Monthly Archives: October 2010

LHS Archives Inform New Book

washburn

From The Monitor, November 6, 1799

Another story from Litchfield is making the news, thanks in part to resources in the Historical Society’s Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library.  Fordham University Professor Doron Ben-Atar was interviewed about a new book he has co-authored with Richard Brown of the University of Connecticut entitled, The Beast with Two Backs: Sexual Transgression in Early New England.”  Articles from the Litchfield Enquirer, as well as documents from the collection like the order for execution pictured below help inform scholarship.

Court order to execute Gideon Washburn

Court order to execute Gideon Washburn

The newspaper article explains that the execution was delayed.  Washburn actually died in prison prior to the rescheduled execution date.  Archives contain all kinds of evidence of human activity.  Read the article for more details about the case and why it was significant.

Litchfield Book of Days

The Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library’s collections include rare books in addition to archives.  Small press publications of local interest inform staff in describing and providing access to documents.  The October 20th entry in the Litchfield Book of Days authored by George C. Boswell and published in 1899 focuses on Tapping Reeve:

Judge Reeve was the first eminent lawyer in this country who dared to arraign the common law of England for its severity and refined cruelty in cutting off the natural rights of married women, and placing their property as well as their persons at the mercy of their husbands, who might squander or hoard it up, at their pleasure… All the mitigating changes in our jurisprudence which have been made to redeem helpless woman from the barbarities of her legalized tyrant may fairly be tracked to the author of the first American treatise on The Domestic Relations. –Holister’s Connecticut

First Congregational Church

Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

Congregational Church Blue Print 1

Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

This archives month installment was inspired by Ken Turino, Manager of Community Engagement and Exhibitions for Historic New England.  Yesterday he presented a lecture in conjunction with the Historic New England (formerly the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities)  traveling exhibit, The Preservation Movement: Then and Now, currently on display in the Cunningham Gallery.  It was especially interesting to the staff of the Historical Society as Ken integrated archival documents, photographs, and quotations specific to Litchfield’s preservation movement and the early founders of the Litchfield Historical Society.  Historic New England’s founder William Sumner Appleton, corresponded with active members of the Litchfield Historical Society and provided advice to its first curator, Emily Noyes Vanderpoel.

Ken also explained that during the Colonial Revival restoration of the First Congregational Church, Appleton corresponded with the project’s architect, Richard Henry Dana, Jr. and provided him with advice and suggestions for the pulpit wall.  Appleton no doubt influenced the plan, shown in the top picture.  A few years ago when the Congregational Church received a Save America’s Treasures grant to work on the structure, they were also able to have Dana’s drawings conserved.  They donated them to the Historical Society along with the project files. We are therefore able to share them with you.  There are many other drawings, however only a few have been photographed.  (They are much too large for our scanner).

Despite the lack of the rapid means of communication we all enjoy now, early preservationists did not work in a vacuum.  And, lucky for us, their means of correspondence were easily preserved.  Of the Litchfield Historical Society, Appleton said, “The collections are excellent in quality and very fairly varied in extent.  The success of the Society, which is a fairly new one, is due to the strong financial backing of Mrs. E. N. Vanderpoel.”

What an archivist does

The archivists at the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Kentucky are also blogging about archives month.  Archivist Jennie Cole has written a fantastic, clear description of what the work of an archivist entails.  Instead of reinventing the wheel, I thought I would share her well written summary:

“I am an archivist. You are familiar with librarians’ work?  Providing access to books, audio-visual recordings, journals, and other information through in person assistance, online library catalogs, recommended reading lists, etc.? My work entails similar functions, but I usually do not work with items that have duplicates readily available.  I work with mostly one-of-a-kind items – correspondence, photographs, diaries, contracts, voice recordings, digital files – records capturing personal, community, and organizational history. I work to provide access to yesterday’s world for today, and to capture today’s world for tomorrow. I write descriptions of this material so that it can be discovered. Through descriptions, as well as phone calls, emails, and in-person discussions, I provide connections between users and primary source material. I select documents to preserve for the future; I determine whose papers to collect, and what portion of the tidal wave of records created daily is worth preserving for the future. I provide accountability – I document functions, activities, and decision-making to ensure transparency and answerability. I embrace the importance of diversity, and seek to document the broadest range of human experience possible within my institution’s mission. I believe that I have a responsibility to society, and while I serve the needs of my institution, I also keep in mind that the archival record I am preserving is part of the history of our entire society. I believe that I provide an essential service to the public good, and I am proud of my profession.”

The Filson Historical Society’s blog is at http://blog.filsonhistorical.org/.

Postal Site Committee, 1976

Postal Site Committee, 1976

Postal Site Committee, 1976

Did you know that in the 1970s, the United States Postal Service planned to move the Litchfield Post Office from its current location?  They cited inadequacy of available parking as one reason, and claimed that the move would not adversely affect the Litchfield Historic District.  Many of Litchfield’s citizens felt differently.  The Litchfield Board of Selectmen appointed a Postal Site Committee of seven members charged with developing alternative sites and holding public hearings, among other things.  The committee members were David M. Skonieczny; David F. Gurniak; C. H. Huvelle; William G. Miller; Jacquelin D. J. Sadler; Bruce Mason; and Nan F. Heminway.

After several months of various proposals, a plan to renovate the existing facility, and to provide parking for postal patrons in the town parking lots, the Postal Service agreed to retain the current location.  It did not hurt the cause that part-time Litchfield resident S. Dillon Ripley was serving as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.  He wrote directly to the Postmaster General of the United States suggesting that to move the post office would be inconsistent with federal and state historic preservation.  He went on to point out the social ramifications of the move, stating “It is the thought of many of us concerned with the future of Litchfield that to remove a core element, such as the Post Office from this active, still relatively vibrant center of the Historic District would be to doom the town to a kind of museum status, for stores would gradually fragment and draw away from the town into nearby shopping malls.”  He goes on to ask the postmaster to give the matter his personal attention, and encloses a copy of a letter he wrote to Senator Ribicoff, presumably in the same vein.

The combined force of Litchfield’s residents helped to maintain the Post Office where it is today.  Nan F. Heminway’s papers document this, and are a good example of how the Society is striving to document the more recent past.  If you have 20th Century records that document Litchfield’s history, please consider donating them to the Historical Society!