Category Archives: Arts and letters

‘The Power of Music’, Jefferson House hotel, 1885 (painting)

Posted on October 12, 2013 by editor

This painting, a gift to Lincoln Library’s Sangamon Valley Collection from Dr. James Donelan, depicts a red-coated trumpeter whose music disturbs hotel patrons, makes women and police officers faint, and upsets children, dogs and goats. The Jefferson House (“Good accommodations, … Continue reading →

Posted in Amusements, Arts and letters | Leave a comment

Octavia Roberts (Corneau)

Posted on October 12, 2013 by editor

Octavia Roberts (1875-1972), was a Springfield-born journalist and writer. Her best-known work today is Lincoln in Illinois, a brief (160-page) reflection on Abraham Lincoln in New Salem and Springfield that was published in 1918. Roberts was for a time the … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts and letters, Journalism, Lincoln, Abraham, Lindsay, Vachel, Prominent figures, Women | Tagged | Leave a comment

Vachel Lindsay

Posted on April 10, 2013 by editor

Hear Vachel Lindsay declaim A Dirge for a Righteous Kitten, 1931 (Pennsound) Sangamon County has produced its share of poets, but taken together they do not rival Nicholas Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931) for celebrity, achievement, and tragedy. The novelist Mark Harris summarized … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts and letters, Lindsay, Vachel, Prominent figures, Springfield | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Robert S. Fitzgerald: Poet, translator

Posted on April 10, 2013 by editor

 Robert Stuart Fitzgerald (1910-1985) was an educator, poet, journalist, translator, editor and author who lived in Springfield for 20 years in his youth. While Fitzgerald was a student at Springfield High School, his talent for poetry came to the attention … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts and letters, Prominent figures | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment