RoycroftCampusCorporation

Blog Archives are worth reading

Dear Readers,

As you follow our blogs, you may find a subject or story that intrigues you. For even more information on the same Roycroft topic, simply click on the subject you are interested in from the list to the right on this blog page. This will reveal all the blogs written on that topic, giving you more details from several bloggers’ perspectives over the years.

 

The RCC has had a blog since April of 2006, so there is a great deal of information to be found in the archive. Everything from Campus building facts to excerpts from Roycroft books.

 

Go wander around in the archive and see what you can find. . .

 

- Sue

1901 New Furniture Design Seen by Wider Public

One of the locations at which large numbers of Americans first saw simple mission furniture was the 1901 Buffalo, New York, Pan-American Exposition. The New York State building was one of the places where mission furniture was featured. There were  no exhibits, instead, the structure served as a place where visitors could rest and relax away from the midway and exhibition crowds. It was furnished in simple, unadorned, oak mission furniture - tables, side chairs, straight-backed wooden benches and Morris recliners. 118,554 people passed through and signed the register in this building alone.

 

-   Sue

 

Sources:

“Buffalo’s Pan-American Exposition,” by Thomas Leary and Elizabeth Shales with the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society

“By His Own Labor, the Biography of Dard Hunter,” by Cathleen A. Baker

 

Wages at the Roycroft in 1909

Docents at the Roycroft are often asked how many people worked here when Elbert Hubbard ran the business; how much were they paid and were women paid the same as men. 

By 1909 Elbert Hubbard’s weekly payroll was $3,000.00.

A 1909 ledger reveals that proofreaders were paid $9 a week, and the head proofreader was paid $39. Superintendent of the printing shop was paid $75 per week and other division heads - in non-craft areas - received anywhere from $24 to $40 per week. Clerks and typists were paid $5 for a 50 hour week.

 A part-time employee addressing envelopes was paid $2.00 per thousand.

- Sue

The Fra Begins Publishing in April 1908

The Fra magazine was started in 1908 by Elbert Hubbard to accommodate those national advertisers who could not economically use small format of The Philistine. It was a large magazine, 9” X 14” and could fit the plates used in national magazines and was printed on coated stock to insure good half-tone reproduction; things the Philistine could not provide. Dard Hunter designed it and Alice Hubbard not only was a writer for it but she encouraged other contributors. Elbert’s contributions were reprints from the Philistine and the copy for the ads. Price was 25 cents a month or $2.00 for the year. The 1909-1910 ledger tells us there were 811 new and 253 renewals for August 1909. 

From the 1909-1910 ledger, one issue’s printing of the Fra cost:

Item	Cost	Unit
Paper Stock	$1,890.00	50,000 issues
Composition	$100.00	50,000 issues
Press Work	$300.00	50,000 issues
Postage	$250.00	50,000 issues
Express	$1,270.00	50,000 issues
Total	$3,180.00	7.62 cents each

Source: A History & Bibliography of the Roycroft Printing Shop, by Paul McKenna  (out-of-print book)

The 2010 issue of the Fra is available at the Copper Shop and is a benefit of RCC membership. See the membership information on the RCC Web site. 

- Sue

Chautauqua & East Aurora's Roycroft Campus

Elbert Hubbard’s son, Ralph Hubbard, remembers how “Chautauqua winter sessions” began in East Aurora when he was young:

“And of course there were our memorable Chautauqua experiences. My parents and Bishop John H. Vincent were good friends, and that is why we were so closely associated with the great Chautauqua movement. 

“Dr. Vincent was secretary of the Methodist Sunday School Association when he started the Chautauqua as a means of training Sunday school teachers of all Protestant faiths.

“...After carrying on the summer camp plans for quite a few years, and expanding his programs to include lectures, discussions and readings, he thought of holding winter meetings, too.

“In discussions with father [Elbert Hubbard] and mother, [Bertha Hubbard] the plan to hold the winter sessions in the East Aurora [Roycroft] theater evolved. Each of the winter meetings lasted for several weeks, and then the summer meetings began on the lake [Chautauqua]. From this beginning, the Chautauqua movement spread all across the United States and became extremely popular, both as education and entertainment, until after the end of the first World War.”

• excerpt of a biography about Ralph written by Nelli Yost (1979, out of print)

Elbert is more often remembered for his flamboyant self promotion and his apparent rejection of formal religion, causing many to believe the Roycroft and Chautauqua institutions had little or nothing to do with one another. This first-hand account tells a different story - one of collaboration and a shared love of learning between friends.

This summer we invite Chautauquans to come visit the Roycroft Campus and Roycrofters to visit Chautauqua. We have much in common. 

- Sue 

 

Elbert Hubbard's Contest: Who Am I?

"Elbert Hubbard had a rare faculty of expression and he used it to serve the cause of common sense in this country.  He demonstrated the power of an idea when conceived by an independent mind and supported by intelligent industry.  The Roycroft Shops became a place of pilgrimage to men and women who were interested in the handicrafts and who dreamed of a greater idealization of common life.  I visited him at East Aurora and was a reader of the "Little Journeys" from the first.  Who am I?"

This is a "forward" note in a biography about the Fra, and was written by a leader in the automotive

   industry who came to East Aurora to meet Hubbard, the artisans and craftsmen and to visit the Roycroft Campus.

Enter your answer in  "comments" and the winners of this month's blog will be announced next week.  One of the staff members will be drawing the name of the quarterly prize winner on Tuesday, April 6th, 12:00p.m. at the Coppershop Gallery, 31 S. Grove St., East Aurora, New York, 716-655-0261.  Winner does not have to be present and will be announced in Friday, April 9th's blog.  Please join us!

Claudia

Hubbard Pleads to His Customers!

Elbert Hubbard did not like the term "mission" when applied to the output of his shops, pleading that consumer's not "class our products as Mission," or so called 'Mission Furniture.'

"Ours is purely Roycroft--made by us according to our own ideas.  We have eliminated all unnecessary elaboration, but have kept in view the principles of artistic quality, sound mechanical construction and good workmanship."

The above statement and other Roycroft information can be found in the wonderful book titled, "Head, Heart and Hand Elbert Hubbard and The Roycrofters" by Marie Via and Marjorie B. Searl.  We always have copies in The Copper Shop Gallery, 31 S.Grove St., East Aurora, NY., and I often browse through the shop's copy to answer customer's questions and also, mine. 

If any readers are fortunate to own Roycroft furniture, please respond in "comments" to me about your treasure.  Photos would be a bonus. 

Claudia

E. Pauline Johnson: A Visit To Roycroft

Recently Paula Whitlow, Curator of Chiefswood National Historic Site, Ohsweken, Ontario, came to see The Roycroft Campus and told us a story. 

E. Pauline Johnson was born at Chiefswood mansion to a Mohawk chief father and an English mother.  Pauline was a gifted poetess and author, touring throughout Canada giving dramatic recitals of her works.  She is Canada's first nationally acclaimed female poet.  Coming to America in 1907, Pauline and her manager Walter McRaye, gave a recital at the Roycroft Inn.  About 500 people lived and worked within the campus at that time.  'Roycroft residents loudly applauded Pauline and her message of peaceful co-existence between races.'  While she was at the campus, Pauline  enjoyed spending time in the chapel, thinking about the serenity Elbert Hubbard had created in the community and also frequenting the library with the beautifully bound books.  A week after she reluctantly left Roycroft, Pauline told a reporter from the Winnipeg Tribune that the Roycroft residents lived "ideal lives in many ways.  Mr. Hubbard is not a slave-driver and they enjoy the greatest of freedom during working hours."

Thank you so much, Paula. for stopping at The Copper Shop and talking to us about Pauline's visit.  Paula, too, loved Roycroft and the town of East Aurora.  Check out the Chiefswood web site and read more about E. Pauline Johnson.

 Claudia

The Copper Shop

 Do you recognize this Roycroft Campus building?  That's right.  It is our Copper Shop, which now houses beautiful and unique handcrafted items created by local and national artisans. The print shop is located in the front room.  The Copper Shop looks pretty much the same outside, minus the ivy, as it did in Elbert's time.  Here's a little history about the building:

 The Blacksmith and Copper Shop, was constructed in 1902, of local stone, half-timbered, and stuccoed in the style of an English cottage.  The second blacksmith shop originally had a brick interior and a dirt floor.  Later on,interior improvements included furniture and lighting fixtures.Two additions were added to this building to facilitate the emerging, hammered copper product line and to bottle East Aurora maple syrup and honey. At the time of this photo, the front room served as Elbert Hubbard's Roycroft Bank for several years.   

When you visit the Campus, the Copper Shop Gallery, 31 South Grove Street, East Aurora, NY is located at the end of the brick walkway called "The Appian Way", directly across the street from the notable, beautifully restored 4 star restaurant and inn, The Roycroft Inn.  Come visit and enjoy!

New blogger on campus,
Claudia

Walter U. Jennings, Original Roycrofter Discovered Elbert Hubbard

          Walter U. Jennings, one of some 400 craftsmen who worked for Elbert Hubbard at the Roycroft Shops, was attracted to East Aurora after reading Elbert Hubbard's popular little magazine, The Philistine.  Walter, well known for his copper craft and jewelry was born in Weston. MA.  He first worked in the textile industry in Boston, later becoming Superintendent of Finishing in a knitting mill in Troy, NY.  It was here in 1906, while in a bookshop, he discovered a copy of Elbert Hubbard's Philistine.  Intrigued with what he read he became a collector and reader of Hubbard's works.  For $10 he even obtained a "life membership" which entitled him to receive the Philistine for life and five $2.00 books. 

          It was this interest in Hubbard that was responsible for his leaving the textile industry in 1908 and joining the many Roycroft workers.  Starting in the bindery, he moved on to work with Karl Kipp in the copper shop and as they say, the rest is history.

          For more about Walter Jennings and his career in copper and jewelry making, and some of the other Roycrofters, read Charles F. Hamilton's Little Journeys to the Homes of Roycrofters.  This small paperback is available at the Roycroft Campus Copper Shop.  Open 10-5 daily, South Grove Street, East Aurora, New York.