White House China

Summary: China pattern designs, primarily for production dinnerware and giftware, most of which depict plates. The drawings were produced by both the Lenox design department staff and by independent artists.

Dinnerware: Arranged in two sequences, alphanumerically by pattern code and alphabetically by design type (with occasional entries by pattern name).

Drawings, original and traced, of patterns for both the borders and centers of dinnerware services. The designs, usually represented only by a segment of a dish, are predominantly floral in nature, but also include wildlife and geometric designs.

The majority of the original drawings are in color, while the tracings are primarily in pencil.

Alphanumerically coded patterns dating up to 1951, and comprising roughly one-third to one-half of the dinnerware drawings, can be attributed to Lenox designer Frank Graham Holmes. They correspond to the annotated photographs and small drawings in the PATTERN RECORDS.

Included among the designs for dinnerware are a limited number of alphanumerically coded patterns used for vases and other giftware.

Filed at the end of the sub-series is a group of casual dinnerware drawings, the design of which is not attributable to Lenox. These drawings, possibly used for market research or for viewing by sales managers, include, among many others, patterns entitled Melissa and Fresh Floral by Mikasa and Company.

Giftware: Arranged alphabetically by design type, product line and, to a lesser extent, by artist.

Drawings of designs for giftware, primarily in the form of individual dishes, dating from the 1930s through the 1980s. The drawings depict myriad items and scenes, including but not limited to, flowers and vegetation, wildlife (especially birds and butterflies), holiday scenes, American farm scenes, and sailing ships, as well as designs specifically intended for children. Among the drawings for dishes are occasional drawings intended for vases and pitchers.

Among the independent artists represented by some of the drawings are Edward M. Boehm, Lynn Chase, Claire Lofrese, Mary Ann Lis and Simon Lissim.

White House China: Arranged alphabetically by client.

Color drawings of designs for White House China consisting of samples for the Reagan White House service and a proposed Nixon White House service, as well as unidentified samples featuring the Seal of the President of the United States. Included with the drawings are several memoranda of transmission and pencil sketch of a design for a crystal bowl presented to President George H.W. Bush upon his inauguration in 1989.

Create A Plate Contest: Winning designs, display placard and entry form design material grouped together at beginning, followed by remaining entries arranged alphabetically by surname.

Selected entries from a contest sponsored by Lenox China and the New Jersey State Museum in which school children submitted original plate designs and briefly described the special occasions the plates were intended to celebrate.