People of a certain age will remember listening to American Top 40 on the radio. Detroiter Casey Kasem offered an opportunity for listeners to give “long-distance dedications,” requesting a song for a loved one, a friend, or if they themselves needed cheering up.
Loja Saarinen’s letter to WJR on October 26, 1961. Saarinen Family Papers, Cranbrook Archives.
Loja Saarinen wrote this note to the programers at WJR in Detroit, asking them to play two songs. Though she did not send this note to Casey Kasem, I imagine what Loja Saarinen’s words may have been if she had in October of 1961. On September 1, 1961, Eero Saarinen had died during surgery for a brain tumor:
Dear Casey,
I recently lost my son at far too young an age (51). He was overseeing the completion of a new music building for the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance and our family so loved music. Casey, could you kindly play Concerto in D Minor by my good friend and fellow Finn Jean Sibelius?
Yours, Loja
Well, Loja, here is your long-distance dedication, Sibelius’ Concerto in D Minor played by Jascha Heifetz and conducted by Thomas Beecham.
London Philharmonic Orchestra London, 1935
If you’d like to make your own dedication, no need to be long-distance. Chamber Music in the Age of Resistance: Finland, Korea, Haiti and America, and France is being presented by Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research, in Collaboration with the University of Michigan “Art & Resistance” Fall 2023 Theme Semester, on Sunday, November 12th, 2023 at Cranbrook House.
Please join us for the concert and remember, as Casey Kasem said, “keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.”
– Leslie S. Mio, Associate Registrar, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research
A headline in the January 19, 1928 Birmingham Eccentric newspaper declared “Pavilion Opens at Cranbrook.” An odd choice of words, perhaps, since what the article describes was actually a rustic cabin. Built in December 1927, it was a gift from George G. Booth to Cranbrook School in its first year of operation, which, as Headmaster William O. Stevens wrote in the school bulletin, “provided for the happiness of School life.”
Cranbrook School Cabin, later known as the Senior Cabin, circa 1928. Courtesy of Cranbrook Archives.
One of the coldest months of the year may seem like an odd time for an opening, but the cabin was purposefully built to serve students year-round for Saturday overnight camping excursions. Equipped with both a huge fireplace on one end and a wood stove on the other, the main gallery offered ample room for cots.
View of “Campfire Island”, May 1955. Harvey Croze, photographer. Courtesy of Cranbrook Archives.
Opening festivities included a campfire and games for Cranbrook School students, complete with light refreshments. In a school editorial written shortly after, a student thanks George Booth on behalf of his fellow students, ” We wish to express our gratefulness for this unique feature, which we are sure is no part of any other school.” Indeed!
Students paddle canoes under the bridge by the Senior Cabin, circa 1930s. Courtesy of Cranbrook Archives.
Built on the main island in the lagoon north of Cranbrook School campus, the cabin included a bridge and a canoe dock. By 1939, at least, it was referred to as the Senior Cabin. In 1941, a similar Senior Cabin was built for the students at Kingswood School.
—Deborah Rice, Head Archivist, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research
Consecration of Christ Church Cranbrook, September 29, 1928. Archdeacon Ramsey knocks on the door of the church, accompanied by Mr. Kinder, Bishop Page, Mr. Forsyth.
Today marks ninety-five years since the consecration of Christ Church Cranbrook!
Consecration Service Program for Consecration of Christ Church Cranbrook, September 29, 1928.
Planning for the church began in earnest in 1923, with the cornerstone being laid in 1925. After three years of construction, and countless hours of labor from masons, artisans, and clergy, the church was ready to be consecrated.
Christ Church Cranbrook Consecration–Parish House Recessional, September 29, 1928.
The consecration was led by Charles L. Ramsay, Archdeacon of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, declared the church sacred and ready for services. While the architecture was complete in 1928, it would be several more years before the last pieces of art were installed.
Consecration of Christ Church Cranbrook Recessional, September 29, 1928.
—Kevin Adkisson, Curator, and Laura MacNewman, Associate Archivist, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research
On this, the last day of summer, I thought we’d look back at the Center’s second-annual Architecture Elective for the Horizons-Upward Bound Summer Component. It was a real highlight of my summer!
A grant from the Society for Architecture Historians enabled Nina Blomfield, the Center’s Collection Fellow, and me to co-teach the six-week elective. Each Monday and Wednesday morning from June 28 to August 2, we met in Gordon Hall of Science at Cranbrook with fifteen enthusiastic HUB students, grades 9 through 12. While we started most mornings in the classroom with our textbook or a slideshow of images, the real excitement came on class trips.
I mean, what better way to learn about excellent architecture than to study the buildings of Cranbrook?
Head Archivist Deborah Rice showing our HUB students architectural treasures from Cranbrook Archives. Nina Blomfield, photographer.
To orient ourselves, we started with a morning spent in Cranbrook Archives, studying original sketches, renderings, blueprints, photographs, and even fundraising literature about Cranbrook’s many architectural treasures. We saw the great diversity of how our buildings were imagined, represented, and constructed, and how an architect moves from a loose, gestural sketch to formal construction documents that communicate complex structural systems.
Then, we spent a class period each at Cranbrook House, Saarinen House, and the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Smith House. In each location, students carried their sketchbooks and made notes and drawings about the architecture. I was especially impressed at the students’ analytical skills. In fact, while I usually love talking about the nitty-gritty specifics of Saarinen House, I found myself sitting much more quietly, asking students questions about what they noticed, liked, or disliked in each room. Listening to their observations and conversation helped me see each space anew.
At Smith House, Nina led a phenomenology exercise, where, instead of telling the students the story of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Smiths, she simply asked each student to find a spot in the house to sit in quietly. Then, they wrote or sketched what they observed and sensed. Having such a tactile experience with the architecture and nature proved to be more memorable than a conventional tour.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to cook in a kitchen designed by Frank Lloyd Wright? As the summer intern for the Center, I got a taste of the experience.
Clare in the Smith House workspace, August 2023. Photograph by Nina Blomfield.
My name is Clare Catallo and I am a 2020 graduate of Cranbrook Schools and a rising senior at Kalamazoo College. I am a history major and I am hoping to have a career in museum curation. As a Schools student, I had the opportunity to tour Cranbrook House, Saarinen House, and Smith House and learn about the designers and art movements that are intertwined with the legacy of the campus. It sparked my interest in design history and material culture, and I am very grateful to have spent the past two summers interning with the Center.
Studio glass by Sally Kovach (Cranbrook Academy of Art, Sculpture, 1975) comes alive in front of Clare’s camera. Photograph by Nina Blomfield.
Last year, I helped clean the exterior of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Smith House, inventory the books in Melvyn and Sara Smith’s collection, and do genealogical research. This summer, I have been researching the histories of household objects and conducting object photography at Smith House, as well as assisting with the Cranbrook Horizons-Upward Bound Architecture elective course. In August, I assisted the Center team with preparations for “At Home with the Smiths,” an immersive evening program held at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Smith House. Preparing for this event has brought my two summers here together as we work to emulate Melvyn and Sara Smith’s 1970s house parties.
Cookbooks from Melvyn and Sara Smith’s collection. Photograph by Nina Blomfield.
The cookbooks found at Smith House provide a glimpse into the family’s lifestyle and the home cooking trends of the 1960s and 1970s. Many of the Smiths’ cookbooks present an image of a modern, working woman who has more to do with her time than spend hours in the kitchen. World War II had made families rearrange their menus and ideas about food, due to rationing and shortages which continued even through to the postwar years. Menus became less formal, and fewer families had maids to cook for them.
These national trends align with Frank Lloyd Wright’s kitchen design, meant to function as a utilitarian, servantless workspace. Combined with the growing numbers of women in the workplace in the 1960s and 1970s, the demand for quick and easy recipes rose. This trend is reflected in the Smiths’ cookbooks like the excellently-titled Dinner Against the Clock (Quick, Sumptuous Meals With the Look and Taste of Infinite Leisure), and The Keep it Short and Simple Cookbook, the latter of which is dedicated to “every homemaker,” whether “housewife, career girl, or bachelor”. These recipes use few ingredients, many of which are ready-made, require a small number of utensils, and demand little time.
In addition to working as an Associate Archivist at Cranbrook, I am also a fledgling volunteer docent at Christ Church Cranbrook. Recently, I gave a tour of the Chancel to test my skills with my teachers. As I prepared, I found there was very little written about the history of the pipe organ at the church. So, where to turn for more information? Cranbrook Archives, of course.
In August of 1925, George Booth and Oscar Murray (of Bertram G. Goodhue Associates, the church architect), started in earnest to finalize their thoughts and feelings about the choice of organ for the church. While the organ itself was installed in January 1928, plans for its ducts and conduits had to be decided early, before the concrete floors were poured.
Christ Church Cranbrook organ pipes prior to the 1997 restoration. Jack Kausch, photographer. Courtesy of Cranbrook Archives.
The correspondence suggests that the E.M. Skinner Organ Company was the only company considered. The Boston-based firm was considered America’s finest and most technologically advanced organ builder. Skinner’s specifications for the organ, console, and bench were submitted in October 1925.
George Booth inquired of his colleague Cyril Player to provide comments on the specifications, and Player begins his commentary saying,
“I think I would emphasize gently to them that you want gravity, dignity and softness—the three prime essentials of any church organ, large or small… [gravity] is secured by an adequate and properly-balanced pedal department; dignity by volume of foundation tone in the basic divisions of the instrument; and softness and refinement by skillful voicing with a copious wind stream at a moderate pressure.”
Cyril Player to George G. Booth, November 1925
In passing along the comments to Murray, Booth remarks that, “the desired qualities, viz; gravity, dignity and softness; seems to me peculiarly to express my own feelings and desire.”
Skinner Organ Company Specifications for Christ Church Cranbrook Organ, October 1925. Courtesy of Cranbrook Archives.
William Zeuch of Skinner Organ Company revised the specifications following some of Player’s suggestions, while some revisions were the suggestion of Henry Willis, the great English organ builder who was a consultant to the firm. The contract for the organ (including the Great, Swell, Choir, and Pedal pipe divisions) was duly signed in December 1925 and work proceeded.
At the same time, a separate contract was made with Alfred Floegel to decorate the organ case doors. Booth wished to confine the oak finish to the exterior of the doors while having the rest richly decorated with color. Booth imagined the opening of the organ doors to represent the opening of the mind. He also envisioned the organ case to read as a triptych (a picture or altarpiece on three hinged panels) when open.
Organ case doors, woodwork by Irving and Casson, decoration by Alfred Floegel. Gift of James Scripps Booth. Laura MacNewman, photographer.
In July 1927, work on the organ console began. The console is where the organist sits to play the instrument, distinguished by its multiple hand keyboards (called manuals), pedalboard, and other controls. Rev. Dr. Marquis requested a change from a 3-manual (Great, Swell, and Choir pipe divisions) to a 4-manual, by adding the Solo division. Zeuch responded positively as it was not too late to build a 4-manual console; however, having already instructed the architect to reduce the dimensions of the organ chamber, which had been too large and would have interfered with the proper effect of the sound in the church, the architect would now need to find space for the Solo division. Room was found above the Sacristy.
Oakland County is decked out in checkered flags this Friday for the annual Woodward Dream Cruise. As the crowds gather in their folding chairs and thousands of classic cars roar past my windows, I’m reminded of a much more serene image from automotive history: the 1960 Plymouth Suburban stretched out on the manicured lawn of the Frank Lloyd Wright Smith House.
1960 Plymouth Suburban, on location at the Frank Lloyd Wright Smith House. Smith Papers, Cranbrook Archives.
In 1959, Chrysler was developing promotional materials for the 1960 Plymouth. Seeking a sleek, modern backdrop for the long lines of the Suburban station wagon, Chrysler’s Public Relations Department contacted Melvyn and Sara Smith about staging a photoshoot at their Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in Bloomfield Hills. The resulting photographs show the 18-ft long Suburban, not parked in the pea-gravel driveway or the distinctive cantilevered carport, but pulled to the back of the house where it could be reflected in the natural setting of the Smith’s newly expanded pond.
1960 Plymouth Suburban, on location at the Frank Lloyd Wright Smith House. Smith Papers, Cranbrook Archives.
The long, low horizon line of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian architecture, with its stacking roof planes, seems a great fit for the station wagon’s extended style lines and characteristic fins. In a second image, two casually-dressed models (check out those long socks and walking shorts!) lounge in rattan Tropi-Cal armchairs on the living room patio. Designed by Danny Ho Fong, the Tropi-Cal armchairs were recently identified through the diligent research of the Center’s Summer intern Clare Catallo.
Last weekend, Cranbrook’s Horizons-Upward Bound program celebrated the completion of its fifty-eighth annual six-week summer residency program. Students and their families spent Theme Day on campus learning about the academic and artistic successes of the summer (including a display organized by the Center about our Architecture Elective, and a performance in the Greek Theatre by students and the Autophysiopsychic Millennium collective).
Rosa Parks addresses Cranbrook’s Horizons-Upward Bound graduation, held at Cleveland Middle School, July 11, 1989. Cranbrook Archives.
But did you know that in 1989, HUB celebrated the end of the summer with a special graduation address by legendary activist Rosa Parks? The “mother of the freedom movement,” Parks spoke to Cranbrook’s HUB students in a ceremony held at Cleveland Middle School in Detroit on July 11, 1989.
A speaker at the HUB graduation stands beneath a banner welcoming Rosa Parks, July 11, 1989. Cranbrook Archives.
While we couldn’t find the subject matter of Park’s HUB address or too many details of the special occasion, I am confident we will learn more about this moment in HUB history (and so many others) as Cranbrook Archives embarks on an exciting, multi-year digitization effort of the Horizons-Upward Bound Records made possible by a grant from the National Archives and Records Administration, through the National Publications and Records Commission’s Access Program.
In fact, the work has already begun! During the summer months, two current HUB students worked in the archives, digitizing more amazing materials like these images of Rosa Parks! Look for more Cranbrook Kitchen Sink posts drawn from the HUB collection in the future!
—Kevin Adkisson, Curator, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research
Wonderful news for literary researchers and enthusiasts: the Ward Swift Just Papers have grown substantially in size and completeness! The new collection now more fully represents Just’s remarkable and multidimensional career in both news and creative writing, thanks to a recent substantial donation from the Just Family.
Head Archivist Deborah Rice and I are partial to the undated portrait of Just in a beret, likely while living in Paris. To your health!
The correspondence series of Just’s papers, alone, has increased tenfold. Some highlights include the young writer’s letters home to his family from Cranbrook School and Trinity College, as well as letters with many friends, fellow writers, and literary editors.
We also now have letters, reporter’s notes, images and clippings from the year and a half (December 1965-1967) when Ward Just, age 30-32, covered the American War in Vietnam for The Washington Post. Before his death in 2019, Just told Cranbrook Archives that the addition of these papers would be of special interest to scholars of the Vietnam War. They also give a much fuller story of these formative years in Just’s life and career.
The Center has made a new film! As part of our recent gala fundraiser, A House Party at Two Cranbrooks, we worked with Elkhorn Entertainment & Media to produce a short documentary about the Booth family’s connections between England and Michigan. Today, we are excited to share the film with the wider world! Watch the film below, or here.
A Tale of Two Cranbrooks
Now that you’ve seen the new documentary, I thought I’d invite you “behind-the-scenes” into how A Tale of Two Cranbrooks came together.
Cinematographer Josh Samson and producer Vince Chavez film the Booth-made tea kettle in Cranbrook House. April 6, 2023. Photograph by Nina Blomfield.
As with all Center projects, I started work on the film in Cranbrook Archives. The Booth family records are extensive, and with our archivists Deborah Rice and Laura MacNewman, I spent several afternoons consulting documents (letters, photographs, manuscripts, scrapbooks, etc.) assembled by many generations of Booths to learn the family story. Henry Wood Booth’s handwritten The Annals of Cranbrook were especially helpful.
Detail of a postcard of Cranbrook, Kent with handwritten notes by Henry Wood Booth, from The Annals of Cranbrook manuscript, 1914. Cranbrook Archives.
Then, through the support of Bobbi and Stephen Polk and Ryan Polk, I travelled to England! I visited Cranbrook, Kent, spending time at Cranbrook Museum and Archives and at Cranbrook School. (You can watch a walking history tour I did in Cranbrook, Kent, here and learn more about the Booth family and my trip to England in my virtual lecture, Uncovering Cranbrook: Two Pilgrimages to Kentish Cranbrook.)
Cranbrook Kitchen Sink 