Our Archivist Mark Holland just discovered that his great uncle, Lester Rice, is one of the letter writers! Needless to say, he is blown away by this discovery.
Lester's story is not told in the book, so I'm very excited to create a panel about him and his family. Mark has some photos at home, so I will be able to tell this story visually. (That's important when creating an exhibit!)
I just went up to the Keller Gallery to see where I could squeeze in one more panel! I found a spot for it. My new panels are much larger than what I used to make, which means they take up a lot more room. I'm glad I was able to add a panel about Lester, especially with our personal connection on staff!
Remember! A Secret Gift opens on FRIDAY NOVEMBER 15 with a FREE reception from 6:00 to 7:30.
Or, you can get a sneak peek the night before at our Soup at Six event on THURSDAY NOVEMBER 14. Our special guest is Eric Benjamin, composer of the Canton Symphony Orchestra's piece based on A Secret Gift. Soup at Six includes a soup dinner, the program, and a special preview of the Keller Gallery exhibit! Cost is $15 per person and pre-paid reservations are required. It's filling up fast, so if you're interested, call 330-455-7043 to sign up!
2 comments:
So what you're saying -- exhibit content is selected at the last minute because there is a family connection to the staff. Impressive.
Actually, that's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying is that there are many, many stories that didn't get into Ted Gup's book because he hit dead ends researching it. This is a brand new story to include, based on the archive of letters. And it is an "exhibit exclusive," complete with pictures, which we don't have for all of the stories in the book, actually. Some of the panels feature the letters with photos from the collection that illustrate where some of them worked, or something else mentioned in the letter. Mark was able to provide photos of the man who wrote the letter, along with both sons mentioned. So that is 100% appoproiate for exhibit content. If someone else walked in off the street today because they saw their relative on the list, even if they didn't have pictures, I would find room to add another panel. I had hoped to be able to uncover more stories like this one, but with limited resources that just wasn't possible. The rest of the panels were written based on known stories. There is nothing wrong with adding a panel of a letter writer who happens to be related to a staff member. Frankly, I'm not sure why anyone would leave a comment like this. It is unncessary, and just mean-spirited. Come see the exhibit, and then criticize it. And perhaps, leave your name on your comments.
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