|
Archives exhibit reveals a chapter
in world - and College - history and an accompanying
trove of eclectic treasures.
By Maria Healy
 Currently on display on the second floor of Dinand Library, The
Fatherless Children of France: “Their
Book” exhibit is a rare event. Given to the
College by Mrs. David Johnson in 1953, the collection was
a gift in memory of her husband, who from 1891-1893 attended
the Holy Cross Preparatory School, which was affiliated
with the College until 1909. The collection contains autographed
messages, manuscripts, photographs and artwork from the
greatest political and military leaders, writers and artists
of the World War I era. The items were originally assembled
for a fund-raising auction to benefit the Fatherless Children
of France Society, an organization founded in 1915 by American
women to help French war orphans.
The auction items range from autographed poems by Robert
Frost and Edith Wharton, to a 1918 autographed musical score
for “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” by John
Phillips Sousa; from signed messages and photographs of President
Woodrow Wilson, King Albert of Belgium and Queen Marie of
Roumania, to a sketch by Enrico Caruso, the famous Italian
tenor. Spanning the humanities, the collection is a profound
record of the Great War that evokes worldwide hope for a
new generation.
The number of people who died in World War I was staggering,
beyond anything the world had seen up to that time. There
were almost 900,000 war orphans in France. The story of the
orphans is one of the most tragic in modern civilization,
and the response on the part of the world was an emotional
one: a desire to thank France for its great sacrifice and
to offer support for the “fatherless” children.
Relief from America during the war and reconstruction was
substantial and flowed from government agencies, private
individuals and families that sent money to relatives in
the war areas.
The Fatherless Children of France Society sought to cultivate
ties between orphans and American “godparents,” who
assisted 300,000 children in the aftermath of the war. In
total, the Society collected $10 million dollars in aid.
Within the Society, there were 200 committees spread across
the country; Johnson was the speaker of the Boston committee.
From the end of the war through 1920, Johnson was responsible
for soliciting contributions and collecting all the pieces
that make up “Their Book”–“objets
d’art from the most renowned artists, authors
and politicians of (the) time.”
The original plan for the collection was to mount each
contribution on a uniform-sized page, bind the pages together
into one book and sell it for the cause. However, because
the contributions were so eclectic, not all of them proved
suitable for inclusion in this manner. In the end, the original
concept proved infeasible. It was then proposed that the
Society sell the items one by one. But not wanting to split
up “The Book,” Johnson bought the entire collection
herself and donated the purchase price to the war orphans
effort.
Mark Savolis ’77, head of archives and special collections
at the library, says that the Fatherless Children items are
not only unique on their own, but also because they represent
the premier art collection of the College.
Most of the work of the archives and special collections
departments’ is devoted to Holy Cross records and a
retrospective cataloging of things that have long been in
storage at the College. But when the two departments were
combined in 2000, one of the goals was to redouble efforts
to show off the College’s collections.
“We decided to create a new gallery,” explains
Savolis, “on the second floor of the library.”
Previous exhibits have concerned Holy Cross history—from
the construction of campus buildings, to graduates who served
in World War II. The “Their Book” exhibit
is an artifact of a world well away from the College but
with thematic ties to its fundamental mission to guide its
students to use their education—in whatever discipline
and perspective—to help others and better society.
The exhibit, which opened in September, will run through
the end of the spring semester. Fifty-seven pieces from the
catalog are displayed, a rare showing of items that have
only been seen a handful of times. In 1921, “Their
Book” was displayed at the Library of Congress,
the American Art Gallery in New York, the Boston Public Library
and the Widener Library at Harvard University–all to
raise awareness of the exhibit and the fund-raising intention
behind it. After Johnson bought the collection, it stayed
in her possession until she donated it to Holy Cross. It
was not displayed again until 1955, when the College loaned
it to the Worcester Art Museum.
According to Lois Hamill, assistant archivist and special
collections librarian, she and Savolis—along with staff
and work-study students—chose which items to display,
with each person answering questions such as, “What’s
interesting? Who have you heard of? What catches your eye?”
“Since the show is such a testament to the liberal
arts,” says Hamill, “we looked for balance, picking
from all the categories.”
The responses so far are as broad-based as the collection,
with English, history and art faculty and students all visiting
the exhibit, drawn by different pieces.
“When people take the extra flight up the stairs
in the library to compliment the exhibit,” says Savolis, “you
know they like it. Many are connecting with famous names,
such as John Singer Sargent or John Philip Sousa—individuals
whom students have studied. It’s often a thrill when
they realize that there’s an original work of these
artists up on the wall right here in the library.”
Visual Arts Professor Virginia Raguin plans to take the
students from her “Introduction to Art” class
to the exhibit—not only to expose them to some great
works of art, but also to introduce them to the idea of an
exhibition, a collection of pieces put together with a particular
intent.
“The students’ final project will be to sketch
out what they think is an ideal exhibition,” says Raguin. “Why
do people group things in a certain manner? What’s
the intention? How might they take an idea they care about
and bring it across?”
For Raguin, who has been involved with several exhibitions
at the Cantor Gallery, the most fascinating aspect of any
exhibit is the convergence of a historic context and the
motivation behind the actual collecting.
“In the case of ‘Their Book,’” she
says, “what makes it so interesting is the participation
of literary as well as visual artists, including artists
we now call illustrators, and photographers who have produced
images that might not be considered ‘a work of art,’ but
are historic documents of individuals.”
Those documents include a mesmerizing amateur photograph
of the author Joseph Conrad—taken while he was in detention
in Poland at Zakopane—with a note that it is the only
print and that the plate had been destroyed. The drawings
and sketches of people are moving as well—especially
American portrait painter Joseph De Camp’s original
pencil drawing of a woman in profile, her features shadowy
in grief. And then there are the images of famous leaders,
such as a portrait of Woodrow Wilson.
“The fact that this exhibition collects that kind
of information makes a statement that art has to be true
to itself,” says Raguin. “The artists were encouraged
to speak for themselves. This is not meant to be a collection
of propaganda.”
Meant to raise money at a time when there were not the
social network and government relief agencies that exist
today, the “Their Book” collection is
a testament to a belief in the power of the human spirit
as it ranges through the military, politics, the arts and
the humanities.
“It also inadvertently speaks to the arts of communication,” says
Raguin, who found the signed letters very compelling. “We
don’t see people’s handwriting anymore.”
“Collected almost a century ago,” Raguin points
out, “the exhibit is an artifact of a time before we
had television. Certainly before we had widespread use of
cameras by the average person and nothing close to digital
imaging. The book was the primary mode for communication
and the exhibition reflects the reading and seeing habits
of those accustomed to the book. All of the sizes of the
illustrations are book-based concepts. It’s entirely
appropriate for the library.”
The original auction catalog for The Fatherless Children
of France: “Their Book” collection—copies
of which are available at the exhibit—exemplify Raguin’s
point and is an evocative treasure itself. Designed by
the American Arts Association in 1921, the catalog is made
of octavos, bound in paper with pages that feature deckle
edges. Black and white plates and facsimiles of the autographed
messages, musical scores, handwritten poems and etchings
are tipped-in, compelling as fossils. The “Their
Book” catalog is a pleasure to hold in one’s
hands, to rest on one’s lap. It induces reflection—and
commemoration—not only of the contents, but also
of the creative enterprise of good will that brought it
into being.
The Fatherless Society of France : “Their Book” exhibit
is free and open to the public during normal library hours.
It will remain on display through the end of June.
Maria Healy is a freelance writer from Northampton,
Mass.
Crusader Baseball
Exhibit Planned >
|
