The Archive

The Franciscan Ceramics Archive is a collection of more than 3,000 documents and images.  Included in the archives are original factory photographs, company documentation, interviews, ceramics, films, price lists and brochures.  The archive contains forty years of research on Franciscan Ceramics and Gladding McBean.  The collection is extensive and is the only known collection of the former Los Angeles based Glendale Plant.  Information in the archives has been shared with many museums and researchers.  The archives are not accessible to the public except through this website.

Archive Index

• Index to the Archival collection

Collections

• All of the Franciscan Ceramics Archives has been placed into the Elliot-Bishop and Barry Trust. The Trust includes the following collections:
  
  
  • The Elliot-Bishop Barry Collection
    The collection includes archival brochures, documents, and photographs. In the collection are published & unpublished works, databases, research materials, and interviews.
    
  • Mitigation Collection
    Includes the mitigation report for the removal of the Los Angeles Franciscan Ceramics plant, formerly the Gladding, McBean Glendale Plant. Includes photographs, film, documents, and other archival materials.
    
  • Grant Family Collection
    Donated to the archives by the family, the Grant Family Collection includes original and digital images, papers, and ceramics from Mary and Frederic Grant. Included in the collection are original and digital images, papers, and ceramics from Grant Ceramics.
    
  • Franciscan Ceramics Glendale Plant Collection
    Archival collection from the Franciscan Ceramics plant in Los Angeles.  Includes original photographs, brochures, and company information. 
    
  • Estate of Rupert Deese Collection
    Donated to the archives by the family, the Estate of Rupert Deese collection includes original and digital images, brochures, papers, and artifacts. Indexed & cataloged as a collection, not online.
    
  • Francis Chun Collection
    Digital images, papers and artifacts donated to the Franciscan Ceramics Archive. 
    
  • James Watterson Collection
    Donated to the archives by his husband. Watterson was the marketing director from 1964-1975. The collection includes marketing and promotional materials for Franciscan Ceramics tableware.
    
  • Pacific Standard Time – Getty Grant Collection
    Research and documents from a research grant by The J. Paul Getty Museum through the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, California for the exhibit “Common Ground: Ceramics in Southern California 1945-1975.”
    
  • Interviews
    Recorded interviews with Francis Chun, Rupert Deese, Mineo Mizuno, and Dora De Larios.  Notes from interviews with Rupert Deese, George T. James and other former employees of Franciscan Ceramics.
    
  • Other Collections
    In the archives are historic images, documents, and artifacts donated by designer George T. James, ceramist Dora De Larios, collector Gabrial Ugolini, the family of Mary Chalmers Brown, and former Franciscan Ceramic employees & family.
    

Access

Access to the Franciscan Ceramics Archive collections is limited due to the lack of staff and resources.  Researchers from institutions including libraries, universities and museums are welcome to make a request.  Loaning of artifacts or materials to museums or libraries for exhibits on Franciscan Ceramics or the Gladding, McBean company will be considered.  All research and loan requests will be considered on a case by case basis.

Contact the Archivist

• Email the Archivist