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Arthur BecVar Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: MRC
Date: 12 Apr 2010



Biographical History

Arthur BecVar (1911-2003) was an American industrial designer. He received his BFA from Notre Dame University in 1933, an engineering certificate from Purdue University, and an MFA at the Institute of International Education, Charles University, Prague, Czechoslovakia (1933-1934). He spent more than thirty years with General Electric as their Director of Design, working on designs for major appliances and managing a staff of 50 at their Applied Research and Design Center in Louisville, Kentucky. He was a Fellow of the American Society of Industrial Designers (ASID) and served as its president, and was active in ASID and its successor the Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA) throughout his professional career.


Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Arthur BecVar Papers consists of memorabilia, printed material and writings. Much of it concerns General Electric's "Kitchen Center," designed and developed by BecVar and Robert Blee in 1957.

Memorabilia consists of awards and honors, biographical sketches, and photographs. Biographical sketches includes resumes, advertisements for BecVar lectures which including a brief bio, and printed items from General Electric. Also in this folder is an unsigned letter, presumably from BecVar, recounting memories of his staff and of a prank played on industrial designer Raymond Loewy. Most of the photographs are candid shots of BecVar but there are also formal portrait photographs and some GE publicity photographs.

Printed material consists of newspaper and magazine clippings as well as publicity material put out by GE. Some are about BecVar and his work, while other relate to General Electric kitchen appliances, such as the wall-mounted refrigerator, and "Kitchen of the Future." The GE material includes a photocopy of their "Builder's Handbook for General Electric Kitchen Center."

Writings consits of published articles, charts and drawings, and some handwritten notes on industrial design. Some of these are originals while others are photocopies.


Arrangement of the Collection

Material is arranged alphabetically by series and subseries. No further arrangement has been done.


Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.


Subject Headings

Persons

BecVar, Arthur.

Corporate Bodies

General Electric Company. -- Appliance and Merchandise Dept.
General Electric Company. -- Applied Research and Design Center.

Subjects

Industrial design -- United States.
Industrial designers -- United States.
Kitchen appliances industry -- United States.
Refrigerators -- Design and construction.

Genres and Forms

Clippings (information artifacts)
Manuscripts for publication.
Photographs.
Resumes.

Occupations

Industrial designers.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Arthur BecVar Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Arthur BecVar, 1992.


Table of Contents

Memorabilia

Printed material

Writings


Inventory