McComas Collection, 1955-2013 | McDaniel College

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Collection Overview

Title: McComas Collection, 1955-2013

ID: SpC/2005.50.4

Primary Creator: McComas, Henry Clay (1875-)

Extent: 1.0 Boxes

Arrangement: Series

Date Acquired: 06/21/2005. More info below under Accruals.

Subjects: death masks, life masks, Masks (Sculpture)

Languages: English

Abstract

Life and death masks of famous and infamous persons and papers including, letters, photographs, and student research regarding the McComas Collection. The masks in this collection are believed to be casts from masks in the Lawrence Hutton Collection located at Princeton University.

Subject/Index Terms

death masks
life masks
Masks (Sculpture)

Administrative Information

Repository: McDaniel College

Accruals: 2012.13, copies of the comdemnation records from the Smithsonian.

Use Restrictions:

Copyright: McDaniel College may hold copyright to sections of this material.

McDaniel College makes no representation that it is the owner of any copyright or other literary property in the materials contained in its archives, manuscript collections, and special collections unless specifically stated, (b) that in providing access to or permitting the reproduction of any such materials, McDaniel Archives does not assume any responsibility for obtaining or granting any permission to publish or use the same, and (c) that the responsibility (i) for determining the nature of any rights, and the ownership or interest therein, and for obtaining the appropriate permissions to publish or use and (ii) for determining the nature of any liabilities (including liabilities for defamation and invasion of privacy or publicity) that may arise from any publication or use, rest entirely with the researcher.

Copying: Papers may be copied in accordance with the Archives usual procedures.

Acquisition Source: Art Department

Acquisition Method: Transfer

Related Materials: RG25 - Office of the President Lowell Ensor Papers: letters between Lowell Ensor and Phil Myers concerning the donation of the McComas's masks; letter to Dr. Henry McComas from Lowell Ensor thanking him for the collection of masks.

Preferred Citation:

McComas Collection, SpC2005.50.4; McDaniel College Archives, Westminster, Maryland

Click here for more information about citing collections in the McDaniel College Archives.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Accession:

[Accession 2005.50: McComas Collection at McDaniel College],
[Accession 2013.13: Copies of Smithsonian accession and condemnation records for the McComas Collection., 1955-1975 and 2013],
[Accession 2013.57: McComas Life and Death Masks],
[Accession 2014.22: McComas Life and Death Masks],
[All]

Accession 2005.50: McComas Collection at McDaniel College

Records include gift letter from McCommas to Western Maryland College and the explanation of how the original collection was split between Western Maryland College and the Smithsonian.

Item 1: Booklet, "Actual Faces", 1940s

Booklet produced by Henry McComas to promote his collection of life and death masks of famous persons.

Item 2: Letter, March 15, 1965

Lettter from Philip Myers to Nancy Sellman explaining the donation of the McComas collection to Western Maryland College.

Series 1: Beverly Wilson's Research on the McComas Collection, 1976

Project by Berverly I. Wilson for Special Studies 03 452 using the McComas Collection.

Item 1: Photographs of masks, 1976

Sixty- seven black and white photographs of masks. Includes negatives

Item 2: Transparancies, 1976

Sixty- seven transparencies of individual masks, three transparencies of masks on shelves and two transparencies of masks in boxes (copies).

Item 3: Index card list of masks, 1976

Item 4: Portraits in Plaster, 1976

Report including:

special Studies Statement

statement of expenses for the project

retyped Fact Sheet about the collection

list of the Documented Masks, number, description, life span

list of undocumented copies

historical significance summary for each documented mask

Series 2: List of masks in Collection, undated