The Friends’ Quarterly Newsletter of the Enfeld Shaker Museum Sharing history and hospitality Te Enfeld Shakers and Telephones by Dan Pontbriand What was daily life like for the Shakers? Hosted by the Enfeld Shaker Museum in close partnership with Plymouth State College and under the direction of Dr. David Starbuck, teams of students and volunteers have been digging at various sites around the historic village for the past fve years. Some fascinating artifacts have sur- faced, helping to tell researchers and historians how incredibly inventive and industri- ous the Shakers were. Vol. XXX No. 1 Te Shakers were well known for their practical designs and inventions. Tey were a major economic force in the Enfeld area and key owners and developers of much of Winter 2020 what made Enfeld a prosperous and lively mid-19th century community. Te Shak- UPCOMING EVENTS ers have long been considered “early adopters” of new inventions or ideas. For more details, visit our website During the 2019 dig season, the site that generated the most interest was the Boys’ at shakermuseum.org Shop, originally called the West Wood House. Constructed in 1823, this building Mar 19 Herbal Wreath Making likely served many functions over its lifetime. In 1833 it was renamed the North Mar 28 Orchard Care & Pruning Wood House when it was moved to the spot where its foundation is currently lo- cated. Te North Wood House appears in a stereoview image (shown at left) taken Apr 7 Herbal Soap Making around 1890. A postcard image circa 1910 also shows the building, since convert- Apr 22 Herbal Jelly Making ed to the Boys’ Shop and painted white. Apr 24-26 Spring Shaker Forum Although the exact date of its demolition is unknown, in a photo dated 1917 the build- May 2 Enfeld Shaker Day ing is gone. May 9 Opening the Garden May18-29 Archaeological Field Te Boys’ Shop had a partial basement, School which much to our surprise and delight was flled with debris discarded during the demo- Jun 2 Tuesday Tour: Shaker lition of this building and perhaps a few oth- Attics ers. Near the bottom of the cellar (between Jun 13 Introduction to 180 and 200 cm from the surface), digging Beekeeping Jun 16 Tuesday Tour: The teams found a rife barrel, many bottles (some Shakers and 18th & 19th clearly used for medicine), ceramics and Century American Life pottery fragments, dishware, bits of jewelry, Jun 30 Tuesday Tour: Shaker North Wood House (dark building with two building parts, and much more. Artifacts Basements arched doorways) - Charles E. Lewis Stereoview found in the deepest part of the cellar date to c. 1890 and seem to suggest a time frame of roughly 1890 to 1910, well within the bounds of Shaker occupation. Near the cellar foor, four dry cell batteries and, most interestingly, two ceramic pot wet cell batteries were discovered, along with several small metal fragments assumed A publication of Enfeld Shaker Museum to be old telephone parts. Missing from the wet cell batteries are the larger glass Enfeld, NH 03748 jars that the ceramic pots would have rested in (although perhaps we will fnd them 603-632-4346 during the 2020 dig). Te ceramic pots stood about 7 inches high and about 2 inch- shakermuseum.org es in diameter. Te pots exhibit a stain line in the outer surface indicating the fuid [email protected] Continued on page 2 Enfeld Shaker Museum Winter 2020 The Enfeld Shakers and Telephones - Continued from Pg. 1 panies. Te Shakers were multiple telephone owners, likely level of sulfuric acid or ammo- for just this reason. nium chloride solution that Te two telephones shown in the photograph of the Trustees’ surrounded and penetrated the ofce are both early models. Te telephone on the right, porous pot. Te bottom of with the bells in the middle of the cabinet, was built by the pot also exhibited a ¼-inch Western Electric and called diameter hole. Inside the pot a “Fiddleback” or “Farmers is a black, chunky substance Phone.” Produced beginning resembling carbon--likely the in 1885, this telephone (Model remnants of the carbon rod No. 301A) featured wet cell collector, a substance which batteries and was made of wal- Wet cell battery ceramic pot surrounded a negative pole zinc nut, with a 5 Bar Red Magneto found in Boys’ Shop cellar during rod that acted as a cathode. installed just above the batter- 2019 Archaeology Field School. Batteries like these would have ies. (A “Fiddleback” telephone had a very specifc purpose: powering telephones. Tis sug- with two 1.5-volt dry cell gests that the Shakers had telephones well before 1902, and batteries and a crank generator likely even before 1890. Additionally, the dry cell batteries to ring the bell is on display at found were nearly identical to batteries used in telephones the New Hampshire Telephone during the early 1900s, when these devices became much Western Electric “Farmers Tele- Museum in Warner, NH.) more mainstream. Te photo below of the interior of the phone” Model No. 301A. Shown Trustees’ Ofce dated to 1913 clearly shows two telephones Te telephone shown on here with battery case open. hanging on the wall. the left of the photograph is a Western Electric “Two Box” Telephone (Model No. W070) that was likely used as one of the afore- mentioned networked telephones through New England Telephone and Telegraph. Tis model did not have a battery, and was instead powered by electricity from wires running into the phone box. An Enfeld Advocate article dated October 31, 1902, states that the Shakers were new subscribers to New England Telephone and Telegraph service, along with 11 other Enfeld residents. Tis subscription would Enfeld Shaker Sisters (l. to r.) Henrietta Spooner, Mary Basford, and Rosetta have included long distance service. Cummings seated in the Trustees’ Ofce c. 1913. Note the telephones on the wall behind them. Collection of Enfeld Shaker Museum. Telephones generally preceded elec- Western Electric “Two- tricity and electric lights in homes and Te telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, and Box” Model No. W070. businesses by many years. Ease and he received a patent on March 7, 1876. In 1877, Te Bell lower cost meant that it was easier and less expensive for Telephone Company was born. Ten years later there were phones to be wired into a house than electric lights. Corre- over 100,000 telephones in service in the United States. spondingly, there is no evidence that the Enfeld Shakers--a Within communities, a series of telephones needed to be community in decline--ever had electric lights installed in networked together to allow people to place calls to the their dwelling houses or workshops. In contrast, the nearby doctor’s ofce, fre station and police station, and to family, town of Enfeld had installed electric lights by 1898. friends, and neighbors. To this purpose town-and commu- nity-owned telephone companies sprang up everywhere. Special thanks to the Plymouth State University Archaeology program and the New Hampshire Telephone Museum in Warner, Te frst telephones arrived in the Enfeld area as early as NH for their assistance. Tanks to Michael O’Connor and 1888, at which time several competing phone companies Kyle Sandler for providing Shaker facts and photos and for their were selling phone service. Te problem customers expe- strong interest in the archaeology program. rienced with these new companies was lack of connectivity between them: if your neighbor had a diferent telephone (Dan Pontbriand is a retired National Park Service Chief company, you could not call them. Te only solution to this Ranger and volunteer Archaeological Field School digger at was to have several phones in your home from diferent com- Enfeld Shaker Museum.) 2 Enfeld Shaker Museum Winter 2020 A Message from ESM’s That I now work at the Enfeld Shaker Museum may be attributed to fate, luck, or chance, but in some way I think Interim Executive Director the trajectory begins with visitors to that religion course at Some time back in the late BU. On a fall afternoon I walked up the well-trod steps in twentieth century I enrolled in a the School of Theology to meet two diminutive women: course entitled “Communitarian Eldress Bertha Lindsay and Sister Gertrude Soule, both from Religious Movements” at Bos- Canterbury Shaker Village. For two hours students listened ton University. It would change attentively as each woman related her life story and beliefs. my undergraduate career. Not Students’ questions ranged widely; I recall a question about only would I declare American their starched white caps (from Belgium) and another about Civilization as my major, I would the future of Shakerism. Eldress Bertha Lindsay sighed when take up and complete a minor she replied, saying that individuals do ask to join but they in Religion in America. Later, haven’t the commitment necessary to take up the faith. Hers I would complete a doctorate was not a sign of resignation, however, but rather of resolve. in American Civilization at the The history of the American nation isn’t all that long and University of Pennsylvania, fo- Shirley Wajda examines the hem of the history of Shakers in America is still being made. I count cusing on Americans’ daily lives Rosettta Cummings dress c. 1907. myself lucky—and prepared—to help preserve and interpret, through their use of material and visual culture—the things through artifacts, buildings, and landscapes, how Shakers we shape and the things that shape us. Since that time, I’ve viewed and lived their lives on the shore of Mascoma Lake. taught at universities and worked in museums, employing that With an energetic staff, enthusiastic volunteers, and a dedi- training and knowledge to bring to the public the richly varied cated board, we’re spending this winter season rethinking the American experience.