In January of this year, Bayou Bend acquired a rare sampler, skillfully stitched by Mary J. Greenfield Smith (born c. 1829), a student at the school of the Oblate Sisters of Providence—the first Roman Catholic society for women of African descent in the U.S. The Oblate sisters founded a school that embraced a curriculum similar to schools for white girls of the time: preparing students to run their own households, work as servants, or support...

Color Field painter Jules Olitski didn’t stay in one place for very long, artistically speaking. Unlike his contemporaries, Helen Frankenthaler, Kenneth Noland, and Morris Louis, Olitski changed his artistic techniques much more frequently. “Olitski is unique among the Color Field Painters in the rapidity of his evolution,” says Alison de Lima Greene, curator of contemporary art and special projects at the MFAH. Greene is one of three curators of the current exhibition, Revelation: Major...

One of my favorite rooms at Rienzi is the Library; as a self-proclaimed bibliophile, it’s a natural fit. Rienzi’s Library contains many classic texts, from Frances Burney’s Camilla to George Eliot’s Middlemarch and Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust, but of particular mention is a compilation of Shakespeare from 1632. On the bottom right hand side rests a red leather bound book with the title “Shakespeare’s Works London 1632.” Also found in Library at Windsor Castle,...

This morning I popped into the Rienzi kitchen to find another staff member adding freshly cut flowers to a vase. “Where are those from?” I asked, thinking someone picked up a few bouquets of beautiful deep pink flowers from the grocery store. “The gardens,” was the reply.  As a native New Englander, I was perplexed. Wait. Flowers? It’s January, we haven’t even started winter! I haven’t even had a chance to wear wool sweaters yet! I...

The following entry is an abridged version of my introductory remarks at a recent meeting to discuss the implementation of an Electronic Records Archives system. It revisits the motivating factors for seeking the planning grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission as the MFAH enters the final months of the project, having received a no cost extension from the Commission, in which the nature and timeline of the implementation phase is to be...