Vintage Points

In recent months we have added to the Chapin Library a variety of ephemera from the collection of Henry M. Halsted III, Williams Class of 1948. Most of these items were printed in the nineteen-fifties and sixties, during the Cold War between the Eastern Bloc led by the Soviet Union and the Western powers led by the United States – a volatile period sadly underrepresented by primary resources in the Chapin.

Among Mr. Halsted’s gifts are two English-language “information bulletins” from 1961, concerning the Soviet-organized World Youth Forum to be held in Moscow, one of a series of forums or festivals called supposedly to foster youth solidarity in the case of peace, but actually to enlist young people in promoting causes of the Soviet Union; two typed letters signed, in Russian, by the Vice-Chairman of the Committee of Youth Organizations of the U.S.S.R., Moscow, January 1960; a mimeographed typed letter signed, in English, from the same source, March 1960; and a mimeographed Appeal of the Plenary Meeting of the Committee of Youth Organizations of the USSR. Mr. Halsted has also given us two good anti-Soviet items, a 1962 pamphlet which exposes the ideological purpose behind the World Youth Festival then recently held in Helsinki, Finland (the cover photo, however, is from the opening ceremony of the festival held in East Berlin), and a “picture story”, Attention Comrades! (1954), which lampoons life behind the Iron Curtain through photographs of the popular Czech comedian Jara Kohout.

In addition, we have been pleased to accept from Mr. Halsted an envelope from May 1930, sent to his father, Henry M. Halsted, Jr. (Williams Class of 1918) in Antwerp from Rio de Janeiro via the renowned airship Graf Zeppelin (LZ 127); and three German stamps in the amounts of 100, 4 million, and 50 million Marks, representing the soaring cost of domestic letter postage – which in fact went much higher still before the year’s end – during the period of hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic in 1923. We agreed with the donor that a remarkable amount of political, social, and economic history is bound up in these small packages, and hope that they will help to bring alive to our students some of the thoughts and events of the twentieth century. – WGH

Shown are the cover of World Festival Helsinki 1962 (New York: Independent Research Service, [1962], printed in the Netherlands), and the three German postage stamps from 1923.

A public reading of the Declaration of Independence, the British reply to the Declaration of September 1776, King George III’s speech to Parliament of October 1776, and the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution will take place on Sunday, July 4th, at 1:30 p.m. outside the Williams College Museum of Art. Williamstown Theatre Festival actress Jessica Hecht (appearing in Our Town from July 28th) will read the Declaration and Preamble, while the British texts will be read by Michael Coglan, the Festival’s Associate General Manager. The Chapin Library’s collection of the Founding Documents of the United States is on display at the College Museum until the completion of the Stetson-Sawyer project a few years from now. – WGH

Chesterwood, an Historic Site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has transferred its archival collections to the Chapin Library for preservation, digitization, and access. Daniel Chester French (1850–1931), America’s foremost twentieth-century public sculptor, lived at Chesterwood, his Stockbridge, Massachusetts country home, studio, and gardens, for more than thirty years, during which time he documented the creation of iconic pieces such as Minute Man (1875) in Concord, Massachusetts, and Abraham Lincoln (1922) for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

After decades of very limited public access to the collections, the National Trust decided to transfer the Chesterwood Archives to an institution that could properly preserve and manage them, while making them more readily available to the public. After considering various repositories, including the Library of Congress which has a major collection of Daniel Chester French papers, the National Trust selected the Chapin Library because of its close proximity to Chesterwood, its growing collection of archives on American artists, and a faculty willing and able to use the collections for research, teaching, and exhibition.

“The Chesterwood Archives are enormously valuable not only to America’s legacy in the arts, but to our understanding of pivotal events and historic figures,” said Richard Moe, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “We strongly value our partnership with Williams College, which will ensure these cherished pieces of history will be properly preserved, understood and appreciated for generations to come.”

Among rarely seen items in the collection is Daniel Chester French’s account book, made public for the first time and valuable for its wealth of information on his sculptural commissions and smaller works of art, all far less known than his public works. The Chesterwood Archives also include the most extensive collection of photographs depicting French and his studio, giving art enthusiasts a unique glimpse into the work environment that inspired this revered 20th-century artist. There are research photographs and postcard views for study purposes from ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, Italian Renaissance sculpture, modern French sculpture, and American works by French’s contemporaries. His scrapbooks, travel albums, correspondence, and guest books also shed light on his relations with the individuals who surrounded him.

A significant part of the collection consists of the personal papers, photographs, and ephemera of the individual largely responsible for keeping French’s memory alive: his daughter, Margaret French Cresson (1889–1973). Active in the arts as a sculptor herself, “Peggy’s” fascinating life growing up in New York and at Chesterwood is captured in audio recordings and transcripts of oral history interviews which paint an intimate portrait of her family. Among her papers also are records of the bronze reproductions she made of French’s plaster models, one of which, the standing figure of Lincoln located at the State Capital in Lincoln, Nebraska, can be seen on the grounds at Chesterwood.

“With this Williams College partnership, Daniel Chester French’s prolific body of work and personal advocacy of the arts will become better known through future exhibitions, programs, and publications in association with the Williams College Museum of Art and the Chapin Library,” said Donna Hassler, Director of Chesterwood. “The French family archives will be properly maintained at the Chapin Library by professional staff and made readily accessible to people interested in discovering more about the artistic career of Daniel Chester French, known in his time as the ‘Dean of American Sculpture’.”

“French deserves to be studied more extensively and intensively than has been the case in the past, and now the Chesterwood Archives can provide a constant source for study, exhibition, and inspiration,” said Robert L. Volz, Custodian of the Chapin Library. “The collaboration between Chesterwood and the Chapin Library will do much to encourage research and publication about Daniel Chester French and his sculptures.”

For more information on the complete Chesterwood Archives, visit this site. Descriptions and electronic records are being readied for mounting on the Chapin Library web site and in the Williams College online catalog.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a non-profit membership organization which brings people together to protect, enhance, and enjoy the places that matter to them. By saving those places where great moments from history – and the important moments of everyday life – took place, the National Trust for Historic Preservation helps revitalize neighborhoods and communities, spark economic development, and promote environmental sustainability. With headquarters in Washington, D.C., eight regional and field offices, twenty-nine historic sites, and partner organizations in fifty states, territories, and the District of Columbia, the National Trust for Historic Preservation provides leadership, education, advocacy, and resources to a national network of people, organizations, and local communities committed to saving places, connecting us to our history, and collectively shaping the future of America’s stories. – WGH

Adapted from the press release issued on June 10 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Shown is one page from Daniel Chester French’s manuscript account book (all rights reserved).

The Chapin Library’s recent acquisition of Physiologie du goût, ou Méditations de gastronomie transcendante by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1825, dated 1826) is celebrated in the March 2010 Williams Alumni Review, available here. This first edition of one of the foundation works of culinary history and gastronomy, one of only two known copies inscribed by the author, came to the Library through the generosity of Bruce Healy, Class of 1968, and his wife Alice, in memory of Alice’s great-uncle, Albert O. Fenyvessy. The Healys have also established a fund for the Chapin Library with which other important books in the area of French cuisine may be purchased.

An essay on the Physiologie du goût by Darra Goldstein, Francis Christopher Oakley Third Century Professor of Russian and editor-in-chief of the journal Gastronomica, may be read here.

Acquisitions on the Healy Fund complement rare cookery books already in the Chapin, such as the Apicius or De Re Coquinaria of 1541 and more than 500 American cookbooks presented in 1998 by Eleanor T. Fordyce, mother of Robert P. Fordyce, Class of 1956. Comments on the Library’s cookery collection by Chapin Custodian Robert L. Volz may be read here. – WGH

Shown is the Physiologie du goût in its two volumes and contemporary binding.

Although today he is overshadowed by contemporaries such as Charles Dana Gibson and James Montgomery Flagg, Charles Buckles Falls (1874–1960) was widely esteemed among American graphic artists in the early 20th century. His 1917 poster Books Wanted for Our Men in Camp and “Over There” was the most reproduced of the First World War, and his ABC Book for children (1923), illustrated with color woodcuts, was in print for almost sixty years.

As a member of the wartime Division of Pictorial Publicity, Falls promoted the U.S. Marine Corps in particular. In February 1919, appointed a Sergeant in the Marine Corps Reserve, he visited Haiti on behalf of the Corps’ Recruiting Publicity Bureau. Sketches he made there became etchings and woodcuts. He also illustrated a 1922 article for the April 1922 Century magazine, “Haiti under American Occupation” by Ernest H. Gruening. Haiti, together with Santo Domingo (the Dominican Republic), had been invaded by the United States in July 1915 to protect American political and financial interests threatened by a popular uprising. The occupation lasted until August 1934.

Falls’ journey to Haiti in 1919, though artistically fruitful, was a disappointment due to lack of interest by the local command. On his return to the United States, he received a written apology from Publicity Bureau headquarters in Washington, assuring him that the incident was not typical behavior for the Corps. In any event, Falls retained his interest in Haiti, and returned there in December 1945 for a stay of two months. From this visit would come a series of oil paintings and magazine art. Some of his original views of Haiti from 1919 and 1945–6, as well as a block for a related woodcut and a February 1947 article on Falls in American Artist, are on display on the main level of Sawyer Library through June 12th. All of these have been drawn from the extensive C.B. Falls collection in the Chapin Library, acquired from the artist’s widow, Bedelia Croly Falls. – WGH

Shown is a painting by C.B. Falls, Haitian Idyl, as reproduced in American Artist for February 1947.

While the Chapin Library is in temporary quarters at the Southworth Schoolhouse, a few of its important holdings are on display at the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA).

The Founding Documents of the United States were lent to WCMA in early 2008, so that they could remain on public view pending the renovation of Stetson Hall, where the documents’ special “shrine” is located. These original printings of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, together with the September 1776 British reply to the Declaration and George Washington’s copy of The Federalist (1788), are part of a continuing exhibition at WCMA, Manifestos: American Dreams and Their Founding Documents. Complemented by examples of American art from Museum collections, the Chapin items are joined by a first printing of the Emancipation Proclamation; a copy of the Reverend Samuel Cooper’s Sermon on the commencement of the Massachusetts constitution in 1780; an official printing of the Definitive Treaty of Peace and Friendship, 1783, which ended the American Revolution; and the original manuscript of the last will and testament of Ephraim Williams, which established the free school that became Williams College.

Near the Manifestos gallery may be seen The Matter of Theology: A Conversation with the Collection. This long-term installation, which explores art in a theological context, includes a number of works from the Chapin Library: a manuscript Hebrew scroll of the Book of Esther, ca. 4760 AM (1000 CE); a Sumerian cuneiform tablet from the 3rd century BCE (an inventory of animals presented to a temple for sacrifice); papyrus fragments from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, 7th century BCE; a manuscript Vulgate Bible, Paris, ca. 1240–50; a Greek manuscript New Testament, the Codex Theodori, from Mt. Athos, 1295; a manuscript psalter, made in central Germany, ca. 1400; a manuscript book of hours from Ghent or Bruges, ca. 1520; the first printed edition of the Gospels in Arabic, Rome, 1590; a Muslim prayer book from Persia, late 18th century; a leaf from a manuscript Bhagavata Purana of the early 19th century; and a manuscript Qur’an, 1249 AH (before 1833 CE).

Among the items in the current WCMA exhibition Remington’s Bronco Buster: From Art Icon to Pop Icon (ends July 25) are a print from the Chapin Library’s portfolio of George Catlin’s North American Indian Portfolio (London, 1844), and a finely preserved copy of Ranch Life and the Hunting-Trail (New York, 1888) by Theodore Roosevelt.

Finally, in the WCMA display Tristin Lowe: Mocha Dick (ends August 8),  a sculpture of a great white sperm whale is accompanied by the Chapin copy of the first American edition of Moby-Dick (New York, 1851). Melville’s novel is only one of many important resources in the Library for the study of American commercial whaling, an illustrated list of which may be found on our web site.

Exhibitions such as these are not an end in themselves for the Chapin Library, but advertisements for works we hold ready to be used by the Williams community. We are always pleased to have students and faculty visit us in our reading room (Southworth Schoolhouse, Apt. 3) to experience rare books and manuscripts up close and personal. – WGH

Shown is the title-page of the Chapin Library’s first printing of the Articles of Confederation (1777), with part of its original blue paper wrappers visible.

Update (September 14): The exhibition The Matter of Theology at the Williams College Museum of Art has closed. The Chapin Library’s exhibits will be available to see in our reading room on request.

During the holidays just past, we were pleased to receive for the Chapin Library notable gifts from Neal Baer, M.D. and Ms. Gerrie Smith of Los Angeles, California, and from Dr. Michael D. Rosse of Yeadon, Pennsylvania.

From Dr. Baer and Ms. Smith came a book considered one of the most important in the history of medicine: The Seats and Causes of Diseases Investigated by Anatomy, in Five Books, Containing a Great Variety of Dissections, with Remarks by John Baptist Morgagni, published in London in 1769. It is the first edition in English of Giovanni Battista Morgagni’s De Sedibus et Causis Morborum (first published in Latin in 1761) and a fine set of the three volumes, bound in contemporary calfskin. We were happy to accept it as a gift made in honor of the donors’ son, Caleb, who will enter Williams with the Class of 2014. Morgagni (1682–1771), a teacher of anatomy in Padua, showed through case histories how postmortem anatomical investigation, compared with clinical symptoms, can reveal the points at which disease causes the body to fail. On the strength of this book, with its methodical analysis and classification, Morgagni has been called the founder of modern pathological anatomy.

Michael Rosse has been a regular donor to the Chapin Library, in support of an archive centered on the work of his Dutch-American parents, the distinguished artist and architect Herman Rosse and the talented landscape designer S. Helena Rosse. For his 2009 gift, Dr. Rosse presented the Chapin Library with six sheets containing sketches by his father, at least two for a theatrical production set in Venice; six 18th- and 19th-century prints from his father’s reference collection; three volumes by John Ruskin from Herman Rosse’s library; and an interesting wooden chest, painted by Herman Rosse in an Arts and Crafts style in the early years of the 20th century and always kept on display in the family home as a treasured artifact.

With the help of a colleague, German expert Dr. Arden Smith of California, we have learned that the inscription painted on the lid of the chest reads: “Wie sehrte mich Sehnen nach solcher Minne! / Wie, Maid, dich nach meiner! / Nun ist es gewisz; nun werden wir ewig beisammen sein.” Which freely translates as: “How longing for such love injured me! / As longing for mine injured thee, maid! / Now it is certain; now we will be together forever.” This is a German translation of the final strophe of the Fjolsvithmal or Lay of Fjolsvith from the Icelandic Elder (or Poetic) Edda. In Lee Hollander’s English translation from the Icelandic, this reads: “Heartsick was I; to have thee I yearned, / whilst thou didst long for my love. / Of a truth I know: we two shall live our life and lot together.”

The lay is one of a pair of poems, together the Svipdagsmal or Lay of Svipdagr, concerning a young hero named Svipdag given the task of winning the hand of the maiden Mengloth in Giant-Land. In the first poem, he visits his mother’s grave and receives spells to help him on his way. In the second, he comes to a great house or castle surrounded by flames. Mengloth dwells there, with nine maidens to help her. Svipdag puts a long series of riddling questions to the watchman, Fjolsvith (“the very wise”), to learn how he might evade dogs and other obstacles blocking entrance to the house. Finding that the house can be entered only by one hero, Svipdag, whom Mengloth is fated to marry, Svipdag identifies himself and is allowed to pass. Mengloth greets him as her deliverer. In Hollander’s translation and others from the original text, it is she who speaks the final words of the poem, but in the German translation the final words are given to Svipdag. Some scholars associate Mengloth with Freyja, the Norse goddess of love, beauty, fertility, etc., and Fjolsvith with Odin (“the very wise” is one of his epithets). – WGH

In the course of a long and successful career, John DePol (1913–2004) produced thousands of wood-engravings, etchings, and lithographs to illustrate books, pamphlets, broadsides, ephemera, and advertisements. He worked with commercial firms and with many distinguished American private printers such as the Allen Press, the Stone House Press, and the Yellow Barn Press. In 1963 the Chapin Library engaged him to produce a two-color wood-engraving of Stetson Hall (reproduced at the top of Chapin web pages). Since then, the Library has taken a keen interest in DePol’s work, and the artist reciprocated, donating numerous examples.

In October 2009 the artist’s daughter, Patricia DePol, generously added more than 300 pieces to the John DePol archive in the Chapin Library, among which were the selection of Christmas cards on display on the main level of Sawyer Library from December 15, 2009 through January 14, 2010. Most of the cards were for the artist’s personal use, and were printed directly from the engraved block. Others were made on behalf of businesses such as Blackwell North America, the Campbell-Logan Bindery, Carroll McEntee & McGinley (now HSBC Securities), and the Security-Columbian Banknote Company of New York. – WGH

Shown above, about twice its original size, is a two-color wood-engraving by John DePol, as printed on the smallest card in the Sawyer Library display.

The importance of the bee to life on earth has long been recognized. Nearly 19,500 bee species have been counted worldwide, most of which do not produce honey but are crucial nonetheless as pollinators of flowering plants, including many food crops. Much attention is now being focused on bees, as entire colonies have disappeared and the possible causes of their deaths – viruses, pesticides, and genetically modified plants among them – are hotly debated. Bees have also long been a part of human culture, symbols of industriousness and loyalty, prized for their honey and wax. The domestication of wild bees (apiculture) has been practiced since the time of the Pharaohs in ancient Egypt, some fifty centuries ago.

A significant collection of books on bees and beekeeping has been given to the Chapin Library by Mrs. Leeta L. Bailey of Amherst, Mass., through the offices of her son, Duane A. Bailey of the Williams Computer Science Department. Numbering more than 200 volumes, the books were assembled by Mrs. Bailey’s late husband, Duane W. Bailey (1936–1998), a respected mathematician, professor, and coordinator of computer planning at Amherst College as well as a serious amateur beekeeper. Some of the books in the Bailey collection are practical manuals, while others are rare treatises. The earliest volume is from 1634 (Charles Butler’s famous Feminine Monarchie), the latest from 1998. The collection joins a number of classic apiculture texts already at the Chapin Library, beginning with the 1488 Dutch edition of Thomas de Cantimpre’s Bonum Universale de Apibus (Der bien boeck).

A selection of books from the Bailey gift is on display in Sawyer Library (main level) through the end of October. An inventory of the collection is available on the Chapin Library website. – WGH