I spent two hours yesterday wandering around the JRRT display at Marquette U’s Haggerty Museum in Milwaukee. There, I enjoyed examining the original pages of manuscripts from the hand of the good professor himself. They ranged from 1915 thru the 1950’s and beyond. Some documents shown had never been previously published. Here’s a link to the display and for tickets and the book which contains copies of the displayed manuscripts (which I of course bought).
Despite past visits to the Haggerty to view other documents, I was again blown away by the detail, precision, and absolute obsession Tolkien showed in these manuscripts. Art so fine and detailed he must have used the finest of brushes! Maps revised over and over again to get them to correspond to his narrative and worldbuilding! And a hand-written 15 foot long paper spreadsheet just to make sure he got the phases of the moon right, and not just right, but consistent from that which was described in The Hobbit to his description of phases in LOTR, 60 years (middle earth time) later!
It was also heaven on earth for us hardcore Tolkien nerds. Within minutes of arriving, I found myself in intense conversation with a fellow exhibit visitor about the deep lore! (I should point out the first guy approached me, happy to start sharing factoids). We didn’t even duel over the who was the geekiest/most knowledgeable, just shared our sagas and interests!
I goggled most amazed when I saw the Professor’s handwritten graphs and diagrams trying to show how the flows of Mortal Time and Lorien Time intersected and interacted during the Fellowship’s stay there, since he wanted to have them running at different rates. (He abandoned the concept eventually, other than stating that “time flowed differently there”.)
I spent a good 20 minutes gazing at the first known map of Beleriand, from the 1920’s! I fought down my urge to steal the painting of Glórund emerging from Nargothrond to pursue Túrin!
And I had my daughter physically restrain me from absconding with “The Shores of Faery”.
And I marveled at the at the artistry in the original handwritten manuscripts Tolkien produced, like this one from “The Lay of Eärendil”.
There was page after page of awesome stuff there. 2 hours was not enough, but that’s how long we got. The museum did provide magnifying glasses, which was much appreciated. And there was a good sized crowd in that timeslot, but not so many folks were allowed that one could not see everything in relative leisure.
I also learned that during his youth, JRRT read many times the novel She, by H. Rider Haggard. That shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did. I enjoyed that tale quite a bit myself. It must have influenced him at least a bit when he wrote “you would have a queen, not dark but beautiful and terrible as the dawn!”
Tickets are still available and must be reserved in advance, the exhibit runs through December 23rd.
What a trip!
