Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly
Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. Today we are going
Speaker 1: to talk about a person that came up in a
Speaker 1: recent episode and I was like, we gotta talk about this,
Speaker 1: and that is Vinnie Reem. She came up in a
Speaker 1: recent episode about Charles Francis Hall. She was not directly
Speaker 1: involved in that story, but jealousy between two other men
Speaker 1: over her attention may have been a factor in Charles
Speaker 1: Francis Hall's death. That remains entirely a matter of speculation.
Speaker 1: But even without that episode happening in her life, which
Speaker 1: didn't really happen in her life, it's been elsewhere. Her
Speaker 1: life was really full of drama and excitement and achievement.
Speaker 1: Don't worry, we will touch on that possible love triangle
Speaker 1: in the episode. She had so much that went on
Speaker 1: before she was even you know, an adult, essentially like
Speaker 1: in her very early adult years that like she's a lot.
Speaker 1: She managed to reach a level with her art that
Speaker 1: very few people manage. She did so at a very
Speaker 1: early age. She became the first woman to be given
Speaker 1: an art commission by the US government which she was
Speaker 1: still very young, and she was also at the center
Speaker 1: of a lot of controversy and scandal and so much
Speaker 1: that we have to do her life in two parts.
Speaker 1: That first part is going to cover Reem's early life
Speaker 1: and her turbulent rise to fame in Washington, d c.
Speaker 1: And then part two will cover the completion of her
Speaker 1: first major work, that commission we just talked about, and
Speaker 1: the rest of her life. And if that sounds a
Speaker 1: little bit lopsided, as you'll see, it's because her first
Speaker 1: big commission caused a lot of conflict, and then not
Speaker 1: too much later in her life she kind of went
Speaker 1: dark as an artist for a couple of decades. So
Speaker 1: Lavinia Ellen Reim was born September twenty fifth, eighteen forty seven,
Speaker 1: in Addison, Wisconsin. Her family was not especially wealthy. Her father,
Speaker 1: Robert L. Reim, ran an inn at the time, and
Speaker 1: she was named after her mother, also named Lavinia. The
Speaker 1: younger Lavinia was nicknamed Vinnie, and that's the name that
Speaker 1: she went by through her whole life. Vinnie had two siblings.
Speaker 1: There was a brother named Robert Junior who went by Bob,
Speaker 1: and a sister named Cynthia Ann who went by Mary. Yes,
Speaker 1: she really went by Vinnie Lake looking at documents and
Speaker 1: stuff that she prepares later in her life. She does
Speaker 1: not sign anything Lavina. It's always Vinnie. And when Vinnie
Speaker 1: was still just a baby, her father, Robert, who had
Speaker 1: worked in a few roles in local politics, started a
Speaker 1: series of jobs as a surveyor for various government offices.
Speaker 1: He left in keeping behind. Because of this new job,
Speaker 1: the family traveled around a lot, basically wherever Robert had
Speaker 1: to go to perform his work and create maps of
Speaker 1: the areas that he had surveyed. The whole family went.
Speaker 1: In addition to Wisconsin as she grew up, Vinnie lived
Speaker 1: in Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and Arkansas at various times,
Speaker 1: and eventually they ended up in Washington, d c. Where
Speaker 1: Robert Senior was hired by the War Department as a
Speaker 1: cartographer during the Civil War. Bob, her older brother, who
Speaker 1: at this point was an adult, had stayed in Arkansas,
Speaker 1: but Mary and Vinnie had traveled with their parents to Washington,
Speaker 1: and both of the girls got jobs to help the
Speaker 1: family meet the expenses of living in the very costly capital.
Speaker 1: Mary worked in the Land Office, and Vinnie worked for
Speaker 1: the Post Office. By all accounts, Vinnie had been interested
Speaker 1: in the arts from a very young age. They'd lived
Speaker 1: in these various frontier areas while her father mapped them
Speaker 1: out for development, and that had not offered a lot
Speaker 1: of opportunity to really be able to engage with art
Speaker 1: and education, especially not at the level she really craved.
Speaker 1: She did for a little while attend the Art Academy
Speaker 1: of the Christian College of Columbia, Missouri. She had also
Speaker 1: started playing music when the family lived in Kansas and
Speaker 1: her father bought a guitar. She taught herself how to
Speaker 1: play from a songbook and soon started teaching other people
Speaker 1: how to do that. So once they were in Washington,
Speaker 1: d c. She used some of the money she made
Speaker 1: to take language and music lessons, and eventually she got
Speaker 1: an invite from Missouri Representative James S. Rollins, who was
Speaker 1: a friend of the family from their time back in Missouri,
Speaker 1: and that would really change her life. Rollins was sitting
Speaker 1: for a bust with sculptor Clark Mills, and he invited
Speaker 1: Vinnie to come with him to one of his sessions.
Speaker 1: Mills was a self taught sculptor who had gained fame
Speaker 1: for his work depicting Andrew Jackson riding a horse for
Speaker 1: Lafayette Square in Washington, d C. That was unveiled in
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty three. That sculpture is notable from an artistic
Speaker 1: standpoint because when Mills created it he had never met
Speaker 1: or even seen Andrew Jackson in person. He had also
Speaker 1: never seen an equestrian statue, and his resulting work, which
Speaker 1: features the horse rearing up slightly so that supported only
Speaker 1: by its black legs, was considered pretty revolutionary at the time.
Speaker 1: Later on people started to criticize it for being overly showy,
Speaker 1: but at the time they were like wow. When that
Speaker 1: statue was unveiled, Mills made this point of reaching up
Speaker 1: and grabbing the four legs that were off the ground
Speaker 1: and pulling himself up as a show of the work's
Speaker 1: strength and its balance. If you have ever been to
Speaker 1: Jackson Square in New Orleans, that statue that's there of
Speaker 1: Andrew Jackson is the same one. It was cast a
Speaker 1: second time by Mills, and all of this accomplishment on
Speaker 1: his part as a sculptor sounds really grand, but we
Speaker 1: have to note that it is not really the work
Speaker 1: of Mills exclusively. It is very well known and very
Speaker 1: well documented that a master craftsman named Philip Reid deserves
Speaker 1: a lot of the credit. Red was an enslaved man
Speaker 1: that Mills had purchased while living in South Carolina, and
Speaker 1: Reid was highly skilled in metallurgical casting, and he very well.
Speaker 1: Maybe a future episode, but I feel like not giving
Speaker 1: him any credit here would be in eighteen sixty three,
Speaker 1: when Reem found herself in Mills's studio, Mills was finishing
Speaker 1: up his sculpture Liberty, that was in addition to the
Speaker 1: busts he was making of various politicians. Reim was enthralled
Speaker 1: with the work that he was doing, and Mills is
Speaker 1: said to have given her a piece of clay to
Speaker 1: work with while he tended to rollins in his sitting.
Speaker 1: He also gave her a bust of a Native American
Speaker 1: chief to use as her model. While these two men worked,
Speaker 1: she produced a medallion that featured this chief and profile,
Speaker 1: and Mills was apparently so impressed with this that he
Speaker 1: wanted to take her on as an apprentice. She kept
Speaker 1: working at the post office, but her new tutor and
Speaker 1: her boss worked out a schedule so that she could
Speaker 1: do both of them. Yeah, she definitely, As you'll see
Speaker 1: as we go on, modeled her entire career on the
Speaker 1: way Mills operated, where he would have like one big
Speaker 1: commission going on and then taking a whole lot of
Speaker 1: smaller ones at the same time. Because Mills had both
Speaker 1: a sculpting studio and a foundry, re was able to
Speaker 1: get a really full view of the process of creating
Speaker 1: sculptures and monuments. She also, as a teenager approaching adulthood,
Speaker 1: started to think about her future. Taking inspiration from the
Speaker 1: small group of women's sculptors who had started to be
Speaker 1: recognized as professional artists, including previous podcast subject at Monia Lewis.
Speaker 1: Vinnie really started to see that as a path for herself,
Speaker 1: and she seemed to understand that she would need the
Speaker 1: help of a lot of people in power, specifically men,
Speaker 1: to be able to live an independent life as an artist.
Speaker 1: Being in Washington, d C. Reim turned her hand to
Speaker 1: sculpting the politicians of the city, and she used a
Speaker 1: lot of her connections to grow her network and curry
Speaker 1: favor when she could using these connections. In eighteen sixty four,
Speaker 1: Reim was given the honor of sculpting President Abraham Lincoln
Speaker 1: from life. This took some work on her part. She's
Speaker 1: said to have gotten several members of Congress to approach
Speaker 1: the President with this request, and so he was initially reluctant.
Speaker 1: He did agree. Some accounts suggest that Lincoln was swayed
Speaker 1: by the fact that Reem was from a humble background
Speaker 1: and had, like him, lived on the frontier. From eighteen
Speaker 1: sixty four to eighteen sixty five, she created the Lincoln Bust.
Speaker 1: Their sittings together were thirty minutes at a time. The
Speaker 1: actual number is not entirely clear to me. I read
Speaker 1: differing accounts, but it's about half a dozen and Reim
Speaker 1: later reported that the President rarely spoke during these meetings.
Speaker 1: He didn't sit still the way you might imagine someone
Speaker 1: sitting for a painting, though he tended to walk around
Speaker 1: the office and tend to his business. She also described
Speaker 1: him as very sorrowful during these meetings. His son Will
Speaker 1: had died two years prior, and that even sometimes he
Speaker 1: would cry. And whether any of this is true, we
Speaker 1: just don't know, because she gave these accounts after his death,
Speaker 1: and he never commented on their meetings. What we do
Speaker 1: now is that having Lincoln sit for her immediately put
Speaker 1: Vinny Reim in very high demand. It seems like everyone
Speaker 1: in Washington wanted to sit for this young artist who
Speaker 1: had sculpted the President. Soon she had commissions from a
Speaker 1: lot of the city's politicians. Just as Reim was nearing
Speaker 1: completion of the Lincoln bust, the President was assassinated by
Speaker 1: John Wilkes Booth, and while Vinnie Reim described reeling from
Speaker 1: the news that Lincoln had been shot, she was also
Speaker 1: pretty quick to turn to thoughts of what would happen next.
Speaker 1: As various memorial committees formed, She knew that some sort
Speaker 1: of memorial would be commissioned for the President, and she
Speaker 1: wanted to be the one to receive that commission. She
Speaker 1: campaigned hard for it, as hard as any politician ever
Speaker 1: had for office. She wrote to the head of the
Speaker 1: House Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, John H. Rice,
Speaker 1: stating that she knew there would be a call for
Speaker 1: a life size marble of Lincoln in the Capitol, and
Speaker 1: she stated her aim quite plainly, writing quote, I respectfully
Speaker 1: solicit the influence of your committee in favoring me an
Speaker 1: order for the same, and submit my model bust of
Speaker 1: mister Lincoln as a specimen of my work. She also
Speaker 1: pulled off a huge feet in the form of a petition.
Speaker 1: She had, with help drafted the body of it herself,
Speaker 1: and it stated in part quote to whom it may concern,
Speaker 1: the undersigned members of the Senate and House of Representatives
Speaker 1: of the Congress of the United States, and others being
Speaker 1: personally acquainted with Miss Benny Reem, take great pleasure in
Speaker 1: endorsing her claims upon public patronage, no less as a
Speaker 1: most worthy and accomplished young lady than as possessing rare
Speaker 1: genius in the beautiful art of sculpture. The document next
Speaker 1: lists the various works she's completed, including of course, her
Speaker 1: Lincoln bust, and then it concludes with quote, as Americans,
Speaker 1: we should feel a national pride in Miss Reem and
Speaker 1: desire to aid her in the development of her unquestionable genius,
Speaker 1: fitly sustained. We feel every confidence that she will excel
Speaker 1: her profession, and with age and experience, rank her name
Speaker 1: with those who have already won high places in America's
Speaker 1: Temple of Art. We're going to talk about this petition
Speaker 1: some more, and the names on it and the effect
Speaker 1: it had after we pause for a sponsor break. The
Speaker 1: truly astonishing part of Vinny Rheim's petition to be considered
Speaker 1: for the Lincoln Sculpture Commission was the list of people
Speaker 1: who signed it. Thirty one senators in one hundred and
Speaker 1: ten members of the House of Representatives put their names
Speaker 1: to it, but more impressively, so did Skuylar Colfax, Speaker
Speaker 1: of the House, Henry Stanberry, Attorney General O. H. Browning,
Speaker 1: Secretary of the Interior Hugh McCullough, Secretary of the Treasury, J. W. Barnes,
Speaker 1: the Surgeon General Ulysses S. Grant, General of the Union Army,
Speaker 1: and Andrew Johnson, the President. Vinnie had made the rounds
Speaker 1: of people she had connections with in DC, and she
Speaker 1: had gotten them to sign, and then she worked with
Speaker 1: Johnny Trace to craft a bill to be introduced into
Speaker 1: the House suggesting reim as the sculptor to whom the
Speaker 1: inevitable commission should go. She also sent gifts to congressmen,
Speaker 1: things like small sculptures and flowers, and she asked the
Speaker 1: politicians she had become closest to for their aid in
Speaker 1: lobbying with their colleagues. Rice introduced the topic to the
Speaker 1: House on July twenty sixth, eighteen sixty six, and although
Speaker 1: there were criticisms, mainly that she was very young and
Speaker 1: not up to the task, it passed a vote by
Speaker 1: a landslide. California Senator John Conness had agreed to introduce
Speaker 1: this bill to the Senate. It didn't go as well there.
Speaker 1: In that instance, the arguments against Reim were led by
Speaker 1: Charles Sumner of Massachusetts. He had turned down the request
Speaker 1: to sign Reem's petition and he felt that she was
Speaker 1: to and experienced. He also introduced the information that Mary
Speaker 1: Todd Lincoln, who was very good friends with, agreed with him.
Speaker 1: As Vinnie watched from the gallery, she saw this bill
Speaker 1: argued and become a matter that was argued for its
Speaker 1: merits of having even been introduced. The Senate was in
Speaker 1: the midst of looking at issues like war widows and
Speaker 1: veterans pensions, so this just did not seem as important,
Speaker 1: and some people were angry it had even been brought
Speaker 1: in to begin with. When a vote was called as
Speaker 1: to whether or not the Senate should take up the resolution,
Speaker 1: it did pass, though that meant that debate could begin
Speaker 1: in earnest and as Vinnie looked on. A bunch of
Speaker 1: senators argued about her merits. Sumner opened his arguments by
Speaker 1: saying it was a gamble to give such a large
Speaker 1: sum of money to an untested artist. He was known
Speaker 1: for his taste and knowledge of art, and he spoke
Speaker 1: at length about the many pieces of art that were
Speaker 1: installed in federal buildings and where they'd come from, pointed
Speaker 1: out all these established careers of the contributors. He also
Speaker 1: compared the situation to giving Reim a position alongside General
Speaker 1: Grant in combat. She just wasn't prepared for it. He
Speaker 1: closed by noting that the politicians who wanted to support
Speaker 1: her career could do so with gifts or grants, but
Speaker 1: that it was not really a wise investment to put
Speaker 1: so much faith and finance behind somebody with her experience
Speaker 1: level for such an important project. This is a long speech,
Speaker 1: and at several points he made it seem as though
Speaker 1: he had been forced to say such unkind things, noting quote,
Speaker 1: I am pained to be constrained to say what I do.
Speaker 1: But when you press this to a vote, you leave
Speaker 1: me no alternative. Admit that she may make a statue,
Speaker 1: she cannot make one that you will be justified in
Speaker 1: placing in this national capital promise is not performance, but
Speaker 1: what she has done thus far comes under the first
Speaker 1: head rather than the latter. Surely, this edifice, so beautiful
Speaker 1: and interesting should not be opened to the experiments of
Speaker 1: untried talent. Only the finished artists should be invited to
Speaker 1: its ornamentation. But Riem had as that petition suggested a
Speaker 1: lot of supporters, and they were ready to just as
Speaker 1: vehemently defend her as Sumner had been to argue against her.
Speaker 1: Senator James Nesmith noted that Sumner seemed to be constantly
Speaker 1: pointing to European artists as being more appropriate for such
Speaker 1: a commission rather than considering an artist from the US.
Speaker 1: He once again reiterated how good the busts she had
Speaker 1: already created were. James Dougal of California also spoke on
Speaker 1: her behalf, specifically arguing that calling it charity to commission
Speaker 1: her was absolutely inaccurate. Richard Yates of Illinois also stood
Speaker 1: in support of her. It seemed for a moment like
Speaker 1: Sumner was really the only Senator against the commission, But
Speaker 1: then Michigan Senator Jake of Merit Howard spoke. He was
Speaker 1: very conservative and was not at all in favor of
Speaker 1: Reim getting ten thousand dollars to make a statue when
Speaker 1: she had never done anything quite like it before. He stated, quote,
Speaker 1: she has shown no lack of that particular talent known
Speaker 1: as lobbying and pressing forward her enterprise. I have seen
Speaker 1: her models of mister Lincoln. I have seen and examined
Speaker 1: the one, especially to which references most frequently had And
Speaker 1: although I do not pretend to be a connoisseur in
Speaker 1: this kind of art, I am prepared to say that
Speaker 1: I never was satisfied with that model. He goes on
Speaker 1: to describe the Lincoln bust as quote monotonous and without
Speaker 1: meaning and without spirit. But he then got really mean
Speaker 1: and openly sexist about it, saying, quote, having in view
Speaker 1: the youth and inexperience of miss Reem, and I will
Speaker 1: go further and say, having in view her sex, I
Speaker 1: shall expect to comply failure in the execution of this work.
Speaker 1: I would as soon think of a lady writing the
Speaker 1: Iliad of Homer, I should as soon think of placing
Speaker 1: at the head of an army a woman for the
Speaker 1: conduct of a great campaign. This started a side argument
Speaker 1: with Pennsylvania Senator Edgar Cowan, who wasn't exactly a supporter
Speaker 1: of Vinny, but he thought Howard had gone too far,
Speaker 1: and he pointed out that history showed women doing exactly
Speaker 1: the kinds of things that the Michigan senator just found unfathomable.
Speaker 1: Senator McDougall also joined this argument, and, in a move
Speaker 1: was sort of humorous to Holly in research, invoked Sappho
Speaker 1: on the Senate floor as evidence of the capability of women.
Speaker 1: This to be just it tickled me utterly, like have
Speaker 1: you read Sapo like and then then arguing about Sappho.
Speaker 1: They were just really really wanted up about this whole thing.
Speaker 1: And as this argument continued, the idea of an amendment
Speaker 1: to the bill was suggested as a sort of compromise, Like,
Speaker 1: what if some senators thought they added a stipulation that
Speaker 1: Reim only would receive the full payment if she delivered
Speaker 1: the statue as promised. She would, per the terms of
Speaker 1: this bill, be paid five thousand dollars up front, and
Speaker 1: then the remainder when the work was delivered. So some
Speaker 1: senators thought they should add a provision that the final
Speaker 1: payment also had to be approved by the Secretary of
Speaker 1: the Interior after the work was inspected for quality. This
Speaker 1: set off another round of debate, with Vinny supporters pointing
Speaker 1: out that if she did the work, she should get
Speaker 1: paid full stop. It shouldn't be on this contingent that
Speaker 1: like everybody approved it. After all the bickering, the bill
Speaker 1: went to vote. When the vote happened late July twenty seventh,
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty six, Congress commissioned a full size statue of
Speaker 1: Lincoln from Reim. And there's an interesting aspect to the
Speaker 1: way the vote split. Quite a few senators changed sides
Speaker 1: before it was over. Edgar Cowen, for example, had not
Speaker 1: initially been in favor of Reem for commission, but then stated, quote,
Speaker 1: I have come to the conclusion to vote for this resolution,
Speaker 1: and I have come to the conclusion that this young lady,
Speaker 1: whoever she may be, is unquestionably a person of great genius.
Speaker 1: It may not be exactly in the line of sculpture,
Speaker 1: but certainly she is that in agitation, she is occupying
Speaker 1: the talents of all the senators and has shaken this
Speaker 1: chamber to its very center. Certainly it is no ordinary
Speaker 1: girl who can do this, and some of her early supporters,
Speaker 1: even some who had signed her petition then reconsidered and
Speaker 1: voted against the bill after having been persuaded by Senator
Speaker 1: Sumner's lengthy arguments on the matter. But it passed, and
Speaker 1: this made her the first woman to receive a federal
Speaker 1: art commission, but those things were settled in terms of
Speaker 1: the Congressional resolution. This commission was also controversial in the
Speaker 1: court of public opinion. Because Vinny Reem had been Clark
Speaker 1: Mills's apprentice in his sty at the Capitol, she met
Speaker 1: a lot of politicians and this was a very unique scenario.
Speaker 1: She had also been working as a teenager alongside an
Speaker 1: adult man, which was unusual and carried some stigma, and
Speaker 1: this set of circumstances meant that she was able to
Speaker 1: make the acquaintances of numerous men without a family chaperone involved.
Speaker 1: She was also very pretty and lively and very well liked.
Speaker 1: As the commission and the debate about it became news
Speaker 1: in Washington and then hit the national papers, people started
Speaker 1: to form opinions about how things played out that involved
Speaker 1: a lot of speculation about Vinnie Reim and her behavior.
Speaker 1: The Hartford Current and a lot of other papers ran
Speaker 1: an article from a Washington correspondent on August seventh, eighteen
Speaker 1: sixty six, and it read, quote, the discussion in the
Speaker 1: Senate on the bill to give a young woman by
Speaker 1: the name of Vinnie Reim a commission to make a
Speaker 1: full length, life size statue of mister Lincoln for the
Speaker 1: sum of ten thousand dollars was very interesting and is
Speaker 1: a singular illustration of the way in which the public
Speaker 1: money is wasted. But who is Vinny Reim? No one
Speaker 1: that I have met knows much about her, and I
Speaker 1: presume there is little to know. She has been here
Speaker 1: all winter, working with a woman's persistent energy to enlist
Speaker 1: in her favor everybody who seemed at all likely to
Speaker 1: help her in getting this appropriation passed. While it's not
Speaker 1: explicitly spelled out here, the implication was that Vinnie Reim
Speaker 1: was doing something morally wrong. Because she was an attractive
Speaker 1: young woman, Rumors started to swirl that she had used
Speaker 1: her feminine charms in some way to gain the favor
Speaker 1: of all these politicians who then supported her for the commission.
Speaker 1: The Portland Daily Press ran a brief mention of Reem
Speaker 1: on August fifteenth, eighteen sixty six, which simply read quote
Speaker 1: Vinnie Reim, to whom Congress has voted ten thousand dollars
Speaker 1: for a statue of Lincoln, is a rather handsome young
Speaker 1: woman who has extraordinary powers of persuasion through life appliances.
Speaker 1: So far as known, she has never accomplished a single
Speaker 1: work of art which will stand criticism. For months, there
Speaker 1: continued to be negative press about Reim, a lot of
Speaker 1: it insinuating that she had done something inappropriate to gain
Speaker 1: the favor of so many representatives and the Leavenworth Times
Speaker 1: of Levenworth, Kansas a commentary piece ran on September sixth
Speaker 1: under the headline A homely woman's opinion of a pretty
Speaker 1: one that has its own problems right there, although it
Speaker 1: was intended as an insult to the woman sharing her
Speaker 1: opinion as follows, quote Miss swiss Elm says of Miss
Speaker 1: Vinnie Reem, who received the ten thousand dollars order for
Speaker 1: the Lincoln statue. She is a young girl about twenty,
Speaker 1: has only been studying her art a few months. Never
Speaker 1: made a statue, has made some plaster busts on exhibit
Speaker 1: at the Capitol, including her own, minus clothing to the waist,
Speaker 1: has a pretty face, long, dark curls and plenty of them,
Speaker 1: where's a jockey and a good deal of jewelry, Sees
Speaker 1: all the members at their lodgings or the reception room
Speaker 1: in the Capitol, urges her claims fluently and confidently. Sits
Speaker 1: in the galleries in a conspicuous position in her most
Speaker 1: bewitching dress while those claims are being discussed on the floor,
Speaker 1: and nods and smiles as a member rises and delivers
Speaker 1: his opinion of the merits of the case with the
Speaker 1: air of a man sitting for his picture. And so
Speaker 1: she carries the day over Powers and Crawford and Homer
Speaker 1: and who not. It is clear from this quote that
Speaker 1: people were willing to minimize Vinnie's actual art experience and
Speaker 1: accomplishment in favor of characterizing her as a woman who
Speaker 1: beguiles men to get what she wants. And there was
Speaker 1: a lot of gossip that during the Senate debate on
Speaker 1: the commission, she was flirting from the gallery with various
Speaker 1: senators below and winking and waving while wearing as this
Speaker 1: right up mentioned some sort of alluring attire, but there's
Speaker 1: no actual evidence of an any of that, and there's
Speaker 1: really no way to know. Also that bare chested bust
Speaker 1: that's referenced in the above quote was not a self portrait.
Speaker 1: This is apparently something that really upset Vinie Reim. That
Speaker 1: was a bust titled Violet, which features a woman that
Speaker 1: doesn't look like her at all, in a very romantic style,
Speaker 1: with flowers encircling her torso just below her bare breasts.
Speaker 1: And it's very much if you look at it, in
Speaker 1: line with a lot of classical art you would see
Speaker 1: And just as Senator Sumner and others had worried, the
Speaker 1: press also voiced concern that this project was just too
Speaker 1: important to put in the hands of a relatively unknown artist.
Speaker 1: The Chicago Tribune noted of Ream on October twenty first quote,
Speaker 1: Who is miss Vinnie Reim? Was she ever heard of before?
Speaker 1: What rank does she hold in the artist world? Has
Speaker 1: she ever had experienced chiseling statues? In regard to the
Speaker 1: first two questions, there seems to be a cloud of
Speaker 1: mystery overhanging her. We have never yet met a person
Speaker 1: of sufficient temerity to answer them. We regret, because she
Speaker 1: is a lady, that she has manifested a spirit which
Speaker 1: is utterly impossible in a true artist. We regret that
Speaker 1: so important a work should have been carelessly entrusted to
Speaker 1: inexperienced and unknown hands. No public man has ever been
Speaker 1: so miserably caricatured by bunglers as mister Lincoln, and we
Speaker 1: shudder at the possibility that the halls of Congress must
Speaker 1: endure another. Perhaps the trickiest part in sorting all of
Speaker 1: this out is that there definitely were politicians who were
Speaker 1: interested in viny Reem romantically. It has been stated several
Speaker 1: times that she was a charmer, but she seems to
Speaker 1: be a little bit offhand about those interests. She was
Speaker 1: still a teenager at this time, remember, moving in the
Speaker 1: corridors of power, and while she's often characterized for her
Speaker 1: savvy in dealing with men in power, we really don't
Speaker 1: know if she was being calculating or maybe just overly
Speaker 1: friendly for the mores of the time, and some men
Speaker 1: took it the wrong way. She did, to be clear,
Speaker 1: receive love letters from all kinds of men, including people
Speaker 1: like General Custer and William to Cooms as Sherman, so
Speaker 1: there's no way she was ignorant that she was very
Speaker 1: appealing to men. But it's also impossible to know if
Speaker 1: she was as she was often accused conniving in her
Speaker 1: dealings with them, or to what degree. It's also possible
Speaker 1: she was flirty and not a mastermind. We don't really
Speaker 1: know how. If you want to hear more specifically about
Speaker 1: the congressional debate about Reim, you can check out the
Speaker 1: podcast Shaping History Women in Capital Art, which was produced
Speaker 1: by the US Capital Visitors Center. The episode they did
Speaker 1: on Reim delves into the expectations of women culturally during
Speaker 1: this time and how Vinny Reim navigated that landscape. Now,
Speaker 1: coming up, we're going to talk about how Mary Toddling
Speaker 1: and felt about Vinnie Reem. Spoiler alert not great. We
Speaker 1: will get into the details of it though, and who
Speaker 1: it's a doozy after we hear from the sponsors that
Speaker 1: keep the show going. Even as Vinnie signed her contract
Speaker 1: and started her project, she came up against resistance, and
Speaker 1: one particular roadblock to the project was Mary Todd Lincoln.
Speaker 1: After Vinnie was introduced by letter to Missus Lincoln by
Speaker 1: one of her supporters in the Senate, the artist wrote
Speaker 1: her own letter to the former First Lady requesting her
Speaker 1: assistance on direction of the statue. What she got in
Speaker 1: return was a letter that is a masterclass in passive
Speaker 1: aggressive politeness. Missus Lincoln wrote in part quote, I shall
Speaker 1: be unable to comply with your request, and you will
Speaker 1: allow me to say you are undertaking a very sacred work,
Speaker 1: one of great responsibility, which artists of worldwide renowned would
Speaker 1: shrink from as incapable of the great task. As every
Speaker 1: friend my husband knew was familiar to me, and as
Speaker 1: your name was not on the list, consequently, you could
Speaker 1: not have become familiar with the expression of his face,
Speaker 1: which was so variable. I cannot fix my distressed mind
Speaker 1: on any particular look. Hence the difficulty of the task
Speaker 1: for you, a stranger to this great, good and christ
Speaker 1: like man, praying that you have success. I remain truly
Speaker 1: Mary Todd Lincoln. I like that she's not truly yours,
Speaker 1: truly kind, I just remain married Todd Lincoln. Missus Lincoln
Speaker 1: also wrote to Senator Sumner that Vinnie's work was sure
Speaker 1: to be a quote mortifying failure, and also to jump
Speaker 1: back a bit to the last segment that miss swissel
Speaker 1: mentioned in the newspaper write up that Tracy quoted. That
Speaker 1: was Jane Gray Swisselm, and she was married Todd Lincoln's
Speaker 1: bff from the time they were kids. Then, when Vennie
Speaker 1: tried to find the President's suit from the day he
Speaker 1: had died so that she could model it for the statue,
Speaker 1: she ended up making a request to Alphonse Dunn, who
Speaker 1: was the White House dorman. He had been given the
Speaker 1: suit as a show of thanks for his service, and
Speaker 1: Mary Todd Lincoln interceded with this request. She wrote to
Speaker 1: Don that he should not let Vinni reem borrow the suit.
Speaker 1: Missus Lincoln knew that she was being really petty in
Speaker 1: all this, because she concluded this letter to Don pretty
Speaker 1: frantically with quote, let me hear from you on this subject.
Speaker 1: When you receive this letter and show this letter to
Speaker 1: no one, only burn it. I feel, as I gave
Speaker 1: them to you, I can dictate a little about them.
Speaker 1: Write on receipt of this what you say will not
Speaker 1: be mentioned. Use your own discretion about lending the clothes.
Speaker 1: But as they are a gift from me, you are
Speaker 1: under no obligation to yield them into other hands. All
Speaker 1: this year will understand, I do not wish my name
Speaker 1: mentioned in it. Write me all about it, Burn this
Speaker 1: and mention contents to no one once again, Congressman got involved.
Speaker 1: All of Reem's network was trying to just smooth all
Speaker 1: of this over, and that seems to have worked because
Speaker 1: Missus Lincoln then wrote to Don again three weeks later
Speaker 1: and told him he could loan out the suit and
Speaker 1: that she've really hoped that Vinnie Reem succeeded in her
Speaker 1: endeavor up but she also got in another instance of
Speaker 1: saying that she did not know Reem and thought she
Speaker 1: was very inexperienced. Still, though at this point the matter
Speaker 1: was resolved, and Vinnie got to use these clothes that
Speaker 1: whole like burn this, burn this, She's horrible. I hate her.
Speaker 1: Burn this. Don't tell anybody I said this, and also
Speaker 1: burn it. Do not mention my name, but you got
Speaker 1: to burn this letter, which he obviously did not because
Speaker 1: the letter exists. Right As press commentary and speculation about
Speaker 1: her continued, Realm got to work. She had been granted
Speaker 1: a studio space in the Capitol, which required some updates
Speaker 1: before she was pleased with it for working, and once
Speaker 1: it was ready, she essentially had the studio open and
Speaker 1: people could stop in almost any time and watch her work.
Speaker 1: She worked very long hours, from early in the morning
Speaker 1: to as late as eleven PM on a lot of days,
Speaker 1: and as more and more people visited her studio, they
Speaker 1: were actually pretty charmed and impressed by her, and this
Speaker 1: resulted in a little bit more positive press than before
Speaker 1: the project started, although there was still plenty of negative.
Speaker 1: But the studio became like the it spot for visitors
Speaker 1: to the Capitol. A lot of the things I read
Speaker 1: suggested it became Washington, DC's biggest tourist destination. Everyone from
Speaker 1: war veterans to Supreme Court justices to Lincoln's son, Robert
Speaker 1: Todd Lincoln came to visit at one point or another,
Speaker 1: and often they would linger and socialize while watching the
Speaker 1: artist at work. Later, Vinnie described the studio's crowds this way,
Speaker 1: quote friend and gathered with a common interest the success
Speaker 1: of the work. Old feuds were forgotten and they were
Speaker 1: met on neutral ground, some on friendly terms who had
Speaker 1: not spoken to each other for years. I was generally
Speaker 1: a silent listener as the men converse, but what they
Speaker 1: said made deep impression forever on their lips was the
Speaker 1: name of Lincoln. And throughout all of this, Vinnie wasn't
Speaker 1: only working exclusively on the Lincoln model. She was also
Speaker 1: as her mentor, Clark Mills, had done taking other commissions
Speaker 1: to keep steady cash flow, so her studio was a very,
Speaker 1: very busy place. Even as Raim's Lincoln model was nearing
Speaker 1: completion in the summer of eighteen sixty eight, there was
Speaker 1: yet more controversy. She'd made the head in clay and
Speaker 1: then cast it in plaster, and then used the plaster
Speaker 1: cast atop the body, which was sculpted in clay supported
Speaker 1: by iron rods. This model would be recreated in marble
Speaker 1: for the final statue. Because the model was being shown
Speaker 1: for viewings. Before this marble version was made, paint was
Speaker 1: used to match the clay in plasterer sections. A lack
Speaker 1: of understanding about this process led people to accusing ream
Speaker 1: of fakery, suggesting that this work was not her own.
Speaker 1: This rumor persisted enough that rem had handbills printed for
Speaker 1: distribution throughout the Capital that read quote, Sir, I understand
Speaker 1: that my model for the Lincoln statue is being criticized
Speaker 1: for the reason that the head is in plaster instead
Speaker 1: of clay like the body of the model. It is
Speaker 1: true that the head is in plaster, but it is
Speaker 1: also true that the model was first made in clay,
Speaker 1: as is the practice of sculptors usually, and it is
Speaker 1: entirely the work of my own hands, upon which I
Speaker 1: labored for many months. A plaster facsimile was then taken
Speaker 1: and sense placed upon the clay model, for the reason
Speaker 1: that in plaster it was much less liable to be
Speaker 1: injured by the daily moist which the clay model requires.
Speaker 1: It was painted its present color simply to make it
Speaker 1: correspond with the balance of the figure. It should be
Speaker 1: remembered that very many eminent sculptors often model in plaster
Speaker 1: instead of clay, and even had I done so in
Speaker 1: this instance, it would have been perfectly legitimate and should
Speaker 1: not be made the ground of criticism against my work.
Speaker 1: The head of this model is a perfect copy of
Speaker 1: the one made by me, being selected by them as
Speaker 1: the most truthful likeness of mister Lincoln they could procure
Speaker 1: very respectfully, venny Reem. In January eighteen sixty nine, the
Speaker 1: statue the model for the statue was formally displayed for viewing,
Speaker 1: and papers ran stories that said that the work was
Speaker 1: a perfect recreation of Lincoln, but also that it was
Speaker 1: not great art. There was, of course, another debate in
Speaker 1: the Senate about whether she should get her second five
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. Once again, Senator Sumner spoke out against it,
Speaker 1: but when he was questioned as to whether he had
Speaker 1: even seen the model, Sumner confessed that he hadn't, saying, quote,
Speaker 1: I criticize it on what I have heard and read
Speaker 1: about it. Ultimately, the statue was approved, but even so,
Speaker 1: the money would take some time to be dispersed, and
Speaker 1: a lot of that money was actually going to go
Speaker 1: towards the marble reproduction. It was not as though Reem
Speaker 1: was rolling in money from this entire work. That ten
Speaker 1: thousand dollars, which was a lot of money at the time,
Speaker 1: was for a fully executed sculpture, but she had to
Speaker 1: pay for all the materials and live off of what
Speaker 1: was left, so she wasn't a starving artist by any means.
Speaker 1: But though that price tag was very hefty at the time,
Speaker 1: it didn't set the artist up for life. She was
Speaker 1: going to have to contract someone to recreate it in marble.
Speaker 1: The next step was for twenty two year old Vinnie
Speaker 1: Reim to take her model to Italy so that it
Speaker 1: could be made in marble. And we will get into
Speaker 1: that and the rest of her life next time. And
Speaker 1: if any of you know a lot about Vinnie Riem
Speaker 1: and you're like, there's another scandal you haven't mentioned, it's
Speaker 1: coming in part two. I just had to break up.
Speaker 1: There's so many scandals and the next one is also
Speaker 1: so juicy that it just wouldn't fit. I have listener
Speaker 1: mail that has nothing to do with scandal or you know, drama,
Speaker 1: unless you find bird things dramatic, all right, which some
Speaker 1: people do. This is from our listener Kirsten, who's or
Speaker 1: maybe she says Kirsten, I don't know, so apologies if
Speaker 1: I got it wrong. Uh, And writes Hi Ally and Tracy.
Speaker 1: I love your podcast and was excited about Holly's recent
Speaker 1: request for Corvid photos. Here are a couple of beautiful
Speaker 1: Australian magpies begging me at a cafe in Sydney's t
Speaker 1: Arangazoo just yesterday. Unfortunately they could not have any of
Speaker 1: my beer or chocolate ice cream. I am completing a
Speaker 1: trip to my fifty ninth and sixtieth countries visited New Zealand, Ana, Australia.
Speaker 1: I highly recommend visiting these countries for anyone who enjoys
Speaker 1: seeing unique birds. Well, they just went higher on my list.
Speaker 1: Fun fact, Australian magpies are actually not related to other
Speaker 1: magpies and are technically not corvids, but after your request,
Speaker 1: I felt they were too beautiful not to share. Thank
Speaker 1: you for your wonderful work. It makes the world a
Speaker 1: better place. This is Kirsten, who went on the Barcelona
Speaker 1: trip with us, and I can't remember how she pronounced it,
Speaker 1: and I feel bad, but I love some CorV some again,
Speaker 1: these aren't technically corvids, but these magpies are beautiful because
Speaker 1: they look almost like they have the piebald coloring that's
Speaker 1: like chunks of white with chunks of black, which I love. Which,
Speaker 1: by the way, some corvids do have that coloring. They
Speaker 1: are not all black. But I'm here for it. I
Speaker 1: want all of the all of the bird colors. I
Speaker 1: want all the bird pictures. We saw some magpies in Barcelona.
Speaker 1: M hmm. I'm imagining probably different birds than the ones
Speaker 1: in these pictures, which I don't have pulled up because
Speaker 1: a different place. But I had not ever made the
Speaker 1: connection of what magpies actually looked like, and I had
Speaker 1: kind of made a picture of them in my head
Speaker 1: that looked like a crow or a raven or something similar.
Speaker 1: And they don't look like that at all. I mean
Speaker 1: insofar as they have two legs and two wings and
Speaker 1: a beak. Yeah, but they're shaped and colored differently. Yes,
Speaker 1: they are. Listen, there are always lots of discussions about
Speaker 1: what birds are what, especially if you get into Corvid's right,
Speaker 1: Like a lot of people think that crows are ravens
Speaker 1: and ravens are crows. That's not true. Ravens are much bigger.
Speaker 1: This got to be a big debate in my life
Speaker 1: because we have I still believe in my heart. We
Speaker 1: had last year one weird raven that was visiting us. Yes,
Speaker 1: this is not normal territory for a raven, which is
Speaker 1: why it was weird. And he was like, he looked
Speaker 1: like a very old dude in his rough around his
Speaker 1: neck was very gray, and he just had this great
Speaker 1: grizzled look about him. And we used to call him
Speaker 1: bearn afonas, which if you watch what we do in
Speaker 1: the shadows you will understand. But that brain. But most
Speaker 1: most of the time, the ones you see running around,
Speaker 1: at least in our area of the country are indeed crows. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Rosebary Moscow made like a how to tell a raven
Speaker 1: from a crow, Yeah, webcomic and what like. Even with that,
Speaker 1: they're still pretty similar. Yeah, it can be tricky. Ravens
Speaker 1: are usually most people like. The joke is, if you're
Speaker 1: not sure, it's probably a crow. If you're like, holy crap,
Speaker 1: that's huge, it's a raven. Yeah. And that's of course
Speaker 1: in the United States. Other places might different different differ
Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah. The the rough is usually what I
Speaker 1: look for. Like, ravens tend to have that fluffy bit
Speaker 1: of feathering right under their head in a neck that
Speaker 1: makes them look a little more distinctive. But sometimes those
Speaker 1: sit closer to their bodies. Depend on the bird. Anyway,
Speaker 1: you didn't come here for bird talk. You came here
Speaker 1: for history. But here you got some bird talk as
Speaker 1: a bonus. If you would like to write to us
Speaker 1: about your bird theories, your bird pictures, whatever you wish,
Speaker 1: you can do that at History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com.
Speaker 1: You can also find us on social media as missed
Speaker 1: in History And if you have not subscribed yet but
Speaker 1: you would like to, that is the easiest thing on
Speaker 1: earth to do. You just do it on your iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: app or wherever you're listening to your favorite shows. Stuff
Speaker 1: you Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.