Historical WPA Mural installed at JRL

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“School Activities,” one of seven murals painted by James Daugherty (1887-1974) for the Works Project Administration’s (WPA) art projects, was installed in the Jeremy Richard Library. The seven murals, covering over 1000 feet, were commissioned in 1934 during the New Deal era for an octagonal music room at Stamford High School. In 1970, workmen removed them for a renovation and put them on top of a heap of construction materials in a dumpster, where they were rescued by a student. Though they had been cut into 30 pieces, six of the murals were reconstructed by an art restorer who sold two of them. The City of Stamford bought back four of them with funds from the State of Connecticut, the Ruth W. Brown Foundation, and other contributors.

James Daugherty played a role as an important mural artist in America, painting murals in schools, government buildings, and public housing. He also became an author and his draftsman skills served him well as he illustrated and/or authored over 100 books. In 1940, he was awarded the John Newbery Medal for his Daniel Boone, the year’s most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. He returned to abstract painting in 1953 and his works can be found in the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Yale University Art Gallery, Hirshorn Museum, and many other public and private collections.

“School Activities,” visible for the first time in 35 years, is on loan to UConn Stamford from the City of Stamford. Conservator Joseph Matteis, Jr. completed its further restoration and mounting on a portable backing in 2005. Funding for this purpose was generously provided by Reba and Dave Williams of Greenwich.

A Stamford Advocate Article by Lauren Klein, published December 25, 2005:

UConn Libraries Joins the Center for Research Libraries

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The University of Connecticut Libraries recently became full member of the Center or Research Libraries, a non-profit organization with over 200 university, college and research libraries parnter members. The Center acquires and preserves traditiona and digiatal resoruces for research and teaching and makes them available to member institutions via interlibrary loan and electronic delivery. The Center for Research libraries maintains more than four million publications, archives, and collections and over one million digital resources for its member libraries. Center materials are obtained for extended loan periods at no cost to users affiliated with the member libraries.

The Center’s resources include:

  • 6,500 international newspapers, many dating bact to the 1700s–the largest collection of circulation newspapers in North America
  • 4,500 U.S. newspapers, many dating back tothe colonial era, incldihg 2,000 ethnic titles
  • Foreign journals that are rearely hedl in U.S. Libraries
  • More than 800,000 foreign dissertations
  • Area Studies–major microform and paper collections from Africa, Latin America, Middle East, Europe, Asia, Southeast Asia, and more

    • To access the Center’s catalog go to: www.crl.edu/catlog/index.htm
    Reqeust materials from the Center through UConn’s interlibrary Loan Department: www.lib.uconn.edu/online/services/ill

    Current Newsletter Issue of Databases & Electronic Services

    New Books: December 2005

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    New Books this Month at Jeremy Richard Library

    Age of anxiety:McCarthyism to terrorism / Haynes Johnson. , 1st ed. Orlando : Harcourt, Inc., 2005. Stamford Library E748.M143 J64 2005

    America’s “failing” schools : how parents and teachers can cope with No Child Left Behind / W. James Popham. New York : RoutledgeFalmer, 2004.
    Stamford Library LA217.2 .P65 2004

    Cambridge history of English literature, 1660-1780 / edited by John Richetti. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2005. Stamford Library PR442 .C36 2005

    Casablanca [videorecording] / Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. ; [Special ed.]. [Burbank, Calif.] : Warner Home Video, [2003] Stamford Video Disc PN1997.C87 C38

    Changing face of China: from Mao to market / John Gittings. New York : Oxford University Press, 2005. Stamford Library DS777.55 .G53 2005

    Columbia anthology of traditional Chinese literature / Vitor H. Mair, editor. New York: Columbia University Press, c1994. Stamford Library PL2658.E1 C65 1994

    Concise companion to twentieth-century American poetry / edited by Stephen Fredman. Malden, MA : Blackwell, 2005. Stamford Library PS323.5 .C574 2005

    Da Vinci code : a novel / Dan Brown. , 1st ed. New York : Doubleday, 2003. Stamford Library PS3552.R685434 D3 Issues in aging / Mark Novak. Boston : Pearson/A&B, c2006. Stamford Library HQ1061 .N883 2006

    Kafka : a very short introduction / Ritchie Robertson. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2004. Stamford Library PT2621.A26 Z856 2004

    Radical wisdom : a feminist mystical theology / Beverly J. Lanzetta. Minneapolis, MN : Fortress Press, c2005. Stamford Library BT83.55 .L36 2005

    Shame of the nation : the restoration of apartheid schooling in America / Jonathan Kozol. , 1st ed. New York : Crown Publishers, c2005. Stamford Library LC212.62 .K69 2005

    Wal-Mart [videorecording]: the high cost of low price / Brave New Films ; produced by Jim Gilliam, Devin Smith ; produced & directed by Robert Greenwald. New York : Disinformation Co., [2005] Stamford Video Disc HF5429.215.U6 W35 2005

    Free Database: In the First Person

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    In the First Person: an index to letters, diaries, oral histories and personal narratives

    This website provides an excellent portal to primary resources available on the Web. It indexes more than 2,500 international oral history collections in English. The title accurately indicates the content, and a quick review of the collections gives the scope. Best of all, it is free!

    The home page is well organized, with links to a table of contents that includes sections titled Repositories, Collections, Interviews, Interview Date, Places, Historical Events, and All Subjects. The quick search feature allows searching by keyword; results show the search term as it appears in the context of the transcript. Links take users to the interview’s host institution.

    Indexed collections include the Hollywood Film Industry Project, Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive, and Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive: Oral Histories. [Choice Reviewed 2006 January]

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