on fellow ous L g ulletinH e Volume 2 No. 1 A Newsletter of the Friends of the Longfellow House June 1998 Longfellow House RehabilitationB Project: The Next Phase hase two, the planning stage, of the PLongfellow House Rehabilitation Pro- ject is now in process and is expected to continue through this summer and fall. After a year of extensive study of the House’s needs and resources, experts are drawing up plans for fre suppression, secu- rity, and electrical systems, an external fur- nace, handicap accessibility, climate control, and improved collection storage, as well as interior carriage house renovations. In addition to installing a state-of-the- art fre suppression system, upgrading the electrical system, and relocating the furnace from the basement to an external position, the renovations being planned will improve the House’s role as a research center. The rehabilitated research facilities will better preserve the collections and make them more accessible to researchers and the pub- The Longfellow House parlor as it looks today lic. Through the addition of climate con- provide a large meeting room for public lec- erations and to add to the House’s use as a trols and more storage shelves to the vault, tures and seminars with space for staV and scholarly and cultural center. the collection of over 600,000 photographs, research work. A small kitchen will be avail- Phase one of the Rehabilitation Project, letters, books, and art objects stored inside able for staV and House functions. a thorough assessment of the site’s needs will be archivally preserved, better orga- Phase two is part of the most extensive funded by the National Park Service, is now nized, and more easily retrievable. rehabilitation and preservation work done almost complete. It included an archaeolog- The carriage house exterior will be left on the Longfellow House since it was built ical excavation and fnal report, a cultural intact, but the interior will be renovated to in 1759. It aims to preserve it for future gen- (continued on page 2) Workshop on the Future Treatment of the House group of specialists from the National when the poet lived there, or should subse- remain from before the poet moved into the APark Service, Charles Sullivan and quent changes by his daughter Alice and oth- House, others are his acquisitions, and Susan Maycock of the Cam- ers be allowed to remain? some came to the House after Longfellow’s bridge Historical Commission, The frst day of the work- death in 1882. Photographs provide clues as and Richard Nylander of the shop focused on analyzing each to the arrangement of the rooms at certain Society for the Preservation room and its contents as well as times. Various experts informed the group of New England Antiquities the arrangement of those con- as to which fabrics, wallpapers, and foor (SPNEA) held a workshop for tents. Jim Shea, director of the coverings were originals or reproductions Longfellow House staV, Friends, House, took the group on a and whether they are now in their original and visitors on May 6th and 7th tour of the rooms and de- place. Also discussed were the intent of to discuss to what period the inte- scribed how the House repre- Longfellow’s descendants in 1913 in creat- rior and the gardens of the Alice Longfellow, c. 1891 sents an accumulation over time ing a “Longfellow House Trust” and the Longfellow House should be renovated. of objects from diVerent Longfellow fam- changes that took place in the twentieth Should all the rooms be returned to the time ily members. Some objects and furnishings (continued on page 2) Rehabilitation Project (continued from page 1) landscape report, a comprehensive wallpaper and paint study, and historic structure reports for the House and carriage house. VWX Phase three, the actual construction work, awaits promised funding of 1.6 million dol- Friends of the Longfellow House lars from the National Park Service and is currently scheduled for 1999. During this phase, Board of Directors the House will discontinue public tours for approximately twelve months. However, the Diana Korzenik, President archives will be available to scholars, possibly at another location yet to be determined, and Barclay Henderson, Vice-President Nancy Fryberger, Clerk Friends’ programs will continue. Charlotte Cleveland, Treasurer The Friends of the Longfellow House have been instrumental in this preservation and Frances Ackerly rehabilitation project from the beginning, helping to realize and publicize the needs of the Gene A. Blumenreich Longfellow House. Through letter-writing campaigns and personal contact, they urged Ruth Butler the National Park Service to take on these important projects. The Friends have also sup- LeRoy Cragwell ported repair work on certain historic objects, including the famous grandfather clock. Dick Dober During phase two, the Longfellow House will be open to the public, and the summer Diane der Hovanessian programs will go on as usual, including the popular poetry and music series on the lawn on Carol Johnson Sunday afternoons. The public will also be invited to an informal open house where the Arthur Loeb forthcoming rehabilitation will be explained. Joan Mark Robert Mitchell Stanley Paterson, Marilyn Richardson Maura Smith Lynne Spencer Charles Sullivan Catherine Vickery Advisory Board Edith Hollmann Bowers Timothy Anglin Burgard Dennis J. Carlone Francis Duehay Justin Kaplan Leslie A. Morris Richard Nylander Stephen D. Pratt Marc Shell Longfellow’s library, engraving by A.C. Warren, c. 1880s Judith Tick Treatment of the House (continued from page 1) Lowell A. Warren, Jr. Eileen Woodford century as the House became a museum. Currently, the ground foor of the House is displayed as a mixture of diVerent periods Newsletter Committee including changes made by the Park Service, while the second foor is displayed as Alice Ruth Butler, Editor Longfellow arranged it. After Alice’s death in 1928, primary custodianship of the House Joan Mark Marilyn Richardson passed to Harry Dana (1880-1950), Alice’s nephew, a resident there since 1917. He saw to it Glenna Lang, Designer that most of the contents remained in the House and preserved it, with only a few changes, James M. Shea, Ex OVicio as a memorial to his grandfather and George Washington, whose images he added. When the National Park Service assumed management of the property in 1972, they left most KL possessions where they were, although they flled some spots with objects in storage or National Park Service objects returned to the House—all from Longfellow family members. Rolf Diamant, Superintendent On the second day of the workshop, John Maounis, deputy superintendent of the B. J. Dunn, Administrative OVicer Longfellow National Historic Site, led a discussion of fve possible treatments of the rooms: James M. Shea, Director 1. Retain the rooms in their present disposition Paul Blandford, Museum Educator 2. Restore the furnished interior to the Longfellow Trust period (c. 1928-1972) Nancy K. Jones, Museum Educator Lauren Malcolm, Museum Educator 3. Restore the furnished interior to the Alice Longfellow period (c. 1882-1928) Michele Clark, Museum Specialist 4. Restore the furnished interior to the Henry W. Longfellow period (c. 1868-1882) nd Liza Stearns, Education Specalist 5. Restore the furnished interior to a combination of the Alice Longfellow (2 foor) Kelly Fellner, Education and Visitor Services and Henry W. Longfellow periods (1st foor) Kathryn Clippinger, Museum Curator After considering each treatment’s relation to the Master Plan drawn up by the Park Ser- Ed Bacigalupo, Chief of Maintenance vice in 1978, the National Register status of the site, the feasibility of each particular alterna- Pat LaVey, Facility Manager tive, how a change will aVect the interpretation of the individual rooms, and what any change might cost, a vote was taken. The group consensus was to rehabilitate the rooms and the gar- dens through the period of Alice Longfellow’s lifetime (i.e., treatment 3). Participants felt that 1234 this was most appropriate given Alice’s commitment to her family’s history and to historic preservation. Also, she was the House’s longest-term resident. - 2 Interview with a Scholar…Meet Christine Laidlaw

by Ruth Butler infuence it had on American art. I got my Jr. and his wife, Fanny Dixwell Holmes, Christine Laidlaw is the editor of Charles degree from Rutgers in 1996. whose embroidery was strongly infuenced Appleton Longfellow’s Letters: Twenty Months in R.B. Did your work here at the Longfel- by Japanese painting. Japan, 1871-1873 to be published this July by low archives change what you previously R.B. How many of these people did the Friends of the Longfellow House and thought? How was your experience here? Charley know? funded by Frederick A. Sharf. C.L. More than change things, it ampli- C.L. He knew the Holmeses. I don’t Ruth Butler. Christine, frst I must tell fed my previous work. know if he knew John La Farge, but he cer- you how much those of us who have read Well, I had to drive up from New Jersey tainly knew William Morris Hunt who had Charley’s letters as presented through your every time I wanted to work. The people at been a colleague of La Farge. Henry James fne editing and informative annotations was a guest in the house—I assume Charley have enjoyed them. We are so proud that knew him. I don’t know if he knew the this will be our frst publication. How did Adamses, but he knew Clover’s cousin you fnd us and the material at Longfellow? William Sturgis Bigelow, who was another It’s not that well known. What led you here? person with considerable interest in Japan. Christine Laidlaw. When I was working R.B. How well have you yourself gotten on my dissertation on the American reac- to know Japan? tion to Japanese art in the third quarter of C.L. I went to Japan for the frst time in the nineteenth century, I came across an January 1991. I spent time in Tokyo, Kyoto, illustration in a book called The Book of Amer- Nikko, and went to Kamakura to see the ican Interiors by Charles Wyllys Elliott. It had Great Buddha. At that point I was follow- an illustration of Henry Longfellow’s libra- ing La Farge’s trips and my choice of places ry, and there was a Japanese screen! So in the to visit was determined primarily by where process of traveling around in search of he had gone. When I returned in October Japanese material, the Longfellow House 1997, it was Charles who acted as my guide. was on my list. Jim Shea looked at the pho- I went up to Sapporo, came down to Hako- tograph and said he had never seen the illus- Christine Laidlaw with Park Ranger Nancy Jones date, stopped in a reconstructed Ainu vil- tration. The Japanese screens were in terri- the Longfellow House were busy and could lage in Shiraoi, then took the train down to ble condition, and he would not let me look not deal with me on a daily basis, so I ended Tokyo, stopping at Matsushima on the way. at them, but he was glad to point out other up working at Longfellow two or three days Matsushima has a beautiful bay, often con- Japanese objects on view. As we toured the a month. Once I actually got here though, sidered one of Japan’s most spectacular house, Jim mentioned that Charley Longfel- the material was very accessible especially sites. The head priest at the Zuiganji Tem- low went to Japan in the 1870s, and his let- since it had all been catalogued and could ple entertained Charles, taking him down ters and journals were still in the house. I be retrieved immediately. The people here to a pavilion by the Bay of Sendai, where had no idea that this material existed or who helped me edit and supplied me with a they took tea and looked out over the water Charley Longfellow was. I came back to great deal of information. Jim Shea was flled with boats and islets. You can still look at the letters and journals and quickly crucial to the project. Lauren Malcolm’s take tea there, which pleased me very much. pick out a few phrases that would be useful work on the photographs was invaluable. I think that was the closest I came to feel- in my dissertation. Once the dissertation The letters themselves are fairly easy to ing I was in the same space, having the same was under control, I came back and tran- read except when Charles wrote in one experience that Charles once did. scribed the material for publication. When direction on a sheet of paper and then R.B. Were you able to locate the area of I revise the dissertation for publication, it wrote over it on the same side in a perpen- Tokyo where Charlie’s house was? will incorporate more material which I’ve dicular direction in order to save paper. The C.L. No, I have not been able to do that. been learning in the process of working on journals were easier since they are copies. There was one section where foreigners this project. But, in the end, I would say I was able to tended to settle. But we do not know if R.B..What is the time frame for all this? read almost every word. Charles built his house or if he remodeled C.L. I frst came in August of 1994. My R.B. In your work on American recep- an existing samurai establishment. Presum- husband, Angus, came with me. We worked tion of Japanese infuence, did you get to ably, if he built one, it would have been in initially with the material in September, but know any other individuals as you have the Tsukiji section, but if he purchased a I did not seriously start transcribing until come to know Charles Longfellow? house it could have been anywhere. 1995, and I fnished in December of 1996. C.L. I worked quite a lot on John La R.B. What about the photographs that R.B. Tell me about your dissertation. Farge, probably the frst American artist to Charley brought back? Would there be C.L. It is called “The American Reac- study Japanese art. He built up a large col- equivalent collections in Japan with the tion to Japanese Art, 1853 to 1876.” My pri- lection; probably as many as 10,000 objects. same photographs? I’m curious to know mary goal was to discover exactly what Henry and Clover Adams also collected. how rare the photographs we have in the Japanese art was available to Americans in Henry and William James did not collect Longfellow House are. that time period, what were the critical art themselves, but they knew everybody. C.L. The Ainu Museum in Shiraoi had reactions to it in this country, and what Others would be Oliver Wendell Holmes, (continued on page 6) 3 - Longfellow House in Print The Photography TrainingWorkshop Albert J. von Frank’s TheTrial of Anthony Burns: he Longfellow NHS and the Friends process of photography. Freedom and Slavery in Emerson’s Boston (Harvard Tof the Longfellow House co-spon- Over the next two days Laurie Baty, Pro- University Press, 1998) extensively quotes sored a three-day workshop in February on gram OVicer at the National Historical and uses Henry W. Longfellow’s and Rich- identifcation and care of photographic Publications and Records Commission in ard Henry Dana’s published journals. An- collections. Although it was aimed at train- Washington; Jennifer Quinn of the North- thony Burns was a fugitive slave from Vir- ing a team to properly catalog the 10,000 east Museum Services Center; and Paul ginia who fed to Boston in the 1850s. Dana photographs in the Longfellow archives, Messier, conservator with Boston Art Con- served as Burns’s attorney while Longfellow other interested individuals attended. The servation, led sessions on identifcation and passionately supported Burns. Longfellow team from the Museum Services Center of dating of photographic materials, cata- and Dana were close friends, next-door the National Park Service and from loging, and preservation and storage of pho- neighbors, and Longfellow’s daughter Edith SPNEA (Society for the Preservation of tographic collections. A high point of the married Dana’s son Richard. New England Antiquities) will embark workshop was viewing a sample of the l soon on its multi-year cataloguing project. Longfellow collection, selected by Jim Shea, Civil War Boston: Home Front and Battlefeld by Ronald Polito, editor of A Directory of of daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, Thomas H. O’Connor (Northeastern Uni- Massachusetts Photographers 1839-1900 and pro- and cartes de visites, featuring members of versity Press, 1997) includes excerpts about fessor at the University of Massachusetts, the Longfellow family. the Civil War from Longfellow’s journals. Boston, launched the event with a talk at the The workshop concluded with a tour of l (Quaker) Friends Meeting House to some Jack Naylor’s private photography museum Traditional Gardening: A Journal of Practical ffty Friends of the Longfellow House, the in Brookline. Naylor has been collecting Information on Creating and Restoring Classic community, and interested specialists. He various kinds of photographs for over Gardens for Houses of All Ages featured an arti- spoke about the history of photographic thirty years. In a specially designed climate- cle entitled “The Longfellow House: From processes and early photographers, espe- controlled area of his house, he has dis- Colonial to Colonial Revival” in its Winter cially commercial photographers who played an extensive collection that spans 1997 issue. worked in the Boston area in the nine- the entire history of photography. l teenth century. In 1839 Samuel Longfellow, The Star Ledger of Plainfeld, New Jersey, Henry’s brother, was one of the earliest printed an article on February 12, 1998 called American experiementers with the callotype “1907 Duplicate of Vassall/Craigie/ Longfellow House”about a colonial revival home on Hillside Avenue owned by Ann Wigton which is a replica of Cambidge’s own. During the frst decade of the twenti- eth century, the Sears, Roebuck catalog advertised homes it would build. Named “The Magnolia,” the Longfellow copy was the most expensive home advertised. l Christine Wallace Laidlaw is the editor of Charles Appleton Longfellow’s Letters: Twenty Photos to be catalogued: Longfellow’s daughters; Harry Dana, Paul Robeson, and others; Mary King Longfellow Months in Japan, 1871-1873 to be published this July by the Friends of the Longfellow House. (See interview on page 3.) PEN and Poetry in Translation n June 7th, PEN, the international publisher of Catbird Press and chairman of Owriters’ organization, hosted a cele- the translation programs nationwide, mod- Henry W. Longfellow’s Journal, bration of world literature in translation. erated the event at the Longfellow House May 10, 1862 This was a combined eVort on the part of The panel consisted of three award-win- I send you a photograph of my little Saxon PEN New England, the New England ning poets who read from their work and E.[dith], eight years old. I am very fond Poetry Club, and the Friends of the discussed problems of translation: Diana der of photographs. Did you ever examine Longfellow House and continues the great Hovanessian, author of eight volumes of what the photographers call the negative, in legacy of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as translations and seven of her own poetry, which all that is to be light is dark, and the America’s frst and foremost translator. Rosanna Warren of the University Profes- reverse? If so, you will feel how beautiful This event marked the third time that sors Program at Boston University and coor- was the remark made by a brother-in-law the PEN American Center has recognized dinator of the B.U. Translation Seminar, of mine that “this is only the negative of May as World in Translation Month “ded- author of two volumes of poetry and a verse the world to come, and what is dark here icated to promoting fction and poetry translation of Euripides, and F.D. Reeve, will be light hereafter.” from around the world, and the eVorts of poet, scholar, and translator at Wesleyan literary translators who bring such works University, author of numerous volumes of to the American public.” Robert Wechsler, prose, poetry, and works in translation. - 4 Longfellow Institute Speaks to Multi-lingual Past Volunteer Opportunities he forthcoming Longfellow Institute An- in the fles of dozens of non-English lan- Special tours. Work with the Longfellow Tthology of Literature of the United States, a guage publishers was that of Henry Long- staV to develop and present tours of the multi-volume project, will bring together fellow. Along with the requisite command House and grounds.We especially need help hundreds of non-Anglophone works in a of the classical languages, Longfellow mas- with tours of the gardens during the spring. bilingual format. Appropriately, it is Long- tered virtually all of the European and Summer Festival. Volunteers are needed to fellow’s name that announces the recovery Scandinavian tongues and made enthusias- help with set-up and break-down of the of much of the rich multi-lingual Ameri- tic forays into the literature of traditions chairs and equipment, staVing the Friends can literary output which began to fade in considered exotic in his day such as Arabic, information table, and greeting people at the frst decades of this century. Sanskrit, and the African-infuenced Span- the front gate. Founded in 1994, Harvard’s Longfellow ish Creole of the Cuban journal Mulatto to Family Days. If you love working with Institute was named for Henry W. Longfel- which he subscribed in the 1860s. kids, we need your help on September 12-13 low, the University’s frst professor of com- Longfellow Institute founders, Marc with tours and special activities, including parative literature, once a feld more akin to Shell, of the Longfellow House Advisory watercolor painting, bookmaking, quill pen aspects of today’s American Studies than Board, andWerner Sollors, have established writing, and nineteenth-century games. we might think. In the 1790s, for example, seminars, graduate fellowships and grants Visitor Center A great opportunity to a Philadelphia publisher brought out a cat- for visiting scholars. At least one disserta- meet our visitors from all over the world. alogue of his newest titles; it included ffty tion on Longfellow himself is underway. A volunteer in the visitors center would pages listing works in Dutch, French, Ger- By promoting what Shell calls “the civil help sell tour tickets and books, and answer man, Italian, and Spanish. Works in Eng- rights of language,” he, Sollors, and their questions. No previous experience is neces- lish took up a mere twenty pages. colleagues let us hear again a multitude of sary—just a love of people. For much of this nation’s history, there lively opinions on the many meanings of To volunteer, call Kelly Fellner at 876-4491. has been a steady outpouring of fction, America. Possible collaborative projects political tracts, poetry, journalism, plays— under discussion between the Longfellow Longfellow Director in an estimated minimum of forty lan- House and the Institute include a collo- guages spoken and read by Americans. Chi- quium and an exhibition. Goes to White House nese newspapers were printed on rice paper On April 22nd Longfellow House direc- in San Francisco; French language publica- tor Jim Shea attended a Millennium Eve- tions fourished throughout New England. HenryW. Longfellow’s Journal, ning, dedicated to Poetry and American A spicy 1854 novel of sex and intrigue set November 24, 1843 Life, at the White House. During the four- in New Orleans was frst published as a ser- I am just beginning the publication of a vol- hour festivities, Jim was able to speak with ial in that city’s German-language newspa- ume of specimens of foreign poetry,—being both President and Mrs. Clinton about the per. The oldest continuously published a selection of the best English translations needs of the Longfellow House. Russian-language newspaper is still printed from the Anglo-Saxon, Icelandic, Danish, The evening, one of a series of Mille- in the United States, its coverage uninter- Swedish, German, Dutch, French, Italian, nium Evenings on American Culture and rupted by the events of 1917. Spanish, and Portuguese. The object of the History initiated by the First Lady, From the 1830s until his death in 1882, book is to bring together in one volume what focused on Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky’s one name sure to appear on the subscrip- is now scattered through a hundred… “Favorite Poetry Project,” readings by peo- tion lists of scores of those newspapers and ple of their favorite poems. President Clin- ton read his favorite, Emerson’s “The Con- cord Bridge.” Reverend Michael Haynes of Senator Kennedy Visits the Longfellow House Roxbury, Massachusetts, chose Longfel- low’s “A Psalm of Life.” Robert Pinsky Senator Edward Kennedy, a long-time George Washington materials (in prepara- and former poet laureates Robert Haas supporter of the Longfellow House, paid tion for the bicentennial anniversary of and Rita Dove were among those who also a visit to the House with his wife, Vickie, Washington’s death in 1799.) read poems. on April 17th. The senator requested a tour That evening on New England Cable During the reception afterwards, Jim because he was launching a campaign to News, Kennedy announced his commit- Shea talked with Mrs.Clinton, who told increase the base funding of the House. ment to working towards increased fund- him Senator Kennedy had just spoken to The Kennedys toured the ground-foor ing for the Longfellow House. her about the Longfellow House. Later rooms and then spent time in the archives. Kennedy’s support goes back to 1972 Jim had a few minutes with President Clin- They were impressed with the breadth and when he and former U.S. Speaker of the ton, who assured him of his commitment signifcance of the collection. Senator House Thomas (“Tip”) O’Neill intro- to the National Park Service. In fact, ear- Kennedy poured over the journals kept duced a bill to make the Longfellow House lier that day, the President had spoken at aboard the USS Constitution from 1802-4 by a national historic site. Currently, the Harper’s Ferry and announced his inclu- Henry Wadsworth, the uncle and namesake Massachusetts senator is seeking to increase sion of increased funding in the budget for of the poet, and spontaneously recited support for educational programs and visi- the National Park Service and for historic stanzas from Longfellow’s Paul Revere’s Ride. tor services at the House and to keep it sites. The entire evening’s events were tele- Kennedy was particularly interested in the open year round. vised on C-Span. 5 - Christine Laidlaw (continued from page 3) a book of photographs of the Ainu, but I Bridgman Poem Comes to Light did not see any photographs in it like those arlier this year in the Longfellow skills to her work with Helen Keller. in Charles’s collection. I don’t know if these EHouse archives, Longfellow staV mem- Talented at dressmaking and lace-work- photos are available in Japan. Of course, all bers discovered an 1871 poem written by ing, which she taught to other students to the photos with Charles in them were taken Laura Bridgman and sent to Henry earn her keep, Bridgman also enjoyed listen- for him on commission. Longfellow. Bridgman, a deaf, blind, and ing to music by placing her hand on a piano R.B. In all your work on Japan, what has mute woman was born in 1829 in Hanover, as friends played. Using a pen with a spe- been your most eye-opening encounter? New Hampshire. She cial mechanical guide, C.L. Oh, there is no doubt that Charles’s was famous nation- she was able to write. letters and journals are the most astonish- ally and internation- The newly recovered ing thing I have found. They have greatly ally in her day for her work, a religious poem deepened my knowledge of Japan and of ability to converse by called Holy Home, the people interested in Japan in the 1870s. writing with her fng- reads in part: “Holy R.B. And beyond the book we are about ers in the palms of home is illuminous,/ to publish, what else do you expect to do her friends’ hands. Like sun./Blind are with the material? Bridgman’s teacher we in part/because C.L. It will help me a great deal with was Dr. Samuel Gri- we cannot imagine/ revising the dissertation for publication. dley Howe, a founder the beauty of holy More immediately, I am writing an article of the Perkins School home…/but after the for Orientations magazine about Charles as a for the Blind. In the door of death/Is disseminator of information on Japan. And era before Braille, his opened …/It is a glo- with my husband Angus, I’m working on work in developing rious wonder/to our Charles’s second trip to Japan in 1885. techniques for the eyes…“ teaching of reading, Bridgman corre- writing, and mathe- sponded on at least Henry W. Longfellow ‘s Journal, matics to the blind so Laura Bridgman (right) with Oliver Caswell two occasions with January 23, 1852 consumed him that he and his wife, Julia Henry Longfellow. In 1852, she wrote I have a letter from Laura Bridgman, the Ward Howe, named their third daughter expressing her pleasure on reading Evange- deaf, dumb, and blind woman, written with Laura, after his most challenging and extra- line as it was spelled out to her in the palm her own hand, on reading Evangeline. She ordinary pupil. Some years into Bridgman’s of her hand. Charles Dickens, on one of closes by saying, “I should love to meet her stay at Perkins, where she lived from the his American tours, traveled to Boston to with my soul in heaven when I die on earth.” age of seven until her death in 1889, her visit with this young woman whose intelli- roommate was the young teacher Annie gence and character he remarked upon in Sullivan who went on to adapt Bridgman’s his 1842 book American Notes. Scandinavian Collection Revealed in Longfellow Archives arvard University Swedish language extremely interesting to come into a house Other surprises were in store for Hinstructor Annette Johansson-Los so far away…and fnd these books by a Johansson-Los when she viewed some went on a special tour of the Longfellow Swedish woman you have heard about all items from the Longfellow archives. House in January that focused on Examining several of the eighteen the little-known Scandinavian col- prints of scenes from Nordic lection. She was not new to the mythology by artist Carl Wahlbom House, but was surprised to learn in 1834, she commented that the that Henry W. Longfellow had 1830s in Sweden was a time of revi- almost 400 volumes in his study talized interest in the glories of the that were related to Scandinavia. past. These Nordic myths were later Some books the poet purchased to inspire several works by Longfel- when he traveled and studied in low including “The Saga of King Denmark and Sweden in the sum- Olaf.” Director Jim Shea brought mer of 1835, and some he acquired out a unique object, one seldom later. They include maps, song- seen by anyone, a plaster cast of the books, novels, travel guides, hymn- Sjoslag mellan Asarne och Hother, print by Carl J.W. Wahlbom, 1834 hand of Frederika Bremer. It seems books, dictionaries, books of grammar, your life!” Johansson-Los said. A pious and that Bremer visited the Longfellow family and sagas from all the Nordic countries. intellectual woman, Bremer documented while traveling in the United States in Johansson-Los was delighted to see over frsthand the prevailing conditions of 1848 and made such an impression on a dozen works by Frederika Bremer (1801- domestic life within Sweden and overseas. Henry and Fanny that they requested she 1865), the pioneer of the women’s social Her views became so infuential that she is have a cast made of her small, delicate reform movement in Sweden. “It is still remembered today. hand to leave behind as a memento. - 6 Carriage House Treasures 1998 Longfellow Summer Festival Schedule ver the years the Longfellow carriage Sunday afternoons at 4 p.m. on the grounds of the Longfellow House Ohouse sheltered a great array of objects, from hay and horses to Alice June 21 Lydian String Quartet Longfellow’s Rolls Royce to the remains of June 28 Joiner Center Poets (including Grace Paley, Claribel Alegria, John Deane; a “wagon-wheel” window that once graced Kevin Bowen, moderator) Longfellow’s billiard room (which was dis- July 5 The New Mendelssohn Quintet Club, Peter Bloom, director mantled in 1910) to maintenance supplies July 12 Catherine Salmons, a performance of music and poetry for the National Park Service. Henry July 19 Nineteenth century music and poetry with Julia Older Wadsworth Longfellow had it erected in and the Boston Saxophone Quartet 1844 on the site of a barn that had burned July 26 “One Side of the River:” Poets of Cambridge & Somerville, down four years before. Filled with years of David Ferry, David Barber, and others accumulation from its past occupants, the Aug. 2 Liber unUsualis, featuring Longy School’s early music program, carriage house is a microcosm of the many Melanie Germond, soprano; Carolann BuV, mezzo-soprano; layers of history in the Longfellow House. Bill Hudson, tenor Recently, in preparation for a summer Aug. 9 Peter Davison, Poet and Associate Editor of the Atlantic Monthly cataloguing project, National Park Service Aug. 16 Longy School of Music Distinguished Faculty Member staV members Michele Clark, Michael R. Tom Noren on guitar Florer, Pat LaVey, and Carla Price spent Aug. 23 Woodwind Quintet directed by Vanessa Breault Mulvey, chair of several days identifying and organizing Longy School of Music’s wind department objects in the carriage house. The architec- Aug. 30 Translations of Spanish and Mayan poetry with Cola Franzen tural objects are by far the largest group, and Christopher Sawyer-Laucanno including interior and exterior moldings, Sept. 6 “The Holy Land of Song:” Longfellow and German Romantic Song, an interior window seat, balustrade parts, a concert with Marlies Kehler, soprano; David Farewell, Biedermeier portions of a garden seat trellis, fnials from guitar, mandolin; Jane Levin, harp; Victoria Kehler, violin the garden and sidewalk fences, heating Sept. 13 Family Days—Poetry with William Jay Smith, 80th birthday celebration stoves, boxes of eighteenth- and nine- teenth-century hardware, and shutters. Other objects—some of them with Alice Longfellow’s initials stamped on the han- dles—are related to garden and lawn care, including a horse-drawn harrow, wheel bar- rows, scythes, hoes, and a push lawn mower. Various transportation items spanned the progression from horses to automobiles, Photograph of the carriage from iron hay racks and iron water basins house to the rear of the to what appears to be the windows and Longfellow House, 1972. trunk of a Rolls Royce. Among the miscel- Plans for its interior renova- lany was the mold used to make the plaster tion are currently underway. copy of the Daniel Chester French bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in Longfel- low Park. (The cast of the bust is now at the Cambridge Public Library.) The grandest object uncovered by the Recent Discoveries in the House staV was a huge gold and gesso frame, While inventorying textiles in the House, members of the staV found a Japanese approximately eleven by thirteen feet, comforter made of silk which, according to Charley Longfellow’s letters, he owned by the poet’s artist son, Ernest brought back from his frst journey to Japan. Recently, Iwao Nagasaki, Curator of Wadsworth Longfellow. It is still packed in Textiles at the Tokyo National Museum, visited the House and identifed the mid- two large crates, labelled “DOLL & dle part of the comforter as originally part of a kimono from the early nineteenth- RICHARD/ 8 PARK [illegible]/ FINE century Edo period and worn by a woman from a samurai family. The magenta ARTS/BOSTON.” silk border was made around the time Charley was there in the 1860s and 70s. In contrast to the high-style furnishings l in the house, nearly all the objects in the Hundreds of textile scraps stored in trunks in the attic have been discovered carriage barn are vernacular in nature. and matched to furniture and clothing in old photos. The staV has identifed Hence they provide a look at the history of various eighteenth- and nineteenth-century drapes and foor coverings from the the site from an entirely diVerent perspec- House. These textiles provide important information and will prove enormously tive. More discoveries are possible as work helpful in working on the future treatment of the House. (see page 1.) continues in the barn and objects are dusted-oV and catalogued. 7 - " 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 specifcally to an object in need—the large Chinese representing three centuries of American History… vase in the parlor. q $1000 Benefactor q $100 Supporter Dating from c. 1850, this hard-paste q $ 750 Donor q $ 60 Contributor porcelain frst appears in a stereo view q $ 500 Patron q $ 30 Family of the parlor taken in the late 1860s. The q $ 250 Sponsor q $ 20 Individual vase is 25 inches tall and 83⁄4 inches in q diameter. The gilt and overglaze enamel $ 15 Student decorations in the Rose Mandarin pat- Make checks payable to: tern are blue, green, pink, sepia, black, Friends of the Longfellow House yellow, white, and fesh tones—colors 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 that are typical of late Chinese export For more information, call (617) 876-4491 porcelain. The vase is in poor condition, with numerous cracks, staples, and badly Name done glue repairs on the rim and body. Address The cost of repair is estimated to be City $4000. Won’t you help repair this unusual State Zip work of art? Telephone Special area(s) of interest in the Longfellow House:

q 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 105 Brattle Street Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

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