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COLLECTION Identifier: Typ 970R

Rudolph Ruzicka designs, correspondence, and ephemera

Overview

Designs, correspondence, and ephemera by and about the Czech wood engraver and designer Rudolph Ruzicka.

Dates

  • Creation: 1918-1983

Creator

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.

Extent

2.65 linear feet (6 boxes)

The collection contains works by and about Rudolph Ruzicka, as well as correspondence between Ruzicka and Philip Hofer. Materials include proofs of engravings, typeface designs, exhibition catalogs, and articles related to Ruzicka's work. The correspondence between Ruzicka and Hofer, dating mostly from the 1940s, discusses projects and personal issues.

Biographical / Historical

Graphic artist and type-designer, Ruzicka (1883-1978) was born in Bohemia, emigrated to Chicago, where he trained as a wood engraver and designer; continued his studies in New York. During the 1930s he collaborated with Philip Hofer on a number of projects, including a series of engravings for Harvard University and the University's diploma designs. Ruzicka's latter years were spent in New Hampshire, where he died in 1978.

Arrangement

Organized into the following series:

  1. I. Designs by Rudolph Ruzicka
  2. II. Articles and exhibitions concerning Rudolph Ruzicka
  3. III. Correspondence

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Philip Hofer.

Separated Materials

Two items removed and cataloged separately: RR: Lines sharp as serifs / David McCord, 1973 (Typ 970R.73.5464); and Tantalus : bookplates created for Philip Hofer, after an original drawing by Hans Holbein / Rudolph Ruzicka, 1937 (Typ 970R.37.760t). ]

Title
Ruzicka, Rudolph, 1883-. Rudolph Ruzicka designs and correspondence, 1918-1983 (Typ 970R): Guide.
Status
completed
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard University
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou01614

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

Contact:
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440