Andre Ingall (image: Andrew Ingall)
This profile is part of a series of interviews chronicling the experiences of researchers who use The New York Public Library's collections for the development of their work.
Andrew Ingall is a curator, scholar, writer, performer, and producer.He is an Associated Artist atCulture Push and was a 2022 Fellow atLABA New York.
Warlé, a multimedia dance-theater performance inspired by Andy’s research will take place in person atEpsilon Spires in Brattleboro, Vermont on September 7, 2024 and will be livestreamed. You can read more information about Warlé on itswebsite and follow documentation on itsInstagram account.
When did you first get the idea for your research project?
Warlé is a project that manifests the lives of my gay cousins using archival documents, photography, original artifacts, dance, clothing design, and creative nonfiction. While the research is focused on my family, it has broader goals: to encourage others to explore their queer ancestry and to generate conversations about how we care for LGBTQ+ elders and refugees today. It was ablog post by my late father and anessay by archivist Chana Pollack in theThe Forward—about mining for queer history in the pages of a 125+ year-old newspaper—that led me to the discovery of Warren Kronemeyer and Leon Ingall. Warren and Leon co-founded Warlé, a small business on Manhattan's Upper East Side specializing in antiques, contemporary objects, art framing, restoration, and interior decoration. Leon was a Jewish refugee and fashion designer who fled Bolshevik Russia, relocated to Weimar Berlin, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1940; Warren was a writer, journalist, antiques dealer, and an operative of the WWII-era U.S.Office of Strategic Services (OSS). After several decades together in New York, they left the city in 1980 and relocated to Townshend, Vermont and became beloved citizens of this rural community. The people of Townshend took good care of them at the end of their lives. They were, in the words ofArmistead Maupin, “logical” family. The work of Warlé is to repair broken branches in our family trees, to graft new ones, and to think expansively about kinship and caregiving.
Harper's Bazaar, March,1959 p73. Warle cigarette holder.
What brought you to the Library?
In 2021—when we were still at the height of the pandemic—I took advantage of the Library’s temporary remote access to its subscription toAncestry Library Edition and program.
I’m grateful to author and historianStephen Vider and thereference librarian Philip Sutton in theIrma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History, and Genealogy, who oriented me to the Library’s research guides and collections. I found mentions of Warren and Leon’s store in various magazines such as,Vogue, andHarper’s Bazaar, Warren’s passionate letters responding to critics atThe New York Times, and mentions of Leon’s appointments to various ready-to-wear fashion companies inWomen’s Wear Daily.
Women’s Wear Daily, Vol. 79, Iss. 53, Sep 15, 1949, pg 41
What’s the most unexpected item you encountered in your research?
It’s astounding what is available digitally today: census reports, passenger ship manifests, military draft cards, and naturalization documents. And if you are lucky tolocate genealogical records like these, they can reveal a lot about the person you are researching. Two items stood out for me. The first was a 2001 Vermont civil union certificate which confirmed my father’s conjecture that cousin Leon—unmarried, childless, and in a creative profession—had an intimate relationship with another man for 58 years. And this certificate sent me down another rabbit hole to learn as much as I could about Leon’s partner Warren. The second item was Leon’s WWII U.S. Army discharge papers that I acquired from the National Archives. This document revealed that his discharge was less than honorable. Many LGBTQ+ soldiers lost careers, livelihoods, health insurance, biological families, and more because the military considered hom*osexuality a mental illness. A friend pointed out to me that the location where the discharge papers were signed is significant: Camp Ritchie in Cascade, Maryland.Ritchie Boys were army recruits—fluent in languages like German, French, and Russian and trained to interrogate enemy combatants and civilians overseas. I had learned from one of Warren’s friends that he was an operative of the OSS, but I had no idea that Leon was involved in military intelligence, too. I’m currently working with a tango choreographer and a trio of dancers to imagine Warren and Leon’s involvement in espionage and intelligence.
What’s next forWarlé?
I’d like to continue writing, collaborating with artists, scholars, and advocates, and to organize an exhibition of Leon’s fashion illustrations, ephemera and other materials.
