Features

Buried Treasures at Vassar

By Mally Anderson '10

Vassar holds an impressive collection of important books, papers, and manuscripts in the Thompson Library and Special Collections, including a copy of The Declaration of Independence and materials from historic figures like Albert Einstein. The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center features over 17,400 works in its collection, ranging from ancient Roman friezes to Pollock and Picasso. What Vassar’s collections also feature, though, are some unexpected, curious objects. “Artifacts such as these sometimes record useful information, though more often they are simply ceremonial objects or physical remnants of particular events or persons,” said Associate Director of the Libraries for Special Collections Ronald Patkus. The following is a glimpse into the treasure trove of relics and oddities buried around Raymond Avenue.

Wrapped Up in History

The ancient late-Egyptian mummy was purchased in the late 1890s in London by two Vassar classics professors. At that point in time, Egyptian artifacts were all the rage, and tombs were being raided in scores to cater to the collectors. Shep-en-Min, the son of a chantress in the temple of Min (in the region of Panopolis in middle Egypt) probably died in his late teens around 600 BCE. The mummy stood on display in the classics department through most of the 20th century and suffered damage to its cartonnage (a colorful covering for the mummified body made from painted, plastered layers of fiber or papyrus), as a consequence: it was probably not considered as precious and valuable once the Egyptian craze wore off. Then, in 1991 Assistant Professor of Chemistry Mike Bruist and a group of students extracted some DNA from the mummy for study and experimentation. In 2003 Associate Professor of Religion Lynn LiDonnici began plans for a cyber-tomb for the mummy, which would serve as a stand-in for the tomb from which he was removed, and as an educational tool about the mummy’s life and society. This past summer the mummy underwent an extensive restoration, including repairs to its casings. It now makes its home in the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center basement, where it will continue to be preserved.

Memory Fragments

Shrapnel in Vassar's Collections
Shrapnel in Vassar's Collections
About 200 Vassar alumnae, students, and staff members worked in France during World War I as a special unit in the American Red Cross. Stationed in Verdun, the Vassar Unit worked as medical and social workers from 1914 until 1920. Most of the materials that Vassar holds from this unit come from Elsa Butler Grove, class of 1905, and from her primary correspondent, Margaret Lambie, including shrapnel, like that pictured here, brought back from Europe.

Where There’s Smoke...

Mark Twain's Pipe
Mark Twain's Pipe
Twain once said, “It has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep, and never to refrain when awake.” Vassar has the second largest collection of Mark Twain papers and memorabilia in the United States. This pipe and other items were donated by Twain’s grandniece, Jean Webster, class of 1901. An author herself, Webster collected her great-uncle’s manuscripts, letters, and photographs — including extensive correspondence with Ulysses S. Grant and proof copies of E.W. Kemble’s original illustrations for Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Centerfold Studies

Playboy Magazine from Vassar's Collection
Playboy Magazine from Vassar's Collection
John Wolf ’74 donated the Playboy collection, dating back to 1964, in 2006. He had given an extensive Sports Illustrated collection two years before and continues to fund the college’s subscription to that magazine. He had his Playboy collection, amassed with his brother during their teenage years, taking up space in his basement (to which Wolf’s wife objected). They were still in good condition, so Wolf called Sabrina Pape, director of the libraries at Vassar, and asked if the magazines might be useful to the college.

She replied that they would, for the purposes of women’s studies and the literature contained within, so they now reside in the periodicals section of the Thompson Library. Wolf says he is and has always been happy to find ways to support the college — even in unpredictable ways.

Viewing the Past

Mary McCarthy's Reading Glasses
Mary McCarthy's Reading Glasses
Mary McCarthy’s ’33 reading glasses are a recent addition to Special Collections. AAVC Executive Director Pat Duane Lichtenberg ’90 donated them after purchasing them through eBay, where the selection of Vassariana is vast and varied. The seller showed a photograph of McCarthy holding the tiny glasses as proof of their history. Lichtenberg approached the seller, who agreed that the glasses belonged back at Vassar with many of McCarthy’s other belongings. The spectacles are part of a large collection of manuscripts, correspondence, legal papers, photographs, and videotapes that belonged to McCarthy.

Ode to a Good Meal

Elizabeth Bishop Diary Page
Elizabeth Bishop Diary Page
The college has over 40 linear feet of papers from Elizabeth Bishop ’34. These include diaries, notebooks, manuscripts, drafts, and extensive correspondence with dozens of friends and writers, including Robert Lowell, e. e. cummings, Seamus Heaney, Dylan Thomas, and James Merrill. Some less serious items also appear in the collection, including her recipes for Russian salad and chicken tetrazzini.

A Sense of Place

This jar of dirt, scooped up and saved by Matthew Vassar himself, was collected at the groundbreaking of “Vassar Female College” on June 4, 1861. The land was carefully selected by Matthew Vassar, his nephew, and his friend Milo Jewett because it had all the characteristics they’d hoped for in the site of the new college.

Earth from Vassar College Groundbreaking
Earth from Vassar College Groundbreaking
They wanted it to have plenty of pure water and air, and be far enough outside of downtown Poughkeepsie so that the “females” would have privacy, but close enough that they could visit town easily if they wanted. The banks of the Hudson River were deemed far too noisy and public, and so they bought the original plot on which Main was built from a man called William Davies. The land from Collegeview Avenue up to the Vassar Farm was originally the site of a horseracing track, one of many in the area. Vassar used to romp through these hills as a little boy and liked to watch the elegant buggies carrying the wealthy people to the races, though they drew the curtains so they could conceal that they were going to gamble. After the track closed, Davies used the land for farming until he sold it to Vassar in 1860.

Good Luck, Mr. President

Wishbone in Vassar's Collection
Wishbone in Vassar's Collection
Olive Pell, wife of Herbert Claiborne Pell and affiliated with the Pell Foundation, broke this wishbone with Franklin Delano Roosevelt at his inauguration lunch. The party took place in Hyde Park on December 11, 1932, at the Roosevelts’ country home. Pell was seated next to the new President and saved the wishbone. Roosevelt was an active and honorary trustee of the college from 1923 until his death in 1945 and was a friend of College President Henry Noble McCracken. Roosevelt credited McCracken with making the college more visible to residents of the area. Because Franklin had to travel extensively, it was his wife, Eleanor, who was closer with the Vassar community, and she stopped by frequently for visits or lectures. The college’s connection to the Roosevelts helped Vassar become more involved in the affairs of Dutchess County, New York State, and the United States as a whole.

Matthew’s Other Mug

Mathew Vassar's Spittoon
Mathew Vassar's Spittoon
The spittoon is actually a replica of a Roman Warwick vase, popular among aristocrats and the wealthy in Vassar’s era. It is presumed to have been used as a spittoon because it has a removable insert that one could easily clean. The vase appears in Charles Loring Elliott’s 1861 portrait of Vassar (which resides in the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center), in which he stands in a classically decorated room and points out the window at the brand-new Main Building. Right below the windowsill the vase stands on a pedestal, its proportions exaggerated — indicating that it was an object of considerable value to Vassar. The vase is one of a few of Vassar’s personal relics that remain with the college, including his dog’s collar and his walking-stick collection.