William Longyear Scrapbooks

Collection

Identifier: MC-031

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains two handmade scrapbooks (1959) by William Longyear, a Pratt Institute alumnus (1921 and 1923) and professor (1923-1970), that document the history, architecture, and student life at Pratt. The photographs in the scrapbooks were taken by Longyear. In one of the scrapbooks, there are before and after photographs of Pratt's urban renewal/demolition plan from the 1950s.

Dates

1959

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open to the public.

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, contact the Institute Archivist, Pratt Institute Library at archives.library@pratt.edu.

Biographical / Historical

William Llowyn Longyear was an illustrator, designer, author and professor. Born in Manhasset, New York, he studied at the Art Students League, Columbia University and the Pratt Institute. He graduated from the Pratt course in Drawing, Painting, and Illustration in 1921. He got a further degree from Pratt in 1923 in Teacher Training in Art and Manual Training (Art Education). He also joined the Pratt faculty in 1923 as an Instructor in Design, Art, and Illustration. In 1925, he was appointed Assistant to the Director of the School of Fine Arts; in 1928 he was appointed Supervisor in Men's Activities and School Operations; in 1929, he was appointed Supervisor of Professional Contacts; in 1935, he was appointed Supervisor of Advertising Contacts; in 1936 he was appointed Supervisor of the Department of Advertising and Design; in 1945, he became the the Chairman of Curriculum and Head of the Department of Advertising Design; in 1960, he was appointed Associate Dean of the Art School for Special Services; in 1965 he became a Professor Emeritus in the School of Art. He founded the Longyear Scholarship Fund in 1952 with over $50,000 in principle. He died in August 1980.

Longyear other included stints at the Museum of Science and Industry in New York and as an illustrator at Fortune magazine. He also designed board games and authored several books beginning in the 1930s, most of them textbooks on advertising design and typography, including Type and Lettering: For Students, Designers, Letterers, Typographers;A Practical Folio of Letter on Progressive Plates;A Dictionary of Modern Type Faces and Lettering; How to Use Color in Advertising Design, Illustration, Painting; and Advertising Layout. Longyear contributed numerous short piece to periodicals, especially on packaging design.

Extent

2 Volumes (1 oversize folder containing 2 scrapbooks. )

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Two scrapbooks created by Pratt alumnus and professor William Longyear documenting the history, campus, and student life of the Pratt Institute.

Arrangement

Arranged in 1 file: Scrapbooks, 1959.

Accruals

No further accruals are expected.

Related Collections

Vertical File for William Longyear: VF Longyear, William.

Harmful Language Statement

If you encounter any pejorative language (i.e. racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic) or content in the finding aids or within the content of the collection, please send an email to archives.library@pratt.edu with the relevant details. For more information about how the Pratt Institute Libraries are addressing offensive language and content across its catalogs and databases, please see the Libraries' Harmful Language Statement: https://library.pratt.edu/statement/2022/05/27/harmful-language.html.

Processing Information

This collection was processed and finding aid written by Jeffrey Greggs on 8/24/2021. Descriptive Rules Used: Finding aid adheres to that prescribed by Describing Archives: A Content Standard. Finding aid written in English.