Dorothy Liebes | 13. Back Home

Dorothy Wright Liebes died of heart failure on September 20, 1972 in New York at the age of 74. Her estate was administered by her husband Pat Morin and her longtime

studio manager Ralph Higbee, who kept the business going  for about 18 months after Liebes’s death. Higbee donated Liebes’s remaining work and samples to museums and universities across the country, ensuring that her textile legacy was accessible to the

greatest number of people possible. Her 40,000 documents were given to the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art in Washington, D. C., and nearly 800 textile samples are now housed at the Phoebe Hearst Museum in Berkeley, California. 

At least one weaving guild – this one in San Francisco, there could be others – has a small collection of samples kept in a box in the church where they meet. It was left with the guild by someone who once worked at the Dorothy Liebes Yarn Depot, a business

that took over the San Francisco studio space when Liebes moved to New York. It is likely that the 85 samples were left behind or forgotten about in the chaos of the move, and the guild seemed a logical place to donate them. There are hints in the archives of other hidden troves like this, but following leads has been unproductive. The search continues.

The Redwoods of California

A westerner to her core, Liebes stayed close to her California family and friends after moving east, visiting often as her impossible schedule allowed.  She advocated for saving her home state’s redwood trees in her later years, writing letters and fundraising until she got too sick. Morin had her interred with her parents and sister in a crypt in the “Peace Room” of the Julia Morgan-designed Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland. It is fitting that her final resting place is among family members, in a sanctuary created by another pioneering woman of the design world, and, most importantly, in her beloved Golden State.

Chapel of the Chimes