Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
In 1923 Thomas G. Moses wrote, “June 22nd, I took a run over to Ft. Scott and met the committee on Masonic work. At this new Temple Roy Givens came down and we had quite a showing. Our old work is in the present Temple and as they are well please with it, I feel that we stand a good chance on it, but one can never tell.” Moses landed the work and painted the majority of scenes on site.
It was the fate of this Fort Scott Scottish Rite scenery collection that prompted me to begin the “Tales of a Scenic Artist and Scholar” storyline. It started with a much longer title on February 15, 2017 – “Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Acquiring the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery Collection for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center.”
I needed to tell the story of why the Fort Scott Scottish Rite scenery collection was so significant, hoping to prevent the mishandling of another Scottish Rite collection. In November 2015, I supervised the removal and transportation of the scenery from Fort Scott to a storage facility in Minnesota where it would await restoration until the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center was completed. At the time I was working as the Curatorial Director for the facility and was slotted to complete the restoration in 2016, after finishing a myriad of other projects. My position was terminated promptly upon the opening of the center, and the restoration work completed by individuals who irreparably damaged the Moses’ paintings. In the end, the collection that I so carefully packed up in Fort Scott became the victim of hot melt glue and scissors. In the beginning, my telling of the tale was quite rough, littered with typos and missing words. My fingers can never quite catch up to my thoughts. I was struggling to find my voice while telling a particularly painful tale. Here is the first installment of story if you are interested: https://drypigment.net2017/02/15/tales-from-a-scenic-artist-and-scholar-acquiring-a-scottish-rite-scenery-collection-for-the-minnesota-masonic-heritage-center/?fbclid=IwAR3Jw6A0fMPDQcfAs-h4CMv6-DBqg1tYiWKCVVtjKNifwUqN4iuZXQIYZnE
It has been four years since I started “Tales of a Scenic Artist and Scholar,” and I would like to think my writing has somewhat improved. The life and times of Thomas G. Moses had been a driving force to get me out of bed and write every morning. Unfortunately, I no longer leap out of bed to write. Again, I am faced with a story that I really don’t want to tell, but am compelled to write. It has become increasingly difficult to research and post about the life and times of Thomas G. Moses on a daily basis. I have entered a period of Moses’ life that is one train wreck after another. This is when everything falls apart for him. It also coincides with a shift in the scenic art industry as the demand for painted scenery declines. Sosman & Landis close, Moses is betrayed by D. S. Hunt, and yet, he purchases the Sosman & Landis name for $20,000. He never financially recovers and ends up working for others, many of whom he trained in the early days. On top of everything else, the Great Depression hits and his health continues to deteriorate. Despite it all, he keeps on painting and doing the best he can. He is old, his body is broken and he yearns for all that is lost; that which will not come again.
I will finish my story, albeit with less excitement than when I began. Mainly because I made myself a promise. I also made a promise to Moses after I read his 1922 entry a few decades ago:
“I trust my diary will be of some interest to my relatives and brother scenic artists. I feel sure that my work will be of some interest inasmuch as I was compelled to travel over the United States a great deal from Maine to California, which gave me a great chance to meet big people of the dramatic world in the days of real actors and plays of real merit.” His story deserves an ending.
To be continued…
