Polly Smith collection on Jim Henson
Collection
0468-SCPA-SMITH-HENSON
Polly Smith (b. 1949) is an American inventor and costume designer who created costumes for Jim Henson Company productions beginning in 1978. Her work includes design and construction for films and television series including The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, The Dark Crystal, Muppet Treasure Island, and Muppets Wizard of Oz. This collection contains character and costume design drawings, scripts, production communications, and commercial books, recordings, and realia, as well as materials related to Smith’s professional life within the company.
The collection is open for research use. Materials from this collection must be used in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library's Irving and Margery Morgan Lowens Special Collections Room during SCPA’s operating hours. Please contact the curator for an appointment or if you have questions related to digital access of the materials.
Copyright was not transferred to the University of Maryland with the gift of any copyrighted materials. All rights remain with the creators and rights holders. The University of Maryland Libraries is granted permission for the use in scholarly research by the Libraries’ patrons under fair use in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act.
To inquire about duplication of materials for research or for publication, please contact SCPA’s curator.
5.5 Linear Feet
The Polly Smith collection on Jim Henson includes materials dating from 1970 to 2012 with bulk dates from 1980 to 2000. The collections consists of professional papers, photographs, books, audio and video materials, magazines and newspaper clippings, and realia from Smith’s work with what is now the Jim Henson Company.
Polly Smith was born in Montclair, New Jersey, on November 10, 1949. She developed an interest in sewing and design early in her life and began sewing her own clothes in eighth grade. Smith graduated from the Moore College of Art and Design in 1971 with a Bachelor’s degree in fashion design, and subsequently commenced an internship at Dartmouth College’s costume design shop. After her internship, she began working in the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, where she met a recent graduate of New York University’s Theater Design department and decided to enroll there. While attending classes at NYU, she began working as an assistant for Carrie Robbins. Smith earned a Master’s degree in Costume Design from New York University in 1975.
After several years of working in theater, Smith met production designer Carol Spier, who had worked on several Muppets films. It was through that acquaintance that Smith joined the production team for The Muppet Show in 1978. She went on to design and create the costumes for the show’s final season as well as a number of other Henson Company productions, including The Dark Crystal, The Storyteller, Muppet Treasure Island, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Dinosaurs, and Fraggle Rock, in addition to continuing work on Sesame Street. As of 2024, she has won three Emmy Awards for her work on Sesame Street, and a BAFTA for her costuming on The Storyteller.
In addition to her work with the Jim Henson company and on Sesame Street, Polly Smith is known (along with Lisa Lindahl and Hinda Miller) as one of the inventors of the sports bra, patented in 1977 as the “Jogbra.” She was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2022 and holds three patents in the United States.
Sources:
Manges, A. (2021, November 2). Tisch alumni spotlight: How Hinda Miller ’76 & Polly Smith ’75 changed the game for women. NYU Tisch School of the Arts. https://tisch.nyu.edu/alumni/alumni-news/tisch-alumni-spotlight-miler-smith
National Inventors Hall of Fame. (2021). Polly Smith Listicle. Alexandria, VA. https://www.invent.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/Polly-Smith-Listicle.pdf
Polly Smith. National Inventors Hall of Fame® Inductee. (n.d.). https://www.invent.org/inductees/polly-smith
This collection is organized into 6 series:
Gift of Polly Smith on April 18, 2024.
Part of the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library