Richard Nixon and his family share a laugh (May 1973). Oliver F. Atkins photograph collection, Box 22, Folder 1. George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives. Copyright not held by George Mason University Libraries. Restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. For permission to publish, contact Special Collections and Archives.

Richard Nixon and Pele pose with a soccer ball in the Oval Office (May 1973). Oliver F. Atkins photograph collection, Box 30, Folder 6. George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives. Copyright not held by George Mason University Libraries. Restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. For permission to publish, contact Special Collections and Archives.

Atkins was the Chief White House Photographer, and through 1973 and until Nixon’s resignation and departure from the White House in August 1974, he captured a side of White House life that was increasingly at odds with the ongoing turmoil outside.  Over the course of the next year, we’ll look back at some of those images from the collection.

George Mason University President Ángel Cabrera speaks at the Installation Ceremony during his Inauguration at Patriot Center, April 26, 2013. Photo by Alexis Glenn, Creative Services, George Mason University.

We thought it would be appropriate to look back on previous CEOs at Mason and see how they assumed office.

Portrait of John Norville Gibson Finley in academic regalia. George Mason University photograph collection Box 76, Folder 1. Copyright held by George Mason University. Restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. For permission to publish, contact Special Collections & Archives, George Mason University Libraries, speccoll@gmu.edu.

George Mason’s first leader was John Norville Gibson Finley, for whom Finley Hall is named. At the time of his elevation to the Directorship of the University of Virginia’s branch college in Northern Virginia (July of 1957), he was currently serving as Director of another institution of higher learning, the Northern Virginia University Center, an extension center for the University of Virginia operating at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington.  On July 20, 1957, University of Virginia President Colgate W. Darden, Jr.  sent Finley a letter instructing him to take charge of the newly created two-year branch at Bailey’s Crossroads.  The college was not called George Mason in 1957, rather it was called University College of the University of Virginia.  It would later be named George Mason College of the University of Virginia in December 1959.  We have no record of any actual “inauguration” for Director Finley, but it can be assumed that there were more pressing agenda items for the University to attend to as classes were set to begin on September 23.

Since the college was only a two-year branch of the university, Finley was not referred to as “President.”  His title was “Director,” one that would be used at the college until it became a four-year institution in 1966.  Though he was not given the fanfare of an inauguration Finley was, however, honored upon his retirement in December 1963 with a dinner. In 1972 the former North Building was renamed for him.

Robert Reid, who was Mason’s first Director at Fairfax, was hailed as Director as part of the new Fairfax Campus’ Dedication on November 12, 1964. The event was attended by U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Stuart Udall; Virginia Governor,  Albertis S. Harrison, Jr.;  and several hundred public figures, students, and local citizens.  During the Dedication, the University of Virginia’s Chancellor of Community Colleges, Joseph L. Vaughan installed Dr. Reid as Director in a brief ceremony.  Reid’s speech was about three minutes long and contained less than 300 words.

Photograph by Oliver Atkins of director, Robert H. Reid addressing the George Mason College Dedication, November 12, 1964. Oliver F. Atkins Photograph Collection Box 3, Folder 10. Copyright held by George Mason University. Restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. For permission to publish, contact Special Collections & Archives, George Mason University Libraries, speccoll@gmu.edu.

George Mason University President Lorin A. Thompson in academic regalia. Photo was taken in his office in Finley Building (formerly North Building), Room 208 on February 6, 1973. George Mason University photograph collection Box 3, Folder 4. Copyright held by George Mason University. Restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. For permission to publish, contact Special Collections & Archives, George Mason University Libraries, speccoll@gmu.edu.

On March 1, 1966 George Mason College became a four-year degree-granting college, though still part of the University of Virginia. Its chief executive would now be called “Chancellor,” and on July 1, 1966 Dr. Lorin A. Thompson was asked by the university to serve as Chancellor of George Mason College for one year until a replacement for the departing Robert Reid could be found. Thompson was a well-respected member of the faculty in Charlottesville and Director of the university’s Bureau of Population and Economic Research there.  Already sixty-four years old, he agreed to the one-year term.  But finding him to be an effective leader for George Mason, the university continued, successfully, to ask him to remain for another year every year until 1972. Under Dr. Thompson’s tenure the college moved rapidly forward, increasing in student body by five-fold, acquiring over four-hundred-twenty additional acres of land, and becoming an independent institution on April 7, 1972. At the first-ever meeting of the Board of Visitors of the now-independent George Mason University on May 31, 1972 the Board unanimously appointed him Mason’s first President, and once again Thompson accepted on the condition that it would only be for one year.  Dr. Thompson’s seven-year “temporary” assignment was not marked by an inaugural ceremony, though the then recently-completed Arts and Sciences Building was renamed for him in 1973.

Upon the retirement of Dr. Lorin Thompson, Dr. Vergil H. Dykstra took office as Mason’s second president.  In a ten-minute ceremony on July 2, 1973 the former vice president at the State University of New York at Binghamton met with both Thompson and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Robert C. Krug in his new office in Finley Hall. There, Thompson and Krug presented Dykstra with the keys to the President’s office and a set of quill pens and inkwell that were described as replicas of the ones George Mason himself used. Eighteen Mason administrators were on hand to welcome Dr. Dykstra and say goodbye to Dr. Thompson.  A university photographer captured the very brief ceremony.

Photograph of new president of George Mason University, Vergil H. Dykstra (right), shaking hands with Vice President for Academic Affairs, Robert C. Krug (left) while former president, Lorin A Thompson (center), looks on. Dykstra is holding the keys to the office in his left hand. The keys were just presented to him by Thomson during the July 2, 1973 ceremony in the President's Office in Finley Hall. George Mason University photograph collection Box 3, Folder 35. Copyright held by George Mason University. Restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. For permission to publish, contact Special Collections & Archives, George Mason University Libraries, speccoll@gmu.edu.

End of Part One.
Please click here to read Part Two.

University President, Dr. Robert C. Krug, at his desk at George Mason University, Fairfax Campus. Photograph is undated, but is most probably ca. 1977 or 1978. George Mason University photograph collection Box 2, Folder 15. Copyright held by George Mason University. Restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. For permission to publish, contact Special Collections & Archives, George Mason University Libraries, speccoll@gmu.edu.

This post is a continuation of the the original post entitled Mason Inaugurations Through the Years.

Dr. Robert Krug became George Mason University’s third president although he never interviewed for it. The unexpected resignation of President Vergil Dykstra in April 1977 came as a surprise to many, but to none more so than Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Robert C. Krug.  Krug was appointed Acting President immediately following Dr. Dykstra’s departure having learned of his new position after returning from a short vacation.  He accepted the position with the stipulation that he did not wish to remain President; he would only fill in until a new president was chosen.  His official duties began without fanfare on April 1, 1977.  Dr. Krug’s most important goals during his short term as president were to effectively define and manage the budget and to oversee the emergence of the School of Law in Arlington, which he accomplished successfully. He also oversaw the completion of the first on-campus housing, and began the work of establishing a computer system for the university. Though his title was Acting President, Dr. Krug was later was named President Emeritus by the Board of Visitors at the end of his term.

The ceremony hailing Dr. George W. Johnson as Mason’s fouth president on Saturday April 7, 1979 was Mason’s first-ever presidential inauguration.  April 7 was also University Day, the day Mason celebrates its becoming an independent university beginning in 1972.  The first inauguration of  a George Mason president was also designed to be a celebration of a successful year at Mason.  Just a few months earlier the George Mason University School of Law had been created, and Mason had been approved by the state legislature to grant doctoral degrees.

The ceremony was held in the gymnasium of the Physical Education Building (today known as the Recreation and Athletic Complex or RAC). It began with a procession of Mason faculty, representatives from over sixty other colleges and universities, members of the Board of Visitors, Mason faculty, and students. The Mason Symphonic Winds Orchestra and Mason Chorus performed the music. Speakers included Dr. J. Wade Gilley, Virginia’s Secretary of Education; State Senator, Omer L. Hirst, who noted that Mason was “on the threshold of greatness”; alumni, faculty, and student representatives. Johnson’s inaugural speech entitled “Promise” stressed his desire to educate students to become “citizens” not merely professionals. Dr. Johnson was invested by Rector of Board of Visitors, Harriet “Happy” Bradley. The festivities ended with an inaugural ball held in the lower level of the Student Union Building (now known as Student Union Building I). A live band was on hand to play music from the 1940s through the 1970s.

Dr. George W. Johnson at his inauguration, April 7, 1979, Physical Education Building, Fairfax Campus.George Mason University photograph collection Box 13, Folder 10. Copyright held by George Mason University. Restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. For permission to publish, contact Special Collections & Archives, George Mason University Libraries, speccoll@gmu.edu.

Dr Alan G. Merten was inaugurated Mason’s fifth  president on April 4, 1997 in Patriot Center.  The event was a star-studded affair, as attendees included Virginia Governor, George Allen, U.S. Senator Charles Robb, and former Mason Presidents Drs. Vergil Dykstra, Robert Krug, and George Johnson.

George Mason University Presidents from left to right: Drs. Alan G. Merten, George W. Johnson, Robert C. Krug, and Vergil H. Dykstra at Inauguration for Alan Merten, April 4, 1997. George Mason University photograph collection Box 80, Folder 3. Copyright held by George Mason University. Restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. For permission to publish, contact Special Collections & Archives, George Mason University Libraries, speccoll@gmu.edu.

After his investiture by Rector Marvin Murray, Dr. Merten gave his inaugural speech, during which he urged all members of the university community to be advocates of the expression of dissenting views and to “hold George Mason (the man) in their hearts” for his commitment to freedom and human rights. A reception was held afterwards on the plaza near Mason Hall.

Dr. Alan G. Merten and wife Sally at his Inauguration, April 4, 1997. George Mason University photograph collection. Copyright held by George Mason University. Restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. For permission to publish, contact Special Collections & Archives, George Mason University Libraries, speccoll@gmu.edu.

By Mark Schwartz, communication and marketing officer, University Libraries

Mason family manuscript account book, 1792-1820, C0214. Special Collections & Archives, George Mason University Libraries.

The George Mason University Libraries has acquired an important late 18th-century manuscript with handwritten entries by the George Mason family. Previously, the university owned only three single-page original documents directly related to its namesake, George Mason IV.

“The Mason family account book is not only an important historical resource, but has immense symbolic significance for Mason,” notes John Zenelis, university librarian. “We are thrilled that this important Virginiana manuscript has been repatriated, particularly to this part of the Commonwealth where the extended Mason family lived.”

The University Libraries purchased the 220-year-old Mason family account book last summer through an antiquarian dealer in Boston. The acquisition was facilitated through the generosity of the Washington and Northern Virginia Company of The Jamestowne Society, an organization dedicated to preserving the historical record of early Virginia.

The book documents the business, family and personal accounts of Stevens Thomson Mason (1760-1803) and his son, Armistead Thompson Mason (1787-1819), respectively the nephew and grandnephew of George Mason IV.

The two men who wrote most of the entries for the family account book led noteworthy lives. Stevens Thomas Mason fought in the American Revolution as a colonel in the Continental Army and served as an aide to George Washington during the battle of Yorktown. Armistead Thompson Mason served as a general in the War of 1812 and as a United States senator for one year. He was killed in a duel with his cousin, John M. McCarty, over a contentious election.

The family account book includes detailed records about the Mason family plantation Raspberry Plain Farm, located near Leesburg in Loudoun County.

“The account book reveals the considerable work of managing a plantation in the early 19th century,” says Jordan Patty, processing librarian/archivist in Special Collections and Archives (SC&A). “You begin to picture how busy the days must have been, contrary to the image of the Southern gentleman sitting on the porch sipping a mint julep. At the same time, the account book also includes many mentions of the slaves on the plantation, and to see those names among the other business of the day is particularly powerful in light of what we know today about the brutality of slavery.”

Stevens Thomson Mason wrote the accounts from 1792 until his death in 1803, and his son, Armistead, made entries from 1810 until his death in 1819. William Temple Thomson Mason also contributed a number of entries. Other entries in the hand of William Temple, the half-brother of Stevens Thomson and the uncle of Armistead Thompson, can be found in the pages. Other Mason family members adding entries to the accounts were John Thomson Mason (1765-1824), John Thomson Mason (1787-1850), and Stevens Thomson Mason, Jr. (1789-1815).

“The Mason account book is in its original rough or reversed calf binding with headbands, blind stamping on the covers, and raised cords on the spine,” says Yvonne Carignan, head of SC&A. “Although the binding was worn and the front cover detached at the hinge, we had the book conserved instead of rebound to preserve the original artifact. We believe it is instructive for students and other scholars to have an opportunity to view the book as its creators saw it.”

SC&A is also home to the Virginia Historical Documents Collection, which has three other documents related to the Mason family. The 1853, single-page document is a deed-of-gift from Maynadier Mason, grandson of George Mason IV, which transferred ownership of his “negro slave woman named Lucy” to his late wife’s maternal aunt, Mary Ann Clark. The two other Mason family documents are letters written and signed by James Murray Mason, the grandson of George Mason. The 1860 document is a recommendation for a political appointment addressed to President James Buchanan. The other letter concerns James Murray Mason’s involvement in the Trent Affair in 1861.

The Virginia Historical Document Collection and the account book can be examined at the Fenwick Library on the Fairfax Campus. The Mason Family Manuscript Account Book can also be seen online.

Detail from "Drugs store", Midwest commercial architecture photograph collection, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

The newly digitized Midwest Commercial Architecture Photograph Collection consists of 32 photographs depicting commercial buildings in rural northwestern Ohio with Central Union Telephone Co. signs indicating recently installed telephones. There are a variety of commercial buildings present in the photographs, as well as telephone poles, merchants’ signs, displays of goods, customers, horse drawn wagons, and bicycles. Three of the photographs do not depict buildings but, instead, one is of a telephone operator office, and the two others depict three men posing humorously for the camera. The photographs date from the early 1900s.

The details shown here are examples of signs found in the photographs. Details above are from “Laundry office”, “House with telephone sign”, and “Piper’s Grocery storefront”. Details below are from “Building with Bell telephone sign”, “Lease & Twining storefront”, and “A.D. Baumhart: The Druggist Store”. Each image of a telephone sign links to the larger photograph.

The Central Union Telephone Company was originally based in Chicago and in 1883 took over the Midland Telephone Company, a Bell organization also based in Chicago. Many Bell patents expired in 1893 and 1894 resulting in an increase of competing telephone companies. By the early 1900s the Central Union Telephone Company was headquartered in Indiana and was organized to develop telephone service in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. Mergers in the telephone industry in the early 1900s resulted in Central Union Telephone becoming part of Indiana Bell, Illinois Bell and Ohio Bell. In 1920 Central Union Telephone Company was purchased by the Ohio Bell Telephone Company which emerged from the Cleveland Telephone Company. In the 1920s telephone service in Ohio was unified under Ohio Bell. [More information can be found at the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History].

Images from other collections that feature the Central Union Telephone company in Ohio and Indiana can be found on SC&A’s Pinterest board.

Two images of the interior of T.T. Reynolds in downtown Fairfax, VA from Dec. 5, 1977. Detail from GMU Broadside photograph collection, box 10 page 8. Copyright held by George Mason University. Restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. For permission to publish, contact Special Collections & Archives, George Mason University Libraries, speccoll@gmu.edu.

Local bars are a common site in any town, especially one with a University nearby, and Fairfax is no exception. The restaurant and bar T.T. Reynolds was a popular meeting place for students, professors, and locals to congregate and imbibe for years in downtown Fairfax. Broadside photographer Myrna Garza captured T.T. Reynolds in all of its 1970s glory during December of 1977. It remained a fixture in Fairfax until July of 2008 when it closed. Today it has relocated to the D.C. neighborhood of Petworth and has fittingly changed it’s name to D.C. Reynolds.

These images are found in the newly acquired Broadside photograph collection. This collection comes to us from the Student Media Office and includes contact sheets and negatives for photographs taken by Broadside staff from 1973 to 2001. This collection is currently being processed. As shown below subject matter includes all kinds of student interests including local watering holes, pills, and Student Government Senate meetings.

Contact sheet containing images of the interior of T.T. Reynolds in downtown Fairfax, VA, a spilled bottle of pills, and a meeting of the Student Government Senate from Dec. 5, 1977. Detail from GMU Broadside photograph collection, box 10 page 8. Copyright held by George Mason University. Restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. For permission to publish, contact Special Collections & Archives, George Mason University Libraries, speccoll@gmu.edu.

]]> http://vault217.gmu.edu/?feed=rss2&p=4073 0 http://vault217.gmu.edu/?p=4041 http://vault217.gmu.edu/?p=4041#comments Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:48:33 +0000 Christine Cheng http://vault217.gmu.edu/?p=4041

Dr. Warfield poses at his desk in his office at the Battelle Memorial Institute. The date is most likely 1969 or 1970. John N. Warfield papers (Collection #C0016 ), Box 102.

Dr. John Nelson Warfield (1925 – 2009) was a faculty member at George Mason University from 1984 until his retirement in 2000. Beginning as Director of Mason’s Institute for Information Technology, he ended his tenure as Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in the Integrative Sciences (IASIS), a part of George Mason’s Institute of Public Policy, now known as the School of Public Policy.

During a sixty-year career, Warfield served as a World War II Army scientist, a pioneer in the field of computers, a holder of multiple patents for electronic devices, and a founder of Systems Science, an interdisciplinary field which studies complex systems in nature, human interaction, and science. Dr. Warfield’s work impacted the academic world, the defense industry, government, and the private sector.

The exhibit gives an inside look at Dr. Warfield’s life and career using items in the John N. Warfield Papers, 1931-2009 held in the University Libraries Special Collections & Archives (SC&A). Special Collections and Archives is located in Fenwick Library, Room C-204.  Additionally, items in the Warfield Papers can be accessed electronically from the following two portals:

Attacking Complex Problems: The Life and Work of Dr. John N. Warfield

 The John N. Warfield Digital Collection

The exhibit contains materials which pertain to Dr. Warfield’s life and long career and date from 1931 to about 1990. The display contains a variety of objects, such as correspondence, photographs, drawings, and audio visual materials. The exhibit can be viewed on the 2nd Floor, Wing A of Fenwick Library on the Fairfax Campus of George Mason University. For additional information or inquiries regarding the exhibit or the John N. Warfield papers, please contact Special Collections & Archives at speccoll@gmu.edu or 703-993-2220.

Case 1 of the four-case exhibit: "The Life and Work of Dr. John N. Warfield" at George Mason University Libraries, Fenwick Library, Fairfax, Virginia Campus.

Written by Bob Vay and Christine Cheng.

The organization that would eventually become APTA first organized as the American Street Railway Association on December 12, 1882, in Boston, Massachusetts. The initial meetings focused on the price of oats for the horses that pulled omnibuses, but that focus evolved as more transit companies built electric systems for streetcars. In 1905, the group met in New York and reorganized as the American Street and Interurban Railway Transportation and Traffic Association. To encompass even more modes of electric transit, the group changed its name once again to the American Electric Railway Transportation and Traffic Association in 1910. By 1932, many of the transit systems relied on motor buses and trolley buses in addition to electric streetcars, so the organization executives chose to be known as the American Transit Association (ATA). In 1966 the ATA relocated from New York City to Washington, D.C., as a result of the transit industry’s increasing reliance on federal funding sparked by the passage of the Urban Mass Transportation Act and the creation of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (now the Federal Transit Administration) in 1964. The American Public Transit Association (APTA) was created in 1974 when the American Transit Association and the Institute for Rapid Transit (IRT) merged.

Some of the most interesting items in the collection can be found in the local transit series that consists of clippings, public relations information, reports, brochures, and maps sent in from transit systems around the country.  The maps, such as the one below, are particularly popular with researchers because they show the development of transit systems over time as well as interesting representations of the cities.  A small selection of other maps is available through this online collection.

A color map of the Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) elevated and subway lines in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, July 1, 1932. American Public Transportation records C0051. Box 169, Folder 47.Special Collections & Archives, George Mason University Libraries. This work may be protected by copyright laws and is provided for educational and research purposes only. Any infringing use may be subject to disciplinary action and/or civil or criminal liability as provided by law. If you believe that you are the rights-holder and object to Mason's use of this image, please contact speccoll@gmu.edu.

We have recently installed an exhibit outside of SC&A in Fenwick Library focusing on the Federal Theatre Project titled “Voices from the FTP”. This exhibit takes the individual personal papers we have from FTP participants and integrates their story into the larger context of this government sponsored program. These may not be the most well known FTP participants but their stories are equally as interesting. Hopefully the exhibit will spark an interest in the people, productions, and experiences that transpired because of the Federal Theatre during the Great Depression across the United States.

The following blog post breaks down each of the four cases in the exhibit. Case 1 features the papers of Kate Lawson and serves as an introduction to the FTP. Case 2 focuses on the marionette units of the FTP and uses material from the Molka Reich papers and the Ralph Chessé papers. Case 3 briefly tells the story of Eda Edson and her vaudeville success Follow the Parade. Finally case 4 looks at the theme of controversy and the FTP and features Arnold Sundgaard’s play Spirochete as an example of some of the serious issues the FTP was exploring through the venue of live theater.

CASE 1 – Introduction and documents from the Kate Lawson papers

Introduction to the Federal Theatre Project (FTP)

Organized in 1935, The Federal Theatre Project flourished as the first and only federally sponsored and subsidized theater program in the United States until its end in 1939. The FTP was a division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which provided employment for large numbers of artists, writers, and performers during the Great Depression (1929-1939). Directed by Hallie Flanagan (1880-1969), the FTP provided employment for theatrical professionals throughout the United States during the Great Depression.  Actors, playwrights, scene designers and builders, seamstresses, lighting experts, ushers, box-office men, and stagehands all found employment through the FTP.

Kate Drain Lawson: Actress, costume and set designer, technical director

Born in Spokane, Washington, in 1894, her family moved to Washington, D.C., in the early 1900s. Drain left D.C. to become a nurse’s aide in Paris, France, during World War I. It was there that she met and married John Howard Lawson, and she began her theatrical career. By 1922 she was working on Broadway as a technical director, costume and stage designer, and sometimes as an actress. She joined the FTP in July 1936 and headed the Bureau of Research and Publication and was the Chief Technical Officer for the FTP in New York City. She resigned in September of 1937 and moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue a career in film and television. Materials featured in this case from the Kate Lawson papers include her letter of resignation and Hallie Flanagan’s response as well as the WPA Worker’s Handbook, an organization chart of the FTP in New York City, and production statistics. Two photographs of Hallie Flanagan are also included from the Federal Theatre Project photograph collection.

Lawson to Flanagan. Public domain.

 Contents of case 1 -

Kate Lawson’s resignation letter to Hallie Flanagan, September 15, 1937. Kate Lawson papers, Collection #C0222, Box 1, Folder 4, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Flanagan to Lawson. Public domain.

Hallie Flanagan’s acceptance letter in reply to Kate Lawson’s resignation, September 24, 1937. Kate Lawson papers, Collection #C0222, Box 1, Folder 4, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Our Job with the WPA (workers handbook), 1936. Kate Lawson papers, Collection #C0222, Box 1, Folder 7, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Production attendance statistics for January 4 to April 4, 1937. Kate Lawson papers, Collection #C0222, Box 1, Folder 9, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Organization chart. Public domain.

Organization chart, New York projects, circa 1935. Federal Theatre Project collection, Collection #C0002, Box 4, Folder 7, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Hallie Flanagan. Public domain.

Hallie Flanagan, National Director of the Federal Theatre Project, circa 1936. Federal Theatre Project photographs, Collection #C0205, Box 25, Folder 26, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Case 2 – The FTP and Marionettes

The Federal Theatre Project produced marionette productions around the country for children and adults alike. The FTP also sponsored classes and behind-the-scene tours so that audiences could make their own puppets and stage their own performances. Two puppeteers with collections in SC&A are Ralph Chessé who worked in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and Molka Reich who worked in Miami.

Ralph Chessé: Puppeteer

“In all of my earlier experiences, I worked with people who had no previous puppetry experience. I taught them understanding and respect for legitimate theatre. I worked on the delivery of their lines, how to develop character voices, and how to feel the vibrations they sent down through the moving instrument below. I made them avoid trick manipulation and taught them to suit the action to the words as they brought the marionettes to life through their readings. They experienced the impact of this on the audience and derived the satisfaction an actor has when on stage, providing a natural exercise to the audience’s imagination.” The Marionette Actor (55)

Molka Reich: Puppeteer, writer, actress

After studying puppetry under Remo Bufano in New York City, Reich moved to Miami in 1930. While living there, she joined the Federal Theatre Project. Shortly after joining the FTP, she organized a marionette unit with several others. They made the marionettes themselves and traveled around the state performing for children and adults in school.

“We went to places where no one had ever seen anything like this… but they were so enthralled and it was marvelous for the children. And the adults loved it just as much… We’d go into these schools, particularly the underprivileged schools. At first everything was free but after a while a charge was made. We would divide the money on a 60/40 basis…The underprivileged schools paid nothing. The money was used by the P.T.A. for the children’s luncheon program.” – WPA oral histories collection, 1977

(information about Molka Reich was taken from a previous Vault217 blog)

Contents of case 2 -

 1930’s string puppet made by Lora Pattison who taught puppetry under the WPA Recreation Project at Oneonta Grammar School, South Pasadena, California. Mrs Pattison received her puppet training in the Pasadena WPA Recreation Project.

Clown marionette, 1930s. Federal Theatre Project personal papers, Collection #C0227, Box 3, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Ralph Chessé. Public domain.

Ralph Chessé setting the stage for the marionette play “Crock of Gold”, March 1936. Ralph Chessé papers, Collection #C0224, Box 1, Folder 4, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Chessé, Ralph. The Marionette Actor, Fairfax, Virginia: George Mason University Press: 1987.

Molka Reich oral history interview conducted by John O’Connor, March 19, 1977 (cassette tape). Works Progress Administration oral histories collection, Collection #C0153, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

How-to bulletin created by the Federal Theatre of Oklahoma, it includes play scripts as well as directions for making puppets and stages; all one would need to stage their own puppet show. The WPA supported creativity and enabled people to create their own art and theatre.

The foreword reads: “Federal Theatre hopes that those who are as yet uninitiated in the mysteries of puppetry will find helpful guidance and direction in the accomplishment of their undertakings.”

The Vagabond Puppeteers – We Produce a Puppet Show, circa 1936-1939. Federal Theatre Project collection, Collection #C0002, Box 269, Folder 7, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Jack Marvin and Grace Leahy. Public domain.

Jack Marvin and Grace Leahy working on marionettes for the production “Crock of Gold”, March 1936. Ralph Chessé papers, Collection #C0224, Box 1, Folder 4, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

 “You don’t have to be a Barrymore to panic a party with a bib puppet play. Just tie a puppet around your neck and you will find yourself performing in a way you never thought possible.”

Hall, Baird. Bib Puppets, Crowell Collier Publishing Company: 1940. Molka Reich papers, Collection #C0229, Box 1, Folder 5, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Molka Reich with Bimbo, circa 1930s and circa 1970s. Molka Reich papers, Collection #C0229, Box 2, Folder 24, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Case 3 – Vaudeville, Unemployment, & Follow the Parade

Eda Edson: Writer, director, conductor

Edson’s career started in New York City as a writer and actor in vaudeville. She also worked on Broadway as an orchestra conductor. In the 1930’s she moved to Los Angeles to try and break into the film industry but was unsuccessful. Instead she organized her own orchestra show titled “Eda Edson and her Gentlemen Friends” that played at supper clubs in Los Angeles hotels. It was during one of these shows that she was spotted and recruited to work with the FTP as director of the Vaudeville Unit.

 Her largest and most successful show was Follow the Parade, a vaudeville production that took unemployment as its main theme. It ran for ten weeks in Los Angeles during the spring of 1936 and then moved to Dallas, Texas for the summer. Critics wrote favorable reviews about the production, and one review described it as “part topical revue, part circus, part dramatic show.”

Follow the Parade consisted of multiple scenes tied together through a common theme. Some of the titles to the acts were: “‘Round the World by Television” and included Russian and Hawaiian dancers, “The Trend has Changed,” which took place in a casting office of the Colossal Picture Corporation, “The Absent-Minded Princess”, “St. Louis Blues,” which included scenes set in a jungle, on a plantation, and in a Harlem Night Club, “Magic Toy Shop,” and “Let’s go to a Movie”.

Contents of case 3 -

Excerpt from transcript of oral history interview. This work may be protected by copyright laws and is provided for educational and research purposes only. Any infringing use may be subject to disciplinary action and/or civil or criminal liability as provided by law. If you believe that you are the rights-holder and object to Masons use of this image, please contact speccoll@gmu.edu.

Excerpt from transcript of oral history interview, conducted by Diane Bowers, May 30, 1976. Eda Edson papers, Collection #C0218, Box 1, Folder 2, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Eda Edson with orchestra. This work may be protected by copyright laws and is provided for educational and research purposes only. Any infringing use may be subject to disciplinary action and/or civil or criminal liability as provided by law. If you believe that you are the rights-holder and object to Masons use of this image, please contact speccoll@gmu.edu.

Eda Edson with orchestra, circa 1930s. On verso it reads: “To my dearest Dad – Merry Christmas from my Band and me. Love Babe.” Eda Edson papers, Collection #C0218, Box 1, Folder 7, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Telegram to Edson from Gerwing. This work may be protected by copyright laws and is provided for educational and research purposes only. Any infringing use may be subject to disciplinary action and/or civil or criminal liability as provided by law. If you believe that you are the rights-holder and object to Masons use of this image, please contact speccoll@gmu.edu.

Telegram to Eda Edson from George Gerwing, April 13, 1936. Eda Edson papers, Collection #C0218, Box 1, Folder 9, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Telegram to Edson from Flanagan. This work may be protected by copyright laws and is provided for educational and research purposes only. Any infringing use may be subject to disciplinary action and/or civil or criminal liability as provided by law. If you believe that you are the rights-holder and object to Masons use of this image, please contact speccoll@gmu.edu.

Telegram to Eda Edson from Hallie Flanagan, William P. Farnsworth, J Howard Miller, July 28, 1936. Eda Edson papers, Collection #C0218, Box 1, Folder 9, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Program for Follow the Parade Los Angeles productions, 1936. Federal Theatre Project collection, Collection #C0002, Box 310, Folder 6, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Follow the Parade, Texas program, 1936. Eda Edson papers, Collection #C0218, Box 1, Folder 3, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Texas Centennial Exposition. Public domain.

Stage at the Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas, Texas, 1936. On verso: “After the tornado – the day before we were to open.” Federal Theatre Project photograph collection, Collection #C0205, Box 26, Folder 14, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

The Mad General and Quartette from Follow the Parade;  April 1, 1936. Federal Theatre Project photograph collection, Collection #C0205, Box 26, Folder 10, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

The Mad General from Follow the Parade. Public domain.

Quartette from Follow the Parade. Public domain.

Case 4 – Controversy and the FTP

Hallie Flanagan encouraged playwrights to write about the social and political issues of the day. Living Newspaper plays tackled a number of issues including the migration of farmers due to the Dust Bowl, union workers verses business tycoons, tenet housing, access to electricity, and in the case of Arnold Sundgaard’s Spirochete, public health. In 1938 the House on Un-American Activities began investigating the FTP due to its sometimes controversial nature and the FTP was disbanded by Congress on July 30, 1939.

Arnold Sundgaard: Writer

Sundgaard worked for the Chicago Federal Theatre Project from 1936 to 1938 as an author and play reader. In relation to the FTP, he is most known for writing the splay Spirochete. The main theme of Spirochete is the history and spread of syphilis from the 15th century in Europe to the 1930s in America. The play was politically- minded and current in relation to the Marriage Test Law of 1937. If passed, the law would require a blood test prior to marriage.

The play opened in Chicago on April 29, 1938, and had showings in Seattle, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Portland (Oregon). The play was met with minimal protest and overall it garnered enthusiasm from critics and audiences alike. It was the second-most performed Living Newspaper play after One-Third of a Nation.

Contents of case 4 -

Oral history excerpts:

—the conversation about syphilis in those days was… unthinkable. Opening nights… two priests came down and took blood tests. The Catholic Church got behind it… There was [sic] free blood tests in the lobby. And I remember two priests volunteered to take the blood tests, which was a sort of an important step.

John O’Connor: Later productions had to change Christopher Columbus’ name.

Arnold Sundgaard: That was in Philadelphia. Oh, when that came up, Emmet Lavery called from New York; Emmet was a Catholic. And Emmet said, “The Knights of Columbus in Philadelphia are objecting to use of Christopher Columbus’ name bringing syphilis back to Spain. They said he was a good Catholic and a very virtuous man and he couldn’t possibly have picked up a venereal disease, or his men couldn’t have. So,” he said, “could you change it?” I said, “Well, it’s impossible to change that.” I was adamant about it. I said, “You can’t possibly change that, Emmet.” I said, “Call off the production. I don’t care.”

He said, “Wait a minute now, let’s think this through.” He said, “Would you mind calling it an unidentified explorer who returns to Spain in 1493?”

So I said, “No, not at all.” As a matter of fact, it kind of improved it because people in the audience nudged – they were very knowledgeable – and they said “Oh, he must mean Columbus.”

…the U. S. Surgeon General’s Office got behind [Spirochete] and made it much more important than the original production could possibly have been… They gave it a lot of publicity that it ordinarily wouldn’t have gotten. As a matter of fact, for years after that I was considered by people to be kind of an expert on syphilis. I remember years later getting calls in the middle of the night from frantic young men who wanted to know where I might recommend a doctor.

Arnold Sundgaard oral history interview conducted by John O’Connor, September 5, 1976 (cassette tapes). Works Progress Administration oral histories collection, Collection #C0153, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Spirochete promotional flyer for Chicago production, April 1938. Arnold Sundgaard papers, Collection #C0226, Box 7, Folder 18. Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Spirochete program for Philadelphia production at the Walnut Street Theatre, February 1939. Arnold Sundgaard papers, Collection #C0226, Box 7, Folder 18. Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Two actors with Sundgaard. Public domain.

Two actors, J. Barney Sherry and Ruth Tate, with author Arnold Sundgaard at a Philadelphia production of Spirochete, February 17, 1939. Arnold Sundgaard papers, Collection #C0226, Box 8, Folder 25. Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Conductor’s copy of sheet music for “Dark Harvest” from act 1, scene 2 of Spirochete, 1938. Federal Theatre Project collection, Collection #C0002, Box 348, Folder 11, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Spirochete script, July 11, 1938. Federal Theatre Project collection, Collection #C0002, Box 248, Folder 5, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Boat scene from Spirochete. Public domain.

Scene on a boat with actors Billy Jones and Al Ray from Philadelphia production of Spirochete, February 27, 1939. Federal Theatre Project photograph collection, Collection #C0205, Box 69, Folder 18, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Poster for Spirochete in Philadelphia. Public domain.

Street scene featuring Spirochete poster on building in Philadelphia, 1939. Federal Theatre Project photograph collection, Collection #C0205, Box 69, Folder 19, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

The George Mason University Libraries contains fifty of Margaret Armstrong’s bindings, novels, and even her guide to western wild flowers.

An example of Armstrong’s illustrations may be found in Paul Leicester "Ford’s Love Finds the Way" (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1904), in which Armstrong decorates the text by surrounding it with flowers that differ in kind from page to page. Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Armstrong created a number of series of book cover designs such as a series for author Henry Van Dyke, represented here by his book, "Days off, and Other Digressions," (New York : C. Scribner’s Sons, 1908). Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

The Margaret Armstrong books are part of a larger collection of decorated and signed bindings donated to George Mason University by Wendi D. Slagle.