University of Rochester

Rochester Review
November–December 2013
Vol. 76, No. 2

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CAMPUS HISTORY Missing Madam
muse (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Commerce Department: A nearly 140-year-old statue depicting “Commerce” lies in a Rochester-area warehouse, awaiting her return to the River Campus sometime in 2014. Originally part of a set commissioned by telegraph pioneer Hiram Sibley for his namesake building on the Prince Street campus, the wayward statue spent the last quarter century in Toronto, where she was cared for by former professor James Carley, who offered to take the statue when the University could not find a suitable home for it. Since 1980, thanks to an effort by Arch Miller, professor emeritus of fine arts, and a gift from the Class of 1954, four figures representing other branches of knowledge—”Astronomy,” ”Geography,” “Navigation,” and “Science”—have stood between Rush Rhees Library and Meliora Hall.