Edwards Place Acquires Copies of 15 Historical Photos

Edwards Place tells the story of the Edwards Family: Benjamin and Helen, their three daughters Helen, Alice, and Mollie, and their grandchildren. Over a span of 63 years, from 1843 to 1909, members of this family lived, played, ate, entertained, prayed, laughed, cried, fought, and loved within its walls. As one walks through the rooms of Edwards Place and sees the family's belongings in the space that they once called home, they seem so close, despite being separated from us by more than a century.

Yet until recently, we didn't even know what the Edwards daughters or grandchildren looked like in their youth. That all changed thanks to the generosity of an Edwards family descendant. Benjamin and Helen Edwards's great-great-granddaughter recently made 15 historical images of the Edwards Family available to the Art Association, giving us a priceless window into the 19th century.








Of particular interest is a photograph of little Tom Condell, taken when he was four years old. Research into the Edwards family letters has enabled us to pinpoint the exact date it was taken: Wednesday, February 5, 1868, at S. P. Tresize's Enterprise Gallery in Springfield. Tom was living with his grandparents while his parents, Helen and Moses Condell, were setting up a farm in Kansas. Three days after the photo was taken, Helen Edwards wrote to her daughter: "Alice took Tom down on Wednesday last to Tresize's to have his picture taken. They are done this evening - so I shall probably be able to send you one. He is very well, and I think growing fat." A week later Alice wrote to her sister Helen: "We think Tom's pictures splendid, the one in which he is sitting is too sober, but still a good likeness...the suit he has on is the one Mrs Ferguson and I made him, he is more proud of it than you can imagine and is always delighted when he can put it on."

With this one simple image, several touching family scenes from more than 140 years ago is brought to life: a small boy putting on his favorite suit; a young aunt taking her nephew into a bustling post-Civil War town to have his photograph taken; a family sitting together and examining the pictures; two women writing to a loved one far away to report the progress of her small son.

The photographs also include images of Edwards daughters Helen and Mollie; daughter Alice's husband Benjamin Ferguson; grandchildren Tom, Eddie, and Helen; and a group photo of Benjamin Edwards's uncles and aunts. There are also two photographs of the interior of Edwards Place taken in the 1890s. Both of these will be used in the future to inform the recreation of Edwards Place's 19th century appearance. All these photographs allow us to finally put faces to the names we know so well and carry us a step closer to bringing Edwards Place to life for visitors.

SAA...Springfield Art...Appropriation?

My favorite word in the language of art history is the verb appropriate. I know, it’s strange to love a word that means, “to take [something] for one's own use, typically without the owner's permission” (Merriam Webster), but hear me out. And prepare yourself—because we’ve done just that at the SAA.

In the everyday world (say, not citing scholarly quotes in a final paper), stealing ideas for our own, original use doesn’t sound like the greatest of ideas (not to mention the lawsuits and potential expulsion as consequences). But in art, I feel it’s all we do; we look to what’s been done before and assess them, borrow their ideas, shift things around, et voilà! By transforming an existing idea or place or familiarity with an object—Campbell’s soup cans, anyone?—you have something extravagant, new and fortifying!

As artists of young and old continue to appropriate the already-existing or everyday into a new work of art, so does the Art Association with its educational programming. Perhaps some of you are familiar with Art Outreach, an in-the-classroom arts appreciation program, with more than 70 thematic portfolios. Established in 1973, these portfolios, with 10 to 12 prints in each, explore a certain artist, pairing or artists, or movement in art history; for example, we have an “Impressionism” portfolio, a portfolio on Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera; and more general information portfolios, like “Transportation,” “Women Artists,” or “Sports.” Any educational organization in the Sangamon County can check out these portfolios, free of charge. Not sure who Claude Monet was? Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered with information packets, additional reading information, and supplementary craft projects for the classroom, already included for your presentation.

Although we have more than 40 schools utilizing the program, we decided to appropriate the materials and wonderful information already in Art Outreach’s possession and introduce them to another audience—those that homeschool. But to appropriate means to add something new, right? So we did, by hosting the Art Outreach program in our spacious Condell studio, or Gallery, with a presentation and an art project that visually reinforces the lesson or theme. We named it “Third Thursday,” as it occurs the third Thursday of every month. The Art Association also researched the various national cultural & heritage months and paired them with a portfolio; for example, Third Thursday discussed the “Harlem Renaissance” for African American History Month in February, and “Landscape & Seascape” for April’s Earth Day.

All of our presentations are available under the “Art Outreach” tag on our site, or by clicking here. We do ask that anyone interested in coming to the Third Thursday presentations please call ahead. There is also a $6/student registration fee to cover the expense of supply materials for each craft. Come down to the SAA and appropriate Art Outreach into your homeschool curriculum! Our next presentation is August 19 at 1pm.

Benjamin and Helen Edwards Went to the Lincoln Wedding

Abraham Lincoln's wife's sister Elizabeth was married to Benjamin Edwards's brother Ninian. On paper this looks like about six degrees of separation, but in antebellum Springfield this meant that the Lincolns and Edwardses were practically family. In fact, Benjamin and Helen Edwards were among the small handful of guests invited to the Lincolns' wedding.

Lincoln and Mary had first gotten together sometime in late 1840, but early the following year they seem to have broke up. Historians are not sure why the split occurred, but there are several theories, ranging from a suggestion that Lincoln may have fallen in love with another woman to the idea that Ninian and Elizabeth might not have approved of him. Whatever the case, Lincoln and Mary's acquaintance was not renewed until the summer of 1842. Fearing the town gossips, they decided not to meet openly, but instead met in secret at the home of their mutual friends, Simeon and Eliza Francis.

On the morning of November 4, 1842, Lincoln stopped Ninian Edwards in the street and announced that he and Mary would be married that evening at the Episcopal Church. Ninian replied that this would never do; Mary was his ward, and she must be married from his home. He went home and broke the news to Elizabeth, then seven months pregnant with their second child, that she had until the end of the day to arrange an entire wedding. Then Ninian went straight to his brother Benjamin's house.

He was greeted by Benjamin's wife, Helen. "My wife wants you all to come to our house this evening," Ninian announced. When Helen asked what was going on, Ninian explained that Mary and Lincoln would be married in his parlor that evening, adding "I left Elizabeth crying, but [neighbor] Mrs. Levering has gone in to see if she can help her." Elizabeth later told Helen that she was hurt Mary had not confided in her about the romance, nor given her much time to prepare a proper wedding celebration.

"Mary, you have not given me much time to prepare much of a wedding entertainment for our friends," Elizabeth had told her, "I shall have to send to old Dickey for some gingerbread and beer." Mary, still smarting from a comment someone had made earlier about Lincoln's humble background, tartly replied "Well, that is good enough for plebeians, I suppose."

With Helen Edwards's help, Elizabeth pulled together a simple yet elegant wedding. Helen later recalled that although the bride had neither veil nor flowers in her hair, "The wedding was what might be called a pretty one, simple yet impressive." Only 30 or so people attended, mostly family and close friends. When Helen died in 1909, she was the last adult living who had attended the Lincoln wedding.

For more stories of Springfield's 19th century social life, including the connections between the Edwards and Lincoln families, come to Edwards Place for a tour!

Finding the Energy to Create

People often say to me that they aren’t creative or they don’t have the time or energy to be creative. Everyone is creative, some are just more aware of it than others. I understand that finding time to take an art class or focus to make something can be a challenge in our hectic and demanding lives; but the simple act of being creative shouldn’t be a step outside the norm, it should be a state of being. Has our overly mechanized and logical society set creativity apart from the norm? Maybe, but I don’t buy into this idea.
Creativity is sparked by the simple act of paying attention and doing or seeing things differently. It’s a choice. If you want to make this choice, first, break the routine! Rote actions put our creative brains to sleep. If we don’t ask our creative forces for input on a regular basis, they go to sleep. That doesn’t mean they aren’t there for the asking, but if you haven’t used them in a while, they might be a little groggy.
Invigorate your creative juices by giving yourself the gift of a simple creative challenge. Do one thing to break your routine and challenge yourself to pay attention to one visual element that you find pleasing. For example, go for a walk, take a route that isn’t the way that you always go and pay close attention to the sights and sounds around you. Chose one characteristic to zero in on, like observing the various textures you encounter. Texture surrounds us physically and visually; yet we are rarely aware of it. Look closely, stop to touch surfaces, compare colors and recognize patterns. Taking time to really see and feel the textures in your surroundings should allow your brain to make new connections, develop new pathways and spark some ideas. If, on a regular basis, you step outside your routine to observe and experience some aspect of your surroundings in a new and different way; you will stimulate your creative forces and develop creative energy. Who knows what inspiration may come your way.

A Big KaBOOM! in Enos Park

The SAA is located in the heart of Enos Park, a neighborhood just immediately north of downtown Springfield. Enos Park was once known as the "Jewel of Springfield," and is made up of residents, and local businesses within the border of 3rd & 9th Streets and Carpenter & North Grand.

Recently, the Springfield Parks & Recreation Department informed the SAA of a very special donation to Enos Park. KaBOOM! Playground, and another corporate sponsor, awarded the neighborhood a brand new playground for its Gehrmann Park, located along the 3rd Street corridor. What's more is, the Art Association and its incredible Summer Art Campers were invited by both the SPRD and KaBOOM! to participate in its Design Day. The representatives from both organizations wanted input from their most celebrated constituents--the kids! Today, the Van Gogh-Gos camp visited Gehrmann Park with the representatives from each organization, along with the SAA Executive Director Betsy Dollar and the Steve Combs, the President of the Enos Park Neighborhood Association. Together, they all discussed the potential blueprint of the playground, and what equipment campers and kids throughout the neighborhood would most enjoy using to make it a well-visited space.

For more information on the playground itself, please visit KaBOOM!'s website here, or learn more about the Enos Park Neighborhood, past and present, here.

Treasures of Edwards Place: Empire Buffet

Edwards Place has an amazing collection of 19th century decorative arts. Soon after the Springfield Art Association was formed in 1913, Alice Edwards Ferguson donated Edwards Place, where she had grown up and where her mother had lived for more than sixty years, for use as a gallery, classroom space, and meeting space. Many prominent local Springfield families donated exquisite pieces of antique furniture to help furnish the grand old house. These objects are beautiful in their own right, and many of them carry fascinating stories of their makers and owners.

One such piece is the Empire-style buffet now on display in the servants' dining room.

This object dates to 1831 and was made by a Cincinnati cabinetmaker named Thomas C. Estep. How do we know? Because Estep proudly signed his work underneath the lefthand drawer with the inscription : "This work made by his hands. Thomas C. Estep Feb. 14th A.D. 1831" and underneath the center drawer with "Cincinnati Hamilton County Ohio."

Census records show that Estep was born in Maryland around 1807. He is not listed in the Cincinnati City Directory until 1834, so this would have been a very early piece for him, completed when he was in his early twenties.

Not only do we know who made this buffet, we know who bought it: an inscription on the inside of the center drawer reads "Mrs. Salome Enos." Salome Enos was the wife of Pascal P. Enos, one of the first settlers of Springfield. The year after the Enoses purchased this buffet, Pascal died, leaving four small children and Salome pregnant with a fifth. Salome was named executrix of the Enos estate but soon ran into legal disputes concerning the payment of debts. The legal cases dragged on for years, and Salome eventually hired Abraham Lincoln to represent her.

This object may look like an ordinary buffet, but it has so many stories to tell: the story of a young cabinetmaker proudly finishing one of his first major commissions; the story of the growing trasportation network used by an expanding United States to supply goods to a restless population pushing ever westward; the story of a frontier family's desire for stylish and luxurious goods; and even a connection to Abraham Lincoln himself.

Hand Papermaking?

Hand Papermaking? Why?
The SAA is now offering classes in papermaking. No, not the reams or pads you may be thinking about; but handmade paper. Paper is such a basic commodity that it rarely captures our attention or interest; yet, we would be lost without it-- particularly as artists. Paper plays a pivotal role in art making; yet, it is under appreciated. Where would that graphite, ink, watercolor or pastel sit if it wasn’t for paper? What would papier mache or origami be without paper? It is an essential element that presents artists with choices and challenges. Like every other art material, the more we understand, the more we can use it to our advantage.

Who Invented Paper? There is no single source identified as the first paper ever made. There is agreement that it came out of the Far East; China and India have the oldest paper samples and histories. In the 13th century, paper was being produced in Italy and Spain. By the 15th century, papermaking was common across Europe and with Gutenberg’s invention of the moveable type printing press in 1438-40, the demand for and quality of paper increased dramatically. Sheets of paper made from a variety of fibers with a range of qualities were being made across Europe. By the 18th century, Italy and England set the highest quality standards for handmade paper and continue that tradition today.

What is paper made from? Paper is made from the base cellulose structure of plant material; the purer the plant material, the higher the quality of the paper. For example, we all know that newsprint is very low quality paper. This is not because it is thin, it is the residual acid left from the quickly processed wood chips that reacts with air and light to break down the fibers which causes them to discolor and break. The highest quality printmaking and drawing paper is “100% rag” meaning that it is made from cotton fibers. Initially paper was made from rags (old clothing) hence the term. Although there are now more direct sources of cotton fibers for papermaking, many hand papermakers use all natural fabrics like denim, linen, and canvas for their paper; the trick is avoiding any synthetic fibers.

How do you get from fiber to paper? (Western or European Style Hand Papermaking)

The fibers have to be separated and suspended in water. This happens by “beating the fiber to a pulp.” Today beating is done by a machine called a Hollander Beater. (The first beater of this type was created in Holland in 1680.) The pulp is then added to a vat of water. A deckle mould is then dipped into the vat. The pulp is distributed evenly across the surface of the mould and water drains away. This sheet of paper is then transferred from the mould to a felt. The stack of felts, with the sheets interleafed, are then pressed to remove the excess water and physically bond the fibers of the paper. After pressing, the sheets are dried under restraint to keep them flat.

Sounds like a lot of work...

For most applications, artistic or otherwise, purchasing machine made papers is the way to go. However, as an artist, making paper can offer a broad spectrum of creative opportunities and processes that cannot be purchased off the shelf. Join me for one of my introductions to hand papermaking workshops to get a glimpse of the possibilities. The next workshop is Saturday, July 24th. You can find all the registration information at http://www.springfieldart.org/ or contact the SAA office at (217) 523-2631.