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Finding Aid to Vance Gerry and the Weather Bird Press Archive, 1966 -1992
Press coll. Archives Weather Bird
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Title: Vance Gerry and the Weather Bird Press Archive,
Date (inclusive): 1966-1992
Collection number: Press coll. Archives Weather Bird
Creator:
Gerry, Vance
Extent: 12 boxes and map drawer
Repository:
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Los Angeles, CA 90018
Shelf location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language:
English.
Source of Acquisition/Provenance
Gift, 1988 (Six boxes) from the artist.
Gift, 1992 (Two boxes) from the artist.
Gift, 2008 from Jeff Weber (MS.2008.010)
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the William Andrews Clark Memorial
Library, UCLA. All requests for permission to publish or quote from
manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Librarian. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of the William Andrews Clark Memorial
Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to
include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be
obtained.
[Identification of item], Vance Gerry and the Weather Bird Press Archive, 1966-1992. William Andrews Clark Memorial Library,
Los Angeles, California.
Born and raised in Pasadena, California, Vance Gerry was an apprentice at the Castle
Press of Grant Dahlstrom as a teenager. He learned the basic principles of book design
and how to set type by hand. First trained as a commercial artist at Woodbury College,
Gerry later attended the Art Center for Design and the Chouinard Art Institute, where he
used his G.I. Bill to pay for school. At Chouinard, he studied under Donald W. Graham,
the renowned animation artist.
In 1955, he worked at the Walt Disney Animation Studio as a layout and story sketch
artist. He has contributed his ideas and drawings to films like
Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, Winnie-the-Pooh and the
Honey Tree,
and
The Sword in the Stone, and
Beauty and the Beast. The last film he worked on at Disney was
The Lion King.
From 1967, Gerry operated the Weather Bird Press at various locations around Los
Angeles. The press moved from Laguna Beach, where it was temporarily called the Peach Pit
Press, to Fallbrook, and finally to Pasadena. He has used different presses and machines
throughout the years: a Linotype machine, a Miehle vertical, a Vandercook press, and
others. He also uses several different font types, some rarely seen in commercial
printing presses.
With his talent as an imaginative artist, he has illustrated most of his books with line
drawings, linoleum cuts, and pochoir. He has also written and printed several books under
the pseudonym of Bunston Quayles.
Gerry died March 5, 2005 in Pasadena, California.
This inventory has been arranged in Gerry's original filing system by job envelope, then
put in alphabetical order by title of book. In the case of personal letterhead printing,
this has been arranged alphabetically by last name. Filed in folders, they contain the
paperwork concerning the production of a particular book, preliminary designs, rejected
proofs, galley proofs, paste-ups, dummies, and page proofs.
In the following finding aid, a general description has been given about the contents of
each box. Each folder heading contains a more detailed description of its contents.
Oversized papers are stored in separate, larger boxes (box 9 & 10). Galley proofs are
housed in a map drawer in the second annex.
When requesting items, please state box number, folder number, and title.
The collection of Vance Gerry's Weather Bird Press jobs primarily consists of
illustrations, layout sketches, galley, page, and signature proofs, dummies,
correspondence, ephemera, pochoir samples, and stencils. It was given to the William
Andrews Clark Memorial Library in 1988 and 1992. The collection is contained in eight
boxes. Oversized papers are stored in a map drawer under the title of Weather Bird Press.