Just in Time for Presidents’ Day

Posted on February 11, 2012 by in FDR Suite

Hello All!

Several of you have written to me in the last few weeks wondering why things have been so quiet lately.  The fault, I’m afraid, is all mine. On the professional front, we’ve had a one of the strangest, snowless winters ever, with bright sunny days and temperatures routinely in the 40s, which means, for a fellow in the landscape design business like me, a real windfall, with our projects continuing right into January. Mainly however, the reason for the gap in transmissions has been the magnum opus you see below: Tales of A Suite: Rediscovering FDR at Harvard. Since August a few of our students and I have been laboring to put together a PBS quality documentary on the Suite, one that would set its historical background, explain its creation, and (hopefully) motivate people to become involved in our future. This last is particularly important as we move into the final stages of this project, endeavoring to launch our scholarship programs and fund a permanent $750,000 endowment to maintain the Suite and its programs. To that end, I thought we needed a clear, engaging mission statement, and here it is:

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This full length film will now be shown to all guests visiting the Suite, and the HAA has expressed interest in releasing it worldwide to our alums. We’ll also be producing a short 5-7 minute version for corporate fundraising purposes. (Given the international nature of our planned programs, I’ve several candidates in mind for that: stay tuned. I’d also welcome any suggestions you may have in that regard as well.)

Finally, we’ve launched a very high profile invitation for this year’s FDR Memorial Lecture, and are waiting to hear back. I’ll be in touch as soon as we have an answer.

In the meantime, enjoy the film everyone, and Happy Presidents’ Day!

Fall Returns

Posted on September 9, 2011 by in FDR Suite

Greetings All!

Just a very quick note to welcome in the new semester, and let you know of two developments.

First, a brand new tour:

( If for any reason, this link doesn’t work for you, you may watch this video on the Vimeo site, directly HERE)

For an I-Phone friendly version, click HERE

This footage is part of a much longer documentary we are putting together on FDR’s Harvard and the Restoration of the Suite, which will be hopefully ready this fall.

Secondly, I would like to appeal to all of you to help us put our financial house in order. As you know, several months back we launched a $50,00 capital campaign. So far, we have raised only $5000. Part of our problem is that we’ve always accepted donations on a rolling basis, rather than asking for your continuing generosity annually, which means that while some of you have given quite recently, many of you have given generously a year, or two or three back.

We’d now like to press a giant reset button, and love for you to become annual members, contributing whatever amount you’re comfortable with, $100, $250, $500, $1000, or more, on an annual basis each September. The details of the various membership levels are available HERE, where you can also donate securely online. These annual memberships would help tremendously in evening out our finances, and allow us to plan our educational outreach programs more cohesively. Already this fall we’re leading HAA walking tours, organizing student trips to Brimfield, and planning for two to three new Fireside Chats, as well as another issue of the GoldCoaster, on top of the already promised documentary.

All these activities take funds, and we could really use your help. As always, your contributions to the Foundation are deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Thanks as always for your continuing generosity.

Michael

Some People Read History. Others Make It.
Come make a little history: support the FDR Suite Foundation!


The Ad World

Posted on August 9, 2011 by in Articles, FDR Suite

It’s been said you can tell an age by its advertising, and to the extent we possess the records, the adage seems to be true: ancient graffiti on the walls in Pompeii bring 2000-year-old elections alive like no tract from Cicero ever could;  miniature manikins – dressed in the latest crinoline and lace and sent from Paris to the Colonies as ads for the newest fashions – reveal more about 18th century costume than a whole page of pallid text.

Fortunately for us, the world of FDR’s Harvard is ripe with similar examples that give tone and timbre to the age – if you know where to look. To that end, we’ve been acquiring actual periodicals from January to June 1904 for the Suite (including, too, a spectacular bound copy of the Crimson for 1900-1901) so that a visitor might casually pick up Harpers Magazine or Colliers, and flick through the pages just as if they had popped in for a few hours in May of 04.

I wanted to show you a few of my favorites pieces from this collection, which to my mind at least, make you realize how much the world has truly changed.

This first one is a classic.

What else can I say? Papa told me so!

We tend to forget too that personal hygiene has been revolutionized in the last century. Imagine a time with no deodorants?

And, as we are blistering through another baking summer, how about a world of binding clothes and no air conditioning?

And here’s something that totally fascinated me. Throughout the Crimson pages, I found example after example of this ad:

Beyond the name, which I thought totally cool for a cigarette (Egyptian Deities was the model for an upstart American knock-off, Camels) there was the fact that many of these ads simply proclaimed “Egyptian Deities” without a single word of explanatory byline –  the brand was so famous at Harvard to need no further introduction.

(Just like another ad I found again and again in the Crimson: Harvard University Training Tables: 15 Bow Street. YOU ALL KNOW YOUNG! “No I don’t know Young,” I’m grumbling to myself, frustrated, “tell me who he is!”).

In this case however, a thought occurred:  Lapes and Frank both smoked. Surely there would have been cigarettes in the Suite. Could some of these Deities cigarettes have possibly survived from that time? If so, what a coup to track some down!

Well, a quasi-coup, as it turned out…

Sans cigarettes, but an actual 1900 Deities tin nonetheless, procured on EBay for $15, now destined for the Suite!

How’s that for divine intervention?

Or perhaps, more aptly, ad inspiration?

All brought about by folks like you.

Some People Read History. Others Make It.
Come make a little history: support the FDR Suite Foundation!





1904 Meets the Internet Age

Posted on June 12, 2011 by in FDR Suite

The new FDR Suite Foundation Tee Shirt

Finally, we’re thrilled to announce that you can now donate to the Foundation online. We’ve had many requests from folks looking for a quick and easy way support us while gaining card rewards or frequent flier miles at the same time. Now, through the good offices of Paypal (the same service used by EBay and other major corporations) you can do just that. Paypal accounts and all major credit cards are accepted. Just click the donate button at the bottom of of this post. The Donate section on the main FDR Site has also been updated to accommodate online payments.

A quick note on our capital campaign. As of today, we’ve raised $4250 of our $50K goal. We definitely need your help!

Also, just in time for summer, we have our new FDR Suite Foundation tee-shirts! Rest assured, these aren’t your grandpa’s tees! Sporting our own custom designed crest (a very cool combination of Adams House and Roosevelt Family heraldry – for more on that, click HERE) these super-soft shirts, super lightweight shirts are perfect for almost any casual occasion. Made of extra-fine 100% cotton, these shirts are pre-shrunk and run true to size. Available in M, L, XL, and XL. $20.00, plus 4.95 shipping. (US only.) These too can now be ordered on-line by clicking the picture above.

Some People Read History. Others Make It.
Come make a little history: support the FDR Suite Foundation!


FDR Suite Video Tour

Posted on May 20, 2011 by in FDR Suite

I put together this short tour from several hours of footage we shot this week while testing the cameras and lighting for the New Fireside Chats. There’s many a photographic gaffe here as we are still learning how to use this new equipment (not to mention how to hold these new ultra-sensitive cameras steady) but despite our first efforts, I think this still gives you a much better idea of what things look like now than mere photos, so I thought you might enjoy a private, members-only sneak peek.

PS: As of today we have raised 2K of the $50,000 goal in our 2011 capital campaign. Remember, we receive no direct support from the College, and all this progress flows entirely from your contributions.

FDR Suite Video Tour from FDR Suite Foundation, Inc on Vimeo.

Some people just read history. Others help make it.
Come make a little history. Support the FDR Suite Foundation!


Opulence

Posted on May 7, 2011 by in Articles, FDR Suite

For those of you who enjoy time travel stories, one of the very best is Time and Again (1970) by Jack Finney. I won’t bore you with a detailed synopsis; suffice it to say that the Federal Government discovers it’s possible to travel in time by simply willing yourself back through history. The trick is that to achieve this temporal separation, you truly have to believe yourself back in time – no mechanics are involved, simply a type of self-hypnosis. So the Government sets up several experiments in places that haven’t changed much through history – one in Paris right around Notre Dame for the Middle Ages; one in a now deserted Vermont farming village returned to its 1920s bustle; and one in the Dakota, the famous apartment building in New York City for the 1890s – all in an attempt to steep the participants in the past. The various would-be time travelers experience the life and language of the age; dress the part, eat the food – in essence they do everything in their power to make themselves believe they are inhabitants of another time. I remember reading this book when I was a child, utterly fascinated.  (It’s also an illustrated novel, which helps when a kid.) One of the passages I remember most vividly is when the main character, Simon Morley, visits the Smithsonian to view the costumes of the 1880s. The curators remove one of the ladies’ dresses from the collection, and show it to him. The material is dark brown, slightly frayed, smelling of age; he touches it, the fabric crumbles. Then suddenly, he is presented with a new version of the same dress on a mannikin:   “Martin snapped the covering from the next figure, and there stood – I won’t call it a dress but a gown of bright wine-red velvet, the nap fresh and unworn, the material magnificently draped in thick multiple folds front and back. The bead trim caught the light, glittering a clear deep red, shimmering as though the garment were moving… It was spectacular…

“Can you see an actual breathing woman Si, a girl, wearing this and looking absolutely great?” And I said: “Hell, yes: I can see her dancing!”

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we’re almost ready to dance ourselves, in the Suite. The last of the draperies arrived today: (You can click any of these photos for a larger, clearer view.)

It’s amazing the impact the fabric has had on the space: where there were formally white walls and bare doors, now riots of color compete and play – surprisingly successfully –  providing a first real sense of the opulence these rooms once possessed. The portieres (the fabric in the door frames) add a lot of character; originally used to close off the rooms for additional warmth, by FDR’s time they were entirely Victorian vestigal bits of decoration. Sara had insisted… and FDR acquiesced, though he often wished they’d been set just a bit taller for his tall frame… Just behind can be glimpsed the new drapes in FDR’s bedroom; a future president can now sleep soundly in richly muffled darkness.

Lathrop’s desk too has come alive, gleaming with brass. Can’t you just see young Lapes, his handsome brow bent over a sheet of heavy cream writing paper, answering one of his many house party invitations, as a dance card on the wall, souvenir of some now forgotten ball at the Somerset, pirouettes slowly at his elbow? The lamp on the table, by the way, originally oil, is one of the famous “Harvard Lamps,” providing “superlative light for scholars” according to an ad from a local newspaper. Lapes never cared much about that, but he has to admit it has come in quite handy for all his social correspondence.

And just behind, FDR’s desk, piled high with the loves of his life: Eleanor at left, as she looks this warm May of 1904. Less pleasant memories are next: dear, dear Alice Sohier, who’d unexspectedly spurned him. (He’d better put that picture away now…) The Half Moon II at full sail, at Campobello,with FDR at the helm, and on the wall, his father, James, shortly before his death, mounted on one of his favorite trotters. And Sara too, as always, is present; the butterfly collection she sent him smiles from the wall; plus,  an unanswered letter awaiting his reply sits tucked in one of the roll-top cubbyholes.

For a moment, here, now, you can almost feel 1904.

Do you think, perhaps, if I just concentrated hard enough…

Some people just read history. Others help make it.
Come make a little history. Support the FDR Suite Foundation!