on fellow ous L g ulletinH e Volume 9 No. 2 A Newsletter of the Friends of the Longfellow House and the National Park Service December 2005 New Book on Longfellow Sheds BLight on His Domestic Life hristoph Irmscher’s new book with his readers. “His accessibility CLongfellow Redux includes a detailed and lack of arrogance were prover- look at Henry Longfellow’s domestic bial,” says Irmscher. He presents a life at Craigie House and the drawings personal view of a man with a strong and stories that he created for his chil- interest in family life who became a dren. Forthcoming from the University single father of five children when his of Illinois Press this spring, the book wife died tragically. contains many images and excerpts The author also explores Longfel- from texts never published before. low’s “obsession with travel,” the many What the title suggests, says Irm- translations of his works, and the scher, is that “the time has come to implications of both. An immigrant to take another look at Longfellow.” He the U.S. from Germany, Irmscher reminds us that Longfellow “pretty received his Ph.D. in English from the much invented poetry as a public idi- University of Bonn. Currently Pro- om in the United States and abroad, “Longfellow Christmas Scene” by Edith Longfellow, age nine, 1862 fessor of English at the University of and was then shunned by later generations lished works. Longfellow Redux examines the Maryland, Baltimore County, he is work- of writers precisely because of it.” poet’s connection with his audience ing on a cultural biography of Louis Agas- Unlike other commentators on Longfel- through his voluminous correspondence siz, a close friend of Henry Longfellow, for low, Irmscher looked at letters written to with fans both at home and abroad. His the University Press of Virginia. Longfellow by others and at his unpub- relationship to his family paralleled that (See related article on page 5.) Children of the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House Re-enacted he Concordant Junior Vol- the dining room, talk with Mrs. Tunteers, a group of eleven Craigie’s boarder Sally Lowell on seventh- through twelfth-graders the staircase, or hear Annie Alle- from the Boston area, will re- gra Longfellow play the flute in enact the characters of various the music room. These and eight children who lived in the Vassall- other characters are willing and Craigie-Longfellow House dur- able to discuss books, popular ing the eighteenth through early music, and presidential anec- twentieth centuries. The students dotes of his/her time. have spent much time researching To enhance the re-enactment, the stories of the families who many objects from the Longfel- lived or spent time at the House. low National Historic Site’s large The performances will take place collection of nineteenth-century on Saturday and Sunday, Decem- children’s toys, books, clothing, ber 3rd and 4th from 1 to 4 p.m. and art will be on special display. Each volunteer will assume Besides combing through the the role of a particular individ- Concordant Junior Volunteers who helped out on Family Day, September 2005 archives at the House and other ual whom they have studied, and s/he will that viewers walking through the House libraries to develop their characters, the stu- be stationed in the House’s first-floor his- begin in 1774 during the Vassall occupancy dents interviewed people who knew children toric rooms. Written by the volunteers and end in 1939 during Harry Dana’s time. at the House or had been at the House as a themselves, the re-enactment places the In the process visitors will be able to ques- child. They interrogated Longfellow's great- characters in the rooms chronologically so tion—for example—young John Vassall in (continued on page 2) 1 - Children of the House Re-enacted (continued from page 1) granddaughter Frankie Wetherell, and the Since the Concord Junior Volunteers daughter of Alice Longfellow’s gardener have always drawn young people from com- VWX Michael Gaffney, Kathleen Lambert, who is munities beyond Concord, they chose last Friends of the Longfellow House now ninety years old. Wetherell told stories year to re-name themselves the Concordant Board of Directors of her aunts who grew up in Junior Volunteers. The stu- Heather S. Moulton, President the House, and Lambert re- dents who comprise the Barclay Henderson, Vice President called many memories of liv- group attend both public and Robert C. Mitchell, Treasurer ing at the Longfellow House private schools or are home- Polly Bryson, Clerk in the summer months for schooled and come from nine Frances Ackerly twenty years while Alice trav- different Massachusetts com- Diana Der-Hovanessian Rebecca Blevins Faery eled in Europe. munities. Joroff characterizes Frances J. Folsom Nancy Joroff began the them as a self-selected group Maura Graham Concordant Junior Volun- of young people with a Edward Guleserian teers program fourteen years strong interest in research Carol Johnson ago as an extracurricular acti- and history, not just kids who Sarah B. Jolliffe vity for middle- and high- want to dress up in costumes. Linda Almgren Kime school students. A former K- “Henry Longfellow” by son Most students return to the Layne Longfellow 12 teacher with a doctorate in Ernest, age seven, 1852 program year after year for as Laura Nash education, Joroff had worked with Orchard long as they can. Catherine Dixon, a home- Lynne Spencer House, Louisa May Alcott’s home, and their schooled twelfth-grader who plays Annie Advisory Board children’s programs. The programs ended Allegra Longfellow, has been in the pro- Ruth Butler after children reached age eleven. “The par- gram for six years. Joroff finds these junior LeRoy Cragwell ticipants had learned so much. Now that volunteers through word of mouth. Diana Korzenik they were finished, why let In addition to creating Richard Nylander them go?” she asked. living history programs, the Stephen D. Pratt Joroff decided to begin Concordant Junior Volun- Marilyn Richardson her own program, originally teers write researched arti- Marc Shell known as the Junior Volun- cles about events in the Charles Sullivan teers of Concord, using the time of Louisa May Alcott Lowell A. Warren Jr. next age group of young for a quarterly newsletter Administrator people in order to help local called “The Scrapbaggers.” J.L. Bell museums, which she felt They each take turns edit- always needed “an extra set ing and publishing. Newsletter Committee of hands.” Joroff realized Nancy Joroff hopes to Glenna Lang, Editor, Writer & Designer that “children could do the “build a sense of volun- James M. Shea same things at museums teerism” in her students. opq that the adults could— Her earliest graduates are leading tours, greeting peo- now in their late twenties, National Park Service ple, sitting and guarding and “Almost all of them Myra Harrison, Superintendent collections, even preparing “Annie Longfellow” by sister Edith, volunteer for something,” James M. Shea, Museum Manager educational materials.” age eight, 1861 she observed proudly. Nancy Jones, Education and Visitor Services The junior volunteers’ training is thor- Paul Blandford, Museum Educator ough and intensive. It begins in the sum- Anita Israel, Archives Specialist mer with a visit to a different historic Henry W. Longfellow’s letter David Daly, Collections Manager museum in the area each day for nine days. to Charles Sumner, January 30, 1859: Lauren Malcolm, Museum Technician C. Sue Rigney, Planning & Communications Leslie Wilson, head of special collections Liza Stearns, Education Specialist at the Concord Free Library, instructs the It is Sunday afternoon. You know, then, how Ed Bacigalupo, Chief of Maintenance students on doing primary document the old house looks,-the shadow of the library, Scott Fletcher, Facility Manager research. They also undergo “living his- and the sunshine in the study, where I stand tory” training with Tom Reiff, a profes- at my desk and write you this. Two little girls Printed by Newprint Offset, Waltham, Mass. sional actor and former historic guide, who are playing about the room,-A[nnie] count- uses role-playing exercises to practice ing with great noise the brass handles on my vocabulary and etiquette of the time secretary, “nine, eight, five, one,”and E[dith] 1234 period. Some of the volunteers sew their insisting upon having some paper box, long All images are from the Longfellow National Historic own costumes from historic patterns. promised but never found, and informing me Site collections, unless noted otherwise. Throughout the year, the young people vol- that I am not a man of my word! unteer at historic museums, including help- ing out at Longfellow House events. - 2 Interview with a Friend…Meet Heather Moulton This fall Heather Moulton became the LH: How did you first come to the House? for their mothers for Mother’s Day, for third president of the board of the Friends HM: What brought me to this role in instance. It helped people to know that their of the Longfellow House. She worked for the House, being part of the Friends group, dollars were going for something specific. I many years in the architecture business as a was watching the beginning of the capital thought we might try to do this inside the director of communications, and in press campaign for the restoration of the garden. House as well. If there’s a particular piece relations and publicity for a number of The House had been closed for a number of furniture that needs to be restored or a design firms in the Cambridge area. of years and therefore was off my radar fabric that needs to be recreated, we might Longfellow House: Are you an architect screen. Then I was invited to an event early keep a list of things like that as we go on. by training? in the campaign, and I saw they could use LH: Do you have ideas for making this Heather Moulton: No, I am a writer. I a helping hand. With my background in House a more prominent museum? majored in modern languages and minored preservation and publicity, this seemed like HM: I know we’d like to be recognized in comparative literature. I worked with a good fit. My son was off to college, so it nationally and internationally. However, architects for about twenty-five years and was a good time to make a commitment. one of the major assets of the House is that retired from consulting work when our son LH: As the new president, is there a par- it’s a smaller scale that people can under- was eight. stand better. This was someone’s home. LH: Do you live in the neighborhood? Because of the nature of the institution, it HM: I live nearby in a Ralph Adams won’t change. In a way it’s like the Gardner Cram house that we restored five years ago. Museum, which—although it was designed Prior to that I lived in another old house as a museum—is a very personal place. around the corner on Buckingham Street The Longfellow House will never be for twenty years. altered and become something other than LH: So you’ve been a long-time neigh- what it has been in the past, which is its borhood resident? strength. It’s a matter of getting the word HM: I’m from this area originally. I out so more people will know about it. grew up in Concord, and so did my hus- In Cambridge we do suffer from the band. Cambridge has always been part of Longfellow House being taken for granted. our lives, and Cambridge—from the liter- When you say to people who’ve lived in ary and historical point of view—is very Cambridge for fifty years “Have you ever connected to Concord. been to the Longfellow House?” they’re LH: How did you come to be interested embarrassed to say “no.” But it’s like that in in historic houses? New York, too. People who live next to the HM: My first job was as a guide at the Met don’t go there every day. Louisa May Alcott House—the Orchard LH: How do we pull those neighbors in? House—in Concord when I was sixteen. I ticular project you’d like to work on? HM: Because of restrictions at the site, took a hundred people a day from all over HM: At the moment I think that the we can’t hold gala dances in the library.The the world through the house. It gave me Friends’ major job is to provide financial farther removed people are from the source, some insights into the challenges of inter- support wherever we can to the Park Service the less they feel connected. I think our preting and preserving the past. Also, the for their programs and events and mainte- great successes and the reason a lot of peo- architectural firms I worked for were not nance of the garden and anything else we ple are attached to the House are because specifically involved in historic preserva- can contribute to. The garden project was a of the summer programs. It allows them to tion, but it was often a part of their work. big undertaking, and I think its ongoing be there and nip into the House for a tour. LH: What is your particular interest in success is going to require some additional Part of our mission is helping people the collections of the Longfellow House? help from us. It’s the way I felt when I was understand that, with the current decrease What resonates with you? working for design firms—my role was a in government funding, the Park Service is HM: :The House itself is of great inter- very secondary and supportive one, and able to keep things only at a bare minimum, est to me. I really do think it’s one of the that’s how I view the Friends. I think that and anything else that we want to do to most beautiful residences in the United we probably can be more active in advocacy make the House more useful and valuable States, and it just happens to be a period of and seeing what we can do to assist in Wash- in the community is going to come from architecture that I especially like. Its Wash- ington. We can continue to fundraise to our involvement. It’s like public television. ington history, its political history, its liter- help with the ongoing restoration of parts The House has actually been faring pretty ary background, its art collection are all of the House. Things will come up based well compared to a lot of other sites— important to me. The House has a lot to on the needs of the Park Service. LH: Thanks to the Friends. offer the public from every point of view, LH: Any ideas about fundraising? HM: —and thanks to the able NPS staff. which is what is so great about it. It’s not HM: One of the things I’ve tried to do I am very impressed at the amount of knowl- just the collections, it’s the life of the fam- in the time I’ve been here is to break down edge they have and and are able convey. To ily, it’s the history of Longfellow and all the some of the big tasks. I suggested [for exam- have people working here who truly love the other owners, and it’s one of the few houses ple, in the garden project] saying “You can site and have a real interest in all aspects of in this area that really has been preserved. donate this tree.” People could “buy” roses what goes on makes all the difference. 3 - Children of the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House ver since the yellow Georgian house was in Cambridge which reproduced his works. games, social gatherings, story telling, jour- Ebuilt at 105 Brattle Street in 1759, chil- Charley was “struck dumb with astonish- nal keeping, and art projects. dren have enlivened its rooms. Records show ment at seeing the steam presses in motion, An especially rich record of the life of that several children were born to Elizabeth their wheels flying about,” Henry recorded the children is portrayed in a monthly and John Vassall Jr., the House’s first own- in his journal on December 5, 1846. handwritten newspaper called “The Se- ers and Loyalists who fled Cambridge on The Longfellow household was ex- cret” produced by Annie and Edith Long- the eve of the American Revolution. Several tremely active with a great variety of pets, fellow in 1865-1866. It contained stories of children were also prominent guests, their daily lives as well as puzzles and born to the Vas- musical and the- rebuses they composed. Written by several salls’ slaves during atrical produc- children—including Annie, Edith, cousin this time. Natha- tions, dances, doll Alexander, and neighborhood playmates niel and Mary parties, birthday —the publication was distributed to their Tracy, who lived and holiday par- family and friends. Some of Henry Long- in the House ties. Henry de- fellow’s friends—for example, George from 1781 until scribed one of Washington Greene, a scholar of Italian 1786 following its these on Decem- and member of the Dante Club—also use as Washing- ber 31, 1858: “Chil- contributed to the newspaper. ton’s headquar- dren’s party. E- The children wrote a number of espe- ters, had about a [dith] disguised as cially amusing stories about their cats, dozen children, the Old Year, in dogs, and birds. In “The Insult,” Annie one or two of great beard and Longfellow wrote: “As Trap Longfellow whom were born boots; little A- was going down the street the other day, he in the House. Drawing of Longfellow House by Charley, age seven. c. 1851 [nnie] as the new met a little girl coming up with her father. We know little of the lives of these chil- year, with a wreath on her head. Then, act- The little girl said ‘Oh papa! What an ugly dren, but the lives of Henry and Fanny ing of charades and tableaux, with great dog!’ The Papa answered ‘Why ugly, my Longfellow’s children were extensively doc- fun.” Neighbor children as well as the dear? He seems to be a very good little umented from the time they were born. The Longfellow cousins from Maine—Mary dog’. ‘Yes,” said the little girl, ‘but he has proud parents recorded achievements and King Longfellow and her brother Alexan- got a body just like a pig!’ Poor Trap!” anecdotes in their journals and letters, der Wadsworth Longfellow—were often at This tradition of creating a newspaper which remain in the House archives. Henry the House. continued with Longfellow’s grandchil- himself carefully labeled his children’s draw- The poet’s three daughters gained much dren. Annie Longfellow and her husband ings. Over six hundred of these drawings by fame through his popular poem about them, Joseph Thorp summered in Maine on the Longfellow children still exist in the “The Children's Hour,” written in 1859. He Greening's Island with their five daughters: House archives. This extraordinary collec- depicted them Erica, Anne, tion of childhood drawings records the as “Grave Alice Priscilla, Alice, interior of the House, family members, and laughing Al- and Amelia. famous visitors, the neighborhood, and legra, and Edith From 1903-1905 favorite vacation spots. Almost all are anno- with golden hair.” these children tated with the child’s name, date, and loca- Apparently, the published their tion of the work. From childhood scribbles girls delighted weekly newspa- to more accomplished renderings, the in surprising per called “The Longfellows seem to have saved them all. and interrupting Greening's Is- In June 1844 Fanny gave birth to their their father in land Herald.” first child, Charles Appleton Longfellow. his study where Each edition of She wrote to her father, “The baby thrives he worked at this newspaper apace and is growing fatter and heavier home almost all was made up of every day; all the household are devoted to the time. Josie Ames with Alice, Edith, & Annie Longfellow (l. to r.), 1865 twelve double- him and are wretched if he cries.” Over the The young couple kept everything— sided pages and included great detail con- next eleven years the Longfellows had five from the children's books, toys, shoes, and cerning visitors to the island, games and more children, all but one of whom lived clothing to the children’s own letters, scrap- other activities, and even the weather fore- to adulthood: Ernest Wadsworth Longfel- books, class lessons, journals, drawings, cast. This wonderful record of the next low1845-1921 ( ), Frances Longfellow (1847- and works of art. Professional photogra- Longfellow generation is preserved by 1848), Alice Mary Longfellow (1850-1928), phers captured hundreds of images of the Frankie Wetherell, great-granddaughter of Edith Longfellow (1852-1915), and Anne children. Most of these items are still pre- the poet and daughter of one of the writ- Allegra Longfellow (1855-1934). served at the House. ers. The Concordant Junior Volunteers (see Henry would often take his children on Stories and handwritten newspapers by page 1) used these newspapers as part of trips to downtown Boston, to the Harvard the children show their daily home life and their research on the children of the Vas- College Library, or to see the printing press the adults often participating in their sall-Craigie-Longfellow House. - 4 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Stories and Drawings for His Children hristoph Irmscher deems his Longfellow reflection in the mirror, the father himself 1846, that on evenings when Longfellow CRedux “an essay in four parts.” One of “could not help laughing to see what a came home later than usual, Charley would these parts, “Fatherhood and Authorship,” grotesque figure he really made, with his only reluctantly go to bed “with a broken focuses on the subject of Longfellow’s pri- hair in disorder, and his upper lip projected, heart because he could not kiss Papa.” vate domestic life. Irmscher based much of as if he were going to whistle. Perhaps he When his sons became old enough to this portion of his research on Longfellow’s reflected, also, that every morning of his life attend school, Longfellow unashamedly unpublished stories and drawings for chil- he made just the same exhibition of him- mourned their daily departure and expressed dren at Harvard University’s Houghton Li- self, without being conscious of it.” his fear that he had been deposed from his brary as well as on his journals. Longfellow’s other tales central role in their lives. All of Longfellow’s stories for his chil- for children, “Peter Piper” On June 10, 1850, he dren derived from their life together. The and “Peter Quince,” are pic- wrote, “I look after them autobiographical adventures chronicle the ture stories about someone as they go down the gravel children, himself, his wife, and their dogs. who appreciates the comfort walk …eager, happy, full The most elaborate of Longfellow’s nar- of home yet also has a pas- of life, and something of ratives for his children was “Little Merry- sion for travel, as Longfellow sadness mingles with my thought,” which he began writing in 1847 did. Both Mr. Piper and Mr. feelings of joy. I remem- when Charley, his oldest child, was three. Quince, however, had a talent ber how weary school Longfellow continued working on it for for getting themselves into used to be to me. As yet, years, and the initial cast of characters grew situations the cautious Mr. it has not lost its novelty to include Ernest and the daughters as well. Longfellow would usually for them. I do not move “The vignettes are hilarious, especially the avoid, such as falling out of them half like schools.” one about Edith learning French—my his balloon. The drawings are He knew that fatherhood, favorite,” said Irmscher. quite sophisticated, and the as he wrote in one of his Speaking from the point of view of an narrative is subtle. Like letters, was a “particularly “orphaned” wishbone the children (most Longfellow, Peter Piper was Illustration by H.W. Longfellow, 1860s difficult role to play.” But likely) had ripped from the Longfellow cosmopolitan and enjoyed a haircut or a he loved playing it, and he played it well, family’s Christmas turkey and then dressed warm bath in France—an opportunity for notes Irmscher. in dapper clothes, Little Longfellow to supply some Hundreds of children’s drawings in the Merrythought acts as a catchy captions in French House archives also show evidence of benevolent spy in the so that his children would Longfellow’s practice of drawing for and Longfellow household. practice their foreign lan- with his children. There are drawings Thanks to his diminu- guage skills. clearly worked on by both Henry and his tive proportions, Mer- The journals—most of children, demonstrating that father and rythought is able to which remain unpublished children enjoyed this activity together. comment freely and —are also an eloquent tes- Longfellow’s journals and the drawings often quite irreverently timony to the “keen, al- and stories he produced for his children on the relations between most maternal, interest reveal that he was “a devoted father and, in Papa (“a rather portly Longfellow took in the many ways, a rather non-traditional one,” man, with a bright red development of his two especially in mid-nineteenth century New waistcoat”) and Mama sons and three daughters,” England, according to Irmscher, who refers (“very beautiful”) and says Irmscher. Here, the to what he calls Henry’s “democratic view their children: brown- proud father carefully of fatherhood.” Longfellow imagined the eyed Erny (“a dreamy Illustration by H.W. Longfellow, 1860s noted any additions to his family not as the playground of patriarchal little boy, who sucked his thumb”) and the son Charley’s vocabulary (“Aw! yide!” for power but as a potentially egalitarian space, older, boisterous Charley, also known as “omnibus ride” and “gugle-gugle muck” inhabited by people with different but “Infant Terrible,” with “grey eyes snapping for “turkey’s egg”). On December 14, 1846, equally interesting personalities: a space in like steel traps.” he described in detail staying up one night which the father and his children were—to Having Merrythought, the disinterested and wrapping his younger son in wet tow- adapt Longfellow’s line from “The Chil- narrator, tell the story of the poet’s family els which he “changed every half hour” dren’s Hour”—truly “matches” for each allowed Longfellow to turn the lens unspar- when Erny—his pulse “flying and throb- other. In his book, Irmscher argues that ingly upon himself. One morning, for exam- bing like quicksilver”—was running a fever. “the same lack of hierarchical thinking also ple, the boys surprise the father as he is In Longfellow’s study, which was “more influenced Longfellow’s conception of lit- shaving in his dressing-room and making like a family room than the sanctum sancto- erature as a transnational conversation car- funny faces under the impact of the freshly rum of poetry, the boys would use their ried on across social and linguistic bound- sharpened razor. Merrythought remarks blocks to build imaginary fountains, and aries. For him, the poet was less Emerson’s that Longfellow covered with soapsuds the girls would hold birthday parties for ‘liberating god’ than the distributor of cul- looks to his children like a buffalo “with his their dolls,” says Irmscher. The poet tural goods democratically shared by horns sawed off.” Catching his strange recorded in his journal on November 20, authors and readers alike.” Peter Piper illustrations courtesy of Houghton Library, Harvard University 5 - Longfellow Children’s Recent Visitors & Events at the House Toy Collection 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 portion of what has taken place here recently.

Over 2,000 people attended the annual Longfellow Summer Festival on weekends during July and August. Among the highlights were Longy School of Music’s per- formance of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, directed by Jane Struss, which drew 400 people. An original play by teacher Stephanie Kelsch, The Poet’s Daughter, was staged twice, starring sixteen-year-old Emily Wright as Alice Longfellow. We hope to make it a regular part of our program rin the future. Our annual Family Day in September attracted almost 200 people. Following games and activities in the garden, Friends of the Longfellow House President mong its many collections, the House Heather Moulton and New England Poetry Club President Diana Der Hovaness- Aarchives hold approximately ninety ian presented the Friends’ annual poetry awards to twelve students from Boston children’s toys from the nineteenth century area schools, elementary through high school. which had originally belonged to the r Longfellow children. Dolls, their clothing, Maria Di Raimo, Harvard University graduate student in Museum Studies, spent furniture, and accessories form a large por- the summer months as an intern at the House developing a Longfellow House art tion of the toy collection. Some of the most tour for children and families to make the collection accessible to young people. interesting individual toys are a clockwork r mechanical man, a set of games from This summer Bruce Harris, executive director of the Literary Trail of Greater France, and a coral rattle. Also of interest Boston, premiered the Cambridge Literary Trail tour, which will continue through- are farm animals, card games, a chess set, a out the year. For more information: www.literarytrailofgreaterboston.org Chinese checkers set, and toy figures includ- Under his direction, several Youth Conservation Corps Boston-area high school ing a Laplander riding a reindeer, and a Turk students researched and presented the story of the Vassall slaves at the house. mounted on a camel. (See photo above.) r We have written information about In July Peter Gilmartin and Primary Source, a Watertown-based organization some of the toys through family letters and that promotes history and humanities education, held a one-week seminar at the journals. On January 2, 1849, Fanny Long- House entitled “The Flight of the Peacock: Exploring Chinese Literature from fellow recorded: “The presents arrived.…a the Earliest Times to 1900.” Fifty Boston-area teachers participated. knight on horseback for Charley beautifully r executed, as also a camel with driver & pack Ben Sommer, a junior at Cambridge Rindge and Latin school, spent many hours for Erny. The children in great delight. this summer working behind the scenes assisting the museum staff at the House. Charley said ‘I never had such a beautiful r toy, did I?’ & placed all his little merry men In November for the third year, the Teachers as Scholars program was held at the in a circle round it to admire.” House. Entitled “Washington Takes Command: The First Year, 1775-1776” its fea- Occasionally, these toys appeared in tured scholar, historian Pauline Maier, presented a lecture to sixteen teachers. Longfellow’s writings. In “Little Merry- r thought,” Longfellow described and illus- Massachusetts Historical Society director William Fowler, author Anne Bernays, trated his son Erny’s cockerel waking him up. Bruce Harris (see above), and descendant Rosamond Wild Dana participated in a The author based the episode on Erny’s toy public reading of Richard Henry Dana Jr.’s Two Years Before the Mast. The November rooster, only a few inches tall, which was event celebrating the re-issuing of this classic was co-sponsored by its publisher, carved from wood and painted, and now lives permanently in the House toy collection. Library of America; the NPS; and ther Friends of the Longfellow House. Every year the House partners with local universities to offer internships for students. Alice Ebenhoe and Jeremy Dibbell, students at Simmons College, are working in the Henry W. Longfellow’s Journal, September 14, 1850: archives to develop a detailed finding aidr for the Dana Collected Correspondence. In early December Werner Sollors, professor of English at Harvard University Two pleasant walks I had with the children. and founder of the Longfellow Institute, co-hosted with the NPS a conference at The interest with which they invest in com- the House for the editors and editorial board of Harvard University Press’s upcom- mon things is quite marvelous.Their young ing publication of a literary history of the United States. eyes are like the eyes of Apollo seeing all things in a poetic light.

- 6 Fanny Longfellow Recommends Children’s Books ore than fifty books for young chil- Annie’s First Book is a good one to learn to eUpcoming Events f Mdren—including volumes of fairy read by (American). Then Little Mary’s Trea- tales, poetry, novels, and primers—remain sury of Elementary Knowledge (English) is an Holiday Program with the Concordant today as the children’s book collection in the excellent book, having many charming pic- Volunteers. Saturday & Sunday, Decem- House archives. Mostly from the 1840s and tures and comprising eight books more ber 3rd & 4th from 1 to 4 Pp.m. “Children 1850s, many are inscribed to the Longfellow from young lore to older. Erny calls it his of the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House” children from their parents, uncles, aunts, Bible because it has the Bible history simply re-created in the House. (See page 1.) and family friends. Fanny Appleton Long- explained and so well illustrated that he has Dramatic Readings from A Christmas fellow expressed her interest in and learned every important fact by the pictures. Carol to celebrate Dickens’s and Long- knowledge of chil- Then Pleasures of the fellow’s friendship. Friday, December dren’s literature in Country by Mrs. 9th at 6:30 Pp.m. at the Episcopal Divin- her April 16, 1852 Myrtle is a charm- ity School. letter advising her ing book with cap- “The Tempest Within: Washington’s friend Emmeline ital stories, and if a Struggle with Slavery,” a dramatic pre- Austin Wadsworth : little too old for sentation based on Washington’s own “I will gladly aid Austin, he would words about his struggle with slavery you in enlarging lit- enjoy the highly and the presence of free blacks in the tle Austin’s library colored and truly Continental Army. Monday, February 6, …. It is not easy to English pictures by 2006, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Cambridge find very good Gilbert and would Historical Society, 159 Brattle Street. [books] for a young soon grow up to HenryWadsworth Longfellow Birthday child, and I remem- the text. Celebration. On Saturday February 25, ber in my despair, I “Then Willy’s 2006, at 10 a.m. celebrate the poet’s 199th often thought of Fanny reading with sons Charley and Erny, c. 1849 Rambles by Jane birthday at Mount Auburn Cemetery’s writing some myself, knowing so well what Marcet, is a very nice book about the build- Story Chapel with a wreath-laying cere- pleased my own children. They liked always ing of a house, not too old. And Jane Tay- mony, reception, and special lecture and stories of simple truth, without being lor’s Nursery Rhymes is always a favorite, and booksigning by Longfellow biographer spiced with horrors or with fairy fancy, but Rhymes, Chimes, and Jingles, which you proba- Christoph Irmscher. Co-sponsored with as they get older their tastes are less inno- bly have. My children have any quantity but the Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery. cent. I rather prefer the English books to the not many they care to hear twice except Educational Programs available late Feb- American ones, for these latter are so apt to these I mentioned. The Illustrated Book of Songs ruary through May, two days per week: haveYankee expressions or Calvinistic ideas, for Children is a beautiful book, adorned by “Inside the Walls of Castle Craigie,” but the Rollo books have always had a good Birket Foster, and among fairy books Gam- House tour for grades 3-6. reputation. My children have only Rollo mer Grethel always holds a place.” “All are Architects of Fate,” neighbor- Learning to Talk, which has short stories, and Some of the books listed in this letter hood walking tour for grades 7-12. they always liked it much when little. Little can still be found at the House. Mother’s Day Annual Event. Come stroll the newly restored Longfellow gar- den and grounds amidst lilacs in bloom. Recent Research at the House Sunday, May 7, 2006, from 1 to 4 p.m. The Longfellow House archives contain over 700,000 manuscripts, letters, and signed documents and are used extensively by researchers from around the world. Here are a few recent researchers of the sev- Longfellow House in the Media eral hundred who use the archives annually. In the Cambridge Chronicle’s Growing Older Professor of German Studies at the University of Cincinnati, Richard E. Schade column on October 13, 2005, Richard Grif- inquired about Longfellow’s translations of the epigrams of seventeenth-century fin wrote of his appreciation for Longfel- poet Friedrich von Logau for a paper on “Longfellow’s reception of German cul- low’s poetry and mused about his recent ture and literature.” Longfellow was the first to translate Logau into English. visit to the House in a thoughtful article l called “Longfellow’s Legacy Lives On in For his play on Longfellow’s writing of the poem “Christmas Bells,”Bruce Carl Aron- His Old House.” son of Huntington Beach, California, sought a photo of Charley Longfellow’s room k where he recovered from his CivilWar wound and advice about a possible scenario. In response to the National Parks Conser- l vation Association's “State of the Park” For a history of the Cambridge Garden Club, Annette LaMond examined the prints report on LNHS, the Boston Globe, the Boston from Joseph Thorp’s glass-plate negatives for images of early gardens in Cambridge. Herald, and the Cambridge Chronicle all ran Joseph’s sister, Sarah Thorp Bull, was a charter member of the club. pieces from August 18 to 23, 2005, dis- cussing the funding needs that challenge America's national parks. 7 - potlight on an bject " Join us as a Friend and help support an international collection of ISn each issue of the newsletter,O we Fine & Decorative Arts, Rare Books, Letters, and Historic Photographs focus on a particular object of interest in the Longfellow House collection. representing three centuries of American History… This time our spotlight shines on a child's dress which belonged to Henry’s q $1000 Benefactor q $150 Contributor daughter, Alice Mary Longfellow. Prob- q $ 750 Sponsor q $ 70 Family ably worn for special occasions when she q $ 500 Patron q $ 35 Individual was less than twelve years old, the dress q $ 300 Donor q $ 15 Student has a royal blue satin basque bodice gath- ered at the waist and neck and an eyelet Make checks payable to: lace skirt with four flounces. A dark blue Friends of the Longfellow House velvet jacket with straight sleeves at- 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 tached and trimmed with eyelet lace and For more information, call (617) 876-4491. velvet bows on the back is shown accom- panying the dress. This outfit was found Name in the attic in the summer of 1977. Address The Longfellow House clothing col- City lection of attire for all ages and genders includes about thirty garments worn by State Zip the Longfellow children. Fanny Longfel- Telephone low had carefully wrapped, labeled, and Special area(s) of interest in the Longfellow House: dated the first pair of baby shoes worn by each of her children. Several girls’ dresses, a boy’s lounge jacket, shoes, q I would like someone to call me about volunteer opportunities. socks, bonnets, caps, and Alice Longfel- Contributions are tax deductible to the extent provided by law. low’s “Evangeline” costume have also survived the years.

Friends of the Longfellow House 105 Brattle Street Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

For information about the Longfellow House and a virtual tour, visit: www.nps.gov/long To find out more about the Friends of the Longfellow House, go to: www.longfellowfriends.org