ROB EVANS

The "Drawing on the Susquehanna" collection on view at the Schmucker Art Gallery, Gettysburg College
"Drawing on the Susquehanna"
Fundraising/Naming Campaign
Click here to skip introduction and go directly to naming opportunities
Introduction
For the last 2 decades I have embarked on the exciting journey of exploring my roots as a painter of the Susquehanna River Valley. In so doing, I've uncovered a long forgotten but important artistic legacy of national significance, curating two major touring exhibits, and building a permanent collection of Susquehanna River art spanning four centuries which includes paintings, drawings, etchings, engravings, lithographs, illustrated books, maps and decorated china. Chronicling the unfolding of American history along the Susquehanna's shores, this collection shows how artists disseminated their work to a broad public via commercial partnerships, utilizing the most current printing technologies available, not only self-promoting, but helping make the Susquehanna one of the most popular and well known rivers worldwide. Even before the Hudson River School of landscape painting took shape, the Susquehanna played a key role in influencing and inspiring some of the first truly American artists, writers and poets. Although no formal "Susquehanna School" of painters has ever been delineated, this collection shows that such an influential school has taken shape over the last several centuries and continues to this day.
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Concept sketch for the Susquehanna National Heritage Area Discovery Center (courtesy Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects)

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A Museum for Susquehanna River Art
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It has long been my dream to coalesce these collections of Susquehanna River art into a museum dedicated to the river's important legacy, much like the Brandywine River Museum does for that river's important heritage. An extraordinary opportunity has now arisen to bring this possibility to life.
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This past year the Susquehanna National Heritage Area acquired the 87 acre Mifflin Farm, an historic Underground Railroad and Civil War site, located at the Wrightsville Route 30 interchange near the Susquehanna River. The farm will be the site of a future Susquehanna River Discovery Center which will serve as a visitor hub for the region, including a visitor center in the renovated bank barn, Heritage Park with interpretive trails, as well as an Underground Railroad learning center.
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Earlier this year the SNHA board approved the addition of a stand alone art museum, permanently showcasing the various Susquehanna art collections, to be included in the master plan. I will now be heading up a committee (as part of the larger task force committee creating a master plan) to work with an architect and consultants to develop a mission, vision, space needs, building design, staffing requirements, programming, budget and a fundraising strategy for the museum.
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I look forward with great excitement to spending considerable time over the next two years working on this project in all its aspects, fulfilling a dream of honoring the centuries long artistic legacy of this important and magical river.
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Concept sketch for the Museum of Susquehanna River Art (courtesy Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects)


The "Drawing on the Susquehanna" collection on view at the Schmucker Art Gallery, Gettysburg College
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Over the last five years I have spent considerable time and resources researching, tracking down, purchasing, archiving and framing all the works in the "Drawing on the Susquehanna" collection. As a self-employed artist, this stretched our family finances rather thin, so my plan was to help offset these expenses by putting the collection on tour to museums/university galleries and recoup some of those costs through loan fees. Unfortunately, this plan was somewhat derailed by Covid, which forced the cancellation of three venues and severely cut the budgets at the other venues that eventually did host the exhibit, providing only a fraction of the anticipated loan fees.
In order to help offset these expenses, enable me to continue to grow and archive this important collection, and to help cover my consulting time moving forward in developing the museum to house the collection, I have come up with a creative fundraising approach based on creating naming opportunities to dedicate specific works in the collection to a person or persons of the donor's choosing. This dedication will remain with the work in crediting on all museum wall labels, catalogs, publicity, etc.
Donations will be facilitated through the Roundtop Trust (more info about the trust on this website here), a private charitable trust established by a group of my patrons 12 years ago to preserve, for posterity and for educational/curatorial use, a collection of my most notable works spanning my career. The scope of the Trust collection has now been expanded to include historic Susquehanna River art, enabling the Trust to acquire all the works from the "Drawing on the Susquehanna" collection. The Roundtop Trust will subsequently, once the museum is established, donate, or place on long term loan, all of these works for permanent display in the museum.
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As a result, as works are transfered from my collection to the Trust, this provides a naming opportunity for donors to dedicate specific key works. Below is a list of available works for naming along with corresponding donation amouts. If desired, multiple donors may join together to name a single work with several names. It should be noted that, although the Rountop Trust is a charitable trust, it is not a 501c3 non-profit, and therefore donations are not tax-deductible.
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Contributions can be made via check (payable to the Roundtop Trust) and sent to:
Rob Evans Studio
7152 Roundtop Lane
Wrightsville, PA 17368
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Or you can make a contribution here through Paypal:​​​​​
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Also payment can be made through Venmo (you can contact me here for instructions)
Please send a notice via the contact form here to notify as to which work is being dedicated and the name(s) desired to be listed or if there are any other questions regarding this exciting project.
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Thank you so much for your support!
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Naming Campaign for Susquehanna River Art
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Naming Opportunities
(the most prominent/valuable works in the collection are at the highest
contribution levels and then scale downward accordingly)
These works can be dedicated with a contribution of $15,000 or more:

Matthaus Merian the Elder
John Smith Map of Virginia
From Theodore De Bry's "Grand Voyages"
copper plate engraving with hand coloring, 1627

James Fenimore Cooper
The Pioneers - or the Sources of the Susquehanna
First edition, published by
Charles Wiley, NY, 1823

After Jasper F. Cropsey
American Autumn, Starucca Valley, Erie R. Road
signed by the artist
19 color chromolithograph, c.1867
These works can be dedicated with a contribution of $10,000 or more:


Edwin Whitefield
Study for Title Page of "Nature's Gems"
pencil and watercolor, 1845

After Abner Reeder
An Attempt to Burn John Harris
lithograph with hand coloring, 1839

Nathaniel Currier and James Ives
The Valley of the Susquehanna
large folio, hand colored lithograph, c.1870s
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Francis H. Schell
View of a Railroad Track Across the Susquehanna, at Havre de Grace, Maryland, on the Ice
lithograph,1852
These works can be dedicated with a contribution of $5,000 or more:

Otto Kuhler
Harnessing the Susquehanna: Safe Harbor Dam
etching, 1930

Jacques Gérard Milbert
Machine for the Portage on the Susquehanna
From Milbert's "Itinéraire Pittoresque du Fleuve Hudson"
lithograph chine colle, 1828

Arnoldus Montanus
Sasquesahanok
From "A New and Unknown World: A Description of America"
copper plate engraving with letterpress, 1673

After William H. Bartlett
Nathaniel Parker Willis
American Scenery; or Land, Lake and River
Illustrations of a Transatlantic Nature
First British Edition. Published by George Virtue, London 1840

After William H. Bartlett
Wilkesbarre, Vale of Wyoming
blue transferware ceramic pitcher
Part of the "Catskill Moss series based on images from "American Scenery"produced by William Ridgway and Sons,
Stffordshire, England, c.1844
(click here to go to naming form)

Nathaniel Currier and James Ives
After George Catlin
Hunting on Susquehanna
hand colored lithograph, circa 1872

After Thomas Cole
The Headwaters of the Juniata
red transferware ceramic soup plate produced by
William Adams and Sons, Staffordshire, England, c.1831 - 61

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Otto Kuhler
Harnessing the Susquehanna, Conowingo Dam
etching, circa1929
(click here to go to naming form)
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These works can be dedicated with a contribution of $2500 or more:

After Thomas Cole
The Headwaters of the Juniata,
Allegheny Mountains, Pennsylvania
From John Howard Hinton's "History
and Topography of the United States"
Published and engraved by
Fenner Sears and Co.
steel plate engraving, 1831

John Howard Hinton
History and Topography of the
United States of North America
First American Edition. Edited by John Howard Hinton. Printed and published by Samuel Walker, Boston 1834

After Thomas Cole
The Headwaters of the Juniata,
Allegheny Mountains, Pennsylvania
From John Howard Hinton's "History
and Topography of the United States"
Published and engraved by J & F Tallis
steel plate engraving, 1850
NAMED - Gift of Phil Wenger and Steve Dinnocenti

Nathaniel Currier and James Ives
A Scene on the Susquehanna
hand colored lithograph, c.1875

Nathaniel Currier and James Ives
On the Owago
hand colored lithograph, c.1875

Lloyd Mifflin
Sketch of the Columbia Bridge on the Susquehanna
pencil and ink on board, c.1878

After Daniel Garber
The Conowingo Dam
offset lithograph, c. 1939
published by the Philadelphia Electric Company

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Adolph Dehn
The Susquehanna (or Winding River)
lithograph, circa 1946
These works can be dedicated with a contribution of $1500 or more:

Artist unknown
A View on the Juniata River
From August 1788 issue of "Columbian Magazine"
copper plate engraving, 1788

After William H. Bartlett
View on the Susquehanna
From Bartlett's "American Scenery"
steel plate engraving, 1838

After William H. Bartlett
The Descent into the Valley of Wyoming
From Bartlett's "American Scenery"
steel plate engraving, 1838

After William H. Bartlett
View From Glenmary Lawn (on the Owago)
From Bartlett's "American Scenery"
steel plate engraving, 1838

After William H. Bartlett
View of the Susquehanna, at Liverpool
From Bartlett's "American Scenery"
steel plate engraving with hand coloring, 1838
NAMED - Gift of Chris Reilly in memory of Violet Anderson Miller

After William H. Bartlett
View of Northumberland (on the Susquehanna)
From Bartlett's "American Scenery"
steel plate engraving, 1838

William Strickland
From December 1815 issue of "The Port Folio"
View on the Susquehannah
aquatint, 1815
NAMED - Gift of Bambi and George Long III

After Granville Perkins
The Susquehanna (at Hunter's Gap)
From William Cullen Bryant's "Picturesque America"
steel plate engraving, 1873

After George H. Smillie
On the Susquehanna (Near Great Bend, NY)
From "Gallery of Landscape Painters - American Scenery"
steel plate engraving, 1869

Joseph Yeager
The Great Bend of the Susquehanna River
From April 1811 issue of "The Port Folio"
engraving, 1811

Artist unknown
Lower Falls of Solomon's Creek
From November1809 issue of "The Port Folio"
engraving, 1809

Artist Unknown
Invasion of the North - Destruction of the
Bridge Over the Susquehanna,
at Columbia, PA
From p. 453 of the July 18, 1863 issue
of "Harper's Weekly Newspaper"
wood engraving, 1863
Artist Unknown
Invasion of the North - Destruction of the
Bridge Over the Susquehanna,
at Columbia, PA
From p. 453 of the July 18, 1863 issue
of "Harper's Weekly Newspaper"
wood engraving, 1863