Online Guides to the Art Collections of the Massachusetts State House

Did you know that the State House Art Commission’s recent publication Women Subjects, Women Artists in the Massachusetts State House Art Collection, can now be downloaded as a PDF from our online documents repository? This guide offers a wealth of information about the history of female representation, as artist or subject, in the State House’s art collections. And for those who enjoy looking at pictures (as I do!), this guide is full of carefully curated color and black & white images of paintings, sculptures, murals, photography, portraits, and more!

Our online repository also has downloadable guides by the Commission, the Secretary of State, and by the State Library that cover other interesting facets of the State House’s art collections:

• Italy Under the Golden Dome: the Italian-American Presence at the Massachusetts State House
• Art of the Civil War at the Massachusetts State House: Published on the Occasion of the Sesquicentennial
• Art in the State Library: An Introduction to the Artwork in the State Library of Massachusetts

The legislature’s website also offers a virtual tour of selected locations in the Massachusetts State House, which allows online visitors to explore additional art pieces on display that might not be included in the publications above: https://malegislature.gov/VirtualTour

Kaitlin Connolly
Reference Department

Special Event: Treasures of the State Library of Massachusetts

Thursday, May 4th, 2017—3:00-3:45pm
State Library of Massachusetts, Special Collections—Room 55
Massachusetts State House

Detail of Aprosmictus splendens.
(Peale.), from the atlas volume “Mamalia
and ornithology,” United States
Exploring Expedition: During the
Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842,
Under the Command of Charles
Wilkes, U. S. N. Philadelphia, 1844-1874.

The State Library is once again participating in ArtWeek Boston!  On May 4th from 3:00-3:45pm the Library’s Special Collections Department will be hosting the event “Treasures of the State Library of Massachusetts.” Visitors will be able to view and learn about materials that are normally not on public view.  Items include some of the earliest published laws of Massachusetts, a realistic facsimile of Mayflower passenger William Bradford’s manuscript journal Of Plimoth Plantation, broadsides recruiting soldiers for the Civil War, photographs of African-American soldiers from the Massachusetts 54th and 55th Regiments, a handwritten journal by a Civil War soldier from Massachusetts, early maps of Boston, and beautifully illustrated books on natural history.  Space is limited so register today!

To register or learn more about the event, please visit: Treasures of the State Library of Massachusetts

Have a question?  Contact the library’s Special Collections staff directly via e-mail or by phone:
E-mail: special.collections@state.ma.us
Phone: 617-727-2595

Kaitlin Connolly
Reference Department

Unexpected Annotations: An Inserted Note From Eliza Susan Quincy

Josiah Quincy's portrait,
in Eliza's handwriting,
reads: "Aged 89. Sixteen
years after he resigned the
Presidency of Harvard, thirty
five year after he left
the Mayoralty."

Historian, amateur artist, and genealogist Eliza Susan Quincy (1798-1884), on May 13th, 1869, presented to the State Library a copy of her father’s 1852 work titled A municipal history of the town and city of Boston during two centuries.  Eliza’s father, Josiah Quincy III (1772-1864), was a Massachusetts state and congressional legislator, the 2nd Mayor of Boston, and President of Harvard University; Quincy Market was also named in his honor. In addition to these accomplishments, he was also a published historian.  His father, Josiah Quincy II (1744-1775), was a prominent Massachusetts lawyer and patriot who died shortly after the start of the Revolutionary War.

Faneuil Hall engraving caption reads:
"View of the Market House erected
in 1826, and of Faneuil Hall from
the east."

What’s interesting about this particular copy is that Eliza inserted a handwritten note annotating the engravings that were included as frontispieces—information that she, a historian and student of the arts, felt was important for the reader to know.  Eliza collaborated with her father on many of his works, so it is not surprising that she continued to add information where she felt it was needed. The note reads:

The frontispiece of the work was partially copied from a sketch taken in 1827, soon after the Market was finished.  The hanging gardens belonging to the mansion of Peter Faneuil (in 1827, the property & residence of William Phillips) are seen on the left side of the engraving near the roof of Faneuil Hall.  A tower slightly indicated by the engraver, was a summer house built by Mr. Phillips on the site of that of Mr. Faneuil.  The trees beside it were a landmark to ships entering the harbor of Boston.  This interesting coincidence was probably accidental.  The artist sketched the distance as it existed in 1827.  The site of these gardens now forms part of Pemberton Square.  Eliza S. Quincy.  May 1869. 

Another copy of this title is available online, and that copy, which was donated to the Library of the University of Michigan by Eliza in 1872, also includes a longer and more detailed handwritten note inserted into the pages of the book.

For more information on Eliza Susan Quincy the artist, please visit the following website: http://www.masshist.org/object-of-the-month/objects/eliza-susan-quincy-2007-03-01

Kaitlin Connolly
Reference Librarian

Sculpted to Inspire: Caleb Tillinghast

FROM NEWSPAPERS TO BOOKS!

What city editor of the Boston Journal became the first State Librarian?

Caleb B. Tillinghast was the Acting State Librarian starting in 1879.
In 1893 the Office of the State Librarian was created.
Mr. Tillinghast was appointed.

Please visit the Library in room 341 between
March 7, 2011-April 15, 2011
to see the State Library’s first State Librarian.

The “Sculpted to Inspire” series is sponsored by the Friends of the State Library.

Sculpted to Inspire: Arthur Buckminster Fuller

Arthur Buckminster Fuller (August 10, 1822 - December 11, 1862) was a Unitarian Clergyman who believed in liberal reforms. He was born in Boston, the child of Congressman Timothy Fuller, Jr. and Margaret Crane.

At the age of twelve, he spent one year at Leicester Academy and then studied with Mrs. Ripley, the wife of Rev. Samuel Ripley, of Waltham. His older sister Margaret helped raise him after his father died of cholera in 1835. She made certain Arthur received a proper education in Greek, Latin, literature, science and mathematics. In August, 1839 he entered Harvard College at the age of seventeen and graduated in 1843.

Fuller traveled to Illinois to run an academy but closed it 18 months later due to ill health. Between 1845 and 1847 he attended Harvard College of Divinity where he received his degree. Fuller preached in various churches including the Unitarian Church of Watertown, the New North Church of Boston, and the Unitarian Society of Manchester, New Hampshire.

He was selected by the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1854 to serve as their chaplain and in 1858 by the Massachusetts Senate to act as theirs. In 1857 he was nominated by the Republicans of Suffolk District No. 2 for the Massachusetts Senate but did not win the election since there were other candidates from his party in that district.

Fuller worked to advance a number of issues. He was active in the temperance and abolitionist movements and endorsed women pursuing a professional career. His belief in a free public education was shown by his serving on the Boston school board.

At the onset of the Civil War, Fuller resigned as a pastor in Watertown, MA to join the Sixteenth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. When the Sixteenth Regiment went into battle in June, 1862, he participated on the battlefield as a chaplain with prayers and encouragement. After this he became so weak and ill that he returned to Massachusetts. He came back in October, 1862 but was soon declared unfit for service.

Fuller returned once again to give his farewell address on December 7, 1862 and was honorably discharged on December 10, 1862. The next morning as his own regiment was preparing to attack Fredericksburg, VA, he volunteered to go with the Nineteenth Regiment. Wearing the uniform of a staff officer, he was a special mark for the sharpshooters. Fuller crossed the river in a boat to join the Nineteenth Massachusetts Regiment on the other side. A few minutes later, he was shot dead after having only fired a few shots. It was speculated that Fuller risked his life to accompany the Nineteenth Massachusetts, because he believed the men deserved to have a chaplain by their side as they fought. The Nineteenth's chaplain had fled some time ago.

The Governor of Massachusetts attended his funeral where ministers of several faiths eulogized him. Among them was James Freemen Clarke who declared that "Arthur Fuller was, like most of us, a lover of peace, but he saw, as we have had to see, that sometimes true peace can only come through war…. Fuller served ordinary folk and related far better to farmers, artisans, shopkeepers, laborers and soldiers than he did to the intellectuals who preserved his sister's memory.”* He is buried in Mt Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.

His grandson is R. Buckminster Fuller, a philosopher, mathematician and the inventor who invented the geodesic dome composed of triangular shaped spheres and coined the phrase “Spaceship Earth.”

His statue was given to the state in 1863 and is on view in the State Library's main reading room (Room 341) through February 18.

* Unitarian Universalist Association. “Arthur Buckminster Fuller” http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/arthurbuckminsterfuller.html (accessed December 30, 2010)

Freedom Trail Tapestry

The Freedom Trail Tapestry is a unique piece of artwork that hangs in the State Library in Room 442 of the State House.

The tapestry was originally installed in the Senate Lobby. Eleven historic sites on the Freedom Trail are depicted; among these are the Old North Church, King's Chapel, the Old State House, the Boston Tea Party, the Bunker Hill Monument, Faneuil Hall, and the Old South Meeting House.

This was designed and sewn by members of the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Needlepoint Guild in honor of the American Bicentennial in 1976. It is decorated with grasshoppers, chickadees and mayflowers.

The tapestry measures 11' x 5'. Next to it is a plaque recognizing the stitchers who created this beautiful handwork. It is on permanent loan to the State House from the Massachusetts Needlepoint Guild.

The Reference Department

Sculpted to Inspire: John Davis Long

This sculpture of John Davis Long by Pierre Millet is the featured piece of art work in the Library's Main Reading Room through Dec. 24.

Long was born October 27, 1838 in Buckfield, ME, which was then part of Massachusetts. He attended the common schools of Buckfield and Hebron Academy in Maine. In 1857 he graduated from Harvard University at the age of 19. For the next two years, he taught school and was the principal at Westford Academy.

Long studied law at Harvard Law School from 1860 to 1861 and in the private law offices of Sidney Bartlett, dividing his time between Boston and Maine. Admitted to the bar in 1861, he began practicing law in Buckfield, ME. In 1863 he moved to Boston and, in 1869, to Hingham.

He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1875 to 1878, serving as Speaker from 1876 to 1878. In 1879 he advanced to the office of Lieutenant Governor. Long was elected Governor on the Republican ticket and served from 1880 to1882 after winning by an overwhelming majority. During his term, Long shrank state government, reduced taxes on mortgages and local shipping, and opposed the Commonwealth’s capital punishment laws. He supported women’s suffrage and, as a lifelong abstainer of alcohol, advocated temperance legislation.

His political career continued in the U.S. Congress from March 1883 until March 1889 when he resigned to devote himself to the legal profession. Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt appointed him to serve in their Cabinets as Secretary of the Navy; he held this position from March 5, 1897 until May 1, 1902 leaving once again to resume his law practice.

Long delivered a speech to the men’s club at North Abington’s church after he retired from active life. This speech, noted in an Aug. 29, 1915 Boston Herald article, summarizes his simple philosophy. “Wealth alone does not make a man happy. It is not a necessity. The man with a dime in his pocket can be just as happy as the man with his pockets filled with golden coins.” As a member of the Unitarian Church, he believed in peace even though he was Secretary of the Navy during the Spanish American War.

Known to be prolific writer, he published a volume of poems entitled Bites of a Cherry, a memoir Reminiscences of my Seventy Years’ Education, and a treatise about the Navy in 1903 entitled The New American Navy. While serving as Lt. Governor, he translated Virgil’s Aeneid. He was President of the Overseers of Harvard University and the Authors’ Club of Boston. Long died in Hingham on August 28, 1915 and is buried in Hingham Cemetery.

His books:

America of Yesterday, as Reflected in the Journal of John Davis Long

Bites of a Cherry

The New American Navy

Reminiscences of My Seventy Years’ Education

The Republican Party: its History, Principles and Policies. He was the editor of this volume of articles by leading U.S. Senators and Representatives.