Darien Historical Society 2016 Membership Mailing

OFFICERS:

Bruce D. Sargent, President Mollie Fullington, Vice President Kate Larson, Vice President Robert J. Pascal, Jr., Treasurer Julie Johnston, Secretary

BOARD MEMBERS:

ADVISORY COUNCIL:

Christine Bang Kieran Cavanna Jared Heuer Abby Hord Elissa Hylton Paget MacColl Rudy Mossa David Polett Lynn Sheppard Joseph Spain Peter Thoren Sara Zagrodzky

Nancy Cudd Carole Johnson J. Paul Johnson Frederick M. Lione Nancy Lione W. C. Brian Peoples Ruth Anne Ramsey Cynthia Ryan Janet Sargent Cynthia Stamm Jon Zagrodzky

Our Town.

Our Story.

Our Museum.

EX OFFICIO:

Marian Castell, Town Historian Kenneth M. Reiss, Society Historian Babs White, Costume Curator

MUSEUM: Open to the Public HOURS:

Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays from Noon to 5 pm Sundays: Noon to 3 pm

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US RT.1 Post Road

Darien Ice Rink

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Darien Historical Society

Goodwivies Shopping Center

Currently on Exhibit: Dorothea Warren O’Hara (1873-1972) Banana Flower Watercolor

DARIEN HISTORICAL

SOCIETY

45 Old Kings Highway North, Darien, CT 06820

DARIEN HISTORICAL

SOCIETY

Welcome!

Dear Friends and Neighbors of the Darien Historical Society, We hope you share our satisfaction in the depth and scope of DHS activities that our supporters made possible this year. Indeed, your contributions enabled us to present several unique and interesting historical exhibits, to expand and authenticate our collections, and to refine our education initiatives, including lectures and school age programming.

We continually strive to underscore Darien’s significant place in the history of Connecticut and the world. In addition to our educational programs and Barn exhibits, there are permanent collections on view in the Bates-Scofield Museum as well as periodic displays of our exceptional quilt and costume collections. Our historical library documents are available onsite and are frequently researched by scholars and families seeking historical background data.

We depend on the generosity of our members and the community at large to fund our mission and we trust we can rely on your continued support this year.

Thank you for your consideration and, if you haven’t seen our current, widely-praised Barn exhibit – “Darien 1925-1950 – Golden Age of Art and Design” – you have time. The exhibit will stay up until mid-February.

Don’t miss it.

Bruce Sargent President Darien Historical Society

Our Story F or over sixty years the Darien Historical Society has preserved and celebrated the history of Darien and its townspeople.

The centerpiece of our museum, the 1736 Bates-Scofield Home, captures life as it was in Colonial and Early American Darien, known as Middlesex Parish at the time.

Built around a massive central chimney with a huge fireplace and beehive oven, the house is an original Darien farmhouse thoughtfully restored to its 18th century origins.

Each year our talented team of volunteer curators research and present a series of major exhibitions, which feature lectures and events held throughout the year.

We look forward to your next visit.

The costume collection is under the leadership of Curator Babs White, a Smith College alumna and the recipient of both a Woman of Distinction Award and the Obie Harrington Howes Community Service Award.

On Now Our current exhibit, Darien 1925-1950: The Golden Age of Art & Design, centers on the Guild of the Seven Arts, Darien’s own mid-century art colony. Darien’s rich art and design heritage from this period includes: • One of the 20th century’s most prominent photojournalists, • A three-time America’s Cup-winning yacht designer, • A Mount Rushmore sculptor, • Numerous important Art Deco painters, ceramicists, and watercolorists, • An Opera luminary, • And even Buckminster Fuller with his incredibly innovative inventions.

Unsigned artwork believed to be the work of Arthur Gibson Hull, whose signed depictions of Colonial life and the Tory Raid on the Middlesex Parish during the American Revolution.

New Pieces Our permanent collection includes items that convey the history of Darien.

Additionally, we maintain a large collection of historic costumes and an important archive of locally made antique quilts and coverlets.

In 2016, among other items, we acquired two especially noteworthy pieces.

Thaddeus Bell Walking Stick (Early 19th Century) The ‘Father of Darien’, Thaddeus Bell was a revolutionary war Patriot who served in the Connecticut legislature and led the town’s separation from Stamford. Rejecting the name Belleville, in his honor, many credit him with proposing the name Darien. Earlier this year, one of his direct descendants generously gifted us his walking stick.

Pine Hutch Table (Late 18th Century) Hutch tables were an extremely efficient furniture piece that maximized utility in the tight quarters of early American homes.

Our recently donated piece is a splendid example dating from the 1780s still exhibiting signs of its original red paint. It could serve as a table, chair and storage chest.

Thank you to all of our generous donors; we are extremely grateful.

School Work Over 1,000 elementary school students visit the Historical Society each year for a series of Colonial field trips. Students enjoy inquirybased activities that include: exploring our Early American homestead, taking a trip back through the secret door, and a lesson in mapping with our antique Darien maps circa 1860.

Fifth grade students go on a bus tour of Darien seeing our historic places and learning the unique stories that go with them. The goal is to use critical thinking and explorative detective skills to understand life in Darien in early America and to leave with more questions than they came with.

Today our gardens continue to be graciously maintained by the Garden Club of Darien and provide a genial entrance for our Museum and a place for quiet contemplation.