The Sid Boyum Collection, mainly 1950s to 1980s, consists largely of mixed visual materials created and collected by Boyum, a Madison-based artist of commercial graphics, photography, cartoons, film, and sculpture. A few materials pre-date and post-date Boyum's life including a family photograph album (circa 1900), and clippings and photographs on the outdoor sculpture preservation project which began in the early 1990s compiled by Friends of Sid Boyum. The majority of visual materials date to Boyum's art career as a commercial graphic designer and photographer for advertising at Gisholt Machine Company and for other local businesses. Collection materials also include his non-commercial art. Many of the works are signed by Boyum with first and full name, or simply “S.”
Items throughout the collection are often repeated in other formats for two general reasons. First, the bulk of visual materials reflect the complex process of graphic design which relied on various media to produce a single camera-ready graphic which resulted in a final print image for reproduction in publications or other print formats. Many collection materials, therefore, consist of the final print graphic as well as mechanicals and paste-ups used in this process such as drawings, paintings, collages, posters, retouched photographs, and negatives. Second, many completed works on paper or board are repeated in photographic formats as copies or as part of the printing process. For example, some posters also appear as 4 x 5-inch negatives, and some color photographic prints as 35 mm transparencies.
It is important to note that photographic negatives and transparencies are included in all eight series but are not comprehensively listed in the finding aid. Given the volume of over 500 color and black-and-white negatives, the 4 x 5-inch negatives (PH 6986, Boxes 7-10) are arranged by subject and in labeled sleeves. The binders for 35 mm color negatives (PH 6986, Box 12) and 35 mm transparencies (PH 6986, Box 13) also contain digital contact sheets for ease of viewing. There are no digital contact sheets for the Gisholt 35 mm filmstrips (PH 6986, Box 13).
By August 2018, over 1,000 items from the Sid Boyum Collection had been digitized and can be viewed on the Wisconsin Historical Society website.
The PERSONAL FILES series, 1914-2018 (bulk 1930s-1960s), consists of documents, visual materials and film. Documents include: baptism certificate, educational degrees and certificate of merit, humorous identification cards, voter registration, an application with the FBI; professional and personal correspondence (mainly with Bea Heitmeyer); samples of creative writing and poetry; notes on commercial art theory, design and cartoon drawing; clippings of drawings on fishing season and the sex scandal relating to Alex Jordan's son, art exhibitions and auctions; 1998 brochure for the Dr. Evermor Foundation Proposal for the Badger Army Ammunition Plant re-use project to as “an historic artistic educational memorial sculpture park dedicated to the workers of the munitions”; and a 1932 Madison East High School yearbook, and 1931 anthology of cartoons published in The New Yorker with Jordan's doodles in the margins. Visual materials include one portrait drawing of Jordan, but the majority consists of varying photographic formats of Jordan, his family, friends, co-workers, and the interior of 237 Waubesa; there are also greeting cards of his mother and Bea. Other photographic images include snapshots taken in and around Madison, Milwaukee, and the state. The short black-and-white film of Bea's nude body is silent. Other films which include footage of Bea are found in the Gisholt Machine Company series.
The GISHOLT MACHINE COMPANY series, 1940s-1973, consists of documents, realia, visual materials, and films. Documents include: a company history that chronicles its founding in 1887 to 1904 written by an unknown author; annual reports (1950s) and employee benefit plan; News Crib copies with Jordan's cover art (1947-1960); production brochures, tear sheets, and trade magazine covers with Jordan's commercial designs and photography (1948-1964); trade-magazine proofs (circa 1950s); product brochure (circa 1910) and service manuals (1947). Realia include: two carved stamps for the athletics team and company insignia; and two other machine emblems.
Visual materials make up the bulk of this series, including both commercial and non-commercial art as mechanicals, photographs, and posters. They exist in small, medium and large dimensions of mixed-media genres such as works on paper, photographic paper and board with paint, graphite, ink or paper collage. Commercial work covers Jordan's artistic range in graphic design and photography for print advertising, for the News Crib (such as the Christmas issue), as well as for posters on plant safety; many works on boards include print firms' coversheets and printers' notations. Industrial photography documents factory machines such as lathes, employees operating machinery, working women in the factory, and the plant's interior and exterior; a set of metal-mount slides accompany notes for a lecture on Engineering Photography that Jordan presented at the University of Wisconsin on October 30-31, 1958. Non-commercial work includes: photography of retirement parties, employees (mostly male but some female) at work and in bars, the Ice Chippers in supper clubs, and Jordan in the company dark room; mechanicals for Ice Chipper invitations to winter-fishing events on Lake Mendota and supper parties; humorous and political posters on the working class that sometimes appeared at Ice Chipper parties. Other materials on paper are: blueprints, a dummy of product literature, and large technical drawings of machines. There are also three cartoon filmstrips on machine products; and five color films: two are silent shorts from 1962 of friends at work (including footage of Bea Heitmeyer); three longer films are on machine product development.
The FISHING AND HUNTING series, 1950s-1980s, is broadly represented across mixed-media genres of visual materials including drawings, posters, photography, and film. Within this series are two notable sub-series: “Opening Day” (1962-1987), with drawings, photographic prints, photographic negatives, posters, clippings, mechanicals, and fine art prints; and Ducks Unlimited (circa 1950s-1960s), with drawings, paintings, posters, stencils, and mechanicals for graphic designs as well as photographic prints, photographic negatives, and clippings of events and outings. These two sub-series are also represented by fine art prints and drawings of Jordan's artwork, which are signed. A general sub-series includes additional photographic prints and negatives of Jordan's many outdoor trips as well as cartoons, posters, and drawings. One silent, color film dated around 1962 is a montage of various fishing trips in Wisconsin.
The HOUSE ON THE ROCK series, 1939-1989 (bulk 1960s-1970s), includes documents but is mostly photographic materials and drawings. Documents include correspondence, clippings, and an interview transcript. There are four letters: one to Jordan from the National Trust for Historic Preservation (1975); and three handwritten drafts by Jordan about a commercial deal (1989), about Jordan, and about a tax evasion issue. The two clippings regard a blackmail charge (1939) against Jordan and his then-girlfriend, Jennie Olson, involving a candid camera and a local businessman framed in a sex scandal. The transcript (1990) is of Jordan speaking about his friend, Alex Jordan Jr., and House on the Rock. The bulk of visual materials (1960s-1970s) are black-and-white and color photography (prints, negatives, and transparencies) of interiors of specific rooms and exhibits, exteriors of buildings and streets, the carousel, sculpture, gardens, views, and construction. The photographic work is largely commercial and appeared in tourist booklets. One large black-and-white print pictures Jordan's custom car that was published in Doug Moe's biography of Jordan. There are also several color-marker and pen-and-ink drawings of the entrance and mill as well as interior rooms, windows, and sculpture. Among these drawings is a color-pencil portrait of Jordan by Marv Balousek.
The OUTDOOR ART AND SCULPTURE series, 1960s-2010s, divides materials into two periods: Jordan's outdoor art phase from the late 1960s to 1980s; and the relocation project from late 1980s to the late 2010s. The bulk of materials on the outdoor art phase consist of photography in color and black-and-white prints and 35 mm transparencies; there is also one large sketch that was used to design the Diana relief. These images extensively cover Jordan's process of making concrete-cast sculptures from wood frame to painted designs; they also show the array of styles, themes, and locations of the sculptures in his yard. His Japanese garden with torii gate, moon pond, and bridge appear across all photographic formats as does his Toonerville Trolley. Many of these Asian-, African-inspired, and more whimsical works can be viewed on the Wisconsin Historical Society website. Materials on the relocation project include a brochure circulated after 2000 about the fundraising effort to conserve the sculptures in their new settings and an educational flyer about the completed relocation project in the Atwood-Schenk neighborhood. The latter document includes a map for a walking tour. There are also newspaper clippings from 1988 to 2018 about Jordan, the relocated sculptures and remaining sculptures at the Waubesa house. Printouts from the Design Coalition website, “Sculpture by Sid Boyum - Art Conservation by Neighbors,” are also filed in this series. These include pages dedicated to the thirteen relocated sculptures, a map of Madison's eastside locations, histories on the first two moves, and an article by art conservator Anton (Tony) Rajer and architect Lou Host-Jablonski.
The COMMERCIAL ART series, 1940s-1980s, includes drawings, posters, and photographic materials, and covers advertising and promotional graphics for diverse businesses and retail shops in Madison. Jordan's work includes designs for companies such as Cecil's Sandals, Ole's Clothes, Martin Glass, Union Tavern, Swann Studios, Virginia Dance Company, R.L. Bender Deluxe Cab Limousine Service, and Gratco Corporation. Many of the photographic materials, especially the 4 x 5-inch negatives, document businesses such as Madison Brass Works, Madison Balancing Machine, La Grille Machine, Del Wood's Country Store, Cecil's Boot Ranch, Millstone Café, and the Simon House, and have not been digitized.
The NON-COMMERCIAL ART series, 1940s-1980s, includes drawings, posters, and photographic materials. This series consists of design graphics for greeting cards and invitations that Jordan regularly made for the holidays and special occasions; some cards and sheets of stationery are in their final print versions. The series also has political cartoons and caricatures such as Richard Nixon or topics including labor rights and taxes; there are also posters of stenciled epigrams that are witty and critical. There are also paintings, mostly watercolor, of varying subjects including a gorilla performing on a stage and a pastel panorama of downtown Madison from the lake. Among the photographic materials are a couple of examples of Jordan's art photography that may have served as mechanicals; and prints and negatives of his drawings and paintings on canvas, including images of Jordan painting for the Toy Loan Program. There is also a sketch given to Jordan by another artist, signed “Nelson.”
The WOMEN AND SEX HUMOR series, circa 1950s to circa 1970s, consists of cartoons, drawings, paintings, posters, and photographs. This series largely includes Jordan's photographs of unidentified women. These include portraits, stereographs of women in bathing suits at beauty contests sponsored by state-wide media outlets in the 1950s and held at the Steinwert pub in Milwaukee and other unidentified locales, and nude models covered in Disguise Stix body paint, circa 1968-1970. Many cartoons, drawings and paintings by Jordan reflect negative and stereotypical humor about women, and one set of cartoon strips with Whimpey, Popeye, and Olive Oyl (not by Jordan) is explicit. There is also an instructional drawing guide of nudes by the pin-up artist, Fritz Willis. Erotic films were separated from the collection and sent to the Museum of Sex in New York City and the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University-Bloomington. For representations of women close to Jordan or at the workplace, see the following series: Personal Files, Gisholt Machine Company, and Outdoor Art and Sculpture.
Extraneous Format / Content Designation in reference numbers
The following letters were used in the early stages of arranging collection items based on content or format. While most items were physically labeled with this system, efforts have been made to remove them to prevent confusion with reference numbers. However, given the volume of materials, some letters persist on both physical items and in digital records. This is particularly true for the 4 x 5-inch negatives which are labeled on sleeves and catalogued with PH 6986A. Such letters are not a standard part of the reference number.
- A
- 4 x 5-inch negatives (black and white and color)
- B
- 8 x 10-inch photographs (mostly black and white)
- C
- 35 mm color negatives and contact sheets
- D
- 35 mm color transparencies and stereo slides (1950s-1980s) with stereo viewer
- E
- “Opening Day” mixed materials
- F
- Photo album
- G
- Greeting cards, invitations, and small-scale mechanicals (camera-ready copy)
- H
- Color photographs (3 x 5 to 8.5 x 11-inch)
- I
- Gisholt Machine Company
- J
- Art: Commercial, Political Cartoons, Sex Humor, Miscellaneous
- K
- Hunting and Fishing
- L
- Non-Boyum Art
- P
- House on the Rock
