Edgar L. Pearce

Edgar L. Pearce was an artist and documentarian active between 1935 and 1936, a period corresponding to the Federal Art Project during the Depression era. Pearce contributed designs to the Index of American Design, a major initiative established under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) with the purpose of creating a comprehensive visual archive of American decorative arts, craft objects, and folk culture.

Pearce’s documented work consists of eight designs rendered for the Index, serving as detailed, museum-quality records of historical artifacts. The subjects documented span a variety of decorative and utilitarian objects, including studies of a Silver Monteith Bowl, a Chair design, a Door Knocker, an Iron Carpet Stretcher, and a Pa. German Chest. These renderings provide essential visual data on historic American craftsmanship.

The original designs created by Edgar L. Pearce are preserved in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art, forming an important component of the overall Index of American Design archive. As products of a federal project, many of these Edgar L. Pearce prints are accessible today as public domain resources, often available as high-quality prints for study and research.