maeve: summary of archival research
The Union Methodist Church archivist emailed me back about Rev. Dr. Durbin (the owner of the bound figure, but not the man who gave it to the museum). All she included was an obituary I'd already seen and a throwaway reference to him in an article about someone else, but she invited me to visit to comb through the rest of the archives. Of the remaining items in their records that pertained to him, only 4 of a few letters could possibly be relevant (they're dated 1850, 1865, 1869, and 1870, all years in which Durbin was secretary of the Missionary Society). They also have some minutes of the Missionary Society, some of which could have information about the statue's origin. I'm unsure if it's worth it for me to go down there to read all of their material, but I think it would be interesting, and I could see if she's available on a Monday. In the meantime, she pointed me towards some other places that would have Rev. Dr. Durbin's records, which I am interested in because he would've been corresponding with the mission in Liberia where the statue was presumably obtained.
On Tuesday, I pored through the other donors, unsure if I should follow the breadcrumbs of Rev. Dr. Durbin. I started with Alfred M. Collins, using Lara's spreadsheet to easily identify which objects belonged to which donors. I went through his files and found brief references to each of the objects, none descriptive, all merely names on lists. It seemed that he included some photographs of each of the objects, but they weren't included in the files and I didn't get a chance to ask Alex or Eric about them. In a letter, he mentioned a Rev. R. H. Nassau connecting him to some missionaries in Africa where he was planning to visit. I accidentally went back over H. L. Hill and H. Ling Roth before realizing Lara had already combed through both of them. Arthur Smith Donaldson donated a significant chunk of the ivory pieces selected for display, so I went through his files as well. He wanted to maintain ownership over the pieces somehow, returning to the museum frequently and pulling them out of the collection for his own studies. His list of objects was sparse, but I was able to find some of the objects on it. The Arbore ivory finger ring in the exhibit was referenced briefly in a letter, but it wasn't very descriptive. I went through Gordon's correspondence to see if there was any more for Collins or Donaldson but I struck out.
The final donor I began looking into on Tuesday was Sarah Frishmuth. She donated a large collection of musical instruments to the museum that was later divided up among the regions represented within it, so all of those records were separate from the African ones. She stayed in correspondence with the museum for about 70 years, writing about specific pieces in the collection frequently. Just within the first few letters I was able to find a brief reference to one of the ivory trumpets that's been selected for display. I hope to go through the rest of the records pertaining to her collection to see if I can build up more of a history for those objects.
I spent most of Thursday on Durbin because Alex and Eric had put away all of the African records, including Frishmuth's. I began combing through all of the methodist archives and found that there are some letters of his as well as other mission society records that might reference the sculpture. I'll keep following this path and will contact some of the archivists at these other institutions to see how they might be able to help me out.
On Tuesday, I pored through the other donors, unsure if I should follow the breadcrumbs of Rev. Dr. Durbin. I started with Alfred M. Collins, using Lara's spreadsheet to easily identify which objects belonged to which donors. I went through his files and found brief references to each of the objects, none descriptive, all merely names on lists. It seemed that he included some photographs of each of the objects, but they weren't included in the files and I didn't get a chance to ask Alex or Eric about them. In a letter, he mentioned a Rev. R. H. Nassau connecting him to some missionaries in Africa where he was planning to visit. I accidentally went back over H. L. Hill and H. Ling Roth before realizing Lara had already combed through both of them. Arthur Smith Donaldson donated a significant chunk of the ivory pieces selected for display, so I went through his files as well. He wanted to maintain ownership over the pieces somehow, returning to the museum frequently and pulling them out of the collection for his own studies. His list of objects was sparse, but I was able to find some of the objects on it. The Arbore ivory finger ring in the exhibit was referenced briefly in a letter, but it wasn't very descriptive. I went through Gordon's correspondence to see if there was any more for Collins or Donaldson but I struck out.
The final donor I began looking into on Tuesday was Sarah Frishmuth. She donated a large collection of musical instruments to the museum that was later divided up among the regions represented within it, so all of those records were separate from the African ones. She stayed in correspondence with the museum for about 70 years, writing about specific pieces in the collection frequently. Just within the first few letters I was able to find a brief reference to one of the ivory trumpets that's been selected for display. I hope to go through the rest of the records pertaining to her collection to see if I can build up more of a history for those objects.
I spent most of Thursday on Durbin because Alex and Eric had put away all of the African records, including Frishmuth's. I began combing through all of the methodist archives and found that there are some letters of his as well as other mission society records that might reference the sculpture. I'll keep following this path and will contact some of the archivists at these other institutions to see how they might be able to help me out.
Comments
Post a Comment