Hugh Acton papers, 1955-2014 (majority within 1960s-1970s)

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Hugh Acton papers, 1955-2014 (majority within 1960s-1970s)

1.5 linear feet (in 4 boxes) — 1 oversize folder — 209.4 MB (online)

Hugh Acton (1925-), the "Cowboy-Designer," was a furniture designer, specializing in mid-century modern furniture, and artist in Augusta, Mich. He is best-known for his 1973 Acton Stacker chair for American Seating, as well as for his 1954 Suspended Beam Bench. This collection includes a brief history of the designer through articles and resumes, with a primary focus on his designs--including photographs (with negatives, transparencies, and online), catalog information, sketches, and design boards for his various furniture designs.

The Hugh Acton papers includes a brief history of the designer through articles and resumes, with a primary focus on his designs--including photographs, catalog information, sketches, and design boards for his various furniture designs. The collection is divided into two series: the Personal series and the Designs series. All materials are dated in the 1960s-1970s, unless noted otherwise.

Personal

The Personal series (0.1 linear feet, 57.4 MB) contains various items relating to Hugh Acton as a designer including: magazine and newspaper articles written about Acton, Acton's self-written personal histories and resumes, product lists of Acton's works, photographs of Acton, a photograph of Acton's work studio, and legal documents concerning the Acton Stacker. The collection also includes the video featuring Acton, "Time With an Artist", produced by the Nora Modern furniture company in 2014.

Acton's personal history and papers, 1998, 2007, undated

Box 1

Magazine/Newspaper articles about Acton, 1955-2008

Box 1

Photographs of Acton, 1980, undated

Box 1

"Time With An Artist" video, 2014

Designs

The Designs series (1.4 linear feet, 1 outsize folder, and 152 MB, 1964-1996) consists of catalogs of Acton's designs, photographs, negatives, and transparencies of Acton's designs, sketches of Acton's designs (in the outsize folder), and design boards (in the outsize folder). This series is broken down by size (standard and outsize), then by type of design (e.g., tables, chairs, desks, etc.) with some of the better-known designs that might be of particular interest to researchers in their own folders (e.g., Acton Stacker, I-Frame System, Acton Sled, etc.). It might also be of note that the sketches found in the outsize folder relate particularly to the furniture that Acton designed for different libraries (e.g., City of Ontario library, California proposed library addition, along with others). Some photographs within this series can be found online. These photographs are of various Acton designs including: check stand, sofas, desktop accessories, desktop planters, paperweight, book display, Acton Stacker, chairs, Costumers, desks, tables, and planters.