: The Board of Trustees of the Springfield Museums has accepted one
of the most comprehensive collections of Currier & Ives
prints in the world.
In a unanimous decision, the trustees voted to accept 787 Currier
& Ives hand colored lithographs from Silver Springs, Md.,
collectors Lenore B. and Sidney A. Alpert, who have amassed the
collection over the past 40 years. Only the Library of Congress
and the Museum of the City of New York have larger public
collection of these prints.
In selecting the Springfield Museums for their collection, Sidney
Alpert said, "We were looking for a place where the collection
would be appreciated, preserved and kept intact. These pieces
have become part of my family and now they're going to a new home
in Springfield, which seems especially fitting since you have
snow up there and so many of the prints have a snowy atmosphere."
He added that the choice also seemed appropriate since Currier
was a native of Massachusetts, "born in Roxbury, had summer house
called the 'Lions Mouth' in Amesbury, and served his
apprenticeship at the age of 15 under Boston lithographers
William and John Pendleton."
The prints cover a diverse variety of subjects including the
Revolutionary and Civil wars, American scenic wonders, Barnum's
Circus, genre scenes, firefighting, rural and agrarian scenes,
pastimes such as hunting, yachting and racing, city life, western
expansion and political portraits. Many of the scenes related to
New England.
The Alpert's gift was supplemented with art museums' funds that
can only be used to purchase art. In the coming months the staff
will be cataloging and preparing the prints for a major Currier
& Ives exhibition which is being planned for December 2005.
