Bust of Longfellow, (sculpture).

Bust of Longfellow, (sculpture).

French, Daniel Chester, 1850-1931, sculptor.

Bacon, Henry, 1866-1924, architect.

Gorham Manufacturing Company, founder.

Bust of Longfellow, (sculpture).

Commissioned 1912. Dedicated Oct. 29, 1914.

Sculpture: bronze; Base: wood.

Sculpture: approx. 36 x 31 x 19 in.

(On proper left side of sculpture:) DC FRENCH (On proper right side of sculpture:) GORHAM CO. FOUNDERS signed Founder's mark appears.

A bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow dressed in academic robes.

Portrait male -- Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth -- Bust

Occupation -- Writer -- Poet

Administered by City of Cambridge, Cambridge Historical Commission, 831 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

Located Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Formerly located Longfellow Park, Brattle Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 1914-1972.

In 1912, the Longfellow Memorial Association commissioned Daniel Chester French to create a memorial to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for Longfellow Park established on property behind the poet's former home. French collaborated with architect Henry Bacon and submitted plans which included reconstruction of the park's stone stairway so that the stairway and memorial could be integrated, and the memorial could be placed in line with the Longfellow house. These alterations to the original park design by Charles Eliot, were adapted in 1914 by landscape architect Paul R. Frost when the memorial was installed.

The Longfellow Memorial Association offered school children the opportunity to contribute a dime toward the memorial fund, in return for which they would receive a copy of Longfellow's manuscript and a picture of his home; adults could contribute a dollar and would become honorary association members. When these subscriptions failed to raise enough to finance the memorial, popular authors of the day held public readings to raise additional funding. A final boost to the memorial fund came with the donation of surplus funds provided after the Longfellow Memorial in Washington, D.C. was built. The land for the park and memorial was given to the Longfellow Memorial Association in 1883 by the poet's children who later doubled their gift with additional land donated in 1887.

In 1967, and again in 1972, the bronze bust of Longfellow was vandalized. Following the 1972 incident, the bronze bust was removed from the memorial and placed on loan to the Longfellow National Historic Site, who in 1982 installed a fiberglass copy of the bust (IAS record MA000165) in Longfellow Park to replace the bronze original. The Longfellow National Historic Site then returned the original bronze bust to the City of Cambridge and the Cambridge Public Library agreed to display the bust. The bronze bust now rests on the second floor of the Cambridge Public Library on top of a wooden base constructed by the Longfellow National Historic Site maintenance staff. IAS files contain an article from The Cambridge Chronicle, Sept. 9, 1922 and correspondence from the landscape architect, Paul R. Frost.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Massachusetts survey, 1997.

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.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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