Portsmouth Athenaeum 2022 Lecture Series

Portsmouth, NH: Evolution 1623-2023

 

The territory of coastal New Hampshire, first inhabited by the Abenaki and other Algonquian languages-speaking nations, was first explored and written about by Martin Pring in 1603. Settlements in the area by Europeans began in 1623 and, four hundred years later, neighborhoods sited where some of those settlements existed comprise the present-day City of Portsmouth. The 2022 and 2023 Portsmouth Athenaeum Lecture Series celebrates and shines a light on the city’s evolution from 1623 to 2023. This year, we celebrate its people, its architecture and the changes in its land use.

Each program begins at 5:30 p.m. in the third-floor Shaw Research Library.

Attendance is free for Athenaeum Proprietors, Subscribers and Friends. Guests and members of the public are welcome to attend the entire 2022 series by becoming a Friend of the Athenaeum (see link below) for as little as $25 per year, payable at the door. Admission to an individual program is $10.

Space is limited and reservations are required. Please call (603) 431-2538 to reserve your spot(s) today. If unable to keep a reservation, please call again to release the seat for someone else. Reserved seats are honored until five minutes before a program begins.

 

2022 Remaining Speakers

Oct 19th brings Thomas Hardiman Jr. with the first of two talks examining the Port City’s architectural heritage. He will present Architecture I – Imitation and Innovation: Developing a Portsmouth Style of Architecture 1660-1815. Mr. Hardiman, Keeper and Executive Director of the Portsmouth Athenaeum, has more than 30 years of experience in the museum, library, and historic preservation fields. He has been Athenaeum keeper since 2000 and was previously curator of the Saco Museum. In addition to museum administration, Mr. Hardiman has significant experience with the management, exhibition, and conservation of art and artifact collections and with the sensitive conservation of historic structures. Building on the important work of Richard Candee, James Garvin, Arthur Gerrier, and others, this talk will show how the Portsmouth community of craftsmen imported design ideas and structural systems from Europe and adapted them to the local climate and materials. Through this evolution, they created a style of architecture that is truly distinctive to the region.

 

 

This year’s series concludes on Nov 16th with Architecture II – Mid-Century Modest: The Architecture of Portsmouth and the Piscataqua in the Mid-20th Century by Peter Michaud. A native of New Hampshire, Mr. Michaud grew up in Rollinsford and is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire in Durham. He began his career at the Portsmouth & Exeter Site Manager for Historic New England, working out of Portsmouth’s Governor John Langdon House. He later served as the National Register, Preservation Tax Incentives, and Easements Coordinator at the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources. He now works as a cultural resource manager for the federal government. He is a founding board member of the Piscataqua Decorative Arts Society, is on the National Council of Strawbery Banke Museum, and is the secretary of the Portsmouth Historical Society.

Mr. Michaud examines the architecture of post-war Portsmouth and the Piscataqua region, looking at major buildings in this area as well as the work of the architects who designed some of them. He will include Portsmouth architect Lucien O. Geoffrion, who designed such iconic local buildings as Yoken’s Restaurant (1946), the clubhouse at the Portsmouth Country Club (1955) and the Pic’n Pay Supermarket (1960) (now Hannaford). The lecture will provide a general overview of mid-Century architecture in the region.

The second part of this series in 2023 will continue to celebrate Portsmouth’s four hundredth anniversary: 1623 to 2023.

Written by Irene Bush.

The 2022 Lecture Series is sponsored by UBS Financial Services, Inc.