Monthly Archives: September 2014

Improved Blackboards in 1867

I thought blackboard paint was something new. Well, relatively new. I was wrong. Again.

In 1867, Henry W. Holly of Norwich patented an improvement to the substance that would turn ordinary objects and wood into artificial slates. Those artificial slates gave rise to blackboards and menu boards and signs.

The slates carried by students to practice their writing and math on gave way to mass produced and much less expensive paper and pencil but soon every classroom could have a cheaper than real slate blackboard and chalk and if it became damaged, by accident of course, it could be repaired.

Henry Wells Holly was a prolific woodworker, writer and inventor. He wrote the Carpenters and Joiners Handbook that is still used by woodcraftsmen today. While living in Stamford he designed a Music Leaf Turner on a music stand in 1849, an improved roller for wringing-machines in 1863, an improved perpetual calendar in 1865, the improved artificial slate in 1867, an improvement for drawing nails in 1868 another improvement to marking slates while living in Brooklyn NY as well as a protector for chimneys in 1884.

He was always looking to make things better and easier. To learn more about the inventions that were patented by people from Norwich, CT do a simple search in Google Patents.

Comments on this blog should be sent to berylfishbone@yahoo.com.

The Fashionable Shawl

In the late 1600’s shawl was not yet a common word even though it was beginning to turn up in travelers descriptions of clothing seen in southern Asia. In the 1700’s fine cashmere shawls from Kashmir and India began to arrive in Western Europe. At first they were not treated as clothing, but used to decorate the home.

By the end of the 18th century dresses were becoming softer with higher waists and a narrower silhouette that became the perfect background for the pretty shawls.

The most fashionable shape was an 8 foot by 4 foot rectangle but squares were also manufactured.

In 1810 Napoleon gave seventeen Kashmiri shawls as a wedding gift to his second wife, his first wife Josephine owned sixty.

As fashions changed so did the shawl. By the 1830’s they were an essential item in an elegant ladies wardrobe but woven shawls were popular to “middling” women. They worked well with the new wider skirts and improvements in looms made it easier to produce the large Victorian shawl that covered the upper body and draped down over the skirt.

The bustle of the 1870’s made it hard to drape the fine fabric with elegance and cheap mass-produced wraps were widely available, making the better ones less exclusive.

Some beautiful shawls were cut up for dressmaking purposes, curtains or allowed to fade during the late Victorian period according to Mary Dusenberry in Flowers, Dragons and Pine Trees: Asian Textiles in the Collection of the Spencer Museum of Art.

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By the 1870s fashionable ladies were no longer fond of shawls. One reason was the popularity of bustles. It was difficult to drape fine fabric elegantly over a skirt that stuck out at the back.  Also, cheap, mass-produced wraps were widely available by then, making the better ones seem less exclusive and desirable.

The late Victorian period was a sad time in the history of shawls. Some beautiful hand-woven antique shawls were cut up for dressmaking purposes, or used as curtains and allowed to fade.

*According to Mary Dusenberry in Flowers, Dragons and Pine Trees: Asian Textiles in the Collection of the Spencer Museum of Art

Our mannequin is not wearing a shawl appropriate for the colonial period.

A Proposal in Poem

 Deep in the archives of the Leffingwell House Museum are treasures such as this proposal of marriage. Peter (3), son of Peter (2) Lanman, was born October 4, 1807. He married (first) Catharine Cook, October 25, 1831 age 24. He married (second) Lydia S. Bishop, May 6, 1857, at age 50. He married (third) Mary E. Golding, September 5, 1866, at age 59.

Miss Lydia Bishop, sister of Dr. Bishop now of Worcester was engaged to Daniel Tyler of Sutton, MA. He  went to college at Amherst, studied medicine, then went to California and returned as far as New York, where he died unmarried. She taught school in Sutton, MA and was a very fine lady. She afterward married a Peter Lanman and died at Norwich, Connecticut. 

Proposal in Poem

My dearest Miss Bishop, I’ve heard all my life

That you were cut out for a widower’s wife,

And lately I’ve had the misfortune to lose

A worthy, excellent, exemplary spouse;

And pain would replace her for life is but brief,

And should not be wasted in mourning and grief.

I’ll “describe my position” as well as I can;

Im a pleasing, affable and good natured man –

Thick-set, middle aged good looking some think

And can strike up a match as quick as a wink;

I have nine precious children-dear nice little creatures

Like the dear departed in form and in features;

But the boys have my temper, are rather unruly-

Self-willed- a little bit rude (to speak truly);

The oldest’s past twenty- the youngest, dear child,

Is a sweet little cherub of but three summer’s mild,

And, of course, as he cannot recollect any other,

He never will know that youre not his own mother

 

You must manage and save I’m happy to learn

You are expert at the needle-can do any trim

In the house- but the knowledge that comes most important

Is the knowledge you have of the Greek and the Latin.

You must teach all the boys, for I give you my word

That to send them to school I can never afford

I look upon money as you do of course –

The pride of the worldly – contemptible dross, –

At the bottom of crime and the root of  all evil,

The invention of all wicked men and the devil.

You’ll be pleased then to learn that my income is small,

And servants so dear that I keep none at all.

Come thus, and share all- all my cares and my joys-

My own little girl and eight- promising boys –

Reject not my suit, nor my fond hopes much,

But come, dear Miss Lydia – preside o’er my flock.   

(Who could possibly say no?)

Comments on this blog should be sent to berylfishbone@yahoo.com

 

Joseph M. Wade, Ornithologist and Oologist

Once more I have found a connection between birds and Norwich. Joseph M. Wade was an Ornithologist (person who studies birds) and Oologist (person who deals with the study of eggs, especially birds’ eggs.) For many years Mr. Wade chronicled the birds and their eggs in the Norwich area. In 1891 Frank Park Webster Company published Volume 16 of Ornithologist and Oologist Birds: Their Nests and Eggs  written by Mr. Wade and with many of his personal observations. There are at a minimum 17 references to Norwich, CT that give a hint to what Norwich was like prior to its modern day development. But where are these places he references?  I will try not to reference the same place repeatedly.

April 21, 1877 Plain Hill, Nest in Lillibridge’s West Wood, in old chestnut.

April 24, 1877 Nest in Rockwell’s Woods, back of Free Academy. Principal trying to shoot hawks – often seen.

May 2, 1877 Swamp. Sunnyside Woods, Norwich, CT New nest in small leaning oak. Female made bold dashes toward me.  

April 19, 1880 Cranberry Bog, Wawecus Hill, Norwich, CT Old nest, old site, old birds. Nest retouched-scanty hemlock lining.

April 21, 1880 City, or Fairview Reservoir “Nest in chestnut. Feathers in nest and on limbs. Homely female.”

April 21, 1882 Ox Hill Nest in thrifty chestnut, in square chestnut grove above westerly slope of Gallow’s Hill.

April 17, 1886 Gallows Hill Norwich, CT Both hawks at nest. Very handsome.

April 20, 1887 Fair View Farm, Norwich, CT “Nest in a beech, near the edge of chestnut grove, in home lot within full view of road. Beech covered with initials. Driving by saw Ilntfn soaring 1000 feet over nest – negro tramp walking through grove.”

April 14, 1888, Sunnyside Woods, Norwich, Ct

You can read Mr. Wade’s detailed observations of the birds and their eggs in the Norwich area and across America for free through the generosity of the Google Books and the Harvard Library.  

Comments on this blog should be e-mailed to berylfishbone@yahoo.com

 

Reducing musty book odors

Someone asked me “How do I eliminate or reduce a musty odor in a book?” So I asked the Northeast Document Conservation Center.  There is no guaranteed way to remove the musty smell from old books, but sometimes this works. First create an enclosed chamber. Use two garbage cans, one large (with a lid) and one small. Put some type of odor-absorbing material in the bottom of the larger can. Odor-absorbing materials may include baking soda, charcoal briquettes (without lighter fluid), or kitty litter. Place the object to be “deodorized” in the smaller can, which is then placed inside the larger can. The lid should then be placed on the larger can, and the chamber should be left for some time. You will need to monitor periodically to see how long the materials need to be left inside the chamber.

Mildew thrives on organic substances like paper so here are a few more tips for removing mildew and hopefully preventing it in the future.  Look to see if the mold is on the surface (cover, binding, and edges) or if it has eaten all the way through to the pages. If it’s only on the outside brush off the mold and mildew gently with a rag that has just a bit of Lysol on it. The Lysol will kill the mold and prevent it from returning.  

If the mold is on the pages of your book I have heard of two methods to cure it. One, put your book into a plastic bag and into the freezer overnight. The temperature kills the spores and the plastic bag keeps the spores from spreading to your food. Then dust off the book using a rag lightly dampened with Lysol. Don’t use the harsh chemical bleach because it will eat through the pages of your book.

The second cure is to place your book in the microwave for ten seconds or less to kill the mold and follow the same procedure for cleaning your books as above. People who are sensitive to mold spores should use a HEPA vac to remove the spores.

Comments on this blog should be emailed to berylfishbone@yahoo.com

An 1895 Deer Walk

Fall is the season for long walks through neighborhoods and Norwich is the perfect place to do that. Small streets tucked away with houses and yards that whisper long forgotten stories if you listen closely.

There is a house on Lincoln Avenue that once belonged to Charles P. Cogswell, the President of the 2nd National Bank in Norwich and standing on his lawn on November 4th 1895 was a doe. A deer stood there happily nibbling on the bushes. A sight so rare that it was reported at length in the November 6th Norwich Bulletin and the November 10, 1895 New York Times.

The doe  was seen at  5:30 AM by a Norwich Bulletin carrier before it disappeared in the direction of Chelsea Parade and was next spotted on Chestnut Street. Chestnut Street was filled with homes and businesses such as Thomas O’Neill, harness maker¸ M B Ring, Carriage builder and repairer, R F  Goodwin, Cork Cutter, A T Gardiner Livery Boarding and Feed Stables, and Horace L Tower, Veterinary Surgeon.

Then the doe moved on to Franklin Square where he was seen by Andrew Marshall, the janitor of the bank in the Slater Building just before the arrival of the electric car from Greenville and as witnessed by Michael McInerney of Taftville and Timothy Cary of Central Avenue the deer leapt directly over the head of a small boy and sped down East Main Street heading for the Preston Bridge.

C. Avery Champlin was the last Norwich person to see the deer. He says he was on his way from Main Street to take the early train north and he saw the deer cross the Shetucket River into Preston.

It was later reported that  William Martin and Frank Martin and their wives on their way to church saw a deer cross the road near the Chaplin Paper Mill in Chaplin, CT 20 or 25 miles from Norwich.   They thought the deer was headed for Willimantic.

According to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection fact sheet deer were uncommon in Connecticut from 1700 to 1900 due to over-harvesting for venison, deerskins, market hunting, and a general loss of deer habitat caused by extensive clearing of the land for farming. In 1893 the Connecticut State Legislature passed a law giving complete protection to deer for 10 years so the numbers of deer could build back up.

Try this walk on your own and imagine for yourself the lives of the residents of the past.

Comments on this blog should be sent to berylfishbone@yahoo.com

 

Little Known Military Tidbits

Sometimes you read something in another paper or on-line that just makes you smile whether you want to or not and so I present to you this article by Sabrina Rojas Weiss and posted by Ancestry.com on August 13, 2014 in Military Records. I knew about George Washington’s teeth but I did not know about . . .

1. The Boston Tea Party Had a Sequel We all know about the initial incident on December 16, 1773, when Boston’s Sons of Liberty dressed as Mohawk Indians and tossed 342 chests of tea from three ships into the Boston Harbor to protest the taxes imposed in the Tea Act. But we forget that they felt the need to hammer the point home with a second party, on March 7, 1774 — probably because they grabbed only 16 chests of tea. So why are you drinking tea to honor colonial history?

2. Sweet Revenge While it was common practice for Patriots to tar and feather Loyalists, the Daughters of Liberty had a less painful alternative: They used molasses and flowers instead.

3. Where’s the Independence? The word “independence” never appears in the Declaration of Independence — rather, it’s titled “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.”

4. Drag King on the Front Line In 1782, 21-year-old Deborah Sampson dressed as a man, called herself Robert Shurtlieff Sampson (after a deceased brother), and enlisted in the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental Army. She served for over a year, until a doctor discovered her secret while treating her for an unhealed injury. She was discharged with honor.

5. Forget That Paul Revere Guy, Meet Sybil The Boston silversmith was actually accompanied by as many as 40 other men on his midnight ride to sound the alarm that the British were coming. But two years later, 16-year-old Sybil Ludington, the daughter of a colonel, rode 40 miles on her own from 9 p.m. to dawn to alert New York militia members that the Brits were burning down Danbury, Connecticut.

6. British Invasion on Broadway In cities such as New York that were controlled by the British Army, some soldiers took time to act in professionally produced plays during the war.

7. Jack Sparrow, Patriot? Since they didn’t have money for a big navy, the Continental Congress hired privateers, aka pirates, to attack British ships. They were then supposed to split the booty with the U.S.

8. The First CIA Spying played a huge role in the war, and agents on both sides sent messages using invisible ink.

9. Thank That French Kid The Marquis de Lafayette, who was instrumental in General Washington’s defeat of the British at Yorktown in 1781, was only 19 when he joined the Continental Army as a major general in 1777.

10. George Washington’s Teeth Were a Lie The general’s dentures weren’t made of wood, as legend has it, but rather of hippopotamus ivory and cows’ teeth, held in place by metal springs.

Comments on this blog should be emailed to berylfishbone@yahoo.com

Norwich Harbor Water Trail brochure

Yahoo it has arrived! The Norwich Harbor Management Commission publication and distribution of its first ever NORWICH HARBOR WATER TRAIL ON THE THAMES, YANTIC AND SHETUCKET RIVERS brochure.

It’s got a wonderful aerial photo of the Yantic River, downstream of the Falls on its cover fold.  The brochure does not contain navigation information because the water paths are very subject to change in the area. I asked a friend who is an experienced outside person and he said that was a very safe thing to do so the brochure could have a long life span and then he asked to see the maps and charts.  Maybe those will be coming out next? Anyway, the brochure does have a colorful map for reference only.

A reference that canoe and kayak journeys can begin and end at Brown Park and a sentence about the three rivers that feed into the Thames River and website references to learn more about those waterways. I thought Norwich had more places to launch but I guess I was wrong. There is a lengthy dissertation on the Watershed  of the Thames and the usual  homage to settling of Norwich history.

One fold is entirely dedicated to the Fish of the Harbor. Sadly I learned that manufacturing in the 1800’s blocked the spawning runs of shad, alewife and other native species and so eliminated them entirely from their native habitat. A fish lift was built in 1996 and continued stocking is restoring anadromous (ascending rivers from the sea for breeding) fish to their natural habitat providing recreational, economic and environmental benefits.  American Shad and Striped Bass are shown with a note saying how any caught were likely spawned in the Hudson River. The 315 mile Hudson River is mostly in eastern New York State. There was no mention of the visiting otter from last year that entertained some of us on the Public Utilities website page.

The back fold gives directions to Brown Park, and multiple warnings about tidal conditions, and paddling safe and smart and then a paragraph on the writers, contributors and funding sources for the brochure.

Congratulations to the Norwich Harbor Management Commission, Geoffrey Steadman, Keith Placko, Long Island Sound Study, Long Island Sound Futures Fund, Pamela Ballard, Paul Singer Design, Michael Longfellow, and the Last Green Valley.

Three Rivers Community College 2014 Workforce & Community Education Noncredit Schedule

If the Norwich Adult Education offerings are reduced any further the catalog will be reduced to a single page flier to be posted on bulletin boards in supermarkets. So where did all the classes go? Norwich has the largest population in Eastern Connecticut and we have so little to offer. Or so I thought.  Then by chance I picked up the Three Rivers Community College 2014 Workforce & Community Education Noncredit Schedule.

Flip past the first 20 pages of high-priced on-line classes (You can find these classes  offered for less in other places) and you’ll find wine and cooking classes, auto cad, how to write your memoir, babysitter training, growing plants for fun and profit, grantwriting, grammar refresher, digital photography, music made easy, drawing for the beginner and so many more classes that I thought were not offered in Norwich at all for reasonable rates.

Yes, some are slightly higher in cost than the same course offered in surrounding towns and there is an unusually high number of classes with “educator tipping.” Educator tipping is when in addition to the fee paid to the school, there is an additional fee to be paid directly to the teacher for “supplies and photocopying.”

Anyway, check out this catalog for what is being offered in Norwich before you check out the adult education programs being offered in New London, Montville and Colchester.  

Well done and thank you Three Rivers for supporting the community of Norwich. Comments on this blog should be emailed to berylfishbone@yahoo.com.