Listening To The Ice Music

The ice performs a different concert daily as it passes the island. One day it creaks and groans, whines, wheezes, and clatters like factory machinery.

Another day, it giggles, chirps, plinks, and trills like a gaggle of pre-teen girls.

On this lucky day, it murmured and shushed, hummed a lullaby, and sang the blues.

Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere by Hadda Brooks

More Hadda Brooks music on iLike

And more interesting ice music below.... hope you're enjoying the holidays.

Lost Letters Of Miss Letta Crapo Smith

A letter to her brother, Crapo Cornell Smith, that she wrote from Egmond, a Dutch art colony.

This post is the fourth in a series about a fascinating and little-known turn-of-the-century Detroiter, painter Letta Crapo Smith. Granddaughter of Michigan governor Henry Howland Crapo, she traveled the world and found fame as the first woman from Detroit to exhibit in the Paris Salon. Earlier reports of her can be found here:
On The Trail Of Miss Letta Crapo Smith, 789 E. Jefferson
Letta and the Detroit Society of Women Painters
Letta Crapo Smith At Home and Abroad
     I found her letters while looking for something else (my usual method of detection). I had thought that my search for her had ended, albeit incompletely, but there it was, a reference to a box of letters, under her mother's name, Lucy Anna Crapo Smith.

At first, when I went to find the box, I was foiled by the lack of a card in the card catalog. I searched under every permutation of the name I could think of. It had to be there somewhere. It had just been catalogued, referenced in a finding aid, not two years before.

So I turned to the mistress of the library, she of vast memory and nuanced understanding of the labyrinthine corridors of the Burton Collection, the reference librarian. In short order, she brought me not just a box filled with the words of Letta, but two folders of photos! I never imagined when I first saw Letta's picture how she would come to life.

If only I could read her handwriting. This may take a while.

Seriously, though, in a cursory glance of several hours, I was able to learn enough to flesh out gaps in her story. The box contains correspondence to and from Letta, her mother, and other close family members and friends, from 1893-1911.

Letta has pointed out her room on this hotel stationery. In her typical fashion, she covered the paper front, back and sideways, with room barely left for her name in the bottom middle of this photo.

Remember when I said it seemed as though Letta had traveled extensively in Europe during her twenties and thirties, although I had scant documentation? Here it is, her letters written on the letterhead of steamships and hotels from Paris, Florence, Naples; from Germany and Spain, from all the great cities and seas of the continent. She writes of the weather, visitors, shopping, local scenery, filling the pages from edge to edge, and then turning the letters on their sides and writing in the margins, with barely room for her name at the end.

From Gibraltar, onboard a steamship, traveling with her friend Mrs. McCabe.

She received many letters from the well-known painter Julius Rolshoven, also from Detroit, who was often in Europe at the same time she was. He comments on an influx of students, a letter written from the famous Avenue Studios in London (where John Singer Sargent painted)....

"There are many of my students here only, how to advise them is beyond me." Julius Rolshoven, undated letter to Letta Crapo Smith from the Avenue Studios, Fulham Road, London, England.

..one of several letters from Gertrude McCabe, mother of archaeologist Richard B. Seager, with whom she had a romantic friendship typical of women in the Victorian era, who writes from Paris of the latest fashions....

The letters begin when she is traveling with her mother (she is usually traveling with her mother) in 1893 and 1894, when her mother is the head of the Foreign Loan Committee for the Art Loan Exhibition, the precursor to the Detroit Institute of Arts. Her mother, Lucy Anna, is procuring foreign works to be loaned for exhibit. They follow her travels and studies throughout Europe, continuing during her studies at the Academie Julian in Paris, then on to the art colony at Egmond, through her visit to Helen Hyde in Japan, and then her summers painting throughout the continent (in between her winters running the Detroit Society of Women Painters).

The letters end shortly after the death of her father in 1910. Notes on the back of photos, written by Helen Elizabeth Keep, a neighbor, comrade in the DSOWP, and local historian, shed light on Letta's final years. Previously, I hadn't been able to find mention of Letta, other than her death in 1921, after 1915.

Once H.H.H. Crapo Smith, Letta's father and Lucy Anna's husband, died, the inseparable mother and daughter spent little time in Detroit. They summered at a home in Old Lyme, Connecticut, and wintered at the Hotel Vendome in Boston, near their relatives.

Old Lyme was home to an art colony where Letta would have known many friends. Referred to as the "American Barbizon" and then the "American Giverny", during its heyday from 1900 to 1915 it was best known for the painter Childe Hassam.  Many artists who summered at Dutch art colonies and who had studied at the Academie Julian visited Lyme. The daily routine, emphasis on "plein air" painting, and the camaraderie would all have been familiar comfort, like the art colony at Egmond.

A descendant of Letta's was kind enough to send me notes of diary entries regarding Letta's last days. From the 1921 diary of Emma Morley Crapo, Letta's cousin,

1-24-21  Called upon Letta- she is pathetic

3-16-21  Crapo Smith says Letta is not so well

3-17-21  Dr. said Letta could not live over 24 hours.  She has been so utterly wretched that she has not cared to live.

3-20-21  I drove to meet Crapo Smith who arrived from Boston with Letta's remains

3-21-21  Letta buried beside her parents and grandparents

Although the notes of her death are sad, her life was filled with the wonders of the world. In an era when travel was difficult and slow, she danced from great city to greek ruins, from museums to dutch countryside, from the Detroit River in her backyard to the Atlantic Ocean she crossed regularly.

Be assured that I will continue to wrestle with Letta's calligraphy, and keep you apprised of any further interesting tales.

-All letters from the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library. My thanks to the dedicated librarians following in the footsteps of M. Agnes Burton and Gracie Brainerd Krum.
-Photo of the Hotel Vendome, Boston, from the Library of Congress Archives.
-Notes from Emma Morley Crapo's diary courtesy of her family.

A Belated Merry Christmas

Warmest wishes to all for a happy holiday. Here's a few of my favorite old Detroit images from the Library of Congress.

10 Winter Things To Do On Belle Isle

So you have relatives coming from out of town for the holidays? Or some free time on your hands? Looking for a fun family day? You could spend a whole day hanging out on Belle Isle, inside and outside.

1) Visit the Conservatory... it is warm, green, and heavenly on a cold day... think orchids, ferns, and cactus, poinsettias in December. Bring your camera. Open 10-5, Wednesday-Sunday. Free.

2) Bird and critter-watching from inside the Nature Zoo. There is a fireplace! And a lovely comfy sofa right in front of the window overlooking the bird feeders. And spiders and turtles and such for the kids to view. Open everyday 10-5 except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. Free.

3) The Dossin Great Lakes Museum has the pilot house of a Great Lakes freighter stuck on its backside. You can pretend that you are captain of the universe. Open Saturdays and Sundays 11-4. Free. (Closed Christmas and New Year's Day)

4) Be Dutch for a day... bring your ice skates and glide along the network of canals. Or be Canadian...set up a hockey rink on one of the shallower ponds.

5) Cross country ski over the river (well, creek) and through the woods. You will have the place mostly to yourself early in the morning, and the city will seem a hundred miles away. Great map of the island showing nature trails.

6) There's always the Ice Tree!

Last winter's tree

This year's model underway

7) Bring your dog for a walk... just be careful about the icy river and deeper ponds, please.
8) New Year's Eve Fun Run/Walk

9) New Year's Day Toast at the Detroit Boat Club ... had enough football? have you ever wondered about the lonely white building next to the bridge, above? want to see the inside of it? make new friends?

10) Come to the island while it is snowing...you will feel like you are on the inside of a snow globe. Bring  hot chocolate or coffee. Park where there is a good view of falling flakes. Ponder the meaning of the universe as expressed in snow angels and catching flurries on the tip of your tongue.

Links to these and many other interesting Belle Isle sights/sites can be found at the top right of this blog, in the section, "The Isle Itself". Any favorite winter memories of Belle Isle you'd like to share?

Comfort And Joy...A Fluffy And Smart Story

We haven't been to the island as much lately, Smart, Fluffy, and I. You may have noticed we deserted you for a month or so a while back. The smart one tore her second ACL this fall, which meant major limping and tiresome resting, followed by surgery to remove some lumps and bumps, followed by a huge sigh of relief when lumps and bumps were found to be no problem, followed by the go-ahead for leg repair, followed by a long, continuing period of not nearly as much prancing, sprinting, leaping, and squirrel hunting as Smart would like.

Thankfully, I can say she's on the mend, and we can go for short walks. After an entire morning of being mercilessly pursued around the house by a dog squeaking a giant yellow stuffed duck, I decided it was time for our triumphant return to Belle Isle. It was just the glorious, white Christmas-y kind of day that Smart loves best, even with half her fur shaved off from surgeries. (If you see her wearing an adorable plaid coat, feel free to make fun of me.)

This week is the third anniversary of the fluffy one joining the family. Last year at this time I told Fluffy's story. In honor of Fluffy's anniversary and Smart's good health, today I'll tell Smart's story.

I went to the "Meet Your Best Friend at the Zoo" event just planning to look. Riiiigghhhhtt. It was a week after my xxth birthday (a lady never tells, but it was a traumatic round number). My longtime boyfriend had just suddenly moved out, a few days after my elderly cat (my first pet ever) died. No lie.

I had never had a dog before. The only dog I had known well was my Grandma's German Shepherd, so I thought I wanted one of those. I wandered the aisles of the adoption event, surrounded by the cacophony of hundreds of barking, whining, yipping, growling dogs. I approached a few, but none seemed quite right, until I spied a small black shepherd sitting quietly in her crate. She sat confidently, not scared, or nervous, or frantic, but calmly and alertly looking around. I walked up to the crate. She was happy to see me, wagged her tail, sniffed. I liked her, but I reminded myself that I was just looking that day, and moved on. Ha.

As I walked around, I kept thinking of the black shepherd. She seemed about right. Youngish (7-8 mos), but not a puppy so no potty training. An energetic dog that would drag my lazy self off the sofa and into the great outdoors. The right size, big enough and tough-looking enough to be a single woman's best friend on night walks and when strangers came to the door. An intelligent look in her eyes ...when I was a little girl, my grandma's shepherd knew I wasn't allowed near the canal at the back of Grandma's yard and had been seen grabbing me by the back of my pants, pulling me away if I got too close. I thought I should go back and take a second look. Maybe if she wasn't adopted at the event, I would visit her again later in the week if she seemed promising. Uh-huh.

This time, when I walked up to her crate, a volunteer from the rescue group was nearby. I asked a few questions. Where did she come from? Did they know how she was with cats (two more at home)? The rescue worker said she didn't know about cats, but we could take the dog out on a leash and over by the cats to see. So, she leashed her and off we went. Not much of a reaction to the cats, more interested in sniffing and visiting.

The rescue worker started to tell me about how the dog had been out of the crate a couple of times that day to meet people but hadn't seemed to click with anybody. As she talked, I sat down on the ground cross-legged. The black shepherd walked over to me and sat on my lap, all thirty-five pounds of her. I looked up at the rescue worker and said, "Well, I guess this is my dog." "Yeah, it looks like she picked you" replied the woman.

So that's how I got my first dog. Or how Smart got her person. Either way, it's working out pretty well for both of us.

If you're interested, Fluffy's story is here.

I will be ever grateful to K9 Stray Rescue League of Michigan, who saved the smart one from a pound on the west side of the state. Large black dogs have a harder time getting adopted from shelters. Read more about the extra challenges they face finding a home here.





If you are considering adding a new family member for the holidays, there are incredible dogs (and cats) waiting for you at your neighborhood shelter. I recommend one that looks like Smart, or whichever one picks you.

Sunday Stroll: House Of Contemplation

I struggled with the snarks on this post title... Cathedral of St. Slow's*? New Testament Church of Declare Detroit? Our Lady Queen of Hipsters? In the end the snarks lost and my kinder, gentler self was won over by the Imagination Station itself and Catie Newell's work, Salvaged Landscape  (pictured above). The Imagination Station miniplex, while technically consisting of two abandoned houses, is really made of equal parts bravura marketing, sweat equity, and community organizing, with a dash of wild (and necessary) optimism and a pinch of insane genius.

Located facing Michigan Central Station, one of the houses ... empty, burnt out, and deconstructed, has been transformed into a gallery, art installation, and performance space. On a sunny, unseasonably warm Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago, it seemed full of metaphors and hidden meanings about the city itself. Some of them were obvious, like the rose window/stained glass effect of Newell's centerpiece (first photo).

A side chapel and makeshift stage is formed in an alcove of the Roosevelt hotel, below. The hotel, next to the Imagination Station, was recently purchased by Dennis Keffalinos, who owns the Russell Industrial Center. He also owns numerous rehabbed loft buildings around town, and even more numerous un-rehabbed vacant buildings, many of them historically significant. Some people think his buildings are somewhat, ahem, lightly maintained. Others argue that he is one of the few trying and successfully rehabbing buildings of this scale in the city. 

Below... is this a purposeful vignette on the state of Detroit's industry or just some retro-chic stuff on a ledge?

Other details....

From inside Salvaged Landscape, a vantage point to consider Roosevelt Park's possibilities

On this afternoon, the Imagination Station was quiet. The only sounds were from someone rummaging around in the empty Roosevelt Hotel, and in the distance, the power tools of a man working on the back of the Mercury Bar. Plenty of space and solitude for the hamster wheel in my head to turn.

That's two vacant houses being looked after. I can't help but think of the others with lower profiles ... neighbors who get no press and no thanks for boarding up the vacant houses on their street, for trying to keep trouble away, for calling police who hardly ever come. I see the train of thought... call attention to these two, bootstrap them into something that draws more resources, and make it easier to work on the next two, or two thousand.

*For out-of-towners, Slow's is a wildly popular, delicious, (deservedly) overexposed, BBQ restaurant whose owners are trying to lead a burgeoning revival of the neighborhood.

Letta Crapo Smith At Home And Abroad

We left Letta Crapo Smith in the early days of the Detroit Society of Women Painters. Letta was one of the founding members. She quickly became an officer of the group, and then in 1907 was elected President. She led the Society from 1907 till 1915. The painters rarely met in the summer....many of them, including Letta, summered in far away locales. Above, a still life floral by Letta, 1893

Starting in the 1890's, there are records of Letta's travels...to Paris, and the Academie Julian. A women's painting class from the that era, at the Rue de Berri studio where she likely studied....

Below, one of her teachers, Adolphe-William Bougereau, surrounded by his students, 1896. Both photos are from this blog, about an Englishwoman who studied at the Academie at the same time as Letta.

Painting of the ruins by Van Ruisdael, 1650, from The Art Institute of Chicago.

In the early 1900's, she spent her summers in Holland, first at Volendam, where she stayed at the Hotel Spaander, still a hotel after all this time.. and then at an art colony in Egmond. Egmond was famous as the site of a castle ruined when the Spanish were occupying Holland.

The artists' village in Egmond had been started by fellow Detroiter Gari Melchers and and another painter, George Hitchcock, in the 1880's. They taught a summer art school of sorts, often in the open air, encouraging large paintings. The artists made excursions to country churches, local farms, and the nearby sea and sand dunes (a landscape very similar to the dunes and small coastal towns of northern Michigan), painting the pastoral scenes that were the fashion of the day.

Girls at the Beach, L.C. Smith, date unknown

Letta rented a room and studio space in a small hotel that catered to artists run by a J. Kraakman. Summer days were spent antiquing, riding bicycles to the beach, walking the dunes, and painting under large umbrellas to shield the painters from the sun.

Back in Michigan for the winters, Letta worked hard, not only in her attic studio painting, but directing the activities of the DSOWP. She often suggested specific activities for the group's meetings, including themes for sketches to be brought in for review such as "blue and silver" or "a note of white- for a motif".

The Fourth Annual Exhibition, her first as President, was a great success... a newspaper review of the exhibit headlined "Where 100 Pictures Giving Evidence of Surprising Talent are Hung" states that "Miss Crapo-Smith's work stands out for its strength and beauty."

She also gave informal talks at the meetings, recounting her travels. About her trip to Japan:

Helen Hyde in her Tokyo studio

A print of Helen Hyde's from within a year or so of Letta's visit...

From the Library of Congress, Honorable Mr. Cat, 1903

In 1914, there are ominous tidings in the DSOWP's secretary's notebook...

The Clifton Springs Sanitarium was a famous, state-of-the art facility in its day. Part of its campus has been turned into an apartment building. Annette Stott, art historian and professor at the University of Denver, mentions that tuberculosis may have been the cause of Letta's illness. Whatever the cause of her ill health, in October 1915 Letta resigned from the Detroit Society of Women Painters.

I can find no further record of our intrepid painter, until her death in Boston, in 1921. I surmise she was out east visiting relatives. Her mother had died in Boston the previous year. They were so close, constant traveling companions. If her elderly mother Lucy had gone to Boston to be near Letta's uncle, William Wallace Crapo, one of Lucy's few surviving (of ten) siblings, Letta surely would have gone, too. William Wallace Crapo's home is now an oral surgeons' practice, but you can still see what a gracious home it must have been.

She is buried in the family plot in Glenwood Cemetery, Flint, Michigan.

photo by Lori War, from Find A Grave

If anyone out there has any further info on her last few years, I would love to hear more of her story. Other paintings by Letta Crapo Smith....

Next in her story:  The Lost Letters of Letta Crapo Smith

First Birthday, Flint Museum of Art, currently on loan to the Singer Laren Museum in the Netherlands, her most well-known painting

Resources for this post:
My thanks to the librarians at the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library for their assistance, and to Maria Ketcham at the Detroit Institute of Art's research library. I also learned from the following publications:
Dutch Utopia:  American Artists in Holland, 1880-1914
  Telfair Museum of Art, 2009, by Annette Stott and Holly Koons McCullough
Artists of Michigan From the Nineteenth Century
  Muskegon Museum of Art, 1987
  Chapter on Letta Crapo Smith, by Annette Stott
History of the Detroit Society of Women Painters
  1953, by Julia Gatlin Moore
A Lark Ascends:  Florence Kate Upton
  1992, by Norma S. Davis
Rural Artists' Colonies In Europe, 1870-1910
  2001, by Nina Lubbren