Job Hunt in Public Humanities: FW: Historic New England e-newsletter

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News

from

Historic New England

e-newsletter

December 2008

Culinary keepsake

In celebration of Historic New England's Year of the Kitchen, the centerpieces for the 2009 Gala will feature herbs from the Lyman Estate Greenhouses - parsley, rosemary, and sage. According to the language of flowers, the herbs foretell a particularly successful evening. Parsley (festivity) guarantees a wonderful party; rosemary (remembrance) ensures that the guests will leave with happy memories; and sage (wisdom) reflects the educational goals that the event will support.

The Historic New England Gala is Friday, January 9, at The Four Seasons in Boston. For information call Melinda Cheston at 617-227-3957, ext. 247.

Historic New England is very appreciative of support from Lead Corporate Sponsor William Vareika Fine Arts, Ltd., with additional support from Gold Sponsor Skinner, Inc.

Holiday shopping at Historic New England

Do your holiday shopping with us.

For great gift ideas visit our special museum shop sales onsite and online.

For something completely different

For a unique and affordable way to celebrate the holidays with employees, clients, or volunteers take a private evening tour of the Gropius House.

Your guests will learn about Walter Gropius, one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century and founder of the German design school known as the Bauhaus. The 1938 house, although modest in scale, was revolutionary in impact, and combines traditional elements of New England architecture with what was the latest technology in fixtures. See how Gropius's innovative lighting scheme comes to life at night. With all the family possessions still in place, the house has an immediacy rarely found in house museums.

Celebrate with a light seasonal buffet in the Visitor Center, where you may take advantage of a special group discount in the museum gift shop. One lucky guest will also receive a gift from the Gropius House! Please contact Wendy Hubbard at 781-259-8098 or WHubbard@historicnewengland.org for details about arranging an evening tour.

Student partnerships from grade to grade

Throughout the year, students visit Historic New England sites in their communities. Here are two recent partnerships.

Students in the "Eating Cultures: Food and Society" course at Brown University visited Watson Farm to learn about local food, grass-fed cattle, and the unique role Historic New England plays in preserving working farms and proliferating a preservation ethic.

Museum teachers at the Pierce House established a partnership with the Stitch House, a yarn store in Dorchester, Massachusetts, as part of a knitting apprenticeship for Citizen Schools students. The students, in sixth through eighth grade, made baby hats to donate to infants in neonatal intensive care.

Put Historic New England on your gift list

Historic New England occasionally publishes a "wish list" of items staff are seeking as donations. Previously, the generosity of our members has provided items for our public events, school programs, and visitor services areas.

The Piscataqua region staff are looking for dinner and salad plates for programs. Please contact EFarish@HistoricNewEngland.org if you can help.

School programs in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut need mortars and pestles, wooden stilts, and yarn for a weaving activity. Clothing suitable for children to wear in programs about the Civil War era is also needed: straw and felt hats, men's vests, black or brown belts, white gloves, and shawls. Please contact BostonEd@HistoricNewEngland.org to make a donation.

Staff at Roseland Cottage could use two six-foot folding tables and one folding card table for public events. Please contact LCentola@HistoricNewEngland.org for more information.

In preparation for our traveling exhibition, America's Kitchens, curators are looking for vintage Tupperware and a 1960s or 1970s refrigerator with the freezer on top, preferably a color rather than white. Please contact NCarlisle@HistoricNewEngland.org to donate to this special Year of the Kitchen exhibition.

Plant of the month

Frosty Fern; Selaginella kraussianna variegatus

Not a true fern, but a fern allie, from Africa and the Azores. It's common name is also spike moss. It is an easy houseplant that likes bright indirect light with plenty of water and humidity. It makes a great terrarium plant. It is fast growing, spreading by creeping along and sending down roots. The white tips get even more white as the temperatures are reduced. The Lyman Estate Greenhouses have these festive little plants in four-inch pots for $7.50.

The greenhouses are open Wednesday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. (until 7:00 p.m. on Thursdays). For more information, call 781-891-4882, ext. 244.

Historic New England members receive a 10% discount, and Garden & Landscape members receive a 15% discount at the Lyman Estate Greenhouses. For Garden and Landscape membership information click here.

Picturing a Bowen

Mary Louise Bowen To further add to the collection of material related to the historic properties, Historic New England recently acquired a c. 1855 miniature portrait of Mary Louisa Bowen, daughter of Henry Chandler Bowen of Roseland Cottage.

Mary Louisa Bowen, born two years after Roseland Cottage was completed, was the eldest daughter of Henry Chandler Bowen (1813-1896) and Lucy Maria Tappan (1825-1863). Mary married George Holt (b.1848) in Woodstock, Connecticut, in 1871. As an adult she summered at Roseland Cottage with her family, staying in the first floor bedchamber. Mary's daughter, Constance, who died in 1968, was the last Bowen to live at the house.