Bookshelf
Written by PA Heritage Staff in the Bookshelf category and the Fall 1992 issue Topics in this article: agriculture, architecture and architects, Benjamin Harrison, Canada, Carnegie Steel Company, Cecilia Beaux, Europe, Gilbert Stuart, Henry Clay Frick, Jacob Eichholtz, John Neagle, John Singleton Copley, Los Angeles, Louis Kahn, Museum of Modern Art, Nebraska, New Norway, Ole Bull, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Pennsylvania Dutch (Pennsylvania German), Philadelphia, Robert Vonnoh, Second Continental Congress, Sesquicentennial International Exposition of 1926, Texas, Thomas Eakins, Thomas P. Anschutz, Thomas Sully, U. S. Constitution, University of Pennsylvania, William Merritt ChaseLouis I. Kahn: In the Realm of Architecture
by David Bruce Brownlee and David G. De Long
Museum of Contemporary Art and Rizzoli International Publications, 1991 (448 pages, paper, $34.95)
Louis I. Kahn (1901-1974) had strong ties to Philadelphia during his internationally acclaimed architectural career. He arrived in Philadelphia in 1906, and was encouraged by the Graphic Sketch Club, Central High School, and the University of Pennsylvania . It was in Philadelphia that Kahn executed some of his earliest professional work, as chief of design for the Sesquicentennial Exposition (1925-1926); built his first independent commission, the Ahavath Israel Synagogue (1935); and designed his first mature work of major significance, the Richards Medical Research Building (1957-1961) at the University of Pennsylvania. New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) honored the Richards structure with an exhibition, hailing it as “probably the most consequential building constructed in the U. S. since the war.” The architect’s designs for Philadelphia ranged from houses and housing to visionary and large-scale plans for center-city. To celebrate Kahn’s legacies, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, organized an exhibition which shares the same title as this book. Louis I. Kahn: In the Realm of Architecture, expected to become the definitive scholarly source for the study of the architect and his work, contains guest essays and guest articles on his buildings, as well as a complete list of his projects and structures from 1925 to 1974, a chronology of his life and work, and a bibliography. More than five hundred photographs of his drawings and models illustrate this first comprehensive survey of Kahn’s contributions to the practice and history of architecture.
“The River Ran Red”: Homestead 1892
by David P. Demarest, Jr., editor
University of Pittsburgh Press, 1992 (232 pages, paper, $19.95)
The violence that erupted at the Carnegie Steel Company’s sprawling Homestead mill near Pittsburgh on July 6, 1892, attracted national attention, prompted a congressional investigation and trials for treason, motivated a nearly successful assassination attempt on Henry Clay Frick, contributed to the defeat of Pres. Benjamin Harrison for a second term, and irrevocably changed the course – and history – of the American labor movement (see “‘The Public is Entitled to Know’: Fighting for the Public Memory of Henry Clay Frick” by Brent D. Glass in the winter 1992 edition of Pennsylvania Heritage). Although “The River Ran Red”: Homestead 1892 commemorates the centennial of the Homestead Steel Strike, instead of retelling the story of the strike, the book re-creates the events of that summer in excerpts drawn from contemporary newspapers and magazines, reproductions of pen-and-ink sketches and photographs made on the scene, passages from the congressional investigation that resulted from the strike, firsthand accounts by both participants and observers, and poems, songs, and sermons from throughout the country. Contributions by outstanding scholars and respected researchers provide the context for understanding the social and cultural aspects of the strike, as well as its violence. A collaboration of a team of writers, archivists, and historians, “The River Ran Red” is readable, as well as richly illustrated, and recalls public and personal reactions to an event in American history whose reverberations can still be felt.
Historic Philadelphia
by William C. Kashatus III
University Press of America, 1992 (198 pages, paper, $19.50)
In Historic Philadelphia: The City, Symbols and Patriots, 1681-1800, the author deftly captures the familiar figures and symbolism of the city’s rich eighteenth century past, as well as the heady drama of some of American history’s greatest moments, such as the clandestine meetings of the Second Continental Congress, the drafting of the United States Constitution, and the exciting final days of Philadelphia’s prestigious – and turbulent – role as the nation’s capital. Historic Philadelphia was written by a Philadelphian for fellow Philadelphians, as well as for visitors to what he characterizes by the opening chapter as “The Cradle of American Liberty.” The book is not intended to be a scholarly work, but rather a popularly-styled history, one designed to excite the curiosity of the reader and offer new and fresh interpretations of existing historical data. The opening section provides an informal, concise history of the city from its founding in 1681 to the turn of the nineteenth century, while the second section discusses the historical significance of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, the two most widely recognized symbols of Philadelphia’s legacy to the nation. The third segment explores the lives of the city’s most prominent citizens and their contributions to its development during the colonial period, while the concluding chapters suggest walking tours of Old City. Historic Philadelphia: The City, Symbols and Patriots, 1681-1800, is an ideal companion for readers desiring more than the brief outlines contained in typical visitors’ guidebooks but wanting material more entertaining than detailed treatments and interpretations provided by scholarly reference works. (The author of Historic Philadelphia is, incidentally, a regular contributor to Pennsylvania Heritage.)
Shattered Dreams
by Paul W. Heimel
Leader Publishing Company, 1992 (175 pages, paper, $10.95)
Shattered Dreams: The Ole Bull Colony in Pennsylvania recounts the saga of the famous nineteenth century Norwegian master violinist Ole Bull (1810-1880) and those Scandinavians who followed him to establish villages in the wilderness of southern Potter County. The book opens with an announcement in summer 1852 by the People’s Journal, a Coudersport newspaper, of Bull’s purchase of one hundred and twenty thousand acres in northwestern Pennsylvania. (Bull – who had delighted Americans during his tour a decade earlier – actually purchased a little more than eleven thousand acres.) He arrived at Coudersport in September, followed several days later by the first wave of colonists, and traveled south to establish settlements at present-day Oleona (then called Oleana), Carter Camp (originally known as Carter Camp), and Ole Bull State Park. Confident and idealistic, Ole Bull christened his colony as “a new Norway, consecrated to liberty, baptized in freedom, and protected by the glorious flag of America.” Although Bull’s intentions were idealistic, they were less than realistic: it would be difficult to establish and maintain a series of self-sufficient agricultural communities in such a mountainous, sparsely populated, and isolated region. He invested a fortune in the colony before realizing its impracticality. Even worse, Bull discovered that much of the land he believed he had purchased was excluded by language in the deeds, and he developed tracts of land he did not own. It was not long before the visionary maestro’s plans began to crumble. Shattered Dreams examines not only the musician’s plans for New Norway but probes the transactions which led to the demise of the noble – albeit brief – experiment. The book also addresses what generations of local residents have called “Ole Bull’s Castle”; the settlers who did not abandon their hopes of living in the United States and who remained in Potter County; and the arrival of German pioneers in the southern part of the county to settle the village of Germania. Shattered Dreams features several historic images of Ole Bull, as well as illustrations of concert programs and broadsides. (The saga of Ole Bull will be recounted by Paul W. Heimel in a full-length and liberally illustrated article to appear in the spring 1993 edition of Pennsylvania Heritage.)
Facing the Past
by Susan Danly
American Federation of Arts, 1992 (104 pages, paper, $14.95)
Philadelphia’s venerable – and beloved – Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) has long been known for its rich holdings of early nineteenth century portraits by members of the prodigious Peale family, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully, John Neagle, and Jacob Eicholtz. Throughout the nineteenth century, many works were given to the Pennsylvania Academy by descendants of the sitters and by local collectors who recognized the institution’s important role in the exhibition of portraits and the teaching of portrait painting. The revival of interest in portraiture in the closing decades of the nineteenth century is reflected by naturalist works by Thomas Eakins and his circle, as well as works by William Merritt Chase, Robert Vonnoh, and Cecilia Beaux. Their works, with those of other fashionable society portraitists, such as Thomas P. Anschutz and John McClure Hamilton, were purchased by PAFA from its prestigious annual exhibitions or given by donors who wanted to recognize these artists’ special contributions to American art or the sitters’ importance to history. During the last decade, the Pennsylvania Academy has added several significant paintings to its collection of portraiture, including John Singleton Copley’s Robert “King” Hooper (1767) and Henry Benbridge’s The Gordon Family (circa 1762), to expand its scope and geographical range. Facing the Past: Nineteenth Century Portraits from the Collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts – the title of a major exhibition (on view through Sunday, April 11, 1993) and accompanying catalogue – provides, for the first time, an overview of the Academy’s nineteenth century portrait collection. Facing the Past includes an essay, “The Portrait Tradition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,” chronicling PAFA’s acquisitions during two centuries, and illustrations of more than forty works of art. Not only does the catalogue reveal the variety of likenesses in the Academy’s collection, but it also touches succinctly on the compelling aesthetic and social images suggested by these images to offer readers a fuller appreciation of American history. The catalogue’s essay focuses on the origins of the portrait trade in Philadelphia, emphasizing paintings in the Academy’s collection that represent not only the interests of Philadelphians, but the nation as a whole. Organized in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts was concerned with the creation of a national artistic identity, the edification of the American people through the study of art, and the promotion of native-born artists. Portraiture was the most accessible form of art that fulfilled the Academy’s goals, and Facing the Past – thoughtfully written and handsomely designed – showcases the famous (and not-so-famous) faces of Philadelphia’s past two centuries.
The Pennsylvania Barn
by Robert F. Ensminger
The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992 (238 pages, cloth, $39.95)
Subtitled Its Origin, Evolution, and Distribution in North America, this book is the first comprehensive study of this important piece of American vernacular architecture. The forebay bank barn – better known as the Pennsylvania barn or the Pennsylvania German barn – is one of the most important agricultural structures to have been brought to North America from Europe. It was so ideally suited to agricultural practices on this side of the Atlantic Ocean – at least in the humid East and humid West – that it evolved and spread throughout the corn and wheat belts, from the Tidewater to Nebraska, Washington and Oregon, from northern New York and southern Ontario, Canada, to Tennessee and Texas. The Pennsylvania barn has long been admired as one of the outstanding vernacular farm structures in the United States and Canada. Existing early accounts by travelers in eastern Pennsylvania indicate that, by the mid-eighteenth century, thriving German farmers were already erecting large barns, while retaining modest log cabin dwellings – a testimonial to the priority they placed on agriculture. The culmination of more than fifteen years of research, The Pennsylvania Barn: Its Origin, Evolution, and Distribution in North America will prove to be invaluable not only to cultural and historical geographers but also to individuals interested in folklore and architectural history – especially vernacular architecture and material culture. The text is accompanied by more than one hundred and fifty photographs and forty maps.