AMONG THE ARTIFACTS

Howard Pyle's paintings
Howard Pyle was a gifted storyteller – writer and illustrator – whose close friends included Mark Twain and presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. He was also an instructor of note; among Pyle's students were Frank Schoonover and N.C. Wyeth.

The library collection includes 22 Pyle pictures, 18 of which were illustrations for a 1901 edition of Woodrow Wilson's "History of the American People." The other four are from a panel set called "Travels of the Soul," which Pyle created to illustrate a 1902 Christmas issue of Collier's Magazine.

"Travels of the Soul" was presented to the library as a gift from Pyle's close friend and Green Bay native Alonzo W. Kimball.

To say that the illustrations were a gift from Pyle would be misleading. In 1904 Pyle asked to borrow the "Travels" for an exhibit, and as a gesture of appreciation he loaned the Wilson history illustrations to the library. Once the illustrations were in the hands of librarian and historian Deborah Martin, they never left Green Bay.

Although Pyle wrote letters to Martin intimating that he would like them returned, without ever saying "no," she kept them here.

The Landfall of Jean Nicolet
Edwin Willard Deming's preliminary sketch is for a canvas that he did for the Wisconsin Historical Society. It is Deming's interpretation of Nicolet's landing on the shores of Green Bay in 1634. Deming gave the sketch to historical society director Ruben Gold Thwaites, who in turn presented it to the library.

Abraham Lincoln and son, Tad
Very few autographed pictures of Abraham Lincoln are known to exist, and only two have this signature, "A. Lincoln & Son." One is in a private collection and the other belongs to the Brown County Library.

This photograph taken by Mathew Brady in his Washington, D.C., studio on Feb. 9, 1864, shows Lincoln and his son leafing through a book.

It was a gift to the library from Gustave Matile, who in 1864 served John Hay and President Lincoln. After Lincoln's assassination, Matile came to Green Bay as a court commissioner. He served as judge, attorney and Swiss counsel in Green Bay, often dealing with matters related to the Oneida Tribe of Indians.

Rufus Kellogg portrait by G.P.A. Healy
Rufus Kellogg was one of the giants in Green Bay history. His Kellogg Bank, organized in 1874, was the forerunner to Associated Bank. Kellogg was deeply devoted to the community. In 1889 when Green Bay issued $15,000 in bonds for repairs to the Walnut Street Bridge, Kellogg purchased all of the bonds and turned them back to the city on the condition that it would finance a library through an annual appropriation.

George Peter Alexander Healy was one of the nation's most prolific and important portrait painters in the late 19th century. His subjects included presidents from John Quincy Adams to Ulysses Grant, and figures from Daniel Webster to William Seward.

Rugs
In 1904 Alonzo Weston Kimball, a former Green Bay resident who made a fortune as an insurance executive, walked into a well-respected Chicago rug merchant's store and purchased 12 expensive oriental rugs. Kimball paid for the carpets in cash and ordered that they be sent to the Kellogg Library (the predecessor to the Brown County Library).

A year later, after Kimball died, 14 more carpets were presented to the library, gifts from his wife and his estate. According to the late Jack Rudolph, who regularly wrote about history for the Press-Gazette, Kimball's intention may have been to have each of the 26 rugs represent a different area of Persia and Asia.