During the spring 2019 semester, our collections manager Stephanie Hebert and two student interns studied and documented over 30 fans, which are available to the public in our online catalogue. In addition, they successfully presented their findings at the Fan Association of North America (FANA) in Boston at their annual symposium. 

During the following summer, a team of hand fan experts from FANA visited the collection at Lasell University to review records and provide guidance in building our assortment. Because of this fine work, we all learned a great deal about hand fans as a viable archive of artistic history. 

This fixed advertising fan, a recent donation, has a bamboo handle and sticks as well as a double-sided paper leaf depicting an image of a Japanese geisha. Advertising fans featuring goods and services gained prominence during the 1920s, establishing a trend that continues to this day. The donor received this hand fan at Sakura-bana, a Japanese Restaurant on Broad Street in Boston, while on a visit from Puerto Rico in 1976.