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Local figure

Ruth Faison Shaw

Ruth Faison Shaw, the teacher who developed finger painting, retired to Chapel Hill, where she researched the use of finger painting in psychiatric therapy at North Carolina Memorial Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry. She had earlier taught in Rome and run the Shaw Finger Paint Studio in New York.

Source: UNC Libraries: Ruth Faison Shaw Papers, 1908-1968 (finding aid)

1887–1969 as the Library of Congress records it · On the Friends’ Local Authors roster → · Library of Congress authority record ↗

5 indexed works are connected with this person, and the index includes one work by Ruth Faison Shaw.

Ruth Faison Shaw, 1947
Ruth Faison Shaw, 1947

Indexed works

Works in the index that concern this person directly, or were written by them. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it; background reading with wider context sits further down.

By Ruth Faison Shaw

Ruth Faison Shaw papers, 1908-1968.

Shaw, Ruth Faison, 1887-1969 · 1908

Art therapy runs through the papers of Ruth Faison Shaw (1887-1969), approximately 11,300 items in twenty four linear feet dated 1908 to 1968, part of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 3835. Photographs are noted as a form. Topics include art therapy for children and for veterans, women artists and women travelers, France during the First World War, Rome, New York and Chapel Hill.

UNC

About Ruth Faison Shaw

Chapel Hill Museum

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Ruth Faison Shaw, credited with creating finger painting as an art form, is the subject of the exhibit pictured here at the Chapel Hill Museum. Taken on 30 May 2002 for the North Carolina ECHO project.

Why this is here: Their name appears in the record.

Leonidas Polk Denmark Family Papers

Denmark, Leonidas Polk · 1861

Papers of the Denmark family, 1861 to 1966, gathered by Leonidas Polk Denmark (1892 to 1964), grandson of the farm leader Colonel Leonidas Lafayette Polk (1837 to 1892). They cover Polk's agricultural journalism, the Farmers' Alliance and Populist politics, the Civil War, World War I and the 1918 influenza. Hillsborough appears among the places.

Why this is here: Their name appears in the record.

Shaw, Ruth Faison (Chapel Hill Historical Society vertical file)

Ruth Faison Shaw, known for developing finger painting as a teaching method, is documented in material she produced, newspaper clippings and photocopies, promotional pieces, a report with notes, and documentation from the Chapel Hill Museum. Chapel Hill Historical Society Vertical File Collection, Individuals and Families series, box 7. Undated.

Why this is here: Its title names this person.

Shaw, Ruth Faison: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

Ruth Faison Shaw at work fingerpainting, in an undated candid photograph from the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection. Shaw is credited with developing finger painting as a method of teaching children.

Why this is here: Its title names this person.

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 2 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Ruth Faison Shaw brings her finger-painting case histories to the University The Chapel Hill News Leader reported that Shaw, recently of Chapel Hill, was giving the University more than a thousand case histories on personality diagnosis through finger painting and was working as its consultant in therapy.Search the index · DigitalNC: Chapel Hill News Leader, November 10, 1958, p. 1 (Prince Who Disdained Brushes Started Fingerpainting Idea)
  2. Ruth Faison Shaw holds a finger-painting show in Chapel Hill The Chapel Hill Weekly ran a page of photographs of a finger-painting show by Shaw, showing her at work and a display in a garden.Search the index · DigitalNC: The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 9, 1961, p. 1-B (Scenes At Miss Ruth Faison Shaw’s Fingerpainting Show)

Search further

The index lists works with an Orange County connection. To find everything else about Ruth Faison Shaw, search these catalogs.

Books about Ruth Faison Shaw

Books by Ruth Faison Shaw

More catalogs that show where copies are

Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Searched with the Library of Congress heading Shaw, Ruth Faison, 1887-1969, so the results are about this person and not others with the same name. Each link opens that catalog’s own results in a new tab. The Friends have not reviewed what they return.

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Research sources

Additional research sources

Other catalogs to search and local organizations that can help.

Picture: Ruth Faison Shaw, 1947. Public domain. By Ruth Faison Shaw; Shaw, Ruth Faison (1947) Finger-Painting and How I Do It, Leland-Brent Pub. Co., p. 5 OCLC: 1438717.; via Wikimedia Commons

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