Home > Creative Expression
Canaday Center collections documenting creative expression are as varied as creative expression itself. Included are some of the rarest and most valuable of the Center’s book collection. These include first editions—some signed by the authors—of classic works of American literature such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, and Henry David Thoreau’s first book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Some of the literary collections reflect the research interests of the faculty of UT’s Department of English. For example, the Center preserves a rich collection of works by Eudora Welty, donated to the Center by the late Dr. William U. McDonald, an early Welty scholar.
The Center also preserves a significant collection of modern poetry, particularly the works of Ezra Pound and the movement he started, Imagist poetry. These materials were collected to support the research of the late UT Professor Noel Stock, one of the first scholars to study Pound. In 1912, Pound and two of his friends, Richard Aldington and H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), started the Imagist movement that found its inspiration in Chinese and Japanese poetry. Their intent was to write poetry that embodied feeling in precise and limited words that exactly conveyed the intended meaning, and their work would influence much of the modern poetry of the 1960s. The Canaday Center’s collection includes a first edition of an anthology of the group, Des Imagistes, published in 1914.
Creative expression also includes books that are valued as much for the beauty of their printing as for the words contained within their covers. Examples in the Center’s holdings include early printed works dating back to the fifteenth century, as well as modern works of fine printing such as books produced by William Morris’s Kelmscott Press and Virginia Woolf’s Hogarth Press.
The Canaday Center’s manuscript collections document many aspects of creative expression, from cartoon art to dance to visual art. The Center preserves the life work of University of Toledo alum Pete Hoffman, whose Jeff Cobb comic strip was syndicated and published in newspapers around the world for over 30 years. And while the Center does not generally preserve artwork, included in its collections are some remarkable original watercolor paintings produced just after World War II by artist James M. Sessions that show the role Toledo’s Jeep played in winning that war.
This is an exhibit featuring the Canaday Center's collections on creative expression.
While a student at the University of Toledo, Pete Hoffman often lent his talents to the Campus Collegian, illustrating campus life and world politics with daily cartoons. After graduation in 1941, he went on to contribute to syndicated newspaper strip cartoons like Steve Roper before securing his own strip. Jeff Cobb appeared in newspapers in 1954 and entertained audiences with the adventures of an intrepid investigative journalist until 1978. These items exemplify Hoffman’s talent and include not only his work on Jeff Cobb but on an educational feature, Why We Say, which explains the origins of words and phrases, and a series of cartoons he prepared for his fiftieth class reunion at UT in 1991. These works are protected under US Copyright Law.
This original watercolor painting is one of a series of works done by James M. Sessions for a post-World War II advertising campaign for the Jeep automobile. The dramatic paintings emphasized the role of the Jeep in liberating Europe and the Far East. The company used such images of how the Jeep helped to win the war to market the vehicle to the post-war civilian consumer. This work is protected under US Copyright Law.
“Without an active and supportive community, the arts cannot exist, much less flourish. We are their lifeblood, and vice versa.”
This is the first American edition of Twain’s most important work that includes 174 illustrations by E.W. Kemble. Copies of this edition are scarce and valued by collectors.
Ezra Pound created the Imagist poetry movement, which would have a profound impact on modern poetry. He edited this anthology of his fellow Imagist poets, including H.D., William Carlos Williams, James Joyce, Amy Lowell, and others. This is a first edition of this important work in the history of modern poetry. The Canaday Center preserves an impressive collection of works by Imagists.
The Marble Faun is a collection of imitations of English pastoral verse. Less than 70 copies of this edition are thought to exist because most were destroyed in a fire. The Canaday Center’s extensive Faulkner collection was assembled by Ward L. Miner of Youngstown and purchased by UT Libraries in 1976.
William Morris was the father of the Arts and Crafts movement. At a time when cheap machine production dominated, Morris wanted to show people the beauty of handcrafted items. In 1891, he began a revival of fine printing at his Kelmscott Press. Kelmscott books were often bound in vellum, and illustrated with woodcuts. They also reflected a medieval look.
The University of Toledo’s Department of Theatre and Film stages several productions each year using students both on-stage and behind the scenes. These posters used to publicize productions were designed and hand painted by Ray Pentzell, professor of theatre. Pentzell also produced set and costumes designs during his tenure at UT, including for The Scheming Lieutenant in fall 1978 and Celebration in winter 1970.
This incunable was produced by Nicolaus Jenson, the French-born Venetian printer. Jenson used his graceful Roman type modeled on classical letter forms for the first time in 1470, only a year before this appeared. An incunable is a book printed before 1501.
Perhaps Eliot’s most famous work, The Waste Land established him as the voice of a disillusioned generation. Complex, the poem is known for its radical departure from traditional poetic forms. This is the first English edition of the poem hand printed by Virginia Woolf and her husband at their Hogarth Press in Richmond, Surrey.
An anthology of short stories, this is the first book published by Welty. It was turned down by four other publishers. This edition was set from Welty’s own typescript, and subsequent editions changed significant portions of the text. The Canaday Center’s extensive Welty collection was donated by the late William U. McDonald, UT professor of English and one of the foremost scholars of Welty. This particular volume is signed by Welty.
Flora Ward Hineline joined the Toledo Blade with a vision to elevate cultural life in Toledo. In 1930, the Town Hall Series that she started and the Paramount Theatre hosted brought intellectuals and entertainers of national and international renown--such as Winston Churchill, Gertrude Stein, Eleanor Roosevelt, H.G. Wells, Orson Wells, Katherine Hepburn, and more--to Toledo. Eventually, the Town Hall Theatre was constructed specifically for the series.
Dancer and choreographer Marie Vogt founded the Toledo Ballet School in 1963. She served as the artistic director of the school for 55 years and brought ballets such as Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet to Toledo audiences. The Toledo Ballet has become famous for its annual Nutcracker performance and has hosted international dance stars, and Vogt established a tradition of dance instruction and performance in Toledo.
Toledo native Jamie Farr won international fame with his recurring role as Corporal Klinger on the hit television show M*A*S*H. Farr depicted the cross-dressing enlisted man who tried to convince his superiors he was mentally ill so that he could receive a discharge from the Army. Farr often made mention of his beloved hometown, Toledo. In the 1978 script, he speaks fondly of his favorite hotdogs from Tony Packo's. In the 1980 script, he wears a Toledo Mudhens shirt.
While a student at the University of Toledo, Pete Hoffman often illustrated campus life and world politics with daily cartoons in the Campus Collegian. After graduation in 1941, he went on to contribute to syndicated newspaper strip cartoons like Steve Roper before securing his own strip. Jeff Cobb appeared in newspapers in 1954 and entertained audiences with the adventures of an intrepid investigative journalist until 1978.
After surviving Auschwitz, Polish-born artist Adam Grant moved to the United States. He got a job working for the Craft Master Corporation, a Toledo-based paint-by-numbers company, and created their most popular kit, a version of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Grant continued to create his own art as well, and exhibited his works internationally until his death in 1992. Featured here are flyers for exhibits of Grant’s art as well as his 1977 painting Greatest Show.
