Special Collections
Charles Bianchini
By Lauren Lowell Head of Production Design & Technology School of Theatre and Dance, Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts Illinois State University
Watercolor study for two Squires of Henry VIII from a drawing in the “King’s Library.”
Watercolor study for clothing of a Herald of France, from a miniature in the Lavallière Collection, Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
Charles Bianchini (1860-1905) is remembered as a 19th century painter, costume designer for the Paris Opera, and attempted murder victim. In addition to his career contributions, the artist also created exquisite watercolor studies featuring Gothic and Renaissance clothing. Fifty-seven of these pieces are held in the Milner Library Special Collections at Illinois State University. Each rendering is accompanied by handwritten descriptions of the materials depicted in the clothing, scribed in French. The drawings are masterful examples of both watercolor media use and the details of English, French, and German historical dress—worthy of scholarly study on both accounts. Added intrigue surrounding Bianchini’s relationship with his wife and her conviction regarding his attempted murder draws further interest to the man behind this incredible artwork.
As a career costume designer and a professor of clothing history myself, I was enamored by the virtuosity of watercolor technique as well as the intricate details that Bianchini achieves in artworks measuring 5 ½ inches by 9 inches. The variety of clothing he chose to study is also noteworthy. Nobility, peasants, knights, and middle-class merchants are given equal attention in this collection, demonstrating the variety of dress amongst diverse social classes and providing a wealth of information for the clothing researcher.
Artist signatures date the lot of drawings to 1892. This leaves me to speculate that similar collections featuring other segments of costume history may exist. My deduction is that the collection residing at ISU’s Milner Library Special Collections is a small example of what was likely an endeavor of curiosity and joy for the artist—a pet project of sorts. Bianchini made his living through commissions of costume designs for the Paris Opera (as well as other prominent venues of the time) and through creating fine art portraiture. I want to believe that these drawings were created out of a personal desire to study and record historical clothing at a time when the idea of historical accuracy in theatre design was far less important than the fashionable lines of the day. I do not believe that these drawings are works that he was contracted to create but instead exist as evidence of Bianchini’s own desire to be a student investigating the history of dress at a time when this subject was only just established in scholarly circles. Of course, this is only the speculation of a 21st century theatrical costume designer who also thrills at the study of the history and evolution of clothing.
Tucked into the box containing the collection are multiple copied newspaper articles regarding the scandalous relationship between Bianchini, his dear friend, and his wife. According to the reporting, Mme. Bianchini accused her husband and his friend of frivolously squandering her fortune through lavish food, drink, and other entertainments. During divorce proceedings it is recorded that Bianchini is noted as having a strange malady later explained as atropine poisoning. Mme. Bianchini was charged with attempted murder and given a prison sentence of five years. Despite the evidence substantiating her guilt, it is noted in the articles that Bianchini did not believe his wife to be guilty. This bit of scandal surrounding the artist’s personal life makes the collection all the more interesting.
This holding is nothing short of fascinating to scholars of theatrical design, clothing history, and fine arts. Bianchini portraiture fetches solid prices at art auctions. Bianchini’s theatrical costumes are held in reputable collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. These are the artifacts from the career for which he is remembered and documented. What is precious about the Bianchini Historical Costume rendering collection held in ISU’s Milner Library Special Collections, is that this set of renderings feels like an absolute labor of love, self-education, and historical preservation. Modern students and scholars viewing this set of renderings will see a mastery of watercolor technique, a unique recording of historical dress, and a glimpse into the personal life of a fine artist, career costume designer, and deeply intriguing soul.
Detail of a Bianchini watercolor depicting a third costume for Rosalind, designed after Cesare Vecellio.
Braathen
by Maureen Brunsdale Associate Professor & Head of Special Collections and Rare Books Milner Library Illinois State University
Sverre O. Braathen (1895-1974) saw his first circus, the Gollmar Brothers Circus, in his hometown of Mayville, North Dakota, as a boy. As a teenager, he jumped a train hauling grain and rode on the top of one of its cars to get to Grand Forks, 40 miles away, where the Ringling Brothers Circus was performing. From that point forward, the die was cast. He became a one-of-a-kind circus fan, historian, and photographer.
After serving in the Navy during World War I, he found his way to Madison, Wisconsin, where he obtained his law degree. He availed himself of the plentiful opportunities to see even more circuses there and soon ingratiated himself to its performers by offering them copies of the photographs he took of them. By the early 1930s, and with his wife, Faye, by his side, those images were captured in the saturated colors of Kodachrome slides. These pictures, along with the letters written between the Braathens and the subjects of the slides, provide incredible insight to what happened just outside the canvas flaps of the circus tent. The content of the moments caught on film ranges from the careful unloading of the trains, to rare outdoor performances, to performers (and sometimes their fans or guests) relaxing in the backyard of circuses both large and small.
Circus performer Corky Cristiani (left), posing with Sverre and Faye O. Braathen, May 12, 1947.
Panorama view of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus midway showing the poleless menagerie and big top on the lot in Buffalo, NY, July 7, 1956.
Aerialist Pinito del Oro and her husband Juan de la Fuente of the Pinito del Oro Troupe on the lot of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Guelph, Ontario on July 12, 1953.
Irene De Kos writes unflinchingly of her despair following the death of her beloved husband, Gene.
The letters that accompanied the photos provide even more details of their lives. It is through that correspondence that readers learn about the first shots fired during the Spanish Civil War witnessed by slack-wire performer, Maximo; the day-to-day struggles of trying to live through World War II and the years that followed in Germany from female strongwoman and single trapeze performer, Luisita Leers; and both the triumphs and tragedies of the Wallendas when they premiered in Madison Square Garden in 1928 and when members tragically fell from the high wire in Detroit in 1962. Such firsthand accounts bring history to life.
Alex Neuberger, rigger for the wire walking act, the Naitto Troupe, writes a firsthand account of the chaos and destruction he saw inside the Ringling Bros. Circus big top during the catastrophic Hartford Circus Fire on July 6, 1944.
“Learning history through the prism of circus is like watching a blockbuster movie. The main characters risked their lives twice each day to bring an unimaginable world to life for the audience, yet their letters give them a humanity that action figures often lack. Hopes, fears, loves, and loss are a few of the topics covered. It’s nearly impossible not to be drawn into the stories and the incredible lives of these amazing people.” —Maureen Brunsdale
In addition to Illinois State University, students from a wide range of disciplines, performers and their descendants, musicians, writers from ABC News, Smithsonian Magazine, and The New Yorker have used and learned from Braathen’s materials. Milner Library has been hosting his images online for years in its Passion for Circus site.
Carthusian Breviary
by Dr. Kathryn Jasper Associate Professor, Department of History College of Arts and Sciences Illinois State University
One of the most valuable windows into the culture of individual monastery is a breviary (breviarium) particular to that community. The breviary acquired by Milner Library’s Special Collections in 2018 comes from the Carthusian monastery, or charterhouse, of Valmanera (in Italian called simply Certosa d’Asti or di Valmanera) in northwestern Italy. At the time the monastery owned this manuscript, which was produced in Milan between 1430 and 1450, their order had existed for over four centuries, but Certisa d’Asti had belonged to the Vallombrosan order first and became Carthusian much later in 1387.1 The Carthusian order remains active today, but its origins go back nearly 1,000 years. The order’s founder, St. Bruno of Cologne (b. circa 1030), became a renowned scholar and canon at the cathedral of Reims but found this life unsatisfying. He sought solitude and fled to a mountaintop near Grenoble in France and eventually settled in the valley of Chartreuse, from which the order drew its name. Bruno and his six companions built a hermitage with individual cells for the brothers and shared spaces for the community to gather. Bruno died in 1101, but his movement survived him and spread rapidly. By 1145, the monastery of La Grande Chartreuse presided over an expansive congregation of both male and female communities living under a shared rule that combined elements of monasticism and hermitism. Although all Carthusian houses followed the same rule, each monastery also observed unique customs.
Carthusian Breviary, c.1430 — 1450 This page contains one of fourteen historiated initials depicting a cycle of saints. These masterful miniature paintings are placed throughout the first half of the book. At a mere 6-line height, these illustrations contain exquisite shading and detail, rendered in gold and other precious pigments.
This page spread shows a historiated initial, flourishes, foliate borders, and rubrication throughout.
The Carthusian Breviary at Milner Library reveals what daily prayer looked like in one corner of Italy during the 15th century. Medieval breviaries contained a compendium of various texts read in daily prayer throughout the year and organized according to the liturgical calendar. A breviary made the Divine Office easier to perform. No more fastidiously searching for individual passages from Scripture; the reader simply had to locate the specific day and read its pages. Clerics and monks typically sang these prayers together. Texts found in breviaries include hymns, Psalms, blessings, and rubrics (rules for divine service of the Mass), with the contents entirely curated by its patrons for their own use. Breviaries were ubiquitous manuscripts throughout the Middle Ages since they were necessary for religious devotion for both monastic orders and priests; the laity relied on Books of Hours for the same reason. Generally, we find two types of breviaries in Western Europe corresponding to the two branches of the medieval Church. To distinguish between breviaries for the regular clergy (monks and nuns) and those serving the secular clergy (priests), one must look at the texts pertinent to Matins (one of the periods in the Liturgy of the Hours) on feast days, because the monastic version had 12 lessons and responsories (responsoria) while the secular version had nine. Beyond that important, standard difference, the content of individual breviaries corresponded to the nature of the community, often its order, and its preferences. Indeed, the Carthusian Breviary possesses some unusual qualities. Unlike most breviaries, it seemingly would have made saying the Office more, not less, complicated. Its contents (capitula, antiphons with responsories, litanies of the saints et cetera) are not organized based on their place in the Office but by an idiosyncratic internal system that grouped texts separately and in no obvious order, which indicates the monks probably used the manuscript as a reference tool and not in regular devotions.
The folios are vellum of fine quality and the texts, written in black Gothic script punctuated by red and blue initials, are occasionally accompanied by a historiated and illuminated initial, 14 in total. The illuminations have been credited to the workshop of the Master of the Vitae Imperatorum (fl. 1402-1459), an Italian illuminator whose epithet refers to his work on a well-known manuscript of Suetonius’ Lives translated into Italian for Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan (1392-1447), although he illuminated numerous manuscripts that survive in libraries and archives across Europe and even in America. To commission a manuscript was expensive but to employ the same illuminator engaged by the Duke of Milan, among the most powerful and wealthy rulers at the time, seems particularly impressive. The breviary’s creation coincides with a period of great expansion at the monastery. The manuscript was a result of economic success and also reflected the prestige of the community. The Carthusian Breviary provided the monks a way to express their identity as Carthusians through specific liturgical practices, and it gives modern readers a glimpse into their monastic culture.
Books of Hours provided devotional texts for lay people, and ranged from minimally decorated with just a few illuminated initials to highly illustrated volumes with gold-tipped lettering, portraits, and penwork.
Local Circus Collection
by Mark Schmitt Senior Specialist, Special Collections Milner Library Illinois State University
Letterhead, Amy and La Van (AKA The Flying La Vans). c.1900.
Bloomington, Illinois - YMCA Circus featuring the controlled chaos of almost too many world-class trapeze flyers at any one time. c.1930s.
In 1875 a gymnasium opened in the disused sanctuary of a vacant Bloomington church—right above the offices of a now, long-defunct newspaper. The proprietor hung a trapeze amidst the other apparatus and amenities. The trapeze, at that point, was a relatively new thing to perform tricks on, as before that it was simply another piece of exercise equipment. Jules Leotard began performing tricks on the trapeze in the 1850s in France and became an international sensation from doing so. His innovation stirred many imitators, and by the time Bloomington had its first trapeze—it wasn’t long before someone got noticed for being especially good at it. The Green brothers were mere youths, but it was their prowess on the trapeze and at all things acrobatic that eventually led to them to christen themselves the La Van Brothers (and eventually the Flying La Vans) and leave town with a circus. They were Bloomington’s first circus stars, and their act lasted in innumerable iterations for over 50 years.
Bloomington was known as the trapeze capital of the world for the first half of the 20th century. That distinction was achieved due to the sheer number of people who learned to become flyers there, many of whom went on to work in aerial acts all over the globe. Bloomington flyers could be found (if one just looked up) playing dates at parks, fairs, civic celebrations, vaudeville, and, of course, circuses. Flying acts like the Wards and the Concellos still illicit a reverence for Bloomington in people close to the world of the circus.
The initial seeds of Milner Library’s Circus and Allied Arts Collection were items donated by retired local aerialists and their supporters in the mid-1950s. It has grown into one of the major circus research collections, with more books on circus than likely any other place on the planet, at quite easily a million items.
Bloomington, Illinois - original YMCA building, which included, among its many amenities, permanent trapeze rigging. c.1950s.
Circus Posters & Original Poster Art
by Morgan Price Associate Professor of Art Wonsook Kim School of Art Illinois State University Collaborative Printer, Normal Editions
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey one sheet poster. Undated.
“The world’s grandest, largest, best, amusement institution.” This bold declaration accompanies many of the acts featured on Barnum and Bailey circus posters. However, it is not just the text that asserts this idea, every visual element of these posters was designed to catch the eye, stimulate the imagination, and cultivate excitement. Lettering is bold and colorful, frequently cramming as many superlatives as possible into a single sentence (“Superb Famous World-Champion Leaping Horses in Thrilling Record Breaking High Jumping Contests” reads one such poster). Visuals are dynamic and dramatic, showing people and animals in the most active poses possible and often combining several different actions into a single composition. Each of these posters makes the promise that the most exciting, entertaining, and dramatic spectacle is on its way, a promise that the circus was usually more than able to fulfill.
The Milner Library Special Collections Department houses one of the nation’s largest assortments of circus posters, and looking through these documents reveals a wealth of compelling stories. Of particular relevance to the local community are the posters promoting trapeze performers, many of whom lived and trained in “The Trapeze Capital of the World,” Bloomington/Normal. The Flying Wards, a troupe with strong local connections, are depicted in a particularly dramatic Sells Floto Circus poster. The bottom of the poster touts “Miss Mamie Ward, the only lady in the world doing double somersaults in mid-air” while the main image shows all nine of the Flying Wards engaged in different aerial feats. In the foreground Miss Ward is depicted midair, body dramatically arched and hands reaching for the outstretched arms of her catcher. This style of poster is often repeated, with different troupes depicted in action and unique stunts prominently illustrated. The difficulty of capturing the complexity of some tricks in a still image is solved through the inclusion of a trail of dotted lines to illustrate the path an aerialist’s body follows through the air.
Original poster artwork for a proposed Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey half-sheet that perfectly illustrates all the work a lithograph goes through before the image ever graces a stone (gouache and ink on board). Undated.
Other dramatic performances are depicted in similarly dynamic fashion, such as a Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows poster featuring a performer in Roman-inspired boots and tunic standing atop two leaping horses. The Great Kar-mi Troupe, “presenters of the most marvelous sword swallowing action on earth,” are featured in a series of small vignettes depicting all manner of terrifying action (throwing daggers “balanced on the sword swallowed by a child,” firing a partially swallowed gun, swallowing an electric light). The Great Aloys is shown plunging toward a seemingly certain death while the poster announces how he “culminates his startling series of breath-taking aerial feats with a frightful drop through space with his head in a hangman’s noose!” In this manner the posters act as a dramatic visual archive of the daring routines and innovative stunts performed by different acts.
Sometimes these colorful posters hide a more somber history, as is demonstrated by two striking images in the Milner Library Special Collections circus poster archive. A beautiful image of the clown George L. Fox shows him posed formally in a suit jacket and bow tie surrounded by various versions of him performing as the immensely popular Humpty Dumpty character. Unfortunately, the lead in Mr. Fox’s signature white face paint severely compromised his health and his swift and tragic departure from the stage is illustrated by a second poster. This print features the exact same imagery as the George Fox version except for the name and the performer’s face, which have been replaced by that of James Maffitt—the new Humpty Dumpty.
George L. Fox, famous for his Humpty Dumpty pantomime was hastily replaced by James S. Maffitt, as this curious and previously pasted over lithograph shows. c. 1870s.
Along with the tremendous array of commercially produced posters, the Circus and Allied Arts collection contains documents and artifacts from various steps in the creation of different posters. A treasure trove of original correspondence between circus officials and representatives from the Strobridge Lithographing Company, the nation’s premiere advertisement printing company in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, provide unique insight into this creative relationship. A message from Ringling Brothers in January of 1908 states: “Concerning the 16 sheet Autos Passing in the Air, we are returning the sketch by Express. Please make the same alterations as in the sketch for the 2 sheet bill: that is, make the car doing the somersault red and the lower car blue: have but one platform upon which both cars land.” This is only one of the many documents in the collection illustrating how deeply circuses were invested in the imagery associated with their productions.
Housed in Special Collections are also a number of beautiful hand-painted images that served as the initial designs for large-scale color posters. Closer inspection of some of the paintings reveals areas that have been spliced together, likely representing edits and alterations requested by the client. These extremely rare items, never intended for public display, offer a unique glimpse into the design process and preparation that went into the development of a final printed image. Often these preliminary images feature text in varying degrees of resolution, offering an idea of how the final poster might look while also allowing for potential modifications. These beautiful images bring a real humanity to the creative process behind these posters, offering a reminder that much of the work on these pieces was done by hand.
For visitors to the Special Collections in Milner Library, the Circus and Allied Arts collection presents a wonderful opportunity to delve into the visual history of the circus and, along the way, marvel at the amazing artistry and careful design that went into these posters. However, part of what makes this collection so magical is the context—alongside the posters are the nation’s largest assortment of circus books and a delightful array of other photographs and circus-related ephemera. Finally, one of the best parts about these materials is the helpful and knowledgeable librarians, whose extensive knowledge of circus history brings everything to life.
The Countess of Montgomeries Urania
by Dr. Tara Lyons Associate Professor of English College of Arts and Sciences Illinois State University
Title page of the book The Countess of Montgomeries Urania by Lady Mary Wroth (1621)
By far, The Countess of Montgomeries Urania (1621) tops the list of the most valuable items at Milner Special Collections. Only 29 copies of The Urania are extant today, and the provenance of Milner’s copy makes it one of the most extraordinary items in the history of women’s reading and book collecting in England. Not only was this book one of the earliest prose romances written and published by an English woman, but also this copy was owned and signed by one of the most prolific female book collectors of the 17th century.
Students in Early Modern Literature come to Special Collections knowing that The Urania is a romance written by Lady Mary Wroth, the Countess of Montgomery (ca. 1586- ca. 1640). Wroth was the niece of the famed poet and prose writer Sir Philip Sidney whose own romance The Arcadia (1593) had by the time of Wroth’s adulthood become a well-respected work of literature. At a time when few women writers were publishing their works in print, Wroth pays tribute in The Urania to her uncle Philip. Indeed, a literary critic of the time, Henry Peacham, lauded Wroth as the “inheritrix of the Divine wit of her immortal Uncle.” That said, Wroth’s Urania is hardly derivative. On the surface, The Urania tells the story of the love affair between a maiden Pamphilia (whose name means “all-loving”) and the shepherd knight Amphilanthus (or “lover of two”). The work was a thinly veiled exposé of the intrigues at the Jacobean court, and Wroth put her own troubled love affair with her cousin William Herbert, the Earl of Pembroke, at the center of the narrative.
The book appears to have been so sensational that it elicited an immediate backlash from those who thought themselves unfairly characterized in The Urania. In a letter of defense to a neighbor, Wroth claims innocence, that the book was published without her consent. She then claims that if the King is troubled by her book, he should issue a warrant and have it recalled. Although Wroth’s letter has misled many critics into thinking that The Urania was pulled from book shops and destroyed for its illicit content, no proof of the book’s censoring is evident. What we have instead are plentiful examples of early readers enjoying and engaging with Wroth’s Urania, a copy even finding its way into the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford by 1622.
Another copy of The Urania also made it into the library of one 17th century female book collector, Frances Wolfreston (1607-1677). In ink on the inside covers of Milner’s copy of Urania is the inscription “Frances Wolfreston her book.” This inscription and others like it have helped researchers Paul Morgen and Sarah Lindenbaum uncover upwards of 227 known surviving books that comprised Wolfreston’s 17th century library, one of the largest on record for an English woman outside the royal family. Wolfreston is known for collecting a large variety of literary works, including many plays and poems by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. At ISU, we are proud to own Wolfreston’s own copy of this remarkable work of women’s literature.
That we are still uncovering the many volumes that were once part of Wolfreston’s library means that students can see women’s history unfolding before their eyes. Students are even invited to take part in this kind of research in my Bibliography and Early Modern Studies courses. In 2019, Milner Special Collections was able to acquire a book from the library of Anne Wolfreston, who was Frances’ granddaughter. Anne also wrote her name on the books in her library as well as many other notes on the text, and students took part in genealogical research to uncover all we could about Frances, Anne, and their family library. The Wolfreston family’s collections show students how women across time were engaging in literary culture. Books owned by women of the past prompt students to ask questions about where women reside in the archives and what kinds of research tools can help us uncover their names and lives for the future.
Ueckert Circus Wardrobe Collection
By Lauren Lowell Head of Production Design & Technology School of Theatre and Dance Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts Illinois State University
Illinois State University Special Collections is home to the Ueckert Circus Wardrobe Collection. Herbert Ueckert is a longtime circus fan and retired librarian from Sarasota, Florida. He chose to donate his collection to Special Collections at Illinois State University because he values the educational mission of our institution. Acquired in 2017, the more than 1,000-piece collection contains circus clothing, shoes, headdresses, and other ephemera worn in various diverse circuses viewed by audiences as early as the 1880s and as late as the 1980s. Wardrobe items have been carefully preserved, and the holdings are in the process of being digitally archived for wider access and study.
Ueckert’s intended legacy is to keep circus alive and thriving by preserving its physical objects for generations to come. In service of this mission, Milner Library has provided dedicated space for the wardrobe items. The items have been unpacked and professionally examined to determine how best to store them. Ultimately the collection will be photographed from multiple angles and catalogued for digital access. Once completed, researchers will find detailed information regarding materials, the acts associated with the wardrobe pieces, and dates used.
Detail of red, turquoise, and white floral accents on the chest and neckline of a long sleeve leotard. The full costume is covered in gold sequins with the red, turquoise, and white detailing appearing around the neckline, chest, shoulders, and elbows.
Special Collections at Milner Library takes great pride in preserving local and global circus history. As a 20-year faculty member of Illinois State University’s School of Theatre and Dance, I am in awe of all topics relating to the circus. My field of expertise lies in costume design and construction, and my research interests center on clothing history. Whenever I review pieces from this collection, I am inspired by the ingenuity, skill, and construction of these garments because the collection predates most of the materials used to create modern wardrobe intended for exaggerated movement. Contemporarily available closures and fasteners, elastics, spandex, (in fact, all materials that stretch) were very different 100 years ago than what is now available in the 21st century. The task of designing costumes for feats of contortion, dance, acrobatics, trapeze, exhibition horse-back riding, and countless other circus acts with the available textiles was miraculous. Furthermore, depending on the size of the circus, these items may have been conceived and constructed by the performers themselves.
Studying the Ueckert Collection reveals exemplary accomplishments of clothing innovation, creativity, and successful application of the two things an effective circus costume must do: meet the performers’ needs and elevate the visuals of the show. Even non-circus clothing researchers will glean valuable information studying these items. Examples of embellishments, decorative applications, textile manipulation, and construction techniques from 1880-1980 are impeccably preserved. Personally, I am completely in love with this collection!
A pink tunic, cape, and pants trimmed with fur and silver sequins that was worn by an unidentified circus performer.