Christmas Cards from the Collections

Wood engraving, 1979
Gift of Donald E. Smith

This card by the prolific book illustrator Fritz Eichenberg (1901-1990) was inscribed to art dealer Betty Minor Duffy (1921-2006) who established the Bethesda Art Gallery in 1975. Her gallery specialized in fine prints by artists from the first half of the 20th century and was highly successful for about a dozen years. Duffy was influential to Georgetown’s former print curator, Joseph A. Haller, S.J., helping him acquire some important art collections for the University. The donor of this card, Donald E. Smith, was a collector and client of Mrs. Duffy’s.

From the University Art Collection

Symbolic Tree
Etching in color, c. mid-1970s

Noel
Wood engraving, c. mid-1970s

Gifts of the Artist's Estate

Kathleen Spagnolo (née Trigg) (1919-2016) was born in London, England. During World War II she served in the Royal Air Force, where she met her husband, Frank, a fellow artist who was serving in the US Army.  After the war they moved to the U.S. and settled in Arlington, Virginia. Spagnolo’s talents as a graphic artist lay in her wonderful sense of design and draftsmanship. She worked in a range of printmaking techniques and media before eventually specializing in etching and a process called multi-level viscosity printing which she learned as a student at American University.

From the University Art Collection

Lithograph in color, 1940
Gift of Rod Quiroz

This fanciful card with a mermaid’s Christmas tree is by Dorothy Lathrop (1891-1980), illustrator and author of over 50 books for children. The card is inscribed to Prentiss Taylor, an influential Washington, D.C. printmaker. She probably met him when studying at the Art Students League in New York, where Taylor began working in lithography in 1931. The collection includes three other Christmas cards from Lathrop to Taylor. In her card for 1934, Lathrop wrote: “Have you been doing your lithographs? I hope so. I have never forgotten the ones I saw in New York last winter. They were stunning.”

From the University Art Collection

Lesley Frost
1935
James P. J. Murphy Collection

From the Rare Book Collections

Una Locke Bailey
[18--]

From the Rare Book Collections

This card from British poet and critic Dame Edith Sitwell is from the late 1950s. The original, inscribed “with love” to author Graham Greene, is in the Graham Greene Papers, Box 10, Folder 48.

From the Manuscript Collections

Harry Hopkins was one of FDR’s most trusted advisers. This 1941 card from President Franklin Roosevelt and wife Eleanor is addressed to “Harry Hopkins” and is from the Harry Hopkins Papers, Box 19, Folder 3.

From the Manuscript Collections

Wilton Lackaye (originally Wilton Lackey) from Loudoun County, Virginia, was a student at Georgetown between 1877 and 1881. He left before graduation and made his professional stage debut in 1883. After a successful stage career which included productions in London, England, he transitioned to roles in silent movies. The University awarded him an honorary degree in 1914.  

From the University Archives

33 1/3 rpm record 

As part of the celebration of Georgetown University's 175th anniversary, this recording featuring music by The Chimes and a message from Georgetown University President Edward B. Bunn, S.J. was distributed to alumni.

From the University Archives

Inscribed to Leo J. O'Donovan, S.J. who was Georgetown University President from 1989 to 2001.  Bill Clinton graduated from Georgetown's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service in 1968.

From the University Archives