Click here to loginLoginView my BookbagMy List - 0HelpHelp
 Search 
 Search Images 
 About 
   
KeywordBrowseCombinedHighlightsSearch HistoryAll Catalogs
Search:    Refine Search  
> You are only searching: Art Inventories
More Smithsonian Searches
 
 Who else has...
 
  •  
    		• Unknown,
     
  •  
    		• DeLoach, Charles,
     
  •  
    		• Baker, Luther,
     
  •  
    		• Butler, Linnie,
     
  •  
    		• Nolin, B.,
     
  •  
    		• Quincey, John,
     
  •  
    		• Firth, Montgomery,
     
  •  
    		• Bama Foundry Company,
     
  •  
    		• Figure female
     
  •  
    		• Animal -- Insect
     
  •  
    		• History -- United States
     
  •  
    		• Allegory -- Arts & Sciences
     
  •  
    		• Fountain
     
  •  
    		• Outdoor Sculpture -- Alabama -- Enterprise
     
  •  
    		• Sculpture
     
     
    Boll Weevil Monument, (sculpture).
    Artist: 
    Unknown, sculptor.
    DeLoach, Charles, fabricator.
    Baker, Luther, designer.
    Butler, Linnie, fabricator.
    Nolin, B., caster.
    Quincey, John, assistant.
    Firth, Montgomery, sculptor.
    Bama Foundry Company, founder.
    Title: 
    Boll Weevil Monument, (sculpture).
    Dates: 
    1919. Female figure dedicated Dec. 11, 1919. Original boll weevil designed 1949; Boll weevil replacments cast in 1954 and again in 1981.
    Medium: 
    Female figure: cast alloy, possibly lead; Boll weevil: aluminum; Base: cast iron.
    Dimensions: 
    Overall: approx. 54 x 3 1/2 x 2 ft.; Figure: approx. H. 3 ft.; Base: approx. H. 9 ft. x Diam. 8 ft.
    Inscription: 
    (On base:) IN PROFOUND APPRECIATION OF/THE BOLL WEEVIL/AND WHAT IT HAS DONE AS THE HERALD OF PROSPERITY/THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY/THE CITIZENS OF/ENTERPRISE, COFFEE COUNTY, ALABAMA/DEC. 11-1919
    Description: 
    A classical female figure, painted white, holding up a boll weevil above her head. The figure is placed on a graduated cast iron base, painted green, situated in the center of a concrete pool approximately 15 feet in diameter.
    Subject: 
    Figure female
    Animal -- Insect -- Beetle
    History -- United States -- Alabama
    Allegory -- Arts & Sciences -- Agriculture
    Object Type: 
    Fountain
    Outdoor Sculpture -- Alabama -- Enterprise
    Sculpture
    Owner: 
    City of Enterprise, Main & College Streets, Enterprise, Alabama
    Remarks: 
    The monument, shipped from Italy, was erected by citizens of Enterprise to commemorate the role this destructive insect played in diversifying the local economy by abolishing one-crop agriculture. In late summer 1915, the boll weevil destroyed nearly 40% of the area's cotton crop. The decline of cotton production signaled the beginning of a new era and new economy for the county. The idea of the monument was conceived by R. O. Fleming, then a merchant and member of the City Council of Enterprise. Without solicitation, the citizens contributed half the amount needed to erect the monument, which cost $1,795. Fleming paid the rest of the amount. The monument was unveiled on Dec. 11, 1919, as a fountain with water coming out the top.
    The boll weevil was a later addition, designed and added in 1949 by Luther Baker. In the winter of 1953/54, Baker's boll weevil was discovered missing and a replacement made. A model was created by Charles DeLoach, a local sculptor; the mold was fashioned by Linnie Butler and cast by B. Nolin, the owner of the Bama Foundry Company. A bronze coating was added by John Quincey. Boll Weevil Day was proclaimed May 1, 1954. Between 12,000 an 15,000 people attended the statue's rededication in May 1954. Around 1969, several of the boll weevil's feet were broken off. In 1974, the entire statue was stolen. The statue was subsquently recovered, but was found dented and its arms broken. The statue was cleaned, repaired and reassembled. The monument was again stolen in 1981; recovered, and a new boll weevil cast by Montgomery Firth.
    A New York Times article (July 27, 1998) reports the monument was vandalized in again in 1998, the female figure's hands were cut off and the boll weevil was stolen.
    IAS files contain historic photographs of the monument, taken in the 1940's, and a booklet "Pest of Honor: the Story of the World's Most Unusual Monument," by Roy Shoffner, c. 1988, which gives a detailed history of the monument and circumstances leading to its erection. The monument is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. IAS files contain photocopy of sections of the National Park Service National Register of Historic Places nomination form for the sculpture and photocopy of Birmingham News clipping, stamped May 2, 1954.
    References: 
    Save Outdoor Sculpture, Alabama survey, 1993.
    Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985.
    Smithsonian Institution, Annual Report, "Living with the Boll Weevil for 50 years," 1945, pp. 273-292.
    New York Times, July 27, 1998, pg. A10.
    Illustration: 
    Image on file.
    Smithsonian Institution, Annual Report, 1945, pp. 273-292.
    New York Times, July 27, 1998, pg. A-10 (detail view).
    Note: 
    The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.
    Repository: 
    Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
    Control Number: 
    IAS 75000001
    Add to my list 
    Copy/Holding information
    Smithsonian AmericanArt MuseumControl Number 
    Inventory of American Sculpture75000001Add Copy to MyList

    Format:HTMLPlain textDelimited
    Subject: 
    Email to:


    Horizon Information Portal 3.25_9382
     Powered by SirsiDynix
    About | © 2020 Smithsonian | Terms of Use | Privacy | Contact
    SIRIS - Smithsonian Institution Research Information System