STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) – A Penn State graduate and his wife are donating $10 million for two endowments at the university’s liberal arts college.
Doug and Julie Rock, of The Woodlands, Texas, have offered two gifts of $5 million each. One of the donations will create an endowed dean’s chair in the college.
The university says the other $5 million donation will support an endowed directorship at the Rock Ethics Institute, which was created thanks to a $5 million gift from the couple a decade ago.
The school says the money will support innovative teaching, research, and service by the faculty and students.
Doug Rock is a 1968 psychology graduate of Penn State who has worked in the oil and natural gas industry.
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Pair French School (17th-18th century) portraits, unsigned, part of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor Sale, Sotheby’s 1997. Image courtesy of William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers. CHESTER, N.Y. – William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers will open the spring season with a sale at their New York facility on Sunday, April 3, commencing at 11 a.m. Eastern. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding. The sale will include several lots of vintage watches, jewelry, Chinese art, silver, 19th-20th century furniture and decorative accessories, carpets, sculpture and much more.
The sale will include over 50 lots of artwork from the 17th through the 20th centuries. Artist’s such as Peter Max, Hans Anderson Brendekilde, Seymour Fogel, School of William Matthew Prior, Circle of Daniel Gardner and Robert Gemmell Hutchison will be represented.
The Peter Max is a mixed medium work and part of his Statue of Liberty series. The Brendekilde is a verdant pastoral Danish landscape. In direct contrast to the impressionist work is that of Seymour Fogel. This work is part of his abstract newspaper series. Also of interest will be two pairs of French School portraits of the 17th-18th century that were purchased at the Duke and Duchess of Windsor sale held at Sotheby’s in 1997.
Jenack is again offering a number of vintage wristwatches and pocket watches. Watches of note are to include Rolex Tudors, Omega Constellation chronometer, Ernest Borel Cocktail wristwatch, Retro Omega 14K wristwatch, International Schaefhausen, Le Coultre 14K Mystery, Waltham Vanguard Lossier Railroad pocket watch and many other fine pocket watches.
With gold and silver prices on the rise jewelry has been selling quite strong, much for the value of the metal, but the jewelry offering has value beyond that. A Tiffany Anemone Brooch/Pendant in 18K yellow gold and set with seven full-cut diamonds will be offered. Several pieces of vintage and antique Renaissance-style gem and pearl set lots have garnered much interest in previous sales and are expected to do so again. Another standout lot would be a fine 2.70-carat brilliant-cut diamond; clarity VS2; color J.
There will be some superb lots in the accessories and decorative object section of the sale including two pairs of French parcel gilt bronze figural candelabra, a pair of French bronze cherub form wall sconces, an American Chippendale mirror and a fine French cased skeleton clock. In the ceramic arena Jenack will be offering a pair of 1780s Dr. Wall period Worcester bowls in wonderful condition and bearing the crescent mark, a pair of Royal Sphinx-Delft chargers, an Amphora handled vase and a fine Bernard Moore flambé art pottery vase.
The auctioneer notes this is an eclectic sale with something for everyone and a price range that all can afford.
Previews will be held at the William Jenack auction facility located at 62 Kings Highway Bypass, Chester NY 10918 on Wednesday, March 30, to Saturday, April 2, from noon-5 p.m. Eastern; day of sale 9-10:45 a.m.
For details contact 845-469-9095 or e-mail kevin@jenack.com. The catalog for this sale will be available on-line Friday, March 25.
Pair French Empire parcel gilt bronze and malachite figural candelabra, 19th century. Image courtesy of William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers.Hans Andersen Brendekilde, oil on canvas, pastoral landscape, circa 1893. Image courtesy of William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers.Pair Dr. Wall period Worcester porcelain bowls with crescent mark, circa 1780s. Image courtesy of William Jenack Estate Appraisers and AuctioneersFine 2.70-carat round brilliant-cut diamond, clarity VS2; color J. Image courtesy of William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers.
The profusion of tiger maple in this desk is an indication it was made for a special customer – a future U.S. president. Image by Ryan E. Hulse, courtesy of Franklin Pierce University. RINDGE, N.H. (AP) – A desk that President Franklin Pierce gave to a family friend after his election has made its way back to New Hampshire.
The Empire tiger-maple desk, built in the 1830s, originally sat in Pierce’s law office in Concord and was given to a friend who lived nearby when Pierce was elected president in 1852.
It changed hands over the years, traveling to Massachusetts and Rhode Island before a Connecticut businessman purchased it at an auction. Paul Rotondo, of Norwalk, Conn., attended what was then Franklin Pierce College in the 1980s and decided to donate the desk to his alma mater.
The desk now sits in the president’s office at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge.
When Pierce departed for Washington in the 1830s, he left behind his valuable tiger-maple desk and other large items, as his career as a congressman, U.S. senator and general in the Mexican-American War took him far from home, and ultimately to the White House. After being elected president in 1852, he gave the unique desk to a family friend, Charles Norton, who lived near his law office.
This month, the desk from which the 14th U.S. president launched his early political career has made it back home to New Hampshire, donated to the university that bears the name of the only U.S. president from that state. Franklin Pierce University has received the desk as a gift from Rontondo. who located the well-preserved tiger-maple desk in an antique auction in Rhode Island last year.
Rotondo, a Norwalk, Conn., entrepreneur and business consultant who attended then-Franklin Pierce College in the 1980s and his friend and colleague, Janet Mastrondari, won the stunning piece at auction. The Empire desk came with a documented provenance – which includes correspondences, newspaper articles, letters of authentication and other documentation confirming the desk’s authenticity.
“Attorney Janet Mastronardi, who specializes in antiques, called to let me know about the desk,” he said.
She recalled that Rotondo had gone to Franklin Pierce and thought that he would be interested in the piece. “Being a beautiful unique piece that once belonged to our 14th president and was made locally in New Hampshire and was being sold with documentation authenticating its ownership,” he said his interest was piqued. “It was not only in great condition, but also included documentation that traced its prior ownership to President Pierce when he worked as an attorney.”
The collection of documents reveals much about the desk’s ownership; it was used in the office of a New Hampshire harness maker for many years, was later owned by a Leominster, Mass. family, and ultimately made its way south to Cranston, R.I., during the early 20th Century.
While the documents describe the desk as a local piece, built in the Concord area in the early 1830s, the identity of its builder remains a mystery. “What stands out about this piece is the quality of wood chosen for its construction,” said Rotondo, who also consults in antique appraisal. “Typically, the furniture makers in those days would reserve the more ornate woods for special customers,” he said, “and the quality of the large amount of tiger maple selected for this particular desk shows that [Franklin Pierce] was a customer whom they valued highly.”
The wood selection of the desk is noted in an Aug. 22, 1971 newspaper column in The Providence Sunday Journal, which stated that the large tiger and curly maple pieces used to make the desk “would probably be unobtainable today, and even when this desk was made had to be selected from the log and then painstakingly sliced out.”
The desk has found a home in the president’s office on campus at Franklin Pierce University, a private university founded in 1962, where it closely matches the design of the room. “It is already proving to be a great conversation piece,” said Dr. James F. Birge, the university’s president, “and we are very happy to have received it as a donation.”
Birge noted that Rotondo was a history major during his student days. “We are thankful for his life-long appreciation of history and grateful that he helped return this unique piece to Franklin Pierce.” In the months ahead, he says, the desk will be moved to other parts of campus from time to time, including the lobby of Peterson Hall and perhaps eventually the university library. “It is really quite an impressive example of New Hampshire craftsmanship and U.S. history, and we would like everyone to be able to see it and reflect on its legacy and significance to our campus community.”
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-ES-03-20-11 1012EDT
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
The profusion of tiger maple in this desk is an indication it was made for a special customer – a future U.S. president. Image by Ryan E. Hulse, courtesy of Franklin Pierce University.Franklin Pierce University President James F. Birge (left), accepts the famous desk from Janet Mastronardi and Paul Rotondo. Image by Ryan E. Hulse, courtesy of Franklin Pierce University.
Image courtesy of Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers & Appraisers HOUSTON – Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers & Appraisers is debuting vintage poster art at its Antiques and Interiors Auction on Saturday, March 26. Approximately 30 lots of 20th-century posters will be on the block in an effort to serve the robust poster collecting community.
LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding at the auction, which begins at noon Central. The auction is open to the public; also available are absentee and phone bids.
The consignor is a Texas collector who has a vital collection of movie, rock and product posters and is familiar with the regional, national and international interest in this art.
Nearly 400 lots of antique furniture, fine art, decorative art, jewelry and rugs, in addition to the posters, are planned for the auction.
The most seductive posters hail from France or have a French theme, featuring brilliant colors and laissez les bons temps rouler subject matters. Marcellin Auzolle’s Champagne Masse (estimate: $1,200-$1,600), Okley’s Bal du Moulin Rouge ($400-$600), Renee’ Gruau’s Bal du Moulin ($2,000-$3,000) and Henry Le Monnier’s Exigez un Peureux, ($1,200-$1,800) make bold promotional statements.
French movie posters on the block are John Huston’s Moulin Rouge starring Jose Ferrer ($900-$1,200) and Good Girls go to Paris, starring Melvin Douglas and Joan Blondell ($600-$800).
Two French performing arts posters include an Edith Piaf ($400-$600) and Ballets du Pakistan ($400-$600). French product posters include: Bernard Villemont’s Orangina ($1,200-$1,400) and Roger de Valerio’s Citroën ($2,000-$3,000).
The sale also includes seven additional film posters, four featuring 1930s and ’40s Western movies starring Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, and a Gene Autry poster; a German poster of The Seven Year Itch starring Marilyn Monroe, The Little Hut, starring Ava Gardner and Friedel Schmidt’s (German) poster for The Little Dictator starring Charlie Chaplin.
Other lots include an Austrian fashion poster for Kajak’s Badedress, Swiss furriers Canton Fourrures, Captain Marvel for a Turkish market and Friend or Foe, a Danish political poster.
Labocchetta’s Carthusia Capri perfume ad, Renee Vincen’s Porto Ramos-Pinto Portuguese winery ad, an “LBJ for President” campaign poster and Manuel Orazi’s drama poster Theodora, also speak volumes of the richness of the 20th century.
For additional information on any lot in the sale, call 713-827-7835.
NEW YORK – The Editorial & Design department at LiveAuctioneers LLC – publishers of AuctionCentralNews.com and other digital publications and products associated with antiques, fine art, vintage collectibles and classic cars – is seeking two student interns.
Both positions, whose term would commence immediately upon acceptance and run for 90 days, are at LiveAuctioneers’ headquarters in Manhattan’s Chelsea district. The internship program is open only to current undergraduate college students with an interest in journalism, design and Internet technology, and may qualify for college credit.
Ideal candidates would already know the basics of PhotoShop and Dreamweaver; and have an excellent understanding of the Internet and computers. Bonus consideration will be given to applicants with Mac experience and knowledge of HTML.
Each of the two individuals chosen to intern with the LiveAuctioneers Editorial & Design team must be prepared to work two or three regularly scheduled days per week.
“This is an outstanding opportunity for a person who wants to gain valuable experience in the workplace and learn skills that are essential to a career in digital publishing,” said LiveAuctioneers CEO Julian R. Ellison.
While internships are not salaried positions, LiveAuctioneers will provide a Metro transportation card and a per-diem stipend to cover meals on workdays. Additionally, interns will receive a confirmation letter upon successful completion of the work term.
Interested applicants may send a one-page synopsis of their educational level and relevant skills, together with contact information and a personal reference, to intern@liveauctioneers.com.
Triangle Shirtwaist Co. occupied the top three floors of what is now the Brown Building at 23-29 Washington Place in Manhattan. The 1900 neo-Renaissance style building has been designated a National Historic Landmark. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license. NEW YORK (AP) – It was a warm spring Saturday when dozens of immigrant girls and women leapt to their deaths – some with their clothes on fire, some holding hands – as horrified onlookers watched the Triangle Shirtwaist factory burn.
The March 25, 1911, fire that killed 146 workers became a touchstone for the organized labor movement, spurred laws that required fire drills and shed light on the lives of young immigrant workers near the turn of the century.
“This is a story that needs to be told and retold,” said Cecilia Rubino, the writer-director of From the Fire, an oratorio inspired by the Triangle fire. “We don’t have that many moments in our history where you see so clearly the gears of history shift.”
To mark the centennial, hundreds of theatrical performances, museum exhibits, lectures, poetry readings, rallies and panel discussions are taking place nationwide. Two documentaries have aired on TV; PBS’ Triangle Fire premiered Feb. 28 and HBO’s Triangle: Remembering the Fire on Monday.
Descendants of victims and survivors of the fire will gather Friday for a procession to the site in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. The building now houses New York University classrooms and labs.
Suzanne Pred Bass, a Manhattan psychotherapist and theater producer, is the great-niece of Katie Weiner, who survived the Triangle fire, and of Rose Weiner, who did not.
Bass ticked off the reasons why people remain fascinated by the Triangle fire after 100 years.
“It’s the youth of these women,” she said. “It’s the tragedy, it’s the changes it spawned and it’s the immigrant experience.”
The fire started at end of the workday and raced from the eighth floor to the ninth and 10th. As hundreds of workers – mainly Jewish and Italian immigrant women and girls, the youngest 14 – tried to escape, they found a crucial door apparently locked.
“They were panic-stricken,” said Eileen Nevitt, whose grandmother Annie Sprinsock survived. “It was hellacious, and they ran for their lives the best they could.”
Firefighters rushed to the scene and raised their ladders, which reached only to the sixth floor. The fire was under control in 18 minutes – too late.
At the trial later that year of Triangle owners Max Blanck and Isaac Harris on manslaughter charges, survivors testified that their escape had been blocked by a locked door on the ninth floor. Some said the door was kept locked to prevent theft.
Katie Weiner said she felt for the door, which she could not see in the smoke, and turned the knob.
“I pushed it toward myself and I couldn’t open it and then I pushed it inward and it wouldn’t go and I then cried out, ‘The door is locked!’” she testified.
Meanwhile, the elevator shuttled up and down carrying as many workers as could cram into it. Weiner joined the crush for the last elevator but was pushed back. She testified that she grabbed the elevator cable and threw herself in, landing on girls’ heads. She was the last person out of the burning building.
The jury heard from 155 witnesses before returning a verdict of not guilty.
“I believed that the door was locked at the time of the fire,” one juror said. “But we couldn’t find them guilty unless we believed they knew the door was locked.”
Workers’ advocates continued to blame Blanck and Harris, who had resisted a union drive in 1909.
Blanck’s granddaughter Susan Harris said she is saddened when people demonize her grandfather, who died before she was born
“It’s really important for them, I think, to have a villain,” she said.
Blanck and Harris were on the 10th floor when the fire started and were able to escape to the roof. But several of Susan Harris’ relatives died in the fire, including Jacob, Essie and Morris Bernstein, members of Blanck’s wife’s family who worked at Triangle.
Harris lives in Los Angeles but is spending March in New York to take part in Triangle commemorations. An artwork she created to honor the fire victims – made of antique shirtwaists and handkerchiefs – will be displayed at the New York City Fire Museum for a month.
One witness to the Triangle workers’ death plunges was Frances Perkins, who later became the first female Cabinet member when President Franklin Roosevelt appointed her secretary of labor. Perkins was having tea nearby and heard the commotion. She ran to the scene as the first body hit the ground.
“That fire is the event that changed her life and that really changed the course of American history,” said Kirsten Downey, author of a book about Perkins, The Woman Behind the New Deal.
Perkins was appointed to the Factory Investigating Commission, convened in response to the Triangle fire, and the panel held hearings all over New York state before drafting 20 laws aimed at improving workplace safety. Some of the new laws required fire drills, set occupancy limits in buildings and required exit signs to be clearly posted.
“Policies that were enacted because of that fire permeate American workplaces now,” Downey said.
Days after the Triangle fire, 100,000 mourners marched in a funeral procession through the streets of New York, while another 250,000 lined the route. Their grief built support for the right of garment workers to unionize.
“It created a strong garment workers union,” said Bruce Raynor, president of Workers United, the 21st-century heir to the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. “It helped to really start the modern labor movement.”
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Online:
http://www.rememberthetrianglefire.org
http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-ES-03-22-11 0349EDT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Triangle Shirtwaist Co. occupied the top three floors of what is now the Brown Building at 23-29 Washington Place in Manhattan. The 1900 neo-Renaissance style building has been designated a National Historic Landmark. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.
The Corcoran Gallery and School of Art at 17th and New York Avenue NW in Washington is a National Historic Landmark. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License. WASHINGTON (AP) – A fire at the Corcoran Gallery of Art was extinguished early Tuesday and no artwork has been damaged.
D.C. fire department spokesman Pete Piringer said the fire was reported about 4 a.m. and was caused by an overheated kiln in the ceramics building, located in the courtyard of the museum. He says the fire caused damage to the roof and some ductwork.
Piringer said no artwork was damaged by the fire and no injuries were reported. The fire is under investigation.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-ES-03-22-11 0653EDT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The Corcoran Gallery and School of Art at 17th and New York Avenue NW in Washington is a National Historic Landmark. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.
