Last night was an incredible evening of light & motion in New York City.  We celebrated our honorees, and proudly introduced our new director. A big thanks to all that helped make the gala possible, we could not have done it without you. We’d like to extend congratulations to each of our honorees.

We premiered this short during the gala which explains, educates and encourages those to remember: Who We Are.
 

Margaret Bourke-White (American, 1904-1971) Franklin D. Roosevelt at Thanksgiving Day Dinner, Warm Springs 1938 gelatin silver print Museum Collection Copyright Time-Life

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because it brings together three things I love—Food, Family and Friends. This year I will be in Santa Barbara celebrating with my dad who always throws a great party peopled with an eccentric group of his friends, many of whom I have known for most of my life. It is sure to be a fun gathering with lots of delicious food, interesting conversation and much laughter.
 
Looking through Eastman House’s Thanksgiving-related photographs, I was delighted to find this print by Margaret Bourke-White. In 1938, while on assignment for Life Magazine, Bourke-White followed President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the Warm Springs Foundation, a treatment center for people afflicted with polio. I thought it was a particularly fitting image to share this Thanksgiving since one of my dad’s favorite stories involves the time he met FDR at Warm Springs. My dad grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and the year he turned nine, while at summer camp, he contracted polio. He was lucky that doctors and nurses at the University of Michigan Medical Center, where he received care and where my grandparents both worked, were able to stop the disease from spreading, leaving only his left arm paralyzed.
 

Traditionally, FDR hosted an annual Thanksgiving dinner at Warm Springs but in 1940 they had to postpone the feast because World War II was heating up and Roosevelt was unable to attend. Ever dedicated to Warm Springs and the patients it served, FDR hosted the dinner in December of that year and my nine year old dad was present for the festivities. While he did not end up at the president’s table, my dad remembers with awe and fondness how, after the dinner, with the aid of his ivory handled cane, FDR stood and shook the hand of every person leaving the dining room. I am personally thankful for the inspiration FDR gave to my dad, who was struggling to overcome a frightening experience with a debilitating disease, and I am sure that one of the toasts this year at our Thanksgiving table will include a nod of thanks to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Nathan Lazarnick-Votes for Women Pilgrimage New York to DC 1913

We received these two lovely photos from our PPCM (Photographic Preservation and Collections Management) student, Meghan Shaw. Megan has been working on cataloging images here at the museum. These photographs are of a small pilgrimage from New York to Washington D.C. in the early 1900s, a great submission for election day.

Today, you have a right to vote – so head over and pull the lever for the curtain. Or, fill in the dots…

Nathan Lazarnick-Votes for Women Pilgrimage New York to DC 1913

Our assistant curator of photographs, Jessica Johnston sent over a few ghoulish photographs from our collection. History shows we’ve been spooking for hundreds of years…from the Eastman House Vault:

Unidentified Photographer Trick photo, decapitated man with bloody knife, head in hand ca. 1875 albumen print with applied color Museum Purchase

Unidentified Photographer Curious Photo ca. 1880 albumen print Gift of Alden Scott Boyer

William H. Mumler (1832 -1884, American) Spirit photograph - man with spirit of a woman who holds an anchor across his heart ca. 1865 albumen print carte-de-visite 9.5 x 5.6 cm. Gift of Harold Schuler

I started working at Eastman House in 1992 straight out of the MFA photography program at RIT. As a part of that education I had acquired the knowledge of the history of photography as defined by Rosenblum and Newhall and was thrilled to be working in our Museum’s exhibitions department, handling and protecting what, to me, were the most precious images ever made.

My artistic tastes lean to modern and often to constructivist works. But, hands down, what took my breath away was the Museum’s tiny little print of Lewis Hines über-iconic Power House Mechanic. That print epitomized all that I had learned and worked toward. It took my breath away.

Lewis Wickes Hine, Power House Mechanic, (78:0999:0013), 1920

I’ve been captivated by many collection objects as I’ve served in various positions over the last 20 years. My favorites change based on the same things that yours might — I’ve just have the privilege of seeing and being influenced by lots of them. A (very) few of my favorites have been:

Frederick Evans’, Kelmscott Manor, Attics, (81:1198:0005), ca. 1897

Irving S. Underhill’s, Wrenches, (79:1994:0313MP), ca. 1915

Lázló Moholy-Nagy’s, Massenpsychose (Mass Psychosis), (81:2163:0049), ca. 1927

Those images and others by Frantisek Drtikol, Margaret Bourke White, E. J. Bellocq, and more…

I am also constantly inspired by the variety of detail and am soothed by the harmony of pattern in the Museum’s largest collection object — Mr. Eastman’s mansion.

But for the last few years one seldom-seen image has been my favorite. I “discovered” it while doing research for a report a few years ago. It has never been far from my thoughts since.

Edward Steichen. Silk Design (spectacles), 1926. Gelatin silver print. Bequest of Edward Steichen by direction of Joanna T. Steichen. Photograph collection. (1979:2421:0007)

There’s all sort of buzz surrounding the recent appointment of Bruce Barnes as the Museum’s director and he’s been talking a lot in the media and to staff about his goals for Eastman House. One of those goals has resonated with me the most: making a larger portion of the Museum’s collections available for viewing online.  I’m looking forward to working with fellow staff members to achieve that goal. It will allow everyone to enjoy the collections in new ways and to discover more of your “favorites”.  That will be a really wonderful thing to be part of.