________________________________________ From: Thomas Wolfe Memorial [[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2014 8:01 AM To: DCR - Zebulon Vance Subject: Friends of Thomas Wolfe The Official Newsletter of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Thomas Wolfe Memorial Historic Site The Ledger Summer 2014 In This Issue: Sitting in Style Manager’s Desk Calendar Happenings at Wolfe Memberships Advisory Committee Warren Anderson Deborah Austin Jesse F. Cox Laura Hope-Gill Courtney Gooden John Johnson Andrew Layton Karen Loughmiller David Madden Barbara Mueller John Presley Michael Sartisky Georgeanne Spruce James R. Stokely Calendar Writers at Wolfe The Writers at Wolfe Series is sponsored by the Friends of Thomas Wolfe. Admission is free to the public. Saturday May 17th 10 a.m. North Carolina author Robert Ray Morgan will present readings from his latest work The Road from Gap Creek. Saturday June 7th 2 p.m. Distinguished North Carolina author of more than two dozen books of poetry, fiction and literary criticism, Fred Chappell will read from his work. Saturday June 21st 10 a.m. North Carolina Poet Laureate Joseph Bathanti reads from his works. As North Carolina’s seventh poet laureate, Bathanti serves as the ambassador of North Carolina literature. Saturday July 12th 10 a.m. North Carolina author of over a dozen books of poetry and fiction and distinguished Professor Emeritus from Washington and Lee University Heather Ross Miller reads from her work. Friday Oct. 3rd 9 to 5. A day of celebration on Thomas Clayton Wolfe’s birthday. Sitting in Style in the Old Kentucky Home [gallery.mailchimp/15c43b7493ee537148588f628/images/c8291fa7-457b-4043-aee7-5803e31f14aa.jpg] Appalachia has a rich history of craft furniture making. Surviving generations of craftsman still create furniture in the region today. Before the mass production of goods, a chair maker would have crafted a chair by hand. Without the luxury of certain tools, such as sandpaper, craftsmen sometimes dedicated several hours solely to the process of smoothing the chair with shards of glass. Such labor intensive methods changed with the rise of industrialization and manufactured furniture in the late 1800s. The furniture on exhibit in the Old Kentucky Home reflects the tastes of the new American consumer and particularly its owner, Julia Wolfe. As wages made their way into the pockets of more Americans, the production and mass consumption of manufactured goods rose. Companies like Sears & Roebuck began advertising furniture. Sears catalogs circulated through middle class households across the nation. The Colonial Revival style pressed back side chairs with cane seats in our dining room exemplify the popular furniture of this period. “The Old Kentucky Home may have lacked the finest furniture and certain other things that add to the attractiveness of a home, but neither lacked character, or characters.” -Mabel Wolfe Wheaton, Thomas Wolfe and His Family (1961). As proprietress of the Old Kentucky Home, Julia Wolfe possessed the power to select and purchase the furniture for her boardinghouse. Known for her frugality, she spent wisely on furnishings. Furniture such as the rocking chairs found in the house would have been a great buy during the era and a lovely addition to the Old Kentucky Home. The 1900 Sears & Roebuck catalog shows similar, sturdy and elegant rockers for as little as $3.25, equivalent to about $94.00 today. These rockers commonly had features such as a pressed back, spindles, and a genuine leather cobbler’s seat. “They fed hungrily on the dramatic gusto with which, lunging back and forth, in the big rocker, before the blazing parlor fire, he told and retold the legends of his experience…” -Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel (1929). Messages from the Manager’s Desk Dear Friends: “And it was this that awed him--the weird combination of fixity and change,…” Thomas Wolfe Change and continuity are the themes this year at Wolfe. It was my honor to be appointed Historic Site Manager for Thomas Wolfe Memorial State Historic Site in January 2014. In January we held the annual meeting of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Advisory Committee to elect the Board of Trustees for 2014. Thanks to all the Friends of Thomas Wolfe who were in attendance. Many of our trustees have returned from last year and many new faces have joined the team. We expanded the board to 15 members and updated our Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws for future success. Congratulations to our new officers; Laura Hope-Gill, President, Michael Sartisky, Vice-President, Jesse Cox, Treasurer, and Barbara Mueller, Secretary. In April we welcomed Christina Runkel as our new Historic Interpreter III. She comes to us from the Sam Davis Home in Smyrna, Tennessee. Our new season of the Writers at Wolfe series in the Thomas Wolfe Memorial visitor center has begun. The readings by distinguished North Carolina authors are free to the public. I hope you will attend the very special appearances by Robert Morgan, Fred Chappell, Joseph Bathanti, and Heather Ross Miller. In support of our Western North Carolina writers the Friends of Thomas Wolfe have committed to a five year partnership with the Western North Carolina Historical Association for the continuation of the Thomas Wolfe Literary Award. Thank you to members Michael Sartisky and David Madden for generous donations to make this possible. During the evening our visitor center is now serving as a classroom for the UNCA Great Smokies Writers program. We thank author Tommy Hayes for making the arrangements. Congratulations to Lenoir-Rhyne University for launching the Thomas Wolfe Center for Narrative. We are working on a month of special events for October, Thomas Wolfe’s favorite month, beginning with a birthday celebration October 3rd. A new tour of Riverside Cemetery will be conducted featuring Wolfe’s friends and family who became characters in Look Homeward, Angel. We have announced our student writing contest with a new challenge for young writers featuring Wolfe’s short story “The Sun and the Rain.” A cash award will be given in October by the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Advisory Committee. Tom Muir Historic Site Manager Happenings at Thomas Wolfe Memorial On April 27th, 2014 the staff at Thomas Wolfe Memorial hosted our second annual Volunteer Appreciation Picnic. The Thomas Wolfe Memorial Advisory Committee provided lunch from the Asheville Sandwich Company. The event was well attended and it was great to see our Wolfe family all come together. We always need more volunteers. Our Spring intern Emma Toper, recent graduate of Warren Wilson College, finished up her work in May, doing an outstanding job serving our visitors with guided tours of Old Kentucky Home on Fridays throughout the winter and spring months. She created the new display in our lobby “Cane and Cobbler” exhibiting the history of the chairs in Old Kentucky Home and also featured in the “Sitting in Style” story in this newsletter. Look for our new on screen advertisement for the Memorial in Asheville’s Fine Art Theater. Thank you to Trustee David Madden for this great suggestion, and theater manager Neil Reed for donating extended advertising time. And speaking of the big screen, we have been fascinated to watch the news about the upcoming production of the film “Genius” a biopic about Maxwell Perkins and Thomas Wolfe. The film will boast award winning actors such as Colin Firth, Jude Law, and Nicole Kidman. We can’t wait to see how the story will unfold in 2015. Work is underway to repair and paint the Old Kentucky Home. A preservation architect is building the specifications and we hope to see the project begin later this summer. Some needed repair will also take place in our visitor center. Our Master Gardener Kyle Gilgis has once again created magic in the yard of the Old Kentucky Home and we are enjoying the variety and beauty of the blooms around the house. We are grateful for her generous donation of time and material. If you have not already done so, “Like” Thomas Wolfe Memorial State Historic Site on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter, discover our latest news and events. Go to our website wolfememorial and become a Friend of Thomas Wolfe. Your donation is vital to the future success of preservation and programming at Thomas Wolfe Memorial. Thank You for Your Donations New and Renewing Members of the Friends of Thomas Wolfe Howard G. Smith, Joseph B. Joyce, Deb Borland, Mrs. Arlyn Bruccoli, Katherine B. Cox, Sue and George Huffman, Mark de Castrique, Michael Dillow, Eve and Sherwood Smith, John C. Presley, Michael Sartisky, James G. Mackenzie, Mary C. Smith, Sharon and Vic Fahrer, Nancy Ninteman, and Bill McGraw. Many thanks to the Cal Turner Family Foundation for their generous contribution. Become a Friend of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Donations to Friends of the Thomas Wolf Memorial help support the preservation and education programs at Thomas Wolfe Memorial Historic Site. Visit: wolfememorial Mail to: Friends of Thomas Wolfe 52 N. Market Street Asheville, NC 28801. Friend $25-$49 -10% Gift Shop discount -Free admission to our Guided Tour -One Free Guest Pass Boarder $50-$99 -10% Gift Shop discount -Free admission to our Guided Tour -Three free guest passes to our Guided Tour Scholar $100-$149 -10% Gift Shop discount -Free admission to our Guided Tour -Five Free Guest Passes Angel $150 and up -10% Gift Shop discount -Free admission to our Guided Tour -Seven Free Guest Passes ________________________________ | friend on | Facebook | forward to a | friend Copyright © *|2013|* *|Thomas Wolfe Memorial Advisory Committee|*, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 52 N. Market Street Asheville, NC 28801-8105 [Email Marketing Powered by MailChimp] unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences
Posted on: Fri, 16 May 2014 14:34:23 +0000
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