A Sculptor in the Stacks

A photo of Rodin's Psyche et l'Amour. From the Dawson Family Papers.

All of the hoopla surrounding the grand opening of the North Carolina Museum of Art's expansion this past weekend, including the unveiling of 29 sculptures by Auguste Rodin, reminds us of a few items in the RBMSCL stacks: a 1911 volume of Rodin's conversations with Paul Gsell entitled L’Art, inscribed by Rodin to Warrington Dawson, and two caches of Rodin letters.

Warrington Dawson (formally, Francis Warrington Dawson, Jr.) was an American novelist and journalist who lived in Paris for most of his life. He tells of how he came to know Rodin in a 1913 letter to James Brand Pinker, printed in Duke Professor Emeritus Dale B.J. Randall’s volume Joseph Conrad and Warrington Dawson: The Record of A Friendship:

I first met him [Rodin] in 1899. . . . I called as a newspaper correspondent to write an article about his work, but he was struck by my comments and invited me out to his house at Meudon. He told me that I had the knack of expressing in words just what he had expressed in stone or bronze. . . . Some ten or eleven years ago I was first privileged to see his notes, and I recognized their great value; I proposed to him then that he should allow me to prepare them for publication. He promised me that I alone should do this work when he was ready for it, but did not feel that the time had yet come when the public was prepared.

This collaboration was never completed, and the friendship dissolved, but Dawson’s transcriptions and translations of Rodin’s French notes and his correspondence with Rodin survive in the Dawson Family Papers here at the RBMSCL. The papers also include a few striking contemporary photographs of Rodin’s sculptures.

There are also seventeen letters from Rodin to Marie Hopkins, dating from 1904 to 1915, in the Field-Musgrave Family Papers. Rodin’s gorgeous penmanship in many of these letters is a lovely and understated accompaniment to his epic sculptures now on display down the road in Raleigh.

Post contributed by Will Hansen, Assistant Curator of Collections.

The Story of the 6,487 Books

On this day in 1800, Congress approved the creation of the Library of Congress (here's the birthday blog post from the Library of Congress Blog). By 1814, the collection numbered some 3,000 volumes, many of which burned when the British army invaded the capital city in in August.

On 30 January 1815, Congress and President James Madison turned to former President Thomas Jefferson to help rebuild the library's collection. Jefferson was offered $23,950 for his Monticello library of 6,487 volumes.

That very week, on February 3rd, Francis Calley Gray and George Ticknor arrived at Monticello to pay a visit of a few days to their friend Mr. Jefferson—a visit which Mr. Gray meticulously recorded in his diary, which we hold here at the RBMSCL.

Francis Calley Gray's diary. Nice handwriting!

The morning after a welcoming dinner—complete with silver goblets engraved "from G.W. to T.J."—Mr. Jefferson had prepared a special treat for his guests, both bibliophiles and collectors. As Gray wrote in his diary:

Mr. Jefferson gave me the catalogue of his books to examine + soon after conducted us to his library, + passed an hour there in pointing out to us its principal treasures. His collection of ancient classics was complete as to the authors but very careless in the editions. They were generally interleaved with the best English Translations. The Ancient English authors were also all here + some very rare editions of them. a black letter Chaucer + the first of Milton’s Paradise Lost divided into ten books were the most remarkable. . . . Of all branches of learning however relating to the History of North + South America is the most perfectly displayed in this library. The collection on this subject is without a question the most valuable in the world. Here are the works of all the Spanish [travelers?] in America + the great work of De Brie in which he has collected latin translations of the smaller works published by the earliest visitors of America whose original publications are now lost. It is finely printed + adorned with many plates. Here also is a copy of the letters of Fernando Cortes in Spanish, one of a small edition, + the copy retained by the Editor the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo for himself, but given by him to the American Consul for Mr. Jefferson.

On February 27, following his friends' departure, Mr. Jefferson wrote to bookdealer Joseph Milligan (letter provided by the Library of Congress) to request his assistance in transporting the entire collection to Washington, D.C. These 6,487 books, some of which Mr. Gray had the good fortune to see, now belonged to the American people.

Sadly, an 1851 fire destroyed much of the Library of Congress' collection, including two-thirds of Jefferson's library. Which prompts us to remind everyone that MayDay is coming!

Thanks to Crystal Reinhardt, University Archives Graduate Student Assistant, for helping with this post.

2010 Hartman Center Travel Grants Awarded

The John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Hartman Center Travel Grants. These grants allow scholars to travel to Durham to conduct research using the Hartman Center’s collections.

JWT Fellows:

• Ferdinando Fasce: Department of Modern and Contemporary History, University of Genoa
  “JWT Italy between Reconstruction and the First Oil Shock, from the late 1940s through the 1970s”

• Eva von Wyl: Social and Economic History, University of Zurich
  “Rationalization, Self-Service and American Way of Life: American Eating Habits in Postwar Switzerland (1950-1970)”

Faculty Recipients:

• Shannan Clark: Department of History, Montclair State University
  “The Creative Class: White-Collar Workers and the Making of America’s Culture of Consumer Capitalism”

• Liza Featherstone: Journalism School, New York University; School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
  “Behind The Mirror: Focus Groups and What They Reveal, 1930s to present”

• Michelle Ferranti: Division of Fine and Performing Arts, Marymont Manhattan College
  “History of Women’s Motivations for Douching following the Medicalization of Birth Control in the U.S.”

• Ann McDonald: Department of Art Design, Northeastern University
  “The Role of Publically Displayed Information Visualization in Eliciting Individual and Communal Action”

• Ari Martin Samsky: Global Health Studies Program, University of Iowa
  “Working Through Responsibility: Advertising, Medicine and The Social Good, World War II-the Present"

Student Recipients:

• Abby Bartholomew: College of Journalism and Mass Communications, Advertising Department, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  “JWT’s Application of Psychological Principles to Advertising, the Work of John B. Watson and his Behaviorist Theories”

• Rebecca Burditt: Program in Visual and Cultural Studies, Department of Art and Art History, University of Rochester
  “Seeing Difference: Postwar Hollywood and the Commercial Delay”

• Berti Kolbow: Institute for Economic and Social History, Georgia Augusta University Goettingen
  “Transatlantic Transfers of Marketing Concepts between Eastman Kodak and Agfa, 1880-1945”

• Shawn Moura: Department of History, University of Maryland
  “Target Market Brazil: Postwar Advertising and Consumer Culture in the Country of the Future”

• Cory Pillen: Department of Art History, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  “WPA Posters: A New Deal for Design, 1936-1943”

• Elizabeth Spies: Department of English, University of California, Riverside
  “Advertising Stigmatas: The Evolution of Poetic Advertising throughout the Twentieth Century, 1890-1980”

Watch The Devil's Tale for news about upcoming discussions with several of the travel grant recipients from the Hartman, Bingham, and Franklin Research Centers.

April Showers Bring New Finding Aids!

Our technical services archivists have created a veritable deluge of new finding aids for some of our older collections. All of the following collections are open for research. Please contact the Special Collections Library at special-collections(at)duke.edu with any questions.

Japanese Matchbox Label Collection, circa 1910

400 vividly-colored Japanese matchbox labels are mounted in a contemporary paper album and housed in a custom-made cloth box. Unfortunately, the name of the person who created this marvelous collection is unknown.

Ann Atwater Interviews, 2006

Master and use copies of Jeff Storer's oral interviews with Ann Atwater, an African-American civil rights activist based in Durham regarding her friendship with Ku Klux Klan leader C. P. Ellis.

Montrose Jonas Moses Papers, 1789-1960

The papers of this drama critic, journalist, and author of works on American and European drama and on children's literature includes correspondence with giants of the turn-of-the-20th-century theater, including Eugene O'Neill, Percival Wilde, David Belasco, and Margaret Anglin.

Thomas Lee Settle Papers, 1795-1949

The papers of this Virginia surgeon, said to have pronounced the death of abolitionist John Brown, shed light on the practice of medicine in the 19th century. Of particular interest are documents detailing Settle's own medical service for the 11th Virginia Cavalry.

RBMSCL Photos: The Scribe is Here!

Above, Abigail, who is on loan to us from the Internet Archive, begins our Scribe scanning project. Over the next few months, we'll be digitizing our collections of Utopian Literature and Confederate imprints—and so much more! Remember to visit The Devil's Tale often for more news about the Scribe.

And have a look at Beth Doyle's post about the Scribe installation over at Preservation Underground. We're glad they finally got the Scribe through the doorway.

Photo by Mark Zupan.

On This National Day of Silence

Guide to the William Gedney Photographs and Writings, 1950s-1989

[www.dayofsilence.org]

Women's Education Symposium Redux: Pedagogy Panel

Date: Friday, 23 April 2010
Time: 12:00 PM
Location: Perkins Library Room 118
Contact Information: Kelly Wooten, 919-660-5967 or kelly.wooten(at)duke.edu


Next Friday, join the staff of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture to watch videos from their 30 October 2009 symposium, "What Does It Mean to Be an Educated Woman?"

This month, we'll be watching the "Pedagogy Panel." The full list of speakers, which include RBMSCL Research Services Librarian Elizabeth Dunn, is available on the online symposium schedule. Desserts will be provided!

We'll miss you if you can't attend, but—just in case—videos for all three panels are also available online.

"You've Got . . . Personality: Testimonial and Celebrity Endorsement Advertisements"

Date: 8 April-30 June 2010
Location and Time: Rare Book Room cases during library hours
Contact Information: Jackie Reid, 919-660 5836 or j.reid(at)duke.edu

Testimonial advertisements, today seemingly reserved for fading actors, retired politicians, and late-night cable infomercials, were once a mark of innovation and prestige in advertising. This exhibit, a complement to “The Power of Refined Beauty: Photographing Society Women for Pond’s, 1920s-1950s," highlights some examples of this style of advertising, as documented in the collections of the Hartman Center.

In 1923, JWT created a new advertising campaign for Pond’s creams, based on the testimonials of leading American society women and European titled nobility. That campaign lasted for over thirty years and is the focus of half of the exhibit. Newsletters, internal memos, publications, ads and other items allow the viewer a behind-the-scenes look at bringing a concept to fruition in a long-standing advertising campaign.

Taking a broader view, the other half of the exhibit documents an overview of the use of testimonials and celebrity endorsements in advertising for a range of products. From an 1893 endorsement by arctic explorer Lieutenant Peary for Kodak, to Count Basie for Camel cigarettes, to Coach K for American Express, a wide variety of well-known celebrities are shown endorsing products. Advertisements, reports, and memos illustrate advertisers’ belief that celebrity testimonials could lend products a feeling of familiarity and credibility, while also creating the illusion that to purchase a given product was to belong to an elite cast.

Post contributed by Jackie Reid, Director of the Hartman Center, and Lynn Eaton, Hartman Center Reference Archivist

2010-2011 Mary Lily Research Grants Awarded

The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Mary Lily Research Grants. These grants allow scholars to travel to Durham to conduct research using the Bingham Center’s collections.

• Katie Anania, Art History, University of Texas-Austin, for dissertation research on the rise of feminism as a framework for evaluating contemporary art.

• Lori A. Brown, Architecture, Syracuse University, for research for a book examining the relationships between space, abortion, and issues of access.

• Kate Eichhorn, Culture and Media Studies, The New School, for research comparing zines and scrapbooks as archival collections of ephemera.

• Julie Enszer, Women’s Studies, University of Maryland, for an examination of lesbian-feminist print culture in Durham, NC, 1969-1989 as part of a historical narrative of lesbian-feminist publishing.

• Karen Garner, Historical Studies, SUNY Empire State College, for an examination of U.S. global gender policy in the 1990s.

• Rebecca N. Mitchell, English, University of Texas – Pan American, for research for an article examining the proto-feminist aspects and eroticism of Victorian mourning attire.

• Michelle Moravec, History and Women’s Studies, Rosemont College, for research on feminist art activism as a U.S. social movement, 1967-1991.

• Whitney Strub, Women’s Studies and American Studies, Temple University, for research for a book examining the relationships between queer sexuality, LGBT activism, and antigay activity in post-WWII United States.

Watch The Devil's Tale for news about upcoming discussions with several of the travel grant recipients from the Bingham, Hartman, and Franklin Research Centers.

Patricia Derian Papers Coming to Duke

The Archive for Human Rights has signed an agreement with Patricia Murphy Derian to serve as the repository for her papers, which document her long career in human rights.

Patt, as she is known to friends and family, was involved in the civil rights struggles in Mississippi prior to being tapped by President Jimmy Carter to head the newly-minted Bureau for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. In 1977, she became the nation's very first assistant secretary for human rights.

Her papers consist of country files, general files, correspondence, and a collection of audio and video interviews. Processing of the collection will begin immediately and should be complete by summer of 2010. If you'd like to arrange a visit to view the collection, or if you have any questions, please e-mail us at special-collections(at)duke.edu.

Post contributed by Patrick Stawski, Human Rights Archivist

Freedom Politics: From Jim Crow through Civil Rights and Black Power

Date: Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Time: 1:30 PM (please see schedule)
Location: Room 240, John Hope Franklin Center (directions)
Contact Information: fhi(at)duke.edu

"After a cross is burned in front of a freedom house,it is turned into a freedom sign." Photographed by Tamio Wakayama.

2009-2010 Mellon HBCU Fellows Rhonda Jones and Dirk Philipsen will bring together leading African American Studies scholars for the Franklin Humanities Institute's 2nd Annual HBCU Fellowship Program Symposium. The symposium will explore the relationship between education and democracy, from the history of student-led social movements like SNCC to the use of African American oral histories in civic education today.

The symposium is co-sponsored by John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture and the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture.

Please register by e-mailing fhi(at)duke.edu by Friday, 9 April. A light dinner will be provided for participants in the 5:30 PM workshop, so please indicate in your e-mail if you plan to attend that session. Registration is free.

"The Power of Refined Beauty: Photographing Society Women for Pond's"

Date: 5 April-22 August 2010
Location and Time: Special Collections Gallery during library hours
Contact Information: Jackie Reid, 919-660 5836 or j.reid(at)duke.edu

Nadejda, Marchioness Milford Haven, n.d., by Edward Steichen. Photograph courtesy of the J. Walter Thompson Company Archives.

Nadejda Mikhailovna Romanov Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven, won a Charleston dance competition at Cannes in 1921 with the future King George VI.

Anne Tracy Morgan organized the American Fund for French Wounded, earning the Croix de Guerre and recognition from the French Legion of Honor.

Clare Josephine O’Brian Egerton, Duchess of Sutherland, lost $84,000 of jewels on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.

Along with other socialites, heiresses, and royalty from families such as the Vanderbilts and the Roosevelts, these women appeared in Pond's socialite endorsement campaign, masterminded by the J. Walter Thompson Company. The Hartman Center's new exhibit,"The Power of Refined Beauty: Photographing Society Women for Pond's, 1920s-1950s," charts the course of this wildly-successful thirty-year campaign.

Adding to the prestige of the campaign, the women's photographs were taken by distinguished fashion photographers such as Edward Steichen, Baron Adolph de Meyer, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, and Cecil Beaton.

A print catalog of these photographs will complement the exhibit. Please e-mail hartman-center(at)duke.edu to request a copy.

Sam Stephenson and The Jazz Loft Project

Date: Monday, 12 April 2010
Time: 12:00 PM
Location: Rare Book Room
Contact Information: Jeremy Smith, 919-660-5839 or jas5(at)notes.duke.edu

Join us as the Jazz Archive hosts Sam Stephenson, director of the Jazz Loft Project.

Sam will discuss the history of his work on this fascinating audio and photographic archive and will highlight some of the recent project results, including a new book, radio series, and traveling photography exhibition. The Gothic Bookshop will provide copies of The Jazz Loft Project at a 20% discount and Sam will be available to sign copies.

Guests are invited to bring their own lunches, but dessert and drinks will be provided.