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Celebrate the Holidays with the SS United States Conservancy!
The SS United States Conservancy would like to invite all our supporters in the New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC regions to our 2011 holiday parties in celebration of the SS United States.
Philadelphia Chapter Holiday Party
Chammps, 2100 South Columbus Boulevard Philadelphia, PA 19148
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (ET)
RSVP at info@ssusc.org
New York Chapter "Big U Holiday Happening"
Soldiers', Sailors', Marines', Coast Guard and Airmens' Club
283 Lexington Avenue New York, NY 10016-3540
Thursday, December 15, 2011 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (ET)
RSVP at nycssusc@gmail.com
Washington, DC SS United States Holiday Celebration
At SS United States Conservancy executive director Susan Gibbs' private residence
in NW Washington, DC.
Thursday, December 15, 2011 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (ET)
For directions and to RSVP, please email the Conservancy at info@ssusc.org
For more information about any of these festive gatherings, please email the Conservancy at info@ssusc.org with "holiday gathering" somewhere in the subject line. Also, please visit our website at www.ssusc.org for links to event invitations.
We look forward to seeing you this week and hope you will bring along some friends and colleagues! Admission costs support the Conservancy's efforts to restore the SS United States. We will also be offering the Conservancy's fabulous 2012 calendars for sale at all three events.
In this issue:
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 Columbia University Honors Gerry Lenfest |
Columbia University recently honored Gerry Lenfest, Chair of the Conservancy's Blue
Riband Council, whose game-changing donation in 2010 enabled the Conservancy to take title to the SS United States and prevent the vessel's imminent destruction.
At a black-tie dinner last month in Columbia's Low Rotunda, Mr. Lenfest was awarded 2011's Alexander Hamilton Medal, the College's highest honor. It is given annually by the Columbia College Alumni Association for distinguished service to the College and accomplishment in any field of endeavor.
Columbia College generously donated a table for ten guests to the Conservancy, an acknowledgment of Columbia's many ties to the SS United States. The Conservancy was delighted to help celebrate Gerry Lenfest's extraordinary record of philanthropic accomplishment, and we look forward to continuing to cultivate the connections between Columbia and our national flagship.
Conservancy communications associate Greg Shutter designed a wonderful ad for the Alexander Hamilton Prize event program:
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SS United States Featured in New Exhibition in Edinburgh's Stills Gallery
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The SS United States has come to life in the halls of Edinburgh's Stills Gallery. A new exhibition presents a haunting juxtaposition of the Big U's glamorous past and her faded present. Memorabilia and prints of Kodachrome photographs, commemorating the ship's heyday, are set in sharp contrast to five large-scale photographs of the SS United States as she is today.
Richard Williams, Professor of Contemporary Visual Cultures and Dean of Postgraduate Studies at the University of Edinburgh, is the architect of this exhibit. Although documenting the present of the SS United States fits well with his academic interest in contemporary urbanism, Williams has a deeper and more personal claim to the ship.
Born in the United States, Williams' parents brought him back to the United Kingdom aboard the SS United States. "It's my creation myth!" Williams says of that trip, and it sparked a lifelong love for and fascination with the ship. In 2010, he had the opportunity to revisit the SS United States. Coming face to face with the icon of his youth, he says, "was an extremely strange experience - seeing something so familiar in image, but for the first time in real life."
Williams had brought his camera, and the weather, fortunately, obliged. His photographs thoughtfully documented a weary SS United States, and formed the backbone of the exhibition. But perhaps more poignant, by contrast, are the prints of old Kodachromes - documenting Williams' and his parents' transatlantic trip in 1967.
To our constituency across the Atlantic: Richard Williams' exhibit at the Stills Gallery will be up through March 18th, 2012. More information can be found here.
For those of us with our feet firmly planted on this side of the Atlantic: Richard Williams has written an article for the UK's Blueprint Magazine summarizing his experience with the SS United States and featuring some of his photography, which may be found here.
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New Feature: From the Vault!
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We continue to expand our archive of SS United States oral histories, still images, home movie footage and other personal remembrances of America's "ship of state." These stories and photographs will be incorporated into our future exhibitions, expanded archives and outreach materials. We will also share highlights in our newsletter. We are always searching for new material - we look forward to hearing from you! Contact us at archives@ssusc.org!
Michael Robinson, a lifelong Sotonian from a seafaring family, recently wrote to us of his memories of the SS United States.
Growing up, he watched the great liners come in and out of Southampton; the most frequent topic of discussion with his school fellows was which ships were the fastest, the biggest and the most luxurious. Although he and his friends often debated the other attributes, there was no contest where speed was concerned: the SS United States, with her sleek lines and distinctive funnels, was the champion.
Southampton was the premier passenger port in England during the 1960s, and Mr. Robinson remembers spending his afternoons exploring the docks and - where he could - the ships themselves. Even then, security kept the SS United States under a tight watch, and he never managed to get aboard. Still, he remembers the ship fondly as one of the most beautiful in Southampton.
Mr. Robinson's brother had the closest acquaintance with the Big U, met one fair day in 1967. Canoeing down Southampton Water - the tidal estuary on which Southampton sits - his brother was hailed by one of the Harbor Master's launches. Continuing on his way, the launch continued to toot at him, until he turned around to see what the problem was. To his shock, he saw the SS United States bearing down on him! Never before or since, says Mr. Robinson, had his brother paddled so quickly!
Happily, Mr. Robinson's brother came away safely, and the Big U continued on her way. Many thanks to him for reaching out to us!
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Follow the Conservancy with Facebook and Twitter!
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Over the past few months, the Conservancy has completely redeveloped its presence on online social media, giving us new ways to connect with potential supporters of the SS United States. Be sure to join us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest in developments from the Conservancy as well as discussions, photos from the ship, photos of Conservancy events, and fun ship related trivia!
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