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| Spring 2008 • Volume 11 • Latitude 34° 21’ 53” N Longitude 89° 31’ 33” W FREE! |
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Jan. 25, 2-4 p.m March 1, 2009, 1-3 p.m.
Jan. 20-March 8, 2009 Jan. 13-March 8, 2009 The University of © 2007 The University The University of Mississippi’s Museum and Historic Houses enrich our cultural and academic life by providing exhibitions and programs that inspire learning, discourse, curiosity and imagination.
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Director’s DeskYou may remember that, in 2004, I organized an exhibition of Thomas Eloby’s (1944 - 2001) art for which we borrowed work from numerous collectors in our area. Eloby was a Clarksdale native and naturally talented artist, and the show generated a great deal of interest in his work. I recently received a call from Beth Batton, curator at the Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA), concerning Eloby and the exhibition. Following our phone discussion, she traveled to Oxford and spent a few hours reviewing our research and collecting information. It is possible the MMA will organize a traveling exhibition of his work to further expand the reach of his great talent. 2009 will be the 70th anniversary of the Mary Buie Museum, and we intend to commemorate this special occasion. More information is to come in our spring issue. Meanwhile, if you have a special story or photograph surrounding the beginnings of the museum, please let us know.
Albert Sperath Faulkner letters acquiredAsignificant addition to the William Faulkner Collection at The University of Mississippi was announced on the grounds of Rowan Oak, the Nobel laureate’s home, during the 35th annual Faulkner and Yokna-patawpha Conference. The acquisition comprises letters written after a meeting in the summer of 1943 when Faulkner sat down with Hollywood filmmakers William Bacher and Henry Hathaway to discuss a story plot based on an unknown soldier character portrayed as Christ returning to save the world. But rather than a movie script, the discussions spawned the novel A Fable, which would win the Pulitzer Prize. Faulknerians consider the nine letters, including seven written by the novelist and two by Bacher, to be a valuable addition to the university’s extensive Faulkner Collection. “The acquisition of the William Bacher/William Faulkner Correspondence Collection is one that will provide Faulkner scholars, and literature and film scholars in general, with a great deal of food for thought,” said Donald Kartiganer, UM’s Howry Chair in Faulkner Studies. “To begin with, the letters illustrate the kind of communication that can go on between a film producer and a novelist. They also give us fresh insight into Faulkner’s character, particularly his sense of personal loyalty—especially when it comes into conflict with what he wants to write—and always his deep commitment to the need for quality in his art, a standard he refuses to violate.” At the time, Faulkner needed financial security and was made an attractive offer. Bacher advanced the writer $1,000, and Faulkner returned to Oxford to work on the script, although he was under contract with another film company. However, by January 1944, he had finished a 10,000-word first draft of the intended script. The draft soon turned into the novel project. A Fable was published in August 1954 and won the Pulitzer Prize in May 1955. Meanwhile, correspondence and the idea to turn the story into a screenplay continued. Bacher kept in contact with Faulk-ner, and the two exchanged letters. “We are delighted to be adding the Bacher/Faulkner letters to our Archives and Special Collections,” said Julia Rholes, dean of university libraries. “We are especially pleased to have worked with the Rowan Oak Society on this important acquisition.” Funding for the purchase involved donors from both the library and the Rowan Oak Society, supporters of Faulkner’s home, which is owned by UM and managed by the University Museum. “The correspondence provides insight into the origins of A Fable and how Faulkner dealt with a commitment that was supposed to last briefly but stretched from the mid-1940s to the last year of his life,” said Albert Sperath, director of the University Museum. “He was determined to give Bacher $1,000 worth of his talent, which he did.” Save the date!The 2009 Spring Walton Young Open House will be on Saturday, Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day. Please join us as we celebrate a “Victorian Valentine.” The event will include interpretive tours of the house, an exhibition of original Victorian Valentines from the UM Library Archives and Special Collections in the museum galleries, a Valentine musical performance, refreshments and programs for children. Nabors estates to fund multiple initiatives at UMAlongtime University of Mississippi faculty member and his wife have left a final, transformative gift to the institution they supported for decades. More than $1 million was recently received from the estates of Carl and Olivia Nabors to support several areas of the university: J.D. Williams Library, University Museum, Basketball Practice Facility, Ole Miss First Scholarship Initiative and Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy. “When I think of Carl and Olivia Nabors, I think of quiet, kind, generous people,” said Chancellor Robert Khayat at a recent reception honoring the late couple and their family. “Everyone at Ole Miss is profoundly grateful for the generous gifts made by Carl and Olivia, and we wanted to celebrate the fact that they’ve designated funds to areas that need help.” Longtime Oxford residents, Olivia Nabors received a bachelor’s degree in home economics from Ole Miss in 1951, and Carl, a World War II veteran, followed with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting in 1952 and 1953, respectively. UM alumni Will Lewis of Oxford, brother of Olivia, and Billy Bratton of Chattanooga, Tenn., nephew of Carl, oversaw the recent settlement of the couple’s estates (Olivia died in 2001 and Carl five years later). While the Nabors had designated funds specifically to the J.D. Williams Library and the University Museum, funds designated generally to the UM Athletics Association went to the Basketball Practice Facility. Although “their paths never crossed as undergraduates [at Ole Miss],” their love for the university eventually drew them together, Bratton said. After working for the accounting firm Peat, Marwick, Mitchell and Co., in Memphis for several years, Carl returned to his alma mater to teach. In 1961, he embarked on a career with the university that spanned more than 30 years, serving as associate professor of accounting, chair of the accounting department, acting dean of the School of Business Administration and on the university’s athletics committee. Most importantly, the move to Oxford allowed him to meet Olivia, a native of the town. They married in 1965 and lived in Oxford for the rest of their lives—lives spent actively supporting Ole Miss. Collections UpdateOrrery conservationThe sun, Mercury, Venus and moon belonging to our Barlow’s Planetarium, or orrery, have traveled to another part of Earth for conservation. Brian Howard Conservation service in Carlisle, Pa., is working to conserve what original surfaces remain of these important components, and to restore what is missing. The sun is a 20-inch diameter glass globe of 3/8” thickness. The interior was coated with gold leaf, painted over with an iron oxide liquid. Approximately one-third of the original leafing can be saved, and the remainder will be replaced with new leafing to restore its original golden glow. Howard performed a complete conservation treatment on Washington and Lee University’s orrery, and it looks fantastic. We look forward to our own orrery’s receiving a complete treatment in the future. Painting conservationAfter learning from Paolo Brenni, president of the International Scientific Instrument Society, that our light paintings by Josef Silbermann are the only intact collection known in the world, we began to look at them in a different light, so to speak. Since that time, we have had five more paintings of the Millington-Barnard collection conserved, which are currently on view in the Skipwith gallery. We intend to continually conserve the remaining 20 paintings for future generations and, as we have learned, for a world audience. The paintings were purchased by F.A.P. Barnard in the 1850s as part of the scientific instrument collection to teach the first Ole Miss undergrads about pattern dispersion and light-diffraction phenomena. Theora Hamblett: TreesA new exhibition of Theora Hamblett in the Speakers Gallery features the subject matter for which she is quite possibly most famous. Perhaps Hamblett’s best-known visual trademark is her distinctive pointillist style of depicting trees, as well as symbolic of her interpretation of Christianity. This show will explore subject, style and symbolism involving trees, and their frequent study and representation by Hamblett. Education goes to the starsThe General Assembly of the United Nations has designated 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy. The theme is “The Universe: Yours to Discover.” This yearlong global education program commemorates the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s use of a telescope to study the skies, and Kepler’s publication of Astronomia Nova. 2009 is also the anniversary of many other historic events in science. In honor of the International Year of Astronomy, the education division will be offering a wide range of astronomy-related activities from January through April. The March and April Too Cool After School program activities will focus on astronomy for beginners: March 4 and 11, 2009: March 18 and 25: April 1: April 8, 15, 22 and 29:
Please visit our Web site at www.olemiss.edu/depts/u_ museum or call Holly Bethune at 915-7205 beginning Jan. 5, 2009, for a more detailed schedule of our upcoming astronomy celebration! |