Page 8 – New London County Historical Society

Rick Spencer Sings the Hits of the ’60s (that is, the 1860s)

Posted on June 16, 2011April 25, 2019 by stevemanuel

I’ m certain that you have sung a song by Connecticut-born composer Henry Clay Work, as it was he who wrote the song, “My Grandfather’s Clock,” in 1876. Work is just one of several professional composers who got their “big start” during the years of the Civil War.

On Wednesday evening 20 July, bring your lawn chairs and join us in the garden of the Shaw Mansion as Rick Spencer presents a program on the “Greatest Hits of the Civil War: America’s Earliest Professional Songwriters.” The garden gates will open at 6:30 pm and the show will start at 7:00, (we’re expecting a lovely evening). Members will be asked to make a donation, for others, the concert will cost $5. (We are also calling it the “Eve of Destruction” concert, as 21 July marks the 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Bull Run.)

Rick was a long-time member of the staff of Mystic Seaport working as a chanteyman and as a member of the quartet, Mystic Seaport’s Forebitter. More recently he was site administrator at the Hempsted Houses and now serves as the executive director of the Dr. Ashbell Woodward House museum of the Franklin Historical Society. In addition to being a recognized expert on the songs of the sailor, Rick has now done extensive research on popular music of 19th century America, creating programs such as, “Freemen for Fremont,” and this presentation on composers Stephen Foster, Daniel Decatur Emmett, and George F. Root in addition to Henry Clay Work.

The performance will include many of their songs, and Rick will share insights on how this music reflected the American character of the day.

26 June ~ Connecticut’s Historic Gardens Day

Posted on June 16, 2011April 25, 2019 by stevemanuel

Come to the Shaw Mansion for Connecticut’s Historic Garden Day

Sunday 26 June join us at the Shaw Mansion for Connecticut’s Historic Gardens Day. Your $5 admission to the gardens will provide opportunities for learning and enjoying the garden in the current, or the 19th century. In the morning Susan Munger will host garden tours and there will be a presentation on the surprising connection between the Shaw Mansion gardens and one of the earliest proponents of “modernist” landscape design, Christopher Tunnard, born in Canada, trained in England, and teaching at Yale after the Second World War.

In the afternoon, “Miss Perkins and friends” will entertain with period music, a “Language of Flowers” tour and perhaps a game of croquet.

There will be plants available for sale, and strawberry shortcake for everyone!

Open 11am to 3:30 pm.

Shaw Mansion to Participate in Blue Star Museums

Posted on May 23, 2011April 25, 2019 by stevemanuel

The New London County Historical Society is one of more than 1,300 museums across America to offer free admission to military personnel and their families this summer

NEW LONDON, CT – Today New London County Historical Society announced the launch of Blue Star Museums, a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, and more than 1,300 museums across America to offer free admission to all active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day 2011. Leadership support has been provided by MetLife Foundation through Blue Star Families. The complete list of participating museums is available at www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums.

In welcoming local military personnel, Historical Society president Deborah Donovan stated, “The Shaw Mansion is particularly connected to the local Navy and Coast Guard facilities as it served as the Naval Headquarters for Connecticut during the American Revolution. We can tell the story of state navies and privateers and their role in the Revolution with objects you can find nowhere else.” For examples she noted the Shaw Flag — a rare American Flag from the American Revolution — and treasures captured as prizes by Shaw privateers, including a Goddard tea table and silver service intended for the British governor of Virginia.

“Blue Star Museums may be the program at the NEA of which I am proudest,” said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman. “Blue Star Museums recognizes and thanks our military families for all they are doing for our country, and simultaneously begins young people on a path to becoming life-long museum goers.”

In 2010, the first year of the program, 300,000 military family members visited partner museums. This year, more than 1,324 museums in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa are taking part in the initiative, including more than 500 new museums this year. In addition to the Shaw Mansion, some of the other local museums participating include the Mashantucket Pequot Museum, the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, the Jonathan Trumbull War Office in Lebanon, and in New London, the Custom House Maritime Museum and the Lyman Allyn Art Museum.

About Blue Star Museums

Blue Star Museums runs from Memorial Day, May 30, 2011 through to Labor Day, September 5, 2011. The free admission program is available to active-duty military and their immediate family members (military ID holder and five immediate family members). Active duty military include Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and active duty National Guard and active duty Reserve members. Some special or limited-time museum exhibits may not be included in this free admission program. For questions on particular exhibits or museums, please contact the museum directly. To find out which museums are participating, visit www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums. The site includes a list of participating museums and a map to help with visit planning.

Lisbon Earthquake 1755

Posted on March 22, 2011April 26, 2019 by stevemanuel

[December 1755] Saturd 27. A Snowy day. I went into Town to see the Boston News Paper, which gives an account of the Terrable Efffects of a Great Earthquake in Spain & Portugail. The famous City of Lisbourn Destroyed. Ye Houes all Shaked down but 3. & Thousands of Pple killed. The fire on the hearths burnt all ye houses & Rubbish. & Some places Swallowed up &c.

Here in 2011 we have all been horrified and transfixed by the pictures and videos of the “great earthquake” and Tsunami in Japan that also killed thousands and swallowed up whole towns. Back in 1755 this kind of terrible news was not immediate, and not visual of course, but it still had the power to shake those far away who read about it, and Joshua, always a news hound, made a point of heading to town to get his news about the tragic earthquake in Lisbon, which destroyed the city by shaking, flooding and fire – very similar to the situation in the towns and cities along the coast of northeastern Japan. Knowing as we do, the difficulties facing the population of Japan in 2011, we can only imagine the chaos and the fear of those affected in 1755.

The University of California Berkeley’s Earthquake Information Center has a short article on the event that includes this information: “The earthquake began at 9:30 on November 1st, 1755, and was centered in the Atlantic Ocean, about 200 km WSW of Cape St. Vincent. The total duration of shaking lasted ten minutes and was comprised of three distinct jolts. Effects from the earthquake were far reaching. The worst damage occurred in the south-west of Portugal. Lisbon, the Portuguese capital, was the largest and the most important of the cities damaged. Severe shaking was felt in North Africa and there was heavy loss of life in Fez and Mequinez. Moderate damage was done in Algiers and in southwest Spain. Shaking was also felt in France, Switzerland, and Northern Italy. A devastating fire following the earthquake destroyed a large part of Lisbon, and a very strong tsunami caused heavy destruction along the coasts of Portugal, southwest Spain, and western Morocco.”

Joshua and his neighbors and fellow New Englanders were no stranger to local earthquakes as he notes several others in his journal, the earliest in 1727 on November 29. Of that event he wrote: “about 10 Clock at night an Earthquake Shook the houses Continued about 1 minute & half. ye Earthquake was Terrible in Boston Colony as here. An Irruption at Newbuy but a Rumbling noise & trembling of the earth & all things.” Several other smaller earthquakes are mentioned in later years and in each he refers back to the 1727 event, which clearly was memorable and mighty scary for our eighteenth-century New London record keeper. A very good account of this earthquake can be found on the website of the US Geological Survey – including information on the “irruption” at Newburyport, MA, where marshes rose up and dried up forever. This was perhaps an event much like the “liquefaction” that occurred in Christchurch, NZ, as a result of the earthquake there earlier this year.

Connecticut’s Jewish Farmers ~ February Second Sunday

Posted on February 1, 2011April 25, 2019 by stevemanuel

February’s Second Sunday program features Mary Donohue and Briann Greenfield, authors of a new book on Connecticut Jewish history. This book, the fourth in the Connecticut Jewish History Series from the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford, focuses on the lives of Jewish farmers in Connecticut and has been published by the Society with funding from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism.

Co-edited by Mary M. Donohue, Architectural Historian with the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, and Briann G. Greenfield, Associate Professor of Public History at Central Connecticut State University, A Life of the Land: Connecticut’s Jewish Farmers begins historically with the migration of Eastern European Jews through America’s cities and then to the Connecticut countryside. Why Connecticut? How did these immigrants operate successful enterprises with little or no farming experience? Who and what helped support and sustain them? The story of the resilience and perseverance of these Jewish farmers and how they impacted their communities is told through historical data, oral history interviews and unique photo essays.

Copies of the book will be available for sale at $25.00, and Mary and Briann will be available to autograph. Refreshments will be served following the presentation.

Rick Spencer Sings the Hits of the ’60s (that is, the 1860s)

26 June ~ Connecticut’s Historic Gardens Day

Come to the Shaw Mansion for Connecticut’s Historic Garden Day

Shaw Mansion to Participate in Blue Star Museums

The New London County Historical Society is one of more than 1,300 museums across America to offer free admission to military personnel and their families this summer

Lisbon Earthquake 1755

Connecticut’s Jewish Farmers ~ February Second Sunday

Date: Sunday 13, February

Location: Shaw Mansion, 11 Blinman Street, New London

Time: 4:00 pm

Free for members, $5 admission for others