Burton Cherry Ephemera Collection, approximately 1929-approximately 1962

Gift of the estate of Burton Cherry, 1964 and of Anna Weaver, 2013.

The Burton Cherry Ephemera Collection is open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).

The Burton Cherry Ephemera Collection is the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.

Burton Cherry Ephemera Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago.

Joy Orillo-Dotson, 2016.

This inventory was created with the generous support of the Council on Library and Information Services, which is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Burton Cherry was a nationally known Chicago-based designer and typographer. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Institute of Design, where he later taught typography. Cherry began his career as a journeyman compositor and production operator for R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company, and eventually worked under William A. Kittredge as a designer. Many years later, Cherry became the Agency Art Director at Tempo, Inc. Cherry moved to Cuneo Press in 1948 where he became the Director of Design and Typography. In 1952, Burton Cherry & Associates began and offered printing, design, and typographic planning and production services.

Cherry was also extensively involved in art organizations. Among the various positions he held, Cherry was the president of the Society of Typographic Arts in 1947 and the president of the Art Directors Club of Chicago in 1956. He was also a member of the Chicago Book Clinic and the American Institute of Graphic Arts (regional vice-president, exhibition co-chairman), an honorary member of the New York Type Directors Club and of the Museum of Modern Art, and served on the advisory council for the non-profit organization The Clearing.

Cherry’s other activities and contributions included writing articles, teaching, public speaking, acting as a type consultant, and serving as a judge in graphic arts competitions and exhibitions. His influential and award-winning work was exhibited by organizations such as the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the Society of Typographic Arts, the Art Directors Club of Chicago, and the Chicago Book Clinic, and was reproduced in various publications.

The collection consists of approximately 710 items that Burton Cherry personally designed or collected. They include advertisements, announcements, brochures, catalogs, and other promotional materials, as well as letters, invitations, gift books, keepsakes, Christmas and New Year cards, and other miscellaneous ephemera. Although some of these materials were designed by Cherry or feature his work, many of them are by other designers and typographers. There are also items that were issued by Cherry’s clients, art organizations, printing presses, and other corporate entities, such as the Art Directors Club of Chicago, R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company, and the Society of Typographic Arts. Additionally, the collection features love-letters from Cherry (on his personal letterheads) to Joan Campbell; newspaper clippings and magazine articles containing stories about Cherry; and annual reports, publications, and promotional materials issued by or related to Cuneo Press.

Papers are organized in the following series:

Series 1: Ephemera, letters, and clippings by or about Burton Cherry (Box 1) Series 2: Ephemera Collected by Burton Cherry (Boxes 2-6) Series 3: Oversize (Box 7)

• Names
  • Art Directors Club of Chicago.
  • Burton Cherry & Associates.
  • Campbell, Joan, active 1962
  • Cherry, Burton -- Correspondence
  • Cherry, Burton
  • Cuneo Press.
  • R.R. Donnelley and Sons Company.
  • Society of Typographic Arts (Chicago, Ill.).
  • Tempo, Inc..
• Subject
  • Advertising layout and typography
  • Chicago
  • Commercial art
  • Design -- Exhibitions
  • Design -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Design services
  • Designers -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Ephemera
  • Graphic arts
  • Graphic design (Typography)
  • Lectures and lecturing
  • Love-letters -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Correspondence
  • Manuscripts, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Printing
  • Printing -- Specimens
  • Printing History and Book Arts
  • Printing industry
  • Type and type-founding -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Type designers
  • Typographers
• Geographic CoverageIllinois -- Chicago