Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1933-06-28

July 4-lHe slBnlnB OF the Dec-
laration of MISUNDERSTANDING
- to mind the famous painting of
tE-mM-1 that historic scene which hangs
Ill NM IL in the rotunda of the Capitol in
t6MT Washington. For 1t is through
Il TN the eyes of John Trumbull, the
CaAJ Connecticut painter, that we
have received most of our visual
impressions not only of what took place In In
dependence hall In Philadelphia on July 4,
1T76, but of many of the other great events In
the American Revolution.
A short time ago Yale university commemorat-
ed the centenary of the opening of the oldest
art gallery In this country connected with a
college. The founder of that art gallery, the
architect Of the original building, was this same
John Trumbull. whose body lies In a vault be-
meath the fine arts building which has succeed
ed the simple little structure which he designed
and which housed the original collection of his
canvasses that have since become so famous.
The commemorative ceremonies, which consist
ed principally of showing again all of the Trum-
bull collection of paintings as they had once
been displayed In the vanished building which
he designed, not only served to honor the
painter of Americas epic" but 1t emphasized
once more the part which this university has
played In the visual education of Americans
in the history of their country.
1t recalled once more an ambitious project
of that institution In this educational field, be-
gun more than a decade ago and, appropriately
enough, brought to a triumphant conclusion
during the year In which the sesqui-centennial
of American independence was being celebrat-
ed. That was the publication of 1.-THE Pageant
of America" a 15-volume pictorial history of
our country which has worked something of a
revolution in the methods of presenting and
studying American history"
The idea for such a project. took form while
the Yale University Press, which had just COM
pleted publication of another notable historical
series, 1.-THE Chronicles Of America" was ex-
perimenting with the presentation of the drama
OF American History through the medium of
moving pictures. The result of this experiment
was the outlining of a plan for a pictorial
chronicle of America" In book form.
There have been many PICTORIAL histories Of
America but the majority Of them have been
comparatively ~valueless because "the pictures
have often been an excuse to weaken the text,
and the text has been an excuse to pass off
hackneyed or deceptive pictures on the conhd-
ing reader" So the problem Of the Yale au-
thorlties was not only to avoid a repetition Of
the errors which had given pictorial history n
bad repute but also to prepare a combination Of
pictures and text which would be scholarly
enough to satisfy the most e~xacting scientific
historian" and lively and interesting enough to
meet the demands of popular appeal" without
sacrificing anything Of accuracy and authen-
ITCHY.
But the most interesting story of all In con
nectlon with the presentation Of this unique pag
cant Ia the story of the worldwide search for
the pictures which went into 1t. II Is the story
of an adventure In American history, as roman
tic an adventure In many Of Its aspects as any
incident which Is recorded In our school his.
tories. For 1t is the story Of a nlne-year search
through private collections and those Of gov
ernmental bodies, historical societies, libraries,
museums, art galleries. learned societies and