Cheri Markowitz Resigns

After two impressively productive years as Director of the Demuth Foundation, Cheri Markowitz reluctantly submitted her resignation to join her family's business in Florida. The Board of Directors accepted it with equal reluctance. Under her guidance, the Foundation has mounted over a dozen exhibitions, renovated its basement space for meetings and seminars, begun work on preservation of the snuff mill, expanded the museum shop, arranged for a Technical Assistance Grant through the Pennsylvania and Historic Museum Commission, begun a series of gallery talks connected with exhibitions, given talks herself to various community groups, strengthened ties with other museums, and set into motion an on-going educational program with city and area schools. Also, she proved to be an informed Demuth scholar, a tactful, cooperative colleague, and a genuine friend to co-workers and board members. She will be difficult to replace, and any of our members -- lucky enough to have known her and worked with her -- will miss her greatly.

Administrative Assistant Joins Foundation Patricia Hines - who prefers to be called Pat - comes to the Foundation with a rich experience in library reference work that should prove valuable as we continue expand our operations in the museum and our archival holdings connected with preservation of the snuff mill. As a part-time employee, she joins Sylvia Evans, Helen Pretzman, and Sibyl Freeman, in maintaining the foundation's activities during this period of transition between directors. After completing her master's degree in library science, Pat served as referencelibrarian at the Hershey Medical School and subsequently as editorial assistant and researcher in the School of Neurology at the University of Iowa. Currently she is a part-time administrative assistant in the Franklin & Marshall College Alumni Sports and Fitness Center. Pat is a member of the internationally recognized “Master Gardeners” organization at Penn State, which volunteers assistance to home gardeners. Although her specialty is perennials, her knowledge is broad and will be put to good use in maintaining Augusta Demuth's garden.

Foundation Pays Off Mortgages

With generous support from the James Hale Steinman Foundation, the John Frederick Steinman Foundation, and Armstrong World Industries, the Demuth Foundation has paid off its mortgages on the properties at 114-120 East King Street. The addresses house the Demuth Tobacco Shop, the Sprague & Lewis Ltd. law firm, Abel Savage Marketing and Communications, the historic snuff mill and tobacco manufactory, and the Demuth museum and office. Additional support from High Associates Ltd., and from funds generated by the growth of the Gilbert endowment, have made this happy turn of events possible. The Demuth Foundation owns its properties free and clear after less than twenty years since its founding in 1981: an admirable achievement, thanks to magnanimous friends.

Stauffer Collection

Under the will of the late Pauline Stauffer, longtime Foundation supporter who died 25 October 1998, her Demuth memorabilia becomes a part of the Foundation's permanent collection, provided that its monetary value go to the Scholastics art program in Lancaster, which she was instrumental in establishing nearly seventy years ago. Christie's Auction House has appraised the artifacts and Wiederseim Associates has appraised letters and other paper materials. As a long-time advocate of Demuth's work, she held letters to him from various friends and associates, as well as letters from the artist to his mother; two Demuth sketches; his easel, palette, both china painting and oil painting boxes; family photographs; and personal items including Demuth's green fedora, black dancing slippers, and Pennsylvania Sesqui-centennial silver medal.

April Bus Trip

The Foundation is sponsoring a bus trip to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in Philadelphia, for a private showing of that museum's Demuth collection. This rare “behind the scenes” opportunity is scheduled for Tuesday morning, April 13th. Afterward, the bus will proceed to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, first for lunch, and then for the museum's current exhibition, “Mad for Modernism,” plus a selection of Alfred Stieglitz's photographs of his wife, Georgia O'Keeffe. The bus will leave at 8:00 a.m., from the Service Center at the Lancaster Golden Triangle, and return at 3:00 p.m., arriving back in Lancaster about 5:30 p.m. The inclusive cost - travel, lunch, and museum admissions - is $55 for members and $65 for non-members. There are only thirty-five spaces available on the bus; early reservations are therefore encouraged. Checks payable to the Foundation serve as reservations.

Thank you . . . David Evans, for the Demuth Website www.demuth.org; Pat and Rob Hines, for tidying the Foundation garden; Williams College Museum of Art, Bequest of Susan Watts Street 57.8, for permission to reproduce Trees and Barns, Bermuda, 1917, watercolor over pencil on paper, 9 " X 13 7/16"; the Van Vechten Trust, for permission to reproduce a photograph of Henry McBride.