"Alone In His Field"... The Book Art of Bernhardt Wall

What could someone convey in artwork roughly the size of a postage stamp? If you were master etcher Bernhardt Wall, a great deal.

Our Tennessee Virtual Archive (TeVA) contains a unit on Wall, showcasing his talents with art from his volume, Following Andrew Jackson. Also, when delving into a folder of correspondence between Wall and former State Librarian and Archivist Mary Daniel Moore, we located a miniature volume entitled Walliana pasted to the top of a 1947 letter. A self-portrait of Wall, “Ye Etcher,” is included in the little book, as well as a detailed image of Abraham Lincoln, who is the subject of an 85-volume set in the pictorial biographical series Wall began in 1931. Wall even works into the tiny volume the historical origin of his 400-year-old art form with an illustration of monks. He writes, “As did the Monks of old I personally design, etch, print, and bind my books.”

This tiny volume is not much larger than a quarter.

Bernhardt Wall's self-portrait in miniature.

Wall's artwork stands out for several reasons. Wall used a steel pencil to etch his images and text in reverse in wax onto copper plates that were then immersed in acid. He considered himself a painter/etcher due to the artistry required to manipulate and print the etched plates. Once the plates were prepared, Wall inked and hand-printed each page of his books before binding them. Wall began his career as a commercial artist. Prior to etching, his artistic mediums had been watercolors, pencil, and ink. He had, however, received early tutelage from etcher Henry Reuterdahl and master printer, etcher, and caricature artist William Auerbach-Levy.

A closer look at Wall's self-portrait.

Wall began etching books in 1914, and he was the only known etcher at the time who etched, printed, bound, and sold his own volumes. The prolific Wall produced 140 etched books and never lost what he called his “itch to etch.” The quote that appears in the title of this blog post comes from Mary Daniel Moore and references his uncommon endeavors.

Wall met Moore on a research visit to Nashville in the 1930s. Correspondence in our Bernhardt Wall Collection between Wall and the longtime state librarian and archivist begins in 1935 and extends to 1949. Moore assisted Wall over the years in obtaining images upon which to base etchings in his biographical series. His subjects included Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Andrew Jackson, Edwin Markham, Lafayette, and J.M. Whistler.

Moore convinced Wall to stage an exhibition and lecture in Nashville for her Centennial Club in December of 1935. You can get a sense for Wall’s artistic process, his tireless work ethic, his frequent travel for research and exhibition, and his numerous limited edition projects come through reading these letters.

Wall lectured on etching at many places, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, the University of Missouri, and the National Library in Madrid, Spain. The British Museum, the Library of Congress, and Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Brown universities house his books, and the private collections of J.P. Morgan, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Henry Clay Frick also contain his works.

A sketch of President Abraham Lincoln.

Additional Wall miniature books are held by the Huntington Library and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Cushing Memorial Library at Texas A & M University has a significant Bernhardt Wall manuscript collection, and Wall’s alma mater of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee received a large archival collection of Wall correspondence and artwork. Lincoln Memorial also maintains an impressive digital exhibit fittingly entitled, “Following Bernhardt Wall: A Pictorial Biography of the Etcher of Books.”

The Tennessee State Library and Archives is proud to house in its Bernhardt Wall Collection 12 bound volumes, in addition to the aforementioned letters. We encourage patrons to visit the manuscript section of the Library and Archives and explore the world of pioneer etcher Bernhardt Wall.

• The finding Aid to the Bernhardt Wall Collection: http://share.tn.gov/tsla/history/manuscripts/findingaids/149.pdf
• Bernhardt Wall Etchings from the Tennessee Virtual Archive: http://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/bernhardt 

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State

State Library and Archives Hosts Genealogy Workshop the Saturday after Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving weekend is a time when many of us reconnect with family members and share family stories. At the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA), families can also explore stories of their relatives who lived many years ago.

For the fifth consecutive year, the staff at TSLA is encouraging Tennesseans to visit the library and celebrate 'Family History Day' by learning more about genealogical research on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Heather Adkins, manuscripts archivist for TSLA’s public services section, will present a genealogy workshop for beginners that will provide an overview of resources available at the library and how to navigate through various databases. The workshop will also include advice on researching TSLA's manuscripts collections, which can offer a wealth of information for those researching their ancestry. After the workshop, TSLA staff members will be on hand to help visitors with their research.

The session will be held from 9:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 28 at the TSLA auditorium, and research assistance will be available until 4:30 p.m. TSLA is located at 403 Seventh Avenue North, directly west of the State Capitol building in downtown Nashville.

While the workshop is free, reservations are required due to limited seating. To make a reservation, visit the following website:

http://tslafamilyhistoryday.eventbrite.com

Please note that TSLA will be closed on Thursday, Nov. 26 and Friday, Nov. 27 for the Thanksgiving holiday, so it's important to make reservations before then.

Parking is available around the TSLA building.

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State

Johnny Majors Collection at State Library and Archives Doubles in Size

In 1986, the University of Tennessee Volunteers football team pulled one of the school’s most shocking upsets by beating the University of Miami in the Sugar Bowl. For longtime Vols fans who would like to know the inside story of how their team accomplished that feat, details are now available at the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

Johnny Majors, a star football player at UT before becoming one of the school’s most successful coaches, has donated more of his personal papers to the State Library and Archives - more than doubling the amount of information that had previously been available.

Coach Majors entertained a large crowd with recollections of his coaching days at the University of Tennessee during a press conference at the Tennessee State Library and Archives on Monday, August 12th. Several media members, former players, and dignitaries were on hand for the event.

Coach Majors originally donated some of the papers documenting his life and career to the State Library and Archives in 2004. However, the new addition increases the amount of materials included in the collection from about 30 cubic feet to more than 67 cubic feet. That material is available for the public to inspect during the library’s regular operating hours.

The addition includes many of Coach Majors' game plans, letters to and from fans, personal calendars, photographs, scrapbooks, game programs, media guides, newspaper clippings and other game day materials.

The John T. Majors Collection is available for review at the library building, which is located at 403 Seventh Avenue North, directly west of the State Capitol in downtown Nashville.

Portions of Coach Majors’ collection are also available in an online exhibit at: http://www.tn.gov/tsla/exhibits/majors/exhibit_majors.htm.

Read more from the Secretary of State's Press Release announcing the collection addition.

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State. 

"Rivers and Rails" documentary set to air May 30th

“Rivers and Rails: Daggers of the Civil War”, the latest installment in Nashville Public Television's documentary series, "Tennessee Civil War 150," is scheduled to broadcast on Thursday, May 30th, at 8 p.m.

“Rivers and Rails: Daggers of the Civil War” explores how transportation by water and steel brought great prosperity to the state just before the Civil War, only to give the invading Union Army a highway directly into the Deep South, eventually helping force the Confederacy to its knees.

TSLA's Assistant State Archivist, Dr. Wayne Moore, was interviewed for a segment in this documentary, and several historical items from TSLA's collections were featured in the production.

"The Great Naval Battle Before Memphis, June 6, 1862." TSLA Collection.

TSLA is honored to have a role in this program, and we hope you will make plans to watch NPT on Thursday, May 30th, at 8 p.m. for "Rivers and Rails."
 

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State.

March is Women's History Month

The month of March is recognized annually as “Women’s History Month.” At the Tennessee State Library and Archives, women’s papers — diaries, journals, and letters — comprise a significant part of our collections. Here one can find a myriad of documents relevant to Women’s Studies at the local, state and national level: the Civil War, slavery, suffrage, journalism, politics, world wars, and social life are well represented in the holdings.

In 1981, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution establishing National Women’s History Week. The week was chosen to coincide with the annual International Women’s Day, March 8. In 1987, Congress expanded the week to a month; it has issued a resolution every year since then proclaiming March to be Women’s History Month. While recognition of “Women’s History Month” is a fairly recent phenomenon, important historical contributions made by women have been chronicled for many years.

One significant collection among our many holdings chronicling women’s history is the Carrie Chapman Catt Papers. Carrie Chapman Catt was a field organizer with Susan B. Anthony, and founded the League of Women Voters. Catt’s leadership was a key factor in Tennessee becoming “The Perfect 36,” the last state needed to ratify the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. The Catt Papers represents TSLA’s principal collection of pro-suffrage materials. They contain correspondence (especially telegrams) from women’s clubs and national figures, newspaper clippings, and a major selection of political cartoons. Students of women’s history will find these papers essential for their studies.

Votes for Women, no date, Carrie Chapman Catt Photographs. Reproduction of image from the Carrie Chapman Catt Papers at Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, PA. Used by permission.

Providing balance to the Catt Papers are the Josephine A. Pearson Papers. Miss Pearson, a Tennessee native, lobbied vigorously against the amendment that would give American women the right to vote. Miss Pearson’s leadership was critical to the cause, and the Tennessee General Assembly ratified the 19th Amendment by only one vote. For the anti-suffrage point of view these papers are invaluable.

Women’s suffrage was not the only national movement in which women played a significant role. Women were heavily involved in the Temperance Movement and Prohibition in the late-19^th and early 20^th century. At first, the women’s suffrage and Prohibition movements attracted many of the same people, though by the 1910s they had split over philosophical outlooks. This image of Martin College students rallying in Pulaski, Tennessee from TSLA’s Looking Back At Tennessee Collection is a perfect visual illustration of this combination of protest movements. 

Boys, Decide between us and booze, ca. 1910, Looking Back At Tennessee Collection.

We hope you’ll take this opportunity to visit TSLA’s Public Services Resource Guide #07, “Women’s Studies at the Tennessee State Library and Archives,” on our website for a complete list of collections relevant to this subject. You can also learn more by visiting TSLA’s online exhibit, “’Remember the Ladies!’: Women Struggle for an Equal Voice,” which will provide you with a better understanding of Tennessee’s significant role during the campaign to ratify the 19th Amendment. Also, look for news about an upcoming exhibit at TSLA about Prohibition and the Temperance Movement in the coming weeks.

These are just a few samples from the collections of the Tennessee State Library and Archives that describe the important role that women have had in our state’s history. We encourage you to visit us in person or online to learn more, and stay in touch with us through our Facebook, blog, and Flickr sites for more information and updates.

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State.