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EMAIL NEWSLETTER
January/February 2005



Welcome to the JANUARY/February  issue of the VSA's email newsletter.
 

Empty, vast, and cold were the halls of the Snow Queen. The  flickering flame of the northern lights could be plainly seen, whether they rose high or low in the heavens, from every part of the castle. In the midst of its empty, endless hall of snow was a frozen lake, broken on its surface into a thousand forms; each piece resembled another, from being in itself perfect as a work of art, and in the centre of this lake sat the Snow Queen, when she was at home. She called the lake “The Mirror of Reason,” and said that it was the best, and indeed the only one in the world.

Extract from The Snow Queen, by Hans Christian Andersen, 1805 - 1875.

EVENTS

The VSA American Summer School 25th Anniversary
 June 23 – 26, 2005

Plans are underway for an exciting anniversary weekend led by Richard Guy Wilson.  The itinerary will feature lectures, receptions, and tours at private and  Preservation Society houses.

Join old friends and new in Newport, Rhode Island to celebrate.  Please click here  for the feedback form or contact:

Susan E. McCallum, Administrator
VSA Summer Schools
100 Prospect Street
Summit, NJ  07901    USA
vsasummerschools@att.net

The Greater Chicago Chapter of the Victorian Society in America
& the Pleasant Home Foundation  invite you to a

Victorian Tea

In celebration of the anniversary of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s marriage
to be held at Pleasant Home, 217 Home Avenue, Oak Park, Illinois
Saturday, February 12, 2005

Presentation to follow: “Dress at the Court of Queen Victoria”
by Caroline Goldthorpe, former curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
 and the Victoria & Albert Museum

The Pleasant Home Foundation
Reservation is required in advance as space is limited.
708--383--2654

Fall 2005 Study Tour: Mid-Hudson Valley
October 14, 15 and 16, 2005

The Victorian Society in America’s Fall 2005 study tour – co-sponsored with Wilderstein Preservation – focuses on the Mid-Hudson Valley. Click: Symposium

The Victorian Society in America
Washington Metropolitan Chapter

Invites you to a tour of the
Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building

Visit their web page

The Ohio River Valley Chapter
presents a command performance of the BBC adaptation
 of Daisy Ashford's
"The Young Visiters"

Tuesday, February 15, 2005
748 Betula Avenue, N. Avondale, Cincinnati

7:30 p.m. Tours of the impressive fifteen room Tudor -Revival house, built in 1915 for "Cantaloupe King" Stephen Gerrard, and now the home of Hope & Fred Felton-Miller.

8:00 p.m. "The Young Visiters": Written during Victoria's reign by a nine year old girl, this novel, with its innovative spelling and unique view of high society, went unpublished until 1919, when it came to the attention of James Barrie. Now, with the blessing of the Victorian Society and the BBC, Miss Ashford takes her rightful place on the literary shelf between Matthew Arnold and Jane Austen.

9:00p.m. A "Sumshious Repast"
As described by Miss Ashford for the wedding reception:

"a lovly wedding cake of great height with an angel at the top holding a sword"

"ham salid,"

"jelly merangs,"

"jam tarts with plenty of jam on each"

"punch with an ice ring full of vilets"

Reservations are $15. for members & 17.50 per guest. Please respond by Saturday, February 12, 2005. Contact person is Larry Southwick at (513) 221-4434.

See also: BBC Young Visiters page

POLL RESULTS - WHO WAS THE GREATEST VICTORIAN?

Last month we asked you to name the greatest Victorian. The overwhelming verdict was that it was Queen Victoria herself.

Leading poll results: Queen Victoria 26%;  Charles Dickens 15%; William Morris 13%.  Dear Oscar!.. outcast again (ed.).

MEMBERS

Richard Guy Wilson

A celebration of early American house forms.

The Colonial Revival emerged in the late 19th century and was quickly embraced by the American public. It has remained the nation's style of choice for well over a hundred years, appearing in banks, post offices, schools, libraries, and a majority of suburban homes. Marked by dignified symmetry, large column-supported porticoes, and Palladian windows, Colonial Revival architecture is found in virtually every city across the United States.

In this beautiful volume, Richard Guy Wilson, the foremost expert on the subject, leads the reader on a tour of 40 of the finest examples of the Colonial Revival, illustrating its evolution, from its earliest sources, as well as its regional variations.

Richard Guy Wilson, Director of the Victorian Society in America's Newport Summer School, holds the Commonwealth Professor's Chair in Architectural History at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia (Thomas Jefferson's University).  He is also Chair of the Department of Architectural History.  He has served as an adviser and commentator for a number of television programs on PBS and A&E, most recently more than 65 segments of America's Castles. His specialty is the architecture, design, and art of the eighteenth to the twentieth century.

Gersil N. Kay, of Philadelphia, twice Preservation Officer for the Philadelphia Chapter, has been invited to speak at the International Congress on Historic Buildings at Cambridge University, England, in March 2006.

Anthony Sammarco

VSA national member Anthony Sammarco is a well-known historian and is the author of 40 books on Boston and surrounding areas. He is president of the Bay State Historical League and serves on the board of the New England Chapter of the Victorian Society as well as the Milton Historical Commission and The Capt. Forbes House Museum. He is also a historical column writer for the Milton Times and the Dorchester Community News.

On Thursday, Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the Fiske Public Library, Wrentham, MA, the Wrentham Historical Society will present an illustrated lecture titled "S.S. Pierce: Nineteenth Century Gourmet".  Anthony Sammarco, the speaker, will tell the story of SS. Pierce and Company, a venerable institution known throughout the U.S. for its gourmet foodstuffs and liquors.

 For more information, call Jean Nall, president, at 508-384-7151 or email
 wrenthamh@comcast.net .

MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS

VSA MEMBER
THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION
RECEIVES SAVE OUR HISTORY GRANT
 FROM THE HISTORY CHANNEL^®

 A Dollop of History in Every Bite:
Historical Society Partners With Local Schools to Preserve Culinary Heritage in New Orleans

The History Channel  has announced that it will award The Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC) with an inaugural Save Our History Grant to partner with Elementary and High School students on a culinary history project. The Collection is one of 29 history organizations across the country that will receive Save Our History community preservation grants to fund innovative, educational projects designed to bring communities together and engage children in the preservation of their local history.  The History Channel created the Save Our History Grant Program as an extension of the Save Our History philanthropic initiative, demonstrating The History Channel commitment to inspiring, motivating and educating local communities on the importance of preserving the past.

 

THNOC will engage approximately 420 students in a culinary history project that explores the evolution of Creole Cookery in New Orleans.  Students will design and conduct primary research that connects generations and actively involves the family in education.  This project will test the old Creole proverb, Toute se change, toute se reste (The more things change, the more things stay the same).  Students will learn what Creole cookery is; how it evolved over 500 years; and explore how it has slowly changed over the years as a result of invention, immigration and a cultural ethic that both resists and embraces experimentation and change for the pleasure of the palate.

 The research materials will be preserved at The Williams Research Center of THNOC and will enhance its current culinary and heritage collections. Ultimately this research will result in a cook book to be published with proceeds benefiting the participating schools

Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts

This 1913 Craftsman-style home at 800 Washington St., Cape May, NJ is being transformed into Victorian Cape May's first designer show house. Designers are currently at work on the 6,300 square foot home, which will be open to the public daily from April 23 to August 31. Tickets are $15 per person, and proceeds benefit VSA member the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts (MAC), a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Cape May's Victorian heritage. 

MAC also fosters the performing arts and membership is open to all.  For information about MAC's year-round schedule of tours, festivals and special events, call (609) 884-5404 or (800) 275-4278, or access MAC's web site at www.capemaymac.org

NanceeDees Ravishing Hats & Accessories

If you need an authentic Victorian hat to top off your costume, VSA member Nancee Jelsema has the perfect answer.
 

Nancee has specialized in providing new, authentic replicas of hats worn at the turn of the century, custom made with care and fine attention to detail. 

Visit: Nancee Dees Hats

Florence Griswold Museum
The Home of American Impressionism
www.flogris.org/index.html

Thanks in large measure to "Miss Florence", what is known today as the Florence Griswold Museum has, for more than a century, been the home of the Lyme Art Colony, America's center of Impressionism.

Imbued with the spirit of a remarkable woman, VSA member organization, the Florence Griswold Museum is a historic place that fosters authentic American art.

Family Copies

VSA member Family Copies specialize in the faithful re-creation of oil paintings.  Under the skilled direction of Art Director, Derek Bird, artists hand finish each canvas with delicate cracking, antique varnish, raised brush strokes and impasto, where appropriate.

http://www.familycopies.com/

ARTS AND CRAFTS NEWS

January 21-March 06, 2005 The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, The Beauty of Life: William Morris and the Art of Design has another venue, at Northwester University.
For details http://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/exhibitions/featured.html

December 19, 2004, through April 3, 2005 LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) Exhibition Explores International Context of Arts & Crafts Movement. Works from 75 U.S. and European institutions and private collections on loan for first-ever, in-depth presentation of movement in international context The Arts and Crafts Movement in Europe and America, 1880–1920: Design for the Modern World. For details www.lacma.org

March 2005 -- Roycroft Foundation tour of the U.S. West Coast.  Plan to join 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.

February 18 – 20, 2005, to be held over the weekend. We have advance notice of the 18^th Arts & Crafts Conference and Antiques Show at the Grove Park Inn, North Carolina. For details acconferenceinfo@aol.com

Byrdcliffe: An American Arts and Crafts Colony is the first major traveling exhibition and publication about Byrdcliffe, an artist colony founded in 1902-03 in Woodstock, New York. Byrdcliffe was an important force in the Arts and Crafts movement in America and has a rich artistic and social legacy. Celebrating over a hundred years as a functioning art colony, Byrdcliffe features 191 fine and decorative arts objects, historical materials, architecture, folk music, and literature produced during the colony's first 26 years, from its establishment to the death of its founder. The exhibition and catalogue examine the artistic, historical, and social significance of the colony. Albany Institute of History and Art (December 18-February 27), the New-York Historical Society (March 15-May 15), and Winterthur (June 11-September 5). www.museum.cornell.edu/byrdcliffe

MISCELLANY

PRESERVATION AWARD RECIPIENTS
1985 to date
http://www.victoriansociety.org/presawardsrecipients.html

In anticipation of this year's Preservation Awards that are presented at the Annual Meeting, visit our Preservation pages and see the previous winners dating back to 1985.

Port Townsend's 9th Annual Victorian Festival
http://www.victorianfestival.org/
March 17-20, 2005

The VSA will have a presence at member organization The Jefferson County Historical Society's Victorian Festival

 

Victorian costumes will be everywhere in town as people help "Celebrate Our Heritage".  Proceeds from ticket sales benefit the JCHS and the restoration of its headquarters, the 1891 City Hall building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

  

Parlor Teas - One of the most popular events  held in the parlors and dining rooms of several  of Port Townsend's most beautiful Bed and Breakfast Inns.  Servers will be in Victorian costumes, to add fun and color to the dining experience.

 

Antique Auction - Friday evening visitors can participate in an antique auction by a professional auctioneer who will bring vintage items and furniture from far and wide.

 

Candlelight Tour - Visitors can participate in  an escorted tour of three of Port Townsend's most beautiful Victorians.  Guests will board three buses and tour Port Townsend, while hearing stories about its architecture and learning the history of the homes and their original occupants before entering.  After touring each house, participants can snack on light refreshments and chat with the costumed docents before moving to the next house on the tour, where the home visit will be repeated, with a different  round of refreshments. 

 

Historical Theatrics - Another event is a living history portrayal of General George Pickett.  Who was the famous “leader of the charge” and why does he matter so much to the Puget Sound area of Washington?  Find out from Pickett himself during An Evening with George Pickett -- a one-man show with Mike Vouri and Michael Cohen, who plays the banjo and sings period songs.

 

Victorian Fashion Show - Costumes and dresses from private vintage and reproduction collections will be modeled. The Jefferson County Historical Society Museum will also have on display Victorian clothing from the Society's collection.  Clothing for men, women and children will be featured and includes day and evening wear.

 

Victorian Costume Ball - The signature event is the Victorian Costume Ball, held this year at the beautiful Chapel at Fort Worden.  The Cornucopia Concert Band will provide the music, and dances of all types will be on the program, as well as the ever-popular Grand March. 

 

History's Mysteries -  invites you to seek out clues and solve a true to life 1890s Port Townsend mystery. Detectives sworn in receive a game packet containing an official case file providing background on the mystery and tips for finding clues. This includes a clue map, which shows locations of local businesses where they can pick up printed clues and find material evidence. On the weekend, characters (suspects) will be on the streets in costume answering questions and casting doubt on their fellow Port Townsend residents.

 

Other Events - being finalized include a slide lecture on the history and restoration of  Port Townsend's colorful architecture and equally colorful builders, followed by a walking tour of the area, and multiple activities for young people.

 

Mercantile - Shop and munch delicacies in a Victorian atmosphere in the Mercantile featuring items that might be found in a Victorian mercantile.  The venue will be transformed to present a turn-of-the-century atmosphere.

 

For more information or call 206-448-5000 or 1-800-888-2535

 

WEBSITE OF THE MONTH

The Victorian Web
http://www.victorianweb.org/

Probably the best scholarly Victorian resource on the Internet.

PREVIOUS WEB SITES OF THE MONTH

Of that blithe throat of thine from arctic bleak and blank,
I'll mind the lesson, solitary bird - let me too welcome chilling drifts,
E'en the profoundest chill, as now - a torpid pulse, a brain unnerv'd,
Old age land-lock'd within its winter bay - (cold, cold, O cold!)
These snowy hairs, my feeble arm, my frozen feet,
For them thy faith, thy rule I take, and grave it to the last;
Not summer's zones alone - not chants of youth, or south's warm tides alone,
But held by sluggish floes, pack'd in the northern ice, the cumulus of years,
These with gay heart I also sing.

Of That Blithe Throat of Thine, Leaves Of Grass - Walt Whitman.

Lose/lose situation

As today (Feb. 8) is the birthday of John Ruskin your staff of one at the email newsletter explores the potential of insulting a fellow artist.

I refer, of course, to Ruskin's 1877 denouncement of Whistler's Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1875; Detroit Institute of Arts) saying: 'I have seen, and heard, much of Cockney impudence before now; but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public's face.'

Whistler sued for libel but won only the pyrrhic victory of a farthing (¼ penny) in damages, no costs, unsaleable paintings and a tattered reputation.

However, while you ponder the modern artists you could discredit, consider the consequences.  Ruskin, for example, eventually lost his sanity, concluding: "I became powerfully impressed with the idea that the Devil was about to seize me, and I felt convinced that the only way to meet him was to remain awake waiting for him all through the night, and combat him in a naked condition".  So have a care, especially in the chills of February.

Cheerio!

web site links

Let us know what you think of the e-newsletter and what you like to see in it.

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

Copyright 2005. Victorian Society in America. All rights reserved.
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