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Inventory of the Willard N. Hirsch Papers, 1911-2010
Inventory of the Willard N. Hirsch Papers, 1911-2010
Descriptive Summary
| Abstract: | This collection contains Willard Hirsch's papers, clippings, and publications related to his career as a sculptor, including his correspondence, photographs, sketches of his artwork, a scrapbook related to his work, and exhibition catalogs. It also includes information on his work as an art instructor, his involvement with the arts and Jewish communities in Charleston, South Carolina, and on members of his family, including his wife, Mordenai Raisin Hirsch, and uncle, Herman Rosenbluth. |
| Title: | Willard N. Hirsch papers |
| Creator: | Hirsch, Willard Newman, 1905- |
| Date(s): | 1911-2010 |
| Extent: | 6.38 linear feet (7 document boxes, 3 oversize boxes) |
| Repository: | Jewish Heritage Collection, Special Collections, College of Charleston Libraries 66 George Street Charleston, SC 29424 Phone: (843) 953-8016 Fax: (843) 953-6319 URL: http://archives.library.cofc.edu |
| Call Number: | Mss 1074 |
| Language of Material: | Materials in English |
Biographical Note
Willard Hirsch (1905-1982) was born in Charleston, the oldest of four children. He attended public schools, graduated in 1923 from the High School of Charleston, and was enrolled at the College of Charleston. When he was 27, Hirsch moved to New York City, and studied at the National Academy of Design and the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design. Hirsch kept a studio in New York, where he was involved with the Works Progress Administration and the Federal Art Project. In 1942, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. Partially deaf, he was stationed at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina. He continued to hone his artistic skills by creating terra cotta busts of his commanding officer and others stationed on the base.
When he was discharged in 1944, Hirsch took up permanent residence back in Charleston. He established a studio on Charleston's Exchange Street, and later purchased a building at 2 Queen Street to continue sculpting.
Hirsch was a versatile sculptor, working with wood, terra cotta, bronze, steel, aluminum, brass, and sgraffito. He was selected for commissions in Charleston, as well as nationally. In 1941, while still living in New York, Hirsch was chosen to represent his home state of South Carolina in IBM's "Sculpture of the Western Hemisphere" collection. His bronze "Tennis Players" was the resulting commission. He sculpted mascots for South Carolina State College (now University) and Clemson University, as well as other work on Clemson's campus. His pieces also appear in the collections of the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, and two private schools in Charleston, Ashley Hall and Porter Gaud. Hirsch was commissioned to create busts of numerous individuals, including such notable South Carolinians as L. Mendel Rivers, J. Palmer Gaillard, and Laura Bragg. Religious works appear at Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim and Emanu-El Synagogue in Charleston, South Carolina, Woodsdale Temple in Wheeling, West Virginia, and Temple Oheb Shalom in Baltimore, Maryland. Hirsch's sculpture "Joy of Motherhood" was donated by Mordenai Hirsch to Brookgreen Gardens, and is only the third piece by a South Carolina artist installed there.
In 1949, Hirsch married Mordenai Raisin, the daughter of Rabbi Jacob Raisin and Jane Lazarus Raisin of Charleston. The couple had two children, Jacob (Jack) and Jane.
Collection Overview
This collection contains clippings, correspondence, programs, photographs, sketches, yearbooks, a scrapbook, and other papers and documents of Willard Newman Hirsch, sculptor and artist. Hirsch's career as a sculptor spanned six decades, first as a student in New York, and then in Charleston, where he lived from the mid-1940s until his death in 1982. Collection includes selections of Hirsch's correspondence, most of it professional, sketches and photographs of his art, business invoices and contracts, biographical materials, exhibition programs and catalogs, and related items. Materials also relate to some of Hirsch's family members, including his wife, Mordenai Raisin Hirsch, their children, Jacob (Jack) Alexander Hirsch and Jane Hirsch, his mother, Miriam Hirsch, uncle Herman Rosenbluth, and others. Collection also includes documentation of Hirsch's army service and public life, his involvement with the Charleston arts community and art education, and his affiliation with Charleston's Jewish community.
Collection Arrangement
| 1. | Biographical and family, 1911-2005 |
| 2. | Career, 1935-2010 |
| 3. | Correspondence, 1949-1982 |
Search Terms
The following terms have been used to index this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person, family, or organization, by topical subject, by place, and by types of material.Names
- Hirsch, Willard Newman, 1905-
- Hirsch, Mordenai Raisin
- Rosenbluth, Herman
Subjects
- Art--study and teaching
- Jewish artists--South Carolina--Charleston
- Jews--South Carolina--Charleston
- Sculptors--South Carolina--Charleston
- Sculpture, Modern--20th century
Places
- Charleston (S.C.)
Types of Material
- Black-and-white photographs
- Card photographs (photographs)
- Color photographs
- Certificates
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Commercial correspondence
- Eulogies
- Exhibition catalogs
- Funeral books
- Maquettes (sculptures)
- Personal correspondence
- Programs (documents)
- School yearbooks
- Scrapbooks
- Sketches
Related Resources
Related Material
Related materials in Special Collections include the Lazarus-Hirsch family papers (Mss 1018), and the Rabbi Jacob S. Raisin papers (Mss 1075).
Detailed Description of Collection
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1. Biographical and family, 1911-2005
Includes biographical information and materials on Willard Hirsch and other members of the Hirsch family: his mother, Miriam (1878-1971); his sister, Elizabeth (1912-1988); his uncle, Herman Rosenbluth; his grandfather, Isaac W. Hirsch; his wife, Mordenai; their children, Jacob (Jack) and Jane; and grandsons, Phillip and Alexander. Materials include photographs, yearbooks, programs, clippings, correspondence, and scrapbook items.
Willard N. Hirsch materials, 1911-2004
This series includes Hirsch's senior high school and freshman college yearbooks, Hirsch's record of army service, photographs of Hirsch and his siblings as young children and of Hirsch's grandson Phillip, scrapbook items, and a eulogy by Rabbi William A. Rosenthall. Also includes an anecdotal memoir by Hirsch's uncle, Herman Rosenbluth.
Includes photographs of the Hirsch children with their goat, Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (KKBE) religious school staff of 1944-1945, Hirsch as an adult, his grandson Phillip's naming ceremony, and other family photos.
Hirsch's senior high school yearbook, from the High School of Charleston (later Charleston High School).
Hirsch's freshman yearbook from the College of Charleston. Hirsch created several sectional images in the yearbook.
Includes correspondence, service record, separation record, honorable discharge papers, and a War Department pamphlet, "Going Back to Civilian Life."
Includes announcement in KKBE bulletin of Jacob Alexander (Jack) Hirsch's bar mitzvah, ceremony programs from Phillip Hirsch and Alexander Hirsch's bar mitzvahs, and poem written for Phillip by his grandmother Mordenai.
Four 78" albums, containing a recording of Jack Hirsch's 1964 bar mitzvah service.
List of Hirsch's notable works, resume, and biographical sketches.
Watercolor painting of College of Charleston archway by South Carolina artist Steven Jordan, with a plaque recognizing Hirsch.
Includes remarks delivered at Hirsch's funeral by Rabbi William A. Rosenthall, and remarks written in 1988 by Willard's brother, Marion Hirsch, a memorial book signed by attendees of Hirsch's funeral, clippings related to Hirsch's death, and correspondence to Mordenai Hirsch from Rita Banov, Congressman Thomas Hartnett, Senator Strom Thurmond, Samuel Spencer (Davidson College), and Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr.
Miscellaneous family materials, 1931-2005
This series consists of materials related to family members of Willard Hirsch, including Isaac W. Hirsch, Elizabeth Hirsch, Miriam Hirsch, Herman Rosenbluth, and the Carvalho family.
Includes materials on Isaac W. Hirsch, Willard's grandfather.
Senior yearbook from Memminger High School in Charleston, edited by Willard Hirsch's sister Elizabeth "Bits" Hirsch.
Legal documents, contracts, and correspondence relating to Willard Hirsch's mother, Miriam. Includes her will and legal documents regarding her estate tax.
Correspondence with Joan McNutt Sturhahn regarding Solomon Nunes Carvalho, his paintings of members of the Hirsch family; an exhibition catalog from the Gibbes Art Gallery, featuring miniatures by Carvalho; "Jewish Artists in Early Charleston" by Rabbi William A. Rosenthall, biographical information on Carvalho, and selections from Sturhahn's book on Carvalho. Emanuel Nunes Carvalho was Solomon's brother, and Emanuel's wife was a member of the Woolf family. Another Woolf sister (Miriam) married John Hirsch, Willard's great-grandfather.
Anecdotal memoirs of Herman Rosenbluth; preface by his nephew Harry Delf. Also includes several loose handwritten sheets on Charleston history. Rosenbluth was Hirsch's uncle by marriage on his mother's side.
Includes clippings, mostly related to Jane's dog Rafter, and her involvement with Trot for the Cure (for canine cancer research). Also includes a copy of Jane's book, Rafter's Story.
2. Career, 1935-2010
This series consists of materials related to Hirsch's career as a sculptor in New York and South Carolina. It includes clippings regarding his art and exhibitions, his studio in Charleston, his army service at Fort Jackson, and other professional or personal matters. Also includes other publications with information on Hirsch or his work, such as exhibition catalogs and art periodicals, and correspondence relating to Hirsch's work
General, 1935-2010
This series consists of clippings, programs, magazines, correspondence, photographs, and other materials related to Willard Hirsch's career as a sculptor. Materials in this series pertain to his career generally, to exhibitions where more than one work by Hirsch was displayed, to entries Hirsch submitted for commissions that were not accepted, or to other projects that were never realized.
Photocopies of Hirsch clippings from 1942 through 2010, with materials added after Hirsch's death.
List and copies of selected clippings on Hirsch's career.
Includes articles about Hirsch's career, various works of art, and his life in Charleston.
Includes 1940 Special United American Artists Exhibition Issue, and the 2nd Annual Sculpture Exhibition of the New School for Social Research.
Black and white mounted photographs taken from a photo album. Photographs primarily feature sculptures by Hirsch, apparently dating from his student work.
Photocopies of images of work submitted by Hirsch to sculpture competitions while he was living in New York.
Includes Who's Who from July 1942, South Carolina Magazine from January 1952 and January 1953, Gateway Magazine from January 1957, Architectural South from October 1957, Architecture South Carolina from Winter 1959, ArtVoices South from 1979, and other articles.
Includes notes and drafts of speeches Hirsch gave at The Citadel, the Women's Club of Mullins, South Carolina, the Charleston City Federation of Women's Clubs, and other venues.
Includes clippings, sketches, photos, and tax appraisal information for Hirsch's Queen Street studio.
Newspaper clippings on courses Hirsch taught for Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.
Newspaper clippings on courses taught by Hirsch, and an article quoting Hirsch on the importance of art education for everyone.
Materials related to the kiln that Hirsch built for his studio in Charleston.
Hirsch discusses sculpture generally, and the book Ceramic Sculpture by John Kenny.
Includes clippings about Guild exhibits, annual meeting minutes, a membership roster from 1969, the Guild Constitution, and Guild sponsored exhibition catalogs.
Primarily correspondence related to Hirsch's dissatisfaction with leadership of the Carolina Art Association (CAA), and his eventual resignation, along with William Halsey and Corrie MacCallum. Also includes information on courses taught by Hirsch, and a bill for money still owed Hirsch, Halsey, and McCallum for courses taught.
Includes clippings, exhibition catalogs and invitations, and a calendar for the Charleston gallery.
Includes clippings, exhibition catalogs, and a deed of gift to the museum in Columbia, South Carolina, from Mordenai Hirsch for plaster masks, plaster reliefs, and terra cotta reliefs by Willard Hirsch.
Includes clippings, correspondence, and exhibition invitations for gallery in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Includes correspondence and exhibition catalogs for the Florence, South Carolina museum.
Includes clippings and exhibitions catalogs for the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the Telfair in Savannah, Georgia.
Includes clippings from a show at the Whitney in New York, featuring Hirsch's biblical sculptures.
Includes exhibit calendar, and a clipping about Hirsch's work appearing in the Erskine Exhibition Center.
Handwritten list of exhibitions between 1936 and 1988 in which Hirsch participated.
Materials related to restoration work Hirsch completed on the attached dolphins.
Materials related to restoration work Hirsch completed on this statue.
Includes certificate of honor and program from the Society's 2000 meeting. Hirsch was posthumously nominated, but did not receive, the Society's Arts and Cultural Achievement Award.
Correspondence between Hirsch and Myron Schoen, director of the UAHC Commission on Synagogue Architecture. Schoen recommended Hirsch to Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, Massachusetts for a sculpture project, for which he was not selected. Also contains correspondence between Hirsch and Rabbi Albert Goldstein of that congregation.
Correspondence regarding project for which Hirsch was not selected.
Includes clippings, sketches, and woodcuts of Hirsch's "Prophets of Admonition and Consolation," programs for KKBE's 1st-3rd arts festival (1965-1967), and the Hirsch menorahs.
Correspondence between Hirsch and Rabbi Lloyd Goldman regarding potential design of the congregation's ark.
Includes sketches for a commission for which Hirsch was not selected.
Correspondence, sketches, and other information regarding the university's Humanities Complex sculpture competition, to which Hirsch submitted a gamecock design, but was not selected.
Includes correspondence, photographs, and sketches for a project that was later dropped.
Correspondence for a commission for which Hirsch submitted an entry, but was not selected.
Correspondence regarding acquisition of a Hirsch sculpture, and a donation of two terra cotta busts to the museum by Mordenai Hirsch.
Correspondence regarding a commission for which Hirsch submitted an entry, but was not selected.
Competition information and sketches for Franklin Mint bicentennial medal design competition. Hirsch submitted a design for South Carolina, but was not selected.
Correspondence regarding a bust of Birnbaum's wife that Hirsch was unable to complete to Birnbaum's satisfaction.
Correspondence regarding potential purchase of Hirsch's "Jacob's Ladder," apparently preempted by Hirsch's death.
Black and white cards, sized about 4" x 6", each one depicting a sculpture by Hirsch. Many cards have Hirsch's studio address and additional printed information about the particular sculpture shown.
Individual works, 1939-2010
This series consists of clippings, correspondence, photographs, sketches, and other items pertaining to individual sculptures or other works of art by Willard Hirsch, often with related materials added over time. Some pieces were commissioned specifically by individuals, universities, or other institutions. Many of the commissioned pieces were busts of local Charlestonians, or were intended for installation at specific buildings, parks, or other sites.
Clippings, invoices, and photographs of Hirsch's decorative wall and pool fountains, as well as his pelican and alligator fountains.
Includes clippings and exhibition catalogs from venues where "Sandlot Scrubs" was exhibited.
Clippings and correspondence related to busts Hirsch made while serving at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, including busts of Colonel W.A. Ellis, Major General Withers A. Burress, and Governor Olin Johnston.
Clippings related to busts Hirsch created for the Charleston Community and War Chest's most outstanding member, Louis A. R. Nelson.
Clippings on busts Hirsch made for the women who signed up the most people during the Carolina Art Association's membership drives.
Photographs, clippings, and correspondence regarding this piece, sold in 1964.
Primarily materials regarding exterior sculpture Hirsch created for the architectural firm of Lyles, Bissett, Carslisle, and Wolff, in Charleston. Also includes correspondence regarding the firm's recommendation of Hirsch for a sculptural commission at the Federal Building in Charleston, for which Hirsch was not selected.
Clippings, correspondence, photographs, magazines, and catalogs related to work Hirsch produced for Clemson University, including both the Clemson Tiger mascot at Clemson House, and the steel logo for the Plant & Animal Sciences Building. Also includes a catalog from an exhibition of Hirsch's work at the Rudolph E. Lee Gallery on Clemson's campus.
Includes photographs of and clippings about the sculpture, as well as a letter and catalog sent to Mordenai Hirsch by David Hummon of the College of the Holy Cross. Hummon curated an exhibition entitled "Envisioning Jacob's Ladder: 1750-2000," and Hirsch's piece is mentioned in the catalog.
Clippings regarding the sculpture, as well as photographs and correspondence between Hirsch and Bill Solomon, who purchased the piece from Hirsch in 1976.
Correspondence regarding purchase of the sculpture by the Greenville County Museum of Art in Greenville, South Carolina.
Clippings about the sculpture Hirsch created for Hyman H. Addlestone's home.
Sculpture Hirsch made for the façade of the Richland County main library in Columbia, South Carolina.
Material related to panels Hirsch produced for the South Carolina National Guard armories. Includes clippings on the work itself, correspondence among Hirsch, members of the South Carolina government, and members of the National Guard regarding the painting and subsequent sandblasting of the panels, and related clippings and correspondence. Also includes text of H. R. Bill 288, regarding copyright law to protect artist' works from alteration.
Electromet Review, featuring "Harlequin" as a decorative stainless steel piece for a home.
Clippings on Hirsch's carvings in the insurance company's lobby in Charleston, including a key to all ten carvings.
Correspondence between Hirsch and the Medallic Art Company, specifically regarding Hirsch's plaques of Jacob S. Raisin, Saul Alexander, and Leon Banov.
Clippings and photographs of Hirsch's High Holy Days sculptural panels.
Large and mounted photographs of High Holy Day panels.
Materials related to these two pieces by Hirsch. "Security of the Home" was commissioned for Home Federal Savings & Loan Association, and "Joy of Motherhood" was purchased for its lobby.
Clippings, correspondence, and photographs related to Hirsch's two sculptures created for the chapel at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.
Materials related to sculptures Hirsch created for the Main Library and James Island branch library of the Charleston County Public Library system.
Correspondence and sketches for the eagle logo sculpture Hirsch designed.
Clippings related to bronze doors Hirsch created for the ark in Woodsdale Temple (now Temple Shalom).
Bronze plaque created by Hirsch for the building named for Rear Admirals John J. Gaffney and Samuel McGowan.
Clippings on Hirsch's sculpture "Jacob Wrestling," purchased as a gift to Porter Gaud by the class of 1966.
Includes correspondence, invoices, and slides of the menorahs Hirsch made for Congregation Emanu-El in Charleston, South Carolina. Also includes photograph for a model Hirsch made of a "Burning Bush" sculpture.
Correspondence and other materials related to busts Hirsch made for the College of Charleston campus, including Albert Simons, G. L. Buist Rivers, M. Rutledge Rivers, Burnet Rhett Maybank, George Grice, F. Mitchell Johnson, Robert Scott Small, and Theodore Sanders Stern.
Materials related to sculpture Hirsch created for Newberry College in honor of John Bachman. Hirsch's work at Newberry included the Bachman Sparrow and Bachman Warbler sculptures at the Alumni Music Center, as well as bas relief busts of John Bachman and of Frederick Wessels.
Clippings and correspondence related to Hirsch's bas reliefs of John Cauthen, James Rodgers, Walter Douglas Smith, and Governor Robert McNair, all created for Francis Marion College.
Charleston Renaissance Gallery information regarding Hirsch's bas relief of Hutty.
Clippings regarding donation of sculpture to the College of Charleston's Jewish Studies Center.
Includes correspondence, invitation, and photograph.
Clippings and correspondence related to the sculpture sold in 1981.
Materials related to donation and installation of Hirsch's "Joy of Motherhood" sculpture at Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. Hirsch was only the third South Carolina sculptor to be represented in Brookgreen's collection.
Materials related to Hirsch's sculpture of "Jacob Wrestling with the Angel" that was gifted to the temple.
3. Correspondence, 1949-1982
This series consists of personal correspondence to and from Willard Hirsch, including letters Hirsch wrote to Charleston newspapers.
Letters Hirsch wrote to the News & Courier and Charleston Evening Post, along with a personal card. Also includes a greeting card from another Willard Hirsch of Rego Park, New York, and a grateful letter (1949) to Hirsch from J. Waties Waring.
Correspondence between Hirsch and government officials of South Carolina regarding military planes flying low over downtown Charleston.
Includes correspondence between Charleston artist Katherine Schneider and the Smithsonian regarding the works of Willard Hirsch. Also includes a letter from Schneider to Mordenai Hirsch.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research.
Copyright Notice
The nature of the College of Charleston's archival holdings means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. Special Collections claims only physical ownership of most archival materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Willard N. Hirsch papers, College of Charleston Libraries, Charleston, SC, USA.
Acquisitions Information
Materials were donated on May 18, 2005 by Mordenai Raisin Hirsch.
Processing Information
Initial inventory by Marie Ferrara, 2008.
Processed by Jessica Epstein, August 2012.
Encoded by Jessica Epstein, August 2012.
Reviewed, edited, and uploaded by Martha McTear, August 2012.
Funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources supported the processing of this collection and encoding of the finding aid.
