Joseph Baldwin, (sculpture).

Joseph Baldwin, (sculpture).

Crunelle, Leonard, 1872-1944, sculptor.

Joseph Baldwin, (sculpture).

Commissioned July 26, 1927. Model dedicated Oct. 20, 1927. Cast 1928. Installed April 1928.

Sculpture: bronze; Base: Rose granite.

Sculpture: approx. 96 x 33 x 28 in.; Base: approx. 56 x 52 x 46 in.

L. Crunelle sc. cast by Am Art Bronze Foundry Chicago/1928 (On base, center front:) Joseph Baldwin/Pioneer Educator signed Founder's mark appears.

A full-length portrait of Joseph Baldwin. He has a beard and is dressed in a suit with frock coat and vest. He stands in a relaxed pose, holding two sheets of paper in his proper right hand at his side.

Portrait male -- Baldwin, Joseph

Occupation -- Education

Outdoor Sculpture -- Missouri -- Kirksville

Truman State University, Physical Plant, Main Quadrangle, Kirksville, Missouri 63501

Formerly located Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, Kirksville, Missouri 63501

The sculpture commemorates Joseph Baldwin (1827-1899), who founded the North Missouri Normal School and Commercial College as a privately owned school in 1867. He served as President of the First District Normal School from 1870 to 1881, and left to accept the presidency of Sam Houston Normal Institute in Huntsville, Texas.

This sculpture was a project of the Baldwin Memorial Committee, formed in the summer of 1927 to plan celebrations for Baldwin's 100th birthday. Lorado Taft was originally approached to do the sculpture. He selected the site and recommended Leonard Crunelle for the job. (At the time of sculpture's commissioning, the school was known as Northeast Missouri State Teachers College. The school was later renamed Northeast Missouri State University, and in 1996 became Truman State University). Crunelle completed a plaster model, painted bronze, in time for the memorial's Oct. 20th, 1927 unveiling. The completed bronze sculpture was received and set into place the following April. A wreath is placed at the foot of the statue each year as part of commencement exercises. The sculpture's base was subjected to black paint graffiti in Spring of 1994, removed by sandblasting.

IAS files contain copies of correspondence from the artist and the University, including a copy of the July 1927 contract for the sculpture; and articles from the St. Louis Dispatch, n.d., and the University's newspaper The Index, June 8, 1928, July 27, 1927, and Oct. 12, 1927. IAS files contain additional bibliographic citations, and further information is on file at the University Archives.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Missouri survey, 1995.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985.

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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