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    1964 New York World’s Fair IBM Pavilion postcard rendering of the steel “trees” encircling an ovoid theatre at the pavilion.

    IBM Pavilion, New York World’s Fair 1964–65 Postcard

    Postcard featuring the exterior of the Winter Palace building at the Hermitage Museum.

    “Love Charles” Postcard

    St. Louis Dispatch newsclip announcing Charles Eames as the winner of an annual competition held by the local artists’ guild.

    St. Louis Post-Dispatch Clippings

    Hand carved, curved wood spreader prototype used to hold upholstery taut for chairs in the Eames Aluminum Group collection.

    Carved Spreader 4

    Top down view of the Eames 691 Coffee Table with an onyx top, that is translucent white with brown veins.

    691 Coffee Table

    Front angled view of the stackable Eames Child’s Stool in birch plywood.

    Child’s Stool

    Ink drawing by Ray Eames for a sculpture using the contours of the leg splint pattern.

    Study for Leg Splint Sculpture

    Black fiberglass and Naugahyde prototype for the shell of the Eames Secretarial Chair, designed by Ray and Charles Eames.

    PSCA-36 Secretarial Adjustable Side Shell Prototype

    Front view of the Eames EA219 Tilt-Swivel High Back Desk Armchair, upholstered in black leather with a metal base.

    EA219 Tilt-Swivel High Back Desk Armchair

    Postcard featuring the dining room of The Nut Tree filled with Eames chairs, Alexander Girard draped textiles, and patrons.

    Western Dining at the Nut Tree (Variant 1) Postcard

    Eames Hang-It-All packaging mock-up featuring a 2-D drawing of it and lettering with dots that mimic the product’s design.

    Hang-It-All Packaging Mock-up

    Front view of a Handmade Fiberglass Study for an Eames Side Shell from 1951.

    Handmade Fiberglass Study for Side Shell

    Postcard for the Town and Country Motel, in Nebraska, featuring several Eames fiberglass armchairs.

    Outstanding Town and Country Motel, Lincoln, Nebraska Postcard

    Time Magazine May 1965 cover featuring a complex drawing of many geometric forms, lines and patterns by Saul Steinberg.

    Time Magazine Cover with Steinberg Drawing, from 901 Library

    Eames Aluminum Group wooden antler prototype used for the chair base. It is curved with a short hollow tube in the center.

    Carved Base Antler 1

    Top down side view of a wooden casting mold for the Eames Aluminum Group side rail.

    Casting Mold for Side Rail

    Postcard of the 1964 New York World’s Fair IBM Pavilion featuring steel “trees” encircling a large “egg” shaped theatre.

    “Above the Canopy of a Forest of Steel Trees” Postcard

    Aluminum presentation panel for the Eames House of Cards toy featuring many images of the colorful cards.

    House of Cards on Aluminum Presentation Panel

    Interior view of the Nut Tree restaurant dining room featuring many patrons sitting on Eames molded fiberglass armchairs.

    Western Dining at the Nut Tree (Variant 3) Postcard

    Front view of a Mexican wooden top with black and white painted stripes that Ray and Charles Eames collected.

    Mexican Top

    Charles Eames alongside the fake diploma that artist Saul Steinberg created for him in 1950.

    Photograph of Charles Eames with Steinberg Diploma

    Front view of the Eames EC434 Adjustable Tilt-Swivel Armchair with black Naugahyde back and Hopsak fabric seat upholstery.

    EC434 Adjustable Tilt-Swivel Armchair

    Spreader for the Eames Aluminum Group chairs in unpolished Anodized aluminum which is dull and has a rough looking surface.

    Cast Spreader 3

    A letter written by Ray Eames to Alexander Girard with many colorful rectangles of cut paper, each with one word.

    Ray Eames Letter to Alexander Girard

    Postcard of the Giant Egg installation from the Eames Mathematica exhibition which hatches 150 eggs as baby chicks daily.

    “Giant Egg” Postcard

    Front view of the Eames RKR-1 rocking chair upholstered with yellow fabric designed by Alexander Girard for Herman Miller.

    RKR-1 Upholstered Rocking Chair

    Side view of the Eames Unique Low LTR table with a Baltic birch and Micarta top and silver coated steel legs.

    Unique Low LTR

    Front on portrait of Ray taken during her senior year at Sacramento High School in 1931.

    High School Senior Portrait of Ray Kaiser

    Angled top view of a stone construction kit called “Richter’s Anchor Blocks” in a wooden box with an image of a house.

    Richter’s Anchor Blocks

    Front view of an Eames EC178 Loose Cushion Office Seating Prototype whose surface is quite textured and mottled.

    EC178 Loose Cushion Office Seating Prototype

    Front view of the Eames EC127 upholstered chair with orange fabric and vinyl edging, and a metal base.

    EC127 Upholstered Pull-up Chair

    Photo of the Occasional Table Wood (OTW) by Ray and Charles Eames with a bent, molded plywood base

    OTW (Occasional Table Wood)

    Eames Aluminum Group wooden antler prototype used for the chair base. It is curved with notches cut out of both sides.

    Carved Base Antler 2

    “Christmas Greetings from the Chomeaux” Christmas Card

    Rebus letter written by Charles Eames on Hotel Nicholas letterhead for his daughter Lucia.

    Rebus Letter on Hotel Nicholas Letterhead

    Top-down angled view of open miniature toy house model; 4 furnished rooms with colorful modern furniture, some Eames designs.

    Revell Toy House Model

    Postcard that Charles Eames sent to his sister, featuring a bronze sculpture by a renaissance master.

    David (Particolare), Donatello (1386–1466) Postcard

    A man eating at an Eames DTM table, while sitting on a DSS chair, with stacks of DSS chairs in several colors behind him.

    “High Tea” Postcard

    Front view of a tan Handmade Fiberglass Study for an Eames Side Shell from 1951.

    Handmade Fiberglass Study for Side Shell

    Angled side view of the Eames ETR elliptical Coffee Table with a black Micarta and birch top and zinc base.

    ETR Coffee Table (Elliptical Table Rod Base)

    Front view of an Eames DSS-1 Upholstered Stacking Side Chair with interlocking side brackets.

    DSS-1 Stacking Side Chair

    Front view of a brown paper template with fabrication notations for a molded plywood sculpture by Ray and Charles Eames.

    Paper Template for Plywood Sculpture

    Front view of an Eames Fiberglass Side Shell color test sample in navy blue.

    Fiberglass Side Shell

    Front view of a black Eames Fiberglass Shell designed in 1952.

    Fiberglass Side Shell

    Front view of an Eames Fiberglass Side Shell color test sample in yellow dark.

    Fiberglass Side Shell

    Print of the Mont-Saint-Michel abbey church in Normandy, France, made from a sketch by Charles Eames.

    Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy, France

    Wooden Japanese top with painted concentric circles that was collected by the Eameses.

    Japanese Top

    Front view of a yellow Eames Fiberglass Side Shell.

    Fiberglass Side Shell

    Front view of a molded rosewood veneer plywood panel sample that was later used as the back shell of the Eames Lounge Chair.

    Rosewood Board

    A fake diploma created by artist Saul Steinberg for Charles Eames with a blank orange seal and calligraphy that is illegible.

    Diploma for Charles Eames

    Portrait of Saul Steinberg’s wife, Hedda Sterne with one of his drawings of a woman projected halfway down her face.

    Photograph of Steinberg Drawing Projected onto Hedda Sterne Pointing Finger

    Splint Label for Evans Products Company

    Front view of an Eames MSX-1 Side Chair upholstered in red Naugahyde with a metal base.

    DSX-1 Upholstered Side Chair

    Front view of a red, green, and yellow metal balance toy with an acrobat on a ladder holding a large arc for balance.

    Balance Toy

    Top-down view of a stylized goldfish kite made from paper, ink, string, and bamboo, that was collected by the Eameses.

    Goldfish Kite

    Side view of a birch airplane rudder designed by Ray and Charles Eames that measures almost seven feet tall.

    Airplane Rudder Skin

    Front view of a Japanese Toy Fish Game with painted metal fish that gives the illusion that the fish move along the wire.

    Japanese Toy Fish Game

    Herman Miller postcard featuring 4 Eames chairs, DAX-1, PSC-1 side chair, LCM molded plywood chair, and a fiberglass DSR.

    “Chairs Designed by Charles Eames” Postcard

    The Eames Collection contains more than 40,000 objects spanning the expansive creative practice of Ray and Charles Eames. Drawn largely from the Eames Office at 901 Washington Boulevard in Venice, California, the holdings⁠—which the Eames family asked the Institute to safeguard⁠—include one-of-a-kind design prototype parts and pieces, early examples of their iconic furniture, extensive photographs, correspondence, tools, ephemera, and personal artifacts collected over decades of experimentation, travel, and collaboration. Together, these materials provide the world’s most intimate view into the Eameses’ work, which shaped, and continue to shape, modern design across furniture, architecture, exhibition design, film, and visual communications.

    The Collection exists today because Lucia Eames as the owner and Llisa Demetrios as registrar spent decades caring for and archiving the materials that remained outside institutional archives. Believing Ray and Charles’s iterative process to be as important as their finished work, incredible care has been put into accounting for virtually every piece of material at the closure of the Eames Office in Venice, California. Today, the Eames Institute stewards the Collection through ongoing cataloging, preservation, research, and public engagement, ensuring that this remarkable archive is accessible to current and future generations at the Eames Archives, Eames Ranch, and the Institute’s forthcoming museum, as well as through loans to peer institutions.