VSA e-newsletter

EVENTS
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 39th Annual Meeting San Juan, Puerto Rico May 4 – 8, 2005. SOLD-OUT
VSA EVENTS For all future VSA events, registration will be begin on an announced date that is sufficiently advanced to preclude advance booking and allow a fair notice to all members.
PUBLICATIONS
PRINTED NEWSLETTER The 2005-1 issue of the printed newsletter was mailed this week, so you should have it in your mailboxes soon. Let me know if it does not arrive within a reasonable time.
MEMBERS
Roger W. Moss Historic Sacred Places Of Philadelphia by Roger W. Moss, Tom Crane (Photographer) VSA stalwart and Advisory Council member Dr. Roger W. Moss is the Executive Director of The Athenæum of Philadelphia. His latest book is Historic Sacred Places Of Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania Press, pp 314). It is a lovely volume now in book stores here in Philadelphia and across the country. If you wish to purchase the book and help the VSA, click on the Amazon.com image. Review "As an Episcopal priest I was familiar with a number of the churches singled out in this gorgeous book, but I was as fascinated and awed by the stories and photographs of the churches I have never entered--but now long to!--as I was with the histories and photographs of the churches I know well. This is a book which will please anyone interested in Pennsylvania or Philadelphia history, church architecture, or the history of architecture, as well as anyone who simply likes to look at exquisite photographs. At the price quoted, this is the steal of the century!" The Rev. Judy Buck-Glenn, Philadelphia, PA Exhibition November 4, 2004 to September 30, 2005 Dorothy W. & F. Otto Haas Gallery The Athenæum of Philadelphia, East Washington Square, Philadelphia, PA. Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm; admission is free An exhibition of photographs by Tom Crane, from the book Historic Sacred Places of Philadelphia by Roger W. Moss. Group tours may be arranged by calling Eileen Magee at 215-925-2688.
Dr. Ian Dungavell (UK) VSA member Dr. Ian Dungavell, who is 38 and the director of the UK Victorian Society, will be going to the US and Australia to explore the role of communities in saving their heritage. He is among more than 100 beneficiaries of this year's Winston Churchill memorial trust awards, a UK scheme designed to create a better understanding of the lives of people and cultures overseas. For more see the article in The Guardian.
Mario Cantin VSA member Mario Cantin who is based in Ontario, Canada and Lewiston, N.Y., has a passion for old buildings He is a professional mason with years of experience repairing old brick buildings and structures who offers expert brick mortar replacement services. Mario tells us there are several key issues that building owners should focus on when contemplating and evaluating a brick and mortar repair job, and the most significant challenge is to do a proper color match. “There’s a lot of art to doing brick replacement properly,” says Mario. “Unless you’ve been around someone who actually built a 90 year old building, you may not appreciate what it takes to repair the crumbling brick and mortar.” There is also special language that was used by masons and brick layers. For instance did you know that jointing is not the same as pointing -- or are you aware of the true definition of tuckpointing? All is revealed by Mario Cantin in his new book *How to Get Your Brick Mortar Replacement Done with a Perfect Color Match* available at the web site www.brickworkpreservation.com. See also the Masonry Magazine article by Mario at: http://www.masonrymagazine.com/6-04/repointing.html A well-preserved example of tuckpointing performed circa 1850
Esley Hamilton VSA member and St. Louis Chapter preservation officer Esley Hamilton, will receive a lifetime achievement award from the Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation. Hamilton has worked for St. Louis County's department of parks and recreation for 27 years, most of those in the middle of the tug of war between preservation and progress. Lovers of old buildings in the metropolitan area rely on his informed presence in critical fights. Hamilton has won the Rozier Award from the state's preservation advocacy organization, called Missouri Preservation. Barbara Fitzgerald, executive director of the Jefferson City-based group, calls the award "our most prestigious." See the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.
Charles DeLisio VSA member and architect at makato architecture and design, Charles DeLisio, has been elected to the New Leadership Board of the Pittsburgh Symphony. makato's work includes the lighting design for two historic building on East Carson Street in Pittsburgh, a nationally recognized historic district.
MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS
Philadelphia Chapter The Philadelphia Chapter has its own fledgling web site under construction at: http://www.geocities.com/vsaphila/home.html PICTURED: The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1876 (Frank Furness, architect)
Alumni Association The latest issue of the Alumni Association newsletter that is sent to Summer Schools' alumni is available online here. All Summer Schools' alumni are urged to retain their membership of the parent organization, the Victorian Society in America. Contact info@victoriansociety.org.
President Harrison Home Opens Special Exhibit This Week *“Coming to America: The Opening of Ellis Island”* INDIANAPOLIS – The President Benjamin Harrison Home, VSA member and home of the only U.S. President elected from Indiana, opens this week a special exhibit entitled, “Coming to America: The Opening of Ellis Island,” which will run through November 11 and is included in the home’s daily tours. The exhibit examines the experience of immigrating to the United States through Ellis Island, which opened during President Benjamin Harrison’s term in office in 1892. The visitor to the exhibit will experience some of the frustrations and emotions, including the medical examination, the questioning, the necessary papers and the waiting immigrants endured. More information is available on the home’s web site: www.presidentbenjaminharrison.org.
ARTS AND CRAFTS NEWS
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 The exhibition will travel to the Milwaukee Art Museum (June 23 - September 11) and the Cleveland Museum of Art (October 16 -January 8, 2006). International Arts and Crafts, at the Victoria and Albert Museum 17 March-24 July, will travel to the Indianapolis Museum of Art (September 27-January 22, 2006), and the de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (March 18-June 18, 2006). 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
WEBSITE OF THE MONTH The VSA Book Store Web site of the month is the VSA's very own, and revamped, book store. Pay a visit and help the VSA by shopping at Amazon. PREVIOUS WEB SITES OF THE MONTH	W. Ninth St. in New York City turns 180 years old this week and in that time it has become famous for many personalities from Henry Brevoort to Barbra Streisand. Worthy of a mention in an article in The Villager is our own Margot Gayle; it says of her: "In 1965, preservationist Margot Gayle summoned Brendan Gill, Henry Russell Hitchcock and others to her fireside at 44 W. Ninth, and formed Friends of Cast Iron and The Victorian Society." Click here for the full article.
ADVERTISERS WANTED The Victorian Society in America offers the opportunity of advertising in its flagship magazine, 19th Century, and on its popular web site. If members can suggest a suitable company as a prospective advertiser, please contact our magazine Advertising Manager, Ivy Strickler at ivy@brewsterinn.com. Meanwhile, the VSA benefits if members support existing advertisers. Please call or email our advertisers on the website or in the magazine for information.
WHAT WAS THAT PICTURE? Somebody asked what was the picture used in the Spring issue of the email newsletter last year. It was Spring Morning by William J. C. Bond, 1856 [Oil on board: 12" x 20"]. For a commentary of the painting please visit Victorian Web.
Did you know? The VSA is 40 years old in December, 2006.
Remembering Our Mission Ô To foster public appreciation and understanding of the artistic expression of the Victorian Era. Ô To draw attention to the merits and significance of Victorian architecture, design, crafts and decoration in every possible way. Ô To prevent needless destruction of important examples of the period and to help protect and preserve such examples where possible. Ô To afford advice to owners and public authorities in regard to the preservation and repair of Victorian buildings and the uses to which they can, if necessary, be adapted. Ô To maintain and preserve archives, books, records, bibliography and all materials and papers relating to Victorian architecture, arts and artifacts. From the bylaws of The Victorian Society in America, Inc., incorporated December 30, 1966.
THE VSA MISSION STATEMENT IS REPRODUCED ON THE FOLLOWING WEB PAGE TOGETHER WITH A PAGE LISTING TODAY'S BOARD AND OFFICIALS: Click below. About VSA
And finally, your staff of one at the email newsletter would like wish (those who celebrate it) a happy first Sunday following the first ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or after the day of the vernal equinox. This greeting is recommended only for those who, like me, are influenced periodically by tabular lunation. Cheerio!
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