by Portsmouth Athenaeum | Sep 17, 2020 | Announcements, Photographs
By Keeper Tom Hardiman Recently Sherry Wood wrote an article about how the Vaughan Street Urban Renewal Project removed neighborhoods and rerouted streets to create the Bridge Street parking lot. While some Portsmouth vistas have been altered suddenly and...
by Portsmouth Athenaeum | Sep 14, 2020 | Announcements, Events
ONLINE LOCAL HISTORY TALK The Life, Times and Political Career of Levi Woodbury with John P. McGee Tuesday September 22 7 – 8:30 PM Note: This program was previously scheduled for September 16 as part of the Portsmouth Athenaeum’s “2020 Program...
by Portsmouth Athenaeum | Sep 2, 2020 | Announcements, Library
Review by Librarian Robin Silva A book rarely surprises me, but this one did, delightfully. Why Fish Don’t exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller is not quite a biography, author memoir, science book, or self-help book, but a little...
by Portsmouth Athenaeum | Aug 31, 2020 | Announcements, Library
This season, the Athenaeum added new books you could add to your late summer and fall reading lists. Proprietors and Subscribers, click on the link below to discover the new books now available in the library: August New Books 2020 Not a Proprietor or...
by Portsmouth Athenaeum | Aug 27, 2020 | Announcements, Manuscripts
By Archivist Susan Kindstedt Each collection at the Athenaeum holds the potential to tell many stories. One such collection arrived at the Athenaeum in 2019 during the exhibit “By the Bottle or the Barrel: 400 Years of Brewing in Portsmouth.” The gift of a...
by Portsmouth Athenaeum | Aug 11, 2020 | Announcements, Manuscripts
By Keeper Tom Hardiman In 2011, the Portsmouth Athenaeum received a remarkable bequest from the estate of long-time Athenaeum Proprietor Dudley Stoddard (1915-2009). Dudley descended from Portsmouth’s Warner family, and he left to the Athenaeum a collection of...
by Portsmouth Athenaeum | Jul 29, 2020 | Announcements, Photographs
By Photographic Collections Manager James Smith The history of the Rev. Samuel Langdon House is linked to two recent social media posts: Wentworth Cheswill (posted July 21) and the First Natonal grocery store (posted May 22). Serendipitously, these two social...
by Portsmouth Athenaeum | Jul 21, 2020 | Announcements, Manuscripts
By Archivist Susan Kindstedt The Athenaeum has two documents signed by Wentworth Cheswill (or Cheswell), a biracial Revolutionary War veteran born in Newmarket, NH, in 1746. Wentworth Cheswill was the son of Hopestill Cheswill and his wife, Katherine Kennison....
by Portsmouth Athenaeum | Jun 25, 2020 | Announcements, Library, Manuscripts
In the midst of re-numbering the entire library catalog, Librarian Robin Silva has uncovered some interesting history. In October 1907, a book had been discovered in the Athenaeum’s stock room, left there anonymously. Published in 1905, the book was The...
by Portsmouth Athenaeum | Jun 16, 2020 | Announcements, Manuscripts
By Archivist Susan Kindstedt No collection at the Athenaeum provides the names of more individuals of African descent living in Portsmouth than the MS036 North Church Papers, 1640-1970 collection. Although the papers include the names of individuals, the...