Exhibit: Symbols of the Holidays: from the Jean Outland Chrysler Art Library Collection

Thomas Cole (American, 1801-1848)
The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds, 1833
Oil on Canvas, 101.5 x 182.5 in (257.81 x 471.17 cm.)
Chrysler Museum of Art

December is a special time of year for everyone.  The brisk wind and the hint of snow herald a time of year to celebrate.  Both Hanukkah and Christmas occur in the month and each has their most recognizable symbols, such as the menorah and the dreidel for Hanukkah and the Christmas tree and the Nativity for Christianity.

Various menorot used for Hanukkah.
From the 1901-1906 Jewish Encyclopedia
Courtesy of Wikipedia

Combing the Jean Outland Chrysler Library collection, we have found images of familiar holiday traditions both new and old to share with you.  Some are photographs from our Tidewater region, some are from the Holy Lands, some are clever references to traditional songs, and some are beloved paintings from Norman Rockwell.

Taro Yamamoto, American, 1919-
Christmas Card to Jean from the artist
Paper
Chrysler Museum of Art

These images also reflect the general collection of the Chrysler Museum.  As the Museum holds pieces ranging from the ancient to the modern, so does our selection of images.  See a menorah from the 18th century, a Nativity scene from the 15th century, and art glass from the 20th century among many others in the Library Reading Room.  To see the symbols of the holidays, stop by and have a look at the Jean Outland Chrysler Library.







Lynne Fors
Library Assistant

A Life Devoted to Better Glass

Here at the Jean Outland Chrysler Library, we spend a lot of time adding to our vast store of information by filtering newspaper clippings, gallery mailings, etc. into our artist files. Occasionally, we run across a wonderful surprise. While sorting a box of what we thought was artist information to be added to our vertical files, we ran across the history of a company, a career and a passion for better glass.


Edgar Bostock was apprenticed to the window glass trade by his father, Edward Bostock on October 14, 1890 through the offices of the Window Glass Workers Association. He was apprenticed for the designated period of 3 years. The files contain Bostock’s workers’ account book beginning date November 11, 1893, his Glass Workers Association due book – both of which any glass worker would have had – as well as a World Glass Workers Association Delegate pin. Correspondence, photographs and a beautifully-colored trade catalogue from the plate and decorative glass company that Bostock would later found called Bostock, Rhoades & Co., though undated, give us a glimpse of how far Mr. Bostock came in his career.

The files are based on Mr. Bostock’s professional life and also contain letters, chemical formulas, articles and hand-written notes pertaining to the chemistry of glass. Perhaps the jewel in the crown of this find are the writings of Edgar Bostock - handwritten and typed - including professional journal articles, speeches, and the manuscript for a book regarding the history of glass and other glass-related subjects. The articles and manuscripts were found bound with heavy twine and the pages are carefully numbered and revisions are included as if the author were preparing for careful professional editing and publication. Bostock’s chief concern appears to be maximizing the chemical composition and shape of glass for maximum lighting capabilities, though his company also made colored decorative glass, which accounts for the deep chemical interest in tinted glass. The bulk of the materials contained in these files appear to be from the nineteen-teens and twenties, and other than Bostock’s Union paperwork and wage books, there is no account of his early career.

Please keep an eye on our blog for more surprising finds!

- SMR

The Art of Correspondence

‘Tis the season to check the mail! It’s lovely to open the mailbox and find brightly enveloped cards, holiday letters, family photos, etc. from the ones we love near and far.

When was the last time you wrote a letter? Digital communication has changed the way we correspond – arguably for the good. While things like e-cards and greetings on Facebook have made communication much more convenient, it’s nice to return to the heartwarming days of good paper, ink pens and postage stamps. Some of the most treasured artifacts of human society are pieces of paper correspondence from days long gone by.

This holiday season, we’ve put together a slide show in honor of the ancient art of correspondence; letters, cards, penmanship, holiday envelope seals, pieces of handmade art crafted with love and stamps from today and yesteryear. Please take a moment to enjoy these gems from the collection of the Jean Outland Chrysler Library. If you like what you see, drop us a line! Happy holidays! -SMR



If you enjoy these handmade tidings, take a peek at the John Taylor Arms exhibition currently on view in the Kaufman Theatre Lobby - then take a look at some of the Christmas greeting created by John and Dorothy Taylor Arms here on our collection online. Search for
"Arms Christmas" to see them all.

Archives Month - A Bump on the Head

Pirates and phrenology? Yes. That’s right. In 1827 John Myers, who was Inspector of Customs for Norfolk at the time, received an odd question about the skull of a pirate from his friend Joshua Cohen. Apparently there was a desire for the skull for “phrenological appreciation at Baltimore” by a Dr. Archer. Did Dr. Archer wish to derive meaning from bumps on the bones of the Pirate Tardy? Popular science at the time postulated a relationship between a person’s character and the morphology or shape of the human skull. This study became all the rage, and was used in society at the time to explain misfortunes, predict the future, diagnose maladies, etc. Dr. Archer probably would have wanted to inspect the skull of a pirate in order to determine the malformation that sparked his life of crime.

It was the job of John Myers to say whether or not it was in his jurisdiction to allow this piece of a pirate, buried in the sand at Old Point, to leave the state of Virginia. We’ve had some challenging research questions here at the Jean Outland Chrysler library, but we’re willing to bet that this one had John scratching his own noggin. Interest in the human head has waned little in the last almost two centuries. The use of the skull in art has sky rocketed in the last few years – think of Damien Hirst’s diamond encrusted skull. Do you have a mind for some phrenological explorations of your own? Stop by the JOCL this Fall and glance through such popular titles as Wonder and Horror of the Human Head and Ghost in the Shell. We also have a copy of George Combe’s The Constitution of a Man - one of the most popular works on phrenology.
Just thought we’d give you a heads up.

- SCM

Here's the original 1827 letter from the Myers Collection. Click on the Image for a better view!

Going Green circa 19th Century

We are often surprised by the things we find in books. While walking through our stacks, I noticed what appeared to be a leaf of paper protruding from the cracked spine of an 1864 volume entitled The Shakespeare Gallery: A Reproduction Commemorative of the Tercentenary Anniversary. On more careful examination, the inside of the loose hard binding looked to be lined with a bill or ledger page, probably from the early part of the century of publication. These additions to bindings exist all over the library; inside periodicals, volumes from the Myers library, art reference materials, etc.

This common practice of lining the inside of book bindings is the 19th century version of using post-consumer materials. Often letters, ledger pages, advertisements, etc. were used as binding materials as new paper was expensive and often difficult to come by. Adding “recycled” paper to the bindings reduced the initial cost of publication and helped to lower repair costs to existing books. Occasionally, when volumes begin to age and become worn, these times capsules of lost information are revealed. Though we many never know whether or not the remains of the documents that were used in the binding stood the test of time, the many small clippings contained in the bindings of quite a large number of books here in the Jean Outland Chrysler Library live on.

One of our favorites includes the 1841 publication Memoirs, Letters, and Comic Miscellanies in Prose and Verse of the Late James Smith Esq., which includes an advertisement for “the Queen’s own” clockmaker. Please stop by if you’d like to see some of the volumes in our collection that contain these hidden examples of going green and thinking economically.

- SCM