Unintentional Preservation

Alongside documenting the activities of its creator, a fonds (a collection of records that originate from the same creator or source) will unintentionally preserve artifacts from another time. This is fascinating because an artifact can also provide a history of the particular period of time in which it was made and used. Today’s post reveals […]

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Miscellanea, Comedy, and Archivists

Archivists tend to swerve away from creating the dreaded ‘Miscellaneous’ folder, but there are usually odds and ends that one finds in an archive that just do not seem to fit. Even more feared is the folder labeled “Miscellaneous” by its own creator! Such was the case in Tafel’s archive, where I found dispersed throughout […]

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Life at Taliesin

During the time when Edgar Tafel was an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright, Taliesin was a hub of creativity that accepted students and apprentices with a wide variety of talent in other arts besides architecture. Included in the archive is Tafel’s correspondence around this time to his family and friends, including Robert (Bob) Goodall, a […]

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Introductions

Welcome to the About the Edgar A. Tafel Archive! This blog will document the processing of the archive until its eventual publication in an online finding aid.  Being an apprentice at Taliesin from 1932-1941 and a lively, traveling lecturer as well as an architect led Tafel to meet interesting people and collect unique things. I […]

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