FAN-tastic Find!

One of the most interesting objects in the Museum Archives is the Autograph Fan. Robin Clark, a student in The Circle Undergraduate Internship Program, spent some time this spring helping us research the fan. Here is what we discovered:

The fan in our collection is a brisé fan. Brisé fans are one of the oldest types of handheld fans. The design consists of a stack of sheets laid together, fastened at the base and then again from leaf to leaf to form what resembles a triangle when unfolded. Most common materials used included paper, feathers, light wood sheets, tortoiseshell, and ivory. These leaves would then be attached to one another using ribbon, silk cord, or paper at the top of the leaf. All of the pieces would then be attached at their base using a rivet that historically could be quite ornate, depending on the intended recipient of a specific fan. In the mid-to-late 1800s, wooden and ivory brisé fans became a popular keepsake for young women as autographs would be collected on their leaves.

Front view

The autographed fan pictured above was donated to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History by Helen Louise Fitz-Gerald, who inherited it from her mother, Helen Savery, the niece of American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope. Signatures were collected by Edward Drinker Cope, likely as a present for his daughter, Julia, while he was on one of his first collecting expeditions when Julia was only five years old. Each blade of the fan features a signature of a nineteenth century naturalist, some including a drawing indicating that individual's interest or area of study. 

Back of the fan

The fan was likely assembled in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1871

Fred W. Putnam was a biologist and anthropologist at Harvard University. He surveyed both New Jersey and Ohio and has great local significance in his instrumental role in the preservation of the Great Serpent Mound in Adams County, Ohio. If you look closely, you can see that Putnam wrote "Don't let E.C. (Edward Cope) describe these as new genera."

Edward Drinker Cope was a noted paleontologist. His feud with fellow paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh was known as the "Bone Wars" and resulted in the naming of many new species of dinosaurs including Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops. Note the fanciful drawing he made here for his daughter.

Philo Romayne Hoy was a medical doctor who had eclectic zoological interests. He included a drawing of either a zooplankton or an opossum shrimp with his autograph. 

James Hall was the New York state geologist, paleontologist and state surveyor. He founded the New York State Museum of Natural History.

 

William Pinckney Fishback was an Indianapolis lawyer and businessman. At the time of his autograph, he was also the owner and editor of the Indiana Journal newspaper.

Asa Gray was a famous botanist; his detailed drawing of a flower is a fitting inclusion on his leaf of the fan. He published numerous manuals on botany, including the well-known Gray's Manual of Botany.

Susan P. Boynton was principal of the English and Classical High School in Lynn, Massachusetts, from 1862-1877. She was also a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

James Henry Emerton was from Salem, Massachusetts. His illustration for the fan looks to be a cricket, which was not his usual subject; he was known primarily for studying the taxonomy and distribution of the spiders of New England and Canada.

Charles Abiathar White was an American geologist and paleontologist. His quote certainly attests to his affinity with rocks and fossils!

Edward S. Morse was a zoologist and chair of Comparative Anatomy and Zoology at Bowdoin College at the time that he gave his autograph and illustration on this fan. His drawing is likely his interpretation of a brachiopod as being worm-like in form. [See: Morse, Edward S. 1902. Observations on living Brachiopoda. Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, 5 (8): 313-386] 

Stay tuned for updates as we continue to research this fascinating piece of history and discover more about some of the other signatures. Meanwhile, if you want to learn more about these and other scientists, please check out our online catalog.

Updated on June 16, 2014