Historic New England Fall 2017 by Historic New England

historic NEw england FALL 2017

CREATIVITY OR CONFORMITY: Paint By Number ANNUAL REPORT Fiscal Year 2017

FALL 2017 • Vol. 19 • No. 2

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E XTRAORDINARY WOMAN Zipporah Potter Atkins, the first recorded African American female to buy a house in Boston

3 ETCHED IN STONE Discovering Zipporah Potter Atkins

GETTING CREATIVE WITH NUMBERS The artistry of a pop culture pastime 4

10 RAISING THE STATUS OF GUTTERS Understanding these water-damage prevention systems

12 B UILDING THE HISTORY OF VERMONT'S TOWNS Students study their communities’ built landscape 14 MAKING AND LEARNING HISTORY Sarah Orne Jewett inspires Berwick Academy collaboration 17 W HEN VARIETY WAS THE SPICE OF DINING OUT Restaurant menus of the past offered more choices 21 PAPER TRAIL Reproducing period wallpapers the oldfashioned way 24 CRAFTING BETTER LIVES Maine Seacoast Mission’s Hooked Rug Program 27 'ONE HARMONIOUS WHOLE' The cultural landscape of NickelsSortwell House 29 ANNUAL REPORT FISCAL YEAR 2017

From the PRESIDENT

There are times when what is presented as history may seem more like current events to those of us who have been around for a while. That surely is true for me as I explore our stories on paint-by-number kits and restaurant history. Objects from the past reveal what life was like and demonstrate change over time, all contributing to the rich tapestry that is New England history. The story of hooking rugs and selling them for income in 1920s Maine is a serious examination of the role of household artifacts in society, especially fascinating for the evolution of these artifacts from utilitarian products for the home to collected folk art. Home is what we are about at Historic New England. The discovery of a reference to a seventeenth-century deed revealing an African American woman’s purchase of a house in Boston's North End uncovers a story that delves deeply into societal definitions of the rights and privileges inherent in home ownership. Moving from the past to the present, we find young historians using 3-D technology to re-create the built environment in Vermont. It is all part of Historic New England’s mission of saving and sharing the region’s past to engage and inform present and future generations. Our work is further detailed for you in our most recent annual report, which is contained in this issue.

38 A N ARTISTIC STATEMENT FOR A NEW AGE Ipswich Landscape by Arthur Wesley Dow Carl R. Nold President and CEO HISTORIC NEW ENGLAND magazine is a benefit of membership. To become a member, visit HistoricNewEngland.org or call 617-994-5910. Comments? Email Info@HistoricNewEngland.org. Historic New England is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Executive Editor: Diane Viera Editor: Dorothy Clark Editorial Review Team: Nancy Carlisle, Senior Curator of Collections; Lorna Condon, Senior Curator of Library and Archives; Sally Zimmerman, Senior Preservation Services Manager Design: Three Bean Press COVER KC Cederholm arranged and photographed this wall display of some of the works in his paint-bynumber collection. ABOVE Clockwise from left, Walk In Her Shoes by Nuha Al Shair; photo by Erin Moore, Mercy Street Studios. In the workshop at Adelphi Paper Hangings LLC; photo by Richard Walker. Hooked rug titled Henriette’s Home made by Henriette Ames in 1928; photo by Judith Burger-Gossart

Historic New England 141 Cambridge Street Boston MA 02114-2702 617-227-3956

Extraordinary

Woman

Zipporah Potter Atkins was way ahead of her time in achieving the American Dream by Vivian R. Johnson Associate professor emerita, Boston University

Zipporah Potter Atkins realized the American Dream more than two and a half centuries before the term was coined: in 1670, she bought a house in Boston. The fact that Atkins was a free black woman in colonial Boston, where most people of color were enslaved and property owners for the most part were white males, makes her purchase extraordinary. Atkins is the first known recorded African American woman to own a house and land in the city. For three decades, she made her home on Salem Street in the North End, Boston’s oldest neighborhood. Today, in this vastly topographically and demographically changed section of the city, a granite monument marks the site of Atkins’s home near the intersection of Surface Road and Salem Street on the Rose Kennedy Greenway and the Freedom Trail. In the rigid structure of Puritan society, in which women were seen as inferior to men and people of color were consigned to the lowest ranks, being a woman of African descent meant that Atkins’s place would always be in the bottom stratum. In

that context, her achievement of the American Dream was not just in acquiring property but in making a home where she could exercise her independence and affirm her connection to family and heritage. Atkins’s property, as documented in Records and Land Titles Transcribed by Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch (Bowditch Collection of Boston Conveyances, 1827-1859, Massachusetts Historical Society), was located “upon the narrow land leading from the northerly side of the mill bridge in Boston Town, towards Charlestown ferry.” Her house and lot are depicted on the Map of the Town of Boston 1676, drawn c. 1920 by Samuel C. Clough, who used an array of primary source documents such as deeds, surveys, and Suffolk County Probate and Supreme Court records, to plot Boston’s topographical history. This map shows parcel divisions identified with owners' names. Among Atkins’s neighbors was Thomas Stanbury, who in 1680 built and owned The Old Feather Store in nearby Dock Square (it was demolished in 1860). Atkins was a rare figure in colonial America because she was

born free, probably a few years after Massachusetts became the first colony to legalize the enslavement of black adults in 1641. Initially, children born of enslaved parents were legally free, but a law enacted in 1670 changed that, making it legal to sell the children of parents held in bondage. Despite the passage of subsequent Massachusetts laws drafted to proscribe the freedom of blacks, Atkins, born c. 1645, remained free her entire life. Atkins’s parents were enslaved by the wealthy Boston merchant Robert Keayne. In the will he drafted in August 1653, Keayne left forty shillings (roughly $300 today) to the two male Africans he held as slaves, one of whom was Atkins’s father, Richard Done. (Keayne also left twenty shillings to Done's wife, Grace.) The merchant stipulated that if Done died, his forty-shilling legacy would be given to his daughter, “Zipora.” Done died on November 11, 1653; Keayne died on March 23, 1656. Seventeen years to the day of her father’s death, Atkins bought her house and land. The purchase on the anniversary of his death may have been her way of honoring his memory.

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left The red arrow on this section of a map depicting Boston in 1676 shows the location of Zipporah Potter Atkins’s property. page 3 A granite monument marks the site of the property. Credits: Map, Samuel Chester Clough Research Materials Toward a Topographical History of Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Historical Society. Monument photographed by Nicolas Hyacinthe. 3-D background renderings on pages 1-3 by Zachary Ingalls based on historical documentation of the region.

Atkins might have done domestic work for wages to supplement her inheritance and in order to purchase the property. She paid forty-six pounds “currant Mony of New England in hand,” as the deed states, for the house and land she purchased from Thomas Stevens, a baker, and his wife, Sarah. Forty-six colonial pounds in today’s currency ranges between $9,000 and $10,400. Atkins probably would have honored her mother, too, by purchasing her freedom and bringing her to live at the Salem Street home. Indeed, to help Atkins buy the property her mother, Grace Done, could have contributed her Keayne legacy, though records indicating either possibility have yet to be found. Deed records show that there was no dwelling on the land when the Stevenses bought it in 1653. They built a house sometime during the seventeen-year period before selling the property to Atkins. It was a narrow lot, approximately 1,680 square feet, or as recorded in Atkins’s deed, “in breadth about Twenty Eight foot & Sixty foot in Length.” Given those dimensions, the dwelling, no doubt a timber-frame structure, was probably built according to a one-room plan with two levels and attic space. As depicted on the Clough map, the house is close to the street, which would have left room on the lot for outbuildings. In researching the costs and sizes of seventeenthcentury timber-frame houses, in Massachusetts, the late Abbott Lowell Cummings, former executive director for the Society of the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now Historic New England), found that between 1637 and 1706, thirty-nine of the seventy dwellings for which there are dimensions are of the typical one-room-plan house. Cummings noted in his 1979 book, The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay, 1625-1725, that while the one-room plan “cannot be associated exclusively with persons of moderate means,” probate records tend to indicate that this basic design appealed to “persons of limited means and few material possessions.” Cummings also noted that

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owners tended to enlarge these houses when personal circumstances permitted. Cummings found that between 1630 and 1660, ten of thirteen estates listed in the probate records of Suffolk, Middlesex, and Essex counties—with likely one-room plans—ranged in value from fifteen to 153 pounds. Only four of twenty-seven estate inventories with two-room house plans were less than 100 pounds. The forty-six pounds Atkins paid for her house make it very likely in the one-room house plan category. The size of a one-roomplan house built on a narrow lot during this period can be visualized using Cummings’s report of a 1640 contract for the construction of a timber-frame house in the present Haymarket Square area with the following specifications: “16 foot long and 14 foot wyde. . . the Chimney framed without dawbing to be done with hewen timber.” A house of similar size would have fit well on Atkins’s parcel of land. Atkins might also have made a home for her husband, Thomas. They were married in 1693 in a ceremony officiated by the renowned Puritan minister the Reverend Cotton Mather. Whether Thomas was free or enslaved is not known; however, although Puritans promoted marriage among those they enslaved, they did not encourage couples to live as families. Just six years after marrying, Atkins sold her property. This 1699 deed of sale bears her initials made in her own hand, not the mark she made earlier. This document indicates that Atkins had attained a level of literacy, another landmark achievement for a woman of African descent in colonial America. What became of Atkins after she sold her home is not known. She apparently remained a resident of Boston until her death. According to sexton’s records, Atkins was laid to rest on March 18, 1705, in Copp’s Hill Burying Ground in the North End. The exact location of her grave is unknown.

Etched

in Stone

by Dorothy Clark, Editor

Professor Vivian Johnson says she fully intends to return to the research project she abruptly dropped about seven years ago because she learned of Zipporah Potter Atkins, but she doesn’t know when. “I had to write about this woman because she asserted herself in a manner that couldn’t be ignored,” Johnson said. Johnson had been researching how African Americans educated their children before 1800 when she came across a 1708 probate document stating the disposition of the estate of a Boston physician, which included “the dwelling house with land, yard and garden . . . purchased of Zippora [sic] a free negro woman.” A stunning discovery, the document establishes that the prior property owner was a black woman. “Sitting with the deed book in my hands, I was so excited. I had to put it down and go outside to get myself together,” Johnson said. A woman buying property in Puritan Boston without the empowerment of a male is extraordinary, said Johnson, adding, “The fact that she was black takes it to another level.” Johnson set out to learn how an African-descended woman in colonial New England accomplished this. “It was a six-year, lonely journey of untangling the series of mysteries,” Johnson said, that included sorting and verifying the various spellings of Atkins’s names (sometimes within the same document) as well as her use of six surnames over the course of

her life. She acquired at least two of her surnames, Potter and Atkins, by marriage. This confused the record of Atkins’s presence and she in effect “disappeared” at times because of her surname changes. But Johnson believes that was not Atkins’s intent. Rather, by using different names, Atkins showed a masterful ability to negotiate some of the race and gender barriers erected by colonial society. Johnson said she wanted to ensure that Atkins never again fell into obscurity. She enlisted The Heritage Guild Inc. (an organization established in 1975 by fifteen African American women to recognize the presence of blacks in Boston since 1639, of which Johnson is a member) to work with the Museum of African American History and the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, both in Boston, to commission a marker honoring Atkins. Etched with the initials she used to sign the 1699 deed for the sale of her property, the granite monument makes

Atkins’s presence a permanent one in Boston’s North End. “The fact that she wrote on that deed says who she was and what she thought about herself,” Johnson said. The monument was dedicated by Governor Deval Patrick in a ceremony in May 2014 that also honored the Heritage Guild Inc. Johnson describes her discovery of Atkins as “an incredibly illuminating personal experience, profound. It was amazing. Absolutely amazing.” Balanced with her other research projects, which include her own genealogy, Johnson is continuing her research on Atkins’s life. “Zipporah Potter Atkins continues to amaze and inspire me.” she said.

Zipporah Potter Atkins showed a masterful ability to negotiate some of the race and gender barriers erected by colonial society. HistoricNewEngland.org 3

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Paint-by-number art fad finds a collectibles niche by KC Cederholm A paintings conservator, KC bought his first vintage paint-by-number work of art on eBay five years ago and has been collecting them ever since.

GETTING CREATIVE

with numbers

ONE DAY IN 1949, DAN ROBBINS, a commercial artist, sat in his office at the Palmer Paint Company in Detroit trying to create a cubist painting. Robbins had never painted in a cubist style but had

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seen illustrations of works by Pablo Picasso in his technical high school a few years before, where he studied commercial art before serving in France during World War II. He was designing the painting to illustrate

a new product idea to pitch to his boss: a numbered paint kit. It would come with an outlined design with numbered areas designating what color paint to use. The paint would be contained in corresponding

page 4 This 1953 Craft Master painting titled Suburb de Paris required twentyseven colors to complete. right A detail of the unfinished Oriental Beauty was issued as a Masterpiece kit by Palmer Paint Company, also in 1953. Photos by KC Cederholm

jars. By filling in each area with paint, a novice could create a work of art. Writing many years later in his memoir, Whatever Happened to Paint-By-Numbers?: A Humorous Personal Account of What It Took to Make Anyone an 'Artist,' Robbins credits his paint-by-number idea to Leonardo da Vinci. He says he learned in school that Leonardo numbered areas on some of his paintings for his apprentices to fill in according to his instructions. “Why not do the same thing for anyone who wants to paint their own picture, but can’t?” Robbins mused. Robbins had been hired earlier in 1949 to help his boss, Max Klein, expand a tiny wholesale tempera paint company into one that manufactured retail arts and crafts products for a quickly growing consumer market. While the products they had designed thus far were for children, they were looking for an idea that would appeal to adult hobbyists. Robbins thought painting by numbers might be just that product, but first he had to make a prototype to persuade Klein that such a kit could be produced. He chose for his first subject a cubist still life because he wanted it to look artistic and sophisticated, rather than resemble a child’s playset. He also thought it would be an easy painting style to separate into different colors. He called his prototype Abstract No. 1. Klein hated it. He thought it was too artsy and that no one would buy it, but he liked the idea. He instructed Robbins to come up with

subjects that people would actually want to paint, as well as a way to package the kit. Robbins convinced Klein that they should use oil rather than water-based paint because he thought it would increase the kit’s appeal to adults. They packaged the paints in gelatin medicine capsules rather than the now-familiar glass jars. The capsules were impervious to oil and inexpensive enough to keep the kits within their $2.50 target retail

price. They printed their subjects on primed canvas like artists used, rather than cardboard. In the spring of 1950, Palmer Paint produced its first series of 500 paint-by-number kits under the name Craft Master. The series consisted of six subjects: a fishing boat on the high seas, tropical fish, an alpine village, “Latin” figures, a bullfighter, and the prototype still life Abstract No. 1. In his memoir, Robbins didn’t explain why they HistoricNewEngland.org

Palmer Paint Company’s paint-by-number prototype, Abstract No. 1, was submitted as an original work in a local art contest in California. It won third prize, and only then did the person who entered the painting reveal what it was. Photo by KC Cederholm

decided to release the cubist painting despite Klein’s misgivings about it. At first, Klein had a hard time persuading retailers and distributors to carry the Craft Master kits. Retailers thought it would be a difficult concept to sell to consumers, who would find the kits too complicated and time consuming. Also, because the kits were created for adults rather than children, the stores didn’t know whether to display them as artist’s materials or toys. In an effort to find wider distribution, Klein rented exhibition space at the 1951 New York Toy Fair, the largest wholesale toy venue in the country. Klein was well aware 6

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that because Palmer was a new, small company, it would be relegated to a secondary exhibition space so he also made a separate deal to exhibit the Craft Master kits in the toy department at Macy’s Herald Square. He agreed to supply 150 kits and paid demonstrators, as well as place an ad in the The New York Times. In return, Macy’s would pay Palmer Paint only for the kits that sold. What Macy’s didn’t know was that Klein gave $500 to sales representatives to pay people to go to Macy’s to buy the kits, guaranteeing that the items would sell out. No one knows how many of the kits were legitimately sold, but Klein’s marketing gamble paid off. The Macy’s display

drew publicity with wholesalers and the public, and the department store agreed to carry the Craft Master line. Over the next few years, paintby-number kits became more popular than Robbins or Klein could have ever imagined. By 1953, Palmer Paint, which numbered thirteen employees when Robbins joined the staff, grew to 800, with three plants in the United States and one in Canada, manufacturing eighteen million kits a year. It offered hundreds of subjects and kits that ranged from nine to ninety colors. Palmer Paint was by then competing with more than two dozen companies that had entered the market. In order to continually generate new subjects, Robbins put together a team of artists that eventually numbered seventy-five. Many of them specialized in specific subjects, such as landscapes or figures. Robbins chose the subjects based largely on consumer feedback from the thousands of cards and letters that arrived each week. The most requested subjects were landscapes, seascapes, and flowers. Dogs and horses were also popular, as well as religious subjects and figures such as ballet dancers and clowns. There were even nude pinups. Paris was by far the most popular city depicted by Palmer Paint as well as other paintby-number companies, and many of those Parisian cityscapes were among the most well-designed images produced. Paris may have also held a special fascination for Robbins and some of the other artists who had spent time there during the war. At Christmastime in 1953, paint by numbers took on the status of

a toy fad comparable in popularity to Mr. Potato Head the year before, and Barbie, Gumby, and the hula hoop in years to follow. Yet paint by numbers was an outlier among fads because it wasn’t actually a toy but rather a hobby kit for adults and teenagers, a fact that made the kits’ wild popularity even more surprising. The hobby was called a “craze” and a cultural phenomenon by the press, and articles appeared in Life, Time, and Business Week about the success of Palmer Paint. But of the hundreds of local and national Historic New England has one paint-by-number piece of art in its collection, this image of Jesus, acquired in articles that were written, 2016. Religious subjects were highly favored kits, with it was a single sentence in Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper the single most a San Francisco Examiner popular design ever sold, Cederholm says. Eugene column in October Killian painted the above image in the 1960s for an uncle after whom he was named. It hung in the elder 1952 that would, as time Killian’s home in Taunton, Massachusetts, until his went on, add more to death in 2012. the folklore of paint by numbers than all the other publicity combined. The columnist of paint-by-number works. He used mentioned with amusement that designs from a children’s color-bysomeone had secretly submitted a number book. Craft Master painting in a local art Not everyone saw the paint-bycontest as an original work, admitting numbers craze as an amusing fad the hoax only after winning third or a benign pastime, as this 1954 prize. The painting submitted was editorial in School Arts magazine the cubist still life, Abstract No 1. This indicates: “Painting by numbers . . . incident was the perfect metaphor is stifling and inhibiting. In extending for the unsettled status of paint the standardizing influence of the by numbers in American culture, machine to his leisure time activities, seen variously as a facsimile and a the easily deceived squelches fraud. It was also a clever Warholhis native urge for creative selfesque statement that presaged the expression, and yields to the artist by nine years: in 1961, Andy destructive powers that regiment Warhol did a five-painting series and ruin the soul of man.” As its he called Do It Yourself, consisting popularity grew, paint by numbers HistoricNewEngland.org

The hobby was called a “craze” and a cultural phenomenon by the press, and articles appeared in Life, Time, and Business Week about the success of Palmer Paint Company. became a lightning rod for many intellectuals and educators who viewed it as a mechanized hobby in an ever more mechanized world. This critique, which today seems both overstated and overwrought, was examined at length in a 2001 paint-by-numbers exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. In the exhibition and companion book, curator and author William L. Bird chronicled the cultural history of the pastime including the sustained backlash against it by many intellectuals. At one time, leisure pursuits were something that only the upper classes had the opportunity to enjoy. As leisure time became more common among the middle and lower classes, however, social critics saw it as a threat to the social order. In the 1930s and 1940s, some saw pursuits such as radio, paperbacks, and book clubs as corrosive to high culture. In the 1950s it was TV, do-it-yourself hobbies, and painting by numbers. In her 1994 book, As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s, cultural historian Karal Ann Marling included a chapter on paint by numbers that is a perceptive reassessment of the hobby’s appeal and an articulate response to its earlier critics. Marling saw paint by numbers and the broader do8

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it-yourself movement as an escape from conformity, regimentation, and the gray flannel suit. “In an age in which pushing papers was defined as work and the correlation between action and result was often unclear,” making something with their hands gave people a sense of control for as long as they were working on their craft; and unlike in the workplace, success or failure was not of great consequence. Marling also places paint by numbers in the context of a larger interest in amateur painting at the time. Painting sets were big sellers, as were how-to paint books and correspondence courses. TV artist Jon Gnagy sold his painting and drawing kits on his pioneering Saturday morning show. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was a well-known novice whose leisure time painting was the subject of considerable interest to the press and the public. Winston Churchill was a much-admired painter in America as well as in England. In 1948 he published a book titled Painting as a Pastime and in 1952 Hallmark published eighteen of his paintings as Christmas cards. Although critics reviled the work of self-taught artist Anna Robertson “Grandma” Moses, outside the art world she was one of the most popular American artists of the day.

But for those who didn’t have the time, talent, or expertise to paint their own paintings, there were paint by numbers. They offered people the chance to work with their hands and with artist’s materials; because the kits were relatively easy to complete, the results were almost guaranteed to give the hobbyist what Marling calls “an addictive sense of accomplishment.” In 1956 the paint-by-numbers market crashed almost as suddenly as it had begun. While the hobby continued to be popular, sales slowed as the initial craze petered out. Still, too many companies continued to make too many kits, and Palmer Paint found itself in a tailspin from over-expansion and poor business decisions. In an effort to avoid bankruptcy, Max Klein sold the business and walked away as the only member of the company to get rich from paint by numbers. Dan Robbins and most of the other employees were laid off. However, within several years a new owner had resurrected the business and built it once again into the world’s largest paint-by-number company. Robbins was hired back as head of advertising. In 1968 Craft Master was sold to General Mills, which wanted to enter the lucrative toy industry. When General Mills sold off its toy companies in 1977, Craft Master was shuttered. That millions of paint-bynumber artworks still exist from those early years suggests that while the paintings were not often passed down as heirlooms, neither were they easily thrown in the trash. The paintings found their way into junk shops and antiques fairs, where people started collecting them. One

of those collectors was the Smithsonian curator William Bird, who was hanging them in his basement recreation room. When Max Klein’s daughter approached Bird to donate her late father’s Craft Master archives to the Smithsonian, Bird decided he would put together a paint-bynumber exhibition. On April 5, 2001, museum staff, collectors who had loaned works to the show, and people involved in the early history of paint by numbers gathered at the National Museum of American History to celebrate the opening. Dan Robbins spoke to the media and reminisced about the idea he had pitched to his boss fifty years before, standing beneath the twenty-eight-foot-long banner for the exhibition—a numbered drawing of a lighthouse. Designed by Robbins, it was one of the last paint-by-number images he created. Robbins and the other guests were each invited to go up on a lift and paint a small section of the banner. Then, after the crowd had left, two museum workers methodically filled in the rest of the numbered design. Humming Bird Duet was available from Craft Master in 1952. It came with twenty-seven colors. Palmer Paint Company’s Masterpiece Oil Painting Set, issued in 1951, touted the ease with which hobbyists could create a work of art. Photos by KC Cederholm

HistoricNewEngland.org

THE

Status OF

Gutters

by Sally Zimmerman, Senior Preservation Services Manager

“THEY DON’T MAKE THEM LIKE THEY USED TO.” It’s a cliché often repeated about old houses, but for an owner who wants to preserve the home’s historic construction methods and materials when making repairs, a better turn of phrase might be, “Let’s not make them like we do now.” Even something as a humble as a gutter can present challenges when it comes to repairs or modifications, and it can be hard to find a tradesperson who understands old houses and the techniques of traditional building. Similar to elaborate moldings or a complex bit of timber framing, the lowly gutter has a construction history. Understanding that history can be a first step in knowing how to preserve the look of an old house. 10

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Often, houses lacked gutters, but when they were used historically, two basic types were common. One type was hung or attached to the house, the other was built into the roofing system. The typical modern gutter is the first type, a trough hung just below the eave drip line and attached to a flat trim piece (the fascia) at the top of the main volume of the house. Most often, this gutter is aluminum, “seamlessly” created on site by a machine that bends a roll of flat sheet stock into the shape known as a K-style, or ogee. Like the traditional wooden gutter it replaced, the K-style has a flat back and a molded outer profile. Aluminum gutters, along with other aluminum products (including siding), were developed after World War II as the market for this metal shifted from military to civilian applications. Cheap, lightweight, and easy to install, the K-style gutter is practical but easily damaged by snow and ice loads or ladders placed against it. The K-style gutter also often obscures a historic cornice molding, especially when retrofitted to a house that was not originally constructed with a hung gutter. Many eighteenth- and nineteenthcentury houses, particularly those with deep overhanging or elaborately molded eaves aren’t easily fitted with hung gutters. For these houses, water, the archenemy of wooden houses, was directed away using the second type of gutter, the built-in, concealed, or box gutter. One restoration roofer calls the built-in gutter “the most complicated system in the building envelope.” Built-in gutters were constructed to be invisible, allowing the design details at the roofline of the house—a beefy Georgian cornice, or a richly bracketed Italianate eave— to stand proud of clumsy leaders and downspouts. With a built-in gutter, a deep notch is cut into the rafters just above the edge of the roof and a shallow channel, typically lined with metal and sloped toward an outlet drain, is constructed. Rainwater flows into the channel and is captured before reaching the edge of the roof, exiting to leaders and downspouts either placed flush

against the house or running within the wall cavity. In some cases, particularly in urban areas with row houses where runoff to streets would create a nuisance, conductor pipes led to dry wells or cisterns below grade. While ingenious and subtle, built-in gutters, if not maintained, can cause damage that extends beyond the roof structure and into the wall cavity, necessitating complex repairs. Sometimes a built-in gutter only comes to light when reroofing, since many such systems were covered over with later sheathing and shingles when upkeep became too onerous. Restoration of historic built-in gutter systems should not be discounted, however, as modern flashing materials can provide better protection against damage. Other infrequently encountered historic gutter types include the vee gutter and the Yankee, or pole, gutter, both of which are variants of a hung gutter. While no evidence of gutter systems has survived in very early houses, the vee gutter was probably commonly used from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. Consisting of two boards nailed or rabbeted together on their long sides and nailed onto the eave, the vee gutter offered a quick and easy solution to the problem of rainwater spilling off the edge of a roof, splashing back onto the house, and impeding access at the entrances. The vee gutter often extended past the end of the house and emptied into a rain barrel, but it could be drilled out and fitted with a metal collar to drain into a simple box downspout. The pole or Yankee gutter was similarly easy to install. Like the built-in gutter, the Yankee gutter sat above the edge of the roof and caught rainwater before it ran over the eave. Unlike the built-in gutter, the Yankee gutter projected above the surface of the roof and was visible from below. Sometimes as simple as a sheet metal curb on the roof, the Yankee gutter could be more complex, constructed with a wooden plank, lined with copper, terne metal (lead and tin coated steel), or even galvanized iron, and supported on small brackets. Every gutter type has advantages and drawbacks. With more severe storms, wooden gutters in traditional dimensions tend to overflow, especially if owners have not been diligent about keeping the gutters and goosenecks clear of debris. Historic New England is studying gutter capacity issues for increased stormwater with a grant awarded by the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. The study report will include recommended options for historic houses. In the meantime, some homeowners are turning to alternatives, including using

page 10 A wooden vee gutter on the ell at Watson Farm in Jamestown, Rhode Island. top A standard wooden hung gutter on the c. 1860 carriage house at the Codman Estate in Lincoln, Massachusetts. above Restoration of the roof at Roseland Cottage in Woodstock, Connecticut, including reinstating the built-in gutter, a critical element of the Gothic Revival design of the house.

larger-capacity half-round copper gutters or fiberglass gutters, which can be molded to match wooden gutter profiles and carry more water. Typically, making a change like this will force other design modifications to the eave and roofline. By thinking through what gutter system the house might once have had, a homeowner can more knowledgeably determine how to approach adding gutters or replacing existing ones. Humble though it may be, the gutter deserves attention, not just as a defender against water damage, but also as an essential part of the houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design history. HistoricNewEngland.org

Building the History of

Vermont ’s Towns

Mike Hathorn, founder of Vermont’s Town History in 3D Competition, speaking with one of the participating school teams. Photo courtesy of Vermont Division for Historic Preservation

by Charlotte Barrett Community Preservation Manager, Western New England

TUDYING BUILDINGS CAN ADD TO OUR understanding of the economic, political, and social forces that shaped a community, a lesson that middle and high school students in Vermont are learning by participating in the Town History in 3D Competition. Also called 3D Vermont, this statewide challenge teaches students how to apply the tools of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) curriculum to the discipline of history to explore the built landscape of their towns. They

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research and document architectural styles, locations, and uses of buildings, compiling data that can inform how we see and interpret the past. Eighty-seven students participated in the third annual High School and Middle School Olympiad of Architectural History in Vermont—the official name of the program—last March. School buses began to arrive at Vermont Technical College in the town of Randolph Center about 8:30 a.m., with boisterous students disembarking and streaming into

The impact of 3D Vermont extends well beyond the Olympiad. Some students have used it as a springboard for future studies and work opportunities. Judd Hall. By 10 a.m., the shouts and laughter had dropped to a hum as judges began to visit exhibit tables to speak with each of the thirteen teams. The Olympiad is the capstone event for 3D Vermont. After researching the history of their buildings and taking measurements, students use SketchUp, a 3-D modeling software, to print a three-dimensional representation of their structures. They develop multimedia presentations and tabletop displays. They get to place their models on a large floor map of Vermont, which is populated by buildings created in previous years. “Technology is the hook that gets students interested in the history,” said Mike Hathorn, the founder of Town History in 3D, who teaches technology at Hartford High School. But the benefits go far beyond the acquisition of tech skills. Hathorn said that the more vested students are in what they are learning, the greater chance they have of retaining that information. “By having students responsible for picking their buildings, interviewing local historians, and researching at historical societies, they are actively participating. And that creates a situation where students can truly learn.” 3D Vermont is the offspring of an initiative at Hartford High School. In 2009 Hathorn was presented with the opportunity to team teach a history/technology class that tasked students with mapping historic buildings in town. After conducting oral histories and historical research,

students created sixteen buildings in SketchUp and then uploaded them to Google Earth with a summary of each building. Over the next five years, students documented 190 buildings. In 2014 Google asked Hathorn to create a statewide competition and, with the support of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development and the Agency of Education, 3D Vermont took off in 2015. Preparing the teams from January to March is something of a barn raising; local communities and state government pitch in to support them. School staff or community members serve as coaches and work with students after receiving training in SketchUp and 3-D printing. A panel of judges consisting of architects, historians, educators, and representatives of government agencies attend the Olympiad to evaluate each student team. Judges use a rubric that focuses on the architectural accuracy and level of detail of the three-dimensional printed model, the depth of research and historical accuracy of the presentation, and the originality and creativity of the multimedia presentation. The judges also give the teams helpful feedback. Glenn Andres, a retired Middlebury College professor and a member of the state’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, has served as a judge since the program’s inception. He has observed students equally enthusiastic about learning unexpected lessons about a building’s complicated social history

and the application of geometry and trigonometry to measure elevations and roof angles. “They may see the big challenge and thrill as the generation of the 3-D model, but they will never look at a historic building again without being conscious of both its formal and historic aspects,” Andres said. Historic New England and 3D Vermont share an educational philosophy emphasizing programs that are hands-on, interactive, and that appeal to a variety of learning styles. Recognizing the value of teaching at the intersection of STEM and the humanities, Historic New England provided a prize for each student on the second-place high school team and first-place middle school team and donated books on architectural history to four school libraries. The impact of 3D Vermont extends well beyond the Olympiad. Some students have used it as a springboard for future studies and work opportunities, such as the one who has applied his new skills in SketchUp to model making for a local architect. Others finish the project with a deeper appreciation of how a town’s history shapes its architecture. Many students leave the competition already planning for their participation next year. “The idea that students are actively seeking out historical information and learning more about the state they live in helps to carry on Vermont historic preservation,” said Hathorn. HistoricNewEngland.org

Making and Learning History Photos by Erin Moore, Mercy Street Studios

by Julia Einstein Education Program Coordinator for Maine

Students from Berwick Academy in South Berwick, Maine, delved into Make History: Community as Classroom and the concept of “classroom in the museum” became real. They studied, sketched, wrote, read nineteenth-century writings, and performed period music in a shared learning space at Historic New England’s nearby

Historic New England Fall 2017

Sarah Orne Jewett House Museum and Visitor Center. This new creative collaboration with Berwick Academy produced an exhibition— named after the school program— that encouraged children to spend time at the historic site, learn the history of their community, and be inspired by the stories Jewett wrote. The exhibition also

complemented tours of the 1774 Georgian mansion. Make History: Community as Classroom was inspired by the “maker movement,” a trend that promotes innovative and inventive exploration of newer technologies and traditional practical skills to create whatever the maker imagines. Using the do-it-yourself (DIY)

approach, “makers” focus on learning through doing and sharing their knowledge with the wider community. The use of 3-D printers, for instance, is a prominent tool in the maker movement. Using “tinkering” tools to combine engineering, art, design, and technology, contemporary education practice is embracing the maker concept as a way to motivate students. In Make History: Community as Classroom, students of Seth Hurd, director of visual and performing arts at Berwick Academy, and Raegan Russell, the school’s chair of visual arts, created visual and performance-based interpretations of their studies of Jewett House. Marilyn Keith Daly, Historic New England’s site manager for the property, used the word “synergy” in describing the program and it fits, as do Hurd’s views on public purpose and the links between education and community. The program directors sought relevance, a contemporary energy, and a young person’s perspective on what history is. It was notable when the students walked the same path that Sarah Orne Jewett took between her home and Berwick Academy, where she, too, attended school. Jewett (1849-1909), who lived her entire life in South Berwick, is hailed as one of Maine’s earliest and best authors of the American literary regionalism genre. She wrote novels, short stories, and poems using the Maine southern seacoast area as the setting. Jewett’s home was an author’s home; she wrote at the desk at a window overlooking the town center. She invited artists Marcia Oakes Woodbury and Charles Woodbury into her home to work out the sketches for what became the illustrations for the 1893 republication of her novel Deephaven. The Woodburys sketched on site—as did the students in the Make History program—and they came to know Jewett’s house, which plays a major role in her novel. The students’ tools for creative exploration were passages from Jewett’s writings and letters, which they were given as they studied in each room of the house. A series of exercises invited them to translate the words into images. For example, in the Jewett House library, students read these words of the writer: "My dear father used to say to me very often, 'Don’t try to write about people and things. Tell them

just as they are!’" With those words in mind, the students observed their surroundings and sketched the details in their view. Russell said her students were “genuinely enchanted with the space and the narrative of Jewett, and her experience.” The project-based learning in her art classroom addressed the question, “How can artists interpret time through visual means?” This prompted the students to create small bodies of work in a medium of their choice for the exhibition. Besides their finished products, the exhibition featured the sketchbooks the students used on their visits to Jewett House, which illustrate the time it took for their project ideas to evolve. Berwick Academy’s Chamber Chorus recorded its rendition of music written in the same decade as Deephaven for visitors to listen to and be transported to a nineteenth-century parlor performance. Historical context was made real with a visit by Peter and Chris Woodbury, who shared memories and personal histories from their grandparents’ time.

page 14 Twelfth-grader Tyler Van Etten was inspired by a visit to Sarah Orne Jewett’s room and the view from her bed to create Old New View. His sketchbook shows the process of mixing historic colors to prepare his oil paints. right Nuha Al Shair, also a senior, crafted Walk In Her Shoes from pine, birch boughs, bittersweet, and text cut from Jewett’s novel Deephaven. HistoricNewEngland.org

Some of the students’ projects explored the notion of “modern” during Jewett’s time and the present day. Several of the young artists pondered those questions by including certain details in their interpretations of features of Jewett’s home, such as objects, wallpaper, and fixtures and transformed them into watercolor patchwork, fashion design, a magical still life, and a cubist instrument. One student made an artist’s book that was placed at the entrance to introduce the exhibitions. Both the students and the instructors who took part in Make History: Community as Classroom were left with the sense of imagining Sarah Orne Jewett, a mentor to younger artists and writers, being thrilled about their creative desire to make history. The school program and exhibition Make History: Community as Classroom were funded in part by a grant from the Sam L. Cohen Foundation. Historic New England is devoted to education, making connections in communities, and offering unique opportunities to experience the lives and stories of New Englanders through their homes and possessions. right Senior Zoe Spearman used a laser to cut a passage from a Jewett novel and used it to illuminate a wall for Same Time, Same Place? below Exploring how the eyes adjust to nineteenthcentury lighting, tenth-grader Eli Fleischer designed Zoetrope, an animation device that was popular in Jewett’s time, using pine and digital photos.

Historic New England Fall 2017

Variety

was the spice of dining out in the past

by Herbert L. Meiselman Specialist in sensory and consumer research, product development, and food service system design and evaluation

This decorative menu was distributed to diners attending the Commercial Club’s Ladies’ Day meeting on April 23, 1885, at the Parker House in Boston. It has a variety of types of foods, many of which are rarely served in restaurants today. The menu is part of Historic New England’s collection.

T Turtle

soup almost always topped the menu—with the option of one other soup or consommé —followed by multicourse choices of seafood, red meat, sweetbreads, and game birds—available boiled, broiled, roasted, or as a cold dish—and then pastries and desserts.

Such was the wide variety of food choices that characterized fine dining when the first restaurants opened in the United States in the early nineteenth century. Those who think that today we have an enormous selection of foods when eating out need only look at restaurant menus HistoricNewEngland.org

The foods that restaurants served in the middle of the nineteenth century began to disappear from menus during the first half of the twentieth century.

of the past to see that tastes, along with the quantity served, have changed. A sampling of menus from Historic New England’s collection shows that from the mid-nineteenth into the twentieth century, meals had many courses and each course had many options. Patrons weren’t restricted to one selection from each course; usually, the meal had one set price and diners could choose as many dishes as desired. Historic New England maintains a collection of approximately 300 menus from fancy restaurants, elite hotel dining rooms, private clubs and special events, tea rooms, casual and family-oriented eateries, and mid-twentieth century fast-food places around New England. Restaurant proprietors probably never thought their menus would be saved for posterity, but such ephemera provide a telling look at how restaurant fare has changed over time, with food options narrowing. Dining out wasn’t always a custom. It is actually a relatively new addition to our eating patterns. Before the 18

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nineteenth century few people in the United States, as well as Europe, took their meals at establishments away from their homes and when they did, the experience wasn’t like present-day dining out. The restaurant trend developed in the late eighteenth century in Paris and made its way to Boston via immigrant French chefs. The first French restaurant in the United States was Julien’s in Boston, opening in 1793 under the official name The Restorator. Julien’s prepared meals that were served in the early Paris restaurants for their healthful and restorative benefits, such as broths, soups (including turtle), meats, and pastries; the word “restaurant” comes from the French word meaning “to restore.” The second phase of the eating-out trend began when hotel dining rooms and free-standing restaurants began offering meals. Boston again was at the forefront, being one of the first locales where restaurants and hotel dining rooms opened (this history is explored in the recently published books Restaurant Republic: The Rise of Public Dining in Boston, by Kelly Erby and Dining Out in Boston by James O’Connell). Union Oyster House opened in 1826 and Durgin-Park in 1827, and both are still in operation today. Among the city's first fine-dining rooms in hotels that served the public were the Exchange Coffee House (1808), the Tremont House (1829), the Revere House (1847), and the Parker House (1855), now called the Omni Parker House. Dining in hotels and restaurants was aimed at the wealthy and mainly reserved for white men. Sometimes

hotels maintained a second dining room for women, which served lighter foods. Children and servants were not welcome in the dining room at mealtime. Dining was often at set times, with the main meal midday, perhaps at one o’clock. The earliest dining rooms had communal tables; only later were individual tables offered. In fact, the whole progression in dining was to increasingly emphasize catering to individual habits and tastes. The alternatives to fancy dining rooms were inns, taverns, and workmen’s lunchrooms; all of these places usually served set meals at set times with no choice of food, and there were no printed menus. Refined people did not go to these places, and certainly refined women did not. One of the earliest menus in Historic New England’s collection, an 1829 bill of fare from the restaurant of the newly opened Tremont House, shows great variety. It presented four courses plus dessert, with the third course reserved for game bird dishes. The main course, dinner, was not the only big and varied meal; a typical supper menu from Revere House had twenty-two “hot dishes,” including tripe, boiled pig’s feet, and stewed kidneys. A menu for a special occasion meal at Revere House on March 19, 1849, has terrapin soup and the side dishes include sweetbreads and eel, followed by roasts—beef and mutton—and then five game birds—duck (canvasback, redhead, and black), goose (brant), and grouse. On September 17, 1851, at Revere House, Boston officials gave a complimentary dinner for President Millard Fillmore and the governor general of Canada—James Bruce, the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine— to mark “the Completion of the Railroads Between Boston, Canada, and the Far West.” Guests could select from two soups, four fish dishes, three types of boiled meats, six cold dishes, and thirteen side dishes (including sweetbreads, lamb’s brains, and kidneys); then came four roasts and five game birds, followed by dessert and coffee and liqueur.

While fine dining was centered in major cities in the United States, it was not limited to them. The menu from Spy Pond House in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on July 30, 1851, shows less variety than some other restaurants, but still has six different game birds for the course after the entrées, such as potted pigeon and stewed pigeon. A menu from Poland Spring House in South Portland, Maine, in 1892 lists turtle soup and Rocky Mountain oysters to start the meal, and turtle again as an entrée before the boiled or roast meats.

page 18 Boston’s Hotel Vendome used the image of cherries on its Washington’s Birthday dinner menu on February 22, 1900. The meal included maraschino punch. below Boston’s thirteenth mayor, Benjamin Seaver, was honored at a New Year’s Eve dinner held at Tremont House in 1849. Larks were among the dishes served.

HistoricNewEngland.org

left Tremont House in Boston served its first dinner on October 16, 1829, offering a variety of fish; fowl including chicken, turkey, partridges and woodcocks; and meat such as mutton, ham, and roast beef. below Restaurants in smaller cities like Poland Spring House in South Portland, Maine, had only a little less variety than those in major cities.

The foods that restaurants served in the middle of the nineteenth century began to disappear from menus during the first half of the twentieth century, as food production and food service became more industrialized. The variety did not dwindle quickly, however. The 1901 Thanksgiving dinner menu at the Hotel Vendome in Boston offered roast young pig and roast haunch of black bear. The Washington Birthday Dinner of February 22, 1902, featured green turtle soup followed by smoked ox tongue, broiled sweetbreads, and then the main meal. At Thanksgiving dinner on November 26, 1903, one could eat turkey that was preceded by raw shellfish, choose from two soups (one of which was turtle), and have ox tongue and sweetbreads. In 1959 the Ritz-Carlton menus were still carrying sweetbreads 20

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and shad roe. Today, these dishes are no longer common fare. Those once-plentiful game birds, while not endangered, have experienced population decreases and are not as readily available. The key ingredient of turtle soup, which these days is considered a delicacy as well as a regional cuisine food, can be obtained from special purveyors, typically at high prices. Yet, both laypersons and food researchers tend to think that todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s variety of food is extensive. That variety exists more in how foods are prepared rather than what the foods are. Think of the many ways in which chicken appears on menus today. The different ways of preparing chicken dishes may suggest variety, but it is nothing like the fowl company this bird once had.

Paper trail Company follows traditional methods to reproduce period wallpapers by Gail Ravgiala Editor, Design New England magazine and member of the Historic New England Council

ometimes, there is just no room for improvement.

That surely appears to be the case when it comes to the tried-and-true methods of reproducing authentic block-print wallpapers at Adelphi Paper Hangings LLC. The company, founded in 1999, operates out of an 1890s mercantile building and onetime opera house at the only intersection with a stoplight in the tiny village of Sharon Springs, New York (population 534). The setting, product, and methods may seem arcane, but the reality is a joyful renaissance. Company owners Steve Larson and Chris Ohrstrom have revived an almost lost art and are dedicated to keeping it from fading into history. Adelphi licenses wallpaper patterns from Historic New England’s extensive collection and reproduces them to sell

to clients. The company’s catalogue includes seventeen sidewall and ten border patterns from the collections. Some of the papers hang in properties that are open to the public, such as Hamilton Urns in Hamilton House in South Berwick, Maine, and Sayward Gothic in Sayward-Wheeler House, York Harbor, Maine. One of Adelphi’s best sellers is Ipswich Sprig, a pattern discovered in Ipswich, Massachusetts. With more than 6,000 samples of wallpaper, historic photographs of wallpaper in situ, and ephemera dealing with the wallpaper industry, Historic New England maintains the largest collection of this type in the region. Soon to be added to Adelphi’s catalogue is a pattern that appears in an 1880 photograph of the west parlor in Historic New England’s Josiah Quincy House in Quincy, Massachusetts. HistoricNewEngland.org

page 21 Steve Larson prints Chevron and Laurel, a French pattern from Adelphi’s archives while Jenn Delpit works on a custom colorway of Pagodas, licensed from the Marblehead Historical Society. above Adelphi’s catalogue includes these wallpaper patterns licensed from Historic New England: Hamilton Urns Stenciled, from Hamilton House in South Berwick, Maine; Ipswich Sprig, discovered in Ipswich, Massachusetts; Sayward Gothic, from Sayward-Wheeler House in York Harbor, Maine; and Otis Federal Stripe, from Otis House. page 23 Michele Farwell drafts one of two transparencies to be used in the laser engraving of a mid-nineteenth century strapwork pattern in Adelphi’s archives. Adelphi work photos by Richard Walker

Once it is available, the paper, Acorn and Leaf, will be hung in the east parlor of Quincy House. Adelphi focuses on wall coverings that date from 1720 to 1860. “Around 1840, roller printing by machine started and by 1860 it began to dominate the industry,” said Larson. He uses the same techniques as the eighteenth- and nineteenthcentury artisans who created the original papers. His one nod to more current technology is the laser-cut blocks a subcontractor makes using Adelphi’s patterns, which Larson and his team draw by hand on clear acrylic sheets using black artists’ pens. “We tried hand-carving the blocks,” he said, “but that was just too time-consuming.” Most often one block is made per color, but some more complex patterns require more than one block for a single color. Adelphi’s Butterfly Chintz pattern, for example, uses twenty-seven blocks of various sizes for a ten-color print. The magic of Adelphi papers is in their rich tones, layered block by block so that the surface appears almost textural. It is an effect that cannot be achieved with machines. “Roller printing or screened methods have a flatter look,” Larson said. Before any printing is done, Larson and his team of artisans re-create the pattern. They may start with a wellpreserved large piece of wallpaper or a faded and torn fragment. Sometimes they are given a sandwich—layer after 22

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layer of paper piled on over the years as tastes or owners changed. Often they are given a photograph, which was the case when they were commissioned to re-create an eighteenth-century French Reveillon wall covering destined for a bedroom at George Washington’s Mount Vernon mansion in Virginia. Recently, Adelphi artisans Michele Farwell and Jenn Delpit were moving along an eleven-yard-long worktable “grounding” the paper: using large brushes to apply the solid background color, a deep almost navy blue. Because this was going to a historic site, the order called for seamed paper. “Most of our orders are on continuous paper,” said Larson. “Generally only those for historic sites, or homeowners interested in period authenticity, are on seamed rolls.” Seamed rolls are a characteristic of pre-1850s wallpaper. To create them, Adelphi stays true to traditional techniques using rabbit-skin glue to connect nineteen-by-twenty-threeinch sheets of paper and hand rolls on the seams to ensure complete adhesion. When installed, the horizontal seams are subtle but visible, just as they were at the turn of the nineteenth century. Once the grounding is done, Farwell uses a low-tech system of wooden poles and dowels to drape the paper in continuous floor-to-ceiling waves to dry. Adelphi’s “paper” is actually seventy-five percent cotton

and twenty-five percent cellulose. The high cotton content makes it more durable than standard wood pulp paper. “Wood pulp is acidic and becomes brittle,” said Larson. “This is more flexible than modern stock,” which is a plus for paperhangers faced with less than perfect walls in historic homes. To get the glorious hues, Larson uses a paint base of chalk, china clay, and water. Historically, animal glue was used as a binder, but Larson prefers acrylic, which he says is “more predictable.” By adding pigments—the most-used being iron red, yellow iron, carbon black, phthalo blue, and titanium dioxide for white—he creates his rainbow of historic and custom shades. “People may like the historic pattern,” he said, “but want to change the color to something less heavy and more modern.” Printing is done with an archaic-looking press based on a nineteenth-century model that operates with levers and counter weights. First the carved block is tamped on a paint-saturated piece of felt set atop a rubber membrane inside a frame filled with water. “The water ensures the paint is evenly distributed,” Larson said. Next, the block is set on top of the paper on the bench. Pins in the block cue the artisan where to set the piece. The press is lowered, and voila, one color is printed. The block is lifted, the paper slid forward, and the process repeated until the roll is done

and it is time for the next block with a new color. These old methods have also brought new life to later wallpapers. Adelphi has used hand-block printing to produce its early-twentieth-century line using patterns licensed from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York. In addition to patterns licensed from Historic New England, Adelphi has patterns from the Smithsonian Institution, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Old Sturbridge Village, the New York State Historical Association, the Musée du Papier Peint in Rixheim, France, and other historic institutions and private collections. Larson also plans to have some original contemporary designs in the lineup, but for now, he and his team have little time for that. Prices for Adelphi wallpapers range from $400 to $945 per roll with most patterns in the $400 to $500 range. Additional fees may apply for custom colors. More information about ordering is available at adelphipaperhangings.com. The royalties generated by the licensing program with Adelphi Paper Hangings are used to support Historic New England’s museum properties, landscapes and gardens, collections, and educational programs.

HistoricNewEngland.org

BEtTEr LIVES by Judith Burger-Gossart Judith is author of the book Sadie's Winter Dream: Fishermen's Wives & Maine Sea Coast Mission Hooked Rugs, 1923-1938

Editor’s Note: Rug hooking in North America dates to the early 1800s. It emerged most likely in Maine or the Canadian Maritimes as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution, when the increased availability of affordable textiles made fabric remnants and rags commonplace. Both art and craft, rug hooking flourished from the midnineteenth century into the twentieth century, and its popularity continues today. Historically, most hooked rugs were made for personal use. A secondary market developed in the early twentieth century when antiques collectors began purchasing them.

The 1920s often call to mind Jazz Age high living during the post-World War I boom, but that wasn’t the case for fishermen and their families on Maine’s

Historic New England Fall 2017

page 24 Mary Ann Bunker crafted Jolly Little Sloop with the Hills of Bar Harbor in 1933. It is now in a private collection. The maker of House with Squirrel, c. 1926 is unknown. This rug is in the Maine Seacoast Mission collection. left The Mission also has in its collection The House at West Quoddy Head, created in 1926 by Mr. and Mrs. Darrell Mann. Photos by Judith Burger-Gossart

coast. They lived on islands (some were ten to twenty miles out to sea) or in isolated coastal communities. Life was precarious, full of hardship, poverty, isolation, and unreliable medical care. Education often ended in eighth grade or earlier. Fishermen were tough and expected their families to be equally stalwart and hardworking. With just a few staff members and a donated summer yacht, the Maine Seacoast Mission was founded in 1905 by brothers Alexander and Angus MacDonald—both of them pastors—to alleviate these harsh conditions. The parish covered the entire Maine coast: roughly 3,000 miles. It was an audacious endeavor, but these were courageous people, not to be deterred. Alice Peasley was one of the early Mission pioneers. In 1923, six years after joining the Mission, she established its Hooked Rug Program. The goal was to supplement the fishermen’s families’ meager incomes. Born into humble circumstances in Rockland, Maine, Peasley readily understood the plight of the women in these families. Though she had no formal training in rug hooking, Peasley cherished her childhood memories of making hooked rugs with her grandmother. In the isolated village of South Gouldsboro, located on the eastern shore of Frenchman Bay and the western shore of Gouldsboro Peninsula, Peasley found that the “only assets were courage and a willingness to work.” She showed the local women how to make those assets tangible, teaching them how to hook rugs and to sell their creations, putting much needed money into their pockets; in the process, she did much more than that. Peasley helped these women realize the intangible benefits of their activity. She understood that creativity could wash away life’s sorrows and tragedies. She encouraged the women to see the

beauty of nature that was around them; then she pushed them to become creative. With rags and burlap they created rugs of extraordinary beauty and sophistication. As one woman noted, “I never thought I would live to see the day when I could do something somebody else would really want and value.” After the first year, other women along Maine’s coast asked to be a part of this program. Peasley’s reports include a roll call for Maine’s island communities, among them Frenchboro, Matinicus, Muscongus, Islesford, McKinley, Loudville, Little Deer Isle, Southwest Harbor, and Two Bush Island. Her notes indicate that there were approximately thirty women who hooked rugs at any one time. Women came and went because of circumstance and, possibly, interest. An estimated 650 to 700 rugs were made between 1923 and 1938, when the program ended. Twenty-six existing rugs have been identified and there are more than eighty images of Mission rugs. The women soon began to translate what they saw into hooked rugs. Peasley wrote, “The output from this department will always be small, because of the nature of the work. Quantity has never been an end. Each rug receives the care needed to make it an individual and precious thing.” There is no one “look” to a Maine Seacoast Mission rug; rather there are the looks of individual artists: Mary Ann Bunker, Henriette Ames, Sadie Lunt, Sabra Rice, and many women who anonymously made seascapes, primitive house rugs, and animal rugs. The rug images reveal the talents of the fishermen’s wives, along with their interests, dreams, and desires. For example, their primitive house rugs have unrealistically large windows, indicating the maker’s yearning for light during a long, cold winter. Wild and domestic animals are larger than life; animals were engaging, nonthreatening, and endearingly friendly. Boats provided a connection to the outside world and were frequently illustrated. Bunker’s Forest Scene is an impressionist painting hooked in wool. Henriette’s Home by Ames (see image in Table of Contents) is a masterpiece depicting her much-prized domestic tranquility. The House at West Quoddy Head, HistoricNewEngland.org

Forest Scene is another rug that Mary Ann Bunker hooked in 1930. This one has been likened to an impressionist painting. Photo by Judith Burger-Gossart

hooked by Mr. and Mrs. Darrell Mann, expresses the isolation that was the fishermen’s badge. Peasley had the uncanny ability to nurture creativity on seemingly barren soil. To one woman she suggested that it would be very interesting if instead of the unvarying green she had been using she should reproduce her own back yard. “There’s a deep shadow under the pine tree and the path from your door is really a soft greenish tan,” Peasley told her. The woman looked in silence for a long time and then replied, “Well, I reckon this is the first time I ever saw my own back yard. A body can’t hook what she doesn’t see.” Peasley sought to empower and improve the lives of Maine’s fishermen’s wives; she would be both surprised and pleased to know that the rugs she inspired are still treasured and valued today, even more than ever before. Depending on the fashion of the day, rug hooking waxed and waned in importance and various schools developed with many ardent followers. Currently rug 26

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hooking is very much in vogue—one national organization has chapters in many states and there are rug hooking groups in every state, as well as in many countries. A number of magazines are devoted to the art of hooking rugs. In the antiques world, the folk art genre is vibrant and thriving. Hooked rugs, part of that genre, are often highly valued and can bring record prices. The Mission continues to serve many Maine communities and sponsors a small rug hooking group in Washington County. Periodically the Mission has hooked rug displays and loans rugs for exhibitions. Historic New England has a substantial collection of hooked rugs, none appears to have been made by women of the Maine Seacoast Mission. Rugs from our collection can be viewed at Hamilton House in South Berwick, Maine; Cogswell’s Grant in Essex, Massachusetts; and Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

‘One Harmonious Whole’ The Cultural Landscape of Nickels-Sortwell House

Photos by Shelley Zatsky

by Peggy Konitzky Site Manager, Wiscasset, Maine

When Alvin Sortwell bought the Nickels property in Wiscasset, Maine, in 1899, he was buying more than a house. He was returning to a place that was part of his family’s history. Wiscasset was Alvin’s mother’s hometown. At a time when their contemporaries were building large houses in Maine communities such as Bar Harbor, Camden, and Northeast Harbor, Alvin and his wife, Gertrude, chose an 1807 Federal mansion on a corner lot in a sleepy village as their country place. Restoring the house to its former glory and furnishing it with eighteenth- and nineteenth-century antiques side by side with comfortable hand-me-downs from their more formal house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, suited the conservative, funloving, and quietly philanthropic Sortwells. They wanted a place where their six children, ages eight to seventeen, could enjoy clean, refreshing air; ride their horses; swim; and sail, all of which could be done in Wiscasset. Over the next few years, Alvin bought several more houses and two farms for

the extended family’s use. Wiscasset itself became a Sortwell cultural landscape. A successful industrialist, Alvin was a popular politician in Cambridge who served as mayor from 1897 to 1899. Both he and Gertrude had ancestors who fought in the American Revolution and they were very proud of that lineage. Their two homes—the large Colonial Revival mansion Alvin had built on Highland Street in Cambridge and the Nickels mansion in Wiscasset—reflected their desire to honor and celebrate their heritage. The original parcel of Nickels-Sortwell House was relatively small. After the Hilton House Hotel, located across the street from the Sortwells’ home, was destroyed by fire in 1906, Alvin bought the lot. Gertrude and their daughter Frances began a garden in the foundation of the ruins. This private, almost secret garden added a unique extension to their house, perfect for outdoor entertaining. HistoricNewEngland.org

Gustav Stickley, editor of The Craftsman. In the April 1911 issue magazine advised readers to “Let the garden and house float together in one harmonious whole, the one finding completion in the other.” Landscape architect and longtime friend Rose Ishbel Greely designed the gardens of Frances’s Washington, D.C., home and advised her in Wiscasset. The Wiscasset gardens became integral to the flow and function of life in the house. The solarium linked the interior—furnished daily with fresh-cut flowers—to the lawn and terrace gardens. William Munroe was hired around 1914 as head gardener for the Sortwell houses. He and his family lived in a house on the Sortwells’ property in Cambridge. In Wiscasset, Munroe was assisted by Walter Dodge, a local man whose wife became Gertrude’s cook. Both men remained with the Sortwells for decades. With the purchase of an adjacent lot in 1924, the Sortwell’s garden area doubled in size. Frances enlisted the expertise of Cambridge neighbor Charles Eliot II, a recent graduate of the Harvard School of Landscape Architecture, to design a new garden. The defining features of the Colonial Revival design were its linear planted beds and a terrace with a garden pool below, all framed by a tall white Colonial Revival fence on Federal Street and a capped picket fence on the north and east sides. The Sortwells changed the garden pool into a bird bath/fountain above a bed of delphinium, irises, hollyhocks, lilies, and more. top The Sunken Garden at Nickels-Sortwell House as it is today. In June 2017, the Garden Club of Wiscasset above This photo of Edward Sortwell, a friend, and his mother, Gertrude, posing for the camera in the Sunken Garden was taken in about 1914 received the Longfellow Pitcher for Preservation of Beauty, awarded annually by the Garden Club Alvin died suddenly in 1910 at the age of fifty-six; Federation of Maine, for restoring the NickelsGertrude and Frances continued enhancing the Wiscasset Sortwell House gardens to their 1930s appearance. Members property. In 1916-17, they had the Victorian porch on the of the garden club began the restoration effort in spring front of the house removed and a stone-floored solarium 2015, working with Historic New England volunteer Cathy added at the back. The solarium extended the garden into the Messmer on designing the garden beds and researching house at a time when the family needed such a retreat, as they what plantings to use. They planted foxgloves, peonies, grieved the death of twenty-seven-year-old Edward, one of delphinium, lilies, and phlox and pruned old climbing roses. the six Sortwell siblings. A volunteer ambulance driver during Siberian irises were included in the mix, obtained from World War I, Edward died of injuries suffered after he was Seaver Leslie, a Sortwell great-grandson who assisted in the hit by a car while crossing a dark street in Salonica, Greece. restoration. These plants came from those that Gertrude Frances oversaw the development of the gardens. She Sortwell had grown in the gardens. was an active preservationist with a wide and diverse circle Today, visitors enjoy the harmony between the house, of contacts that included artists, writers, political activists, solarium, newly restored terrace, back gardens, and the and wealthy girlfriends from her youth. Her approach to Sunken Garden, which comprise the cultural landscape that garden design mirrored that of Arts and Crafts designer is Nickels-Sortwell House. 28

Historic New England Fall 2017

The Cameraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Eye: House and Garden Pictures and Paintings, a homeschool program offered at Hamilton House in South Berwick, Maine, is designed to inspire participants to study the house and landscape to take photographs and paint pictures.

Annual Report Fiscal Year 2017

HistoricNewEngland.org 29

Welcome Dear Friend,

Sharing and saving go hand in hand at Historic New England. To broaden public engagement in our mission of preservation and education, we must share what we save. By visiting a house museum, attending a lecture, partaking of a glamorous evening event, or supporting a particular program or project, you are contributing to this mission in a vital way. This past year we focused our efforts on expanding and improving our engagement with members and others who share our interests. We revamped our member magazine and website, providing audiences with a fresh, new way of seeing and reading about all that Historic New England has to offer. In the spring we completed restoration work for the May opening of the 1878 Eustis Estate Museum and Study Center in Milton, Massachusetts, creating a more accessible house museum model. Numerous guests joined us for regional events to highlight some of our properties and communicate our mission: A Century on the Hill at Otis House in Boston; An Evening at Governor John Langdon House in New Hampshire; and Feast for the Farms at Casey Farm in Rhode Island. We established a community partnership with the Housatonic Valley Association (HVA), a conservation consortium that operates in the western sections of Connecticut and Massachusetts and in eastern New York. The HVA relocated its Massachusetts regional office to Merwin House, Historic New Englandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1825 property in Stockbridge. We continued our successful Community Preservation Grants program, a concept that originated with founder William Sumner Appleton, which we reinstituted during our centennial anniversary to make connections with smaller preservation and heritage organizations. Due to the increasing popularity of our homeschool program, we expanded it to accommodate more families. As we continue identifying new audiences and opportunities to interact with them, we strive to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of New England life for current and future generations. We offer you our gratitude for helping Historic New England save and share our regional heritage. Thank you for your generous support.

David A. Martland Chair, Board of Trustees

Historic New England Fall 2017

Carl R. Nold President and CEO

Leadership Fiscal Year 2017 Board of Trustees David A. Martland Chair

Randy J. Parker Treasurer Carl R. Nold President and CEO

Jacob D. Albert Theodore Alfond Maureen Fennessy Bousa Jon-Paul Couture George F. Fiske, Jr. Christopher Karpinsky Sidney Kenyon Gregory D. Lombardi

Sandra Ourusoff Massey F. Warren McFarlan Elizabeth H. Owens Julie A. Porter Roger T. Servison Sylvia Q. Simmons Nancy B. Tooke Stephen H. White

David L. Feigenbaum Vice Chair

Christine Chamberlain Edward C. Fleck William F. Gemmill Leslie W. Hammond Eric P. Hayes William C. S. Hicks James Horan

Katherine Williams Kane Elizabeth Leatherman Bruce D. Moir Stephen Mormoris Carolyn M. Osteen John Peixinho Susan Rogers

Susan P. Sloan Anne S. Upton William Vareika William P. Veillette Kelly Wright

Joan M. Berndt Clerk

Board of Overseers Sandra Ourusoff Massey Chair Deborah L. Allinson Nancy J. Barnard Ronald P. Bourgeault

Council Joan M. Berndt Co-chair Robert P. Emlen Co-chair George Ballantyne Frederick D. Ballou Lynne Z. Bassett Russell Bastedo Charles E. Beveridge Ralph C. Bloom Randolph D. Brock W. Robert Carr Jr. † Harold J. Carroll Michael R. Carter Edward Lee Cave David Chase Richard W. Cheek Rebecca Clapp Martha Fuller Clark Karen Clarke Barbara Cleary Frances H. Colburn Gregory L. Colling Julia D. Cox Trudy Coxe Dr. Abbott Lowell Cummings † Elizabeth Hope Cushing Elizabeth K. Deane William H. Dunlap Jared I. Edwards Harron Ellenson Eugene Gaddis Diane R. Garfield Marcy Gefter Haden Gerrish Lucretia Hoover Giese Debra W. Glabeau

Kerri Greenidge Martha D. Hamilton Judy L. Hayward Eric Hertfelder Bruce A. Irving Edward C. Johnson 3d Elizabeth B. Johnson Joseph S. Junkin Mark R. Kiefer Anne F. Kilguss Matthew Kirchman Nancy Lamb Paula Laverty Arleyn A. Levee Anita C. Lincoln John B. Little Charles R. Longsworth Janina A. Longtine Peter S. Lynch Peter E. Madsen Elizabeth Hart Malloy Philip Cryan Marshall Johanna McBrien Paul F. McDonough James D. McNeely Julianne Mehegan Maureen I. Meister Pauline C. Metcalf Thomas S. Michie Keith N. Morgan William Morgan Henry Moss Cammie Henderson Murphy Stephen E. Murphy Richard H. Oedel James F. O’Gorman Mary C. O'Neil Robert I. Owens Elizabeth Seward Padjen

Anthony D. Pell Samuel D. Perry Patrick Pinnell Elizabeth Pochoda Marion E. Pressley Sally W. Rand Gail Ravgiala Courtney Richardson Kennedy P. Richardson Marita Rivero Timothy Rohan Carolyn Parsons Roy Virginia Rundell Gretchen G. Schuler Kristin L. Servison Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. Joseph Peter Spang III Andrew Spindler-Roesle Dennis E. Stark Charles M. Sullivan Jonathan Trace Paige Insley Trace John W. Tyler

William B. Tyler Theodore W. Vasiliou Gerald W. R. Ward David Watters Alexander Webb III Roger S. Webb Elisabeth Garrett Widmer Kemble D. Widmer II Richard F. Wien Susie Wilkening Robert W. Wilkins Richard H. Willis Robert O. Wilson Linda W. Wiseman Gary Wolf Walter W. Woodward William McKenzie Woodward Ellen M. Wyman Charles A. Ziering Jr. Margaret W. Ziering † = Deceased

HistoricNewEngland.org

Donors April 1, 2016 – March 31, 2017 The names listed on the following pages recognize those who, through their generous and thoughtful gifts, have strengthened Historic New England this past fiscal year. To each of them we extend our most sincere appreciation. In addition, we would like to thank those who supported us at every level, including 8,671 members. Over $1,000,000

The Estate of William G. Waters

$100,000–$999,999

Anonymous Ms. Jerrilee Cain Nancy Foss Heath and Richard B. Heath Educational, Cultural, and Environmental Foundation Institute of Museum and Library Services The Estate of Linda Sherman Johnston Cyrus C. Pinkham Unitrust City of Waltham CommunityPreservation Committee

$50,000–$99,999

Anonymous Mr. and Mrs. Edward P. Bousa* Mr. Nicholas C. Edsall The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Center Catherine Coolidge Lastavica Teresa and David Martland* Massachusetts Cultural Council Massachusetts Historical Commission National Endowment for the Humanities Mr. and Mrs. Roger T. Servison*

$25,000–$49,999

Anonymous Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Alfond* The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine Mr. Jon-Paul Couture* The Estate of William H. Eaton III Felicia Fund Ms. Lucretia Hoover Giese Barbara and Amos Hostetter* Rita J. and Stanley H. Kaplan Family Foundation Inc. Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey R. T. Kenyon* 32

Historic New England Fall 2017

Dr. Janina A. Longtine* Mr. and Mrs. M. Holt Massey* Mr. and Mrs. John B. McDowell* Karen and Warren McFarlan* New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program The Ogden Codman Trust Mr. and Mrs. Edward P. Owens* Mr. and Mrs. Robert I. Owens* Mr. Stephen P. Parson City of Quincy Community Preservation Committee Stephen H. and Virginia S. White*

$10,000–$24,999

Anonymous (2) The 1772 Foundation Mr. Jacob D. Albert* Ms. Deborah L. Allinson and Mr. Peter C. Olson* Dr. and Mrs. Ernst R. Berndt* The Davis Family Foundation Mr. David L. Feigenbaum and Ms. Maureen I. Meister* Mr. George F. Fiske Jr.* Anne and Jack Haley* Lucile and Bill Hicks* Institute for Savings Charitable Foundation Gordon and Mary Ford Kingsley* The Estate of Howard N. Levin John and Sonia Lingos Family Foundation Gregory D. Lombardi* The Lowell Institute The Lynch Foundation Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund The Mildred H. McEvoy Foundation Mr. Carl R. Nold and Ms. Vicky L. Kruckeberg* Mrs. Susan C. Page

Caren and Randy Parker* Mr. and Mrs. Samuel D. Perry* Ms. Julie A. Porter* Rhode Island Council for the Humanities Dr. Margaret Ruttenberg and Mr. John Ruttenberg* and the Derald H. Ruttenberg Foundation Saquish Foundation Mr. Donald L. Saunders and Ms. Liv Ullmann Mr. Mark L. Schmid, Dewing Schmid Kearns, Architects and Planners Estate of Elinor Silverman Skinner, Inc. Susan Sloan and Arthur Clarke* Mr. Joseph Peter Spang III* Lena A. Thompson Trust Mr. and Mrs. Michael K. Tooke* Mr. Richard H. Willis* Winfield Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Ziering Jr.*

$5,000–$9,999

The Barnes Foundation, Inc. Ann Beha and Robert Radloff Sam L. Cohen Foundation The Croll Foundation Dr. and Mrs. Oscar Fitzgerald City of Gloucester Community Preservation Committee Mr. and Mrs. Martin D. Hale* Mrs. Leslie W. Hammond and Mr. James R. Hammond III* Eric and Dorothy Hayes* Timothy T. Hilton and Sara J. Miller Mr. Henry B. Hoover, Jr. James and Susan Hunnewell Bruce and Holly Johnstone* Mr. Christopher Karpinsky* Mr. Paul H. Krueger, AIA Paul and Jean Moran*

Dr. and Mrs. Shapur Naimi Robert Pemberton and Barbara Jordan* Prince Charitable Trusts Ms. Wendy Shattuck and Mr. Samuel Plimpton Dr. Sylvia Q. Simmons* Mrs. Nina Heald Webber

$2,500–$4,999

Mr. Mark Canfield Allen* Mr. and Mrs. Alan Bembenek* Mr. Ronald P. Bourgeault and Mr. James Horan* Mr. William Bower Ms. Désirée Caldwell and Mr. William F. Armitage Jr.* Cambridge Trust Company Ms. E. Greer Candler* Mr. Harold J. Carroll* Mr. Michael R. Carter* Mr. Thomas C. Casey Mr. and Mrs. David Chamberlain* Mr. and Mrs. Theodore E. Charles* Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Cheek Mr. William Claflin and Ms. Cathy Claflin* Martha Fuller Clark and Dr. Geoffrey E. Clark Ms. Karen Clarke* Elizabeth and Nicholas Deane* Mr. and Mrs. George P. Denny III Mr. and Mrs. Frederic A. Eustis II* Ferguson Perforating & Wire Co. Mr. Edward C. Fleck and Ms. Eileen M. McCormack* Mr. Stephen L. Fletcher* Thomas Frank and Alexandra Hastings Freeman’s Auctioneers Mr. and Mrs. C. Mackay Ganson Jr.* Ms. Diane Gipson* Mr. and Mrs. Graham Gund* Ms. Martha D. Hamilton*

Mr. Stephen Harby* Mr. and Mrs. Tim Holiner* The Roy A. Hunt Foundation Mrs. K. H. Jones Mr. Stephen Kaloyanides Jr.* Mr. Kevin Kearney and Dr. Sarah K. Scott Kennebunk Savings Bank Ms. Anne F. Kilguss* Mr. and Mrs. William Leatherman* Dr. Frederic F. Little and Dr. Claudia L. Ordonez* Mrs. Carolyn M. Osteen and Dr. Robert Osteen* Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati Julianne and David Mehegan* Mr. Thomas S. Michie* Northeast Auctions Mr. and Mrs. George Putnam* Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy P. Richardson* Mr. and Mrs. Mark V. Rickabaugh* Mrs. Louise C. Riemer Mrs. Susan Rogers and Mr. Malcolm P. Rogers* Ms. Lois C. Russell* Tianderrah Foundation Mr. Andrew F. Saxe and Mr. Dean Vollick* Mr. James Schibanoff and Mrs. Nancy Schibanoff* Mr. Robert L. Simonds and Ms. Angie Simonds* Charles Sullivan and Susan Maycock* The Tianaderrah Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Stanley S. Trotman Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan M. Uhrig* Mr. and Mrs. John Upton* Mr. Theodore W. Vasiliou* Mr. and Mrs. William P. Veillette* Vermont Community Foundation Mr. Tarleton H. Watkins II and Ms. Janet P. Atkins* Mr. Robert W. Wilkins Jr.* Clara B. Winthrop Charitable Trust Stephen G. Woodsum and Anne R. Lovett* Mr. Kelly Wright*

$1,000 - $2,499

Anonymous (3) Ms. Candace Jans Aiello Mr. and Mrs. John D. Barnard* Mr. Russell Bastedo Beacon Hill Garden Club Mr. and Mrs. Richard I. Burnham Mr. and Mrs. Charles Chamberlain* Mr. John D. Childs Mrs. I. W. Colburn CSL Consulting LLC Ms. Jaimie Cuddire and Mr. Daniel Cuddire Cummings Properties Decorative Arts Trust Robert and Barbara DeGregorio

Mr. Stephen A. Dentino and Ms. Anne Parson Dentino Ms. Janet Dinan and Mr. Peter Dinan East Cambridge Savings Bank Alan S. Emmet* The Reverend John Miles Evans Exeter Trust Company Farm Credit Northeast AgEnhancement Mrs. Pamela W. Fox Mr. Jameson French and Ms. Priscilla French Ms. Diane R. Garfield and Dr. Peter L. Gross, M.D. Mr. and Mrs. Al Gerrish Mr. and Mrs. Thomas B. Gould Mr. and Mrs. A. Curtis Greer II Mr. and Mrs. Garth H. Greimann Mr. and Mrs. Ward Hamilton^ Mr. George Handran Mr. and Mrs. Donald E. Hare Tina and Bill Harsch Mrs. Charles H. Hood Ipswich Ale Brewery Mr. and Mrs. Stephen B. Jeffries Mr. Craig Jewett and Ms. Alison Huber-Jewett Mrs. Nancy D. Judge Ms. Katherine Williams Kane* Mr. John F. Keane* Ms. Jennifer Kent Ms. Susan S. Kinsey Mr. David S. Kirk Nancy and Rick Lamb Mr. and Mrs. William R. Leitch Mr. and Mrs. Newton H. Levee Mr. Jonathan B. Loring Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Lubin Maine Development Foundation Mr. and Mrs. John McCartney Merrimack Design Associates Mr. and Mrs. Steven Minsky The MLM Charitable Foundation Mr. and Mrs. William S. Mosakowski Dr. Merrill F. Mulch Ms. Holly Nixholm and Ms. Helen Donovan Northeast Collaborative Architects Mr. and Mrs. Richard H. Oedel Mr. and Mrs. David Offensend Mr. Thaddeus Gillespie and Ms. Elizabeth Seward Padjen, FAIA Mr. Francis C. Parson and Mrs. Brinton T. Parson Mr. and Mrs. Frederick P. Parson Jr. Mr. John D. Parson Mr. John Peixinho* Mr. and Mrs. Anthony D. Pell* Philadelphia Insurance Companies Mr. John S. Reidy Mr. and Mrs. John Remondi Ms. Diana I. Rigg Roger Williams University Mr. Lucas Rogers Mr. and Mrs. William H. Rousseau Mr. and Mrs. James A. Saltonstall Ms. Elisa S. Sawall

The Sharpe Family Foundation/ Julie and Henry D. Sharpe III Mr. and Mrs. Normand F. Smith III Ms. Julie A. Solz Ms. Jenny Spaur Ms. Lynne M. Spencer and Mr. Jeff Musman Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation Mrs. Frederick A. Stahl Mr. William S. Stout Nancy Taylor and Courtney Taylor The Tiedemann Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Torrey Thomas and Mary Frances Townsend Mr. and Mrs. Gary M. Viera Mr. and Mrs. D. Bradford Wetherell Jr. Mr. and Mrs. John H. Whiton

$500 - $999

Anonymous Ms. Mindy Arbo Ms. Mary M. Barcus Mr. Francois L. Bardonnet and Dr. Steven L. St. Peter Mr. and Mrs. Christopher T. Barrow Dr. and Mrs. Reinier Beeuwkes III Oliver and Martha Bennett Mr. Gary Brierty and Ms. Patrice M. Brierty Ms. Anne C. Bromer and Mr. David Bromer Mr. John Bucci and Ms. Michelle Bucci Mrs. Diana Bui Dr. J. Donald Carmichael Mr. and Mrs. Thomas P. Catalano Christensen-Dunn Early Foundations Fund Dr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Coghlin Mr. Gregory L. Colling Mr. and Mrs. James Nicoll Cooper Mr. Edward J. Costigan Mr. Warren C. Curtis and Mr. Mark Steinbach Michael Daly and Alex Arauz Ms. MaryLou Davis Mr. and Mrs. Jeremiah E. de Rham Dr. Christopher DiGiovanni and Ms. Susan L. N. DiGiovanni Mr. Robert Diserens and Ms. Karla Diserens Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Emlen Ms. Nicole Faulkner Mrs. Thomas T. Fleming Mathieu Gague Mr. and Mrs. James L. Garvin Mr. Peter A. Gittleman Grange Foundation Grogan & Company Wendy E. Gus Mr. Benjamin K. Haavik Mrs. Cyrus I. Harvey Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Hausman Mrs. Nathan V. Hendricks III Highmount Fiduciary LLC Mr. Mark R. Kiefer

Mr. and Mrs. Keith L. Knowlton Mr. and Mrs. George Lewis Drs. John and Francoise Little Mr. and Mrs. Franklin W. McCann* Mr. Paul F. McDonough and Ms. Carla A. Blakley Mr. William L. McQueen and Ms. Carla Bosch-McQueen Mr. and Mrs. Henry Moss Dr. Timothy S. Naimi Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Nylander Order of the First Families of New Hampshire Mr. Samuel Allyne Otis Arthur and Connie Page Mr. Charles H. Page and Mrs. Anne W. Page Miss Julia L. Page Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Parson Mr. Mark Perrin Mr. and Mrs. Norton H. Reamer Ms. Kelly Reynolds Ms. Katharine Richardson Mr. George Russell and Ms. Judith Russell Ms. Christine Salas and Mr. Pito Salas Mr. and Mrs. David W. Scudder Mr. Andre R. Sigourney Mr. and Mrs. Theodore E. Stebbins Jr. Mr. Campbell Steward Mr. Lawrence Stifler and Ms. Mary McFadden Mr. Thomas A. Stone and Ms. Valerie M. Warrior Mrs. Virginia E. Sweatt Ms. Anne G. Symchych Mrs. Mary S. Treyz Mr. and Mrs. John A. Vassallo Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Vincent Mrs. Jeptha H. Wade Waltham West Suburban Chamber of Commerce Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Webb III * Appleton Circle Member ^ Young Friend Patron â&#x20AC; Deceased

Matching Gift Companies Anonymous Amazon Smile Foundation Anchor Capital Advisors Inc. Bank of America BLR CA Inc. Copyright Clearance Center Eaton Vance FM Global Foundation GE Foundation Google Inc. IBM Corporation Liberty Mutual Foundation Millennium Pfizer Foundation Qualcomm Foundation Quantlab Financial LLC

HistoricNewEngland.org

Russell Investments The Stanley Works State Street Foundation Texas Instruments Foundation United Technologies UnumProvident Corporation Archie D. and Bertha H. Walker Foundation YourCause

Gifts in Kind

Nancy J. Barnard California Paints Christie’s Michael J. Cooney, Nixon Peabody LLP Design New England Dr. Donald Ehresmann Robert M. Hale, Goodwin Proctor LLP Mr. Augustus Harrington Tina and Bill Harsch High Output Inc. Independent Archaeological Consulting LLC Ipswich Ale Brewery Jeffrey P. Johnson, WilmerHale Gregory Lombardi Design Long Hill Orchard Mr. Adam Lowe Ms. Barbara-Jean Mancini Marshall Rental Center, Inc. David A Martland, Nixon Peabody LLP Mr. and Mrs. David A. Martland McLaughlin & Moran Inc. North Shore Garlic Company Ocean State Oyster Festival Mr. and Mrs. Greg Shaw Skinner Inc. Urban Tree Service Valley View Farmstead Cheeses Walrus and Carpenter Oysters Ms. Sylvia Weisz

Gifts in Memory of

In memory of Hertha and Ken Kruckeberg Mr. Carl R. Nold and Ms. Vicky L. Kruckeberg In memory of Nancy Krueger Ms. Holly Nixholm and Ms. Helen Donovan In memory of Susan Lyman Mrs. J. Welles Henderson Mrs. Arthur Hilsinger Mr. Carl R. Nold Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Nylander Mr. Alexander Whiteside In memory of Michael Roy Mr. Edward J. Costigan Ms. Sara Willman and Mr. Derek LaPlante In memory of Shirley and Irving Saunders Mr. Donald L. Saunders and Ms. Liv Ullmann In memory of September and Daisy Ms. Anna-Therese Kelly In memory of Brenda Stratemeyer Mrs. Kathleen M. Gray In memory of Bette Tuttle Mr. and Mrs. Stephen DeSalvo In memory of Charles M. Werly Saquish Foundation

Gifts in Honor of

In honor of Maureen Bousa and Kate and Raleigh Shoemaker Ms. Georgene L. Harris

In memory of William Sumner Appleton Mr. and Mrs. D. Bradford Wetherell Jr.

In honor of Cathy and Eric Breitkreutz Ms. Emily Bluvas

In memory of Ms. Marjorie Kazin-Boyce Ms. Elizabeth Bestwick Mrs. Nedra Boyce and Mr. Harold Boyce Ms. Judy Cooper and Mr. James Studders Ms. Jane Cotnoir Ms. Sheryl Crowley Mr. Al Ferreira and Ms. Carol Ferreira Ms. Pearl Motta Carol and Paul Skrodzki Gail Taylor Ms. Iris Tubin Barbara and Lee Tuthill

In honor of Gib and Sarah Carey Ms. Kelly Reynolds

In memory of Ms. Susan Kirk Ms. Bonnie Jo Simon

34 Historic New England Fall 2017

In honor of Dr. Abbott Lowell Cummings† Mr. Joseph Peter Spang III In honor of Dale Flecker Mr. Matthew Olivo In honor of Chip & Margaret Ziering, Ted Vasiliou, George Handran, and Donald Saunders Ms. Kelly Reynolds In honor of Martha Heath Mr. Richard Heath and Ms. Martha Heath

In honor of Jennifer Kent Mrs. Hope L. Baker In honor of the John Lougee Family of New Hampshire Mrs. Matthew R. Simmons In honor of Franklin W. McCann Mr. Carl R. Nold and Ms. Vicky L. Kruckeberg In honor of William Moonan Ms. Janet Moonan In honor of Carl R. Nold, Edward Bousa, Bill Hicks, Roger Servison, Joan Berndt, and Maureen Bousa Mr. and Mrs. Bruce C. Johnstone In honor of Joe and Cathy Provo Mr. Philip Mazza In honor of Kelly Reynolds Ms. Beth Looser In honor of Peter K. and Beth Simonds Mr. and Mrs. Stephen P. Parson In honor of Ken Turino Ms. Anne C. Bromer and Mr. David Bromer In honor of Sally Zimmerman Ms. Katherine Bliss and Ms. Patricia Keighley

Donors to the Collections

Anonymous (2) Ms. Susan D. Abele The Association for Rollinsford Culture and History Ms. Martha A.R. Bewick Ms. Ellen Chalfant Ms. Elena L. Clarke Ms. Marisa Colabuono Mr. Stephen K. Desroches Mrs. Betsey Carroll Loud Detwiler Mr. and Mrs. George and Erica Dodge Ms. Susan Dreier Mrs. Barbara W. Engelbach Mr. Donald M. Faber Ms. Caroline S. Fazekas Mr. and Mrs. Stuart P. Feld Mr. and Mrs. Michael and Marilyn Fenollosa Ms. Katharine Friedel Ms. Leslie Frost Ms. Lucretia Hoover Giese Mr. Peter A. Gittleman The Griswold Family Ms. Pauline Harian Mr. and Mrs. Johanne and Allen Hill Historic Boston Inc. Mr. Henry B. Hoover Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Christopher and Diane Jackson

Mr. Joseph S. Junkin Mr. Paul H. Krueger, AIA Mrs. Diane E. Madore Massachusetts Historical Society Ms. Maureen Meister Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Ms. Kim E. Minear Mr. Robert D. Mussey Jr. Mr. Carl R. Nold Mrs. Jane C. Nylander Mr. Richard C. Nylander Mr. Philip O’Brien Mr. Adam E. Osgood Mr. Charles D. Sherzi Jr. Ms. Pamela Toulopolous Ms. Patricia K. Underhill Mrs. Diane L. Viera Ms. Susan S. Ward Joan Pearson Watkins Revocable Trust Mrs. Natalie L. Webster Miss Eleanor J. Wendell Woburn (Massachusetts) Public Library Estate of Barbara Wriston

Donors to the Library and Archives

Anonymous Mrs. Susan D. Abele Ms. Lynn A. Ackerman Mr. Richard C. Airs Mr. and Mrs. John D. Barnard Mr. and Mrs. Michael Barry Dr. and Mrs. Ernst R. Berndt Mr. Frank Billingsley Mr. John D. Booras Mr. Reynard Bullock Cambridge Historical Commission Dr. Richard M. Candee Ms. Nancy C. Carlisle Mr. John M. Carpenter Mr. Richard W. Cheek Ms. Nancy Coggeshall Ms. Pat Colcord Ms. Lorna Condon Mr. Joseph P. Wilson Cornish Mr. Jon-Paul Couture Ms. Susanna M. Crampton Ms. Nancy Curtis Mr. David DeJean Mr. Stephen K. Desroches Mrs. Betsey Carroll Loud Detwiler Mr. David Martin Dwiggins Mrs. Barbara W. Engelbach Mrs. Nancy Erne Ms. Arlene Fehling Ms. Elaine Fitch and Mr. Richard Fitch Mrs. Pamela W. Fox Mr. Robert J. Frishman Mr. William Fuchs Ms. Lucretia Hoover Giese Mrs. Anne A. Grady Ms. Pauline Harian Ms. Mary Ann Howkins Mr. Robert Hendrickson Ms. Joyce Higgins Mr. Allen Charles Hill

Mr. Wayne Hill Mrs. Sarah R. Hinkle Historic Boston Inc. Mr. Henry B. Hoover Jr. Ms. Melinda L. Huff Mrs. Susan Jarvis Mr. Peter Jeffries Mrs. Susan H. Johnson Mr. Philip H. Kendrick Ms. Nancy Kuntz Mr. William P. Lamb Catherine Coolidge Lastavica Mrs. Phillip B. Lehner Mrs. Arleyn A. Levee Mr. James Lewis Ms. Jane Lewis Miss Selina F. Little Mr. Jonathan B. Loring Mr. James A. Luedke Jr. Ms. Diane E. Madore Mr. Richard M. Marion Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Mr. Donald W. Matheson Ms. Carla Bosch-McQueen Mr. William l. McQueen Ms. Maureen I. Meister and Mr. David L. Feigenbaum Mr. Christopher Monkhouse Ms. Eva S. Moseley Mr. Robert D. Mussey Jr. Mr. Carl R. Nold Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Nylander Prof. James F. O’Gorman Ms. Martha Oaks Mr. Timothy T. Orwig Mrs. William B. Osgood Mrs. and Mr. Robert I. Owens Ms. Diana Barker Price Mr. Daniel D. Reiff Mr. Philip Rines

Mr. Steve Rosenthal Mr. Daniel S. Santos Ms. Elaine Scandale Ms. Marlene C. Schwarz Mr. Robert Bayard Severy Mr. Christopher Shattuck Mr. Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. Mr. Wiliam H. Skerritt Ms. Serena Soares Ms. Julie A. Solz Mrs. Federick A. Stahl Ms. Dawn Sullo Mr. Robert P. Surabian Mr. and Mrs. John R. Tankard Mrs. Judith Telled Ms. Elizabeth Lawrence Thoms Mr. Carmen D. Valentino Wardens and Vestry of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Newcastle, Maine Joan Pearson Watkins Revocable Trust Mr. Roger S. Webb Ms. Cheryl Weber Weston Historical Society Ms. Mary Wilkinson Mr. Richard H. Willis

Otis Society

The Otis Society honors donors who include Historic New England in their wills and estate plans. Named for Harrison Gray Otis, the prominent lawyer and politician whose 1796 home has been a Historic New England museum since 1916, this important group reflects the extraordinary impact of planned giving on the future of Historic New England. Anonymous (6) Diana Abrashkin

Mr. Peter W. Ambler and Ms. Lindsay M. Miller Mrs. Oliver F. Ames Dr. Barbara A. Beall Ralph C. Bloom Mr. Leslie P. Brodacki† Ms. Natalea G. Brown Ms. Jerrilee Cain Thomas C. Casey J. Scott and Valerie McKay Chaloud Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Cheek Ms. Margaret L. Clarke Susan W. Crum Dr. Abbott Lowell Cummings† Mr. and Mrs. Edward A. Currie Stuart A. Drake Mr. and Mrs. Jack Dutzy Mr. William H. Eaton† Mr. Nicholas C. Edsall Dr. Donald Ehresmann Alan S. Emmet Mrs. Marjorie A. Falvey Mr. William B. Finch and Ms. Carol Rose Dr. and Mrs. Oscar Fitzgerald Mr. Paul E. Giese† and Ms. Lucretia Hoover Giese Annabella Gualdoni and Vito Cavallo Mr. Jeffery M. Hall Mr. Philip A. Hayden Mr. Henry B. Hoover Jr. Ms. Linda Sherman Johnston† Mr. Christopher Keppelman Mrs. Mary S. Kingsbery Catherine Coolidge Lastavica Ms. Ginny Leslie Mr. Howard N. Levin† Mr. John Matzke Mr. Paul F. McDonough Jr. and Ms. Carla A. Blakley Warren and Karen McFarlan

William L. McQueen and Carla O. A. Bosch Mr. Alan Murray Mr. John A. Neale and Dr. Stephen L. Boswell Mr. Carl R. Nold Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Nylander Nancy Osgood Mr. Stephen P. Parson Mr. and Mrs. Anthony D. Pell Ms. Pauline Perry† Mr. Brian R. Pfeiffer Cyrus C. Pinkham† Deborah S. Reed Robert B. Rettig Mr. David N. Rooney Mr. and Mrs. Roger T. Servison Mr. Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. Ms. Elinor Silverman† Mr. Alan P. Slack Susan P. Sloan Mr. Richard Sommers Mrs. Frederick A. Stahl Dennis E. Stark and Robert F. Amarantes Mr. J. Reed Stewart Thomas A. Stone and Valerie M. Warrior Ms. Denise C. Sullivan Ms. Bette Task E. Clothier Tepper Ms. Lena A. Thompson† Bryant F. Tolles, Jr. Mr. George E. Triantaris and Mr. Steve Nigzus Mr. William G. Waters† Mr. Kemble Widmer and Ms. Elisabeth Garrett Widmer Mr. Roger D. Willmott † Deceased

HistoricNewEngland.org 35

Financials Operating Financial Statement a April 1, 2016 - March 31, 2017 % increase REVENUE FY 17 FY 16 (decrease)

% of total

Investment Return Designated for Operations b

$ 6,049,000

$ 6,122,000

(1%)

38%

Revenue from Operations

$ 2,359,000

$ 2,199,000

15%

Contributed Income

$ 3,000,000

$ 6,779,000

(56%)

19%

Contributed Income for Property & Long-term Investments

$ 4,662,000

$ 11,601,000

(60%)

29%

TOTAL REVENUE

$ 16,070,000

$ 26,701,000

(40%)

100%

% increase EXPENSES FY 17 FY 16 (decrease)

% of total

Museum Operations

$ 4,016,000

$ 3,037,000

32%

27%

Preservation Maintenance

$ 4,531,000

$ 2,375,000

91%

30%

Collections & Exhibitions

$ 1,982,000

$ 1,834,000

13%

Education & Public Programming

$ 1,366,000

$ 1,571,000

(13%)

Administration

$ 1,168,000

$ 1,198,000

(3%)

Fundraising

$ 594,000

$ 498,000

19%

Revenue Generating Projects

$ 543,000

$ 491,000

11%

Preservation Easement Program

$ 289,000

$ 419,000

(31%)

Marketing

$ 247,000

$ 274,000

(10%)

TOTAL EXPENSES $ 14,736,000

$ 11,697,000

26%

Net Income from Operations c

$ 1,334,000

$ 15,004,000

Endowment Assets

$ 115,536,000

$ 106,003,000

Gain/(Loss) on Investments

$ 11,837,000

$ (6,547,000)

100%

a This financial statement represents the general operating activities for Historic New England only. Other non-operating activity, including realized and unrealized gains on restricted assets, can be found within the audited financial statements. b Investment Return Designated for Operations represents endowment funds approved by the Board of Trustees to support annual operations and income from trusts. The annual draw is based on appropriating 5% (the board may approve more or less from time to time) of the preceding twenty-quarter fair market value of the investments as of December 31. c Net Income from Operations above includes contributions for property acquisitions and long-term investment of $5 million in FY 2017 and $10 million in FY 2016. d Endowment Assets excludes beneficial interest in perpetual trusts which equaled $9.7 million for FY 2017 and $9.5 million for FY 2016.

Historic New England Fall 2017

REVENUE

29%

37%

Investment Return Designated for Operations Revenue from Operations Contributed Income Contributed Income for Property & Long-term Investments

19%

15%

EXPENSES

Museum Operations

27%

Preservation Maintenance Collections & Exhibitions

2% 2%

31%

Education & Public Programming Administration Fundraising

Revenue Generating Projects

13% 9%

Preservation Easement Program Marketing

HistoricNewEngland.org

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An Artistic Statement for a New Age by Nancy Carlisle Senior Curator of Collections Historic New England recently purchased Ipswich Landscape by Arthur Wesley Dow (18571922), now on view at the Eustis Estate in Milton, Massachusetts. Born to an impoverished family in Ipswich, Massachusetts, Dow was an unlikely figure to play a significant role in setting the stage for twentieth-century art. Yet he became one of the nation’s most influential artists of the new millennium. The founder of the Ipswich Summer School of Art, where classes were held from 1891 to 1907, Dow also taught in New York City at the Pratt Institute, the Art Students League, and Ipswich Landscape, by Arthur Wesley Dow, c. 1895 Columbia University. Having trained at the Académie Julian in Paris, Dow chafed at the academic approach to art As a native son of one of the most architecturally that prevailed at the time, an approach he considered intact towns of New England, Dow was also an early imitative rather than artistic. At the Museum of Fine preservationist. His summer school was held in the 1680 Arts, Boston, Dow discovered Japanese printmaking and Howard House, which he and his wife, Minnie, purchased its dependence on line, color, and notan—the balance of to save from demolition. The building later came to Historic light and dark. His embrace of Asian aesthetics and New England, which now holds a preservation easement his teaching coalesced in his immensely popular book on the property. Composition: A Series of Exercises in Art Structure for the Ipswich Landscape shows Dow’s mastery of color and Use of Teachers and Students, published in 1899 and used balance. Much of Dow’s art focused on his native Ipswich. in nearly every art school in the first quarter of the This view of a hillside and pond may be of the area behind twentieth century. In both his teaching and writing Dow his childhood home on East Street, land that he eventually played a key role in ushering in the spirit of modernism purchased and turned over to the town for use as a in America. public park. The award-winning Historic New England magazine is a benefit of membership. To join, please visit HistoricNewEngland.org. 32

Historic New England Fall 2017

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