Robert Bridges scrapbooks volume three
Just a brief reminder to get your ballot in and a preview of sorts of coming attractions.
By coincidence (or is it?) some recently cataloged scrapbooks from the Pacific Northwest Collection have provided a window into the frequently rough and tumble world of early twentieth century Seattle politics.
Stay tuned for some of these stories, the possible appearance of yet another new blogger, as well as the return of a familiar voice.
Seattle Archives Fair 2009
PNW Blog paid a flying visit last Friday to the Archives Fair, which was held for the first time in the dramatic setting provided by SPL’s Central Library. By all accounts, the event was even better attended than usual this year and deemed a real success. Kudos to the organizers and all participants! And come back soon, Hannah!
As previously mentioned, the annual Seattle Archives Fair, sponsored by the Seattle Area Archivists, will take place this Friday, October 30th, 2009, on level 10 of the Seattle Public Library’s Central Branch. Archivists from a wide range of local repositories will available to answer your questions and share information about the holdings of their institutions.
Representing the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections Division at this year’s event will be Hannah Palin, who will focus on our archival moving image collections. The fair runs from 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM. Directions and additional information is available on the SPL Web site.
After hearing news of the passing of the great dancer and choreographer over the summer, I felt compelled to look through some of the holdings in Special Collections in search of some tangible material documenting Merce Cunningham’s connection with Washington State, which yielded some surprising results.
Born in Centralia, Washington in 1919, Merce Cunningham famously studied dance at Seattle’s Cornish School from 1937-1939, before being plucked by Martha Graham for her company in New York City. Cunningham remained with Graham’s troupe through 1945. He had begun performing his own choreography while still in the company, and, after leaving, he continued to give recitals as a soloist, eventually forming his own company in 1953.
Naturally I looked for some evidence of Cunningham’s student days in the Cornish School of Allied Arts records, but did not find much in the way of official school records, programs, or photographs from this period. I did, however, discover this tantalizing telegram in a file of correspondence from Bonnie Bird:
Telegram sent from Bonnie Bird to Cornish School, August 9, 1999. Cornish School of Allied Arts records. Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries, Seattle, Washington.
The Portland-born Bird (a somewhat neglected figure, whose biography you also can read in Special Collections), had herself studied at the Cornish School with Graham during Graham’s brief tenure as a teacher at the school. Bird joined Graham’s first company, but returned to Seattle in 1937 to head the dance department at Cornish, where Cunningham became one of her students. It was during a Bennington summer institute held at Mills College in Oakland, California, attended by Cunningham, along with Bird and other fellow Cornish students, that Graham first encountered the young dancer. She quickly invited Cunningham and another Cornish colleague, Dorothy Hermann, to join her company, as indicated in this telegram.
While I certainly found the telegram to be thrilling, it ultimately tells us more about Bird (and her view of the situation at Cornish) than it does about Cunningham. However, pursuing Bird led me to another interesting item; this time found in the Ralph H. Gundlach papers. Gundlach, a controversial University of Washington psychology professor, met Bird while she was teaching at Cornish and the two later married. Both were deeply committed to progressive causes and worked with others to stage a fundraising event in support of the Medical Bureau to Aid Spanish Democracy held at Seattle’s Moore Theatre on May 6, 1938. Bird’s major contribution to the evening was a group dance featuring several of her pupils, including Cunningham, Hermann, Syvilla Fort, and Cole Weston. A rare program for this performance can be found among Gundlach’s papers:
Page from Moore Theatre program, "Festival Night," May 6, 1938. Ralph H. Gundlach papers. Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries, Seattle, Washington.
Apparently called, Dances for Spain, the piece, as Bird later described it, “ended with a dance of youth as a very positive thing, in a sense celebrating the youth of Spain” (Transcript of oral history interviews with Bonnie Bird Gundlach conducted by William Riess and Heidi Gundlach-Smith, July to November 1994, page 200). It was remarkable to see Cunningham, whose own work is not usually associated with political causes, taking part in this performance, but it serves as a reminder of just how deeply entwined art and issues of social justice frequently became during that turbulent period.
If you act quickly, you can see some of the dances of this era on display in The Shape of Dissent, the current concert program being presented by the UW Chamber Dance Company. The CDC, whose mission is “to present and record works of historical and artistic significance” is providing a valuable service by breathing new life into choreographic works, which, without continued performance and preservation, threaten to become mere artifacts or to disappear completely. Although the program itself focuses on the choreographers of the (also recently-demised) New Dance Group, you could view it as a tribute to Merce (who, in his own way, was such an advocate of, and innovator in, dance archives) or Bird (who was a champion of dance notation) as well.
Performances of The Shape of Dissent continue through this weekend at Meany Hall (video recordings of the works in the CDC’s Repertory Archive are made available for viewing at the University of Washington Libraries Media Center at Odegaard Library). Merce Cunningham’s life will be celebrated in a special event in New York on October 28, 2009.
Movie night at Camp Gerome, circa 1941.
Tomorrow is Home Movie Day in Seattle, with events taking place in the University of Washington Libraries. From the press release:
The University of Washington Libraries Special Collections, in collaboration with Media Bay Productions, will sponsor Home Movie Day at the Allen Library Auditorium, located on the ground level of the Allen Library, on the UW Campus, Saturday, October 17, 2:00pm – 5:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public. Home Movie Day is a celebration of amateur films and filmmaking held annually at numerous local venues worldwide, providing the opportunity for individuals and families to discover how best to care for their films and get a rare chance to view examples of home movies.
Hannah Palin, Film Archives Specialist, will conduct a Film Preservation Clinic from 2:00pm-3:00pm which will be an opportunity for the public to get film preservation information, view examples of vintage film equipment, magazines and ephemera provided by Philip Borgnes of Media Bay Productions, and to bring in films for identification and preservation advice. There will be a Home Movie Screening featuring selected films from the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections and from Philip Borgnes’ orphan film collection from 3:00pm-5:00pm.
Poster for Wisconsin Archives Month 2009
Since it’s almost midway through the month already, we thought it was about time to give a random shout-out to that other state that begins with the letter W. If you have been following their blog, you are probably well aware that the theme for Archives Month 2009 in Wisconsin is “Scrapbook: Wisconsin” and that repositories from all across the state have been contributing a blog post highlighting a scrapbook or other unique item from their collections. But if you haven’t, we just thought we would let you know about this great initiative.
Look for some more posts about scrapbooks from the Pacific Northwest collection in the somewhat near future.
Former AYPE Forestry building being demolished, 1930.
This evening marks your last chance for a free tour of The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition: When the World Came to Campus, led by exhibit curator, Carla Rickerson. No RSVP or pre-registration is necessary for this one-hour event. Just show up at 6:00 pm in the Suzzallo Library Exhibition Room 102 (just inside the main entrance to the building).
Portrait of Alaska Territorial Governor Scott C. Bone
Recent additions to the University of Washington Special Collections include .21 cubic feet of materials relating to Scott C. (Cardelle) Bone, 1860-1936, a past editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and governor of Alaska Territory from 1921-25. Nellie L. Bruce of Tehachapi, California made the gift in August of this year; it supplements an earlier donation of Scott C. Bone items, dating 1909-1920.
According to the New York City American Press [December 1920], Scott C. Bone was, first and foremost, a newspaperman who firmly believed in government using paid newspaper advertising to talk to the people. He was “a curious chap [with] a mild, genial personality,” and his enigmatic smile was likened to that of da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.” Bone was further described as a man who could not easily be disturbed, but someone who could stand in the middle of a furor and calmly read his home town newspaper as if nothing else were transpiring. A staunch and active Republican, Scott C. Bone professed that “fairness in handling political matter, in both news and editorial columns, is a prerequisite to the influence of any newspaper.”
In addition to serving as editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Scott C. Bone served as editor for the Washington Post and founded the Washington Herald, in which he wrote a tribute dated March 5, 1909 to Theodore Roosevelt after the end of his presidential term. It was during Bone’s tenure with the P.I. that he became interested in Alaska, particularly after taking the Alaska Tour of 1913, sponsored by the Alaska Bureau of Commerce.
Newly elected Governor Bone and his family reported to Juneau and were all quite surprised to find a stately three-story New England colonial mansion among rugged surroundings. President Harding told once told Bone: “Why Governor, your ‘White House of the North’ is finer than my own” [Marguerite Bone Wilcox, “Memories of the Mansion: A Governor’s Daughter Remembers Her Life in Juneau,” Alaska Journal, 1986 16: 42-47]. While in office, Scott C. Bone ordered a relay of dog teams to transport diphtheria antitoxin to Nome in order to fend off an epidemic during an outbreak of the deadly disease. This mission is now commemorated as the popular Iditarod sled dog race.
In his later years, Scott C. Bone wrote various accounts of his Alaskan experiences, some of which are also available at Special Collections. Well-meaning friends offered advice on Bone’s health after observing the aging newspaper mogul’s persistent sweet tooth and expanding waistline. “You are adding weight and consuming much candy,” one wrote to him in April 1932, advising that Bone cut meats and all sugar from his diet unless he wished to meet his demise. Four years later, Scott C. Bone died from a heart attack in Santa Barbara, California, apparently not heedful of his good friend’s advice.
Highlights of the most recent addition (1923-1932) to the Scott C. Bone collection include a manuscript: “Hugh Hamilton: A Tale of Two Capitals” (ca. 1930?), as well as personal and business correspondence, a brochure for a 1932 Alaska Tour, a newsletter and memorial service program for the Alaska Elks Lodge No.420, and a program, with seating chart, for a dinner held at the Gridiron Club of Washington D.C. on December 12, 1931.
Scott C Bone papers finding aid
Submitted by Chery
A culminating Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition centennial symposium to be held at the University of Washington Libraries poses the following question:
How did the AYP reflect, reproduce, and perhaps challenge prevailing notions of race and empire?
The Race and Empire at the Fair Symposium, co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest and the University of Washington Libraries, will take place on October 16, 2009 (the day on which the exposition officially closed), 1:30-4:30 pm. The symposium will feature a variety of speakers on two distinct panels, “Indigenous roles and representations” and “Local and transpacific imperial roots and routes.” This event is open to the public, but requires an e-mail rsvp. For full details and schedule, click here.
Igorrote men and women engaged in ceremonial dance, Igorrote Village, Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition, Seattle, 1909.
Front cover of final edition of the AYP Official Daily Program (Oct. 16, 1909)
Not around here, I think.
Amidst a final flurry of activity accompanying the winding down of Seattle’s celebrations of the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition centennial, an announcement for a documentary to be shown on KCTS 9 definitely caught our eye:
In collaboration with local historical gems such as the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI), The Burke Museum, Chinese in NW American Research Committee, the University of Washington and combined with thousands of historical images, rare archival footage, contemporary interviews and narration by Tom Skerritt, Seattle’s Forgotten World’s Fair, will take the viewer on an hour-long magical journey into a nearly forgotten chapter of the burgeoning city’s history.
The perfect nightcap to Home Movie Day 2009? But more about that later. If you can’t watch it on October 17th, check the KCTS schedule for other showings of this documentary.
Image credit: University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections ID# PAM0192.
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