Oral Histories
Interview of Lois Boardman
Program director of the Pasadena Art Museum.
- Subtitle:
- Pasadena Art Museum: Lois Boardman
- Series:
- Oral History of the Pasadena Art Museum
- Topic:
- Art
- Biographical Note:
- Program director of the Pasadena Art Museum.
- Interviewee:
- Boardman, Lois
- Persons Present:
- Boardman and Ratner.
- Place Conducted:
- Boardman's home in Pasadena, California.
- Supporting Documents:
- Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library's Center for Oral History Research.
- Interviewer Background and Preparation:
- The interview was conducted by Joanne L. Ratner, Researcher/Interviewer, UCLA Oral History Program; B.A., American Studies/Art History, Scripps College; M.A., Art History/Museum Studies, University of Southern California.Ratner prepared for the interview by reviewing a variety of materials directly related to the Pasadena Art Museum, including minutes of the executive committee from 1958 to 1974, calendars of events, exhibition catalogs and reviews, scrapbooks, newspaper and magazine articles, California Design files, and essays, brochures, and speeches pertaining to the museum's early history. In addition, Ratner read relevant interviews conducted by the UCLA Oral History Program for its Los Angeles Art Community: Group Portrait series.
- Processing of Interview:
- Rebecca Ziegler, Gold Shield, Alumnae of UCLA, intern, edited the interview. She checked the verbatim transcript of the interview against the original tape recordings, edited for punctuation, paragraphing, and spelling, and verified proper names. Words and phrases inserted by the editor have been bracketed.The edited interview was sent to Lois Boardman in January 1989. She made some corrections and additions, verified proper names, and returned the interview in January 1990. Richard Candida Smith, principal editor, prepared the table of contents. Paul Winters, editorial assistant, prepared the biographical summary. Alex Cline, assistant editor, prepared the interview history.Teresa Barnett, editor, prepared the index.
- Length:
- 2.15 hrs.
- Language:
- English
- Copyright:
- Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.
- Series Statement:
- This series focuses on the history of the Pasadena Museum of Art and its role as a pathbreaking venue for contemporary art in Southern California in the 1960s.
- Abstract:
- Education; living in Switzerland in the 1950s; move to California; studies ceramics at Chouinard Art Institute; mounting an underground film festival; recruited to the Encounters program at the Pasadena Art Museum; augmenting exhibitions with programming; an earthworks installation; setting an off-the-wall tone; Experiments in Art and Technology; outreach into the schools; on the board of trustees of California Institute of the Arts; poetry readings; art history lectures; James T. Demetrion; Thomas G. Terbell; the museum board of trustees; Eudorah M. Moore and California Design; John Coplans; Barbara Haskell; the performance facilities in the new museum building; the Art Alliance of the Pasadena Art Museum; performance art in the late 1960s; the museum lunchroom; responses to the museum's growing deficit in the early 1970s; Norton Simon's treatment of museum auxiliary groups; the Treasure Chest; Art Alliance auctions; educational programs; Art Alliance perceptions of the museum's directors; interaction with curatorial staff; opening-night parties; the incorporation of the Art Alliance as an independent organization; Norton Simon's callous treatment of the museum personnel; summarizing the accomplishments of the Art Alliance; activities of the Art Alliance after 1974; Boardman's involvement with folk art and crafts.