We Tell Portsmouth Stories”

“We Tell Portsmouth Stories” Treasures from The Portsmouth Historical Society February 3 – May 1, 2004 The Randall Room At the Portsmouth Athenæum 6-8 Market Square Portsmouth, NH This project was generously funded by the Rosamond Thaxter Foundation "We Tell Portsmouth Stories” highlights the multi-faceted collections of the Portsmouth Historical Society and shareswith the public the exciting results of new research –not only on specific objects, but also on the ways in which they can deepen our understanding of Portsmouth's past. At the same time, it serves as an introduction to the history of Portsmouth from the colonial era to the early twentieth century. The Portsmouth Athenæum has sponsored exhibitions in its Randall Room Gallery for the last five years. This show of treasures from the Portsmouth Historical Society represents the first in a planned series of winter exhibitions drawn from the collections of historical societies and house museums in the Piscataqua region. The series will offer an opportunity to experience objects from these diverse collections in a new setting and context, and provide an important new venue for the many museums that are closed during the winter months. It will also provide a chance to explore the fascinating and revealing connections between materials owned by different organizations. We are grateful to the Exhibits Committee of the Portsmouth Athenæum and Keeper Thomas Hardiman for their enthusiastic support of this collaborative undertaking, which is being developed by a steering committee that also includes representatives from the American Independence Museum, Moffatt-Ladd House, Old York Historical Society, the Portsmouth Historical Society, the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, Strawbery Banke Museum, Warner House, the Wentworth-Gardner and Tobias Lear Association, and the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion. Acknowledgments Exhibit Team Ursula Wright,Curator, PHS John Mayer,Curator, Maine Historical Society Michael Baenen Collections Committee, PHS: Michael Huxtable (chair), Kinley Gregg, Nancy Grossman, Merrilee Posner and Dennis Robinson Peter Narbonne,President, PHS Special Thanks Larry & Susan Benedict Susan Kindstedt Ron Bourgeault and Northeast Auctions LifeSize Graphics Richard Candee Laura Montville Carl Crossman Pat & Judy Nerbonne Eric Eaton, Deliberate Design Minuteman Press John Grossman Portsmouth Athenaeum Exhibits Committee Thomas Hardiman Barbara Roth Susan Hayes, Four Square Framing Rodney Rowland Astrida Schaeffer, Costume Specialist Title Panel Founded in 1917, the Portsmouth Historical Society opened the John Paul Jones House as a museum in 1920. From the start the Society exhibited a variety of heirlooms donated and lent by local families – treasures from Portsmouth cupboards, trunks, and attics. Today, objects made and owned in this area over the last 350 years are still at the heart of the Society's interpretation of Portsmouth history. This exhibit highlights key objects from the Society's collections, offering an opportunity to reflect on the many ways in which furniture, art, memorabilia and documents illuminate the past of Portsmouth and the Piscataqua region. Looking Glass 1766. Maker unknown, London. Mirror in pine or spruce frame with mahogany veneer and gilding. Gift of Mrs. Albert Rice. This ornate looking glass was the property of Woodbury Langdon, who likelyordered it from London at the time of his marriage to Sarah Sherburne in 1760. Brother of John Langdon, Woodbury came later to the patriot cause during the Revolution, and his subsequent judicial career was marked by partisan accusations of dereliction of duty. During the 1780s, he and his family lived briefly in what is now known as the John Paul Jones House. John Paul Jones c. 1780.Copy after Jean-Antoine Houdon, Paris. Plaster after original in marble. Gift of Martha and Harriet Stimson. Naval hero John Paul Jones (1747-1792) sat for the great French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828) in Paris. His bust was commissioned by the Masonic Lodge of the Nine Sisters, which inducted Jones into membership during a triumphal six weeks in the French capital during the spring of 1780. Like many of Houdon’s sitters, Jones presented copies of his bust to friends and admirers. “J. W. Parsons. F. F. S. [Federal Fire Society] 1789,” No. 1 1789. Leather. - 1- Portsmouth, Colonial Capital of New Hampshire Portsmouth was first settled by the English in 1623. The men and women who followed came here not to seek religious freedom, but to profit from the harvest of fish and timber they knew existed in abundance. By 1650 ships were being built for the English crown on the shores of the Piscataqua. The bustling town of Portsmouth became the colonial capital. The leading families that dominated New Hampshire politics—most of them Anglican, with few Puritans—are still familiar names here: Atkinson, Cutts, Jackson, Langdon, Sheafe, Sherburne, Vaughan, and Wentworth. By the mid 1700s Portsmouth had become a wealthy and elegant community with a number of great houses, whose proud owners had them richly carved and decorated with-high quality furniture of both English and local origin. Their mantels held Chinese export porcelain garnitures, their tea tables were laden with silver and porcelain, and their windows, seating furniture, and beds were dressed with expensive English fabrics. Wallpapers of English origin provided a backdrop for many family portraits by such artists as Nehemiah Partridge, John Greenwood, Joseph Blackburn, and John Singleton Copley. The leading families depicted in these portraits frequently intermarried, connecting business, politics, and family fortunes. They created for themselves an identity that was distinctly American, even though their social customs, fashions, and traditions were essentially English. Chest of Drawers c. 1780.John Skillin, Boston.Mahogany and white pine.Gift of Marion Wendell Boardman Lord. The Skillin family were leading ship carvers and cabinetmakers in Boston during the last third of the eighteenth century; according to the donor, whose husband was a Skillin descendant, this chest was made for Mary Fowle, third wife of John Skillin (1746-1800), at the time of their marriage. The Skillin family lived in Portsmouth before moving to Boston, and during the Revolutionary War John Skillin provided the figurehead for the Portsmouth-built America. - 2 - Mirror and Embroidery c. 1685.Maker unknown, England. Mirror in walnut-veneered frame with embroidered panels in poly- chrome silks, metal purl, and raised work on satin.Gift of Anna Parker Pruyn. Tradition long held that this embroidery was the work of Frances Deering Wentworth, wife of New Hampshire’s last royal governor, but it is English, and much earlier— probably brought to New England by a Wentworth ancestor. The key figures likely repre- sent King Charles II and his Queen, Catherine of Braganza. Putto c. 1730.Maker unknown, European. Carved and painted wood. Gift of Mrs. Strafford Wentworth. This putto is one of a pair that adorned the doorway of the Cutt farm near Freeman’s Point before it was demolished early in the twentieth century.They may originally have formed part of the decorations of the most richly ornamented building in colonial Portsmouth—the Anglican Queen’s Chapel, built in 1732 and destroyed by fire in 1806. Chair 1740-90.Maker unknown, probably Portsmouth. Maple. Gift of Dow family. This chair, which has a history of ownership in the Dow family, is distinguished by a “fish-tail” crest of a type that was common to Portsmouth and the surrounding region during the eighteenth century.A banister-back chair such as this might have been made by any one of a number of local turners. Platter 1760-80.Maker unknown, China. Porcelain. Gift of Mrs. William Gorham Rice. This octagonal platter is traditionally believed to come from a set of Chinese export ware that was the wedding china of Woodbury Landgon and Sarah Sherburne. Portsmouth and the Revolution With Paul Revere’s ride into Portsmouth in December 1774, Portsmouth citizens realized that it was time to make a stand, lest the British fleet blockade the harbor, the lifeline to fishing and the Atlantic trade. That same year John Wentworth, the last royal governor, fled with his family from his mansion on Pleasant Street. A group of men including John Stark and John Langdon raided Fort William and Mary. - 3 - The arms and ammunition they captured, which might have been used against the port and the city, were used instead in the Battle of Bunker Hill. By 1776, a number of Portsmouth men were playing important roles on the national level in the Revolutionary government. Among them were William Whipple, who signed the Declaration of Independence, and John Langdon, who became agent of prizes. Langdon was instrumental in creating the new Continental Navy and building its first three ships, the Raleigh, the Ranger, and the America. In 1776 the majority of Portsmouth men signed the Association Test, signifying their support for the revolutionary cause. A few hedged, however, whether because they doubted the outcome or because they had so much to lose. Among them were Woodbury Langdon, Daniel Warner, and Samuel Livermore. The following year saw the arrival of John Paul Jones, the new commander of the frigate Ranger. Although his biographers tell us he was bristly and arrogant, he became an icon of the Revolution with his daring victory at sea against the world’s premier naval power. After the defeat of HMS Serapis, John Adams, then in Paris, wrote in his diary: “John Paul Jones is at present the subject of conversation and admiration. I wish to know the History of this adventurous Hero.” Poignant family letters provide insight into these turbulent times. During and after the Revolution, a wide range of commemorative wares were produced for consumers in Britain and America, including Liverpool jugs, printed handkerchiefs, and China services. Portsmouth people paid tribute to the founding of the Republic by saving the artifacts commemorating the events and heroes of the Revolution.

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