A Visit to the American Antiquarian Society

Replica of “first thing ever printed in Worcester.”

Recently author Caroline Linden & I paid a visit to the American Antiquarian Society. I’m one lucky Nerdy History Girl: It’s only a short drive from my house.

The place is like the Tardis: bigger on the inside, although it’s pretty big on the outside, too—which it needs to be, since it’s the home of “the world’s largest and most accessible collection of books, pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers, periodicals, children's literature, music, and graphic arts material printed before the twentieth century in what is now the United States.” Four million items or so. One cannot see everything in a 45 minute tour, nor can one take photos of everything without holding up progress, but here’s a sampling of what we saw.

The first image, from the website, is Antiquarian Hall in 1812. The rest are our photographs (mainly my husband’s). The printing press is the original press on which Isaiah Thomas produced The Massachusetts Spy. He started out in Boston, but made a hasty exit, press and all, when things in Boston got too hot for this revolutionary. You can read the story here.

The large space is the Reading Room, and the light is in the dome.

The print, “The Circulating Library,” is one you may have seen before in one of my posts, either here or on social media. It was one of several enlarged images from the collection that hang in the Introductory Gallery (the images change periodically).

We saw a number of letters, but there wasn’t time to photograph all of them and their transcriptions. I chose these two because the subject matter was interesting: In one case, the writer has accidentally started a fire; the other reports the defeat of Lee’s army.

“The Radcliffe Suffragette” is a supposedly hilarious satire of the women’s suffrage movement.

And, finally, the two authors at the front of the AAS.

The AAS offers free tours on Wednesdays at 3PM. Along with seeing the sorts of things we were able to photograph, you get to go behind the scenes, into the stacks, conservation area, and other parts of the AAS’s inner workings. Well worth a visit if you’re in the area. If you’re not, the website is a treat, with vast quantities of material online.

Women's work at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida

Georgia O’Keefe, “Poppy,” 1927

Here’s one more collection of art for you, in celebration of National Women’s History Month. While in St. Petersburg, I visited the MFA twice. On the second visit, I had time to focus on a special exhibition, “Creative Freedom | Women as Decorative Arts Entrepreneurs and Connoisseurs, c. 1900-1940.” In other words, the exhibit included splendid works of art by women as well as works collected by women. According to the museum’s website,

“The pioneering spirit of these women is the same spirit that built this museum. Our founder, Margaret Acheson Stuart (1898-1980), was a woman of this era, whose passion and independence created the legacy we all share.”

As you’ve no doubt noticed, when I take photos in museums, I try to include the information cards. It’s definitely a memory aid, and it’s particularly helpful when, as in this case, the museum does not have its collection online, and I can’t go back and gather information from their website. Also, with a plethora of photos, one can simply let the cards do most of the talking—not that anybody needs to read them to enjoy these beautiful works.

Unsurprisingly, the exhibit included Tiffany lamps and information about Clara Woolcott Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls.

Among other learning experiences, I discovered Marguerite Zorach and realized that a woman, Mariah Longworth Nichols Storer, founded Rookwood Pottery, which I’ve always loved (well, the names refers to ravens, after which I named one of my fictional heroes).

I also learned that it was a woman, Rose Cecil O’Neill, who created the Kewpie Doll and made a highly successful business with her invention. The rattles and teething rings were part of that business. This same woman created a number of works for the Suffragist Movement. The example below, of one of her postcards, is from the collection of the Missouri History Museum.

And finally, some impressive works in glass. The yellow vase deserved a 360° view. I apologize for the unsteadiness of my camera work.