THE VICTORIAN SOCIETY IN AMERICA
205 S. Camac St, Philadelphia, PA  19107 ~ Phone: 215-545-8340 ~ Fax: 215-545-8379

EMAIL NEWSLETTER
 September, 2004

Autumn Leaves, 1856. Oil on canvas.
John Everett Millais (1829-1896)
 

FALL SYMPOSIUM at WINTERTHUR - October 29-30, 2004
In conjunction with Winterthur Museum, Garden, & Library®

picture: courtesy of Winterthur

“Rethinking Decorative Arts and Design 1850-1920”

The Victorian Society in America invites you to its Fall Symposium to be held at, and in conjunction with, Winterthur Museum, Garden, & Library, Wilmington, DE, October 29-30, 2004.

Why did Victorians have so many possessions and what did they all mean? The conference will consider this fascinating and enduring question, taking a fresh look at decorative arts and design from 1850 to 1920.  Speakers from the United States, England, and Canada will investigate the language of artifacts that bound designers, manufacturers, and consumers together in this time of commercial expansion and “moral environmentalism”. The conference will conclude with a panel discussion.

 REGISTRATION BY WINTERTHUR

 VSA members receive a reduced rate for the conference and should use the application brochure to register directly with Winterthur. 

 Checks should be made payable to them and places are limited.  Please refer to notes in the brochure for details of their cancellation policy, other tour discounts available, and accommodation arrangements. If you don not have a brochure please contact head office.

 Winterthur is the museum and naturalistic garden that houses the vast collection of Americana of Henry Francis du Pont.  In a single lifetime he created an extraordinary country estate on a par with English examples that had evolved over centuries. In its heyday Winterthur had few counterparts and today it is the greatest surviving example of its kind in the nation.

 We look forward to seeing you at the conference.

Symposia Past

In the Fall each year the VSA holds or co-sponsors a Symposium or Study Tour to a different location of Victorian interest.  A new section of the web site is under construction devoted to Symposia and Study Tours of the past.

Visit the New York chapter web site

The New York Chapter has an active program of free lectures by experts in architecture, decorative arts, fine arts, landscape, literature, and cultural history.

They also organize tours of special exhibitions, neighborhood walks, and visits to historical sites as well as private homes in greater New York and nearby regions.

The NY chapter is the largest and oldest chapter of the VSA.  They actively promote preservation of the incomparable wealth of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century historic districts, individual landmarks, interiors and civic art in the New York City area. Past campaigns we have supported include the Jefferson Market Library, Tweed Courthouse, Sailors Snug Harbor, St. Bartholomew's Church, The Sherman Monument, Soho-Cast Iron and Ladies' Mile Historic Districts, and the Seventh Regiment Armory interiors. The Chapter also sponsors an annual awards program to recognize outstanding preservation and scholarly projects.

Click here for the NY Chapter's Free 2004 Fall Lecture Series

AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS NEWS

 

Historic Seattle have announced the dates for their Annual Bungalow Fair. The 2004 fair is Saturday and Sunday, September 25 and 26. We also have a pre fair embroidery workshop by Ann Chaves on Friday, the 24^th. For details larryk@historicseattle.org

 

April 12-20, 2005 -- Roycroft Foundation sponsored 2005 Tour of England -- showcasing the largest ever assembled Arts & Crafts Exhibition at London's Victoria & Albert Museum.  The trip will begin in the beautiful Lake District, visiting the home of John Ruskin and Blackwell.  Then the tour turns south with stops in the Cotswolds, before the final destination of London.  We will see the designs of Morris, Baillie-Scott, Pugin and Webb, as well as many others working in the period, with stops at pubs, gardens and shops all along the way.  And all of these events guided by the foremost Roycroft scholar - Kitty Turgeon. For details www.ashton-drye.com. 

 

March 2005 -- Roycroft Foundation tour of the U.S. West Coast.  Plan on joining the  Roycrofters on an early spring  tour of Southern California attending the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Arts & Crafts Exhibition "The Course of Invention: The Arts and Crafts Movement in Europe and America, 1890-1920". Also included will be visits to the Gamble House and other Greene & Greene masterworks, as well as works of Maybeck, Gill and Wright. For details www.ashton-drye.com.

 

CJ Hurley Century Arts has recently completed THE WHITE ROSE residential dining room. The White Rose is a totally integrated environment done authentically in the Symbolist tradition of both the Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts movements. To see THE WHITE ROSE, visit www.cjhurley.com.

 

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House Complex in Buffalo, New York is currently under restoration, but still open for guided tours. For opening times and details www.darwinmartinhouse.org

Courtesy VSA member Arts & Crafts Home:

Mount Pleasant, Hague, Virginia

Mount Pleasant is a grand Queen Anne country house constructed in 1886 by John Crabbe, a successful Baltimore dry goods merchant, on land that belonged to the famous Lee family for six generations.

 

In 2004, it was the recipient of  a VSA preservation commendation for its meticulous restoration from a virtual ruin to its original splendor.  Preservation chair, Charles Robertson, reports on a visit there by the Washington Metropolitan Chapter:

"On Aug. 21, the Washington Metropolitan Chapter organized an outing to Mount Pleasant, which was the recipient of a 2004 preservation commendation.  The owners of the house--Bill and Candy Carden--were on hand to greet us, give us a very colorful history of their purchase and renovation of the house, and to offer refreshments of wine, crab meat and cheese.  Dudley Brown (VSA Historian) , who was the consultant in the $2.3 million restoration and furnishing of the house over a six-year period, led a room-by-room tour of the house.

This was also the occasion for presenting to the Cardens the preservation commendation which had been accepted for them by Dudley Brown at the VSA's annual meeting in Santa Fe.  The Cardens were extremely appreciative of the award, which was hung in the house's front hall by Mrs. Carden even before the departure of her guests.
 

It was truly a pleasure to see this no-expense-spared restoration of the entire property, including gardens and outbuildings.  The very finest workmen were called in, such as Malcolm Robeson for graining.  Chestnut woodwork was duplicated or replaced as necessary.  The furnishings were carefully assembled and appropriate.  Bradbury & Bradbury wallpaper was used throughout, which certainly gave the place a richness, but of course nothing like it had ever been used originally in the house."
 

Left to right:  Charles Robertson, Mrs. Carden, Dudley Brown, Mr. Carden.
Photo: Richard Evans, VSA national and chapter member.

NEO-CLASSICISM, ROMANTICISM, AND ECLECTICISM
HOSTED BY VICTORIA MANSION

Victoria Mansion hosts three lectures on nineteenth-century American architecture by noted architectural historian and VSA Advisory Council member James F. O’Gorman.
 

Neo-Classicism, Romanticism, and Eclecticism will form the three part series looking in-depth at the major architectural movements that characterized the Victorian period in the country. Among the major architects whose works Mr. O’Gorman will discuss are Thomas Jefferson, Charles Bulfinch, A. J. Davis, A. J. Downing, Frank Furness, and H. H. Richardson.

The lectures, October 5^th, October 12^th, and October 19^th, all begin at 5:30 pm and will be held at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church at 133 Pleasant Street in Portland, Maine. Please join them for a reception and a chance to meet Professor O’Gorman and tour Victoria Mansion on Tuesday, October 5 from 4:00 – 5:15 pm.

Lectures are $10 each or $25 for the series. (Mansion Members: $7 each or $18 for the series). 

James F. O’Gorman is the McNeil Professor Emeritus of the History of American Art at Wellesley College, a VSA Advisory Council member, and has published a dozen books on the architecture of the nineteenth-century.

A Personal Reminiscence
by  Bruce Davies, VSA Vice-President

GRAND TOUR
British Columbia Study Tour

The British Columbia Study Tour co-sponsored by the Victorian Society in America and the Victorian Society Summer Schools Alumni Association held September 2-11, 2004 was a resounding success.

During the tour, forty-eight participants heard expert commentary from John Adams, a B.C. historian, author, and museologist. The educational content of the program was mirrored by some of the most magnificent stunning scenery on the globe.  Read Bruce's full review here.

The Society of Architectural Historians is an international not-for-profit membership organization that promotes the study and preservation of the built environment worldwide.

Every year the Society presents a number of book awards to honor the most distinguished publications in architectural history, urbanism, preservation and architectural exhibitions published in the previous two years.  Here are their awards for this year:

Alice Davis Hitchcock Book Award
Katherine M. Solomonson. The Chicago Tribune Tower Competition. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Spiro Kostof Book Award Winner
Susan E. Alcock. Archaeologies of the Greek Past, Landscapes, Monuments, and
Memories. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Antoinette Forrester Downing Book Award
Gail Lee Dubrow and Jennifer B. Goodman, eds. with the New Hampshire Preservation
Alliance, Restoring Women's History through Historic Preservation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.

Philip Johnson Exhibition Catalogue Award
Timothy O. Benson with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Central European Avant-Gardes.
Distributed by MIT Press, 2002.

Founders’ Award
Yvonne Elet, "Seats of Power: The Outdoor Benches of Early Modern Florence", JSAH, Vol. 61, No. 4, December 2002.

You can help the VSA by purchasing these books, or any item, at Amazon.com.  Simply go to Amazon.com by clickingon their logo in this newsletter or at our website.
 

Memories of Buffalo and Niagara 2003

Personal photo-archive of VSA member Norman Smith

WEBSITE OF THE MONTH

September 2004
http://presidentelect.org/

It was one of the most disputed presidential elections in history complete with invalid votes and behind the scenes shenanigans. 

Yes, 1876!

Who else but Rutherford Hayes against Samuel Tilden?  When the votes were counted, Tilden had won the popular vote by about 300,000, and was heading towards an electoral vote win as well.

Most newspapers went to press  announcing a Tilden victory. Hayes went to bed that night assuming he had lost.

However, some Republican operatives noticed the close races in the three unredeemed southern states. If they could reverse Tilden's apparent victory in those states, Hayes would win in the Electoral College by a single vote...

See article at; http://presidentelect.org/art_everythingold.html

See election result at: http://presidentelect.org/e1876.html

Click here for Previous Websites of the Month

Susan Frackelton: Woman of Fire
October 6 - November 28
Selections of painted porcelain and art pottery from Susan S. Frackelton's earliest work, the Sinsinawa Collection, on loan from the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters archives, will be exhibited for the first time outside of Sinsinawa.

http://www.cavtmuseums.org/vt/home.html

Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum
2220 N. Terrace Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
(414) 271-3656
Fax: (414) 271-3986

VSA member Old Houses.com  is a resource for old house lovers buying or selling historic real estate. They provide listings of historic homes for sale, an old house archive, and old house related resources.

ONLY THE SECOND KNOWN PHOTOGRAPH OF EMILY DICKINSON

An adventure on eBay.  Read the interesting tale at Common-Place curiosities.

Remembering two founders


Henry-Russell Hitchcock (left) and Brendan Gill
ãVSA archives, photo by Allen Rokach

Two early founders of the VSA were Henry-Russell Hitchcock (President 1969-74) and Brendan Gill, (Director).  Seen here  they attended, along with nearly 150 donors,  the Victorian Society Scholarship Fund high tea in 1976 at the Burden Mansion, New York City.  The fundraising event was co-chaired by Mrs. Henry J. Heinz II and Constance Mellon; also present (pictured) was Jacqueline Onassis.

Henry-Russell Hitchcock (1903–87), architectural historian, was born in Boston, and educated at Harvard.  He taught at Smith College and New York University.  His writings, which helped to define modern architecture stylistically during the course of its development, are among the foremost in the field. Hitchcock's writings include The International Style: Architecture since 1922 (with Philip Johnson) (1932), The Architecture of H. H. Richardson and His Times (1936), In the Nature of Materials (1942), and Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (1958).

Brendan Gill (1914-97), author and preservationist, was the quintessential urban society man. He wrote for The New Yorker for more than 60 years. A champion of architectural preservation and other visual arts, he chaired the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and authored 15 books, including Here at The New Yorker.  He told PBS: "Every so often I find myself, to my horror, forgiving Donald Trump. Ah! what a strange emotion that is."
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/series/interview/gill.html

Sat 16th October,  Oscar Wilde Fest 2004 - New York City
Meet outside the Gramercy Park Hotel, Lexington Avenue and 21st Street, New York City
(856-625-6793, www.owsoa.org) Noon-6pm

To celebrate the 150th birthday of Oscar Wilde, the Oscar Wilde Society of America  (www.owsoa.org) is holding its annual festival. 

A  private performance by urban dramatist Doric Wilson and cast of his play Now She Dances! - "a topsy turvy retelling of Wilde’s Salome... Incisive wit, theatrical flair and sophisticated gay consciousness combines with dramatic flourish in this subtle scrutiny of homophobia." - John Deverre, Mandate.  Other events include a guided walking tour of the places visited by Wilde during his year long stay in America;  lunch gathering at a historic setting for talks and Stan Tannen performing his one--man version of The Importance of Being Earnest . A second short tour concludes with a visit to the Oscar Wilde bookstore . 

For more information or to reserve a place contact john@owsoa.org or call 856-845-0496.

SHOP AT AMAZON.COM

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The Victorian Society in America
205 S. Camac Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
info@victoriansociety.org

Copyright 2004. Victorian Society in America. All rights reserved.