Mamaroneck High School murals: Don't let history be destroyed | Opinion

You may have heard news about the eight murals located at Mamaroneck High School that need to be removed by April 1 prior to construction of a new student facility. The Board of Education says it is not able to fund the removal and preservation of the murals, but we think you should care that these significant art pieces may be destroyed and act on helping to save them. Some in the community, led by the Mamaroneck Historical Society, along with Mamaroneck High alumni from several classes, are determined to remove them safely and relocate them in Mamaroneck or Larchmont so that all of us can see and enjoy them for generations to come.

Why should you care? History and art

If you care about history and art, then you may be interested in how the two converge in a compelling way to make these murals worth saving. In 1934, Mamaroneck Junior High School teacher Roxie Hall gave her creative English class the assignment of reading James Fenimore Cooper’s “Leatherstocking Tales.” The students were so taken by this classic that they chose one dramatic scene from each of the five works in that series to portray as murals to adorn the cafeteria of their school. They raised funds and Yale University School of Art students John Potter Wheat, Harold Thresher, Albert Crutcher, Mary E. Stone and Donald Driscoll were contracted to paint the five Leatherstocking murals.

Wheat studied at the Art Students League and the Yale School of Fine Arts, and his work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum, Chicago Art Institute, Corcoran Gallery and National Academy of Design, among others, and he served as an office combat artist during Vietnam with the U.S. Chief of Military History.

Thresher, also a Yale graduate, served in World War II and created the iconic packaging for the G.I. Joe franchise. Crutcher, Stone and Driscoll were all Yale graduates and professional artists.

Larchmont resident and Mamaroneck High School graduate Mimi Jennewein painted an additional three murals depicting scenes from Cooper’s life. Jennewein’s work is part of the collection at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The murals were installed in the lunchroom at the Junior High School — later the Post Road side of the High School — and generations of students have spent time gazing at works of art created by some of America’s renowned artists.

Earlier coverage: New lab at Mamaroneck HS likely to displace murals honoring James Fenimore Cooper

Why should you care? Literature

If you care about literature, then you are familiar with the writings of James Fenimore Cooper, considered to be America’s first significant homegrown author. As a resident of Mamaroneck or Larchmont, you might be interested to know that in 1811 Cooper married into the prominent De Lancey family of Mamaroneck, and he and his bride, Susan, lived part of their lives in Mamaroneck. It was against this backdrop that Cooper wrote his first bestselling novel, “The Spy,” an inspired and creative work set during the Revolution. The murals painted by Mimi Jennewein are titled “The Correspondence, Journeys, and Influence on the Cooper Family, 1826 to 1833,”; “The Marriage of Susan De Lancey of Mamaroneck in 1811” and “Cooper, the Premier American Romantic Writer 9/15/1789-9/14/1851” and focus on the life and influence of Cooper in Works Progress Administration style.

In addition to the familial depictions of the Jennewein works, the other murals bring to life striking scenes showing the life of “Natty Bumppo,” his Mohican brother “Chingachgook.” and Natty’s famous long rifle. Viewing these murals allows one to intimately experience the life of the “Deerslayer” and the period between 1740 and 1806.

The story behind the murals is almost as interesting as the murals themselves:

A dedicated teacher inspires her students through a literature assignment to become community activists, raising money during the Great Depression to fund a vision of paintings they could admire daily, and which would remind them of a group of stories they read and enjoyed. The Yale students signed on to this vision and created stunningly colorful depictions of the subject matter and others which commemorated the local author’s life. Rather than destroy or cover up these artworks, in 2022 a concerned community might dedicate itself to rally and fund their relocation, much as Miss Hall’s class was motivated in 1934.

History, art, civic pride, literature and the success of a teacher who actively engaged her students.

I submit that is why you should care.

And if you do, please visit the GoFundMe site — https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-save-the-mamaroneck-high-school-murals — dedicated to the preservation of these murals and contribute as you can.

You will be honoring the vision of those students and the creativity of the artists by doing so.

Debb Mastromatteo, a resident of Stamford, Connecticut, is a member of the Mamaroneck High School Class of 1979 and is among the organizers of a preservation effort to protect the school's murals.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mamaroneck High School murals: Don't let history be destroyed