tuesday: laura campbell, daughter of mother, sister of adolph blaine. this image was of both laura and blaine together, but i wanted to do more of a close up of her.
here’s a little history of wheeling, west virginia around the time the velvet photo album was put together:
Wheeling also had considerable associations with the American labor movement. In 1904 it became the first city in the country to refuse a proposed Andrew Carnegie gift of a free library, because of the industrialist’s labor record, especially the notorious Homestead Strike of 1892. By contrast, cigar tycoon Augustus Pollack (despite once rousing controversy by a plan to use convict labor) left many bequests to the labor movement, which erected a memorial statue. The city’s earliest union was the United Nailers (1860, which later merged into the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers), followed by the cigar makers in 1862. The 1877 railroad strike at Martinsburg, West Virginia reached Wheeling and became nationwide. In 1897, Eugene Debs, Mother Jones and Samuel Gompers were among the speakers at a national labor convention in Wheeling to discuss a nationwide coal strike.
today’s assignment: amelia earhart using non-traditional art materials. since i wanted to do another cross stitch i thought this would be a good way to accomplish both. i am happy with the size of the grid on this one. it took me about 6 hours to complete.
while i was working on it i watched/listened to her biography on american experience on pbs. i did not know that she and gore vidal knew each other.