Discovery of Elbert Hubbard's Roycroft

          It was February 1970, when we first came to Buffalo exploring a job opportunity.  Fortunately we stayed in East Aurora and were delighted with everything we saw and learned about Western New York.   Having decided to move, we spent a day searching for a house, a long morning of not quite right choices then a stop for lunch at the Roycroft Inn. We enjoyed great hamburgers at a table near the fireplace, in the original Roycroft Print Shop, now the lounge.  Later that day we found the perfect house, in Hubbard Park, Roycroft Circle, off Ruskin Road.  None of those names meant a thing then, only the address of the house we'd been looking for. 

          That fall of 1970 I entered State University at Buffalo's (SUNY) School of Information and Library Studies (SILS), now SUNY'S School of Informatics.  One of the early assignments was to do an oral presentation on an early 20th century printer.  Among the suggestions was Elbert Hubbard's Roycrofters, it seemed the appropriate choice for me.  Preparation and presentation for that assignment sparked an interest, at times passion, for Elbert Hubbard and the Roycrofters and what took place here in East Aurora at the turn of the last century. My interest continues.

          It would be interesting to know how others discovered Elbert Hubbard and his Roycrofters.  Check the "comment" box and share your Discovery story.

Comments

[Dorothy Markert]

I now live in Western New York but I was originally from New Jersey. I still have ties there and have been involved with the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms. My uncle, Merrill Harvey was the artist whose image of the house is still on the letterhead and the newsletter of that Foundation. Years ago it was in private hands, it belonged to the Farneys. At one time Uncle Merrill and Aunt Dot rented one of the cottages that are near the house. I visited them there as a small child and I credit that for the special feeling that get whenever I go to an Arts and Crafts site. I'm sure that is why I was so drawn to the Roycroft after we moved to this area. 45 years ago when we first visited the Campus, I knew that I was home.

[Grant Hamilton]

My father, Charles Hamilton, was an editor of a trade journal and a writer-producer for KDKA radio, a Westinghouse station, and left there to take a PR job at Westinghouse in Cheektowaga (now a parking lot, but an employer of 5,000 then). While relocating, a colleague invited him to visit East Aurora, which would become our new home. While in transition, my father stayed at the Roycroft Inn, and recognized the the campus from a picture in the Elbert Hubbard Notebook, which he used for "fillers" in his publication. When we moved here our furniture was in transit so the family stayed at the Roycroft. I remember the big wooden Roycroft cabinet still full of hand-illumined motto sheets in the lobby. I don't recall the price, but probably a dollar or less in 1957. My father's interest in Roycroft was sparked and I tagged along while he interviewed a number of living Roycrofters who had worked for Hubbard.