Manuscripts Collection
Francis Meisch was born in 1915 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended St. Paul schools and went to the University of Minnesota for his Bachelor of Architecture degree. He received his Master in Architecture degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to his career in architecture, Meisch created and exhibited etchings, drypoints, and watercolors for which he was best known. He was a member and president of the Minnesota Artists Association, and a member of the Twin Cities Watercolor Society and other artists' groups. He died January 16, 1998, in Edina, Minnesota.
An extensive collection of photographs from Meisch's travels (1932-1942) mounted in ten scrapbooks are included. Some of the photographs may have been used by Meisch as a basis for his artwork. Accompanying Meisch's photography scrapbooks is a list of the years and locations of his travels and a few pieces of memorabilia (1946 and 1991-1998).
Also included is an architectural drawing of the St. Paul Armory Building and architectural blueline drawings of the Chancery and Residence buildings for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul.
An oral history interview with Francis Meisch is in the Minnesota Historical Society oral history collection as part of the Minnesota Artists Oral History Project.
Watercolor paintings and pen and ink drawings by Meisch are in the Minnesota Historical Society art collection.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the
Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics,
persons or places should
Accession number: 15,913
Processed by: Anne Levin, July 2005
Processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with a Basic Project
grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission
Catalog ID number: 3703280
Scrapbook numbers, locations for photographs, and date information are given in each scrapbook. Some scrapbooks contain smaller photographs (2" x 3" and 3" x 4"), while other scrapbooks contain larger photographs (5" x 7" ). It appears that selected images among the smaller photographs were enlarged to 5" x 7" and placed into separate scrapbooks. The 5" x 7" photographs have individual captions.
In his Minnesota Historical Society oral history interview Meisch describes how he used his photographs when creating his artwork (p. 19 of oral history transcript).
Minnesota scenery including Gooseberry Falls 1932-1939; Boston, Massachusetts 1939-[1940], New Hampshire 1940, Yellowstone Park, Montana 1941, American West (Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada and Colorado) 1941.
Twin Cities, Winona, and Minnesota scenery 1932-1939; Wisconsin, including Taliesin; Chicago, Illinois; New York City and World's Fair 1939; Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts 1939-1940; Washington, D.C. 1940.
The photograph for Meisch's painting
Washington, D.C. 1940, New York City, Boston, Massachusetts; New Hampshire; Wisconsin 1939; Idaho 1941.
Minnesota scenery, American West including Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, Utah; Las Vegas, Nevada, 1941.
Taliesin, Wisconsin; Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota (Frank Lloyd Wright homes); Minnesota scenery; New York World's Fair and New York City; Boston, Massachusetts; New Hampshire; Connecticut 1939; Washington, D.C., 1940.
Yellowstone National Park, Montana; Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, 1941.
New York World's Fair,1939; Nevada near Las Vegas; Minnesota; Miles City, Montana, 1940-1942.
Boston, New York City, and Washington, D.C., 1939.
The Midwest and New York City 1939.
The photograph for Meisch's painting
The American West ,1941.
List of travel locations by year, 1939-1998.
Postcard showing Meisch's painting
Meisch with his paintings in a gallery, possibly at the Suzanne Kohn Gallery show. Photograph is in color (4" x 6").
An unidentified painting of a European(?) city along a river.
Notice of Meisch's artwork in the 1996 Courage Card collection.
Wm (William?) E. Pedersen's
In his Minnesota Historical Society oral history interview Meisch tells of making renderings for the home plan book as a side job while attending the University of Minnesota for his Bachelor degree in architecture (page 7 of oral history transcript).