Florence Hastings

Florence Hastings was an American artist and documentarian active during a short, highly focused period between 1935 and 1938. Her known body of work consists exclusively of documentation created for the Index of American Design (IAD), a pivotal Federal Art Project established during the New Deal era to record historical American decorative and folk arts.

Hastings contributed 14 studies to the Index, focusing on highly detailed representations of material culture. This collection of documentation emphasized utility and aesthetic design in objects ranging from textiles to metallic wares. Examples of the artifacts she rendered include the Applique Quilt, Quilts, Pieced, and objects of domestic use such as the Handcarved Chair and the Silver Salt Spoon. She also documented specialized pieces like the Fireman's Trumpet.

The original records detailing her illustrations, which serve as historical Florence Hastings prints, are highly valued for their accuracy and attention to detail. These museum-quality studies document items that were often fragile or deteriorating. A major portion of her documented output for the Index of American Design is preserved in the collections of the National Gallery of Art. Due to the nature of the Index as a federal project, many of these historical documents eventually entered the public domain, allowing for the widespread availability of high-quality prints and archival research materials.