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End of WWI at the Roycroft

As all Roycrofters - then and now - know, Elbert & Alice Hubbard died during the sinking of the Luisitania in the spring after WWI began. Elbert was making the journey to Europe to see the political situation firsthand and then write about it. He also suggested he might attempt to speak to the Kaiser and broker a peaceful end to the conflict.

 

But with their leaders’ deaths by German torpedoes, members of the Roycroft community had a very personal connection to this war and the end of it was particularly meaningful for them. No doubt many Roycroft employees also had family members who had fallen on the battlefields of Europe. Former Roycrofter, Mary Lefler Bailey*, remembers she was washing dishes at the Inn “when the old bell on the corner of the Print Shop rang out with the news of peace and the whole town was in an uproar and everyone there who had a job went in to the parade on Main Street.” It is easy to imagine the celebration even when standing on Campus today. 

 

It has been quite awhile since America was not in a conflict, so it is not a stretch to empathize with the original Roycrofters. This Memorial Day celebrate our soldiers, both living and fallen.    

 

• Sue

 

*Quote from Mary Lefler Bailey memories of the Roycroft; p 39, “Talk Less, Listen More” by the Young Yorkers Club of Eggert Elementary, 2003.

 

Final Days of Original Roycroft, Bids Announced

Elbert Hubbard II, or Bert as he was known, ran the Roycroft enterprises after his father died in the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915. Over the years, decorative styles had changed from Arts & Crafts to Art Deco, and there was more competition in periodicals and publishing. Bert wasn’t the chameleon his father was. He couldn’t adapt to the changes in the way his father probably could have if he was still running the business. Below is a letter (March 1939) announcing bids for property once the decision was made to close the Roycroft.

- Sue

Chautauqua Archivist and Historian Jon Schmitz revealed several of the connections between Elbert Hubbard, his Roycroft enterprise and the Chautauqua Institution prior to a screening of the WNED documentary, “Elbert Hubbard, An American Original,” held at Chautauqua at the 2nd Annual “Buffalo Day” this summer.

 

Connections he cited were:

Elbert’s father was born in the town of Mayville on Chautauqua Lake.

Elbert sold soap in the area when he worked for Larkin Soap Company.

Elbert held CLSC study groups in East Aurora, even meeting his second wife, Alice, in these sessions.

Then Chautauqua President, John Vincent, was a personal friend and wrote a letter of recommendation for Elbert to attend Harvard University.

A National Center for Arts & Crafts was created at Chautauqua and several Roycrofters left the Roycroft to join the Chautauqua center.

 

Unfortunately, there was a falling out between Hubbard and Vincent in 1897 when Hubbard was scheduled to speak at Chautauqua and Vincent cancelled the engagement because a Pastor in East Aurora wrote and complained that Hubbard was unsuitable for the Institute. Hubbard never appeared at Chautauqua again and the relationship turned bitter. Later, in typical fashion, Hubbard ended any chance of reconciliation by attacking Vincent in his writings.

 

Happily, this August, the Roycroft and Chautauqua were reunited on Buffalo Day. Historians may remember the rift of days gone by, but today’s audience rose above petty arguments and saw the innovation and respect for education valued by both of these men. The modern day Roycroft Campus Corporation and Chautauqua Institution remain connected as important cultural organizations that continue to attract national and international visitors to the beautiful western New York countryside we call home.

 

- Sue

Sanford Hubbard's Nude Torso Mystery Solved

A blog I wrote last year (May 4, 2009) mentioned my discovery of a photograph of Elbert's teenage son, Sanford, bare chested, in one of the Roycroft promotional pamphlets. I was astounded and confused at why Hubbard had subjected his son to this type of (literal) exposure. My assumption was that nude torsos were considered artistic at the time.

     Well, I have found out the reason why this photograph exists. I should have known. It is Hubbard we are talking about, after all. One clue: advertising.

     Freeman Champney's book, "Art & Glroy: The Story of Elbert Hubbard" provided me with the explanation. On page 104 I learned that Elbert's youngest son Sanford was described as "something of a physical prodigy" being nearly six feet tall at age fifteen, with broad shoulders and "handsomely muscled". Champney goes on to say "His bare-torsoed photograph appeared widely in breakfast food ads." An aside is quoted: "The Oil City Derrick commented that Hubbard "brings his boys up on Grape-Nuts, but fails to provide them with shirts." " And, again, no surprise, by one account, Sanford did not eat Grape-Nuts.

     I still can't get over Hubbard using his son this way.

- Sue

 

 

Roycroft Reorganization After Elbert's Passing

Roycroft Life Memberships were a promotional sales device of Elbert Hubbard’s that came back to haunt Bert Jr. when he took over the business after Elbert & Alice’s untimely deaths in June of 1915. 

One lifetime membership titled “The American Academy of Immortals”, was priced at $10 for a ninety nine year membership. “New members could select $10 worth of books from a select back list for the price of shipping plus they received all back numbers of the Philistine and the Little Journeys for the year of their joining and all that would be published for ninety nine years”, as well as a discount on furniture. The members’ obligations were to be a loyal customer and attend Hubbard’s lectures for $1 a seat when possible.

Then the “Thirty Third Degree” was offered. This cost $125.00 and would give the respondent $125 worth of “richly bound” Roycroft books.” In addition the member would receive one free copy of every title published by the Roycroft for the rest of their life and, discounts on Roycroft furniture.

Bert could not continue these programs; they would bankrupt the Roycroft and soon there would be no furniture for these members to buy at a discount as he intended to close the furniture shop. So he wrote a letter to the lifetime members asking them to release the Roycroft from these contracts. He offered them a list of “choice deluxe” books which Elbert had “printed and personally supervised” and stated that they would not be reproduced again and so would only increase in value. Members were asked to select 5 books and sign a release. He got out of the contracts successfully thus ending the lifetime memberships.

-Sue

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

Keeping a printing business efficient - 1907 style

In today's economy, businesses need to be efficient with time and resources.

Some business principles don't change.

In the early 1900s when the Roycroft presses were cranking as fast as they could, one thing slowed them up. It was the new technology of including photos in the magazines and books. The process in which photographic images are printed using etching of plates is called photogravure.This process had to be jobbed out to New York City and then shipped back to East Aurora. It was time consuming.

In 1907, Roycroft Print Shop bought a photogravure and plate processing equipment so they could do this job in house. It was housed up in the Print Shop tower.

If you want to know about photogravure visit this helpful website:

http://www.photogravure.com/

Next time you visit the Roycroft Campus, look up at the Print Shop tower (the building occupied by Cornell Cooperative Extension) and imagine photographs being processed up there to be included in the FRA. Imagine how excited the workers must have been to get such cool equipment. The print shop could now send out literature in a timely and efficient manner - 1907 style.

Julie

March Anniversary Number 3: The Chapel

Two weeks ago I wrote of the wagonloads of stone used as building materials for campus structures. Here is anniversary # 3:

110 years ago on March 27th, construction began on the Roycroft Chapel. The resulting castle-like stone building at the corner of Main and South Grove Streets in East Aurora is a beloved landmark. It has so much character - the crenellated round corner tower, the terra cotta sculpted face on the north side, the gothic windows in the rear lecture hall, and the terra cotta roof tiles - make such a picturesque building that I am sure every child in East Aurora must have their own fairy tale about it.

Happy Anniversary to the Chapel, and thank you Elbert for such an inspiring building.

- Sue

 

 

March Anniversary Number 2: Wagonloads of Stone

    110 years ago in the month of March, Elbert Hubbard advertised in the village paper for unwanted stones and boulders in the hopes that local farmers would be more than willing to cart their fieldstone to campus in exchange for one shiny new silver dollar for each approved wagonload. Elbert wanted the stone as building material.

    The campus handyman, Ali Baba, was the “inspector general” for the stone and took his place at Main and South Grove Streets to review the materials and pay the farmers. Over 1,500 silver dollars were paid out. The stones were used first on the Chapel, then the Print Shop and the blacksmith shop (a.k.a.  the Copper Shop). 

    Today’s Main Street renovations cause plenty of traffic congestion for the modern driver, but just imagine what 50 wagonloads of stone would do to the traffic congestion every day for a month!  I am sure there was less “traffic” back then as the village was smaller, and perhaps there weren’t that many wagonloads every day, but still that is a massive amount of rock hauling. Think of that as you go by the “castle” on Main Street.

- Sue

 

Booker T. Washington and Elbert Hubbard

You know from last week's post that Elbert Hubbard thought very highly of Booker T. Washington.

Did you know both men died in 1915?

Mr. Hubbard was only 58 and Mr. Washington was 59.

Dr. Washington was widely-regarded as the most powerful African-American man in the nation from 1895 until his death in 1915. Elbert Hubbard started the Roycroft in 1895 and run it until his death in 1915.

Washington received an honorary degree from Harvard. Hubbard attended Harvard for less then a semester.  

Washington believed that education was a crucial key to African American citizens rising within the social and economic structure of the United States. Hubbard did not care much for higher education.

Here is the Booker T. Washington Statue at Tuskegee University 

 

It says:

Booker T Washington 1856 - 1915
He lifted the veil of ignorance from his people and pointed the way to progress through education and industry.

Julie

Welcome Mr. President - circa 1901

In the book, Art and Glory: The Story of Elbert Hubbard, (by Freeman Champney, 1968) there is an interesting story from page 232:

"As has been noted, Booker T. Washington was a Hubbard hero and Tuskegee almost the only college for which he had a good word. At least once, Hubbard gave the visiting President Washington the full celebrity treatment at Roycroft, including lunch with himself and Alice. Theodore Roosevelt, in 1901, had entertained the same Washington at lunch in the White House, and hysterical outrage had exploded in the southern press"

It is wonderful to see that this country has come a long way as we will soon welcome Mr. President Obama to the White House.