historic new england winter-spring 2007

HistoricNEW ENGLAND

PRESENTED BY

THE SOCIETY FOR

THE PRESERVATION OF

NEW ENGLAND ANTIQUITIES

WINTER/SPRING 2007

PRESENTED BY

THE SOCIETY FOR

THE PRESERVATION OF

NEW ENGLAND ANTIQUITIES

WINTER/SPRING 2007

A VISIT WITH BERTAND NINA LITTLE

15460.PFC 12/15/06 8:40 PM Page FC

F R O M T H E C H A I R

A key initiative supporting Historic NewEngland’s mission to preserve the built envi-ronment is the new Historic Homeownermembership category. During my years onthe Stewardship Committee, I was struckby the Property Care Team’s extensive ex-pertise in maintaining historic structures,acquired as a result of preserving our ownmuseum properties over many decades. Thepurpose of the Historic Homeowner mem-bership is to share this expertise with abroad group of property owners by offeringaccess to our special knowledge at a rea-sonable cost. Launched just six monthsago, the program has a growing list ofmembers who have benefited from adviceas varied as choosing a historically appro-priate color scheme or adding a wing withoutcompromising a home’s period character.

Most New Englanders live in twentieth-century housing, which, we may be sur-prised to discover, is becoming increasingly“historic.” Maintaining these houses in asensitive manner poses problems not facedby owners of homes built before the indus-trial era, because many machine-made prod-ucts are no longer available. The HistoricHomeowner program is supremely wellequipped to deal with main-tenance questions of anyolder home, regardless of itsdate. I urge you to considerjoining for yourselves and torecommend the membershipto your friends.

—Harold Carroll

SPOTLIGHT 1America’s Kitchens

PRESERVATION 8Caring for your Silver

MAKING FUN OF HISTORY 10Sleighs and Sleds

MUSEUM SHOP 13Sharing the Wealth

COLLECTIONS 14A Legacy of Craftsmanship

LANDSCAPE 22Landscapes of Remembrance

NEWS: NEW ENGLAND & BEYOND 25

ACQUISITIONS 26The Old Hearth

Except where noted, all historic photographs and ephemera are from Historic New England’s Library and Archives.

A Visit with Bert and Nina Little 2

Modern Houses on the Cusp of History 18

V I S I T U S O N L I N E AT w w w. H i s t o r i c N e w E n g l a n d . o r g

HistoricNEW ENGLAND

Winter/Spring 2007Vol. 7, No.3

Historic New England141 Cambridge StreetBoston MA 02114-2702(617) 227-3956

HISTORIC NEW ENGLAND magazine is a benefit of membership.To join Historic New England, please visit our website, HistoricNewEngland.org or call (617) 227-3957, ext.273. Comments? Please callNancy Curtis, editor at (617) 227-3957, ext.235. Historic NewEngland is funded in part by the Institute of Museum and LibraryServices and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Executive Editor Editor DesignDiane Viera Nancy Curtis DeFrancis Carbone

COVER Cogswell’s Grant, Essex, Massachusetts.Photograph by David Carmack.

Ezra

Sto

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1Winter/Spring 2007 Historic New England

S P O T L I G H T

hat does the term“American kitchen”mean to you? This isone of many ques-

tions that Historic New England staffhave been asking since starting twoyears ago to develop a traveling exhibi-tion on the history of the kitchen inAmerica from the seventeenth centuryto the present. To determine potentialinterest in a kitchen show, a consultantqueried focus groups on Historic NewEngland’s behalf. Overwhelmingly, thegroups responded that they would en-joy an exhibition that included bothpersonal stories and interactive, hands-on experiences.

This information is directing theexhibition planning team’s thinking towards human stories, with kitchentechnology and architecture in secon-dary roles. As Curator Nancy Carlislewrites, “More than any other rooms inthe home, kitchens are about relation-ships—connecting people with other

people, as well as with food, space,technology, and work. These relation-ships change over time, and acrossclass, gender, and region. Through thisexhibition, we aim to engage visitors ina deeper understanding of these rela-tionships in their own lives.”

Historic New England’s team alsomeets periodically with a group of dis-tinguished historians and museum professionals, who serve in an advisorycapacity, and with staff from MuseumDesign Associates of Cambridge, Mass-achusetts, who are in the final phase of concept development. The exhibitionwill feature a series of vignettes, in-cluding a New England kitchen (basedon Historic New England’s CoffinHouse in Newbury, Massachusetts), aswell as an entire original 1950s kitchenfrom Levittown, Pennsylvania, all richlyfurnished with objects and enrichedwith sounds, media, and even smell.Thematic clusters will examine suchtopics as children and cooking, food

W preservation, and present-day kitchens.Visitors will be invited to share theirown kitchen stories, and there will beplenty of family-friendly activities. Weare currently seeking photographs ofkitchens taken after the year 2000. Visitwww.AmericasKitchens.org to learnhow you can submit a photograph ofyour kitchen for possible inclusion in amedia slide show within the exhibition.

The exhibition will open in thespring of 2008 at the Indianapolis Historical Society, Indiana, and thentravels to the Oregon Historical Society,Portland; the National Building Mu-seum, Washington, D.C; the NationalHeritage Museum, Lexington, Mass-achusetts; and the Missouri HistoricalSociety, St. Louis.

—Ken TurinoExhibitions Manager

Mus

eum

Des

ign

Ass

oci

ates

America’s Kitchens

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A Visit with

Bert and Nina Little

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When Bert and Nina Little purchased the c.1730 farm-house in Essex, Massachusetts, in August 1937, they hadalready become very interested in old houses, “the old housebusiness,” as Nina once referred to it. Three years earlier, shehad set forth her forward-looking ideas on restoration,preservation, and furnishing old houses in an article titled“Restoring the Personality of an Old House.” So when thecouple went looking for a summer house for themselves andtheir family, one of their goals was to find one that indeedcould be restored following this approach.

The architectural features of the somewhat run-downand vacant-looking farmhouse appealed to them immediately

FACING PAGE Grained woodwork, a contemporary-looking decoy,

carved ship’s billetheads, and a painting of a ship launching by John

S. Blunt, c. 1815, invite visitors into the front hall. ABOVE LEFT In the

green sitting room, a portrait by John Durand hangs above one of

the Littles’ favorite pieces, a c.1750 dressing table updated in the

1830s with rosewood graining. ABOVE RIGHT The Littles, shown here

in 1973, enjoyed fifty summers at Cogswell’s Grant.

“It’s just like stepping back

into the eighteenth century”

Nina Fletcher Little, when it first opened to the public in1998. Responding to the overall atmosphere of the place, thevisitor obviously did not notice the television set in the sittingroom or stop to think that no room in a colonial housewould ever contain so many objects, let alone have decoysmarching across book shelves or peering out from beneath asettle beside a fireplace. Those details speak not to the eigh-teenth century but clearly to the Littles’ life in the house inthe twentieth century, as well as to their personal collectinginterests, accumulated knowledge, and wonderful sense ofhumor. In a larger sense, the whole house reflects the interestin antiques and the American past and how it developed andchanged over the Littles’ lifetimes.

hose were the words of one

visitor to Cogswell’s Grant, the

summer home of Betram K. and T

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4 Historic New England Winter/Spring 2007

and were perhaps even more intriguing because all the wood-work had been painted white and every fireplace had beenblocked up. Nina later recalled, “Personally, I couldn’t waitto get at the restoration of the house!”What the Littles did to each room and thereasons for their decisions are detailed inextensive notes, several articles, and intwo oral histories I was privileged to re-cord in 1976. Investigating, document-ing, and restoring the house was a mem-orable experience for them both—somuch so that they included tales of theirdiscoveries during the restoration in thetours they gave for years thereafter.

Besides opening up the large fireplaces in two first-floorrooms, the Littles made the exciting discovery of decorativepainting on the woodwork of some of the rooms. Just abouta month after they passed papers, they invited Clarence andEsther Stevens Brazer to look over the house with them. TheBrazers were fellow old house and antiques enthusiasts, andEsther Stevens Brazer was already known for her pioneeringstudies of decorative painting on both furniture and walls.Mrs. Brazer scraped the paint in all the rooms to determine

the original colors and took particular care when scrapingthe large fielded panels over the fireplaces in the sitting roomand bedroom above it in case they contained pictorial scenes.

Although they did not, she did uncoverdistinctive color schemes in those roomsand in the stair hall. The Littles hiredher to come back for two weeks in Juneof 1939 to replicate the decorativepainting that she found. Bert Littlealways delighted in pointing to a changein color on the fireplace wall of thegreen sitting room and recounting thestory that when Mrs. Brazer ran out ofgreen paint he went to several local

paint stores, and not finding what she needed, went toBoston “even though,” he noted, “it was a Saturday.” Thegreen paint he brought back was a bluer shade than what shehad been using, but the job had to be finished. The Littleslived with the discrepancy and enjoyed telling the tale.

Early in their marriage, Bert and Nina Little becameinterested in antiques in addition to old houses. Nina creditedEdna Greenwood, the wife of one of Bert’s cousins, for her loveof country antiques and appreciation of original finishes. “All

ABOVE LEFT The downstairs guest room is a microcosm of the

Littles’ varied interests—early furniture, hand-made textiles, land-

scape paintings, and carved birds. BELOW The same room as it

looked when it was first furnished in 1940. ABOVE RIGHT A type-

writer,catalogue cards,and notebooks are testament to Nina Little’s

voluminous research and correspondence, much of it done in this

15460.P04 12/28/06 5:20 PM Page 04


the early things that I learned about antiques were learnedfrom Edna Greenwood. She took me around to country auc-tions—when auctions really were country auctions— and shetold me that I could pick up old things, simple old things, forless than I could reproductions.” Edna Greenwood had a def-inite aesthetic, and according to Nina, “never refinished any-thing.” After the Littles moved into Cogswell’s Grant, theydecided that they too “would buy things, if possible with theold finish, the old paint, and not do any restoration or refin-ishing that was not completely necessary.” This pioneeringapproach to earlier finishes was one that always distinguishedthe Littles’ collection and came to have a profound influenceon later generations of collectors and museum curators.

The atmosphere created by Edna Greenwood at herc.1705 house, Time Stone Farm in Marlborough, Massachu-setts, also had an enormous effect on the Littles, and Ninasaid more than once that she thought that her visits therewere as close as she would ever get to the eighteenth century.“We liked that farm very much; we admired it, we felt com-fortable there.” Not surprisingly, they sought to recreatesome of the effects of Time Stone Farm at Cogswell’s Grant.There it is most apparent in the downstairs guest room, withits exposed beam ceiling and its eclectic array of objects.

While the Littles preferred eighteenth- and early nine-teenth-century material, Nina remarked that “we’ve neverbeen tied down to period collecting.” They bought objects ofany age that they felt were good of their type and thatappealed to them. They also bought objects that piqued theircuriosity, ones, as Bert said, that opened up “new avenues ofinterest… new things that you can look up and try to learnmore about.” In the early years of their collecting, theylooked for opportunities to buy things directly from families,either at private house sales or at auction. Many of theobjects at Cogswell’s Grant were acquired in this manner andthus share family histories. Nina felt strongly that collectorsshouldn’t just enjoy owning such objects but also had aresponsibility to preserve their family histories and connec-tions. While serious about documentation, the Littles alsohad fun collecting and often mentioned a minor but definiteelement in their pursuit was finding objects that had person-ality. This is particularly apparent in the expressions on thearray of decoys and other animal forms placed about the house.

Nina Little’s research is legendary. In the course of herlife she authored over one hundred and fifty articles, books,and book reviews, nearly fifty of them for The MagazineAntiques. She delved right into the records related to

small office off the green sitting room. ABOVE LEFT The dresser in the

dining room, one of the Littles’ first purchases, is full to overflowing

with a collection of utilitarian pieces of New England redware.

In contrast, hearty meals of farm fare were served on English

transfer-printed blue Staffordshire. ABOVE RIGHT In a humorous jux-

taposition, the Littles hung a nineteenth-century temperance

painting and this redware plate in the pantry, where evening drinks

were mixed.

15460 12/28/06 5:21 PM Page 05

Historic New England Winter/Spring 20076

ABOVE LEFT Nina Little did pioneering research on many little-

known American artists. Portraits by George Gassner, Ammi

Phillips, and Benjamin Greenleaf hang in the second floor rooms.

BELOW The stack of Shaker boxes has become an icon of the

American country look. ABOVE RIGHT A wooden train placed in

front of a painted train on a tavern sign is typical of how the Littles

Cogswell’s Grant, the name they gave to the property, to learnas much as she could, and in 1940, published two quite dif-ferent articles on the place. She set forth her documentaryresearch in deeds and inventories in the Essex InstituteHistorical Collections and the newly restored, sparselyfurnished rooms were illustrated in Antiques. Eventhough the couple were students of the past and wereaware of a 1752 probate inventory that itemizedwhat Jonathan Cogswell had in each room, theynever felt compelled to create period room settings.Cogswell’s Grant was always called “the farm”by the Little family and Nina’s very definite ideasof what she considered “suitable” for a ruralfarmhouse guided what was placed in itsrooms. “Simple,” “informal,” and “country”were the words she most frequently usedto describe the furnishings of the house. Ifan object had associations with EssexCounty, so much the better. And in addition toantiques for the main rooms of the house, the Littles wereequally happy to find a rain barrel for one of the barns or aninteresting object in the attic of a house that they could trans-fer to their own attic.

The rooms at Cogswell’s Grant were never static. Thecollections grew with the couple’s expanding interests as wellas with their involvement with other museums’ collections.

While Bert was fulfilling his obligations as director of theSociety for the Preservation of New England, now

Historic New England, Nina was able to able to takeon projects like teaching courses at the Seminars inEarly American Culture at the New York StateHistorical Association in Cooperstown, New York,writing the first catalogue for the Abby Aldrich

Rockefeller Folk Art Collection in Williamsburg,Virginia, and developing the furnishing scheme

for the Salem Towne House at Old SturbridgeVillage in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Each ofthese experiences honed her research skills andsharpened her eye. The sparsely furnishedrooms of the 1940s increasingly gave way to arich tapestry of painted furniture, redware,

carved weather vanes, hooked rugs, and paintingsof the New England landscape and some of its quite sterninhabitants—all arranged with a keen eye for form and color.

In addition to being the backdrop to this growing collec-tion, Cogswell’s Grant was a place for the Littles to enjoy their

15460.P06 12/15/06 8:41 PM Page 06


family and to entertain friends. The family photograph albums,called “The Farm Books,” record not only the arrival of live-stock for the barn and antiques for the house but also familyweddings and the first visits of grandchildren. CelebratingBert’s birthday in July was always a major summer event.The guest book chronicles the visits by the Littles’ closestmuseum colleagues and dealer friends. Alice Winchester,long-time editor of Antiques magazine, visited most summersfor forty years. In 1994 she vividly recalled a typical visit—upon arrival, “Nina would promptly sit me down and giveme time to look at their recent acquisitions. We would exam-ine each one closely, noting its distinctive characteristics, andNina would tell me what she had learned of its history andsignificance, and of its relation to something else in the col-lection.” Others, no doubt, had similar experiences. In thedays before publications like Maine Antiques Digest andAntiques and The Arts Weekly, lively conversations revolvedaround news in the antiques world—upcoming sales, recentdiscoveries, and what was going on in museums.

Cogswell’s Grant was very much a retreat for Bert andNina Little, but they generously shared it with historical soci-eties, collectors, and students of all ages—as well as with themany members of the Cogswell family who made pilgrim-

ages to see the ancestral homestead. The Walpole Society, agroup of collectors from across the country of which Bertwas a member, visited the collection and was entertained atdinner several times; members of the Rushlight Club, one ofthe collectors’ clubs formed in Boston in the 1930s, wasinvited to study the collection of early lighting devices. AndNina always graciously shared her knowledge of specificobjects with graduate students and young curators. Onecould not help being inspired by the Littles or influenced bytheir collection in some way. A couple from Ohio summed upthe experience of many who visited the Littles at Cogswell’sGrant when they wrote in the guest book, “Must return—what treasures, just like the couple who have put it here formany to learn and enjoy.”

—Richard C. NylanderSenior Curator

arranged related objects. ABOVE Bert and Nina Little shared the

joys of collecting and researching. Here they are at work in the

Cogswell’s Grant parlor, preparing the index for Nina’s first book,

American Decorative Wall Painting, published in 1952.

Visit Cogswell’s Grant from June 1 through October 15,Wednesday through Sunday, 11 am to 4 pm, free to membersof Historic New England.

15460.P07 12/15/06 8:41 PM Page 07


ilver has long been prized forits lustrous beauty, but unlikegold, silver soon discolors andtarnishes with exposure to

sulfurous gases and pollutants in theenvironment. Proper handling andstorage of silver will limit the amountof corrosion and discoloration fromtarnish. Always handle your silver withgloves and store it, wrapped in acid-free tissue, inside protective bagsembedded with sulfur scavengingmaterials (such as Pacific Silver Clothor Corrosion Intercept bags) when noton display.

When you want your silver toshine, it is important to be careful inhandling and cleaning it so as not tocause long-term damage. Commercialproducts—pre-mixed polishes, polish-ing cloths and waddings, liquids andfoams, and chemical dips—are not rec-

ommended for use on antique silver ormuseum pieces because they can leaveresidues or be too abrasive. Chemicaldips can pit the silver surface with pro-longed contact and even be harmful tothe user. Polishing cloths, which havefewer abrasives than other products,are the gentlest commercial productsavailable, but they too can cause dam-age if used too aggressively and so arerecommended only for removing lightsurface discoloration and buffing.

The safest method to polish silveris to use a very fine polishing paste youcan easily make yourself fromprecipitated calcium carbonatemixed with distilled water andethanol (denatured alco-hol). The materials canbe ordered (see informa-tion on facing page), andonce you have them on

P R E S E R V A T I O N

S hand, the process of polishing is actuallyeasier than using a commercial product.

Before you start working on yourobject, it is important to understand it.Is it sterling silver or silver plate? Doesit have non-metal parts such as woodenhandles or finials or other decorativedetails made out of ivory, bone, shell,or some other organic material? Is thefoot or bottom of the piece coveredwith felt or fabric? Is the base or otherhollow area filled or weighted? Platedobjects, such as Sheffield plate, haveonly a thin layer of silver applied over

a copper substrate. This thin layer ofsilver is very easily abraded and re-

moved with excessive polishing(see figure to left); plated

objects should be polishedinfrequently. Non-metaldecorative elements should

not come in contact with

Caring for your Silver

David Carmack

15460.P08 12/15/06 8:41 PM Page 08

Buy a silver polishing kit for $12.95at Historic New England’s online shopat www.HistoricNewEngland.org orby calling (617) 227-3956 ext. 237.Supplies may be purchased separatelyfrom conservation supply cataloguessuch as Talas (212) 219-0770(www.talas-online.com).

that you are not scratching the surfaceby pressing too hard with your swab orcloth.

When you have finished polishing,remove any residual chalk by wipingoff the object with a clean soft clothdampened with distilled water. Care-fully examine any recessed areas ofdecoration and around lips and handlesto be sure that you have removed anyembedded polish, as residue will attractand hold moisture to the surface of themetal and, over time, will corrode andpit the surface. Use the softened tip ofa bamboo skewer, a small hand-rolledswab, or a small soft natural-bristlepaint brush to release trapped polishresidue (figure 3). After cleaning, besure to dry the piece thoroughly so thatno water is trapped in small recessesand crevices.

You can keep your polished silverlooking bright by regularly damp-wiping the surface (using distilledwater and a soft cotton cloth) to keeptarnish build-up to a minimum. Prop-erly storing your silver when not ondisplay or in use will also help ensurethat it is protected.

—Julie SolzTeam Leader, Collection Services


the polish or water during the cleaningprocess. It is essential that you protectthese materials before you begin.

To begin, prepare a work area withgood ventilation, cover your work sur-face with a clean soft towel, and wearcotton, polypropylene, or nitrile gloves(not latex or rubber) so that oils andsalts from your skin do not come incontact with the metal. Next, gentlyremove all loose dust from the surfaceof the piece with a soft natural-bristlebrush or electrostatic dusting cloth.This will ensure that abrasive dust par-ticles will not scratch the metal surfaceduring polishing.

Protect all non-metal parts anddecorative elements by wrapping themwith Teflon® tape (a thin white water-proof tape used in plumbing) to pro-tect them from contact with water andthe calcium carbonate paste. Teflon®

tape is safe to use on your object as it contains no adhesives but will stickto itself when tightly wrapped. Wrapthe tape around the handle or finialseveral times to ensure full coverage ofthe element.

Once all areas have been protected,gently wipe the object with a soft cotton cloth dampened with distilledwater. Do not submerge it, as watercan easily be trapped inside hollowhandles and areas in the vessel that aredifficult to dry or clean. Dry it thor-oughly with a soft, clean cotton clothand allow it to stand for a while inwarm air.

Prepare a polish paste of precipi-tated calcium carbonate powder, dis-tilled water, and ethanol. Place a small

mound of the powder into the center ofa shallow dish, slowly mix in wateruntil it forms a paste with the consis-tency of cream, and to this slurry add afew drops of ethanol. Use the corner ofa soft cotton cloth or a hand-wrappedcotton swab to apply the polish to theobject’s surface (figure 1). To make aswab, pull a small amount of cottonfrom a cotton ball and twist it onto thepointed tip of a bamboo skewer byholding the cotton and skewer betweenyour thumb and index finger androlling the skewer to the left. Rollingyour own swabs is important, as youcan make both large soft bulbousswabs for applying polish and smalltight ones to use around applied han-dles and spouts and in raised decora-tion. Commercially produced swabsare not recommended, as they are tootightly wound and may scratch the softsilver surface.

Apply the polish with an even, cir-cular motion. Do not use too muchpressure, as silver scratches easily. Youdon’t need to use a lot of paste to beeffective; too much will become thickand clumpy and will not effectively re-move the tarnish build-up. Discard thecotton swab—or rotate the soft cottoncloth—as soon as either one becomessoiled, so that corrosive particles fromthe tarnish that have transferred to theswab or cloth will not abrade the metalsurface. Work on a small area at a time, and gently brush off the polishwith a soft natural bristle brush orcloth as soon as it dries (figure 2). Asyou move around the object, check theareas you have cleaned to make sure

1 2 3

FACING PAGE Clockwise: Porringer, 1780–1800,

Stephen Emery, Boston; Teapot, 1805–06,

Ann, Peter and William Bateman, London;

Nut Basket, 1870–1880, Bigelow Kennard, Co.,

Boston; Pitcher, 1917, Shreve, Crump & Low,

Co., Boston; Cream Pot, c. 1750, Daniel Parker,

Boston; Sugar Tongs, 1820–30, M.P. Stickney,

Newburyport, Massachusetts.

15460.P09 12/15/06 8:41 PM Page 09


This is a foot warmer. Imagine that you are riding ina sleigh on a beautiful, crisp winter day—and think

how cold your feet might get after a little while. Butyou’d be comfortable if you had a foot warmer like this one.

There would be hot coals inside the drawer, and you could con-trol the heat by adjusting the vents on each end. More air would makethe coals burn hot; less air would turn the heat “down.” The footwarmer’s carpet covering would make a toasty place to rest your feet,and to top it all off, you would be covered up with a fur lap robe thatwould hold in the heat.

M A K I N G F U N O F H I S T O R Y

When deep snow made wheeled

carriages impractical,

early New Englanders hitched

their horses to sleighs.

�

By 1700The word sleigh(from Dutch slee) is common in New England.

1776Cannons from FortTiconderoga, N.Y.,were dragged toBoston on “sledges.”

1790First iceboat inNorth America is abox with runners onfour corners.

1887Flexible Flyer sledwith “super steer-ing” is patented.

1924Bobsled competitionis included in the firstwinter Olympics.

Can you guess what this is?

Sleighs and Sleds

The sleighs’ metal runners glided easily over snow and ice,and horses were shod with special winter horseshoes thatgave them good traction. Although we no longer usesleighs to get around in the winter, childrenstill find it thrilling to flydown a hill covered withfreshly fallen snow ontheir sleds.

�� do you know

15460.P10 12/15/06 8:41 PM Page 10


Many types of everyday itemswere adapted for winter use.This “stroller” sleigh was used by the Pierce family ofDorchester, Massachusetts, in the1800s. Before there were cars, NewEnglanders used a variety of means oftransportation that are not familiar to us today.

Find these detailsfrom the picturesin this magazine. !Challenge

With its characteristic curve at the front,which keeps things from falling off and allowseasy passage over obstacles, the toboggan isone of the most recognizable types of sleds.You may think of the toboggan as a sportingsled, but the first ones were made by AmericanIndians, who used them to transport game andsupplies over the snow. Toboggans can attaingreat speeds and have therefore long been thefavorite sled of thrill seekers.

Answers can be found on page 21.

1925A team of sled dogs raced650 miles to Nome, Alaska,to bring medicine during thediphtheria epidemic.

1937Joseph ArmandBombardier introducesthe snowmobile.

1950sKalamazoo SledCompany manufacturesthe first round, plastic“Flying Disk.”

The route they took is now

by the Iditarod race.commemorated every year

and I’ll tell you a story about some kids who used a grandfather clock as a sled!

��dashing through

the snow

Tell me about your favorite sledding experience.Write me at [email protected]

a snowstroller?

15460.P11 12/15/06 8:42 PM Page 11


M A K I N G F U N O F H I S T O R Y

Jingle BellsAlthough the words of the 1859 song “Jingle Bells” may

make you think that the bells’ main function was to add

an extra level of merriment to a sleigh ride, the

bells actually served an important practi-

cal purpose. Sleighs glide almost

silently, and snow muffles the sound

made by the horses. To ward off

accidents and alert other travel-

ers and pedestrians, especially at

night, people attached strings of

bells to the horses’ harnesses. If the

jingling added to the delight of riding in

a sleigh, so much the better.

—Gail White Education Program Coordinator

Make a set of sleigh bells for your bedroom door.

Doorknob sleigh bells3 or 4 bells (from a craft store)3 eighteen-inch colorful pipe cleaners3 or 4 nine-inch pieces of ribbonscissors

1. Twist the pipe cleaners tightly and neatly together at oneend and then braid them, leaving one inch unbraided at the end.

2. Bend the braid into a circle and secure by tightly wrappingtwo of the unbraided pipe cleaners together.

3. Tie a bell to the end of each piece of ribbon and trim the ends.

4. Tie the other ends of the ribbons to the pipe cleaner circleat the joint.

5. Wrap the third end of pipe cleaner around the tied ribbonends to secure.

Hang the bells on your bedroom doorknob.When the weather warms up, hang them onthe handlebars of your bike.

15460.P12 12/15/06 8:42 PM Page 12


M U S E U M S H O P

ince I came to Historic NewEngland in 2003, I have lookedfor ways to increase publicaccess to our incredibly rich his-

toric resources. Because publication isone of the most effective ways of doingthis, we have embarked on a project toproduce a series of beautifully printed,affordable books focusing on an aspectof our collections. The Camera’s Coast,Historic Images of Ship and Shore inNew England, is the inaugural volume,with text by maritime historian BillBunting and an introduction by Har-vard professor John R. Stilgoe. It is anabsolutely splendid book—beautifullyprinted, with witty and informativecaptions—that will enchant you fromthe moment you first glance into it. Iam confident that you will find it im-possible to put down.

The book grew out of HistoricNew England’s traveling exhibition of historic maritime photographs, forwhich Bill Bunting served as guest

curator. Supplementing theblack-and-white images is adiverse array of colorful eph-emera from the Library andArchives—old postcards, adver-tisements, posters, steamer tick-ets—that provides context foror offers sly comment upon thesubjects depicted in the pho-tographs. It takes some study tosee how the ephemera relates tothe main photo, which con-tributes to the engaging nature of thisinnovative book. Bunting’s lively textprovides the stories behind the images—sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic,but always captivating. The book willappeal to the specialist and the generalreader alike; indeed, it will delight any-one who ever whiled away the hoursgazing at the sea.

—Carl R. Nold President and CEO

SSharing theWealth

The Camera’s Coast: Historic Images ofShip and Shore in New England. 144 pages,with 252 black-and-white photographs and color illustrations. Soft cover. $29.95;member price $26.95 (plus shipping andtax). To order, call (617) 227-3957, ext.237 or order online at www.HistoricNewEngland.org.

15460.P13 12/15/06 8:42 PM Page 13

uring the course of its 130-year history, the

Perry Paint Company was responsible for paint-

ing and decorating some of America’s most

famous buildings. When the company was sold

in the late 1980s, Samuel D. Perry, the fourth generation to have

worked in the family firm, recognized along with other family

members the importance of preserving the company’s archives

and donated them to Historic New England. In a recent con-

versation with Lorna Condon, curator of

Library and Archives, Perry reflected upon

his family’s business. Their discussion ap-

pears on the following pages.

C O L L E C T I O N S

ALegacyof Craftsmanship


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THIS PAGE Photograph, c. 1906, of the company headquarters

at 44 Winchester Street, Boston; a sampling of fabrics, wall-

paper, paint finishes, and decorative moldings reflecting the

variety of services offered by the firm; and a plaster relief

depicting the Three Graces modeled by John Singer Sargent.

FACING PAGE, LEFT Chinese wallpaper hung in the Governor’s

Palace at Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia.

FACING PAGE, ABOVE Company sign, with elegant lettering on

painted wood. FACING PAGE, RIGHT Samuel D. Perry examines

a book from the company’s reference library.

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LC. Sam, please talk about the company’s founding and itsearly history.SP. My great-grandfather, the first Lewis F. Perry, founded thecompany in South Dedham, Massachusetts (now Norwood), in1858. Surviving account books from that time record that hebegan by working for family and friends in the area. By themid-1860s, he had moved the company to Boston and rentedspace in the garret of the Old Corner Book Store. The fledg-ling company’s big break came in 1876–77, when my great-grandfather assisted John LaFarge with the decoration ofTrinity Church in Boston. By the 1890s, the company’s rep-utation was sufficiently established so that it was only naturalfor Cornelius Vanderbilt and his architect, Richard MorrisHunt, to engage the company to paint The Breakers inNewport, Rhode Island. We know from the company’s orig-inal survey sheets that the work cost approximately$285,000, which was a pretty large sum thenand in today’s dollars would be in the tens ofmillions. Around the turn of the twentieth cen-tury, a cousin, Benjamin Whitney, joined thefirm. At that time the business expanded fromjust painting to the full scope of interior deco-rating—carpets, upholstery, curtains, furnish-ings, and even stained glass. At one point, thecompany employed over 165 craftsmen workingthree shifts per day. Following a disastrousoffice fire in 1908, Ben Whitney left the companyto start what ultimately became Roach and

Craven, leaving my grandfather, Edward K. Perry, and hisbrother John to reorganize as Lewis F. Perry and Sons, a com-pany they operated together until the 1920s. In 1927, thetwo brothers divided this company, owing to philosophicaldifferences about its future. My grandfather reincorporatedhis half as the Edward K. Perry Company, which continuedin operation until the late 1980s.

LC. Please list some of the company’s greatest achievements.SP. I have already mentioned Trinity Church and The Breakers.In addition, the company worked with John Singer Sargenton the decoration of the Boston Public Library, the Rotundaof the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Memorial Roomat Harvard’s Widener Library. Sargent even maintained atemporary studio at the company. In 1899, my great-grand-father painted the interior of Boston’s Symphony Hall. Thatpaint job, with its acoustic properties, remained untouchedfor sixty-eight years, until my father, the second Lewis F.Perry, oversaw its restoration in 1967. Other important com-missions included the Brigham Annex of the MassachusettsState House, period rooms at the Metropolitan Museum andthe Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Winterthur, Radio CityMusic Hall, Colonial Williamsburg, Historic Deerfield, andOld Sturbridge Village. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwaterwas also one of the firm’s commissions. My grandfatheroften boasted that in traveling up and down the East Coast,one could visit numerous important buildings that had beenpainted by the company.

LC. What made the company’s work so special and highlysought after?SP. The level of craftsmanship and the finishes. My grandfa-ther developed a number of special decorative techniques.For example, his ammonia stains burn “color” directly intothe wood to highlight the grain in a way that an oil-basedstain, which sits directly on the surface of the wood, cannot.The company also created the technique of encaustic waterglazing, which involves floating several layers of differing“colors” over a casein or craftex base. Because protein-basedpaints are remarkably stable and long-lasting, we called this

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technique our “one-hundred-year finish.” My grand-father would tell me, “You paint once and then spendthe next fifty or sixty years cleaning and washing—that is all that is necessary.” Perfection was the goalof the firm. It was not uncommon for the company’spainters to apply more than eleven coats in order toachieve a desired effect.

LC. Please describe your family’s gift to Historic New England.SP. When the company was sold in 1986, Mother and I feltthat it was of the utmost importance to preserve the recordsof the firm, especially the contents of the Sample Room. TheSample Room contained examples of the firm’s work datingback to the 1890s. There are many thousands of cards andboards which illustrate decorative finishes and paint colorsemployed by the firm. The firm’s extensive reference librarywas also part of the gift. These volumes were sources ofinspiration for my great-grandfather, grandfather, and father.In addition, hundreds of stencils, some designed and cut byJohn Singer Sargent, came with the donation. Other objectsincluded architectural fragments and samples of wallpaper,marble, fabric, architectural drawings, and photographs. Bygiving the collection to Historic New England, we knew thatit would not only be preserved but would bereadily accessible to researchers.

LEFT Page from an early twentieth-century calendar listing the

firm's services around the border. BELOW The Sample Room at the

company’s offices at 322 Newbury Street, Boston, in 1986. BOTTOM

Pages from one of the books, many of them rare, included in the

firm's large reference library,and a sample detail of the ironwork by

Samuel Yellin, installed to form teller enclosures at the former State

Street Trust Company’s main office at 53 State Street, Boston.

The Perry Paint Company collection is a unique documentof American taste and practice in the decorative arts anda significant resource for anyone researching the history ofinterior design. It is valuable from a variety of standpoints:as a record of nineteenth- and twentieth-century painttechnology and technique; as an archive of the originalcolors and wall treatments for hundreds of historic build-ings and private homes; and as a record of the history of along-lived family business.

Historic New England gratefully acknowledgesthe Perry family for their gift of thecompany archive and Sam Perry forhis ongoing support of and interestin the collection.

FACING PAGE, TOP Design for trompe l’oeil

ceiling at the First Congregational

Church on Nantucket. FACING PAGE, BOTTOM

Stencil, one of a number in the collec-

tion, cut by John Singer Sargent.

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even years into the twenty-first century, we canbegin to look back on the 1900s with a historian’seye. In terms of New England architecture, many of our twentieth-century design icons are designated

National Historic Landmarks, among them Historic NewEngland’s Gropius House in Lincoln, Massachusetts, andPhilip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut.Beyond these masterworks, though, interest and appreciationfor the region’s Modernist houses often lag behind otherparts of the country, and even works by some of the centu-ry’s most noted architects face demolition or loss. Individualhigh-style modern houses dotting New England’s coastlineand ski slopes and whole suburban subdivisions built onModernist planning and design principles go largely unrec-ognized, while examples on the West Coast are celebrated bydevotees of 1950s and ’60s design.

Justly recognized as a modern masterpiece, the 1938Gropius House epitomizes the aesthetic principles of theInternational Style (volume as opposed to solidity, regularityas opposed to symmetry, and intrinsic as opposed to applied

ornament). However, the Gropius House is not simply ahighly personal and significant expression of Bauhaus princi-ples, but also part of a unique neighborhood on Woods EndRoad, where, between 1937 and 1939, on twenty acres pro-vided by Helen Osborne Storrow from her South Lincolnestate, Gropius and his Harvard Graduate School of Designcolleagues, architects Marcel Breuer and Walter Bogner, built the earliest enclave of International Style houses in the country. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988, Woods End Road represents a significantsocial experiment in which the residents organized them-selves to cooperate on common concerns related to their livestogether as neighbors.

In 1947, a group of young architects at The Architects’Collaborative (TAC), the firm they founded with Gropius in 1945, decided to replicate the Woods End Road experi-ment and purchased twenty acres of their own in Lexington,Massachusetts, where they constructed homes for themselvesas part of a formal cooperative that provided for shared governance and communal amenities, including a pool and

S

Modern Houseson the Cusp of History

Phokion Karas

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FACING PAGE The living room of the 1964 Huygens House in

Wayland, Massachusetts, designed by architect Rem Huygens,

illustrates the International Style’s principles of volume, regu-

larity, and intrinsic ornament. THIS PAGE One of a number of

Modernist houses in Lincoln, Massachusetts, the 1937 Hoover

House, architect Henry B. Hoover’s residence, predates the

Gropius House by one year. Its windows date to a 1955 reno-

vation by Mr. Hoover.

FACING PAGE The living room of the 1964 Huygens House in

Wayland, Massachusetts, designed by architect Rem Huygens,

illustrates the International Style’s principles of volume, regu-

larity, and intrinsic ornament. THIS PAGE One of a number of

Modernist houses in Lincoln, Massachusetts, the 1937 Hoover

House, architect Henry B. Hoover’s residence, predates the

Gropius House by one year. Its windows date to a 1955 reno-

vation by Mr. Hoover.

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cables alone. ABOVE RIGHT Architect Walter Bogner’s 1939 Woods

End Road house was a model for his studies in the standardization

of pre-fabricated houses, an important focus of his career.

ABOVE LEFT The Breuer-Robeck House, built in 1947, is the first

house architect Breuer designed for himself in New Canaan, Con-

necticut; the projecting balcony originally was supported by tension

City, and among whom was Marcel Breuer, Gropius’ formercolleague and Woods End Road neighbor, began buying landand building houses for themselves that departed utterlyfrom the fine old houses of the small bedroom community.By the spring of 1949, New Canaan had held its first “mod-ern house tour” attracting thousands and establishing itselfas one of the country’s foremost Modernist suburbs.

But despite Modernism’s triumph in the intellectualrealm of twentieth-century American architectural training,Modernist houses and neighborhoods were often architec-tural oddities, largely ignored and now frequently threat-ened. Never common or popular, these houses face new tests,from their (by today’s standards) small size and the relativeinefficiencies of their abundant glazing and open floor plans.Despite these perceived challenges, however, Modernisthouses can be upgraded, enlarged, and made more energyefficient through thoughtful planning and compatible newmaterials. Magazines like Atomic Ranch, catering to ownersof Modernist houses, a newly-published study of A-framehouses, and listings of post-World War II subdivisions on theNational Register of Historic Places all point to an emergingpreservation network for this overlooked resource.

recreation space. Named Six Moon Hill, the community’sfounders promoted the progressive goals of what architectNorman Fletcher, quoted in a recent article, called a “goodcommunity…an open community, with no prejudices.”

In several subdivisions around Boston, the Woods EndRoad and Six Moon Hill concepts were put into broaderpractice in the 1940s and ’50s. In Concord, Massachusetts,in 1951, for example, a collaboration of MassachusettsInstitute of Technology economics and architecture profes-sors, W. Rupert McLaurin and Carl Koch, produced theConantum development, with more than one hundred homeson 190 acres, of which sixty acres were set aside communal-ly for ball fields, tennis courts, and playgrounds. Conantumhomes, sold to young couples for an affordable $10,000 to$16,000, incorporated aspects of modular and pre-fabricatedconstruction to reduce costs and enhance flexibility for grow-ing families. Certain interior walls, for example, were mov-able and could be rearranged to suit changing needs whilemodular floor plans were designed with expansion in mind.

Far from Boston’s professorial suburbs, a group ofGropius-trained architects began another Modernist experi-ment in New Canaan in the late 1940s. The so-called“Harvard Five,” all architects then practicing in New York

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15460.P20 12/28/06 4:40 PM Page 20


Historic New England’s Historic Homeowner membership pro-gram, which provides specialized technical advice and consulta-tion to owners of old houses, is an important source of help forowners of Modernist houses and other twentieth-century housetypes. Window repair, for example, poses particular challenges,as window types proliferated through the century, moving wellbeyond the standard double-hung wood sash to include steelcasements, gliding and sliding windows, picture windows, andthe first insulated windows.

Historic Homeowner members receive an annual onlinepaint color consultation or design evaluation, online or phoneaccess for additional technical assistance requests, e-newsletterson historic house maintenance and resource issues, and invita-tions for two members-only workshop events, in addition tohousehold member benefits. The program serves anyone withan older home, from First Period to mid-twentieth century. Visitwww.HistoricHomeowner.org for more information.

ABOVE LEFT The 1935 Bowers House, the first Modernist house in

Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a rare example of pre-fabricated

construction by General Houses, Inc.of Chicago,was demolished in

2006 despite vigorous efforts to find a buyer to relocate it.

Particularly active in the effort to document and preservethe architecture of the Modern Movement is DOCOMOMO,whose web site, www.docomomo-us.org, maintains a list ofendangered Modernist structures. In Gropius’ own town ofLincoln, neighbors dedicated to preserving their Modernisthouses have founded FOMA, Friends of Modern Architec-ture, and the Five Fields neighborhood in Lexington recentlypublished a history of its first 50 years.

As we move ahead into the twenty-first century, HistoricNew England will be working for the preservation of twentieth-century resources and supporting owners who respect andappreciate their own Modernist houses. So, be on the look-out in your community and begin training your “historian’seye” to spot these overlooked properties; they’re an impor-tant part of New England’s architectural story.

—Sally ZimmermanPreservation Specialist

ABOVE RIGHT Two Lexington, Massachusetts, subdivisions,The Glen at

Countryside/Shaker Glen (1960), top, and Five Fields (1951), below,

reflect the popularization of Modernist designs for living.

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Answers to challenge puzzle on page 11. Top row: 2,18, 14. Middle row: 4, 6,13. Bottom row: 22, 25, 1.

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15460.P21 12/28/06 4:40 PM Page 21


L A N D S C A P E

emeteries are unique com-binations of landscape, art,and cultural ritual. Likehistoric homes and collec-

tions, historic burial grounds tell thestories of families and changing tastesover time. Several family graveyardsentrusted to Historic New England’scare reveal the evolution of Americanburial sites through the variations ofthe markers, their placement in relationto one another, and in the layout of thesurrounding landscape.

The Frost graveyard in New Castle,New Hampshire, is an example of aneighteenth- to mid-nineteenth-centuryburial ground situated within the con-fines of a small island town. Its grave-stones are set close together, more orless arranged in rows, but not quite ona grid. This tendency toward order—yet without a strict emphasis on sym-metry—is not unlike the layout of

streets and houses in early Colonialsettlements. In addition to the manyFrosts buried here, other family namesappear on the stones. The main group-ing of stones, with dates of 1732 to1836, follows no perceivable arrange-ment by year or family relationship,nor does its layout demonstrate muchconsideration for pathways or plantings.This configuration conforms to someearly descriptions and drawings of bur-ial grounds that depict stones closelyset and little greenery.

By contrast, the Peabody familyburial ground in Middleton, Mass-achusetts, enjoys a spacious site and amore organized arrangement of graves.This can be attributed primarily to itslocation and to two periods of influ-ence. Most of the markers there datefrom the nineteenth century, with onestone dating to the 1700s. Most likely,the Peabodys designated part of their

Landscapes of Remembrance

C

TOP Separate rows of stones indicate family

groupings at the Peabody burial ground.

ABOVE The epitaph on the high-style marker

of Mrs. Abigail Frost includes the words faith,

pillar, anchor, olive, peaceful, coronet, and

crown, which are each depicted in the

detailed carving.

15460.P22 12/15/06 8:43 PM Page 22


farmland for family burials and soonthereafter began to share the burialground with neighbors. While theFrost burial ground is constrained byits location within a small village, thePeabody cemetery demonstrates thegreater latitude permitted by a countrysetting. Its site on a long section offarmland gave families the freedom to space out family plots. Withoutreading the names on the markers, one can sense the family groupings by the separate massing of stones in the landscape.

An allée of trees articulates theentrance to the Peabody burial ground,providing an arched space throughwhich light gently filters, as in a cathe-

dral. The space is contemplative andcalming, but it is far more modernthan the nineteenth-century grave-stones beyond. These lovely trees wereplanted in 1933, when the family deededthe burial ground to SPNEA, nowHistoric New England. At the sametime, they commissioned and erected alarge commemorative plaque beside thegate. The concept of planting formalrows of trees in a burial ground beganat cemeteries such as the New BuryingGround in New Haven, Connecticut,established in 1796. Throughout thenineteenth century, the rural cemeterymovement, as exemplified by MountAuburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Mass-achusetts, furthered the concepts of

ABOVE The popular early gravestone

motifs of a cherub and a winged skull

appear side by side at the Frost cemetery.

BELOW The lawn and stately allée are

twentieth-century additions to the

Peabody cemetery.

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cemetery landscape design. The estab-lishment of the allée of trees in Peabodyin the 1930s demonstrates the lastinginfluence of rural cemetery ideals.

At Casey Farm in Saunderstown,Rhode Island, where handsome stonewalls are the landscape’s defining fea-ture, a well-laid stone wall with a pick-et gate neatly encloses the family ceme-tery. While the Frost and Peabodyburying grounds were shared by multi-ple families over approximately onecentury, the Casey cemetery shows theuse by one family over two centuries.Within the stone wall, the gravestonesof generations of Caseys and theirancestors, dating from the mid-eigh-teenth century to the mid-twentieth,demonstrate a range of carving fromthe simple to the elaborate. Historicimages of the cemetery show thatplantings have come and gone throughthe years. Looking towards the ceme-tery from the back of the farmhouse,the grander monuments of the late1800s can be seen rising above theheight of the stone wall, which con-

ceals the smaller headstones from earli-er eras. The fine monuments commis-sioned for this small plot demonstratethe site’s importance to later genera-tions of Caseys as their ancestral burialground.

The cemetery at Hamilton Housein South Berwick, Maine, tells a verydifferent story of a family’s relationshipto a grand house and property. Thepeople most identified with HamiltonHouse—Colonel Jonathan Hamilton,the original builder, and the Tysons,who restored it—were buried else-where. It is the less storied Goodwinfamily who laid their dead to rest onthe property. The fourteen markers inthe Goodwin cemetery, dating from1847 to 1918, outline the lives of thefamily who lived at Hamilton when itwas a working farm. The Goodwins’cemetery is surrounded by a simplerailing, and the markers face the slop-ing fields of the farm the family tended.These markers are rather uniformlyarranged in two rows. They are similarin appearance, without any imagery,

except for the stone of Calvin Good-win, which bears a sheath of wheat,symbol of divine harvest above hisname.

Together these five cemeteries por-tray a pattern of over three hundredyears of burial in New England. Theysketch the stories of each family’s lovesand losses, and the words and imagesthey chose for remembrance allow usto glimpse the public and private land-scapes of mourning of the past.

—Laura Ewen BlokkerPreservation Manager

LEFT The graveyard at Casey Farm,

Saunderstown, Rhode Island, c. 1880.

The photographer was probably

Harry Weir Casey, who drowned in

Narragansett Bay at age nineteen

and was buried in the family plot soon

after this photograph was taken.

BELOW The sun sets on the Goodwin

family stones at Hamilton House,

South Berwick, Maine.

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News New England & Beyond

Authentic reproduction wallpapers for your homeTwo wallpapers from Historic New England’s vast, internationally recognizedcollection of historic papers have recently been reproduced by BrewsterWallcovering Company and are now widely available. Carefully copied fromthe originals to accurately capture their period character, the papers come ina full range of colorways, are pre-pasted for ease in hanging, and are afford-ably priced.

“Floral Urn,” a damask pattern, is based on a French block-printed orig-inal dating from 1880 to 1910 that was carried by the noted Boston decorat-ing firm, A. H. Davenport/Irving and Casson. Damask patterns imitating theintricate designs of woven silks have been popular throughout the history ofwallpaper. “Flora and Fauna,” a charming paper with deer, rabbits, and birdsamid flowers and leaves, is based on another block-printed paper, this onefrom Holland and dating from 1900 to 1915. The original was found atHistoric New England’s Lyman Estate in Waltham, Massachusetts. For infor-mation about these handsome papers or any other Historic New Englandlicensed reproductions, please call (617) 227-3957, ext. 237.

A database of Historic New England’s collection of historic wallpapers isaccessible at www.WallpaperHistory.org.

Tiffany fellowThe Tiffany & Co.Foundation has fundeda year-long fellowshipfor Sarah Brierley, grad-uate of New York’sBard Graduate Center, toresearch and catalogueHistoric New England’sextensive jewelry collec-tion. Her work will pro-vide a foundation for future lectures, work-shops, and an online exhibition.

Color me historicTen years ago, Historic New England collabo-rated with licensee Color Guild International(CGI) to develop an array of historicallyaccurate period paint colors. Working withCalifornia Paints, a CGI member based inAndover, Massachusetts, the team produceda chart of 149 colors, the Historic Colors ofAmerica, which is recognized by industryexperts as the most accurate representation

of period colors available today. The Historic Colors of America paint chart, arranged by hue to

fully showcase the colors’ richness and beauty, along with an enhancedguide that groups colors by architectural period, may be ordered onlineat www.HistoricNewEngland.org or by calling (617) 227-3957,ext. 237.

The expertise of Historic New England’s in-house color expert,Sally Zimmerman, is available to those with Historic Homeownermembership. Visit www.HistoricHomeowner.org for more information.

15460.PIBC 12/28/06 4:40 PM Page IBC

141 Cambridge StreetBoston MA 02114-2702

Presented by theSociety for the Preservationof New England Antiquities

Non-Profit OrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDBoston, Massachusetts

Permit No. 58621

ABOVE Frank Henry Shapleigh, Old kitchen

in Kennebunkport, Maine. 1890

cast iron behemothssullied their kitchens.In his short story,“Fire Worship,” writ-ten in 1843, Na-thaniel Hawthornelamented the intro-duction of the cook-stove to the kitchen,worrying that withthe demise of thekitchen hearth, “therewill be nothing to attract children toone center. Domestic life…will seek itsseparate corners.”

Frank Henry Shapleigh (1842–1906), an important White Mountainartist, trained in Paris and over thecourse of his career had studios inBoston and St. Augustine, Florida, aswell as in Crawford Notch, NewHampshire. Best known for his land-scape paintings, Shapleigh painted anumber of kitchen views from build-ings in Jackson and Bartlett, NewHampshire; St Augustine; Scituate,Massachusetts; and this one fromKennebunkport. Each of these kitchen

his painting by FrankShapleigh of the interior ofa coastal shack, perhaps afishing shack or a summer

cottage, in an unidentified building inKennebunkport, Maine, helps docu-ment nineteenth-century Americanattitudes about kitchens. The paintingshows a sun drenched old room.Looming prominently along the rightside of the image is an exposed brickfireplace and chimney stack. Rangedaround the hearth are a Windsor and aladderback chair, over it are a few ironcooking pots. A hat hangs on the wallnearby. Through the open door there isa view of a neighboring house with theocean beyond it.

Painted at a time when cookinghearths like this one had largely beenreplaced by wood and coal burningcookstoves, the painting suggests anostalgia for the past that centered onthe old kitchen hearth. Many nine-teenth-century cultural critics saw theintroduction of the cookstove as athreat to family stability and lookedback longingly to the days before these

The Old Hearth

T

A C Q U I S I T I O N S

images featured an old brick cookinghearth, suggesting that Shapleigh, likemany of his contemporaries, lookedback nostalgically to days when thekitchen—the heart of the home—waswarmed both literally and figurativelyby a roaring fire in an open hearth.

—Nancy CarlisleCurator

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historic new england winter-spring 2007

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