Sarah Phelps' Album

During the acquisition of Phelps Farm, the farmstead across the road from the museum that was created by Moses Charles Porter Phelps, the son of Charles Phelps and Elizabeth Porter Phelps, the PPH Museum added a number of artifacts to its collection. One of these is a scrapbook made by Sarah Phelps in 1835. This book is codex bound and filled with article cuttings from a newspaper or magazine. The articles within the album range from opinion and advice pieces to short stories and excerpts from books.

The case of the book is covered with a marbled paper that covers the case boards and the edges of the leather corner covers and spine. A number of pages have been cut out, indicating that the book was bound before the articles were pasted in and was likely purchased as an empty book. Each of the pages that was cut out is not represented in the page numbering. The spine is embossed with “Ladie’s Album, Vol. 5,” though it is unknown if this was the name given to it and separately added after Sarah had finished filling the book or if it had that title when it was purchased. The whereabouts of volumes 1-4 are unknown, if they exist at all.

Albums, and specifically ladies’ albums are a type of scrapbooking common in the 19th century.[1] Patrizia Di Bello discusses the nature of these books and their rise to popularity in her book Women’s albums and photography in Victorian England: Ladies, mothers and flirts. Part of the rise of scrapbooking was a result of technological shifts in papermaking, which made paper and other journaling supplies more accessible and affordable.[2] The articles pasted in Sarah’s album contain romantic advice and opinion columns, excerpts from books, and short stories. The articles chosen, as discussed by Patrizia Di Bello, show the nature of women’s literature and what types of stories and information were marketed to women.

After opening the marbled front cover, The first entry in the book is a hand-written alphabetical table of contents. Due to the alphabetical organization, it functions more as an index, as it is more helpful in finding a story the reader already knows the name of than it is in finding the order of the articles within. Since the articles are not arranged within the book in the order they are written in the table of contents, they were likely added day by day and the index was added once the book was filled rather than as each piece was pasted in. Further research might reveal the chronology of the book's entries, however as they are not dated it is difficult to determine this detail.

There are pressed flowers and leaves between some of the pages of the scrapbook, showing some of the continuous use of the book beyond its construction. Between pages 28 and 29, there is evidence of what was likely once a leaf that has since fallen apart. The next piece is a flower between pages 52 and 53. Between pages 68 and 69, there are a pair of evergreen (perhaps arbor-vita) sprigs. There is another flower between pages 120 and 121. There seems to be no direct connection between the plants and the articles, so it is likely that they were added as she was pasting in the articles for the day if she found an interesting flower or leaf.

Sarah Phelps (1805-unknown) was the eldest surviving daughter of Sarah Davenport Parsons Phelps and Moses Charles Porter Phelps. She was 12 years old when her family moved to Phelps Farm from Boston, and her mother died from Typhus. Her life was written about by her niece, Ruth Huntington Sessions, in “A Lady’s Reading 80 Years Ago”.[3] Throughout the article, Sarah is referred to as “Ms. Lucia”, though personal details, such as the discussion of her siblings, show that it is referring to Sarah. Ruth writes about Sarah’s love for reading, which can easily be seen in her album and the stories Sarah collected within it.

Between the mid 1700s to early 1800s, the process of European papermaking was revolutionized with the Fourdrinier machine, which used and automated the process of wove paper.[4] Wove paper is distinct from laid, or chain-and-laid paper, and named from the mesh conveyor belt that was made from woven bronze wires. The development of a flexible conveyor belt made possible long continuous sheets of paper, unlike the individual sheets made in a chain-and-laid mold. Hence, wove paper was more efficient to produce in large quantities and it quickly replaced laid paper in most uses. The pages of the book lack the distinctive chain-and-laid lines, so it is easy to assume that the book is made from wove paper.

Overall, the album is in excellent condition, and depicts ladies’ reading practices in the early-mid eighteenth century. The clipped and pasted articles within show the topics that most interested Sarah, though future efforts are needed to find the origins of some of the pieces and figuring out what magazine or paper they came from.

Notes

1. Patrizia Di Bello, Women’s Albums and Photography in Victorian England: Ladies, Mothers and Flirts (Routledge, 2017), 39-42.

2. J.N. Balston, The Whatmans and Wove (Velin) Paper : Its Invention and Development in the West, 1998.

3. Ruth Huntington Sessions, “A Lady’s Reading 80 Years Ago,” The New England Magazine 21 (October 1899): 145–53,

4. Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Fourdrinier machine." Encyclopedia Britannica (August 23, 2010).

Citations

Balston, J.N. The Whatmans and Wove (Velin) Paper : Its Invention and Development in the West, 1998.

Di Bello, Patrizia. Women’s albums and photography in Victorian England: Ladies, mothers and flirts. Routledge, 2017.

Easley, Alexis. “Scrapbooks and Women’s Leisure Reading Practices, 1825–60.” Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies, no. 15.2 (2019).

Sessions, Ruth Huntington. “A Lady’s Reading 80 Years Ago.” The New England Magazine 21 (October 1899): 145–53. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101064988122&seq=155&view=1up.

Sessions, Ruth Huntington. Sixty-odd, a personal history, by Ruth Huntington sessions. Brattleboro, Vt: Stephen Daye Press, 1936.

Britannica, Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Fourdrinier machine." Encyclopedia Britannica, August 23, 2010

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Sifting Through the Negatives: An Exploration of Silhouettes and Family Ties

Within the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, several silhouette portraits are displayed atop mantles throughout the house. Three are kept in the ‘Long Room,’ two in the Dining Room, above the fireplaces. Two more sit in the closet within the SE Bedchamber also known as the ‘Barrett Room.’ These portraits commemorate past members of the family as well as their unique ties to the house, and help to provide a lens into the developmental history of photography, and early modes of self documentation. While the material origins of each silhouette is unknown, two signed silhouettes provide us a window into the ways in which these works were produced.

History of the Form

In the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, silhouettes reached a peak in their popularity— the most notable period being from about 1790 until 1840, when photography was made more accessible. Before the onset of photography, silhouettes were the predecessor to this practice of remembrance around the home. This early form served to capture specific moments in a person’s life, even just through a side profile view of their face and clothing at a specific age. The earliest silhouettists began as portrait miniaturists—which were simple outlines filled with dark paint. As the silhouettists adapted to the craft and developed their artistic skills in silhouette-portraits, they began to assume different modes of production. Silhouettes vary in their procedure and resulting distinctive look; whether the pieces were achieved through ink, paper, or fabric would result in a separate classification of method. One style of silhouette creation is the ‘hollow cut’ silhouette, a paper-cutting technique which involves laying a silhouette cutout from a sheet of white paper over a black sheet of paper or fabric to create a black silhouette with a white background. This is also the most common technique used in the pieces in the museum, save for one framed piece from the family's collection.

Charles and Sarah

Kept in the ‘Long Room’ are the silhouettes of Moses ‘Charles’ Porter Phelps (1772-1857) (son of Elizabeth Porter Phelps and Charles Phelps), and his first wife, Sarah Davenport Parsons Phelps (1775-1817). They are dated to about 1800, which is when this style of portraiture was very common. At the time, Charles was a successful merchant in the port city of Boston, and the couple may have wanted to have portraits done as it was a trend of the period, especially for someone of their class.

Technique and Procedure

These beautiful silhouettes can be classified as “hollow-cut”, with the white paper being cut to the shape of Charles’ and Sarah’s bust, then placed over black paper to reveal the silhouette.

*Silhouette of Moses ‘Charles’ Porter Phelps c. 1800*

Although the silhouette was already cut out to reveal the shape underneath, the artist may have felt that the image did not have enough movement or detail to fully encapsulate the essence of Charles’ profile and decided to pen in more detail the texture of Charles’ hair, with ink over the white paper. This technique continues on the rendering of his shirt where William extends Charles’ chest with flounce ruffles, as well as on Charles’ face where eyelashes are highlighted.

*Silhouette of Sarah Davenport Parsons Phelps c. 1800*

These purposeful additions can also be seen within Sarah’s piece. Life is breathed back into the silhouette through ink embellishments that enliven and capture the naturalistic qualities of her hair and outfit. Ruffles are added to the front of her garment, as are charming stray hairs which stick out of the perfectly organized bonnet and ribbons— qualities which emphasize the femininity of her persona.

The appearance of the frame speaks to the longstanding history that the pieces carry, with tarnishing to the formerly bright shining gold frame alluding to the amount of time that they have sat within the house—-the white paper’s yellowing shares this same aging tradition of materials in these conditions. It can be imagined that the frame would have been chosen to highlight the sophisticated nature of these silhouettes, emphasizing the importance that the two profiles hold as they commemorate Charles’ time and work done in Boston. The white ovals provide contrast when laid over the reddish-orange background to add emphasis on the silhouettes and further present them in a way that draws all of the viewer’s attention to the silhouette first, preventing an interrupted sequence of attention. Instead of getting lost in the glittering gold frame or the accented red background, the onlooker is drawn first to the black silhouetted figures in the center while holding in their peripheral the significance of the silhouettes through all of the other details.

Social Context and Material Culture

The silhouettes of Charles and Sarah are a fascinating piece of the family’s history and provide us with more context about him as an individual and the life which he created in Boston. Both silhouettes are marked with the signature Doyle, which points to the famous silhouettist - William M. S. Doyle (1769-1828), who owned a highly successful business surrounding this trade in Boston, Massachusetts. William M. S. Doyle founded his business with Henry Williams (1787-1830), forming Williams & Doyle, who marketed themselves as being “Miniature and Portrait Painters at the Museum; where profiles are correctly cut”. With reasonable assumption, we imagine that during Charles Porter Phelps’ travels and trading done in Boston, he would have taken his wife to Doyle’s business, and brought the pieces back with them to the farmstead in Hadley, MA. As the couple lived in Boston at the time of these pieces' creation, Charles and Sarah likely brought them to the farmstead later as keepsakes from their time in the city.

Mr. and Mrs. Otis

*Silhouettes of “Mrs. Otis” and “Mr. Otis”*

The next set of silhouettes within the ‘Long Room’ represent a different side of the family at Forty Acres. Belonging to the wife of Frederic Dan Huntington (1819-1904), Hannah Dane Sargent (1822-1910)— who likely would have brought the silhouettes with her to the farmstead from her own family collection. The labels at the bottom of each silhouette being “Mrs. Otis” and “Mr. Otis” (depicted below) initially confused staff here, as this last name is not mentioned directly in the family tree that we use on the property. However, after digging through the Sargent family tree - Hannah’s mother’s name appears as Mary Otis Lincoln. Mary’s maiden name, living on as her middle name after her marriage, benefits the genealogies we seek to trace as we classify the portraits. We now know that these silhouettes were likely of Hannah’s grandparents on her mother’s side— the Otis family lineage. Hannah likely would have brought these silhouettes into the home to commemorate her grandparents similar to how today we hang pictures of family around our homes. Before photography, this would have been the way that family members would have been remembered around the home.

Technique and Presentation

What's particularly interesting about these silhouettes is that they are not made out of the ‘hollow-cut’ paper technique. Instead they are crafted with black paint on a white background and decorated with a bronze/gold finish on the top. This process is known as “bronzing” which came into popularity after 1800 for the ways in which it highlights details on the person being depicted without having to go through the extra work of using ink on paper after (as seen in the prior silhouettes). Black paint would have been used to foreground the individual, with gold paint being added for extra detailing. The gold also serves to add more dimension and complexity to the piece, almost lifting the figure out of the ink by providing texture to the hair and clothing that would have otherwise been left to assumption. Over time, silhouettists began to curate their craft further to incorporate this color theory to communicate texture beyond shiny inks such as gold and bronze, instead using lighter grays to achieve the same effect on the viewer.

The framing of this piece by way of the purposefully chosen solid back borders to encompass the silhouettes emphasizes the bronzing that has been done to the figures which pop out to the viewer significantly with this choice. The cohesive relationship between these elements draws the bronzing of the figures out further, creating a deeper and more complex first view of the silhouettes for the viewer. A gold background would have undermined the complexity and beautiful nature of this technique, commanding the attention of the viewer away from the carefully chosen inking done in these pieces that add complexity and depth, to that of the shining gold borders. The separation of the two pieces down the middle emphasizes that the two pieces were created separately (in the fashion of silhouette technology, they were crafted one at a time). The frame itself saves the pieces from an empty split down the middle, instead creating the effect of two separate frames in one.

Despite the age of these two silhouettes, the paper does not seem too affected by the test of time save for slight yellowing. The identification for the two figures was done in pencil at the bottom of each piece, and the fact that this is still legible to this day proves that the paper has not succumbed to the testing of time.

Fourth Generation Young Boys

*Silhouette of young boy in the fourth generation (a)*

In the Dining Room, two distinct silhouettes sit above the fireplace. Two profiles of young boys sit adjacent on the mantle and represent the fourth generation of the family, which includes the Bishop—Frederic Dan Huntington. This generation of 11 is headed by parents Elizabeth Whiting Phelps Huntington (1779-1847) and her husband, Dan Huntington (1774-1864). Within the limited description that is available to us through our collection—it is recorded that the two boys are brothers of Frederick Dan and that the pieces would have been created before 1815. Knowing this, the possibilities for the figureheads include brothers (listed in order) Charles, William, Edward, John, Theophilus, or Theodore. Theodore was born in 1813, which would have made it difficult for his bust to be that of the silhouette pieces, as he would have been merely 2 years old (at the latest, since we do not know the exact date of the pieces’ creation). All of the other boys were born before 1815, so this note in our archive really lends no aid as to which of the other brothers it could have been. Although we don’t know for certain their identities, their relationship to Frederick Dan is important as it situates the portraits as a part of the family tree and aids in honoring the children of this generation.

Technique and Presentation

*Silhouette of young boy in the fourth generation (b)*

The pieces fall under the “hollow cut” procedure similar to Charles and Sarah, yet hold none of the detail that Doyle brings into their depiction through later-added ink. They are simply cut white-paper overlay silhouettes of the young boys, framed with silver and gold foil—which add emphasis on the centered busts. The aligned gold stars on each corner of the frame draw the viewer’s eye to the center of the piece, which is surrounded by silver foil to point all attention to the silhouette. Although all of the adjourning details within the frame are beautiful on their own, they are used as a tool to make sure that the viewer knows exactly where they are meant to be looking within the piece. It can also be theorized that the foils and frame were added to create a ‘high-class’ feeling to the otherwise plain silhouette, considering that the aforementioned style of these silhouettes are “hollow-cut” and do not have any detailing to liven the piece otherwise. The frame and shine of the silver and gold make the piece feel expensive, as well as more important - less likely to be ignored.

Barrett Room Collection

While the other silhouettes within the home sit atop the mantles throughout the house, the silhouettes found in the ‘Barrett Room’ or SE Bedchamber were harder to notice, as they sit within the dimly lit closet which is propped open when tours are given. As there is so much art and historical significance within the Barrett Room decorating the walls, it is easy to get lost before visitor’s even think to look within the closet. However, these pieces serve as historical context for silhouettes as they provide a different use for the profiles rather than just self documentation.

*Marriage document describing William Barrett of Concord, MA and his marriage to Mary Keiser Hall of Charlestown, MA*

Within the closet sits the profiles of William Barrett (1775-1834) and Mary Keezer (Keiser) Hall (1785-1870). This framed piece serves to commemorate the marriage between the two, as well as the joining of the two families as a result. Underneath the silhouettes are each of the respective coats of arms for both the Barrett family (on the right), and Hall family (on the left). The two were married on February 12th, 1804 as detailed within the piece; at this moment in history, the displaying of a family’s coat of arms would have been typical of high-class identification. This practice of heraldry—to display a coat of arms within society—was a way that those within the upper class referenced the rituals of a distant past, holding honor and sophistication within its elaborate patterns. A coat of arms was a hereditary device to display status, originally developed in Europe in the mid-12th century and used by the upper echelon of society: nobility, royalty, and others who were the primary power holders within Western Europe. The reference to this past was one that was carried into America to establish this higher class, more sophisticated to even be looking back on the European nobles within history, and displaying a prestigious family name to this same effect. It is clear from this fact alone that both families were wealthy and of high standing, both displaying a coat of arms in the official joining of the two families through marriage.

The two silhouettes in this piece are seen at the top, showcasing the wedded couple above their names and respective coat of arms. Created using black ink on white paper, these silhouettes are not as detailed as some of the other silhouettes in the Museum’s collection. This choice to make the simplistic view of the couple that we see, allows the viewer to not get lost in all of the detail within the piece - as the busy scene describing their marriage below would clash with a “bronzing” technique or later added detailing, as seen in other pieces around the house. Placing the figures at the top of the piece communicates their importance while also keeping the viewer engaged with all portions of the commemorative wedding piece. So much detailing is added to the gothic font that is chosen for the names, their places of origin, as well as the date; coupled with both of the beautiful and circumstantial coat of arms—any more detail would have been lost. The placement of all of the words and imagery was intentional and guides the viewer through the piece, conveying importance, class status, and remembrance in a medium-sized frame.

Familial and Societal Context

*Genealogy Tree with Lily St. Agnam Barrett’s connection highlighted (red circle)*

When figuring out ties to the central family tree that is used in the museum and on tours, a large portion of the pieces kept in the SE Bedchamber trace back to the wife of George Putnam Huntington (1844-1904)— Lily St. Agnam Barrett (1848-1926) and her own genealogy. After searching through our records and various family trees, William Barrett and his wife Mary Keiser Hall would have been the grandparents of Lily. Knowing this, as well as that Lily would have brought the paper indication of her grandparent’s marriage to Forty Acres shows how her familial ties were incorporated into the home for her own remembrance and display of her ancestry, independent of that of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington lineage. This added union of the Barrett family provides more societal context into the family’s relations within society as the Barrett family were major in their own respective trades in society, William Barrett especially was significant in the cloth dyeing business, securing patents on the many processes that he had developed with his employees.

*News article describing Barrett’s company line*

William Barrett started his original textile dyeing business under the name of “William Barrett & Co.” in Malden, MA in 1801. However, this business shifted over time and changed courses with the longevity of William’s involvement in the trade, and in 1804 he rebranded (the same year he got married!). It was in this year that William started a new company and was motivated beyond the Boston market - his attention being turned to New York as a means of reaching higher markets and easier access to mid-Atlantic and Southern coastal cities. Because of this, William bought an old mill and opened his new factory in 1819 under the rebranded business name of “Barrett Tileston & Company” which encompassed a new partnership between himself and William Tileston, his brother, and his nephew. The company would then shift management and titles for the rest of its longstanding history, outliving William Barrett by 105 years, the factory left abandoned in 1939, which later collapsed that same year.

*Newspaper article from 1939 describing the Barrett Factory’s collapse*

Within the ‘Barrett Room’ or SE Bedchamber as well sit another set of silhouettes commemorating the same couple. An oval shaped frame encompasses a more detailed set of silhouettes done for William Barrett and his wife Mary Keiser Hall. Through our records within our collection it is noted that the couple was married in 1804, so due to reasonable suspicion it can be assumed that these portraits done of William and Mary date to the same year as their marriage document. However, since the last piece was a complete look at the two and their backgrounds, this piece serves to capture more of the detail of the couple as individuals in this important moment in their lives.

Technique and Procedure

*Wedding silhouette done of William Barrett and his wife, Mary Keiser Hall*

The two silhouettes in this one frame fall under the “hollow-cut” form that is used throughout the house, but prove different as the white paper that has been cut to reveal the profiles of the couple has been laid over a dark fabric, instead of another sheet of paper. The use of fabric to achieve the same effect as paper in other silhouettes around the home serve the same purpose—revealing the silhouette cut from white paper. The detailing done to the clothing befitting both of the figures has not been done with later-added ink, instead just a detailed cutting job that showcases the elaborate hair on Mary and the fancy dress on William—possibly their wedding outfits. The gold framing adds significance to this piece and makes the lasting effect feel more important and emphasized, especially with such a simplistic set of silhouettes being displayed within the gold borders. The paper has significantly aged over time, appearing fully yellowed, signaling the amount of time that has passed since the creation of the two profiles in 1804.

Conclusion and Significance

All of the pieces discussed are an exciting part of the collection on-site that serve as one of the earliest forms of self-reflection. Whether the silhouettes be done through the very common “hollow-cut” technique alive at the farmstead, later added detailing with various kinds of inking (bronze, gold, black), or through elaborate framing— each of these facets serve the individual silhouettes by communicating importance even to the eyes of viewers today. Whether this be done by intentionally shading only the clothing on one’s bust to communicate dimension and prestige, or framing which draws the viewer’s eye to the center; each presents a feeling of importance to the figure captured within the silhouette. The collection of silhouettes that reside at Forty Acres is a testament to the progression of technology alive within the era of their creation. One example of this technology is the “hollow-cut” technique which involves the cutting of a white paper silhouette and laying it over black paper exhibits tact and skill, with later added details being used to add humanity back to the piece. All unique in their own way, each silhouette technique lends its own hints into the lives of the people receiving the service, as well as the artist themselves. Every choice had to be deliberate, especially within the bounds of such a simple yet complex art form.

Early modes of photography offered before photographs aid in the commemorative nature that these pieces hailed, similar to how we keep photographs of our loved ones sprinkled throughout and around our homes. They aid us in our research on individuals and kinship ties; just by having a silhouette in the home proves the family networks that were alive within Forty Acres. Whether this be the several wives who married into the family who brought their own silhouettes of extended family members with them, the early silhouettes of children who stand to represent the fourth generation of siblings in the family, or a young ambitious merchant and his first wife in the fashionable city of Boston. Having these in our collection better helps our understanding of relations across generations, way before times when one could express this through photography within homes. It is fascinating to see the pieces of familial expression tied to all of the silhouettes within the home— the ways in which they all serve the intended purpose in preserving one’s livelihood through documentation.

Sources:

Conn, Carole. “American Silhouettes of the 18th and 19th Centuries.” CT Country Antiques, 3 June 2021, www.ctcountryantiques.com/post/american-silhouettes-of-the-18th-and-19th-centuries.

Welter, Lisa. “Types, Techniques and Analysis of Silhouettes.” Arlington Historical Society, 10 Feb. 2021, arlingtonhistorical.org/types-techniques-and-analysis-of-silhouettes/#:~:text=With%20hollow%2Dcut%20silhouettes%2C%20the,outlined%20profile%20of%20the%20subject.

Smithsonian American Art Museum. “William M. S. Doyle.” Smithsonian American Art Museum, americanart.si.edu/artist/william-m-s-doyle-1337.

Silhouette Production Techniques | profilesofthepast.org.uk. www.profilesofthepast.org.uk/content/silhouette-production-techniques-0#:~:text=In%20the%2019th%20century%20'bronzing,of%20various%20shades%20and%20depths

The Social and Cultural Significance of Victorian Heraldry. victorianweb.org/history/heraldry/introduction.html.

“The History of Coats of Arms and Heraldry | Historic UK.” Historic UK, 29 Nov. 2023, www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Coats-of-Arms.

Veronica. “Workday Wednesday: Barrett Nephews and Company.” GenealogySisters, 31 Jan. 2018, genealogysisters.com/2018/01/31/workday-wednesday-barrett-nephews-company.

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Schoolgirl Art Needlework Samplers

From the mid 18th to the mid 19th century, one of the most distinctive milestones in a girl’s education was the creation of a needlework sampler. A sampler - defined as a piece of needlework with various stitches- was part of the learning process for young girls to attain skills in sewing. A young girl would usually begin to sew around the age of six, often taught by her mother or another woman in the family. By the age of eight or nine girls would complete a first sampler; a piece usually composed of the alphabet, numbers, a Bible verse, or a quote about morality. The sampler piece above was created in 1814 by Bethia Huntington at just eight years old and serves as an excellent example to these preliminary works completed at a young age. The bottom line of Bethia’s work reads “Middletown,” a nod to when her father, Dan Huntington, moved the family from Litchfield to Middletown in 1809 for seven years while he was a minister at the First Congregational Church in Middletown. In 1816 they returned to Hadley after the death of the children’s grandfather, Charles Phelps.

Another wonderful sampler in the Porter-Phelps-Huntington collection was wrought by Eliza Fitch Lyon at eight years old. Born in 1817, Eliza was the daughter of Maria Warner and Samuel Huntington Lyon. In 1827 she married Theophilus Parsons Huntington in Hadley, where they settled down to raise their three children. Eliza’s piece offers more insight into these initial samplers and is comprised of an alphabet with a supplemental Bible quote and botanical detailing. She takes her work to the next level with the inclusion of intricate floral patterns weaving throughout the piece. If you look closely under the cursive N through X, she experiments with fading blue thread into yellow. The detailing of this piece is quite remarkable regardless of age. Eliza includes numerous fonts and colors and has a keen eye for the details of the flora she includes at the bottom of the piece.

As skills in sewing progressed, plants, animals, or other objects copied from a pattern would sometimes supplement the writing. The execution of writing on samplers with increasingly more intricate designs and motifs provided practice for detailed stitching, along with the hope that producing works with such sentiments would foster virtue by publicly exhibiting morality and accomplishment. In the 19th century, the Pioneer Valley was known in the embroidery world for its “White Dove Style.” This style of sewing white doves emerged in the 1790’s and its popularity continued into the following few decades. Although there are no White Dove pieces at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, the collection contains several sewing samplers; one created by Bethia Huntington in 1814 (shown above) and another by Mary Huntington in 1826 when she was eleven. These works were displayed in homes with pride and as visual representations of their young daughter’s accomplishments.

By the time a young woman reached the age of fourteen it could be expected that she would have created several sewing samplers. Next would come a mixed media figurative scene, interchangeably referred to as either a pictorial scene or a silk embroidery. More than not these works incorporated other mediums such as watercolors into the needlework craft. For example, the piece above beautifully incorporates silk, watercolor, and satin. The plethora of mediums not only adds richness in texture but helps guide the eye through the depth of the harbor. Works as such tended to be very expensive to produce because they required several different skilled craftspeople to assist in creating the final product. Pieces as such not only showcased a young woman’s talent, but the aptitude to learn such craft implied the wealthy economic status of someone who could afford that kind of education.

When the Porter family crest was embroidered by Elizabeth Porter Phelps (circa 1760 - 1817), it was compiled from a painting on wood panel acquired by her mother, Elizabeth Pitkin Porter. The crest depicts five wings central to a plethora of vines and beautifully detailed birds of paradise. A coat of arms was a significant symbol for elite families in the Connecticut River Valley. Embroidering such was the height of needlework arts, as it created the “perfect form for displaying needlework, education, leisure, status, and family allegiance.” In this case Elizabeth may have been taught by her mother or other family members. Typically, such wonderfully elaborate embroidery would have been displayed in the parlor of the home for visitors to see. Although we know from the archives of her grandchildren that she likely commenced the project as part of her schooling at a young age, left it unfinished and returned to it in the final years of her life.

This article is based off previous research done by Mount Holyoke College alum, Ann Hewitt. Her work on needlework is a part of her larger research paper Becoming Accomplished: The Porter Phelps Huntington Daughters. Her preliminary research on needlework was further edited and continued by Museum Assistant Evelyn Foster.

Sources

Alice M. Earl, Childlife in Colonial Days (Norwood, MA: Norwood Press, 1899), 17.

https://www.pphmuseum.org/epp-needlework.

“Object of the Month Archive About.” Massachusetts Historical Society. Accessed July 26, 2021. https://www.masshist.org/object-of-the-month/objects/schoolgirl-needlework-2002-08-01.

Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers, 1698 - 1968 (Bulk: 1800 - 1950).

“The ABCs of Schoolgirl SAMPLERS: Girls' Education and Needlework from a Bygone Era.” Milwaukee Public Museum. Accessed July 26, 2021. https://www.mpm.edu/research-collections/history/online-collections-research/schoolgirl-samplers.

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Alfreda's Autograph Book

Also in a box donated by Katherine Urquhart Ohno, we found Alfreda Huntington’s autograph book, filled with drawings and notes for her from friends and acquaintances. The amount of effort and artistic ability on display within this autograph book is remarkable.

Check out the entire book here!

Art by Patrizia, 1934. Caption says “With love to my dearest friend Alfreda”

Autograph books were small books passed around to gather thoughts and sometimes artistic endeavors of those they encountered, mostly friends and classmates.[1] They are the predecessors of modern practices such as writing in yearbooks. Autograph books owned by older teens and adults would primarily feature poetry, advice, or proverbs from their acquaintances.[2]

February 1934

Let’s throw all study books in the fire!!!

Nicoletta Pucci

Caption in Italian - let us know if you know what it says.

Are these two friends?

With love from

Fioretta Mazzei

The final marked page of her autograph book.

The entries in Alfreda’s Autograph Book were all created in 1934 and 1935, mostly while she was in Italy, as evidenced by friends’ names and the occasional caption in Italian. Alfreda would have been around 12-13 at the time. The various entries show a wide range of artistic ability, ranging from crayon sketches to realistic watercolor. A few names show up more than once. The last page with any markings, following a crayon drawing of a horse, is a single, undecorated signature, reminiscent of a more traditional, adult guestbook or autograph book. Perhaps the signatory was in a rush, perhaps it marks something of the transition into adulthood.

References

[1] "Autograph Books."City of Red Deer.

[2] Allison, Lelah. “Traditional Verse from Autograph Books.” Hoosier Folklore 8, no. 4 (1949): 87–94.

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Alfreda the Artist

As a young girl, Alfreda Huntington demonstrated remarkable artistic ability. In one of the boxes generously donated by Katherine Urquhart Ohno, we found Alfreda’s Anthology of Passages from my Favourite Books, which started life as blank books and was filled over time with color and memories.

Look at all the filled pages of the book here:

Alfreda’s Anthology of Passages from my Favourite Books most follows in the tradition of commonplace books. Commonplace books were blank books that the owner would fill with quotes and passages from favorite works, creating a personal anthology. Traditionally, commonplace books didn’t contain illustrations of quotations, but melding genres of homemade books and documents was common.[1] The practice of collecting quotations from others’ works spans back to antiquity and into today, but commonplace books peaked in popularity during the Renaissance and 17th & 18th centuries.[2]

For each passage from one of her favorite books that she chose to highlight, Alfreda would draw, and often paint, an accompanying illustration.

Alfreda here rewrote a passage from R.H. Bruce Lockhart’s Return to Malaya (Putnam, 1936), which was published by the company Constant Huntington was head of, and tells the story of Lockhart's journey to British Malaya. Lockhart was best known for his book Memoirs of a British Agent (Putnam, 1932).[3]

Some of Alfreda’s favorite books, as listed in this book, were Return to Malaya (1936)—as mentioned above, Karen Blixen - Out of Africa (1937), Apsley Cherry-Garrard - The Worst Journey in the World (1922), Thomas Hardy - Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891), Dostoevsky - The Idiot (1868), and Thomas Hardy - The Return of the Native (1878).

A selection from Out of Africa is the first one in the book. As the entries in the book appear to have been done in order, although the book is not dated, we can assume Alfreda began it in 1937 or later—age 15 or so.

Toward the end of the book, both the quotes and drawings became less complex—we don’t know why, nor do we know for how long she kept the book.

References

[1] Biersdorfer, J. D. "Create a Digital Commonplace Book." The New York Times, February 10, 2021, sec. Technology.

[2] McKinney, Kelsey. "Social media: Nothing new? Commonplace books as predecessor to Pinterest UT Austin: Ransom Center Magazine, June 9, 2015.

[3] “Books: Sentimental Journey.” Time, December 7, 1936.

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Botany and Watercolors

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum has three watercolors noted as “Pictures (3), framed flower, watercolor. Made by Dan and Elizabeth Huntington's daughters at Miss Willard's School in Troy.”While it is uncertain which Huntington daughter can be ascribed as the artist, Elizabeth b. 1803, Bethia b. 1805, Mary b. 1815, and Catherine b. 1817 all attended the Emma Willard School where they had a rich exposure to the art of watercolors. The first watercolor in the collection is painted entirely in neutral hues. This process was typically used in the first quarter of the 19th century for “washing the shaded part of any colored flower or leaf” in shades of blue and black, later to be painted over in full color. These neutral colors served as a base for other pigments to be built on. Upon careful examination it appears that there may be two different plants flourishing from one stem: there are three large white flowers that emerge from extensions of the branch, as well as smaller blue bell-shaped blossoms below. The two flowers could represent two various stages of growth for one flower; however, they lack a similarity in appearance. There is also the question of whether the painting was finished. According to the 19th century guide, A Series of Progressive Lessons, Intended to Elucidate the Art of Flower Painting in Water Colours, the neutral wash was typically applied halfway as an undercoat for the actual color. For example, the next piece, a painting of blue flowers surrounded by lush green leaves, is fully colored, including the stem which is rendered in a dark greenish brown. If you look at the leaves on the left side of the painting, the inner halves are much darker than the outer. This is a perfect example of a student using a neutral tint to shade in the plant, and then painting over it with the intended color.

The two paintings mentioned above are likely to have been painted after Elizabeth and Dan Huntington’s daughters gained experience with watercolors. It is also quite clear that they had studied botany, based on the intricate study of veins, stems, and shading. The third watercolor in the collection is quite different: a bouquet of orange and pale purple flowers with thick green leaves. It is worth noting that it seems to have been painted by someone with less experience. The student attempted to capture the orange flowers from different viewpoints as some turn outwards to the viewer and others are seen from the back and profile. The central part of the composition is comprised of a large purple-white flower. It looks like the student tried to portray the flowers tubular center with a dark circle at the core. However, the lack of perspective and bold outlines imply that the student was unfamiliar with conveying depth as well as the anatomy of plants. The stems are shakily painted, and the shading of each petal is somewhat inconsistent with harsher outlines instead of soft shading. Rather than a bouquet employing depth and careful consideration of the plant’s anatomy, it is very two-dimensional.

The ability to paint was considered essential for an established young lady in the early 19th century. It signified that she was educated and refined and was often taught at institutions where middle- and upper-class families sent their daughters. Simultaneously, the 19th century reached a high level of achievement for botanical illustration. The sciences, which were encouraged through exhibitions around the world, utilized the art of botany, which worked in tandem to supplement scientific writing. Painting such an intricate and delicate subject took much practice, and these works showcase the culmination of progress.

Watercolors were considered an important part of education at the Emma Willard School. In 1823, Almira Phelps, the younger sister of Emma Willard, accepted her sister's invitation to teach at the school where she remained for eight years. While teaching at the Emma Willard School, Almira developed a keen interest in botany. In 1829 she wrote her first and most successful textbook, Familiar Lectures on Botany. Over the course of the next forty plus years, the textbook went through twenty-eight different printings - each illustrated with various woodcuts and engravings. Almira Phelps believed that watercolors were the most appropriate technique to learn, as the “kind of painting most convenient for ladies; it can be performed with neatness, and without the disagreeable smell which attends on oil painting.” Almira also taught a brief history of art that focused on the classical world, and gave summaries of the major schools of art. Her lecture on flower painting touches on how it can assist the study of botany in a similar vein to her introduction on watercolors: “the study of botany seems peculiarly adapted to females; the objects of its investigation are delicate; its pursuits, leading to exercise in the open air, are conductive to health and cheerfulness.” As an accomplished botanist herself, Almira stressed the importance to take time to observe and take note of the “very distinctive characteristics of particular species of plants might be disregarded in [the flowers] delineation” which makes one wonder whether the girls were looking at a real plant, or drawing upon memory, and, if these watercolors were intended as a form of scientific illustration.

As previously mentioned, these paintings have no exact provenance. It is unclear exactly which Huntington daughter created them. Despite being a family that was so well documented, with extensive letters and diaries, these watercolors may have been lost in translation. A good guess as to who the artist might be is Bethia Huntington. She attended the Emma Willard School (circa 1820). When she returned home, she wrote to her younger sisters Mary and Catherine in the 1830’s who were then at the Emma Willard School with updates about how the plants were doing with concise notes about their growth. In her letters, she writes about her passion for flowers, and cared deeply about the family garden.

This article is based off previous research done by Mount Holyoke College alum, Ann Hewitt. Her work on watercolors is a part of her larger research paper Becoming Accomplished: The Porter Phelps Huntington Daughters. Her preliminary research on watercolors was further edited and continued by Museum Assistant Evelyn Foster.

Sources

Anonymous. A Series of Progressive Lessons, Intended to Elucidate the Art of Flower

Painting in Water Colours (Classic Reprint). 30.

Barryte, Bernard. “Almira Phelps.” History of American Women, May 24, 2020.

https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2013/08/almira-phelps.html.

Eiseman, Alberta. “EDUCATING 19th-CENTURY SCHOOLGIRLS.” The New York

Times. The New York Times, August 31, 1986.

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/31/nyregion/educating-19thcentury-schoolgirls.

html.

Huntington, Bethia or Mary. “Blue Flowers with Green Leaves.” Unknown. Watercolors.

Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation.

Huntington, Bethia or Mary. “Bouquet of White and Yellow Flowers.” Unknown.

Watercolors. Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation.

Huntington, Bethia or Mary. “Grey and Black Spray of Flowers.” Unknown. Watercolors.

Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation.

Huntington, Mary. Mary Huntington ‘to’ Bethia Huntington. Letters. Box 20. Amherst

College Archives & Special Collections. Porter Phelps Huntington Papers.

Phelps, Mrs. Lincoln. The Female Student. Leavitt, Lord & Company, 1836, 385, 371.

Rudolph, E. (1984). Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps (1793 - 1884) and the Spread of Botany

in Nineteenth Century America. American Journal of Botany, 71(8), 382, 1161 -

1167.

Schmidt M. Alesandra, Jacoby B. Trudy. “Herbs to Orchards: Botanical Illustration in the

Nineteenth Century.” Watkinson Publications. 3.

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Charting Map Making at the Emma Willard School

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington House Museum collection includes an undated, hand drawn map; Map of Europe, wrought by Elizabeth Huntington. The second child of Elizabeth Whiting Phelps and Dan Huntington, Elizabeth was born in 1803 in Litchfield, CT. Elizabeth completed this map at the Emma Willard school, located in Troy, New York, a female seminary founded by Emma Hart Willard with the goal of providing women with equal educational opportunities to their male counterparts. The choice of sending the Huntington daughters to Emma Willard School was most likely because of family relations. Emma Willard’s sister, Almira Hart Lincoln, married John Phelps in 1831. John Phelps was the younger brother of Charles Phelps (b. 1772), Elizabeth’s grandfather. Emma Willard’s son also lived with the Huntington’s at Forty Acres while he attended Hadley’s Hopkins Academy. The Emma Willard School opened its doors in 1821 with 90 students from across the country, one of which was Elizabeth. Their daughters Bethia and Mary also attended the school, and references to their enrollment can be found in family correspondence. Following her graduation from Emma Willard, Elizabeth went on to teach at the school.

Even though there is no date on the map, we can place it around the time when ‘mappery’, or map making, was beginning to take shape as an integral part of the American educational system. In the late 18th century, schoolgirl maps became increasingly popular. After the revolution, female academies and Quaker religious institutions assured that mappery was for all students, regardless of gender or economic background. Students with less financial means would often use the spare blank pages in the back of books for their map-making studies. In comparison, wealthier students had access to notebooks dedicated to this subject. In the years to follow, the publishing of geography textbooks boomed, thus allowing for the dissemination of geographical information. Two textbooks commonly used in mappery education was Jedidiah Morse’s Geography Made Easy and Joseph Goldsmith’s A View of the Earth, which further encouraged educators in the 18th century to implement uniform standards in map making education. One book in the collection of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum wonderfully encapsulates these academic visions. Written by Samuel Butler and published in 1826, An Atlas of Ancient Geography consists of “21-colored maps with a complete accentuated index.” These maps are much smaller than the one by Elizabeth (they measure about 9 ¾” by 7 ½”), however they show a similar level of detail as well as intricate labels that guide the reader through the respective region. Dr. Butler is the author of numerous other geography texts including A Sketch of Modern and Ancient Geography, for the Use of Schools. Emma Willard also wrote one of the most widely printed textbooks and one of the first historical atlases of the United States: Ancient Atlas to Accompany the Universal Geography by William Woodbridge and Emma Willard was first published in 1828 in tandem with Willard’s History of the United States, or Republic of America: Exhibited in Connection with its Chronology and Progressive Geography by Means of a Series of Maps. Together these two works were the first to treat American geography and history as interdependent subjects, employing maps as an essential pedagogical tool. Willard used the spatial dimension of the American past to engage students, integrate history and identity, and – most importantly – to consolidate national identity. At such a prestigious institution, mappery was accepted as one of the first appropriate subject for girls and was frequently used as a path for literacy.

In school, mappery held a different significance for boys and girls. For the men, it was presented as a way to teach skills of survival and navigation, while for women it was often an exercise in precision, an aid to retain general knowledge, and a way to show off artistic talent, particularly for handwriting and lettering skills. According to the American historian and Professor Susan Schulten, an aim of female education after the American Revolution was to “prepare [young women] for a life of usefulness and social exchange.” Mappery was thought to fulfill those goals and help young women become culturally literate. This is wonderfully evident in Elizabeth’s map with its precise line work and artistic labels. Her map not only demonstrates the high skill level it took to achieve such accuracy, but also the rigorous mappery education allocated to students in the 18th century and onwards, especially at prestigious institutions like Emma Willard.

Other recordings of mappery are present outside of Elizabeth’s work. Martin Brückner, the author of The Geographic Revolution in Early America, discusses the 1800 diary written by 15-year-old Sally Ripley of Greenfield, Massachusetts who noted learning geography several times a week throughout the school year. Equally, Catherine Beecher a student at Litchfield Female Academy “found grammar, arithmetic, geography, history, and the ‘Accomplishments’ of map-drawing, painting, embroidery, and piano available.” An example belonging to Sarah Miller included one page with a hand drawn map of Vermont and Connecticut, with the towns in both states running parallel to each other, indicating an initial attempt at mappery.

Elizabeth’s map of Europe drawn with black ink on canvas was quite large with a width of 22 ¼” and a height of 18 ¼”. Despite some fading, the careful borders and intricate calligraphy are still visible and showcase immense attention to detail. The art of successful mappery, (as seen by Elizabeth’s map), could be divided into three components: proficiency in map reading, map drawing, and map transfer. Map reading, the most common method in mappery education, is the recollection of place names and their locations. Map transfer was a more tactile approach to mappery, originally a way for younger students to learn about geography in a tangible manner. Educators would ‘transfer’ a map into a different medium, such as a tactile cloth puzzle. Map drawing was a labor-intensive process, and several methods were taught. The first method was to place a grid over both the map, and the drawing paper. The student would look at the gridded map and draw what was in each corresponding square. The lines of latitude and longitude on Elizabeth’s map are warped in similar ways which indicates that Elizabeth may have implemented the Mercator projection method, which was used to accurately represent cylindrical projection on a 2D surface. With the rise of female academies, map transfer evolved into a new medium such as embroidery. Although there are no embroidered maps in the Porter-Phelps-Huntington collection, Elizabeth Huntington’s map is an admirable example of map drawing that provides further insight into mappery education of the 18th century and is on display in the pine room at the museum.

This article is based off of previous research done by Mount Holyoke College alum, Ann Hewitt. Her work on mappery is a part of her larger research paper Becoming Accomplished: The Porter Phelps Huntington Daughters. Her preliminary research on mappery was further edited and continued by Museum Assistant Evelyn Foster.

Sources:

Brückner Martin. The Geographic Revolution in Early America: Maps, Literacy, and National Identity. Williamsburg, VA: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.

Brückner, Martin. The Social Life of Maps in America, 1750-1860. Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture and UNCP, 2017.

Buehler, Michael. “A Landmark Historical Atlas by Emma Willard, America's First Female Map Maker.” Boston Rare Maps. Accessed July 7, 2021. https://bostonraremaps.com/inventory/1829-emma-willard-historical-atlas/.

Butler, Samuel. An Atlas of Ancient Geography. London: Longman, Rees, Orme Brown & Green, 1826.

Hewitt, Ann. Interview with Karen Sánchez-Eppler, January 17, 2020.

Huntington, Bethia or Mary. “Watercolors,” n.d. Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation. Hadley, MA.

Huntington, Elizabeth. “Map of Europe.” n.d. Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation.

Mason, Betsy. “19th-Century Schoolgirls Were Incredibly Good at Drawing Maps.” Culture. National Geographic, May 4, 2021. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/schoolgirl-maps-drawings-19th-century.

Morse, Jedidiah. Geography Made Easy. Boston, MA: Published by Thomas & Andrews, 1813.

Schulten, Susan. “Emma Willard and the Graphic Foundations of American History.” Journal of Historical Geography 33, no. 3 (2007): 542–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2006.09.003.

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A Piece of PPH History

While working through the papers of Constant Huntington this week, the intern team found a fascinating piece of PPH institutional history! Among the assorted documents was found a copy of a quitclaim deed in which Constant granted his portion of the Forty Acres estate to his brother and PPH Museum founder, Dr. James Lincoln Huntington. After the tragic passing of their father and grandfather on the same day in 1904, the grounds around the house were split between James, Constant, and the other Huntington children. When Dr. Huntington set out to turn his beloved family home into a museum, one of the first things he had to do was acquire his siblings’ shares of the property. Though PPH was first and foremost Dr. Huntington’s project, and would not have happened without his intense dedication, it is documents like this that remind us the museum’s founding was made possible by not just one man, but the collective efforts of an entire family.

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A Huntington Across the Pond

Last Fall, PPH received a substantial collection of artifacts from the collection of Constant Huntington (1876-1962). Through a generous donation by Katharine Ohno, nine boxes were shipped all the way from London! It was only this Summer that the intern team was able to finally investigate the contents. The most immediately striking object among the countless letters and photographs was, of course, this larger than life size bust of Constant himself. The bust, cast in bronze and mounted on a simple wooden pedestal was sculpted by a well known German-Jewish artist named Kurt Harald Isentein. In addition to Constant, Isenstein sculpted many prominent figures of his time, including Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr.

Though most of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington story takes place in New England, many family members have moved to other parts of the country (and even the world) at some point during their lives. Constant Huntington, older brother of PPH Museum founder James Lincoln Huntington, was one such family member. Though Constant grew up spending his summers at Forty Acres with his family, his adult life would take him far from Hadley. After graduating Harvard, he moved to London in 1905 to head the British branch of G.P. Putnam’s Sons Publishing. In 1916, he married popular writer and fellow American expat, Gladys Parrish. In 1922, they would have their first and only child, Alfreda Huntington.

Items in the collection show that Constant and his family lived a life of travel and leisure; photo albums are filled with vacation photos throughout Europe and Gladys’ diaries detail relaxing lunches and teas with her friends several times a week. Also included in the collection are a number of novel and play manuscripts penned by Gladys, testifying to her robust career as a published author.

Despite living in London, Constant remained involved in the Hadley family home as his brother James worked towards opening the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum in the late 1940s. The family papers held at Amherst College include extensive correspondence between the two brothers regarding the museum. Both Constant and Gladys would remain in London until their deaths in 1959 and 1962, respectively. The Constant Huntington collection is quite large, and our inventory of it has only just started, keep an eye out for more exciting finds in the coming weeks!

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Bishop Huntington's Communion Flagon

Resting on a shelf in the Bishop’s study is a small, unassuming silver flagon. It’s baluster form is simple and unadorned; the maker's mark (“Lincoln and Reed”) reveals it was made in Boston. An inscription on its belly simply reads “Frederic Dan Huntington, Jan 1st, 1845”. Flagons like this one were used and continue to be used in Christian churches around the world to distribute the wine consumed during Communion. However, it is difficult to say whether or not this particular flagon was ever actually used for such a purpose.

Shortly after graduating from Amherst College, Frederic Dan Huntington assumed the position of minister at the Unitarian South Congregational Church of Boston in 1842. He served in this role until he left to teach at Harvard as Plummer Professor of Christian Morals in 1855. At some point during his time there, he received this silver flagon. The exact details are unknown, but it is quite likely the flagon was given to Frederic Dan as a gift from the congregation. It was not uncommon for wealthy members of a church to sponsor such a gift, or even for the congregation to purchase one collectively. Huntington was quite well liked by his congregation in Boston, and he seems to have returned the sentiment. He wrote this of them upon his departure from the church in 1855:

“It is not exceeded, I believe, by any in the land… for number, for harmony, for mutual kindness and consideration… and indeed for every attribute and quality which make up good parochial character in the eyes of the minister.”[1]

Bishop Huntington in his later years, 1871

Frederic Dan would teach at Harvard for only five years before his resignation and subsequent conversion to Episcopalianism. Even so, he continued to look back on his time as a Unitarian minister with great fondness. He writes of the “Dear old South Congregational” in this 1878 letter:

“How many honored and dear names I could mention of those who were with me from the beginning! And how much could be said of them! Give my love to all the children and kindred of those who have fallen asleep.”[2]

Though the Flagon’s origins might not be clear, it is obvious that it represented a very important and memorable time in his life. It eventually came into the hands of his grandson, noted composer Roger Sessions, who in turn passed it onto his grandson, Roger Pease. It was Roger Pease who generously donated the Flagon to the museum in 2019, where it now has a home among countless other objects that serve as a testament to Bishop Huntington’s long and storied life.

Sources:

[1] and [2] Arria Sargent Huntington, Memoir and Letters of Frederic Dan Huntington: First Bishop of Central New York (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1906), 107, 108.

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Tiny Treasures

Recently, a surprise item was found among donations from Wheeler descendants. Nestled in between various framed photographs and books was a small fabric drawstring bag. It has a quilted appearance, with a pink floral design, and a pale pink interior. Normally, these bags were used as a travelling jewelry box. The bag’s contents were carefully wrapped, concealing a special collection of objects. Loosening the drawstring and unfolding the paper revealed the priceless contents: a black clay dog, a small doll made out of embroidery thread with a tissue veil, two small walnut shells decorated with googly eyes and red felt, and a felt mouse wearing a white and red robe holding a book with a gold cross on the cover. These adorable objects appear handmade and sentimental. Oddities like these are common in most households, especially those with children. These objects were carefully preserved for a lifetime of childhood memories!

Fabric bag

Small black clay dog

Doll made of embroidery thread with a tissue veil

Walnut shells with googly eyes and felt mouths

Small felt mouse holding a red book with a gold cross

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A Slice of Cottage Life

A recent donation to the museum included a collection of small, wooden-handled knives of varying shapes and styles. These knives came from the Thompson family summer cottage known as the Neudick House in Georgetown, ME. The property was bought by Elizabeth (Bessie) Wheeler Thompson (b.1884)[1] and John (Jack) Fairfield Thompson (b. 1883) in the 1930s. The summer house was complete with a farmer and chauffeur to drive them between their many properties.[2] The couple was known to be a dazzling pair, “eclipsing all others.” On February 14, 1911, Jack proposed to Bessie on the Brooklyn Bridge. Afterwards, their letters to each other are full of love and longing. In a section from Jack’s letter, he wrote:

In my heart, I have been your man for a long time…I will come for you tomorrow and we will walk that blessed Bridge again… I am so happy. I only feel, I cannot think. But last night I left you more truly your husband and you more truly my wife than any human ceremony can make us.

Goodnight from your husband,

Jack

Looking closely at the knives reveals history a bit closer to home. Two of the knives’ handles are marked with a label from their manufacturer, the inscriptions reading “Russell” and “Russell Green River Works.” This company was started in 1834 by John Russell in a water-powered factory on the banks of the Green River in Greenfield, MA making butcher and kitchen knives. Large quantities of their hunting knives were shipped out West to the American frontier. Reproductions of their fur trade era knives are still being sold.

The Russell knife in the top image is a common paring knife, while the Russell knife in the bottom image is a chicken “sticking” knife. Aptly named, this knife would have been used to kill chickens by sticking the blade into their brain and giving a small twist. Both knives are circa 1910.

One of the other knives has also been inscribed with a company name. This watermark is on the blade, rather than on the handle like the Russell knives. The blade of the smooth round handled knife reads “DEXTER PAT 3-7-16.” This cutlery line is linked to the Harrington Cutlery Company, founded in 1818 in Southbridge, MA. In 1884, the Dexter line of kitchen and table cutlery, which this knife is from, was introduced.

It is an oyster knife, designed for strength and durability. The sharp, flat blade with a stop at the end is ideal for splitting the oyster shells and the round grip gives comfortable handling. It likely dates to before 1933.

These two local cutlery manufacturers, The Harrington Cutlery Company and Russell Green River Works, merged in 1933 to become the Russell Harrington Cutlery Company. The company still thrives today in Southbridge, MA.

The Neudick House contained a variety of old utensils, including these knives. While material possessions abounded for Bessie and Jack Thompson, their value paled in comparison to their devotion to each other. In a letter to Bessie, Jack wrote, “All eternal things seem part of me now. There are only two primary facts: you and me.”

[1] Elizabeth Wheeler Thompson is descended from Elizabeth Huntington Fisher (1803-1864). Our 2016 exhibit on Elizabeth Porter Huntington Fisher imparts details from her life as described in her letters. To explore this exhibit, click here: https://www.pphmuseum.org/news/2016/8/8/the-porter-phelps-huntington-museum-presents-a-life-in-letters-elizabeth-porter-huntington-sessions-by-kristin-malin-a-mixed-media-visual-art-installation

[2] In the 1930s, John (Jack) Fairfield Thompson was the executive vice president of International Nickel Co, eventually becoming President and Chairman of the Board. He was very successful, which allowed for the couple to travel often and purchase many properties.

Sources:

Albert Shane, Museum of Our Industrial Heritage, http://industrialhistory.org/contact-us/.

“About Dexter.” English, www.dexter1818.com/about-dexter.

McCabe, John. Oyster Knives, oysters.us/oyster-knives.html.

Elizabeth Wheeler, “Fisher-Wheeler-Thompson Story”, “A HUNTINGTON-FISHER-SESSIONS STORY “

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‘Lord Clermont’s horse, Johnny’

This lithograph, hung on the north wall of the upstairs guest bedroom, depicts ‘Lord Clermont’s horse, Johnny.’ The Lordship of Clermont was a title created in 1770 in the Peerage of Ireland and bestowed upon William Fortescue, an Irish politician and horseracing enthusiast. This lithograph, gifted to Dr. James Lincoln Huntington by a patient, was etched by Thomas Buford based off of the original 1776 painting by English artist Francis Sartorius. Sartorius, active from the 1750s through his death in 1804, belonged to a family of artists specializing in equestrian scenes including his father, John Sartorius, and son John Nott Sartorius. Francis is best known for his extensive collection of paintings of Eclipse, an 18th-century English racehorse famous for providing the foundation for the modern Thoroughbred horse breed. Although the Lord Clermont William Fortescue’s Johnny never achieved such fame, Sartorius’ original painting and a colored lithograph of the image currently reside in the British Museum archives.

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Huntington Family Cross-Stitch

Dr. James Lincoln Huntington founded the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum in 1948. This Cross-stitch shows Dr. Huntington as a young boy with his family. Stitched in 1900, the image depicts his family members in age order. Underneath the family reads "E M P to L St A H", meaning the cross-stitch was given to “L St A H”- Lily St. Agnam Huntington, Dr. Huntington’s mother- from someone with the initials ‘E.M.P’. The cross-stitch currently hangs in the second floor South East Bedchamber of the museum where Lily summered after her husband’s death. Following are short bios of this Huntington family who assisted Dr. Huntington in founding the PPH museum.

Click here to view the online finding aid for the PPH collection at the Amherst College Archives.

George Putnam Huntington

George Putnam Huntington, born in 1844, was the first of Frederic Dan and Hannah Dane Sargent Huntington’s seven children. George, like his father, became an Episcopal minister and was ordained Deacon in 1868. In 1869, George became the first rector of St. Paul’s Church in Malden, Massachusetts, where he met his wife, Lily St. Agnam Barrett. Upon his retirement from St. Paul’s, the women of the parish made him a quilt which is now on display at the PPH museum. Lily and George married in 1874 and had six children: Henry “Barrett”, Constant, James, Michael “Paul”, Catharine, and Frederic (Freddie); each depicted in the cross-stitch. In 1904, just 15 years after Freddie was born, George died, possibly from typhoid fever. And just four hours prior to George’s death, his father Frederic Dan passed away. On July 11th, 1904, Barrett, Constant, James, Paul, Catharine, and Freddie, lost both their grandfather and father in a matter of hours.

Lily St. Agnam Barrett Huntington

Born in 1848 in Malden, Massachusetts, to Henry and Lucy Theodora Gellineau Steams Barrett, Lily St. Agnam was raised Unitarian but baptized and confirmed in the Episcopal faith in 1874 and married the rector of her parish, George Putnam Huntington. The couple lived and raised their first four children in Malden until 1884 when, due to George’s failing health, they moved to Ashfield, Massachusetts, where they had two more children. Now closer to the family home in Hadley, “Forty Acres”,Lily, George, and their six children often summered there. At 56 years old, Lily became a widow while still taking care of her youngest three children. In the fall of 1904, a few months after her husband’s death, Lily bought a house in Leicester, Massachusetts, where she lived with Paul, Catharine, and Freddie, until each went off to college. A few years later, in 1908 or 1909, Lily moved to Lexington, Massachusetts where she lived until 1920. By this point, her children had modernized the family home at “Forty Acres,” where Lily summered until her death in 1926.

Henry Barrett Huntington

Henry Barrett Huntington, known as Barrett, was the first child of George and Lily. Barrett was born in 1875 in Malden, Massachusetts. In 1893, he attended Harvard and later taught English Composition and Literature at Harvard, Dartmouth, and Brown University. After the death of Hannah Dane Sargent, his grandmother, in 1910, Barrett tried to run “Forty Acres” as a dairy. However, as Barrett lived in Providence, Rhode Island, and didn’t commute to Hadley often, his dairy was not successful. In 1905, Barrett married Alice Howland Mason. Alice and Barrett had four children: Elizabeth, born in 1906, twins Arria Sargent and George Putnam, born in 1909, and Mary Hopkins, born in 1915. Alice died in 1946 at the age of 65, Barrett died 19 years later in 1965.

Constant Davis Huntington

In 1876, George and Lily’s second son, Constant Davis Huntington, was born. Following in his brother’s footsteps, Constant attended Harvard in 1895. In 1902, Constant became the head of G.P. Putnam’s Sons Publishers, first in New York and then in 1905, in London. Constant and his wife Gladys Theodora Parrish had one daughter: Georgiana Mary Alfreda, born in 1922. Until his death in 1962, despite living far away in London, Constant remained involved in the Hadley family home as his brother James worked towards opening the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum in the late 1940s.

James Lincoln Huntington

The third son of George and Lily, James Lincoln Huntington was born in 1880. Although James was born in Malden, his family moved to Ashfield in 1884, when James was four. In 1902, James graduated from Dartmouth College and attended Harvard Medical School five years later. As an obstetrician and gynecologist, James studied in Germany and later practiced in Boston. In 1911, James married Sarah Higginson Pierce and together they had two sons: Benjamin Lincoln, born in 1912, and John Higginson, born in 1916. James and Sarah divorced in June of 1944 and in December of the same year, James married his second wife: Agnes Genevieve Keefe. In 1948, James founded the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum where he gave tours until his death in 1968.

Michael Paul St. Agnam Huntington

Known as Paul, Michael Paul St. Agnam Huntington was born in 1882 in Malden as the fourth son of George and Lily. While his brothers all went away to boarding school, Paul was chronically ill as a child and remained home. In 1902 Paul attended Harvard University, then Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1906, and Cambridge Theological Seminary in 1914. Three years later, in 1917, Paul was ordained Deacon and served as Priest at Emmanuel Church in Boston. In 1922, Paul married Lona Marie Goode. Lona died in 1956, at just 59 years old after they had been married for 34 years. During those years, Paul and Lona had three children: William Paul, born in 1923, David Mack Goode, born in 1926, and Charles Phelps, born in 1928. In 1937, at 9 years old, Charles was killed in an automobile accident. Paul not only outlived his wife by 11 years, but also his youngest son by 30. Paul died in 1967.

Catharine Sargent Huntington

The only daughter of George and Lily, Catharine Sargent Huntington was born in 1887 and was the fifth of six children. In 1911, Catharine graduated from Radcliffe College which had been founded just 32 years prior. When it was founded, Radcliffe was nicknamed the “Harvard Annex” as it provided women education and instruction from Harvard faculty. After she graduated, Catharine taught English at a boarding school in Connecticut and later worked with the YMCA in France. In 1927, Catharine was arrested at a demonstration against Sacco and Vanzetti’s execution. Along with her activism, Catharine was largely involved in American theatre. In 1940 she founded the Provincetown Playhouse, in 1938 founded the New England Repertory Theatre in Boston, and in 1965 Catharine won the Rodgers and Hammerstein award for “having done the most in the Boston area for the American theatre.” Further, on her 97th birthday, Catharine was recognized by Governor Michael Dukakis and the Massachusetts Legislature for her contributions to American theater. Catharine died in 1987 at the age of 99. Click HERE to learn more about Catharine Sargent Huntington.

Frederic Dane Huntington

Freddie Huntington, the sixth and youngest child of George and Lily, was born in 1889. When Freddie was just 14 years old, his father and grandfather died on the same day. Freddie was therefore supported through school by his mother and five older siblings. In 1912, Freddie attended Harvard and was admitted to the Bar in 1915. However, Freddie wasn’t able to practice law for very long before he became Sargent of Artillery of the Massachusetts National Guard in Mexico in 1916 and was sent overseas the next year as a captain in World War I. Before returning to the United States in 1919 after the war had ended, Freddie served at Chemin des Dames and Meuse-Argonne, two battles that were crucial in the Allies’ offensive effort during the war. After the armistice of November 11th, 1918, which ended the fighting of World War I, Freddie was detailed as Judge Advocate. In 1924, Freddie married Elsie Entress. There is evidence that Freddie may have suffered from PTSD after his return from World War I. Soon after his 49th birthday in 1940, Freddie committed suicide after killing his dog in the Old Hadley Cemetery. His wife, Elsie, died eight years later.

SOURCES:

Family, Porter-Phelps-Huntington. “Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers, 1698-1968 (Bulk 1800-1950) Finding Aid.” Text. Accessed August 21, 2019. http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/amherst/ma30_main.html.

Huntington Family Genealogical Memoir — Supplement 1915 to 1962. Norwich, CT: The Huntington Family Association, 1962.

Huntington Genealogical Memoir — 1633 to 1916. Hartford, CT: Huntington Family Association, 1915.

“Our History.” Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Accessed August 21, 2019. https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/about-us/our-history.

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Whittaker's Planisphere

The toy closet in the Long Room is home to many interesting objects, including a Whittaker’s Planisphere, a tool for charting the stars and constellations. Thomas Whittaker was a publisher with Thomas Whittaker Publisher, Bookseller, and Importer and also sold other tools for scientific education. This planisphere was made in Germany and the one Whittaker sold had been adapted for the United States. It cost 60 cents in 1888. It is made of cardboard and on the back of it has instructions on how to use it. Unfortunately, the instructions on the one in the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum have worn off. Due to the immense popularity of the device in the late 1880s and early 1890s, it seems that the Whittaker’s Planisphere would have belonged to James Lincoln Huntington and his siblings or other cousins of the sixth generation of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family.

In an advertisement in The Protestant Episcopal Review in April of 1894, Whittaker explained two of the products he was selling, the Whittaker Anatomical Model or “Manikin” and the planisphere. The planisphere was described as,

a device composed of a movable disc and a frame, by means of which you can locate any star in the heavens at any hour in the year. It also enables one to find out the hour of sunrise and sunset for any day. Those who have purchased Whittaker’s Revolving Planisphere know well its value as a teacher of astronomy. Over seventy-five thousand copies are now in use.[1]

The back of the Whittaker’s Planisphere in the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum.

In 1894, the planisphere’s cost had risen to 65 cents. In the 1888 full page advertisement in Publisher’s Weekly, Whittaker sold the planisphere among other books and described the planisphere as “the cheapest and most practical device for the study of the stars at home or in school that has ever been offered.”[2]

As described in the advertisement placed in an issue of the Literary World, to see the stars “at any hour in the year,”[3] from the Whittaker’s Planisphere, one had to rotate the card, which had the month, date, and zodiac sign printed on it to match with the hour printed on the overlaid piece of cardboard, so that it reflected the time when one was using it. The overlaid piece of cardboard had an oval shaped opening that revealed the stars for the time at which it was used.[4] Therefore, one would have been able to see the stars and constellations “at any hour in the year.”[5]

Sources

Notes

[1] Thomas Whittaker, “And What Is a Planisphere,” The Protestant Episcopal Review 7, no. 7 (April 1894): 7.

[2] Thomas Whittaker, “Thomas Whittaker’s Announcements for the Fall Season,” The Publisher’s Weekly

34 (September 22, 1888): 448.

[3] Thomas Whittaker, “And What Is a Planisphere,” 7.

[4] Thomas Whittaker, “Whittaker’s Planisphere,” The Literary World 19, no. 22 (October 27, 1888): 357.

[5] Thomas Whittaker, “And What Is a Planisphere,” 7.

Bibliography

Aasmaster. "Booksellers' and Bookbinders' Labels Collection Name List." American Antiquarian Society. December 28, 2018. Accessed July 31, 2019. https://www.americanantiquarian.org/booksellers-and-bookbinders-labels-collection-name-list.

"Antique Whittaker's Planisphere." Everything But the House. February 23, 2016. Accessed July 31, 2019. https://www.ebth.com/items/2995750-antique-whittaker-s-planisphere.

Whittaker, Thomas. “And What Is a Planisphere.” The Protestant Episcopal Review 7, no.7 (April 1894): 7. https://books.google.com/books?id=b6YSS6tnzPgC&pg=RA1-PA382-IA21&lp g=RA1-PA382-IA21&dq=thomas+whittaker+planisphere&source=bl&ots=-m6XaLEw b&sig=ACfU3U204E7B_FRrRlY0jakTXPwQ-jhaIQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj89cf0k93jAhW XXM0KHa39AtMQ6AEwEnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=thomas%20whittaker%20planisphere&f=false

Whittaker, Thomas. “Thomas Whittaker’s Announcements for the Fall Season.” The Publisher’s Weekly 34 (September 22, 1888): 448. https://books.google.com/books?id=URADAAAAYAAJ& pg=PA448&lpg=PA448&dq=thmas+whittaker+planisphere&source=bl&ots=4GLDWPg0wf&sig=ACfU3U18AWwgoWPYALpqcW1asKINchrsOg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj89cf0k93jAhWXXM0KHa39AtMQ6AEwD3oECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=thomas%20whittaker%20planisphere&f=false

Whittaker, Thomas. “Whittaker’s Planisphere.” The Literary World 19, no. 22 (October 27, 1888): 357. https://books.google.com/books?id=4EsDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA361&lpg=PA361&dq=whittak ers+planisphere&source=bl&ots=2hlfZH62iS&sig=ACfU3U1YeDeV0KNtVdffOk3LemxjFqQwPA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiu5LX1r93jAhVPKqwKHaUuCng4ChDoATAIegQIBhAB#v=onepage&q=whittakers%20planisphere&f=false

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Elizabeth Whiting Phelps’ Engraved “Button Box”

Nestled in the Georgian style window seat in the northeast bedchamber, Elizabeth Whiting “Betsy” Phelps’ “button box,” similar to a sewing kit, is out on display. It was made between 1750 and 1800 and gifted to Elizabeth sometime before she married Dan Huntington in 1801. Elizabeth participated in the local sewing society and also taught the practical skill to her daughters. As she mentions in a letter to her son Edward in 1841, “Bethia, who is sewing at my side, sends her love to you…” Today, visitors can see a sampler sewn by Bethia on display in the house.

The small wooden box is made in the Shaker style which can be recognized by the single strips of wood with tapered ends that form the sides of the cover and box. The Shaker community emigrated to North America in the 1770s and carried their tenets of humility and honesty into their craftsmanship. They developed a style that did not “deceive” through ornamentation and veneers, but revealed nails, seams, and sites of attachment with a focus on proportion and simplicity.

It is likely the Huntington family continued to use the button box for several succeeding generations. Hanging out from the lid, two spools connect to silk thread stored inside. Engraving on the spools indicate that the thread sourced from Belding Corticelli Richardson, a popular high-quality manufacturing company whose precursors held an early factory in Northampton, MA, but did not establish this title until the 1920s. Such personalized objects would have held a particular value within the family collections.

Sources

“Belding Brothers & Company, Silk Manufacturers — Alvah N. Belding Memorial Library.” Accessed July 1, 2019, https://www.belding.michlibrary.org/about-us/our-history/belding-brothers-company-silk-manufacturers.html.

Elizabeth Whiting Phelps Huntington, “Elizabeth Huntington to Frederic Dan Huntington, Mar. 29th, 1845,” Global Valley, accessed July 2, 2019, https://www.ats.amherst.edu/globalvalley/items/show/79.

Elizabeth Whiting Phelps Huntington, “Elizabeth Huntington to Edward Huntington, Dec. 13th, 1841,” Global Valley, accessed July 2, 2019, https://www.ats.amherst.edu/globalvalley/items/show/34.

Vincent, Author: Nicholas C. “Shaker Furniture | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art.” The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Accessed June 30, 2019. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/shak/hd_shak.htm.

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General Lincoln's Parquet Tea Caddy

Tea Caddy, Full Shot

Placed in the 1771 Dining Room, the tea caddy is presented with the top open and the prongs on top of the canisters.

Tea Caddy, Parquet Detail

The key lock and parquet shows the incredible artistry that was used on this caddy. Delicate, elegant, and elaborate. This would have been a very expensive caddy.

1771 Dining Room

This is where the tea caddy is placed in the Dining Room.

Canisters

On the left and right side are where the tea leaves were stored. The middle was for the sugar cones.

Sugar Prongs

This is an example of the sugar prongs that would have been used in order to cut cones of sugar or to place cubes into cups of tea.

Tea has been a prominent custom since the mid-seventeenth century[1]. In the colonial era it developed as an important commodity, a political chess piece, and a symbol of prestige in society. The colonial tea table would not be complete without tea pots, teaspoons, lemon forks, infusers, sugar bowls, creamers, jam jars, saucers, and more. [2] All of these components and accessories were crucial to the tradition of tea, which was required for young colonists to become respected adults in society.

The British government began taxing tea in the 1760’s with the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767. These acts and the colonists’ reactions built up to a climax of smuggling and outrage, which developed into the Boston Tea Party in December of 1773. As a result of the agitation over the taxes, we became a nation of prominent coffee and chocolate drinkers.

Pictured here, is a tea caddy that belonged to General Benjamin Lincoln (1733-1810). The hand-made parquet wood box holds two tea tins and a middle tin for sugar cones. Previous to the invention of sugar cubes, sugar would come in small coned shapes. This explains the sugar tongs, placed above the tins in the photographs. The tongs were used to cut amounts of sugar from the cone and to place them in a hot cup of tea.

Caddies often came with the purchase of tea, but they came quite handy for those that travelled as much as General Lincoln. This caddy is most likely from England, who took the inspiration from Chinese canisters made of silver, ivory, lacquer, and tortoise shell.[3] The English typically made caddies from different types of wood (such as rosewood, satinwood, and mahogany) that were placed in elaborate or delicate designs.

William Cowper, an English poet and hymnodist, perfectly described the importance and the outlook of tea in his poem titled The Winter Evening as such: “the bubbling and loud-hissing urn / Throws up a steamy column, and the cups, / That cheer but not inebriate”.[4]

Sources:

[1] Tea has been a custom well before the seventeenth century, especially in the Eastern Hemisphere where most tea originates from. Due to the focus of this piece being of Europe, I mention the seventeenth century to reference the tradition in Europe and England.

[2] Dolores Snyder, Tea Time Entertaining: A Collection of Tea Themes & Recipes (Dolores W. Snyder, 2004), 26.

[3] Ibid., 33.

[4] https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44037/the-task-book-iv-the-winter-evening

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1809 Prussian Potsdam Musket

In the 1799 kitchen, a 19th century musket stands by the door that leads to the back veranda. Made of walnut and brass, the musket measures 76 inches overall with a 41.25 inch barrel and a 15.25 inch triangular bayonet. A number of visitors have asked questions of when or where this musket was used, or whether it would have been brought back by a Civil War veteran in the Porter-Phelps-Huntington family. Because of these inquiries, I grew curious about its origins.

The inventory card for the musket (X025) indicates a date range from 1800 to 1850. Based on a quote from Frederic Dan Huntington (1819-1904) it also “dates from the War of 1812… was changed from a flintlock…[and] is a Hadley Militia musket.” There are also incised numbers and initials along it’s base. To interpret the numbers and to understand the history of this musket, I contacted Alexander MacKenzie, Curator of the Springfield Armory.

The serial numbers tell this musket’s story. MacKenzie identified it as a Potsdam Musket, from the 1809 Prussian infantry. Just above the musket’s trigger, “F/Saarn” is incised on a brass plate. There are also incisions on either side of the butt plate: “233/L.W.B. 36./E” on one side and “94398/1909/1830” on the other. 1830 is the year it was made in the Prussian Royal Arms Factory in Saarn, Rhineland [1]. 233 would have been the tracking or rack number [2] and L.W.B stands for the Landwehr Regiment, where it was used.

As indicated on the inventory card, it was originally a flintlock [3]. MacKenzie described that it was most likely converted to percussion ignition around 1840. Many of the older models, like the Potsdam musket, were not in use in Europe by the 1860’s and would have been sold to countries that were in desperate need of arms. The Union Army during the Civil War bought nearly 126,000 of these muskets in the first few years of the war and, according to MacKenzie, to keep them out of the hands of the Confederate Army.

It is possible that this musket was used in the early Civil War and brought back to the house by a family veteran. The Union Army, by this time, however, was replacing these models by more modern fire arms from Springfield and Connecticut. After 1861, Potsdam muskets were sold as surplus military relics in North America. It is possible that this musket would have been purchased as a surplus item with the bayonet.

While the musket still stands guard at the very back of the house, its complete provenance remains a conundrum.

__________

Sources

Pam, David, (1998). The Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield & Its Workers. Enfield: Published by the author. ISBN 0-9532271-0-3.

Alexander MacKenzie, Curator, The Springfield Armory. https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781467122740

"Prussian Model 1809 “’Potsdam’ Musket”. Horse Soldier. Accessed June 18, 2018. http://www.horsesoldier.com/products/firearms/longarms/9824.

Footnotes

[1] "Pattern 1809 Prussian Musket - The Battle of Waterloo." Royal Armouries Collections. Accessed July 01, 2018. https://collections.royalarmouries.org/battle-of-waterloo/arms-and-armour/type/rac-narrative-272.html.

[2] A racking number was a quick way for the armorer to check for organizational purposes. Weapons had identification numbers to match a number placed in its corresponding location.

[3] Flintlock and Percussion Ignition: The flintlock ignition creates a spark made by the contact of flint and steel, called a frizzen. When the trigger was pulled, the flint would strike the steel creating a spark igniting the powder. Percussion ignition caps were “a system for utilizing fulminating salts to fire powder, and further specified as one of the chief advantages of his system that it prevented any escape of gas through the touch-hole”.

. http://americansocietyofarmscollectors.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/B019_Bedford.pdf., http://sportsmansvintagepress.com/read-free/book-pistol-revolver-table-contents/caplock-pistols-the-percussion-system/.

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Canton ware Platter

The china cabinet, with the platter below (Accession Number C014.C)

Below the stocked china cabinet in the dining room at Forty Acres sits a heavy platter, sturdy yet embellished with delicate blue designs and scenes. It is octagonal, with a thick blue cross-hatched band and a scalloped edge that envelopes a tranquil landscape with boats, pagodas, islands, and soft waves. This piece entered the possession of the Stearns family some time before 1820, and would have originated in Guangzhou, China, the country’s one port open to trade with the West and the center of porcelain manufacturing and exports. The landscape scene would have involved the work of many hands—the painted designs were completed assembly-line style, with each artist adding one aspect of shading or line before passing on the porcelain. This platter belonged to the Stearns, the family of museum founder Dr. James Lincoln Huntington’s grandmother, Lucy Gellineau Stearns. The Stearns were from Salem, one of the largest hubs of porcelain trade outside of New York. Given the platter’s dating to the early 19th century, it most likely would have been purchased by William Stearns and Sarah White Sprague, Dr. Huntington’s great-great-grandparents. The Stearns were a merchant family; William Stearns (1754-1819) was an apothecary and grocer. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries in New England, Canton ware such as this platter was both ubiquitous and accessible, especially as factories were established in England and the Netherlands to produce cheaper pieces in the Canton style that would be purchased by families like the Stearns. These cities on the Eastern coast began receiving mass quantities of Canton ware in the early 19th century, around when the platter came into the family’s possession, so much so that cargo ships counted the porcelain as part of the weight of the ship itself.

This demand for Canton ware in New England blossomed partially out of the status that the imported pieces symbolized, as well as the exoticized nature of the content of the scenes they featured. This platter features the typical content of Canton ware-- shan shui (hills and streams), showing pagodas, rivers, boats, fishermen, walled pleasure gardens that bordered mansions. For families like the Stearns and Huntingtons, these tranquil scenes were their only exposure to Chinese culture-- by the time Chinese migration to the United States began in the mid 19th century, the popularity of Canton ware had already died down. However, these stylized landscapes reflected the Western imagination’s conception of China rather than the country’s reality of political and social turmoil at the time. This craze of “orientalism” and its idealized, alluring vision of China went hand in hand with the West’s ‘dominating, restructuring, and having authority” over the country itself (Haddad 55). Thus, the foreign fantasy of the shan shui scenes depicted on the platter at Forty Acres represents the lack of awareness of China and its politics at the time that prevailed in the West—the destructive role of England in the Opium Wars, for example. However, the American perception of China as an exotic mystery eventually faded. As the intellectual and economic barriers between the West and China eroded over the course of the 19th century, the demand for Canton ware diminished. This platter remains as a relic of the Stearns and Huntington’s family’s interaction with a romanticized myth of China.

Canton ware platter (Accession Number C014.C)

Sources:

Cooney Frelinghuysen, Alice and Clare Le Corbeiller. “Chinese Export Porcelain.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 60, no. 3, 2003, pp. 1-60.

Haddad, John. “Imagined Journeys to Distant Cathay: Constructing China with Ceramics, 1780-1920.” Winterthur Portfolio, vol. 41, no. 1, 2007, pp. 53-80.

Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers, on deposit at Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library.

Stearns and Sprague Family Papers, MSS 192, Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.

For further reading on the Stearns family, see:

Heath, Douglas L. and Alison C. Simon, "The Lost Mill Village of Middlesex Fells," History Press, 2017. ISBN 9781 4671 36679.

Gilder Cornelia Brooke. Edith Wharton's Lenox. The History Press. Charleston, South Carolina. 2017

Thorsen, Linda Jean. "The Merchants' Manufacturer: The Barrett Family's Dyeing Businesses in Massachusetts and New York, 1790-1850" Thesis. Harvard University, May 2015.

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Franklin Lightning Rod: More that just safety?

Running from the ground, up along the north facade and perched on top the gambrel roof is a lightning rod, said to be added during the house's 1799 renovation by Charles Phelps. In the 1920s, engineers coming to the house from the Underwriters Laboratory of Chicago were profoundly impressed by it and stated it must be one of the first true Franklin Rods. They dated it back as early as 1800 or before. The structure is unique in that it holds 3 pointed prongs at the top rather then the usual two. In 1750, Benjamin Franklin created the lightning rod to protect people, buildings, and other structures from the lightning he had recently discovered as electricity. The idea was that the rod would catch the electricity and the wire would safely conduct it past the house, down into the ground, preventing fires.

Franklin advocated for lightning rods that had sharp points whereas his English colleagues, reasoning that sharp points would attract lightning and increase the risk of strikes, thought blunt rods were more favorable. When word of the lightning rods hit the colonies the decision on wether or not to equip a building with one became a political statement. The pointed rods—like those on the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum—expressed support for Franklin’s theories of protecting public buildings as well as the rejection of theories supported by the king who had his house equipped with blunt rods.

The pointed lightning rod soon became a symbol of ingenuity and independence of a young, thriving nation. The family is well known for their progressive thought through the generations. This pieces adds not only historic value to the house but a look at the political statements being taken at the time of the Porter-Phelps family and their involvement.

To find out more about Benjamin Franklin and the development of the Lightning rod visit The Franklin Institute:

https://www.fi.edu/history-resources/franklins-lightning-rod

To learn about the other house renovations taking place at the time the lighting rod was added, take a look at "Forty Acres: The Story of the Bishop Huntington House" written by James Lincoln Huntington himself! Also available for purchase at the museum!

http://www.worldcat.org/title/forty-acres-the-story-of-the-bishop-huntington-house/oclc/2768800?referer=di&ht=edition

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Sarah Phelps' Album

Sifting Through the Negatives: An Exploration of Silhouettes and Family Ties

Schoolgirl Art Needlework Samplers

Alfreda's Autograph Book

Further Reading on Autograph Books

References

Alfreda the Artist

Further Reading on Commonplace Books

References

Botany and Watercolors

Charting Map Making at the Emma Willard School

A Piece of PPH History

A Huntington Across the Pond

Bishop Huntington's Communion Flagon

Tiny Treasures

A Slice of Cottage Life

‘Lord Clermont’s horse, Johnny’

Huntington Family Cross-Stitch

Whittaker's Planisphere

Sources

Elizabeth Whiting Phelps’ Engraved “Button Box”

General Lincoln's Parquet Tea Caddy

1809 Prussian Potsdam Musket

Canton ware Platter

Franklin Lightning Rod: More that just safety?

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