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Jervis McEntee: The Winter Conservationist

Authored by Summer Buffin

The first page in Jervis McEntee’s 1874 journal detailing his struggles with depression
and his appreciation of New York’s winter snowscape.

Jervis McEntee, born 1828, was a Hudson River School artist and poet (Vedder 2015). The Hudson River School was America’s “first and true artistic fraternity” (Avery 2004) and focused on the natural beauty of America’s landscapes, particularly the Hudson River. McEntee was one of the esteemed artists who painted in this style, which draws on the British aesthetic of the mysterious and fearsome power of nature (Avery 2004). The landscapes depicted in this style became popular tourist attractions and some are now historic sites (Hudson River School 2023). The founder of the movement wrote to American Monthly Magazine arguing for the psychological benefits of experiencing nature (Kiely 2022). Their paintings helped stir an Environmentalist Conservation Movement within the United States that remains in place today (Kiely 2022). Although he was not the most famous painter of the movement, McEntee’s unique take on the style made him remembered throughout history.

Read more: Jervis McEntee: The Winter Conservationist

McEntee “followed his own artistic compass” (Vedder 2015), painting the rich and solemn autumn tones of the Hudson River and its surrounding area. While the most renowned Hudson River School paintings featured vibrant, green landscapes, McEntee was enthralled by the quiet beauty of New York’s snowy and barren cold seasons (Beckenstein 2015). McEntee kept a detailed diary recounting his life’s work and routines from 1848 until his death in 1901 (Smithsonian 2023). McEntee and his wife, Gertrude, were beloved amongst the artistic community of the time for hosting social events with some of the most famous artists, writers, and actors of the age (Smithsonian 2023). Unfortunately, Gertrude passed away in 1878, leaving McEntee to paint and write alone for another 13 years (Smithsonian 2023). McEntee motivates himself through his artwork and stays connected with friends to recount Gertrude’s memory (McEntee 1874-1878, 3). His diary entries from 1874 describe his struggles with depression while he carries on with his artistic career for his remaining years. McEntee’s love for the colder seasons motivates his artwork, staving off the sorrow he feels:

When I reflect as I do oftener it seems weak and spiritless ever to give way to depression and discouragement. Still I do it in spite of my efforts to avoid it. I think one cause of discouragement is a certain impetuosity in my work. I try to do too much at once rather than what I can do profitably in a day and then leave my work for the next day. After I have painted as far as I can with profit I ought to leave my picture and forget it until the next day; but I go on trying to finish and I get a certain hardness, and then thinking of my work troubles me.

(McEntee 1874-1878, 3)

With such a beautiful landscape around him to draw inspiration from, McEntee can hardly find a reason to stay depressed; yet he still embraces his grief often and unabashedly (McEntee 1874-1878, 3). Artwork in museums hangs freely and without much context, save for some nameplates that offer a date and author. Seldom does the lived experience of the artist translate through displays. The grandeur of the museum sometimes leaves behind the hardships artists face in making a living off their commissions. McEntee’s diary entries shine a light on his dealings with grief as he carries on with his lifelong artistic journey, seeing beauty in even the most muted wintery landscapes (Beckenstein 2015).

References

Avery, Kevin J. 2004. “The Hudson River School.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hurs/hd_hurs.htm

Beckenstein, Joyce. 2015. “Review: A Kingston Painter, Chronicler of the Hudson River School.” New York Times, September 10, 2015. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/nyregion/review-a-kingston-painter-chronicler-of-the-hudson-river-school.html

Hudson River School. 2023. “Meet the Artists of the Hudson River School and Visit the Places in Nature that they Painted and Made Famous.” Hudson River School. https://www.hudsonriverschool.org/artists

Kiely, Alexandra. 2022. “The Hudson River School: American Art and Early Environmentalism.” The Collector, January 28th, 2022. https://www.thecollector.com/hudson-river-school-american-art/

McEntee, Jervis. 1874 November 26 – 1878 December 8. Diary, Volume II. Box BV 4, Folder 1. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. https://transcription.si.edu/view/48816/AAA-AAA_mcenjerv_2877710

Smithsonian Archives of American Art. 2023. “Jervis McEntee Papers, 1848-1905.” Smithsonian Institution. https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/jervis-mcentee-papers-7251

Vedder, Lee A. 2015. “Jervis McEntee: Painter-Poet of the Hudson River School.” The Dorsky at SUNY New Paltz. https://www.newpaltz.edu/museum/exhibitions/mcentee.html

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First Lieutenant and General Superintendent F. R. Chase’s Letter to Captain William H. Sterling: An Insight into the Operations of the Freedmen’s Bureau’s Educational Department

Authored by Victoria Santamorena

1st Lieutenant & General Superintendent F. R. Chase to Captain William H. Sterling, 22 February 1867. Freedmen’s Bureau: Registers and Letters Received by the Commissioner, Letters Received, Entered in Register 9, W, Jan.- May 1867, Part 1. Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center, Freedmen’s Bureau, Washington, D.C. https://transcription.si.edu/transcribe/44494/NMAAHC-007675321_00444

On February 22, 1867, First Lieutenant and General Superintendent of Education in New Orleans, F. R. Chase, wrote to Captain William H. Sterling, the acting Adjunct General, reporting on difficulties in the Educational Department, which was overseen by the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (the Freedmen’s Bureau). Chase’s letter complains of one of the department’s agents, A. D. McCoy, who had a tendency to overstep the bounds of his position. McCoy claimed authority over the district’s schools and the teachers appointed to them. However, the Superintendent or the Assistant Commissioner were responsible for these duties (Trudeau 1978, 2-3). Complicating matters, McCoy was a former Confederate and seemed to value religious preaching above his obligations as an educator.

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The Crown Jewel of Callanwolde

Authored By Julia Titak

The Aeolian Organ located in the Ballroom of the Callanwolde Mansion of Druid Hills, Georgia.

In Druid Hills Georgia, near the Emory University campus, is the Callanwolde Mansion. The history of this Mansion does not include just the walls. The building begins when Charles Howard Candler bought a piece of land in Druid Hills, Georgia. He went on to build the Callanwolde Mansion. The most interesting fact about the building of this Mansion is not that it has seven bedrooms and six bathrooms. The sheer number of bathrooms would stun anyone during that time due to the cost. However, inside the mansion is where one finds Candler’s crown jewel, the Aeolian Organ.

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An Immigrant in the Labor Revolution: Luigi Antonini and the ILGWU

Authored by AJ Lent


Pictured is the “Progressive Dress Club Award” received by Luigi Antonini in 1958. The inscription reads: “ Conspicuous service and outstanding achievements as an American of Italian Origin in the labor movement especially in the dress industry”. Photographed by AJ Lent, courtesy of the Center for Migration Studies

In the early 1900s, working conditions for the common worker, especially immigrants, were poor, and unions sprung up in order to organize workers and campaign for better conditions. The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union was founded in 1900 by eleven Jewish Old World tailors (The Editors 2009) and though it was initially male-only, over time it “organized thousands of unskilled and semi-skilled women, mostly Jewish and Italian young immigrants” (Cornell University Library, n.d.). Although in some places, such as Pennsylvania, Italian immigrants found it difficult to unionize due to the cultural beliefs of their home (Fenton 1959, 133), unions in New York City had better luck, and in 1909 and 1910 respectively ILGWU organized two of the better known industrial strikes in the twentieth century (Cornell University Library, n.d.).

With the large numbers of Italian immigrants arriving in the country at the time, this was an important breakthrough, one which Luigi Antonini became an important part of. Born in 1883 in southern Italy, Antonini immigrated to America in 1908, settling in New York City and tuning pianos and rolling cigars before he became a garment worker (LaGumina 2005, 19). Joining the ILGWU, Antonini became very active and was voted onto the executive board of Local 25 a year after joining; he then went on to become a vice president in 1925, then First Vice-President in 1934 (Cornell University Library n.d.), as well as serving as the general secretary for Local 89, an Italian-speaking local that at one point had around 37,000 members (Grossman 1996, 28).

Antonini served as the First Vice-President for thirty years, and in that time, not only was he an avid orator for Italian immigrant workers, he also actively spoke out against fascism and Benito Mussolini as World War II approached, going so far as to helping sponsor a rally of Italian American workers in January 1942. After the war, he advocated for aid for Italy and helped create the Franklin D. Roosevelt Vocational School in Mondello, Sicily (LaGumina 2005, 20).

Throughout his life, this plaque was not the only award Luigi Antonini received for his efforts in the labor movement. Through his efforts, the ILGWU grew and more Italian immigrants found a supportive union that advocated for their rights and organized strikes to improve conditions and pay. Luigi Antonini was an instrumental figure in improving the lives of thousands of Italian immigrant workers, making them and their families safer in a new, sometimes hostile country.

References:

Cornell University Library n.d. “ILGWU. Local 89. Luigi Antonini Correspondence, 1919-1968”. Accessed March 17, 2019. http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/KCL05780-023.html#link7

Fenton, Edwin. 1959. “Italians in the Labor Movement”, Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies 26, no. 2 (April): 133-148. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27769876?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Grossman, Ronald P. The Italians in America. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Co, 1966.

LaGumina, Salvatore J.. “Antonini, Luigi (1883-1968)”. In The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia, edited by Salvatore J. LaGumina, Frank J. Cavaioli, Salvatore Primeggia, and Joseph A. Varacalli , 19-20. New York: Tayler & Francis Group, 2005. https://books.google.com/books?id=Tm-AAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT6&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false

The Editors. “International Ladies Garment Workers Union”. Updated March 1, 2009. https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/international-ladies-garment-workers-union

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Treaties and Treachery: The Legal Battles of the 1837 Minnesota Treaty with the Chippewa

Authored by Jessica Manner

A photocopy of the Treaty of 1837.
The Treaty with the Chippewa signed in 1837, ceding the bulk of Native territory in Minnesota in exchange for payments and the rights to hunt, fish, and gather on the land. This treaty has been the basis for multiple court cases and a continuing presence of prejudice against Natives in the upper Midwest.

In 1837 the Chippewa Nation of Indians signed a treaty with the State of Minnesota, ceding most of their land in exchange for a lump sum, annual payments in goods and money for twenty years, and the right to hunt, fish, and gather wild rice in the ceded territory.

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Tales of the Chesapeake

Authored by Kate Yelland

Image of a first edition copy of George Alfred Townsend’s Tales of the Chesapeake, a collection of short stories and poems about the Maryland shore. Published in 1880.

Tales of the Chesapeake by George Alfred Townsend is a 138-year-old collection of stories and poems about the Delaware and Maryland shores. At the age of thirty-five, Townsend, or GATH as he often used as a penname, wrote Talesafter re-visiting the Eastern Shore where he spent time as a child. The book contains tales of the rural waterfront communities along the Chesapeake Bay (Wiebe 2014). The red, cloth-bound volume is one of just a few works for which GATH is still remembered.  Continue reading →

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Watching My Mother: Memories That Never Wash Away

Authored by Abena Amoh

“I watched as my mother was forced to scrub the sidewalks with other Jews shortly after the Anshluss.”

On March 12, 1938, Adolf Hitler officially announced an Anschluss between Austria and Germany. [1] The German term Anschluss means union. [2] Hitler claimed that his desire was to unify all European countries that spoke German. Interestingly, the idea of this type of unification was initially proposed by Austrian socialists in 1919. [3]

April 10, 1938 marks the date of the Anschluss election. [4] On that day, almost one hundred percent of the votes recorded supported the decision to move forward with the unification of Germany and Austria. Not all Austrian citizens were permitted to vote on this matter. Austrian Jews were excluded from the election process.

Shortly after the Anschluss went into effect, things immediately began to take a turn for the worse. Austrian Jews were treated as though they were less than human. They were subjected to many forms of public humiliation. Many non-Jews at the time were unperturbed by the degradation of the Jewish community.

During an interview with the Holocaust Museum and Tolerance Center, a Holocaust survivor named Anita Weisbord recounted one such memory. She vividly described how her mother was chosen to participate in a demeaning act alongside several Austrian Jews. The Nazis forced to them to their knees and demanded that the scrub off all signs of political graffiti on the ground. Young Anita helplessly stood by and watched as her mother scrubbed the sidewalk. Several decades later, the images attached to that memory are still clear in her mind.

Anita Weisbord is a living example of what it truly means to be a survivor. She knows exactly how it feels to be hated by absolute strangers. Weisbord is an inspirational figure because she continues to live a Vincentian life that is led by love and not fear. It would be easy for her to spite those who humiliated her mother and carry hate in her heart forever. Instead, Weisbord shares her story to emphasize the importance of respect, tolerance, and acceptance. In order for us to harmoniously move forward as citizens of the world, we must incorporate those three core values into our daily lives. We must focus and extend our minds and hearts to nurture one’s own and another’s good. [5]

Footnotes

[1] “Hitler Announces an Anschluss with Austria – Mar 12, 1938.” HISTORY.com. Last modified March 12. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hitler-announces-an-anschluss-with-austria.

 

[2] “Anschluss | German History.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed March 16, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/event/Anschluss.

 

[3] Low, Alfred D. The Anschluss Movement, 1918-1919, and the Paris Peace Conference. Philadelphia, PA: American Philosophical Society, 1974.

 

[4] Roman, Eric. Austria-Hungary & the Successor States: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present. New York, N.Y.: Facts On File, 2003.

 

[5] “Our Mission.” Our Mission | St. John’s University. Accessed March 16, 2018. http://www.stjohns.edu/about/our-mission.

 

References

“Anschluss | German History.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed March 16, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/event/Anschluss.

 

“Hitler Announces an Anschluss with Austria – Mar 12, 1938.” HISTORY.com. Last modified March 12. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hitler-announces-an-anschluss-with-austria.

 

Low, Alfred D. The Anschluss Movement, 1918-1919, and the Paris Peace Conference. Philadelphia, PA: American Philosophical Society, 1974.

 

“Our Mission.” Our Mission | St. John’s University. Accessed March 16, 2018. http://www.stjohns.edu/about/our-mission.

 

Roman, Eric. Austria-Hungary & the Successor States: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present. New York, N.Y.: Facts On File, 2003.

 

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The Rise in Illegal Immigration in the 1960s

Authored by Elizabeth Paul

This is a hidden compartment meant to smuggle in illegal aliens from Mexico, taken in 1968.

In 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Act, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson (Ball et al 2017). This act ended the quota system started in the 1920s that had been put in place that gave preference to those of European origin, and instead created a system that was meant to reunite immigrant families and attract skilled workers (History.com 2010). This original quota system, however, did not include Mexico (The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress 2015). Because of this, temporary workers from Mexico were often hired to work on farms as part of the Bracero Program (Ball et al 2017). However, even after the end of this program as well as the introduction of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, former workers that were part of the Bracero Program would still cross over the border to work these farm jobs.

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Jacques Goar: A Mediator between the Catholic Church and Greek Orthodox Teachings

Authored by Megan Duffy

Title Page of Goar, Jacques. 1730. Euchologion Sive Rituale Graecorum Complectens Ritus Et Ordines Divinae Liturgiae. 2nd ed. Venice: Bartholomaei Javarina.

 

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Unlike many Catholic theologians during his time, Jacques Goar spent his life not only studying about the Greek Orthodox Church, but understanding how similar they are with the Catholic Church. All of these efforts resulted in his work, Euchologion sive rituale graecorum complectens ritus et ordines divinae liturgiae.

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In Memory

Authored by Amy Del Debbio

A memorial plaque creates a sense of honor and family with a visual reminder of faculty and staff who passed away. This memorial piece, along with other pieces, are found in Wilby High School’s courtyard—which is an extension of the school’s library. During the warmer months, students are encouraged to read or work quietly in the courtyard.

While visiting the Egyptian pyramids during WWII, Franklin D. Roosevelt remarked that “Man’s desire to be remembered is colossal” (Prasch 2013, 198). While the pyramids may be an appropriate memorial for a pharaoh, a memorial plaque may be more suitable for the average person. Prior to the courtyard being transformed into a memorial garden, the memorial plaque, which was donated by the Class of 2005 and contained in Wilby’s library, was the centerpiece of the cabinet that housed all “In Memory” artifacts.

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