Printmaking Class Talk and Buck Tomb

We recently spoke to Tulane Professor Pippin Frisbie-Calder's printmaking class. We were asked to show the students our cemetery holdings, so brought out recently conserved watercolor presentation drawings for tombs in Metairie Cemetery, plaster scale tomb models, bronze reliefs, art glass samples, photographs, and other items from our Albert Weiblen Marble and Granite Company records. Professor Frisbie-Calder wanted to expose the students to the unique and beautiful materials we preserve, give them ideas and inspiration for their class projects, and to introduce them to the rich archival holdings of Tulane's Special Collections Division. We also gave the class a tour of SEAA's stacks, and one item of particular interest was the large plaster scale model for the Buck Family tomb in Metairie Cemetery, Emile Weil and Charles Lawhon, architects for Albert Weiblen. Built for Charles Francis Buck (1841-1918), who immigrated to New Orleans in 1852 from Durrheim, Germany. Buck became a lawyer, and was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1895, representing the 2nd District. He was also active in the Scottish Rite Freemasons. The model for his tomb included Art Nouveau sphinxes flanking the entrance, which were supplanted by carved stone pillars topped with baskets holding spheres with Masonic symbols. There are other Masonic symbols carved in the stone of the tomb.