Stirring the Ashes: A Remembrance September 23, 2023 2:00pm

THE PORTER-PHELPS-HUNTINGTON MUSEUM

Hosts

Stirring the Ashes 

A memorial event in partnership with Stopping Stones Project and Ancestral Bridges

Zebulon Prutt (1731-1802), Margaret (Peg) Bowen (1742-1992), Cesar Phelps (1752-date unknown), Rose (1761-1781), Phillis (1765-1775), Phillis (1775-1783)

September 23, 2023 2:00pm at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum

Hadley MA —

On Saturday, September 23, in partnership with Ancestral Bridges, the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum will host a commemorative Stopping Stones memorial markers ceremony. Join us as we stir the ashes in remembrance of six people who were enslaved during the eighteenth century at the Porter-Phelps farmstead in Hadley, Massachusetts. Acknowledging and learning about this difficult past is necessary to live responsibly in the present and strengthens our collective responsibility to create a better future. With soulful expression through music and renowned storytellers, Onawumi Jean Moss and Dr. Shirley Jackson Whitaker, we invite all members of the community to honor the lives and share the histories of Zebulon Prutt, Cesar Phelps, Margaret (Peg) Bowen, her daughters Rosanna and Phillis, and granddaughter Phillis who were enslaved at this farmstead. This program includes Reading Frederick Douglas Together, a reading of an abridged version of Frederick Douglass’s 1852 speech, “The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro,” and an opportunity to visit portions of the house that recall those who were enslaved. This event is free and open to the public and supported by grants from Mass Humanities, Mass Cultural Council,  and Stopping Stones, a national project of the Engagement Arts Fund. 

MY business, if I have any here to-day, is with the present. The accepted time with God and his cause is the ever-living now. We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. Now is the time, the important time.

-Frederick Douglass

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation acknowledges that it occupies the unceded lands of the Nonotuck people. The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum contains a collection of the belongings of several generations of one extended Hadley family, dating back to the house’s establishment in 1752 by Moses and Elizabeth Porter. The farmstead, known as “Forty Acres and its Skirts,” was a year-round home for generations before becoming a rural retreat for the family in the 19th century. The house and its activities include the labor and livelihood of many artisans, servants, and enslaved people. Their lived experiences are being brought to the forefront at the museum in the form of a new tour and reinterpretation initiative funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. A new tour foregrounds the lives of six enslaved men and women at the house: Zebulon Prutt, Cesar Phelps, Peg Bowen, Phillis, Rose, and Phillis. Additionally, the tour highlights the role of “pastkeeping” by exploring the home’s transition into a museum in the twentieth century. Recently, the museum was designated the “Forty Acres and its Skirts National Historic District” by the Massachusetts Historical Commission, and now encompasses protected farmland, forest, river frontage, nature trails, built landscape features and outbuildings.

The Museum is located at 130 River Drive, Route 47, Hadley MA 01035, and open for tours Friday to Monday 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm through October 15. For more information visit www.pphmuseum.org  or call (413) 584-4699.

– END –

New "Forty Acres and Its Skirts" National Register Historic District Annoucned

Boundary of the Forty Acres and Its Skirts historic district.

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation is pleased to announce that a new National Register historic district, “Forty Acres And Its Skirts,” has been designated encompassing the museum property, the associated Phelps Farm complex across River Drive, and other historic resources and agricultural land in the vicinity. The project was supported through a National Park Service Underrepresented Communities Grant to the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) in partnership with the Porter-Phelps-Huntington (PPH) Foundation. The goal of the district nomination was to update and expand the existing National Register documentation for the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Historic House, listed individually in 1973, incorporating the associated historic resources and focusing discussion on the importance of groups and individuals underrepresented in the historical record. This includes enslaved and Native people, indentured servants, free Blacks, and Polish agricultural workers. The new district encompasses about 114 acres on both sides of River Drive and extends the period of significance to 1978. The National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s official list of buildings, structures, sites, and objects that retain integrity and are worthy of preservation. The Underrepresented Communities Grant awarded for this project was one of only eighteen awarded nationwide by the National Park Service in 2020.

Karen Sánchez-Eppler, President of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Board of Directors, describes the research undertaken for this National Register nomination by Professor Marla Miller and Brian Whetstone, both of the UMass Amherst Department of History, as “detailed and far-ranging, providing an extraordinary amount of information about the land, the buildings themselves, and the daily lives of the many very different people who lived and labored on these properties over more than two centuries. The histories we care about change over time, and the new nomination works to answer questions about environmental impact, immigration, the economics of these properties, and their labor histories that simply were not being asked before. Now we know that the 1816 buildings at Phelps Farm were paid for in significant part by profits Charles Phelps made trading in sugar and other products of enslaved labor. The museum has always known and talked about the six people enslaved at the museum property, but now we also know about the many free Black men and women who provided hired labor at both properties, some of whom also managed to buy Hadley land of their own. Until just two years ago there were no people of color who owned farms in Hadley, but there were Black owned farms here 120 years ago. This is local history that matters for our present.” The tour of the Museum has been rewritten to incorporate this wider history.

Professor Miller noted that "bringing historical understanding of the site more firmly into the 20th century has been fascinating. Particularly rewarding for us as researchers has been exploring the history of dairy industry in 20th-century Hampshire County, and narrating more thoroughly the story of the creation of the museum in the second quarter of the 20th century, and learning more about the many ways local families contributed to that effort."

Phelps Farm was donated to the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation in 2022. Sánchez-Eppler notes that “the farmhouse preserves many original features—including, which is very rare—a kitchen ell that experienced very little modernizing renovation and still contains original shelving and hardware. But the house has been unoccupied for over 30 years and will take lots of resources to stabilize and restore.” The inclusion of Phelps Farm in the new historic district makes the property eligible for a variety of state and national grants. A significant portion of the acreage in the new district, on the east side of River Drive, is under the stewardship of Kestrel Trust, which has partnered with the PPH Foundation on efforts to increase visitorship and appreciation for the preserved cultural landscape.

PORTER-PHELPS-HUNTINGTON MUSEUM OPENS FOR 2023 SEASON

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, an historic house dating to 1752 in Hadley Massachusetts, re-opens to the public on Saturday, June 3rd, 2023, for its 74th season. The new Museum tour tells a more complete story of the many different lives lived in this place, drawn from extensive research made possible by grant support from MassHumanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2022. Guided tours will be available Saturday through Wednesday from 1:00 to 4:00 P.M. Tours will last for approximately 45 minutes. The museum is closed on Thursdays and Fridays. Admission is $5 for adults and $1 for children. The Porter-Phelps-Huntington House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The land the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum now occupies was cultivated by Nonotock and other Indigenous people for millennia. It was claimed as common acreage by householders in the stockaded town of Hadley when the town was laid out in 1659. In 1752, Moses and Elizabeth Pitkin Porter erected a farmstead known as “Forty Acres” on the banks of the Connecticut River. Today, the Museum at “Forty Acres” uncovers life in rural New England over three centuries. The new guided tours, developed in 2022, introduce visitors to a wide range of individuals, from Quanquan, one of the Native leaders whose name is on the earliest Hadley deeds, to James Lincoln Huntington, who founded the museum in the 1940s. Some are members of the family who owned this property; others are people enslaved by them. The tour provides insight into the lives of domestic servants who lived in the house and raised their own families here, craftspeople who plied their trades here, and finally the family’s generation of “past keepers” who recreated this site as a museum. Through their words, spaces, and possessions, the Museum portrays the activities and diverse histories of the many people who lived and worked on this farmstead. In the eighteenth century, “Forty Acres” was an important social and commercial link in local, regional and national cultural and economic networks. During the nineteenth century, the property became a rural retreat for descendants of the original owners. In the twentieth century, family members preserved the site as an historic house museum. So many very different lives have unfolded on this ground; now in the twenty-first century the Museum strives to tell all their stories and to use those stories as a lens in examining larger questions in regional and national history.

Programs this summer include the 42nd season of WEDNESDAY FOLK TRADITIONS, featuring some of New England's finest ethnic folk music performers and ensembles. The season kicks off on June 14th with our 11th Annual Horace Clarence Boyer Memorial Gospel Concert featuring Grammy-nominated composer Evelyn Harris with Giving Voice performing traditional African-American song canon; Rebelle’s inspirational and meditative Roots reggae; the seven-member world music ensemble The Pangeans; The Wholesale Klezmer Band and their program of Jewish Life in Song; World/Afro–Andean/Latin/Jazz Fusion Viva Quetzal; the mix of jazz, Ju-Ju, samba, hip-hop, and blues of Tony Vacca with World Rhythms; and Afro-Semitic Experience, dedicated to preserving, promoting, and expanding the cultural and musical heritage of the Jewish and African diaspora. The 42nd season of WEDNESDAY FOLK TRADITIONS begins on June 14th and occurs every Wednesday at 6:30pm in the museum’s sunken garden through July.         

Bridging the Past and Present, a series of virtual conversations with scholars and public history practitioners on new research into the history of this site will be announced. Discussions will shed light on the documentation and preservation of Phelps Farm, observing the museum’s updated listing in the National Register of Historic Places, the 18th-19th century Slave Trade, and more. All of these talks are free and open to the public.

Reading Frederick Douglass Together at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, A Site of Enslavement in Western Massachusetts, will present an abridged version of Frederick Douglass’s 1852 speech, “The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro” on September 23rd. This public presentation will coincide with the installation of commemorative Stopping Stones, a national project of the Engagement Arts Fund that commemorates and memorializes sites of enslavement through brass plaques. In partnership with the BIPOC descendants’ organization, Ancestral Bridges, the Stopping Stones Project will install plaques in the sunken garden in a ritual honoring the lives and sharing the histories of Zebulon Prutt, Caesar Phelps, Margaret “Peg” Bowen, her daughters Rose and Phillis, and granddaughter Phillis, six people who were enslaved at this farmstead. This event is free and open to the public and made possible by a grant from Mass Humanities.

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is the designated Way-Point Center for the National Connecticut River Scenic Byway. The Museum hosts a panel exhibit on the natural history of the Valley, the Museum’s history, and sites travelers will find along the by-way. A trail system begins at the Museum, traverses the farm fields along the river, and continues up the old buggy path to the top of Mount Warner where the farm’s cattle grazed in the 18th century. 

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is located at 130 River Drive, Hadley MA on Route 47 just two miles north of the junction of Routes 9 and 47 North in Hadley.  For information concerning tours or special events, phone (413) 584-4699 or check the museum web site: www.pphmuseum.org .
The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is funded by grants from the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency, through its 2022/2023 Cultural Sector Recovery for Organizations, and its Festivals and Programs grants; the National Endowment for Humanities: MassHumanities; and the Amherst and Hadley Cultural Councils, local agencies funded by Massachusetts Cultural Council; Robinson and Cole; Easthampton Savings Bank; Gage-Wiley and Company,  and with generous support from many local businesses.  The Foundation welcomes contributions from friends and visitors.

Community Engagement Meeting: A Public Program with Marla Miller and Brian Whetstone

In summer 2020, the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation received a grant from the National Park Services’ Underrepresented Communities Program (one of only eighteen awarded nationwide) to revise its 1970s nomination to the National Register of Historic Places to include narratives that have been uncovered in the half-century since. Two consultants from UMass Amherst—Marla Miller and Brian Whetstone—are working to update and enlarge the documentation for Forty Acres to include the history that unfolded across the street at Phelps Farm. Once complete, the site’s National Register documentation will cover a wide range of new subjects, including histories of women and work from the eighteenth century to the twentieth; histories of enslavement and freedom; Native American laborers in Hadley; immigration; the history of “pastkeeping” in Hadley, and changing ideas about historical significance itself.

We invite the community to participate in this process, by helping consider which stories are especially important to the town today, and also by offering recollections, information and advice as we document the more recent past. Please join us for a short presentation by the project team about the National Register, and some of the research to date. This presentation will be followed by a general conversation in which we invite participants to share their knowledge. What, for instance, has the history of the dairy industry looked like in twentieth-century Hadley? What recollections might residents have of farming at Phelps Farm or of the early years of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum? We hope you will join us for this event, and we're looking forward to hearing your stories and insight about Hadley and the two properties.

Topic: NRHP public meeting with PPH Museum
Time: Nov 18, 2021 5:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) ****** Join Zoom Meeting
https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/99652936723?pwd=Qnd0U0FJa2hwS2hCMDdUeDFHcG9mUT09

Meeting ID: 996 5293 6723
Enter the Passcode: 085838

The Province of Affliction: Illness and the Making of Early New England

 The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum presents The Province of Affliction: Illness and the Making of Early New England with Ben Mutschler in conversation with Robert Gross on Wednesday, August 18, 2021 at 5pm. Long before Covid, Americans wrestled with the severe disruptions that illness presented in daily life.  This session turns our attention to the social and political implications of sickness in early America, featuring Ben Mutschler in conversation with Robert Gross about Mutschler’s new book, The Province of Affliction: Illness and the Making of Early New England (Chicago, 2020). Their discussion will explore the ways in which the routine presence of illness in everyday life shaped and strained the most basic institutions of eighteenth-century New England, from families and households, to neighborhoods and towns, all the way to the highest reaches of government.  The early modern world suggests ready comparisons with our own -- enduring problems that were accommodated in ways both strange and familiar.

Ben Mutschler is Associate Professor of History at Oregon State University, where he teaches courses on early America. He earned his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University and has received long-term fellowships from the Omohundro Institute and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation.  He is currently undertaking a new book project that explores the ways in which discussions of citizenship in the era of the American Revolution engaged questions of ability and disability. This work asks what qualities of body, mind, and temperament separated the monarchical subject from the new republican citizen?

A social and cultural historian focusing on New England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Robert A. Gross is the James L. and Shirley A. Draper Professor of Early American History Emeritus at the University of Connecticut. His first book, The Minutemen and Their World (1976) received the Bancroft Prize for 1977; it was reissued in a 25th anniversary edition in 2001 and will appear in a new, revised edition in 2022 to mark the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. His latest book, The Transcendentalists and Their World, continues his exploration of Concord, Massachusetts into the era of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. It will be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in November 2021.

All of the Bridging the Past and Present talks are free and open to the public. This series is made possible by a grant from the Bridge Street Fund, a special initiative of Mass Humanities to enable open access to local history. To view past talks, click here or visit the museum’s website at https://www.pphmuseum.org/bridging. 

The Porter-Phelps Huntington Museum’s summer 2021 programs are funded, in part, by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state Agency; the Amherst Cultural Councils, local agencies, supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council; Mass Humanities Bridge Street Fund; Easthampton Savings Bank, Gage-Wiley & Co. and with the generous support of many local businesses and the public.

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum will remain closed for onsite public programming for its 2021 season to protect the health and safety of the community and its employees. However, the museum grounds and scenic byway trail systems remain open for your use and enjoyment. The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is located at 130 River Drive (Route 47) in Hadley, two miles north of the junction of Routes 9 and 47. The house, which remains unchanged since the family’s occupancy, tells the story of six generations of prominent Hadley residents. The family, prosperous traders turned farmers and prominent members of the local government and social scene, embodied a consistently progressive social consciousness. For further information about tours or other programs, please call the Museum at (413) 584-4699 or visit our website at http://www.pphmuseum.org.

A Wind that Rose: Susan Phelps and Emily Dickinson

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum presents A Wind That Rose: Susan Phelps and Emily Dickinson with Anna Plummer on Thursday, August 5, 2021 at 5pm. ​​During this presentation, Anna Plummer will discuss findings from her historic and creative research paper which delves into the life of Emily Dickinson’s friend and member of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington family, Susan Davis Phelps (1827-1865). Phelps allegedly died “of a broken heart”, but her legacy in the PPH collections and local archives reveals a more nuanced story framed by the lively social scene at Amherst College and a rural 19th-century family’s struggle with loss and mental illness. Most notably, the friendship between Phelps and Dickinson brings new depth to some of the poet’s writing known around the world today.

Anna Plummer earned her B.A. in English and Theater & Dance from Amherst College in 2020 and is an emerging public history professional and creative. She is a tour guide at the Emily Dickinson Museum, most recently assisting in the development of museum virtual programming. She interned at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum during the summer of 2019, where her curiosity about Susan Phelps first sparked. Her early work on this topic has been posted to PPH’s website at https://www.pphmuseum.org/susanphelps.

All of the Bridging the Past and Present talks are free and open to the public. This series is made possible by a grant from the Bridge Street Fund, a special initiative of Mass Humanities to enable open access to local history. Historians Ben Mutschler and Robert Gross will conclude the series on August 18 with a conversation about the world of illness in early New England, the subject of Mutschler’s latest book. To see more details about these events and to access the Zoom links, click here or visit the museum’s website at https://www.pphmuseum.org/bridging. Recordings of past talks are also available at this link.

The Porter-Phelps Huntington Museum’s summer 2021 programs are funded, in part, by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state Agency; the Amherst Cultural Councils, local agencies, supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council; Mass Humanities Bridge Street Fund; Easthampton Savings Bank, Gage-Wiley & Co. and with the generous support of many local businesses and the public.

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum will remain closed for onsite public programming for its 2021 season to protect the health and safety of the community and its employees. However, the museum grounds and scenic byway trail systems remain open for your use and enjoyment. The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is located at 130 River Drive (Route 47) in Hadley, two miles north of the junction of Routes 9 and 47. The house, which remains unchanged since the family’s occupancy, tells the story of six generations of prominent Hadley residents. The family, prosperous traders turned farmers and prominent members of the local government and social scene, embodied a consistently progressive social consciousness. For further information about tours or other programs, please call the Museum at (413) 584-4699 or visit our website at http://www.pphmuseum.org.

Clifton Johnson: A Search for the Heart of America

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum will present Clifton Johnson: A Search for the Heart of America: Picture Show and Lecture by William Hosley on Wednesday, July 28 at 5pm. “Author, Traveler, Historian, Editor and Illustrator, Farmer, Lover of Nature, Good and Generous Citizen” is how his gravestone describes Clifton Johnson (1865-1940), who was foremost one of the great documentary photographers of his generations, as well as a museum maker who founded the Hadley Farm Museum. This talk, the third in the Museum’s “Bridging the Past and Present” speaker series, is the story of this son of “old Hadley.”

William Hosley is a cultural resource development consultant, historian, writer, and photographer. He was formerly Director of the New Haven Museum and Connecticut Landmarks, curator and exhibition developer at Wadsworth Atheneum, and organized major exhibitions including The Great River: Art & Society of the Connecticut Valley (1985), The Japan Idea: Art and Life in Victorian America (1990), and Sam & Elizabeth: Legend and Legacy of Colt's Empire (1996). As an expert in heritage tourism, Hosley has studied, lectured and advised museums and heritage destinations around the country and has served as a content specialist for PBS, BBC and CPTV film documentaries.

All of the Bridging the Past and Present talks are free and open to the public. This series is made possible by a grant from the Bridge Street Fund, a special initiative of Mass Humanities to enable open access to local history. Later on in the summer, we will welcome scholars Anna Plummer and Ben Mutschler to speak on topics ranging from the deep friendships of local women to the world of illness in early New England. To see more details about these events and to access the Zoom links, click here or visit the museum’s website at https://www.pphmuseum.org/bridging.

The Porter-Phelps Huntington Museum’s summer 2021 programs are funded, in part, by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state Agency; the Amherst Cultural Councils, local agencies, supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council; Mass Humanities Bridge Street Fund; Easthampton Savings Bank, Gage-Wiley & Co. and with the generous support of many local businesses and the public.

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum will remain closed for onsite public programming for its 2021 season to protect the health and safety of the community and its employees. However, the museum grounds and scenic byway trail systems remain open for your use and enjoyment. The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is located at 130 River Drive (Route 47) in Hadley, two miles north of the junction of Routes 9 and 47. The house, which remains unchanged since the family’s occupancy, tells the story of six generations of prominent Hadley residents. The family, prosperous traders turned farmers and prominent members of the local government and social scene, embodied a consistently progressive social consciousness. For further information about tours or other programs, please call the Museum at (413) 584-4699 or visit our website at http://www.pphmuseum.org.

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington House Presents: Bridging the Past and Present Speaker Series

 HADLEY— The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum will present Bridging the Past and Present, a series of virtual conversations with five scholars on the history of Hadley and the Porter-Phelps-Huntington family, starting Wednesday, June 16 at 5pm. All of these talks will be free and open to the public. This series is made possible by a grant from the Bridge Street Fund, a special initiative of Mass Humanities to enable open access to local history. Kicking off the program on June 16 will be Entangled Lives: A Conversation on Women and Work at the PPH House in the Past and the Present, a conversation with Marla R. Miller, author of Entangled Lives: Labor, Livelihood and Landscapes of Change in Rural Massachusetts (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019) and Karen Sánchez-Eppler.

Miller is a University of Massachusetts Professor of History and Director of the Public History Program. Tapping archival resources, material culture, and the built environment, in several books and more than a dozen articles Miller has surfaced and explored social relations of work among Black, Native American, and white women in rural New England. She has also recently come to study the role of “past keepers” such as authors, museum-makers, and archivists in preserving and interpreting history. Her book The Needle’s Eye: Women and Work in the Age of Revolution (University of Massachusetts Press, 2006) won the Costume Society of America’s Millia Davenport Publication Award for the best book in the field for that year. Following that, her book Betsy Ross and the Making of America (Holt, 2010)—a scholarly biography of that much-misunderstood early American craftswoman—was a finalist for the Cundill Prize in History at McGill University, the world’s largest non-fiction historical literature prize. It was also named to the Washington Post’s “Best of 2010” list, one of the many awards and accolades Professor Miller’s extensive work has received. A short biography of gownmaker Rebecca Dickinson appeared in the Westview Press series Lives of American Women in summer 2013. Miller also consults with a wide variety of museums and historic sites in New England and beyond; in 2012, a report, “Imperiled Promise”: The State of History in the National Park Service, produced with co-authors Anne Whisnant, Gary Nash & David Thelen, for the Organization of American Historians, won the National Council on Public History award for excellence in consulting. Karen Sánchez-Eppler, a Professor of American Studies and English, will talk with Professor Miller about her research and methods, drawing connections with how women’s lives continue to entangle today.

Professor Sánchez-Eppler will then present the second talk of the series, School Letters: Teaching with the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers on July 7. Throughout the summer, we will welcome scholars William Hosley, Anna Plummer, and Ben Mutschler to speak on topics ranging from the documentary photography of Clifton Johnson to the deep friendships of local women to the world of illness in early New England. To see more details about these events and to access the Zoom links, click here or visit the museum’s website at https://www.pphmuseum.org/bridging.

The Porter-Phelps Huntington Museum’s summer 2021 programs are funded, in part, by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state Agency; the Amherst Cultural Councils, local agencies, supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council; Mass Humanities Bridge Street Fund; Easthampton Savings Bank, Gage-Wiley & Co. and with the generous support of many local businesses and the public.

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum will remain closed for onsite public programming for its 2021 season to protect the health and safety of the community and its employees. However, the museum grounds and scenic byway trail systems remain open for your use and enjoyment. The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is located at 130 River Drive (Route 47) in Hadley, two miles north of the junction of Routes 9 and 47. The house, which remains unchanged since the family’s occupancy, tells the story of six generations of prominent Hadley residents. The family, prosperous traders turned farmers and prominent members of the local government and social scene, embodied a consistently progressive social consciousness. For further information about tours or other programs, please call the Museum at (413) 584-4699 or visit our website at http://www.pphmuseum.org.

If you missed the talk, you can watch a recording of it here!

Closure of Onsite Programming at PPH for Summer 2021

PORTER-PHELPS-HUNTINGTON MUSEUM WILL BE CLOSED FOR ONSITE PUBLIC PROGRAMMING FOR ITS 2021 SEASON

HADLEY – The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, a historic house museum dating to 1752 in Hadley, Massachusetts, will again be closed for in-person public programming for its 72nd season in order to protect the health and safety of the community, museum interns, and staff. However, we will be undertaking several projects during this time including new interpretive programming, updates for the website, and archival processing of new collections to reinvigorate and expand our 2022 season. We are excited to present several free virtual programs this summer that will share the culture and history of this site through a discussion of topics that speak to the present through the past.

The museum will host Bridging the Past and Present, a series of virtual conversations with five scholars on the history of Hadley and the Porter-Phelps-Huntington family. All of these talks will be free and open to the public. This series is made possible by a generous grant from the Bridge Street Fund, a special initiative of Mass Humanities that strives to enable open access to local history.

With the temporary closure of the museum’s in-person programming, we hope to continue to encourage an historical understanding through new research into the PPH collections which we will be posting to our website and social media. We are fortunate to have eight new summer interns who will be cataloguing recent collections, organizing archival papers, and researching new and existing materials throughout the summer. They look forward to introducing themselves and their interests through the museum’s Facebook page. Without the museum’s in-person programs which bring community engagement and critical financial support for the operations of the PPH Museum, we hope all will visit our website to learn more about the museum’s collections and the important research our museum interns do each season.

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is also the Way-Point Center for the National Connecticut River Scenic Byway. The museum hosts a panel exhibit on the natural history of the Valley, the Museum’s history, and sites along the by-way for travelers. While this interpretive center is closed along with the museum, a trail system beginning at the Museum and traversing the farm fields along the river and to the old buggy path to the top of Mount Warner, where the family grazed their cattle in the 18th century, remains open. This trail system was created with the help of the PVPC and cooperation from several organizations and land owners including TTOR, the Nature Conservancy, Kestrel Trust, and the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation. Parking is best at the museum on the outer circle where there are Please Park Here signs.

We appreciate everyone’s support during this time, and while the house will be closed, supporters can donate to keep the museum going until next season through the museum’s website, www.pphmuseum.org.

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum’s summer 2021 programs are funded, in part, by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state Agency; the Amherst Cultural Councils, local agencies, supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council; Mass Humanities Bridge Street Fund; Easthampton Savings Bank, Gage-Wiley & Co. and with the generous support of many local businesses and the public. 

Upcoming Event! A Wind that rose: Susan Phelps and Emily Dickinson

On October 12th Anna Plummer, recent graduate from Amherst College, poet, historic house enthusiast and 2019 PPH Intern will discuss her recent research paper: A Wind that rose: Susan Phelps and Emily Dickinson, which involves a broken engagement, a peculiar Hadley family, a poem or two and a significant friendship between Susan Phelps and renowned poet Emily Dickinson. The talk is available to all members of the AWC via Zoom and a video will be posted on their website for viewing by the general public afterwards here.

Want to learn more about Susan Phelps? Check out Anna's piece here

Remembering Dan Huntington Fenn

Dan Huntington Fenn introduces his granddaughter Kristina to the Porter-Phelps-Huntington House, 2015

Dan Huntington Fenn, Jr., Vice President of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation,
Inc., and long term Board member, passed away Friday, August 14th at the age of 97.
Dan was a descendant of Moses and Elizabeth Pitkin Porter and his family line goes
through Elizabeth Huntington Fisher, eldest daughter of Dan and Elizabeth Whiting
Phelps Huntington.

Dan’s career spanned eight decades. After graduating from Harvard in 1944, he became
Assistant Dean of Freshmen from 1946 to 1949. He was also an assistant editor of
the Harvard Business Review and editor of the Business School Bulletin. An educator and
government official, Dan was a faculty member of the Harvard Business School from
1955 to 1961. During 1961, he was also Special Assistant to Senator Benjamin Smith
of Massachusetts. He was the staff assistant to President John F. Kennedy from 1961 to
1963, and Tariff Commissioner from 1963 to 1967. Dan served as President of the Center
for Business-Government Relations from 1969 to 1971. He was also the first Director of
the John F. Kennedy Library serving until 1986, and served on the faculty of the Harvard
Graduate School of Business Administration from 1976 to 1980. Until his death, he was
an active adjunct lecturer with the Kennedy School’s executive programs.

Karen Sanchez-Eppler, member of the PPH Executive Committee, mourns Dan’s loss:  “I have so enjoyed working with him, a good hand on a rudder, bright curiosity, and palpable joy. I am holding Dan and the family in the light.”

Board member David Moskin, whose father was Dan’s Harvard roommate and lifelong friend wrote: “A really classy guy.  I always learned something every time he spoke – either from the content of what he said or how he said it. The last of the JFK White House team gone. One of my dad’s best friends. Sad news indeed.“

PPH Board President Tom Harris remarked that Dan “has been such a steady presence- so clear eyed, sensible and forward looking- and so warm and present in every interaction.“

In memory of Dan's forward looking spirit, an acer maple will be planted next to the one he and his cousin donated in their Grandmother’s name. This row of Acer maples, like Dan, are looking to the future. A new generation of flora is putting down roots, and giving us visions of a bright future to come. His full obituary, originally published in the Boston Globe by Bryan Marquard, is reprinted below.

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The following obituary was written by Bryan Marquard and published in the Boston Globe

Dan Fenn (right) served as a staff assistant to President John F. Kennedy

Before the first shovel struck the soil to build the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Dan H. Fenn Jr. knew what he wanted the institution to accomplish.

“The Kennedy Library will be an integral part of the education system of the entire Boston area,’’ he told the Globe in 1977, just before the building’s groundbreaking at Columbia Point.

Mr. Fenn, the library’s founding director and a force behind ensuring that an educational component would become a key part of libraries for presidents and politicians across the country, died Friday. He was 97 and had lived in Lexington for many years, participating in town government for decades.

A former staff assistant to President John F. Kennedy, Mr. Fenn helped launch what is now the Presidential Personnel Office.

In late summer 1963, Kennedy appointed Mr. Fenn to serve on the US Tariff Commission, and in October 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson designated Mr. Fenn as the commission’s vice chairman.

When Mr. Fenn became involved with the Kennedy Library a few years later, the idea of a presidential library being more than a repository for papers and a museum of a former president’s artifacts was unconventional.

“It seemed to me that if this institution was going to reflect John Kennedy and his interests and the tone of the Kennedy years, then it should be devoted to politics and government and public education in those fields and it should nurture people’s interest in politics and encourage people to play a role,’’ Mr. Fenn said in a 1986 Globe interview, when he stepped down as director.

That emphasis on education “was Dan’s huge, huge contribution to the Kennedy Library. He literally changed the focus of presidential libraries,’’ said John Stewart, a former acting director of the library who had been its longtime director of education.

Teaching others about the how to participate in government and make it work well for the people it served was a focus of Mr. Fenn’s political life, too.

He formerly served on Lexington’s School Committee and Select Board during the decades he devoted to town affairs.

And Mr. Fenn was a Town Meeting member “for nearly 60 years,’’ said his son Thomas, who lives in Lexington.

“He cared about making government work for everybody, and he felt like the best way to do that was at the local level,’’ Thomas added. “Even though he had held rather prestigious jobs at the federal level, his heart and soul were at the local level.’’

To welcome young citizens into the workings of government, even before they were old enough to vote, Mr. Fenn helped “set up a mock Town Meeting for kids so they could learn in junior high how to participate,’’ Thomas said.

Few invested as much time in local government as Mr. Fenn did. Along with his decades as a Town Meeting member, and his service on the School Committee and Select Board, “he’s been on pretty much every committee in town,’’ his son added.

Mr. Fenn even took part in a Town Meeting held via Zoom in June.

At 97, working with technology that was new to him, “he participated fully,’’ said Deborah Brown, Lexington’s town moderator.

That engagement was no surprise to anyone who had attended Town Meeting with Mr. Fenn over the years.

“Anytime Dan rose to speak at the microphone at Town Meeting you could hear a pin drop,’’ Brown said. “Everyone knew they were going to hear something profound, something different than anyone else had said, something lucid — and usually with some humor thrown in.’’

Dan Huntington Fenn Jr. was born in Boston on March 27, 1923, and while growing up he lived in various communities in Greater Boston and beyond as his family moved for his father’s work leading churches, ending in Wayland.

The Rev. Dan H. Fenn was a prominent Unitarian minister whose father had served as dean of Harvard Divinity School. Mr. Fenn’s mother, Anna Yens, was active in church affairs and raised the couple’s three children.

Mr. Fenn, the oldest, graduated from what was then Browne and Nichols School and attended Harvard College with the class of 1944.

He rose to lead The Crimson, Harvard’s student newspaper, before interrupting his studies to serve in the Army Air Forces as a warrant officer during World War II, stationed in Italy.

In a Crimson article he published a year to the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked, Mr. Fenn recalled that on Dec. 7, 1941, “it seemed as though everyone at Harvard came to the Crimson building that night, and anxiously hung over the ticker tape machine to watch the little metal letters hammer out the words that told the story.’’

After the war ended, Mr. Fenn returned to finish his Harvard bachelor’s degree in 1946 and was appointed an assistant dean at the college.

He went on to serve as executive director of the World Affairs Council in Boston, teach at Harvard Business School, and edit the school’s publications.

In 1972, he received a master’s in international relations from Harvard.

In all, Mr. Fenn taught at Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School for 56 years, including holding a class via Zoom in June.

At commencement last year, he was awarded the Harvard Medal for his service to the university.

Mr. Fenn’s first marriage, to Nancy Ring, ended in divorce. They had four children – Thomas, Peter of Washington, D.C., Anne of Londonderry, N.H., and David of Evanston, Ill.

Mr. Fenn subsequently was married to Lenore Sheppard, who lives in Lexington and survives him. Their marriage ended in divorce, and Mr. Fenn remained close to his stepchildren, Greg Sheppard of Medford, Marie Sheppard of Dickerson, Md., and Chris Sheppard of Wilmington, N.C.

A service will be announced for Mr. Fenn, who also leaves a brother, John of Minneapolis; 14 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

“He knew everything about those kids,’’ Peter said of his father’s relationship with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. “He would bring you into his orbit, whether you were his child, grandchild, or great-grandchild, or if you were his student or if you worked for him. He had this extraordinary gift.’’

Mr. Fenn’s facility for working with others was useful as he helped guide the library through planning stages before officials settled on the site in Dorchester.

“Dan was an inspirational kind of guy,’’ Stewart recalled. “Dan was absolutely tremendous in dealing with people. I remember going to meetings with Dan when we started the library. He was determined to let people know — movers and shakers in Boston – what this institution was going to be and how it would contribute to the educational and cultural life of Boston.’’

Stewart added that Mr. Fenn “made the Kennedy Library into something that was a lot more than a museum or presidential library.’’

The legacy Mr. Fenn leaves, family and friends said, stretches from the White House to the library to Lexington’s institutions.

“He was very, very special. It’s hard to imagine Town Meeting without him,’’ Brown said.

Thomas recalled that his father “was asked one time, ‘Why are you so involved? Why do you do so much?’ He said, ‘I just want people to know I was here.’ “

Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum secures National Park Service Grant

HADLEY—The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation (PPH) is pleased to announce that the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) has received a grant of $19,050 from the National Park Service (NPS) through the Historic Preservation Fund to support a new National Register historic district encompassing the Foundation’s museum property as well as the privately owned Phelps Farm across River Drive/Route 47, which was built by Charles Porter Phelps in 1816 on land once part of the larger farmstead. This NPS award, an Underrepresented Communities grant, will include updating and expanding existing National Register documentation for the museum property to include information on the enslaved people, indentured servants, and prisoners of war, who worked at the site in the 18th century, in order to provide a broader and more inclusive history of the site. The grant will be administered by the MHC in coordination with PPH.

"We're a small museum closed for the season due to the pandemic and have been relying upon donations and small grants to keep us afloat this year, so this announcement has come at a critical moment and is a wonderful morale booster. We are thrilled about the award and honored to be selected as one of only eighteen projects nationwide," said PPH Executive Director Susan J. Lisk. "This new historic district will tell the stories of traditionally underrepresented people who lived, worked, and died here more than 200 years ago, as well as subsequent generations whose varied careers and interests reflect broader social and historical trends in the country up to and including the 20th century. The existing National Register documentation for the PPH museum house, now nearly 50 years old, omits these incredibly important stories, so we're excited by the opportunity to ensure this history is documented for posterity and archived here, at the Massachusetts Historical Commission, and at the Library of Congress. We're also excited that the new historic district will encompass the early 19th-century Phelps Farm across the street, which has its own rich history that has never been thoroughly researched or documented. We have a wealth of archival material to help tell this story and are looking forward to working with the MHC on the project, which is important for the history of the Connecticut River Valley as a whole."

This year, the National Park Service allocated $750,000 in Underrepresented Communities grant funds. The NPS states that the program "focuses on documenting the homes, lives, landscapes, and experiences of underrepresented peoples who played a significant role in national history.” Grants from this cycle “will help fund eighteen projects to eight states, six tribes, two local governments, the District of Columbia, and the Federated States of Micronesia." The Underrepresented Communities grant program is funded by the Historic Preservation Fund and administered by the National Park Service, Department of Interior.

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington House is an historic farmstead on the banks of the Connecticut River that today interprets life in rural New England over three centuries. Through the words, spaces, and possessions of the women and men who lived here, the museum portrays the activities of a prosperous and productive 18th-century farmstead. Members of this household along with numerous artisans, servants, and enslaved people made the property an important social and commercial link in local, regional, and national cultural and economic networks. In the 19th century the family transformed the estate into a rural retreat. In the 20th century the house was preserved as a museum by family members and now contains the possessions of six generations of this extended family.

National Park Service Awards Grant for New National Historic District

Last week, PPH’s Executive Director Susan J. Lisk received a call from Senator Ed Markey's office—not an ordinary occurrence! The call was to let her know that the Massachusetts Historical Commission had received a grant to fund a new National Register historic district to encompass the PPH museum property and Phelps Farm across the road. The award is an Underrepresented Communities grant from the National Park Service, and this one to PPH is one of only eighteen awarded nationwide this year.

This grant program works to diversifying the nominations submitted to the National Register of Historic Places. In the case of the PPH–Phelps Farm award, the funded work will include updating and expanding existing National Register documentation for the museum property to include information on the enslaved people, indentured servants, and prisoners of war, who worked at the site in the 18 th century, in order to provide a broader and more inclusive history of the site. The grant will be administered by the MHC in coordination with PPH.

As a small museum closed for the season due to the pandemic and relying upon donations and small grants to keep afloat this year, this announcement has come at a critical moment and is a wonderful morale booster. "We are thrilled about the award and honored to be selected as one of only eighteen projects nationwide," said Susan Lisk. "This new historic district will tell the stories of traditionally underrepresented people who lived, worked, and died here more than 200 years ago, as well as subsequent generations whose varied careers and interests reflect broader social and historical trends in the country up to and including the 20th century. The existing National Register documentation for the PPH museum house, now nearly 50 years old, omits these incredibly important stories, so we're excited by the opportunity to ensure this history is documented for posterity and archived here, at the Massachusetts Historical Commission, and at the Library of Congress. We're also excited that the new historic district will encompass the early 19th-century Phelps Farm across the street, which has its own rich history that has never been thoroughly researched or documented. We have a wealth of archival material to help tell this story and are looking forward to working with the MHC on the project, which is important for the history of the Connecticut River Valley as a whole."

This year, the National Park Service allocated $750,000 in Underrepresented Communities grant funds. The NPS states that the program "focuses on documenting the homes, lives, landscapes, and experiences of underrepresented peoples who played a significant role in national history.” Grants from this cycle “will help fund eighteen projects to eight states, six tribes, two local governments, the District of Columbia, and the Federated States of Micronesia." The Underrepresented Communities grant program is funded by the Historic Preservation Fund and administered by the National Park Service, Department of Interior. 

Check out our website for more about Phelps Farm and the Porter-Phelps-Huntington House.

We hope this message finds you safe and healthy. If you are able to support the museum at this time, when we are getting by without the income generated through tours and events, we would be more than grateful. You can donate by clicking the “Donate” box below.

"Entangled Lives" at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum

"Entangled Lives: Labor, Livelihood and Landscapes of Change in Rural Massachusetts"

by Marla R. Miller

What was women's work truly like in late eighteenth-century America, and what does it tell us about the gendered social relations of labor in the early republic? In "Entangled Lives", Marla R. Miller examines the lives of Anglo-, African, and Native American women in one rural New England community- Hadley, Massachusetts- during the town's slow transformation following the Revolutionary War. Peering into the homes, taverns, and farmyards of Hadley, Miller offers readers an intimate history of the working lives of these women and their vital role in the local economy.

Support our local bookstores and writer by purchasing "Entangled Lives: Labor, Livelihood and Landscapes of Change in Rural Massachusetts" by Marla R. Miller.

The Odyssey Bookshop- https://www.odysseybks.com/
Amherst Books- https://www.amherstbooks.com/

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Postcards from an Imagined Early America

By Marla R. Miller

1752 Kitchen- Forty Acres. Hadley Mass, Photograph by Samuel Chamberlain

It is easy to dismiss images like the one on this mid twentieth-century postcard as out of date and romantic--and therefore irrelevant imaginings of the past. But nothing could be further from the truth, as I argue in my recent book Entangled Lives: Labor, Livelihood, and Landscapes of Change in Rural Massachusetts.

Instead, images like this one help us to understand the lens through which we see the early American past; grappling with them is, then, essential to our ability to imagine and comprehend both the past and the present.

See the full post here!

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Summer Volunteer: Aurora

PPH has gained a wonderful volunteer this summer, Aurora. She has been a long-time tea server with our A Perfect Spot of Tea series, is a dedicated Girl Scout, and is in the ninth grade at Hopkins Academy. Aurora is a hard worker and is eager to assist us in any way possible. She’s a great help maintaining our historic grounds, as she is a passionate gardener, and even took on cleaning the attic! Aurora often arrives with freshly picked raspberries and black raspberries from her garden at home where she also raises laying hens. In her spare time, she is an avid history buff and whizzed through Earthbound and Heavenbent: Elizabeth Porter Phelps and Life at Forty Acres (1747-1817) by Elizabeth Pendergast Carlisle in just a week!

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Tiny Treasures

Recently, a surprise item was found among donations from Wheeler descendants. Nestled in between various framed photographs and books was a small fabric drawstring bag. It has a quilted appearance, with a pink floral design, and a pale pink interior. Normally, these bags were used as a travelling jewelry box. The bag’s contents were carefully wrapped, concealing a special collection of objects. Loosening the drawstring and unfolding the paper revealed the priceless contents: a black clay dog, a small doll made out of embroidery thread with a tissue veil, two small walnut shells decorated with googly eyes and red felt, and a felt mouse wearing a white and red robe holding a book with a gold cross on the cover. These adorable objects appear handmade and sentimental. Oddities like these are common in most households, especially those with children. These objects were carefully preserved for a lifetime of childhood memories!

Click here to untie the drawstring and look inside!

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This Week : "Wednesday Folk Traditions"

This week for the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum's Wednesday Folk Traditions we highlight The Pangeans. Named for the Paleozoic/ Mesozoic era supercontinent, the Pangeans are a seven member world music ensemble performing original compositions based on traditional rhythms including Latin Jazz, Samba, Calypso, Soca, Reggae, Funk and Afro-Beat. "One of the Valley's favorite World Beat bands." - The Valley Advocate

Check out their promo video below, check out their website and consider purchasing their music here!

Performers for this year's Wednesday Folk Traditions can be found here, with links to their websites, and we will be posting performances on our website and facebook page throughout the summer!

Share a Cup of Tea!

Adapted from “A Wind that Rose”: Susan Davis Phelps and the Poet

by Anna Plummer

“Vivacious and curley haired” Susan Davis Phelps was the youngest of nine children who lived at Phelps Farm, the daughter of (Moses) Charles Porter Phelps and his second wife Charlotte. She is known for the most romantic, quintessentially Victorian New England details of her life – that she died in her thirties of “a broken heart” after her former fiancé married another woman - and because she was a friend of Emily Dickinson. The date of her funeral is inscribed on two of Dickinson’s poems, revealing a more impactful relationship than has traditionally been acknowledged. The smattering of family diary entries so far studied reference a sick and fretful young woman, but a closer look at the rich documentation of her family and community, as well as some of her own special vestiges reveal Susan Phelps with vibrancy - as a singer, baker, painter, socializer, an aunt, a loving sibling, and a lasting friend. Learn more here!

Susan Davis Phelps (1827-1865)

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New Blog Post: Paul Shipman Andrews

 On December 15, 1917, Hannah Sargent Sessions (daughter of Ruth Huntington Sessions and favorite granddaughter of Bishop Frederic Dan Huntington) married Syracuse lawyer Paul Shipman Andrews (1887-1967). He completed his undergraduate studies at Yale in 1909, and earned his law degree from Columbia University in 1912. After his service as a Captain in France during World War One, he would go on to become dean of the Syracuse University College of Law. His tenure as dean was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War; he once again served (this time as a Lieutenant Colonel) in North Africa and Italy from 1943 to 1946. In 1952, he retired from his position at Syracuse, and devoted the rest of his life to advocating for global peace. To this end, he spent a year working for the pentagon during which he produced a paper titled “The Cost of War and the Price of Peace”.

Paul (third from the right) during his service in France, WW1

Learn more about Paul Shipman Andrews here!

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A Perfect Spot of Tea

It’s that time of the summer where we would normally invite you to a cup of tea on the back veranda! Instead we encourage you to brew a cup of your favorite tea and take a moment to relax somewhere cozy. We would also like to acknowledge the musicians that have been a part of our program and hope you support them as well! For a full listing and information see our 2020 Tea lineup: https://www.pphmuseum.org/musician-lineup-2020

Check out these artists websites for more! 
https://www.passim.org/artists/danse-cafe/
http://robertmarkey.com/

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This Week : "Wednesday Folk Traditions"

This week for the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum's Wednesday Folk Traditions we bring you Pan Morigan- Songs from My Family. Vocalist/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Pan Morigan brings original songs and interpretations of music from her family’s 16 countries of origin. From Ireland to France, Italy, Greece, China, Chile, Canada and beyond, Pan mixes myriad folk styles with Jazz and something ineffable, to create a meditation on immigration, work, longing, and home. Who are we, and who do we mean to be?

Check out her website for more information and to support this artist's work!

Performers for this year's Wednesday Folk Traditions can be found here, with links to their websites, and we will be posting performances on our website and facebook page throughout the summer!

After the Storm

The above painting is titled 'After the Storm' by Susanne Personette.

Visit https://www.susannepersonette.com/ for more works and information!
© All rights reserved by the artist

We were happy to welcome the Pleine Air Painters to the grounds this past week! Susanne Personette and her fellow artists spent the morning spread out around the gardens and house, and created some stunning pieces. After spending the morning engaged in their work, they broke for lunch, social distance picnicking in the front yard and taking time for critiques.

Celebrating Independance Day!

  Before Congress passed a law claiming the fourth of July as a national holiday on June 28, 1870, it was a day of spontaneous celebration. It was customary for towns and cities to have bonfires, processions, military displays, and fireworks, much like today! However, fourth of July celebrations did not become such a popular event until after the war of 1812. In a diary entry from Elizabeth Porter Phelps on July 4, 1802, we see that her focus was on family and friends coming and going through the week, with no mention of any festivities! Normally, the museum would offer tours and tea to commemorate, but this year, we hope you enjoy a safe holiday at home with family and friends, just like Elizabeth!

“Sun: Mr. Hop 1st Tim. 6&5 — afternoon I stayed with the babe — Mr. Hop: 2nd Chronicles 15&4. Tuesday Mitty & I at Concert of prayer — Mr. John Smith from Matt. 6&6. Wednesday Mrs. Hop & Mrs. Austin of Worcester here. Mr. Huntington & wife & son arrived in safety by the kindness of heaven. Thursday all at brother Warners. Jest at night my son from Boston & his father came and drank tea with us — my son is come to carry home his wife & son — he got here after we went to brothers — came by Brimfield & brought Mrs. Hitchcock thus we are favoured with all our children & grand children meeting here except Mr. Hitchcock & his son Charles. Lord bless us in the redeemer. Fryday Mr. Partons & wife visit here. Satt: Sister Dickinson & Polly visit here, Susan Cutler, Lucy Barron, Sister Warner & her daughter Dickinson. The two sons at Northampton by Hatfield forenoon.” – Elizabeth Porter Phelps, Diary Entry, July 4 1802

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A Slice of Cottege Life

Thompson Knives

     A recent donation to the museum included a collection of small, wood handle knives of varying shapes and styles. These knives came from the Thompson family summer cottage known as the Neudick House in Georgetown, ME. 
     Looking closely at the knives reveals history a bit closer to home. Two of the knives’ handles are marked with a label from their manufacturer, the inscriptions reading “Russell” and “Russell Green River Works.” This company was started in 1834 by John Russell in a water-powered factory on the banks of the Green River in Greenfield, MA making butcher and kitchen knives. Large quantities of their hunting knives were shipped out West to the American frontier. 

Check out the full post here!

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"Wednesday Folk Traditions"- July 1st, 2020

This week for the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum's Wednesday Folk Traditions we highlight David Mallett. “The Voice of New England” This troubadour singer-songwriter, whose “Garden Song” had become an American folk classic, reflects on the dramatic changes in contemporary American life. Folk poet Dave Mallett “continues to write thoughtful, potent songs about changing America – small town Main Street, relationships disintegrated or strengthened by distance and fast-moving times, the vast chasm between this nation’s poverty and wealth.” - Allana Nash, Stereo Review 

Check out his youtube video of "Girl from the North Country" below, and support this artist by purchasing his music https://davidmallett.com/music/. Take a look at his website for more information and music! 

Performers for this year's Wednesday Folk Traditions can be found here, with links to their websites, and we will be posting performances on our website and facebook page throughout the summer!

This Week at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum!

Charles ‘Chippy' Phelps Huntington

Charles Phelps Huntington, nicknamed “Chippy,” was the youngest son of Lona Marie Goode and Michael Paul Huntington. He was born on May 13, 1928, in Delaware. This photograph, along with the treasure trove of Chippy’s childhood scrapbook, is a recent acquisition of the museum.

Learn more about Chippy's story on our blog! 
https://www.pphmuseum.org/blogging-through-the-museum

PORTER-PHELPS-HUNTINGTON MUSEUM RECEIVES MCFF GRANT

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation is pleased to announce that it has received matching grants totaling $46,000 from the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund (MCFF) capital grants program and a Systems Replacement Plan (SRP), to develop a 20-year capital needs assessment for the museum and its mechanical systems.These matching grants will support critical preservation and maintenance projects including painting, window restoration, roofing, flashing and gutter replacement, driveway repairs, carpentry repairs and lally column replacement as well as future planning.

We hope you will consider generously contributing to the $23,000 match we need to raise for these critical projects. 

"Wednesday Folk Traditions" June 24, 2020

This week for the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum's Wednesday Folk Traditions we showcase Zikina. Featuring Uganda native Gideon Ampeire, Zikina plays an exciting fusion of Ugandan folk music with contemporary influences. Ampeire draws you in with traditional East African vocals and instruments including enanga, adungu, and kalimba - all of which he builds himself. Mike Cardozo, Roston Kirk and Kade Parkin ensconce Gideon’s vocals within a sonic landscape that flows seamlessly from intense grooves to joyous dance beats to dreamy textures with Gideon’s vocals cutting powerfully through the fabric or floating lightly above.

Check out their recorded performance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l2Xxl2ZhwA&t=31s!

And consider purchasing their music here!

Performers for this year's Wednesday Folk Traditions can be found here, with links to their websites, and we will be posting performances on our website and facebook page throughout the summer!

Help Support the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation

Past and Present

This week at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, we continued to engage with the new acquisitions from David M. G. Huntington. We have several posts coming out this week with more information, so keep an eye on our website for updates on our research!

     A new collection page has been created by intern Haden featuring our ‘Canton ware’, a Chinese porcelain popular in late 18th and early 19th century America.  The collection consists of approximately 87 different plates, serving platters, covered dishes, tea service items, ginger jars, and sauce boats— most of which can be found in the house’s dining room, as you would have found them in centuries past. Want to know more? Follow this link to see the page!

      Also of interest this week, was a print of Epes Sargent by John Singleton Copley included in the acquisitions. While not the original painting, this piece adds to the history of the Sargent family, and subsequently the Huntington family, as Hannah Dane Sargent married Frederic Dan Huntington, adding the Sargent lineage to the family genealogy. Click here to visit our blog!

      Further in the week we will also be highlighting the short life of Charles ‘Chippy’ Phelps Huntington. Passing away at only nine years old, Chippy left behind a scrapbook which was later filled by his mother with memories and pieces of his life. Like and follow our Facebook page for updates!

This Week : "Wednesday Folk Traditions"

This week for the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum's virtual Wednesday Folk Traditions we highlight Jose Gonzales and Criollo Clasico. Bringing contemporary rhythms of Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic led by one of today’s foremost exponents of Caribbean music, acclaimed for his original compositions featuring the cuatro. “Full of rhythms, flowing melodies and masterly guitar playing.” – Union News.
Click here to see their facebook page, and consider supporting these artists by purchasing their music!

See our Wednesday Folk Tradition Page for performances and information on the artists!

Celebrating Preservation Month

On May 27, 1752, the roof of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington House was first raised by Moses Porter. Originally a gable roof, it was converted to a gambrel roof by Charles and Elizabeth Phelps around 1800 to add more space on the third floor and as part of the general remodeling of the house into the more fashionable Federal style. Today, in an effort to preserve the architecture and appearance of the historic house, The Foundation works hard to maintain and repair it. Through generous donations and grants, recent work was done on the eastern side of the roof, allowing it to continue to protect the rest of the building from the weather. Routine maintenance and repair like this is key to the preservation of important landmarks for future generations. You can help support the preservation of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington House by visiting our website to learn more and donating here!

Honoring Historic Preservation

Interested to see how The Porter-Phelps-Huntington House has been preserved?

In honor of Preservation Month, we’ve shared a few preservation-related stories to help you learn about  projects that help to keep this historic house in good repair so that it remains a bastion for public knowledge and learning. One of our more notable recent projects was the restoration of the front portico columns surrounding the main entrance to the house. Added to the house during the expansion in 1799, this Federal-style portico has been a focal point for generations of family members and now members of the public for more than 200 years.

We now have the ability to receive online donations, so you can quickly and easily help us maintain this wonderful historic site for future generations!