Spies Like Us! Nathan Hale and Major André


Frederick W. MacMonnies, Nathan Hale, 1890, bronze, Museum purchase, 1910.19

June 5 - September 20, 2009

It all began with a book donation to the Museum Library Book Sale in 2007. A box of old books was donated to the Library along with a host of art books from a friend of the Museum. WAM Librarian Debby Aframe looked through the box and found a very old book inscribed “Nathan Hale, 1769.” It turns out that this book belonged to America's most famous spy, Nathan Hale. It was most likely one of Hale's textbooks from Yale College. There are few known signatures of Nathan Hale in the world, and one of them will be on view at WAM this summer. The Museum owns two famous depictions of the capture of Major André, the revolutionary spy for the British that led to the exposure of Benedict Arnold as a traitor.

Don't miss our Friends of the Library Book Sale on June 12-13. You never know what treasures you will find.