Newsletter the Society of Architectural Historians
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NEWSLETTER THE SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIANS FEBRUARY 1972 VOL. XVI NO. 1 PUBLISHED SIX TIMES A YEAR BY THE SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIANS 1700 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103 Alan Gowans, President Editor: James C. Massey, 614 S. Lee Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314 Assistant Editors: Thomas M. Slade, 413 S. 26th Street, South Bend, Indiana 46615 and Elisabeth Walton, 765 Winter Street, N.E.Salem, Oregon 97301 SAH NOTICES James Burch, Robert DeGoff, Michael Dobrin, Joan Draper, 1973 Annual Meeting and Foreign Tour. Cambridge Univer Elliot A .P. Evans, Alfred Frankenstein, John L. Frisbee sity and London, August 15-27. A joint meeting, with III, L . Thomas Frye, David S. Gebhard, Herbert Hoover, sessions and tours, will be held with SAH-Great Britain Jr., Richard C. Peters, Don E. Stover, Fred Tamke, Robert at Cambridge, August 16-19, followed by a week of tours J. Tetlow, Margaret Wheaton, John M. Woodbridge, and (led by members of SAH-GB) and independent sightseeing Mrs. John M. Woodbridge. The expectation of fine weather in London. SAH-U.S. is required to notify the Bursars of brought approximately 400 people to the "City on the Bay" the Colleges at Cambridge by September 1972 of the total for a meeting with scholarly papers, a record nine tours, number of accommodations needed; therefore, members are and receptions hosted by the M. H. de Young Museum, urged to respond promptly to the announcen1ent of the Stanford Museum, University Art Museum-Berkeley, The entire program (including charter flight information, New Oakland Museum, and the San Francisco Chapter of the York-London-New York), which will reach you on or about A.I.A. in conjunction with the National Trust for Historic April 15, 1972. Preservation. These and the numerous scheduled events 1974 Annual Meeting. New Orleans, April 3-7 (SAH meets combined with one's natural inclination to explore the alone). Spiro K. Kostof will be general chairman; Bernard city hardly afforded time for the many interesting papers Lemann and Samuel Wilson, Jr. will serve as local co that were presented. The decision to conduct a special chairmen. session devoted to papers by graduate students currently working on theses in architectural history was ·marked by 1975 Annual Meeting. Kansas City, Missouri (SAH meets presentations of quality. with CAA), January 29-February 2. George Ehrlich is serving as acting local chairman. Annual Business Meeting. Returning to the format of 1976 Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, May 26-31 (SAH meets earlier years, the Annual Business Meeting followed alone). cocktails and lunch. Calling the meeting to order at Domestic Tours . 1972, ARCHITECTURE OF H. H. 1:30 p.m., January 28, in the Pacific Room of the San RICHARDSON AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES IN BOSTON Francisco Hilton Hotel, President James O'Gorman named AND VICINITY, August 23-27, Robert B. Rettig, Chairman Adolf Placzek Recording Secretary for the meeting due to (members to receive announcement by April 15, 1972); the sudden illness of Winston R. Weisman. It was announced 1973: to be announced; 1974, UTICA, NEW YORK and that the Society is arranging a charter flight for next year's vicinity. meeting in England. In the absence of the Treasurer, Foreign Tours. 1972, JAPAN, May 28-June 18 (Bunji Robert W. Jorgensen, a mimeographed financial statement Kobayashi, Chairman); 1973, combined with annual meeting was issued to those present. (see above); 1974, Morocco (John D. Hoag, Chairman). Richard Carrott, reporting for the Nominating Committee, which also consisted of George L. Hersey, Chairman, James New Chapters. At their meeting in January, the Board of M. Fitch, Wilbert R. Hasbrouck and Dora Wiebenson, pre Directors accepted the petition for a Minnesota Chapter. sented the slate of officers and directors as follows : Dues Increases. A presidential announcement of the in President, Alan Gowans; First Vice-President, Spiro K. crease in certain categories of dues (Active , from $15 to Kostof; Second Vice-President, Marian Card Donne lly; $20; Joint, from $25 to $30; and Student, from $10 to Secretary, Winston R. Weisman; and Treasurer, Robert W. $12.50), effective January 1, 1973, was included with the Jorgensen. Directors to serve three years are Antoinette billing to individual members in January. In response to F. Downing, Ada Louise Huxtable, Charles B. McClendon, this letter, to date 230 SAH members have generously Esther McCoy, H. Roll McLaughlin, F AlA, Douglas S . sent additional contributions for the current year. Richardson, and Nancy Halverson Schiess. It was moved, Newsletter. With her election as Second Vice-President, seconded and passed that the slate of officers and directors Marian Donnelly has resigned as Associate Editor of the as presented by the Nominating Committee be accepted. Newsletter. Elisabeth Walton, architectural historian for Representatives from the expanding number of local the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Division, has been chapters reported on their local activities and plans for appointed an Assistant Editor. Miss Walton will concen the future . Mrs. Terry B. Morton, President of the Latrobe trate on historic preservation news, and such notices Chapter of Washington, pres en ted a motion favoring the should be sent directly to her at 765 Winter Street, N.E . preservation of the Old Post Office in Washington, D.C., Salem, Oregon 97301. which was passed by a voice vote. Alan Gowans accepted his election as President and ANNUAL MEETING expressed his thanks to Dora P. Crouch, Chairman, and The Society held its 25th Annual Meeting (silver) in the the other members of the local committee for their efforts ''Golden State'' of California, meeting jointly with the and hospitality. The outgoing President, James 0' Gorman, College Art Association at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel, was thanked by the Society for his efforts during the past January 26-30. General Chairman of the Meeting was Alan two years during which time the Society has increased its Gowans, as First Vice-President of SAH, assisted by the membership and expanded its publications. John Forbes Local Committee with Dora P. Crouch as Chairman, and offered a motion that the Society extend its thanks to including Joseph Baird, John Beach, Hamilton Brown, James C . Massey, Editor of the Newsletler for the past ten years, and the motion was extended to include Osmund ance for the meeting of the Committee on Architectural Overby, Rosann S. Berry, her staff, and the officers. Preservation at 8 a.m. on January 28th, indicated the Awards. The 1971 Founders' Award for the best article growing interest of the membership with the Society's role in the ] ournal by a young scholar during the past two in the preservation struggle at the national and local levels years was awarded to Frances D. Fergusson. John Haag of involvement. Charged by the Board with responsibility presented the Award for her article "St. Charles' Church, for developing a policy on preservation for the Society, Vienna: The Iconography of its Architecture," which Chairman Stephen Jacob's Committee discussed the issues appeared in the December 1970 issue. and attitudes presented the previous evening in the special The Alice Davis Hitchcock Book Award was established session, "Towards a Redefinition of Preservation." A to recognize annually the most distinguished work of motion introduced by Jacqueline Seligson, AlA, was passed scholarship in the history of architecture published by a urging the Society to ''further historic preservation by North American Scholar during the two previous calendar engaging in any actions for that end in addition to educa years. This year the Committee charged with selecting the tional and supportive letter writing ... '' After a lengthy book for the Award read and discussed a number of poten discussion, the Committee moved toward a preliminary tial contenders. It was the consensus of the Committee redefinition of the Society's proper preservation role. Also, that no single work stood out among the others as a major those present voted to meet in conjunction with the Annual contribution to the understanding of the history of archi Meeting of the National Trust in Washington, D.C., October tecture, the chief criterion established by the Board of 26-29, in order to have more than one meeting a year. Directors. The Committee recommended, therefore, that no The Annual Meeting Report was prepared Award be made in 1972. by Assistant Editor Thomas Slade. Abstracts. Abstracts of the papers presented at the meet ing will be published in the October issue of the Journal. ORGANIZATIONS The special session, "Towards a Redefinition of Preser Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner will vation," will also be included. Because of the shortness deliver the annual Mathews Lectures this year on six of space in this issue, and the forthcoming Journal publi Saturdays between March 11 and April 29 on the subject cation this issue departs from previous practice of listing of English Gothic Architecture. papers. National Endowment for the Humanities. Dr. Ronald S. Tours. Thursday afternoon David Gebhard and other guides Berman has been appointed Chairman of the NEH by Presi with missionary zeal attempted to convert four carloads of dent Richard M. Nixon. Dr. Berman was previously Profes SAH sightseers to the glories of San Francisco Moderne sor of English at the University of California at San Diego. in a meander that included the terra cotta zigzag of faded His most recent book, America in the Sixties: An Intellec store fronts, the transition from Gothic to Mayan undulant tual History, was published in 1970. in skyscraper design, the Cubist pop of the local Coca Cola bottling plant, and a nautical motel. A few remained National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Trust has skeptical up to the end, only to be won over at the final opened a bookshop devoted to publications on historic stop of the journey by the superior nautical design of preservation, architecture and planning in its headquarters William Mosser's Maritime Museum of 1939, with its full at 740 Jackson Place Northwest, Washington, D.C.