Inventory

Salty Seamon Notecards
Dates:  1960s-1980s
Accession Number:  Sm. D.C. 41B
Description:  Five file folders in a document case

Biography

Denzil Omer “Salty” Seamon was born to Louis and Estel (Finch) Seamon on March 2, 1911 in Gibson County, Indiana.

Seamon's earliest recorded artistic endeavors were pictures drawn at the bottom of letters that his parents sent to an older brother during World War I.  He received art honors as a student at Princeton High School.  He took home-study courses to improve his skills and dropped out of high school in his junior year to pursue his artistic career. 

Seamon's early training included creating posters for a Princeton dry goods store, decorating windows for an Evansville department store, and designing movie posters for Paramount Studios.  In 1931, as a 20 year old, he moved to Terre Haute to become art director for the Thomson-Symon Company, an advertising firm. 

During World War II, Seamon served in the Special Services Unit in Australia, New Guinea, the Philippine Islands and Japan  During that time he was awarded four bronze stars.   He used locales in the Pacific for many of his pictures.

Seamon married Marjorie “Polly” Kress of Clay City (Clay County), Indiana on December 29, 1945.  He returned to Thomson-Symon after the war but retired in 1954 to pursue a free-lance career full-time at his home in Rosedale (Clay County), Indiana.  Among his first assignments was a yearly commission from the Forrest Sherer Insurance Agency to paint watercolors of local landmarks for the Agency's Christmas cards. 

Seamon was a member of the Swope Art Museum, the Hoosier Salon and a past president and  member of the Brown County Art Gallery Association.  He was a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks Lodge 86 and of the Downtown Rotary International Club.

Salty Seamon received numerous honors including the Silver Award from the Terre Haute Advertising Club and the Perry Award for outstanding service to the arts.  He was recognized by the Indiana State Legislature for his artworks depicting Indiana both in rural scenes and historical subject matter.  In 1979 Rose Hulman Institute of Technology awarded him an honorary doctorate and in 1984, established the Seamon Art Salon on the campus with Seamon's wife Polly as curator.  In 1980, Governor Otis Bowen named him a Sagamore of the Wabash. 

Salty Seamon died on May 22, 1997 at the age of 86.  His cremated remains are interred in Highland Lawn Cemetery.

Content and Scope of Collection

This collection is comprised of several notecards featuring artwork by local artist Omer D.  “Salty” Seamon.  Many of the notecards were painted on commission for the Forest Sherer Insurance Agency and sent to customers and friends during the Christmas holidays.

Small Document Case
Folder 1	Biographical brochure	n.d.
	The Little One-Room Schoolhouse
	Hulman Memorial Union, Rose Hulman   Institute of Technology
	Fowler Park
	Union Hospital (first building)
	Chauncey Rose Home
	Terre Haute House (2 copies)
	Wabash and Erie Canal
Folder 2	YWCA (121 N. 7th. Street)
	YMCA (644 Ohio Street; 2 copies)
	Interurban Days
	Elm Grove Swimming Pool   (near Lafayette and Park Avenues,         2 copies)
Folder 3	Terre Haute Post Office (2 copies)
	Union Station
	Big Four Depot
	Four Corner Track   (Old Fair Grounds at Wabash and      Brown Avenues)
Folder 4	Rose Orphans Home
	Grand Opera House
	Garfield High School
	Gerstmeyer High School
	Wiley High School
	Old City Hall (Fourth and Walnut Streets)
	Fort Harrison
	Wabash River Bridge
Folder 5	Summer Home of Forrest Sherer
	Menu, Long Horn Tavern and Restaurant   (Coxville, Indiana)