In this series, Curator and Senior Director of Collections, Judith M. Guston, will provide The Rosenbach’s Company with background and updates on the Collections Department’s strategic initiative to expand and improve the Rosenbach’s stewardship infrastructure. It’s been a busy summer here in the Collections Department! In early June, we installed our exhibition, 18 Reasons to …
Upcoming Events
Happy 200th Birthday, Herman Melville!
August 1, 2019 marks the 200th anniversary of Herman Melville’s birth. In honor of his bicentennial, we are proud to present American Voyager: Herman Melville at 200, a new exhibition that will explore the life, works, and legacy of this iconic but under-read author. To celebrate his birthday, we’ve asked The Rosenbach staff to share their …
Tea at The Rosenbach: Goddess of Mercy
This blog post was written by Andrew White I’ll admit it. Not only am I a tea fanatic, I will try a tea just because the name is cool—even if I don’t expect to like it. Green tea is not my favorite—I think it tastes like a grass stain—but I’ve brought home Dragon Well and …
What Poet Changed Your Life?
When I was in third grade, I participated in a poetry-writing workshop that was held in my hometown’s art museum; the idea was for us third-graders to write and workshop a poem inspired by an artwork or artifact on display. I remember roaming around the museum with my classmates, all on our best church behavior, quietly and gravely examining the …
Violet Oakley and Edith Emerson: painters, partners, and paragons of art education
Of Two Minds: Creative Couples in Art & History showcases the creations of romantic couples who inspired, instructed, or even assisted one another in making art or knowledge. In anticipation of Women’s History Month beginning tomorrow, we shine the spotlight on two remarkable women who were artists, partners, and educators in an era when it was unusual for …
Celebrating History’s Unsung Creative Couples
On February 7, we opened a new exhibition celebrating the art and achievements of romantic couples, from the powerful royalty of the 16th century to cinema stars of Old Hollywood to local artists creating together today. Of Two Minds: Creative Couples in Art and History not only challenges the notion that creativity and authorship are solo endeavors, …
Unwrapping Poe’s Mummy
When we think of Edgar Allan Poe, we think of his horror tales. His face is the icon of macabre fiction. And so when we see that he once wrote a tale about a mummy, we expect the full panoply of a monster story: Egyptian curses, the dead revivified, perhaps a monstrous beetle that devours …
Romance at the Rosenbach
Love is in the library: over the holidays, two visitors got engaged while on a tour of the historic house. Admittedly, some of us were in on the plan. One of our artistic staff members created a library display case with a copy of the bride-to-be’s favorite book, Jane Eyre, opened to the page with the famous line “Reader, I …
Winter reflections on the Year Without a Summer
Greetings from Frozen Philadelphia! After a snowy weekend and a lot of single-digit temperatures, we’re bundled up and back in the office. And as we shiver on our way to and from the museum, we’re thinking about some of our favorite authors, who shivered during an unseasonably cold summer 202 years ago. During the summer of …
The Destruction of Nosferatu
On January 31, 2018, the Rosenbach will host a screening of the classic horror film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, with Frederick R. Haas accompanying the movie on the organ at Macy’s. Conceived as a companion program to our Frankenstein and Dracula: Gothic Monsters, Modern Science, this spooky cinematic event will give us a chance …