Month: October 2010

The Walsh Gallery Presents: Cuban Artists’ Books and Prints: 1985 – 2008

October 18 through December 10, 2010
Opening Reception – Thursday, October 21 5pm to 8pm


The Walsh Gallery, in collaboration with The Joseph A Unanue Latino Institute at Seton Hall University is proud to present “Cuban Artists’ Books and Prints: 1985 – 2008” a traveling exhibition on view October 18 to December 10, 2010. A related symposium will be held on November 11 at 5:30 p.m. at the Walsh Gallery. The exhibit, curated by Dr. Linda S. Howe and the Wake Forest University Cuba Project Collective, features more than 130 books and objects from thirteen Cuban painters, photographers, sculptors, printmakers, multimedia artists, writers, and the Vigía Press. Works on display are by Sandra Ramos, Yoan and Iván Capote, Aglutinador (Sandra Ceballos and René Bravo Quintana), Ibrahim Miranda, Carlos Estévez, Rene Peña, Rocío García, J.A. Vincench, Olympya Ortiz, Danilo Moreno, and Tonel (Antonio Eligio Fernández) and Ediciones Vigía (the bookmaking cooperative and press from Matanzas, Cuba).
These works represent the artists’ personal responses to life in Cuba over the past two decades and reveal how their creativity and imagination have been shaped by occurrences such as the fall of the Soviet Union and the 1990’s Special Period of economic strife. According to Dr. Howe, “This exhibit is primarily about the ingenious resilience of the Cuban artists represented and how they express their experiences of life in Cuba, but it is also a testament to the service and entrepreneurial work of more than 200 Wake Forest students, faculty and staff over the years. Without them, this exhibit never would have happened.”
Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10:30am to 4:30pm. If you require further information, contact Gallery Director, Jeanne Brasile at 973-275-2033, jeanne.brasile@shu.edu or view the Walsh Gallery website at http://academic.shu.edu/libraries/gallery/

Salt Letters Home To Setonia

The Seton Hall University Libraries is proud to announce the acquisition of the Father William Salt Letters.  This large collection of approximately 500 original letters (along with a small amount of ephemera) from the estate of Father William Salt (1837-1890), Catholic priest and renowned figure at Seton Hall University will be housed in the Archives & Special Collections Center and made available to researchers upon request.  The letters date from 1808-1901, with the majority from 1840-1880. Approximately 140 of the letters were written by Father Salt with the balance written by members of his family. These letters were consolidated into a single collection by Mr. Jim Martin, a history expert and resident of Bath, New York, which coincidentally is where Father Salt was raised during the mid-nineteenth century.

William Salt was born in Brooklyn, New York, the eldest of nine children.  His parents were Baptists, but Father Salt joined the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1859, when he also decided to enter the ministry. He later taught at a parish school in Van Buren, Arkansas, and letters from the 1860-61 period provide details of the many events during this important period in American history.  One of these letters is an illuminating narrative of the Confederate occupation of Ft. Smith during the early days of the Civil War. These Arkansas-era letters show that the Reverend Salt’s sympathies rested with the Confederate cause. Additional Civil War-era letters exist from his family members, including one from his sister Elinor discussing the Emancipation Proclamation.  On the advice of his Bishop he entered the Theological Seminary at Camden, South Carolina, in 1861 from which he was drafted into the Confederate army, and served for nearly three years. He eventually made the journey home to Bath on foot, where he was ordained a deacon and assigned to a local church in Sodus Point, New York.

Later letters include Father Salt’s time in Sodus Point, a letter to his father announcing his conversion to Catholicism, descriptions of his studies in Rome, Italy, and a great many letters from Seton Hall University, with early stationery and envelopes dating from shortly after the school was founded in 1856.  Father Salt studied philosophy at Seton Hall, and was sent to study at American College in Rome, until his health failed and he was obliged to return to New Jersey before completing his theological studies. He returned to Seton Hall, continued his course of studies and was ordained a priest on June 3, 1871.  Soon after ordination he was appointed Professor of Logic at the school and held various positions at the school throughout his career until he retired in 1889.  He passed away on Oct. 7, 1890, and was buried from Seton Hall Chapel.  Father Salt’s remains were laid to rest, as he had requested, in the Cemetery of the Holy Sepulchre in East Orange.

Overall this collection provides a rare and detailed perspective on the life of an important Seton Hall pioneer.

For more information please contact:

Alan Delozier
University Archivist
Alan.Delozier@shu.edu
(973) 275-2378

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