VOL. 28 NO. 2 $5.00 FALL/WINTER 2015

OHA History Highlights Fall/Winter 2015 1

ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION’S

ON THE COVER Durston Building painting, by Adelaide Morris Gardner

ON THE COVER

IN THIS ISSUE

VOL. 28 NO. 2 $5.00 FALL/WINTER 2015

Development: Medal Breakfast Recap Planned Giving Inside OHA Hotel Syracuse Grand Re-OpeningPremier of documentary “Beneath the Surface”Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace Center donation from Schenectady

Archival Eagle Scouts Project

Gift Gallery OHA Gift Gallery Holiday Catalog

Education Carolers

CuratorialVolunteer Spotlight – Amy Perez

3Cosmos Pizza: A Slice of Syracuse History by Gina A. Stankivitz

9The Red Book by Dick Case

11Who Done It? by Dennis A. Connors

15 Elizabeth Bacon Custer by Dick Case

DEPARTMENTS

OHA History Highlights Fall/Winter 2015 1

OHA History Highlights Fall/Winter 2015 2

OHA StaffGregg Tripoli, Executive DirectorDaniel Connors, General Manager, Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace CenterDennis Connors, Curator of HistoryKaren Cooney, Support Services AdministratorThomas Hunter, Curator of CollectionsSarah Kozma, Research SpecialistLynne Pascale, Director of DevelopmentScott Peal, Education AssociateMichael Piscitell, Director of FinancePamela Priest, Archivist / Research Center ManagerRenee Ross, Gift Gallery ManagerJon Zella, Development Associate

OHA Board of Directors 2015-2016Lee DeAmicis, PresidentLouis J. Steigerwald, III, Vice PresidentDavid Murray, M.D., Secretary Raymond V. Grimaldi, CPA, TreasurerCharles Baracco, CPA, Assistant Treasurer Nancy Bottar Lorraine BranhamNancy Collins George CurryBea Gonzales Marilyn HigginsDaniel D. Lent Glynn Matthews, CEM John T. McCann, Esq. Walter Miller Diane Miron Tara Ross, JDMichael Stancyzk, Esq. James Stoddard, Jr.

Honorary DirectorsHon. Joanie Mahoney Hon. Stephanie Miner

Volume 28, No. 2 www.cnyhistory.org

©2015 Onondaga Historical Association321 Montgomery Street Syracuse, NY 13202All Rights Reserved.

Official magazine of OHA. Subscription is available as a benefit of membership. It can also be purchased in OHA's Gift Gallery. Onondaga Historical Association is chartered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York. Its programs are supported, in part, by funds provided by Onondaga County, the City of Syracuse, various private supporters, and our members. Onondaga Historical Association has engaged Dupli for the design and printing of this magazine. Editing / Proofreading by Gregg Tripoli, and Pamela A. F. Priest; Project Management / Compilation by Pamela A. F. Priest.

No part of this periodical may be reproduced without the consent of the publisher. Onondaga Historical Association assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts.

cnyhistory.orgkaren.cooney@cnyhistory.org

18 The King and Marcellus by Dick Case

21 Crown Woolen Mills by Gina Stankivitz

23Westlake Conservators’40th Anniversary by Thomas Hunter

29A Life in Art: Highlights of Women Artist’s in OHA’s Collection by Thomas Hunter

33Andrew Boyd by Dick Case

37Wartime Memories by Robert W. Conroy, M.D.

41 OHA Resources HelpOnondaga CountySchool Teachers by Dennis Connors

44The Prosperity CompanyGoes to War by Thomas Hunter

49Ogie Ogilthorpe by Jon Zella

OHA History Highlights Fall/Winter 2015 2

All images in this newsletter are from OHA collections, unless otherwise noted.

OHA History Highlights Fall/Winter 2015 23

Back in May 1975, Susan Blakney had just completed an apprenticeship at William Fraser Lowe’s conservation studio in London, England. She had

apprenticed under Fraser’s guidance since 1969. Lowe, a Fellow in the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, trained Susan in all aspects of practical painting conservation. Now that she had acquired usable skills in painting conservation, how would she make good use of her knowledge? At her sister Margie’s suggestion, Susan moved to Skaneateles and founded West Lake Conservators (WLC) with Margie as her first apprentice. Why Skaneateles? The sisters were fourth generation natives of the area and it made sense to come back to protect and save the plentiful tangible history of Central New York.

The nascent business’ first client was the John D. Barrow Art Gallery located in the Skaneateles Library. Originally opened in 1900 by the artist to display his paintings, 78

years later, many of Barrow’s paintings had fallen into disrepair, with paint literally falling off the canvases. Susan donated her time and materials to conserve one of Barrow’s paintings as a vehicle for demonstrating her conservation skills and as a fund-raising mechanism. With the single conserved painting in hand, West Lake and the Barrow Gallery launched Borrow A Barrow to raise additional funds to begin conserving the rest of the collection. After a “Condition Survey” of the entire collection, the initial campaign featured an exhibit of several paintings in poor condition that illustrated to donors the dire preservation need of the artwork. Once conserved, and insured, donors were allowed to borrow paintings for their homes or offices and help promote the cause. As more paintings were repaired and displayed around the Skaneateles community, awareness of Barrow and his artistic work increased. Ten years after the beginning of the sizeable project, Susan presented a paper on her work to the general assembly of the American

Susan Blakney (l) and Margaret Sutton (r) in the John D. Barrow Gallery at the Skaneateles Library

West Lake Conservators – Preserving Artwork for Forty Years!

By Thomas Hunter

OHA History Highlights Fall/Winter 2015 24

Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC). Well received by fellow AIC members, Susan’s paper was published and her work was recognized as a significant contribution to repairing the works of an eminent American artist.

Since its founding as a paintings conservation lab WLC has grown into a mixed specialty lab, with divisions treating paper, photographs, textiles, painted objects and site specific murals. The staff of 11 is a professional team capable of caring for a wide variery of art, artifacts and memorabilia. As a member of AIC for the past forty years, Susan has worked to develop an ever enlarging network of professional conservators. Conferring with each other on skills, techniques, and materials, American conservators have been able to stay apprised of new information that keeps them on the cutting edge of artwork conservation. Within the professional network of AIC, Susan has created positive national and international reputations for West Lake Conservators and continually strives to maintain them. WLC has held several national and international workshops for professional colleagues.

Susan also is a member of AIC’s Rapid Response Team for Cultural Institutions and was one of the first trained responders to save artwork damaged by natural and man-made disasters. As part of a team to salvage damaged artwork, she was deployed to Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, after Hurricane Ike to the devastated Galveston Texas area in 2008, and to Haiti after an earthquake struck there in 2010. In addition to these immense catastrophes, WLC routinely addresses lesser disasters in residences and businesses.

West Lake Conservators has several special conservation interests. In the 1980s, WLC began a large research project investigating and experimenting with lining, or in some cases, relining paintings. Conservators developed a negative pressure cold lining treatment for contemporary paintings in place of the previous hot vacuum lining that conservators had used for many years. West Lake was first to hold workshops to educate conservators on the use of BEVA; a new type of adhesive developed in the early 1990s by the late Gustave Berger, an internationally renowned conservator who published extensively on conservation materials and techniques. After the success of the workshops held at West

Lake, Berger traveled around the world promoting his BEVA adhesive. WLC also developed a special lining for oversized paintings and used it to conserve a 15’ x 17’ mural painting at Cornell University. Other mural projects followed, and to date, West Lake has conserved fifteen mural paintings, one of them measuring 12’ x 23’!

One very special project for West Lake Conservators was conserving the painting, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder in 1525. The painting is in the art collection of Syracuse University. Conserving this rare, old master painting is one of West Lake’s most memorable projects and is featured on the cover of the company’s promotional brochure. Another version of the painting is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

Along with an interest in preserving oversized paintings, West Lake also conserves large, painted theater curtains. Usually painted with water soluble paints, WLC staff invites volunteers who own the curtains to assist when handling and conserving these large objects. Other varied conservation projects include preserving silk braidings made by a member of the 19th century utopian Oneida Community, carousel paintings from the Flying Horse carousel on Martha’s Vineyard, and the sporting art collection owned by Remington Arms in Ilion, NY. West Lake’s client list is quite impressive: the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute in Utica, the Rockwell Museum in Corning, the John Wehle Gallery at the Genesee Country Village Museum in Mumford, the Seward House in Auburn, Syracuse University Art Collection, Cornell and Rochester Universities, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, and the InterMuseum Conservation Association in Oberlin, Ohio.

OHA also has benefited from conservation surveys of its artwork by West Lake Conservators, as well as conservation work conducted on specific paintings. Through the years, West Lake has conserved several paintings including a landscape titled, Indian Hill, Onondaga Reservation by John D. Barrow, a portrait of Moses Dewitt Burnet that is now gracing the second floor hallway of the Century Club on James St. and a painting of the eminent American portraitist, Charles Loring Elliott, visiting the studio of another distinguished Syracuse artist, Sanford Thayer.

OHA History Highlights Fall/Winter 2015 25

In addition to conservation laboratory work, WLC regularly conducts lectures and educational outreach programs. Educating the public on preserving artwork held by private and public repositories is a great way for people to learn about the consequences of losing personal or community artwork. Discovering how to mitigate deterioration before it needs conservation treatment is an important lesson for everyone.

West Lake Conservators also trains budding conservators with its internship program. Capable entry level students accepted into the program learn a variety of practical conservation and business skills. Having these practical skills allows these students to gain an advantage over others when applying to very competitive conservation schools. At least four former West Lake interns now operate their own private conservation laboratories. WLC’s paper division began in January 1998, when a former intern returned to join the business after graduating from a conservation program. Today, WLC has two paper conservators, one of whom specializes in photographs, and who graduated from the Eastman House Advanced Fellowship program.

WLC approaches its workload with a team strategy and the conservation lab offers a diversity of specialties. Susan and Margie, along with Margie’s husband, John Sutton, have been the mainstay of the business. They are augmented by a team of experts that includes: Ted Solum (frame / mural conservator), Chiara Kuhns (painting conservator), Regina Middleton (textile technician), Luisa Cassella (photograph conservator), Moya Dumville (paper conservator), and Abbott Nixon (technician/intern). The conservators are aided in their work by Michael Farrell, the business manager, and Shelley Andrade, the assistant office manager. Each of these West Lake employees has years of experience and expertise in their respective fields.

Looking toward the next forty years, a dream of Susan Blakney’s is to create a historic preservation and arts center in Skaneateles. Susan would like to pass the business on to a group of enthusiastic conservators who would also maintain a viable business plan for the future. This umbrella organization would become a hub for professional conservators whose specialties would embody the best knowledge and techniques the field has to offer, along with being a training center for

aspiring object and paper conservators. Susan knows it will take a large building, hard work, and a substantial financial commitment to fulfill this dream. But isn’t preserving and saving our tangible national history worth investing in?

According to Susan Blakney, the conservation business is not a lucrative endeavor, but a labor of love requiring continual education and keeping apprised of new technology. Although a very competitive profession, conservators, like the vast majority of non-profit organizations, are constantly looking for the next project that will sustain the business for a bit longer. Central New York’s artwork has benefited from having a highly professional and ethical conservation lab that provides quality results right in our own backyard. Having WLC remain in business for many years to come will certainly be beneficial to preserving Central New York’s irreplaceable artwork.

OHA congratulates West Lake Conservators for celebrating its first forty years and looks forward to working with these gifted conservators for the next forty years as well. n