TImeline

1904  Birth of Russel Wright in Lebanon, Ohio on April 3rd.

1904 Birth of Mary Small Einstein in Manhattan, New York on December 13th.

1920-24  Russel studied art & sculpture at Cincinnati Academy of Art, Art Students’ League, NYC; designed theater sets at Princeton and in Paris with Norman Bel Geddes.

1927 Russel Wright and Mary Small Einstein meet at the summer Maverick Festival in Woodstock, N.Y. They marry the same year and soon begin creating life-size celebrity caricature masks, miniature plaster animals, spun pewter bar accessories.

1931  Participated in exhibition of Contemporary American Industrial Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

1932  Designed aluminum stove-to-tableware; commissioned by Wurlitzer to design radios, an accordion and a piano.

1934  Designed mix-and-match furniture for Heywood Wakefield, including a sectional sofa.

1935  Formed Russel Wright Associates with Irving Richards. The term “blonde” coined by Mary Wright to describe light maple furniture finish.

1939  Began production of American Modern dinnerware, manufactured by Steubenville Pottery Company. Wright’s greatest commercial   success: over 200 million pieces sold by 1959.

1939  Wright designed the Food Focal exhibition at the World’s Fair in New York.

1942  Russel and Mary purchased 75-acre abandoned quarry and logging site in Garrison.

1946 Introduced Iroquois Casual China Line, stove-to-table dinnerware.

1950  Birth of daughter Ann. Guide to Easier Living published. Easier Living furniture manufactured by Statton.

1952 Death of Mary Wright.

1953  Introduced Residential melamine dinnerware.

1955  Sent by US State Department to Southeast Asia to research handicraft industries.

1961  House and Studio, Dragon Rock, designed with architect David Leavitt is completed; becomes full-time residence in mid 1960s.

1967  Developed “Summer in the Parks” program for National Park Service.

1975  Manitoga woodlands deeded to The Nature Conservancy by Russel and daughter Ann.

1976  Death of Russel Wright.

1984  Manitoga, Inc. established as a 501(c)3 non profit organization. The Nature Conservancy transfers woodlands to Manitoga, Inc.

1996  Manitoga named to National Register of Historic Places.

2001  Ann Wright life estate interest transferred to Manitoga, Inc.

2001-2  Retrospective exhibition Russel Wright: Creating American Lifestyle at Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York; Ongoing Studio and House restoration efforts initiated.

2006 Manitoga declared a National Historic Landmark.

2010 Seasonal House, Studio, and Landscape public tours launched.

2011  U.S. Postal Service dedicates a sheet of stamps honoring 12 of the nation’s most important and influential industrial designers: Peter Müller-Munk, Frederick Hurten Rhead, Raymond Loewy, Donald Deskey, Walter Dorwin Teague, Henry Dreyfuss, Norman Bel Geddes, Dave Chapman, Greta von Nessen, Eliot Noyes, Russel Wright and Gilbert Rohde.

2012  Manitoga named World Monuments Fund Watch Site.

2014  Art + Design Residency program launched to revive Wright's legacy of creative experimentation and power of place.

2016  Manitoga in partnership with Open Space Institute preserves permanent public access for the trail network. 

2021 The Russel & Mary Wright Design Gallery at Manitoga opens to the public, featuring over 200 objects from the Wrights’ ground-breaking designs for the American home with lead support from the Henry Luce Foundation.

2021 Princeton Architectural Press publishes Russel and Mary Wright: Dragon Rock at Manitoga by award winning author and producer Jennifer Golub.

Photos: Mary and Russel Wright: Manitoga Archives; Russel Wright: Manitoga Archives