Creating a mind field

Courtesy of the Naperville Public Library

Editor's note: In the last of an occasional series commemorating Women's History Month, The Sun takes a look at three Naperville women whose work in the community has advanced the collective appreciation of literacy and art.

One of the great loves of Dee Pasternak's life was a boy of bronze who had seen better times. Her husband, children and grandchildren commanded much of her devotion, but there was still something special about the Doughboy.

The accomplished artist and determined activist was protective of the worn sentinel in Burlington Square Park that had weathered the Midwest's brutal winters and blistering summers for nearly three-quarters of a century. It had lost its rifle, along with the hand that once grasped it, and clearly was in need of other loving attention. Some time after the spring 2003 rededication of the freshly rehabilitated Spirit of the American Doughboy, Pasternak — longtime resident, full-time artist and leader of the effort to restore the piece of public art — said she considered it her magnum opus.

But don't call the Doughboy a statue. Pasternak, who died seven months ago, regarded the soldier likeness as sculpture, and she wanted others to see him that way as well. She once admonished The Sun for calling the piece a statue in its coverage of the restoration effort, and Brand Bobosky, president of the Naperville Century Walk board, recalls being lectured at length about the important differences between statues and sculpture during more than three decades he spent acquainted with the artist.

Pasternak believed three-dimensional art pieces built by hand can help bring creative expression within the grasp of a wider segment of the community. She lobbied to see that sculpted works were given their just representation when Naperville's deliberate collection of public art was being assembled a decade ago.

Bobosky, who recruited Pasternak to help establish the Century Walk because he knew about her wide artistic streak, saw in her a particular determination to bring art to those who visited the downtown area, regardless of their faculties.

"On the Century Walk, art in sculpture form is visible to people who are blind, people who are handicapped," Bobosky said. "They can caress them and feel the strength and the form."

Bringing art of all kinds to the masses was a significant piece of Pasternak's legacy, which emphasized the collective stake in examples of creative expression.

"Her great contribution was to make art highly visible," said the Rev. Michael Komechak, curator of the art collection at Benedictine University in Lisle. "To make art accessible, to break it out of its elitism, to help people understand that if they could not create art, they could certainly appreciate it.

"She was community-oriented. She was a team player, always, not a prima donna."

In 2002 the city's annual Memorial Day parade found Pasternak rolling down the street on a float, exhorting the spectators to save the Doughboy. Her efforts were instrumental in securing donations from individuals and organizations, which ultimately totaled nearly $50,000, to fund the restoration.

"Dee took this thing and just sunk her teeth into it and wouldn't let it go," said Bobosky, noting that the effort was compatible with the shared vision that had the Century Walk make its way north to the area around the Fifth Avenue commuter station. "It was basically her efforts that took a sow's ear and turned it into a silk purse."

The purse was just one in a string of creations generated through her efforts. She also made much art of her own. Silk, stylus, bits of newsprint, found objects from nature, camera film — all were among components of Pasternak's art-supplies collection at one time or another.

During several years as a staff photographer at The Sun, she focused her lens on documentary work, capturing images of people engaged in the everyday pursuit of living rather than posing them to smile at the camera. She later tapped into her lifelong fondness for drawing and developed her own style of artistic expression, applying techniques that embraced airbrushing, etchings and embossing. Much of her later work involved printmaking. Bobosky owns a half-dozen of her prints, and he donated one of her embossments to Benedictine for its new print shop, scheduled to be blessed during an event the second weekend in April.

The collection in the shop also includes one of Pasternak's most cherished pieces of equipment: her etching press.

"She lovingly called it Agnes," Komechak said.

A 2002 recipient of the Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award, Pasternak began adding her own touches to the city's artistic landscape almost immediately after moving here in 1957. She helped establish the Naperville Art League in 1961 and launched the Riverwalk Art Fair, which has been held annually since 1986. She worked on the committee that oversaw creation of the Cmdr. Dan Shanower/Sept. 11 Memorial, a sculpted creation just north of the Municipal Center that incorporates detritus from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Komechak is certain Naperville would look different if Pasternak had not trained her artistic eye on the community over the past four and a half decades.

"Every visual-art expression in Naperville she had a hand in because of her knowledge of people and what was possible," he said. "She didn't have pie-in-the-sky ambitions."

Matie Egermann
It is no accident that the Naperville Public Library has come to be one of the nation's most highly acclaimed public literary institutions. Excellence at the facility traces back at least as far as librarian Mary "Matie" Barbara Egermann, who came to work at the library nearly a century ago. Egermann served the city through two world wars, the Roaring '20s and the Great Depression. In her 41 years as head of Nichols Library — then in its original location on Washington Street — she served not only as librarian, but as a teacher, disciplinarian, pen pal, community activist and friend. She became librarian in 1909, having learned how to catalog books from her predecessor, Rose Barnard.

Egermann started a local historic museum early in her career, housing war memorabilia sent to her by local servicemen, according to information prepared for the library's centennial celebration in 1997. By the time the five showcases filled with items were moved to the Martin-Mitchell home in 1939, thousands of people had seen the collection. By then the museum included war items, 40 stuffed birds, ancient coins and the autographs of several presidents.

In 1917 and 1918, Egermann conducted a publicity campaign and collected from community members 1,002 books, 2,000 periodicals, 87 records and $175 in cash, all of which were donated to the American Library Association War Service Fund for use by servicemen overseas.

After the war she continued to support the troops, sending scrapbooks to veterans hospitals on behalf of the library, along with gifts on Valentine's Day, Easter and Christmas.

Knowing library visitors on a personal basis, she tried to help families affected by the Depression. She would often ask favors of children, knowing they needed the change. They would bundle newspapers or run errands and be rewarded with a much-needed nickel or dime.

The profound impact she had on several generations of young Napervillians is evident in a collection of letters the library received in 1987. One of them details the good fortune children had in visiting the library and receiving reading recommendations from Egermann in the 1930s.

"I was even more fortunate because we lived only a block away from the library so I could soon make the trip alone and often. In those days my father controlled the radio and there was no television so reading became an important past time," said one correspondent. "Miss Egerman suggested books she thought would interest me. I'm sure she did the same for other children as well. Because of her influence and our family's shortage of money I didn't discover comic books till much later so she deserves much of the credit for my lifelong interest in good literature."

Others spoke of her caring nature as well.

"Anyone who knew Matie will always remember her as a very friendly person — one who knew, and called by name, almost everyone in town," wrote resident Vera Boyer in a 1987 letter about Egermann.

Her famed doll collection — then on display throughout the library — was visited by countless schoolchildren through the years. The dolls served as teaching tools for Egermann, who explained to the students the cultural significance of each one's attire and the customs of their countries.

A 1940 newspaper article praised her work: "The Librarian, Miss Mary B. Egermann, is a sincere lover of books and children. Our town is fortunate to have this combination of interest serve at the desk of Nichols Library."

Dziedzic
In the nine years since Donna Dziedzic arrived at the Naperville Public Library, there have been quite a few changes. Her leadership as executive director has resulted in great strides in technology, accountability and communication at the library.

"She's just on the front edge of these things," said Marcia Lebeau, assistant director of administrative services.

Dziedzic was at the helm to provide patrons with Internet access.

"The whole concept of providing that service came out of her leadership," Lebeau said.

As councilor at large of the American Library Association, she serves on its governing body, delegating to ALA divisions the policy and authority to carry out programs and activities in United States. She is past president of Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies, a division of ALA, from which she received its highest honor, the Service Award, in 1997.

In June, she received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

She was recently invited to present a paper at an Oxford University Roundtable, "Freedom of Speech and Press," in late March. The invitation surprised her, she said.

"I really couldn't get over it," Dziedzic said. "I was so excited about it, especially because I'm not a scholar in the way one thinks of scholars."

She traveled to England this month for the roundtable, presenting a paper about the May 2004 incident at Nichols Library in which a man was seen inappropriately touching himself while using a library computer to view pornographic images. Police requested the name of the man, but library staff cited Illinois law and library privacy policy regulations and refused to provide the information without a warrant.

"Bad Librarian, Whatcha Gonna Do?" is a case study on the events that occurred in the library and the changes that are occurring in the legislature because of it, Dziedzic said.

"Since the time I wrote it, there actually has been progress in the proposed legislation," Dziedzic said.

The bill, known as House Bill 1582, was introduced in February. On March 10 it was placed on the calendar for a second reading by the General Assembly.

Government officials worked well with the Illinois Library Association to help create a bill that resulted from the situation, she said.

For six consecutive years, the library has ranked No. 1 in the nation for its population category. In addition, the library continues to get high marks from residents in the different patron surveys.

Dziedzic has formulated a plan so the library staff is constantly reviewing what they do, Lebeau said. Dziedzic also places an emphasis on accountability and how things are done.

Increasing communication is also a priority — not only with the public but with the board and the community as a whole. She also instituted the employee opinion survey to gain the feedback of those who work at library as well.

"That's a bold thing to do," Lebeau said. "The communication isn't just with the community, it's also internal."

Dziedzic, who first worked as interim director before deciding to apply for the director's position, said she knew the fit was right.

"I fell totally in love with Naperville," Dziedzic said. "I thought I died and gone to library heaven."

03/30/05