Page 1 - B&P Spring 2020
P. 1

Volume 27, Number 1, Spring 2020

                                             Books&People

                 IN THIS ISSUE               Margaret Armstrong:

                  The Last Ten Years         Genius Developed in Women
                               PAGE 4
                                             Barbara Bieck, Special Collections Librarian
                         Party Photos
                                PAGE 6       “Men have been willing to see any amount of literary or artistic genius developed in
                                             women - when these ladies have consented to attribute their work to a husband or
The Book BeaOupteifnusl                      brother, and say nothing about it.” —Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823-1911)

                                PAGE 7       These words by women’s rights advocate Thomas Wentworth Higginson, editor of
                                             Emily Dickinson’s poetry, ring true about the difficulty women in the arts faced around
                                             the turn of the twentieth century. Like Dickinson, the majority of women struggled to
                                             gain a foothold in fields dominated by men. Hamilton Fish Armstrong, a Library trustee
                                             in the 1940s, chose the above quote in his autobiography to introduce the work of his two
                                             sisters, Margaret and Helen Armstrong. An intrepid woman, Margaret Armstrong not
                                             only gained a foothold in the field of binding design and launched her career as an artist,
                                             but also outpaced the male designers by leaps and bounds. Now one of the most celebrated
                                             and recognized women in binding design history, Armstrong made a significant and
                                             lasting mark on the profession.

Left: Margaret Armstrong on the grounds
        of Danskammer, the family house
                      in Newburgh, NY, n.d.
       Right: Margaret Armstrong, c. 1890,

   From the Armstrong Family Collection
   1   2   3   4   5   6