time capsules: blog

Taylor Mead (December 31, 1924 – May 8, 2013) worked creatively as a performer and writer from the mid-1950s until his death. Credited with being the first star of underground cinema for his role in Ron Rice’s film The Flower Thief (1960), he also starred in many of Andy Warhol’s films including Tarzan and Jane Regained … Sort Of (1963), and Lonesome Cowboys (1967).

Time Capsules is one serial artwork consisting of many boxes, each consisting of many items, although sometimes a TC contains an individual piece of art that stands on its own. We have found photographs that Andy used as source material and Polaroids that he used to create his iconic portraits. But we don’t often find original drawings or paintings, which makes this discovery—a blotted line drawing of flowers, hand colored—pretty exciting. You’ll also see some images and text from the book Love Is a Pink Cake. These are copies, but we do have the original drawings in the museum collection.

Andy Warhol’s mother Julia Warhola moved from Pittsburgh to New York City in 1952, where she lived with Warhol until 1970.  In this video, we take a look at some examples of Julia’s striking handwriting from Time Capsule 540.  In addition to these letters from Julia, TC540 contains many letters in Slovak to Julia from family and friends in Pittsburgh and Czechoslovakia.

We find lots of magazines in the Time Capsules, but the fashion magazines from the 50s and 60s are really fun. A lot of people don’t know that Andy Warhol began his career as a commercial artist on Madison Avenue, debuting his work in the September (1949) issue of Glamour. The title that Elaina and I peruse in this video is the July 1956 issue of Charm, a magazine for which Warhol created some promotional work in the 1950s.

We normally open, process and catalogue Warhol’s Time Capsules behind locked glass doors in the Museum’s Archives.  Museum visitors can merely peek through the doors at our recent findings.  On September 28th, for the first time ever, the TC Cataloguers opened a Time Capsule for an audience of visitors in our theater. 

TC497 was the 99th Time Capsule that I catalogued, a little milestone for me, and it didn’t disappoint. It contained some great items, including three screen printed scarves created by Warhol, the image titled “The Only Way Out...Is In!” (They were intended as holiday gifts.) TC497 also contained four sealed limited editions of Speaking in Tongues by Talking Heads (Sire, 1983) in packaging designed by Robert Rauschenberg. The LPs reminded me of how thrilled I was to open “my” first Time Capsule, TC166. I found a rare Japanese 45 of the Ramones’ “Sheena is a Punk Rocker,” and I was so excited that I yelled to our Chief Archivist, Matt, to come take a look. That excitement and sense of discovery hasn’t gone away: I’ve catalogued over one hundred of the Time Capsules, and there are still moments that remind me that my job is unique and amazing.

Sometimes we open Time Capsules that contain only newspapers and clippings.  These newspaper Time Capsules can sometimes contain headlines and source materials for Andy Warhol’s artworks.  In addition to having served as a source of inspiration for Warhol, our newspaper Time Capsules help to illuminate our understanding of New York political and entertainment culture in the 1970s and 1980s, setting a context for the times and places of many of our other TC materials.

Sometimes it takes a little digging to uncover all the treasures contained in a Time Capsule. For Trunk 1 it took three weeks, eight employees and over 80 archival folders to process the contents. Before we return the trunk to storage, we would like to show you our favorite finds and give you a glimpse into some of the work we do preserving such a vast array of materials.

Not all of Andy’s Time Capsules are contained in cardboard packing boxes.  A few are in the form of filing cabinets, and one — Trunk 1 — is a steamer trunk so heavy it took two art handlers to move.

The Time Capsules Project Cataloguers inherently write a narrative for their Time Capsules as the objects within are processed, numbered and described.  This time, you be the judge.  Is there a story behind the contents of TC439?  If so, what do you think it might be?

Opening a new Time Capsule can be exhilarating or it can be a little devastating.  An unopened Time Capsule could contain a pop culture treasure (see previous blog posts for examples) or, more realistically, it could simply be bursting with catalogues, circulars, and exhibition announcements addressed to the Factory.  A Time Capsule like the latter doesn’t make for very exciting stories at dinner parties, but it does make for valuable contextual material for researchers or even those with the most casual interest.

Excuse my messAs this is my first entry, an explanation of the title would seem to be in order, except to anyone who has seen my office. Things have a way of accumulating behind my glass-walled domain. The title comes from my girlfriend’s pet-name for my offices (at home and at the museum), to her eternal dismay.

In the second part of this video blog, I show you how we break down the vast amounts of material we find in a Time Capsule into categories for further processing. In TC 338, I found some interesting items, including a coconut monkey bank, a letter and rendering from Diane Von Furstenberg and an 80's mix tape!

Step inside the Archives with us as we open up TC 339 and make some interesting discoveries! We'll follow this up with a second video discussing how we organize items we find in Andy's Time Capsules.

Each item removed from the Time Capsules tells two stories. What the object was originally designed for (the creator’s intention) and what the object came to be, through the eyes of Andy Warhol. As TC Project Cataloguers, it is our job to organize the disorganized. So when we open a Time Capsules box and see stacks of paper, objects, and clothing, we immediately want to categorize and organize these items. We create categories for everything. That is why we label drink umbrellas as “barware” or blank stationery as “ephemera.” However, this only tells half the story--how those items relate to us and not how they relate to Warhol.  Slowly, bits of new information come to light that color our perception of the seemingly mundane. 

TC315 contains this photocopy of John Cale’s passport. Andy Warhol used it—along with copies of Cale’s identification card—to design the cover of Cale’s album Honi Soit. Warhol's original design for the cover was a black-and-white image, but the final product included blocks of color. The Time Capsules contain lots of source material; their discovery, along with references in The Andy Warhol Diaries, helps us piece together the stories of Warhol’s creations. In the Diaries, Warhol writes, “At the office John Cale came over, he wanted me to do an album cover for him.” That entry is dated October 30, 1980; most of the items in TC315 are from February 1981, and Honi Soit was released in March 1981.

Have you ever stood in line outside a club, hoping and waiting for the bouncer to let you in?  Have you felt the club doorkeeper’s eyes scrutinizing you through a peephole of a door without a handle, hoping your outfit is stylish enough for you to gain admittance? Andy Warhol didn’t.  Well, at least not in New York City and not in 1981, almost 20 years after his Campbell’s Soup Can paintings catapulted him to the helm of the contemporary and pop art scenes.