Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Laubach In India: 1935 To 1970, S. Y. Shah

The Courier

Dr. Frank C. Laubach, missionary and adult educator, dedicated his life to the cause of literacy for development and world peace. During his travels to 103 countries, he worked toward helping some 60 to 100 million people become literate. In addition, he founded or helped found four literacy organizations, including Laubach Literacy International; wrote forty books on adult education, Christian religion, world politics, and culture; and co-authored literacy primers in more than 300 languages. He was awarded four honorary doctorates—one of them from Syracuse University.

Although Laubach worked in many other countries, it is said that his heart was always …

The Portfolio Club: A Refuge Of Friendship And Learning, Constance Carroll

The Courier

In 1991 the Portfolio Club still thrives. Despite the social upheavals of the 20th century—especially the evolution of the role of women—the Club has maintained its intellectual vitality, while preserving a quality of graciousness that reminds one of a time long past. In 1990 the Club gave Syracuse University its archives from its founding through 1978. This article highlights much of the Club's history, drawing from sources from Syracuse University's Special Collections.

The Adult And Continuing Education Collections At Syracuse University, Terrance Keenan

The Courier

Since 1949 Syracuse University has assembled historical documents, including manuscript, print, visual, and media materials, related to adult education. The Adult and Continuing Education Collections, housed in the George Arents Research Library, now form one of the world's largest compilations of English-language materials in this field. They occupy 900 feet of shelf space and contain more than 50 groups of personal papers and records of organizations, all of which reveal much about the development of adult education as a field of study and as a practice in such areas as literacy and civic education.

These papers document efforts to define …

The Huntington Mansion In New York: Economics Of Architecture And Decoration In The 1890s, Isabelle Hyman

The Courier

In 1889 railroad millionaire Collis P. Huntington (1821-1900) and his wife Arabella (d. 1924) purchased a large property on the southeast comer of New York's Fifth Avenue and Fifty-seventh Street, the most fashionable residential neighborhood of the period, and undertook to build there another of the great stone piles that constituted the habitats of the very rich during the city's Gilded Age. Aspects of the history of the Fifty-seventh Street Huntington mansion have been recounted, but supplementary information about its decoration and about the artists and craftsmen who embellished it can be found in the George Arents Research Library at …

"I Want To Do This Job": More Margaret Bourke-White Letters To Erskine Caldwell, William L. Howard

The Courier

Eleven letters have recently been added to the George Arents Research Library's collection of Erskine Caldwell and Margaret Bourke-White correspondence. In the possession of Caldwell's first wife, Helen Caldwell Cushman, until her death in 1986, these letters were bought from a North Carolina bookdealer acting on behalf of Helen and Erskine's granddaughter. The entire group was written by Bourke-White in 1936, just prior to and immediately after her first tour of the South with Caldwell, during which they gathered material for You Have Seen Their Faces. A page of unsigned journal entries chronicling Bourke-White's behavior on the trip accompanies the …

Intentional Omissions From The Published Civil War Diaries Of Admiral John A. Dahlgren, Robert J. Schneller Jr.

The Courier

This article explains the events surrounding the publication of the biography of John A. Dahlgren, collected and penned by his wife Marguerite. The article was researched with the aid of the John A. Dahlgren Papers at the Syracuse University Special Collection. Marguerite had motives to exalt her husband's life: he had become an unpopular and controversial figure despite his accomplishments, and Marguerite was also in the process of petitioning Congress, seeking to receive royalties for her husband's military inventions.

The New School Of Wood Engraving, Edward A. Gokey

The Courier

This article traces the history of modern wood engraving, including the argument in the art world that took place regarding whether wood engraving could be considered "art" in the first place. As the art form gained popularity with print publishers due to its convenience and beauty, internal debates took place about which direction the art form should take, especially within the "New School" of wood engraving that had emerged. Research for the article was aided by Syracuse University's Special Collections.

Audubon's "The Birds Of America": A Sesquicentennial Appreciation, David Frederic Tatham

The Courier

This article details the unique copy of John James Audubon's The Birds of America which now resides in Syracuse University's Special Collections. The author describes the backstory and traces the journey of this extremely rare work. Audubon's work continues to stimulate interest in diverse fields in academia, from art history and science to literature.

An Unpublished Reminiscence Of James Fenimore Cooper, Constantine Evans

The Courier

A reminiscence of James Fenimore Cooper, written in 1889, lies among the papers of William Mather (1802-1890) in the George Arents Research Library at Syracuse University. It is written in pencil on two sheets of paper, one of which is the blank back of a Herkimer County newspaper supplement of 1889. Each sheet is folded to form a sort of booklet. Mather's text, as it stands, is disjointed and marred by occasionally confused syntax, illegible words, and repetitions. A series of false starts, of beginnings not decided upon, occurs before something of a narrative coherence is achieved. Material obviously intended …

Audubon/Au-Du-Bon: Man And Artist, Walter Sutton

The Courier

This article highlights some of the works of the legendary work of John James Audubon, drawn from the collection located in Syracuse University's Special Collections. The author gives special attention to the 1820-21 journal of his voyage down the Ohio and Mississippi (which has been preserved intact), the English and Scottish journal of 1826 (also in its original form), and the descriptive sketches of early pioneer life in the Ornithological Biography. These early journal sources dramatically reveal, at first hand, Audubon's long struggle through many failures and obstacles to win the success and recognition he craved and also enduring status …

Edward Fitzgerald And Bernard Barton: An Unsparing Friendship, Jeffrey P. Martin

The Courier

This article details the correspodence between the "Quaker poet" Bernard Barton and famous literary figures of his era, especially his friend and fellow writer Edward FitzGerald. The source of the article is the Alfred McKinley Terhune Collection, found in Syracuse University's Special Collections. Barton's letters, which are often lively and full of fresh opinion, are (thankfully) still valued today, both for the subjects they deal with and for the people they address. As one critic has stated, "Barton never considered his own letters as literary productions. Rather he felt that his poetry was his sole claim to literary fame." It …

The Marcel Breuer Papers And Michael Ventris: A Biographical Note, Isabelle Hyman

The Courier

This article provides some biographical insights into the life of the famous architect and classicist Michael Ventis (who gained fame for helping to decipher the Mycenaen script Linear B). The facts are gleaned from correspondence between Michael, his mother Dorothea, and the architect Marcel Breuer, who designed her apartment. The letters are preserved in the Marcel Breuer Papers in the Syracuse University Special Collections.

Past And Present In Hope Emily Allen's Essay "Relics", John C. Hirsh

The Courier

This article sheds light on the American medievalist Hope Emily Allen, specifically the period when she was writing the essay "Relics." Allen Hope Allen probably began work on the essay after she returned to Oneida from Britain in 1912. In the subsequent period, familial obligations, health, and the advent of the First WorId War kept her away from the European libraries on which her work depended, and she turned to material already in hand, or to essays based upon her Oneida home. It was in this period too that, as "an antiquary bred in the bone", she began to record …

"Interviewing" Mr. Larkin, Robert Phillips

The Courier

This article provides some details about the life of the English poet Philip Larkin. This enigmatic man wrote some of the best poetry in the English language of the twentieth century. His work had a lasting effect upon readers. After that of Sir John Betjeman, Larkin's verse was probably the best-loved of any contemporary poetry in the United Kingdom.

Toils And Perils Of Scientific Publishing In The Late Eighteenth And Early Nineteenth Centuries, Eileen Snyder

The Courier

It is perhaps not realized by the modem armchair naturalist what hardships attended his 'explorer naturalist' predecessor in the early 1800s. In the George Arents Research Library there is an intriguing—indeed, quite outstanding—group of volumes, landmarks in the history of the natural sciences, by American, British, and French botanists, ornithologists, ichthyologists, entomologists, and herpetologists. A study of the various prefaces, introductions, and accompanying advertisements reveals the overwhelming problems that not only attended every fact ,gathering expedition, but seemed as well to plague every stage in the publication of the new materials. Nevertheless, undaunted, these explorers were inspired to do what …

Ted Key, Creator Of "Hazel", George L. Beiswinger

The Courier

This article highlights the life and works of the cartoonist and author Ted Key, researched through his extensive collection in the Syracuse University Special Collections. Key is best known for his cartoon "Hazel," whose personality endeared her to generations of readers.

Five Renaissance Chronicles In Leopold Von Ranke's Library, Raymond Paul Schrodt

The Courier

This article describes the chronicles of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance that are maintained at the von Ranke Library within the Syracuse University Special Collections. The chronicles are diverse in nature, in both languages used and content respresented, covering chronologies, myths, and historical events. Ironically, the chronicles lack the objectivity that von Ranke was so fervent about, but the author argues these chronicles should not be measured against later standards of critical history.

Dear Kit, Dear Skinny: The Letters Of Erskine Caldwell And Margaret Bourke-White, William L. Howard

The Courier

This article highlights some of the material found in the Margaret Bourke-White Papers in the Syracuse University Special Collections. The collection contains a good deal of correspondence between Margaret, a journalist for Life magazine and her husband, the American author Erskine Caldwell. The collection provides indispensable documentation of the artists' personal lives in the years 1936 through 1942.

Dorothy Thompson: Withstanding The Storm, Michael J. Kirkhorn

The Courier

The "unremitting terror" of totalitarianism was Dorothy Thompson's nightmare. She witnessed the atrocities of Nazism, and later, after the Second World War, the cruelty of Soviet communism. The violent will to power that she described for her millions of readers was for her the nemesis of all hope and goodness. It could not be appeased, it could not be satisfied; it had to be resisted. Her profound recognition of that single necessity, and her frustration with the complacency with which this great threat was met at home drew her, one of the great political journalists of the century, into misjudments …

The Forgotten Brother: Francis William Newman, Victorian Modernist, Kathleen Manwaring

The Courier

This article details the life and contributions to literature of the Victorian Era writer Francis William Newman. The article provides insight into his liberal views regarding abolition, women's rights, diet, and nationalization, as well as the tensions and creative differences with his famous brother and Cardinal, John Henry Newman.

The Joseph Conrad Collection At Syracuse University, J. H. Stape

The Courier

This article details the Joseph Conrad Collection in the Syracuse University Special Collections. Diverse in origin, Syracuse University's collection of Conradiana, housed in the George Arents Research Library, has more printed than manuscript materials.

A Book From The Library Of Christoph Scheurl (1481-1542), Gail P. Hueting

The Courier

This article examines a book written in 1530 by the German jurist and humanist Christoph Scheurl, a book which now resides in the Syracuse University Special Collections. The book is actually an amalgamation of nine total works, ranging in diverse topics such as royal weddings, wars (Italy and Spain in particular), genealogy, health, and theology. Originally in favor of Martin Luther's reforms, Scheurl remained a Catholic after the Church's division, and one of the works argues against Luther's views.

The Jean Cocteau Collection: How 'Astonishing'?, Paul J. Archambault

The Courier

Between 1963 and 1971, the Syracuse University Library acquired more than two hundred fifty holograph manuscripts by Jean Cocteau. These are now to be found in the George Arents Research Library for Special Collections, where they enhance an already rich assortment of French manuscripts that have been thoroughly listed in a previous article in the Courier. An abridged history of their acquisition might be told here. The story is interesting, for it includes several of those ironical twists that made so much of Cocteau's life seem like a chassé-croisé with Death, choreographed by the artist himself.

Alistair Cooke: A Response To Granville Hicks' I Like America, Kathleen Manwaring

The Courier

Written at the urging of his friend Louis Birk, managing editor of Modern Age Books, I Like America was Granville Hicks' attempt to present to a middle-class audience "the official line of the Communist Party in the Popular Front period". Published when the slogan 'Communism is Twentieth-Century Americanism' identified the interests of the mass of the American population, which was suffering from the Depression and the inadequate response of the New Deal for relief, with the aims of the Party, the book was later described by Hicks as "a venture in propaganda". The Granville Hicks Papers in the George Arents …

Jan Maria Novotny And His Collection Of Books On Economics, Michael Markowski

The Courier

This article describes the life and books of economist Jan Novotny, whose extensive collection is now housed in the Syracuse University Libraries. Novotny believed that a comprehensive, liberal arts education was an essential prerequisite for anyone who wished to study or professionally practice finance and business. The well-roundedness obtained from the humanities, he argued, would lead those in business and finance to make moral and ehtically sound decisions. His collection covers the last five hundred years, consisting of nearly 6,000 books in many different languages. Novotny managed to flee Czechoslavakia with all of these books, which now provide a wealth …

"A Citizen Of No Mean City": Jermain W. Loguen And The Antislavery Reputation Of Syracuse, Milton Charles Sernett

The Courier

This article describes the life and struggles of Jermain W. Loguen (originally named Jarm Logue), born a slave, who escaped to Syracuse, New York. Once in Syracuse, he became active in the Underground Railroad, the abolition movement, and even entered politics as a public speaker. His letters can be found in the Syracuse University Special Collections, as part of the Gerrit Smith papers. Smith was also a leading abolitionist who corresponded with major figures in the antislavery movement and influential freed slaves such as Frederick Douglass.

Benjamin Spock And The Spock Papers At Syracuse University, Robert S. Pickett

The Courier

This article gives a portrait of the controversial pediatrician and popular author Benjamin Spock, much of it gleaned from his personal papers located at Syracuse University's Special Collections. Among some of the insights into his life worth noting are his wife Jane's contributions to his personal attitudes and even his books.

William Martin Smallwood And The Smallwood Collection In Natural History At The Syracuse University Library, Eileen Snyder

The Courier

This article details the life and efforts of Syracuse Professor William Smallwood to collect major works on many of the major disciplines of science. Together the Smallwood collection provides a wonderful resource for the history of science and natural history.

Leopold Von Ranke, His Library, And The Shaping Of Historical Evidence, Edward Muir

The Courier

This article describes the life and collection of the famous historian Leopold von Ranke, whose collection is now housed in the Syracuse University Special Collections. Von Ranke was instrumental in developing what he saw as the most objective form of history possible, adhering to primary sources and straying from moral judgments. The thousands of documents that make up the Ranke Library are an invaluable source for the study of history.

Ranke And The Venetian Document Market, Ugo Tucci

The Courier

This article discusses Leopold von Ranke, the seminal historian, specifically his times in Venice, where he developed his thorough objective historical method, under the influence of Venetian ambassadorial writings, or relazioni. He was also in the perfect situation to amass an impressive manuscript and rare book collection, as the Republic was falling at the time, and entire library and art collections were being liquidated. His vast collection is now part of the Syracuse University's Special Collections.