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Langsdale cares for replaced artwork
Returning students and faculty may have noticed something different in the halls of Academic Center this fall. As part of the renovation of that building, new artwork and decorative pieces will be installed throughout to brighten and energize the hallways.
A number of the prints that previously hung in the hallways were removed and sent to Langsdale Library's Special Collections Department. The department has future plans for a dedicated area that will properly and prominently display those pieces of historical value.
The UB Print Collection contains around 2,000 images. These images range from the late seventeenth century through the twentieth century; however, the bulk of the collection is composed of late nineteenth and early twentieth century lithographs, engravings and etchings along with portraits, maps and posters. The prints were donated by alumni and friends of the university, or purchased with undesignated income from the President's Fund in the University of Baltimore’s Educational Foundation. Although, the print collection is the property of the Educational Foundation those not on display are deposited in Langsdale's Special Collections Department.
Among the earliest prints sent to the Special Collections Department is the Carte Particulaiere de Virginie, Maryland. . . engraved by Peirre Mortier in 1696. The map shows the tidewater region on a south to north axis. Many of the prints transferred depict Baltimore scenes, street maps and portraits of Baltimore’s first Mayor, James Calhoun, and of Baltimore abolitionist Frederick Douglas.
The Special Collections Department houses a number of print collections including the Don Swann Family etchings and the William Donald Schaefer Political Cartoons, given to the university by its alumnus, the former mayor, Governor and currently Comptroller of Maryland. The original drawings were gifts to him from Baltimore Sun cartoonists Flannery and Mike Lane. The Department has a collection of modern maps and posters, including a set donated by Greg Otto. Mr. Otto’s posters are reproductions of his paintings depicting modern Baltimore scenes and buildings that he has painted in brightly colored rich pastels. Visitors to our web page will be able to see a comparison of Baltimore past and present with the rollover print the features a Swann and Otto print.
We have many portraits and prints that were part of archival collections composed largely of documents. Among these are portraits of Samuel Ready, Helen Rowe, and Hooper Eaton, from the Samuel Ready Collection; a charcoal print of Edgar Allan Poe, from the Poe Society Collection; paintings and prints of steamships from the SSHSA Collection, portrait of local poet, Lizette Woodward Reese from the Maryland Poetry Society collection, as well as the portraits of our past presidents in the University of Baltimore Collection.
Although we have a large number of prints, there are still many in the Academic Center, Business and Law Schools. Other pieces are displayed in the lobby of the Lyric Opera House.