Our cover painting shows the ship Belisarius leaving Salem on
April 1, 1805, a day when Elizabeth Manning Hathorne might well have strolled
the harbor carrying her nine-month-old baby Nathaniel. Forty years later,
Hawthorne (he would later add the w to the patronymic) would enjoy
this very view of Crowninshield's Wharf from his office in the Salem Custom
House. That Hawthorne lived in seaport towns, especially in our own, yet
rarely wrote about the sea is a literary puzzle discussed in our essay by
Joseph Flibbert. This cover painting and the others on pages 2 - 9 suggest
the maritime setting that formed the background of Hawthorne's life.
The picture of the Belisarius hangs above a stairwell on campus where
the Administration Building joins the Auditorium and the Common. The other
paintings from our Hawthorne essay were taken from the walls of the Common
this past summer, victims of redecorating, and stuck in a closet. Ironically,
they were acquired forty years ago expressly to decorate the cafeteria,
then in the one college edifice, the Sullivan Building.
In the fall of 1954, the new president, Frederick A. Meier, visited the
Derby Street studio of Philip W. von Saltza to commission paintings of Salem's
glorious maritime history. The artist, at work at his easel, missed not
a brush stroke in announcing his fees: $100 apiece. President Meier ordered
ten. The student council had provided their treasury of one thousand dollars.
The paintings arrived serially that year atop von Saltza's car. "It
was the first attempt made," President Meier recalled recently, "to
make the College look different from a factory."
Von Saltza's works, copied or derived from the canvasses in such collections
as the Peabody Museum's, today are attracting increasing attention. Salem
State's von Saltzas are renditions of maritime paintings by such renowned
artists as the Italian-born Michele Felice Corne` (1752-1845) and Salem's
George Ropes (1788 -1815).
***
The fall of 1954, coincidentally, marked the start of freshman year here
for Mildred Berman, whose review of Al Gore's book appears on page 33. The
author of Ordinary Time, reviewed by Sister Kathleen Crowley, has
an even older claim on the college. The grandmother of Nancy Mairs was graduated
from what was then the Salem Normal School, her mother as a child in the
1920s attended the Training School (now the Horace Mann School), and Mairs
herself, then of Wenham, took her SATs at Salem State, before matriculating
at Wheaton.
***
We're pleased to note that SEXTANT's Vol. IV, No.1 won honorable mention
in the Periodicals For Any Purpose category of the 1992-1993 CASE District
1 Publications Awards competition. RK
We are grateful to many individuals for their generous help with this
issue. Staff members of the Peabody-Essex Museum, particularly Mary Fabifzewski,
Nancy Heywood, Dean Lahikainen, and Pamela Peterson, assisted us greatly.
Tracey Keifer of the American Institute of Physics and poet Jean Pedrick
provided further assistance. Former Salem State President Frederick A. Meier
answered many questions about the college's acquisition of the von Saltza
paintings.
On campus we had help that went beyond the call of duty from many: Nelson
Agis, Robert Arnold, Harold Bantly, Howard Coffin, Toni Cristofaro, Rosalie
Delorey, Tom Leary, Lucille McCarter, Carol Morgan, Gail Nelson, Tom Nelson,
Marianne Noha, Alex Quiroga, Jon Rendo, Vickie Ross, Laurie Toomey, David
Wheeler, Evelyn Wilson, and Patricia Zaido. Deborah J. Gillis of the Huntington
Theatre deserves belated recognition for her help with our last issue.
Editor: Rod Kessler, English
Editorial Board:
Sue Case, Biology
Ellen Golub, English
John Mack, Management
Eileen Margerum, English
Michael Prochilo, English
Vera Sheppard, Theatre & Speech
Alan Young, Biology
John Volpacchio, Art
Design, Layout and Typography:
Joyce Rossi-Demas, Graphic Services
Susan Lombard, Graphic Services
Photography: Leon Jackson, Instructional Media Center
Interns: Wendy Mahoney and Elizabeth Lydon
Sextant is published semiannually by the faculty of Salem State College. Opinions expressed by writers are their own and do not necessarily reflect college policy. Copyright (C) 1994, Salem State College.
Volume V, Number 1, 1994 Contents:
ESSAYS
Hawthorne, Salem, and the Sea/Joseph Flibbert
Themes and Personalities in Physics/ Bojan Pomorisac
IN TRANSLATION:
Here Rests Charlie... Aquí Descansa Charlie.../Milagros
Ortega Emmart
PORTFOLIO:
The Scenic Environment\Whitney "Whizz"
White
POETRY:
Las Vegas and the Vishnu Schist
The Only Sound is the River/ Claire Keyes
BOOK SHELF:
Keeping the Faith: Review of ORDINARY TIME:CYCLES
IN MARRAIGE, FAITH, AND RENEWAL by Nancy Mairs/Kathleen Crowley, S.C.
Geographer's Bookshelf: Review of EARTH IN THE BALANCE: ECOLOGY AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT by Albert Gore/ Mildred Berman
An Eye on Ireland: Review of WHOREDOM IN KIMMAGE: IRISH WOMEN COMING OF AGE by Rosemary Mahoney/Philip Huckins