Seeding the Future and Celebrating RALA50

By Tami Fuller, Executive Director, Roycrofters at Large

In 1976, a group of East Aurora residents and conservationists with a common interest in the then struggling Roycroft Campus set in motion a plan to preserve those ideals which had made the Campus a center of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

This group of idealists included several descendants of the original Roycrofters, including Elbert Hubbard’s granddaughter, Nancy Hubbard Brady. Others included Charles Hamilton, a historian and frequent author on Hubbard and the Roycroft; Kitty Turgeon, then Inn Keeper at the Roycroft; and Rixford Jennings, a local artist who grew up as a paper boy on Hubbards’ Campus who, along with a meeting room full of others, decided that the legacy of South Grove Street was something too important to let slip into the dust of an attic bound history book.

After several meetings and energetic discussion, the Roycrofters-at-Large Association (RALA), was formed. The mission of the group, both then and now, has been to promote the spirit of Elbert Hubbard and his early Roycrofters, and to keep the Arts & Crafts movement alive on the Roycroft Campus and throughout the world. Through the efforts of Turgeon and the founding members of the RALA board, the Roycroft Campus became a National Historic Landmark.

What began with the conservation and landmark designation work responsible for saving, restoring and eventual reopening of the Roycroft Campus and The Roycroft Inn went on to birth a new movement of its own, the Roycroft Renaissance, one that now upholds the Roycroft standards in the modern-day. Today nearly 100 Roycroft Artisans and Masters continue to honor and innovate these ideals across the nation, side by side with their modern contemporaries in high craft media.

Through the work of RALA and these artists, the values and esteemed standards of the Arts & Crafts Movement born in Roycroft are stewarded and kept alive and well, and accessible to new generations. Besides preservation, RALA has been entrusted with education; fostering and inspiring new interest through continual evolution of this movement. We honor our work through our seasonal art festivals, philanthropy, emerging artists programs and free educational lectures and speaker series. These programs ensure that these ideals are continually subjected to new perspective, curiosity, inspection and innovation, making the modern Roycroft Renaissance a living, breathing movement that provides value to the general public and to the loyal collectors who keep the Roycroft spirit alive.

In 2026, Roycrofters at Large will be engaging in a year-long half-century celebration, colloquially known as RALA50. RALA50 is a year-long festival of programming drawing together historians, remaining founding/charter members, community partners, peers in the fine art institutions where Roycroft collections are held, and loyal collectors across the country to whom this movement means so much. This work was begun in July 2024, leading to the establishment of a formal committee charged with amassing archival documents, ephemera and work at large to stage exhibitions and programming. The chairman of the RALA50 committee is Michael Starks, the last surviving founding member of the original board of directors and, together with his wife Sandy, a close personal friend to Kitty Turgeon. The Starks are assisted by RALA Executive Director Tami Fuller and a team of art professionals and historians in WNY.

RALA50 Anniversary and Archive Committee