Walter Dorwin Teague
Location: 424 E. State St., Pendleton, IN 46064 (Madison County, Indiana)
Installed 2019 Indiana Historical Bureau and Historic Fall Creek, Pendleton Settlement
ID#: 48.2019.1
Visit the Indiana History Blog to learn more about "Walter Dorwin Teague's 'World of Tomorrow.'"
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Side One
Pioneering industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague grew up in Pendleton. He moved to New York City in 1903 and worked as an illustrator. By 1926, he consulted on industrial design projects. He designed for clients including Eastman Kodak, Boeing, and Texaco. In the 1930s, he began applying his expertise to exhibit design, notably at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.
Side Two
Teague advanced industrial design through writings, lectures, the formation of The Society of Industrial Design, and a 1941 court case which established industrial design as a profession. By the mid-1940s, Teague had industrial design offices on the East and West Coasts. He supported his hometown through regular donations to the Pendleton Public Library.
Annotated Text
Side One
Walter Dorwin Teague (1883-1960)[1]
Pioneering industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague grew up in Pendleton.[2] He moved to New York City in 1903, and worked as an illustrator.[3] By 1926 he consulted on industrial design projects.[4] He designed for clients including Eastman Kodak, Boeing, and Texaco.[5] In the 1930s, he began applying his expertise to exhibit design, notably at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.[6]
Side Two
Dean of Industrial Design[7]
Teague advanced industrial design through writings, lectures, the formation of The Society of Industrial Design, and a 1941 court case which established industrial design as a profession.[8] By the mid-1940s Teague had industrial design offices on the East and West Coasts.[9] He supported his hometown through regular donations to the Pendleton Community Public Library.[10]
[1] 1900 United States Federal Census, District 867, Fall Creek Township, Pendleton, Indiana, Page 15, Line 91, June 18, 1900, accessed AncestryLibrary.com; “Walter D Teague,” U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, Social Security Administration, accessed AncestryLibrary.com.
[2] Appointments for the Coming Year,” Fort Wayne Daily Gazette, April 18,1883, 2; “Appointments for the Coming Year,” Hancock Democrat, April 19, 1883, 3; “Religious Notes,” Fort Wayne Daily News, December 8, 1883, 1; “Personal Mention,” (Fort Wayne) Daily Gazette, October 25, 1884, 6; “Gossip About People,” Indiana Herald, June 3, 1885, 5; “The Bible Meeting,” Indiana Herald, December 9, 1885, 1; “A Year’s Service,” Huntington Democrat, April 8, 1886, 1; “The Supplement,” Huntington Democrat, April 21, 1887, 2; “This Paper,” Huntington Democrat, September 8, 1887, 3; “Pendleton,” Indianapolis Journal, December 29, 1889, 6; “Pendleton,” Indianapolis Journal, August 17, 1890, 3; 1900 United States Federal Census, District 867, Fall Creek Township, Pendleton, Indiana, Page 15, Line 91, June 18, 1900, accessed AncestryLibrary.com; U.S., “Rev Martin Addison Teague,” Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current, accessed AncestryLibrary.com; “Pendleton,” (Muncie) Star Press, May 11, 1902, 9; “A Letter From Walter D. Teague,” Pendleton Times, October 1, 1964, N.P. Walter Dorwin Teague clippings file, Pendleton Community Public Library; “Alumni Directory, Compiled June, 1967, 1886-1967,” pg. 5, submitted by applicant; “Walter D Teague,” U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, Social Security Administration, accessed AncestryLibrary.com.
Teague was born in Decatur, Indiana. The Teague Family lived in Huntington, Indiana by 1885 and moved to Hartford City in 1887. The family moved to Pendleton in 1889.
[3] “Another Pendleton Artist is Declared Master Typo; Design,” [Anderson] Herald, October 11, 1921; Louis How, Narcissus and Two other Poems (California: Harbor Press, 1928); Walter Dorwin Teague, Teague Typographic Borders: A pamphlet Showing Many New and Unusual Borders which May be Combined into an Unlimited Variety of Designs (Jersey City: American Type Founders Company, 1929); Gilbert Selders, “Profiles: Industrial Classicist,” The New Yorker, December 15, 1934, p 28-32; “Walter Dorwin Teague: Dean of Design a Portrait,” Printers’ Ink: The Weekly Magazine of Advertising and Marketing, 266 (January 1959):81-85, provided by Dr. Jason Morris via email; R.C., “Walter Dorwin Teague 1883-1960,” Industrial Design (January 1961):25-29, Submitted by applicant; “Teague, Walter Dorwin.” 1942.
While working in illustration, Teague developed a style of advertising borders which were reminiscent of those seen in the renaissance. As this style became more popular, these ornate borders came to be referred to as “Teague Borders,” even when drawn by other artists.
[4] Gilbert Selders, “Profiles: Industrial Classicist,” The New Yorker, December 15, 1934, p 28-32; Internal Biography Press Release, 1951, provided by Dr. Jason Morris via email; “Walter Dorwin Teague: Dean of Design a Portrait,” Printers’ Ink: The Weekly Magazine of Advertising and Marketing, 266 (January 1959):81-85, provided by Dr. Jason Morris via email; “Walter Dorwin Teague, Industrial Designer, Dies,” New York Herald Tribune, December 6, 1960, submitted by applicant; “Walter Teague Dies; Designed for Kodak,” (New York) Democrat and Chronicle, December 7, 1960, 27.
[5] Teague v. Graves et al., 261 A.D. 652, Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York, April 30, 1941, accessed with Westlaw; Walter Dorwin Teague, Design This Day: The Technique of Order in the Machine Age, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1949; Inez Robb, “New Jet Airliner is Pastel Picture,” Battle Creek Enquirer, May 25, 1956, 6; “Walter Dorwin Teague: Dean of Design a Portrait,” Printers’ Ink: The Weekly Magazine of Advertising and Marketing, 266 (January 1959):81-85, provided by Dr. Jason Morris via email; “Walter Teague Dies; Designed for Kodak,” (Rochester) Democrat and Chronicle, December 7, 1960, 27.
See Kodak products designed by Teague at The Eastman Museum: https://collections.eastman.org/advancedsearch/objects/people%3AWalter%20Dorwin%20Teague
See Images of the 1939 New York World’s Fair, including structures designed by Teague at the New York Public Library: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/new-york-worlds-fair-1939-1940-records#/?tab=navigation
[6] “Ford Building Under Construction at New Fair,” The Mercury (Pottstown, Pennsylvania), May 19, 1934, 12; Walter Dorwin Teague, “Designing Ford’s Exhibit at a Century of Progress,” Product Engineering (August 1934): 282-285; Victoria (Texas) Advocate, January 12, 1938, 5; “’City of Light’ Completed for Fair Opening,” The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 7, 1939, 4; Roland Marchand, “The Designers Go to the Fair: Walter Dorwin Teague and the Professionalization of Corporate Industrial Exhibits, 1933-1940,” Design Issues, 8, No. 1 (Autumn 1991):4-17.
[7] “Downtown Plan to Be on Exhibit,” The Montclair Times, June 10, 1948, 1; Internal Biography Press Release, 1951, provided by Dr. Jason Morris via email; Martin Stiles, “Next: A Bit of Hawaii in New York,” (Hackensack, Jew Jersey) Record, March 31, 1962; “Walter Dorwin Teague, FIDSA,” Industrial Designers Society of America, http://www.idsa.org/content/walter-dorwin-teague.
[8] Walter Dorwin Teague, “Designing Ford’s Exhibit at a Century of Progress,” Product Engineering (August 1934): 282-285; Walter Dorwin Teague, “Planning the World of Tomorrow,” Popular Mechanics (December 1940): 808-810, 158A-163A; Teague v. Graves et al., 261 A.D. 652, Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York, April 30, 1941, accessed with Westlaw; Walter Dorwin Teague, “Prefabrication and the Post-War Market,” paper read before of Producers’ Council of The Construction Industry Conference, Washington D.C., November 5, 1941, received from Dr. Jason Morris via email; Walter Dorwin Teague, Design This Day: The Technique of Order in the Machine Age, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1949; Walter Dorwin Teague, “The Design of Airplane Interiors,” Walter Dorwin Teague, “The Growth and Scope of Industrial Design in the United States,” Journal of the Royal Society of Arts (August 1959):640-651; Carroll Gantz, Design Chronicles: significant mass produced designs of the 20th century, Atglen: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2005, 107.
[9] “American President Lines,” San Francisco Examiner, February 28, 1947; “Miniature Mine Model on Display in Carson,” Reno Gazette-Journal, June 7, 1947, 16; Internal Biography Press Release, 1951, provided by Dr. Jason Morris via email.
[10] All letters submitted by applicant unless otherwise noted.
Walter Dorwin Teague, Walter Dorwin Teague to Evangeline Lewis, June 7, 1937, Walter Dorwin Teague Collection, Pendleton Historical Museum; Walter Dorwin Teague, Walter Dorwin Teague to Evangeline Lewis, June 18, 1937, Walter Dorwin Teague Collection, Pendleton Historical Museum; John D. Brophy, John D. Brophy to Evangeline Lewis, June 28, 1937, Walter Dorwin Teague Collection, Pendleton Historical Museum; M.E. Johnson, M.E. Johnson to Evangeline Lewis, July 19, 1937, Walter Dorwin Teague Collection, Pendleton Historical Museum; Walter Dorwin Teague, Walter Dorwin Teague to Evangeline Lewis, July 20, 1937, Walter Dorwin Teague Collection, Pendleton Historical Museum; Walter Dorwin Teague, Walter Dorwin Teague to Edna Swain, April 7, 1953, Walter Dorwin Teague Collection, Pendleton Historical Museum Walter Dorwin Teague, Walter Dorwin Teague to Eda Swain, June 26, 1953, Walter Dorwin Teague Collection, Pendleton Historical Museum; Walter Dorwin Teague, Walter Dorwin Teague to Mary A.J. Ahrens, January 14, 1958, Walter Dorwin Teague Collection, Pendleton Historical Museum; John D. Brophy, John D. Brophy to The Trustees of the Pendleton and Fall Creek Township Public Library, May 23, 1961, Walter Dorwin Teague Collection, Pendleton Historical Museum; John D. Brophy, John D. Brophy to Mary J. Ahrens, June 2, 1961, Walter Dorwin Teague Collection, Pendleton Historical Museum; John D. Brophy, John D. Brophy to Mary J. Ahrens, June 26, 1961, Walter Dorwin Teague Collection, Pendleton Historical Museum; John D. Brophy, John D. Brophy to Mary J. Ahrens, June 26, 1961, Walter Dorwin Teague Collection, Pendleton Historical Museum; John Brophy, John Brophy to Mary J. Ahrens, September 17, 1963, Walter Dorwin Teague Collection, Pendleton Historical Museum; Walter Dorwin Teague Jr., Walter Dorwin Teague Jr. to Mary A. J. Ahrens, November 5, 1964, Walter Dorwin Teague Collection, Pendleton Historical Museum; Pendleton Public Library Given Gift, newspaper article draft, N.D., submitted by applicant.