Tim and Michelle Smith are passionate collectors of original Gerlach Barklow illustrations and prints. They have displayed their illustration art collection at the Joliet Area Historical Museum. They are also the authors of Plainfield in the Postcard History Series.
Title: Calendar conservators Author: Denise M. Baran-Unland
Publisher: The Herald-News Date: 1//1/2010
As Tim and Michelle Smith of Plainfield signed copies of their
book, "Joliet's Gerlach Barklow Calendar Company," at the Joliet
Area Historical Museum, an elderly man approached them asking for
help locating a picture that had been featured in one of the
calendars.
That man had pretended to be fishing when he posed for that print
83 years ago, but he had never owned a copy of it. A friend had
found a copy of "Buildin' Air Castles" when the man was 15 years
old, but his parents didn't have the money to buy it. The Smiths
not only found a copy for him, they included the salesman's sample
story of the print.
What a great feeling to be able to give him the copy of the
calendar print, especially at Christmas," Michelle said.
When the Smiths decided to compile a book of prints, photographs
and anecdotes that illustrate the former Joliet factory, they
wanted to accomplish more than preserve local history and honor
their fellow collectors. They also wanted to resurrect an era for
the people who lived it and create a remembrance for their
descendants.
Help with research With several thousand Gerlach-Barklow prints in
their 12-year collection (the Smiths now collect the original
paintings), the research part of the book was easy because 99
percent of the items featured in the book belong to the Smiths.
And thanks to local collector Erma Chuk (deceased), the Smiths had
many firsthand accounts of former employees. Through the years,
Chuk had conducted numerous interviews with members of the
Gerlach-Barklow Quarter-Century Club in the hopes a book would one
day be written.
There's a good chance that someone glancing at the photographs of
the various factory departments and the many sports teams
Gerlach-Barklow sponsored might spot a picture of a relative or
friend, Tim said.
That's because the south Richards Street facility employed more
than 1,500 employees during its 60-year history, with the female
employees in the early 1900s outnumbering the men 50 to 1, Tim
said. Women had a keener eye for the fine detail hand-coloring
required, he noted.
History preserved The factory's location made it easy for people to
walk to the job, although many of the women were allowed to bring
their work home. "Several of the kids we talked to said they could
remember sitting around the kitchen table with mom and tying ribbon
on the calendars," Tim said. Among the many Gerlach-Barklow
calendars, one in the late 1920s featured a Joliet girl who gained
national attention.
Michelle said that Joliet girl became the first Miss Illinois
pageant winner to win the Miss America title. The achievement of
Lois Delander -- Miss America 1927 -- is illustrated in
Gerlach-Barklow prints.
Another surprise to fascinate history buffs is that the
illustrators signed only their last names because many of them were
women and male business owners wouldn't buy calendars that featured
female artists.
Tim said another interesting tidbit is that the company was worth
more than $30 million when Theodore Gerlach died in 1933; when it
began in 1907 the owners couldn't afford to buy a desk.
Although the Smiths prefer the early Victorian-style
Gerlach-Barklow prints, they point out that, like Norman Rockwell,
the Gerlach- Barklow calendars froze different segments of life --
from the policeman walking a boy across a street to the elderly
Joliet woman who treasures a print of her deceased dog.
"One picture pretty much told a story of what was going on in
America at the time," Michelle said.
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