Happy International Women’s Day! Here is to all of the awesome women of the world doin’ their thing. This young lady led an amazing life – she left home at age 14 to become a high-wire trapeze artist in a circus, then a “wild west equestrienne”.
“…Eric Sloane courted her in the early 1930s with trips to an airfield where they would watch planes. A contemporary newspaper account said she learned to fly so Sloane could sketch cloud formations up close.” Barbara was to marry Eric, and she became one of the “Ninety-Nines”. “I take him up in my airplane and watch him make color notes for paintings”, Mrs. Sloane told a reporter for the New York’s World Telegram, “and on every trip, day or night, I really have a wonderful time”.
To learn more about the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum and our mission to assist in the preservation and interpretation of the Eric Sloane Museum and its collection, click here. While you’re there, please consider supporting our work by making a donation online to our new Hands-on! classroom project.

Another photograph of a model of the atmosphere that Eric Sloane built as a series in memorial to Lieutenant Joseph Prentice Willetts (30 September 1918 – 28 August 1943), U.S. Navy pilot who was killed in a training exercise piloting a Martin PBM C3 in heavy weather. The models were commissioned by the pilot’s parents, who collaborated with Eric Sloane in developing the models to teach principles of weather systems.
See photographs of all the models on display, learn how they are connected to the Museum of Natural History in New York, and how excited we are to have solved a bit of a mystery by visiting weatherhillfarm.com/research-2/.
To learn more about the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum and our mission to assist in the preservation and interpretation of the Eric Sloane Museum and its collection, click here. While you’re there, please consider supporting our work by making a donation online to our new Hands-on! classroom project.

“Radar Weather Detector”. Another photograph of a model of the atmosphere that Eric Sloane built as a series in memorial to Lieutenant Joseph Prentice Willetts (30 September 1918 – 28 August 1943), U.S. Navy pilot who was killed in a training exercise piloting a Martin PBM C3 in heavy weather. The models were commissioned by the pilot’s parents, who collaborated with Eric Sloane in developing the models to teach principles of weather systems.
See photographs of all the models on display, learn how they are connected to the Museum of Natural History in New York, and how excited we are to have solved a bit of a mystery by visiting weatherhillfarm.com/research-2/.
To learn more about the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum and our mission to assist in the preservation and interpretation of the Eric Sloane Museum and its collection, click here. While you’re there, please consider supporting our work by making a donation online to our new Hands-on! classroom project.

“Cirrus Sunset”, by Eric Sloane, N.A., featured on the 1992 season promotional poster for The Santa Fe Opera Company. Eric Sloane generously donated his time, money, and talents to multiple causes over the course of his life, The Santa Fe Opera being but one of many.

To learn more about the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum and our mission to assist in the preservation and interpretation of the Eric Sloane Museum and its collection, please click here. While you’re there, please consider donating online to our new Hands-on! classroom project.

Had your coffee yet? For those experienced enough to remember, this is a coffee percolator. This one has a colorized black and white pen and ink drawing by Eric Sloane entitled “The Brook”. Between about 1950-1970, Delano Studios of Long Island, New York produced many household pieces using the illustrative work of Eric Sloane. These items have become quite popular over the last few years.
A Delano Studios catalog complete with pages that contain works by Eric Sloane, can be viewed at weatherhillfarm.com – just clink the “research on Eric Sloane” button.

“Away back in 1969, when we first researching EAS {Early American Society, eventual publisher of Early American Life magazine}, we wrote to Mr. Sloane. In three days we had an answer. That’s a “sign” because he gets 200 letters a day! He liked the idea of EAS, but was too busy to become a part of the staff, which was what we wanted.”
Though he turned down the offer, he was crafty enough to have them write an article on the newly opened Eric Sloane Museum!
To learn more about the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum and our mission to assist in the preservation and interpretation of the Eric Sloane Museum and its collection, see www.friendsoftheericsloanemuseum.org. While you’re there, please consider making a donation online to our new hands-on classroom project.

I was so very grateful and pleasantly surprised to have been honored with this framed original Eric Sloane remarque to “Jim” (my first name), given to me by the board of the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum for my service. Scott Sheldon built the frame by hand, it is marvelous. And I must admit that, in nearly 25 years purchasing, restoring, selling, and authenticating works by Eric Sloane, this is the first time I have seen a remarque to “Jim”!
It has been my honor to shepherd our group from idea to full fledged activism in support of Eric Sloane and the museum he founded. Thank you!

Happy 4th of July from “The Committee of the Two Erics”! That is Eric Hatch on the left, and Eric Sloane on the right.
“…the Let Freedom Ring project envisioned by the two men, who met as ‘The Committee of the Two Erics’ to promote an idea born from a radio interview Eric Sloane gave in July of 1962. During that interview, Sloane spoke of the early American tradition of ringing bells in celebration of the nation’s independence instead of the more modern fireworks displays. Listeners responded enthusiastically to the idea, and “The Committee of the Two Erics” began an article and letter writing campaign that ultimately led to a joint congressional proclamation (77 Stat. 9441), adopted 26 June 1963 to have bells rung in public buildings across America in commemoration of the nation’s independence.”
– From Wil Mauch’s Symbols of American Spirit: 50 Years of the Eric Sloane Museum

Cloud gazing moment at the Eric Sloane Museum this past Saturday.

Happy 4th of July from “The Committee of the Two Erics”! That is Eric Hatch on the left, and Eric Sloane on the right.
“…the Let Freedom Ring project envisioned by the two men, who met as ‘The Committee of the Two Erics’ to promote an idea born from a radio interview Eric Sloane gave in July of 1962. During that interview, Sloane spoke of the early American tradition of ringing bells in celebration of the nation’s independence instead of the more modern fireworks displays. Listeners responded enthusiastically to the idea, and “The Committee of the Two Erics” began an article and letter writing campaign that ultimately led to a joint congressional proclamation (77 Stat. 9441), adopted 26 June 1963 to have bells rung in public buildings across America in commemoration of the nation’s independence.”
– From Wil Mauch’s Symbols of American Spirit: 50 Years of the Eric Sloane Museum