5. Anne Rogers Clark collection, 1910-2011

Series

Staff Only

Digitized items from the Anne Rogers Clark Collection.

Dates

1910-2011

Language of Materials

From the Collection:

English

Language of Materials

From the Collection:

The bulk of collection materials are in English, with a few catalogs and books in French and German.

Access Restrictions

Only membership applications and select financial and legal documentation are restricted, as noted in the container list. The collection is otherwise open to all researchers.

Biographical Note

Anne Rogers Clark (1929-2006) was an internationally respected all-breed judge and the first female professional handler to win Best in Show at Westminster (she ultimately garnered three career victories: 1956, 1959, 1961). She was also a premiere breeder and figurehead in the breeds of the Poodle and the English Cocker Spaniel, penchants instilled in her in her by her mother Olga Hone Rogers, whom opened a dog-grooming business in Manhattan, Dogs Inc., following stockmarket crash-inflicted financial hardship. Clark, known by many as "Annie," bred top-winning champions under the Surrey prefix shared with her mother, and with her husband under his Rimskittle kennel.

Clark bred her first spaniel champion as a teenager, and led her mother's Ch. Comachne of Ranch Aero to her first all all-breed BIS in 1950 at the Monmouth County Kennel Club. She became a very successful professional handler, often in friendly competition with her friend Jane Forsyth, and with her grooming set models for presentations of breeds.

She married James Edward Clark in 1964 and together they devoted themselves to education of dog breeds, judging, and the sport; they provided commentary to the Westminster dog show for many years.

Clark hosted panel discussions at the Santa Barbara Kennel Club and PCA shows, breed-specific seminars, and co-wrote The International Encyclopedia of Dogs while also contributing to many dog publications including the AKC Gazette and Pure Breed Dogs in Review (the columns of the latter are collected in the book Annie On... Dogs!). She was the receipient of numerous prestigous honors including Handler of the Year and Judge of the Year, and served as president of the PCA and the English Cocker Spaniel Club of America.

"My life has been the sport," she wrote towards the end of her life, "and without the care, understanding, encouragement, mentoring, and interest bestowed upon me by the persons in the sport, I would not be the person I am today. I am at my happiest at the shows ... doing the job that I like best to do: evaluating breeding stock."

Physical Description

6.0 Linear feet (in 2 doc boxes, 1 legal box, 2 album boxes, and 4 flat boxes)

Additional Description

Arrangement

The loose photographs are organized in the following scheme: early snapshots, individual dog portraits, numbered images believed to be part of an indeterminate publication, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s (bulk), and undated (circa 1970s), with a final small selection from the 1980s and 1990s and images from an indeterminate dog show. Images featuring Annie Clark have been placed in the front of each section, and all have otherwise been loosely arranged in chronological order within these subdivisions.

Photographs in Box PH.12 were donated later, originally arriving in individual photo albums. Images were removed from the original sleeves and foldered together, with any new album labelling recopied onto the archival folder. One album, monogrammed with Clark's name, was retained for its artifactual value. Some images also appear in the loose photographs.

The pedigrees have been arranged alphabetically by kennel or breeder name, and, if in the absence of this information, by dog name.

Registration certificiates attached to pedigrees were maintained together rather than separated.