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Announcement | Landscape Update at the Rockefeller Library
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The landscaping in front of the Rockefeller Library was updated just in time for Commencement Weekend 2019, offering visitors to campus a beautiful view and providing a tranquil home for a meaningful staff memorial.
In the fall of 2017, a storm destroyed much of the tree that had shaded the front of the Rock for many years, necessitating its removal. Library staff and patrons mourned its loss and missed the shade and sense of peace that area had conveyed.
The University generously updated the landscaping in this area during Spring 2019, improving the grade of the space and planting trees, shrubs, and ground cover.
Included in the new design is the Eastern redbud tree and plaque in memory of former Library staff member Mark Baumer, MFA’11. Mark was struck and killed by a car in January 2017 while walking across country to raise awareness around fossil fuels. A group of Library staff members worked with Brown Facilities Management to relocate the tree and plaque to its current spot in the newly landscaped area, surrounded by the new plantings.
We look forward to watching Mark’s tree and the rest of the new plants grow and flourish.
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Announcement | Library’s Andy Moul to Retire
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In June 2019, Andy Moul, Senior Library Associate Specialist in Reader Services at the John Hay Library, will retire after 39 years with the Brown University Library.
Andy began as a shelver at the Rockefeller Library in 1980, after which he became a door guard. From there, he worked in Circulation at the Rock until moving to the Hay in 1994.
While at the Library, Andy had the opportunity to curate an Origami exhibit with Sociology Professor James Sakoda. He also played on the Library softball team with his step-daughter, Ricca Gaus. During the late 1980s and into the 1990s, Andy took part in numerous craft bazaars in Sayles Hall. He also met his first wife in the Rock lobby. They were together for over 20 years.
Upon retirement Andy plans to move to Hopkinton, RI where his wife, Rebecca Ladd, and he have a home located next to the Moscow Brook. He looks forward to spending time gardening, paper folding, and walking the couple’s five dogs.
The Library offers its deeply felt gratitude to Andy for his years of service and our best wishes for a happy retirement.
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Announcement | Holly Snyder Presents at RISD Museum Event on Gorham Company
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On Friday, May 3, 2019, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum hosted a one-day symposium in conjunction with its exhibit Gorham Silver: Designing Brilliance 1850-1970, at which Holly Snyder, Curator Curator of American Historical Collections and the History of Science at the Brown Library, presented. Holly spoke about the history of the Gorham Manufacturing Company.
The symposium was videotaped and can be viewed on YouTube.
Exhibit Catalog
As part of their preparation for the exhibition, the RISD Museum asked Holly to write an introductory chapter for the exhibit catalog about the history of the company and the making of the Gorham Company Archive. Holly co-wrote the chapter with Gerald M. Carbone, an independent writer and journalist, who had previously published a book on Brown & Sharpe.
Symposium Presentation
The presentations at the symposium were intended to recapitulate some of the material in each of the chapters of the exhibit catalog. Holly’s talk, “The Gorham Company Archive in the Historical Context of Providence, Rhode Island,” focused on how the Gorham records ended up at the John Hay Library and how this collection is nestled within the larger collections at the Hay.
Samuel J. Hough
The late Samuel J. Hough, a former librarian at the John Carter Brown Library who became an independent bookseller, appraiser, and researcher, played a key role in rescuing the Gorham records from imminent destruction and bringing these materials to the attention of John Hay Library staff. The transfer of these records to the Hay took place during the rapid downsizing of the company in the mid-1980s, when Gorham was owned by Textron and the decision was made to abandon the plant complex on Adelaide Avenue in Providence in favor of smaller manufacturing sites elsewhere. Sam Hough worked closely with the Brown Library on the Gorham records and helped sort and organize the Gorham materials that the Library ultimately received from Textron. Sam Hough passed away in early March 2019, and Holly framed her talk as a tribute to his work, on which all of the symposium participants had relied.
Gorham Company Archive and Providence-based Photography
Holly also spoke about the way in which the Gorham Company Archive intersects with other aspects of Brown’s special collections holdings, specifically that the Gorham records enhance the Library’s holdings related to the technical innovations in photography in Providence–innovations on which the Gorham Company relied heavily in building its marketing and its customer base.
Photography was a consumer-oriented business in Providence, which Holly illustrated by showing various examples from the special collections, starting with a Poe daguerrotype and moving through images of The Arcade Providence, to advertising from 19th century business directories. All of these items represent technological evolution that made photography popular with the masses and useful to Gorham’s business. She also showed broadsides from Brown’s holdings that portray the pre-existing popular taste for entertainment on which Gorham was effectively able to capitalize.
Exhibition
The Gorham Silver: Designing Brilliance 1850–1970 exhibition will runs through December 1, 2019 at the RISD Museum.