on fellow ous L g ulletinH e Volume No. A Newsletter of the Friends of the Longfellow House and the National Park Service December Longfellow House Participates in NPSB Museum Centennial Celebration he year marks the hundredth decorative, archeological, Tanniversary of the first museum in the and fine art objects along National Park Service and a celebration of with , documents its current museum sites, the largest sys- collected by the inhabi- tem of museums in the world. The Long- tants of the House. fellow National Historic Site is taking part From about on, in this centennial celebration with the the Longfellow family launching of an expanded Website high- amassed impressive col- lighting its holdings, the completion of lections of books, pho- more conservation work funded by Save tographs, prints, paint- America’s Treasures, and a special display ings, sculpture, textiles, of Japanese items from the collection. (See architectural elements, related articles on pages and .) furniture, and more. Initially, the NPS museums were rudi- Special display of Japanese objects in the Longfellow House dining room Only about percent mentary, such as an arboretum in Yosemite All of the NPS museum collections are of these are on exhibit in the historic rooms (the celebrated museum), a table of unique because the million objects they at any one time, but all are available to artifacts in the ruins at Casa Grande, and hold are preserved in the actual places researchers along with the archives con- even a museum in a tent at Sequoia. But where events and cultural phenomena taining letters and papers with additional they all were and continue to be character- occurred, and the Longfellow NHS collec- information which illuminates and con- ized by a strong association with place. tion is a perfect example. It preserves , textualizes these myriad objects. Charley Longfellow as an Early Collector of Japanese Works hristine Guth’s recent book, Longfellow’s time visited for only a few weeks, Charley CTattoos: Tourism, Collecting, and Japan, uses stayed almost two years from to Charley Longfellow and his travels to Japan and probably would have remained longer as a jumping off point for exploring the if he hadn’t fallen into debt. He even built concepts of and reasons for tourism and a house for himself in Tokyo and appears collecting in Japan’s early Meiji period. to have fathered a child, a daughter he vis- Inspired by artifacts and documents in the ited again in and . House archives, the author examines the Charley’s decision to go to Japan may influences that Japanese and American cul- have been influenced by a number of peo- ture had on each other. She lectured about ple. He lived near Richard Henry Dana Jr. the book and its subject for the Longfellow who in was probably the first Ameri- National Historic Site on October th. can tourist in Japan. Dana gave talks about “Charley was not unique in traveling to his trip, and the Longfellow children would Japan and collecting things there. World have seen the things he brought back since tours were taking off just at the time Charley they were friends with his children. Other went,” Guth stated. Because the first trans- relatives and friends of the poet had also continental railroad had been completed in visited Japan, such as his uncle by marriage Japanese chest now in Alice Longfellow’s study, - and two years earlier regular steamship George Henry Preble and the poet and poet’s son, Charley compulsively collected service from San Francisco to Japan had travel writer Bayard Taylor, both of whom “half a shipload” of Japanese objects, some begun, many people of diverse backgrounds went with Commodore Matthew Perry in of which he characterized as “curios,” oth- visited Japan in the s and s. on his expedition to “open up” Japan. ers as “works of art”—what Guth refers to Although most tourists to Japan at this With his sophisticated background as the (continued on page ) ᳚ Charley Longfellow Collector of Japanese Works (continued from page ) as “trophies of travel”—everything from also one of the first houses to display such ሖሗመ furniture, utilitarian household items, and a wide range of Japanese art. Friends of the Longfellow House clothing, to objets d’art, screens, and fans, to “Historically today, the Japan room is Board of Directors four carefully arranged and labeled albums extremely important. The photographic Barclay Henderson, President of photographs, containing albumen documentation that Charley brought back, Robert Mitchell, Treasurer photos taken by professional photographers. the House’s photographic documentation, Frances Ackerly Soon after his return from and the House report that was Peter Ambler Japan, Charley arranged his done as part of the conserva- Hans-Peter Biemann souvenir collection in a suite of tion effort—these are invalu- Gene A. Blumenreich rooms on the second-floor of able documents for under- Polly Bryson Dick Dober his father’s house. Many visi- standing not only the House as Rebecca Blevins Faery tors to the House saw Charley’s a whole but how Japan changed Fran Folsom “Japan Room,” whose decora- over time. This is a very impor- Diana der Hovanessian tions included a painted fire- tant visual document of Japan’s Carol Johnson screen, an ornamental cut- relation with New England at Sarah Jolliffe metal lantern, and lacquer a very particular moment.” Linda Kime bookshelves covered with Jap- But Charley Longfellow Layne Longfellow anese bric-a-brac. He had also “collected” and brought Heather Moulton pasted dozens of fans on the back tattoos from Japan—on Laura Nash ceiling, an idea common in his back a giant carp ascending Lynne Spencer Japanese interior decor in many a waterfall, and on his chest a Advisory Board public and private places. Buddhist deity seated in the Ruth Butler “Clearly this was a show- mouth of a dragon. Guth LeRoy Cragwell place,” said Guth. “During the Bronze incense burner, Japan referred to this as a kind of Diana Korzenik poet’s lifetime and afterwards, people would “cultural cross-dressing.” Japanese fisher- Richard Nylander come to the House and would be taken men were the first to get tattoos to scare off Stephen D. Pratt there to see the room, which represented sharks and other threats. In the Meiji Marilyn Richardson [Charley] and showed a kind of cosmopoli- government banned tattoos, feeling that Marc Shell tanism. Although one can’t make a direct they were “uncivilized.” Charley under- Charles Sullivan link between this House and other Japan stood that this was an “aesthetic of politi- Lowell A. Warren Jr. Eileen Woodford rooms and other Japanese decor in local cal defiance,”said Guth. “He was obviously houses, clearly this was one of the first making a statement, and was always some- Administrator houses—probably the first house—to have thing of an exhibitionist. He identified J.L. Bell a Japan room decorated with fans. It was with actors and the working classes.” Newsletter Committee Glenna Lang, Editor, Writer & Designer Paterson and Korzenik Fellowships Awarded James M. Shea inner of the Paterson Fellow- lowship. In her project “Claiming an Edu- ᇶᇷᇸ Wship, Ivan Jaksic, professor at Notre cation: Alice Mary Longfellow and the Dame University, is a historian of the His- Legacy of Transatlantic Collaboration in National Park Service panic world. His project seeks to explore Nineteenth-century Women’s Higher Edu- Myra Harrison, Superintendent Longfellow’s contact with a variety of cation,” Lamberton explains that from her James M. Shea, Museum Manager scholars and poets in Spain and Latin late twenties on, Alice Longfellow was an Nancy Jones, Education and Visitor Services America, in addition to a number of visi- activist for women’s higher education. Paul Blandford, Museum Educator tors who corresponded with him from the Alice Longfellow’s letters, journals, Archives Specialist Anita Israel, United States, or visited him at Craigie course notebooks, drafts of speeches, papers David Daly, Collections Manager C. Sue Rigney, Planning & Communications House. Jaksic will examine Spanish books and exams, Lamberton argues, provide a rich Liza Stearns, Education Specialist in the House’s collections, many of which context for questions of how nineteenth- Ed Bacigalupo, Chief of Maintenance are presentation copies signed by their century college women experienced higher Scott Fletcher, Facility Manager authors. “With these materials, I hope to education, how they built networks and write two chapters on the meaning of institutions that would foster their learning, Printed by Newprint Offset, Waltham, Mass. Longfellow’s Spanish interests for a book and how they used and reflected on their tentatively titled “Follow Me to Distant educations over the course of their adult Spain: American Intellectuals and the His- lives. She will continue her work in the ማሜምሞ panic World, -.” House archives transcribing many of Alice’s All images are from the Longfellow National Historic L. Jill Lamberton , doctoral candidate letters and trace more fully the nature of her Site collections, unless noted otherwise. at the University of Michigan in Women’s work at “the Annex”[which became Rad- Studies, has won the Korzenik Fel- cliffe College] in its earliest years. ᳚ Interview with a Friend…Meet Christine Guth, Scholar Christine Guth is one of the foremost competing with him. In similar terms the Let me begin with photographs. There are scholars of Japanese art history today. She poet was also borrowing from other cultures lots of photographs from the same period received her Ph.D. from Harvard, and cur- to create an American narrative. Charley was as those that Charley brought back. What rently teaches at Stanford. We spoke with her borrowing from Japanese culture to create makes these unique is that they were for the before her lecture on Charley Longfellow. an American identity. Tattoos were part of most part mounted in albums in Japan. Most Longfellow House: What first brought that; the Japan room was part of that. photographs that are available now have been you to the Longfellow House? LH: What was it like researching at the taken out of their albums and redistributed. Christine Guth: I was invited back in House and its archives? These are still mounted in albums as their to teach a course at Harvard on the CG: Working here has been an education owner wanted them. It’s not just the pictures history of collecting—that’s my field— for me. I never worked with original archival independently but their order that tells you from the Japanese side. I tried to come up uncatalogued material—most of this mater- about how he saw Japan, how he wanted with projects for students so I brought ial was still uncatalogued then. Just learning other people to see Japan. Furthermore, each them over to the House, and Jim [Shea, to read the letters, which were on very thin one has a label that he wrote, so these pho- director] brought out the Hokkaido album paper written on both sides and sometimes tographs are contextualized. and some other things. The students who written over at various angles! I think that art Being able to see the photographs and were used to high art didn’t really know screens in situ and having photographs what to make of this stuff. When the tat- showing the House with some of these same too photograph came out, I thought, I’ve materials in the s and s gives you an got to follow this. I think there was one stu- understanding of period taste that you don’t dent who was persuaded to do a paper on get in the museums. At a museum you only the album, but no one else wanted to touch see the tip of the iceberg, you see the best it. Even though I was busy teaching, I just art. Seeing the Japanese artifacts in the couldn’t keep myself away from the House. House extends our understanding of the I started looking at all the material and poet because it shows that he was a very cos- decided I was going to write a book on this. mopolitan man, and his son was carrying LH:Was it the tattoos that lured you? that one step further. The poet engaged with CG: No, what really lured me was that I Europe beginning with Outre Mer and all the had been studying the history of collecting other poems he was drawing on—German, in Japan and the relationship between Japa- Icelandic…. But here we have his son going nese and American collectors in the nine- to Japan and in many ways sifting through teenth century. I’d done work on Bigelow, various visual traditions. It’s all of a piece. on Weld, on collectors associated with the You have to come to the House to see that. Peabody Essex Museum. I thought I knew LH: Sounds like you got a good educa- this area pretty well. Nowhere had the name historians at some point in their careers tion in Longfellow in the process. of Charley Longfellow ever come up. I should have the experience of working with CG: Did I ever! I was educated in Europe thought: there’s some conspiracy. Why has materials they actually have to sift through until graduate school, so I didn’t know any- he been written out of the narrative? themselves, to make sense of them when they thing about American history and culture. I The reason I started with the tattoos haven’t already been labeled and identified. felt I had to learn more about Longfellow was that it seemed to explain why he had I remember the first time I came to see because it became very clear to me that been ignored, if not actively written out of the screens. They were still up on the third Charley’s Japan adventure had so much to the story. I really do believe that if he’s not floor, boxed up and in pretty poor condi- do with his relationships with his father, his necessarily representative of Americans of tion. We struggled to open them up so they sisters. Then there are his cousin Mary King the s and s, he definitely marks a par- wouldn’t get damaged. They’re very unusual Longfellow and her brother Waddy. Charley ticular moment that has been forgotten. screens, and it really tests your mettle when gave things from Japan to them, and so it The reason he’s been overshadowed by peo- you’re confronted with material that doesn’t went to Portland. That’s an example of how ple like Weld and Bigelow is he didn’t con- fit into the modern art historical canon. one family can have an impact beyond their tribute to the Museum of Fine Arts and to Charley went to Japan at a time when immediate Cambridge radius. the greater glory of Boston. He didn’t have there was not yet any Japanese art history. LH: Do you have plans for future books? philanthropic ideals. He gave all the art and Art history wasn’t taught at Harvard yet. CG: My next book grows out of this, objects away to his family and friends. People were just beginning to write in an but it’s much bigger and more amorphous LH: He was a whole different kind of objective way about Japan. So you have to —about how Hokusai’s “Great Wave” be- bird—an adventurer and more of a rebel. figure out for yourself how what he brought came an icon. It’s been important in Japan, CG: Yes, and I think a lot of Charley’s back fits and make sense of it. but it’s been much more important as an involvement with Japan was a way of deal- LH: How does seeing objects in their emblem of Japan outside Japan. I want to ing with his relationship with his father. original context—not a traditional museum know how that happened. And I’d like to Charley found a way of creating an indepen- —help your understanding of them? do a lot more with American art. If I could dent identity for himself visually because his CG: There are a number of things that get a better handle on Thomas Gold Apple- father had found a verbal way, and he was make this collection absolutely invaluable. ton, I would love to do that. ᳚ Joseph Thorp’s Glass-Plate Negatives Newly Printed ll the approximately glass-plate neg- Two rare images depict American artist Hampton, Virginia, the Tuskegee Normal Aatives from around the turn of the last Anna Klumpke painting a portrait of and Industrial Institute in Tuskegee, century taken by Joseph Thorp, husband of Amelia Chapman Thorp, Joseph Thorp’s Alabama, and the Calhoun Colored School the poet’s youngest daughter Anne Longfel- mother. Best known for her portraits and in Calhoun, Alabama. From until low, have been cleaned, treated for preserva- , Alice Mary Longfel- tion, and printed, through funds from Save low sponsored over thirty- America’s Treasures. They are an extraordi- five African American and nary and unusual addition to the House’s Native American students historic photograph collection. who attended Hampton In a current occupant of the for- and Tuskegee. mer Thorp house chanced upon the glass- Founded in by a plate negatives, which had been placed in former Union general as a now-deteriorating sleeves and poorly stored coeducational institution in the attic for over a hundred years. emphasizing manual train- The discovery of the photos with anno- ing for newly freed African tations by the photographer revealed that Americans, Hampton In- Joseph Thorp had been the photographer stitute graduated Booker T. of a number of the Longfellow House’s African American children, probably in Alabama, late Washington in .Wash- most renowned images: those of Mary her biography of her life partner—artist ington went on to found Tuskegee to help King Longfellow in a Japanese kimono Rosa Bonheur—Klumpke looks boldly at poor blacks in the agricultural South brought back by Charley Longfellow, as Thorp’s camera. A lovely pastel by Anna through education and the acquisition of well as images of the Ojibway reenactment Klumpke called “Child with Doll” still useful skills. In , after years of support of Hiawatha in Ontario in . hangs in Alice Longfellow's study. for the Hampton Institute, Harriot Curtis Taken between became the dean of women at Hampton, the late s and the first U.S. college to admit Native Ame- , the photos ricans. She stayed for four years. capture many of the Joseph and Anne Longfellow Thorp gave Thorp and Dana funds, clothing, and other materials to stu- children (grandchil- dents at the Hampton Institute and the Cal- dren of the poet) houn School, and they may have been on the together with their board of directors at Hampton. They trav- friends and pets, eled often to visit there. It is assumed that and often at their these photographs were taken during one of summer homes in their trips, when perhaps they also obtained Manchester-by-the- dolls for their children. The photographer Sea or on Greenings immortalized his daughters with their black Island, Maine. Also African American women with quilts, probably in Alabama, late dolls (see lower left). there are never-before-seen images of the Among the most interesting new images interior, exterior, and grounds of the are four from the late s to of Longfellow and Thorp Houses on Brattle St. African Americans. One of these depicts an African American woman standing next to highly dec- orative quilts hanging on a clothesline. Another in the same series shows African- American children. These photos were most likely taken during Longfellow family mem- bers’ trips to the deep South. Joseph and Anne Longfellow Thorp, her sis- ter Alice Longfellow, and Harriot Sumner Curtis (first cousin of Alice and Anne) were all involved in the Hampton Normal and Thorp girls with black dolls, late Agricultural Institute in Anna Klumpke with her portrait of Mrs. Thorp ᳚ The Longfellows as Collectors: Personal Taste, Serendipity, & Thomas Gold Appleton hrough their furniture, books, paint- venerable table at its side to keep it in coun- his uncle Peleg Wadsworth. Some of Fanny’s Tings, and prints, we see the Longfel- tenance. John Neal [art critic] prophesied family’s possessions were bequeathed to lows’ interests and tastes and a reflection of we should fill our house with trumpery Henry, such as Gilbert Stuart’s portraits of their times, activities, and the Fanny’s parents, Nathan Apple- people they knew. But why and ton and Maria Theresa Gold how did the Longfellows ac- Appleton, which still hang in quire the House’s various and the dining room. extensive collections? Thomas Gold Appleton, In when Henry and Fanny’s brother, served as an Fanny Longfellow first took important adviser to and pro- ownership of the house famous curer of the House’s art collec- for its nine-month tenure as tion. A print collector who Washington’s Revolutionary donated over , prints to War headquarters, newspapers the Boston Public Library, speculated on how they would member of the board of and furnish it. Henry wrote in his major donor to Boston’s Mu- journal on March , : seum of Fine Arts, and an ama- “Paragraph in the morning teur artist himself, Appleton paper says I am to have one had accompanied Henry on Landscape by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, , in front hall, second-floor landing room in the Craigie House fur- the European grand tour and nished with articles that once belonged to antiques, and they certainly do take quiet took him to visit—among others— Washington. News to me. Where are they to possession one after another, but we don’t Edmonia Lewis’s and Horatio Greenough’s come from.”That year the rumor continued, consider them trumpery, and like their studios in Rome. Along with William Mor- and Fanny worried about the consequences. keeping with this old mansion.” ris Hunt, Appleton was a pioneer in buying She wrote to her sister-in-law, “This fiction During their year-and-a-half grand tour Barbizon School art, and he purchased a will, I fear, bring upon us antiquarian visi- of Europe in -, Henry and family landscape (see above) directly from Jean- tors to any amount.” collected and commissioned works of art, Baptiste-Camille Corot at his studio. The Longfellows did, however, have a and bought books and wallpaper. Among Appleton advised the purchase of all the strong sense of their prized purchases were the Greek poets’ busts now in the library. history and great oil painting of Franz Liszt by Appleton also brought John Kensett, respect for the George Healy, which hangs in the Winckworth Allan Gay, and other impor- past. “We are library, and vellum-bound folios tant artists to the House, and he commis- full of plans and from Bodoni, the famous Italian sioned works of art, such as the Rowse projects with no publisher. Upon their return the “crayon” portrait of his sister Fanny, which desire, however, Longfellows transformed their hangs in her bedroom. Upon his death, to change a fea- home. “Passed the rest of the day Thomas Gold Appleton bequeathed numer- ture of the old putting up pictures and books. ous works of art now on exhibit in the countenance Where shall I find room for them House, including works by John Enneking, which Washing- all? But they cannot be left piled George Loring Brown, and Eugene Isabey. ton has rendered up on the floor as they now are,” sacred,” Fanny Longfellow noted in his journal, wrote her father January , . on May , . Shortly thereafter, Henry’s son And this same Chippendale-style corner chair, - Charley added significantly to the sense of history evident in the poet’s work collection by shipping back objects from his guided the couple in furnishing their home. stay in Japan. His sister Alice bemoaned to According to Kathleen Catalano, former him in a November , letter, “We shall NPS curator, “Like many early collectors, need an addition to the house to accommo- the Longfellows acquired antiques not for date all your boxes… The barn might turn aesthetic or investment purposes, but rather into a universal museum and curio shop.” for historical reasons. Having old-fash- Friends and relatives also contributed to ioned furnishings stimulated their aware- the Longfellow collection. In his will in , ness of America’s past.” Henry’s close friend Charles Sumner be- In November Fanny Longfellow queathed him numerous sculptures. Four wrote to her sister-in-law Anne Longfellow Chippendale side chairs probably came to Pierce, “The antique chair, whose fate I am Henry from his parents’ home in Portland, sorry you have been anxious about, reached Maine. He had received other family heir- us safely and now adorns the hall, with a looms previously as a wedding present from Thomas Gold Appleton ᳚ Save America’s Treasures: Sculpture and Book Conservation in the Final Phase hanks to funds from Save America’s objects in the process.” House collection were treated at the TTreasures, the Longfellow NHS has Having conservators work on site Northeast Document Conservation Center recently returned many of its sculptures allowed for some unexpected benefits. (NEDCC) in Andover, Massachusetts. The and books to their former glory, as conser- School groups and visitors had a chance to NEDCC and NPS began by surveying and vation specialists move towards the com- view and ask questions about the care and deciding which of the over , volumes pletion of the final phase of this five-year methods of conservation in progress, and were most significant and in most critical project to restore important items need. Conservators then repaired in the collection. tears and removed discolorations, About thirty plaster and marble de-acidified books, and placed sculptures have been cleaned and them in proper storage enclosures. conserved on site by the Collec- Among the rarest books were a tions Conservation Branch of the first edition of Walt Whitman’s NPS. Using the historic Longfel- Leaves of Grass owned by Thomas low kitchen as their laboratory, five Gold Appleton, and a children’s or six conservators worked full collection of fairy tales from time for six weeks to remove a cen- entitled The Fairy Ring edited by tury or more of tobacco smoke, John Edward Taylor with illustra- coal soot, and other dirt from tions by Napoleon Sarony. It was works of art that probably had inscribed: “To Charley and Erny never been professionally cleaned. [“and Erny” crossed out] Longfel- Conservators also worked on the low from papa. .” A edi- fireplace in the library with its dec- tion of Plutarch’s Lives printed in orative marble mantle, originally Conservators cleaning sculpture in the Longfellow House kitchen Venice and purchased by the poet from the Boott House on Beacon Hill, and they could see the dramatic difference in in for $ was the oldest volume in the revealed the great detail of its carved griffins. tone of the newly cleaned portions. “They collection and in “tough shape,” according The most dramatic transformations learned a lot about conservation and how to Shea. After it was “vacuumed, dry could be seen in the marble sculptures, important it is to take care of the collec- cleaned, washed and sized, tears repaired, such as Florence Freeman’s Sandalphon or the tions, and that it never ends,” Shea noted. and endsheets attached with linen hinges,” bust of Fanny Longfellow by Lorenzo Bar- The process of conservation brought researchers can safely look through it again. tolini. But the plaster sculptures, such as new attention—and visitors—to the sculp- Announced in December at the the heads of the Greek poets in the library, ture collection. David Dearinger, the cura- Longfellow House by then-first lady also have a striking new luster. The large tor of paintings and sculpture at the Boston Hillary Rodham Clinton, Save America’s plaster bust of Jupiter which stands in the Athenaeum, cameto the House for the first Treasures is a national public-private initia- Blue Entry had been painted over with a time and was surprised and impressed with tive which directs funds to our nation’s flat beige paint. Conservators cleaned it the collection. Fran Mainella, the Director most urgent preservation cases. The award and removed this layer, exposing the origi- of the NPS, also visited and observed the was comprised of generous donations from nal paint underneath. “This brought it sculptures being restored. individuals, the Fidelity Foundation, funds back to life,” said Longfellow NHS direc- Frances Ackerly, a long-time Board from a grant awarded by the state of Mass- tor Jim Shea, “and we learn about the member of the Friends of the Longfellow achusetts, and in-kind donations. The total House, is researching and writing a tour of of $, has made possible the preser- the sculpture holdings. She seeks to dis- vation of furnishings, objets d’art, books, Henry W. Longfellow’s Journal, cover the stories behind the sculptures in and wallpaper. June , : the House and how they connect with the The final phase of this five-year project interests of Longfellow family members. will conclude this year with the completion There is a great difference-as I said to T. Meanwhile, books from the Longfellow of furniture restoration. [Thomas Gold Appleton], walking down the village in the evening - between sculpture and Excerpt from Keramos painting on the one hand, and poetry on the other; namely, in the manipulation, - the a a poem about ceramics by Henry W. Longfellow, b delightful sensation of the busy fingers, the …The saffron dawn, the sunset red; …He is the greatest artist, then, electric pleasure of touch, in the creative power Are painted on these lovely jars; Whether of pencil or of pen, of the hand following the creative power of the Again the skylark sings, again Who follows Nature. Never man, mind. This poetry has not; the conception is The stork, the heron, and the crane As artist or as artisan, all in all; the record has more pain than plea- Float through the azure overhead, Pursuing his own fantasies, sure in it; the pen does not give form and The counterfeit and counterpart Can touch the human heart, or please, color, as the chisel and the brush. Of Nature reproduced in Art. Or satisfy our nobler needs…
᳚ Unveiling of Expanded Website cholars, students, and anyone with curi- tectural elements. Among other treasures, ĻUpcoming Events ļ Sosity will soon be able to explore the Web visitors can view Francis Dana’s waist- Longfellow House and its archives through coat from the eighteenth century, which Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Birth- an enhanced and expanded Website. Begin- normally lies tucked away in storage, or a day Celebration. On Saturday February ning in February, it will be possible to take box containing eleven pairs of Longfellow’s , at .., celebrate the poet’s a virtual tour of the House and and obtain children’s shoes and moccasins he collected. th birthday at Mount Auburn Ceme- detailed information about its collections The new Website also contains an essay tery’s Story Chapel with a wreath-laying at http://www.nps.gov/long. by scholar Matthew Gartner on Longfel- ceremony, reception, and special lecture As visitors to the site follow the footsteps low’s work, alongside illustrations from by Longfellow biographer Charles Cal- in the virtual tour, they learn about the his- early Longfellow editions. houn. Co-sponsored with the Friends of toric use of each room and about important For three years, Holly Hendricks—Web Mount Auburn Cemetery. objects found therein. To add a human pres- designer, historian, and librarian—has A Preservation Workshop for the com- ence, excerpts from letters and journals from worked with staff at the House to synthe- munity will be held in May, with a series Henry Longfellow, his friends, and family size and organize information, photograph of lectures and demonstrations using are sprinkled throughout. Web visitors to the for and design the Website. “It’s been a won- the House collections, archives, and the House will actually be able to see parts of derful experience,”says Hendricks, “because building itself as points of departure. the House not generally open to the public. working with the staff was pure joy.” Co-sponsored with the Cambridge His- The servants’ quarters on the third floor, the Hendricks continued, “As we walked torical Commission and the Friends of pantry on the first floor, and Charley Long- through the House and took photos—over the Longfellow House. fellow’s renowned Japanese room are a few of them—the themes seemed to come of the normally inaccessible places now on out. When you plan a Website, you think view via internet. about a story, and the thing about this pro- Longfellow House in the Media The virtual tour also allows visitors to ject was how many rich layers of stories were explore the grounds and exterior of the intertwined. We had to try to tell one story In American Writers at Home, J.D. McClatchy House, including outbuildings, gardens, while acknowledging all the others.” focuses on twenty-one authors’ homes, and Longfellow Park, a strip of land which The Longfellow House Website is a work including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s. connected the House to the Charles River in progress. The NPS plans to expand it to Published by Library of America in associ- during the poet’s day. include a section on the life and family of ation with the Vendome Press, with stun- Not only rooms, but many objects from Henry W. Longfellow, another on George ning color photographs by Erica Lennard. the House archives and collections have Washington and his relationship to the l never before been seen by the public. A House, and an education section with les- A special edition of Henry Wadsworth large newly mounted section of the Web- son plans and information for K through Longfellow’s Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie com- site is devoted to “Archives and Museum teachers to download. memorates Acadian history and contains Collections,” which includes manuscripts, The Friends of the Longfellow House are illustrations from and elucidating photographs, prints, historic library, fine also nearing completion of their own Web- background and educational materials by arts, furniture, ceramics, textiles, and archi- site, which will be linked to the NPS site. Françoise Paradis and Layne Longfellow. l Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, Recent Research at the House Pennsylvania, has produced a small but thorough catalog for an exhibit called The Longfellow House archives contain over , manuscripts, letters, and signed documents and Revere’s Ride and Longfellow’s Legend. The exhibit are used extensively by researchers from around the world. Here are a few recent researchers of the sev- will travel in January to the National Her- eral hundred who use the archives annually. itage Museum in Lexington, Massachusetts. l For a documentary about an Argentinian president, Fernando Reimers from Har- For Currents of Change: Art and Life Along vard’s Graduate School of Education and Mari Paz Ferreres from Harvard’s Kennedy the Mississippi, - at the Minneapo- School of Government looked for information about Longfellow’s relationship with lis Institute of Arts, Jason T. Busch, Domingo Sarmiento, a minister from Argentina who became its president. Christopher Monkhouse, and Janet L. l Whitmore have written an exhibition Joseph Abdo is examining the journals and correspondence of Samuel Longfellow, catalog with a chapter entitled “Henry Henry Longfellow’s youngest brother, in preparation for writing a biography of this Wadsworth Longfellow and the Missis- Unitarian minister, Transcendentalist, women’s suffragist, and abolitionist. sippi: Forging a National Identity l through the Arts .” Kathryn Allamong Jacob, Curator of Manuscripts at Radcliffe Institute’s Schle- l singer Library, is researching Sam Ward (-), the brother of Julia Ward Howe. Longfellow’s Tattoos: Tourism, Collecting, and Sam Ward was one of Henry Longfellow’s oldest and dearest friends. Japan by Christine Guth was published in October by the University of Wash- ington Press. (See articles on page .) ᳚ ¢ potlight on an bject Join us as a Friend and help support an international collection of nS each issue of the newsletter,O we focus Fine & Decorative Arts, Rare Books, Letters, and Historic Photographs Ion a particular object of interest in the Longfellow House collection. This time representing three centuries of American History… our spotlight shines on a sculpture exe- K $1000 Benefactor K $150 Contributor cuted by Henry Kirk Brown in K K known as the “Ideal Head.” Recently $ 750 Sponsor $ 70 Family cleaned and restored, it stands promi- K $ 500 Patron K $ 30 Individual nently in the front hallway of the House K $ 300 Donor K $ 15 Student near the bust of George Washington. The “Ideal Head” was one of the first Make checks payable to: works of art the Longfellows bought for Friends of the Longfellow House Craigie House after they were married. Brattle Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts Longfellow recorded in his journal, For more information, call ⁽⁾ -. on June , : “In the afternoon, open a bale from Italy. It contained a Name bust by [Henry K.] Brown; a portrait of Address a Roman woman,—a baker’s wife, and a City model by profession. A striking and beautiful head, which we placed imme- State Zip diately in the drawing-room.” Telephone Born in rural Leyden, Massachusetts, Special area(s) of interest in the Longfellow House: Henry Kirk Brown (-) started out as a portrait painter but later stud- K ied sculpture in Italy. Best known for the I would like someone to call me about volunteer opportunities. bronze equestrian statue of George Contributions are tax deductible to the extent provided by law. Washington in Union Square in New York City, he also completed four stat- ues which stand in the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Friends of the Longfellow House Brattle Street Cambridge, Massachusetts