Florence Choate

Florence Choate was an artist documented as active between 1935 and 1940, a period defined by the American New Deal programs. Her professional output is specifically linked to the Index of American Design (IAD), a division of the Federal Art Project (FAP) established to create a visual record of historic American decorative arts and material culture.

Choate specialized in rendering precise, detailed documentation of utilitarian and domestic objects, contributing to the FAP’s mandate to catalog American craftsmanship from the colonial period through the late 19th century. Fifteen of the designs she documented are represented in collections, serving as important primary visual records of historical objects. These rendered works document diverse items, including domestic implements like a Butter Mold and Butter Stamp, as well as larger pieces of period furniture such as an Armchair and a Chest of Drawers.

The archival preservation of these Index records confirms Choate’s role in this massive historical undertaking. Examples of her IAD documentation are held within the National Gallery of Art. The documentation produced by Choate and her colleagues remains critical for the study of American material culture. Today, these historical records and associated Florence Choate prints are often found in the public domain, providing researchers and enthusiasts access to high-quality prints for study and preservation.