the PORTERSVILLE PRESS www.mystichistory.org • vol. xxxiv, issue i • september 2007 SEPTEMBER PROGRAM: Using 19th c. Correspondence as a Teaching Tool Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 will mark the begin- and served as a consultant to the Smithsonian's National ning of our new program season with a presentation from Postal Museum as well as being an associate editor & a Bob Welt called “The Use of 19th Century Primary Source monthly columnist of Global Stamp News for over a Written Correspondence as a means of Teaching decade. Mr Welt and his wife Lora reside in Mystic and are Geography and History in the Middle School Classroom: the parents of three daughters and one granddaughter. or, Poking Your Nose Into Other People's Business.” Upcoming Wednesday meeting programs include one on Mr. Welt, who has taught U.S. History in Groton for October 24th with Patricia Schaefer; November 28th with 33 years, is a graduate of the University of Connecticut, Catherine Deichmann tentatively slated as “Mystic and the with a Master's degree from Eastern Connecticut State Draft during the Civil War” and then January 23rd, 2008, University and also a Sixth Year in Administration from speaker Frederick Southern University. Burdick will give an An active collector of Nineteenth Century correspon- update on The Davis dence for use in the classroom, Mr. Welt has spoken about Stanton Homestead. and led workshops on this teaching method for a number Wolf learning to write of different groups, including the American Philatelic from an early 19th Society and the NE Regional Council for the Social Studies century schoolbook. Hudson River Valley Trip - Booked! NEW: Wednesday Member Meetings - Joyce Everett The October 10 - 11 trip to the Hudson River Valley is MRHS has changed its Member meetings from completely full with a waitlist. It would be wonderful if Friday to Wednesday evenings still at 7:30pm at the we could take everyone who wants to go but the logistics of Congregational Church in Mystic. The 2007-2008 two buses are too difficult. Many thanks to all of you who schedule is: signed up so promptly! We hope for good weather and two wonderful days of sightseeing. There will be a pre-trip Wednesday Evenings meeting for participants at the meeting room of Mystic- September 26 Noank Library on September 27 at 300pm. October 24 November 28 December - no meeting January 23 February 27 March 26 April 23 May 28 Annual meeting and potluck supper Looking forward to seeing you there! “Wish we were there!” from the PRESIDENT’S DESK “to process collections, assist with reference questions, Lou Allyn develop finding aids, train volunteers, and develop proce- dures to facilitate accurate and effective use of It’s been four months since our last Newsletter and PastPerfect, our primary database, all in an effort to bet- General Membership meeting but the activities at the ter promote and interpret Mystic’s history.” Fits right in Mystic River Historical Society never stop as you can tell with what we’re all about doesn’t it? from the following news items. The Mystic Noank Library has implemented their The Constant Contact email distribution system was project, “Digitization of Historic Newspaper Presently put to use over the summer to keep in touch with our on Microfilm”. This allows anyone to use a library com- members. Emails were sent out on: puter to search through CD’s of various Mystic and April 28 – Notice of the May 2007 Newsletter available Stonington newspapers as far back as 1859. My first ses- on our website sion yielded the obituary of my namesake, Louis P. June 14 – Announcement of the opening of the Allyn, that I had never seen before. This project was Portersville Family Activity Centers funded in part by a $750 grant from MRHS as part of our June 20 – Noank Historical Society letter of events joint sharing of local historical resources. June 30 – Groton Historic District informational At the request of William Borrows Allen of brochure Greenville, RI an investigation was gathered regarding July 11 – Schedule of 2007 – 2008 Member meeting dates the two Burrows cemeteries on Fort Hill. The north with change to Wednesdays cemetery is hidden behind a large cut-stone wall and is July 22 – Notice of Neptune Park tours maintained by the Town of Groton . The Benjamin August 8 – Mystic Times article about the Family Burrows cemetery south of the water tower is maintained Activity Centers by a family association. It is still active. Mr. Allen came Charts from the recording hygrothermograph show to Mystic to present a donation of a large mylar plan of that the summer humidity in the Downes Building is the cemetery to MRHS. Copies are available at the being kept at a constant 68% by the stand-alone dehumid- Downes Building . Both Louisa and I have visited Mr. ifier. The outside is looking particularly spiffy with new Allen to view his collection of Burrows family pictures roof, siding paint and shutters and furniture and spend some enjoyable hours hearing Our archival software, PastPerfect, was upgraded to about the Burrows family – one of Mystic’s oldest. the new Version 4.0. One of the more interesting new Sales of the Kayaker’s Guide to the Mystic River and features is the ability to “watermark” digital images. This Its History have been rewarding. My $785 cost of print- provides the potential of selling our pictures on-line. ing has been fully recovered; now all revenue goes into The Connecticut Humanities Council has approved the Society’s bank account. our grant application for the third year of partial funding for a Curatorial Assistant. Louisa Watrous and Dorrie You can now read back issues of our newsletter, The Hanna are working away under the terms of the grant: Portersville Press, on our website at www.mystichistory.org The Newsletter of the Mystic River Historical Society is published monthly, September through May, with a combined issue for November and December, by the Mystic River Historical Society Box 245 Mystic, CT 06355 2 She died at her "Great Hill" home in Mystic at the age Who Was Mary of 80. Many of her photographs and papers are now housed in the Mystic River Historical Society.” Jobe Akeley? And So how did we get her stuff? The trail is long and con- Why Do We voluted, but a simplified explanation is that the material came to us for safekeeping, but remains the property of the Have Her Stuff? Mary Jobe Akeley Trust. I have been working with the -Dorrie Hanna, Collections Manager current Trustees to develop a letter of agreement that will set out this situation in writing. Back in the 1980s a gradu- his summer we have had T ate student spent the summer in Mystic arranging and box- several inquiries about Mary ing the many documents and photographs, which now Jobe Akeley, including the occupy one whole set of shelves at the Downes Building. Photo of Mary Jobe Akeley one from Dick Zeimer that The Trust pays us a yearly stipend for caring for this valu- appears elsewhere in this issue. Although many of you may able collection and has empowered us to handle queries on be aware of this extraordinary woman, perhaps a little their behalf. “refresher” might be in order. The following summary of In addition to the Trust’s collection, we also have books the life and career of Mrs. Akeley is taken from the web and other items relating to Mrs. Akeley and to Camp site of the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame: Mystic which were acquired for the MRHS by Carol “Mary Jobe was born on the family farm in Tappan, Kimball or given by generous donors. Ohio, to Richard Watson Jobe and Sarah Jane Pittis. She graduated from Bryn Mawr and received her Master's degree from Columbia. While she was an instructor in his- Do You Remember Camp Mystic? tory at Hunter College, she was commissioned by the - Dick Zeimer Canadian Government to study the customs and history of Eskimos and Indian tribes. In August of 2003, during Ohio's Bicentennial, an Ohio She mapped the headwaters of the Fraser River, then Historical Marker honoring Mary Jobe Akeley was returned to the Canadian Northwest to explore uncharted placed at the entrance to the cemetery in Deersville, mountains, one of which was later named in her honor. In Ohio, where she is buried and only a short distance from 1914, prompted by her love of the outdoor life, Mary pur- where she was born. While gathering information for chased a 45 acre tract of land in Mystic, Connecticut where the marker I became a "fan" of Mary and have tried to she made her home. [The former Peace Sanctuary proper- find out what I could about her life. I have read all 7 of ty off River Road]. There, Mary established "Camp her books, and about her exploits in Canada as found in Mystic" for girls, a place where girls, ages 8-18 would "develop their bodies and minds." The camp operated "Off the Beaten Path" by Cyndi Smith. every summer from 1916-1930, when it closed due to the I recently was given a booklet about Camp Mystic effects of the Great Depression. which Mary ran for girls ages 8 to 18. Reading the book- Her first trip to Africa was in 1924 with her husband, let about their daily activities and looking at photos of Carl Ethan Akeley, renowned explorer, natural scientist, their camp life made me wonder if any women who sculptor, photographer and inventor. Akeley Africa Hall, attended Camp Mystic, or a relative of one, are in the a wing of the Museum of Natural History, was named for local area.