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August 2009 Website: hemingway.astate.edu Phone: 870-598-3487 |
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Friends of the Pfeiffers Membership 2008 We wish to add Terry & Jeaninea Bare to the Century Club 2008 Membership list and apologize for the oversight in the previous newsletter. We sincerely appreciate each of our many friends who make it possible to continue and expand programs through annual financial support and artifact donations. If you are not a Friends of the Pfeiffers member, you may follow instructions on the “Contribution” link on our website. |
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June 2009 Record-Setting Month HPMEC recorded nearly 1000 visitors from 10 states for the month of June 2009, the most visitors for one month since the July 1999 Grand Opening month. More than 400 Missouri summer school students traveled to Piggott for a class tour, and many Arkansas teachers attended professional development workshops arranged by HPMEC. Participants at the Summer Creative Writers’ Retreat added to the number. Although most of the visitors can be attributed to Educational Programs, many were tour groups and individuals. Associated Press reporter Jon Gambrell and photographer Danny Johnston visited in June, and we are still reaping the benefits from their story in honor of the 80th anniversary of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. |
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John Hemingway, signed his book, Strange Tribe, at the HPMEC 10th anniversary celebration, July 30. |
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Anniversary Celebration HPMEC celebrated its ten-year anniversary, July 1999 to July 2009, with a public reception in the Hemingway Barn-Studio, Thursday, July 30, 1:30 to 3 p.m. A new Hemingway exhibit was unveiled, along with remarks and a book signing by John Hemingway, eldest grandson of Ernest Hemingway and Pauline Pfeiffer Hemingway. Arkansas State University-Jonesboro Chancellor Robert Potts welcomed the standing-room-only crowd. Dr. Ruth Hawkins, HPMEC director, presented the new exhibit, followed by John Hemingway’s remarks on his Pfeiffer heritage and his book signing. The new 16-foot exhibit, The Piggott Connection, provides a color-coded timeline of Hemingway’s visits to the Pfeiffer home, featuring a monthly log for the 1927-1940 years during which the Hemingway family—Ernest, Pauline and/or the Hemingway children—were in residence at Piggott. |
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The Piggott Connection exhibit panel is installed in the Hemingway Barn-Studio. |
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Strange Tribe is a fascinating family memoir revealing the peculiar family dynamics between Ernest Hemingway and his youngest son, Gregory. John Hemingway’s participation in the celebration was especially appropriate since his father, Gregory Hemingway, was the featured guest at the Grand Opening Celebration, July 1999. Born in 1960, he is the half-brother of Lorian Hemingway, who also has visited Piggott. John has been married to his wife Ornella since 1984, and they have two children. After living in Italy and Spain, the family now resides in Montreal, Canada. John Hemingway’s visit to Arkansas also included a reading and book signing at the Dean B. Ellis Library, ASU-Jonesboro, and at That Bookstore in Blytheville. Nearly 200 books were sold during the three events. Autographed copies of Strange Tribe are available at the Museum Store. |
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Celebration of Quilting Visitors’Choice awards were announced during the tenth annual Celebration of Quilting, Saturday, May 16. Ribbons and certificates were awarded in multiple categories with divisions for hand-quilted and machine quilted items. |
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Young at Art VII Winners of Young at Art VII were announced at the May 8 awards reception, following the May 1-8 exhibition in the Pfeiffer-Janes House. The event is to celebrate the Paris wedding of Ernest Hemingway and Pauline Pfeiffer, May 1927. Young at Art VII featured 59 student works, grades 7-12, selected by school districts within a 30-mile radius of Piggott. Six school districts participated this year. Awards, sponsored by D & G Plumbing and Heating, Inc. of Piggott included: First Place, $35; Second Place, $25; and Third Place, $15. |
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First Place The Tree by Brea Riddle, Kennett High School senior. |
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Second Place Flower of Hope by Michael Hines, Kennett High School sophomore. |
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Third Place Graffitti Board by Zach Smart, Piggott High School senior. |
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June 2009 Creative Writers’ Retreat participants. Front row, left to right: Phyllis Rhodes, Everton, MO; Sandra Harrison, Fisk, MO; Wanda Faye Jones, North Little Rock; Rita Dortch, Rector; Freeda Baker Nichols, Clinton; Pat Laster, Benton; Jennifer Vernon, Piggott. Back row: Monica Moore, Piggott; Rob Lamm, Jonesboro; Heather Seegraves, Piggott; Ethan Baker, Piggott; Lisa Woolery, Piggott; Bob Jones, North Little Rock; Ethel Mohler, Piggott; John Achor, Hot Springs Village; Linda Wyss, Piggott; Eileen Krause, Cabot. Not pictured: Mary Lester, Little Rock; Deanna Dismukes, HPMEC. |
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Creative Writers’Retreat “From the veranda of the Pfeiffer house, where Patrick and Gregory played, Pauline glanced around the tree-covered lawn.” So begins the June 2009 Hemingway-Pfeiffer Creative Writers’ Retreat anthology, Outside the Lines, penned at HPMEC, June 8-12, 2009. Eighteen talented authors came together to pursue their literary interests. Some of the participants chose to write in the Barn-Studio once used by Ernest Hemingway when he was in Piggott. Dr. Robert Lamm of Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, was the lead mentor for the group with Deanna Dismukes, HP Education Coordinator. The writers wish to thank Arkansas State University, The Matilda & Karl Pfeiffer Museum and Study Center, D&G Heating and Plumbing, Bob & Wanda Jones, and Pat Laster for their generous donations in support of the retreats. All eighteen of the participants have attended previous HPMEC retreats. |
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Latraca Lowe of Doniphan, MO, was winner for Antique Quilt; Liz Minton of Jonesboro, Art Quilt; and Wanda Chilcutt of Piggott, Non-traditional Size Quilt. Celebration of Quilting emphasizes the role of quilts and quilting in our heritage and is in honor of Paul and Mary Pfeiffer. Mr. Pfeiffer bought any quilt offered to him during the Great Depression as a way to help people help themselves. |
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Fall Creative Writers’ Retreat Fall Creative Writers’ Retreat is Nov. 2-6, with Roland Mann, Oxford, Miss., as lead mentor. For reservations call (870) 598-3487. A special feature of the Fall 2009 Retreat is a book signing by Wanda Jones, Friday, Nov. 6, 2-3 p.m. Wanda and her husband, Bob, of North Little Rock are regular attendees |
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of HP Creative Writers’ Retreats. Wanda will be signing her first chapbook (small poetry booklet) entitled Erasing People, a collection of twenty-three cancer poems. She is celebrating ten years of living with cancer. She and her husband, a professional photographer, served as the cover story for CARTI’s Perspective Magazine in 2007, which featured Wanda’s poetry as a way to use creativity for a better quality |
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of life with chronic cancer. Bob has donated photography to CARTI and other agencies in support of Cancer research funding. Wanda is placing her chapbook in CARTI and physicians’ waiting rooms. Books can be purchased on site. |
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Notice Please send your email address to: drsanders@astate.edu We want to complete our files with up-to-date contact information so we can take advantage of fast, easy and cost-effective methods of keeping in touch with you. We will continue to print and mail Friends of the Pfeiffers News as long as we can, but a time may come when we cannot, and we need to be prepared. So send an email to the address listed above with “Friends of the Pfeiffers” in the subject line. Volunteer tour guides are needed and appreciated. Please call or come by and visit with HP staff. We hope to see you soon. |