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Finding aid created by: MRC
Date: 30 Apr 2009
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| 1 Dec 2022 | Use restriction lifted (MRC, ND) |
| 9 Jan 2023 | Updated extent and acquisition information to reflect that boxes were returned to donor (DTF) |
| 26 Jul 2023 | processed (RMH) |
Overview of the Collection |
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| Creator: | Cybis (Firm) |
| Title: | Cybis Porcelain Art Studio Records |
| Dates: | 1951-1969 |
| Quantity: | 5.5 linear ft. |
| Abstract: | Correspondence, bank statements, ledgers, clippings, advertising brochures, etc. of the American porcelain manufacturer. |
| Language: | English |
| Repository: | Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center |
Cybis Porcelain, makers of fine china statuary and other pieces, was started in the 1920s by Boleslaw Cybis, a Lithuanian artist. Today Cybis porcelains are given as gifts of state and found in the permanent collections of museums, embassies, government buildings and art galleries around the world. [Taken from Cybis Porcelain website, http://www.cybisporcelain.info/].
Boleslaw Cybis (1895-1957) was a Lithuanian artist recognized throughout Europe for his art during the 1920s and 1930s. Cybis received a request from the US government to create a series of murals for the "Hall of Honor" at the 1939 World's Fair in New York. After obtaining citizenship, he and his wife Marja established a studio in Astoria, a suburb of New York City. In 1942 the studio moved to Trenton, New Jersey where the Cordey China Company opened, producing china gift ware. By the late 1940s, Cybis shifted to porcelain and opened a second location to focus on porcelain sculptural art named Cybis Porcelain Art Studio in 1950.
In 1957, Cybis died and his wife died the following year. Cybis Porcelain Art Studio passed to Cybis' protege Marilyn Chorlton and her husband Joseph. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Chorltons reinvented the studio by producing only original designs with copyright registrations for the sculptures. This was a "golden age" for the company. After Marylin's death in 1977, Cybis Porcelain Art Studio began a slow downward spiral with the last new sculpture design created in 2008 and the company officially sold and closed in 2019. [Information drawn from The Cybis Archive, 26 Jul 2023.]
The Cybis Porcelain Art Studio Records contain correspondence, financial material, and miscellaneous items.
Correspondence consist of a small amount of typed replies from Cybis Porcelain Art Studio to inquiries about a company catalogue, letters with the company's auditor Charles L. Companick, and various sales representatives.
Financial material includes bank statements, orders with Holland Mold Shop in Trenton, financial records for Cybis' previous company Cordey China Company, and account ledgers from 1954-1965. Some of the payroll records are restricted due to the presence of social security numbers for employees. There are 2 folders for D'orsay China containing bank statements and checks, but it is unclear how D'orsay China was involved with Cybis Porcelain Art Studio or Cordey China Company.
Miscellaneous consists of advertising brochures and catalogues for Cybis Porcelain Art Studio, clippings, a customer list for certain limited edition Cybis Porcelain Art Studio pieces, and a book entitled A History of American Art Porcelain by Marvin D. Schwartz and Richard Wolfe.
The collection is arranged alphabetically based on form, then chronologically.
Access Restrictions:
The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advance notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.
Certain payroll records are restricted until 2035 due to social security numbers.
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.
Persons
Cybis, Boleslaw, 1895-1957.
Corporate Bodies
Cybis (Firm)
Subjects
Porcelain figures -- United States.
Porcelain industry -- United States.
Porcelain, American -- 20th century.
Genres and Forms
Account books.
Advertisements.
Bank statements.
Catalogs (documents)
Clippings (information artifacts)
Correspondence.
Ledgers (account books)
Payroll records.
Price lists.
Occupations
Artists.
Preferred Citation
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Cybis Porcelain Art Studio Records,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
Acquisition Information
Gift of Joseph Chorlton, 1968-1970.
Correspondence
Financial material
Miscellaneous
| Correspondence | |||||||||||
| Box 1 | Advertisement replies 1964-1969 - typed replies from Cybis Porcelain Art Studio to people inquiring about a company catalogue advertised in the newspaper. | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Companick, Charles. L. 1958-1962 | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | J. L. Hudson Company 1960 | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Sales representatives 1962-1964 (2 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Trenton Trust Company 1962-1964 | ||||||||||
| Financial material | |||||||||||
| Box 1 | Annual reports 1953-1963 | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Bank statements 1953-1962 (6 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 2 | Bank statements 1963-1966 (7 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 2 | Commissions 1963-1965 | ||||||||||
| Box 2 | Cordey China Company 1954-1955 | ||||||||||
| Box 3 | Cordey China Company 1954-1955 (2 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 3 | D'orsay China 1951-1954 (2 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 3 | Holland Mold Shop 1955-1956 (2 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 3 | Income tax returns 1955-1958, 1961-1962 - corporate (2 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 3 | Ledgers 1954-1965 (4 folders) | ||||||||||
| Oversize 1 | Ledgers 1955-1961 | ||||||||||
| Oversize 2 | Ledgers 1961-1965 (3 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 4 | Ledgers: accounts receivable and payable 1955-1961 (6 folders) | ||||||||||
| Oversize 1 | Ledgers: schedule of accounts receivable 1963-1965 | ||||||||||
| Box 4 | Mortgage statement 1952 | ||||||||||
| Box 4 | Payroll records 1954-1965 | ||||||||||
| Box 6 | Payroll records 1954-1965 (3 folders) | ||||||||||
| RESTRICTED: Certain payroll records are restricted until 2035 due to social security numbers. | |||||||||||
| Box 4 | Shipping accounts 1955-1968 | ||||||||||
| Box 4 | Trial balances 1954 | ||||||||||
| Miscellaneous | |||||||||||
| Box 4 | Advertising brochures 1962-1969 (2 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 5 | Clippings 1965-1970 | ||||||||||
| Box 5 | A History of American Art Porcelain by Marvin D. Schwartz and Richard Wolfe 1967 | ||||||||||
| Box 5 | Limited edition customer list 1962-1968 | ||||||||||