During a recent business trip to Buffalo, NY, I had the opportunity to stay at the Roycroft Inn of East Aurora, NY. At the front of the inn is a massive oak door with a quotation carved into in..."Produce Great People; the Rest Follows". These words (some attribute to Walt Whitman, some Elbert Hubbard) foreshadow things to be discovered at the Roycroft Inn & Campus.
Elbert Hubbard, founder of the Roycrofters, an Arts & Crafts movement community established a little over 100 years ago, left an amazing legacy behind. The tranquil beauty of all that remains and all that is restored at the Roycroft Campus leaves one breathless. Such a rich history deserves to be explored and understood by modern folks like ourselves.
How is what has been preserved by organizations like the Roycroft Campus Corporation & the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation important to us today? Aside from the beauty and the intrigue is something deeper. The ideals espoused by the Roycrofters were and are simplicity, natural living, health and intellectual well being. Aren't those things what we city-dwelling or suburbanite Americans are still chasing after? We create devices to help make life easier, though that never really seems to work. We maintain parks and preserves to stay in touch with nature amidst an overpowering sprawl. And aren't good health and a strong intellect things we try to develop through our memberships to health clubs and endeavors at higher education?
Aside from pondering these questions, I also was surprised to learn some key facts about Elbert Hubbard and the Roycrofters that I wasn't aware of before. Mr. Hubbard was a shrewd businessman and a marketing genius, not just a country philosopher who produced incredibly beautiful and useful objects. He was an advocate for Socialism, but ran the Roycrofters as a capital enterprise. The list goes on, but I'll leave that for you to discover....perhaps on a visit to East Aurora for an enchanting weekend?
Some excellent places to start are a read through The Fra, published by the Roycroft Campus Corporation and Elbert Hubbard's most famous essay, A Message to Garcia (at one time the 3rd most published piece after the Bible and the dictionary). Enjoy!
What a wonderful discovery and an astute observation. The Roycroft Campus in East Aurora, New York is truly a step back in time. I recommend it to all
Posted by: Doug Swift | May 20, 2006 at 08:14 PM