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#wherewasthiswednesday🤔 On this glorious summer

#wherewasthiswednesday🤔 On this glorious summer day, we are strolling back to the 1930s to vital gardens in Portsmouth's West End. Bring your green thumb and lend a hand.⏳👩‍🌾👨‍🌾🤝👍🥬🥕🥔🌽🍅

During the Great Depression, there were three large government-funded community gardens in Portsmouth, which were part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and its nationwide subsistence gardens program, also known as emergency gardens, relief gardens & welfare gardens.

Two subsistence garden plots were on city property at the New Franklin & Atlantic Heights schools. The city’s third & ultimately largest of the garden plots was on land once owned by the Portsmouth Building Association. The land was part of its Westfield Park housing development off Islington Street in the vicinity of Aldrich, Thaxter & Spinney roads. [Seen here, the land has now been fully developed.]

In last month's "At the Athenaeum," our Photographic Collections Manager James Smith delved into the history of the subsistence gardens. In some of these apparent publicity photos, the unidentified "farmers" are seen dressed in their Sunday best posing "proudly among the crops, as if they, too, grew from the gardens. And in some ways, they had. The gardens had allowed the unemployed to feed their families and reclaim a sense of self that had been lost in the immense struggle to survive during the Great Depression."

In 📷 #5, the man in the white shirt, at left, may be Raphael L. Costello (1879-1957). A casualty of the Depression, he declared bankruptcy on his garden & seed business in 1932. He was hired as the relief gardens supervisor.

In many of the photos, the Sanderson family barn on Spinney Road can be seen in the background. Nearly all participants are unidentified, but in the last photo Mayor Robert E. Marvin (1902-1958) is believed to be standing in back center wearing a dark blazer.

All photos are circa 1935 & from the P0032 Marvin Peirce collection.

Link in bio for James's full article at @seacoastonline.

#subsistencegardens #GreatDepression #westend #citygardens #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #nh #maine #seacoast❤

Happy Father's Day! Here is Frank L. Woods (18

Happy Father's Day!

Here is Frank L. Woods (1879-1935) with his son Gerald "Skip" Woods in front of the family grocery store at 480 Pleasant Street next to the South Mill Bridge, c.1914. The Woods family lived nearby at 464 Pleasant. [PS2716_01]

Frank was the youngest son to grocer John Elliot Woods and Eliza Loder, both of whom emigrated from England along with several of Frank's older siblings after 1874. As a youth, Frank was a member of the famed Woods Brothers basketball team, which over a period of years defeated many of the strongest teams in the East. [We have a pic of the team in our archives.🏀❤]

In total, John Elliot Woods (1827-1909) had 15 children between his first wife, Mary Grace, & his second wife, Eliza. John's uncle was James Wood and his great-aunt was Mary Mullis Rider, which some of you may know as occupants of the Rider-Wood House @strawberybankemuseum, which interprets the role Aunt Mary had in helping several nieces & nephews immigrate to Portsmouth.🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇺🇲

Pictured is a 1913-ad in the Portsmouth Herald. Frank had acquired the grocery store from his father, but he did not run the store for very long. By 1924, Frank became a chiropractor, graduating from the Palmer School in Davenport, IA.

Returning to Portsmouth, Dr. Frank was elected a member of the city council. In the late summer of 1935, he met his untimely death at the family's summer cottage at Hampton Beach. The Herald lamented, "he had been a fearless and devoted citizen of Portsmouth and was always lined up in any battle for what he considered the best interest of the city. He held an opinion on matters that affected its growth and its people and was ever ready to battle in their interests."

Son Skip took his seat on city council. Later, Skip ran charter cruises out of Portsmouth Harbor. About 1955, he bought The Martingale building at 99 Bow Street, and turned it into apartments. The non-extant Martingale was one of the first buildings to be renovated on Bow Street, leading to today's desirable waterfront community.

#happyfathersday #woodsfamily #immigrants🇬🇧 #pleasantstreet #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #nh #maine #seacoast❤

Riding into the weekend in style. 🐐🚘😎 Pi

Riding into the weekend in style. 🐐🚘😎

Pictured are the three Wendell brothers: Barrett (1855-1921), Gordon (1859-1910), and Evert Jensen (1860-1917), sons of Jacob Wendell Jr. and Mary Bertodi Barrett. The goat and cart belonged to middle son Gordon, and the photograph was taken in Wellesley, MA, about 1864. #ArchivesOnWheels

Today, the ancestral Wendell family home still stands on Pleasant Street, but the Wendells traveled extensively and family members lived across New England, New York and beyond. The Wendells also owned a summer estate in New Castle, Frostfields, the site of New Castle Commons. In fact, this photograph was incorrectly cataloged as Frostfields.

According to Barrett's recollection written on the back, the photograph was "taken at Wellesley in the summer of 1864 or 1865. The place was sold before 1866. It remains almost as it was 50 years ago in premises(?) of the Frank Sargents(?) who uses it mostly as a family home. It was originally the home of old Mr. Welles, Mrs. Hunnewell's father. —BW, 15th of May, 1918."

A Harvard professor, Barrett and his wife, Edith Greenough Wendell, split the family's time between Portsmouth and Boston. The Athenaeum archives includes an extensive collection of Wendell family papers and photographs.✨

[Wendell Photograph Collection, P0003_492]

#ArchivesHashtagParty #wendellfamily #goats #goatcart #wellesley #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #nh #maine #seacoast❤

Happy Flag Day! 🇺🇲 Today in 1777, the Secon

Happy Flag Day! 🇺🇲

Today in 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution adopting the American flag and that "the flag of the United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white" and that "the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."

Pictured is an unidentified female worker stitching an American flag in the Sail Loft at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, during World War II.🇺🇸

The image is dated January 26, 1944.

The photograph comes from the Frederick S. White photo album, a digital collection added to our catalog earlier this year. The original album was returned to the donor.

Frederick S. White (1909-2006) of New Castle, NH, worked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for 34 years retiring as a superintendent. He was a descendant of original settlers of New Castle, and he served as town historian.

[Gift of Carol White, PS3159_035]

#flagday #worldwar2 #WWII #rosietheriveter #portsmouthnavalshipyard #singersewingmachine
#PNSY #KitteryMaine #FrederickSWhite #collectpreserveshare📖
#localhistory #PortsmouthNH #nh #maine #seacoast❤

While a little late to save us from that heat wave

While a little late to save us from that heat wave 🥵, the Portsmouth Ice Company has arrived with its team of ten horses hitched to the ice wagon for #ArchivesOnWheels 🐎🧊

The photograph was taken around 1903. At the time, the Portsmouth Ice Co. was operated by Israel Marshall Schurman (1873-1959) who as a young man in his early twenties emigrated from Nova Scotia, Canada.🇨🇦 A carpenter by trade, he married Sadie Belle French (1871-1952), a lifelong Portsmouth resident, in January 1901. Later that year, they welcomed their only child, Inez Schurman Horsman (1901-1987). The Schurmans lived on Peverly Hill Road.

[PS0510]

The original photo is black and white, and because of the perspective, we thought a little color pop could highlight some of the details.

#ArchivesHashtagParty #PortsmouthIceCompany #schurmanfamily #peverlyhillroad #farmlife #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #nh #maine #seacoast❤

Today marks the 93rd anniversary since the Whipple

Today marks the 93rd anniversary since the Whipple Junior High Glee Club performed the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta "The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring" from Mikado. #OTD

This video is based off the photograph by Walter G. Staples showing the group of unidentified performers dressed in various flower costumes on stage at the Portsmouth High School on June 5, 1928.🌸🌹🌼🎵😊

[Gift of Richard Candee, PS2800]

According to the notice in the Portsmouth Herald, the event would be "one of the prettiest juvenile entertainments of the season."

The operetta was directed by Ernest P. Bilbruck (1879-1943), musical supervisor for the Portsmouth public schools, with Miss Ellis as the costume designer and Mrs. Doherty, a teacher at the junior high, as the choreographer.

Bilbruck is most likely at the center of the photograph. As a young boy, his family emigrated from England to Portsmouth, and he served as the head of the music department for 26 years until his sudden death in 1943, which devastated the community.🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🎼

The music from "Gilbert and Sullivan: The Mikado (1936)" is courtesy of Internet Archive.

#onthisdate #portsmouthjuniorhigh #whippleschool #gleeclub #theflowersthatbloominthespring #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #nh #maine #seacoast❤

Riding with style into the first weekend in June!💅🚲 #ArchivesOnWheels

These four young Victorian women are holding each other's handlebars as they pose on Court Street in Portsmouth in April 1898. In the background, at left, is the Fernald house (moved in the early 1980s to the intersection of Court & Washington sts.) and the South Church. At right is the old courthouse (now the site of the Central Station for the Portsmouth Fire Department) and a brick residence, recently restored.

[PS1851]

The one woman named in the photograph is Bessie Chandler Johnson (1877-1941). Our catalog record indicates she is on the far right; however, research into Bessie's life reveals she was a twin to her sister Maria Salter Johnson (1877-1953), and she may be on the left as the two women at left appear to be twins.🤔🕵️‍♂️🕵️‍♀️

Bessie and Maria were born in Portsmouth in September 1877, daughters of Rear Admiral Mortimer L. Johnson (1842-1913) and Nellie Endicott Preston (1845-1933). Neither twin would marry. They had one other sibling, Alice Preston Johnson Higgins (1872-1950).

Their grandfather was Dr. William R. Preston, physician and pharmacist, and the Preston family lived in a large house on Middle Street, which was demolished in the 1970s for the present Margeson Apartments.

By the end of 1898, the twins' father (an Athenaeum Proprietor) was named Captain of the Boston Navy Yard. Census records indicated the family was living in Boston in 1900. By 1910, they were back in Portsmouth apparently residing next door to the Preston family home in a Gothic cottage, which also was destroyed for Margeson Apts.

For possibly the next decade, they would use this cottage in the summer after wintering in Annapolis. In 1920 & 1930, census records listed the twins and their mother living at the Carvel Hall Hotel in Annapolis.

After their mother's death, the twins moved to Arlington, MA, where they passed away, Bessie in 1941 & Maria in 1953. All of the Johnsons are buried in the family plot in the Proprietors Burying Ground off South Street.

#ArchivesHashtagParty #bicycles #courtstreet #johnsonfamily #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #nh #maine #seacoast❤

Today may we reflect and honor the brave men and w

Today may we reflect and honor the brave men and women who have sacrificed their lives for our country.🇺🇲

Pictured is a group of young band members standing alongside an unidentified Civil War veteran, possibly Charles E. Dodge (1844-1929), on Pleasant Street during the Memorial Day Parade on May 30, 1915. That year marked the 50th anniversary of Appomattox and the end of the Civil War.

St. Clair Studio produced this real photo postcard.[PS2479]

A few days after the parade, the Portsmouth Herald described the event, paying tribute to the veterans:

"All along the line of march, the great crowd of spectators applauded as the old "Boys in Blue" swung along looking their best. It was their day and their dead that was being honored and they looked as though they realized it.

The ranks are thinner than they were a year ago and each of the "boys" is a little older, but they marched as proudly as they did fifty-four years ago when they were young and were going to the war to fight for the Union which was only preserved by their gallant efforts on the bloody fields of battle."

#memorialday #veterans #civilwar #pleasantstreet #realphotopostcard #collectpreserveshare📖
#localhistory #PortsmouthNH #nh #maine #honor

Before we weave goodbye to #ArchivesBugs, we are s

Before we weave goodbye to #ArchivesBugs, we are spinning our way across the Piscataqua to Maine.🕷

This spidery trade card advertised confectionery, groceries, medicine, and small wares for I.D. Phillips general store at Kittery Point, Maine.

[Ephemera Collection, E 2943]

Isaac Deering Phillips (1821-1894) was born in Kittery to Thomas Phillips and Mary Weeks. On Sept. 12, 1843, he married Mary Ball Gerrish (1819-1858), of Portsmouth. The couple had seven children. After Mary's death, he married Irene D. Phillips (1818-1900) in 1859. In the 1860 census, Isaac was listed as a master cooper, but by the 1870 and 1880 censuses, he was listed as a grocer. It appears the house passed to his daughter Mary E. Phillips Bray (1855-1943).

The map of Kittery Point comes from the Atlas of York County, Maine, published in 1872.

#ArchivesHashtagParty #spiders🕸 #grocer #pepperrellroad #kitterypoint #IsaacDPhillips #tradecards #ephemera #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #nh #maine #seacoast❤

It's time for another round of #wherewasthiswednes

It's time for another round of #wherewasthiswednesday🤔

Built c. 1760 by Michael Whidden, this house was originally occupied by George Meserve who was appointed by the Crown as tax collector. Over the Stamp Act of 1765, he was burned in effigy by the town citizens, and while in Boston, he resigned from his post before returning to Portsmouth. In 1808, statesmen Daniel Webster resided here until he purchased a residence on the corner of Court and Pleasant streets.

The Meserve-Webster House stood in the North End on the corner of Vaughan and School streets. Vaughan was the only thoroughfare north from downtown Portsmouth until about 50 years ago.

In this prime location, the Meserve-Webster House was converted between 1910 to 1920 into a commercial building with multiple storefronts.

By the time of this photo, in 1959, the building appeared vacant with Beatty & Cole Circus posters in all the windows. One of the storefronts still had the sign of its past tenant: the Roma Cafè, operated by Frank Scarito.

During the 1960s, the Meserve-Webster House was in poor condition & due to its prominent location, the building was cited an eyesore and an example of urban blight in the North End. The house & nearly the entire North End neighborhood was demolished during the Vaughan Street Urban Renewal Project, c. 1968-1972.

Once the major thoroughfare, Vaughan Street was fragmented to the pedestrian-friendly Vaughan Mall in the south & a side street in the north.

Replacing Vaughan were two thoroughfares that now extended directly into the downtown from the north: Maplewood Avenue & Market Street. These new roads correlated with the completion of the I-95 Piscataqua River Bridge.

The photograph was snapped by Howard T. Oedel & comes from his 1960-dissertation "Portsmouth, New Hampshire: The Role of the Provincial Capital in the Development." [P0067_113 from Rare Book 37612, Volumes 1 to 5.]

Image 2: 1920 Sanborn map. Today, the house would be approximately across the street from Dos Amigos on Portwalk Place.

#MeserveWebsterHouse #VaughanStreet #NorthEnd #demolished #LostPortsmouth #HowardTOedel #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #nh #maine #seacoast❤

For this week's #ArchivesBugs, we are heading to t

For this week's #ArchivesBugs, we are heading to the Beehive, or the Dennett House, which stood elevated on a hill above the North Mill Pond.🐝

Construction dates vary on the Dennett House on Prospect Street from 1680 to shortly after 1700, but what is certain, the house was one of a few first built on the Christian Shore.

The first occupant was John Dennett (1646-1709), who was born in Sussex, England, & arrived here about 1668. Upon John's death, the orchards, gardens, & house passed to his son Ephraim Dennett (1683-1741). The farm extended to the Newington town line at Gosling Road. Ephraim served as a selectman for the town, on the House of Representatives, & then on the Governor's Council. He also was appointed coroner in 1720.

So what's the buzz on it being called the #Beehive? In July 1857, Charles Brewster referred to the Dennett House as "sometimes called the Beehive" but offered no context during his ramble on the Dennett family in his newspaper, the Portsmouth Journal. Instead, he shared a romanticized story of Lydia Waterhouse Dennett, the widow of Ephraim. Lydia raised sheep & one day, she was washing wool at the nearby spring "laying aside the widow's weeds, dressed in a leather apron, a man's broad brim hat, and other matters to match...when a stranger on horseback approached & inquired for the residence of the widow Dennett." Lydia pointed to the front door where the gentleman waited while she ran around back into the house to change. Soon the gentleman, Judge John Plummer, of Rochester, was greeted by "the lady of the house in comely apparel." In short time, the two were married. Brewster concluded, "Whether he ever inquired who the help was he found washing wool at the spring, we have never been informed."🙄

In the 1930s, Arthur I. Harriman included the Dennett House in his unpublished manuscript of Portsmouth history, which is where this photo originated. He speculated the nickname might have been based on the number of families residing there. [P0007_81_03]

Another possibility could be the constant business & civic duties of Ephraim Dennett.🤷

#ArchivesHashtagParty #dennetts #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH

On this date, 101 years ago today, pictured is the

On this date, 101 years ago today, pictured is the aftermath after the S.S. Brookline of the Atlantic Corporation crashed into the wharf and business belonging to Fred C. Lindsey (1867-1953) on Ceres Street (the rear of 137 Market Street), Portsmouth, NH. #OTD

The accident occurred at noon on May 18, 1920.

According to court documents, after departing the Atlantic Corporation upriver, the Brookline was escorted by three tugs until it proceeded under its own steam on its maiden voyage down the Piscataqua River. The merchant ship lost control and struck the Lindsey passenger boat Marion, which sank in two, before slamming into and destroying the Lindsey wharf (historically known as the Mugridge or Haven wharf). The accident destroyed the Nervy, a Lindsey boat in dry-dock. Two more vessels owned by Lindsey were on top of the wharf, a passenger boat Flora and a valuable yawl boat. Both were "practically annihilated and destroyed beyond repair." A row boat was also destroyed. While no one was injured, the Lindsey business was decimated.

[Gift of David Sanderson, Marvin Peirce Photograph Collection, P0035_026 & P0035_028]

Also pictured is an excerpt from the admiralty court case of Fred C. Lindsey v. United States of America, Owner of the Steamship "Brookline." Both Fred and his wife, Emma Flora Crowley, settled the case in September 1921. [Marvin Peirce Papers, MS072 B5 F13]

Incidentally, this accident occurred around the same date and in the approximate location as businesses today gather to celebrate Portsmouth's annual "Hit the Deck" event. And while this is an unfortunate naming when compared historically, this year's event occurred this past weekend officially opening the waterfront restaurant decks to the summertime tourism season.

#onthisdate #CeresStreet #waterfront #piscataquariver #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #PortsmouthNH #nh #maine #seacoast❤

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