The Marshall M. Fredericks Archives project was initiated in 2005, following receipt of the business and personal records from Fredericks’ Birmingham, MI home and Royal Oak studio. The Archives provide scholars and researchers with access to information that spans the 70 years of Fredericks’ career from 1928 to 1998. The information in the holdings is a vital link to understanding public sculpture in the 20th century. Few, if any, American sculptors have given their entire collection to one institution. We are indeed fortunate to have these records.
The Marshall M. Fredericks Collection consists of 200 linear feet of materials, including correspondence, project (job) files, subject files, financial records, photographs, clippings and articles, books, magazines, drawings, awards, medals, memorabilia, videos, film, audio and ephemera.
The Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum collection consists of records documenting the history and development of the museum. This collection is currently closed to researchers but access can be granted on a case-by-case basis. Please contact the archivist for more information about obtaining access to this collection.
The Marshall M. Fredericks Archives is open without fee to all researchers regardless of academic or professional affiliation. The Archives consists of closed stacks and does not circulate its collections off-site. The archivist makes every effort to facilitate access to collections through individual or group orientations and by conducting up to a half hour of research at no cost per research request.
The Marshall M. Fredericks Reading Room is open for research:
Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
By Appointment Only
To arrange access, please contact collection manager Geoffe Haney in advance at gchaney@svsu.edu or by phone: 989.964.2032.
Researchers are encouraged to visit the Marshall M. Fredericks Archives in person to do their work, but if they must solely rely on telephone, FAX, or email services to conduct their work, a research fee will be charged after 30 minutes of staff time at the rate of $25.00 an hour.
When it will not affect the safety of the material, photocopies may be requested for a fee.
Please note: A 10% Archives Service Charge as well as a 6% Michigan Sales Tax will be applied to all services. Additional Shipping/Handling charges will apply if materials are mailed.
In July 2009, the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services(IMLS) to support collection stewardship activities. This grant enabled the museum to complete the processing of the 200 linear foot Marshall M. Fredericks collection as well as digitize over 5,000 photographs from this collection. Included in the digital archive are images of Marshall Fredericks’ sculpture commissions, exhibitions, studios, civic engagements and the construction of the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum.
Five years later, the Museum was fortunate to receive another grant from IMLS to continue the digitization of its archival collection. During this project, Museum staff digitized over 800 of Fredericks’s project drawings that illustrate Fredericks’s creative process and development as an artist. This project not only increased the knowledge available online about sculpture and the artistic process, it also benefited the drawings by reducing handling of these fragile documents.
Additionally, a finding aid was created for the entire collection and linked to the online digital archive enabling researchers to view the digital images directly. A finding aid is a descriptive inventory, index or guide that repositories create to describe and to provide access to the contents of manuscript collections or archival records. The finding aid provides information about:
Catalog records were then submitted to the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC), Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), IMLS and the Repositories of Primary Sources.
The digital library and finding aid provide researchers and scholars with access to information that spans over seventy years of Marshall Fredericks’ sculpting career, affording ample opportunities for research and interpretation of one of America’s most prolific monumental sculptors.
