To Form a More Perfect Union: Violet Oakley’s Murals in the Pennsylvania Senate Chamber

Posted by on Apr 15, 2020 in | Comments Off on To Form a More Perfect Union: Violet Oakley’s Murals in the Pennsylvania Senate Chamber At breakfast tables on Sunday morning, December 3, 1911, readers of The New York Times were confronted with a surprising headline running across the magazine section: “A WOMAN CHOSEN TO COMPLETE THE ABBEY PAINTINGS.” Four months earlier, the news that the American artist Edwin Austin Abbey (1852–1911) had passed away in London raised speculation about who would receive the remainder of his...
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Pennsylvania’s Architectural Heritage: Statehouses and Capitols

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania’s Architectural Heritage: Statehouses and Capitols Through the three centuries of Pennsylvania’s history, the build­ings that always have been both the functional and symbolic heart of the Commonwealth have been the seats of government. These statehouses and capitols bespeak much about the governmental structure and social ideals of the respective ages which created them. Indeed, the very change of nomenclature from statehouse to capitol...
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A Capital Idea! A Brief and Bumpy History of Pennsylvania’s Capitols

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Capital Idea! A Brief and Bumpy History of Pennsylvania’s Capitols A mere one hundred or so miles separate Philadelphia’s Chestnut and Harrisburg’s Third streets. But the path­ – metaphorically, at least­ – between the Keystone State’s first and final capitol build­ings seems far longer and rockier than geography suggests. From the Commonwealth’s earliest days, when the government met in Philadelphia’s elegant State...
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Lost and Found

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lost and Found Lost In 1891, a conservatory was erected on the grounds of the State Capitol in Harrisburg. Re­ferred to as “the first State Botanical Conservatory,” it was commonly called the “Rose House” – even by Joseph M. Huston, architect of the present Capitol. The prefabricated conservatory was purchased from the Joseph A. Plenty Horticultural and Skylight Works, New York....
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Capitol Building for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Capitol Building for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania The Athenaeum of Philadelphia acquires thousands of architectural drawings and hundreds of rare books and trade catalogues each year. Recent acquisitions include drawings from Charles Barry’s Italianate Travellers’ Club in London, reputedly a source for architect John Notman’s design of the Athenaeum; high-style Victorian period designs by Philadelphia architects Edward Collins...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf A Sacred Challenge: Violet Oakley and the Pennsylvania Capitol Murals By Ruthann Hubert-Kemper and Jason L. Wilson, editors Capitol Preservation Committee, 2003 (168 pages, cloth, $59.95) Violet Oakley (1874-1961) was an ideal candidate to accept the challenge of creating the artwork adorning the Governor’s Reception Room in Pennsylvania’s opulent State Capitol in Har­risburg. Born...
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Key of the Capitol to Samuel Pennypacker (1907)

Posted by on Nov 24, 2013 in | Comments Off on Key of the Capitol to Samuel Pennypacker (1907) As Pennsylvania’s State Capitol marks its one hundredth anniversary this year, institutions and individuals throughout the Commonwealth are showcasing their treasures associated with the building (see “Through the Halls of History with Ruthann Hubbert-Kemper, Keeper of the Capitol” by Michael J. O’Malley III). Collectors are seeking out early twentieth-century souvenirs...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 24, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Literature in Stone: The Hundred Year History of Pennsylvania’s State Capitol Edited by Ruthann Hubbert-Kemper and Jason L. Wilson Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee, 2006; 384 pages, cloth, $29.95 The Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee knows how to celebrate a milestone, dramatically evidenced by its publication of Literature in Stone: The Hundred YearHistory of...
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Through the Halls of History with Ruthann Hubbert-Kemper, Keeper of the Capitol

Posted by on Nov 24, 2013 in | Comments Off on Through the Halls of History with Ruthann Hubbert-Kemper, Keeper of the Capitol Ruthann Hubbert-Kemper became involved with the multi-faceted, twenty-five year restora­tion of Pennsylvania’s monumental State Capitol on the proverbial ground floor. She arrived in Harrisburg in February 1980 as an intern, while enrolled in Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove. Because she loved the building, she had asked to be assigned to an office in the State Capitol. She began...
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Edwin Austin Abbey, A Capital Artist

Posted by on Nov 24, 2013 in | Comments Off on Edwin Austin Abbey, A Capital Artist For those familiar with his majestic works of art – particularly his grand public murals – it seems improbable that Edwin Austin Abbey (1852–1911) had little formal training. He attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for just one semester, where fellow students observed he rarely finished a drawing as assigned, preferring instead to produce sketches of his own design. Abbey was the...
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