From the Vault | Portsmouth Athenaeum

Researching the 1782 Henzell’s Island Inoculation Ledger (part 2 of 2)

by Portsmouth Athenaeum | Jul 1, 2022 | Announcements, Manuscripts

Katy Sternberger, Archivist Continued from “Prevent the Spread: A History of Smallpox Inoculation in Eighteenth-Century Portsmouth.” In 1782 amid a smallpox epidemic, doctors Joshua Brackett, Ammi Ruhamah Cutter, Hall Jackson, and John Jackson built a hospital on...

Prevent the Spread: A History of Smallpox Inoculation in Eighteenth-Century Portsmouth (part 1 of 2)

by Portsmouth Athenaeum | Jun 24, 2022 | Announcements, Manuscripts

Katy Sternberger, Archivist After more than two years of living with the COVID-19 pandemic, we now have a unique sense of what it was like to witness pandemics past—quarantining, vaccine hesitancy, and reports of case numbers in the news are not novel. We just need to...

Temperance in Portsmouth

by Portsmouth Athenaeum | May 17, 2019 | Announcements, Manuscripts

By Athenaeum Archivist Susan Kindstedt Alcohol consumption has always been a part of America’s history. In the early years of colonial settlement, alcohol was consumed with most meals by all members of the family as it was believed to be safer than water....