FILES OF ELLEN PAUL DENKER (Historical and Curatorial Consultant),, 1981-2005

Summary: Files relating to the company's history, museum objects (especially china) and archives that were kept by Ellen Paul Denker while a part-time consultant to Lenox China and Crystal, and later to Lenox Brands and finally to Lenox, Incorporated, as a whole, in most years from 1986 through 2005.

Subject Files: Arranged alphabetically by topic.

Documentation of Ellen Paul Denker's work for Lenox, especially in her de facto role as corporate archivist. The records pertain to multiple topics, including the administration of museum objects (including inventories, donations, valuations and loans thereof), museum exhibits (such as the 1989 New Jersey State Museum centennial exhibit and the 1999 Millennium exhibit at the corporate Lenox Museum in Lawrenceville) and inventories (often relating to facility closings), as well as reference files on specific products, employees, Lenox subsidiaries and archival practice. Included are incoming and outgoing letters, memoranda, handwritten notes, catalogs (product, exhibit and auction), inventories, forms, press clippings, exhibit labels, image facsimiles and occasional 3x5 color photographs (attached to inquiries). Many documents in the series consist of inquiries, from both within and outside the company, and their responses.

Scattered throughout the sub-series are facsimiles of older, original documents, such as those dating from the 1930s pertaining to the Architect's Tea Set.

Lenox History Manuscript: Arranged alphabetically by title, thereunder by draft version.

Manuscript drafts of the eight-chapter, 285 page, unpublished "History of Lenox" (1987) and the derivative, 118 page centennial exhibit catalog Lenox China: Celebrating a Century of Quality, 1889-1989 (1989), both by Ellen Denker. The unpublished text comprises an organizational history of Lenox, from the company's founding until 1987, and includes biographical information on key personnel throughout that span.

Included in the earliest draft of "History of Lenox" are annotations and corrections by Robert J. Sullivan, the former Vice President for Advertising and Sales Promotion.