Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1943-1945 (Creation)
Level of description
Series
Extent
0.15 metres
Content and Structure
Scope and content
DATA PROTECTION NOTICE: This collection contains sensitive information about individuals that is protected by the Data Protection Act. Until this material has been checked for sensitive information the collection will not be available for researchers. Once this Data Protection work is complete, the collection will be open for access with sensitive information closed for 75 years from its date of creation. Includes: General correspondence, 1943-1945; correspondence on the exhibition "Design in Daily Life", 1943-1944; correspondence on training for decorators, 1944; correspondence with Scottish Women's Rural Institutes, 1944-1945; minutes of Library and Material Committee, March 1944.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
This material has been appraised in line with Glasgow School of Art Archives and Collections standard procedures.
Accruals
System of arrangement
In most cases, correspondence has been arranged alphabetically within each year by the correspondent's name, but occasionally by company or by subject; e.g. letters from the Council of Industrial Design can be found in "I", the Furniture Association is usually listed under "F", while letters from RAF pilots can be found under "R" or under the individual's name.
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
Allan Walton was born in 1891, in Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire and educated at Harrow. He then studied architecture under Arnold Mitchell in London and art at the Westminster School of Art under W.R. Sickert. He also studied at the Slade School and in Paris. Walton was appointed Director of Glasgow School of Art in 1943, probably on W.O. Hutchison's advice. He was already well known at the Glasgow Art School as the external assessor in Textile Design for the four Scottish Art Schools. Walton was popular with staff and students, regularly holding tea-parties for students in the director's rooms and entering into the spirit of student concerts where authority figures like himself were mocked. He had his own successful business in the south of England, Allan Walton Textiles, which produced printed furnishing materials. Their products featured designs by Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell, Frank Dobson, and Walton himself. He also executed commissions for interior decoration, garden design, and designed electric fires and furniture. Allan Walton Textiles' products are considered to be among the finest of their type, and Walton was elected one of the first Royal Designers for Industry. There is an archive of material from Walton's firm in the Archive of Art & Design at the V&A.
Walton had been educated at Harrow. He then studied architecture under Arnold Mitchell in London and art at the Westminster School of Art under W.R. Sickert. He also studied at the Slade School of Art and in Paris. He exhibited widely in Britain and abroad, and lived mainly in London and Shotley, Suffolk. In 1948 he was appointed Professor of Textile Design at the Royal College of Art, but became ill and died on 12 September 1948 before he could take up the post.
Archival history
Custodial history
Physical Description and Conditions of Use
Conditions governing access
Directors' papers which are over 30 years old are available for public consultation. Permission from the director is needed for access to those less than 30 years old.