on fellow ous ulletin Volume No A Newsletter of the Friends of the Longfellow House and the National Park Service December Harvard Scholars Use House As a Laboratory to Examine Material Culture his fall, for the first time, two renowned important tool for histori- Tscholars conducted their Harvard Uni- ans The lower echelons of versity undergraduate class at the Longfel- society usually generate low National Historic Site, using the few written records, but wealth of artifacts held within the House the objects they leave as the basis for study Pulitzer Prize-win- behind can tell us much ning historian and author of A Midwife’sTale about how people lived LaurelThatcher Ulrich and art and cultural and what they thought historian Ivan Gaskell taught the students Students in this course how to decipher objects in order to gain called “Confronting Ob- insight into the cultures that produced jects/Interpreting Culture: them During the semester, students visited Interdisciplinary Perspec- the House at least a half dozen times to tives on North America” examine objects ranging from a vernacular are exploring the methods Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Jim Shea, and Harvard students at the House door lock to fancy satin brocade shoes used in interpreting artifacts from colonial ological items The high level of documen- Not only historic documents, but also and early American history NPS museum tation for many artifacts in the House offers everyday objects provide clues and infor- staff assembled a list of dozens of objects additional and unusual information for the mation about the past Examining the from which to choose, including textiles, historian sleuth Many objects have a long material culture of a society serves as an ceramics, architectural fragments, and arche- (continued on page ) Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House Celebrates 25 th Anniversary he year marks the th anniver- Research into deeds, probate records, and century colonial style, such as the symmetry Tsary of the construction of the now tax records is needed to provide more of its facade and floor plan, the central stair- famous yellow Georgian mansion for definitive confirmation of the date case, the gently sloping hipped roof, and the wealthy merchant JohnVassall Jr at Brat- Although it was enlarged significantly in classical ornamentation But the House’s tle Street The Longfellow National His- subsequent years, theVassall-Craigie-Long- projecting central pavilion crowned by a toric Site will celebrate the building’s fellow House remains a fine example of balustrade and the four decorative Ionic anniversary throughout the year with com- Georgian architecture and features many of pilasters on the façade give it a unique char- memorative programs, special walking tours, the most typical elements of the eighteenth- acter, as do the two man-made terraces lead- and lectures on Georgian architecture ing up to the mansion extant today The Because of the date “” cast terraces raise the house and are sur- into the iron fireback of the second mounted by three short flights of steps floor southwest chamber, residents The original structure is still and historians have long assumed that intact and consists of a simple rectan- the House was built in that year gle comprised of the parlor, study, din- “This fireback looks as though it is ing room, front of the library, and the probably original to the fireplace and bedrooms above these The piazzas has no other markings to suggest that [side porches], the rear ell including it is commemorative of some other the “Blue Entry,” and the rear part of historical event occurring in ,” the library are all later additions to the Society for the Preservation of New original structure “The piazzas at the England Antiquities’ historian Mor- sides did not exist, I believe, in Wash- gan Phillips concluded in his report ington’s days,” Longfellow wrote in for the National Park Service in Iron fireback in the second floor bedroom, showing date of (continued on page ) Harvard Scholars Use House As Lab (continued from page ) history of ownership, before and after study As the students passed around the Henry Longfellow’s tenure at the House mystery item, each offered an observation, Ulrich and Gaskell’s course emphasizes such as “it is smooth” or “it is black ”Next the relationship between particular objects they contemplated how this rod could have Friends of the Longfellow House and larger historical themes, such as colo- been used, given its known connection with Board of Directors nialism, patriotism, or the beginnings of the House Ulrich showed nearly matching Heather S Moulton, President mechanization Students also learn about photos from an Internet search, one of Barclay Henderson, Clerk other historical tools, including laboratory which was a nineteenth-century surveyor’s Robert C Mitchell, Treasurer analysis of materials, quantitative studies tool Shea provided what he knew about the Hope Cushing of household inventories, and iconography object: Harry Dana, Longfellow’s grand- Diana Der-Hovanessian [interpreting symbols] After selecting and son, bought the rod in because it was Edward Guleserian analyzing a particular object, each student purported to have been made by Henry Elisabeth W Hopkins is asked to give an oral presentation and Longfellow’s great-great-grandfather, a Sarah B Jolliffe Linda Almgren Kime write a paper about it blacksmith Dana kept the unidentified Laura Nash “The Longfellow House collections plain rod in the front hall After he died, Elizabeth F Potter extend from pre-history through the twen- other House occupants leaned it against the Lynne Spencer tieth century,” Ulrich and Gaskell write in study wall near the fireplace as a fire poker their course syllabus “In addition to art During the semester, students also heard Advisory Board works, furniture, clothing, household special presentations at the House NPS Ruth Butler implements, and a wide range of ‘souvenirs’ senior archeologist Steven Pendery gave a LeRoy Cragwell from all over the world, the house has lecture on the more than , archeolog- Diana Korzenik printed works and manuscripts of all ical artifacts in the House’s collection, all Richard Nylander Stephen D Pratt descriptions Supporting materials can be excavated in and around the house Harvard Marilyn Richardson found in Harvard’s libraries and museums anthropologist David Odo conducted a Marc Shell and in nearby collections ” class on the photographs that Charley Charles Sullivan As a preliminary exercise, Ulrich and Longfellow commissioned and purchased Lowell A Warren Jr Gaskell chose an iron rod for the class to in Japan in the early s Administrator J L Bell House Celebrates 25 th Anniversary (continued from page ) Newsletter Committee “They were built by Mr Craigie, who craftsmen to execute their plans Glenna Lang, Editor, Writer & Designer enlarged the house in the rear So old Mr This Georgian mansion was one of many James M Shea Sales once told me; and he lived in the days such country houses that once lined Brattle of Craigie, and may be supposed to know ” Street and were scattered throughout the Andrew Craigie acquired the house in , region (See articles on pages and ) and records corroborate that within a cou- This coming summer during its annual National Park Service ple of years and prior to moving in, he hired Cambridge Discovery Days, the Historic Myra Harrison, Superintendent someone to build Cambridge Col- James M Shea, Museum Manager Lauren Downing, Administrative Officer these additions laborative will Nancy Jones, Education andVisitor Services Exactly who celebrate Cam- Paul Blandford, Museum Educator designed Vassall’s bridge’s heritage Anita Israel, Archives Specialist house in is of Georgian arch- David Daly, Collections Manager unclear, although itecture and offer Lauren Malcolm, MuseumTechnician some experts sug- multiple tours of Flo Smith, Management Assistant gest it may have the historic build- Liza Stearns, Education Specialist been the profes- ings Comprised Scott Fletcher, Facility Manager sional architect of the Cambridge Peter Harrison Historical Soci- Printed by Newprint Offset, Waltham, Mass (See article on ety, the Cam- page ) Most bridge Historical educated wealthy Commission, the The section of the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House gentlemen of the Cambridge Arts All images are from the Longfellow National Historic day, such as John Vassall Jr , had some Council, Mount Auburn Cemetery, and the Site collections, unless noted otherwise. knowledge of architecture This knowledge Longfellow National Historic Site, the col- together with the many available pattern laborative has designated knowledgeable books, which disseminated the current volunteers from the community to present style, enabled people to design their own guided walks on two Saturdays in the houses They hired skilled carpenters and month of August Interview wit a Friend…Meet Laurel Thatcher lrich, Historian Professor of history at Harvard Univer- were wool I prevailed upon a University of the family artifacts, and the property all in sity, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich writes about Rhode Island professor, a textile scientist, one place together is an unparalleled re- early American social history, women's his- who worked with museums She agreed to source for doing historical investigation tory, and material culture Her books take little filaments from the basket and LH: Can you tell us a little about what include A Midwife'sTale:The Life of Martha Bal examine them with her electron microscope you teach your class here at the House? lard Based on Her Diary, 1785 1812 – win- What was amazing was that she could not LTU: This is a course in developing his- ner of the Pulitzer Prize for history in only tell me that, yes, it was wool, but what tory out of artifacts And kind of like the and the basis of a PBS documentary – The kind of sheep it came from Then I worked archeologist knowing which part of the Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Mak with a conservator from the Peabody Muse- ground an object came out of, the House ing of an American Myth, and Well Behaved um on another basket, trying to figure out tells us which part of the world of the nine- Women Seldom Make History.