Labor’s Legacy: Pennsylvania Industrial Art



Presented by PennStateUniversity
Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery and the CentreCounty
Historical Society



May 5, 2009



The
symposium will be held at the American Philatelic Society, located in the
historic match factory in Bellefonte, the birthplace of Pennsylvania industry



8:30
am–4:45 pm, Symposium
American
Philatelic Society, 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania



Speakers
and topics include:



Betsy
Fahlman
(Arizona StateUniversity)—Wonders of Work: The Art of American Industry



Eric Schruers (Independent scholar)—An Eye for Art: Edward Steidle’s
Artistic Legacy



Helen Langa (American University)—Heroic Men,
Vulnerable Workers, Economies of Power: Re-reading American Industrial Prints
from the Great Depression



Barbara Jones (Westmoreland Museum
of American Art)—Born of Fire: The Valley
 of Work



Hedy da Costa Nunes (Muhlenberg College)—Preserving
the Black Diamond Heritage: Public Monuments to the Anthracite Industry in
Northeastern Pennsylvania



William Pencak (Pennsylvania
StateUniversity)—Pennsylvania: America’s
GreatIndustrialState



Angela Breeden (Centre County
Historical Society)—Early Industries in Centre
  County, Pennsylvania



David Lembeck (Centre County Historical Society, Co-curator of A Common Canvas:
Pennsylvania’s
New Deal Post Office Murals, The StateMuseum of Pennsylvania)—1930s
Pennsylvania Post Office Art



Jonathan Mathews (PennsylvaniaStateUniversity)—The Legacy of Coal and Its Art



Julianne Snider (PennsylvaniaStateUniversity)—The Future for the Steidle
Collection



Opening
and closing remarks by Russell Graham, Director,
Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery, PennStateUniversity



5:30 pm–7:30 pm, Reception and
Exhibition Opening
Wonders of Work and Labor: The
Steidle Collection of American Industrial Art
Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum
& Art Gallery, Ground Floor, Deike Building, 

Penn State University, University Park (State College), Pennsylvania



Copies
of the newly released book, Wonders of Work and Labor:
The Steidle Collection of American Industrial Art,
will be available for purchase and for signing by the authors, Betsy Fahlman
and Eric Schruers.
 



Registration Form



Labor’s Legacy: Pennsylvania Industrial Art, May 5, 2009



Registration fee $50.00 per person (includes lunch)  An additional $20 is
required for the bus
trip to Harrisburg



Name(s)___________________________________________________________________________________________ 



Address___________________________________________________________________________________________ 



Telephone
number____________________________________ Email
address___________________________________ 



 Symposium 



 Bus trip to Harrisburg





 



Total
amount enclosed:                             





 



Check enclosed, payable to Centre
County Historical Society



Visa or Mastercard number____________________________________ expiration date________ 

name on card_____________________________________________ 





 



Please
return this form with payment to:



Centre
 County
Historical Society, 1001 East
  College Avenue, State College, PA16801



Or
call 814-234-4779





 





 




 


 




A Common Canvas: Pennsylvania’s New Deal
Post 



Office Murals





 



On Wednesday
May 6th symposium attendees will have the opportunity to visit this
exciting exhibit in its find days on view. 
A bus will transport visitors from State College to Harrisburg to the State Museum of
Pennsylvania. Co-curators Dr. Curt Miner and David Lembeck will greet us and
answer questions about the exhibit.  This
is not included in the price of admission to the symposium. 





 



In 1933, the
administration of newly elected President Franklin Roosevelt launched an
ambitious program to place murals and sculptures in post offices across the
country. To coincide with the national 75th anniversary of the New Deal, The
State Museum of Pennsylvania brings together these same artworks for the first
time in this special exhibition to offer a common canvas of Pennsylvania that has faded from the
landscape, but not from memory.



This exhibit includes photographs, color studies, archival images, and
original artwork associated with some of the 88 artworks commissioned for Pennsylvania post
offices between 1933 and 1942. Although the artworks are widely dispersed
across Pennsylvania, they represent a treasure
trove of public art and a unique portrait of Pennsylvania society and culture circa the
Great Depression. Each artwork, whether a mural or sculpture, aimed to capture
something intrinsically important about the Pennsylvania community in which they were to
be installed. Given the Commonwealth’s legacy as a manufacturing state,
industries such as coal and steel are recurring motifs, but the collection also
reflects other traditions as well: agriculture, glass making, lumbering,
historical events/individuals, Native Americans and a variety of town and
streetscapes. 


This exhibition, co-curated by the StateMuseum's Dr. Curt Miner, Senior
Curator of Popular Culture, and by State College native David Lembeck,
represents the first public exhibition of Pennsylvania’s collection, and will offer
visitors a rare opportunity to glimpse, in one venue, what it likely the
Commonwealth’s largest public art collection.

Julianne Snider
Assistant Director
Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
112 Steidle
University Park PA 16802
814-571-6317



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