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Spring 2015 Volume 39 Number 4 Spring 2015 Volume 39 Number 4 Plan of the city and suburbs of New Orleans fromsurvey a made in 1815 by I. Tanesse surveyor. Rollinson sc, NY, 1817, AAS. PLAN YOUR TRIP TO NEW O RLEANS: “Book in hand, now, we wander through old streets, and pause before the age stricken houses; and, strange to say, the magic past lights them up.”– Grace King quoted in French Quarter Guidebook Carré Vieux Guide (1928) The 2015 Annual Meeting will be held in New Orleans June 24-­‐‑28, 2015.The winter issue of theNews Letter included events, information andthe registration form. The hotel for the Annual Meeting is the Hotel Monteleone. Call (504) 523-­‐‑3341 or (800) 217-­‐‑2033 to make reservationsfor the American Historical Print Society block. The rate can be extended 3-­‐‑days before or after the meeting. Please contact Chris Lane and let him know you are coming (303) 322-­‐‑4757 or lane@pps -­‐‑west.com. We look forward to seeing you there and recapping all of the events in the Summer issue! (additional Annual Meeting details on page) 2 Spring 2015 2 Volume 39 Number 4 AHPCS News Letter Copyright © 2015 American Historical Print Collectors Society 94 Marine Street Farmingdale, NY 11735-­‐‑5605 www.ahpcs.org Volume 39 Number 4 – Spring 2015 Robert Newman, President ANNUAL M EETING C OSTS PER PERSON: James Brust, 1st Vice President Registration: $38 James Schiele, 2nd Vice President Hotel rooms: $159 Lauren Hewes, Secretary Thursday night dinner $65 David G. Wright, Treasurer Saturday night dinner $75 Nancy Finlay, Regional Activities Chair Optional tour of the French Quarter $35 Sue Rainey, Publications Chair Optional cruise on the Natchez $25.50 John Zak, Membership Chair; Past President Optional bus tour of Houmas House Plantation & Gardens Sally Pierce, Imprint Editor Jackie Penny,News Letter Editor Brief schedule of events: Directors: June 24 : AHPCS members arrive June 25: Board meeting, first session with talks by John Marshall Berkoff Lawrence, Sara Picard, Jason Wiese, dinner and print-­‐‑ Allen W. Bernard mart Robert Bolton June 26: Visit to Cabildo & optional tour of French Donald Bruckner Quarter, second session with talks by Robert Holland, Michael Buehler Judith B onner, William and Ellsworth Woodward, Roger Genser Cocktail party and view museum Chris Lane June 27: third session with talks by John Magill, Mike Eric Terwilliger McCue and panel discussion, cruise on the Natchez, Rosemarie Tovell dinner & auction Charles Walker June 28: (Optional) bus tour to Houmas House Plantation and Gardens Editor’s Note: The AHPCSNews Letter is published Please note: The bus from the plantation tour is quarterly; the next deadline is July 10 to be published scheduled to get back to the hotel at 4:00. If anyone August 1. Prints of the American scene that are 100 or needs to, we will now have it swing by the airport on more years old will be considered. News items are desirable, as are articles about engravers and the way back, meaning that people should be able to lithographers, shops/tool, upcoming exhibitions, get to the airport by at least 4:00 pm. The bus has collections and publications. The editor reserves the enough room for luggage, so anyone who has a flight right to make any changes without prior approval. Send on Sunday afternoon can take their luggage with them contributions [email protected] . For members and be dropped off by 4:00. Hopefully that will allow wishing to place a classified ad, cost is $25 for 1/3 of a more people to go on the plantation tour. page and $50 for 1/2 a page. Send check/copy to: AHPCS, 94 Marine Street, Farmingdale, NY 11735. Your Above: Battle of New Orleans,hand -­‐‑colored lithograph by John ad will appear in the next issue. Landis. The Historic New Orleans Collection, 1950.25 Spring 2015 3 Volume 39 Number 4 In Memoriam: Donald C. O’Brien (1938-2015) AHPCS is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of its past president – mentor, teacher, writer, Donald “Don” Carr O’Brien. Don died on January 26, 2015 in Simi Valley, California after a short battle with cancer. His family, including wife, Mary Catherine Marcero O’Brien, was at his side. Born in January 1938 in Attleboro, Massachusetts, Don graduated from Coyle High School in 1957 and served in the U.S. Army until 1959 when he was honorably discharged. He met Mary in Pasadena, California where he worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory; they were married in 1960. In 1964, they moved to Pontiac, Michigan, to be near her family. He earned a Bachelor'ʹs degree from Oakland University and a Master'ʹs degree from Wayne State University. Don loved history, prints, books and education. He taught for thirty years in the Waterford School District and retired from Pierce Junior High School. He also taught history for a short time at Oakland Community College. A member of the American Antiquarian Society, Don was the author of the books: Amos Doolittle: Engraver of the New Republic (published in 2008); The Engraving Trade in Early Cincinnati (published in 2012); and Sweet Elsie: A Brief History of the L.C. Smith Shotgun (co -­‐‑authored with his son-­‐‑in-­‐‑law C. Dean Rasmussen); as well as many articles for Imprint, the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, and book reviews forThe History Teacher among others. Don'ʹs favorite place was Tobermory, Ontario, Canada where he and Mary have had a cottage for over forty. years T hey enjoyed walking along the Bruce Peninsula Escarpment, Dorcas Bay Road and Larry'ʹs Lake and enjoyedtime with friends. A loving father and grandfather, Don is survived by his children and grandchildren. Don assumed presidency of AHPCS following the May 2004 annual meeting. He remained president until the Spring of 2007. Don was a regular attendee at the AHPCS annual and regional meetings; his limitless enthusiasm for the organization was unparalleled and his tireless archival research should serve as a model for today’s print scholars. As board member Allen Bernard aptly stated following the news of his passing, “Don was a true Top: photo courtesy ofKathleen print connoisseur and always exhibited enthusiasm and scholarly O'ʹBrien Rasmussen. Middle: Don and Mary at the 1982 AHPCS Annual interest and inquiry in prints, he was dedicated to print research Meeting in Washington, D.C. Photo and expended time, effort, and personal expense to this end… all of courtesy of James S. Brust. Bottom: us at AHPCS were recipients of his knowledge and research…we Don and Mary at the 2008 AHPCS lost a dedicated friend, researcher, and collector.” Annual Meeting in St. Louis, MO. Photo courtesy of Gregg Walla. Spring 2015 4 Volume 39 Number 4 AHPCS Fellow interview: Amy Torbert, PhD candidate, art history, University of Delaware “Going Places: The Material and Imagined Geographies of PrintsAtlantic in the World, 1770-­‐‑1840” Can you describe your project for us? I am studying thebusiness of publishing prints, specifically the firm[Robert] of Sayer & [John] Bennett in London; to this end, I am also doing an examination of the visual and material culture of the transatlantic print trade. Sayer and Bennett are colorful people – flawed and very interesting. My dissertation tracks their prints from 18th-­‐‑century London to th 19 -­‐‑century America. In addition to the publication of Tarring & Feathering during the American Revolution I am also interested in the print’s “afterlife”by those like David Claypoole Johnston (published by Pendleton). Do you have a favorite print? Tarring & Feathering is really the central print for this project. I’ve been interested in prints and print culture since I was an undergraduate but I’m also finding archival discoveries – including bank accounts, stock catalogues, and legal records – to be extremely useful. The final chapter of my dissertation explores the 19th-­‐‑century transformation of Tarring & Feathering into an icon of American patriotism through various reappropriations. This print is really a fluid symbol of American identity at the founding of the nation and through its history. How did this print come to be such a central image? While I was an Assistant Curator at Yale University Art Gallery, I worked on a traveling exhibition Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Artand Gallery this image, as well as a companion from the series, was part of the exhibit. At first I was worried studying prints might not be enough – but my advisor, Wendy Bellion, said there was so much research to be done. She was right! How do you find some of these reappropriations? What are your most effective search strategies? A lot of my research has been looking through collections.I found my first reappropriation at theChapin Rare Book Library at Williams College while an intern there and thought, “I’ve seen this image before!” While at the British Museum for Paul the Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, I spent a luxurious amount of time looking through boxes of mezzotints trying to get a sense of how they were created. But there is no way I could have found all these images withoutthe use of digital catalogs from different institutions. Sometimes I would have fifteen of them open at once! You’re currently a fellow-­‐‑in-­‐‑residence at the American Antiquarian Society. What other institutions have you? visited In addition to my work in London, I’ve been a fellow at the Lewis Walpole Library and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. where my advisor was Wendy Wick Reaves. For 2015, I have fellowships at the Huntington Library, the John Carter Brown Library and at the Winterthur Museum.
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