On Aug. 18, Wesleyan faculty, staff, and alumni gathered via Zoom to present a WESeminar titled “Hidden Treasures.” Pictured, from top, left, is H. Richard Dietrich III ’92, president of the Dietrich American Foundation; Molly McGonigle, assistant director of alumni and parent relations; and Demetrius Eudell, professor of history and dean of Wesleyan’s Social Sciences Division. Pictured from bottom, left, is Suzy Taraba, director of Special Collections and Archives, and Morrie Heckscher ’62, curator emeritus of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Taraba served as the event’s moderator.
On Aug. 18, Wesleyan faculty, staff, and alumni presented a WESeminar titled “Hidden Treasures.”
The seminar focused on the holdings of the Dietrich American Foundation on long-term loan at Wesleyan, which includes letters, writings, and manuscripts by Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington, among others. All documents are available to Wesleyan students and faculty through Wesleyan’s Special Collections and Archives.
“One of the hallmarks of the experience of studying at a liberal arts college is the opportunity to interact directly with material objects of the past—documents, rare books, artworks, cultural objects—in ways that are often only reserved for graduate students and faculty at other institutions,” said the event’s moderator Suzy Taraba, director of Special Collections and Archives.
Guest speakers included H. Richard Dietrich III ’92, president of the Dietrich American Foundation; Morrie Heckscher ’62, curator emeritus of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Demetrius Eudell, professor of history and dean of Wesleyan’s Social Sciences Division. Richard Dietrich’s father, H. Richard Dietrich II ’60, was the founder of the Dietrich American Foundation and initiated the loan to Wesleyan.
The WESeminar concluded with a Q&A session with participants.
Richard Dietrich ’92 spoke about this engraved sperm whale tooth, which depicts a scene of Wesleyan University in the 1830s. The object is part of the Dietrich American Foundation collection.Dietrich shared a letter written in 1796 by Alexander Hamilton to Connecticut Delegate Jeremiah Wadsworth. The letter urges Wadsworth to rally against Thomas Jefferson.Dietrich also showcased the collection’s copy of Francis Scott Key’s sheet music for the “Star Spangled Banner” written in 1815. It is among only four known copies to exist in the country and is housed at Wesleyan. “It’s visually appealing and in great shape for something this old,” Dietrich said.Demetrius Eudell showed examples of Dietrich Foundation documents that he’s used while teaching seminars. This 1796 document written and signed by George Washington and James McHenry titled Talk of the President of the United States, to His Beloved Men of the Cherokee Nation “provides a really interesting insight into George Washington’s relations to Indigenous peoples,” Eudell said.Eudell explained how he worked with undergraduates to transcribe an unpublished diary of Grace Growden Galloway, a notable Revolutionary War-era Philadelphia woman. The diary is dated May 4 to Aug. 31, 1780.Morrie Heckscher ’62, a lifelong friend of Richard Dietrich Sr., and collection board member, talked about Wesleyan’s Davison Art Center and how his former Wesleyan professors Sam Green and Heinrich Schwarz inspired him to pursue a career at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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