St. Louis Mercantile Library Fall Newsletter, 2024

Fall 2024

News of the Mercantile Library

Recent Acquisitions for the Fine Art Collection

The Mercantile Library continues to build its collection of 19^th century art with paintings that are not only important works of art, but that also document the artist’s working process. One example is a small oil study by Charles (Carl) Ferdinand Wimar (1828-1862). Wimar came to the United States and to St. Louis with his parents in 1843 and began studying painting with a local panorama artist. This was his first introduction to the Mississippi River, as he and his instructor painted and sketched river scenes for use in the panorama. Wimar also spent a good deal of time among the Native Americans who camped near the city. Wimar traveled the Missouri, Mississippi and Yellowstone rivers in the 1840s and 50s, often as a paid passenger on boats operated by fur traders, and capturing images of the western landscape and Native American life which he used as source material for the dramatic paintings he created in his studio. In 1852 he returned to Germany where he spent four years studying at the Dusseldorf Academy before returning to St. Louis and continuing his career as an artist of the American west.

Carl Wimar (1828-1862), Study for a Buffalo Hunt, ca. 1860, oil on canvas.

This study, which was recently donated to the Library, is directly related to two known, nearly identical buffalo hunt paintings by Wimar from 1860 now in public collections. It joins another, larger Wimar buffalo hunt oil study currently in our collection, which has also been matched to a finished oil painting in a public collection. In addition, both studies contain elements of rocks and foliage that are found in several of his oil sketches done during his travels of the 1840s and 50s that were acquired by the Library several years ago. Comparing the oil sketches on rough pieces of artist’s board to the oil paintings on canvas and then to the finished paintings provides unique insight into Wimar’s working process for creating his dramatic scenes of western life.

Carl Wimar (1828-1862), untitled landscape study; tree branch and rock, ca. 1858-1860, oil on paper board.

A Fine Portfolio of Native American Portraits Restored

In the mid-19^th century, a number of artists produced large printed folios of native American leaders and North American Indian life. George Catlin, Karl Bodmer, and James Otto Lewis created a tradition that culminated in the final expression of this genre by Edward Curtis. There were many others who created sketchbooks, watercolors, and oils that emulated these “galleries” and scenes of American Indian life, such as Charles Deas, Seth Eastman, Felix Darley, and Charles Wimar. The St. Louis Mercantile Library is a rich collection of all these projects and has been able in recent years to conserve many such works of art in its collection. Perhaps none of these rivals in colorful depth and detail the History of the Indian Tribes of North America, by Thomas McKenney and James Hall produced in the 1830s. Up to its time, it was the most elaborately illustrated book of any kind attempted in the United States and stands as a fine resource of actual portraits of Native American leaders of the pre-Civil War era. Thanks to an anonymous gift, this work-- a complete set present at the Mercantile since virtually the time of publication-- is being restored under the able hands of a fine conservator who is currently cleaning, repairing, and rebinding this important printed legacy in an extensive restoration project. It will once more take its place among these other great early American testaments to Native American heritage, one of the strongest special research collections of the Mercantile Library.

Prints from John Costin's Large Florida Birds

The Mercantile’s distinguished collection of ornithology has grown this autumn with the addition of the work of artist John Costin, whose etchings of the birds of Florida, as single plates and in his magnum opus, Large Florida Birds, will be seen in future programs at the Library. Costin is an avid admirer of John James Audubon, whose influence in coloring and composition echoes down to the present in Costin’s fine work.

A Memorable Handkerchief

In 1806, just a few years after George Washington’s death, early American author Mason L. Weems was already in the process of creating a larger-than-life figure of the first President—dramatically focusing on Washington’s strength and honesty, building resonating myths of the Father of the Country for all subsequent generations. He was successful—everyone had a copy of Weem’s Life of Washington (a true bestseller of the day) and obviously, the textile trade noticed too—here is a keepsake recently added to the Washington collection at the Mercantile entitled "The Love of Truth, Mark the Boy” printed soon after the book was printed in the Philadelphia area in a charming verse fashion. George and his father walk through the orchard, and after George’s memorable admission to cutting down a prize cherry tree, his father, overjoyed by a six-year-old’s honesty exclaims:

“Come to my open arms, my dearest boy

Your love of truth bespeaks a father’s joy.

My sudden anger and my grief are fled,

Although my lovely cherry tree is dead”

This textile print of this poem is rare, with only a few libraries reporting it in their collection.

Recent Acquisitions of the Barriger Railroad Library

The Barriger Library acquired two bound volumes of a magazine called Our Monthly Message that was published by the Curran Company of St. Louis. Curran was the premier printer and publisher of railroad timetables and forms during this era. These bound volumes from the 1910s were the company’s newsletter for their customers and showed the work that had been done for their clients and what images and layouts they had available or were working up to fit new expectations in printing.

Recent Acquisitions of the Pott Waterways Library

This September the Pott Library acquired a photo album of bridge construction in the Great Lakes region. The images show the step-by-step progress of a bridge being built in what appears to be a city along the shores of Lake Michigan. The photos are notable in that they include images of hard helmet divers who did work on the support structures. It’s a really fascinating look at construction in the early part of the 20^th Century.

Renovation Updates

The Mercantile Library’s new gallery space is changing daily as the renovation progresses. The stairway from the entrance level down to the Mercantile is prepped and ready for its new flooring, new wall treatment, and the new paneling designed to match the antique paneling from our former building that surrounds the niche for the Napoleon death mask. Passing through the landing to the Mercantile entrance reveals even more progress.

New carpet, upgraded ceiling tiles, and new lighting are all underway outside the gallery, just as in the stairway landing, creating a seamless and inviting entrance into the Mercantile Library. In this photo, the area between the pillars and the plastic is roughly the new home for a custom-built display case that can safely display artwork up to thirty feet long. This case will allow us to feature painted scrolls, fine press fold-outs, and other unique items we’ve never been able to fully display before, while also safely and beautifully exhibiting rare books and small three-dimensional objects.

This new exhibit case is part of the transformation of the Mercantile’s main lobby into the Hosmer Sculpture Hall that returns the original sight line from the stairway to Harriet Hosmer’s Beatrice Cenci. Three pieces from the atrium will now be shown in the sculpture hall, including the marble busts of Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott, and the bronze bust of former librarian John Napier Dyer, which will now greet visitors just inside the glass doors. The life-size marble of famed orator Daniel Webster also has a new location in the sculpture hall. For now, these works are safely encased in wooden enclosures as work goes on around them, but stay tuned for the big reveal when the hall is finished and the enclosures are removed!

The new paneling being used in the landing will also be used for the curved surround for the new gallery entrance, which will incorporate the Mercantile’s front doors from the 510 Locust location. We’re thrilled to feature these beautiful and historic treasures in this key location, tying the Mercantile’s history as the city’s first art gallery to the new gallery that enhances our art mission and secures it for the future.

Board Spotlight: Dr. Thomas E. Reh

Dr. Reh, known by his friends as Tom, is a native of St. Louis who has lived in this area for many years. Following medical school, he was trained as a diagnostic radiologist and spent his career at SSM St. Mary's Hospital. He first encountered the St. Louis Mercantile Library in 2008 when the Library was starting a docent program. Sixteen years later, he is still doing what he enjoys the most-- introducing the Library's treasures to our visitors.

Tom was recently named President of the Board of Direction. He sees the members of the Board as playing a critical role in preserving the present and future success of the Library. We thank Tom for his leadership and ceaseless support of the Mercantile!

Student Spotlight: Alex Stevenson

The Mercantile Library is pleased to continue its long tradition of mentoring new museum professionals by hosting Alex Stevenson, a first-year UMSL Museum Studies graduate student. Alex brings a wealth of experience to the Library. Alex completed his BS in History at Missouri State University, with a double minor in African and African American Studies and in Diversity Studies, while also achieving an undergraduate Certificate in Cultural Anthropology. Alex also had extensive experience as a Library Associate at the Rock Road branch of the St. Louis County Library, assisting patrons with general inquiries and book requests.

Alex will be working with Transportation Studies curator Nick Fry, and Fine Art Collections curator Julie Dunn-Morton on a variety of projects, including scanning Globe-Democrat photos and uploading them to the Digital Library, Globe-Democrat microfilm scanning, art collection processing for the collections database and for the Digital Library.

During his interview, Alex shared that he hopes to learn more about archival management and preservation, and how archival material is taken care of and stored properly. When asked about his projects over these first two months, Alex stated, “Something that caught my interest were the copper etching plates, pamphlets, and fliers I worked with. Working with them has taught me a lot on how to store material properly to preserve them.” This kind of collections processing is a solid, hands-on teaching tool for students, as well as an invaluable assistance to the Library. We’re happy to have Alex on the Mercantile Library team!