on fellow ous L g ulletinH e Volume No. A Newsletter of the Friends of the Longfellow House June Longfellow Archives Throw NewB Light on Japan’s Meiji Period n May , , Henry Wadsworth OLongfellow wrote to his elder son, Charley, “Uncle Tom has returned, says he saw you in New York; and wonders why you want to go to Japan when you can go yachting in the Alice!” That month, Charley sailed from San Francisco, arriving in Yoko- hama in July. He did not think it would be a long visit, but, in fact, he stayed a year, and then a second year. He even built an “expensive” house in Tokyo (a project for which he dipped into his inheritance from his Appleton grandfather). During the past year, at the Longfellow House, Christine Laidlaw, an art historian who recently finished a Ph.D. dissertation for Rutgers University entitled “The Amer- Charley Longfellow in Japan, : after descending Mt. Fuji, in photo on right, Charley is second from left. ican Reaction to Japanese Art, -,” more than photographs from the trip finding “women suckling bear cubs, fatten- and her husband, Angus, have been editing found in the Longfellow House. Many of ing them, worshipping them, and then eat- and annotating the details of Charley the photographs were taken by the finest ing them.” (letter of Sept. , ). Longfellow’s visit to Japan in the early s. photographers of that time in Japan. The In the upcoming months the fascinating With the assistance of Lauren Malcolm photographs document Charley’s visits to results of this work, including a large num- and Jim Shea, curator and manager of the Kobe, Nagasaki, Osaka, Hokkaido, Kyoto, ber of the photographs, will be published House, they have transcribed his letters and as well as climbing Mt. Fuji and going out and made available through the Friends of those of the family to him in Japan, stud- to meet the people of the Ainu country, the Longfellow House, funded by the Jean ied his journals, and culled through the where Charley (mistakenly) anticipated S. and Frederick A. Scharf Foundation. New High-School Curriculum Features Charles Longfellow harles Longfellow, the poet’s elder son, An innovative new curriculum for high Kelly Fellner, Education and Visitor Ser- Cwas the adventurer in the family. In school students is being developed at the vices Coordinator at the Longfellow when he was nineteen, he ran Longfellow House based on these National Historic Site, said there is a lack away from home to enlist as a materials and Charles Longfel- of curriculum units using primary sources private in the Union Army. low’s Civil War experiences. Ten- for high school students. She is developing He suffered typhoid and tatively titled Coming of Age in a this pioneering project with the help of malaria, and was wounded Time of Turbulence the curricu- NPS staff Liza Stearns and a local teach- in the back at Mt. Hope lum will encourage students ers’ advisory board which includes Carolyn Church, Virginia, after to make use of primary Kemmett, a student in the graduate pro- which his father and sources such as Charles’s jour- gram of museum studies at Tufts Univer- brother went to Washing- nals, his letters home, scrap- sity; Margaret Von Gonten, Curriculum ton to bring him home to books, photographs, as well as Coordinator for the Cambridge Public recuperate. Upon his return his uniform, swords, and guns. Schools; Mary Page and Lorie Taylor, Cam- home, Charles created a Civil War The curriculum will also include let- bridge School of Weston; Larry Metzger, room in the house featuring his uni- ters from his sisters as a way of examining Winsor School in Boston; and Frances form, swords, guns, and photographs. different gender roles in wartime. continuued on next page Interview with a Friend. . . Meet Stanley Paterson ሖሗመ by Ruth Butler Friends of the Longfellow House n a cold, sunny March day I drove to Board of Directors Nahant to interview Stanley Paterson, Diana Korzenik, President O Joan Mark, Vice-President treasurer of the Friends of the Longfellow Lynne Spencer, Clerk House. I knew the way. Long ago I looked Charlotte Cleveland, Treasurer for a house in Nahant, and in the process Frances Ackerly became curious about a large yellow house Gene A. Blumenreich with fine classical detail on the water’s edge. Edith Hollmann Bowers To my surprise, the trip today was to sat- Ruth Butler isfy that old curiosity. As Stanley and I LeRoy Cragwell talked in a small nineteenth-century salon Barclay Henderson modeled on an earlier room in the Derby Diane der Hovanessian House of Salem, we took occasional breaks Arthur Loeb to look at Stanley’s own architectural cre- Stanley Paterson, Maura Smith ations: a ballroom with a round-headed Charles Sullivan window copied from Mt. Vernon which Catherine Vickery framed the sea and the North Shore S.P. No, but it’s been my hobby for more beyond to perfection, a room decorated than forty years. For the Nahant book, I Advisory Board with cast plaster friezes and ceiling coffers, was inspired by a plaque in the Nahant Timothy Anglin Burgard Dennis J. Carlone works of Stanley’s own making. Then there church to the founders of the church. I Francis Duehay was the dining room with decorations after would sit there every Sunday and look at Margaret Henderson Floyd Robert Adam. I rapidly understood at least that thing, and there were all the names of Justin Kaplan one reason Stanley Paterson has been the great families of Boston. I thought it Florence Ladd drawn to the Longfellow House. would be fun to learn more about them. Leslie A. Morris Ruth Butler: I know that you were one There were probably about a dozen Ap- Richard Nylander of the founders of the Friends group. Why pletons, so off I went to the Boston Stephen D. Pratt was that; how did you find Longfellow? Athenaeum and I just got sucked in. Then Mark Shell Stanley Paterson: A colleague, Carl eventually I went to the Mass. Historical Judith Tick Seaburg, and I have been working together Society, and finally to Houghton Library Lowell A. Warren, Jr. for a long time. First we wrote a biography at Harvard. It was convenient that Eileen Woodford of the Boston merchant and philanthropist Houghton had published Longfellow’s let- Newsletter Committee Thomas H. Perkins, published by Harvard ters. The incoming letters, which are also at Ruth Butler, Editor in . We’ve done other things too, and Houghton, are not published, but they are Joan Mark in , we brought out a big book on the indexed. It has , correspondents in it, Virginia Wadsworth history of Nahant, published by the and there are probably , letters. Glenna Lang, Designer ᳚ Nahant Historical Society. And, of course, Charles Sumner alone wrote Longfellow National Park Service Longfellow summered in Nahant for years. over letters. And there are the jour- Rolf Diamant, Superintendent So we had to look at Longfellow. nals–I think about forty volumes. B. J. Dunn, Administrative Officer R.B. I begin to see a path that could have R.B. How was his handwriting? James Shea, Director led you to Brattle Street. S.P. Excellent. Apparently there was a Michele Clark, Museum Specialist S.P. Well, not exactly, because the bulk movement at Harvard to publish the jour- Kelly Fellner, Education and Visitor Services of Longfellow’s own papers are at Harvard. nals, but the project never got off the Coordinator R.B. You mean the letters? ground. So I thought that would be kind S.P. Also the diaries, as well as the let- of fun. I’ve been working on it for about ማሜምሞ ters to Longfellow. But we also went over four years. to the Longfellow House— must have R.B. That is a wonderful project. How been ten years ago or more—we wanted to many years do the journals cover? continued from previous page look at Fanny Appleton’s papers. We ended S.P. Oh, the journals go from his Ackerly, a distinguished educator and a up with more than a chapter in the book on youngest days to his death. But I’m only Friend of the Longfellow House. Longfellow. working from the period when he began his According to Kelly, the curriculum is R.B. I would love to see the book–[a affiliation with Harvard. I pick the journals now in the planning stage, with funding, request easily fulfilled and which produced a thick, up about , and right now I’ve finished development, and promotion to follow richly illustrated volume full of those particulars of them up to the time of Fanny’s death in soon. She is exploring a possible collabora- an old and rich resort that forever fascinate]. Stan- . But I’ll go to the end of his life. I tion with one of the southern Civil War ley, this is a very serious work, but some- intersperse his writing with material from sites in the National Park Service. how you don’t strike me as a historian. the journals of the people with whom he Washington-Longfellow Birthday Celebration was meeting. It begins to look like a three- n February , Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s th birthday was celebrated in volume project. Okeeping with an annual tradition: a wreath was solemnly laid upon his grave in Mt. R.B. How much of your work have you Auburn Cemetery. In order that as many people as possible might witness the ceremony, it done in the House? took place on the Saturday preceding Longfellow’s actual birthday, February . Most of S.P. Well, first of all, I have to explain those attending were Friends of Mt. Auburn Cemetery or Friends of the Longfellow Henry’s brother Sam published the jour- House. The family was represented by Frankie Wetherell (great-granddaughter of Anne nals–the whole forty volumes–shortly after Longfellow Thorp). A reception at the cemetery followed the wreath-laying ceremony. Henry’s death. But, as you might expect, he Afterwards, people enjoyed a special tour of the Longfellow House, focusing on how left off everything controversial, blanked the Longfellow family celebrated Henry’s birthday, as well as George Washington’s. In out most of the names, etc. When we com- honor of Washington’s birthday, Jim Shea brought out artifacts from the collection, pared it to the original, we found he had including some of Washington’s letters written in the House. Those present had a chance cut it about in half. So that’s where we to reflect upon the Longfellow family’s appreciation of their home having once served as started. As far as the House goes, I started Washington’s headquarters. working there seriously in the same period that Jim Shea arrived and when Diana Frank Buda Remembered Korzenik was doing her research on Fanny. The most important part of the collection he Longfellow House lost one of its was known in the poet’s time: welcoming is the papers of Fanny and her sister Mary, Toldest and best friends with the death all visitors with warmth, urbanity, intelli- and Sam and Stephen Longfellow, and all of Frank Buda, a longtime guide and cura- gence and tact, bringing them into an the family connections. Then there are let- tor at the house, on February , . Mr. understanding of the poet through his ters from Sam to Mary [Longfellow Green- Buda spent his entire working life at the guided tours of the house,” one admirer leaf]that are interesting to put in–lots of Longfellow House. He started as a chauf- wrote to the National Park Service when talk about the Craigie House. feur for Harry Dana, the grandson of Mr. Buda retired in . “Who knows how R.B. When the Longfellows lived there, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and later many thousands, from this country and all did they speak of it as the “Craigie House?” managed the historic parts of the world, were S.P. Oh, of course, in fact, they spoke of home for the Longfel- enriched by his knowl- it as “Craigie Castle.” low Family Trust when edge and insights, and R.B. Have there been many changes it first opened the carried home with them since your experience ten years ago on the building to the public an unmistakable impres- Nahant book and your more recent period in the s. He stayed sion of Longfellow’s life of research on the present book? on as a guide and chief and character.” S.P. When I went back about three years of visitor services when Mr. Buda was a famil- ago, I found Jim Shea was at the Longfel- the National Park Ser- iar figure in Harvard low House, and he had made a great num- vice assumed responsi- Square, which he called ber of changes. He has a deep instinct as a bility for the property “the crossroads of the curator and an archivist, and now there is a in . world,” and led walking good curatorial staff at the house. It has A resident of Cam- tours of the area. He made all the difference. Jim’s found a mass bridge for nearly all his years, Mr. Buda enjoyed sketching and ballroom dancing at of materials which wasn’t evident before. was raised in the “marsh” area of the city the Wonderland Ballroom. And that’s when I met Diana. We were in the shadow of the Longfellow House. Mr. Buda was buried on February working there, side by side, down in the cel- His connection to the house was a family which was Longfellow’s birthday. At the lar on the letters, one thing led to another, affair. His father had mowed the lawn funeral mass at St. Joseph’s Church in Bel- and we started the Friends group. there, and his children sometimes served as mont, poems by Longfellow were read, and tour guides. He and his wife named their a jazz band played. The funeral procession daughter, born on Henry Wadsworth passed through Harvard Square and down In when the call went out for Longfellow’s birthday, Evangeline. Brattle Street past the Longfellow House American writers to create a new brand Mr. Buda liked to show visitors the iron- on the way to Cambridge Cemetery. of national literature, Longfellow stone dishes from which Longfellow ate, Mr. Buda leaves two daughters, a son, reflected in his journal, “We shall have the folding desk and quill pen he used for five grandchildren, and two great-grand- writing, and the famous armchair made out children. The family has established a per- a composite one, embracing French, of the wood of the “spreading chestnut manent Frank Buda Memorial Fund and Spanish, Irish, English, Scotch, and tree” that Longfellow referred to in his designated the Friends of the Longfellow German peculiarities. Whoever has poem “The Village Blacksmith.” House to receive the funds which will be within himself most of these is our truly “You don’t find too many houses as used for projects he would have favored. national writer, In other words, who- authentic as this one,” Mr. Buda boasted in His interests were wide-ranging and a article in The Boston Globe. included encouraging scholarly work on ever is most universal is most national.” “Mr. Buda exemplified the tradition of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. hospitality by which the Longfellow House Alice Longfellow as Preservationist: From Mount Vernon to Brattle Street he following is a brief overview of a paper by ment of the family’s home in Cambridge. years, Radcliffe students gathered for a Kelly Fellner, Longfellow NHS’s Education and Like her parents, Alice worked with party in the gardens each Memorial Day. Visitor Services Coordinator, entitled “Alice M. other family members to maintain the his- The largest gathering organized by Alice, Longfellow:T Preserving a Colonial Past,”presented at toric sense of the house, while not being however, was in on the centenary of the Second National Women in Historic Preservation adverse to alterations. Alice and her archi- Henry Longfellow’s birth. Conference in Mesa, Arizona, on March , . tect cousin Alexander Wadsworth Longfel- The week long event featured speeches, Beginning in , in her late twenties, low, Jr. (Waddy) collaborated over a fif- pageants by school children in Boston and Alice, Henry’s eldest daughter, began to teen-year period to make the alterations, Cambridge, a public meeting of the Cam- focus her attention on club work and orga- which included modernizing utilities, bridge Historical Society at Sanders The- nizations. She first worked as a member of updating the kitchen and adding bath- ater, and a special exhibit at the Cambridge the organizing committee for the “Society rooms, and creating the second floor porch Public Library. The grand event of the for the Collegiate Instruc- week was a tour of the tion of Women,” which Longfellow House. The would later become Rad- library assisted by giving cliffe College. Alice out tickets for the event. divided her work between When the four hundred education and her other tickets available were love, colonial history. snatched up in one day, Working from the ideals Alice issued another four put forth by the Colonial hundred. By the end of the Revival movement, Alice day on February , almost promoted the preservation people had gone of historic sites, and ideas through the house. The from America’s colonial Cambridge Tribune described past that would serve to the scene: “Signs over the educate a rapidly changing doors gave the ancient as population. This is well as the present names expressed through her work Left to right: Mina Edison, Harvey Firestone, Thomas A. Edison, Alice Longfellow, Henry Ford, of the rooms. The visitors with the Mount Vernon and Clara Bryant Ford at the Wayside Inn, c. entered by the front doors, Ladies Association, the Society for the and garden sitting area that connected the looked into the parlor, passed through the Preservation of New England Antiquities, house and formal gardens. In his alter- front hall, study and library, looked into the Cambridge Historical Society, and her ations, Waddy made considerable effort to the dining room which was General Wash- family’s home in Cambridge. blend any new work into the existing fabric ington’s kitchen, and went out by the west Alice served as Vice-Regent for Massa- of the building. Alice also hired landscape side door on to the driveway.” chusetts of the Mount Vernon Ladies architect Martha Brooks Hutcheson in Alice Longfellow’s work helped to shape Association (MVLA) from to . 1904. Of her work Hutcheson stated, the house into its role as a public shrine, Her work at Mount Vernon included “The Longfellow Garden at Cambridge I and lead her to other projects, including restoring Washington’s library. She overhauled entirely…. I reset box [wood work with Henry and Clara Ford on the acquired books, draperies, and furniture— hedges] in the Persian pattern which the restoration of the Wayside Inn. Alice even loaning her own Chippendale desk poet had originally planned, for sentiment, became the ambassador for the house, and and bookcase, which today is on display in which pleased Miss Alice Longfellow very a living link between a romanticized past her bedroom at the Longfellow House. In much. Then I added arbors, gates, fence, and uncertain future as the country entered she documented the work of the etc. making of it a garden which Miss the twentieth century. founding members of the association in Longfellow could go to and, if she chose, “The Appeal of Mount Vernon.” In addi- close the gates to visitors as she grew older.” tion to detailing the early efforts of its Alice’s work on the house combined her “…a spacious house with elegant, founder, Ann Pamela Cunningham, and love of the Colonial Revival style with her tasteful, yet simple furniture. [The members, including Edward Everett, Alice progressive ideals. The house was now a Longfellows] received me most kindly explained the mission of her generation: blend of public and private, that would and warmly. Their library was Wash- “The ladies have always preferred to keep stand as a tribute to both George Washing- ington’s bedroom; and as I was sitting in the plain path and preserve the picture ton and her father, Henry Wadsworth at the window, Mrs. Longfellow close of an old-time plantation dwelling, filled Longfellow. Alice organized birthday par- by me and a beautiful landscape in with the genius of the place, which speaks ties and colonial balls for family members. view, I felt the whole was a sweet poem.” more strongly to every listening ear through On Bunker Hill Day in , Alice hosted —Francis Lieber, encyclopedist and the simplicity of the surroundings….”The a group of “working women of the Boston author, letter to his wife, August 1843 MVLA proved to be good training for stores,” who toured the house and gardens Alice, and prepared her for the manage- and sat on the piazza. For more than twenty House Director Receives Evangeline Turns Volunteer Opportunities Regional Award number of events and exhibits com- Summer Festival.Volunteers are needed on Amemorate this year’s th anniversary Sundays from June to September to n April 9, the Longfellow House’s of Longfellow’s epic poem Evangeline. On help with set-up and break-down of the Oown director, Jim Shea, was awarded April as part of their Women’s Film Fes- chairs and equipment, to staff the Friends “Regional Cultural Resources Manager of tival, the Brattle Theatre showed the information table, and to greet people at the Year”by the National Park Service for silent movie Evangeline starring Dolores Del the front gate. distinguished service in the area of cultural Rio and directed by Edwin Carewe with an Family Days. If you love working with kids resources. Jim was nominated by the House updated soundtrack of Del Rio singing the and families, we could use your help on staff and the Friends, and his name was in title song. August and during family days. We competition with managers from the entire The Longfellow House currently has a need help with tours and facilitating spe- Eastern region—from Maine to Virginia. special exhibit on popular culture sur- cial activities, including watercolor paint- The award recognizes the work Jim has rounding the Evangeline poem, which ing, bookmaking, quill pen writing, and done at the Longfellow House. It was includes such artifacts as sheet music nineteenth-century games. announced at the National Park Service’s signed by Dolores Del Rio, Evangeline Visitor Center. A great opportunity on annual curator’s conference which took china plates, various editions of this those hot summer days of July and August place in Long Branch, New Jersey. This beloved verse, and the actual pencil used to to meet our visitors from all over the world. award puts Jim in the running for the a fur- write the poem. In addition, the House A volunteer in the visitor center would help ther national award offered by the hopes to have poetry readings and guest sell tour tickets and books, and answer National Park Service. speakers to celebrate Evangeline. questions for visitors. No previous experi- ence is necessary—just a love of people. Special Tours. Work with the Longfellow Recent Donations interpretive staff to develop and present The Longfellow House is most grateful for the fol- thematic tours of the house and grounds. lowing recent donations: Of special interest would be tours of the Mrs. Harry Paul of Port St. John, Florida, gardens during the spring and summer. has given us a copy of Longfellow’s Wayside International Docent Program. We are Inn, A Camera Impression by Samuel Cham- looking for interested people who speak berlain ⁽⁾. another language fluently to lead tours in u other languages. We would like to begin Pat Pratt donated her personal collection Japanese tours and gradually add others of black and white photographs of the ᳚ restored Longfellow House garden, as well For more details about any of these oppor- as other documents concerning the gardens tunities or to sign up, please call the before, during, and after the National Park Longfellow House at -. Service became custodian of the Longfel- low House. Mrs. Pratt was chair of the Alice Longfellow, age , dressed as Evangeline, c. Cambridge Plant and Garden Club Longfellow House Restoration Project. Recent Discoveries in the House This work was based on the historical gar- Two translators of Russian from Houghton Library visited the House recently to den research which was carried out by translate a newly discovered document dated which bears the signature of Cather- Diane K. McGuire starting in . ine II, Czarina of Russia, and her General Fieldmarshal, Count Orlov. The document is a citation recognizing the outstanding military service of a Russian soldier. It is Stephen Pratt donatedu the research materi- likely that it was brought back as a souvenir from the court of Catherine the Great by als of his father, Frederick Haven Pratt, Francis Dana, an ancestor of Edith Longfellow’s husband and an American ambas- used in his book, The Craigies. The sador to the court. papers also include eighteenth-century pri- l mary documents of Andrew Craigie, one During a dinner party at the Langdon Hotel in London in , the great American of the original residents of the House. painter Albert Bierstadt presented an oil painting called “The Departure of Hiawatha” to Henry W. Longfellow. This painting, with the original menu affixed to the back, Nell Barnitz Nilsonu donated forty four let- still hangs in the Longfellow House dining room. Recently, the Longfellow NHS staff ters written during the s and s by discovered the letter from Bierstadt to Longfellow inviting him to this dinner. Samuel Longfellow, Henry’s brother and l biographer who was a Unitarian minister Edith Longfellow’s father-in-law Richard Henry Dana, Jr., author of Two Years Before the and Transcendentalist. Samuel, a resident Mast and prominent Boston attorney, fought the Fugitive Slave Law and defended James of the House after Henry’s death, penned Scott, one of the people who rescued Shadrach Minkins. The briefings, witness testi- these letters to his friend Harry Wilson monies, and proceedings of Scott’s trial have surfaced among Dana’s many legal papers Barnitz, an artist who studied under at the House. Thomas Eakins. Two Sisters Remember tis, whose mother was Harriot Appleton, around the wedding. Fanny Longfellow’s half-sister. After Fanny Joan and Isabella’s mother, Elinor Cur- the Longfellow House died in , Harriot (Mrs. Greely S. Cur- tis Hopkinson, once showed an English by Virginia Wadsworth tis) helped Longfellow cope with his five group around the House. One of the ladies im Shea, director of the Longfellow children (her nieces and nephews) by visit- admired the orange tree that stood inside JHouse, and I were recently treated to an ing often, playing games with them, and the study. Mrs. Hopkinson asked her if she enlightening and entertaining tour of the taking them on excursions. would like to take a leaf back to England. House by Fanny Longfellow’s great nieces, The Curtis family played charades and The lady treasured it always, as Longfellow two sisters, Joan Hopkinson Shurcliff and hide-and-go-seek with Dana and Thorp was even more popular in England than Isabella H. Halsted. Both have many fond relatives as well as with Amy Lowell, Sum- America. memories of living in this house. ner Appleton, and others in the s. The Hopkinsons loved to entertain in Joan, Isabella, and their sisters were first Harry Dana, Longfellow’s grandson, the House. Each year two days before tutored in Manchester (or “Manch” as it who later lived there when the Hopkinson Christmas, they gave an informal ball from was called by the family); then they came family was in residence, did not approve of .. to .. A heavy cotton cover was to Cambridge to attend the Buckingham the girls and their Buckingham friends rac- placed on the carpet in the library and slip- School for Girls. Isabella pery cornmeal was stayed at the Longfel- sprinkled over it for low House in , then dancing. All the fire- again in the thirties and places were lit, and it forties with her family became a tradition to from late fall to early serve apple pie and spring before returning claret at midnight. to Manchester for the Other important summer. gatherings included Their cousin Alice Isabella and Joan’s sis- Longfellow lived in the ter Harriot Hopkin- House until she died in son’s coming-out party . The story goes in and a garden that Alice, the poet’s party with tables and oldest daughter, was delicate Japanese lan- annoyed with tour terns strung around. guides who invariably Isabella H. Halsted, left, with her sister Joan Hopkinson Shurcliff at the Longfellow House, Joan also fondly re- announced loudly that although her sisters ing noisily from room to room, up and members tea time in the parlor every after- had each married—one to a Dana, the down the double staircases, but he patiently noon with friends and family attending. other to a Thorp and lived nearby—”Alice endured it. When a young cousin broke a For more information about the Hop- never married.” She had chosen not to. large ceramic stand in the parlor and was kinson and Curtis families in Manchester, When Alice was alive, there was still a mortified, Harry merely said, “I hope the read Isabella’s entertaining book The Aunts large field in back of the house. It contin- little boy wasn’t scared.”The children were (Sharksmouth Press, 1992). Joan is cur- ued on to Craigie Street and was often used fond of Harry and recognized his kindness. rently writing a book about her grandfather in later years for Punch and Judy shows and “Counting heads” was a popular game Greely Curtis. fairs with pony rides to raise money for in the s. Joan and friends would gather worthy causes. The neighborhood dogs in the library to see who could find the were exercised there, and the family dogs most heads of famous people on furniture, 18th-Century Clock were also given freedom on the second busts, or paintings. This activity kept them floor balcony. Alice had to be convinced by busy for a long time. Longfellow’s study to Chime Again Mr. Edison himself that electricity was per- was also a good source of “heads,” all well- he Dutch clock from the front hall fectly safe. She had been adamant about known people and friends of the poet. Tstairs, our first “Adopted Object”, using only gas lighting until then. Joan’s bedroom in the rear was called the is being repaired, thanks to funds pro- Isabella remembers herself at age nine blue room (before its current wallpaper). vided by the Friends of the Longfellow desperately trying to open the front door She loved this room with its view of the House. The clock is expected back at so as not to be late to school. Failing to garden, tiles around the fireplace and a large the house by May in time for the sum- unlock it, she ran to the side door at the standing mirror (still there). mer season. The hand-carved figurines back of the house. When she screamed at Joan remembers finding a sealed vault in on the bonnet will be remounted, the the sight of the huge glowering bust of the cellar she had never known was there. casing and bonnet stabilized, the mech- Zeus (still in the same place today), every- It contained a lonely unopened bottle of anisms put in working order, and the one in the house came running. Madeira with “To HWL” on it. Her mem- entire clock cleaned. Once again, for Isabella’s and Joan’s father was Charles ories of the House are mostly from 1935 the first time in more than ten years, the Hopkinson, the eminent American por- to . Then she married and moved away, chimes will sound in the front hall. traitist, and their mother was Elinor Cur- after various gala parties at the House Wallpaper Study To Be Longfellow Summer Festival Schedule Sunday afternoons at 4 p.m. on the grounds of the Longfellow House Conducted This Summer s part of an ongoing effort to docu- May Cambridge Women Poets Ament the many layers of history at the June Harvard University Poets featuring David Gewanter Longfellow House, the National Park Ser- June Claribel Aligria, Latin American poet vice’s Cultural Resource Center in Lowell, June International Poets from the Joiner Center featuring Kevin Bowen, Massachusetts, will conduct a comprehen- Grace Paley, Le Luu, Bob Nichols, and Bruce Weigl sive wallpaper study this summer. June Hawthorne String Quartet Besides many outstanding examples of July Poets Who Edit featuring Elizabeth Lund, Vivian Shipley, Lloyd Schwartz nineteenth- and twentieth-century wallpa- July Longy School of Music Brass Quintet per intact throughout the house, there are July Lisa Suhair-Majaj, Arabic-American poetry also over forty individual samples in stor- Richard Fein, Yiddish poetry age. They were found over the years in clos- July Longy School Opera Fest: opera scenes and arias, Donna Roll, director ets and drawers around the House. Now, Aug. Agni Magazine: “Emerging Poets” they will be studied in context with the var- Aug. Longy School: Arden String Quartet featuring Schubert’s Death and ious residents, uses, and changes within Maiden Quartet each room since . Aug. Armenian Children’s Choir and children’s poetry by X.J. Kennedy Aug. Longy School: Woodwind Quintet, Vanessa Breault Mulvey, director Aug. Boston Brass Sept. Northeastern University Poets and Japanese Poetry Sept. Cambridge Poets featuring local poets Sept. Cambridge Poets featuring local poets
Henry W. Longfellow ‘s Journal , May , : A bright, warm May-day. The children have a May-pole in the garden, and a feast in the summer-house; a half-a-dozen little girls with wreaths on their heads enjoying themselves demurely. Charley has gone off on horseback into the country. Erny plays with the young damsels. After all, holidays are hard things to manage in New England. People cry for more of them; but when they get them, they don’t know what to do with them. It is not in their The First Longfellow hearts to be merry. In the midst of it, out came Lieber [a German friend]. He said it made him sad to see the little girls going about the street with wreaths of artificial flowers in their Lyceum Event hair. But at this season we have no others, save in greenhouses. n April , , Arthur Loeb, one of Othe Friends of the Longfellow House, led the Collegium Iosquinum in a wonder- ful evening of fifteenth- and sixteenth-cen- tury music. As director Jim Shea remarked ĻUpcoming Eventsļ after the concert, “It’s like a dream come Lecture and Booksigning by Gary Collison on Richard Henry Dana, Jr. and New true—finally we are using the house as the England’s First Runaway Slave. On June , at .., Professor Gary Collison Longfellows once did.”The concert in the of Pennsylvania State University will speak at the Longfellow House about his new library was followed by a reception and spe- book: Shadrach Minkins: From Fugitive Slave to Citizen (Harvard University Press, ). cial tours of the house. Notice of the book’s publication immediately attracted the interest of the staff at The Friends conceived of the evening as the Longfellow House as Richard Henry Dana, Jr., a young lawyer in when Mink- a way of thanking donors who have made ins was arrested in a Boston coffeehouse, was to be engaged in preparing a petition of gifts to the house, as well as inviting others habeas corpus in collaboration with Robert Morris, the first black man admitted to whom we hope will become supporters. the Massachusetts bar. After Professor Collison’s talk, Paul Blandford of the Longfel- The audience was enthusiastic, and every low National Historic Site Staff will present material that has come to light seat was taken. It is our hope that the com- in the Dana papers at the Longfellow House since Professor Collison’s book munity will become even more involved as was published. Books will be available, and Gary Collison will sign books we look toward the next century and a after both presentations. fully rehabilitated Longfellow House and Family Days Saturday and Sunday August and from .. to .. the House grounds. Many asked, and were happy to will feature special tours and programs for people of all ages. Activities will include be assured, that there will be future Lyceum watercolor painting in the gardens, croquet, and storytelling. Sunday’s program will events of a cultural nature for the growing be followed by children’s music and poetry (see Summer Festival listings). community of benefactors. ¢ dopt-an-Object rogram Join us as a Friend and help support an international collection of A elp us tend to our mostP critical pri- Fine & Decorative Arts, Rare Books, Letters, and Historic Photographs Horities by donating specifically to an object in need. representing three centuries of American History… Our Rococo-Revival pier glass wall K $1000 Benefactor K $100 Supporter mirror, dating from around , is dis- K $ 750 Donor K $ 60 Contributor played in a conspicuous position in the K $ 500 Patron K $ 30 Family side hall of the Longfellow House and K $ 250 Sponsor K $ 20 Individual is in noticeably poor condition. It needs K to have missing pieces replaced, loose $ 15 Student sections refitted, the flaking gilt gesso Make checks payable to: surface stabilized, and the whole cleaned Friends of the Longfellow House of films of dirt and grime accumulated Brattle Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts over a century. For more information, call ⁽⁾ -. Repairs are estimated to cost . Won’t you help restore this beautiful his- Name toric pier glass? Address City State Zip Telephone Special area(s) of interest in the Longfellow House:
K I would like someone to call me about volunteer opportunities. Contributions are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.
Friends of the Longfellow House Brattle Street Cambridge, Massachusetts