on fellow ous L g ulletinH e Volume 11 No. 1 A Newsletter of the Friends of the Longfellow House and the National Park Service June 2007 Celebrating Henry WadsworthB Longfellow’s Bicentennial t the March 25, 2007, gala program cel- Norwegian com- Aebrating the two hundredth anniver- poser Ole Bull as sary of Longfellow’s birth, public radio “the greatest vio- host and the event’s emcee, Christopher linist during his Lydon, likened the beloved popular poet, time” and a close whose words have permeated our lives, to a family friend of “rock star.” He closed with an exhortation the Longfellows. Society Historical e to the enthusiastic crowd of 900: “Let’s The orchestra hear it for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow!” also performed Besides taking place in the same Ruskin- Longfellow’s Paul ian Gothic splendor of Harvard’s Sanders Revere’s Ride, a piece Theatre, the main public commemoration of composed three the bicentennial year reflected the Cambridge years ago by Ju- celebration a hundred years ago in many lian Wachner and ways. Both featured music associated with recorded using courtesyPhoto of Cambridg the Longfellow, a local children’s chorus, and Senator Edward Ya-fei Chuang (with flowers) and conductor Charles Ansbacher at Sanders Theatre, 2007 eloquent tributes to the man and his poetry. M. Kennedy’s narration. Ansbacher intro- nor, an actor and long-time historical inter- The Boston Landmarks Orchestra led duced the musical version of Longfellow’s preter of Paul Revere, recited the poem off with Ole Bull’s Solitude on the Mountain. classic as being in the vein of Prokofiev’s Peter alongside the orchestra’s musical rendition. Conductor Charles Ansbacher described the and the Wolf. In period costume David Con- (continued on page 2) Looking Back at the Centenary Celebration of Longfellow’s Birth wenty-five years after the death of James. The poet’s daughters Alice Longfel- script of their centenary event. The tran- TAmerica’s unofficial poet low and Anne Alle- script provides a unique contemporary laureate, the Cambridge His- gra Thorp as well glimpse into Longfellow’s character. torical Society called a “spe- as his eleven living Each of the five speakers (and/or their cial meeting” held in Harvard grandchildren also stand-ins) at the centennial event had University’s Sanders Theatre attended. known Longfellow and offered heartfelt on February 27th, 1907, “for Richard Henry personal recollections. Together they the purpose of celebrating the Dana III, the painted a vivid portrait of a kind, modest, One Hundredth Anniversary poets’ neighbor and beloved man. In his opening address, of the Birth of Henry Wads- and son-in-law, Harvard art history professor emeritus worth Longfellow,” according had helped found Norton declared, “I will leave to others to to the published records of the the Cambridge set forth the charm of [Longfellow’s] society. “Charles Eliot Norton Historical Soci- poems…it is the life rather than the presided. The meeting was open ety in 1905 and poems…that I am drawn by affectionate to the public.” became its first memory to celebrate…. It is the man, the “Among the invited guests president. Alice exceptionally good and pleasant man, no were many persons distin- Longfellow sat less than the delightful poet, who is every- guished in literature, sci- on the thir- where cherished and honored; and here in ence, and public life,” inclu- Program cover for the Longfellow Centenary, 1907 teen-member the community which knew him best, the ding Massachusetts governor Curtis Guild council of the historical society. In 1907 tones of love and admiration mingle in one Jr., the mayor of Cambridge, Julia Ward they published the first issue of the soci- harmony of blessing on his memory.” Howe, Sarah Orne Jewett, and William ety’s proceedings with a complete tran- (continued on page 4) 1 - New York Celebrated Longfellow’s Centenary ot only Longfellow’s home town of the centenary of the birth of Henry NCambridge, Massachusetts, but other Wadsworth Longfellow, and in honor of VWX important cities marked Longfellow’s cen- the poets of today. It was perhaps the most Friends of the Longfellow House tenary. The National Arts Club in New notable literary gathering New York has Board of Directors York City, as reported in an Illinois maga- ever known. Distinguished orators, editors, Heather S. Moulton, President zine called the Villa Shield, “invited guests and writers and poets, graced the festive board, Barclay Henderson, Vice President members to view the most notable Longfel- and charmed their listeners by the brilliant Robert C. Mitchell, Treasurer low collection ever exhibited, viz:-portraits, scintillations of their toasts….” Polly Bryson, Clerk songs of the poet set to music, first editions “National by birth, national by spirit, Hope Cushing and modern volumes of works. In the cen- and national by purpose, it is meet and fit- Diana Der-Hovanessian ter of the gallery was the chef d’oeuvre, the ting that this Club should lead in the com- Frances J. Folsom Maura Graham manuscript of ‘Hiawatha,’ kindly loaned by memoration of the birth of our national Edward Guleserian Miss Alice Longfellow, the only surviving poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Al- Sarah B. Jolliffe maiden daughter of the poet….” though New England claims him for her Linda Almgren Kime “Arranged in cases around the shrine own, Longfellow belongs to us as a nation, Layne Longfellow which contained this treasure were [other] for he is the historian of the sentiment of Laura Nash autographed manuscripts….” “To the aver- the young republic. He belongs to us indi- Lynne Spencer age visitor, the portrait exhibit appealed vidually for every American heart responds most strongly” which displayed paintings, to the music of his verse. He sings his sim- Advisory Board engravings, and busts. ple songs and they have been sung for nigh Ruth Butler LeRoy Cragwell All of these items “were on view until a hundred years, and will echo in each soul Diana Korzenik [February 27, 1907] which closed the cele- ‘As long as the heart has passions, Richard Nylander bration with a dinner, given by the As long as life has woes.’” * Stephen D. Pratt National Arts Club in commemoration of * lines from Longfellow’s poem “The Bridge” Marilyn Richardson Marc Shell Charles Sullivan Lowell A. Warren Jr. Administrator J.L. Bell

Newsletter Committee Glenna Lang, Editor, Writer & Designer James M. Shea

opq Speakers at the National Arts Club Longfellow centenary dinner, New York City, 1907 National Park Service Celebrating Longfellow’s Bicentennial (continued from page 1) Myra Harrison, Superintendent James M. Shea, Museum Manager Author of The Dante Club—a historical setting of a Longfellow poem—Lauren Lauren Downing, Administrative Officer novel about Longfellow’s translation group Bernofsky’s “Snow-Flakes.” Nancy Jones, Education and Visitor Services —Matthew Pearl spoke of how he, as a To mark the occasion of the bicenten- Paul Blandford, Museum Educator Harvard student, had discovered that nial, Ted Hansen of the Cambridge Histor- Anita Israel, Archives Specialist Longfellow was a“real person” and an ical Society presented to the Longfellow David Daly, Collections Manager important part of Cambridge. Pearl came to National Historic Site—represented by Lauren Malcolm, Museum Technician appreciate Longfellow’s accessibility and his NPS Superintendent Myra Harrison—one Flo Smith, Management Assistant patience: “He waits for us to come to him.” of two hundred copies of the Longfellow Liza Stearns, Education Specialist Pianist Ya-Fei Chuang played two works medal issued in honor of his centenary. Ed Bacigalupo, Chief of Maintenance Scott Fletcher, Facility Manager with which Longfellow was surely familiar: (See p. 4 for more about the medal.) Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 and two opuses Officials from the U.S. Postal Service Songs Without Words Printed by Newprint Offset, Waltham, Mass. from Mendelssohn’s . A presided over the unveiling of the Longfel- bound copy of the Mendelssohn sheet music low commemorative stamp, the twenty-third is displayed in the Longfellow House library. in their literary arts series. Boston postmas- 1234 Baritone Brett Johnson sang Longfel- ter Marsha Cannon described the “univer- All images are from the Longfellow National Historic low’s poem “Psalm of Life,” set to music sality of stamps” and the “repetitive rela- Site collections, unless noted otherwise. by C.C. Miller in the late nineteenth cen- tionship we all have with stamps that makes tury. Elementary schoolchildren of the them so significant.” Haggerty School Chorus in Cambridge The Longfellow Bicentennial Committee also performed a contemporary musical organized this gala Sanders Theatre event. - 2 Interview with a Friend…Meet Dana Gioia, Poet and NEA Chairman In September, Dana Gioia—award-win- versation on his work. mon people, this sort of poem confounds ning poet, critic, and current chairman of LH: In your essay you speak of Longfel- critics because it lacks interpretive difficul- the National Endowment for the Arts— low’s broad cultural influence. ties. But poems do not exist to generate crit- will be the host and keynote speaker at a DG: Longfellow’s cultural influence is icism. They exist to create human expression. Cambridge Forum on Longfellow. Recently, inestimable. At Harvard he helped create Longfellow was a man about whom one with his two sons, he visited the House and what we now think of as standard literary can make almost no moral criticism. He spoke with us about Longfellow. studies in American universities. He was a lived an exemplary life. This is not some- Longfellow House: How were you first major translator and was responsible for thing one can say about many great poets. introduced to Longfellow? introducing Americans to much European But for the very reason of his goodness, he Dana Gioia: Longfellow was among my literature. But, most important, he was the lacked tragic insight into human existence. earliest experiences with poetry. My most popular author in any genre in nine- In the last part of Hiawatha, for example, mother, who was a working-class Mexican- teenth-century America. Longfellow cre- Longfellow is unable to understand the American of no advanced education, re- ated cultural myths that are still central to tragic consequences of the arrival of the cited poems from memory, and she knew Europeans. He quite literally has his hero several poems by Longfellow. So I grew up paddle off into the sunset. That same Uni- hearing Longfellow. I regret to say that tarian New England liberalism was also nowhere in my formal education at any Longfellow’s strength—he saw the goodness level was I ever assigned a poem by Longfel- in human existence, but it keeps some of his low—except in eighth grade when Sister best work from achieving true greatness. Mary Damien made the class diagram the LH: As head of the NEA, do you encour- formidable opening lines of Evangeline. age people to read poetry and Longfellow? LH: How and when did you develop a DG: We support many literary projects, critical interest in his poetry? and recently a few have involved Longfel- DG: In my mid-thirties I co-edited a low. For example, we are helping the bilingual anthology of Italian poetry. I was Longfellow House in Portland, Maine, put surprised by the quality and extent of Long- on a bicentennial celebration. We are also fellow’s translations. I began reading his co-sponsoring with the Poetry Foundation poetry seriously for the first time, and I was of Chicago a national poetry recitation con- struck by its range and excellence. He test for high school students with well over seemed to me a conspicuously underrated 100,000 participants this year. The students author. When I was invited a decade later to pick poems to memorize from an anthol- contribute to the new Columbia History of American society. Our notion of the Amer- ogy and website. We offer everything from American Poetry, I was asked what poet I ican Indian, for example, was forever classic to contemporary works. Longfellow wanted to write about. I requested Robert changed by Longfellow. His liberal and is a consistent favorite among the students. Frost, but the editor, Jay Parini, wanted Frost respectful attitudes prefigure what we now LH: In 1907 Harvard’s president asked, since he was about to begin a biography of think of as multiculturalism. Paul Revere “What higher function, what nobler work the poet. I then asked if anybody had taken would never have become a national figure …is there than the writing of poetry?” Longfellow. Parini immediately exclaimed, had it not been for Longfellow’s poem. We DG: Charles Eliot’s comment would “No one wants Longfellow—he’s yours!” take these things for granted because his never be uttered by a contemporary univer- My chapter, “Longfellow in the Aftermath influence has become largely invisible over sity president. Poetry has declined in im- of Modernism,” unexpectedly became the the last century. portance in our culture. Even our memory most widely discussed chapter of the book. LH: Did you encounter a reaction of a time in America when poetry was a LH:What effect did that essay have? against your favorable view of Longfellow? universally honored public art has dimmed. DG: It was the first long, serious critical DG: I found that many people who dis- This is one reason why Longfellow’s career defense of Longfellow in decades. There missed Longfellow had never read him. He has special relevance. He was a national fig- had not even been much recent scholarly was so famous that modern literati reacted ure in a way no literary author is today. We work. (The editors of the annual American more to his earlier reputation as a Victorian must understand the importance that Literary Studies had a running joke that no white-bearded sage than to the reality of his poetry and literature had in the early repub- one ever wrote about Longfellow.) In the work. He is one of the four best American lic. And we need to recognize what we have previous forty years only two American narrative poets (along with Robert Frost, lost. A democracy is healthier when people poets had written about his work with any Edwin Arlington Robinson, and Robinson read and when imaginative literature is one conviction—Horace Gregory and Howard Jeffers). He is also the best American son- of the things people read. A culture is more Nemerov—and both of those pieces had neteer of the nineteenth century. He is robust when poetry can speak to a broad been introductions to new paperback edi- nearly unsurpassed as the writer of a direct, and mixed audience. Literature need not tions of his work. My piece was a far more simple, but elegant kind of lyric—a popular only address a small subculture of poets ambitious, stand-alone essay. It surprised lyric that is almost immediately comprehen- and critics. Longfellow’s example might most readers both in the U.S. and England. sible on first hearing but stands up to inspire our age to create a literary culture I think my arguments opened a new con- repeated hearings. Much beloved by com- worthy of a democracy. 3 - Longfellow Centenary (continued from page 1) Bela Pratt Medal There followed the reading of letters once but twice, at the request of the chair- from persons invited but unable to man who stated: “That poem is enough to attend—from all over the country and make an evening memorable.” Bliss Perry, around the world—including “eminent editor of the Atlantic Monthly, read a chapter persons” such as Hoosier poet James Whit- about Longfellow from Howells’s collection comb Riley and British social reformer F. of essays Literary Friends and Acquaintances, Herbert Stead. which discussed both the poet and his work. Thomas Wentworth Higginson— Howells wrote: “No poet ever uttered more colonel of the first black perfectly what was char- Union regiment, aboli- acteristically best in his tionist, and author— time, and none ever in- also chose to reflect formed that time more upon his friend’s charac- completely with the good n connection with the Longfellow ter: “[Longfellow] was and the truth which were ICentenary celebration on February at once genial and in himself.” 27, 1907, the Cambridge Historical So- guarded; kind and cor- A children’s chorus ciety commissioned Cambridge sculp- dial in greeting, but with from “the Cambridge tor Bela L. Pratt to design a commem- an impassable boundary Public Schools” accom- orative medal. Pratt had previously line of reserve; dwelling panied by the orchestra designed a similar medal in honor of in a charmed circle of of the Cambridge Latin the twenty-fifth anniversary of the thought, and absolutely School performed a can- accession of Charles William Eliot to self-protecting; essen- tata by Charles F. Noyes the presidency of Harvard College. tially a poetic mind, but of Longfellow’s poem The Longfellow medal was three and never out of touch with “The Village Black- a half inches in diameter and, as stated the common heart…. smith” set to music. in the announcement, “will be a rare, “When worn with Earlier, in the after- beautiful and noteworthy memorial.” overwork, he could sit noon, the Cambridge Two hundred bronze medals were down to write a hundred autographs for a Historical Society offered tours of the poet’s struck and offered for sale to libraries, fair in Chattanooga; or perhaps go out and home, Craigie House. Lines formed ahead museums, and individual collectors for walk miles to secure kindness for some old of time, and one thousand people visited. ten dollars apiece. Subscriptions were friend troubled with chronic and insupera- At the Cambridge Public Library for a filled in the order they were received. ble need of money. He was choice in his week beginning February 25th, the Cam- On March 25, 2007, at Sanders The- invited guests, yet drove his housemaids to bridge Historical Society presented “The atre in honor of Longfellow’s bicenten- despair by insisting on the admittance of Longfellow Centenary Exhibition of rare nial, the Cambridge Historical Society the poorest children in Cambridge, to editions, manuscripts, portraits, and other presented one of the medals to the tramp through his study daily and sit tri- memorabilia.”The local paper commented: National Park Service. Bela Pratt’s umphantly in the chair which their little “Many teachers of public and private granddaughter, Cynthia Sam, was in the school subscriptions had bought for him.” schools will take this opportunity [to bring audience. Harvard’s president Charles William their pupils]…as such a Bela Lyon Pratt (1867Ð1917) gradu- Eliot extolled Longfellow’s rare opportunity is not ated from Yale University’s School of contribution to the univer- likely soon to recur.” Fine Arts and continued his studies at sity and his students: “A uni- Many other news- the Art Students League in New York, versity contains the flower of papers and magazines where Augustus Saint-Gaudens was his the youth of the land; and —local, national, and mentor. Pratt became an influential these youth live with a selected foreign—reported teacher for more than twenty-five years body of teachers who present on the centenary. The at the School of the Museum of Fine before them the great subjects Outlook and the Pathfinder magazines, for Arts, Boston. During this time he of human thought, of human aspiration. example, ran special February issues focused sculpted a series of busts of Boston’s What higher function, what nobler work on Longfellow. The Nation devoted an entire intellectual community and the well- of man is there than the writing of poetry?” issue to “An Account of the Cambridge known standing figure of Edward Clearly, the poet’s role was regarded more Celebration, with Extracts from Some of Everett Hale in Boston’s Public Garden. highly in 1907 than it is today. the Tributes to Longfellow Which Have Re- In addition, he designed Indian head Poet Thomas Bailey Aldrich and author cently Appeared.”Writing in the London Spec- and eagle coins for the U.S. mint, fea- William Dean Howells had been scheduled tator, the Bishop of Durham mused: “Take turing an unusual intaglio (recessed) to speak at the centenary, but both were the poet and the poems together, and I do design technique. In 1918 the Museum absent due to illness. Harvard English pro- not know where to look in the English lit- of Fine Arts, Boston, held a retrospec- fessor Charles Townsend Copeland read erature of the whole nineteenth century for tive exhibition of 125 of his sculptures. Aldrich’s poetic tribute to Longfellow, not quite so beautiful an ensemble.” - 4 Schoolchildren & Others Across America Marked Longfellow’s Centenary he children of the country love similar to those in other cities: “Longfellow Hundreds of letters to Alice Longfellow “TLongfellow, and the children of Centenary observances were generally held and her sisters poured in from across the Cambridge will hold special observances of throughout the Boston public country. For many people, by remaining in his birthday, in all the city’s schools, both schools today. The special exer- the House, Alice embodied her father. public and parochial, to pay his memory cises held in many school halls Miss M.A. Wetherell, honor. Each school principal will provide a were attended by parents and the principal of the speaker to address his school, and there will friends of the pupils. Honor Longfellow Gram- be readings of essays on the poet’s life and was done the memory of the mar School in Fair- works, by the scholars and the appropriate great poet by recitation, field, Maine, wrote to musical numbers,” essay, declamation, song, Alice of her “school- stated a Boston tableaux and other room on whose walls Sunday news- ways that proved you will find many of paper on Febru- interesting. His your father’s and our ary 17, 1907 busts and portraits beloved school-poet’s The number were decorated in characters shown in pic- of schools across national colors, tures and bas-reliefs and a America honoring bust of himself presented Longfellow on his by the alumni of the one hundredth school.” She asked Alice if birthday gives the she might “have a few words from you that sense of the cente- we may have your autograph.” nary as a national From Canada came a letter from Elliott celebration. A pub- Richmond to Alice with a description of a lic school in the centenary celebration: “A small group of Bronx, New York, (center image), and a young people in the little village of St. school in Maine named after the poet (left Jacobs, Ontario, formed a ‘Round Table’ last image) were but a few. Numerous commu- November for the purpose of studying your nities throughout the states also dedicated father’s poems, and we have been so pleased and named schools in honor of the poet. with our study, we are making a special Another local newspaper article entitled effort to have a ‘Longfellow Evening’ on Feb. “Memory of Famous Poet Honored by Spe- 27, the 100th anniversary of [his] birth.” He cial Exercises Throughout the City” por- and one or the other of these has found a asked her for a “note of recognition”of the trayed the festivities in Boston, probably resting place in every school in Boston.” program and a map of Cambridge/Boston.

The Atlantic Monthly & Longfellow Charlotte Fiske Bates, poet and friend of Henry Henry W. Longfellow was a founder of and lifelong contributor to the Atlantic Longfellow who had edited the Longfellow Monthly, which coincidentally is marking a milestone anniversary this year—its 150th. Birthday Book in 1881, composed this pre- On May 6, 1857, Longfellow wrote in his journal: “Dined in town at Parker’s, with scient tribute for the centenary as if she were Emerson, Lowell, Motley, Holmes, Cabot, Underwood, and the publisher, Phillips, writing a hundred years later: to talk about the new magazine the last wishes to establish.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. A number of Longfellow’s poems first appeared on the pages of the Atlantic. In February 27th. fact, for the premier issue of the magazine in November 1857, Longfellow contributed 2007 Looking Back on 1907. “Santa Filomena.” “Paul Revere's Ride” was first published in the Boston Transcript (1860) and then in the Atlantic Monthly (1861) before appearing as the first story told in The pens and voices that so honored thee Tales of a Wayside Inn, a book of Longfellow’s narrative poems. One hundred years ago, now silent are: In its March 1907 issue, the Atlantic printed two pieces in relation to the centenary of Which of them all, with eye of Prophecy, Longfellow’s birth: Thomas Bailey Aldrich’s poem called “Longfellow, 1807-1907”and Foretold thy fame, in centuries afar? an essay by its editor, Bliss Perry, entitled “The Centenary of Longfellow.” Perry sent Alice Longfellow an advance copy of the issue with a note saying he hoped that she For, so it heightens, men have come to say, would read his article “with an indulgent eye.” He had written of the relationship of No nation owns thee, but the whole wide popularity to excellence: “It is inevitable that there should be some reaction against the world; extraordinary popularity which Longfellow’s poetry enjoyed during his lifetime…. I And, at the shining of the natal day, know a shrewd and slightly cynical publisher who insists that the popularity of a piece Flags of all shores are yet to be unfurled. of literature is always in inverse proportion to its excellence. This pleasing and easily- —Charlotte Fiske Bates remembered formula collapses when you say ‘Hamlet’…and I think…‘Evangeline.’” February 24th, 1907

5 - Longfellow House in the Media Longfellow Monument In the Boston Sunday Globe’s February 25, minating Longfellow's Bowdoin days. 2007, article called “Longfellow’s Other in Washington, D.C. Tale,” Michael Kenney wrote about the On March 22, 2007, the Cambridge Chronicle espite its prominent location at the poet’s role in the anti-slavery movement devoted a full page with photos, facts, and Dintersection of Rhode Island and before the Civil War. a quiz to “Celebrating Longfel- Connecticut Avenues near Dupont Circle, l low’s Legacy” by Kristen Grieco. few visitors to Washington, D.C., today are The Times Literary Supple- l aware of a large statue of a contemplative ment of London’s cover The March-April 2007 issue of Longfellow seated high on a pedestal. story on January 5, 2007, Harvard Magazine in their College It is “one of the most graceful and beau- proclaimed “Longfellow Pump Department speaks of the tiful at the national capital,” proclaimed the Lives Again.” It contained Longfellow exhibit at Houghton. Longfellow National Memorial Association an article entitled “Hi- l in its program for the unveiling on May 7, awatha Returning” by George F. Will wrote “Longfel- 1909. Sculpted by William Couper of New Christopher Benfey, re- low: A Founder” in Newsweek’s York, the statue shows the poet dressed in viewing Christoph Irm- March 12, 2007, issue. The sub- academic robes, long hair, and beard. scher’s book. The c. 1870 title notes: “That his 200th In 1900 the Right Reverend Alexander painting on the cover by birthday passed unremarked is Mackay-Smith invited “a number of the John Faed depicts “The redundant evidence of this forward- foremost citizens of Washington” to his Parting of Evangeline and Gabriel.” leaning democracy’s historical amnesia.” house “to consider the possibility of orga- l l nizing an association to erect a statue in The Harvard University Gazette, February 1-7, In the March 30, 2007, Cape CodTimes, Libby memory of...the poet of the American fire- 2007, issue featured a lengthy illustrated Hughes reported on the “Gala Concert for side.” He made the case by citing that Eng- piece: “The Many Lives of Henry Wads- Longfellow’s Bicentennial: Sanders Theatre land had already “placed [Longfellow’s] worth Longfellow” by Corydon Ireland. rocked with song and poetry.” image among her own honored dead in... l l Westminster’s poet’s corner.” Bowdoin News—a monthly newsletter for On February 27, 2007, from Louisiana to With Theodore Roosevelt as honorary Bowdoin College alumni, parents, and New Mexico to Rhode Island, the blogos- regent, Grover Cleveland as first regent, and friends—in February 2007 published two phere was abuzz with Longfellow birthday Supreme Court Chief Justice Melville articles related to Henry Longfellow’s acknowledgements by historians, novelists, Fuller as president, the association raised bicentennial, one by Charles Calhoun illu- Cajuns, and other enthusiastic citizens. funds for the statue and lobbied Congress to provide a site and pedestal. The associa- tion formed local committees in Boston/ Recent Research at the House Cambridge, New York, Chicago, Philadel- phia, Washington, Pittsburgh, and Port- The Longfellow House archives contain over 700,000 manuscripts, letters, and signed documents and land. Many people bought “subscriptions” are used extensively by researchers from around the world. Here are a few recent researchers of the sev- to finance the monument. eral hundred who use the archives annually. At the unveiling, the U.S. Marine Band played, and notables spoke. Erica Thorp, Edward Connery Lathem, Emeritus Dean of Libraries and Counselor to the Presi- the poet’s granddaughter, officially unveiled dent of Dartmouth College, came to research the British Longfellow Memorial the statue. The attorney general accepted it Committee, which was responsible for erecting the bust of Longfellow in the poet’s because PresidentTaft was too ill to attend. corner of Westminster Abbey in 1884. Mr. Lathem made his first inquiry to the Mackay-Smith summed up his address: staff of the Longfellow House fifty years ago in April 1957 from Oxford University. “But his statue stands here, and will stand, l if for no other reason than simply because Esha Senchaudhuri, a former ranger at Longfellow NHS, examined Charley we can say that everyone loved the poet.” Longfellow’s stay in India, particularly his travels in West Bengal, for an article in Prabasi, a magazine for Bengali families in Massachusetts. She hopes that introduc- ing Indian-American children to the Longfellow family and demonstrating the long historic cultural interaction between these two countries will encourage the children to learn more about both their Bengali and Boston roots. l For her forthcoming book about Ten Hills Farm, Catherine Manegold, a research fellow at Harvard University’s W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research, is investigating the Vassalls and their slaves. Ten Hills Farm included land that is part of the Royall estate (and now Tufts University) in Med- ford, Massachusetts. The Vassalls and Royalls held some slaves in common.

Statue of H.W. Longfellow,Washington, D.C., 1909 - 6 Musical Celebrations of Henry Longfellow, “America’s Song King” harles Kaufmann, music director of The concert took place at the First fellow as “America’s Song King.” Cthe First Parish Church in Portland, Parish Church in Portland, Maine, which Recently Kaufmann announced the for- Maine, conceived of and conducted “The generations of Longfellows had attended. mation and incorporation of the Longfel- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 200th As a child, Henry Longfellow learned to low Chorus, devoted to performing Long- Birthday Choral Concert,” performed on play the flute. His interest in music contin- fellow’s poems set to music. On the lawn at February 25, 2007, and comprised entirely ued throughout his life. After graduating the Longfellow of musical settings of Longfellow’s poems. from college, he brought home from his NHS on July 15, Having researched extensively first trip to Europe a hand- the Longfellow in the House archives sheet written songbook of German Chorus will add music collection, Kaufmann poems and accompanying several new vo- created a fitting tribute to melodies, the beginning of a cal pieces to Longfellow, once called “Ame- lifetime of collecting poetry their repertoire. rica’s Song King” because of set to music. Because the site the preponderant use of his By 1839 Longfellow himself is close to the verse as lyrics for nineteenth- became the poet whose work blacksmith shop century parlor songs. was set to described in the The eighty chorus members music. His poem, they will presented almost two dozen first book present a full choral setting of “The songs, including three musical of poems, Village Blacksmith” by English com- versions of Longfellow’s “A Rainy Day” by Voices of the Night, proved poser John Hatton, a friend of the different composers, one of whom was popular with musicians poet. Bass soloist John D. Adams Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert & Sullivan) and writing solo songs and will sing from the manuscript ver- two contrasting choruses. Families, in sion of “My Arm Chair” that Jeph- musical settings turn, purchased these son sent to Longfellow and still of “Footsteps published songs for remains in the House archives. of Angels.” Solo music-making in the At New York City’s Cooper Union vocal renditions parlor—thus was born on May 5, 2007, Harold Rosenbaum brought out the a genre known as the parlor song. will direct the Canticum Novum Singers in beauty of such Longfellow songs were popular across a birthday tribute to Longfellow. The pro- pieces as “After- the United States, in Europe, Australia, and gram features Longfellow-inspired works by noon in Febru- India. Hundreds, if not thousands, of important composers from the 1800s to the ary” and “Be- Longfellow settings were created by some present. Longfellow's great-great grandchil- ware!”The con- of the world’s most famous—and most dren will read selections of his poetry, and cert ended with obscure—musicians. Not surprisingly then, Stephen Schwartz, and David Del Tredici segments of the three-hour setting of “Song in an 1879 letter Thomas Lorenzo Jephson, will speak on their contemporary musical of Hiawatha” by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a Minnesotan composer, addressed Long- settings of Longfellow’s poems. a turn-of-the-century Afro-British com- poser renowned in both Britain and the U.S. Recent Visitors & Events at the House Fellowships Awarded People from all walks of life have always come to the Longfellow House for cultural activities. Today the House continues to host numerous people and events. The following items represent only a small ryan Sinche, assistant professor of Eng- portion of what has taken place here recently. Blish at the University of Hartford, received the Paterson Fellowship from the Thirty members of the Goethe Society of New England enjoyed a special behind- Friends of the Longfellow House for his the-scenes look at the substantial German-related collections at the House. book project “Sailors, Slaves, and Savages: r The Contest for Citizenship in Antebellum Thomas Horrocks, Associate Librarian for Collections at Harvard’s Houghton Sea Narratives.” He will use the archives to Library, and author Nicholas Basbanes brought thirty-five members of the Ticknor find material on R.H. Dana Jr. and others. Society to view a special display of rare and unusual books from Longfellow’s library. Crawford Mann III, a Yale University r doctoral candidate in the history of art, To honor Longfellow’s 200th birthday, the Dante Society of America held a con- received the Korzenik Fellowship for his ference on Longfellow and Dante in America in the carriage house. project “When in Rome: Italian Travel and r the Pursuit of the Ideal Male Body in Ante- Cambridge schoolchildren from the Kennedy-Longfellow School, St. Peter’s bellum American Art.” Painter Washington School, Peabody School, Fayerweather Street School, and Haggerty School came Allston’s papers in the House collections to the House this past winter and spring in honor of Longfellow’s bicentennial. are vital to his project, and the Longfellows’ objets d’art are also of interest. 7 - potlight on an bject nS each issue of the newsletter,O we Longfellow National Historic Site, National Park Service Ifocus on a particular object of inter- Longfellow National Historic Site joined the national park system in 1972. Its est in the Longfellow House collection. many layers of history, distinguished architecture, gardens and grounds, and exten- This time our spotlight shines on the sive museum collections represent the birth and flowering of our nation and con- two-foot-high statue of Goethe in tinue to inspire school children and scholars alike. The Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow Longfellow’s library. The white-painted House most notably served as headquarters for General George Washington in the plaster image dates from the mid-nine- early months of the Revolutionary War. It was later the home of Henry Wadsworth teenth century, but the sculptor’s name Longfellow, one of America’s foremost poets, and his family from 1837 to 1950. is unknown. German Romantic poet, novelist, playwright, and natural philosopher, For information about the Longfellow House and a virtual tour, visit: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749- www.nps.gov/long 1832) was one of the greatest figures in Western literature. He was best known for Faust, his poetic drama in two parts. s Longfellow taught German language Friends of the Longfellow House and literature at Harvard University and in 1837 gave the first lectures ever on Since 1996, the Friends of the Longfellow House, a not-for-profit voluntary group, Goethe. Showing his high esteem for the has worked with the National Park Service to support Longfellow National Historic German writer, Longfellow had two Site by promoting scholarly access to collections, publications about site history, statues of him in the house: one in the educational visitor programs, and advocacy for the highest quality preservation. study and this larger one in the library. With generous contributions from To find out more about the Friends of the Longfellow House, visit: Goethe scholar Thomas Hansen and www.longfellowfriends.org the Friends of the Longfellow House, this statue will soon be conserved, and the etagère upon which it stands will be repaired. Visitors may once more look upon Longfellow’s muse. Friends of the Longfellow House 105 Brattle Street Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138