The Rattle Connection

One of my favorite rooms here at The Alice just happens to be one of the smallest exhibit spaces. The American Indian Room on the third floor holds a widely varied collection of objects that include WWI gas masks, Babylonian tablets, small lap desks, shells & fossils, along side a lovely collection of American Indian artifacts including baskets, beadwork and stone implements. Prominently displayed on the west wall among baskets and pottery is a Northwest Coast Tsimshian or Tlinget Chief's rattle. Our records say Tlingit, but it could also have been made by Tsimshian artisans, who are said to have invented the raven rattle.

The twelve inch long polychrome wooden Chief's rattle is made in the form of a flying raven with two carved sections joined by two wooden pegs. The upper section is comprised of flattened and backswept wings, along with an upturned head. In his narrowly parted beak the raven is holding a small object said to represent either the sun or a box holding the light of day - perhaps the dawning of human consciousness? The bird's flattened wings support a reclining human figure with bent arms and legs. The human's mouth is slightly open and his long tongue is protruding into the mouth of a turtle or frog creature, which in turn is held in the beak of another bird (perhaps a kingfisher) that is formed from the raven's raised tail feathers. The bottom section forms the underbelly of the raven, and is carved with a highly stylized avian-like face with a small hooked beak. The face also depicts elements of fish, whale and bird which mirror the richness of life supported by the sea and might also suggest the regional sources of human wealth. The face itself is a hollow cavity that at one time held pebbles, which when shaken caused the rattling sound. Estimated at circa 1850-1875, the rattle is expertly carved, and is colored with touches of rich black and red pigments.

While studying the carving, one might feel the concept of the interconnectedness of nature. Each creature is connected to and somehow depends on the others. The creatures are connected by tongues, or resting on each other, a part of one another's bodies. Chiefs used these rattles in ceremonies, including rites-of-passage celebrations, often holding on in each hand. Imagine the strong message this object sent to the young initiate: your life depends on all creatures... humans do not stand alone. The sounds of the paired rattles enhanced the stories or songs of the Chiefs, and are also said to have evoked the sounds of the fins of salmon breaking the surface of the water.

Here at The Alice the rattle rests quietly, its pebbles long since lost. Over eighty years ago Alice Miner was drawn to the rattle's beauty and artistic quality. A wooden stand was made for it, and it was carefully displayed for visitors to enjoy... But the rattle was also used by someone long ago! One can see that it surely had a life before The Alice - and that it had purpose in that former life. The wood is worn, the paint scratched in places, but this object has been lovingly cared for, surviving the decades. It is waiting to speak to you should you visit and take the time to look... You might be reminded how we are all inter-connected - bird, man, frog, fish!

Jefferson & the Gloucester Hickory

Ah, the treasures hidden right beneath our noses! It was announced on President's Day that 74 books once belonging to our third President, Thomas Jefferson, were discovered in the rare books collection at Washington University Library in St. Louis, MO. These books have been held by the library for over 130 years and were originally donated by Jefferson's granddaughter, Ellen Coolidge, who actually bought them at auction. Jefferson apparently marked his books in a unique way, and the provenance from his estate to Ms. Coolidge, then eventually to the library, is quite clear. The library merely searched the pages of the books from the Coolidge donation and found that 74 of them had Jefferson's mark. Some of the books even had his handwritten notes in the margins!

Not planning a trip to Missouri any time soon? Might you nevertheless wish to see Thomas Jefferson's handwriting in person? Well it just so happens that right under your noses, here at The Alice T. Miner Museum, are housed a few letters written by Jefferson that are possible for you to read!

I'll be happy to tell you about two of the letters, one written by Jefferson, and the other the reply from a Mr. Philip Tabb, Esq. The Alice holds two other letters written by Mr. Jefferson, one of which was penned in 1816, and the other in November 1801 while serving in his first year as President. The latter I have previously written about in the blog, and you can read it here, http://minermuseum.blogspot.com/2009/06/thomas-jefferson-barbary-pirates.html.

The Jefferson letter is dated January 8, 1809, from Washington,

"Sir

Being desirous of planting some of the famous large Gloucester hiccory nut, now I believe nearly extinct, I take the liberty of solliciting your friendly aid in procuring them. a dozen or two, or even a smaller number, if quilted in a wrapper of linen, or covered between two bits of paste board, will come handily in the mail, and in time to be planted this season. retiring shortly to these occupations, you may judge of my enthusiasm in them, when at the age of 65 I am proposing to plant hiccory nuts. I pray you excuse the trouble I propose to you, and to accept my salutations & assurances of esteem & respect.

Thomas Jefferson"

The reply from Philip Tabb was written January 21 from Toddsbury, his family estate. Here is an excerpt,

"I am sorry it is not in my power to send you as many of the large hickory nuts of this country as you wished to plant ~ a few trees of the best kind are now left, the small quantity obtained from those were soon consumed in the family, four only were left by accident which I now forward by post...

I beg you Sir to accept my best wishes for your health & happiness & believe me to be respectfully yours

Philip Tabb"

It appears from my research that Philip Tabb suspected his letter, as well as the hickory nuts, had been stolen while en route to Jefferson. He writes another letter to the President qouting his previous note. This letter has been digitally archived by The Papers of Thomas Jefferson - Digital Edition, The University of Virginia Press. They have the reply from Jefferson to the Tabb letter and both can be read at the bottom of this blog posting.

To read more about Philip Tabb and the Gloucester Hickory trees Thomas Jefferson coveted, check out this article, http://www.southerngardenhistory.org/PDF/Magnolia-Spring%2003.pdf. Scroll down to page 12 for the article "The Elusive and Enigmatic Gloucester Hickory" written by Wesley Greene, Garden Historian, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Our Tabb letter to Jefferson is qouted in that article. Apparently the nuts Tabb sent to Jefferson were then forwarded on to Philadelphia, and just a few years later Thomas Jefferson planted a few more Shellbark Hickory (also commonly referred to as Gloucester Hickory) trees at Monticello.

If you would like to see the Jefferson and Tabb letters in person, come visit The Alice starting in May!

Below are the texts of two related letters found on The Papers of Thomas Jefferson - Digital Edition, The University of Virginia Press:

"Sir Toddsbury 7th April 1809

Having just learnt from Captn Decatur who delivered a moleboard I did myself the pleasure to send you at Washington, that you had not received my letter post which left Gloster Ct House about the 2oth of Jany last - & which I expect was destroyed by a villainous rider who we now know was in the habit of robing the mail about that time, I trouble you with the copy, not willing that the appearance of neglect sould pertain to one who will always feel himself honored by an oppy (opportunity) of rendering you any services in his power -

I am Sir mo. Respecfy Yours

Philip Tabb"

The Papers of Thomas Jefferson - Digital Edition, ed. Barbara B. Oberg and J. Jefferson Looney, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, Rotunda, 2008. Original source: Retirement Series, Volume 1 (4 March 1809 to 15 November 1809)

Dear Sir Monticello June 1. 09

Your favor of Apr. 7. has been duly recieved, with the copy of that of January. on reading the first paragraph of it respecting the nuts, I was confident I had recieved it, as I had forwarded the nuts on to a friend in Philadelphia. on searching my letter bundles, I accordingly found that of January recieved on the 27th of that month. yet when Capt Decatur sent me the Mould board, the part of your letter respecting that had as entirely escaped me as if I had never seen it. indeed I had found on other occasions that for1 the immense mass of matter which I was in the way of recieving, the memory was quite an insufficient storehouse. I thank you for the mould board. it’s form promises well, & I have no doubt of it’s good performance. it resembles extremely one which I made about 20. years ago, which has been much approved by the agricultural societies of England and France, the latter of which sent me a gold medal as a premium. the form as I observed is very much that of yours, with the advantage of being made by so easy a rule, that the coarsest negro workman can do it, & cannot possibly make it a hair’s breadth different from the true form. if I can find a conveyance, I will send you a small model, with it’s block which will shew you at once how to make it. a description of it may be found in Mease’s2 edition of Reese’s domestic encyclopedia. in agriculture I am only an amateur, having only that knolege which may be got from books. in the field I am entirely ignorant, & am now too old to learn. still it amuses my hours of exercise, & tempts to the taking due exercise. I salute you with great esteem & respect.

Th: Jefferson

The Papers of Thomas Jefferson - Digital Edition, ed. Barbara B. Oberg and J. Jefferson Looney, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, Rotunda, 2008. Original source: Retirement Series, Volume 1 (4 March 1809 to 15 November 1809)

Good Luck in the N(ewe) Y(ear)'s L(otter)y

Hieroglyphs, cuneiform, Latin words in gothic script, a rebus lottery ticket, hand written letters of Thomas Jefferson - all of these can be found at The Alice. Only one, however, relates directly to the New Year... It is a wonderful little lottery ticket - or ad for the lottery - hanging on our third floor.

This special ticket - a rebus - was printed in London in 1816-1817 utilizing a puzzle language that combined words, parts of words, and illustrations. In some cases the picture represents the sound of another word, such as a drawing of a female sheep (ewe) to mean 'you'... at other times it represents the actual word, as in the picture of a man for the word 'man'. The word Rebus is Latin meaning "by things" and it can refer to the symbols that represent words or phrases, or it may be used to refer to the entire document on which a rebus is employed.

Alice's lottery ticket is a framed rebus, bought in England in 1939, that has become more difficult to comprehend as society has changed. Symbols that would have been more universal in 1817 are now more challenging to decipher. For example, the author frequently uses a small image of a square brick building for the word or sound 'in'. Without the translation at the bottom of the page, I would not have known that this little building was an Inn!

It was popular in the 18th and early 19th century to write letters in rebus form. The most well known user of the rebus may be Lewis Carroll who wrote rebus puzzle letters to young friends, as well as looking glass letters that had to be held up to a mirror to be read. Another common use of the rebus was for heraldic coats of arms, or a family crest, in which pictures represent the family name or history.

Many ancient languages employed pictures to convey more complex ideas when a hieroglyph could not directly represent the word or concept. Our lottery ticket (or ad) is not a very complex document, just a lot of fun to look at and try to decipher without the help of the tiny translation printed at the bottom of the page. The lottery office would surely have wanted to make this document eye-catching and fun, yet including the solution to the puzzle was necessary to ensure they got the word out and sold more tickets!

After this week our lottery ticket, and the entire collection, will be somewhat inaccessible until we open again for tours in the spring of 2011. In the meantime, come and visit and see for yourself if you are able to decipher this wonderful document - Oh! - and do have a Happy New Year!

Emma and the Wedgwood Collection

In 1917 Alice and William were visited at their Heart's Delight Farm in Chazy by a dear friend from Chicago, Emma Blanxius Hodge. Emma had come that long way not just to relax, visit with her friends, and enjoy the fresh country air. She had also planned to catalog Alice's burgeoning collection of china. It was appropriate that Mrs. Hodge should offer her extensive knowledge of decorative arts to her friend in this way since she was responsible for getting Mrs. Miner started with the collection in the first place.

If one were to mention they collect Wedgwood, their statement might merely conjure some vague notion that they were interested in pottery. What the majority of us likely would not realize is the breadth of pottery designs such a collection might include. This is what I hope to illustrate with the newest exhibit at The Alice. My intent was to display some of the Wedgwood pottery Alice collected in the early 1900s, and in the process found a wide variety of the types of objects Wedgwood Manufactory sold starting in 1758.

Of the thirteen pieces I have chosen for our Wedgwood exhibit, ten are described in the 1917 inventory Hodge penned. Emma wrote descriptions, and labeled and numbered more than 350 objects for Alice that summer. Along the way she included information about each pottery type, and its style and manufacturer. The catalog consists of 116 typewritten pages of very detailed information about a collection now housed in the Ballroom of The Alice T. Miner Museum.

Emma wrote, "This compiled catalog is dedicated to my dear friends of Heart's Delight Farm, who, while they were laboring with the knitting needle for our soldiers at the front, permitted me to assemble these facts concerning the collection of pottery and porcelain in the Matilda Trainer collection, and furnished for me a summer of fragrant and unforgettable associations.

Emma B. Hodge.

Heart's Delight Farm,

Chazy, New York.

August, 28, 1917"

Alice Miner named her collection of British and American porcelain and earthenware in memory of her recently departed oldest sister Matilda, who passed away on February 14, 1917 - just weeks before her 65th birthday. Emma's visit probably helped to ease the acute loss Alice must have felt that summer. Twelve years older than Alice, Matilda was much more than a sister - she had stepped in to help raise the younger children after their mother died in 1870, followed too soon by their father in 1876.

The objects currently exhibited in the Dining Room of The Alice range widely in style, glaze and intended use, as well as in taste! Included is a handsome black basalt bust portrait of George Washington, circa 1790. It is the largest and most striking Wedgwood object in the collection. When you come for a tour you will also see an ironstone china teapot made by Wedgwood that once belonged to William Miner's grandmother Lydia that was given to Alice for her collection by his aunt Huldah Miner in 1917. One of the more whimsical objects is a small teapot shaped like a cauliflower, realistic enough that it made a docent who is allergic to cauliflower sneeze while helping to install the exhibit!

Another Chicago collector represented in this Wedgwood exhibit, Frank Wakely Gunsaulus, was a mutual friend of the Miners and Emma B. Hodge. Gunsaulus was a major collector of illuminated manuscripts, ancient texts, decorative arts, as well as Wedgwood, and his influence on Alice's collection can be seen in numerous extraordinary objects in The Alice's collection. Many of the objects he had gathered, including an Old Wedgwood collection, were donated to The Art Institute of Chicago. The Alice and The Art Institute each own one of a pair of matching flower vases once owned by Mr. Gunsaulus. He had originally donated both to The Art Institute, yet then removed one from their collection to give to Alice. They are Wedgwood jasperware vases described by Mrs. Hodge as; "Flower Holder. Light blue jasper with white figures in low relief of children playing blind man's buff. Classic borders and octagonal base with geometric border in white low relief. Circa 1785. From the Frank W. Gunsaulus Collection of 'Old Wedgwood' in The Art Institute of Chicago."

The Wedgwood jasperware flower holder at The Art Institute of Chicago,

photo used with permission.

The jasperware flower vase in The Alice collection.

There is truly something for everyone in this Wedgwood exhibit: from teapots to sculptures, plates to flower vases - with a variety of glazes - from wonderful green glaze, to black basalt, or merely "plain" white glaze. There are Queen's ware, jasperware, Flo Blue, daisies, cucumber leaves, cauliflower and crocus... I can see Emma Hodge, Frank Gunsaulus and Alice Miner gathered around the dining table admiring these beautifully made and lovingly collected objects. Come to The Alice, squint your eyes a bit, and find out if you can see those folks too... Or just come to enjoy the collection!

Do You Want Your Receipt?

How old are the oldest objects in the Alice collection? Approximately 4,000 years! What are they? fossils?... a saber toothed tiger tooth? No, and no... there are fossils in the collection, no teeth though - and saber toothed tigers were long gone by the time these objects were created. These are human-made objects inscribed with the earliest known writing system in the world - cuneiform.

Cuneiform evolved from a more pictographic type of writing using stylized representations of real objects. The lines employed to represent each object evolved as they were pared down and simplified, gradually becoming words that no longer looked like the objects they described. The writing was incised in moist clay with a stylus made of a sharpened reed, and the clay tablets were in turn baked to preserve the writing. Cuneiform writing was developed in southern Mesopotamia by the Sumerians over 5,000 years ago, and was later adopted in the same region by the Babylonians and others.

Included in the eclectic collection in the American Indian Room at The Alice are five small clay tablets, each less than two inches square, all created in 2100 - 2400 B.C. in ancient Mesopotamia, (which roughly corresponds geographically with modern Iraq). Two of our cuneiform tablets were found at Drehem, and three at Tell Jokha. Drehem is the modern name for the ancient city of Pazurish-Dagan, which was known as a distribution area for ancient Mesopotamia. Livestock was brought to Pazurish-Dagan to be redistributed to temples, officials and palaces in nearby Nippur. The two tablets in our collection found in Drehem are both receipts for sheep; one to be brought to market, with the others to be offered to the temple in honor of the gods Bel and Belit.

Tell Jokha is the modern name for the Sumerian city of Umma. Two of the tablets from this area are receipts for temple offerings or supplies, but the third is a bit more interesting because it is a list of supplies given to a temple messenger for a journey, and the items include oil, dates and bread. This particular piece is made from clay that is darker than the other four, and it has many more words contained in a tighter, more concisely written script.

Object X.2909 in The Alice collection.

This tablet lists supplies given to a temple messenger needed for a journey. Dated ca. 2350 B.C.

Another of the tablets found at Tell Jokha is described in the accompanying card... "A typical receipt of the temple offerings. After the tablet was written, and while the clay was still soft, the Temple Scribe rolled over the entire tablet his cylindrical stone seal, and the seal impression made it impossible to change the record. Seal impression bears name of scribe in raised characters, the seated figure of the Moon-god Sin of Ur, and the standing figures of priests. Dated about 2350 B.C."

Object X.2911 in The Alice collection. Dated ca. 2350 B.C.

If the date given these tablets is correct, they would have been produced during the Early Bronze Age in the area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers... an area many scholars have referred to as the cradle of civilization. Year-round farming was first started in this area. By fostering a less migratory civilization with a large population base and a specialized work force, this method of farming contributed to the development of a written language. We can see that livestock, for example, was often moved to centralized locations near big cities to be distributed to temples, officials and palaces. This soon required development of a method to keep records of the myriad transactions.

It's exciting for me to closely inspect these small square pieces of clay and muse about the busy ancient civilization that created them. Cuneiform was in use and continued to evolve for approximately another 3,000 years. The eventual extinction of cuneiform, however, was so complete that the meaning of the writing was completely lost until around 1850 A.D. The clay tablets are so old, and were used by people with lives so different from our own, but they served a currently common purpose - receipts! They were not created as works of art, but instead as necessary objects of daily life. These little tablets would not fit in your wallet, but they will last much longer than your grocery receipt!

An illustration of the ancient cities of Sumer, a civilization and historical region centered during the Early Bronze Age around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Likeness in Profile

Art and history can often be found in the most surprising places. For example, while driving along the interstate recently, I spotted a silhouette... we've all seen her - she may be the most commonly reproduced silhouette of our time - mud flap girl! Although this may seem to some a modern and novel way to depict a beautiful woman, this type of illustration has a long history and was once a very popular form of low-cost portraiture.

The Alice's collection holds a lovely group of thirty slightly more sophisticated silhouettes of men, women and children, collected by Alice in the early 20th century. The silhouettes are displayed together in the Sheraton Room on the second floor. They are wonderful little gems, exhibited in a wide variety of metal and wooden frames. Most are portraits of unnamed persons, but we know who a few of the people are - Benjamin Franklin, Martha Washington, John Ruskin, Aaron Burr, you may not recognize other names; Oscar Dinsmore-Davis (age 10 months and four days,) Margaret Davidson (her daughter was a poetic prodigy who died quite young,) Lucretia Platt, Alexander Potter, Eugenie (which may be the likeness of Empress Eugenie - wife of Napoleon III, and the last Empress of the French.)

Eugenie, 1870

The silhouette collection runs the gamut of the ways people were pictured - from the view of only the head, to full body profiles. One of the latter method depicts Alexander Potter and his dog. The Potter silhouette was created in 1829 by Auguste Amant Constant Fidéle Edouart (1789-1861.) Mr. Potter's and his dog's silhouettes were cut out of black paper and mounted on white paper, on which a split rail fence was lightly painted. The riding crop he holds is partly of cut paper and partly painted.

Alexander Potter by Aug. Edouart 1829 photo: PHOTOPIA/Shaun Heffernan

On the back of our Edouart silhouette is the following printed label,

"LIKENESS IN PROFILE
Executed by Mons. Edouart,

Who begs to observe, that his Likenesses are produced by the Scissors alone, and are preferable to any taken by Machines, inasmuch as by the above method, the expression of the Passions, and peculiarities of Character, are brought into action, in a style which has not hitherto been attempted by any other Artist..."

The methods used to create these images also varied widely, some were cut black silhouettes, mounted on white paper (which may be blank, or painted, or lithographed with a background scene) - some had the white paper as the cut silhouette which was then mounted on black - still others were produced by painting directly on glass, wax, plaster, or even ivory.

Auguste Edouart began cutting silhouettes in 1825 to prove an argument - he tells a story of "bustling the old father into a proper position, seizing a pair of scissors from a work basket, blacking a quickly torn piece of paper with the candle snuffers, and snipping a silhouette infinitely superior to the mechanical shade the family had been commending. It was at once approved of and found so like, that the ladies changed their teasing and ironical tone to praises, and begged me to take their mother's likeness, which I did with the same facility and exactness." Clearly Edouart was somewhat arrogant, but many others admired his work.

Auguste Edouart self portrait

Edouart was born in Dunkirk, France, fought valiantly in Napoleon's army and was decorated. He later moved to England where he traveled the country cutting portraits of British and French nobility. He came to the U.S. in 1839, just a few months before the daguerreotype made it to America, and stayed for ten years cutting silhouettes of Presidents and well-known Americans. On the return journey his ship sank and most of the folios full of copies of his thousands of silhouettes were lost. It is said that he never produced another after that ill-fated day.

Tracing the shadow of a figure thrown onto the wall was a means of portraiture employed as early as the Greek culture. This method did not receive the name "silhouette" until the 18th century, when it was named for a French finance minister who enjoyed creating likenesses made of cut paper... an inexpensive and fun method of portraiture. Other terms include; shade, scissor writing, paper profiles, paper cuts, black shades (a term Edouart hated!,) shadows, and profiles. The most famous English silhouette artist was John Miers (1756-1821.) Alice Miner also acquired a Miers silhouette of the head of a young woman created with black ink on gessoed plaster.

Head of a young woman by Miers, 19th century

Silhouettes became less prominent with the invention of the camera, rapidly losing popularity in the United States after 1840. They continued to be a type of artwork found at fairs and tourist sites for much of the 20th century, and silhouette artists can still be found today, selling their unique brand of portraiture as a more specialized and nostalgic niche item. If you might be thinking of becoming a silhouette artist, you would do well to visit The Alice and study our collection!

Tours are at 10:00, noon, and 2:00 Tuesday - Saturday.

Manual Cooling...

There are no less than twenty-four meanings listed for the word "fan" on Dictionary.com. We click a button on Facebook to become a "fan"... we fan out the cards to do a magic trick... but the only kind of fans I can think about these HOT and humid days are the ones that can produce a lovely breeze!

This is a serious fan... to provide maximum cooling, or at least adornment for the photographic subject.

The Alice collection holds eighteen beautiful fans of ivory, lithographed paper, feathers, mother-of-pearl, lace, voile, ebonized wood, lacquered wood, and even black satin. No, you wouldn't plug these particular fans into the wall socket to produce a breeze. Instead you would gracefully and languidly twitter the fan with your hand to cool your blushing cheeks!

Francisco de Goya "Woman with Fan" Louvre Museum

Left: Mother-of-pearl and lace fan. Right: Fan of printed and hand-tinted paper showing a pastoral scene, pierced ivory staves, silvered and gilded. The fan on the right has the added bonus of a tiny mirror on the outer stave.

Fans were so commonly used in the 18th and 19th century that they were even occasionally designed as a part of a woman's ensemble. These accoutrements served to cool an overheated lady while also adorning her in the ways she might wear jewelry today. The fan complimented one's attire, and even helped a young woman communicate with the men around her. Look up "The Language of the Fan" on the web and you will discover a language lost (and unnecessary?) to the modern woman.

French hand-colored lithographic fan with ebonized wood staves, mid 19th century.

Painted black satin fan with ebonized staves, showing a bullfight and Spanish dancers, circa 1885.

French painted paper fan with pierced ivory staves, painted with scenes after Watteau.

Detail of the ornate, florid decorations after Watteau.

(Photo: PHOTOPIA/Shaun Heffernan) Chinese intricately carved ivory fan, circa 1900, inside a Victorian Tunbridge Ware wood fan box showing a romantic landscape inlaid design on the cover and lined with silk, 19th century... being admired (?) by a bronze and ivory sculpture of Napoleon.

On these eighty-something degree days here at The Alice I find myself peering around my desk for something to fan myself as I type. Of course, I can't go up to the Lincoln Library, open the chest of drawers and borrow a lady's fan with French hand-tinted lithograph held by ebonized wood staves... for one thing, it wouldn't match my outfit!

Gazing into the Future... and Other Rites of Passage

High school graduation is often the first significant secular ritual in the lives of young Americans. There are other rituals in which we may participate earlier in life - we celebrate birthdays, observe family traditions, we participate in religious ceremonies and rites... but walking across the stage, reaching out to shake the Principal's hand while claiming one's diploma is a distinctly individual accomplishment... It's a moment we have earned - and an important rite of passage.

The term "Rite of Passage" was coined by anthropologist Arnold van Gennep, and was the title of his 1909 book. He stated that passage rituals consist of three stages: Separation (from society), then Transformation, and finally - Return to society with New Status.

As I learn more about Chazy Central Rural School and it's traditions I have admired how they have managed to retain many of their traditions from the very early days of the school. There are numerous rituals CCRS students experience, either directly or as observers, over the course of their years at Chazy. In just a few weeks I hope to attend Class Day, which is a Rite of Passage for Juniors, and a very powerful ritual and Rite of Passage for graduating Seniors.

At The Alice we have a wonderful mercury glass gazing ball that has been in the collection since the 1920s. I think of rites of passage when I see the gazing ball in the first floor hall. For a number of years this object was used on Class Day to predict the future of graduating Seniors.



The story goes that William and Alice Miner's employee, John M. Maslowski, and another worker from Heart's Delight Farm would drive to The Alice T. Miner Museum, collect the gazing ball from the Director/Curator, drive around to CCRS (as Mr. Maslowski held the gazing ball gently in the back seat,) and deliver it to the auditorium stage - returning the object to the museum in the same careful way after the ceremony. For those of you who have not been to The Alice - walking with the object over to our neighboring school would have taken about the same amount of time - but was not considered a safe enough mode of delivery, I presume!

Mercury glass is not actually made with mercury, but is clear glass blown with a double wall and coated inside with a silvering formula inserted through the hole left by the punty rod (the rod attached to the glass while it is being blown.) The hole is then plugged and the object is complete!

This method of producing mercury glass was developed in Germany in the early 19th century and was used as an inexpensive type of silver substitute - one that would not tarnish. Many candlesticks, doorknobs, vases, sugar bowls, goblets, and gazing balls were produced using this method. One method of production did incorporate the use of mercury, but it was found to be too toxic and more expensive than the more popular lining.

Critics of mercury glass felt it looked too much like a mirror and not enough like silver - but proponents liked it for this very reason. And, any thief could tell when they were looking at inexpensive mercury glass, and not at silver!

These days Alice's mercury glass gazing ball tells no tales at CCRS of future conquests. It merely sits in a quiet corner of the hall until Christmas decorating time, when it often comes out to be graced by a garland and placed on a windowsill for maximum effect. Yet if one were to visit our museum and pause to gaze into it, oh the tales it might yield of both the past, and one's bright future!

Alice on Ivory

When you visit our museum website (www.minermuseum.org) the first image you see is a lovely painted portrait of Alice T. Miner welcoming you to the site. The original, on loan from Miner Institute, sits on a table in the Parlor here at the museum, and it is truly a lovely image. The portrait was done on ivory by Mira Edgerly Korzybski, a well-known woman artist in her day. Miniature painted portraiture had fallen off in popularity with the rise of photography, but the genre was making a come-back with artists who appreciated the works they were still seeing in Europe.

Alice T. Miner painted portrait by Mira Edgerly, ca. 1915

A largely self-taught artist, Mira Edgerly was born in Illinois in 1879, but grew up in Michigan where her father was an inventor and the director of the Michigan Central Railroad. Her fascination with drawing started when she was quite young, and as a teen she was sent to Europe to study art in England and Paris. Mira later studied at the Art Institute in San Francisco where she met and posed for her friend, photographer Arnold Genthe. John Singer Sargent urged her to pursue her love of portraiture by painting on ivory.

Mira Edgerly Burt (Mr. Burt was her first husband) portrait by Arnold Genthe

Mira Edgerly eventually took the medium one step further by painting on larger pieces of ivory, such as the 4.5"x 10" portrait of our founder, Alice T. Miner. Mira chose more translucent pieces of ivory to give greater luminescence to her colors, ordering the large pieces from London. Her skills were in demand around the world and she painted portraits of socialites, statesman and the upper echelons of American and European society in New York, London, Paris, San Francisco, Chicago, and Latin America.

In 1919 Mira Edgerly married her second husband Alfred Korzybski, a Polish-American philosopher and scientist best known for developing the theory of General Semantics. She led an extremely interesting life! She worked to forward the career of Gertrude Stein, and painted a portrait of Princess Patricia, a grand daughter of Queen Victoria, while in Ottawa. Mira Edgerly is mentioned in the autobiography of Alice B. Toklas in 1933, "Mildred Aldrich once brought a very extraordinary person Myra Edgerly. I remembered very well that when I was quite young and went to a fancy-dress ball, a Mardi Gras ball in San Francisco, I saw a very tall and very beautiful and very brilliant woman there. This was Myra Edgerly young. Genthe, the well known photographer did endless photographs of her, mostly with a cat. She had come to London as a miniaturist and she had one of those phenomenal successes that Americans do have in Europe. She had miniatured everybody, and the royal family, and she had maintained her earnest gay careless outspoken San Francisco way through it all."

An independent and strong character seemed to sustain her and help further her career as well as those of her friends. Today, however, there is not much known about Ms. Korzybski. Her work can be found at The Art Institute in Chicago, and there is a large collection of her personal papers, letters, journals and photographs, along with forty of her ivory portraits at Columbia University in New York City. But if you are in northern New York, you need only travel to The Alice to see an amazing example of her work!

Charles F. Moore Civil War Letters

The Alice has a very diverse and deep collection. The most obvious elements of the collection are those one would see on a tour of the museum: decorative arts, furniture, samplers, pewter settings, lovely paintings, engravings, and prints... What most visitors do not explore are the archives.

Among the many letters, photographs, and papers in the archives relating to Alice and William Miner are; postcards from Europe, volumes full of holiday cards from the 1900s, letters written by famous Americans such as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, journals written by William Miner's relatives, and a wonderful collection of over 100 Japanese woodblock prints.


I have written about a few of these precious documents before, and exhibited may of those mentioned. A few years ago the museum transposed a very interesting collection of letters written by a north country lad named Charles Moore. These letters are on our website, www.minermuseum.org, as a permanent "floating" exhibit. We have placed images of the letters along with a typed version for easy reading.


If you would like to read about young Mr. Moore's experiences serving as Quartermaster with the 16th NY Infantry and later with 16th NY Sprague Light Cavalry defending Washington, DC, in his own words, simply go to the website, click the "Enter" button on the front page, and then click the link next to President Lincoln's photograph on the top right of every page.

An Ode to the Farmer and the Harvest

We have often seen a bumper sticker that says, "No Farms No Food." This may be interpreted in a few different ways, but - as have other professions - the farming community has been advertising its contributions to society for hundreds of years. As tools used on the farm have evolved, so have the methods of keeping the farmers' perspective fresh in the minds of the consuming public.

"Arms" Jug ca. 1800

We have just a few objects in the museum collection that would be used on the farm - a scythe or two, a beautiful hay rake, and milk collecting jugs. The museum also houses some interesting farm propaganda tools. The most charming is a two-handled mug (or jug as it would have been referred to) made around 1800. As mugs go, this one is large - holding approximately 32 ounces. The white exterior is decorated in polychrome colors and illustrated on one side with a farmer and his wife, various farm implements, animals and crops. On the opposite side is a twelve-line poem surrounded by a border of farm tools and products. The inside rim of our mug is decorated in a simple stylized design of wheat stalks and green leaves.

Book label pasted on the inside front cover of the above book. Alice and
William often had labels on the books kept at Heart's Delight Farm.

This style of jug was originally made by Richard Abbey (1720-1801) in Liverpool, England. Our copy of "The Old China Book" by N. Hudson Moore, published in 1903, mentions this was one of a series of "Arms" jugs created by Abbey. The museum copy of this book is well worn and has the Heart's Delight Farm library label pasted inside the front cover. This indicates it was one of Alice's personal reference books. Many of her tomes in the museum collection are reference books about decorative arts. Alice clearly wanted to know as much as she could about the objects she was collecting.

According to Moore there are Arms jugs for many professions; including the Blacksmith, with the motto "By Hammer and Hand All Arts Do Stand," the Baker, the Butcher, and even the Hatter. The motto on the Farmer's jug is "The Husbandman's Diligence Provides Bread." The lines on the back of the jug read;

"Let the wealthy and great
Roll in splendour and state.
I envy them not I declare it.
I eat my own lamb
My own chickens and ham.
I shear my own fleece and I wear it.
I have lawns I have bowers
I have fruits I have flowers.
The lark is my morning alarmer:
So my jolly boys now
Heres God speed the plough.
Long life and success to the farmer."

This poem has been used for many years in songs and odes under various titles: "The Farmer's Toast," "God Speed the Plough," and "The Farmer's Creed" being a few we have identified. It may have been borrowed from a popular song of the day, however, it's unclear to us which came first. The originator of the Arms mugs was a talented engraver who may have drawn on popular sayings or songs for the poem to support his design.

According to museum records this jug has been in Alice's collection since before 1917. That is the year Alice's dear friend and fellow collector, Emma Hodge, wrote a catalog of her porcelain collection. Undoubtedly, being the advocate he was for farmers and their hard working ways, William Miner also appreciated the sentiment this jug bears!

And so, in honor of the harvest which feeds us through the winter months, "Long life and success to the farmer!"

Deck the Halls

On Thursday, December 10 The Alice will start the holiday season off in high style with a visit from Martha Gallagher, The Adirondack Harper. Martha is calling the show Deck the Halls and will play holiday favorites to help you get into the spirit of the season!

Because seating is limited and Martha is such a popular performer, reservations are required. Make sure you have a seat at this event - reserve by calling 518-846-7336, or send an email to director@minermuseum.org.

Martha Gallagher has been sharing her spirited, distinctive, and richly varied music with audiences for over 30 years. Known in the northeastern region of New York, where she makes her home, as The Adirondack Harper, she has performed with such luminaries as six-time Grammy winners, The Chieftains. Her extensive solo tours have taken her around the U.S. and into Canada, with several tours sponsored by The National Endowment for the Arts. She has been featured on numerous television and radio programs; most recent appearances include BBC Television, Northeast Public Radio, and Good Morning America.

Laborare est Orare

I wanted to share an article I recently read from our archives about William H. Miner from the "Bell Telephone News" April, 1921:

Work is Worship

"Laborare est orare,"
Sang a monk of olden time,
Sang it at the early matins,
Sang it at the vesper chime.
"Work is worship," toil is holy,
Let this thought our zeal inspire.
Every deed done well and nobly,
Burns with sacrificial fire.

"Laborare est orare,"
Watch-word of the olden time,
Let us take it for our motto,
Serving in this later time.
"Work is worship," God, my brothers,
Takes our toil as homage sweet,
And accepts as signs of worship,
Well worn hands and weary feet.

~ Thomas Handford

The poem reproduced here hangs in the office of William H. Miner, who has for eleven years been a director in the Illinois Bell Telephone Company.

When told that we intended to print the poem in The Bell Telephone News, Mr. Miner asked us to say that anyone who would take the thought expressed in these verses as the motive power of his life, would make himself a good citizen and solve the secret of true happiness.

You want to know more about Mr. Miner? We thought so, and we asked him to tell us, but he just smiled - he is a big man with a whole souled smile - and said, "Tell them I am just a farmer."

But what a farmer!

Many years ago he went into the field of invention and planted some good ideas which grew into a fine crop of appliances for increasing the security of and efficiency in railway operation and which are in use on almost all freight cars. The harvest was golden and plenteous.

Then he bought the farm on which he was born (This is not quite accurate - his father was born on the Chazy farm, but William was born in Wisconsin.) and the next one to that and then the next, and so on until he had more than 11,000 acres.

Then he proceeded to smash all records agriculturally. Not satisfied to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before, he put the minimum at six blades. His was the tallest and finest stand of corn; of wheat; of barley.

He bewildered the vegetable world by growing peas as big as onions and onions as big as melons.

Then he sowed a line of boulders across a valley and they grew into a great dam which caught the cool and glistening waters from a thousand springs in the hills, for the use of all of the people for miles about.

Then he broke into another field where children lived and where there were briers and weeds and poison ivy, and he ploughed them out and he made to grow a great schoolhouse next to the corn and wheat and barley.

Now every autumn there is a rich harvest of hundreds of the coming fathers, mother, citizens, statesmen, merchants, farmers, etc. - red-cheeked, bright-eyed youngsters, made sure and strong for the tasks and burdens that they must soon take on, by the helping hand of this great-hearted farmer.

Bountiful Lord - send us a few more farmers like this one!

This "Bell Telephone News" article was written before William and Alice Miner built Physicians' Hospital in Plattsburgh and The Alice T. Miner Museum in Chazy... I would love to read the farming analogies this author would have come up with to describe those two wonderful contributions to the North Country!

Engineer as Artist - 1588

When it comes to books we all have our preferences... I appreciate a story that draws me in so fully that I forget to eat dinner. And, as a visual artist, I am naturally enticed by drawings and prints. Since my first summer on the job, one of my favorite books here at The Alice has been Agostino Ramelli's, "Dell' Artificiose Machine". This tome first caught my eye because of it's strong cream-colored leather binding. It has simple, elegant, gold foliate designs on the spine framing the author, title, and "Parigi 1588." Bindings like this are relatively rare due to the skill and attention it takes to create them.


As soon as I opened the cover and looked at some of the illustrations within, my curiosity was piqued - I had to know more. The book is comprised primarily of images, with the text serving mainly to explain the objects that occupy well over a third of the pages. The illustrations, intricate in their detail and precision, are comprised of very detailed drawings of machines - among them are whimsical designs for water pumps, derricks, mills, bridges, and even looms!


The above image illustrates a very specialized library table Ramelli imagined. This revolving table is designed for someone who, suffering from gout, could not get around easily. In each compartment one would place a different book to study or enjoy!

Agostino Ramelli was a military engineer who obviously had an eye for artful detail. In his youth he studied mathematics and architecture. He was a product of the Renaissance, with its emphasis on education through classical sources combined with a search for realism and human emotion in art. The beautiful details Ramelli included in his works illuminate his desire to include a human element in each diagram. They often include whimsical spouts on illustrations of wells, generally in the shape of a mythical creature or animal head, with the water pouring out of the mouth. Many of the etchings involve humans - sometimes powering the machines by walking on huge wheels to turn the cogs and gears, or at other times collecting the water as it pours from the spout.


In the above illustration the creature's head that forms the spout even has flowers in its hair! Presumably, these would have been conceived of by Ramelli as carved stone sculptural elements serving to enhance the beauty of his machines.

Ramelli's work was one of the first of its kind to have drawings so finely and accurately detailed that you could actually construct the machines by using his images as a reference. He wrote this volume for the French royal court, thus the text is in French and Italian.

I encourage all engineers and aficionados of beautiful art alike to come to The Alice to see "Dell' Artificiose Machine" while it is currently on exhibit!

@ The Alice - Friday, November 6

We have a fun evening in store for visitors and friends of The Alice coming up on the first Friday in November... Tim Hartnett will be joining us at 7:00 pm for an evening of song!

Tim was raised in a family that loved to sing songs together. At age 11 he was inspired by his sister Seana to learn guitar, along with the popular melodies of the day. Many a good time was had at the family home enjoying rousing sing-alongs with the friends who would frequently drop by.

I've enjoyed listening to Tim sing and play guitar many times over the years. Tim has an amazing memory and appreciation for music, lyrics, and songs - and he exudes a joy that flows through every performance. Perhaps you can think of a popular tune Tim won't know? That is a real challenge!

Tim’s musical resume is lengthy and varied. He has appeared as a solo performer, in several duets with women (including his sister Seana), and in numerous bands whose music ranges from country, blues, jazz, pop, and rock. Presently he performs with singer/songwriter Julie Canepa, the jazz/blues/pop combo PureBlue, and occasionally with the Zip City Blues Band.

Seating in the ballroom of The Alice is limited, it's a good idea to reserve your space by calling 846-7336, or sending an email to director@minermuseum.org. The show is $5 at the door, we hope you'll come to the museum on November 6 to relax and enjoy a true minstrel!

Carved in Stone... Cast in Bronze

I recently visited the cemetery in Chazy where Alice and William Miner are interred. Also buried at Riverview are William Miner's grandparents, Lydia and Clement Miner, and his Aunt Huldah and Uncle John Miner, who raised him after his parents died (Will's mother and father are buried in Wisconsin and Ohio respectively.) Entombed in the mausoleum with Alice and William is their infant child, William Miner, Jr., and Alice's three sisters Matilda, Bertha and Louise Trainer.

A note, written by William Miner in 1925, served to secure

the area for the Miner/Trainer mausoleum.

Riverview Cemetery was incorporated in 1920 but has been continually in use since 1811, possibly earlier. The land, and a few of the homes around the old cemetery, were purchased by William H. Miner in 1916, and he deeded the cemetery and one house to Riverview Cemetery, Inc. in 1920. In 1926 Alice and William built the stone chapel and in 1927 the mausoleum. The plans were drawn up by Frederick Townsend, the architect who designed The Alice T. Miner Museum, Chazy Central Rural School, Physicians' Hospital and many of the buildings on Heart's Delight Farm.

The earliest plans, drawn up by Townsend in 1918,
depict a rather stately structure.

Frederick Townsend's final drawing shows a more rustic building...
The Alice holds the sketches for the mausoleum, the
stone chapel and the museum in its archives.

For the first time I had the opportunity to see the inside of the mausoleum, a solidly built stone structure... I found the workmanship on the interior absolutely breath-taking, which was a surprise after studying the somewhat plain exterior of the building. The mausoleum is entered through a bronze gate with the initials "T M" which is repeated along with a bronze wreath inlaid in the marble floor.

As with all of the Miner structures,
the mausoleum was clearly built to last.

The plaque placed above the door to the mausoleum is inscribed with the
names of the members of the Trainer and Miner families interred within.

The interior of the mausoleum is beautifully decorated with mosaic tiles carefully handset in artistic designs, and seven colors of polished marble are arranged for the floor. The walls feature inlaid glass tile borders which are repeated throughout the space. The back wall is decorated with marble that was cut and then laid out as though unfolding a piece of paper, creating interesting rorschach images. The most interesting, yet subtle, image is just above a pink marble urn in the rear of the chamber. The urn may have been filled with fresh cut flowers from Heart's Delight Farm.

In the rear of the chamber, above a stained glass window, an
intertwined 'T' and 'M' are framed with a mosaic border.

The tiles used in the borders appear to be hand cut and are quite small - none larger than one inch. The room has a lovely domed ceiling with a glass and bronze light fixture. Clearly the best artisans available at the time were hired to create the lovely detail and lasting workmanship displayed is this final resting place for Alice T. Miner (1863-1950), William H. Miner (1862-1930), William Jr. (March 16, 1902 - March 30, 1902), Matilda Trainer (1851-1916), Bertha Trainer (1857-1928), and Louise Trainer (1861-1932).