Thursday, August 16, 2012

Happy Anniversary!

            Seventy-seven years ago today on August 16, 1935, Margarete Elisabeth Waldstein married her friend, Hans Augusto Reyersbach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I’ve always wondered if they chose the 16th day of the month to be consistent with their birthdays—May 16th for Margret and September 16th for Hans.
            Hans, brilliantly, designed their wedding announcement  as a business card of sorts to celebrate not only their marriage, but also their new business venture. Described as a “family advertising company” with Margret's talents as a photographer, and Hans' as an artist, they began their life together “doing magazine work, advertising, and book illustrations”.   Within a few weeks, the couple had enough accounts to keep Hans busy working full-time as an artist and he resigned from his brother-in-law’s import-export firm.
            As a businessman, Hans had to restrain his artistic talent, telling a reporter one time that he was “not allowed to adorn commercial letters with illustrations.”  The following letter suggests, however, he did not always take this admonition to heart.
McCain Library and Archives
University of Southern Mississippi
            Margret and Hans’ collaboration spanned more than forty years. After Hans’ death in 1977, Margret was asked what she felt led to their success. “Work,” she reminisced, “Work that interests you. [Marriage] is based on interests in common. Stay interested in life and work.”

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Comments, Email & Other Technical Things I’ve Neglected

Hello All Things Rey readers –
            First, I’m sorry I haven’t written any new posts since early June. The time since then has been well-spent, however, attending to other interests here at Delta State University and taking some needed time off. As our new semester begins, I expect to get back into the swing of things and return to my schedule of posting at least twice a month. Thanks for your patience.
            Secondly, I’ve heard from several of you that you have tried to comment, but that your comments did not post. I’ve gone back and tried to remedy this problem and hopefully this will not be an issue in the future. I also will be checking my blog email account more often, so if you would like to send your comments to me “off the grid” send them to annmulloyashmore@gmail.com .
            Once again thanks for your interest in the Reys and my All Things Rey blog. I look forward to sharing more of their amazing lives with you as the year goes on.
                                                                                                          Ann