GRASSL ORIENTAL ART STUDY COLLECTION

The Grassl Oriental Study Collection consists of 144 arts and craft objects representing the cultures of China, Japan, and Korea. The collection was formed by Walter Grassl, who purchased it at an auction sponsored by the Chinese government to dispose of artifacts confiscated from the Mandarins in the early 1930's. Walter Grassl was stationed in Shahai Tings Tao, China while on duty as a dental officer with the United States Navy.

Sherwin and Polly Grassl of Vermillion, S.D., inherited the collection from Walter, who was Sherwin's uncle. In 1989, Sherwin and Polly donated the collection to the University of South Dakota to help educate students about oriental culture.

Sherwin O. Grassl was born April 22, 1922 in Webster City, Iowa and died on June 1, 1990 at Sioux Falls. Mr. Grassl, a graduate of Western Michigan University at Kalamazoo, served 20 years in the United States Navy and was a pilot during WWII. He married Ruth Jenks on October 1, 1949, and they moved Vermillion in 1962 where he taught in the University of South Dakota geology department from 1963 to 1967 and in the military science department (ROTC) from 1964 until retiring in 1983.

Ruth "Polly" Jenks was born in Vermillion, S.D. She graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1947 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Polly passed away in April of 1994.

The Grassl Oriental Study Collection has been accessioned into the University of South Dakota Permanent Collection and had its premiere showing June 1-27, 1990, in the Main Gallery of the Warren M. Lee Center for the Fine Arts.