Library
Introduction
The Athenæum reflects the broad range of interests of educated nineteenth century Portsmouth citizens, including science and technology, history and exploration, theology, biography, navigation and maritime history, law, and arts and architecture. The personal libraries of two men, Benjamin Tredick (1802-77) and Charles Levi Woodbury (1820-98), are maintained intact in special alcoves in the third floor Library Room and several other early bequests of rare books are preserved in the collection. The library continues to acquire both new and old books in a wide variety of subjects of interest to its members. A special emphasis is made on collecting Portsmouth imprints and works relevant to the study of the region’s history.
The Athenæum houses an outstanding collection of documents and artifacts relating to local history. It also preserves what is undoubtedly the finest collection in the state of materials relating to the history of New Hampshire’s only major seaport. The Sawtelle Reading Room serves as a gallery to display highlights of the maritime collection, including paintings of local ships, a series of portraits of ship captains, merchants, and naval officers, and the gilt figurehead from the schooner Alcea. A jewel of the collection is the plank-on-frame model of the ship America, built in Portsmouth for the Royal Navy in 1749. It is the oldest surviving model of an American-built ship. The Athenæum displays more than forty half-hull builder’s models of Piscataqua-built vessels, and the oldest surviving measured drawing of an American ship, the Elizabeth , launched from a tributary of the Piscataqua in 1752.
Of even greater importance than the impressive visual collections are the superb archival collections. These include the Customs House records for the port of Portsmouth during the American Revolution and the extraordinarily detailed records of the New Hampshire Fire & Marine Insurance Company, which insured hundreds of voyages during its twenty years of operation between 1803 and 1823.
A Brief Guide to the Reference Library
The following is a list of selective resources available to researchers of families and their history in the reference room of the Portsmouth Athenaeum. Subject or vertical files: they are organized by location. See INDEX in blue folder on top of the fall file cabinets. The vertical files are located in two grey file cabinets. You may copy articles as long as they are re-filed in the same folder, keeping the same order
- Name files: a) Family files are organized alphabetically and located in the tall file cabinets. These files contain genealogical information, as well as other materials pertaining to various Seacoast area families. The list is not comprehensive. b) Street files were researched and organized by the Portsmouth Advocates. They are located in the low file cabinets and are organized alphabetically according to street name. They contain images and basic information on houses in Portsmouth, including the Historic District. Some files have extensive information pertaining to the history and occupants of significant buildings.
- City Directories 1821 to present: located in the Portsmouth section (middle stack of shelves). The city directories contain alphabetical lists of streets and family names. The head of households are listed, usually with profession or place of work, as well as the residence. Also listed in the directories are holders of town offices. Advertisements in the back of the directories can yield useful and interesting information. NOTE: Portsmouth street numbers changed between 1912 and 1914. The directory for 1914 contains both the old and the new street number.
- Church and Cemetery Records: Portsmouth’s major churches are the Congregational North Church, the South or Unitarian Church, and the Episcopal or St. John’s Church (known as Queen’s Chapel till the 1790’s). For these we have incomplete records of births, marriages and deaths. There are locators for the South Cemetery plots. South Cemetery includes four sections: Cotton (1721), Proprietors’ (1830), Harmony Grove (1847) and Sagamore (1871). Other existing historic cemeteries are 1) Graves’ End, 2) Pleasant Street, and 3) North Cemetery. In all of these you will find the tombstone inscriptions of certain Portsmouth family members.
- Maps: The Athenaeum has an index to maps in its collection. Most useful for the general researcher is the 1813, 1839, 1850, and 1877 maps of the city displayed in the research library. We also have the 1910 and 1920 Sanborn Insurance maps available. They are located on the horizontal file cabinet next to the tall file cabinets. NOTE: Buildings first appear on local maps after 1801.
- Electronic card catalog: The card catalog is available online at portsmouthathenaeum.org as well as in the research library itself. It lists all available books and pamphlets in the library. It is indexed by subject matter, author and title. The Athenaeum subscribes to a number of general periodicals and topical journals. These are stored in the stacks on the fourth floor. A list of materials in stacks is posted. Ask for assistance from library staff.
- Manuscript Index: The Portsmouth Athenaeum has 76 manuscript collections, and over 700 single item and small collections. Most of these are available for research. The finding aids are available on line as well, together with a subject index and a box list of items.
- Photo Index: The Portsmouth Athenaeum has a large collection of photographs, postcards, cabinet cards, stereographs, slides and negatives. Use the on line catalog to find your topic and note that the collections are organized from P1 to P25, followed by PS and the separate collection of the Isles of Shoals.
- Dictionaries: In the research library there are general dictionaries such as American Biographies, the Dictionary of American Art, and many more.
- Genealogy: Index and contents of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society are available on CD-Rom. Family genealogies are shelved together alphabetically in a separate section in the research library. Town histories are shelved in alphabetical order by state.
- Customs Records: A transcript of Portsmouth customs records is available in a 5-volume set, shelved on a cabinet at the end of the stacks.
- Newspapers: A list of newspapers is located near the lower file cabinets. We have newspapers on microfilm, and some original copies of the New Hampshire Gazette and other Portsmouth papers.
- Town, State and Regional Histories: A collection of town histories from New Hampshire and Southern Maine, covering the entire Piscataqua region, is available on the shelves of the research library.
- Micromedia and Multimedia: There is a collection of CD-ROMs, including records of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, Civil War records, Revolutionary War roll, Evans’ Abstracts of New Hampshire Probate Records.
Book Collections in the Portsmouth Athenaeum Library By Richard M. Candee
Painted signs that once hung above the library bookcases help us understand the earliest subject organization of the Athenæum collections. “Periodicals, Science, Arts” were shelved together, as were “Irish, Scottish, English, French” histories. Two signs reflect belle lettres: “The Drama, Poetry, Classics” occupied one set of shelves, “Novels, Tales & Romances” another. In May 1853 Norton’s Literary Gazette described Portsmouth’s Athenæum as quite full of English and American history. “It has also a fine collection of Voyages and Travels, and of works of Natural History, besides many valuable works on Architecture and Ship Building.” With the Athenæum’s relatively high rate of book retention, this is still a fairly accurate summary of the nineteenth-century core library and makes the Athenæum book collections an important document of Portsmouth reading habits. Read More
New Books List
Happy 266th anniversary to the New Hampshire Gazette, the first newspaper in New Hampshire! #onthisdayinhistory
Our last post discussed the Gazette, but here is where Daniel Fowle (1715-1787), NH's first printer, published the newspaper on the corner of Washington, Howard & Pleasant streets in the South End.
Born in Charlestown, MA, Fowle first apprenticed under printer Samuel Kneeland in Boston. In 1740, he moved to Boston to start his career. Within the decade, he was publishing the Independent Advertiser, and he later opened a bookstore and printing office. His time in the Bay Colony would end abruptly.
According to the pamphlet "History of the New-Hampshire Gazette: the Oldest Newspaper in America" published in 1872, Fowle was arrested in 1754 by order of the Massachusetts House of Representatives on "suspicion of having printed a pamphlet entitled 'The monster of monsters: by Tom Thumb Esq.'" The pamphlet contained "severe animadversion" or harsh criticism on some of the house members. Fowle "denied the printing but acknowledged the sale of the pamphlets."
He was jailed alonside a notorious thief and a murderer awaiting excution. After three days, he was set free, but refused to leave as "he had been confined, uncondemned by the law, and demanded that the authority which had imprisoned him, should release him." He stayed three more days until returning to his sick wife.
The experience led him to publish the pamphlet "The total eclipse of liberty." After losing his right to print, he left for "the freer soil of New-Hampshire" moving to Portsmouth. The Gazette was first published on Oct. 7, 1756.
The Gazette actively opposed the Stamp Act in 1765, publishing its edition with a black border as protest.
Upon Fowle's death in 1785, the paper was passed to his apprentices John Melcher & George Jerry Osborne. It was Melcher's daughter who claimed the wooden house in the South End was where the paper was first published. By 1892, the old house was replaced by a brick Mansard, which still stands today.
#newhampshiregazette
#otd #ephemera #danielfowle #collectpreserveshare📖
#localhistory #portsmouthnh #nh #Maine #seacoast❤
Tomorrow, Market Square Day returns to downtown Portsmouth!🎈🥳🎉🙌
With the street closures, the Athenaeum will be closed tomorrow, but we will celebrate in history! We always do!😉
Here's the cover of the Guide to Market Square Day in 1986 when it was a three-day event. In 1978, MSD began as a celebration following the revitalization of Market Square by the City of Portsmouth and members of the community, transforming the downtown center into a more pedestrian-friendly and welcoming destination. From our perch in the Square, we see and hear so much activity every day. What a success!!🎵🥰🏆
We sampled some audio from @johnbreneman3 of the Market Square Day 10k back in 2017. John has a great article on the history of Market Square Day on his website tripleactionnews.com.
John writes, "The inaugural celebration marked a major milestone in Portsmouth’s nearly 400-year history — the dramatic transformation of an economically depressed downtown, bisected by a five-lane asphalt wasteland, into the vibrant, brick-lined public plaza that today is the centerpiece of a thriving community of cuisine, culture and commerce."💥❤🎈
Each year, Market Square Day is the result of all the hard work of @pro_portsmouth and many others in the community. Thank you!
E 1716.
And finally, thank you all who donated this week to the Armsden Project campaign on @nhgives. We reached over 80% of our fundraising goal to purchase archival supplies for the Armsden photograph collection. We need more balloons! Here's even more good news. The nhgives.org website will stay active until midnight tonight. We need $415 more, and you can carry us over the top! Helium-free.🎈 Link in bio.
#MarketSquareDay #ephemera #nhgives #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #nh #Maine #Seacoast❤
Happy #maythe4thbewithyou!
Thirty-seven years ago, the force wasn't exactly on the side for all involved when moving the USS Albacore from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to its permanent location between Market Street and the Route 1 Bypass. #onthisdate
According to an early USS Albacore Museum rack card, "Plans were made to bring Albacore ashore May 4, 1985. A railroad bridge was dismantled, a cut was made through a dual roadway, and an attempt was made to float Albacore onto a steel cradle waiting on a newly-built marine railway by which she was to be winched 700 feet to her place in the new Albacore Park."
As you can see, we're including our ephemera related to the well-planned "Historic Haul-Out" for the Albacore, which was built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in 1953. The submarine served with the United States Navy from 1953 to 1972, never firing a weapon and never going to war.🌊⚓️🐚
The @albacorepark brochure stated the Albacore's mission was experimental: to be designed and redesigned, adapted and readapted, her structural modifications ultimately developing into a prototype submarine. The sub was a "laboratory afloat" as it was used in testing dive brakes, sonar systems, escape mechanisms, among other innovative theories.🦑🔬🥼
So what happened on the Fourth?🤔.
Here the museum's brochure described it best:
"However, perhaps Albacore resented her landbound destination or fate intervened, the move was unsuccessful. Albacore set in a basin beside the restored roadway looking as some said 'like a beached whale.' 🐳
"For months theories ran rampant. However, one should never underestimate a determined group of Yankees. Devising a system of locks for floating the 1200 ton submarine proved successful, and on October 2, 1985 at 8:30 a.m. USS Albacore settled onto her permanent concrete cradle as the center of Albacore Park." 💪🧠👑
Albacore Park is open seven days a week & worth a visit! Check ussalbacore.org for hours and more information.
Photos: P0026 Margaret Morrissey Slide & P0031 Portsmouth Press collections.
#ussalbacore #albacorepark #dockedstockedunlocked #ephemera #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #nh #Maine #Seacoast❤
#throwbackthursday to Peirce Island in the early 1920s.
The image was used for the March/April months in the First National Bank Centennial Calendar for 1924. 📅
According to the caption, Peirce Island had been recently purchased by the City of Portsmouth with the intent to convert the island into a public playground.
On July 23, 1923, the City announced it would purchase Peirce Island, and the Portsmouth Herald reported "the possibility of a big swimming pool may be one of the first realities."
At the time, the newspaper speculated the park would be named Anniversary Park in commemoration of the then 300th anniversary of the city. That didn't happen. Of course, next year is the 400th celebration, so there's still time.😉
Later that year, a Philadelphia firm wanted to lease the island to install a big amusement park, which would surpass Hampton, Salisbury, and Old Orchard beaches. That also didn't happen.
By the end of 1924, the first bridge to Peirce Island was completed from the foot of Gates Street. While discussed for years, the pool was finally constructed in 1937.
The calendar image was captured from the shore of the Portsmouth Yacht Club (the building barely seen to the right) in the approximate location of the second (and current) Prescott Memorial Bridge.
Its unclear when the house, barn, and other structures on the island were demolished. In 1927, the house must have been still standing as renter Ernest Bassett was ordered to vacate the residence by June 1. If the same person, Ernest Bassett (1877-1941) was later listed in the 1930 census as a machinist at the button factory, and he and his wife, Lillian, lived with their eight children on Pleasant Street. In the early 1900s, the Peirce family rented the island house to Thomas & Mary Rose and their family.
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#peirceisland #calendars #firstnationalbank #ephemera #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #portsmouthnh #nh #maine #Seacoast❤
Today brings the Year of the Tiger in the Lunar New Year. 🐅 🎊🧧
In the archives, we found this tiger lurking on a poster for a Theatre by the Sea production of two one-act plays by Murray Schisgal: "The Typists" and "The Tiger."🎭
This performance was the Ceres Street theatre's first touring production, held at the Paine Auditorium at the University of New Hampshire in Durham during late January 1966.
David Mayberry of UNH's "The New Hampshire" newspaper offered a review of the performance describing it as "a success in every way but at the box office--only 30 people attended." He continued, "It is a tragedy that so many culturally minded people (as I'm sure there are in Durham) passed up this opportunity to see good theater."
Mayberry provided an intriguing summary of each production. The Typists included two unusual office workers: "Sylvia Payton, the dumb, primping secretary, of course a spinster, greets the new man, Paul Cunningham, a handsome, gum chewing, night law student, who is working his way through school. The beginning sounds trite, but the dialogue picks up and the small office talk takes on philosophic overtones."
The Tiger was about the aftermath of an abduction. "It's not as bad as it sounds," Mayberry wrote. "The abductor, Ben, a frustrated pseudo-intellectual and a tiger at heart, is tamed by the abducted, Gloria, the wife of a nine-to-five business man."🤔
Mayberry lamented the actor who portrayed Ben could have had more tiger energy. "A little more ferocity at the beginning and a little more meekness at the end" could have added depth.🐾
He concluded, "Lighting, although not superb, was tolerable. Make-up was no problem. Costumes and sets were cleverly used. Both plays were well done. The main criticism is that more people did not see them. How can we expect outside groups like Theatre by the Sea to continue bringing such fine productions to Durham if they are so poorly attended?"
Ok, we're interested. To the time machine! Who else is coming?🎟🙋♂️🙋♀️
[Gift of Hovey Dodge, E 2516]
#yearofthetiger #lunarnewyear #theatrebythesea #unh #durhamnh #ephemera #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #nh #Maine #Seacoast❤
Ahoy, Tuesday!⚓
#onthisdate in 1980, Phineas Press held their first open house at 108 Penhallow Street in Portsmouth.
The graphic design and printing solution firm sent this announcement for potential clients to stop in at their new office "near the old harbour" after recently relocating from western New Hampshire.
Check out the "P" sails.🥰
Phineas co-owners were graphic designer Susan Kress Hamilton (an Athenaeum Proprietor) and master printer Bill Hamilton.
For over 40 years, Phineas served Portsmouth and the greater Seacoast community offering expertise and attention to detail in design, publication, branding, printing, and displays. Most recently, they published The Art Guide. The creative design team's client list included businesses, professionals, and non-profits such as the Athenaeum.📚
In the fall of 2021, Phineas decided to retire, closing their business in the same office on Penhallow that they started in (nearly unheard of today in downtown Portsmouth).
In December, the Athenaeum accepted the donation of their extensive collection for the archive. We are proud to process and preserve the work of Phineas, a local institution serving the Seacoast community for over 40 years with one great design after another.❤
[Courtesy of Susan Kress Hamilton, William M. Hamilton, Phineas Graphic Design and Printing Solutions, Phineas Graphic Design and Solutions Collection, E 3111.0001.]
#PhineasPress #graphicdesign #letterpress #printing #PenhallowStreet #localcommunity #ephemera #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #NH #Maine #Seacoast❤
Early Sunday morning, December 26, 1802, a fire broke out in a back room of the New Hampshire Bank off Market Square (then called Court Street) resulting in the first of three disastrous downtown fires known as the Christmas fires. #onthisdate
"The whole beauty of the town is gone! is gone!!!" lamented the New Hampshire Gazette.
From the bank, the blaze quickly spread to surrounding buildings, and the winds carried the embers north to Market Square, Daniel Street and down both sides of Market toward Ceres and the waterfront. In total, 114 buildings were destroyed, and the damages were estimated at $200,000. No lives were reportedly lost.
The Gazette wrote, "This fair and beautiful part of the town, has in one short day, become a heap of ashes and rubbish; exhibiting such a scene of Devastation and ruin, as gives fresh pain at every new view."
With no state and federal disaster funds yet created, the local community was left to organize relief for the victims or "the number of inhabitants now exposed to sufferings and hardships beyond the relief tendered by their sympathizing neighbors—the aged and infirm, widows and orphans, unhoused in mid-winter."
Five local leaders were appointed as a committee to receive and distribute donations. From across the early Republic, donations came in totaling $45,000. Within the archives, the MS071 Portsmouth Fire Relief Papers, 1802-1803, include the letters that accompanied the donations, and the record book of the Committee. [We've added a few examples in this post.]
After the fire, the US Congress created its first law concerning domestic disaster aid and contributed to the Portsmouth merchants.
The history of our organization is entwined with the 1802 fire. Lost were the earlier buildings on the site of the present Athenaeum. Within two weeks of the blaze, the NH Fire and Marine Insurance Co. was incorporated, and by 1805, its new insurance building was constructed in Market Square. In 1823, the Athenaeum moved into the building, which it has since occupied for nearly 200 years.
#1802fire #Christmasfires #OTD #manuscripts #newspapers #maps #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #NH #Maine #Seacoast❤
The Portsmouth Athenaeum wishes you and yours a Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season.🎄
Here is a circa 1890s Christmas card compliments of the Frank Jones Brewing Company of Portsmouth, NH, and Boston, MA. The brew yard was located off Islington Street, and at one point, it was the largest producer of ale in the United States.
Born in Barrington, NH, Frank Jones (1832-1902) came to Portsmouth at 17 to peddle pots, pans and tinware from a wagon. Within a decade, he had bought out a local brewer and was on his way to becoming "King of the Alemakers."
At its peak, the Frank Jones Brewery in Portsmouth employed over 500 people and produced 250,000 barrels per year. Jones built hotels, started water companies, owned the largest shoe factory in the world in the 1880s, and he was president of the Boston & Maine Railroad. In 1868 and 1869, he was elected mayor of Portsmouth, and from 1875 to 1879, he served in Congress.
Jones owned a 1,000-acre farm off Maplewood Avenue called Maplewood Farm. The mansion still stands as apartments, and the extensive land has been incorporated into neighborhoods, the highway system, and even parts of Pease Development Authority. Interestingly enough, Jones lived most of his time in Portsmouth at the Rockingham, his hotel on State Street.
[Ephemera Collection, E 1840]
The song "O, Tannenbaum" ("Oh Christmas Tree" in English) was recorded by the Nebe Quartet in Berlin, Germany, in 1905. The song comes from The Cylinder Archive (www.cylinder.de) and Free Music Archive (freemusicarchive.org).
#merrychristmas #happyholidays #frankjonesbrewery #islingtonstreet #otannenbaum #ephemera #collectpreserveshare📖
#localhistory #PortsmouthNH
#NH #Maine #Seacoast❤
Hear ye! Hear ye! Tonight is the annual tree lighting followed by the illuminated holiday parade in Portsmouth. Who's going?🙋♂️🙋♀️🕯🎄🎵🥰
This trade card advertised J. H. Hutchinson, fine jewelry and silverware at 10 Market Square in Portsmouth, c. 1880s.💎
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John Holt Hutchinson (1838-1897) was born in Nelson, NH, and was living in St. Johnsbury, VT, where he married his wife, Mary Emma Graham (1840-1908). They had two children. John served in the Civil War as a lieutenant in the Third Vermont Infantry.
By March 1968, he was in Portsmouth in a partnership with A. D. Rowell to purchase the jewerly store of Charles T. Emery. A year later, Hutchinson bought out Rowell. He employed James R. Connell and formed a partnership with him from 1873 to 1876.
After John died, his daughter Mattie Noyes Hutchinson (1863-1929) ran the jewelry store. Two years after her mother's death, Maddie moved to Boston.
The family lived on Lincoln Avenue, and they are buried in Proprietors Burying Ground.
For a time, the business was next door to the Athenaeum and right behind the tree with front row seats to tonight's festivities. Today, @saultnewengland is located there.
#marketsquare #tradecards #jhhutchinson #jewelers #ephemera #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #nh #Maine #Seacoast❤