When I graduated from the Museum’s Photographic Preservation and Collections Management program in 2007, I never imagined I would be back in Rochester working at the Eastman House.

Since January, I have been involved in the upcoming auction, and every day has been an enlightening experience as I continually gain insight into the TREMENDOUS effort that goes into organizing a benefit auction of this magnitude. There are still about 5 months to go before the main event and the online portion go live, and I can say that I am already overwhelmed by the response we have received from so many people we’ve reached out to.

Since I have the fortunate experience of working at a job where every day is like Christmas (and I get to  unwrap yet another fantastic donation), without further ado I introduce you to a donation that tickles me with delight every time I lay eyes on it. It’s one of two works we have by Cornell Capa, and it is titled Female Human Cannonball (1947)— a most fitting image as I embark on this new and adventurous fundraising extravaganza!

But this blog won’t just serve as an outlet for bragging rights about all of the fantastic works that have been donated. I’ll be giving you my take on some of the auction’s featured highlights, bringing you up-to-date information about the event, taking you behind-the-scenes, and keeping you all in the loop of the exciting announcements yet to come— because new things happen here every day!

Talk to you again soon….

A tribute from our Kodak Advertising Collection from the 1910s, 1940s and 1970s:

For those of us with offices in the house, it was a sight to see the Conservatory cleared out and a team of workers climbing up around the room’s most standout feature, the elephant head.  Not that too many of us stuck around to watch much of the 5-hour repair… there was a lingering odor of epoxy that made us pretty grateful this process happens only once every 20 years.

Nevertheless our House Curator, Kathy Connor, was diligent— spending most of her day tending to the crew. She says “it was a fascinating experience to watch them…I don’t usually think of ‘taxidermy’ as an art form, but they were artists in the use of their tools of the trade.”

Job well done guys!

This post first appeared in the Democrat and Chronicle’s Arts Community Blog, written and maintained by arts and cultural organizations in the Rochester NY area.

As I walk through the first and second floors of George Eastman House each Monday, to do my weekly inspection, it seems amazing to me that it was 20 years ago that a crew of artisans, contractors and volunteers just completed a massive restoration of George Eastman’s National Historic Landmark home.

The Conservatory today, 20 years after restoration.

Under the leadership of Georgia Gosnell, museum trustee and member of the House Restoration committee the entire exterior of 900 East Avenue and the first floor of the mansion was returned to the splendor Mr. Eastman enjoyed when he lived here from 1905 until his death in 1932.

Most visitors today are surprised when they learn the house had to be restored. They think the house always looked like it does now. Nothing is farther from the truth. But first some history …

When George Eastman died he left his home and all of its contents (that his relatives did not want) to the University of Rochester in his will. The university used the house as the residence for two of its presidents.  The 50-room Colonial Revival home was extremely expensive to maintain so eventually the U of R looked for another use for the property. A group of local businessmen and community leaders decided it would make a great museum of photography and film.

Converting a historic home to function as a museum meant removing doors from all the bedrooms, bathrooms, and closets and making gallery space to show cameras and photos.

Plumbing and plaster ceilings were removed, original light fixtures replaced, and much of the furniture ended up in museum offices or, worse yet, thrown out onto East Avenue.

The museum’s growing collections created a space problem in the house, which eventually led to the building of the 75,000-square-foot archives facility in 1989, leaving an almost empty Eastman House ready for restoration.

The goal was to create a three-dimensional biography of George Eastman — the man who founded Kodak and made photography easy enough for everyone to do.

The Conservatory during the renovation project in the late 1980s.

Using all of the photos GE (as his friends called him) had left behind of his home and all of the letters his secretary was smart enough to save, a “picture perfect” restoration was possible. Craftsmen worked for 14 months to repair the marble and wood floors, reproduce the plaster ceilings, rebuild or repair original furnishings.

Paint analysis and scrapings revealed all of the original colors and they were reapplied. Draperies were remade and hung on the same rods as Eastman had used. Even the hardware door knobs, hinges, and shutter pulls were carefully cleaned and reused or reproduced to match the ones still intact.

As I reflect on so many other changes that have occurred over the past 20 years — including the economy, the revolution we have experienced in hand-held technology, and even my own hair color — I am amazed how well 900 East Avenue has stood the test of time.  It is  truly a testament to the classic design and high quality materials GE selected many years ago and the extraordinary  skilled craftsmen and woman hired two decades ago to restore it.

Repairing and painting the elephant head on Monday, May 17.

With that said, restoration and repair still continue today. As I write this, the reproduction elephant trophy that hangs in the Conservatory is being cleaned and repaired by craftsmen from the Jonas Bros. Studios in Brewster N,Y. (No relation to the popular singing group) I noticed hairline cracks in the trunk and near the ears so I asked them to make a house call.  Why bring in a company from Brewster, NY?  Well they were the taxidermy company GE used in 1928 following the African safari, and they were also the ones that we went to to create and install the reproduction trophy for us 20years ago as part of the original restoration process.]

Everything comes full circle.

To learn more about the restoration process you can stop by the George Eastman  Archive & Study Center or email Kathy Connor at kconnor@geh.org.

Eastman House is holding its annual plant sale tomorrow, which reminds me of some photographs a colleague shared with me recently.  The images show renowned Eastman House Curator and Director, Beaumont Newhall standing on the grounds of Eastman House, amongst some gorgeous tree peony specimens.

The images reveal the East Garden before it was restored to Mr. Eastman’s original design. During the restoration this spectacular row of tree peonies were dug up and donated to the Rochester City Parks Department. I hear that some of them may have ended up in Highland Park, and I just  might go looking for them! In the meantime, I will be at the plant sale tomorrow, where I am planning to buy a tree peony of my own.

Color slides, around 1962, by William Gratwick, an artist and tree peony hybrizer, who was a good friend of Newhall and the museum.  Images courtesy Roger Bruce.