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205 S. Camac St, Philadelphia, PA  19107 ~ Phone: 215-545-8340 ~ Fax: 215-545-8379
 

 
New e-newsletter editor
Personal greeting from the new E-Newsletter Editor

Ken Olin

Many of you may recognize my name by now as the recently installed Business Manager of the Victorian Society in America. I hope you will bear with me as I take over the reigns (i.e. reins) of this ongoing project known as the monthly e-newsletter.

This first issue will be a joint March/April version covering recent news and upcoming events. You may see some changes over the course of the next few months as it evolves and builds on its past.

I would be remiss if I did not thank the outgoing – in more ways than one – editor, John Cooper, who will remain working as the Webmaster for our extensive website for a while yet. If you’ve not visited the main web site recently, you can do so by clicking here.

Now, on to the News…

Ken

2007 PRESERVATION AND BOOK AWARDS

The Victorian Society in America will announce the following annual awards for preservation projects and new books at its 41st Annual Meeting and Conference in Mobile, Alabama, on April 28, 2007.
 

 
2007 PRESERVATION AWARDS

The Victorian Society presents six awards for meritorious preservation and restoration projects completed in the past two years. Nominations were submitted by the Society’s chapters and members for significant buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places and constructed between 1837 and 1917. Restorations must meet local, state, or national standards of historic preservation.  Five major projects received the highest honor, the “award,” and one received a “commendation.” 

Pennsylvania State Capitol Building

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Award

Constructed between 1902 and 1906, this Beaux Arts masterpiece was intended by its architect, Joseph Huston, as a “palace of art.”  Noted artists were commissioned to execute the extensive murals and sculpture that decorate the building.  Only the finest materials were used, with chandeliers and decorative furnishings custom designed for their location. The grand staircase was modeled after that of the opera in Paris, and the building’s dome after that of St. Peter’s in Rome.

By 1982, however, the building was swiftly deteriorating, and a 25-year restoration program was begun to bring the exterior and interior of the structure back to their original glory.  Utility, life-safety and climate control systems were upgraded throughout the building’s 450,000 square feet.  All of the murals, sculptures and surfaces were cleaned and restored.  Based on extensive historical research and documentation, the painstaking restoration carefully adhered to the highest standards and can serve as a model for other states. 

Leland Stanford Mansion

Sacramento, California

Award

 

This home was purchased by Stanford in 1861 and in 1871-72 was enlarged in the Second Empire Style to reflect his status as governor of California.  Almost tripled in size, the additions included a billiard room and a vast ballroom and were stylishly furnished.

 

In 1902, Mrs. Stanford donated the home to the Catholic Church for an orphanage, and it was used by the church for institutional purposes until 1985, by which time it has been purchased by the State of California.  Utilizing historic 1872 photographs, the interior was restored with original and appropriate period furniture.  Systems were upgraded, and all work was reviewed by numerous city, state and national agencies.  The mansion is now open for public visitation and also serves as a venue for official state receptions.

 

Union Station

Springfield, Illinois

Award    

 

The magnificent 150-foot clock tower of this Romanesque Revival building, constructed in 1898, was removed in 1946 in a program to “modernize” the structure.  After disuse as a train station, the building was converted into a shopping mall and subsequently fell into disrepair. 

 

The State of Illinois acquired the building and in 2000 began a complete rehabilitation that included reconstruction of the landmark clock tower, requiring reinforcement of its foundation for support.  The station has been sensitively adapted for reuse as the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, which now welcomes visitors from around the world who come to Springfield to visit Lincoln’s home and grave.

 

Sever Hall at Harvard University

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Award

 

This building was constructed in 1880 in the Romanesque Revival style and is considered a masterpiece of the noted American architect Henry Hobson Richardson.  An unusual feature is its 115 panels of carved gauged brick, each decorated with a different botanical or zoological motif.  The exterior was carefully restored with upgrades to bricks, mortar, brownstone, roof tiles and wood windows that required a highly exacting process. 

 

Now a National Historic Landmark, the building is still in use for classroom, administrative and library purposes.

 

Union League of Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Award

 

The restoration encompassed the exterior not only of the prominent 1865 Second Empire structure on Broad Street but also the Beaux Arts addition behind it. 

 

The Union League’s rich archive of historic photographs and plans provided the documentation needed to replicate the metal roof cresting and repair deteriorated brownstone, stained glass windows and ornamental lighting.  Of particular note was the reconstruction of the missing cupola on the corner tower of the 1865 building.  The complex is still in use for its original purpose as a non-partisan private club.

 

Woodrow Wilson Birthplace
Staunton, Virginia
Commendation

Wilson was born in 1856 in this handsome 1846 Greek Revival home that served as a manse for his Presbyterian minister father.  The building was acquired by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and in 1941 was dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt as a public museum.  Painted white since 1897, the brick exterior was painstakingly stripped and recoated in red to match the color of the original stain.  Other restoration included systems upgrades and exterior work in accordance with federal standards.  The building, now a National Historic Landmark, continues to be open to the public as a house museum.

2007 BOOK AWARDS

Three book awards are for publications released during calendar year 2006.

The Henry-Russell Hitchcock Award, given in recognition of a book of national significance, honors the noted architectural historian who was a founder and president of the Society.

The Ruth Emery Award, designated for books of regional significance, also commemorates a founding member of the Society who was instrumental in forming the Society’s London summer school.

The William E. Fischelis Award, given to outstanding books dealing with 19^th Century arts and artists, was named to honor the former board member, contributor and editor of the Society’s newsletter and magazine.

Henry-Russell Hitchcock Award

Owen Jones: Design, Ornament, Architecture and Theory in an Age of Transition
By Carol A. Hrvol Flores
Publisher: Rizzoli

This beautiful book will serve as an important reference on its subject for years to come for its groundbreaking treatment of a highly influential figure in nineteenth century architecture and design.
 

Ruth Emery Award

Temple of Invention: History of A National Landmark
By Charles J. Robertson
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution

This book is an elegant model of the architectural monograph, providing social, cultural and political context to a national landmark.
 

 

William E. Fischelis Award

Americans in Paris 1860-1900
By Kathleen Adler, Erica E. Hirshler and H. Barbara Weinberg
Publisher: National Gallery Company / Yale University Press

A model of international collaboration and innovative scholarship, this catalog beautifully illustrates cross-cultural influences at a transformative time in American history and culture.

 

MOBILE, AL 2007

The Victorian Society in America
Annual Meeting

Pre-tour:  Wed, April 25^th – Sold Out

Annual Meeting Dates: 
Thurs - Sat., April 26th to 28th

 Post-tour:  Sun, April 29^th – Sold Out
 

CLICK HERE FOR THE BROCHURE

The Annual Meeting itself has only a few spaces left.  Now is the final chance to sign up.

Call the Business Office.

215-545-8340
 

Summer School Alumni take note!
Alumni Association Meeting and Fundraiser
Adjunct to the VSA Annual Meeting

Residence of Tom & Ceil McGehee
1901 Old Shell Road, Mobile, AL
Friday, April 27, 2007 | 6:30 PM

There will be a brief Alumni Association meeting to ratify the revised bylaws together with a fundraising dinner graciously hosted by Ceil and (Alumni Board Member) Tom McGehee during the Victorian Society Annual Meeting in Mobile, AL.

Bus transportation will be provided from and to the Annual Meeting hotel, the Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel.

RSVP: Nancy Golden, 805-563-2315 goldendirect@aol.com
 

CALL FOR PAPERS

The 11^th Annual Salve Regina University Conference on Cultural and Historic Preservation: Leisure, Tourism, and the Nineteenth-Century Resort

October 18-20, 2007
 

Catherine Zipf

Salve Regina University

100 Ochre Point Ave.

Newport, RI  02840

Catherine.Zipf@salve.edu

VSA STUDY TRIP, FALL 2007
 

THE CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY OF MASSACHUSETTS

AMHERST, HOLYOKE, NORTHAMPTON and SPRINGFIELD

AND THE SURROUNDING COUNTRYSIDE

“The abundant cultural riches of the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts will be explored in a four-day (Friday evening through Monday) visit over the long Columbus Day weekend next fall, October 5 through 8, 2007. Several related focuses will be brought together: art, literature, higher education, political and social reform, and industrial development…”

Thus begins the cover article in the new Spring edition of The Victorian, our print newsletter. You should receive it anytime now. There are more details about the Fall Study Trip to come, so be on the lookout for the Tour brochure, due out in a few weeks time.
 

New Board Members
Meet two new members of the VSA Board of Directors
 

Robert G. Chapman, Jr. of Montclair, New Jersey has held a variety of positions involving the application of information technology to the financial industry. During the 1980s and 1990s he was the Senior Executive Vice President and CIO of National Westminster Bancorp, a commercial banking organization. Prior to his work for NWB, he was Vice President of Transaction Technology, Inc. (CITICORP) and was Chairman of Chapman Systems inc.

Mr. Chapman holds a BSEE degree from Princeton University (1961), an MSEE degree from California Institute of Technology, Pasadena CA (1961-1962) and participated in The Executive Program, University of Michigan (1992). He is a Trustee of Mountainside Hospital, Montclair, NJ and is the Vice Chairman of the Zoning Board Adjustment, Montclair, NJ. He and his wife, Carol, are alumni of the London Summer School and Bob serves as membership Secretary of the Alumni Association.

Bryan C. Green of Richmond, VA is an architectural historian with Commonwealth Architects in Richmond. He has a BA in History and Anthropology from University of Notre Dame, an MAH Certificate (1991) in Historic Preservation as well as a PhD in Architectural History from the University of Virginia.

Dr. Green has served as an architectural historian for The Virginia Department of Historic Resources and as Associate Curator for Prints and Photographs, The Virginia Historical Society. In 2002 he received the Gabriella Page Historic Preservation Award from the association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities for Lost Virginia: Vanished Architecture of the Old Dominion. In 1992 he was awarded a scholarship to attend the Victorian Society summer school in London, England.
 

From our friends at Laurel Hill Cemetery
in Philadelphia, PA

Advanced reservations are required, so sign up soon.

Click on the image above for a link to the Laurel Hill Cemetery website.
 

DAHESH MUSEUM OF ART – WINTER 2007 Exhibitions
Fantasy and Faith: The Art of Gustave Doré

Through April 22 (Exhibition ends soon)

Click the image to go to the Exhibition page.

 

Mountain Landscape, Gustave Doré

During the second half of the 19th century, Gustave Doré (1832-1883) was one of the world’s most famous artists. Born in Strasbourg, he was essentially a self-trained prodigy who arrived in Paris in 1846 as a young man and quickly found a place at the center of Second Empire society. He was, and still is, best known as an illustrator of such classic works as Dante’s Inferno, Cervantes’ Don Quixote, Perrault’s Fairy Tales, and, most famously, the great “Doré Bible.”

 

Although he had no true students or followers in his own lifetime, the products of his prodigious visual imagination went on to influence some of the titans of early twentieth-century popular culture, from Cecil B. DeMille to Walt Disney. Even today, Doré’s legacy continues to assert itself in the realm of comic books and graphic novels.

 

This dossier exhibition of paintings, drawings, and books highlights the February publication of Fantasy and Faith: The Art of Gustave Doré (co-published with Yale University Press), which contains groundbreaking essays by Doré scholar Dr. Eric Zafran, the late Professor Robert Rosenblum, and Associate Curator Lisa Small.

For a schedule of adult public programs, family programs, and First Thursdays, visit the Dahesh Museum website.

From the Falls Church Chapter

 

Saturday, April 14, English Tea
in Culpeper, Virginia

There is a special day in the countryside planned for Saturday, April 14, at Tea, Lace and Roses in the Town of Culpeper. Located in the heart of the historic district on Davis Street, the tearoom is a visual as well as culinary delight. The serving rooms are decorated in lace, chintz, flowers, antiques and just the right amount of froufrou!
 

Service will include a full English tea with scones, sweets and savories, and your choice of over 50 teas. Each guest will be served the traditional three-tier tea tray and a pot of tea of your choice...and everything is made on the premises. After tea you may browse the gift shop upstairs, which offers a mix of antique and collectible items. Teas are also available for purchase to enjoy later at home. The Culpeper Antique Mall is a short walk away as are several boutiques and specialty stores. There is on street parking and also a parking lot across Main Street from the antique mall. The cost is $24.70 per person, which includes tax and gratuity.

Should you desire a bit of alternative liquid refreshment, the tea room serves champagne, sherry, wine and sparkling cider by the glass, which would be in addition to the fixed price. Checks for the tea should be made payable to Tea, Lace, and Roses and mailed to Penny Crittenden, P.O. Box 213, Casanova, VA 20139, to arrive no later than April 7. Please feel free to visit their website, www.tealaceandroses.com and get a jump on deciding which tea you wish to order! Victorian attire not required but, of course, it is always welcome and enjoyed!

Saturday, April 21, Arbor Day
in Falls Church, Virginia

Members will again present a realistic re-enactment of this historic Victorian event, first celebrated in the State of Virginia in 1892 at the little village of Falls Church! The celebration is held every year in Frady Park, where the first Arbor Day celebration in Virginia was held. All are welcome but those participating in the re-enactment must be in 1890’s attire.

This year it is especially important that they have a large turnout of Victorians in appropriate period dress. There is every possibility that they will use this event as the kickoff for their long-awaited walking map that identifies all of the Victorian houses still standing in the City of Falls Church!! They have been working towards this for a number of years, and it is now reaching fruition.

Also, the City will be joining in the celebration of the 400^th anniversary of Jamestown with this ceremony so a good turnout of people is important. Midge Wang is organizing a committee to help with the planning; please call her to volunteer or for more information. Also needed are volunteers to bake as they provide simple refreshments to citizens who attend. This event is held rain or shine and starts at 2 p.m. in Frady Park.

From the Metropolitan Chapter, New York City

Lecture Series

TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 6 PM

"Fleas at the Metropolitan Opera!"
Scandal and Gossip in Victorian New York
 

Mark Caldwell, professor of English, Fordham University and author of A Short History of Rudeness: Manners, Morals, and Misbehavior in America and New York Night: The Mystique and Its History
 

New York's fascination with scandal dates back at least to 1835 when a daily newspaper, The Sun, dispatched a reporter to spy on dubious doings after dark. Underground weeklies such as The Whip and The Rake that emerged in the 1840s fueled the city's love of gossip, and in the 1890s Colonel William d'Alton Mann created Town Topics, which reported lurid misdeeds of rich and famous New Yorkers.

Lectures are at the Donnell Library Auditorium, 20 W. 53rd St., New York City. Admission is FREE; no reservations required.

Tours and Special Events:

SUNDAY, MAY 6, 10:30 AM

Walking Tour: Synagogues of the Lower East Side
 

Discover a collection of Victorian-era synagogues surviving in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood that was once a teeming immigrant enclave. See synagogues that still function as houses of worship and others that have been converted to a variety of uses. Visit the historic Eldridge Street synagogue currently completing a decades-long restoration.

The tour will be led by Joyce Mendelson, author of The Lower East Side Remembered & Revisited and a board member of the Metropolitan Chapter.

Tour limited to 25 participants.
$20/members; $30/nonmembers

Proceeds earmarked for the Margot Gayle Fund for Preservation of Victorian Heritage. Reserve by May 4.

From the New England Chapter

Plans for the Chapter’s spring programs are beginning to take shape. On Saturday, April 21st, the chapter will co-sponsor a lecture on the History of the Baker Chocolate Company at Lower Mills, Dorchester, MA.

 

The lecture is scheduled for Saturday, April 21, 1-2 PM at the Old Schwamb Mill, 17 Mill Lane, Arlington, MA.

The lecturer is historian and author Anthony Mitchell Sammarco who has produced more than fifty books in Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series. A decadent chocolate dessert buffet and the opening of the Mill’s spring local artist’s exhibit “Hilary Baldwin’s Paintings of Provence” will follow the lecture.

For more information please call Ed Gordon at 781-643-0554.

From the N. New Jersey Chapter
 

The Northern New Jersey Chapter’s Spring 2007 events include a trip to Howell Farm on Saturday, April 14th. Located two miles south of Lambertville, New Jersey in the Delaware River Valley, the history of Howell Farm is long and varied. Since farming began on this site in the 1730s, just about every type of farming situation has occurred here.

The farm has evolved from a grain producing farm to a dairy farm and over the years various crops have been grown, animals raised, products produced, etc. Today the Farm exists in its rural setting as both an example of farming as it was practiced in New Jersey in the period 1890-1910 and as a landscape where one can find the remnants of over 250 years of farming practice and life.

For further information about the Howell Farm trip please contact Christina Mayer at 973-744-5916 or christina.mayer@fmglobal.com.

Located near the historic village of East Aurora, New York, is one of the area’s most beautiful bed and breakfast inns, a grand old Victorian with Italianate influences.

Like the surrounding western New York area, it contains much history - dating back to the early settlement of the area. 

Now owned by VSA member Peter Dunlop, The Lilacs sits majestically atop serene landscaped surroundings, and is the essence of a country estate.

For more information visit them on the web at:
THE LILACS

Alarm Raised Among the Faithful:
UK’s William Morris Gallery Threatened with Closure

William Morris (1834-96), the British craftsman, designer, writer, poet, typographer, and Socialist best known for his wallpaper and patterned fabrics, was highly influential in the Arts and Crafts movement in the latter half of the 19^th Century, both in England and abroad. His work still resonates today.  The anniversary of his birthday was celebrated on March 24.

Alas, we have worrisome news from our colleagues at The William Morris Society. The local Council for one of Greater London’s 33 Boroughs, Waltham Forest Council has approved cuts that will see a dramatic reduction in the opening hours of both the William Morris Gallery & Vestry House Museum effective from April 2007; the cuts include “restructuring” of the hours both museums are open, which translates to a loss of jobs and valuable expertise. It is likely that this lack of investment could lead swiftly to the closure of both.

From the website, http://www.keepourmuseumsopen.org.uk/, “It is vital that we work together to keep both facilities open and available. We urge people to contact Waltham Forest Council and Members of Parliament and make them aware of the benefits, value and importance of these facilities. More details are listed at the link.”

Assistance from the U.S. has been enlisted to let the Waltham Forest Council officials know that we Americans care about these museums too. If you want to help, click on the image of Morris’ Acanthus design above for a link.
 

  WEBSITE OF THE MONTH

    INVENTIONS
 

Nineteenth Century Inventions 1800 to 1899

Which includes:

Walter Hunt - Inventor of the Safety Pin

By Mary Bellis

The safety pin was the invention of Walter Hunt. 

The safety pin was the invention of Walter Hunt. Hunt was a mechanic from New York, whose other inventions include a forerunner of the Winchester repeating rifle, a successful flax spinner, knife sharpener, streetcar bell, hard-coal-burning stove, artificial stone, road sweeping machinery, velocipedes, ice ploughs and mail making machinery. In 1834, Walter Hunt built America's first sewing machine, which was also the first eye pointed needle sewing machine. He later lost interest in patenting his sewing machine, because he believed the invention would cause unemployment.

The safety pin was invented while Walter Hunt was twisting a piece of wire, trying to think of something that would help him pay off a fifteen dollar debt. On April 10, 1849, the safety pin was patented. Walter Hunt also thought little of his safety pin as an invention and soon sold the patent for four hundred dollars.

For those who don't know what a safety pin is: it is something used to fasten diapers.

THE NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES

 We hope to return in future editions to the Newspaper Archives, highlighting the Society in the News over the past 40 years.

  In closing...

This being the Victorian Society in America, and my initiation as the Editor of this E-newsletter, I shall be so bold as to quote Queen Victoria herself, as she pondered her impending coronation at the tender age of 18:

 

"I look forward to the event which it seems is likely to occur soon, with calmness and quietness.  I am not alarmed at it, and yet I do not suppose myself quite equal to all; I trust, however, that with good-will, honesty, and courage I shall not, at all events, fail."

I’m far from being so young as she was when she wrote that in her diary, but I must admit I’ve felt that way myself, often enough.

Godspeed!

Are you campaigning to save a threatened building? 
Seek a VSA Letter of Support.

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

visit us on the web at www.victoriansociety.org

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