Information Regarding Porter Blanchard

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LOS ANGELES

A despatch from Lankershim, about 10 miles from Los Angeles, says that in Magnolia Park, on Maple St., between Lankershim and Burbank, Porter Blanchard has begun the erection of a building which will be designed to house his factory for the manufacture of silverware. The new enterprise, the dispatch says, will give employment to eight workers. Blanchard reports that the demand for his finished product in the past is increasing and that he has several customers who will buy most of his output, He is locating his factory in San Fernando Valley, he says, because of better labor and living conditions and because overhead expenses will be lower.

Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 11th November 1925

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Porter Blanchard - California - 1925

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SOCIETY OF ARTS AND CRAFT

From 1913, when the custom of awarding a medal for excellence in craftsmanship and service was instituted, until 1948 only sixty-three medals have been conferred, never to more than three craftsmen in any single year. Below is given a complete list of medalists arranged chronologically :

Arthur J. Stone, silversmith; I. Kirchmayer, woodcarver; Henry C. Mercer, potter; Frank L. Koralewsky, ironworker; Mrs. Josephine H. Shaw, jeweler; Mary Crease Sears, bookbinder; Margaret Rogers, jeweler; Mrs. Adelaide Alsop Robineau, potter; Frank Gardner Hale, jeweler; James T. Woolley, silversmith; Mr. and Mrs. L. B. Dixon, jewelers; Elizabeth E. Copeland, enameler; Herbert A. Taylor, silversmith; Bertrand H. Wentworth, photographer; Karl F. Leinonen, silversmith; Douglas Donaldson, metalworker; Walfred Thulin, woodcarver; Sister Magdalen, illuminator.

George C. Gebelein, silversmith; Samuel Yellin, ironworker; Charles J. Connick, stained glass designer; T. M. Cleland, designer and printer; Lester 1 1. Vaughan, metalworker; E. Crosby Doughty, photographer; Winifred M, Crawford, illuminator; Charles F. Binns, potter; Edward E. Oakes, jeweler; Francis O. Libby, photographer; Emile Bernat, tapestry weaver; Ellsworth Woodward, potter; Henry Lewis Johnson, printer; Lydia Bush-Brown, batik dyer and designer; Raymond E. Hanson, photographer.

Arthur E. Baggs, potter; Ernest Watson, blockprinter; Beatrix Holmes, illuminator; D. B. Updike, printer; George E. Germer, silversmith; Mrs. Gertrude S. Bassett, illuminator; Herbert Turner, photographer; Mrs. Louise Chrimes, needleworker; C. Howard Walker, designer, adviser; Joseph G. Reynolds, stained glass designer; F. J. R. Gyllenberg, silversmith; W. J. Phillips, blockprinter; John Templeman Coolidge, Jr., president of Arts and Crafts Society, 1933.

John G. Wiggins, woodcarver; Amy M. Sacker, art teacher; Charles Feurer, decorator; Katharine Pratt, silversmith; Mrs. Grace Corbett Reed, weaver; Edward M. Billings, chaser of silver; Charles W. Brown, spoon maker; William E. Brigham, jeweler; Charles Ewing, distinguished service; Mrs. Marion Y. Greene, decorator; Marion L. Fosdick, potter; Mildred Watkins, enameler; Mrs. Foster Stearns, needleworker; Porter Blanchard, silversmith; Humphrey J. Emery, distinguished service; Charles D. Maginnis, architect; Mrs. Orin E. Skinner, service in design and technique.

Source: Handicrafts of New England - Allen H. Eaton - 1949

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Craftsman Earns Living Making Gold and Silver Telephones



Porter Blanchard, Los Angeles inventor, takes a great delight in beautifying the more simple household articles found in every home and has even gone so far as to produce telephones from silver and gold at a total cost of $500 each.

The phones, of the ordinary French type are entirely taken apart and dipped into an electroplating solution. Current is passed through the solution to plate the various telephone parts.

Several times during the process, the parts are removed and polished to a glossy smooth finish to insure an even result. The plating is about the thickness of paper.

Source: Modern Mechanix and Inventions - March 1935

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The front section of the first floor in the Gump annex was remodeled to give better emphasis to the growing silver department. Gump's engaged designers to follow the craft made famous by Cellini in ancient times and by Paul Revere in colonial America. They set up a window patterned after the Revere shop in old Boston and had Porter Blanchard demonstrate to the public how his beautiful hand-wrought serving pieces were made.

Source: Gump's Treasure Trade; a Story of San Francisco - Carol Green Wilson - 1949

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Exhibition of American Handicraft

Providence, R. I., Jan. 20.—Much interest has been shown in the exhibition of “American Handicrafts” that has been on display at the Rhode Island School of Design for the past fortnight. This exhibition of America’s expression in artistic work in the field of jewelry, silver, enamels, ivory, pewter, stained glass, lacquers, etc., has filled the special galleries at the school since early this month and will remain until Jan. 25.

It was assembled and is being circulated by the American Federation of Arts for the purpose of disseminating a knowledge throughout the country of what is being done by American craftsmen and craftswomen of today, and to add impetus to a movement which has for its chief aim the increase of beauty in objects of utility.

Recognizing the value of such an exhibit the galleries of the School of Design have been visited by manufacturing jewelers of Providence and vicinity, together with their superintendents, foremen, department heads, designers, salesmen, as well as other representatives, in such numbers as to again emphasize the growing sentiment in recognition of the value and benefits which the jewelry industry is receiving from the School of Design, as well as the possibilities for even greater advantages. Many of the articles in the exhibit have been closely examined and studied by the representatives of the local manufacturers some of whom have been daily attendants.

This is the first time that the American Federation of Arts has sent out an exhibition of this character and the first time an exhibition of handicrafts has had a museum circuit. When the federation decided upon arranging the exhibit invitations were sent to several hundred well known handicraft artisans in all sections of the country to submit examples of their work. The special committee having charge of the assembling of the exhibit consisted of H. P. Macomber, secretary of the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts, as chairman; George G. Booth, president of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts; F. A. Whiting, director of the Cleveland Museum of Art; Samuel Yellin, iron worker of Philadelphia, and Charles Pellew, president of the New York Society of Craftsmen.

More than 700 contributions were submitted to a jury of selection which consisted of the special committee with the following additions: C. Howard Walker, architect and president of the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts; Huger Elliott, principal of the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art, formerly director of the Rhode Island School of Design of this city; Bertram G. Goodhue, architect of New York; Sarah W. Hendrie, chairman of jury of Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts; Francis C. Jones, N. A., chairman of exhibition committee of the American Federation of Arts; Henry W. Kent, secretary of Metropolitan Museum of Arts, New York and president of the Grolier Club, and Hermann Rosse, designer, instructor of Chicago Institute of Arts.

This jury selected something over 200 pieces, not one of which was accepted that was not adjudged distinguished in design and fine in workmanship, that is, up to a museum standard. Leading craftsmen and craftswomen from all over the country are represented, but, although Rhode Island has many handicraft workers with a more than local reputation, but two are represented in the exhibition. These are Wilhelmina H. Gilloly (nee Babcock) illuminated manuscripts and Joseph G. Reynolds stained glass, hoth of whom are former students of the Rhode Island School of Design.

The displays of jewelry, silver, enamels, pewter, porcelains, lacquers and carvings are arranged around the walls of and in cases in the two special galleries. The jewelry is of high excellence, both in design and execution, embodying precious and semi-precious stones in pieces of great beauty and refinement. Among the more noteworthy pieces are the following: Pendant, gold and emeralds, Amy V. Beal, Brookline, Mass.; pendant, carved gold cross, locket gold carved with little boy in carved ivory, and pendant in silver and enamel with carved ivory, by John Sydney Burton, Cleveland, O.; ring, large green tourmaline set in platinum with emeralds and diamonds, Lucretia McMurtrie Bush, Boston; pendant and chain, gold with black opals, diamonds, sapphires and pearls, Jessie Ames Dunbar, Boston; pendants, silver, enamel and moonstones, also gold enamel, emeralds, peridots and moonstones, Millicent Strange Edson, Lakemont, Ga.; ring, of gold berry design, carved ivory, by Tracy A. Griffing, Eastport, N. Y.; pendant, gold, white and green jade, lapis and enamel, Frank Gardner Hale, Boston; necklace, Mexican fire opal, Grace Hazen, New York; necklace, gold, pink tourmaline and gold bears, Emma G. Hunt, Boston; ring, silver, gold and moss agate, Malcolm E. Johnson, Boston.

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Silver—Bowl and chalice of silver and amethyst, designed by Porter Blanchard, of Gardner, Mass., and executed by David Carlson; six-piece service, George G. Gebelein, Boston; bowl of fluted silver by F. J. R. Gyllenberg, Boston; covered bowl, Elizabeth Hadjisky, Detroit, Mich.; bowl, Karl F. Leinonen, Boston; bowl by Helen K. Mills, Kent, Conn.; “The President Eliot Cup,” teapot, sugar and cream, chalice, salt spoon, and cream ladle (fiddlehead), punch ladle and serving spoon all by Arthur J. Stone, Gardner, Mass., assisted by H. W. Taylor, A. L. Hartwell, E. H. Renderwood, P. H. Harrison and Charles W. Brown; round fluted bowls, chocolate pot and tray, teapot and tray, fluted teapot and tray and porringer by James T. Woolley, Boston and ciborium by George E. Germer, Greenville, N. H.

Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 24th January 1923

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Porter Blanchard - North Hollywood, Ca. - 1951

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Porter Blanchard - 1922

This image was published in 1922.

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An image of Porter Blanchard from 1939:



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Spencer Orgell - Beverly Hills, Ca. - 1961

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Porter Blanchard, of Hollywood, California, is one of the most distinguished craftsmen in metals that America boasts today. The firm has been at it for more than half a century and the fact that it’s going strong still is testimony to the beauty of the things they turn out. Your eyes will settle the matter for you. Here is a vegetable dish, simple and original in design. It is heavy plate on a copper base and sells for $30. With it are shown a serving spoon and fork, each with a Georgian scroll head handle. These are of sterling and terribly distinguished, $30. At S. and G. Gump, San Francisco.

Source: House Beautiful - January 1935

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BISHOPP KNEEDLER, authorities on the intricacies of modern design, have several interesting designs In pewter, which illustrate perfectly the utter timelessness of a simple, beautiful shape. Pitchers from Holland, the soft sheen of the pewter unadorned, are curved like drops of water, inevitably, a joy to look at. In four sizes, from 8 to 12 Inches high. A copy, in pewter, of an old German porcelain, a Porter Blanchard teapot is shaped like a remarkably graceful egg and it's design could be a contemporary of the modern Dutch pitchers or, as easily, of the Porter Blanchard copy of a silver teapot by Paul Revere, or his famous bowls, like pond lilies, beautiful in any century. Se them at BISHOPP KNEEDLER, Sixth Street.

Source: The Carmel Pine Cone - 20th July 1951

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DECORATIVE ARTS GUILD

Established by Louise Towle Donaldson and Mareia Potter, and opened December third, 1923, to build up a Craft Movement and Artists Directory.

Present Exhibitors: — Porter Blanchard, Silversmith, Master Member, Boston Arts and Crafts Society.

Source: California Southland - February 1924

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AN EASTERNER COMES WEST

By PORTER BLANCHARD



Ladies and Gentlemen: "If we ain't here, where are we?" This saying my father was wont to give vent to at times when in a declarative mood, comes to me now, as I have been hammering away at some spoons in my little shop in Magnolia Park, Burbank, California, and wondering if I could (if I stopped hammering) get some of the impressions of a rank Easterner across to you (presuming they will be of interest) as one of the first million in Southern California. We're here sure enough, and "no fooling" in the much advertised and criticised (advertised East — criticised West) land of sunshine and sand storms (last not advertised). That's why we're here (and the other 999999 also, I believe) to see if what you talked so much about, your wonderful California, was, in fact or fiction. That we're still here with money enough to buy gas for the home trip, — speaks well for California as you call it. We arrived last fall and having been informed we could tent out all winter here — tried it. However, it was an "exceptionally" dry fall we were told and after weathering half a dozen sand storms and having my radiator frozen decided to call it a day and build a house.

Is some one saying, "put down your hammer?" Well, so I will, but want you to know what I have said was without malice and will do no harm for western consumption. I mentioned "spoons" before and may I say I am a "spoon maker," a silversmith by trade, born and brought up in the service of silversmithing, an arts craftsman from Boston, Mass. and a great lover of baked beans (as baked in Boston.)

I am asked, "What is there new and distinctively California! that all these $50 tourists can do?" First, don't rate a man by the looks of his outfit here. It's a long dusty trail across. Second, do be careful to remember it's YOUR advertising that has brought him here.

On my trip across I met never a beggar or hold up — heard of only one destitute, although there were many sick at heart wishing they were home but gritting their teeth and smiling through the dusty windshield of a flivver straining their eyes toward the promised land.

If you're to live up to eastern standards (please forgive the reference— but I feel it should wear) "Find 'em jobs," and it don't have to be "new or Californian," although I believe I understand the sentiment behind that, too.

There is nothing new under the sun unless it be new methods and I'd say for my answer that if we take for our example our own sunny California (note the possessive), we'll win the world to us. First let us do our plain every-day level best and smile the while, for when California smiles all is forgiven.

Source: California Southland - May 1924

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At the McDowell Art Galleries, Western avenue, the evening of Friday, May 9th, at 8 o'clock, a meeting is called of all lovers of good design interested in the establishment of an Arts and Craft movement in this section. Douglas Donaldson, Porter Blanchard, M. Urmy Seares, and others interested are calling the meeting.

Source: California Southland - May 1924

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Extract of a report of road traffic fatalities affecting Long Beach area residents on Saturday, 22nd May 1965:

Robert Murray, 28, of 122 Arbolis Court, San Pedro.

Murray was dead on arrival at Wimlington Receiving Hospital after his motorcycle crashed into a car on Harbor Boulevard near the on-ramp to the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro.

His wife, Patricia, 24, riding with him, was reported in serious condition in Harbor General Hospital following the 6.25 p.m. accident. Their machine struck a car being driven by Porter Blanchard, 79, of Pacoima.

Los Angeles Harbor Division police said Blanchard was making a left turn onto the bridge. He was not injured. He was booked by officers on suspicion of felony manslaughter.

Source: Independent Press Telegram - 23rd May 1965

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THE ARTS AND CRAFTS SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

The Arts and Crafts Society of Southern California announced their organization on May 28, 1924.

Their first stunt and bow to the public was the erection of four booths at the Hollywood Fiesta on June 28th. In one booth Porter Blanchard, late of Boston Arts and Crafts Society, showed the process of making handmade silver. Mr. Blanchard's father sat in the back of the tent, hammering as he had been doing for fifty years at silver, that will be the heirloom of some lucky grand-child. In another booth, Miss Olive Newcomb superintended the pottery wheel. The object in showing the public the processes of the crafts was to let them know that there are silversmiths in this section and potters, weavers, and dyers. These four were illustrated in the four booths; but the place in the Fiesta was designed by Mr. Alexander R. Brandner, who with Mr. Herman Sachs and others built the colonnades, and colorful minarets and turrets into a Maxfield Parrish dream. Mr. Brandner and Mr. Sachs are two of the many members of this growing organization. Paul Silvius and R. D. Monterichards designed the booths in which the actual work was done. Can you imagine seeing the process of making a batik scarf? Miss Annita Delano and her ten helpers did that under the eyes of hundreds who had come to be amused. Mr. H. L. Hewson of Pasadena is a Canadian who, having once retired from business is now in Pasadena conducting handweaving on looms. He had some of his looms and workers at the Fiesta in another tent.

The public is invited to belong to the patrons division of the Arts and Crafts Society of Southern California. There are three types of members, craft, founder, and student.

Miss Vivian Stringfeld, Secretary, 229 S. Normandie, Los Angeles.

Source: California Southland - August 1924

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The first meeting of the Woman's club will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 8. Members may bring guests to the luncheon at 12:30 p. m. and the afternoon meeting will be an open one, no tickets being required.

The charge for luncheon tickets is 75 cents and reservations must be made with Mrs. W. P. Caley, Black 132, not later than Monday, Oct. 6.

During the meeting in the afternoon, 2:30 to 4 o’clock, Mrs. Alice A. Fawcett will be in charge of the Caroline L. Osgood room and will care for the children of those in attendance at 10 cents for each child.

Club dues are payable now and much confusion will be avoided if they are mailed to Miss Bayne, treasurer, before the 8th.

The club calendar for October is as follows:

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October 22

Subject, American Arts and Crafts; lectures by Douglas Donaldson and Porter Blanchard, master craftsman; exhibition of craftwork in charge of Mrs. Donaldson; music in charge of Mrs. Hawks; adjournment and tea at 4 o'clock.

Source: Sierra Madre News - 3rd October 1924

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America House - New York - 1959

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Porter Blanchard - 1922

This image was published in 1922.

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