A Moving Experience
 

The Society has a New Home
 

In case you haven’t heard the news by now...

After five years squirreled away at our location on South Camac Street on the east side of Broad Street in Philadelphia, the Victorian Society in America has relocated to new offices on the west side of Broad.

We are now in 3^rd floor office space in the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, which is the eleventh oldest Baptist Church in the US, having been founded in 1698. The landmark building itself dates to 1899, and was designed by Edgar V. Seeler, the architect of several noted buildings in and around Philadelphia, among them the Curtis Center (which is still home to the stunningly beautiful Louis Comfort Tiffany mosaic “The Dream Garden”).

First Baptist Church is the dominant presence on the corner of 17^th and Sansom Streets. The church sanctuary is an impressive hybrid of the Romanesque and Byzantine styles, and is well worth a visit of its own when in town. The Society office can be accessed via the side entrance on Sansom Street, pictured above with Business Manager Ken Olin at the door. Please note the unusual spelling – it is Sansom Street, not Samson. The move became official on September 1^st.

With the move, we have a new mailing address as well as new phone and fax numbers. The new information is as follows:

The Victorian Society in America
1634 Sansom Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103

Phone: 215-636-9872 (easy to remember as 215-636-9VSA)

Fax: 215-636-9873

Our E-mail address and website have not changed.

OCTOBER 5, 2007
PROCLAIMED VICTORIAN SOCIETY IN AMERICA DAY IN SPRINGFIELD, MASS.

 

 President Bruce Davies accepts the Proclamation.

 

At the Society’s Fall Board Meeting, a representative of Mayor Charles Ryan of Springfield read aloud and presented a Proclamation, which declared, in part:
 

…Whereas Springfield is nationally recognized as the City of Homes for our beautiful Victorian homes and collectibles; and

Whereas the City of Springfield is the host community for the 2007 National Chapter meeting of the Victorian Society in America.

Now, therefore, I, Charles V. Ryan, Mayor of Springfield, do hereby proclaim October 5, 2007 as “Victorian Society in America Day” in the City of Springfield.

 

Springfield Proclamation

An Event in Collaboration with…

"Shared Dreams: Partnerships of the Arts and Crafts Movement"

A lecture by Nancy Green

“Shared Dreams: Partnerships of the Arts and Crafts Movement” is the first in a series of lectures and programs being offered collaboratively by the Victorian Society in America, the William Morris Society in the United States, the American Friends of Arts and Crafts in Chipping Campden, and the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms Foundation.
 
  Evelyn & William DeMorgan

Tuesday, 30 October 2007 – 6:00 PM

Reception to follow

The Grolier Club
47 East 60th Street
New York, NY

Entrance Fee: $12 reduced rate for members of the sponsoring organizations; $18 for others.

Tickets may be purchased from the William Morris Society in the United States, via the Society’s secure website (Payal and credit cards accepted) which is listed here, www.morrissociety.org  or by sending a check (please mark the envelope “Green lecture”) to:
 

William Morris Society

P.O. Box 53263

Washington, DC 20009

For complete information about the lecture, Nancy Green, and reserving a seat, click here.
 

2007 Preservation Award Presentation

At a reception celebrating the re-opening of the beautifully appointed Grant Ballroom, Victorian Society in America Executive Vice-President John Simonelli presented the Union League of Philadelphia with their 2007 Preservation Award.

The reception took place on the evening of September 11, 2007, with a large number of Union League members present. Also in attendance were Robert Skaler, the Victorian Society (and Philadelphia Chapter) member who had nominated the building for consideration, and Business Manager Ken Olin, serving as photographer.

Pictured: Executive Vice-President John Simonelli presents the Preservation Award to Union League President Frederick Haab.

In his remarks, John Simonelli read:

 

"For the careful exterior restoration of this imposing 1865 Second Empire club and its 1910 Beaux Arts extension, designed respectively by architects John Fraser and Horace Trumbauer and still in continuous use for its original purpose.

 

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."

Members

Clason Kyle: Author

Life member Clason Kyle has written a book on the history of Georgia’s State Theater, the Springer Opera House, located in Columbus, GA.  Entitled “In Order of Appearance”, the book profiles 108 famous personalities, including Oscar Wilde, Ma Rainey and Truman Capote, who have graced the Springer stage since its opening in 1871, along with many photos.

Copies of “In Order of Appearance” may be purchased through the Springer Box Office 9:30 to 5:30 from Monday through Friday, or in the Springer Gift Shop during performance runs. For more information, call the Springer at 706-324-5714 ext. 121.

Clason Kyle, holding his book, in front of the Springer Opera House.
 

National Gallery of Art Exhibition - J.M.W. Turner

Yes, the National Gallery of Art is one of our members and a fascinating exhibit has just opened there. J.M.W. Turner premiered there on October 1, 2007 and will run through January 6, 2008.

The largest retrospective ever presented in the United States of the career of J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851), one of the greatest landscape painters in the history of art, recently premiered at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The exhibition of some 146 works, divided almost evenly between oils and works on paper, includes many masterworks that have never been shown in the United States. Turner's extensive range of subjects—including seascapes, topographical views, historical events, mythology, modern life, and scenes drawn from his own fertile imagination—are represented.

For a link to information about the exhibition, click on Turner’s painting of “The Fighting Téméraire tugged to her last Berth to be Broken”, above, or here. The exhibition will later travel to the Dallas Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
 

YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART

ART AND EMANCIPATION IN JAMAICA: ISAAC MENDES BELISARIO AND HIS WORLDS
September 27–December 30, 2007

Organized to commemorate the bicentenary of the abolition of the British slave trade, Art and Emancipa-tion in Jamaica: Isaac Mendes Belisario and His Worlds will be the first exhibition to focus exclusively on the visual culture of slavery and emancipation in Jamaica.  Art and Emancipation in Jamaica will chronicle the iconography of sugar, slavery, and the topography of Jamaica from the beginning of British rule in 1655 to the aftermath of emancipation in the 1840s, with a particular focus on the turbulent years preceding and immediately following emancipation in 1838. Gathered together for the first time will be paintings, drawings, and prints depicting life on the Jamaican sugar plantation and images used by the anti-slavery campaign.

For the complete press release about the exhibition, click here.

Image courtesy of http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/slavery.
 

FORGOTTEN PHILADELPHIA:
Lost Architecture of the Quaker City

Society Member Thomas Keels’ Forgotten Philadelphia (Publication Date: September 17, 2007; Temple University Press) provides a remarkable survey of nearly 200 of Philadelphia’s vanished architectural treasures over the past three centuries.

This richly illustrated book uses archival photographs, prints, maps, and architectural plans to “rediscover” the city’s ‘demolished masterpieces.’ Keels also describes how Philadelphia has had a real “appetite for destruction” from 1682 to the present.

The author has a particular appreciation for the architecture of the 19^th Century.

For a link to the Temple University Press website and more information about Forgotten Philadelphia, click on the book cover above, or contact publicist Gary Kramer.

A Fellowship in Pre-Raphaelite Studies
has been announced jointly by
The University of Delaware Library and The Delaware Art Museum

This short-term, one-month Fellowship, to be awarded in 2008, is intended for scholars conducting significant research in the lives and works of the Pre-Raphaelites and their friends, associates, and followers. Research of a wider scope, which considers the Pre-Raphaelite movement and related topics in relation to Victorian art and literature, and cultural or social history, will also be considered. Projects which provide new information or interpretation—dealing with unrecognized figures, women writers and artists, print culture, iconography, illustration, catalogues of artists’ works, or studies of specific objects--are particularly encouraged, as are those which take into account transatlantic relations between Britain and the United States.

The Fellowship is intended for those who hold a Ph.D. or can demonstrate equivalent professional or academic experience.  Applications from independent scholars and museum professionals are welcome. The deadline for applications is December 1.

For expanded information and an application form, write to:

Pre-Raphaelite Studies Fellowship Committee

Delaware Art Museum
2301 Kentmere Parkway
Wilmington, DE 19806 USA

Or click on the Dante Gabriel Rossetti image, or on this link.
 

Call for Papers

DESIGNING THE PARKS

A conference in two parts examining the design of buildings and landscapes in regional, state and national parks. Sponsored by the University of Virginia, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and the National Park Service.

Designing the Parks, Part 1: The History of Park Planning and Design

Charlottesville, Virginia (May 20-22, 2008)

Designing the Parks, Part 2: The Present and Future of Park Planning and Design

San Francisco, California (Fall 2008)

The May conference will meet for three days in Charlottesville, VA. A three-day work session in San Francisco will follow in the fall of 2008. The Charlottesville meeting will be hosted by the University of Virginia and the papers presented will address the history of the planning and design of regional, state, and national parks. The San Francisco meeting, to be held at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, will explore current issues and future trends in park planning and design, building on the research presented at the Charlottesville meeting.

Interested scholars, scientists, park professionals, and design practitioners are invited to submit paper abstracts of no more than 300 words for the Charlottesville meeting of Designing the Parks by January 7, 2008.

For more information, contact Ethan Carr (ec2h@virginia.edu), or Shaun Eyring, NPS-Northeast Regional Office (shaun_eyring@nps.gov), or Stephanie Toothman, NPS-Pacific West Regional Office (Stephanie_toothman@nps.gov).

For  the entire PDF outlining the purpose and expectations of the meetings, click on this link.

Chapter Notes

Business Members

Miscellany