Memorial Day Weekend marks the beginning of summer, and in Michigan, what better way to celebrate than with a typical summer activity: boating.
Florence Louise Booth and Warren Scripps Booth rowing on Glastonbury Lake (now Kingswood Lake) in 1906. Courtesy of Cranbrook Archives.
Florence and Warren are pictured in a rowboat at what was known as the Booth family’s summer retreat, two years before the building of Cranbrook House. In 1906, Henry Wood Booth recalled, “The millpond was enlarged and made into a lake by deepening and extending to the old millrace at the north-west end.” The lake was called Glastonbury Lake, after a pond near the village of Cranbrook, Kent, England (Henry Wood Booth’s birthplace). It has since been renamed Kingswood Lake.
Warren Scripps Booth sits in a boat near the original frame boathouse on Glastonbury Lake (now Kingswood Lake) in 1906. Courtesy of Cranbrook Archives.
So, as summer begins, remember to be safe while boating. Although Florence (4) and Warren (12) may be missing their life jackets 115 years ago, a new Federal Law now requires children under 13 years of age to wear one when a vessel is underway.
– Leslie S. Mio, Associate Registrar, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research
What you might think at first look is simply a bell tower at Christ Church Cranbrook is actually much, much more. The tower holds a carillon, a musical instrument consisting of cast bronze bells in fixed suspension, tuned in half steps (chromatic order). It is played from a clavier (keyboard) containing wooden leavers and pedals wired to clappers.
South view of Christ Church Cranbrook, 1932. Photo by Max Habrecht. Courtesy of Cranbrook Archives, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research.
The Christ Church Cranbrook carillon is known as the “Booth-Wallace Carillon” as the instrument was a gift to the church from Grace Booth Wallace, her husband Harold Lindsey Wallace, and their five children, Elizabeth, Ellen, Richard, Shirley, and Catherine. It originally consisted of forty-six bells made by the Taylor Bell Foundry in Loughborough, England.
The largest bell (bourdon) is 6,700 pounds, five-feet eight-inches in diameter, and rings a low B-flat. The carillon was later expanded in 1978 with smaller treble bells to its current total of fifty bells, or four complete octaves. The carillon is in concert pitch, meaning it sounds the notes implied by the keyboard arrangement. To play the large instrument, the clavier is struck with fists and feet. The carillon requires physical exertion as the clappers can weigh several hundred pounds–however, the instrument is balanced for ease of use.
Nellie Beveridge at the clavier of the Booth-Wallace Carillon in May 1946. Note the use of her fists to play the instrument. Beveridge also served as nurse and companion to George and Ellen Booth. Courtesy of Cranbrook Archives, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research.
The Booth-Wallace Carillon was dedicated on Sunday, September 30, 1928. The first carillonneur to play the instrument was Anton Brees, at the time one of the world’s leading carillonneurs and famously the carillonneur of the Singing Tower at Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Florida. He would return to Christ Church for several summers to play, beginning what is now called the Summer Carillon Series.
Article from the June 8, 1930 the Detroit Free Press regarding Brees and the Christ Church Summer Carillon Series.
The 2020 Summer Carillon Series at Christ Church Cranbrook has already begun. You can listen to the July 5th concert below and go to the church’s Facebook page to learn more about future concerts.
Christ Church Cranbrook has had a number of carillonneurs or carillonists throughout its history.
Carillonist Beverly Buchanan preparing the instrument to play, February 1970. Courtesy of Cranbrook Archives, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research.
Beverley B. Buchanan played the carillon at Christ Church from 1964-1988. Beverly was a graduate of the University of Michigan, School of Music where she majored in organ and carillon. She was a long time member of the American Guild of Organists and the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America. She concertized on the carillon throughout North America, Europe, and Australia.
Dr. Maurice Garabrant playing the carillon, September 1956. Courtesy of Cranbrook Archives, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research.
Other carillonneurs of Christ Church include Dr. Maurice Garabrant (1949-1959), Dr. Don Cook (1988-1991), and Dr. Phillip Burgess (1991-mid 1990s). The current carillonist at Christ Church is Jenny L. King, who has been at Christ Church since the mid-1990s..
We hope that you will be able to enjoy more of the Christ Church Cranbrook Booth-Wallace Carillon this summer, whether in person or online. I think sitting on the wide lawn in front of the church enjoying a concert sounds like the perfect socially distant activity! For the complete program for the Summer Carillon Series, click here.
– Leslie S. Mio, Associate Registrar, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research
Henry Scripps Booth designed his home near Cranbrook just north of the Meeting House and Brookside School(another building on which he served as architect) in a thorny meadow. He called it “Thornlea” after its hardscrabble site. Built from 1925-1926, the house and its grounds hosted over sixty years of family gatherings, large and small. As is evidenced in Henry’s photograph albums, he, his wife Carolyn, and their five children celebrated holidays and entertained friends often. Equally represented are images of everyday life, such as this one:
Henry Scripps Booth can be seen soaking up the rays alongside the pool at Thornlea House in the summer of 1964. To his right are son David and grandson Miles. Courtesy Cranbrook Archives, Henry Scripps Booth Papers.
With just ten official days left of summer, let’s take a moment to bask in similar memories of long hot sunny days.
See Thornlea for yourself and help us make new memories at the house on Saturday, September 21st, when you join us for A House Party at Cranbrook. Thornlea will be open for tours, live jazz at the piano, and cocktails on the patio prior to the evening’s live auction and dinner at Cranbrook House. Join us and support Cranbrook Archives and the Center for Collections and Research at our annual fundraiser, tickets and sponsorship opportunities are still available!
Not everyone vacations in the summertime. Although the image below may at first glance appear to be a lovely woman posing for a vacation photo, it is actually one of a series of photos taken in August 1933 during a Cranbrook Institute of Science (CIS) field exhibition to the Southwestern region of the U.S. This is Isabelle Porter Cahalane (1903-1978), wife of the first director of CIS, Victor Cahalane (1901-1993).
Isabelle Calahane in front of the Mission Santa Barbara, Aug 1933. Victor Cahalane, photographer. Courtesy Cranbrook Archives.
Cahalane served as director of the Institute from 1930-1934. A field biologist, he received his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Agricultural College, a Master’s degree in Forestry from Yale University, and completed Ph.D. course work at the University of Michigan. In the summer of 1933, the Cahalanes traveled to Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Wyoming to study the distribution of mammals. They visited Chiricahua National Monument, Coronado National Forest, Yellowstone National Park, and the Grand Canyon, as well as several missions. Most of the expedition was spent studying small mammal populations in the transition, upper, and lower Sonoran life zone. According to the fourth CIS Annual Report, “a special and successful effort” was given to capturing the rare high mountain shrew (Sorex).
Reviewing primary source material in the Archives.
Volunteering in the Archives was a great experience! As a Cranbrook grad, it was really interesting seeing how things used to be at my old school. It was especially fun seeing photos from familiar events like the fifth grade December Program, taken decades before my own class’ production. There were also of course some less familiar things, like pictures of Brookside students at the Art with goats. Personally I think Cranbrook should consider bringing that back, but maybe that’s just because I’m a fan of goats. That was one of several things I enjoyed seeing, as were photos of Amelia Earhart and even… my dad’s yearbook! All in all, it made for a great three weeks. My thanks to all the great people I worked with!
Brookside School pet show, 1936.
– Giuliano Stefanutti, CKU ’15
Editor’s Note: We are very grateful for the work Giuliano completed when he was here. He processed slide collections, sorted historic photographs, and inventoried a large audio-visual collection. We wish him well as he heads back to college!
The temps have been high this July! We hope you are keeping cool. The smiling faces in today’s Photo Friday are from the 1953 session of the Kingswood-Cranbrook Summer Day Camp. The program was a precursor to the summer camps offered today on the Brookside, Kingswood, and Cranbrook school campuses.
The first summer “camp” at Cranbrook was a war-inspired program for girls ages 14 and older– the Summer Institute of Kingswood-Cranbrook School. The curriculum provided courses that were helpful to the war effort. The Summer Institute of Kingswood-Cranbrook School continued through 1944 when it evolved into the Kingswood Summer Day Camp. In 1947, Cranbrook initiated the Cranbrook Summer Institute, offering “programs and recreation for the entire family.” Summer Institute provided courses in weaving, ceramics, lapidary techniques, music, theatre — and of course, the opportunity to cool off in Lake Jonah!
Children sitting on the rocks at Lake Jonah. Harvey Croze, photographer, Jul 1953.
Cranbrook Kitchen Sink 