Left Window, East Side: Bradbury
The first stained glass window on the left aisle as you
entered May Memorial
Church from the James
Street foyer, was one that depicted the white
robed Jesus as the Teacher. He was seated on a stone under the overhanging
branches of a tree. Its green leaves cast shadows onto the walls of an ancient
building against which two men were leaning and intently listening to Jesus as
he emphasized his words with his outstretched right hand – palm up – to a
young lad who stood before Him. When the north light shown through this window,
Jesus’ robes were seen in a misty glow that brought out the brilliance of the
men’s red and brown-gold garments, and the bright blue of the lad’s short,
cord-tied tunic. The lifelike expressions in the faces of the four figures gave
evidence of the maker’s skill and artistry. Especially appealing was the
childlike confidence of the little lad whose hand was held in Jesus’ hand and
rested on His knee. The traceries of the top oval section were decorations consisting
of three cream-white circles against a background of reds and brown mosaics.
The center and largest of the circles’ motifs was of a dove in flight against a
non-blue sky; the smaller circles, one on each side, were wreaths of cream
colored leaves with sparkling red centers. At the lower center of the glass
window is the simple caption “Bradbury,” set in and framed in red and white
mosaic against a deep cream background. Adjoining it, in a like frame, were the
words: “In Memory of Our Teacher.”
This narrow lancet window was built
in harmony with the other five “painted windows,” differing only in their
several motifs. The picture scenes cover the main section of the glass and were
not divided by a center mullion. The "cames" joined pieces were
supported by the horizontal “tee” bars, ends fastened to the side mullions, and
then secured to the window frames. The glass sections of each window were
decorated with a four inch mosaic border that harmonized with the colors in its
respective window. In the Bradbury window this border was of dusty reds, light
browns, and cream.
Amelia Bradbury, a teacher, died in
Syracuse, September 12, 1850 and was buried on the crest of
the old Rose Hill cemetery in the Fourth Ward. She was
born in Kennebunkport, Maine,
May 1st, 1797, of
parents of moderate means and of Revolutionary ancestors. Amelia attended the
schools in the village, which was one of the home ports of the great Whaling
fleet period. Later she attended schools of higher education elsewhere.
In her maturity, she was one of the
most widely known teachers of her era, and blessed with a friendly, benevolent
personality; she was a scientist of rare abilities, a botanist, and organizer
of literary societies – she founded the Syracuse Lyceum – and was a lecturer.
She was the first teacher known to have introduced extended study of mental and
moral philosophy in her school curriculums. Her aim was to bring the miracles
of nature under observation so as to make the wonders of creation plainer, and
to enlighten her pupils with facts and teachings.
She came to Syracuse
and established her first school in 1838 in the vicinity of Montgomery and
State Streets. With increasing enrollment, she moved her school to a larger
house on Vanderbilt Square,
probably the site of the present University
Building; and the third move was to
a spacious home opposite the present St. Paul's
Episcopal Church at the corner of Fayette and Montgomery Streets. It was here
that she established her Academy for
Young Ladies in the fall of 1840. Many of her pupils were from families
living in James Street
homes and she had among her students children from
prominent Unitarian families, including Lewis, Wilkinson, Phelps, Cogswell,
Putnam, Parker, and Wallace. A number of her former students became donors of
the stained glass window. A portrait of Amelia and some other information can
be found in Box 1 of the
MMUUS archival material, The Rev. Storer era, delivered to the Syracuse
University archives in 1998. She
signed our membership book in 1844.