials at least two business days prior to your research visit to coordinate access.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Martha Wilson in 2006. The accession number associated with this gift is 2006.175. Further accretions were donated in 2008-2022. The accession numbers associated with these gifts are 2008.175, 2010.175, 2011.175, 2013.175.001, 2013.175.002, 2015.175, 2017.027, 2018.093, 2020.008, and 2023.011.

Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures

Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact special.collections@nyu.edu with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.

Born-Digital Access Policies and Procedures

Born-digital materials have not been transferred and may not be available to researchers. Researchers may request access copies. To request that material be transferred, or if you are unsure if material has been transferred, please contact special.collections@nyu.edu with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.

Selected Performances and Exhibitions

The Martha Wilson Papers consist of comprehensive documentation of the life and career of Martha Wilson. Materials include journals, correspondence, flyers and posters, articles, clippings and juvenilia dating from 1950 on. The collection also contains restricted materials dealing with Wilson's finances and medical history. The following are performances and exhibitions for which the collection contains materials:

2007 WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

2006 The Downtown Show, Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York

2005 How American Women Artists Invented Post-Modernism, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey

2003 Separated at Birth, StART Festival, Judson Church, New York City

2002 Personal & Political, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York

2002 Gloria: Another Look at Feminist Art in the 1970s, White Columns, New York City

1994 Tipper Gore's Advice for the 90s, window installation at Printed Matter, New York City

1992 Barbara Bush On Abuse, Cooper Union, New York City

1985 Just Say No to Arms Control, performance in the guise of Nancy Reagan for Brother Ron's Gospel Hour, New York City

1980 DISBAND at Spazio Zero, Rome, Italy

1976 Queen, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City

1975 De-Formation, performance in Autogeography show, Downtown Whitney, New York City

1973 Transformance: Claudia, collaborative performance with Jacki Apple at The Plaza Hotel, New York City

Collection processed by

Lydia Brawner (2011); Finding aid completed by Rachel Greer (2012).

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-02-06 14:15:17 -0500.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Finding aid written in English

Processing Information

In 2017, 2020, and 2023, accretions of diaries and journals were intellectually incorporated into the collection as part of Series I. Journals in accordance with the collection's existing arrangement structure.

In 2018 materials from accretions 2010.175, 2011.175, 2013.175.001, 2013.175.002, and 2015.175 were processed and intellectually incorporated into the collection. Materials were housed in archival folders and boxes.

In 2019 bibliographic material which had previously been separated from the collection were reintegrated as Series IX.

Revisions to this Guide

April 2017: Updated by Rachel Searcy to reflect the incorporation of 2017 accretion
May 2018: Updated by Jasmine Larkin to include materials from accession numbers 2010.175, 2011.175, 2013.175.001, 2013.175.002, and 2015.175. In addition, the finding aid was edited for compliance with DACS and ACM Required Elements for Archival Description.
August 2019: Updated by Anna McCormick to include bibliographic materials formerly separated from the collection.
February 2020: Updated by Rachel Searcy to reflect 2020 accretion
February 2023: Updated by Rachel Searcy to reflect 2023 accretion

Repository

Fales Library and Special Collections
Fales Library and Special Collections
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012