Rosen-blog

Happy Birthday to James Joyce and Ulysses

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:53:00 +0000

About a month ago I posted about James Joyce's death date (Jan. 13, 1941) and its effect on copyright. Today we can celebrate his birth date: February 2, 1882. I think he's doing quite well for a man of 130! At his birth, Joyce's name was famously misrecorded as James Augusta Joyce, rather than James Augustine Joyce, an amusing slip that he incorporated into Ulysses, which makes mention of "the birth certificate of Leopold Paula Bloom." Tom Stoppard also took advantage of the naming goof in his play Travesties, in which the Joyce character parallels Aunt Augusta from Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. (Quick note to local Stoppard and/or Joyce fans-- Plays and Players will be producing Travesties in June)

Joyce's birthday is, not coincidentally, also a significant day for two of his best known works. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man began to be serialized in The Egoist on February 2, 1914, and Ulysses was first published in its entirety on Joyce's 40th birthday, which also had the advantage of being a catchy date: 2-2-22. For more about Joyce's feelings about his name and his birthday (and about an awesome cake which his daughter-in-law got for him) check out this page from the James Joyce Centre.

In honor of Joyce's and Ulysses's birthdays, I thought I'd highlight a new acquisition, which relates to our right to enjoy that book here in the United States. Last year we acquired a signed copy of the Woolsey decision in the 1933 case, United States vs. One Book Called Ulysses, which which overturned the 1921 obscenity ban on publishing or importing Ulysses.

John Woolsey. United States of America. Libellant v One Book Called "Ulysses" Random House Inc, Claimant. 1933

Here are the first and last pages, which conclude with Judge Woolsey's famous statement that "[W]hilst in many places the effect of 'Ulysses' on the reader undoubtedly is somewhat emetic, nowhere does it tend to be an aphrodisiac" and his decision "'Ulysses' may, therefore, be admitted into the United States."

Kathy Haas is the Assistant Curator at the Rosenbach Museum & Library and the primary poster at the Rosen-blog

The Zodiac Man

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:39:00 +0000

The answer to last week's puzzle is that the image is a detail from the Zodiac Man from Poor Richard's Almanac. I specifically took this image from our 1733 Poor Richard, but it can be found in other editions as well, and versions of the Zodiac Man were a standard feature of most period almanacs.

[Benjamin Franklin], Poor Richard, 1733. An almanack for the year of Christ 1733. . . By Richard Saunders, philom.Philadelphia: Printed and sold by B. Franklin, [1732] A 732p

The Zodiac Man, or man of signs, links each astrological sign with a portion of the human body. This idea, which dates back at least to the medieval period, arises from the concept of the human body as a microcosm of the universe. In some images, including this one, the connection is underscored by having the figure seated on a globe.You can see some wonderful medieval illustrations of the man of signs at the Luminarium Encycopedia project.

According to traditional astrology, the signs could be used to time medical treatment; for example, bloodletting should be avoided when the moon is in the house of the afflicted body part. Ares, the first sign of the zodiac, is associated with "the head and face." and the later signs go with lower portions of the body (Taurus/neck, Gemini/arms, Cancer/breast, Leo/heart, Virgo/bowels, Libra/reins, Scorpio/secrets, Sagittarius/thighs, Capricorn/knees, Aquarius/legs). Pisces, the last zodiac sign, is associated with the feet. By the 18th century, more modern theories of medicine were also available, but almanacs continued to reprint the traditional guide as well.

Kathy Haas is the Assistant Curator at the Rosenbach Museum & Library and the primary poster at the Rosen-blog.

What Is It?

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:46:00 +0000

I've been super-busy this week getting ready for our upcoming exhibition, Titanic: The Rise of Rosenbach, so instead of my usual wordy post, I'm going to tempt you with a mystery object.

This is a detail from an item in our book collection. What is it?

Hint, it has something to do with someone famous (and dead) who had a birthday this past week.

Go ahead and post your guesses. Answer to be revealed next week!

Kathy Haas is the Assistant Curator at the Rosenbach Museum & Library and the primary poster at the Rosen-blog.

Dave Burrell

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:08:00 +0000

It's hard to believe, but we've been getting to enjoy Dave Burrell's wonderful Rosenbach-inspired compositions for over five years now. We first started collaborating with him back in 2006, to accompany our exhibition Look Again: African American History is American History. That first year sticks out in my mind because I had my second child during the run of the exhibition and while I was in the hospital a doctor came in, looked at the chart at the foot of the bed and noted my insurance and employer. The Rosenbach, he said, isn't that the place with the Dave Burrell concerts?

So thank you Dave, for five years of bringing your fans to our collections and bringing our collections to life through your music.

For anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of seeing him work, or hearing him talk about his process, Dave takes his role at the Rosenbach incredibly seriously. We call him a musician-in-residence, and while that term can mean many different things, for Dave it really means residence, as in spending lots of time here at the museum. In between his busy concert schedule, which has him flying to Europe, Africa, and beyond (and having me wish I could hide in his luggage), Dave keeps a standing appointment in the reading room for months on end, coming in twice a week to look at primary sources, read reference materials, and bounce ideas off the staff. We haven't even had our 2012 concert yet and Dave has already asked me about my availability to start looking at materials for next year!

The annual process usually starts with the identification of a theme. We know that for 2011-2015 the concerts will be focusing on the Civil War, so the question was what to look at within that broad area. This is a collaborative process between Dave and the staff. Last year's concert was "Portraits of Civil War Heroes" and had a decidedly military focus. It seemed likely that 2013 might also have significant military content because of the Gettysburg 150th, so we all thought that having a chance to focus on civilians this year might be a welcome opportunity. Plus, the themes evoked by the civilian experience, such as patriotism, worry, and loss, seemed like they had great musical potential.

After there is an agreed-upon theme, we in the collections department work with Dave to identify relevant collections materials and secondary sources. From his research he then comes up with topics, and preliminary titles, for particular songs. The titles (which often morph over the course of the composition process) seem to be very helpful to Dave in organizing his thoughts. One of the first one he came up with this year was "Code Name: Cheap Shot," which describes a composition about spies in the war, inspired by our Belle Boyd scrapbook, Rose O'Neal Greenhow letter, and ciphered telegrams. The idea of a musical piece incorporating the rhythm of a telegraph relaying messages really captured Dave's attention and you'll have to come next week to hear how he ended up working it out! "Three Way Tie," about the Commissions (Christian and Sanitary Commission) was another fairly early concept, coming out of materials relating to the Philadelphia Sanitary Fair of 1864.

This year, after identifying his topics and looking at our materials, Dave asked about seeing related materials at other area institutions, so I had the great pleasure of getting to introduce him to our colleagues at the Union League and the Library Company. Many thanks to them for their generous help!

Enough yapping from me. Just come next week to hear Dave's performances (next Wednesday at 6 and Saturday the 21st at 2 & 7) All the details are on our Programs Page. There should also be time for some Q & A after the performances, so you can hear from Dave himself about how he turns 19th-century texts into into 21st-century music.

Joyce in Public (Domain, that is)

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:50:00 +0000

2012 marks a number of important milestones related to the Rosenbach; not only is it the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and Charles Dickens's 200th birthday, but on January 1st, 2012, significant portions of the Joyce oeuvre entered the public domain.

Copyright is a tricky thing and the laws vary by country, but for many countries author's life + 70 is a critical threshold. James Joyce died on January 13, 1941, but for legal purposes all copyright holders are considered to have died at the end of the year in which they actually shuffled off this mortal coil and so copyright status changes on January 1st of the following year, in this case 2012.

In the U.S., life+70 marks the copyright expiration on unpublished works, which means that Joyce's letters, manuscripts and other material that was not published posthumously will now be in the public domain. Published materials are more complicated. Copyright on works published before 1977 is usually based on the date of publication + 95, with all items published prior to 1923 being automatically in public domain, so some of Joyce's published books are public domain, while others are still protected.

In the EU (including Joyce's native Ireland) works published during the author's lifetime expire at life+70 which means that that texts like Dubliners, Finnegans Wake, and Ulysses are now public domain there.

The various copyright expirations are a boon to Joycean scholars and also to public Bloomsday celebrations, which in Ireland and other European locales have been hampered by the notoriously tight restrictions placed by the Joyce Estate.

I'm neither a Joycean or a copyright lawyer, so to find out more, check out these links:

"The Injustice Collector" ( 2006 New Yorker piece about the Joyce Estate)

Irish news coverage of copyright lifting (from RTE news, with video)

Status of Joyce published works in different countries (from the Joyce Foundation at Ohio State)
Status of Joyce unpublished works in different countries (from the Joyce Foundation at Ohio State)
U.S. copyright cheat sheet (from Cornell)

If your interest is piqued, this year's Bloomsday exhibition will focus on the copyright and legal questions surrounding Joyce's work--more details to follow as we get closer to June 16.

I will leave you with this wonderful "Public Domain Day" video from our friends over at Ulysses Seen

Rosenbach Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:15:00 +0000

As 2011 draws to a close, here's a look back at some of my personal picks for highlights of the past Rosen-year:

The conservation and unveiling of the only surviving Sendak mural:

The Chertoff mural, post-conservation. © 1961 by Maurice Sendak, all rights reserved. Given by Nina and Larry Chertoff in loving memory of Roslyn and Lionel Chertoff and Eugene Glynn.

Our commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War:

Participation in the first Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts with Exile Among Expats: James Joyce in Paris and the composition Raving Beauty about Mercedes de Acosta.

Exile Among Expats

A beautiful Bloomsday in the sun.

And a wonderful Dracula DIY held during a freak October snowstorm

My list could go on and on--watching children in our school partner project performing 18th-century set dances, the explosion of interest in reading groups, working with composer Dave Burrell on his Civil War compositions....

What was your favorite Rosenbach memory of 2011?

My First Annual Fund

noreply@blogger.com (Rosybrook) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:30:00 +0000

Dana Byrd here, Development Assistant at the Rosenbach. Most of you have probably spoken to me about membership or registering for a program, event, or reading group. As a relatively new Rosenbacher, I was pretty overwhelmed by my first annual fund campaign and I’ve decided to steal Kathy’s soapbox for a week to tell you about it.

I’m sure that many of you have received a letter from some charitable organization at the end of the year requesting donations to their annual fund or campaign. But have you ever thought about why you received it, or how that letter came to be in your mailbox?

Before I worked at the Rosenbach, I knew that “annual fund” meant an annual request for support (money!) to be used to run a museum, from the electric bill, to upgrading technology, to paying the staff.

But what does the word “campaign” mean? Previously, I had only associated this word with elections. However, working on this year’s annual fund campaign at the Rosenbach has given me a new perspective and the word has taken on a new meaning: it represents a multi-faceted approach to fundraising that gives our supporters as many opportunities to learn about us and as many avenues to give as possible. We brainstormed dozens of ideas to get staff members, volunteer docents, and even our actual supporters themselves involved. The bottom line? That letter that you (hopefully!) held in your hand was not sent to you without some forethought.

The theme of our Annual Fund campaign is “what will your gift inspire?” This year we wanted to get our supporters involved in more meaningful, mission-inspired ways... We wanted to know what inspired you at the Rosenbach and we wanted to tell you what your gifts have inspired already. So, here’s what we did:

We filmed our first-ever fundraising video, featuring Director Derick Dreher.
We set up an interactive wall in our lobby where visitors leave comments about their visit. The Annual fund supports the Rosenbach keeping our doors open, so all the things they write are directly a result of your gift!
We created a photo essay, “100 Days at the Rosenbach,” where we post one photo each day for 100 days, starting with our Member Appreciation Night on October 11, 2011. We are currently on day number 67. All of this “behind-the-scenes” action that happens every day is sustained by this and previous year’s annual fund campaigns. Click here to explore!
We created a lobby sign to recognize supporters who make gifts to the Annual Fund.
We sent a letter to our previous supporters and visitors asking for their help in supporting this year’s annual fund, as well as provided four different ways to make a gift (by mail, by phone, online, or in person).

So far, we are proud to say that we have raised over 75% of our fundraising goal. We are very grateful to those that have already generously donated to this year’s annual fund.

I know I will be donating this year. After all, ‘tis the season for giving. We hope that you’ll make a gift to help us reach the finish line – who knows what your gift will inspire next? And I wouldn't work in Development if I didn't include:

Click here to make your gift now!

Families Affected By Wartime: Part IV

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:45:00 +0000

This is the fourth in a series of posts that will explore the Rosenbach’s newest initiative, Families Affected by Wartime. This ground-breaking initiative will serve the military community, a population largely ignored by museums. The Rosenbach houses an exceptional collection of wartime letters and documents which speak to the personal experience of war and the challenges faced by service men and women and their families. The project aims to connect families from the past with those from the present, demonstrating the relevance of historical documents to our contemporary wartime experience.

Over the next few months, project advisers, as well as Rosenbach staff and trustees, will be sharing their experiences with the Families Affected by Wartime project here on the Rosenblog.

Finding Their Own Peace: Katie Samson, Families Affected by Wartime Project Coordinator

Currently, there are 2 million veterans eligible for the benefits of the Post 9/11 GI Bill. That number will continue to increase; 45,000 soldiers are returning from Iraq this year alone. On the local level, Temple University has 750 veterans enrolled this year compared to 200 student veterans last year. Beginning this spring, as part of the Families Affected by War initiative, the Rosenbach will be launching a program and companion exhibition that will aim to serve the growing number of student veterans in our area and tell their story.

Initially, I thought it might be challenging to attract student veterans to a museum-based program. Many veterans hold down full-time jobs, they have long commutes to campus, they are parents, and generally speaking, lead very full lives. But the minute I connected with a couple of local student veterans and told them about the Rosenbach, they leaned into the conversation. “Where and when can I sign up for the workshop?” said one Iraq veteran I met with at a Veterans Lounge. The idea of a “safe space” in the Museum- to meet regularly, engage with the collection in a personal way was interesting to them. They were intrigued with the idea of an exhibition which would serve to tell their story and the stories of veterans from the past.

I also connected with Lawrence Davidson, the Student Veteran Coordinator at West Chester University. Mr. Davidson is an OIF veteran with an undergraduate degree in history, who is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Counseling. Lawrence was particularly drawn to the concept of veterans engaging with the Rosenbach’s collection of historic wartime documents and letters, exploring the American veteran experience and using this body of knowledge to create something for veterans to share with each other and the public. He emailed me this response: “I started my undergrad as a History Education major. As I began to read about war on a collegiate level, I felt a connection to the women and men from previous conflicts. This connection has created a passion to understand men and women at war and when they come home trying to find their own peace.”

In response to Lawrence’s comments about soldiers finding peace, I began thinking of items in the collection which express similar sentiments. I found myself revisiting a post war letter written by Robert E. Lee letter to P.G.T Beauregard from October 3, 1865. The war was over and Lee was struggling to find a place for himself in society. At the time that the letter was written, he had just been selected as the president of Washington College. He writes to Beauregard about this role and the fact that he hoped to be “of some benefit to the noble Youth of our Country.”

The student veterans we aim to connect with have also chosen an academic path. Much like Lee focused his efforts on the future of the country and its Youth, the men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are motivated towards a future of peace both external and internal.

I look forward to the opportunity to bring student veterans into a discussion about this letter and other examples from the collection that speak to the personal experience of war.

Robert E. Lee , autograph letter signed to G.T. Beauregard, Lexington, Va., 3 October 1865. AMs 540/28

3^rd Oct 65

My dear Gen’l,

I have rec[eive]’d as your letter of the 1^st Ulto: and am very sorry to learn that the papers of yourself and Johnston are lost, or at least beyond your reach. But I hope they may be recovered, mine cannot be, though some may be replaced. Please supply all you can. It may be safer to send them by private hands if practicable or by express to Mr. James Caskil at Richmond or to me at this place. I hope both you and Johnston will write the history of your campaigns. Every one should do all in his power to collect and disseminate the truth, in the hope that it may find a place in history and descend to posterity. I am glad to see no indication in your letter of an intention to leave the country. I think the South requires the aid of her sons now more than at any period of her history. As you ask my purpose I will state that I have no thought of abandoning her, unless compelled to do so.

After the surrender of the S. Armies in April, the revolution in the opinions and feelings of the people seemed so complete and the return of the S. States into the Union of all the States so inevitable; that it became in my opinion, ~~that it became in my opinion~~ the duty of every citizen, the Contest being virtually ended, to cease opposition, and place himself in a position to serve the Country. I therefore upon the promulgation of the proclamation of Pres. Johnson, which indicated apparently his policy in restoring peace, determined to comply with its requirements; and on the 13th of June, applied to be embraced within its provisions. I have not heard the result of my application, but since then have been elected to the Presidency of Washington College, and have entered upon the duties of the office in the hope of being of some benefit to the noble Youth of our Country.

I need not tell you, that true patriotism requires of men sometimes, to act exactly contrary at one period, to that which it does at another; and that the motive which impels them in the desire to do right, is precisely the same. The circumstances which govern their actions undergo change, and their Conduct must Conform to the new order of things. History is full of illustrations of this. Washington himself is an example, at one time he fought against the French, under Braddock, in the service of the King of Great Britain; at another he fought with the French at Yorktown, under the orders of the Continental Congress of America, against him. He has not been handled by the world with reproach for this, but his course has been applauded.

With sentiments of great esteem,

I am most truly yours,

R. E. Lee

Here is the link to the Washington Post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/veterans-find-that-their-transition-from-combat-to-college-can-be-difficult/2011/10/20/gIQAugW54N_story.html?sub=AR

Up, Up, and Away

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:35:00 +0000

Fan. France, ca. 1784. 1954.2077

The great aeronautical events of December 1, 1783 are commemorated on this beautiful French fan in our collection. What exactly happened 228 years ago, you ask? The first manned ascent in a hydrogen balloon, carried out by Jacques Charles and Nicolas-Louis Robert. The balloon was launched from the Tuileries garden in Paris and traveled 36 kilometers in approximately two hours. Here's a close-up of the fan, showing the balloon and the observing crowds.

Fan (detail). France, ca. 1784. 1954.2077

This was only the second manned balloon flight in history, the first having occurred 10 days before in the Montgolfier brothers' hot-air balloon. Joseph Montgolfier was actually present for the launching of the Charles/Robert balloon, as was Benjamin Franklin, who had also attended the Montgolfier flight. Here is an excerpt from Franklin's wonderful letter to the British scientist Joseph Banks on December 1:

The morning was foggy, but about one o'clock the air became tolerably clear, to the great satisfaction of the spectators, who were infinite, notice having been given of the intended experiment several days before in the papers, so that all Paris was out, either about the Tuileries, on the quays and bridges, in the fields, the streets, at the windows, or on the tops of houses, besides the inhabitants of all the towns and villages of the environs. Never before was a philosophical experiment so magnificently attended...

Between one and two o'clock, all eyes were gratified with seeing it rise majestically from among the trees, and ascend gradually above the buildings, a most beautiful spectacle. When it was about two hundred feet high, the brave adventurers held out and waved a little white pennant, on both sides their car, to salute the spectators, who returned loud claps of applause. The wind was very little, so that the object though moving to the northward, continued long in view; and it was a great while before the admiring people began to disperse. The persons embarked were Mr. Charles, professor of experimental philosophy, and a zealous promoter of that science; and one of the Messieurs Robert, the very ingenious constructors of the machine.

When it arrived at its height, which I suppose might be three or four hundred toises, it appeared to have only horizontal motion. I had a pocketglass, with which I followed it, till I lost sight first of the men, then of the car, and when I last saw the balloon, it appeared no bigger than a walnut. I write this at seven in the evening. What became of them is not yet known here. I hope they descended by daylight, so as to see and avoid falling among trees or on houses, and that the experiment was completed without any mischievous accident, which the novelty of it and the want of experience might well occasion. I am the more anxious for the event, because I am not well informed of the means provided for letting themselves down, and the loss of these very ingenious men would not only be a discouragement to the progress of the art, but be a sensible loss to science and society.

You can read the entire letter as part of the Internet Modern History Sourcebook at Fordham university.

The French fan also shows the 1784 ascent of Guyton de Morveau. But his story, and his plans for a corps of balloonists during the French Revolution, are tales for another time.

Turkey Time

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Have you seen this bird?

Nicolas Martinet, illustrator. In Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon; Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière. C3 .B929h

This lovely fellow is an illustration of the turkey (or, in French, Le Dindon) from Buffon's 18th-century Histoire Naturelle.

Here's another plate, also from Buffon, of a rather mean-looking turkey in a barnyard setting.

Nicolas Martinet, illustrator. In Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon; Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière. C3 .B929h

Or, if you prefer your turkeys even older, here is the description of the turkey from John Josselyn's An Account of Two Voyages to New England, published in 1674

John Josselyn, An Account of Two Voyages to New England. London, 1674. A 674a

According to Josselyn, "The Turkie, which is in New England a very large Bird, they breed twice or thrice in a year, if you would preserve the young chickens alive, you must give them no water, for if they come to have their fill of water they will drop away strangely, and you will never be able to rear any of them: they are excellent meat, especially a Turkey-Capon beyond that, for which eight shillings was given, their eggs are very wholesome and restore decayed nature exceedingly. But the French say they breed the leprosie, the Indesses make Coats of Turkie feathers woven for their children."

Josselyn was a Englishman who traveled twice to New England (as his book title states)--once for fifteen months and once for eight years. An Account of Two Voyages and his earlier work New England Rarities provide some of the best and earliest descriptions of New England wildlife.

You can see Josselyn's New England Rarities, as well as volumes from Buffon's massive Histoire Naturelle in the current Creature Comforts exhibit. Or if you want to see live turkeys, you may be able to just look out your window--an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer reports on the prevalence of wild turkeys in South Jersey.

Happy Thanksgiving to all the friends of the Rosenbach and Rosenblog. We at the Rosenbach we are thankful and grateful for each and every one of you!

Families Affected By Wartime: Part III

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:28:00 +0000

This is the third post in a series that will explore the Rosenbach’s newest initiative, Families Affected by Wartime. This ground-breaking initiative, which is still in the planning stages, will serve the military community, a population largely ignored by museums. The project aims to connect families from the past with those from the present, demonstrating the relevance of historical documents to our contemporary wartime experience.

Guest Post by Gala True (Philadelphia VA Medical Center)

As a folklorist who conducts research at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, I spend a fair amount of time listening to the stories of combat Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The work calls for an ability to establish rapport and create a ‘safe space’ for sharing sensitive information. Above all, it means being a ‘compassionate witness’ to the lives of people from varied backgrounds who have one thing in common: they chose military service, many of them enlisting in a time of war and knowing it was likely they would be deployed far from home and loved ones.

There is something fundamental about the nature of sharing ones story; it affects both teller and audience alike. The impulse after a traumatic event is to create a cohesive narrative that will impose order onto chaos and to share our stories with others in order to lessen our burden and not feel so alone. When we get stuck, as many combat veterans do, when we don’t know what parts of our story are safe to share or what audiences are safe to share with, it creates a barrier between us and the rest of the world. The result is that our story can get stuck in a particular moment, a negative moment, resulting in deep feelings of isolation, alienation, and hopelessness.

When we break through this barrier and share our story with a listener who makes us feel safe and respected by withholding judgment, accepting our story at face value, and showing compassion for our experiences—this leads to a kind of communalizing of the experience which can result in healing not just for the storyteller, but for the listener as well. In this way, narrative can play a key role in helping combat veterans reconnect—with their loved ones, with civilian society, and, most importantly, with themselves.

Many times, I have been present in the moment when a veteran realizes that he or she is not alone; that his or her story contains universal themes of service and sacrifice, pride and suffering, dislocation and a deep desire to ‘come home.’ It is a powerful moment, and for many it is the beginning of breaking their silence and finding relief in sharing their burden. These moments can be triggered for veterans in a number of ways; through writing or telling their stories, through creating visual images to convey their experiences and inner dialogue, through reading about someone else’s experiences, or experiencing visual or narrative arts created by others with similar stories.

The Rosenbach Museum and Library’s new initiative, Families Affected by Wartime, has great potential to connect combat veterans and their loved ones with materials that convey the universal themes of military service, the experience of war, and the challenges of transitioning from military to civilian life through historical documents. I eagerly await the connections that are made through this innovative project; connections across history, connections between service members and their families, and connections within the minds of those affected by war. I imagine there will be many moments of realization and discovery, and most importantly, an understanding that no one is truly alone in their story.

Gala True is a folklorist and health services researcher at the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion of the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. Her work focuses on the role of narrative in healing and reintegration for combat veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. She is currently conducting a participatory action research project that engages combat veterans in communicating their health care needs and preferences through narrative and visual images.

A Mother's Letter

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:55:00 +0000

Happy Veterans Day! Our series of Families Affected by Wartime posts will resume shortly, but while we're waiting I thought I'd share an object we showed to the project advisers. In honor of Veteran's Day, which also commemorates the conclusion of World War I, I picked a World War I piece---A Mother's Letter, by Annie Judson Hannigan.

A Mother's Letter is a letter which Mrs. Hannigan sent to the commander of her son's unit, the 104th Infantry Regiment, in April 1918, when the unit was fighting in France. The letter was read to the men of the unit; it was also printed in Hannigan's local paper and then the Hannigans arranged to have it printed up as a pamphlet. Here's Mrs. Hannigan (with a nice inscription to Dr. Rosenbach, whom she knew through her book collector husband).

And here's her letter:

April 13, 1918

Please accept the best wishes of the mothers of the men in your regiment for complete success. We think of the 104th in its time of service without any thought of self or of the things which may happen to our boys to mar them or destroy them. We think only of the more than honor which has come to us to be the mothers of such men. We are asking ourselves--"Are we worthy of the honor their work has already brought to us?" "How can we become more worthy mothers of such good sons."

When my son left this home he took a great big patch of each day's sunshine with him. He has been the tenderest son of an invalid mother. We have been chums for twenty five years--reading, studying, thinking and loving together. I never shed a tear over his being away. I know his great heart could not stand to see love, home, and woman outraged and destroyed. I know he is only a type of every man in your command, and if he dies it is as one of an army of noblemen.

Because you are his war chief and all we could be to him I wanted to speak to you. Daily reports of the 104th at the front show us how splendid you all are and how faithfully you have worked to be ready to do the splendid work you are doing to-day. We send you our most reverent affectionate greeting.

Following the letter is a description of the reading, from an officer in the 104th writing to his wife: "I read this to my men to-night after mess. It made a profound impression on them. it was interesting to watch their faces as I read it. Then I said goodbye to them. Dearie, it was far harder than I thought it was going to be. I have had to father so many of them, it was a hardship to take leave of them. They applauded me and gave me three lusty cheers just like the loyal, faithful men they are. I kept my composure until I turned away, and then I had to set my teeth to overcome the inking feeling that rushed over me."

The pamphlet also includes a patriotic poem from John Hannigan (again inscribed for Dr. R)

A Father's Response
What can one say
When one's only son,
In whom one's hopes and dreams and life are bound up,
Has gone to France, to stay
Perhaps a year, perhaps three years, perhaps forever,
but who is over there to see
That at any cost the Flag is kept flying.
What can one say?

One can say this,--
What a million other fathers to-night are saying,
That is my own strength
And life are of no value to my country
In her fighting line,
I can give a son, and a son too
Who needed no word from me
To give himself.

Hopes and ambitions!
Why, I never dreamt anything so sublime,
I never imagined a destiny for my son
So great as that which he has reached.
He's wearing the uniform
Of an American soldier,
He is interposing his arm and his breast
Between his country and his country's enemies
Nay!
He's clad in the livery of Heaven.
He's fighting for God.
What can one say?

October 1917

All quotations and images are from [Annie Judson Hannigan], A mother's letter. Boston: Press of Geo. Ellis Co., 1919. A 919m

Families Affected By Wartime: Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Rosybrook) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:43:00 +0000

This is the second post in a series that will explore the Rosenbach’s newest initiative, Families Affected by Wartime. This ground-breaking initiative, which is still in the planning stages, will serve the military community, a population largely ignored by museums. The project aims to connect families from the past with those from the present, demonstrating the relevance of historical documents to our contemporary wartime experience.

Guest Post By Professor Jim Martin (Bryn Mawr College)

As a retired Army Officer, whose academic research and public service continues to focus on military members, Veterans, and their families, I have been thrilled to contribute to the development of the Rosenbach Museum's initiative - Families Affected by Wartime Project.

The Rosenbach has responded to the call from our nation's civilian and military leaders to become engaged in supporting our returning service members and their families, especially our "Citizen Soldiers" - those members (and families) from our National Guard and other Reserve Components whose service and sacrifice has been critical in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. While the Department of Defense and the Veteran's Administration have made considerable strides in addressing the needs of these returning Veterans and their families, "government" alone will never be able to meet all the challenges posed by wartime service. The well being of our military service members, Veterans, and their families requires the support of all citizens. Family, friends, neighbors, and other citizens must step up and provide the "welcome home" and the sustaining support these Veterans and families deserve. The transition for these members and their families can be hard and often include physical and emotional needs as well as employment and educational challenges that must be dealt with as part of reintegration. Our national identity is grounded in the way we honor our sacred commitment to our Veterans.

The Rosenbach collections provide an innovative and unique opportunity to reach out and engage military/Veteran families with an experience that will connect them with past generations of American's who have also served and sacrificed for our Nation's safety and security. As described in an earlier blog by Emilie Parker, the wartime letters and other materials from the collections from previous wars, relate directly to the contemporary experiences of military families. The Rosenbach’s initiative, to share these letters and help today's military/Veteran families connect with the experiences of earlier generations, provides a powerful message of caring and encouragement. As the Families Affected by Wartime initiative takes shape, I hope that everyone will follow its development and offer whatever support is needed to make it a success. The Rosenbach is setting a path for all museum's and similar community institutions to follow. This represents the kind of citizenship that marks us as One Nation! I encourage you to watch for further information on the Rosenblog.

Families Affected By Wartime

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:03:00 +0000

This is the initial post in a series of articles that will explore the Rosenbach’s newest initiative, Families Affected by Wartime. This ground-breaking initiative will serve the military community, a population largely ignored by museums. The Rosenbach houses an exceptional collection of wartime letters and documents which speak to the personal experience of war and the challenges faced by service men and women and their families. The project aims to connect families from the past with those from the present, demonstrating the relevance of historical documents to our contemporary wartime experience.

Over the next few months, project advisers as well as Rosenbach staff and trustees, will be sharing their experiences with the Families Affected by War project here on the Rosenblog. Contributors will include Lovella Calica, the Founding Director of Warrior Writers, Stephanie Himel-Nelson, the Director of Communications at Blue Star Families, James Martin, a retired US Army Colonel and a professor at the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College and Joyce Raezer, the Executive Director of the National Military Family Association.

Derick Dreher, John C. Haas Director, Rosenbach Museum & Library

**************

I’ve always had the utmost respect for those that joined the military in response to 9/11 and the families they left behind. But, I’ve often felt frustrated by the fact that I can’t actually do anything to show my support and respect. That changed the day that the Rosenbach became a Blue Star Museum. The initiative, organized by the military family support organization Blue Star Families, invites service men and women and their families to visit museums free of charge during the summer months. This program, based on a very simple idea, has been Blue Star Families’ most successful initiative to date and yet it stops tantalizingly short of providing the type of experience the Rosenbach aims to provide for its visitors. The Rosenbach is committed to engaging visitors in its collections, in part by encouraging them to share their own knowledge and experience. We encourage our visitors to talk back. So, how can we engage military families with our collections and encourage them to talk back? I wanted to find that conversational catalyst.

It turns out that I have a lot from which to choose. One of the most poignant examples in the museum’s collection is a Civil War era letter written by a father to his children in which he attempts to describe his wartime responsibilities.

“Papa wished very much to go home on New Year’s day to have a New Year’s dinner with Mama, Uncle and his dear children with Uncle Clem but Papa had to stay with his Regiment and take care of the soldiers who do not take good care of themselves.”

Alexander Biddle, autograph letter signed to his children. 3 January 1863. Rush:IV:30:27

I was struck by how contemporary this letter sounds; it could have been written by a parent stationed in Iraq in 2011. Encouraged by this discovery, the Families Affected by Wartime project began to take shape.

In May of this year, the Rosenbach was awarded a grant from the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage through the Heritage Philadelphia Program to support the initiative. During the spring and summer, we reached out to individuals familiar with the needs of the military community to help guide our thinking. These advisers include representatives from military family support organizations, staff from Philadelphia’s VA Medical Center and the Pennsylvania National Guard. The advisers provided us with valuable information about the needs of the military community. They stressed that while organizations like the Veteran’s Administration and Blue Star Families provide support, there are still many members of the military community that feel a lack of support and experience isolation from their community.

An article written by the director of the Iraq/Afghanistan Deployment Impact Fund noted that “Warriors don’t come home to federal agencies. They come home to communities and families, and that’s where we can make a difference.” Our advisers agreed that this is true; organizations such as the Rosenbach can have a role to play in providing support for members of the military community. And we’ve come to realize that our quest to support military families is not an unrealistic endeavor, far from it. The issue of supporting the troops and their families can seem mired in conflict and debate. But, we don’t have to wait until government debates are resolved before taking action at the community level.

Emilie Parker, Hirsig Family Director of Education, Rosenbach Museum & Library

In a Nutshell

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:21:00 +0000

First off, a quick Dracula shout out. A recent announcement reveals that a journal belonging to Bram Stoker has been discovered by his descendants. The journal dates from 1871-1881, well before he was working on Dracula, but it's nonetheless a fascinating find. A published version, with annotations by Dracula scholar Elizabeth Miller (who also edited the facsimile edition of the Dracula notes) will be out next year.

But even as we Rosenbachers have Dracula on the brain, we're also hard at work bringing the great Rosenbach collection to folks in other ways. Our loyal blog readers know all about our in-house exhibitions, and have heard me talk about travelling exhibitions, but have you ever heard about the Rosenbach's panel exhibitions?

A panel exhibition is a series of large panels with images of objects and accompanying text printed on them to create a narrative. The exhibit is composed completely of these flat printed panels, with no original objects being loaned, so they can be used in places which do not have the security, environmental conditions, and staff to handle original objects.

A couple of years ago the Rosenbach was approached by Nextbook, a non-profit supporting Jewish culture, and asked if we were interested in creating a panel exhibit on Maurice Sendak, to be traveled by the American Library Association. Thus was born In a Nutshell: The Worlds of Maurice Sendak. You can read the exhibit script for this panel show and see images of the panels at the ALA site. There are currently 4 copies of the show traveling to libraries from Montreal to Oregon to Texas (the full list of venues is also available on the ALA site).

Each of the exhibition hosts has to create programming to accompany the installation, and our very own Patrick Rogers has been busy travelling around to many of the venues to give lectures. This weekend he's in St. Louis for the opening reception of In a Nutshell at the St. Louis County Library--you can hear a clip of Patrick speaking about the show in this page from the St. Louis Beacon. The new Brunswick Public Library has also posted video from its opening reception online, if you would like to hear Patrick wax eloquent about the Rosenbach and about all things Sendak at more length.

Panel shows offer yet another great way for the Rosenbach to fulfill its mission to "inspire curiosity, inquiry, and creativity by engaging broad audiences in exhibitions, programs, and research based on its remarkable and expanding collections." Shows like In a Nutshell help bring images of Rosenbach objects and the expertise of our staff to folks around the country, many of whom may never make it to Philadelphia. So if you are a far-flung Rosenbach fan, be sure to check out the exhibit if it travels near you! And if you are a fan who has seen the panel show, please swing by to say hello to the Rosenbach when you are in town!

Happy Birthday E. E. Cummings

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:23:00 +0000

Edward Estlin Cummings was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on October 14, 1894--Happy 117th birthday! As with so many 20th century literary figures, Cummings comes to the Rosenbach through the Marianne Moore collection. Moore initially met Cummings in the 1920s through her friends Hildegard & Sibley Watson; Sibley was President of The Dial magazine and a college friend of Cummings.

Moore admired Cummings's visual art as well as his poetry and Rosen-friends are undoubtedly familiar with the yellow rose painting he gave her which now hangs in the Marianne Moore room (click here to see it in our online catalog). Cummings gave the rose painting to Moore in 1938 and it was probably painted with her poem Injudicious Gardening in mind. In this poem, first published in 1915, Moore had challenged the idea of yellow roses as a traditional sign of infidelity. The theme had presented itself to her after she read the letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning--Robert's first flowers to Elizabeth were yellow, which he promised to rectify by planting a dozen white.

You can see other examples of Cummings's painting, including another yellow rose, in the Hildegarde Lasell Watson Collection of Artworks by E. E. Cummings at the College at Brockport.

After Cummings's death in 1962, Marianne Moore wrote a commemorative essay, in which, among other things, she admired Cummings's economy of expression. With that in mind, we will aim for brevity and sign off here.

Rosenbach Researchers

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:02:00 +0000

Who does research at the Rosenbach? The answer turns out to be all kinds of people--literary scholars, cheese specialists, artists, historians, Rosenbach docents, and fashion designers. We'll be celebrating the fascinating work that these folks have done in an upcoming exhibit Inquiring Minds, which opens November 23, but I thought I'd give a sneak peek at some of the projects that we'll be profiling in the exhibition.

Linne Mooney is a professor at the Center of Medieval English Palaeography, University of York. Palaeography is the study of historic handwriting. Her research at the Rosenbach involved some detective work about the scribe of our manuscript copy of Gower's Confessio Amantis, as part of a large research project on the 'Identification of the Scribes of Manuscripts of Major Works of Middle English Literature."

Cari Ann Brezina is a fashion design student at the Moore College of Art and Design and she used her research to create fashions inspired by Maurice Sendak--the design in the picture above was inspired by Ida's yellow raincoat in the 1981 work Outside Over There.

Robert Hicks is the director of our institutional neighbors: the Mütter Museum and Historical Medical Library of the The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. He was interested in some of our narratives of discovery for his recently published book Voyage to Jamestown: Practical Navigation int he Age of Discovery. Yes, that is Dr. Hicks on the cover of the book and there are even more images of him inside, wearing period costume and demonstrating the use of historic navigational instruments.

You'll have to come by Inquiring Minds when it opens to find out more about these projects and other great work involving our collection. Better yet, you too can join us as a researcher--no academic credentials required, just curiosity about the collections.

This is an Ex-Parrot

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:43:00 +0000

Okay, I'll admit it. Two of my favorite pieces in the new Creature Comforts exhibition are not the beautifully illustrated Buffon natural history encyclopedia or Jefferson's seminal Notes on the State of Virginia, but a pair of letters about the Rosenbachs' pet parrots.

The Rosenbachs had many parrots (and other birds) over their careers; if you've taken the house tour you've probably heard about how they kept birds in the bay window of the dining room. Their most famous feathered friend was undoubtedly Josephine the gray parrot, who lived in the reception room of the New York store. In Book Hunter's Holiday Dr. Rosenbach describes Josephine as a weather oracle, claiming that when she beat her feathers against her cage and rasped "Get out you," that was a sign of rain, while her whistling chromatic scales meant sunshine. Josephine was also remarked upon in many published accounts of visitors to the store; one noted that her repertoire of sounds included an excellent Bronx cheer.

The two letters in the exhibition don't deal with Josephine, but with her compatriots. Dated nearly 40 years apart, the letters testify to the Rosenbachs long-standing love of birds

In the first, a pet shop informs the Rosenbachs that "the parrot left for treatment the other day died last evening notwithstanding we used all effort available to restore it to good condition, but it failed to respond to treatment." The store then asks for instructions as to what to do with the "carcass" and the cage, as well as 60 cents for its efforts.

Rosenbach Company Archives. RoCo I:046:40

The second letter deals with some problems Philip had getting companion for his birds. He wants a "mate for Rosella," but he also wants "a female companion for the dwarf Mexican parrot." Apparently sexing dwarf Mexican parrots is a bit tricky, since Philip writes "if you say it is impossible to tell them apart, I don't see what could be done in the matter, as we thought the other bird was a female and it turned out to be a male and the dwarf Mexican killed it. So maybe we'd better leave him alone."

Rosenbach Company Archives. RoCo I:122:01

Dead parrots, confused sexual identity...sounds like a Monty Python sketch to me!

School Partnerships at the Rosenbach

noreply@blogger.com (Rosybrook) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:18:00 +0000

Elyse Poinsett here, the official stand for the Special Events and Marketing hats at the Rosenbach. Most of you probably know me best as the voice behind our e-newsletter, facebook page, and Twitter feed.

***

If you’ve been anywhere the past few weeks, I’m sure you’ve run into the Back-to-School shopping madness. And if you’re like me, you’re having fantasies about what it’d be like to be 10 years old again, with worries that maxed out at whether you wanted a purple or blue trapper keeper.

Interrupting one such daydream, Director of Education Emilie Parker stopped by my office a few days ago to hand me a batch of thank you-notes from students at two of our partner schools. After dreaming about their worry-free lives, I could not resist reading what they had to say about what occupies a large part of my life: the Rosenbach.

Either the world has changed or the Rosenbach is just very special. (I personally think it’s a bit of the former and a lot of the latter.) Because these were not the fill-in-the-blank notes of my classroom days.

From a 1st Grader:

From a 7th Grader:

It’s obvious that we have something special going on in our education department. What is it?

One thing’s for sure: we don’t practice the “let ‘em loose!” method of museum field trips from my childhood. Students here participate in in-depth projects that often span multiple sessions over the course of months. Students have a high-quality, intimate, experience with our collections and staff.

For example, middle school students who came to the Rosenbach this spring learned about Yellow Fever in 18th-century Philadelphia. After reading and examining objects related to the Yellow Fever in our collections, the students wrote diary entries from the perspective of historic people during the epidemic. After learning about distance perspective in art, they also created drawings to go along with their entries.

On their last visit, staff gathered to watch the student’s multi-media presentation that included pre-recording readings of their entries that played alongside a slideshow of their drawings. Then, the same students performed historic dances. What started out as a group of shy or sly tweens quickly turned into a dance performance worthy of some kind of Dance Award.

Reading, writing, and drawing? Dancing? (tweens doing anything enthusiastically?!) Talk about a well-rounded education!

Want another example? Last spring, the first graders from Chester Upland School for the Arts participated in a program designed to help them understand elementary concepts of poetry. I’ll let them tell you what they did in their own words:

"During our poetry exploration, we read a lot of poetry to understand what poetry is from haiku to Shel Silverstein and many poems in between. We also studied a poem by Langston Hughes titled City. While on our field trip, we walked around Philadelphia to experience the city through our senses. We took notes, made sketches, and recorded sensory observations in our poetic journals. We used these ideas to create a city poem like Langston Hughes. We tried to use phrases that were beautiful and “sound like a poem” or POETIC LINES."

Here are a few of my favorite lines from their thank you notes:

“Thank you Rosenbach brothers (Abraham and Philip) for having such a cool house turned museum”
“Rosenback: …I like the poem… Thank you =) I feelt happy.”
“Ms. Emilie, I like when we was in the brother’s home it is cool.”
“Dear Ms. Emilie… I love you.”
“Ms. Emilie, I wish we can come again!!"

To me, their accolades are POETIC LINES. And yes, whoever asked… you can come back with your mom! I’ve got my fingers crossed that their youthful excitement about poetry, Yellow Fever, and the Rosenbach is a symptom of a new generation who just LOVES arts and culture. In the meantime, congratulations to Emilie and Assistant Director of Education Farrar Fitzgerald for showing them the way!

Megalonyx--Mega What?

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:54:00 +0000

As we work on preparing Creature Comforts: Collecting Natural History at the Rosenbach, which opens on Sept 21 (less than two weeks!), all of us here are excited about a very special visitor from the Academy of Natural Sciences that is coming to be a part of the exhibit--Megalonyx jeffersoni. What you ask, is Megalonyx jeffersoni?

Megalonyx jeffersoni is an extinct giant ground sloth, whose bones were first found in a West Virginia cave and shown to Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson, who had previously been embroiled in a debate with the French naturalist the Comte de Buffon about the "degeneracy" of American fauna, was always excited to find examples of massive American animals that proved the equality (or superiority) of the New World as compared with the Old. In March of 1797 Jefferson gave a talk at the American Philosophical Society on the sloth, which he named megalonyx or "great claw." Jefferson even hoped that the sloth might still be extant somewhere in the American wilds and he remarked in a letter that he thought it possible that Lewis and Clark's expedition might find some.

You can find out more about Jefferson's sloth at the Academy of Natural Sciences website and of course in our upcoming exhibition, which will feature bones on loan from the Academy alongside our own Buffon encyclopedia.

As a preview, here's a 1799 engraving of the bones which Jefferson saw.

Wistar, Caspar. 1799. "A description of the Bones deposited by the President, in the Museum of the Society, and represented in the annexed plates." Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 4, No. 71, pp. 526-531.

Here's a more complete mounted reconstruction at the Ohio State University Museum

And just for kicks, here's Rusty, a model Megalonyx at the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History.

You can see more pictures of Rusty decked out for every season on his very own Facebook page!

Lions and tigers and sloths, oh my!

Code Breaker

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:15:00 +0000

Rose O’Neal Greenhow , Message from Mrs. Greenhow of Washington D.C. 1168/11

This puzzle of a paper is part of a large (a.k.a. hundreds of documents) collection of material at the Rosenbach related to Confederate General P.G. T Beauregard. The note at the top indicates that it's a message from Confederate spy Rose O'Neal Greenhow, which explains why it's in code, but until this summer we never figured out what it actually said.

I was doing some research on Greenhow in preparation for including this document in our Burn This show about secrecy and I found that a decoding key had survived in the collection of the North Carolina State Archives. The key was supposedly found on Greenhow's body when she died in 1864. She was returning from England to America when her ship ran aground near Cape Fear. Afraid of being captured, she insisted on being rowed to shore, but the boat overturned and she drowned, weighed down by the gold she was carrying for the Confederacy. We weren't sure if a key found in 1864 would work on a document presumably written in 1861, but I asked collections intern Rachel McCay to see if she could decode the message. And indeed she could--thanks Rachel! Here's what it says:

Sixteenth

Fort “Ellsworth,” situated about- I send this which is reliable and will in a few days send plan of masked batries at long bridge and other points also of Shuters hill and two other above named strong works between this and Ellsworth.

For more on Greenhow, to try your own hand at using her code, and to find out more about other Civil War ciphers check out Burn This and be sure to take an activity sheet!

Rosen-Trivia Revealed

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 13:13:00 +0000

So here are the answers to last week's brain-teasers

1) Philip and A.S.W. Rosenbach were two out of a family of eight children. How many of the other children can you name?

In order from oldest to youngest, the Rosenbach children are Hyman, Philip, Morris, Rebecca, Adelaide (died as a child), Moses, Miriam, and Abraham

2) According to a Ben Franklin tale whose manuscript is at the Rosenbach, what toy did the seven-year-old Franklin purchase, only to regret having wasted his money?

A whistle. According to Franklin:

When I was a child of seven years old, my friends, on a holiday, filled my pocket with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys for children; and being charmed with the sound of a whistle, that I met by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and gave all my money for one. I then came home, and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family. My brothers, and sisters, and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me I had given four times as much for it as it was worth; put me in mind what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money; and laughed at me so much for my folly, that I cried with vexation; and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure.

This, however, was afterwards of use to me, the impression continuing on my mind; so that often, when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary thing, I said to myself, Don’t give too much for the whistle; and I saved my money.

As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I thought I met with many, very many, who gave too much for the whistle.

3) Which one of Dr. Rosenbach's early clients went down with the Titanic? For extra credit, what was the book he supposedly had in his jacket pocket when he died?

Harry Elkins Widener and Bacon's Essays

4) What science textbook contains Maurice Sendak's first published illustrations?

Atomics for the Millions (1947), which was co-authored by Hyman Ruchlis, a science teacher at Sendak's high school

5) Much of the interior appearance of 2010 Delancey is due to the family who owned it immediately before the Rosenbachs--they hired architects to redo the interior with the Georgian detailing we know and love today. Who were these previous owners?

The Martins

6) According to his working notes, Bram Stoker originally had another location in mind for his vampire story, before deciding on Transylvania. What was the original home of the Count?

Styria, a region in Austria which had been the setting for Sheridan Le Fanu's vampire novella Carmilla

7) Mamusse Wunteetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God Naneeswe Nukkone Testament Kah Wonk Wusku Testament is a rather unwieldy title. What is this important 1663 book better known as?

The Eliot Indian Bible

8) The Rosenbach owns the manuscript of a Joseph Conrad novel that was later adapted into an Alfred Hitchcock movie. What are the titles of the book and the movie?

The book is The Secret Agent, which Hitchcock made into Sabotage (he had already used the title Secret Agent for a different film)

9) In the Bass Otis painting, Stephen Girard is positioned to hide his blind eye. Which eye was the problem?

His right eye. According to one popular version, he lost the eye when throwing oyster shells on bonfire at the age of eight--a splinter flew off one and blinded him. However in a letter late in life Girard wrote that he had no recollection of ever being able to see with that eye, so he may have been born with the problem

10) Why would Dr. Rosenbach keep a First Folio in Strathmere, New Jersey, rather than in Philadelphia?

The First Folio was Dr. R's boat

So, how did you do?

Rosen-trivia

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:35:00 +0000

So you think you know the Rosenbach? How many of these tough Rosen-trivia questions can you answer?

1) Philip and A.S.W. Rosenbach were two out of a family of eight children. How many of the other children can you name? (Give yourself an extra pat on the back if you know the name of their sister who died at age three)

2) According to a Ben Franklin tale whose manuscript is at the Rosenbach, what toy did the seven-year-old Franklin purchase, only to regret having wasted his money?

3) Which one of Dr. Rosenbach's early clients went down with the Titanic? For extra credit, what was the book he supposedly had in his jacket pocket when he died?

4) What science textbook contains Maurice Sendak's first published illustrations?

5) Much of the interior appearance of 2010 Delancey is due to the family who owned it immediately before the Rosenbachs--they hired architects to redo the interior with the Georgian detailing we know and love today. Who were these previous owners?

6) According to his working notes, Bram Stoker originally had another location in mind for his vampire story, before deciding on Transylvania. What was the original home of the Count?

7) Mamusse Wunteetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God Naneeswe Nukkone Testament Kah Wonk Wusku Testament is a rather unwieldy title. What is this important 1663 book better known as?

8) The Rosenbach owns the manuscript of a Joseph Conrad novel that was later adapted into an Alfred Hitchcock movie. What are the titles of the book and the movie?

9) In the Bass Otis painting, Stephen Girard is positioned to hide his blind eye. Which eye was the problem?

10) Why would Dr. Rosenbach keep a First Folio in Strathmere, New Jersey, rather than in Philadelphia?

Answers will be cheerfully supplied in our next post.

On the Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 13:58:00 +0000

As summer ticks away and everyone comes back tanned from their weeks at the shore, I thought I'd share some great beach images from the Rosenbach collection.

George Cruikshank, AUGUST--Bathing at Brighton. For The Comic Almanack for 1836. London: Charles Tilt, 1835. 1954.1880.3252

As you can see in this almanac print by George Cruikshank, August was beach time, even 175 years ago. The house-like carts on wheels are bathing machines. Ladies who wished to swim would enter the bathing machine in their street clothes, change into their swimwear, and then the bathing machine would be rolled into the water, where the swimmer would step out as the bathing machine shielded her from being seen onshore. My favorite reference to bathing machines comes in Gilbert & Sullivan's "Nightmare Song " in which the singer recounts a dream involving a steamer "Which is something between a large bathing machine and a very small second-class carriage."

George Cruikshank. Detail of print from Scraps and Sketches. London, 1831. 1954.1880.2897

This fellow (also by Cruikshank) has found "Comfort in Warm weather" and he certainly looks happier than the ladies in the previous print. This is from a large composite print on the theme of comforts. (Notice the bathing machines in the background)

Possibly George Cruikshank, Shrimp catcher. From Billets in the Low Countries, 1814 to 1817. London: printed for J. J. Stockdale, 1818. 1954.1880.893

This shrimp catcher is headed to the beach to work, not relax, but I love his 1818 swimsuit. I should check our old cookbooks for some period shrimp recipes...

Unknown photographer, photograph of Marlene Dietrich. Cap d'Antibes, France. 1930s? Acosta:20:09

Fast-forwarding a hundred and some odd years, here is Marlene Dietrich relaxing on the beach in France. Maybe she'd like a shrimp cocktail?

Photograph of Moses and Eva Rosenbach and child. 2006.1516

And here are some Rosenbachs on the beach. The adults are Moses Polock Rosenbach (Philip and Abie's brother) and his wife Eva. The child is presumably one of their two daughters, which would place this scene in the late 1910s.

Unknown photographer. Tintype. ca. 1900? 2006.1808

The man in the center looks like a Rosenbach, but I'm not sure which one. This scene was obviously taken in a studio, but again I'm not sure what bound these five guys together, with three of them wearing matching spiffy suits. Anyone else have a guess?

Field Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:35:00 +0000

In addition to exposing our summer interns to the quirks and wonders of the Rosenbach, I like to take them to other museums that are different from ours. This gives the interns a chance to see how other museums operate and to put their Rosenbach experience in a broader perspective. In order to accomplish this, I am very grateful to all my museum colleagues in Philadelphia and beyond who take time out of their busy schedules to meet with us and show us around.

Our first trip this year was to our neighbor, the Mutter Museum. As usual, we had a fabulous time. Not only do they have a fascinating collection, with its own unique set of collections care and interpretation challenges, but I could listen to their curator, Anna Dhody, read a cereal box--she's that engaging. But don't take my word for it--you can see her and other Mutter staff on the Mutter's chock-full YouTube channel. Anna stars in the "What's on the Curator's Desk" weekly feature, among others.

Our second trip took place this past week and involved two museums in Doylestown--the Mercer Museum and Fonthill. Our own Patrick Rodgers used to work at Fonthill, so he kindly helped get everything set up. Although the famous concrete castles are a bit warm in the summer it was more than worth it to get to see Henry Mercer's amazing collections and to get a chance to talk with the people who work with them every day--Cory Amsler, Melissa Jay, and Ed Reidell. Both Mercer and Fonthill have done great job designing programs that explore their collections in new ways and with fun twists and we got a chance to talk about how they keep their collections intriguing, appealing, and relevant. (We all wanted to sign up for the Wizard Camp at the Mercer and the Medieval Camp at Fonthill, but we fell outside the age cutoff)

The Mercer Museum also just opened a new wing last month to allow for more special exhibits, so it was also an opportunity to think about museum construction and design. The Mercer's original building is obviously quite idiosyncratic, so instead of trying to match it architecturally, they've chosen a more modern design, which harmonizes in terms of color and material, and also preserves the views of and from the original building. Plus it has a green roof!

Here we are in the central hall at the Mercer. You can't see the whaleboat and Conestoga wagon hanging above our heads, but you should go up to Doylestown and check them out for yourselves!

And here we are at Fonthill. In this picture we are on the ground, but we did climb all the way to the top of Fonthill's tower (you can too if you go on their Tower Tour this Saturday). As you can see, a good--and educational--time was had by all.

Thank you again to all of our hosts!