Bussabarger, Robert F. (1922- ), Papers, 1922-1990 (C3897)
7 linear feet and oversize
RESTRICTED
INTRODUCTION
Papers of ceramic sculptor, potter, painter and University of Missouri-Columbia Professor Emeritus of Art. These papers include personal and professional correspondence, exhibition announcements and catalogs, photographs, publications, clippings, research project records, scrapbooks, biographical materials, records of the University of Missouri Department of Art and miscellaneous material.
DONOR INFORMATION
The Bussabarger Papers were donated to the University of Missouri by Robert F. Bussabarger on July 22 1991 (Accession No. 5061). Additions to the papers were made on August 1, 1991 (Accession No. 5070) and on September 17, 1991 (Accession No. 5085).
RESTRICTIONS
During his lifetime the donor shall retain copyrights he holds in his published materials. Contact the reference staff for more information.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Robert Franklin Bussabarger was born on September 17, 1922 in Corydon, Indiana, the only child of Alice Franklin and Russell Bussabarger, and spent his formative years in the American Midwest. After graduation from Covington (Ohio) High School in 1940, Bussabarger studied with painter Ralston Thompson at Wittenberg College in Springfield, Ohio. Four years later, in 1944, he received a bachelor of arts degree with a major in art.
During World War II Bussabarger served in the U.S. Navy and was stationed in the Pacific region. After the war he continued his education and attended Michigan State University, studying art with John de Martelli, Louis Raynor and Carl Schmidt. In 1947 he graduated with a masters of arts degree in art practice and theory. After teaching art in the public schools of Benton Harbor, Michigan, for two years, he studied painting, ceramics and design with Paul Bogatay and Edgar Littlefield at Ohio State University from 1949 to 1951. During this period in Bussabarger's academic career, creative design and ceramics, strongly influenced by oriental art, became important elements in the development of his art.
Bussabarger was both a teacher and an exhibiting artist. In 1951 he began his university teaching career as an assistant professor of art at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. He remained in Texas until 1953 when he joined the art faculty of the University of Missouri in Columbia. For nearly four decades he taught ceramics and painting at the University of Missouri until his retirement in 1990. During his tenure at Missouri, he was chairman of the art department from 1970 to 1973 and spent a total of two years leave on research fellowships to India which resulted in a number of art works and publications.
During his long career Bussabarger was the recipient of many awards for both his artistic work and for his research. From 1961 to 1962 he received a Fulbright Research Scholarship to India. He travelled throughout the country photographing terracotta sculpture and temple architecture and, in 1962, held an exhibition of his own work in Calcutta. In 1964 he spent an additional three months in England studying Indian ceramic art. With a longstanding interest in folk art and culture, he conducted a comparative terracotta techniques study in Mexico in 1967. In 1968 he published The Everyday Arts of India, co-authored with Betty Dashew Robins. From 1968 to 1969 he again received a Fulbright-Hays Faculty Center Fellowship to study ceramic folk art in India, and worked on a project entitled "Indian Clay Imagery of the Past Four Centuries." At this time he also exhibited his own ceramics, drawings, and paintings in both Calcutta and Bombay. In 1978 Bussabarger took a sabbatical leave to India and culminated his year's work with an exhibition at the Gallery Chemould in Bombay. He returned to India in 1980 on a research fellowship from the University of Missouri and held an exhibition of his work at the Urja Art Gallery in Baroda. He was one of three ceramicists invited by the Crafts Council of Western India to participate in a ten-day workshop in Bombay with local potters in 1981. In 1982, after several one-man and group shows throughout central Missouri and the Midwest, the Columbia Art League held a major exhibition of Bussabarger's complete range of works: drawings, paintings, pastels, stoneware items and ceramic sculptures. In 1984 he again travelled to India and worked in different art centers throughout the country and exhibited at the Urja Art Gallery in Baroda and at the Gallery Chemould in Bombay.
Bussabarger's art work has been exhibited and collected in various areas of the United States and in India. He has work in many private collections throughout the United States as well as the Air India Collection in Bombay, the Springfield (Missouri) Art Museum, and the State Historical Society of Missouri in Columbia. His exhibition record is extensive. His one-man shows include: the Indo-American Society in Calcutta, 1962; the Corner Gallery in Louisville, Kentucky; Sculptors Gallery in St. Louis, 1966; the Academy of Fine Arts in Calcutta; American Cultural Center in Bombay, 1969; the University of Missouri Fine Arts Gallery Sabbatical Show, 1978; and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Show, 1989.
In addition to the exhibition of his own work, Bussabarger was responsible for organizing several other exhibitions: the University of Missouri Fine Arts Gallery, 1955-1959 and 1963-1967; and a travelling exhibit based on his and Betty Robins' private collection of Indian art shown at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Stephens College, Westminster College and Carleton College.
Bussabarger has received numerous awards and ribbons for his work. Among them were the San Antonio Watercolor Annual, 1952 and 1953; the Art Association Purchase Award, Decorative Arts Annual, Wichita, Kansas, 1956; the Merit Award in Sculpture, 30th Springfield Annual, Missouri, 1960; the Columbia Art League and Boone County Bank Show, 1959-present; and the Missouri State Fair at Sedalia. In 1987 he received a Faculty Alumni Award for his creative work and service to the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Bussabarger has held membership in several professional organizations: the Missouri Crafts Council, Columbia Art League, and Mid-America Art Conference. His publications include "Terracotta Temples of India," Craft Horizons, 1966; editor, "John Sloan Etchings," University of Missouri, 1967; co-author and illustrator, The Everyday Art of India, Dover, 1968; co-author, "The Makara," Archaeology, January, 1970; co-author, "Folk Images of Sanjhi Devi," Artibus Asiae, July, 1975; and others.
In retirement Robert Bussabarger and his wife reside in Columbia, Missouri where he teaches art during the summers at the University of Missouri and creates and exhibits his art work in the area.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The papers are arranged into five series:
These papers reflect significant events in Bussabarger's personal and professional life with few gaps. Together the photographs and exhibition catalog series present a fairly complete visual record of Bussabarger's career as both an exhibiting artist and university professor of art.
The Correspondence series is arranged chronologically and contains both personal and professional correspondence. Although there is little personal correspondence in the collection, what there is contains rich information written from the point of view of an individual trained in the visual arts. One letter, in particular, stands out. Bussabarger wrote to his wife Mary Louise from Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945, approximately one month after the atomic bomb was dropped on the city, and gave his impressions of the Japanese people, described Nagasaki, and included illustrations of the bomb site. The correspondence from the early 1950s is concerned with exhibitions and his work as an assistant professor of art at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. There are gaps in the correspondence from the late 1970s.
The Exhibitions series is arranged chronologically, dates from 1946 to 1989, and includes announcements, catalogs and price lists of works for Bussabarger's one-man and group shows. The annual exhibition for Michigan artists, Detroit Institute of Arts; the State of Illinois, first annual exhibition by artists of the Old Northwest Territory; and the 41st Annual Indiana Artists Exhibition are a few of the exhibitions included in this series. Local and regional exhibition announcements collected by Bussabarger are included in this series as well, including shows in the University of Missouri Fine Arts Gallery and the Columbia Art League.
The Photographs are arranged chronologically. Subject matter includes art works by Bussabarger, exhibition installations, university art students in class, and art and architecture of India. Photograph albums of Bussabarger's work were, for conservation purposes, removed from their original notebooks but were first photocopied to preserve a record of their original order and format. The photocopies are included in this series.
The Clippings are arranged chronologically and are primarily concerned with Bussabarger's professional life. Subject matter includes exhibitions, lectures, awards, feature articles, publication announcements, reviews, and news releases.
The Miscellaneous series contains research grant applications and reports, including two Fulbright-Hays fellowships to India. This series also contains the University of Missouri Department of Art records collected during Bussabarger's chairmanship in the early 1970s. Community activities documented in this series include the Maplewood Barn Theater, the City of Columbia Arts Council projects on Guitar Square, and the Ann Hawkins Gentry Building and design of its commemorative plaque. Bussabarger's membership in the Calvary Episcopal Church and participation in the university's Choral Union are reflected in this series. Galley proofs of a catalog of an exhibition of John Sloan's work curated by Bussabarger for the University's Fine Arts Gallery are in this series. Articles by and about Bussabarger are also in this series. Biographical material includes Bussabarger's baby book with photographs, his high school yearbook replete with drawings and marginalia, scrapbooks, a Wittenberg College yearbook, his World War II journal, certificates, awards, prize ribbons, and curriculum vitae. Membership in various professional and civic organizations and participation in conferences is also represented in this section.
FOLDER LIST
| f. 1 | Correspondence, 1943-1949 |
| f. 2 | Correspondence, 1950-1959 |
| f. 3 | Correspondence, 1960-1963 |
| f. 4 | Correspondence, 1964 |
| f. 5-6 | Correspondence, 1965 |
| f. 7 | Correspondence, 1966 |
| f. 8 | Correspondence, 1967 |
| f. 9 | Correspondence, 1968 |
| f. 10-11 | Correspondence, 1969 |
| f. 12-14 | Correspondence, 1970 |
| f. 15-17 | Correspondence, 1971 |
| f. 18 | Correspondence, 1972 January-March |
| f. 19 | Correspondence, 1972 April-August |
| f. 20 | Correspondence, 1972 September |
| f. 21 | Correspondence, 1972 October-November |
| f. 22 | Correspondence, 1972 December |
| f. 23-24 | Correspondence, 1973 |
| f. 25 | Correspondence, 1974 |
| f. 26 | Correspondence, 1975 |
| f. 27-29 | Correspondence, 1976 |
| f. 30-32 | Correspondence, 1977 January-May |
| f. 33 | Correspondence, 1978 March-September |
| f. 34 | Correspondence, 1979 October-November |
| f. 35 | Correspondence, 1980 |
| f. 36 | Correspondence, 1981 February-April |
| f. 37 | Correspondence, 1982 May-December |
| f. 38 | Correspondence, 1983 January-August |
| f. 39 | Correspondence, 1984 |
| f. 40 | Correspondence, 1985-1988 |
| f. 41 | Correspondence, 1990 April-June |
| f. 42 | Correspondence, n.d. |
| f. 43 | Exhibitions, 1946-1948 |
| f. 44 | Exhibitions, 1951-1952 |
| f. 45 | Exhibitions, 1953-1954 |
| f. 46 | Exhibitions, 1955-1959 |
| f. 47-49 | Exhibitions, 1960-1964 |
| f. 50-54 | Exhibitions, 1965-1969 |
| f. 55-58 | Exhibitions, 1970-1973 |
| f. 59-63 | Exhibitions, 1975-1979 |
| f. 64-68 | Exhibitions, 1980-1984 |
| f. 69-73 | Exhibitions, 1985-1989 |
| f. 74-78 | Exhibitions, n.d. |
| f. 79 | Photographs, 1942-1943 |
| f. 80 | Photographs, 1944-1949 |
| f. 81 | Photographs, c. 1950 |
| f. 82 | Photographs, 1952, Album 1 (photocopy of album included) |
| f. 83-86 | Photographs, 1952, Album 2 (photocopy of album included in f. 83) |
| f. 87 | Photographs, c. 1950-c. 1952 |
| f. 88 | Photographs, c. 1950-c. 1954 |
| f. 89-90 | Photographs, 1955, 1957, 1958, Album 3 (photocopy of album included in f. 89) |
| f. 91-93 | Photographs, 1955 |
| f. 94 | Photographs, 1957, early 1960s, Album 4 (photocopy of album included) |
| f. 95 | Photographs, 1960, Album 5 (photocopy of album included) |
| f. 96 | Photographs, 1960s |
| f. 97 | Photographs, c. 1963 |
| f. 98 | Photographs, 1960, 1964, Album 6 (photocopy of album included) |
| f. 99 | Photographs, c. 1966 |
| f. 100 | Photographs, 1969, Album 7 (photocopy of album included) |
| f. 101 | Photographs, 1970s |
| f. 102 | Photographs, 1970 |
| f. 103 | Photographs, 1972 |
| f. 104-105 | Photographs, 1973 |
| f. 106-119 | Photographs, 1978, Album 8 (photocopy of album included in f. 106) |
| f. 120 | Photographs, 1979 |
| f. 121 | Photographs, 1987 |
| f. 122 | Photographs, 1990, "Ceramics: Unaffected by Time and Place" |
| f. 123-128 | Photographs, 1990 |
| f. 129-138 | Photographs, n.d. |
| f. 139-144 | Photographs, "Missouri Folk: Their Creative Images," 1982 |
| f. 145-148 | Photographs, "IBM Collection Exhibition" |
| f. 149 | Photographs, "Pre-Columbian Art Exhibition" |
| f. 150 | Photographs, "John Sloan Exhibition," 1967 |
| f. 151-152 | Photographs, "Faculty Artist Exhibition," 1989 |
| f. 153 | Clippings, 1930s-1940s |
| f. 154 | Clippings, 1950s |
| f. 155-159 | Clippings, 1960-1964 |
| f. 160-164 | Clippings, 1965-1969 |
| f. 165-169 | Clippings, 1970-1974 |
| f. 170-174 | Clippings, 1975-1979 |
| f. 175-179 | Clippings, 1980-1984 |
| f. 180-184 | Clippings, 1985-1989 |
| f. 185 | Clippings, n.d. |
| f. 186 | Biographical materials/vitae |
| f. 187 | Academic appointments, 1954-1964 |
| f. 188 | Academic appointments, 1965-1979 |
| f. 189-191 | Annual Addition to Cumulative Faculty Record |
| f. 192 | Miscellaneous Faculty Record |
| f. 193-199 | Research Grants and Fellowships |
| f. 200 | Fulbright, India, 1961 |
| f. 201 | Fulbright, India, 1962 |
| f. 202-205 | Partners of the Americas, Brazil, 1983 |
| f. 206 | The Everyday Art of India, 1966-1969 |
| f. 207 | The Everyday Art of India, 1968 |
| f. 208 | A Selection of Etchings by John Sloan, 1967, galley proofs |
| f. 209 | "Folk Images of Sanjhi Devi," 1975 |
| f. 210 | "The Makara: a Mythical Monster from India," 1970 |
| f. 211 | "Sound Off with Clay Whistles: Musical Instrument of Early Man," 1956 |
| f. 212 | " 'Art' Pottery in India," 1962 |
| f. 213 | Miscellaneous |
| f. 214 | Midwest Regional Conference of the Danforth Associate Program, 1973 |
| f. 215 | College Art Association, 1973 |
| f. 216 | Who's Who in American Art, 1975 |
| f. 217-218 | Maplewood Barn Theater |
| f. 219 | Navy journal, 1944-1945 |
| f. 220 | Michigan State University diploma, 1947 |
| f. 221 | Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio, magazine, 1941 |
| f. 222-223 | Certificates |
| f. 224 | Presentations |
| f. 225 | Design Project, Ohio State University, 1951 |
| f. 226 | Indic drawings |
| f. 227 | "Fine Films by Tiger Art Theater," flier design |
| f. 228 | "The Terrible Poems," by Tom McAfee, illustrations |
| f. 229 | Crafts Council of Western India pottery workshop, 1980-81 |
| f. 230 | Artibus newsletters |
| f. 231 | Columbia Art League |
| f. 232 | Calvary Episcopal Church bookmark design |
| f. 233 | University of Missouri Liberal Arts banner design |
| f. 234-235 | University of Missouri Department of Art Self-study, 1970 |
| f. 236-237 | University of Missouri Department of Art Records, 1970-1972 |
| f. 238 | University of Missouri Ceramics course syllabi, 1975-1991 |
| f. 239 | Baby Book, 1922 |
| f. 240 | My Senior Memories, 1940 |
| f. 241 | The Wittenberger, Wittenberg College, 1943 |
| f. 242 | Scrapbooks |
| f. 243 | Art Exhibition Ribbons |
INDEX TERMS
These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.
- Ann Hawkins Gentry Building, Columbia, Missouri
- Architectural models--St. Thomas, Missouri
- Architecture, Domestic--Arcadia Valley, Missouri
- Arnold, John D.--Painting
- Art Students League of New York, New York City
- Art--Exhibitions
- Arts and crafts--Missouri
- Arts, Indic
- Art--Study and teaching
- Atomic bomb, Nagasaki, Japan, 1945
- Baskets
- Beasley, Harold
- Beasley, Harold--Musical instruments
- Boone County Bank Art Show, Columbia, Missouri
- Brazil
- Bunch, Alva
- Bunch, Alva--Chairs
- Bunch, Bernice--Quilts
- Burrus, Jack--Sculpture/Wood carving
- Bussabarger, Mary Louise Sterling
- Bussabarger, Robert F.
- Butler, E. Rex--Painting
- Ceramic sculpture
- Ceramics
- Chairs
- Colborn, R.S.--Wood carving
- Columbia Art League Art Show, Columbia, Missouri
- Columbia Art League, Columbia, Missouri
- Cook, Daisy--Painter
- Curry, Betty--Baskets
- Curry, Roger--Baskets
- Dolls
- Drawing
- Dulcimers
- Folk art--Missouri
- Griffin, Melvin Harrison--Miniatures
- Guitar Square, Columbia, MO
- Harps
- Hendricks, Larry Harold--Sculpture/Woodcarving
- Holstein, Tom--Sculpture/Wood carving
- Holy Cross Church, Cuba, MO
- India
- Japan, 1945
- Japan--History--1945-1952, Allied occupation
- Kerridge, David & Frances, Art Collection
- Kilns
- Kirby, Norm--Sculpture
- Lloyd, Donald--Painting
- Lowry, Mike--Musical instruments
- Maas, Gerald A.--Sculpture
- Mann, Ronald
- Maplewood Barn Theater, Columbia, MO
- McAfee, James Thomas (1928-1982)
- McKinin, Lawrence
- Missouri, Columbia. Commission on the Arts
- Missouri. Fair, Art Show, Sedalia, MO
- Moger, Pauline, Quilts
- Montminy, Pierre
- Montminy, Tracy ( -1993)
- Moonie, Trula Marie, Baskets
- Mounter, Don, Wood carving
- Musical instruments
- Negas, Mark, Sculpture
- Oerly, Fred--Wood carving
- Painting
- Pottery
- Pozycinski, J., Wood carving
- Quilts
- Roberson, Ella Smith, Dolls
- Robins, Betty Dashaw
- Schmidt, Frank, Architectural models
- Sculpture
- Sharp, Iva, Painting
- Ships
- Skelton, Charles R.
- Skelton, Charles R., Baskets
- Smith, Robert E. (Painting)
- Stephen F. Austin State College, Nacodoches, TX, Department of Art
- Thomas, Homer L.
- Thompson, Ralson
- Toomay, Mike (1906-1979) Sculptures
- U.S. Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School, Abbott Hall, Chicago, IL, 13th Company, 1944
- U.S. Navy
- University of Missouri, Department of Art
- University of Missouri-Columbia, Department of Art
- Whistles
- Wight, James (Mrs.) (1849-1927), Quilts
- Wood carving
- Wood, Beatrice
- World War, 1939-1945, Correspondence
- World War, 1939-1945, Ships
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