Five years ago, we published the first blog post. For the first year and a half I maintained a schedule of a post every week, like a weekly newspaper column. My deadline occurred every Thursday. My goal was to use frequency to build awareness of the Divine Stone project and to reach the core group of stoneyard participants with the message that their wonderful story was important and was being told.
Apologies for those first posts being a little on the thin side. I wasn’t as much a researcher as a grabber of low-hanging fruit. As time went on, the research deepened and was enhanced by Robert F. Rodriguez’ images and writings. The free subscriber lists have grown beyond those immediately involved in the stoneyard. We thank them. It is a story that reaches a larger audience.
Last year we indicated it was time to begin a new phase in the work and that it was time to start weaving these snapshots of stories into a cohesive draft manuscript. That has begun. You may recall we plan three parts to the story, the major construction periods.
- Part One – The Dean Morton Era (1972-1997)
- Part Two – Bishop Potter and Heins & LaFarge (1892-1911)
- Part. Three – Bishop Manning and Ralph Adams Cram (1921-1941)
Part Two is written in draft form. I started there because it was the smallest section and I could see how to bring blog posts into a narrative form and the challenges that it might pose. The writing for Part One is now underway.
Going Forward
Blog posts will continue, although less frequent due to manuscript writing tasks. We will be reaching out to the cutters, carvers and setters from the modern stoneyard to develop more information about them and that era. For those men and women, please help us tell the best story.
Last fall I had an opportunity to meet Tom Fedorek, Senior Guide and our book’s co-author Robert F. Rodriguez at the Cathedral for a short but meaningful walk-around. Robert and I adjourned to meet about the book and look at his well-documented collection of photos. In addition to his own work, Robert secured Mary Bloom’s Cathedral images from her estate and secured Martha Cooper’s cooperation to use her images. Martha spent 3 years documenting the work on the Portal of Paradise. Stephanie Azzarone, journalist, author and editor, joined us at the meeting and has graciously agreed to work with us.
This year, through Mark Saxe, various publications and websites have reprinted blog posts and links to the blog, spreading the story. Mark recently brought this quote to our attention. It will stay with us.
” There is no one not better off having spent time in the presence of stone” –
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