Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - (Page 7)

left: Examples of bookbindings by Newcomb College students, probably 1930s. courtesy of Special Collections, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University below left: Dark brown morocco leather binding by Lillian Rogers in the 1930s for Five Plays by Ashley Dukes. courtesy of the Louisiana State Museum below center: Red morocco leather binding, circa 1932, by Lillian Rogers for The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus. courtesy of the Louisiana State Museum opposite page, left: Binding executed in red morocco leather by Eunice Baccich for The Harp Weaver & Other Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay, c. 1923. courtesy of the Louisiana State Museum; gift of Ms. Mary LeMarie opposite page, right: Newcomb College bookbinders at work, circa 1928. From left to right: Lucia Arena, Rosalie Pruett, and Ethel Gastrell. Lucia Arena is seated at the sewing frame, lacing the signatures of the book onto cords preparatory to binding. courtesy of Special Collections, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University Women's magazines instructed readers in all sorts of handicrafts, furnishing designs and patterns. The new crafts moved beyond needlework and into such techniques as china painting, leather crafts, and bookbinding. With the introduction of labor-saving devices around the home, more middle-class women had the leisure time to learn these crafts and used handmade objects to decorate their surroundings and give as gifts to friends and family. Making a slipcover was an easy method of adding a handmade touch to a book. Embroidered and stenciled cloth and tooled leather were popular materials, and the process required only the basic sewing skills that most women already possessed. These slipcovers were especially suited to telephone directories and other paperbound books. A more complex and decorative technique was to take an exist- ing book, remove its original covers, and create a whole new binding for it. This type of binding required specialized training and equipment, but resulted in a genuine work of art. Newcomb College in New Orleans raised the level of women's handicrafts from a hobby to an art. The school's pottery and embroidery programs produced goods that won prizes at international expositions and could be purchased through outlets elsewhere in the United States. Newcomb's art school trained its students in incomeproducing crafts that were still considered suitable for Southern ladies. During the school year 1914-15, bookbinding was introduced into the curriculum. The Louisiana State Museum recently acquired a collection of samples of bookbinding materials from the studio of Cora Darling Buck, an 1898 graduate of Newcomb College. Miss Buck was listed in the 1920 census as an “Art Binder,” although her formal occupation for most of her life was that of supervisor for the lunch program in the New Orleans Public Schools. Upon her death in 1938, her sister donated Cora's bookbinding materials to Newcomb College, where they remained until 2004, when they were purchased by the museum. Around 1912, Cora Buck traveled to New York City to learn the art of bookbinding. She made notes on procedures and techniques in a small, leather-bound notebook, and probably collected some tools and supplies during her visit. From her handwritten notes, it appears likely that she studied with Fanny Dudley, who furnished her with many samples of book cloth and papers. Fall 2005/LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 7

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 Contents Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Louisiana State Museum After Katrina and Rita Tabasco: Edmund McIlhenny and the Birth of a Louisiana Pepper Sauce Historic New Orleans Collection Louisiana Association of Museums New Orleans’ Coffee Connection No Man’s Land Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism Bookstand (Book Review by Thomas Uskali) Sound Advice (Music Review by Ben Sandmel) Forum (Commentary by Roy Blount, Jr. )

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005

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