Monthly Archives: February 2016

Happy Birthday WEB DuBois

Posted on by

February is Black History Month, and this year, as usual, numerous events and activities have been scheduled which commemorate and celebrate the contributions made to this nation by people of African descent.  One in particular caught my eye: the 6th Annual W E B Du Bois Tribute, with a Salute to Dr Randolph Bromery, which was held this sunny, late winter afternoon at St John’s Congregational Church in Springfield.  One of the oldest black churches in New England, St John’s has a storied history which continues to this day.  In fact, the current building complex where the program was held is a brand new worship facility, opened as of this year.

Over a hundred of us came together for an afternoon of Performing Arts, Culture and History, and Fellowship, which was planned by students from Beta Sigma Boule, Springfield College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Westfield State University.  Josh Odam from U Mass and Emmet Witherspoon from Westfield were the emcees for this beautiful and inspiring program, as outlined below.

Processional – “We are marching in the light of God” – Westfield State Chamber Chorale
Purpose – Brooks Fitch
St John’s and Du Bois Connection – Dean Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
“Change is Gonna Come” and “Total Praise” – Springfield College Community Choir
” . . . and there a stillness fell upon them” – Springfield College Repertory Dance Company
W E B Du Bois for Kids video
Offering
Top Flight Step Team – Westfield State University
“I Dream a World” and “Daniel Servant of the Lord” – Westfield State Chamber Chorale
Bromery Family Reflections – Dennis Bromery
Funana – Cape Verdean Student Alliance of UMass Amherst
Insanely Prestigious Step Team – UMass Amherst
Closing Remarks – Pastor Calvin McFadden

In his introductory remarks, Brooks Fitch exhorted the audience to be engaged, to do something.  As we learn more about the lives of leaders like W E B Du Bois (1868-1963) and Randolph Bromery (1926-2013), we should remember that Dr Du Bois declared, “We must act.”  A native of Western Mass, W E B Du Bois was the first African-American to earn a doctorate from Harvard; he was a pioneer in the academic fields of sociology and history, as well as a playwright, poet, novelist, cultural critic, and an early civil rights leader.  Distinguished educator Randolph Bromery was instrumental in bringing the Du Bois papers to U Mass and in the successful drive to name the U Mass Tower Library the W E B Du Bois Library.  Dr Bromery was a geologist and geophysicist; his educational leadership positions included President of Springfield College and Westfield State and Chancellor of UMass Amherst.

Dr Gerzina confessed that she is a daughter of St John’s; she was baptized in the church and sang in the choir.  However, she was anxious to see the world and left home at eighteen, not really expecting to be back in the Pioneer Valley.  But life is full of surprises, and she is now Dean of the Commonwealth Honors College at U Mass.

Of all the singers and dancers, I liked the Westfield State Chorale the best.  Their performance was very polished and professional.  The two step dancing teams were full of energy, and I must confess that I didn’t know stepping was a thing.  These dance pieces reminded me of the Samoan fa’ataupati, which I am familiar with having grown up in a Polynesian culture.  The Cape Verdean funaná was new to me, and the couple who danced it were quite good.

My colleague Dennis Bromery spoke on behalf of the Bromery family, who were all in the audience.  He noted that his father grew up in segregated Cumberland, Maryland, and during World War II served an a Tuskegee Airman.  After the war, he attended Howard University on the GI Bill and later worked for the USGS.  His interest in science and math led him to pursue advanced degrees.  Upon earning his doctoral degree in 1968, he joined the U Mass Geology Department the following year and remained associated with the campus for forty years.  Even today, his legacy continues with the awarding of the Randolph Bromery Community Scholarships.

Documenting Furniture Makers in Gardner

Posted on by

As the City of Gardner web site states, “By the mid 1800’s, Gardner’s major industry was the manufacture of chairs and other wooden furniture” and it soon became known as the “Chair City of the World” (quite a claim).  That’s about all I knew about Gardner, other than the fact that it has a general aviation airport with an instrument approach.  So when I received an email from Mass Humanities describing an oral history project in Gardner, I said to myself, “I can help with that, for three hours anyway, and maybe learn something else about the place.”

At 2 pm, I parked at a meter on Central Street and walked across to number 306, the Chair City Community Art Center.  There I met Tracie Pouliot, who is the mastermind behind the project to interview furniture workers and turn their first-hand accounts into hand-printed, hand-bound books using old fashioned methods of bookmaking.  The idea seems simple: find people who worked in the furniture industry, listen to their stories and transcribe them, typeset them, and publish each person’s story in a hand-made booklet.  Tracie showed me around the center: she was able to purchase a proof press, a typesetting machine, and an industrial-scale paper cutter for this project.  She is now training volunteers to help with all phases of the book making process.

Today I started learning how to work a Challenge proof press; our task was to print the background of the booklet covers, which is a wood grain pattern.  We had to mix the ink, carefully dab it on the roller and distribute it, position the blank paper, and crank the wheel to move the paper over the block.  Then as each sheet came off the press, we laid it out to dry.  The wood grain design is elegant and subdued, and the hardest part was probably getting the color right.  This is the machine I worked on:

proofpress(I found this image on Flickr, but I don’t know who owns it; I hope it’s available in Creative Commons for one-time non-commercial use.)

Midway through the afternoon, I switched to a different task and joined a group of volunteers who were folding printed pages.  This task was a bit easier, as we could sit at a work table instead of standing, but it required a careful eye to line up the edges exactly.  The booklet we worked on today is Guy Savoie’s story; Guy was employed at Nichols & Stone for many years.

Finally, at the end of the day, I learned how to clean the proof press using mineral oil on the rollers.  The solvent has a strong odor, so we opened the door to the street for more ventilation.  The cleaning step is particularly important because this press is not in continuous use, and leaving old ink on the rollers would affect the quality of the next print run.

Volunteers will be helping with all aspects of the book making process, including creating woodcut illustrations, printing, setting type, and binding.  Drop-in hours are posted on the Center’s door, and you can ask to be on the mailing list.  All volunteers who contribute at least three hours can take home a book.  The book I received for helping this afternoon is Dale Lucier’s story; she was a Nichols & Stone employee for 33 years.  I was particularly struck by her observations on the craftsmanship involved in furniture making:

You take for granted you have a chair.  You never realize how much goes into that product to make the chair.  I never thought about where the wood came from, how you have to dry it out in the kiln.  When you see the whole process, it’s amazing all the steps that you have to go through to make one piece of furniture, so you appreciate it a little bit more.