Dated: October 25, 2016, AD

Our group, with our guide, in front of the Roycroft Inn.

My previous blog post recounted the first part of my recent trip to Buffalo with friends, which included a tour of various attractions last Saturday. Our primary goal for the day was to visit The Roycroft Campus located in East Aurora. We had arranged for a walking tour of the site with a knowledgeable guide.

Our tour began at the Elbert Hubbard Roycroft Museum, situated where the power plant for the Roycroft community once stood. Elbert Hubbard was the visionary and founder of the Roycroft movement. Here’s a photo of Elbert that I captured at the museum…

Elbert Hubbard
(1856—1915)

A skilled salesman, Elbert Hubbard, at the age of 16, joined the Larkin Soap Company. He rose through the ranks before leaving to embark on a writing career. During a trip to England, he encountered William Morris and his Arts & Crafts movement. As the picture below explains, this movement emerged as a response against mass production and burgeoning industrialism.

Click the image for a larger view.

Elbert Hubbard introduced the Arts & Crafts movement to America, establishing Roycroft in East Aurora as a community for artisans. At its heart was the Roycroft Press. 

Hubbard’s unconventional and motivational writings were featured in several small publications, including one titled The Philistine. 

In 1899, Hubbard wrote a short, untitled essay for The Philistine as filler. However, the piece resonated with a large audience, prompting Hubbard to reprint it as a small booklet titled A Message To Garcia. 

The booklet became a phenomenal success, selling millions of copies and catapulting Elbert Hubbard into a sought-after speaker. The profits also enabled him to grow his Roycroft artisan community in East Aurora. This is a picture of the first edition of A Message To Garcia displayed at the museum…

Our guide shared that Hubbard, like William Morris in England, identified as a socialist. However, he ultimately became more of a capitalist, demonstrating exceptional skills as a marketer and entrepreneur. 

She also shed light on scandals Elbert Hubbard faced, primarily involving adultery, fathering a child outside of marriage, divorce, and its associated consequences.

Since our visit to The Roycrofter’s Campus, I’ve watched a PBS documentary about Elbert Hubbard. I recommend it if you’d like to delve deeper into Hubbard’s life and the Roycrofter movement.

The Tale of the Roycroft and Nabisco Logos

Elbert Hubbard used a distinct Roycroft trademark on all products from his Roycroft enterprise. This is what it looked like…

The double-crossed orb is an ancient symbol, shrouded in mystery regarding its origins and meaning. This has sparked much speculation and conspiracy theories surrounding its use. 

However, these conspiracy theories target the Nabisco company more than the Roycroft movement. The same orb and cross symbol is visible on every Oreo cookie…

Our guide explained that Nabisco intended to sue Elbert Hubbard for trademark infringement. Legend has it that Elbert negotiated an agreement with Nabisco’s highest-ranking executive. In Elbert’s words: “If you refrain from printing books, we’ll refrain from making biscuits.” Thus, the matter was settled.

Elbert Hubbard’s Personal Belief System

One of Elbert’s core beliefs was the absence of God.
This meant there was no spiritual realm (no heaven or hell),
and no divine judgment.
It’s a belief system that can feel incredibly freeing,
until death exposes its fallacy.

Based on my reading of Elbert Hubbard and his work, he was raised in a Christian household but completely renounced Christianity as an adult. His rejection of faith appears to have been influenced by the 19th-century transcendentalist movement and thinkers like Thoreau and Emerson.

Hubbard went beyond merely rejecting Christianity; he often ridiculed and mocked the Bible and traditional interpretations of scripture in his writings. 

In one essay, Elbert attributed King Solomon’s wisdom to his pagan mother and over 400 Philistine wives. 

Hubbard admired the Philistines and believed the biblical account of David defeating the giant Philistine, Goliath, was a myth. He saw himself as a Philistine, equating the term with “manly independence.”

In essence, Hubbard believed that rejecting God’s word (The Bible) as the ultimate moral authority was a sign of masculinity. He created his own belief system, establishing himself as the ultimate arbiter of right and wrong.

This quote from Elbert Hubbard, in which he enlightens his followers about salvation, is quite revealing…

“Salvation is found in work, leisure, learning, righteous living and thinking, not in believing that a good man died in Asia two thousand years ago.”

Therefore, sin held no significance in Elbert Hubbard’s belief system. He disregarded the standards of right and wrong outlined in the Bible, instead defining “right” living and “right” thinking based on his own momentary whims.

This type of self-created belief system is not unique to Elbert Hubbard. Millions today adhere to similar personalized religions. They deem aspects of God’s absolute law as flawed, choosing to replace them with their own subjective views on morality. In doing so, they place themselves above their Creator.  

It’s astonishing to observe mortal men with limited intellect and lifespans, like Elbert Hubbard - existing within a world that testifies to an infinitely intelligent and powerful Creator - believing they possess the capacity to judge God and live in defiance of Him. 

This kind of independence holds no allure for me. 

In Conclusion…

President McKinley and Vice President Teddy Roosevelt

The Roycroft tour was exceptional. I admire Elbert Hubbard’s entrepreneurial spirit and his vision of a community where artisans utilize their “head, heart, and hands” to produce beautiful and functional objects. My only wish is that the movement’s philosophy had been rooted in Christianity, as biblical Christianity wholeheartedly supports such a hands-on, counter-cultural approach to life. 

On our drive back from The Roycrofter Campus, our conversation turned to the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley, which took place in Buffalo.

Dick correctly identified Leon Czolgosz as the assassin and even knew how to spell his last name (though not pronounce it). Anyone who can spell Czolgosz (and isn’t Polish) is remarkably intelligent in my book.

I added that Czolgosz was executed in Auburn State Prison (my former workplace) and speculated that the prison’s first electric chair was likely constructed by Gustav Stickley. Stickley worked at the prison before gaining renown as a furniture maker, aligning with the American Arts & Crafts movement that also encompassed the Roycrofters.

Czolgosz in the Stickley Electric Chair.

Curious minds wanted to know the duration between McKinley’s shooting and Czolgosz’s execution. Peg and Ann consulted their iPhones, discovering that McKinley was shot on September 6, 1901, and executed on October 29, 1901. Justice was served in under two months.

Back at the house, we watched “The Imitation Game” - a captivating historical film with a poignant ending.

A still from “The Imitation Game.”

I spotted a historical inaccuracy in the movie. There’s a scene with someone typing who uses a correction fluid resembling Liquid Paper. However, such correction fluid wasn’t available during World War II (the movie’s time period). It was invented by Bette Nesmith in 1956.

All in all, it was an eventful and enjoyable day spent with dear friends in Buffalo. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun.