We're on the Move!

 

Source: http://blackparrotmaine.blogspot.com/

 

As we mentioned a few months ago, the library is preparing to move to a great new location on ODU's campus. In order to prepare all 113,000+ of the library's materials for the move, we are temporarily closing the library to the public. We will miss seeing all of our visitors, but we are looking forward to reopening in the new location in early 2015!

 

For the next couple of months, we will provide limited reference services about the Museum's collections via email only. Please submit all requests to library@chrysler.org. For more information about artwork in the Chrysler Museum, check out the museum's online collection.

 

We promise to keep you updated as we continue to prepare our many books, archives, and other special collections for the move. Stay tuned for posts about interesting things we find along the way!





The Chrysler Museum is open!

We're so excited to see visitors in the museum again after almost a year and half of being closed for renovation! If you want to see the museum's amazing transformation, check out this excellent video:

We are also excited to start the process of moving the library to our brand new building in the new Arts Village on Monarch Way near ODU! The move is currently scheduled for early 2015. While the library will not be re-opening with regular hours in preparation for the move, we are still happy to help you with your research. The best way to reach us with research requests is by emailing us at library@chrysler.org.

We're glad to be back and hope to hear from you soon!

Barry Arts Building on Monarch Way

Hot off the Presses! New Glass Publications

You may have heard that the museum's main doors are closed for renovation, but the Glass Studio is still open and offering an incredible array of classes, demonstrations and special events. With all of the exciting programming at the studio, the summer promises to be "hot" in more ways than one! Bad pun, I know...


Come visit. Every seat is a good seat, and the TV monitors are great for close-ups of the action.

Part of our job at the library is provide all of the glass artists and students with the most cutting edge information about the contemporary glass word, so we've ordered several glass and craft periodicals and books. In fact, our studio staff are so accomplished they are often featured in these publications. I hope you'll stop by the studio and take a class, or check out thes magazines to learn more about the exciting world of contemporary glass!

New Book Club Website!

As we approach the end of April, what better way is there to enjoy a rainy spring day than to curl up with a good book? Right now the JOCL Book Club is reading Shopping, Seduction and Mr. Selfridge by Lindy Woodhead, a biopic about the founder of one of England’s great department stories. If you are a PBS Masterpiece fan like I am, you probably recognize the book's title character from the series Mr. Selfridge currently airing Sunday nights on PBS. The book is also a great companion for the Chrysler's exciting new exhibition at the Selden Arcade "Let's Go Shopping."

The JOCL Book Club's spring selection. We'll be meeting on May 29th at 6:30 in the Moses Myers House
to discuss this fascinating book! 

 

A selection from the Chrysler Museum's Exhibition "Let's Go Shopping"
at the Selden Arcade in Downtown, Norfolk: March 19th-June 8th.

F. Luis Mora
Window Shopping
Oil on canvas
1934

 

If you are interested in joing our discussion, or would like to see a list of upcoming book club selections, check out our new website at http://www.chrysler.org/about-the-museum/library/our-book-club/.  During the next few months, we'll be solving mysteries with the brilliant Sherlock Holmes, traveling back in time to 17th century Venice to learn the art glass blowing, and searching for mysterious sounds coming from the floorboards of a 19th century home. I hope you will join us!

 -JR

What is the Circumference of a Squirrel?

Greetings from the Jean Outland Chrysler Art Library!

The Museum is closed but we have been incredibly busy here in the Library. Currently, our most important projects are processing our vertical file and cataloging backlogs. If you are curious what our work stations look like, here are some pictures:

 

Even though these piles look intimidating, I am happy to say we have made a ton of progress these past three months. We are almost done sorting through our vertical file backlog and have cataloged well over a hundred books. In that process we have found some really interesting things like, rare books, signed artist books, large promotional posters, hand-painted greeting card prints to Walter P. Chrysler Jr., interactive exhibition invitations, even a page-laminate full of seeds with an artist card that says, "MAN DOES NOT LIVE ON ART ALONE." The title of this blog was inspired by a promotional flyer for the play Circumference of a Squirrel that was found among the ephemera.

Having the opportunity to literally go through every inch of this Library reminds us of how special this collection is and we are excited to share all of our new finds with the public when we reopen.

Back to the Future: The JOCL in 2013

If you're like me, you heard that the Chrysler Museum will be closing for 14 months for renovation and thought "what about the library!?!?" Well I have some great news: the JOCL will be safe and sound during the renovation, and library staff will be available for you to contact via phone and email for all of your research needs! Unlike the museum's art collection, all 114,000 library materials will remain in the building and will continue to enjoy a cool, dry climate. Library staff will be available for you to call or email with your research questions and will send you scans of library books and vertical files. We will even do the heavy research lifting for you! The library's catalog will be available online, and college students and researchers can still request books via Interlibrary Loan.

The JOCL will also continue to offer our popular Art & Books book club! We will be hosting the book club bi-monthly in the beautiful dining room of the Moses Myers Historic House. Attendees of the book club will enjoy fun and engaging discussions, as well as tasty refreshments. Our first meeting will be Wednesday, January 30 at 6:30pm and we will be reading Caveat Emptor: The Secret Life of an American Art Forger by Ken Perenyi. Hope to see you there!

Have a safe and happy holiday!

Jessica Ritchie
Dickson Librarian

Ken Perenyi puts the 'Art' in Con-Artist

Greetings Folks!

We are very excited to present our next book for book club, Caveat Emptor: The Secret Life of an American Art Forger. Ken Perenyi started off as a delinquent with no goals, barely an education, and an apathetic attitude. But through a lucky series of events he fell in with some young, wealthy, hip artists who helped him shape his future. This book acts as a detailed confession written by the master, self-taught, art forger himself. He made a small fortune forging works by popular 18th and 19th century American Artists for nearly three decades and was thrilled by the sport of "fooling the experts." He sold his work at major auction houses like Sotheby's and Christie's, but the FBI eventually caught up with him and the pressure of the authorities caused him to sell his work as reproductions, which he still does today. This is going to be a captivating story and we hope that you will read it and join us at our next book club meeting! The meeting will be held at the Moses Myers Historical House on Wednesday, January 30th, 2013, light refreshments will be served.

 

Here is his website!

And here is a short interview with him!

 

 

 

 

Gone but not forgotten! October was American Archives Month at the JOCL

Happy (belated) American Archives Month! Our Library has several archival collections containing everything from personal letters between Moses Myers and his loved ones to pictures of Walter Chrysler Jr. at his parents' estate. It is important to preserve primary sources like this to better understand our history and be able to provide first-hand facts about certain situations. Archivist Lisa Lewis provides us with a short and sweet explanation of what archivists do for a living:

"Archivists bring the past to the present. They're records collectors and protectors, keepers of memory. They organize unique, historical materials, making them available for current and future research."

Here at the JOCL we make sure the Museum's history lives on by carefully preserving our own institutional archves. Here are some fun pictures from the Walter P. Chrysler Jr. collection:

Walter Chrysler Jr. at his parent's estate

Jean in her 'basement' Library

Walter and Jean's drawing room at the North Wales Estate

Illuminating Tiffany

Greetings from the Jean Outland Chrysler Library!

This month the Library is featuring an exhibit of rare Tiffany books as an accompaniment to the museum's current exhibition The Natural Beauty of Tiffany. The exhibit includes scarce art books inscribed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Tiffany Blue Books from the turn of the century, and other miscellaneous pamphelts that go as far back as 1845! The photo shown below is the first page of the photo album that contains 100 original photographs of lamps made by Tiffany Studios in New York between 1898 and 1918. The photographs, made under the personal supervision of Louis C. Tiffany, have never been reproduced. Come to the Library to check out the rare treat!

 

New to the Archives: The Torch Bearers

Earlier this week, the Library received a great new gift from the Museum's Director Bill Hennessey for the archives. It is a picture of artist Anna Hyatt Huntington putting the final touches on her remarkable sculpture titled "The Torch Bearers." This statue graces the front entrance of the Chrysler Museum and acts as a preview to some of the extraordinary works of art inside.




Anna Hyatt Huntington was a prolific American artist who was especially known for her animal and equestrian sculptures. She was one of the very few females to work in the heroic style. In fact, her classically-inspired work usually ran counter to the developments in 20th-century American Art. Two-hundred museums in American contain her work, and she has several pieces in Spain, France, and South America.
 
"The Torch Bearers" was one of Huntington's most ambitious multi-figure works. Her wealthy, philanthropist husband, Archer Huntington, collaborated on this piece with her by writing a poem with the same title that was inscribed on it's base. The first cast of the sculpture was given to the University of Madrid in 1955. A year later, she offered another cast to the city of Norfolk, to be installed in the plaza facing the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, which is now the Chrysler Museum of Art.

The Chrysler Museum has a long history of influential and special individuals who have helped turn the Museum into what it is today. This picture may remind us of those individuals and their efforts to keep the artistic spirit of Norfolk alive and thriving.

Want to read more about Anna Hyatt Huntington?
Come to the Library!



 

Written by,

Rebecca Wilkinson

Library Assistant

Vote today for the Myers Family Bible!

The Jean Outland Chrysler Art Library is thrilled to announce the nomination of the Moses Myers Family Bible to the Virginia Association of Museums' Top Ten Endangered Artifacts Program! From now until August 29th, you can vote for the Myers Bible to make it into the prestigious "Top Ten List."  If you believe the Myers Bible tells a significant story about the Myers Family and our local history, vote today!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

What is Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts?
The VAM's Top Ten campaign showcases the importance of Virginia’s diverse history, heritage and culture and the role that artifacts and archival materials play in telling those stories. This fun and educational project enables all citizens to take part in supporting the institutions that are entrusted with caring for our communities’ treasures. The public is encouraged to visit www.vatop10artifacts.org and cast their vote for the object that they believe should make the final list. Final nominations will be reviewed by an independent panel of collections and conservation experts, and the honorees will be announced in September 2012.

What is the Moses Myers Family Bible?
From the Jean Outland Chrysler Art Library's archives, this is an American Bible belonging to the Moses Myers Family of Norfolk, Virginia, titled: The Holy Bible, Containing The Old and New Testaments; Together with the Apocrypha Translated out of the Original Tongues And with the Former Translations, Diligently Compared and Reviled. This scarce book was published in Philadelphia in 1798 by John Thompson and Abraham Small, and would become one of the Myers Family most important possessions. Although the Myers were Jewish, they used this Christian Bible as their family bible and recorded important family information within its pages, including birthdays, obituaries and military service information. It was passed down through five generations of the Myers family who lived in the Moses Myers House from 1795 until 1931.The Myers attained a prominent position in Norfolk history, rising to become leaders in both economic and social affairs. In addition, the Myers family were the first permanent Jewish-American residents in the Norfolk area, and would compose the region’s entire Jewish population for over a decade.

As is the case with many family artifacts, the Bible fell victim to Virginia’s heat and humidity while in the Myers’ home. It is now being well cared for and preserved within the Rare Book Archives of the Jean Outland Chrysler Library. By strictly maintaining and monitoring the climate of the Rare Book Room, Chrysler Museum staff ensure that the Myers Family Bible and other unique treasures are preserved for future generations.

An Homage to John Henry

We had some fun today in the library with our book-inspired homage to John Henry's sculpture Homage to Man Ray (below). The Chrysler Museum was pleased to add the work by noted sculptor John Henry to its collection on Thursday, June 21. Even though the Museum has begun construction, its doors are still open and you can still view the sculpture between the main Museum building and the Glass Studio. You can also stop by the Jean Outland Chrysler Library to browse through several books on the renowned artist, and check out our own homage to Homage to Man Ray made of book stands! Although, we must admit they are not nearly as impressive as the original!









John Henry
Homage to Man Ray
2009
Machined aluminum, painted metallic blue.

Today's Fun Find!

Hello again!

We were doing some spring cleaning and found a curious plastic lens contraption along with some instructions for using it hiding in a drawer. The instructions explained how to use the 'viewer' to look at the stereoscopic images (better known as 3-D) in the Stereo World Magazine! Orginally, I thought that Stereo World was a magazine about music or sound art, because people normally associate the word stereo with stereophonic sound. However, the word stereo actually has Greek origins relating to three-dimensionality.

So how does 3-D imaging work? It imitates our eyes! The average person's eyes project two slightly different images onto the retinas, which are then transformed in the brain into spatial representations. Using both eyes allow one to perceive spatial representations. But when we look at a regular image it is only "one-eyed" and therefore flat. When the lenses imitate a person's eyes, a pair of almost identical images are separated by the average distance between a person's eyes - the viewpoint becomes similar to the view seen by the left and right eye, thus creating a 3-D image! How cool is that? With 3-D movies, television, videogames, and art on the rise in popularity it is nice to know the basics of that technology.

Stereo World Magazine has been around since the 1970's and is quite a gem in our collection. It thoroughly keeps track of the past, present, and future of 3-D imaging. Feel free to come into the library to check out these fun magazines! We can even provide patrons with a handy-dandy pair of viewers.

-Library Assistant Rebecca Wilkinson

Parent Teacher Conference Circa 1825

Greetings from the Jean Outland Chrysler Library!
Today's blog post is brought to you by the Moses Myers Archives. We were transcribing some letters and came across a rather entertaining set of exchanges between Samuel Myers and his son's teacher, which today could be the equivalent to a parent-teacher conference. Through these letters we see that the dynamic between parents and teachers has not changed much since 1825. Consider this glance into the past of a tense moment between a parent and a teacher...

Here is the context:

Samuel Myers, son of Moses Myers, lived in Richmond, VA with his wife and his son named Moses II. When Moses turned eight-years old they sent him to the other side of town to be taught by a teacher named Jeremiah Osbourn. Mr. Osbourn's letters provide some fascinating insight into the teacher/parent dynamic of that time period.

The first letter:

In the first letter Mr. Osbourn confirms that Samuel's tuition payment has been recieved and he expresses his thanks for doing so. He writes: "Sir, I have received thirty dollars which you, this day sent me, in full compensation for the tuition of your son, Moses." Wait. Thirty bucks for a years worth of tuition!? I'll take that. But then again, this was the 1800s and thirty-dollars back then was about 600-and-something-dollars today. Jeremiah seems exceedingly grateful for the paymen: "Permit me, sir, to express my sincere thanks for this advance. It relieves me from the serious apprehension of being unable to clothe myself decently." 

The second letter:

In the second letter, things start heating up. Eight months after Moses started school, Jeremiah writes Samuel expressing his anxiety that Moses is not living up to the expecations of the school. He writes, "He was more successful in grammar than either of us had anticipated but, like the other children, his learning has sensibly evaporated in the long vacation. The peculiar difficulty attending Moses is his disinclination to study." I suppose that's a nice way of saying, "your kid finds everything else under the sun way more interesting than my grammar book." Jeremiah then offers some suggestions that might help Moses improve his education.

The third letter:

The third letter is, in my opinion, the most engaging part of the exchange, which was written five days after this previous letter. Jeremiah writes, "We agree that he has not applied himself to study as he might; but we may not perfectly agree that he has been properly instructed." Did Samuel Myers insult Jeremiah's capabilities as a teacher in his earlier reply? This part also brings up that timeless debate between parents and teachers: whoes fault is it if the child isn't learning? But, Jeremiah clearly see's the potential in Moses and knows what it would take to bring out the scholar: "If a radical change is to be effected in the distinction of a student, it can only be affected by prudent means applied for some considerable time. This is the case of your son Moses. This genius is equal to that of a good scholar, but not to that of the first order, whose orbit is very eccentric."

-Library Assistant Rebecca Wilkinson

Celebrate Opsail with the Myers Family!

As the boats of OpSail parade through our waters this weekend, it is the perfect opportunity to see tall ships  similar to those that local shipping merchants would have commissioned over two hundred years ago. The Myers family of Norfolk was one local family who attained prominence in the shipping industry in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In addition, the Myers family were the first permanent Jewish-American residents in the Norfolk area, and would compose the region’s entire Jewish population for over a decade.

The patriarch of the family, Moses Myers, served briefly in the American Revolutionary War and helped to aid the cause for independence by acquiring military supplies for American forces. After marrying his wife Eliza Judah Chapman, Moses moved to Norfolk and began building his business.

By the height of his career in 1807, Moses owned his own fleet of merchant vessels, with an average of six ships at any time in the fleet. Ships with cargoes marked for Moses Myers arrived from ports all over Europe and the West Indies, carrying goods such as textiles, spices, sugar, liquor, coffee, tea, and iron. Moses Myers also traded in Smithfield hams, which had a reputation for exceptional quality.  He shipped hams to buyers as far as Great Britain, and sent them as gifts to friends and business associates.

Moses’ business suffered during the embargo of 1808-1809 and the War of 1812, rebounded, but then was devastated as a result of the crash of 1819. Despite these setbacks, Moses sat on the Common Council from 1794 to 1800, served as consul to France and the Netherlands, achieved the rank of Major in the militia, was appointed Superintendent of the Norfolk branch of the Bank of Richmond, and was a founder of the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce.  His wife Eliza gave birth to twelve children, nine of whom survived to adulthood.

As you celebrate Opsail, consider stopping by the Moses Myers Historical House to learn more about the remarkable mercantile family that lived there for five generations!

The Moses Myers House has been on
Freemason Street for more than two centuries.

Moses Myers House

FREE ADMISSION
Open Friday through Sunday
Noon—4 p.m.
323 E Freemason St Norfolk, VA 23510


You can also contact the Jean Outland Chrysler Art Library to learn more about the Myers Family Papers, which contain a collection of family correspondence and business papers dating from the 18th century into the late 20th century.

My First Days at the Chrysler!

Greetings from the Jean Outland Chrysler Library! I am Rebecca, the new Library Assistant. I graduated recently from Old Dominion University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Art History. However, my goal is to one day be an art librarian. What a perfect place to start! As the new assistant I figured I would tell you all about my first couple weeks here.

On the first day, I woke up that morning, did my usual routine, and started to put on my makeup when I realized my entire face had broken out in hives! I rushed to the local pharmacist and asked what could help reduce the swelling on my face and not make me drowsy. He assured me that Claritin would work - it even said “non-drowsy” on the box. I would find out later that this was not true. I finally pulled myself together and made it on time for my orientation with the Human Resources Manager. I was with two other girls and she started explaining what it would be like working here. Thank goodness she has a really good sense of humor or I would have been a fidgety, nervous wreck the entire time.

Once in Jessica’s company, I was finally able to relax. Jessica was my former boss at the Hoffheimer Art Library on the ODU Campus, so I knew I’d be okay. She was also the one who inspired me to pursue librarianship! We ended up going to lunch and she filled me in on some things about the Chrysler Library. During lunch she explained to me that she would be out on Friday and that I would be opening and closing the Library by myself. Nerve-wracking, but doable. Back at the Library, we briefly went through what my responsibilities were, a tour, and the assistant’s manual. Then she prepared me for the upcoming Friday. I picked up the routine with relative ease and that Friday went surprisingly well.  A couple of students came in that day and I helped them with research, which is my favorite thing to do. I met some of the staff and told a couple of museum goers about the Library. The rest of the day I read Legacy, which is the well-written and entertaining history of Walter P. Chrysler Jr. and the Chrysler Museum. So, despite my apprehension, the second day was not bad at all.

A week later I got to go to my first staff meeting with Jessica. This meeting was really pleasant: everyone stands in a big circle and updates the other departments on special events or nice things a group of people or someone in particular has done. I think it’s important to recognize the nicer parts of people’s work experience, especially in a museum of this size. After the staff meeting Jessica gave me a tour of the education department and the break area, where we could get coffee and water. Once back in our library she showed me our little eating area, which looked like it hadn’t been used in a while. Jessica explained that because she had been so busy she was never able to use the area. That’s when I came up with the clever idea to make Jessica and me a Library-Survival-Kit. This kit consisted of:

A coffee maker, coffee, creamer – help us get our morning jumpstart

A box of emergency chocolate – for those especially stressful days

 Power bars – for when we are hungry and it’s not lunchtime yet

 Mints – so we don’t frighten patrons away with coffee breath

Sparkling lemon water and straws – for a refreshing drink during the day

 

The rest of training has gone really well. I have had many small victories from processing my huge pile of mail and putting one gigantic cart of books away, to organizing the periodical section.  I am beginning to understand how complex a librarian’s job is and why assistants are absolutely necessary. I have learned so much in my first couple weeks - from my daily tasks and special needs, to mind-boggling ideas and questions about the library within a museum. I am still slightly overwhelmed by all of my responsibilities, but that’s balanced with a huge sense of excitement about everything else I am going to learn and experience here.

So far, I am absolutely taken with this place and am convinced I have the coolest job in the world right now. Why is this job so awesome? First, I am working with some of the most exquisite publications ever produced. Second, Jessica and I act as the medium between information and people, which is absolutely necessary for any institution and the surrounding communities to develop and function. And finally, I am also working at the internationally known CHRYSLER MUSEUM!

Our Newspapers are Literally "Hot" Off the Presses!

Have you ever wondered what happens to the Art Library's old newspapers? You can see them in action at the Chrysler Museum of Art's Glass Studio! About once a month a stack of Virginia Pilots, New York Times and Wall Street Journals are transferred from the library to the glass studio so that the glass blowing artists can use them in their work. Generally, 4-5 newspapers are folded and cut into thick, square layers that fit in the artist's hand. The papers are then soaked with water and used by the artist to shape the glass. Although the water prevents the paper from burning, the immense heat of the molten glass often causes the paper to smoke.

The Chrysler is thrilled to welcome world-renowned glass artists Benjamin Moore, Dante Marioni and Janusz Pozniak to the Glass Studio this week as part of the Chrysler's Visiting Artist Series. Stop by the studio to watch a free demonstration, and see the Library's recycled newspapers in action! Space is limited, so make sure to arrive early:

Friday, March 2 10:00am-1:00pm, 2:00-5:00pm
Saturday, March 3: 10:00am to 1:00pm
Sunday, March 4: 2:00-5:00pm

World-renowned glass artist Janusz Pozniak uses wet newspaper to shape hot glass at the Chrysler Museum of Art Glass Studio.
Copyright Chrysler Museum of Art, all rights reserved.

Student Research Workshop this Saturday!

Have studies got you in a slump? Let the Jean Outland Chrysler Library show you how to save research time in the stacks and online!

Discover new tools and techniques for finding relevant information quickly. Learn about the Library’s collection of more than 112,000 monographs, exhibition and auction catalogues, vertical files on artists, art journals, and archives. Get an overview of searching our subscription databases, evaluating resources, and citing sources in perfect Chicago Manual, APA, or MLA style. We’ll tailor the session to meet your needs, so bring your assignments with you!

When: February 25, 2012 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Where: Jean Outland Chrysler Art Library

Cost: Free!