NOVEMBER 2007
November 11 (Sunday) at 2:00 p.m. - Dr. Donald L. Murphy, an oceanographer for the International Ice Patrol and
New London native, will present " No More Titanics",
a program on International Ice Patrol. at the Shaw Mansion. Dr. Murphy will
describe the Ice Patrol's history, how icebergs are formed and move into
shipping lanes, and how the Ice Patrol helps mariners to avoid iceberg
collisions. Murphy has been tracking icebergs with the Patrol for nearly 25
years and has MS and PhD degrees in oceanography from the University of
Connecticut.
The Ice Patrol has been in existence since 1913 when the world's shipping
nations established this organization to track and warn mariners of icebergs
in the North Atlantic Ocean; this cooperative effort came shortly after the
sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. The United States assumed management of
the Ice Patrol, assigning it to the Revenue Cutter Service, the Coast
Guard's predecessor. Located at Avery Point, Groton, since 1983, the Ice
Patrol's office will soon move to Fort Trumbull in New London.
This program is the second in a series of programs celebrating the
International Polar Year of 2007-2008. Admission is free for members; there
is a $5.00 fee for non-members. Refreshments will be served. Further
information available, call the New London County Historical Society at
860-443-1209.
JULY 2007
July 8 (Sunday), 10 AM - 3 PM - Celebrate Connecticut Historic
Gardens Day with a tour of the hidden gardens of
Starr Street and enjoy strawberry
shortcake in the Shaw Mansion garden.
The New London County
Historical Society is celebrating the 100th anniversary of
the Shaw
Mansion as its headquarters—the property was
purchased from Jane Perkins, the great-great granddaughter
of the original builder, in 1907. For the anniversary
party the society is focusing attention on the recently planted
gardens and restored summer house and root cellar.
Starr Street gardens will
be open from 10 am to 2 pm. Those gardens open for
ticket holders will be marked and residents will welcome
you. Strawberry shortcake will be
available at the Shaw Mansion from 11 am to 3 pm. The silent
auction at the Shaw Mansion will close at 2:30.
Ticket
holders for the event will be admitted to residents’ gardens
in the Starr Street historic district as well as for tours
of the Shaw Mansion gardens. At the Mansion, strawberry
shortcake will be served, there will be garden exhibitors,
and garden-themed silent auction items will be available. $20
tickets may be purchased at the Shaw Mansion, 11
Blinman Street, New London, CT, or by phone at (860) 443-1209.
JUNE 2007
June 10 (Sunday), 2 PM - Elysa Engelman
of Mystic Seaport will present “Will the Real Lydia Pinkham Please Stand
Up?”.
One of the most famous faces in American advertising,
Lydia E. Pinkham’s grandmotherly image graced millions
of tradecards, pamphlets, bookmarks, and souvenir spoons,
all promoting her over-the counter medicines to American
women between the 1870’s and 1960’s. At the same
time Lydia Pinkham became the butt of vaudeville jokes, a
rallying figure for anti-drug activists and a threat to druggists
and doctors across the land. This illustrated talk and display
of Pinkham collectibles explores the images that consumers
faced on a daily basis during the last century.
Elysa Engelman,
Exhibit Researcher/Developer at Mystic Seaport has been working
in museums for 15 years. She received her PhD. in American
and New England Studies from Boston University, with her
dissertation examining the multi-faceted advertising trademark
of Lydia E. Pinkham and its reception by physicians, consumers,
retail druggists, comics, and competitors.
The program is part of the New London County Historical Society’s
Second Sunday Series at the Shaw Mansion, 11 Blinman Street,
New London, CT. It is free to
members and $5 for non-members. For further information,
please call The Society at (860) 443-1209.
MAY 2007
National Maritime Day Event
May 20 (Sunday), 2 PM - Maritime New London Tour of Cedar
Grove Cemetery.
Substituting for our Second Sunday program in May will be
a Third Sunday program
with Bill Peterson! Join us at 2 pm at the Administration
building in the cemetery for the one hour (or so) walking
tour in which Bill's trained eye will point out the many
maritime connections which have
been carved in stone.
Refreshments will be served following
the tour. Free
for NLCHS members, $5 for
non-members.
For further information,
please call The Society at (860) 443-1209.
May 19 (Saturday)- Jibboom Club Parade Party - Chowda'
. "We always
have a chowda' afta' the parade."
Your vote for the best chowder will determine who will be
named "Steward"
for Jibboom Club No. 1.
The party will follow the parade
on
Saturday 19 May, with the doors open from 3 to 6 pm. $10
Tickets (in advance, call the Shaw Mansion; $15 at the door)
will get you samples of up
to eight chowders and a beverage, plus there will be sea
music and a silent
auction to benefit the Historical Society.
Location will
be Peter Levine's
newly renovated New London Marketplace at 13 Washington Street
(behind the
Thames Club).
We have chowders from some of your favorite
restaurants, Grampy's and Raiders' Roost in New London,
Filomenas in Waterford, Flander's
Fish Market in Niantic, and Paul's Pasta and Sousa's Seafood
in Groton, and
we're expecting a couple of later entries.
Cottell's Brewing
Company will
offer Old Yankee Ale.
Rick Spencer and David Littlefield
of Forebitter will
perform, and we'll have the Sea-Notes - a 16 voice barbershop
chorus - as
well. (And you KNOW you want to get inside the former United
Electric
Building to see what's happening there.)
So come have fun, enjoy the chowder, the music, and support
the Historical
Society. The Jibboom Club will be there - you should
be too!
Tickets: $10 advance/$15 at the door
Party location:
New London Market Place,
13 Washington St., New London, CT
Ticket sales & info: New London County
Historical Society, 11 Blinman St., New London, CT.
(860) 443-1209.
APRIL, 2007
April 25 (Wednesday), 4:30 pm - Talk and
Booksigning.
Presentation by Stephen
Grant titled, “Peter
Strickland
(1837-1921), New London Captain and Consul,”.
The
presentation will be followed by a reception and
booksigning. Grant’s recent book, Peter
Strickland: New
London
Shipmaster, Boston Merchant, First Consul to Senegal,
tells the story
of a sea captain born in Montville who became involved in
trade with
West Africa and served as consul to French West Africa (now
Senegal)
for over twenty years.
The book opens a window to New
London’s African
connections, a neglected aspect of late nineteenth century
trade.
In some ways, Strickland’s life was that of a
typical merchant mariner. He progressed from seaman to second mate to first
mate to master to captain and then captain and supercargo; later he became an
agent for several companies, notably the Boston ship owners Matthew Bartlett
and Francis C. Butman, and the Luckett-Wake Tobacco Co. of Clarksville,
Tennessee.
The difference is in the details. Strickland
was a resident agent for commercial sales in West Africa,
first in Portuguese Guinea and then in French Senegal.
President Chester A. Arthur
appointed him consul in 1883. At that time, the primary
role of a consul was to facilitate and monitor U.S. shipping
interests in his area, as well as look after American seamen.
The position was unpaid, although the consul could keep the fees
charged ships in port. These did not amount to enough to
live on, but luckily the ideas of conflict
of interest were not as strict as today, and Strickland earned
commissions from a variety of American and French companies.
Although he purchased
a house in Dorchester, MA., in 1871 and
eventually retired there, Strickland kept up his connections
with the
New London area. After his retirement in 1905 he took several
trips to the area with his daughter Mary, and either took
the trolley or drove a rented horse and carriage around to
visit relatives and revisit scenes of his youth.
He and his family are buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery.
Stephen
Grant, now retired from the U.S. Agency for International Development,
served in several Central American and African countries
before becoming a Washington desk officer for West African
countries. He purchased an envelope on e-Bay addressed to “Capt.
Peter Strickland, U.S. Consul, Goree, West Africa,” decided
to investigate, and the result is this interesting and informative
book.
This event, at the Shaw Mansion, 11 Blinman Street, New London,
CT, is free and open to the public. For further information,
please call The Society at (860) 443-1209.
April 15, 1 pm - Field Trip to the Florence
Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT, where we will view the exhibit "The
Freedom Business: Connecticut Landscapes through the Eyes
of Venture Smith", click
here for preview which
prominently features the copy of Venture Smith's narrative from our
collection.
We'll also have an opportunity to see the newly-renovated
Florence Griswold House, and end the afternoon with a tea, overlooking the
Lieutenant River.
The daffodils should be fully in bloom by then!
Meet at the Shaw Mansion at 1:00 pm for
car-pooling.
We must depart by 1:30 pm
to be at the Florence Griswold by 2:00 pm.
The Shaw Mansion is located at 11 Blinman Street, New London,
CT, near the intersection of Bank and Tilley Streets.
We will depart from the Florence
Griswold Museum by 5:00 pm.
Cost will be about $10.
Please let us know if
you
would like to join us by calling the Shaw Mansion, (860)
443-1209, to make reservations before Easter (April 8).
MARCH, 2007
March 11, 2 pm - Evelyn Kennedy of Sewtique
in Groton will
present "TLC for Precious Textiles".
Whether it's Great-Great-Grandma's sampler or your child's
christening dress, there are good and bad ways to care for
it, and specific measures you can take to remove stains from
different types of fabric.
Ms. Kennedy will not only
give advice about
cleaning and caring for textiles, but also have items of
different types from different periods available for "touch
and feel" examination.
Audience
members are encouraged to bring textiles they'd like to know
more about - have
you ever wondered if those lace curtains really came with
Aunt Mary from
Ireland, or were they made here?
Evelyn Seifert Kennedy founded
Sewtique, a textile repair, restoration, and
alterations business, in 1970. She
has an MS in Textile
Science from the University of Rhode Island, and is an accredited
appraiser with the International Society of Appraisers, with
specialty of textiles and
apparel.
Admission is free for members of the Historical Society,
$5 for others.
Shaw Mansion is located at 11 Blinman Street, New London,
near the intersection of Bank and Tilley Streets.
For more information, please call (860) 443-1209.
FEBRUARY, 2007
February 11, 2 pm - presentation and
book signing by Richard Radune, author of Pequot Plantation: The
Story of an Early Colonial Settlement.
Books
will be available for purchase.
According to the author, southeastern Connecticut
had a much greater
impact on the course of seventeenth century colonial history than has
generally been portrayed in broad scope histories or textbooks.
His
goal in the book was to illuminate Pequot Plantation by not
only
showing its interaction with historic events in New England
but also as
part of England’s drive for world dominance. Radune
follows the lives of numerous settlers as well as the three
principal Indian tribes and
their leaders.
Richard Radune grew up in New Britain, CT, and is
a 1965 graduate of
Syracuse University with a major in U. S. history. He
served in the Air Force in North Dakota and Alaska. Following
a 30-year career with CIGNA Corporation in different parts
of the country, Radune retired in 1998 and returned to Connecticut
where his life long interest in history could be readily
pursued. He lives in Branford with his wife,
Eleanor.
Admission is free for members of the Historical Society,
$5 for others.
Shaw Mansion is located at 11 Blinman Street, New London,
near the intersection of Bank and Tilley Streets.
For more information, please call (860) 443-1209.
JANUARY, 2007
January 14, 2007, 2 PM - Dr. Nancy Steenburg, presenting
new research based on our manuscript collection: “Two
New Londons: Frances Caulkins and the New London Ladies’ Seamen’s
Friend Society".
In the 1840s, women of New London,
including historian Frances Manwaring Caulkins, founded a
Ladies’ Seamen’s
Friend Society to aid indigent and injured sailors. At first
glance the Society seemed to have laudable goals in providing
a safety net for local seamen. Yet a majority of members
were the wives, daughters, or sisters of the men who owned
the major whaling and shipping companies in the city. Were
the charity efforts of the ladies merely a salve for the
consciences of their menfolk, or did the women of New London
have their own agenda of reform?
Steenburg is an Assistant
Professor of History at the University of Connecticut, Avery
Point. She received her AB from
Harvard, MA from Trinity College, and PhD from the University
of Connecticut, all in history. She is the recipient
of numerous awards and fellowship grants, and has published
widely on Connecticut history subjects. Her 2005 book, Children
and the Criminal Law in Connecticut, 1635-1855: Changing
Perceptions of Childhood, was recently recognized
as the year’s best book on Connecticut history by
the Association for the Study of Connecticut History.
Dr. Steenburg
is currently working on a biography of Frances Caulkins,
a pioneering female historian, whose collected papers are
part of our collection. The Society, planning
a new edition of Caulkins’ unmatched 1860 work, History
of New London, has called upon Steenburg’s expertise
to write a new introduction to the republished book. The
Second Sunday presentation will share photographs and images
that will provide a rare view of 19th-century New London.
Refreshments
will follow the lecture. Admission is
free for members of the historical society, $5 for others.
Shaw
Mansion is located at 11 Blinman Street, New London, near
the intersection of Bank and Tilley Streets.
For more information, please call (860) 443-1209. |
