to another program with the McGill County History Club. It's a beautiful day for a program, I think.
My name's Michael Carter. Welcome to my field of what I call that. My brother, Steve, and my cousin.
And a lot of my old bloomin' in high school classmates are here too, here and there. I do mean old.
Let's sheet some paper on all the tables for you to share amongst yourselves. It's just a list of all
the upcoming programs.
the history club going all the way into next year, barring cancellations, of course, which happens sometimes.
Many thanks to the Red Collegiate for allowing us to have these programs. We've been partners in presenting
and preserving local history for over 13 years now. And thanks to the white staff in the kitchen who
do such a great job every time. Amanda and Misty are our waitresses today.
and be generous with them. I'd also like to thank CATS TV, of course, for recording our programs for
over 10 years. Justin is our camera guy today. Hi, Justin. This is a very important service. It allows
us to upload each program to YouTube for people who can't make it to live programs. In addition, it
allows us to preserve our local history for future generations. We have over 120 programs on YouTube now.
So you can find them real easily. Just go to YouTube and put Monroe County History Club in the search
engine, and it goes right to it. So how many new attendees do we have today? Any new ones? I don't see
anybody. If you want to leave your email address with us for our direct email stuff that where you're
not on Facebook and stuff, you can leave that if you want.
We don't sell it or anything. Many thanks to Steve Brewer, who helps me with all the tech stuff and
sends out all our emails every month. So thanks a lot, Steve. Now a word from Daniel Schlegel, the director
of the History Center. All right. Good afternoon, everyone.
I'm very excited. I finally remembered to bring the quarter sheets that have our garage sale fundraiser.
So I brought plenty of them. So please make sure to stop by the table over here to my left. They have
the new address in Ellisville for the garage sale. So feel free to grab one of these. The garage sale
ladies are working very hard on the move and resetting up the new space. I do not have a donation date
yet. That is a very popular question.
that people have contacted us about. We do not yet know, but as soon as I know, I'll make sure I put
that out, and I will announce it here for anyone interested. I have a lot of new items. A local reporter
stopped in and caught me right before I left, so I'm a little late setting up, but I will set that up
momentarily. So I have some new stuff out there. And then the only other thing I have for today is this
coming Friday,
at 4 o'clock at the Monroe County Airport is a state historical marker honoring Lieutenant Gary Kisters
from Bloomington. He was the first World War II vet that received both the Distinguished Service Cross
and the Medal of Honor. And so there was a big parade for him and everything downtown. And so a lot
of people still remember the store. I'm sorry, he had a daycare center, one of our
Folks normally hear Justin. It was his uncle. So we've heard a lot of great stories about Uncle Gary,
as he calls him. But the marker dedication is this Friday. It is free and open to the public. So if
you enjoy history or want to know a little bit more about World War II history, please make sure to
come out and visit us. And I do have some more of these flyers. If anybody would like with them, I just
have them over here right where I'll be. So thank you, everyone. And if you haven't signed up for the
email, please do so.
I think I get all of three emails a month from them. One is a reminder, one to say, hey, this is going
on the next day. And then they always let me know when the video is uploaded from the previous month,
which is always nice, because every now and then I'll miss one of these. But it's nice just to be able
to put that on and listen to the history that happened. So have a great day, and thanks, everyone. Thanks,
Daniel. And now Charlie Aiken.
from the Civil War roundtable. There's a few words to share with you. Thank you, Mike. Yeah, I put some
of these on the tables. Some of you didn't get them. I have extras. When you go get that stuff from
Daniel, you can pick up a couple of these things if you need them. Because a couple of things on here
are talking about the
the history of the Civil War Roundtable. Founded in 2005, makes about as old as this outfit. And among
the founders mentioned is Steve Rolfe. Many of you knew Steve. And Mark Akersworth was also involved.
And he has all of the classes that he taught. Briefly, the Civil War Roundtable
As it says on the sheet, it's not just the Civil War in Monroe County, because there wasn't any, really.
Nothing happened. The closest we got was Morgan's raid. That was across the southern part of the state
of Indiana. But on this sheet here, they mention some of the lectures that were given over time.
And one of them was the story about Morgan's raid. And a couple of things about that. The best thing
about it, though, there's a possibility that Morgan drank from the old oak and bucket. Because one of
the stops that his raiders made was at the farm in southeastern Indiana, where the old oak and bucket
came from. It's doubtful that he did, but the possibility is there.
Some of his men did, certainly. Another little branch group went by. So that was kind of neat. Another
thing about this Wiley lecture, I'll say more later, but again, if you're heavy into the Civil War,
these names will mean a lot to you. But otherwise, they're just a lot of good people. But this Edwin
C. Beers, he talked about Indiana at Antietam, the Battle of Antietam.
and gave a lecture on that. This guy, he could give a narrative of the entire Civil War. Give him enough
time, he could tell you all the dates, the bells, everything. So we get people of that caliber. But
another thing about this, Monroe,
that the program we have coming up that shows how the diversity, we don't just talk about the big battles,
Gettysburg and Vicksburg and Teetum, some of the minor stuff. So just a quick outline of what's coming
up in the next few months. And again, we meet once a month, the third Tuesday.
In September, the great grandson of this soldier from Ohio, the soldier kept his diary and wrote letters.
His great grandson compiled all these things into a book, and he's going to be the presentation for
September. October, the topic is women in the Civil War. I'm looking forward to this.
if it's wives and mothers and sweethearts on the home front, or if it's about nurses, or some of the
best spies on both sides were women. And also on both sides were women disguised themselves as men and
joined the armies and fought some of the battles. So I'm kind of looking forward to seeing which one
they got in mind. And then another, those are my two
Two speakers that were bringing in. But then the next one in November will be baseball in the Civil
War. And one of the members of the group is going to give that talk. Because baseball got started. It
was a way to relieve the boredom of camps. And then baseball spread as they all went home and helped
spread the baseball. December is our Christmas dinner. That's sort of an open mic.
where if you got something you want to share, you share it. Some have pictures and slides and videos
and fancy stuff. Others just get up and talk. In January, about the draft riots in New York, that came
up because many of the members, they have ancestors that were in the Civil War. None of my ancestors
came over until after the Civil War, except
my dad's mother's side. And they were Irish in New York. And I have no proof, but I'm quite certain
they took part in the drafts rights. It was largely Irish people in New York doing all that.
And as I said, we meet at 7 PM on the third Thursday, except in July and August, where we don't have
a program.
We usually meet at the history center, but we have a couple of exceptions. For one, we have a specialist
deal at the IU archives, of all things. And the archivist is hiding over here at the end of the building,
because they have a lot of stuff about people from IU that have journals and diaries and things, and
they compile all that. We also have a meeting at the Hardbreech Brewery,
They're on North College. I'm getting signals. Because the subject was alcohol in the Civil War, so
we had it at a brewery where we had our meeting. Last thing, the fifth Tuesday is mentioned here. That's
where two or three times a year, there's five Tuesdays in a month. So those extra Tuesdays, we started
having book reviews, and now we've
We're going to have one this in September about movies and how they're portrayed, the Civil War is portrayed
in the movies. Some of you may have noticed, besides my taking so long, is that the fifth Tuesday is
automatically the last Tuesday of the month. What else happens on the last Tuesday of the month? OK,
so you make a big day of it.
You come here for lunch and all that. And then in the evening, you go to the Harvard Brewery. And you
don't have to read the book to join in. Just go there and have a good time. Anyway, on the handout,
there's a senior moment. Anyway, there's a contact point if you want more on here. And thank you for
your kind attention.
Thanks, Charlie. That brings us to the program today. The name of the program is what did TC Steel have
to do with the Indiana University? It turns out quite a bit. And just to talk about that, we would welcome
Jessica Stevens here today, site manager of the TC Steel State Historic Site and State Historic Sites
program manager for the Indiana State Museum in Historic Sites. And she can tell us all about this.
All right, Jessica?
Can you guys hear me? Okay. All right, so. Closer? Is that better? Okay. So I'm here to tell you about
TC Steel and Indiana University. But I will fill in the gaps for you today. So I can't tell you just
about TC and IU without there being a lot of questions raised.
So I will tell you additional information. This topic is kind of dear to my heart. I was an undergrad
at Indiana University as well as a grad student there. I spent many nights at the IMU studying under a T.C.
Steele painting. So it's kind of full circle for me. OK.
So Theodore Clement Steele was born on September 11, 1847. He was the oldest of five boys. And he was
the son of a farmer and a leather worker. So he will, sorry.
Harriet and Samuel will move their family when TC is five years old to Waveland, Indiana. And they do
this because they want them to have a really good education. They were educated themselves and wanted
them to go to the Waveland Collegiate Institute.
When he's five, they will move. When he's 12, he will get his first art instruction at the Waveland
Institute. By the time he's 13, just a year later, he will be teaching those art classes. So very early
trajectory into his career in the arts field. By the time he is 14, his father will pass away.
leaving him as the man of the household. However, Harriet was still adamant that he can continue with
his education and he would farm also. And he had all those experiences. But while he's farming, he will
talk about how he would put ribbons on the equipment and watch how they change color in the light. So
always very interested in
you know, color and art. When he's 16, he will have completed 40 oil paintings of family and friends.
And he will know at an early age that he should be studying art in Europe. He will get some instruction
from Cincinnati and Chicago, but Europe is where he needs to be.
In 1870, he will marry Libby Lakin. They will have three children together that will survive into adulthood.
Rembrandt, you might imagine where he got that name, his very favorite artist. They'll call him Brandt.
And then there's Margaret, they'll call her Daisy. And then the youngest son's name is Shirley.
By all accounts, he was a very loving and present father and husband. They would read stories together
in the evenings, and they would play musical instruments together. They were a very musical family.
TC could play the flute, and Daisy played the piano, and Shirley played the piano and the cello. While
they're in Indianapolis,
Steele will befriend a man named Herman Lieber. Herman was a gallery owner and a frame maker, so he
was a good contact for TC Steele. He'll ask TC, what do you need to get your art to the level you want
it to get to? TC will say, I need to be in either Paris, France, or Munich, Germany studying art.
Lieber and 12 other businessmen in Indianapolis will send TC Steel to the Royal Academy in Munich, Germany
to study art. There was a contract drawn up where TC would stay one to two years and then return, repay
the businessmen in portraits or in paintings he did while abroad.
Something to remember is that T.C. Steel is 33 years old by now. He has a wife and three children, and
they are moving overseas with him. So he's in Munich. He's studying, and a year will pass. And T.C.
Steel will say,
to Herman Lieber if I just had a little more time. And so they will extend his stay. They'll throw in
a little bit more money and expand his stay another year. Another year passes, and TC writes to Herman,
you know, if I just had a little more time. And this time, TC will send home paintings so that Herman
can sell these paintings in his business and finance the rest of his trip.
At the Royal Academy, you would expect to spend eight years if you are going in this art academy. But
Steele was able to test out of many, many classes due to his extensive portfolio. In Munich, he learned
the academic realist technique known as gray manner. You might guess.
what we mean by that. There's a lot of gray tones in those paintings up there. And they were really
interested in subdued colors, but also light and dramatic shadows, things like that, similar to the
old masters, such as Rembrandt.
In 1884, he will create the Boatman that you can see here. It was part of his student exhibition painting
for the Academy. This painting reflects his early academic training. The painting's craftsmanship earned
Steele a silver medal. Today, the Boatman is part of the collection at the Eskenazi Museum of Art at IU.
On the left is a painting of the cloisters where Steele and his family lived part of their time while
in Germany. This painting usually hangs in the Tudor Room inside the Indiana Memorial Union. You may
recognize it if you've been there. So Steele will study in Munich from 18 to 1885 where he will
graduates in under four years. But while he is there, he was following around a man named J. Frank Currier.
Currier was a Boston native, and he was interested in painting out of doors in plain air. So he had
an unofficial school there where
15 to 20 American art students would follow him around. T.C. Seale was one of them. So he would always,
when he was younger, he always wanted extra time to devote to landscape painting. And here, this is
when he gets that. This is when he falls in love with the landscape.
to bear the name the Indiana School of Art was opened by T.C. Steele in 1889. So he comes home from
Munich because he believes that Indiana is just as beautiful as any European landscape. And this is
sort of rare because during this time Americans studying abroad might stay
abroad or go to the East Coast where they can make a lot more money. That was not true for the Hoosier
artists. So another Hoosier artist William Forsythe will join him at the school and he will serve as
a director until the Art Association takes over the management of the school in 1891.
Steele will continue to teach though until 1895. In 1893, Steele will first encounter Impressionist
paintings in person. We assume that he probably has seen reproductions of Impressionist paintings, but
this is his first time seeing them in person.
This was at the Chicago World's Fair. He will exhibit next to notable French Impressionist painters
such as Claude Monet. September is one of the paintings that he had in the World's Fair. And he will
have a quote, and I didn't write it down, but I think it's important. When people are saying, wow, you
must be an Impressionist painter, you're exhibiting alongside
you know, Claude Monet, he will say, if impressionism is being outside painting what I see, then I am
an impressionist painter. So this painting was in the Chicago World's Fair. If you're interested in
seeing it in person, you can do that right now for the next few weeks. It is up at the Brown County
Art Gallery. It is part of a private collection, though, so it will be going away.
After his visit to the World's Fair in 1893, he will paint the bloom of the grapes seen here. The palette
of his canvas changed slightly to reflect sort of a white period in the progression of his art, which
echoed the palette of French Impressionists. I don't think this is a great example of that, but there
are several of his paintings that have the very Monet pastel tones to them.
Bloom of the Grape earned an honorable mention in the 1900s World Fair in Paris, bringing steel international
recognition. The 1890s brought about great recognition for steel as the leading artist in the state
and one of the most notable painters in the region.
Steel was part of a group of artists known as the Hoosier Group. This included T.C. Steel, of course,
William Forsyth, John Otis Adams, Otto Stark, and Richard Grewell.
This is a painting done by Wayman Adams in 1921. Richard Gruwell is not part of that painting because
he passed away seven years before. But if you can't pick out TC, I will show you, hopefully. So this
is him right here.
It became known as the Hoosier Group due to a Chicago exhibit in 1894. And then they will exhibit again
in Indianapolis together. The name was coined by an art critic. Steele and Adams will purchase together
a home studio in Brookville, Indiana, as you can see in this painting.
The home is nicknamed The Hermitage, named by Libby Steele. And it operates today as a bed and breakfast.
So during this time, we call it the Brookville period. It's a very important time in Steele's career.
He's gaining so much notoriety, and he's just very
present in the art world. Okay, so we finally have contact with Indiana University. In July of 1896, T.C.
Libby and Shirley will take his studio wagon from Indianapolis to Bloomington. He was there to paint
portraits of several of the former professors and presidents of the university.
There here are just a few paintings. See Wiley, Ballantine, Kirkwood. If you're from this region, you
know these names. He will also paint Andrew Wiley, Joseph Swain, David Jordan, James Woodburn, and Richard Owen.
portrait done by Steele of the university's ninth president in 1898, Dr. Joseph Swain. On the right,
there's a letter to Swain from Steele. Steele let him know that his portrait was sent to him the day
before, and he mentions the painting that Swain had shown interest in during their last meeting. The
painting was called
morning on the old Whitewater Canal. This painting was originally priced at $75. Swain offered him $60,
which Steele agrees on now. So he will say that in his letter here, you had better telegraph me if this
strikes you as favorably, as I presume there is little time to spare. There must be a lot of people
wanting that painting.
This is Libby. Near the end of her life, she will suffer from typhoid fever and rheumatoid arthritis.
Steele will have a studio wagon built especially with her in mind so they can travel together in the
countryside and she can lay out on the long benches. So she had a painful end of her life.
The painter will travel to New York in 1899 to serve on the selection jury, choosing American art pieces
in the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition. Just two days after returning home, Libby will pass away from
tuberculosis. Steele will go through a period where he finds it difficult to paint,
And the paintings he did produce were of amorous nature. I would argue that a lot of these paintings
are some of his most beautiful. His daughter Daisy will take notice of the rut that he's in. So she
will arrange for them to take a trip out west to visit his youngest son, Shirley, in 1902. This trip
re-energized him.
He painted the Oregon coast when he visited his mother out there. And then he painted the Redlands,
California, where Shirley lived. The pair would make this trip in 1902 and in 1903. Steele comes home
with many new canvases, and the people will say, T.C. Steele is back. Here is a beautiful portrait of
Daisy, Steele's daughter.
It is a new acquisition for us, and it's not a wedding portrait, although it looks like it could be
one. Daisy will marry Gustav Neubacher on June 1st, 1905. Daisy was close friends with Gustav's sister,
Selma Neubacher. They ran around in the same art circles as Selma was a Pratt Institute graduate.
and was colleagues with Brandt at the Heron School of Art. She was also the assistant superintendent
for art in the Indianapolis public school system. In 1906, TC and Selma will get engaged secretly. Why
a secret, you ask? Well, Selma was 25 years younger than TC, and I'm sure his children, who were essentially
the same age,
may have had some opinions about that. While they were engaged, TC declared he wanted an art sanctuary.
TC will go to Brown County with Selma's brother, Walter. This search was quick. The couple purchased
an abandoned farm in Belmont, Indiana, and started their plans for building their new home.
This is a painting of Selma working in her garden. This is one of TC Steel's most famous artworks. I
should note here that this photo is likely dated at the end of the painter's life. But it is a photograph
of his property in Belmont.
When they arrived they can see the smokestacks at Indiana University 13 miles away It was a logging
community But there were trees So he does talk that he could see the smoke rising from the smokestacks
in letters to Sama And he could hear the drain which is interesting So
While he was overseeing construction on the property, he was surprised to see two young men walking
up that hill. They were members of the senior class at Indiana University. They asked him to paint the
portrait of their current president, William Lowe Bryan. TC would agree, and he would travel back and
forth from their hilltop home in Brown County to the IU campus.
Paid a portrait from wife, TC required 12 sittings at two hours each visit. The two men became best
friends. Steele found Dr. Bryan to be more than a good sitter. Bryan was, in Steele's words, a delightful
and charming man.
Dividing his time between Brown County and the IU campus, he wrote to Selma from a hotel room on May
26, 1907. I have told you how beautiful the campus is here, with its cluster of stone buildings among
the trees. A great many people were walking around the grounds, and some kind of service was being held
in the auditorium. I keep away from these places.
for I do not want to meet people and run the risk of being invited out. I have evaded several invitations,
and yet I like the air and culture and intelligence of a college town. What a contrast to the neighboring
county seat to the east. They are a century apart, as well as 20 miles. Over the next decade, he and
Brian became
very good friends, and the Seals would attend numerous IU social and cultural events. Here's Salma and
TC in the living room of their home. We set it up just as you see in the pictures from their time while
they were living there. So it feels like they have just walked out. We own all of the books.
all of the artifacts from the couple, which makes our historic home so special. So here is Selma. They
have moved in in 1907, and they are enjoying their home. When they first arrived, Selma didn't know
how to plant food. She didn't even really know how to cook. If you remember, she was raised
For middle class, she has an education. There would be people in her home who had done these things
for them. But in Brown County, when you come in the middle of the woods in 1907, you are expected to
know how to farm. So she will, though, learn how to plant food with some help from her neighbor, Mrs.
Parks. And she will learn from
bulletins from Purdue University, what to plant, when, and how. She became quite good at planting food
and flowers. The neighbors couldn't imagine why she would be planting flowers. They told her that she
was wasting her time. When she explained that she plants the flowers, her husband
paints the flowers, and then they get money for those paintings. They will then sort of back off and
say, oh, OK. I get it now. So she loved his green landscapes, but she really encouraged him to add color,
hence the still lifes. He will paint many flower arrangements that Selma will put together for him.
But one thing that is important to remember, so this is a Brown County landscape. In 1907, people in
Brown County are living in log cabins. They are very interested in what is going on at this house, this
red house on the hill.
So they will come, and they will want to be entertained by the Victrola, by the player piano. They want
to know why the man of the household doesn't farm. He paints for a living. And the woman plants flowers.
So they will come, and Zama will entertain them. And they had an interesting start to their time in
Brown County.
Steel was selected to feature a Brown County landscape called a Brown County Valley for the frontispiece
of the Arbutus in 1910, which those of you who don't know, it's the yearbook from Indiana University.
Inspired by his newfound landscape, Steel produced many canvases.
For the first time, people are seeing Brown County without industrialization, with uninterrupted vistas.
Artists in the Midwest are taking note. Many will take trips to Nashville for painting expeditions.
Eventually, however, artists will begin to make Nashville their permanent home and turn it into an artist colony.
We do know that TC painted in Nashville with many of these artists, but he'd rather be at home painting
his landscape there. For the first time in Bloomington, Steele will have a solo exhibition put on by
the IU Art Department as part of the state centennial.
which included various programs on campus in the spring of 1916. Paintings were hung in the West Parlor
and at the YWCA room in the student building. Because of its great success, the exhibit was extended
until after the graduation ceremony in June. The largest canvas in the group was purchased by the Men's
Faculty Club,
This was the first steel painting purchased by the university. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of
it. Selma recalls in her book, The House of the Singing Winds, that on June 14th, 1916, at graduation
commencement, there was a surprise to the painter.
IU confirmed the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws to Theodore Clement Steele in recognition of his
distinguished attainments and achievements. She continued, when finally the presentation by President
Brian came,
in words so beautiful that I was in tears. The painter, too, showed plainly how deeply he was moved
by the honor bestowed upon him. IU gave very few honorary degrees in those days, and the individual
had to meet several requirements to receive the honor. This still holds true today. Following the IU exhibit,
Steele was painting in a rented studio space on Monument Circle in Indianapolis, as well as in his home
in Brown County. In 1887, we're going to go back a little bit to talk about the monument, the Indiana
General Assembly created the Monument Commission, which was responsible for erecting a monument dedicated
to the state's soldiers whom
had died at war. T.C. and William Forsyth, another Hoosier group artist, were art advisors for the commission
of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on the Circle. This would become one of Steele's most, probably
not most famous, but I think he loved painting the monument. I think it was one of his favorite subjects.
Many IU students would travel to TC and Selma's home and visit the painter. They wanted to get a glimpse
of the newly built large studio that you can see here and you can see inside the studio. It was the
first free studio in the Midwest and it was open to the public. Selma notes 500 visitors in the year 1918.
I think it only increased from there. It's hard for us to imagine that it was an active art gallery,
and visitors from all over would come and visit the historic site. So during this time,
Professor Brooks at the art department at IU will also arrange with Steele a number of small canvases
to be used as a traveling exhibition. This big exhibition was sent out all over the state of Indiana.
I don't know any more information from there, but I can't help but wonder what happened to those paintings.
I know of one painting done on campus of Indiana University during this period. It's this one of the
student building painted in 1919. However, knowing how prolific he was, I would assume there are at
least a couple more canvases from this very day. Under Bryan's administration, the Department of Fine
Arts grew steadily.
He stated that the arts are as important to the university as scholarship. This is a huge deal for the
arts. Brian was instrumental in securing Steele's Artist-in-Residency, which was a first for IU.
On June 9, 1922, Brian invited TC Steele to hold the position.
Not only did IU offer a $2,500 honorarium for the year, but Bryan arranged for Seal to have no prescribed
duties and to do whatever you think most profitable for your art. Sounds like a good gig to me.
By this point, Seal was in his 70s, and he already had many accolades. Did he need this opportunity at IU?
know, but Selma wrote in her book that if he had chosen not to do it, he definitely would have missed
it. He really enjoyed his time at IU and enjoyed being with the students on campus. Today, you can visit
a historical marker that was put up during the university's bicentennial celebration during the ninth
2019-2020 school year. It marks the location of Steele's on-campus studio. And at the time, this building
was actually the university library. It's now Franklin Hall. His studio occupied the top floor of the
building. So here you can see inside his studio on campus.
He also had the title honorary professor of painting. The mission was to lead students to see the beautiful
in nature and in life. An IU student recalled his visit to Steele's studio. If Mr. Steele is painting
when you visit the studio, he continues to paint.
And you may either wander looking at canvases on the walls or watch him work. Another visitor happened
to say that he thought one landscape looked so natural. Steele responded, so many people seem to think
that the landscape artist merely makes an exact copy of what he sees in nature. Not at all. The artist
is not so much a student of the face of nature
as of her moods. Steele talks a lot about how he paints the moods of nature. So reading this quote,
I knew that was a direct quote from Steele. On the left is a photo of TC and the future president of
Indiana University, Herman B. Wells. I think it's pretty spectacular that this picture even exists
very special. It wasn't uncommon for Steele to paint. You know, he's an in-plane air painter. He wants
to be outside painting. And so this was a regular scene on campus while he was an artist-in-resident
there. The picture on the right, that is of T.C. and the current President William Lowe Bryan. These
are both in Dunn Meadow.
Here is another photo of Steele painting during his artist in residency in Cascade Park. Six months
out of the year, Steele was expected to be in residence. TC and Selma would split their time between
IU, where they rented a house, and their hilltop home in Brown County. During their time, Bloomington
In Bloomington, Selma would give a series of teas on Sundays for members of the faculty. So she was
really making her, forming her own relationships there. In 1923, one year into the artist in residency,
IU began to purchase artwork from earlier in the artist's career.
This is a bill of sale from the purchase. These paintings were to be placed in the Indiana Memorial
Union, where you can still find them today. I always like to note the pricing for some of these paintings.
For those who can't see in the back, $500, and the rest are $400.
Senior and IU professor of English published a booklet in 1924 called Art for Your Sake. It focused
on Steele's presence on campus. In this booklet, there's a title called What Not to Do, where he explains,
it's better to look and look with a quiet willingness to see.
In another section called Why Mr. Steele is Here, he explains that Mr. Steele is not here to teach or
to lecture, except by the grace of good nature, but is to bring a benefit to us all by merely being
present and practicing his art where we can see it. While campus was a,
a lot smaller than it is today, a century ago. Many locations are still recognizable to us. I will go
through these slides fairly quickly for time's sake. And there are many more paintings of Indiana University
than what I show here. I tried to find an image of the building online
for each of these paintings from around the time he painted them. So this one is Lindley Hall. Here's
one of the Jordan River now called Eagleton.
This was the campus library where Steel's studio occupied the top floor. It's now known as President's
Hall or Franklin Hall. I heard that the top floor now is like HVAC, which is a little depressing. This
is a painting that features Swain Hall East through Dunwoods from the northwest side.
This painting includes Kirkwood Hall and Lindley Hall from the east side of Dunn Woods. Here is a view
of Memorial Hall from the northeast looking southwest. Students had just moved into this new dorm the
year before. Okay.
enjoy this painting. It's the eastern side of campus. It depicts the former IU power plant. You can
see the smoke stack there. As I mentioned before, Steele noted that he could see the smoke from his
home 13 miles to the east. And we talk about this a lot at this site when we're saying how different
the landscape has changed since then.
This painting shows Dunn Cemetery on campus. The former IU power plant and printing plant were located
where the hotel portion of the Indiana Memorial Union currently stands today. From 1922 to 1926,
T.C. Steele served as artist in resident at Indiana University with a spacious studio spanning the top
floor of Franklin Hall, university library then. Before he passed away, there were plans drawn to make
a private studio for the artist. Those plans never came to fruition as he died before the work had begun.
Months before his passing, he suffered from a heart attack and slowly recovered. IU students came to
visit him when they heard he had fallen ill again. Selma said that this really raised his spirits. Steele
will pass away on July 24th, 1926 because of a gallbladder infection.
If you know anything about IU, you know that they do not like to cancel classes. And there's quite a
bit of history to support this. However, upon the news of Steele's death, President Brian canceled classes
for his funeral on July 27. Hundreds from the university attended. On the right is the alumni newsletter
put out on July 31, 1926.
with two featured articles about T.C. Steele, one a retrospective of his life and career and the other
featuring thoughts shared by faculty and administrators at IU. There were two funerals, one in Indianapolis
and the other at his home in Brown County where he is buried.
The photo has been colorized, as you can probably tell. And you can see Selma in the middle there. Artist
Will Vodder carried Steele's ashes to his grave site. In December of 1926, Indiana University dedicated
the entire newsletter
to TC steel by reprinting remarks that speakers gave during his funeral. President Brian sent this letter
to Selma nearly a year after his passing. They kept in touch over the years. Here he is assuring her
that he wanted to establish a memorial to TC
But in the meantime, the trustees wanted to hold a rotating exhibit with just a few paintings at a time
in one of the new picture galleries, as he called it. He wanted visitors to be able to concentrate on
just a few steel paintings at one time. I find this to be pretty reasonable and very thoughtful. President
Bryan sent a letter to.
Sorry, I lost my place. All right, so if you aren't convinced by now that IU loved T.C. Steele, I don't
know what will convince you. Here you can see the yearbook, the Arbutus, dedicated to T.C. Steele in
its 1927 edition. The dedication states, he has seen beauty and brought it to us.
In 1930, William Lowe Bryan will purchase six steel paintings from Selma. This was a great help to Selma
during the Great Depression. If you've ever been curious what a steel painting cost during his lifetime,
now you know. You've seen a couple of slides with the bill of sale. A lot of times these prices would
vary depending on
size, quality, and subject. Selma will, like I said, become really good at planting food. She will sell
her produce out on 46, as well as her eggs and honey after steel passes. Much like we do today, Selma
will charge for tours. She will, for a quarter, give you a tour of the house or studio.
In 1938, President Herman B. Wells invited Selma to a reception for the senior class. Unfortunately,
I don't know any more details from this, but I assume it's part of the graduation happenings. This is
significant because it tells us that even under a new administration, Indiana University continued to
reach out to Selma Steele.
She did attempt to get Indiana University to take over the property once she passed away. However, that
did not happen. She listed out her assets, as you can see here, but they did not end up doing this.
And this is a photograph of Salma in front of the large studio. She will end up leaving the site to
the state of Indiana
for it to be turned into a memorial just two months before her death. She left us 350 paintings,
211 acres, numerous artifacts and objects in five historic buildings. The Department of Conservation
will manage the site from 1945 until 1965.
And then it will switch hands to the Department of Natural Resources until 2011. From 2011 until today,
it's been managed by the Indiana State Museum and historic sites. Before she did all that, however,
she wrote a book called The House of the Singing Winds, where she gives details from the artist's life
while living in Brown County.
This includes the partnership between the painter and Indiana University. IU has the second largest
collection of steel paintings in the world, second to the Indiana State Museum and historic sites.
Over time, their collection has grown to over 75 works. This year marks the centennial of T.C. Steel's passing.
Many art institutions, including TC Steel State Historic Site, have held special memorial exhibits for
TC Steel. University Collections at McCalla has a great exhibit happening right now that focuses on
steel and Indiana University's relationship. So I would go there immediately after this program.
Also, Brown County Art Gallery has a very large exhibit of 100 paintings pulled from institutions across
the state and also private collections. This exhibit will end in I think a few weeks.
but it is definitely worth the trip to the Brown County Art Gallery. The Brown County Art Guild also
has an exhibition there where they focus on steel and a lot of their permanent collection artists and
their relationship and things like that. And finally, the Hahn Museum in, I think they're in Lafayette,
They have a beautiful collection. If you've never been and really enjoy Hoosier art, their collection
is spectacular. Their exhibit will open, I believe, in October. So I'm really looking forward to that.
Join us, me and Nan Brewer at the Juniper Gallery of Art at 4pm on September 16th for a book share on
Selma's memoir, The House of the Singing Winds, where I got a lot of this information.
So thank you so much for having me today. Please come to the TC Steel State Historic Site. Selma wanted
us to give tours to you. So please come and visit. We're open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 to 5. We
offer three tours a day. It's coming up in our busy season. So give us a call first.
many, many school groups coming, especially in the morning. So if you want to come to the site in the
fall, give us a call ahead of time so we can make sure you get it on a tour. So what is this again?
I'm sorry? What is it again? The TC Steel State Historic Site. And where is it? It's in between. It's
in Belmont. So it's in between Bloomington and Nashville on 46.
Thank you. All right, does anybody have any questions? Yeah. No, I was expecting to get this question,
but I am not allowed to
say. It's a not a security issue, but it's a not even that. It's more of we don't put prices on our
artifacts and things like that. But I will say that you can Google TCCL paintings at auction and see
what they go for. And again, it's still today depends on
size, condition, and subject. Yeah. Yeah. You said there are other buildings on the side. Why did they
do that? Oh, that's a great question. OK. So we have, oh, OK, good. Died right in time. So we have five
historic buildings. We have the house. We have the large studio.
which was built in 1916. We have the small studio that was built in 1912. It used to be a chicken coop
and tool shed that they kind of smashed together. And so that building is still there. They also had
a, I want to call it the first Airbnb in Brown County.
That building, I think it collapsed in the 60s. So it's no longer standing, but our visitor center was
built within its outline on the site. The Dewar Log Cabin. So Selma found out that a cabin that was
five miles away was going to be dismantled and discarded. So she had people dismantle it
and bring it to the site and reassemble it. This was really a way for her to show the contrast of the
story of when they arrived. People in Brown County were living in log cabins. So she could talk about
that. It also served
as a exhibition space that she created in memorial to her brother, Walter, who was an amateur naturalist.
So she had specimen in that building for a while. And then, yes. Yes, very good. Yes, very good. So
they do her family. They had 17 children go through.
that cabin. There was a first Mrs. Dewar and then a second Mrs. Dewar. So not one person is birthing
these 17 children, luckily. But we will assume that some of these kids are filing out along the way,
but still it's a one-bedroom cabin with a loft. It leaves a lot to be desired.
Cool. Selma died in 1945. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. So it's really interesting. During his lifetime, he was exhibiting
all across the country. He was giving lectures all across the country from
New York City all the way to San Diego. And there are so many museums that already have his artwork
because he was painting in these regions. He spent a lot of time in Kansas. And so I know the museums
there have paintings.
the Redlands, California. It's interesting to me because people know T.C. Steele there. They know exactly
who he is. Same thing with Kansas. So it's interesting that many, many collections, including, oh, I
don't want to get this wrong. I want to say the MoMA has one of his paintings. But again, I might be
wrong about that. I know somewhere in New York City.
Yeah, a lot of places already have them. Any other questions? Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yeah. They had their first
date at TC Steel, State Historic Site. And they really felt a connection with the property. I'm sorry?
Oh, sorry. So Bob and Barbara Stevens, he mentioned what their connection is. They donated
money for the visitor center to be built. We finally have running water, which means running toilets.
So we are forever grateful for them. And they just really became so connected to the site. They went
to Giverny to visit Monet's home and studio in France and they were like,
We have to get a visitor center for TC Steel. So they have donated money for buses to come to the site
in their community. They live in Columbus. So they've really supported us in so many ways. We're grateful.
Anybody else? OK.
Thank you guys so much.