{"id":9601,"date":"2022-12-11T10:14:34","date_gmt":"2022-12-11T10:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/?page_id=9601"},"modified":"2022-12-11T10:19:12","modified_gmt":"2022-12-11T10:19:12","slug":"adventures-in-oral-history-the-backstory","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/adventures-in-oral-history-the-backstory\/","title":{"rendered":"ADVENTURES IN ORAL HISTORY: The Backstory"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Some people are naturals. Others may need to discover their inner storyteller. John Webe<\/strong>r was not one of them. In the summer of 2003 I moved from Denver to Chatham, New York. For those who have not been to Chatham, it is a charming former railroad town built in the nineteenth century, with Victorian houses set back from tree-lined streets. The main street is perhaps four or five hundred yards in length. The older stretch is lined with Norman Rockwell storefronts, a couple of espresso bars, a bookstore, antique shops, art-galleries, a movie-house and a few restaurants. In the middle of the block stands the Peint O Gwrw<\/em> Welsh pub. Waiting for a friend one winter day, I ducked into the pub and ordered a pint of cider. To my left on a barstool sat a lanky man in a long tweed coat, looking a bit like Fred Astaire. He turned to me and asked,
\n\u201cWho are you and what do you do?
\nReplying vaguely, I told him \u201cin the arts\u201d (I never tell anyone I\u2019m an artist unless I\u2019m sure to be forgiven)
\nHe extended his hand.\u201cPleased to meet you,\u201d he smiled. \u201cI\u2019m John Weber, the famous art-dealer.\u201d<\/p>\n

A couple of years later I had moved to the city. Liza Kirwin at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art asked my wife, noted art historian Katherine Manthorne, if she could recommend someone to conduct oral history interviews. My name came up. A few days later I spoke by phone to Liza, who explained,
\n\u201cWell\u2026we have a grant. The donors want us to interview a number of people, including an art dealer who was very big in the seventies and eighties. The problem is that nobody seems to know where he\u2019s living. or how to get in touch with him. His ex-wife doesn\u2019t know, or wouldn\u2019t say.\u201d
\nWhat\u2019s his name?\u201d I asked
\n\u201cJohn Weber,\u201d she replied.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know where he is right this minute,\u201d I told Liza, \u201cbut I may know where he will be around five o\u2019clock.\u201d
\nLater that day I called the pub in Chatham and asked if Weber was there.
\nThe bartender put him on the phone.
\nAnd so commenced my adventures as an oral historian. Here is a link to that interview.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some people are naturals. Others may need to discover their inner storyteller. John Weber was not one of them. In the summer of 2003 I moved from Denver to Chatham, New York. For those who have not been to Chatham, it is a charming former railroad town built in the nineteenth century, with Victorian houses … Continue reading ADVENTURES IN ORAL HISTORY: The Backstory<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9601","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nADVENTURES IN ORAL HISTORY: The Backstory -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/adventures-in-oral-history-the-backstory\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ADVENTURES IN ORAL HISTORY: The Backstory -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some people are naturals. Others may need to discover their inner storyteller. John Weber was not one of them. In the summer of 2003 I moved from Denver to Chatham, New York. 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