FAMED AFFIRMATIONS
“To be able to help where ever a creature is in distress seems to me the greatest satisfaction. Help the others and be glad not to need help yourself.”
- Lilli Lehmann
We are so fortunate to live in an age where positivity is embraced. Some call it “New Age,” but really, it’s an awakening. Every day, this energy is expanding - people are catching onto this shift; we see it in “Daily Affirmation” calendars, self-help books, lectures and art. People are rising up and helping others to do the same.
This collection of quotes and original artwork brings with it a special kind of energy. Compiled by the Orange Memorial Hospital in New Jersey, what is found within these pages is simple: hope. In 1902, this calendar autograph book was offered to some of the era’s leading figures, thinkers and creators with the intent of compiling a volume of love, light and yes…
hope.
Although the exact motivation behind this offering remains unknown, it represents the best of the human spirit through the words and images of the days most prominent leaders: Mina Miller Edison, second wife of Thomas Edison, philanthropist and activist, contributed a timeless sentiment from Socrates; famed comedic actor, Joseph Jefferson penned the now infamous phrase, “May you live long and prosper”;
German opera soprano Lilli Lehmann provided a beautiful and gentle reminder about the value of health and the “greatest satisfaction” in the ability to help those in need. Journalist and social documentary photographer, Jacob Riis, sheds words of encouragement in the face of defeat, “Every defeat met with in the cause of right when taken in the right spirit, is a step toward victory”;
and James Curtis Hepburn quotes Henry Van Dyke, citing, “Self is the only prison / That can bind the soul, / Love is the only angel / who can bid the gates unroll. / And when he comes to call then. / Arise and follow fast; / The way may lie through darkness, / But it leads to light at last."
Together, these pages could very well represent one of the first “Daily Affirmation” calendars, carrying with them all the power of inspiration, motivation, will and clarity of positive thought and action. How amazing it is, that this book was recovered and found its way to a place that has the resources to share these special messages with such a broad audience, providing yet another opportunity to touch even more hearts and lives.
A grand collection of quotes and original artwork compiled in 1902 by the Orange Memorial Hospital in New Jersey. Contributors include Mina Miller Edison, second wife of Thomas Edison, philanthropist and activist; famed comedic actor, Joseph Jefferson; German opera soprano Lilli Lehmann; Journalist and social documentary photographer, Jacob Riis; composer, Julia Ludlow Rockwell; Presbyterian minister and religious writer, Theodore L. Cuyler; Broadway actor, Charles King; author, Charles Battell Loomis; clergyman and author, Francis Edward Clark; pioneering American illustrator, Edward Penfield; naturalist and writer, William Joseph Long; Shakespearian actress, Helena Modjeska, and feminist author, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward.
