on fellow ous   ulletin  Volume  No.  A Newsletter of the Friends of the Longfellow House and the National Park Service June  Longfellow Hous e-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site! o the delight of the National Park Ser - indeed, and entirely in the spirit of the Efforts to bring about the name

vice and the Friends of the Longfellow worthy poet and the great general, change began in  . Having  

T  

House, on December ,  , President and also, let’s not forget, of Sen - gathered widespread support – , t h g

Obama signed into law a bill changing the ator Ted Kennedy, who, with from literary groups, preser - i r

formal name of the yellow Georgian man - his abiding love of American vation societies, and the W h p

sion at  Brattle Street, Cambridge, to history, did more than any - Longfellow descendants – e s o Longfellow Hous e-Washington’s Head - one to bring attention to for several years, the pro - J y quarters Nati onal Historic Site. The new and urgently needed gov - ponents approached Sen - b g n i name will communicate to the public Gen - ernment support for this ator Kennedy’s office.The v a r eral George Washington’s eight-month prime national treasure.” late Edward M. Kennedy g n e ,

occupancy of the House and its significance NPS Superintendent introduced the bill in the n o t not only to our nation’s history but also to Myra Harrison and Site Senate in July  . After g n i

HenryW. Longfellow and his family. Manager Jim Shea agreed Kennedy’s death, Senators h s a

Upon hearing the news, historian David that the name change will in- John Kerry and Paul Kirk, W e g

McCullough expressed his enthusiasm: crease the House’s connection Kennedy’s successor, co-spon - r o e

“The full historic importance of the grand to its Revolutionary War years and sored the Longfellow Hous e- G old, yellow clapboard house on Brattle highlight the original intent of the Washington’s Headquarters National Street, Cambridge, is conveyed at last by its Longfellow family’s donation of the prop - Historic Site Designation Act, which the new official name. It is a welcome change erty to the Park Service nearly forty years ago. (continued on page ) Through the Years the Many Names of 105 Brattle Street espite some additions over the cen - of that year he abandoned his mansion and in-Chief of the army of the United Dturies, the House’s original struc - soon fled the country. Colonies, George Washington, arrived in ture has changed relatively little, but the On July ,  , the new Commander- Cambridge and spent two weeks at Wads- name by which people refer to  Brat - worth House in Harvard Yard before mov - tle Street has constantly evolved since it ing into the empty “Vassall House,” as he was erected in  . Past and present own - first called it. He occupied it as his resi - ers, its uses, and the memories it evokes dence and headquarters through March have all been reflected in its name.  .When writing letters from the House, When he was only twenty-one years old, Washington and others officially called JohnVassall Jr. received a large plot of land their location “Headquarters Cambridge” across from his uncle Henry Vassall’s home or the “Camp at Cambridge.” on what was then called the King’s High - Two years afterWashington’s occupancy, way and, with inherited wealth, proceeded in the fall of , the Massachusetts legis - to build a home. No documents exist to lature passed a law confiscating the prop - establish whether he designed the house erty of men who had worked for the royal himself or hired an architect, such as Peter government or had absented themselves Harrison. During his fifteen years living from the state. In  the Commonwealth there, people knew his residence as the of Massachusetts sold  Battle Street to “Vassall House,” although it was often con - Nathaniel Tracy, a wealthy merchant and fused with the nearby HenryVassall House. privateer under Washington's command. By  , John Vassall Jr. was one of the Facing bankruptcy, Tracy sold the house in largest landholders in Cambridge. Because  to Thomas Russell, another wealthy of his Loyalist sympathies, in September CambridgeTribune , May  ,  (continued on page )  ᳚ Longfellow Hous e-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site (continued from page ) Senate passed overwhelmingly in May  . rialized the former occupant of the home ሖሗመ In the House the bill’s main sponsor was in his  poem “To a Child,” noting that Congressman Michael Capuano, whose “Once, ah, once, within these walls,/ One Friends of the Longfellow House district includes the historic site. whom memory oft recalls,/ The Father of Board of Directors The Friends of the Longfellow House his Country, dwelt....” Heather S. Moulton, President were particularly active in Even before the name Elizabeth F. Potter, Clerk campaigning for the name change, NPS staff at the Robert C. Mitchell, Treasurer Annette Benedetto change, spearheaded in site had incorporated Peggy Blumenreich part by treasurer Robert Washington’s time at the Hope Cushing Mitchell, who hoped it House into their pro - Diana Der-Hovanessian would help preserve this grams and interpretation Edward Guleserian component of the site’s of the site. They orga - Barclay Henderson history. Friends’ president nized events along with Sarah B. Jolliffe Heather Moulton voiced their community part - Linda Almgren Kime the group’s gratitude “to ner, the Friends of the Laura Nash our members of Congress Longfellow House, that Lynne Spencer for sponsoring the bill ... included Washington- Advisory Board and pushing it forward.” themed house tours and Ruth Butler Although the official an annual lecture on the LeRoy Cragwell name has changed, the House’s significance in Diana Korzenik House will remain fur - the nation’s Revolution - Richard Nylander nished as it was when the Print by D. Edwin ,  ary War history. Stephen D. Pratt Longfellow family transferred the House Frances (Frankie) Appleton Smith Marilyn Richardson and its contents to the Park Service in Wetherell, Longfellow’s great-granddaugh - Marc Shell  . The Longfellows had collected and ter, reacted to the advent of the name Charles Sullivan installed in the House many items related change: “When I think about how much Administrator to Washington and the Revolution. A bust the Longfellow family treasured George J.L. Bell of Washington stands inside the front Washington’s connections to their beloved door, and images of George and Martha home, I know how happy they would be Newsletter Committee Washington are displayed throughout the that their two names will be forever linked Glenna Lang, Editor, Writer & Designer House. Henry Longfellow himself memo - at this historic house.” James M. Shea ᇶᇷᇸ Korzenik & Paterson Research Fellowships Awarded his year the Friends of the Longfellow Mary Longfellow and Longfellow House House have awarded the Korzenik Fel - Trust papers as well as the photograph, National Park Service T Myra Harrison, Superintendent lowship to Klara Szlezák, a lecturer and print, and postcard collections. James M. Shea, Museum Manager/Curator Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at the Thiriez’s project will investigate “Pho - Lauren Downing , Administrative Officer University of Regensburg, Germany, and tographs of China Collected by Charles Nancy Jones, Education andVisitor Services the Paterson Fellowship to Régine Thiriez, Appleton Longfellow in -. ” She Anita Israel, Archives Specialist an independent researcher and scholar of notes that the Longfellow Hous e-Washing - David Daly, Collections Manager photography in China, who received her ton’s Headquarters China photographs Lauren Malcolm, MuseumTechnician Ph.D. from the École Practique des Hautes complement forty-six similar prints of Scott Fletcher , Facility Manager Études of the Sorbonne in  . The fel - China, which she previously studied at Beth Wear, Management Assistant lowships provide support for work in the Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum. Charley Longfellow Hous e-Washington’s Head - Longfellow gave these prints to his cousin Printed by Newprint Offset, Waltham, Mass. quarters archives and collections. AlexanderWadsworth (Waddy) Longfellow, Szlezák will conduct research for her who donated them to the museum in  . dissertation called “Creating Pasts in Nine - In the House archives,Thiriez will exam - ማሜምሞ teenth-Century Writers’ Houses in New ine photographs as well as Charley Longfel - England.” It focuses on the role these low’s unpublished journals and Waddy All images are from the houses have played and continue to play in Longfellow’s diary. She hopes there will be Longfellow Hous e-Washington’s Headquarters creating and reinforcing the cultural mem - enough material for a publication devoted National Historic Site collections, unless noted otherwise. ory of their occupants, and, more broadly, to Charley Longfellow’s collections in addi - of New England. She will feature the tion to providing information about the Longfellow House and several other photographs for her forthcoming book, houses. Szlezák anticipates using the Alice Early Photography in China: A User’s Guide . ᳚  Interview with a Friend … Robert Mitchell, Friends’ Treasurer Retired from Clark University as a pro - only lived in it for a year. I waited until the Cambridge Historical Society. fessor of geography with a specialty in envi - things became more propitious. Because of LH: Why might it be nationally impor - ronmental economics, Robert Mitchell has the tremendous Longfellow component of tant for people to know of Washington’s served on the Board of the Friends of the the House – its presentation, its ownership, connection to the House? Longfellow House since  . For years he its memories – some people who are close RM: Washington’s coming to Cambridge has been a leading advocate of including the to the House naturally tend to value that was critical to the Revolutionary War in House’s history as Washington’s headquar - aspect very much. They feel that honoring many ways.The Siege of Boston was already ters in the official name. Washington, who is already honored in so underway. Washington was serving as a Vir - Longfellow House: How did you first many ways, would diminish the Longfellow ginia delegate to the Second Continental come to know the House? memory. On the contrary, it would continue Congress when they voted to appoint him Robert Mitchell: I read a brief article in the homage that Longfellow had paid to the commander of the New England troops the Cambridge Chronicle mentioning the state Washington occupancy. This memory is besieging Boston. Everything hinged on his of the archives and the rich, deep, and amaz - now unknown to so many people. Longfel - success. After two weeks in Cambridge, he ing holdings. Then Ruth Butler, a good made this house his headquarters. friend and neighbor and Friends’ Board The events that happened in this build - member, suggested that I might be inter - ing are extraordinary. Washington con - ested in joining the Board, and I concurred. fronted Dr. Benjamin Church, one of the LH: You’ve worn many hats on the most trusted Massachusetts patriot leaders, Board and been involved in many ways. with evidence that he was a spy for the Bri- Much of the success of the fellowship pro - tish. A three-person committee appointed gram has been due to your work. by Congress and headed by Benjamin RM: The program was established be- Franklin arrived for ten days of meetings cause of founding chair Diana Korzenik’s with Washington and New England state initiative. The Board agreed this would be a officials. John Hancock and John Adams terrific thing to do. We run the fellowship were among the many patriot leaders and competition using current or former Board local gentry whom he entertained. Phillis members with relevant academic expertise. Wheatley, the well-known African-Ameri - The goal is to help scholars, particularly can poet, was invited by General Washing - young scholars, in the humanities with a ton to come to the headquarters. small stipend for travel to Cambridge. We Washington also made crucial decisions choose on the basis of the fit between their here in conjunction with the leadership of project and the resources in the archives. low would likely have encouraged the com - the Continental Congress about such impor - These fellowships have helped make the memoration of theWashington connection. tant things as creating what turned out to be archives and collections more widely known. One of the particular things that inter - the navy, and reorganizing the Continental LH: How did you become interested in ested me and I thought was persuasive was army and militia. In addition to these public George Washington? the terms under which the Longfellows had occurrences, we know of Washington’s own RM: I was a history major in college and incorporated their non-profit status in their internal struggles while he was in the House. studied European history. I always thought forming of their trust and in their act of His letters to trusted confidantes, including I could pick up American history on my giving the House to the U.S. government. his brother, reveal a man who is struggling own. When I retired in  , my interest They stated the House had three features: with anger, disappointment, and fear of fail - turned to history, especially the eighteenth It was Longfellow’s home, it is a prime ure, which was a huge thing for him. century in Cambridge. In learning about example of Georgian architecture, and it LH: How do you think the name change the Longfellow House, it quickly became had beenWashington’s headquarters. will affect the House? apparent that major historical eighteenth- LH: How did you gather support to RM: I hope it will help continue the century events occurred right in this house. change the name? memory of the site as Washington’s Head - I became very interested in Washington be- RM: It was always up to the NPS staff, quarters. Until the last fifty years, someone cause of that connection. and, in fact, it was their gentle encourage - contemplating the House wouldn’t have LH: Among the Friends, you’ve been a ment and support that helped to turn the imagined changing the name because it leader in the cause of the name change. You tide.The membership of the Board gradu - wasn’t needed. Everyone knew it wasWash - were at the first NPS meeting about this in ally changed and included people more ington’s Headquarters. Postcards in the late April  , where we strategized and made sympathetic to the cause, and, of course, I nineteenth and early twentieth centuries a list of whom we should contact. wasn’t the only one on the Board in sup - typically referred to the House asWashing - RM: Quite a few years ago, I proposed port of the idea [of including Washington ton’s Headquarters and Professor Longfel - changing the name at a Friends’ Board meet - in the name]. Frances Ackerly was a very low’s House. I also hope it will raise the vis - ing. After that it went nowhere since it was early supporter. Before I came into the pic - ibility of the House at a time when clear that some members of the Board were ture, she was transcribing the diary of a National Park entities are competing for very negative about including Washington RevolutionaryWar soldier – that resides in resources. It’s important for this double because he didn’t own the House and had the House archives – and spoke about it to memory to be public and well-known.  ᳚ Through the Years the Many Names of 105 Brattle Street (continued from page ) nally have connoted Mr. Craigie’s extravagant merchant, as a way out of debt. lifestyle. On special occasions and in corre - Fanny Longfellow to Nathan Appleton, In  Andrew Craigie, the first Apo- spondence, the Longfellow family also used September  : thecary General of the United States, “Washington’s Headquarters.” To this day “It [the House] is, moreover, very interesting bought the House from Russell, who had some Longfellow descendants say “Craigie to us for its associations of which we have lately never actually lived in it. For nearly a quar - House” to designate their ancestral home. had very exact information from Mr. Sparks.... ter-century after Craigie’s death in  , his By the mid-  s Longfellow’s poetry Yesterday we had a thorough explanation of the widow took in boarders, two of whom were had brought him international fame, and his American lines & Bunker Hill, Prospect & Harvard College professors Jared Sparks House gained an association with its liter - Winter hills under Mr. Sparks inimitable guid - and Henry Longfellow. After Washington’s ary owner. Period photographs and publi - ance who gave a more vivid idea of the revolu - departure from “Headquarters Cam - cations began to identify the House as tionary days than I had before....” bridge” until  , we do not know what the Longfellow’s House with or without other owners or the public called the House. names. An  issue of Gleason's Pictorial Well aware ofWashington’s tenure at the Drawing-Room Companion, an illustrated mag - began its feature on the Longfellow home’s House, Sparks edited the first three of his azine published in Boston, ran a piece with historic background with: “A national twelve volumes ofWashington’s letters here. an image of the House captioned “Wash - shrine second only in fame toWashington's He relished the thought of working on home at Mt. Vernon, the Craigie- these books in the very rooms where the Longfellow House....” [For a photo of general had once penned letters. Fol - the article, see page ] lowing the publication of the first vol - “The Longfellow House” name, umes in the mid-  s, the House was most commonly used today, seems to referred to – in such periodicals as The have gained popularity in the late Family Magazine in  ‒ as “Washing -  s, probably due to the publication ton’s Headquarters in Cambridge.” in  of the House’s first guidebook, In  Nathan Appleton bought the The Longfellow House: History and Guide by House from Mrs. Craigie’s estate as a Harry Dana, the poet’s grandson. The wedding gift for his daughter Fanny and Maine Historical Society calls the her husband, Henry Longfellow. In the poet’s birthplace in Portland “The New England tradition of calling a Longfellow House” and distinguishes house by its previous owner’s name, the it from his adult home in Cambridge, Longfellow family referred to their “Washington-Craigie-Longfellow House,” Century Magazine ,  which they call “Craigie House.” home as “Craigie House” or “The Craigie.” ington's Headquarters at Cambridge, Mass., In  when the National Park Service In his letters Henry most often chose to say The Residence of Professor Longfellow.” assumed ownership of the Brattle Street “The Craigie.” Fanny and Henry (and other In the  s, in anticipation of the  property, Congress designated it the immediate family) sometimes humorously Centennial, people often publicly referred “Longfellow National Historic Site,” al- spoke of “Castle Craigie,” which may origi - to the House as “Washington’s Headquar - though many still called it the Vassall- ters.” From this point on into the mid- Craigie-Longfellow House after the three twentieth century, numerous books, longest-term occupants. Soon a sign at the articles, and photographs depicted historic home’s gate will display the places associated withWashington and House’s official title: Longfellow House- the American Revolution, and they Washington’s Headquarters National His - frequently featured the House and its toric Site. Already NPS staff are mastering grounds. In  a series of commem - answering the phones with this new name. orative stereo-views, however, were produced for the Centennial celebra - tion of the American Revolution, yet Henry Longfellow to Stephen Longfellow, these views of the House refer to it July ,  : solely as Longfellow’s House. “I began yesterday to readWashington’s let - The names “Vassall-Craigie-Long- ters from Cambridge, as yesterday was the fellow House,” “Washington-Craigie- date of the first of them. He came to Cam - Longfellow House,” and “Craigie- bridge July ,  , took command of the Longfellow House” first appeared in army on the rd, and wrote his first letter late nineteenth-century guidebooks on the th. It will be a pleasure to read, and articles. In  the Century Maga - here in the Headquarters, the letters he zine published a major piece on the wrote sixty-six years ago, perhaps in this House’s history entitled “The Wash - very room, certainly in this very house.” Stereograph with “Longfellow Residence ” above and ington-Craigie-Longfellow House.” “Washington’s Headquarters, Cambridge” below, - The Cambridge Tribune , May ,  , ᳚  Harry Dana and “Chronicles of the Craigie House” or years Henry (“Harry”) Wadsworth Craigie, and Longfellow – “Inter - FLongfellow Dana lived in his poet- chapters” in between sections grandfather’s house and researched, collected would provide house-related Rev - materials for, and wrote portions of a his - olutionary War stories or anec - tory of  Brattle Street called “Chronicles dotes like “Edward Everett prac - of the Craigie House.” His aunt Alice ticing oratory” as Mrs. Craigie’s Longfellow, Henry’s oldest daughter who boarder. The Epilogue would lived in the House until her death in  , cover topics during Alice’s time at began the book project. Harry took up res - the House, such as “Radcliffe idence – and the project – in the House Commencement Exercises,” and while Alice was alive and “Twelfth Night lived there off and on parties.” Harry until he died in  . planned to illus - In the last version of trate the book his outline, Harry charac - with “pen-and- Harry Dana & research assistant Bill Gedritis in vault , . - terized the book as: “The ink sketches, plans and from Longfellow, his conversations recalled biography of a New Eng - maps, made by Longfel - by others, depictions of servants and char - land house. A cross-sec - low and the others who acters at Craigie House or in the neighbor - tion of American history lived here and by rare hood, newspaper accounts, and more – all from the  th to the  th portraits reproduced here meticulously footnoted. Henry Longfellow Century – Colonial Days, for the first time.” himself kept a “Notebook on the Craigie American Revolution, Harry filled numerous House” from which Harry quotes exten - Anti-Slavery Movement, boxes with a wealth of sively, with page numbers duly noted. the CivilWar, the Golden carefully identified and “The present writer,’ Harry acknowl - Age and the Indian Sum - organized family papers edged, “in enlarging and carrying on the mer of American Litera - along with historical doc - work which [Miss Alice Longfellow] began, ture – seen from the focus uments and prints he ac- wishes to express his deep indebtedness to point of a house that was Alice Longfellow in the House ,  quired at auctions and her in every respect.” an active center in all these movements.” antiquarian dealers, such as Goodspeed’s in Harry never completed the ambitious Harry’s outline put forth his plan: The Boston.The images ofWashington on pages “Chronicles of the Craigie House.” He did, book’s Prologue would paint the historic  and  were recently rediscovered among however, produce The Longfellow House: History scene, including “the King’s High Way Harry’s papers and notes that he stored in and Guide, published in the April  issue along the River Charles” and “the land these boxes in the House archives, where he of OldTime New England magazine. Summa - where [Longfellow’s] house was situated.” spent much time working on the project. rizing all four sections in the proposed book, With four main sections on the House’s In  Harry finished and published it remains the only history of the House. It long-term residents – Vassall, Washington, part of the manuscript as an illustrated has been reprinted several times as a popular forty-two-page booklet called The Craigie booklet for sale in the House bookstore.We House: The Coming of Longfellow ( - ), encourage scholars to take up where Alice reprinted from the proceedings of the Longfellow and Harry Dana left off in this Cambridge Historical Society where he fascinating story of  years of social, cul - presented it. “This being approximately the tural, and political history within one house. one-hundreth anniversary of the coming of Longfellow to the Craigie House,” the min - utes record, “the President introduced Mr. Harry Dana in “The Craigie House: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana, the The Coming of Longfellow ,” : grandson of the poet, who read a most “One pleasant afternoon in May,  , a interesting account of Longfellow at the young Harvard professor [Mr. Longfel - Craigie House. Passages from unpublished low], a newcomer to Cambridge, sets out Longfellow journals and letters written in in search of a secluded place to live.... From the house formed a considerable part of the first [he] has been delighted with the this important paper.” whole surroundings of the Craigie House. Writing in a lively narrative style in pre - He sets his heart on getting rooms there .... sent tense, Harry brought to life the time he hopes to find a quiet haven of refuge.... when “Mr. Longfellow” – as he refers to Accordingly, he makes bold to present him - his grandfather – looked for a place to live self before the austere and somewhat terri - in Cambridge until the death of Mrs. fying Widow Craigie.” Craigie in whose house the poet rented Harry Dana working in the basement archives , .  rooms. Harry drew from letters to and  ᳚ Longfellows’ Art Objects Teacher Workshop on Siege of Boston Exhibited at Museums his July the Massachusetts Historical All these valuable resources will help teach - TSociety (MHS) together with Long- ers to engage students in material beyond number of works of art from the col - fellow House-Washington’s Headquarters what they would customarily study about Alections at the Longfellow Hous e- National Historic Site will offer a selected the Revolutionary War. Washington’s Headquarters National His - group of teachers a four-day workshop on NPS Site Manager/Museum Curator toric Site are currently on view at other “The Siege of Boston.” During the Ameri - (and a Fellow of the MHS and member of museums in the United States and Europe. can Revolution, American militiamen laid the MHS Programs and Exhibitions Com - One of the most renowned museums in siege to the British-held city and ultimately mittee) Jim Shea and historian J. L. Bell will Florence, Italy, and home to Michaelan - drove the British troops out of Boston. conduct major sections of the workshop. gelo’s sculpture David , the Galleria dell’Ac - Workshop attendees will develop lesson They will emphasize the stresses and strains cademia has borrowed a marble bust by plans to present to teachers in their own of the long days when the British and Con - Lorenzo Bartolini of Frances Appleton, school districts, further disseminating the tinental armies occupied opposite sides of who later married Henry Longfellow, for knowledge they gain. the Charles River in addition to battles that their exhibition “Lorenzo Bartolini: Ideal Recently digitized documents from the never found their way into history texts and and Natural Beauty.” The exhibition runs MHS collections provide a glimpse into the the reasons why.They will also address such from May  to November , . The cel - ways that soldiers on both sides of the war, questions as: how do you feed , men? ebrated Florentine sculptor Bartolini mod - local residents, and imprisoned loyalists Chosen from schools in Arlington, eled a bust of the young Fanny while she were affected during this tense, uncertain, Brookline, Chelmsford, and Dracut, Mass - was traveling with her family in Italy in  . and critical time from April  through achusetts, as well as from schools in Indi - For their exhibition called “The Orient March  . Personal accounts complement ana and New York, six pairs of middle- Expressed: Japan’s Influence on Western other MHS records of the commanders’ school and high-school teachers will Art, - ” from February  to July , strategies and the intended and unintended participate in the workshop. Teachers can , the Mississippi Museum of Art in results of their decisions. Some of the use the documents and curricula as pre - Jackson is displaying items that Charles accounts were written at  Brattle Street. sented or adapt them for their own class - Longfellow brought back from his travels These primary sources will be used in room needs. These educational materials to Japan in the  s. They include pho - conjunction with an exploration of Cam - will also be available on the MHS website, tographs of Charley at his house in Yoko - bridge’s historic landscape and the house expanding the workshop’s impact exponen - hama and in Japanese garb, a Japanese fan- that became General Washington’s head - tially by allowing teachers everywhere to shaped painting (one of dozens of such quarters. Learning about the historic land - imagine how they can use the images and paintings that decorated the ceiling in scape will enable the teachers to better transcribed documents. Charley’s “Japan” room), two kimonos, and understand the historical documents, and Funded by the Massachusetts Society of a screen. The museum will also exhibit an the documents, in turn, will enrich the the Cincinnati, the workshop will take place oil painting of Mount Fuji, located outside understanding of the historic landscape. July  to  at the House and the MHS. Tokyo, by nineteenth-century American artistWinkworth Allen Gay, who lived and painted in Japan. Recent Visitors & Events at the House 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. Fernando M. Reimers of the Harvard Graduate School of Education visited the House with colleagues from Colombia interested in Henry Longfellow’s ties to Latin America: Cecilia Maria Velez , Colombia’s former minister of education; Guillermo Perry and Rodrigo Botero , both former ministers of finance in Colom - bia; Gina Parody , former Colombian senator; and Pablo Pulido and Luisa Pulido , Advanced Leadership Fellows at Ha
rvard University. The Cambridge Plant & Garden Club held a two-day Garden Club of America Zone 1 Flower Show in the Longfellow carriage house. Open to the public, over two hundred people viewed the exhibition of twenty flower arrangements inspired by works of four Cambridge poets, i
ncluding Henry Longfellow. Brandeis and Harvard University professor Mark Auslander used the House and its history for his class “Remembering Slavery and the Slave Trade,” studying Darby and DorindaVassall, JohnVassall Jr.’s slaves; Billy Lee, GeorgeWashington’s enslaved valet; and former slave PhillisWheatley, the first published African-American poet.

Bust of Fanny Appleton by Lorenzo Bartolini,  ᳚  Frances Ackerly: An Appreciation he Longfellow Hous e-Washington’s and the importance of keeping it open chores of the Membership or Volunteer THeadquarters National Historic Site more hours and days for public visits. Committees, Frances also recruited other lost one of its best friends with the passing Frances traveled to Washington, D.C., to hard-workers Charlotte Cleveland and of Frances Ackerly on March  ,  . Fol - meet with and gain the support of Senator Nancy Fryberger to join the board. Frances lowing her retirement as director of was instrumental in the Longfellow Buckingham, Browne & Nichols’s garden rehabilitation. She initiated middle school, Frances turned much the project and helped see it to of her energy to assisting the Long- fruition when her husband, promi - fellow House in countless ways. nent psychoanalyst William Ackerly, In  Frances was among the “catapulted the rehab” with his con - founding members of the Friends of tribution, as Diana put it. the Longfellow House. “I remember With her passion for history, vividly the Connecticut garden party Frances gathered information in of mutual friends where Frances and archives at Newburyport about I met,” Diana Korzenik, the chief Nathaniel Tracy, a brief owner of organizer and first president of the the House in the  s. She tran - board, recalled. “Frances had just scribed the diary of a Revolutionary retired and was exploring ‘what's War soldier and identified its writer. next?’” Diana described her love for Historian Pauline Maier based a lec - the House and its need for a support - ture on it. After Frances officially ing citizens’ organization. “Frances’s Frances Ackerly, honored by the Park Service in , with husband left the board in  for health rea - eyes twinkled as she said ‘I want to Bill Ackerly who catapulted the Longfellow garden rehabilitation. sons, she continued to volunteer one work with you,’ and I knew she meant it.” Kennedy’s aides and office. “She’s the one day a week in the House archives, painstak - A Friends board member from the be- who really established the tie with Senator ingly transcribing Charley Longfellow’s let - ginning and head of its Political Advocacy Kennedy,” Diana pointed out. In  Con - ters and journals from his Asian journeys. Committee, Frances composed letters to gress awarded the House a substantial base “Frances was a real friend of the Park Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry funding increase, and Kennedy remained an Service staff, too. We will miss her,” curator and GovernorWilliamWeld about the need ardent advocate of the site. Jim Shea reflected. “She and Bill were always for an increase in funding for the House Never shying away from the humdrum at our programs.They were big supporters.” Longfellow House in the Media On December ,  , Jill Lepore, Harvard Recent Research at the House history professor, wrote an opinion piece in The archives at the Longfellow House contains over , manuscripts, letters, and signed docu - the Sunday New York Times entitled “Paul ments and is used extensively by researchers from around the world. Here are a few recent researchers Revere’s Ride Against Slavery.” Its page-wide from among the several hundred who use the archives annually. illustration bore the caption “Exceeding Gratitude, Longfellow!” Lepore reminded Koji Deriha and Masato Tamura from the Historical Museum of Hokkaido and readers not to “take the politics out of Professor KojiYamasaki from Hokkaido University came to study our collection of Longfellow” – his poem “was a rallying cry photographs of the Ainu people that Charley Longfellow acquired in Japan in  . for the coming Civil War.” She quoted Mar - The researchers explained there is little knowledge of origin or source, or history of tin Luther King Jr.: “We still need some Paul ownership of the Ainu photos in Japan, unlike those in the U.S. Only recently have Revere of conscience to alert ... every village the Japanese become interested in Ainu history and the provenance of these photos. of America that revolution is still at hand.”
 For his forthcoming book on Charles Sumner, U.S. senator and Longfellow’s clos - For his latest book, The Greater Journey: est friend, Harvard professor John Stauffer read the many letters from Charles Sum - Americans in Paris, - , Pulitzer Prize- ner in the House archives. Stauffer is the author of eight previous books, whose winning author and historian David subjects include antislavery and social protest movements and interracial friendship. McCullough found material in the House
and its archives on Americans with high The fifteen students in Nancy Holcomb’s Suffolk University class on “Boston’s aspirations who went to Paris to study and Historic Homes” spent the entire semester at the Longfellow House.They did much experience another culture. Published in of their research in the House archives in preparation for their final projects. May, the book portrays two people with
strong connections to the House: politi - Robert Arbour, doctoral candidate in American Literature at Indiana University cian and Longfellow’s best friend Charles and  Paterson Fellowship recipient, studied the Civil War’s influence on nine - Sumner and portrait artist George P. A. teenth-century American poetry, especially on the Fireside Poets. He read Charley Healy. One of Healy’s earliest paintings – Longfellow’s CivilWar papers to study the war’s effect on Longfellow and his family. of Fanny Longfellow – and six others are in the House art collection.  ᳚ potlight on an bject Longfellow Hous e-Washington’s Headquarters neach issue of the newsletter, we National Historic Site Ifocus on a particular object of inter - This national historic site joined the national park system in  . Its many est in the House collection. This time layers of history, distinguished architecture, gardens and grounds, and extensive our spotlight shines on a  lottery museum collections represent the birth and flowering of our nation and con - ticket, autographed by GeorgeWashing - tinue to inspire school children and scholars alike. Built by John Vassall Jr. in ton, in an envelope addressed to “Pro -  and owned from  to  by Andrew and Elizabeth Craigie, the house fessor Longfellow/Cambridge.” With served as headquarters for General George Washington in the early months of black ink Henry Longfellow labeled the the Revolutionary War. It was later the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, envelope: “Autographs of Washington.” one of America’s foremost poets, and his family from  to  . Presumably having received two tickets as a gift, Longfellow gave one to his friend For information about the national historic site and a virtual tour, visit: the Swiss composer SigismondThalberg, www.nps.gov/long to whom he wrote on January , : “Enclosed I have the pleasure of sending you the autograph ofWashington, which I promised you on Saturday, and which I  am very happy to add to your collection. Friends of the Longfellow House It is a curious autograph, being, as you see, Since  , the Friends of the Longfellow House, a not-for-profit voluntary the signature to a Lottery Ticket! It has group, has worked with the National Park Service to support the Longfellow also the advantage of a date.” Hous e-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site by promoting scholarly George Washington organized the access to collections, publications about site history, educational visitor programs, Mountain Road Lottery to raise funds and advocacy for the highest quality preservation. to build a road through the Allegheny Mountains in Virginia to a proposed To find out more about the Friends of the Longfellow House, visit: resort in what is now Hot Springs, Vir - www.friendsoflongfellowhouse.org ginia. The lottery was unsuccessful, but the tickets for this and other lotteries in which Washington was involved have become important items. Friends of the Longfellow House  Brattle Street Cambridge, Massachusetts 