Herbert Scholfield (right) supervising patients completing a large order for bookbinding at the Workshop.
The patients were paid for their work.
Historic Saranac Lake Collection.Born: 1872
Died: 1921
In 1902, Herbert Scholfield came to Saranac Lake for TB treatment. He was an invalid patient remarkable for his philosophy and endurance and skilled in many handicrafts. He helped found the Trudeau Sanatorium occupational therapy program.
Scholfield taught fellow patients bookbinding and illumination. In 1909 the Scholfield Memorial Workshop was built to house the growing program. Scholfield directed occupational therapy for seventeen years at Trudeau Sanatorium. Basketry, jewelry making, leatherwork, metalwork and woodwork crafts and skills were taught to patients.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, January 8, 1921
STRICKEN ON WAY TO MEAL; DIES QUICKLY
Herbert Scholfield, Director of Trudeau Sanatorium Work Shop, Loses Long Fight
WAS NOTED AND GIFTED
Mr. Scholfield Was a Scholar, Teacher and Poet; Was an Expert in Arts and Crafts
After fighting for more than 30 years to regain his health and during which time he became one of the most lovable and respected men in Saranac Lake, Herbert Scholfield, a poet, teacher, and an authority on arts and crafts, died Wednesday afternoon following a heart attack. Memorial services were conducted in the Trudeau Chapel yesterday afternoon at 4:30 o'clock by the Rev. George K. Newell, and many friends and former pupils of Mr. Scholfield attended the exercises to pay their last respects to the memory of the man who had done much to help them during their trying, hours to occupy their time to advantage.
Mr. Scholfield was born in Providence, R. I., in 1872, and shortly after his graduation from the high school of that city, he was taken ill. He went to the Berkshire mountains seeking to regain his health but finding no satisfactory improvement there he came to Saranac Lake in 1892. At that time be was seriously ill and not much hope for his recovery was held.
He went to live with Mr. and Mrs. James Fitzgerald, of West Harrietstown, and for many years he was as one of the family. Although he regained his strength to a certain degree, he suffered frequent relapses. For two years he taught at the West Harrietstown district school and was one of the most popular and best-liked teachers of the school which he had been an instructor. He was well liked by all and held a high regard for his brother sufferers trying his best to cheer the sick and give comfort wherever he could.
Was a Student
Mr. Scholfield was a deep reader of the serious-minded type, and was well informed on many important subjects. He made the best of his time by studying, and under the direction and help of the late Professor J. Liberty Tadd he took up the study of arts and crafts which afterwards became his hobby and to which he devoted most of his time. Professor Tadd had a summer school near here which Mr. Scholfield attended, prying into the fascinations of arts and crafts.
When his health became improved sufficiently for him to travel to any extent, he followed up the study of arts and crafts in Philadelphia. Later he went to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where he taught in a female seminary for two years. He was forced to give up this work due to the failing of his health which had seriously relapsed. He returned to Saranac Lake in 1902 and had remained here since that time.
Returns to Saranac Lake
Upon his arrival here in 1902 he entered the Reception Hospital, where he remained for two months, and after a few months longer his health slowly improved. Then he took up the work of teaching arts and crafts at Trudeau Sanatorium and he had been in charge of the patients' work shop since that time.
There are few persons who have accomplished as much as Mr. Scholfield during his periods of invalidism and yet while seriously handicapped by his illness, he had great courage in continuing his work. He made the most of his strength to the very last. In many things he was self-taught, having studied hard during the early years of his illness.
Mr. Scholfield took a real live interest in science and offered himself to an experimental test. He subjected his body to a dietary experiment for one whole winter under the direction of the later Professor Atwater of Wesleyan University. He lived on a scientifically prepared diet. All food which he ate was weighed and measured carefully and he cooked it himself during the entire period.
Published Sonnets
During the latter years of his life, Mr. Scholfield published a small volume of sonnets which was met with decided approval among literary critics. His poems told of the life in the Adirondacks and was filled with the cheerful side of life in spite of the fact he was faced continually with bitterness and suffering.
Among the various arts which Mr. Scholfield mastered were book binding, wood carving, illumination of books, clay modelling and photographing. He prepared a series of lantern slides of the life of the late Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau and gave several lectures on the noted physician's life. Mr. Scholfield also made a careful study of the proper manner of dress in relation to one's health and gave many talks on the subject.
Many residents of Saranac Lake have specimens of his works of art in the line of illumination of books. He was considered to be an expert in that handiwork and his products show the result of a master hand. Mr. Scholfield was also an expert in hand printing, and comparison with other works by letter press, none could be made as he had the art mastered to such a degree that the difference between the two methods of printing was hard to detect.
Collapsed Before Dinner
Mr. Scholfield collapsed while on his way to the dining room about one o'clock Wednesday afternoon, and though every effort was made to give him relief, he died in a brief time. His body was shipped yesterday morning to his former home in Providence, where funeral services will be conducted.
Miss M. Celeste Lucas, who has been assistant director of the patients' work shop, will take charge of the work and will carry on Mr. Scholfield's ideas and plans which he had cherished for many years.
The news of Mr. Scholfield's death was received in Saranac Lake by his friends with decided regret and many persons were loud in their praise for the man who had accomplished so much, and who had the interest of others at heart. Tributes were given by leading doctors, businessmen and residents of Saranac Lake this morning.
Men Give Praise
Dr. E. R. Baldwin said:
"Mr. Scholfield was a person who did much for his fellowman and who made the most of his strength right up to the time of his death. He was a man's man and although he was virtually an invalid since his graduation from high school he plodded along prudently giving his time to teaching others and showing them the better things in life. He was a deep thinker and reader and was well informed on many important subjects. His death will be felt keenly among those who had known him for so many years and among those whose lives he has helped to brighten during the dark hours."
Dr. Lawrason Brown said:
"He was a power for good and he had only one idea, which was to help others. He was a powerful balancing wheel for the higher things in life and although he was living on but a thread for many years, he accomplished much for others. It was Mr. Scholfield who was instrumental in securing the new workshop for the patients. He worked steadily and faithfully right up to the time of his death with that which he had made his work. His death is a blow to those who had turned to him for help and guidance."
Miss Mary R. Prescott, founder of the Reception Hospital, said:
"It is with great regret I have learned of the death of Mr. Scholfield. He was a wonderful character and I held the highest admiration for the man. He was in the Reception Hospital for two months and while there I learned to know the real man he was. But since he went to Trudeau Sanatorium I did not see as much of him as I would have liked to, but I was always glad when I did see him. I admired him wonderfully and had great admiration for him."
Dr. J. Woods Price said:
"Although I did not know Mr. Scholfield very well, I greatly appreciated his work. He was a wonderful man and did much for others."
Dr. Robert C. Paterson said:
"I did not come in contact with Mr. Scholfield very often, but when I did it, was always with much enjoyment. He was a man who had made the most of his life although an invalid and did a world of good for others. It is with the deepest regret I have learned of his death."
Old Friends' Tribute
Mrs. J. J. Fitzgerald, of Ridgewood Villa, where Mr. Scholfield spent much of his time in his early days in Saranac Lake, said:
"He came here as a young man and was 16 years old when he arrived. He educated himself and was one of the best characters one could find. Mr. Scholfield was a fine Christian, and very strong minded. He was progressive and was well liked by everybody in this community. In fact, the people of this section fairly idolized him, as he took a keen interest in the families of those whose children he taught in school. Mr. Scholfield had a wonderful Christian influence over his pupils and took a deep interest in the welfare and uplift of the community in general. His death will be keenly felt wherever he had made his influence felt. He was a wonderful man."
Dr. Sidney F. Blanchet gave a glowing tribute to Mr. Scholfield this morning. He said:
"Those of us who had the privilege of knowing Herbert Scholfield intimately will always feel his presence in his workshop. In a way, his was a solitary, tragic figure, as he had fought his hard fight alone. But through his suffering came a vision of beauty, love, and service. His work-shop gave him an opportunity to express himself and to give something to his fellows.
"His spirit was sensitive and ardent--his crippled body cut him off from so much in life that he longed for. He suffered much through this but he triumphed over it. His bodily condition brought him constant suffering but he kept a brave steady face to the world.
“I think his joy in planning and the building of his workshop, his devoted service there under a tremendous physical handicap and the many comrades he made among his pupils, are his most fitting memorial. This sonnet taken from his group of sonnets was one of which he was especially fond and shows how he emerged through great suffering and lonely struggle an emancipated spirit.
His Favorite Sonnet
Canst force the branch uprearing forest Oak
Back to the tiny acorn whence it grew?
Or the wing wafted moth canst thou invoke
Into the worm's poor sheel from which it, flew?
Then thou canst not in bounds of self content.
That so which one therein found ample space,
But which in that strait realm no longer pent
Has taken all creation for its place.
And with creative love is now so filled
That passion's center lies in self no more;
Life and abundant life by it are willed
That up through sense the spirit still may soar,
In service is its joy, as it doth raise to the Creative Power eternal praise.
The Rev. George K. Newell said:
”While I did not know the man so very well, I always admired him and in spite of his handicap he was a man who did a work. He was the man who started the arts and crafts among the young people in Trudeau and which has meant so much to them during their troublesome hours. Mr. Scholfield was a man of high purpose and was a man in every respect where his spirit overcame his physical infirmities.”
