The Journal of a Sea Captain's Wife, 1841-1845 by Lydia Rider Nye, Doyce B. Nunis, Jr.

Abstract

Museum in 1935,and conserved and installed in the museum's sculpture court in 1998. Proctor isalso represented at the Metropoli tan Museum ofArt, BrooklynMuseum, Smith sonian American ArtMuseum, and numerous others, including theA. Phimister ProctorMu seum inPoulsbo,Washington, established in1997 by theartist'sgrandson.Monuments by Proctor are located inDenver,Washington, D.C., Pitts burgh, and other cities. Hassrick suggeststhathis supreme accomplishments are the equestrian, multi-figured Pioneer Mother inKansas City, Missouri, and the two-man, two-horse monu ment toRobert E. Lee inDallas, Texas. The monograph is spaciously designed and well organized and written.A seventyfive-page introductoryessay,divided into seven chapters, presents a chronological discussion of Proctor 's early life,development as an artist, happy marriage and family life, and successes and frustrations as he competed with his western art contemporaries Charles M. Russell and Frederick Remington as well as high style Beaux-Arts sculptors, especially followers of Daniel Chester French, rivalofProctor'smentor Saint-Gaudens. The essay is followed by a chronologi cal catalogue that illustrates and discusses each sculpture, providing information on patron-artist relations, significance of subject, date ofmodeling and casting, location, and other known versions. The catalogue is cited throughout the essay so that one can turn to detailed discussion of a particular work while reading the broader commentary in the essay. (In thediscussion ofOregon PioneerMother on page 89, citation is omitted for the catalogue entryon page 225 ? aminor but temporarily confusing discontinuity.) The book, situatingProctor in regional,na tional, and international contexts, is a valuable addition toAmerican art historical studies. It contributes to art scholarship about the Ameri canWest, on thebasis ofwhich Proctor staked his fame,and Northwest, which Proctorwooed and, inOregon to a surprisingdegree,won. The Journal ofa Sea Captains Wife, 1841-1845 By Lydia Rider Nye, edited byDoyce B. Nunis, Jr. Arthur H. Clark Company, Spokane, Wash., 2004. Photographs, maps, bibliography, appendices, index. 254 pages. $32.50 cloth. Reviewed byNancy Pagh Western Washington University,Bellingham Historian jo Stanley recently wrote about the need for books on women at sea. "How can gender issues be raised in a discipline (maritime history) that traditionally uses straightforward social and economic his tory approaches rather than drawing in tools available fromcultural studies, women's studies, and post-colonial studies?" she asked ina review essay inGender & History (April 2003, p. 136). The Journal of a Sea Captains Wife is a beautifully designed, traditional scholarly edi tion of Lydia Rider Nye's journal, including her account of traveling from Boston toHawai'i tomeet her husband and trade voyages to the PacificCoast. The book includes a prologue and epilogue, giving it some narrative shape, and numerous appendices ? including accounts of theBritish seizure ofHonolulu in 1842, King Ka mehameha Ill's restoration, and theCalifornia hide and tallow trade.Given the current inter est inwomen's accounts of sea travel,this text, promoted as "the only known journal kept by a wife of a ship captain during a voyage along the Pacific Coast prior to 1848" (although Frances Reviews 511 Barkley's 1787 account ofNootka predates it), will garner interest by feminists,social historians ofHawai'i, and economic historians interested in thehide trade. Nye herself points out, "I do not want for matter, but language,O that I had the pen of a readywriter" (p. 91). Unlike the fascinating journals of Caroline Leighton and Libby Bea man, Nye's writing lacks a sense of personality and reflection. Early entries wear a heavy mask ofpiety (theeditorfinds thisrhetoric"genuine"; I credit her fellow passengers, who were mis The Oregon Historical Society Press congratulates Lewis L. McArthur winner of a 2005 Merit Award for individual achievement from the American Association for State and Local History McArthurin2003 xvith the firstsixeditions ofOregon Geographic Names Lewis L. McArthur grew up learning about Oregon places. His father, Lewis A. McArthur, began research for the first edition of Oregon Geographic Names shortly after Lewis was born. After his father died in 1951, the younger McArthur con tinued the tradition, completing the fourth and preparing the fifth, sixth, and, in 2003, a seventh edition of what has become a classic reference work. He also serves on the Oregon Geographic Names Board and the Place Name Commis sion of theUnited States...