Page 10 – New London County Historical Society

October Second Sunday ~ Search for the Northwest Passage with Anthony Brandt

Posted on October 1, 2010April 25, 2019 by stevemanuel

Search for the Northwest Passage with Anthony Brandt

Anthony Brandt, editor of the National Geographic Adventure series and author of The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage, will be the speaker at the 10 October, Second Sunday lecture for the New London County Historical Society. Brandt’s book, published earlier this year, is a spell-binding read of the 19th-century search for a Northwest Passage from Europe to the Pacific.

The search for the fabled Northwest Passage was primarily carried out by the British Navy in the period following the Napoleonic Wars at a time when they seemed to believe they were invincible. The discovery of an all-water route to the Pacific above Canada became a goal for nineteenth-century British explorers that was equivalent to the search for the Holy Grail. Today we know how futile that search was as the passage was non-existent because the waters north of Canada were essentially icebound all year long, at least at that time. That didn’t prevent a parade of British mariners from challenging the ice in that incredibly hostile environment.

This summer, a team of archaeologists from Parks Canada set out to find some of the explorers’ sunken ships. Almost miraculously, they found the 100 foot HMS Investigator fifteen minutes after they began using side-scanning sonar in the area where the ship was abandoned by explorer Robert McClure 155 years ago. Due to global warming the ice in the Arctic is receding; this summer, for the third time in the past four years, a Northwest Passage did exist. The search continues for Lord Franklin’s lost ships the Erebus and the Terror.

New London will always be connected to these stories through the rescue of the British navy ship HMS Resolute, discovered by Captain James Buddington and brought back to New London in 1855. It was the crew of the Resolute who saved McClure and his team in the Arctic. Although the Resolute too was abandoned in the Arctic, it floated free of the ice and drifted 1000 miles before it was found by Buddington in the Davis Straits.

You’ll meet all these people and these ships and more in Brandt’s presentation based on his book. In addition to several other books, Brandt has had a successful career in magazine journalism. He wrote for Esquire, American Heritage, The Atlantic, and many other magazines. A reception and book signing will follow his presentation. The program begins at 3pm at the Shaw Mansion, 11 Blinman Street, New London. It is free for members of the historical society; $5 admission is charged to those who are not members.

The Shaw Mansion, headquarters for Connecticut’s Navy during the American Revolution, has been the home of New London County Historical Society for over 100 years. Located at 11 Blinman Street, New London, it is near the intersection of Bank and Tilley Streets. For more information please call 860.443.1209 or go to www.newlondonhistory.org.

NLCHS Annual Meeting ~ 12 September

Posted on September 3, 2010April 26, 2019 by stevemanuel

The Debut of our New Classroom, plus:

Jane Perkins Revealed

Please join us for the 140th annual meeting of the New London County Historical Society which will be held at the Shaw Mansion Sunday 12 September beginning with an hors d’oeuvres and wine reception at 4 pm followed by the business meeting at 5:15.

Following the business meeting Jennifer Emerson and Penny Havard will share with members the process and the research that went into creating the “persona” of Miss Jane Perkins.

Let’s say that “someone” has an idea to create a new first-person interpretive program for a unique historic site, that will “bring to life” an actual individual who once lived at the historic site. How do you make the idea into reality? How do you construct a life from the past? How do you make your interpretation of that individual believable? How do you create the clothes that will evoke the past, and position this individual in a certain time and place with a particular social standing and point of view? How do you create a setting where this person from the past would have an opportunity to be in conversation with people from the present? Come find out.

The “Tea with Miss Perkins” program was recently featured at the Annual Conference of the Connecticut League of History Organizations. With the theme, “Bring on the Drama: Theater and Costumed Interpretation at Historic Sites,” more than 100 history practitioners were interested in finding out more.

Jennifer and Penny created two presentations for the conference that outlined the creation of Miss Perkins and the creation of the costuming for the production. For our annual meeting they will share their presentations with our members.

Starting from, “What do we really know about Jane Perkins?” Jennifer put in hours of research time — part detective, part playwright, part actor, Jennifer’s inspiration will be revealed.

Penny’s task was not so much mystery, but was daunting nonetheless; with her considerable knowledge of fashion from the period, how did she take what Jennifer found out, translate that information and create a dress and accessories that would help to tell the story? And a second dress for the maid … there’s a lot to this story.

Tickets $20 for members. Call today to make reservations: 860.443.1209.

Miss Perkins around 1864.

Jane and Ellinor 1876 [2010 really]

Rescheduled for the 29th — Turn Back the Clock ~ NLCHS Day at Dodd Stadium Features Vintage Base Ball

Posted on August 16, 2010April 25, 2019 by stevemanuel

Thames Base Ball Club Demonstation Fronts the CT Tigers Game

Due to Rain on the 22nd , This Event Rescheuled for

Sunday 29 August

New London County Historical Society “Turns Back the Clock” Day at Dodd Stadium

11:35 — 1861 Rules Demonstration Base Ball Game Thames Base Ball Club v. Columbia Base Ball Club

1:05 — CT Tigers v Broklyn Cyclones

After the game — Kids get to run the bases and play catch and receive a free ball from Dick’s Sporting Goods

Free Benedict Arnold bobblehead to the first 500 ticket holders

Game Tickets $8 available at the Shaw Mansion and at the gate.

Call 860.443.1209

See you there!

Secrets of a Locked Trunk ~ A Visit with Miss Perkins and Family

Posted on August 5, 2010April 26, 2019 by stevemanuel

Call today to get your tickets: 860.443.1209

Miss Perkins and some of her family members will present a “first-person interactive performance with tea” over the last two weekends in August. Tickets will be available for both Saturday and Sunday late afternoon performances on 21 and 22 August and 28 and 29 August. In a variation on the “Tea with Miss Perkins” theme, the performance will be presented using the house and gardens as the setting for our story, and tea and period-appropriate refreshments will follow.

The setting for our story is 1876. Miss Perkins and her niece, Elinor, have been rummaging through the attic of the family’s ancient house. They’ve found a small locked trunk which obviously once belonged to a member of the family, but what lies within? With Mother’s permission (and with her curiosity aroused as well) they are determined to find out.

In 1876, the Shaw Mansion was home to Mrs. Nathaniel Shaw Perkins, her son Nathaniel Shaw Perkins, Jr., her daughter Jane Perkins, her granddaughter Elinor, (daughter of Mary Perkins Griswold who died in 1863), and two servants. In 1907 Jane Perkins sold the house to the New London County Historical Society to be its permanent home; by placing the story thirty years before that event we return to the centennial year, a time when many Americans began to truly look back at what had been accomplished since we declared our independence. Visitors will have an opportunity to be transported back in time and will see how the concept of preserving history might be older that you think.

“Jane Perkins,” “Elinor,” and “Mrs. Perkins,” will be left behind during the tea service. Coming out of character, Jennifer, Lilly and Penny will be available to answer your questions from the 21st century. If you have had tea with “Miss Perkins” before we hope you’ll return for this new performance and for the opportunity to ask about dresses or recipes or Frances Caulkins, and learn of the amazing amount of research that backs up each performance.

Reservations can be made by calling the Shaw Mansion at 860.443.1209. Tickets prices are $15 for adults and $12 for children.

Performances

21 and 22 August at 3 pm

28 and 29 August at 3 pm

Mowing Down Assumptions

Posted on June 17, 2010April 26, 2019 by NLCHS

[July 1719] Thursd 16 fair & hot. . .I Stacked Some hay yt grew before ye door. Thursd 22 [April 1725] fair. In ye morning I Sowed Some white Clover Seed betwixt ye Barberry Bush & Cherry trees. . . . Saturd 11 [August 1739] fair. . . Adam Mowed the Little pasture before the Door & Stacked the oats.

Wednsd 13 [March 1751] fair. . .& aftern I Set out for midletown [from Hartford] & bot 2 qrts of Clover Seed for 40s of one Curtiss near the South Side of Wethersfield. . . Tuesd .26 fair. in the foren I Sowed the oats att home. 7 Bushells & in the aftern I followed the Harrow & Sowed 2 Quarts of hay seed that I bot of Mr Curtice of Weathersfield Near Midletown uper houses. Tuesd 2d [July] fair. I was att home foren & aftern I was out to the Cornfield &c. Raked ye Clover ye most of itt. Natt Way Mowed itt ys day.

One of the biggest problems in understanding life in times past is our assumptions. We all carry around mental pictures of objects and activities based on our experiences, which can include reading and watching videos. Sometimes these assumptions are valid for earlier times, and sometimes not.

Take hay, for instance. When I think of hay (before the modern rolled-in-plastic version) I think of large stacks dotted around large, open fields. The grass that becomes the hay is all the same variety and has all grown to the same length. The stacks will eventually be transported to barns and stowed in the haymow above the animals’ stalls, ready for use all winter.

The picture is all right, as far as it goes, but as usual the reality was more complex. The diary entries above show that hay was sown in any available space, and that it was not always the long, straw-like grass we think of. Both white and purple clover were used, as was grass and salt hay, or marsh hay. And no one was going to hand weed all those acres of hay, which is why Hempstead notes when he pulled up yellow Blossomed Weeds in Smiths lot [June 1730]. St. John’s wort, or hypericum, is apparently harmful for cattle. Most flowers and other weeds were just left to be mowed also.

Hay was stored wherever the animals were going to spend the winter, in haymows, sheds, fields, and sometimes (in pressed form) on vessels bound for the West Indies that carried horses. In all cases except out in the fields it had to be completely dry before being stored, so that it did not spontaneously combust. And just when you were trying to get your hay in (keeping your fingers crossed it didn’t rain—no weather forecasts), so were your neighbors, leading to a greater than usual shortage of available labor.

Actually, “keeping your fingers crossed” is another assumption. Perhaps good Congregationalists of Hempstead’s day would have found that a pagan superstition.