With two weeks left until the Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth exhibit opens in New York, this seems like a good time to share a summary of all the announced scheduled events associated with the exhibition, as well as a summary of what will (and won't) be on display.
Schedule: Main Exhibition dates: January 25 through May 12, 2019
Associated Events: Thursday, January 31, 6:30 PM. Tolkien and the Visual Image - Lecture and Discussion by Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull. Ticketed event.
February 9, 2019 11 AM–1 PM. Living Landscapes: Map Your Own Fantasy World Part One “Ink Into Existence” . Ticketed event, each ticket is valid for one child and up to two adults; Program consists of a thirty minute exhibition experience followed by a ninety minute art-making activity. Materials included.
Tuesday, February 12, 7:00 PMInside Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth Presented by The Sheen Center and The Morgan Library & Museum. "Explore this landmark exhibition with John T. McQuillen, Ph.D., Associate Curator of Printed Books & Bindings and organizing curator of the exhibit for the Morgan Library, and Holly Ordway, Ph.D., Professor of English at Houston Baptist University and author of the forthcoming book Tolkien’s Modern Sources: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages. Moderated by Corey Olsen, Ph.D., the “Tolkien Professor” and President of Signum University." Ticketed event.
Keynote Presentation: The Great Wave: How Tolkien reinvented Atlantis. By John Garth, Tolkien scholar and author of Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth
"But the beauty of mithril did not tarnish": Tolkien, Material Culture, and the Made Object by Nicholas Birns,Adjunct Instructor at New York University
Homo-amory, Tolkien’s Beowulf and The Lord of the Rings by Chris Vaccaro, Senior Lecturer in English Language and Literature at The University of Vermont
"And Menelmacar with his shining belt": J.R.R. Tolkien the Amateur Astronomer by Kristine Larsen, Professor of Astronomy at the Central Connecticut State University
Teaching Tolkien in the 21st Century by Leslie Donovan, Leslie A. Donovan, Professor, Honors College, University of New Mexico
Sunday, March 17The New York Tolkien Conference Presenters include: Megan B. Abrahamson, Nicholas Birns, David Bratman, Janet Brennan Croft, John DiBartolo and the Lonely Mountain Band, Leslie Donovan, David Emerson, Jason Fisher, Peter Grybauskas, Yvette Kisor, Kristine Larsen, Ryder Miller, Robin Anne Reid, Ph.D., Chris Tuthill, and Christopher Vaccaro. More info forthcoming next week.
Thursday, April 4, 7–9 PMA Long-expected Party "Enjoy Hobbit-inspired drinks in Gilbert Court along with live music and after-hours access to the Morgan’s exhibitions and the Historic Library. Tickets include museum admission and complimentary wine and beer. Costumes encouraged. 21+." Ticketed Event. [NOTE] There is a giveaway being run by The Morgan Library and the New York Tolkien Conference for a free pair of tickets to this event. See this webpage for more info, the contest ends later today.
Saturday, April 13, 2019 11 AM - 1 PMLiving Landscapes: Map Your Own Fantasy World part two "Watercolor Your World". "Surrealist artist Max Greis will guide participants using watercolor techniques and explore creating a fantasy landscape using trees and other flora and fauna to establish their own universe. If you have attended Part One of this miniseries, “Ink Into Existence,” you may bring your map back to use as inspiration to watercolor a landscape from your newly created world. Appropriate for ages 8-14." Ticketed event, each ticket is valid for one child and up to two adults; Program consists of a thirty minute exhibition experience followed by a ninety minute art-making activity. Materials included.
Friday, April 26, 6–8 PMFantasy Watercolor Landscapes "New York City based surrealist artist Max Greis will guide participants in using watercolor techniques and materials. Advance tickets are required, as space is limited."
Exhibition materials
The Morgan Library has a smaller exhibition space than what the Bodleian was able to use, so the exhibition will be smaller. The eponymous exhibition catalog Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth lists 181 exhibits. Of those, 20 were not shown for various reasons. However, a total of 192 items were at the Bodleian, since the catalog had to go to press much earlier than the final layout and selection of items was made. The catalog then goes on to list 105 items from the catalog that will be traveling to the Morgan Library, or somewhere around half of what was shown.
As a high level summary, the Morgan decided to focus on The Hobbit, The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings for the exhibit, though some personal photographs, a few Father Christmas letters, and other artwork made the cut.
Here is a full list of the catalogue and additional items - those in bold will be at the Morgan library (according to the best information available to me at this time):
1 OED Henry Bradley letter 2 Arthur Ransome letter 3 CS Lewis letter 4 WH Auden letter 5 Sam Gamgee letter 6 Roseland Ramage letter 7 Roseland Ramage poem 8 Iris Murdoch 9 Chuck and Joni Mitchell photo 10 Chuck and Joni Mitchell lyrics 11 Terence Pratchett letter 12 Lynda Johnson Robb (White House) letter 13 Margrethe letter 14 Margrethe drawings 15 Fan Mail (a-d) 16 1892 photo (tolkien held by nurse) 17 Letter from Mabel 18 Gift card from Ronald to his father 19 Hilary and Ronald photo 20 Dear Daddy (a-b) 21 AR Tolkien Obituary 22 Mabel photo 23 rural scene painting c1904 24 postcard of Sarehole Mill 25 home without mother (or wife) drawing 26 Ronald and Hilary 1905 photo 27 Tolkien Photo 1911 28 Exeter College Smoker 29 Sub Rector report card 30 Edith photo 1906 31 Account Book 32 Tolkien and Friends photo 1914 33 Letter to Edith 1913 34 Letter to Edith Bratt 35 2nd lieutenant photo 1916 36 Letter from GB Smith 37 Exeter College freshmen photo 38 Book of Ishness boards 39 undertenishness 40 eeriness 41 There and Here 42 Water Wind and Sand 43 (Fantasy Landscape) 44 The Land of Pohja 45 Owlamoo 46 Gardens of Merking 47 Tree of Amalion 48 Lingwë súrissë 49 Decorative alphabet 50 newspaper doodle 51 newspaper doodle 52 newspaper doodle 53 newspaper doodle 54 newspaper doodle 55 newspaper doodle 56 newspaper doodle 57 newspaper doodle 58 newspaper doodle 59 newspaper doodle 60 newspaper doodle 61 Parma Mittarion 62 Numenorean Patterns 63 Numenore and Aldarion 64 ranalinque 65 shores of faery 66 East of the Sun West of the Moon 67 Cottage of Lost Play cover 68 I Vene Kemen 69 Tale of Turin Turambar written vertically 70 I Eldinyare title page 71 reader's report "Beren and Luthien" 72 halls of manwe 73 1st silmarillion map 74 Beleg finds Flinding in Taur-na-Fuin 75 2nd silmarillion map 76 Glorund sets forth to seek Turin 77 tree of tongues 78 Of Beren and Tinuviel' 79 Idril's device 80 Luthien (green) 81 Luthien (black) 82 Beren Gamlost', Finrod and Finarphin 83 Photo of gravestone 84 books from private library 85 Tolkien in his study photo 1930s 86 College of Cretaceous Perambulators 1938 87 Wartime diary 88 Fall of Arthur 89 RW Chambers letter 1934 90 The first letter from Father Christmas 91 Drawing by Father Christmas 92 Aurora Borealis 93 To John Christmas letter 94 To Michael Christmas letter 95 Christmas 1932 Letter 96 Christmas 1932 Drawing 97 Cave Drawings 98 "high life at gipsy green" 99 Tolkien, Michael, John on the beach photo 100 Roverandom 1st page manuscript 101 “House where Rover began his adventures as a toy” 102 prose translation of Beowulf 103 Beowulf illustration 1928 - wudu wyrtum foest 104 Sellic Spell opening page 105 hringboga heorte gefysed' coiling beast 106 Betty Bond letter 1941 107 Edith, Michael, John photo 108 Edith & Christopher photo 109 John, Michael, Christopher photo 110 Edith, Christopher, John photo 111 Family tea party 1930 photo 112 Sitting on the beach photo 113 Family tea party 1928 photo 114 Tolkien and 3yo Christopher 1928 photo 115 Michael and Priscilla in Northmoor rd photo 116 Photo of John, Priscilla, Michael, Christopher 117 Michael and Christopher 118 Tolkien and Edith at the front door 1936 photo 119 Tolkien with his four children in the garden 120 Family in the garden 121 Michael (in uniform) and Tolkien 122 "first grandchild" photo 1945 123 John with the chickens in the garden 124 Photo: holiday at Weston-super-mare 1940 125 M.A. Gown 126 desk/bureau 127 chair 128 The Line of Festal Light in Christ Church Hall" by WR Flint 129 “The stripling Thames at Bab-lock-hithe" by William Russel Flint 130 “it’s fir-topped Hurst, it’s farms, it’s quiet fields” by William Russel Flint 131 And the Eye Travels Down to Oxford's Tower" by WR Flint 132 Tolkien's D.Litt. Gown 133 Photograph of Tolkien in Oxford (in gown) 134 Thror's treasure map 135 manuscript title page 136 the hill and hobbiton-across-the Water 137 the trolls 138 Rivendell 139 mountain path 140 bilbo woke up with the early sun in his eyes 141 bilbo comes to the hut of the raft elves 142 plot notes 143 conversation with smaug 144 wilderland map 145 draft dust jacket 146 dust jacket 147 letter to Charles Furth 148 Magic Ring title page 149 Title Page 150 Ring verse 151 Old Man willow 152 Raynor review 1938 153 Doors of Durin draft page 154 Fire writing 155 Moria Gate lower 156 Moria Gate 157 Mazarbul leaf 158 Mazarbul leaf 159 Mazarbul leaf 160 Forest of Lothlorien 161 Time Scheme 162 Treebeard draft page 163 Dunharrow 164 Riddles of Rohirrim draft page 165 Barad-Dur 166 King's Letter draft page 167 Fellowship dj design 168 Two Towers dj design 169 Return of the King dj design 170 Map of NW Middle-earth 171 Map of SW Middle-earth 172 "Last" map 1969 173 Map of Middle-earth by Pauline Baynes 174 contour map crossroads 175 Stonewain valley map 176 1st map of Shire 177 hobbit long measures 178 Map of Rohan, Gondor, Mordor 1948 179 "First" map circa 1937-1949 180 Map of Rohan, Gondor, Mordor 1946 181 Map of Rohan, Gondor, Mordor 1944 There and Back Again by Pauline Baynes pencil cup (sitting man holding a stein) Pencil tin pencils glasses and case books: Irish English dictionary (84), Lyra Celtica, Vols 1-2 of the Red Book of Hergest Reeves' Poster Outfit Colour Set (paints) Air Raid Precautions (book) Wartime Identity Card The Mabinogion (book) wood working tools pencil stubs Walkden sealing set hat 5 pipes "Player's Gold Leaf Navy Cut" tobacco tin Earandel and Gil-galad heraldic devices Unfinished designs (heralidic devices) Lost Tales A book cover Lost Tales B book cover Tuor and the exiles of Gondolin - two pages, Edith's fair copy Interactive Audio Station x2 3D terrain map table Wallet with 2 Edith photos Lancaster Fusiliers Badge Field Telephones for Army Use book two rulers King Edward School cap many fan letters not cataloged Interactive Map station (touchscreen) Interactive quiz station (touchscreen, outside the exhibit)
In addition, the Morgan Library will be showing three additional items that were not at the Bodleian exhibition: 1) Tolkien's manuscript letter to Geoffrey Selby, 14 Dec. 1937, Morgan Library & Museum (MA 4373). This is illustrated in the catalogue, p. 312. 2) Tolkien's typed letter to Naomi Mitchison, 25 April 1954, private collection. 3) 2 copies of the first English edition of The Hobbit, one with the dust jacket (private collection) and the Morgan copy with the dust jacket removed to show Tolkien's designs for the boards (PML 84830).
Thank you J for this! I have been so busy with other organization matters I did not see that the Morgan had posted paper topics for the Symposium. I knew 2 of the 4 already but reading of the rest is fantastic! will share around....Thanks again ~Anthony
Because it might be relevant to someone: The exhibition item info comes mostly from p. 410 of the catalogue Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth, with additional information provided in personal correspondence with the curators at the Bodleian and Morgan Libraries.
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