American Art and Architecture Commons^™

Uncovering The Story Of Sally Maria Johnson: Revealing The History Of The Portrait Of A Painting, Yuanzhen Song

Art Conservation Master's Projects

Portrait of Sally Maria Johnson by the artist James Johnson is a 19^th century oval shaped portrait in the collection of the Buffalo History Museum.  It suffered from structural damages and paint loss resulting from surface alterations and previous restoration campaigns.  This study combines art historical research with scientific analysis to explore both the biography of the subject and the materiality of the painting.  Through local research including historical newspaper articles in Buffalo, the story of Sally Maria Johnson (the wife of Buffalo’s first mayor) was uncovered.  High-resolution imaging techniques were used to document the surface condition and identify …

The Reveal: A Technical Study And Conservation Treatment Of An Overpaint Portrait, Camille Ferrer

Art Conservation Master's Projects

A severely damaged 19th-century oil painting depicting a portrait of a woman was treated at Patricia H. and E. Garman Art Conservation Department. A typed letter provided by the owner mentioned that it has been previously restored yet returned with unsatisfactory results. After further examination, the painting appeared to have been previously treated multiple times by different people. There was overpaint distinctly present on the face and later discovered to be present overall. The full state of condition of the painting was initially unknown due to the sum of the surface being overpainted. However, there were evidence of paint loss …

An Examination Of The Visual And Textual Influences On The Anthology Of American Folk Music, Ben Collier

History Theses

The Anthology of American Folk Music is a collection of eight-four selections of southern vernacular recordings made for commercial record labels in the 1920s and 1930s and assembled into a unified collage by Harry Smith. Smith was an experimental filmmaker, painter, and self-taught anthropologist with a deep interest in renaissance hermeticism and mysticism who worked with Moe Asch in 1952 to release the six-record set and accompanying handbook on Folkways Records. The release was heralded by musicians and critics as an essential piece of influence on the folk music revival. Despite this, the Anthology sold poorly and quickly faced legal …

The Moral Hygiene Movement In The United States, 1840s—1920s, Marissa Seib

History Theses

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the mental health care system in the United States underwent a series of reforms in an effort to better care for some of the country’s frailest citizens. This period, called the moral hygiene era of mental health care, emerged from a further understanding of psychiatry and psychology which led to structural changes in the mental health care system.

This thesis examines the beginnings of the Kirkbride system, which sought to reform the whole of American mental health care through landscaping and architecture as well as the specific treatment plan for each individual. Using case …

Lars Gustaf Sellstedt: Art In Buffalo And The Buffalo Fine Art Academy, Shannon N. Gilmartin

History Theses

This Master’s Thesis Project researches the life of a forgotten Buffalo artist, Lars Gustaf Sellstedt. He was born in Sundsvall, Sweden and started his life as a sailor when he became a cabin boy as an early teenager. For most of his young life until his mid-twenties, Sellstedt was a sailor traveling to all corners of the world. He started his journey as an artist while in between sailing jobs. Over many decades he portraits locally and abroad mainly in the Caribbean Islands. Sellstedt was one of the few artists in 19th century Buffalo, sharing the profession with William J. …

Piecing It Together: Analysis And Treatment Of A Painted Silk Flag, Katya Zinsli

Art Conservation Master's Projects

Painted flags and banners lie at the intersection of painting and textile conservation. The 37^th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment’s battle flag from the Civil War presented challenges and advantages of bridging the two disciplines by providing an opportunity for study and experimentation for a graduate student from the Patricia H. and Richard E. Garman Art Conservation Department at SUNY Buffalo State College. This study was conducted to better understand the materials and degradation products present in a painted Civil War flag, which then informed the subsequent treatment of said flag. By characterizing the materials, the severe damage in …

Public Art And Patronage: A Collective Study Of Four Of Buffalo, New York's Early Monuments, 1882-1907, Drew C. Boyle

Museum Studies Theses

The goal of this paper is to investigate the motivations of the patrons behind four of Buffalo, New York’s early monuments. These are the Soldiers and Sailors Monument (1882), the Lincoln, The Emancipator Monument (1902), the Red Jacket Monument (1890), and the McKinley Monument (1907). Each section contains historical context regarding the time period, critical events that influenced the monument, comparisons to similar monuments in the United States, and the narratives of the monument’s dedication and ceremonies. When grouped together, the historical context provided for each monument essentially plays into the motivations behind why each monument was erected. Lastly, the …

Northwest Coast Native American Art: The Relationship Between Museums, Native Americans And Artists, Karrie E. Myers

Museum Studies Theses

Museums today have many responsibilities, including protecting and understanding objects in their care. Many also have relationships with groups of people whose items or artworks are housed within their institutions. This paper explores the relationship between museums and Northwest Coast Native Americans and their artists. Participating museums include those in and out of the Northwest Coast region, such as the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, the Burke Museum, the Royal British Columbia Museum, the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Museum. Museum professionals who conducted research for some of these museums included Franz Boas, …

Relive The Roycroft: Bringing History To Life At A National Landmark, Amizetta J. Haj

Museum Studies Projects

This project defines and validates the concept of the Roycroft Campus as a living museum and explores how the implementation of a “living” component to its educational programming would strengthen visitor engagement. It also focuses on the various ways in which to fortify the utility and visibility of a museum within a community, demonstrating how the Roycroft Campus can become a center for community engagement and cultural development. Through this research, I present the Roycroft Campus’ potential as a living museum and have created an educational based event which will bring to life the year 1915 on the historic Campus …

The Monroe Fordham Regional History Center, Chris Root

The Exposition

This article is a brief history and synopsis of the Monroe Fordham Regional History Center at SUNY Buffalo State. The center opened in 2002, but much of the collection is from the projects of Dr. Monroe Fordham over the course of his career.

Razing Awareness: The Bethlehem Steel Administration Building, Steve Bukowski

Museum Studies Projects

Razing Awareness: The Bethlehem Steel Administration Building is a practice in the process of coordinating and opening a professional-grade museum exhibit. Hosted by the Steel Plant Museum of Western New York, "Razing Awareness" explored the history and controversial demolition of the Bethlehem Steel Administration Building in Lackawanna, New York. The exhibit featured artwork, photography, and artifacts from the building itself, weaving art and history together to construct a narrative about historic preservation and the establishment of a sense of place.

The Elements Of A Creative Environment: Was The Roycroft Campus Of 1900 - 1915 A Hothouse?, Katherine Somerville

The Exposition

Ancient Athens, Renaissance-era Florence, and Germany’s Bauhaus community that practiced between the two World Wars are all examples of what Barton Kunstler refers to as a hothouse. He defines a hothouse as an area where creativity flourishes wildly and magnificently, producing results that neither nature nor the usual round of human activity could ever anticipate. Out of each of Kunstler’s notable hothouse communities came extraordinary achievements and he theorizes that a hothouse is created out of a relatively rare confluence of forces – 36 factors within four dimensions, to be exact. In this essay I will show how the creative …

By My Side: Charles E. Burchfield's Letters To Bertha K. Burchfield From 1923 To 1963, Alana Ryder

History Theses

Over the past 80 years, research on American artist Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967) has often placed little emphasis on the people and events that were essential for his artistic freedom and the success of his career. This paper, based on the contents of forty years of letters between Burchfield and his wife Bertha Kenreich (1886-1973), challenges the artist’s mythology, which includes misconceptions of his isolation, lack of influences, dislocation from art history and the insignificance of human connections and activities.

New dimensions of Burchfield's identity are examined, significantly his positions as a husband, father, friend to other artists represented by …