the Hill 2004 - Hoover Library - McDaniel College

"I didn't have the physical toughness for archaelogy,
so I started thinking about a career in museums."
proudly of the high schoo~ senior who. is
considering studying architectural design
in college next year.
"Essentially, I am a workaholic," says
Anita. "Thnr's because J loveir."
She does now, but textiles were not an
obvious choice, given that Jones entered
college as a music major. She had graduated
second in her class at Kenwood High
School near Middle River, intending to
study clnriner and piano. "But when I realized"
r couldn't hear chord progressions,"
she says ~ith.:l rwin~c in her eye, .~J
started thinking of history as a major."
One of her mentors was, and to some
extent still is, Cornelius P. Darcy, emeritus
professor of history, who retired in 1998
after 35 yeurs ar rhe College.
"She certainly was one of my top
students," Darcy says today. "She was .
always velY focused on the work, especially
European history. She's
American and
always velY poised. She too_k su~h a se,~ious
ahead WIth history,
approach to going
Darcy, who exchange: a11J:ual.Chris:nas
cards and who, along WIth hIS WIfe, has
visited some of Jones' exhibitions at the
BMA, encouraged her to move ahead with
gt""JJuateschool. Sh~eamed her. first.
master's degree in history and historic
preservation from ~'lke Forest Unive~sity
in 1981. After a Smithsonian Fellowship and
jobs as cur-ator and preservationist with the
Museum and
area's Carroll County Farm
Union lvIills Homestead, she picked up her
second master's, this time in the decorative
arts which includes textiles, from the
Co~per-Hcwitt Museum/Parsons School of
Design Program.
"I didn't have the physical toughness
for archaeology," Jones says, "so [started
thinking about a car-eer in museums."
\Nhar turned her on to Darcy's history
classes were the same things that ultimately
brought her to textiles.
"His classes weren't all about the politics
of whatever time we were studying," she
says. "That was part of it, certainly. But he
also brought in all the cultural and sociological
elements, such as artand rnusic."
Like any good historian, no detail is too
minute or obscure to escape her attention.
"Everyone knows she's a perfectionist,"
says Frances (Hilmer) Holstein, '73. "It's
never finished. It's never researched
enough. It always can be better. Anita
will acknowledge a project done well, but
then she'll tell vou how much better it
could be." .
Holstein, along with Jones and two other
classmates, still get rogetherannually for a
"Christmas" reunion that is usually held in
July or August, way after the busy season.
They all met early in their freshman or
sophomore years in Whiteford Hall.
"Sororities were a big part of the college
social life back then," says Holstein. "But
they weren't for us. So we did our own
thing. One of the things Anita did was
study all the time. When [ got to the point
of not being able to take it anymore, she'd
pull an all nighter."
Every so often, the women would attend
a dance at Frock's in vVestminster.
"Ir was hard to get her to do anything
but study," says Janet Leitzel, '73, of
Reisterstown. "She was very, vely diligent
about her work. She would PUt in hours,
and hours and hours of research into a
project. I admire that dedicatio_n. l.'m not
sure! could do that, but I adrnire It."
What also hasn't changed since gradin.,
not even chocolate cures turning 50."
Both women visited some of Anita's
exhibitions. Leitzel observed: "Even
though she can't sew a stitch, she has a
great eye for design. I think she inherited
her interest in textiles from her Morn."
On more than one occasion, as exhibition
deadlines loomed and other resources
evaporated in tight budget times, the
senior Ms. Jones, who supplemented
the family income
as an accomplished
into service.
The
her
mother made a fluffy petticoat that was
used to give shape to a dress once worn
by Mamie
Eisenhower.
The women share mere than their
appreciation for the art of textiles. Anitn
Elizabeth Jones and her mother hnve the
exact same name, That becomes n lot less
confusing when vou consider that "around
the family, I arn ~alled Libbv."
\Vhnt's not confusing is the curator's
Career outlook. her passion for her work ~t
the BMA is as enduring
chocol.nte. Next
as her love of
time you visit the museuJ11,
you I~lght find her in her cozy office,
enJoymg a Hershey'S Kiss as she wonders
about the lives and times of those whose
hands firsttollched the beautiful textiles,
and ponders better ways to tell their
stories .•
Sam
F()sdick is allllW(ll"Il_whmillgj()UnlniiJ"f
whoiitJesillGlelivil/c,Pn
Baltimore Album Quilts: Appliqued Artistry will be on display at the Baltimore Museum of Art through May 9.
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