Cleveland Museum of Art: Bulletin of the Museum 1947-50

[This is the fourth installment in a series; Part 1 covers 1915-20, Part 2, from 1920-29, and Part 3 from 1930-47]

I've been swamped at work, preparing for two trips to California, one that's already been rescheduled, and a trip to Michigan for work, plus a different trip for pleasure, so what better way than to relax by slipping 64 years into the Museum's history.

World War II has ended; and in 1947, depending on where you set the marker, the Cold War has either begun or is in its nascent stages. In Cleveland, Burke Lakefront Airport opened for operations; the Case School of Applied Sciences changed its name to the Case Institute of Technology (CIT would join with cross-street rival Western Reserve University 20 years later in 1967 to form Case Western Reserve University). "Untouchable" Eliot Ness was tht year's unsuccessful Republican mayoral candidate.

Television station WEWS, goes on the air on December 17, 1947 and is the first commercial television station in Ohio (16th in the country), it's call letters stand for Cleveland Press founder Edward Willis Scripps* -- perhaps best known as being one half of the Scripps-Howard media empire. WEWS is, to this day, Scripps-Howard's broadcast flagship... but enough background:

October 1947. Thirty Fourth year. Number Eight. On Friday, October 3rd, Lincoln Kirstein, president and director of The School of American Ballet will present a lecture on the Language of Classical Dance. In passing, he's credited as the "Founder of Ballet Society". In 1948, that organization will be renamed New York City Ballet. Oh, and by the way: He was a driving force behind the creation of Lincoln Center in New York -- though not the namesake.

December 1947. Thirty Fourth Year. Number Ten. Membership is rebounding from it's Depression- and World War-induced lows and now stands at 3,838 -- still below the 1920s peaks.

September 1948. Thirty Fifth Year. Number Seven Part One. The bulletin includes a centerfold. Not that kind of centerfold -- Franz Hals's Portrait of a Lady in a Ruff. More interesting, however is the announcement of Masterpieces from the Berlin Museums:

Cleveland is fortunate in being one of the centers of the country in which the
paintings from the Berlin Museums will be shown. They will be exhibited here
from October 6th through October 22nd. In the Spring of 1945, as the United
States armies advanced in Germany, they found a huge cache of art objects in a
salt mine at Mertkers, among which was an outstanding group of paintings, the
finest from the collection of the Kaiser-Fredrich-Museum and numerous examples
from the National-Galerie of Berlin. Shortly thereafter the group was brought to
this country for safekeeping and stored in the vaults of the National Gallery,
Washington DC until such time as it could be returned safely. Such arrangements
have now been made, and of the two hundred examples, half have already recrossed the Atlantic.

It is further noted that a special admission charge of $0.25 will be levied for the exhibition--to be used for the German Children's Relief Fund.

October 1948. Thirty Fifth Year. Number Eight. This month's centerfold, Coronation of the Virgin attributed to Pedro Nicolau-de-Albentosa. The museum's schedule of upcoming events is, understandably, weighted heavily to the Masterpieces from the Berlin Museums exhibition.

April 1949. Thirty Sixth Year. Number Four. The Jane Taft Ingalls Membership Endowment Fund of $1,100.00 (no zeros are unaccounted for) was established by Mrs. Albert S. Ingalls. The Ingalls name is well-associated with the museum via the Ingalls Library, but it does not appear that that association has been fully-forged in 1949. Walter Blodgett, the museum's first Curator of Musical Arts gives an extensive series of organ recitals -- He'll give well over 1,000 of them during his 31-year tenure at the museum. Membership is now reported as 3,962.

June 1949. Thirty Sixth Year. Number 6. Part 1. The museum is maturing as an independent organization, and another tie to its founders fades as John Huntington Hord, grandson of one founder passes.

October 1949. Thirty Sixth Year. Number 8. Those ties further slip as Mrs. Ralph King passes. "Elected a Benefactor by reason of her many gifts to the Museum, she actively carried on the deep interest which she and her husband, the late Ralph King, had shown from the earliest inception of the Museum. The Print Department is a monument to their generosity and to the concern for its development which they aroused in others." Rodin's The Thinker, outside the museum's South Entrance and purchased by the Kings for the Museum in 1917 is among 840 items the Kings donated to the Museum's collection.

December 1949. Thirty Sixth Year. Number Ten. Salmon P. Halle, co-founder of Cleveland's Halle Brothers department store, and like the Kings before him, and active supporter of the Museum's Print Department, passes. As an interesting tangent, actress Halle Berry's name was, reportedly, from her mother's fondness for the Halle's store. William G. Mather, today perhaps best known as the namesake for the Steamship William G Mather, permanently anchored near the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland is elected as Honorary President and Trustee Emeritus. President Harold T. Clark reports that "Mr. Mather asked to be relieved of the burdens of office, but the Trustees, in deferring regretfully to his request, wished to pay him this signal honor. He has served as President from February 14, 1936, as a Trustee from the twenty-fourth of November, 1919 and as a member of the Accessions Committee from July 13, 1915. In that last capacity, the Museum has had the advantage of his wisdom and taste since the year after its incorporation. Few people have had the influence which he has had in the development of the Museum's collections. As Honorary President, the Museum will be able to call oh him, as before, for advice and counsel.


Lincoln
*- For my California readers, this is the same Scripps who's name is scattered about the San Diego area: He retired there in 1890 and died in 1926.

Cleveland Museum of Art: Bulletin of the Museum 1930-47

With another warm week under our collective belts and a tiring week in the office, I figured I'd unwind by returning to the stack of Cleveland Museum of Art Bulletins occupying a corner of my living room.

If you missed the last post, covering 1920 to 29 you might want to peak in, or if you have no idea what I'm rambling about you might be interested in the first installment.

Today's post covers two decades -- and a tumultuous period in American history: The end of the Great Depression and the beginning and end of World War II. Some scholars -- and at least one high school economics teacher -- link the two events, and logically it makes sense, but that's neither here nor there. The collection of discarded Bulletins was, sadly, rather light on the '30s, hence this post's two-decade span.

February 1934. Twenty First Year. Number 2, Part One. Prohibition ended with the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment by the Twenty-first Amendment by a majority of states just two months prior to this issue -- incidentally Ohio was one of the three states that pushed the amendment to ratification on December 5, 1933. At the museum, a schedule of events shows Saturday "Radio Talks" on WHK at 5:45 PM. WHK, Ohio's oldest radio station, and the 15th oldest in the country still broadcasting, can be found today at AM 1420, though in the early 30s as a CBS affiliate you would have tuned to 1390 KHz.

The schedule of events also includes frequent Organ Music programs and discussions in the auditorium.

John Long Severance is the President of the Board (the hall that bears his name and still serves as the home of the Cleveland Orchestra opened three years prior); and William Mathewson Milliken had also begun his Directorship of the museum at the beginning of the decade -- both will leave lasting imprints on the museum, and as I learned this afternoon, Mr. Milliken also headed the Public Works of Art Project for Region 9 of the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA).

The Museum's Education staff totals nine. The library staff of seven includes a Miss Thwing -- and I have to wonder about her relationship to the Thwing Center that now stands just a few hundred feet from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Admission is still just $0.25.

December 1935. Twenty Second Year. Number Ten. The Autumn flower show this year paired flowers in paintings and was describes as "one of the most beautiful exhibits ever held in the museum" and included five paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe--this being barely 20 years after her work first gained widespread acclaim. Among those thanked for their participation, Mr. and Mrs. Frank H. Ginn -- Mr. Ginn, like Mr. Severance, had a close association with the Cleveland Orchestra, this time memorialized in the elegant Ginn Suite at Severance Hall.

The Bulletin offers five upcoming concerts in the "Cleveland Concert Course," sponsored by but not taking place at the Museum. For information, call CHerry 5805 (Today that number would be 241-5805*, but Google doesn't turn up any current results). Radio programs are listed for WTAM and WGAR including the Art Museum Drama. (WTAM is still around, and the WGAR call letters survive in Cleveland as WGAR-FM, but WGAR-AM is now WNKR). Total membership stands at 3,554 -- rather shocking as in October 1929 membership was reported as 6,365, and in 1922 the Board had hoped for membership of 10,000 by the end of the year.

March 1943. Thirtieth Year. Number Three. As if the membership numbers from 1935 weren't disappointing enough, the reported number is now just 3,113. For the first time since the building opened, hours and admission prices have changed: 9AM to 5PM except: Closed Mondays, Wednesdays until 10PM, Sundays 1PM to 6PM, and Friday Evenings 7PM to 10PM during Lecture Season. The Museum is closed July 4, Thanksgiving, and December 25. (Today the Museum is still closed Mondays, otherwise open daily 10AM to 5PM except until 9PM Wednesdays and Fridays). Then as now, admission is free at all times.

June, September, November, 1943; and March 1947 (Thirtieth Year, Number Six, Seven, Nine and Thirty-Fourth Year, Number Three, respectively) don't offer anything particularly noteworthy, with a relatively stable Museum organization and in-depth analyses on particular artworks. In September, Membership is reported as 3,008.

June 1947. Thirty-Fourth Year. Number Six. Part One. Miss Neil G. Sill, librarian of the Museum since February 1, 1920, retired as of April 15, 1947. The event is reported in the Bulletin "Miss Sill several years ago asked to be relieved of her responsibilities, but was generously willing to remain until after the war crisis. She submitted her resignation on December 1, 1946 to take effect at such time as the Trustees should decide, but no later than the spring." -- I find it hard to imagine, in the 21st Century someone staying in a job "several years" longer than they would otherwise desire.

President Milliken writes that "The strain of carrying the Library through the war years has made it seem imperative that, for a time at least, she have a period of rest and relief from responsibility. Miss Sill, during the years she has been in charge of the Library has built it up so that it is one of the outstanding special libraries in the country. Her ability in building up important representation in the various sections of the Library under her control and her wisdom in the selection and purchase of books have been outstanding contributions to the Museum's growth".

And I wonder if there are any modern markers of Ms. Sill's impact on the Museum's Ingalls Library during her 27-year reign early in the dawn of the museum?

And since I've wandered through these few issues for far longer than I originally set out to do, I suppose I shall save the rest of the last three years of the decade for the next post.

Lincoln

*- For completely tangential trivia, the 216-241 Exchange is one of several dozen served from the Ohio Bell Building on Huron Avenue, is a great example of Modern American Perpendicular Gothic Architecture and is frequently cited as the inspiration for the Daily Planet Building in Superman.

Cleveland Museum of Art: Bulletin of the Museum 1920-1929

Continuing leafing through the series of Bulletins of The Cleveland Museum of Art from where we left off after Our Last Visit's 1915-April 1920 Tour, we find ourselves at:

July 1920. Seventh Year. Number Seven. Ninety-one years ago, Frederic Allen Whittling, the Museum's first Director, writes that "[...]The public is expecting the art museum to become not only home to the Muses, but the interpreter of beauty in all its forms. This widening vista of what an art museum may mean in its community, has already brought about amazing changes in the conception of the proper functions of the museums of art. They are becoming more than places where objects of beauty are preserved. They are becoming places of beauty and inspiration themselves."

I pause here to interject that these words could be called almost prophetic for the renovation in general new Atrium currently under construction at the Museum specifically, but continuing: "For today we are realizing more than ever before that the most beautiful life is that which is lovely in itself and in its personal relations is so much a part of the community that it enhances its surroundings while it gains new beauty therefrom."

Mr. Whittling concludes by noting the importance of "awakening the spirit of modern men, women, and children to a further realization of the part a love of beauty must play in a well balanced life"

To that end a short entry in the journal describes that small portions of the museum's collections are on display in specially designed cases in 20 Cleveland branch libraries, some Cleveland Heights schools, and the hope that this may be broadened to more schools. I wonder if this program is in any way still existent, it sounds like a great way to bring art to the people.

A photo shows a much sparser -- but easily distinguished Armor Court; still one of the museum's top draws. Many credit the interest, then and now, to Cleveland's manufacturing roots.

October 1920. Seventh Year. Number 8. An insert flutters out from between the pages titled "Sunday Entertainments for Young People at the Cleveland Museum of Art," listing a schedule of plays and films in the Auditorium (which has not yet picked up the Gardner) prefix.

Prospective patrons are instructed to "[t]ake the Euclid Car to East Boulevard or the East 105th Car to Payne Avenue and Walk East through Wade Park to the Museum." The University Circle name of the Museum's home came from a street car turnaround located at Euclid and East 107th -- I haven't found when that turnaround disappeared, but it's obvious Cleveland's street car system is still in full swing at this point.

A group of anonymous donors have presented the museum with $250,000 for the establishment of a department of Music and the acquisition of a memorial organ and tablet for the Auditorium. Their names will be revealed when the Organ is installed: The McMyler Memorial Organ was cleaned and revoiced as part of the museum's ongoing renovation.

Prices in the museum's Lunch Room have risen: Lunch is now $0.80, afternoon tea $0.60, and dinner (on lecture nights, with reservation) is $1.50. Shocking, right?

December, 1921. Eighth Year. Number 10. The museum's membership totals 4,684. The Museum's events list includes Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 47 in a lecture series on the appreciation of Chamber Music with Beryl Rubenstein. A composer, pianist, teacher, and --eventually--veteran, Mr. Rubenstein joined the faculty of the naescent Cleveland Institute of Music earlier in that year; the institution having been founded only the year prior. In 1932, he would take over the directorship of that institution and serve -- with a breif interuption for enlistment in World War II -- until his death in 1952.

Lunch: $0.75; Tea: $0.40; Dinner $1.25.

January, 1922. Ninth Year. Number 1. There is a plea for patrons with suitable materials to consider donating them to the Library, as the cost building a collection to include the necessary back journals is an expensive undertaking, and some are both difficult and expensive. For comparison, as of June 30th, 2010, the library held 456,105 volumes and in the first six months of 2011 -- 89 years later -- the library has cataloged over 4,200 new items.

Total attendance from the date the Museum building opened, June 7, 1916, to December 7, 1922 was 1,634,150, or approximately 251,000 per year if my math can be trusted. Today, the museum's annual attendance is 335,262 in the galleries plus 406,124 patrons served through education and public programs*

The trustees announce their hope that by the end of 1922 membership will reach 10,000; history will prove this goal optimistic. The organ is still under construction and the director's note explores: "The visitor to the museum usually takes away as much as his experience has prepared him to absorb. The aim is to increase in every possible way the attractiveness of the message the objects have to give."

January, 1926. Thirteenth Year. Number 1. Prices are no longer published for the Lunch Room, and membership tallies 5,023. There is a plea for members as the approved budget exceeds 1925s by nearly $10,000 and this difference is best made up through member's contributions. While Severance Hall may still be a few years in the future, John L. Severance is elected Vice President of the Museum's board.

A picture shows art displayed in a gallery: The in the intervening years the mounts have changed but it otherwise would not shock a time traveller.

June, 1926. Thirteenth Year. Number 6. After slipping in March, Membership is back up to 5,087 -- still well short of the board's optimistic 1922 goal. "informal" organ recitals are available Sundays at 5:15.

December, 1926. Thirteenth Year. Number 10. Turning attention outdoors, The Bulletin announces that Mrs. Windsor T. White has assumed the entire cost of the Euclid Avenue Terrace of what is now known as the Fine Arts Garden, allowing the Garden Club to focus on other areas of the Museum's "park foreground" and "much" of the grading has been finished. Today, even with signs of construction punctuating the view, the Fine Arts Garden, with the Euclid Avenue Terrace and the Lagoon make for a spectacular front yard for the museum.

October, 1929. Sixteenth Year. Number 8. The last in the cache from the roaring '20s, this issue of The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art was published in the same month as the Stock Market Crash of 1929--the event most identify as triggering the Great Depression. If the Bulletin knows of the impending trouble, though, it keeps the secret well-hidden. In fact this issue is pretty sparse, one take away: Near the close of the decade, membership totals 6,365.

Lincoln

*- Based on the annual report for Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2010; the latest figures I have available.

Cleveland Museum of Art: Bulletin of the Museum 1915-1929

I'm a sucker for ephemeral institutional history: Those reports, policy manuals, and various other internal documents that are written at one time and never intended to survive the ages: It is the disposable that is never disposed. I find it interesting to thumb through these documents (or Page Dn through PDFs) and see what has and hasn't changed. In the paper world, it's interesting to feel the quality of the paper and look at the typesetting in days before computers and "Desktop Publishing" was a glint on the horizon, and to think of who has browsed those pages in the decades past.

My girlfriend, aware of this trait, noticed that a collection of assorted issues of "The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art" (which was published from 1914 to 1994, to be replaced by the Member's Magazine, which is still published) was to be discarded and swept them up for me. Arriving home tonight, after dutifully slipping in some needed violin practice, I couldn't help but to sort them chronologically, and thumb through a the pages and think about what else was happening in the world, what names are encountered, and how times have changed.

Before I really realized what I had done, I had made it through all of the issues I have through 1929. Without further ado, some of my observations.

November 1915. Second Year. Number Three. The earliest issue in this cache takes us back to 1915. The Cleveland Orchestra won't exist for another three years--Severance Hall is about 15 years away. World War I is raging overseas, but it will be another 17 months before the United States joins the fray. It had been hoped that the Museum's opening and inaugural exhibition could be announced, but construction delays mean that installation work cannot begin before January of 1916. (The Museum will eventually open June 7th, 1916)

Dudley P. Allen bequests $150,000 to be held in trust for the Museum with the interest income to be paid "For 100 years and for as long thereafter as the institution shall effectively and worthily carry out the purposes of its organization". The trust is held by Cleveland Trust Company, through mergers and acquisitions, now known as KeyBank: The trust still exists, and fewer than four years remain of that original 100 year term. It would be difficult to argue that hte museum is not effectively and worthily carrying out its purposes.

Though the Museum's physical presence hasn't opened, Mrs. Emily S. Gibson is actively stirring interest in educational programs through visits to Cleveland libraries, and reports that the Cleveland Public Schools superintendent is eager to incorporate the museum in educational programs after it opens.

The Membership for the not-yet-opened museum totals 530, the names occupy scarcely more space than one full 8-1/2" by 11" sheet and include such names as Howard M. Hanna (M.A. Hanna company a major specialty chemical company), William R. Hopkins (first, and only, Cleveland City Manager, and a major proponent of the airport that now bears his name--Cleveland Hopkins International Airport), F.E. Drury and Charles S. Brooks, both of whom have strong ties to the Cleveland Play House as well, also appear. Rounding out the list of names that jumped off the page, members of the Blossom Family-- 45 years later, give or take, the Blossom Music Center will be named for one if their members.

April 1920. Seventh Year. Number 4. World War I has ended; the depression is yet to come and "An Appeal For New Members" appears in The Bulletin "For the past two years the Museum has made no active campaign for membership, believing the war needs of the country made such an appeal unpatriotic". The appeal goes on to report that previously two trusts had entirely funded the museum's operations, but due to growth of the museum and increased costs, those funds now fall far short.

The museum thanks Mrs. Henry A. Everett for the use of her Steinway piano "during her absence" and Harry J. Wamelink for "frequently" lending a Mason and Hamlin piano.

Membership now totals 1,983; names are not published. The museum is open 9am to 5pm Monday-Friday except until 10pm on Wednesdays and 1pm-10pm on Sundays. Admission is free Sundays, Wednesdays, Saturdays, and all public holidays -- $0.25 otherwise. In the Lunch Room, table d'hote lunch is $0.60, afternoon tea is $0.40, and if you're attending a lecture, make a reservation before 3pm for a $1.00 dinner.

I had originally planned on covering the rest of the 1920s... but this post seems long enough. Perhaps there will be a Part II: Are you interested?

Lincoln