Original items with ties to the owner and architect donated to Dana-Thomas House

SPRINGFIELD - It took 64 years, but some items purchased during an auction at the Frank Lloyd-Wright designed Dana-Thomas House are returning home, thanks to the generosity of a Springfield family who purchased the material during the 1943 sale. 

 

            The Morton D. Barker, Jr. family today donated the original artifacts to the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which administers the Dana-Thomas House.  Among those present for the ceremony were family members R-Lou Barker, Robert John and Anne Barker, and John Andrew Barker.

 

            "I am pleased to return Susan's personal items to the Dana-Thomas House.  They are so particular to what would have been precious to her," said R-Lou Barker.

 

            The donated materials include:

·                    A three-piece, matching christening outfit with the original price tags still attached, purchased in Paris by Susan Lawrence Dana for the child she never had.

·                    A large circa 1920 Turkish Oushak rug owned by Susan.

·                    An Abraham Lincoln print owned by Susan's father, Rheuna Lawrence, that hung in the original, Victorian style Lawrence home.

·                    Five Japanese block prints, three of them made in the 1700s and two around 1900, that were said to be a gift from the Emperor of Japan to the home's architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, who then gave them to Mrs. Dana.  These prints were displayed on print tables specifically designed by Wright for that purpose in the home's Gallery Room.

 

            The July 1943 auction of Susan Lawrence Dana's properties and personal effects was perhaps the largest in the history of Springfield and required five days, and several

stores in the downtown area displayed some of the thousands of items that were being put up for sale.  Susan's estate, which included the Dana House, the Lawrence Building on South Sixth Street and the Roland Building on the southeast corner of Sixth and Adams, were sold to the firm of Barker, Goldman and Lubin Co., of which Morton D. Barker, Sr. was the senior partner.  Earl Bice, Susan's lawyer, arranged the sale, with Springfield's Marine Bank acting as Trust Officer.  The Sixth Street properties were considered prime real estate at the time, but the Dana House, built in 1904, was not.  The auction of Susan's personal effects, presided over by auctioneer Luke Gaulle Sr., occurred in a large tent at the corner of Fourth and Cook Streets, where the YMCA now occupies the corner.  Barker and his partners determined that what was not sold at auction would remain with the house, which kept the home's priceless furniture and art glass intact.

 

Susan Lawrence Dana was by then a full-time patient in St. John's Hospital, where she eventually died in 1946.  Susan (1862 - 1946) had outlived all members of her immediate family, but witnesses at the time reported that Mrs. Dana was alert enough during the auction to ask, "Did you know they're selling my things today?"   

 

            A few weeks later, Charles C Thomas Publishing announced they were in the process of purchasing Mrs. Dana's home from Barker, Goldman and Lubin Co.  The sale of the 12,600-square-foot home was finalized in April 1944.  Charles C Thomas Publishing maintained the house, its extensive collection of Wright-designed oak furniture, and its world class set of 450 art glass windows, doors, and light panels for the next 37 years until the house and its contents were purchased by the State of Illinois in 1981.  It has since served as a house museum, attracting more than one million visitors. 

 

            "This major gift from the Barker family brings us yet closer to the goal of owning and displaying all of the major artifacts related to the house," said Site Manager Donald Hallmark.

 

            The Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site, administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is open for public tours Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the last tour of the day beginning at ten minutes to four.  Tours require about one hour and generally are offered at about 20-minute intervals.  The house is closed Mondays and Tuesdays and some state holidays.  The suggested donation is $3 for adults and $1 for children ages 3 - 17.