{"id":198842,"date":"2016-11-11T12:26:13","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T17:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=198842"},"modified":"2016-11-15T10:48:18","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T15:48:18","slug":"archives-offer-composers-historians-rich-source-of-inspiration-198842","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/archives-offer-composers-historians-rich-source-of-inspiration-198842\/","title":{"rendered":"Archives offer artists, historians rich source of inspiration"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jessica Lacher-Feldman<\/em><\/p>\n

The wonder of archives is that they allow us to be sanctioned \u201csnoopers,\u201d reading personal letters and diaries that breathe new life into some of history\u2019s most interesting personalities. Some of those archived letters\u2014such as those between artist Georgia O\u2019Keeffe and her eventual husband, photographer and art promoter Alfred Stieglitz, and to suffragist Anita Pollitzer\u2014are rare glimpses into private conversations seldom seen in today\u2019s digital age.<\/p>\n

These penned messages are the inspiration for the Letters from Georgia<\/em> song cycle by Kevin Puts \u201994E, \u201999E (DMA)<\/a><\/strong>, to be premiered on Saturday, November 12, in Rochester, and on Monday, November 14, at Lincoln Center in New York City.<\/p>\n

A Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, Puts wrote the piece specifically for the Eastman Philharmonia, a student orchestra at his alma mater, the Eastman School of Music, and for another notable alumna, world-renowned soprano Ren\u00e9e Fleming \u201983E (MM), who holds the title of Distinguished Visiting Artist at Eastman. It\u2019s their first collaboration.<\/p>\n

Handwritten correspondence between O\u2019Keeffe, Stieglitz, and Pollitzer are examples of countless archival collections that are housed in special collections all over the world. In this age of emails and text messages, some archivists fear that the old-fashioned letter is dead. For them, written letters do something more than text messages and quick conversations do: they offer thought provoking insights into the inner lives of the writers.<\/p>\n

Archivists also point out that special collections libraries support the work of historians by preserving those insights. But that\u2019s just the beginning. Like Puts, playwrights, poets, artists, and others can also turn to those libraries for creative inspiration.<\/p>\n

The Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation<\/a><\/strong> at the University\u2019s River Campus Libraries is home to a significant cache of letters from Steiglitz to the architect, author, and theater designer Claude Fayette Bragdon (1866-1946). Bragdon met Stieglitz and O\u2019Keeffe in the mid-1920s, when the three were residents of the Shelton Hotel in New York City. The Bragdon Family Papers<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0contain the personal papers of Claude Bragdon, including communication with Steiglitz, as well as letters of Bragdon\u2019s parents, sister, wives, and children<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Alfred Steiglitz\/Georgia O\u2019Keeffe Archive<\/a><\/strong> at Yale University\u2019s Beinecke Library holds the other side of Steiglitz\u2013Bragdon correspondence. Some copies of these letters from Yale are included in the Bragdon Family Papers.<\/p>\n

\"image
Alfred Stieglitz to Claude Bragdon, September 20, 1935.
Stieglitz tells Bragdon that he has read the manuscript of Bragdon\u2019s autobiography: \u201cIt\u2019s all very beautiful\u2014So simple yet so inclusive.\u2014Beautifully written\u2026.\u201d He predicts that it will sell well. (University photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"photo
Stieglitz to Bragdon, June 23, 1936.
In purple ink on left of first page, Bragdon\u2019s notes when he responded: \u201cAns. 6\/25\/36\u201d
Stieglitz had recently moved from the Shelton Hotel, where Bragdon still lived. Stieglitz comments on his own recent activities and sends his hope that Bragdon has fully recovered from a recent illness.\u00a0(University photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"image
Stieglitz to Bragdon, August 24, 1937. \u201cIt is 22 days since your letter came\u2026\u201d Stieglitz bemoans his developing procrastination and acknowledges that he\u2019s not been well. August 1, 1937, marked Bragdon\u2019s 71st birthday. Stieglitz tells Bragdon that he does not show his age, and mentions that O\u2019Keeffe recently visited Frieda Kahlo, and that he has been spending time with Swami Vivekenanda. (University photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Jessica Lacher-Feldman is the Joseph N. Lambert and Harold B. Schleifer Director of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation at the URochester’s River Campus Libraries.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Archived letters between artist Georgia O\u2019Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz were the inspiration for the Letters from Georgia<\/em> song cycle by Kevin Puts \u201994E, \u201999E (DMA). Rochester’s collections–like others around the world–provide insight in an age of email and texting. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":722,"featured_media":198882,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13092],"tags":[22722,3286,326],"class_list":["post-198842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-arts","tag-rare-books-special-collections-and-preservation","tag-eastman-school-of-music","tag-river-campus-libraries"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nArchives offer artists, historians rich source of inspiration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/archives-offer-composers-historians-rich-source-of-inspiration-198842\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Archives offer artists, historians rich source of inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Archived letters between artist Georgia O\u2019Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz were the inspiration for the Letters from Georgia song cycle by Kevin Puts \u201994E, \u201999E (DMA). 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