A Cornucopia of Delights
In a previous post, I made the statement that countless hours of searching the internet had yielded absolutely nothing. That was not entirely true. The fact of the matter is that I had been endlessly teased by the Google search results that lured me into a click. Being shown just enough to reel you in with great excitement and anticipation, you click your way thru to either....you must pay to see more or worse yet "WARNING...YOU HAVE JUST INFECTED YOUR COMPUTER WITH A VIRUS." I have made peace with the risk I run of such potential virus infections (a computer upgrade helped with this also), but what I was not able to make peace with was the titillating prospect of something on the other side of my credit card number and a simple click on the I Agree to the terms button.
Eureka! The simple word that carries so much meaning. I broke down and paid for Newspaper Archives and found myself in a cornucopia of delights. With a few keystrokes, a slight adjustment to my search criteria, and a click on the Search now button, I was propelled into an information frenzy the likes of which can only be described by Lord Byron's poem, The Dream. Being transfixed by what I had found and transported by what I was reading, I found myself entering a place where current time stood still and only the past moved.
Buried deep within the print of a single page of hard to read newspaper digitized into the 21st century, I would magnify my way thru each search result. In a time span of eight hours, I watched Nona's life and the time in history she occupied begin to emerge. While I can't wait to fully explore each of the articles I found on Newspaper Archives, one such article warranted immediate action. While we have in our family's possession many of Nona's later works, we have very few of her early works and even fewer of her oil paintings. I have longed to see more examples of her early work and thus, when I came across, "Mrs. H.O. Bunn will be Honored at Christian Service in Bristol," my heart skipped a beat. I realized in this moment that as much as I was desiring to find out everything I could about Nona, it was her art that my soul longed for. Perhaps even deeper, I realized that it is thru her art that my soul connects to her.
Despite the fact that this article was published in 1938, I was deterred nonetheless and the very next day found the phone number to a Central Christian Church in Bristol, Tennessee. My prayer...please let this be the church and please let them still have the paintings. I rang the number and was delighted when someone picked up on the other end. After a brief explanation and description of my inquiry, the very nice lady to whom I spoke put me on hold as she wondered the church building looking for the paintings I described. Time stood still and a bit of fear began to wash over me. You see dead ends are dream killers...well, at least dream maimers.
When she returned, I was utterly amazed to hear, "Oh yes, yes we still have the paintings and they are prominently displayed." I could not believe it. I had put one finger into the past and found something that was tangible. It has become clear to me that a road trip is in my future. Until then, I will continue to enjoy my cornucopia of delights curtesy of Newspaper Archives.