BY JUDY LINSLEY

Few events bring out the celebratoryspirit in people like a wedding. An ancientritual, it has evolved over time into a pull-out-all-the stops occasion that combinessolemnity with all-out entertainment.

These days, of course, the occasion canbe captured with videos (even immortalizedon YouTube!) and a Shutterfly album. Ahundred or so years back, Victorians andEdwardians depended on excruciatinglydetailed newspaper write-ups, mementos,and formal photographs to preserve theephemeral event.

Fortunately, Mamie kept a meticulousrecord of her wedding which can be foundin our archives in letters, diaries, and espe-cially scrapbooks (we call one scrapbook the“wedding scrapbook”).

On April 6, 1919 she wrote in herdiary, “I asked Mama’s permission to marry.”Years later she amended that to “Told fami-ly I was going to marry Carroll.” Whether

Mamie “asked” or “told,” that day becamethe official kick-off date. In keeping withsocial convention, two days later Carrollformally asked W.P.H. for permission tomarry his daughter.

Because the wedding was only sixweeks away, Mamie and Ida had to movefast. On April 9, Mamie, Ida, and Carrollwent to Houston to shop for weddingclothes, apparently without success. OnApril 27, Mamie and Ida took the train toDallas and stayed until May 1. ThereMamie hired a “Miss Shea” to make herwedding dress and bought other clothes aswell. The exhausting process involved asmany as four fittings in one day.

Another exhausting job was to get thehouse ready. On May 8 Mamie wrote thatshe was “dead tired” because she and Ida“helped clean house all day,” and May 20and 21 she “worked all day decoratinghouse.” Readying and sending out 800 invi-

Mamie kept place cards and decorations from pre-wedding parties given her in 1919 in a scrapbook.

BY KAREN CHAPMAN

April showers brought May flowers and a giantpicnic this year. Being that I’m the newest kid onthe block, this was my first experience with both,and what a grand finale to the sorry weather it was!Frankly, hanging out at the museum was getting alittle dreary in all that rain. Parts of the Golden

V

See HANGING, page 5

See WEDDINGS, page 4

WEDDINGS: MOST JOYOUS OF CELEBRATIONS

Hanging outat the museum

M

Thisyoung ladshows offhis sharkface paint-ing duringthe picnicon themuseum’slawn,April 5.

IEWPOINTMcFADDIN-WARD HOUSE

June 2016Vol. 32/No. 3 V S

There are many objects andplaces in the McFaddin-Ward Housethat go unnoticed or are not availablefor the general public to view. One ofmy favorites that has a neat historyand adds a little charm to the house isactually outside…on top of the roof!

During the roof restoration thatbegan in 2001 and was completed in2002, the coppersmiths welded Mr.Lincoln to the very top of the copperroof. Although he has not yetobtained that delicious green patinathat people associate with aged cop-per, since his installation date of 2002he continues to sit patiently facing

the morning sun and waiting for thatday. It usually takes anywhere from15-20 years for copper to developverdigris, so his wait may soon beover.

I wonder what’s on top of theCarriage House?

A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS/GREEN WITH ENVY

-- Director’s Desk --

Viewpoints-Page 2

Coppersmiths welded a penny,right, to the top of the

McFaddin-Ward House duringrenovations completed in 2002.

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TECHNOLOGY WOESBy Arlene Christiansen

We are a museum; we takecare of old things, right? So howcome I’m always involved in somenew technology, software, orother such thing? We are breakinginto the 21st century — at leastthat’s what “they” say. What’sreally happening is we’re beingdragged kicking and screaminginto the technology jungle and itgets denser every day.

I’m not saying that change isnot good. I’m just saying that“they” are developing new tech-nology faster than we can imple-ment it. That holds true for every-thing from software to cellphones. Back in November weupgraded our computers. This issomething we do every four years.That’s a good thing, right? Yes,except now it’s six months laterand we’re still trying to get all ofthe kinks out. Some kinks youdon’t even know about until youchange something — a program

or a file, say — and find out thatnow it doesn’t work the way itshould. When you try to fix it,things just get worse. Finally yourealize it would have been easierjust to have started over; this pro-gram or that file is simply notcompatible with the new one.Okay, let’s multiply that by 12computers and operators and we

really have a mess.In most cases it’s a surprise,

too. We tool along the way wealways have and — oops! — itdoesn’t work anymore. Nobodyever said we would have problemswhen they were selling us the newstuff. There should be a standardwarning on all technical equip-ment and accessories: “BE-

WARE!! Whatever you alreadyhave probably will not work withthis!” Then maybe we could atleast be on the lookout. But no,that would be too simple. We firsthave to try everything we canthink of to fix what’s wrong, onlyto find out that we couldn’t havefixed it anyway.

Then the fun part: try to geta technician out here to help.Sometimes that becomes a truecomedy of errors. There’s the(true) story about the technicianwho came out to work on a com-puter (one that had just quit oper-ating correctly for no reason) andwas mistaken for a copy machinetech. Instead of just saying “Icame to work on the computer,”he tried to fix the copy machinefor an hour before his true identi-ty was discovered. Most techs arelike that, very accommodating.When asked why he didn’t justsay he came to work on the com-

See WOES, page 6

Viewpoints-Page 3V

J Haller” handwritten in pencil. “ELF” hiding in the grass.

“The Cottage by the Pond”

E

By SAM DALEO

A framed etching on the third floordepicts a pastoral scene of a cottage by a pond.It hangs in the front hall just above theAnsonia clock “Poetry.” Pastoral etchings ofthis type were very popular in the late nine-teenth century. Ours was beautifully executedin 1890 by…well, here is where the mystery ofour “Cottage by the Pond” begins.

Back in 1993, the museum was preparingobjects for a year-long exhibit to be held at theArt Museum of Southeast Texas. The exhibitwas to be called “Back in Style” and wouldshowcase objects from the McFaddin-WardHouse reserve collection. As the task of choos-ing objects to be included in the exhibitionbegan, we found many of them needed conser-vation. All would need to be researched forlabeling and for descriptive entries in anaccompanying catalog.

It was decided at this time to include the“cottage” etching in the exhibit.Arrangements were made with Carrabba

Conservation, in Austin, to perform the workof cleaning and re-matting the etching.

Research began to find information onthe artist and the company that produced theetching. It was assumed that a handwritten sig-nature in pencil, in the lower right border ofthe print, was that of the artist. The signaturewas not very legible, but seemed to read, “JHallu.” In the upper left border was etched,“copyright 1890 by Radtke Lauckner & Co.N.Y.”

At the time this research was being done,traditional methods of finding informationwere, of course, being used. Letter writing andphone calls were the search engines of the day.After weeks of contacting everyone, from theLibrary of Congress to Winterthur Museum toLamar University, we could find no informa-tion for “J Hallu.” The only information foundfor Radtke Lauckner & Co. was a listing in theNew York City directory for 1890. Therefore,the museum decided to list only what it knew,at that time, in the exhibit catalog. Entry #91in the catalog reads: “Framed Print of Dutch

Farm Scene, marks: ‘Copyright 1890 byRadtke Lauckner & Co. N.Y.’ and inscription:lower right corner, in pencil ‘J. Hallu.’”

Now, let’s fast forward to 2016. I am mak-ing my daily check of the museum. On thethird floor, as I straighten this beautiful etchingof a cottage by a pond, one of my favoriteobjects in the collection, I begin to wonderabout the artist and the exact process used toproduce this print. I take a photo with my cell-phone of the etched inscription and the pencilsignature, and head back to my computer andthat amazing research tool we nowhave— theInternet.

I must admit, I have been guilty in thepast of saying some very unkind things aboutcomputers and how they are so often misused,but as a research tool, they are pretty remark-able. I was about to discover this, once again.

I started by searching for “J Hallu.” Thisturned up nothing. I tried Radtke Lauckner.Success! Radtke Lauckner & Co. was a New

The Mystery of the ‘Cottage by the Pond’

See MYSTERY, page 6

Viewpoints-Page 4 V

tations occupied many hours as well.The wedding became a highlight of the

social season. On April 26, Mamie’s cousin,Kydie McKee, announced the engagement ata luncheon, and after that it seemed that everyBeaumont society matron wanted to honorMamie. A total of eighteen events — sixluncheons, two teas, two buffet meals, twocard parties, one dance, one lawn party, andfour dinner parties, including one given byCarroll’s parents and one given by Ida andW.P.H. — honored Mamie or Mamie andCarroll. Oh, and one of Carroll’s friends threwhim a stag [bachelor] party. Reporters for theBeaumont Enterprise and Beaumont Journal hada field day.

The wedding was held in the parlor of theMcFaddin home at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May21. The house was lavishly decorated in gold,yellow, and ivory, with pink accents. Gold andivory baskets held “gladiolas and peonies withlovely twining of smilax upon electrolier andchandelier, terminating in great bouquets fin-ished with tulle bows upon newel posts.” Onthe stairs stood “a great basket of gladiolas fes-tooned with pink tulle and smilax.” Other bas-kets held masses of Ward roses (a copper-yel-low variety, no longer grown but described asMamie’s favorite), roses which Mamie’s atten-dants also carried.

More than 200 guests attended. Somegathered inside; to accommodate more, thefront porch was screened in with unbleachedmuslin, leaving only the port cochere area

open for entry to the house. The parlor win-dows were open so guests could see and hearthe ceremony.

Mamie descended the grand staircase toan altar in front of the parlor fireplace. In addi-tion to her seven bridesmaids and Carroll’s tengroomsmen (including ushers) and a master ofceremonies, twelve flower girls lined the bridalpath and the young son of one of Mamie’sfriends carried her train.

A “selected orchestra” played while theguests assembled. Professor WilliamKirkpatrick played the piano processional,and his wife sang “Call Me Thine Own.”Alice Kent, local violin teacher and Mamie’scousin, played “Meditation” from “Thais” dur-ing the exchange of vows.

Mamiewore “amagnificent gown of ivorysatin d’allure and rose point over silver clothwith tulle elaboration. The court train [was]richly embroidered in seed pearls, the bodice oftulle-veiled rose point…. Her filmy veil oftulle, worn with Russian head-dress of rosepoint…reached to the end of her train.”

Mamie’s wasn’t the only dress that merit-ed description: “Mrs. McFaddin was very love-ly in gold metal cloth brocaded in peacockblue. She wore diamonds.” “Mrs. John C.Ward wore American Beauty messaline withdrapings of tulle.”

As was the custom, the newlyweds

received the most effusive praise. Mamie was“a handsome young woman of strikingbrunette type” with remarkable “charmingnaturalness and thought of others,” who had“won the love of all those with whom she hasbeen associated.” Carroll was “possessed ofmuch personal magnetism” and numbered “hisfriends by the hundreds.”

For the reception, the bride’s cake in thedining room was “decorated with valley liliesand orchids” and the bridal table was “overlaidwith priceless filet and Madeira with Barronalace insets.” The breakfast room held “individ-ual ices and cakes” and was adorned with fruit“tumbling in artistic profusion from artisticbaskets, ferns filling the fountain andhydrangeas crystal vases.”

The final paragraph of the Enterprise arti-cle was devoted to Mamie’s going-away outfit:“The bride’s traveling suit was of boule coloredgabardine, smartly tailored, with a toque of thesame hue, trimmed with crushed raisins andfruits in reds, greens and yellows. She worebronze pumps with bronzed buckles, andgloves harmonizing with the suit.” (Boule mayhave been a shade of amber or bronze, or noteven a color but a type of gabardine.)

Mamie and Carroll left on the 10 p.m.train to New Orleans. They stopped off inNew Orleans and Cincinnati, ending up inHuntington. Once there, the merry-go-roundof entertainments began again, as members ofthe Caldwell family and friends feted the new-lyweds. It was probably something of a relieffor them to get back to Beaumont so theycould get some rest. Early 1900s weddingsweren’t for the faint of heart!

WeddingsContinued from page 1

A place card for the groom at one ofMamie's pre-wedding parties.

Mamie posed in her wedding gown on herhoneymoon in Huntington.

Ida and WPH gave Mamie and Carroll arehearsal dinner in May 1919.

Viewpoints-Page 5

t Triangle saw record flooding,Deweyville went under, Interstate 10was closed, and our sister house muse-um in Orange, the Stark, was sur-rounded by a moat. Thankfully, wegot none of that, but what I got wascabin fever under gray skies.

Stranded in our little house-office, I waited patiently for the down-pours to stop. I longed to walk throughthe grounds of the Big House on myway to the Visitor Center, to smell theflowers and hear the birds and bees inthe air. I drove past the house in thecar, circling the block day after day,eagerly anticipating the fuchsiablooms bursting forth on the azaleasand the pastel pinks, purples, yellows,and reds of the roses unfolding.

And then it happened. Theclouds parted. The sun shone. Andthe flowers sang.

I leave you with a few pictures offun on the beautiful, stately lawn ofour beloved McFaddin-Ward Houseand the joy it continues to bring usall.

Thank you, Mamie.

HangingContinued from page 1

York firm that operated in the late 19th centu-ry. I could not find exact dates for the compa-ny. They were publishers and importers ofetchings, engravings and photographs. Manyartists were employed by them to produceprints, especially pastoral landscape scenesthat were so popular at the time. I also discov-ered one of the artists working for them was aman named J. Haller. Could this be our own J.Hallu? Had we simply misread the signature? Ifound a J. Haller signature on the website andcompared it to the J. Hallu signature I hadtaken with my phone, and yes, they wereexact. When I searched for images of J. Halleretchings, I found our “Pond” etching amongnumerous other similar etchings. Mysterysolved — wait, not so fast!

Let me continue by explaining the type ofetching and the process used to make our“Cottage by the Pond.” The print is an intagliodrypoint copperplate etching. The processdoes not involve the use of acid as an etchingtool — the technique used in more traditionaletchings. Instead, the artist “draws,” actuallyscratches or engraves, into a copperplate witha dry point tool, usually a diamond- or carbide-tipped needle. When the “drawing” is com-plete, the plate is inked. Excess ink is “wiped”or “cleaned” from the plate. The plate is thenprinted on a printing press. The ink remainingin the “drawn scratches” is forced out by the

press and produces the image on the paper.This entire process is repeated for each indi-vidual print. In printmaking terminology, it isreferred to as “pulling” a print.

Inking and printing is an art in itself.Even a perfectly executed plate can be lessthan perfect when printed, if the printer is lessthan perfect. Because the printer played suchan important part in the process, they wouldoften sign each print that was pulled. Guesswhere? At the time these prints were beingmade, it was customary for the printer to signthe print in the bottom right corner, in pencil.J. Haller was the printer, not the artist!

The search continued for the artist.Closer examination of the images online,including our “Pond” etching, revealed thatartists’ signatures were usually etched into theprint. Often the artist would simply etch onlyhis initials. One close-up image of the “Pond”print showed the initials “ELF” etched into thebottom left corner of the print. It was almosthidden in a grassy area, requiring a really closelook. Further reading identified the initials asbelonging to Edward Loyal Field. Field was theartist! I went back to the third floor and upon

close examination of the print found the ini-tials “ELF” right where the internet imageshowed them to be.

Edward Loyal Field (1856-1914) was anAmerican artist, born in Galesburg, Illinois,who studied in the U.S. and in Paris. A veryversatile artist, working in watercolor, oils andetching, he was successful in his lifetime,exhibiting extensively throughout America,but unfortunately is largely forgotten today.Like J.Haller and many other artists, Fieldworked for Radtke, Lauckner &Co. producingetchings for sale to the general public in thelate nineteenth century. Our etching is a sceneof one of his favorite subject locations, a cot-tage by a lake – Lake Champlain in New York.Thanks to information available on the inter-net we now know:

J. Haller (Alfred J. Haller) was the print-er of our etching, not the artist.

Edward Loyal Field was the artist andetched his initials into the print.

The print is a scene of a cottage locatednear Lake Champlain in New York state (oneof the artist’s favorite subject locations)

Finally! Mystery solved!

puter, he said he was just trying to help. Hecouldn’t, of course, but it was nice of him totry. He did, however, finally fix the computer.

Most of the problems with getting a techactually originate in the service call system.This is how it works: you call for service. Thedispatcher takes the information, sends you aconfirmation email and then promptly sendseverything into a black hole. You wait as longas you can stand, a day or two or three, beforeyou call to see what happened. They put youon hold for a long time while they figure outwhat happened. Maybe that’s why the banneron the confirmation email apologizes for anyinconvenience before it even happens. My lastencounter with one of these systems ended ina call to the service manager. These are usual-ly not happy calls, but this one did result in atechnician who was most eager to repair my

machine. You do what you have to do.What about when you go into a program

to look at something — not make any changes,just look — and up pops an error message? Ihave no idea what or where Error 91 is, I justknow I can’t get rid of it. That means a call totech support and they fix it, but I’ve wasted twohours, just for looking at something.

Of course, at some point we all faceadjusting to a new program, meaning: “Let’schange the entire system that we’ve workedwith for years so you have to learn it fromscratch.” The reason? “This will make yourlife so much easier.” Years ago, I could navi-gate my DOS operating system. Then “they”invented Windows to make my life easier, andI’ve been lost ever since. I can make my wayaround, sort of, except that it usually takes anhour to do something that should take 10minutes. Does this sound familiar? Sometimesyou feel like cutting your suspenders and goingstraight up.

And have you noticed how sometimes

this new technology just takes it upon itself tochange your stuff? The other day my homecomputer asked me if I wanted to upgrade toWindows 10. I said no, so it proceeded to doit anyway. I couldn’t figure out how to stop itor un-install it so now I have Windows 10.Not only that, but my web browser is nowMicrosoft Edge; it in no way resemblesInternet Explorer, so I have no point of refer-ence. I don’t use my home computer for muchother than to play games and do online bank-ing, but now I couldn’t even if I wanted. I canstill manage to put in a URL if I know what itis, but my favorites took a hike—or so Ithought. I accidentally found them lurking ina place that I never would have thought tolook.

I just saved this file and my computersaid, “Your file is being updated to the latestformat available.” What’s up with that? Did Iask it to? Why would it need to be updated inthe first place? See what I mean? Thesemachines are evil.

MysteryContinued from page 3

WoesContinued from page 2

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J

Etched in the upper left corner of the print.

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By Becky Fertitta

Spring 2016 will likely go in the recordbooks as one of the wettest ever — at leastin our area. Terrible flooding, tornadoes,lightning striking 800, 900 times in oneminute—these things have been far tooprevalent this year. As we head into anoth-er hot summer, we look forward to dryingout, but we may be begging for rain onceJuly rolls around. So what does that have todo with the McFaddin-Ward House VisitorCenter (VC), you ask? The weather, nowmore than ever before, impacts our day-to-day operations in a big way.

Events, trips, group tours have beencanceled because of the weather—or shouldI say the “forecast.” Nowadays, unlike whenI was a younger 20-something, the weeklyforecast, the 10-day forecast, or even theday-before forecast rules our lives. And thatprediction often changes the way we live. Ifault the Weather Channel for beginningthis 24-hour bombardment of “weather!”

Often, here at the VC, when it is pour-ing rain (like this spring), we marvel at vis-itors who brave the bad weather to drop infor a tour. Now I ask all of you, if you’re onvacation, are you going to let a little rainstop you from seeing the sights? Most defi-nitely not! So why do we assume that peo-ple getting out to tour in the rain is so out ofthe ordinary? The Weather Channel, that’swhy!

We have had any number of touriststhis spring who braved the rain here to getout of the snow and ice there. We adore our

“snow birds,” and wish we had more. Theyappreciate our weather! What’s a little rainat 65 degrees compared to 25 and snowing?

We also marvel that visitors come outin the blazing heat of the summer for tours.In southeast Texas, we love to stay coopedup in our air conditioning, listening for thehorrible, fear-striking words “heat index.”Visitors come in spite of the heat.Hallelujah! It’s time to tell the forecasters tocut it out! Quit predicting doom and gloomthat hardly happens. So what if it rains?Isn’t that a darned sight better than no rain?

At the visitor center I say let’s expectvisitors especially when it is raining or cold,or hot and dry — let’s warm them up with acup of coffee or cool them with a glass ofice-cold water — because they are the rea-son we are here. And the more the merrier!Please pass the word that the McFaddin-Ward House is open for tours and waiting towelcome our guests with good oldSouthern, if a little damp, cold or hot,HOSPITALITY!

Viewpoints from the Visitor Center

Viewpoints-Page 7

C

OdomAcademy senthundreds ofmiddle schoolstudents to the

McFaddin-Ward House inMay for educa-tional tours.Our docentshad as much

fun as the kids!Clockwise,from above,Laura Scottherds the

crowd to thefront porch,students and

teachers try onold hats, buttermold demon-stration, and

docent AlfriedaKoehnen

explains thelibrary.

Events Calendar

Thursday, June 2Free Movie Nights:

“The Imitation Game”6:30 p.m.

Visitor Center

Thursday, June 16Free Lecture:

“The Art of Southeast Texas”Sarah Beth Wilson, presenter

6:30 p.m.Visitor Center

Wednesday, June 22Kids’ Sumer Day Camp“Western Round-Up”

Ages 8-129 a.m. to noonVisitor Center

Thursday, July 7Free Movie Nights:

“The Intern”6:30 p.m.

Visitor Center

Wednesday, July 13“Manners Matter”

Ages 10-1410 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Wednesday, July 20Kids’ Summer Day Camp

“Let’s Play Games”Ages 8-12

9 a.m. to noonVisitor Center

Thursday, July 21Free Lecture and Exhibit“Crazy from the Heat”James Evans, presenter

6:30 p.m.Visitor Center

Wednesday, August 10Kids’ Summer Day Camp“Lights, Camera, Action!”

Ages 8-129 a.m. to noonVisitor Center

Thursday, August 18Free Lecture

and Documentary“Frank Reaugh,

Pastel Poetof the Texas Plains”

Marla Fields, presenterArt Museum

of Southeast Texas

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Volunteer Calendar

Monday, June 6Postcard History Lecture

Lecture Hall10 a.m.

Tuesday, July 12VSC General Meeting

Lecture Hall6:30 p.m.

Monday, August 22Volunteer Book Club

Visitor CenterNoon

Viewpoints-Page 8The

McFADDIN-WARDHOUSE

725 North Third StreetBEAUMONT, TEXAS

77701-1629Return Service Requested

Vol. 32, No. 3June 2016

Published quarterly for volunteers of the Mc-Faddin-Ward House and others interested in cultural and

educational aspects of the museum. (409) 832-1906, office

(409) 832-2134, visitor centerwww.mcfaddin-ward.org

2013 Press Club of Southeast Texas Excellence in Media Award winner for Best Newsletter

IEWPOINTMcFADDIN-WARD HOUSEV S

NON-PROFITORGANIZATIONU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDBEAUMONT, TXPERMIT NO. 271

www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums