March 8 is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of “February Revolution” in Russia (the Russian Empire still used the Julian calendar at the time, so to them it was February 23, but to most of the rest of the world, it was March 8 (Gregorian calendar)). On this day workers engaged in demonstrations protesting the government of Tsar Nicholas II and clashed with police and the military. On March 12 soldiers in the Russian army joined the workers resulting in the abdication of the Tsar on March 15.
In 2001 Henry Fuller ’38 donated his collection documenting the Romanov family including photographs of Tsar Nicholas and the Tsarina Alexandra, and their family during the last years of Nicholas’ rule, and extensive correspondence between Fuller and Alexandra’s close friend Anna Virubova.
Theresa Battaglio, a graduate student in American Studies, recently mounted an online exhibit using the collection. The Watkinson Library encourages people to come in and view this unique resource as we commemorate this important date in history.
[The Tsarina taking a picture of the family aboard their yacht.]
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Last night’s gala opening of Majestic 12 was a great success!
More than 60 people came from as far as 100 miles away to attend the opening of our sixth annual showcase of student exhibitions, which is the product of American Studies 835, my Fall museum studies course.
The students installed a sample of their items in one case (each) in the reading room, which will remain up until June 30, 2017. Their full exhibitions are online as well, and links to all of the shows are HERE.
And here is a fuller album of photos on Flickr.
Copies of the booklet we published are available–please e-mail the Head Curator.
Many thanks to the students for all of their hard work this semester!
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The Watkinson loans material to round out the story!
This captivating exhibition displays costume, the fine and decorative arts, and literature to explain the context of Romantic fashion up to contemporary Goth. Watkinson loaned books by Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, Jules Verne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, H.G. Wells and Hartford’s own Lydia Sigourney. Sigourney’s Letters to Young Ladies is one of the stops on the audio tour, and is described by Watkinson associate curator Sally Dickinson. http://tap.thewadsworth.org/tap-web-app/#archive/tour-655/controller/StopListView
Mrs. Sigourney wrote hundreds of poems, books, and articles that captured the sentiments of the day, especially for women. Guest curator Lynne Bassett gave a special tour the day of the opening and was most appreciative of our collaboration. Our relationship with the Atheneum continues to grow!
Gothic to Goth runs March 5 through July 10, 2016 at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford.
[Posted by Sally Dickinson, Associate Curator & Preservation Librarian]
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Last night we had over 50 people attend the opening of “Pieces of Eight,” the collective title of a showcase of eight separate student exhibitions in the Watkinson Library, which will run through June 30, 2016. This is the fifth annual such showcase of student exhibitions, and the turnout of faculty, students, parents and staff was very gratifying.
The exhibits and their curators are as follows:
Handmaid to History: What is Antiquarianism? / Elizabeth Askren ‘17
“Following the Light of the Sun, We Left the Old World”: The Dawn of Printing / Alec Buffamonte ‘17
An Uneven Playing Field: Sports and Social Classes in Britain / Marcus Cinotti, graduate student
Who You Gonna Call? Ghost Hunters from 1860-1960 / Hunter Drews ‘16
Bluejackets & Devil Dogs: U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Recruiting Posters from the Great War / Jordan Finning, graduate student
From Ragtime to Rock & Roll: Music Culture at Trinity College / Matthew Nazarian, graduate student
Victorian Ladies Leave the Sidelines: Women in Sports, 1860-1890 / Rosangelica Rodriguez, graduate student
Infant Doping and the Opium Imagination / Sarah St. Germain, graduate student
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…When you hold an event with minimal marketing and the die-hard supporters come out.
Roughly a dozen folks came to our opening today, but we had a rather lively game of Trivia, some excellent cider and pumpkin bread (if I may say so), and dicoursed on how many themes in Trinity’s history seem to recur every few years! Look for this event again in a few weeks during Family Weekend and Homecoming!
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Now that our 20-foot timeline for “Ten Decades of the Trinity Tripod” has been installed, we can finally open this exhibition!
The Watkinson Library invites the campus community to our opening during Common Hour (12:15-1:30) on Tuesday, October 6th, 2015. We will have light refreshments, and the event for the hour will be a running game of Trin-Trivia, a game devised by Head Curator Rick Ring to test your knowledge (and teach you a little something) about Trinity College history.
For those who show up and play, you will be able to win a “vintage” edition of the Tripod, or other cool bits of Trinitiana!
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[Associate Curator Sally Dickinson attended a recent event opening the Wadsworth Atheneum after a long period of renovation. Some of our books are featured in their exhibition.]
The evening began with a walk up the red carpet to the Wadsworth Atheneum’s opening celebration for its “museum family.” The cause was the completion of a 5-year renovation and reinstallation of its impressive collections of European art. Shown here is the Watkinson’s contribution to the Cabinet of Art and Curiosities: Konrad Gesner’s Historiae Animalium (1617,) Johann Gottfried’s Newe Welt und Americanische Historien (1655) and Joannes Jonstonus’s Historiae naturalis (1657). The books were selected by Atheneum curator Linda Roth. A personal favorite is the engraving of a unicorn. The gallery was visually arresting. Picture natural history specimens, painting, and decorative arts informing one another. The installation (puffer fish mounted about the door, drawers of manuscripts and portraits, etc.) was as remarkable as the art itself. This show is one not to miss. Link to the New York Times review.
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“Bound to Maintain Them”: Prisoners of War and Humane Captivity in the German Empire, 1916-1917 is an exhibition of materials on loan to the Hartford Public Library, which are entirely from the papers of Jerome P. Webster, Trinity Class of 1910. As a special assistant to the American Ambassador in Berlin from March 1916 – March 1917, Dr. Webster inspected over 40 camps and medical facilities across the empire, and the collection holds reports, correspondence, and over 400 photographs related to these inspections.
Shown here installing the show in the Hartford History Center is volunteer curator and Trinity library staffer Jillian M. Hinderliter. From September to December the exhibition was displayed in the atrium of the Raether Library and Information Technology Center, and was one of the “walking tour” stops during President Berger-Sweeney’s inauguration.
The exhibition opens officially on January 9th, and copies of the published booklet, researched and written by Ms. Hinderliter, will be available.
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It is somehow fitting that my 300th post to this blog is about our student exhibition opening on Wednesday night (12/10), which was a solid success, and drew almost 30 students and staff who heard the presentations with interest.
Filling the occasional gaps in conversation, and providing an excellent backdrop as always, was our resident piano player Romulus Perez.
All six shows will be up through June 30th, and catalogs will be available for those who stop in to see them (Monday – Friday, 10:00am – 4:30 pm).
The shows are:
Voices for the Vote: What Women were Saying and Reading during the Fight for Suffrage (Gaia N. Cloutier ‘16)
The Impossibility of Translating Culture (Alix A. de Gramont ‘15)
Aotearoa: The Land of the Long White Cloud (Quirin A. Sackmann ‘15)
Vinegar Valentines (Meghan E. Shaw, graduate student)
Shall We Dance? The Evolution of Etiquette on the Dance Floor (Karen J. Tuthill-Jones, graduate student)
Functional Pottery in America (Mariah J. West, graduate student)
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Paulette Rosen, an instructor from the Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, held a workshop in the Watkinson on making a book by hand. A small but enthusiastic group learned how to assemble and sew a pamphlet and make an accordion-fold book. We learned about the properties of paper, tricks for measuring and folding, sewing, and covering boards. We all came away inspired with ideas for new projects and gifts for the upcoming holidays under the capable guidance of book artist Rosen.
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Last night’s gala opening of Majestic 12 was a great success!
