Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
R. Thomas Schorer papers
Date(s)
- 1986-2010 (Creation)
Extent
.5 linear feet (1 box)
Name of creator
Biographical history
R. Thomas Schorer was born in Newton, Massachusetts on December 11, 1929. He earned a B.S. in visual communications from the IIT Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology and later taught visual design there from 1951 to 1955 while in their Masters program. After working at the Container Corporation of America and Dart Industries, he established his own design office, R. Thomas Schorer & Associates, in 1972. He taught Graphic and Package Design at Art Center from 1976 to 2002, and was a Trustee from 1988 to 1992. He was on the faculty of the USC Roski School of Fine Arts from 2002 until his death on August 29, 2020.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The R. Thomas Schorer papers consist of correspondence, clippings, and cartoons from his time at Art Center as a faculty member and Trustee, 1980s-1990s. The correspondence, much of it photocopies, are letters and memos about Art Center from faculty, administrators, and the Board, including those documenting student unrest over rising tuition and costs. Of note are Virginia Legakes Adams's letters addressed to President David R. Brown and the Board giving her opinions on the state of the school.
Also included in this collection are political cartoons that have been photocopied and altered to comment on the Art Center administration and clippings from Los Angeles area publications about Schorer, Art Center, and its alumni. There are a few memorials for former Art Center faculty, as well as black and white photographs of Schorer and fellow Art Center faculty members Jim Jordan and Wally Bennett.
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Conditions of access and use elements
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Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright held by Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, Calif.).
Digital materials and catalog records are made available for educational and research purposes only and cannot be reproduced, distributed, or published without written permission from Art Center College of Design.
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Existence and location of copies
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Notes element
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Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
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Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Adams, Virginia Legakes (Subject)
- Brown, David R. (Subject)
- Schorer, R. Thomas (Subject)