Digital Commons Network^™

I Object, Caroline Creamer

Life in Letters: A Typographic Poster Exhibition Featuring Paul Laurence Dunbar

Dimensions: 30 inches wide, 36 inches tall
Inkjet on matte paper, printed on both sides

Letter 166 Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote to Booker T. Washington in response to his rebuttals of the commissioned song Dunbar was asked to write for the Tuskegee Institute. The Tuskegee Institute was the first higher education institute opened for African Americans. Booker T. Washington was one of the founders who helped establish the school. During the time of this letter, Dunbar was struggling with his tuberculosis diagnosis, however he was still writing and producing new work. Within this letter Dunbar debates Washington’s views and objections …

The Act, Erin Doherty

Life in Letters: A Typographic Poster Exhibition Featuring Paul Laurence Dunbar

Dimensions: 30 inches wide, 36 inches tall
Inkjet on matte paper, printed on both sides

Artist's narrative: Letter 121 explores the struggles Paul Laurence Dunbar faced with alcoholism and the scrutiny he received for his illness. As Dunbar writes an apology letter to Professor P.M. Pearson for his absence due to excessive drinking, his sincere apologies shine through. Dunbar explains how he is aware that his apology can’t erase showing up to a recital intoxicated, which led to his career being tarnished; however, he still asks for forgiveness. The imagery was created with an ink-water solution. This allowed for an …

Growing Pride, Elaina Doggett

Life in Letters: A Typographic Poster Exhibition Featuring Paul Laurence Dunbar

Dimensions: 30 inches wide, 36 inches tall
Inkjet on matte paper, printed on both sides

Artist's narrative: Letter 166 unfolds Paul Laurence Dunbar’s reaction to a critique he had received by Booker T. Washington regarding "Tuskegee Song," which Washington commissioned Dunbar to write. In this song, Dunbar discusses the triumphs and tribulations of the past, present, and what would come in the future. The poster title “Growing Pride” represents both the South’s pride and Dunbar's. He was unapologetic in his response to Washington and stood firm in his beliefs that his original writing was most effective. The imagery is a …

Uneventful, Mary Dent

Life in Letters: A Typographic Poster Exhibition Featuring Paul Laurence Dunbar

Dimensions: 30 x 36 inches
Media: Inkjet on matte paper
Created using Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, ink, and handwritten calligraphy

Artist's statement: Letter 85 was written to a woman who is still unknown to this day. The opening sentence of the letter states, “In answer I must say that my life has been so uneventful that there is little in it to interest anyone.” Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote this letter explaining the “uneventful” occurrences that he had experienced, beginning at his birth in Dayton, Ohio. Dunbar continues on in the letter brushing through age 12, when he first began writing, …

Similar Flow, Quinn Heisey

Life in Letters: A Typographic Poster Exhibition Featuring Paul Laurence Dunbar

Dimensions: 30 inches wide, 36 inches deep, 2-sided
Medium: Inkjet on matte paper

Artist's narrative: Contemporary readers of letter 121 are hearing from the great Dayton poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar, in a declining state and nearing his 1906 passing from tuberculosis [diagnosed 1899]. Dunbar's illness necessitated treatment in a time before antibiotics, and the popular treatment was to use whiskey to manage extreme pain. This contributed to Dunbar’s addiction to alcohol, which is context for the sometimes unclear nature of events and decisions of his that warranted Dunbar to issue this response.

The letter has moments of self-disparaging humor or …