Guide to the Edward J Wormley and Edward Crouse Papers,
1831-1997 (bulk 1907-1997)

Special thanks is owed to those Cornell University alumni whose generosity made the purchase and processing of this collection possible.

Edward J Wormley (he preferred to omit the period), who worked for Dunbar Furniture from 1931 to 1968, is considered one of the major 20th century designers of American modernist furniture. His partner Edward Crouse was a professor of journalism and drama and the theater director at the University of Georgia, at Athens, 1930-1946. Two published works on Wormley include: The Dunbar Book of Contemporary Furniture (Berne, Indiana: Dunbar Furniture Corporation, 1956), not included here, and Edward Wormley: The Other Face of Modernism (New York: Lin-Weinberg Gallery, 1997), copy in the collection.

Edward J Wormley was born to Edith and Myron J. Wormley on December 31, 1907 in Oswego, IL, moving with his parents to nearby Rochelle, IL at age two. Edward Cass Crouse was born to Annie and Harvey Crouse on October 25, 1908 in Kansas City, MO. After his mother passed away in December 1918, Crouse and his two sisters, Frances and Margaret, were invited to come and live with their uncle and aunt, William and Margaret Landon, in Rochelle, IL. It was in 1919 that the Crouse children moved and that Crouse and Wormley met and became dear friends.

As a child, Crouse played at designing stage sets and putting on small theater productions for his family. Wormley likewise showed an early talent for the work that was to become his career, taking correspondence courses from the New York School of Interior Design while still in high school. Both were involved with theater at Rochelle Township High School, playing Persian boys in a 1923 production of In the Garden of the Shah. Several of the other boys whose names are listed in the programs Crouse saved remained friends of the pair for many years.

Crouse graduated in 1925 and that fall he enrolled in the journalism program at the University of Wisconsin. He sang in the Glee Club and pledged the Delta Upsilon fraternity, writing home to Wormley about his courses and activities. Wormley, meanwhile, graduated in 1926 and enrolled in the Art Institute of Chicago with money given to him by Nellie Wormley Herren, his father's second cousin. At the end of a three terms, however, Wormley's funds ran out and he was forced to look for work.

He found it at the interior design studio of the Marshall Field & Co. department store, which after two years sent him to the Berkey & Gay Furniture Company, the store's custom furniture supplier. His designs for Berkey & Gay were never produced--and he was in fact laid off after only a year--because the Depression was forcing the company to make cutbacks (it eventually folded). Wormley's former supervisor at Marshall Field then introduced him to Homer Niederhauser, president of Dunbar Furniture Company. In 1931 Wormley accepted a position as Dunbar's furniture designer, an arrangement that proved to be beneficial and lucrative for both Wormley and Dunbar for nearly thirty years. Wormley took up residence in Chicago (the location of one of Dunbar's major exhibition spaces) and designed at least two and sometimes four lines of 20-25 original pieces of furniture for Dunbar per year while still finding time to do independent designing and consulting for other companies including Rand McNally, Lightolier, and Macy's departmnent store.

Crouse graduated from Wisconsin in 1929 and found work as a copy editor at the Racine, WI Times-Call, but soon landed a teaching position at the University of Georgia at Athens. In addition to teaching journalism, Crouse was appointed director of the University Theater and the university's dramatic ensemble, the Thalian-Blackfriars. He staged three productions a year from 1930 until he was called up for military service in World War II.

During the late 1920s and early 1930s, the relationship between the two men was delicate and amorphous. It's fairly clear that the two were physically involved to some extent by 1927, but Crouse's letters to Wormley from this and subsequent years indicate substantial uncertainty and shame. Crouse repeatedly wrote of his desire to be "Regular" while simultaneously expressing his despair of ever finding a woman he could stand to marry. Crouse dated women and even occasionally lectured Wormley in his correspondence, exhorting him to try harder to overcome his "abnormality." Our knowledge of Wormley's view of the affair is limited to references in Crouse's letters because Crouse apparently did not begin collecting his friend's correspondence until 1930, but it appears that Wormley accepted his attraction to men much earlier than Crouse and with somewhat less difficulty. Despite Crouse's anxieties over "the sex-stuff," the two men professed love for one another, spent nearly all their vacations together, and talked constantly of one day living together permanently. Eventually, Crouse came to terms with his sexuality and despite the fact that neither man expected monogamy of the other or practiced it himself, they enjoyed a steadfast, loving, passionate, and committed relationship for the next four decades.

Throughout their association, Crouse and Wormley greatly enjoyed travelling together. The two men toured Europe, the West Indies, Mexico, and the United States, taking numerous photographs to record their experiences.

By the early 1940s, Wormley was well-known in the furniture business. His designs garnered critical acclaim and sold extremely well: Dunbar Furniture Company had grown up from obscurity largely thanks to his work. In 1939 Crouse was appointed head of the newly-formed drama program at the university, and after taking a year's leave to do graduate coursework in theater at Yale, continued to successfully direct the University Theater and Thalian-Blackfriars. The war, however, brought a temporary change of occupation to both men: in 1942 Wormley accepted a position as head of the furniture division at the Office of Price Administration in Washington, while Crouse put his belongings in storage and headed to Camp Campbell, KY for basic training. Crouse was eventually promoted to the rank of captain, and served as Theatrical Entertainment Director for the U.S. Army base in Greenland from 1943 to 1945.

When the war ended, Wormley moved to New York City and opened a private firm, Edward Wormley and Associates, retaining Dunbar as his major client. This enabled him to undertake large-scale remodeling and redesign projects for private clients while continuing to produce critically lauded and commercially successful furniture designs for Dunbar, including the 1957 Janus line, which comprised 70 items. He lectured widely and in 1955 began teaching at the Parsons School of Design. Upon his discharge from active duty in January 1946, Crouse returned to the University of Georgia; but in the same year he sought and obtained a position in the drama department of Syracuse University. Soon displeased with Syracuse, he left within a year and went to work for Wormley. Sketches in the collection demonstrate Crouse's talent as a designer and draftsperson, and he remained with Edward Wormley and Associates until his retirement.

When Crouse came to work for Wormley, the couple realized their lifelong goal of living together, moving into a country house in Weston, CT and adopting a series of pet corgis. In 1968, both Crouse and Wormley retired permanently to Weston, living quietly and traveling together until Crouse's death from cancer in 1975.

After Crouse died, Wormley became somewhat more reclusive, though he still saw some friends and continued to travel. By the time of Wormley's death in 1995, his name was no longer quite so well-known (partly due to the fact that Dunbar folded in 1993), but a 1997 exhibition of Wormley's work and the detailed accompanying catalog (a copy of which can be found in the collection) was an important step in reintroducing Wormley and his work to the design community. A small number of Wormley's most famous designs, including the Teardrop Chair, Listen-to-me Chaise, and Tete-a-tete Sofa, are currently being rereleased by a new company, DUNBAR Furniture, cementing Wormley's place in modernist design history.

The collection is divided into four series: Personal Records, Correspondence, Edward J Wormley Professional Records, and Photographs.

Series I. Personal Records. The first series is informally divided into four subseries: Crouse Personal Records, Joint Personal Records, Wormley Personal Records, and Unidentified Personal Records. The personal records of Crouse and Wormley individually include basic documents such as birth certificates, passports, and driver's licenses; biographical clippings; education records; appointment books and notebooks; records pertaining to apartments, cars, and other property owned; family history and genealogy, and correspondence written and received by family members other than Crouse or Wormley themselves.

Crouse's personal records also include material on his military service and employment, though it should be noted that most material relating to Crouse's work at the University of Georgia was donated (by Wormley) to that university's libraries upon Crouse's death. Sketches of stage sets and program mock-ups done in Crouse's youth are also present in his personal records; as are a number of short stories and mini-newspapers written by Crouse around age twelve or thirteen. Crouse's family records include extensive amateur genealogical records of the Cass family, Crouse's maternal ancestors, dating back to 1831.

Wormley's personal records also include extensive financial and legal records, including tax returns, expense notebooks, and correspondence between Wormley and his attorney. This latter material is relevant to Wormley's contracts and agreements with Dunbar; because there is personal and business-related material interspersed in the legal correspondence, it has been filed with the personal records. A copy of Edward Wormley: The Other Face of Modernism is also included in this section.

Joint Personal Records include a few files and three detailed scrapbooks from the couple's travels, as well as files on the house in Weston, CT where Crouse and Wormley lived together after 1947. Yearbooks from Rochelle Township High School are also included in this section because there is only one copy from each year either or both men attended the school. Unidentified Personal Records consists of one folder of miscellaneous material that was not clearly attributable to either Crouse or Wormley and did not obviously concern both of them.

Series II. Correspondence. The second series is informally divided into ten subseries, with Correspondence between Crouse and Wormley being the first and largest. This correspondence probably provides the best entry point into the collection, as it spans (in fact, exceeds) the entire length of time Crouse and Wormley lived apart (1925-1947). It was not unusual for the two to exchange twenty or twenty-five letters in the course of a month, so the letters chronicle not only the couple's relationship, but also the lives of each individually-sometimes on a day-to-day basis. This correspondence arrived interspersed and it was decided that leaving it this way would allow for a more intuitive navigation through the couple's long-distance relationship. It should be noted, however, that there are some major gaps in the correspondence, mostly affecting Wormley: Crouse did not start keeping Wormley's letters until late 1930, and did not save them between the fall of 1942 and the spring of 1946 (during his military service). In addition, because the two often spent summers together, there are sometimes fewer letters for the months of June, July, and August.

Six additional subseries are Addresses and Address Books, Incoming Correspondence, and Outgoing Correspondence; each of these categories exists for both Crouse and Wormley. Incoming correspondence is arranged as follows: if there are three or more letters from a person whose last name and first initial or name are identifiable, these letters are foldered under the sender's name; otherwise, letters are filed in chronological order at the end of the Incoming Correspondence sections. Likewise, outgoing correspondence is foldered under the recipient's name if there are three or more letters to that person and chronologically otherwise. There is a very small amount of outgoing correspondence for both Crouse and Wormley.

Joint Addresses and Christmas Card Lists and Joint Incoming Correspondence are two additional subseries; the latter follows the same rules as the other incoming correspondence. The final subseries is Unidentified Correspondence, for which the recipient (and in some cases also the sender) is unknown.

Series III. Edward J Wormley Professional Records. Though Wormley's designs and furniture specifications are the physical and intellectual property of DUNBAR Furniture, LLC, other aspects of his career are well-documented here. This series is divided into five subseries (A-E).

Subseries IIIA. Business Records. This subseries includes records from Wormley's association with Dunbar-correspondence, memoranda, brochures, legal agreements and contracts, clippings, and personal correspondence with various figures within the company. It also includes client files, employee correspondence, and miscellany from Edward Wormley and Associates.

Subseries IIIB. Subject Files. Subseries B contains Wormley's files on other designers and artists, museums, and professional designers' organizations. Clippings, article reprints, and personal correspondence are all present in these files. Somewhat of a catch-all subseries, it also includes material such as certificates of merit awarded to Wormley and records relating to Wormley's celebrated work with Tiffany tiles. Also included in this subseries is a reel of film labelled "ASID [American Society of Interior Designers] Proj." which might be a documentary about Wormley (see Box 8, Folder 15 for files on ASID).

Subseries IIIC. Speeches and Publications. This subseries contains over 25 of Wormley's speeches and articles, arranged alphabetically by the audience for the speech (e.g. Industrial Designers of America) or magazine title (e.g. Interiors). Unidentified speeches and unpublished items are found at the end of the subseries.

Subseries IIID. Design Reference Files. Subseries D contains material that Wormley used or may have used as inspiration for his design work. First, there are extensive files of magazine clippings that he organized and labeled; categories include Antique Architecture, Chairs, Drawings, International Style, Living Rooms, Rugs, and Wallpaper. In some cases, Wormley coded the categories as well (e.g. Advertisements is coded Ad-M; Paintings is coded P-Art). It isn't immediately clear what all of the codes mean, but anything Wormley coded is likewise coded in the boxlist.

An important thing to note in the clippings section is that there are a number of folders entitled "Sketches." A small number of hand-drawn sketches were included with the collection, one filed along with the magazine clippings under "Sketches (Sk)" Though initially it was thought that the sketches were Wormley designs, closer inspection revealed that a number of the sketches, including the one originally filed with the clippings, are labeled as something else. That is, they are sketches Wormley made of objects he did not design. To avoid misleading the researcher, all of the hand-drawn sketches in the collection are therefore listed with the clippings. This should not be taken to suggest that it is certain that none of the sketches represent Wormley's own work; it is simply to say that it is not clear which, if any, are in fact his.

Second, a large number of catalogs from art exhibits and museums were included in the collection, and it isn't clear whether these were kept as souvenirs from travels and museum visits or as reference material for Wormley's work. The catalogs have been filed as if the latter largely because it seems at least plausible that an interior designer would draw inspiration from items seen in museums. It is just important to be clear that we don't really know if the museum guides served as important references for Wormley.

Third, this subseries also includes four folders of brochures, clippings, and photographs of Shaker furniture, filed with the clippings because such information seems obviously relevant as design reference material.

Subseries IIIE. Miscellaneous. This subseries contains miscellaneous items and news clippings, as well as a few folders of chronological business-related correspondence.

Series IV. Photographs. The photographs are divided into three subseries, A-C.

Subseries IVA. Personal and Family Photographs. This subseries contains photographs of Crouse, Wormley, their families and friends, Crouse's drama productions for the Army and the University of Georgia, the couple's house in Weston, CT, and their hometown of Rochelle, IL.

Subseries IVB. Travel Photographs. Subseries B contains photos, many unidentified, taken during the couple's travels. There is also a set of photos of various sights in Europe dating from the early 20th century; it is not clear to whom these belonged.

Subseries IVC. Miscellaneous Photographs. This subseries contains a few photos of art objects, some photographic Christmas cards, and thirteen folders of unidentified persons.

Collecting Program: Human Sexuality Collection.

Researchers may wish to contact the current owners of DUNBAR for material relating more directly to Wormley's designs. There is no guide to the material, but it includes black-and-white historical photographs, a digital library of DUNBAR/Hockaday ads, and part drawings for classic Wormley designs. The archive is located in High Point, NC; researchers can contact Andy Hiser or Scott Hartkopf at P.O. Box 5541; High Point, NC 27262.

Material relating to Edward Crouse's work at the University of Georgia is located at the Hargrett Rare and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia, Manuscript Collection #980.