March, 2013
The Downton Abbey Years What Was Happening in Granby 1912-1928? by Jean M. Potetz
This summer’s temporary exhibit will be based on PBS’s successful Masterpiece
Classic series, Downton Abbey. The series opens with the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912 and progresses through World War I to the early 1920s and beyond. For those of you following this extremely popular series, you know the history is interesting, the clothing distinctive, and the time one of change and modernization. While Downton Abbey is an English estate presided over by a Lord and Lady surrounded in grandeur, and there are differences between here and there, the question comes to mind, “What was life like in Granby during the Downton Abbey years?” We’re presently in the process of choosing clothing and quilts from this period and will use photographs of Granby along with a variety of everyday items of this era to provide a sense of life as it was in Granby from 1912 to the late 1920s. The exhibit will be in the Preservation Barn and throughout the Society houses. Plan on attending this summer - and pass the word about it. You needn’t be a Downton Fan to enjoy it - the exhibit will be interesting to anyone intrigued by this era. Spring Flea Market May 18, 2013 Annual Meeting April 23, 2013 (see page 5)
(see page 7)
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Archivist Report Volunteers
by Carol Laun, Archivist and Acting Curator
We are an all-volunteer historical society, which means we do not have to raise funds and apply for grants to pay someone a salary. All the money we receive from dues and fund-raising activities is used for operational costs, to pay for repairs and improvements on our buildings and to fund Society programs. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings the World’s Greatest Volunteers show up month after month, year after year. They do the accessioning, make repairs, work in the archives, organize the textile collection, shovel snow, hang shelves – in other words, do whatever needs to be done. Another small army of volunteers make our activities possible – the tours of our museum buildings, flea markets, school tours, Wassail Party, house and garden tours and various programs. Our Historical Society could not survive without volunteers. If you have never volunteered, please consider it now. It is fun, fulfilling and necessary. If you are interested in giving tours of our museum buildings, please call Patty Sansone. We will teach you and have you work with experienced guides. If you like working with children, please call Downy Koch to help with our 2nd grade tours. If you want to help with the Flea Market, please call Todd Vibert. To help with events, programs, Memorial Day Parade etc., please call Patty Sansone. Or call the Historical Society at 860-653-9713 and leave a message with your name, phone number and your field of interest. We will call you back.
Newsletter Delivered By E-mail? The Historical Society’s board wants to know if there is any interest among members in receiving the quarterly SBHS News by e-mail instead of by snail mail. The idea is to better serve members and save paper and postage costs. Members who are not online or who otherwise prefer to get the newsletter the old-fashioned way, through the post office, could still do so. At this point, we’re just gauging interest. If you would be interested in receiving the Society’s newsletter by e-mail, reply to Ken Kuhl (kennykuhl @ gmail.com), Bob Schrepf (rschrepf70 @ gmail.com) or call the Society’s office at 860 653 9713. Leave a message with your name if no one’s there.
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In Memoriam Alva Tatlock Robert Nuckols
by Carol Laun In Memoriam – Evelyn Hildreth Evelyn was in the original group of Thursday morning volunteers at the Historical Society and her help was extremely valuable. Her knowledge about clothing and fabrics was essential to the organization of our huge clothing collection. Then she supplied the materials and taught the volunteers to make small quilts or paint gourds or make ornaments – all as fund raisers. She was on the Board of Directors for the Historical Society and served as secretary for many years. Evelyn was passionate in her opinions and not shy about expressing them, resulting in some very interesting meetings. She was generous with her time and her talent. Evelyn had note cards made from her beautiful watercolor paintings of Granby scenes and gave them to the Society for a fund raiser. We miss her sense of humor and common sense. We miss Evelyn.
SBHS Annual Meeting & Dinner April 23, 2013 This year’s Annual Meeting & Dinner will be held Tuesday, April 23, in Cook Hall at First Congregational Church on North Granby Road. Hors d’oeuvres will be served starting at 6 p.m. and we’ll sit down to dinner at 7:00. Our annual business meeting will follow, including election of officers and board members and presentation of the annual Linnell Award honoring extraordinary volunteer service to the Society. Five officers chosen by the nominating committee and approved by the Society’s board of directors will be presented for election by the membership. See page 7 for the list of nominees. We extend our appreciation to Marge Goslee, who is leaving the board after two terms. Admission to the dinner and annual meeting is $20 per person. Payment with the coupon on page 7 should be sent to Patty Sansone, 65-R Mountain Rd., North 3 Granby, CT, 06060 by April 14.
SBHS Building and Grounds Report
By David Laun Chairman
The Rowe House is scheduled for repairs to the window sills and exterior window trim, refasten and repair the clapboards, repair the front door sill, and rebuild and move the first floor pantry window to eliminate a water problem with the roof runoff. Brian Doyon of BLD Construction of Suffield will be doing the work in preparation for painting the house this June. Brian is the contractor who did the excellent job of replacing the roof on the Rowe House last summer. Bob Burke, one of our volunteers, has completed rebuilding, reglazing, and repainting 21 of the 23 windows in the Rowe house. He has also installed UV film on 12 of the windows to help protect the house contents. In total, he has spent over 500 hours working on the windows. Bob hopes to use his experience to start a retirement business in restoring windows. The Thursday volunteer men have started the preparation for painting the office room in the Enders House. Repairs to stabilize the ceiling to prevent the plaster from cracking have been started.
Civic Club – 100 years old The Granby Civic Club will celebrate its 100th birthday in the fall. As the repository for their archives, we have been working with a committee on plans for the celebration. We are missing some of the minutes, programs and other items. If you, or someone you know, has any Civic Club photos, documents, memorabilia etc. please call the Society or the club president, Eleanor Moody (860) 653-7131 . STUDENT $3.00 INDIVIDUAL $15.00 FAMILY/GROUP $20.00 SUSTAINING $30.00 LIFE MEMBERSHIP $300.00
Have you renewed your membership in the Salmon Brook Historical Society for the calendar year 2013? We have attempted to keep the dues at a reasonable level. If you haven’t renewed for this year or owe back dues, please send us a check. Your continued support is welcome and appreciated. To those of you who have already paid your dues, many thanks.
Send your name and address with a check made payable to: Salmon Brook Historical Society and send to the society at 208 Salmon Brook Street, P.O. Box 840, Granby, CT. 06035
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Spring Flea Market
Checks paid to Salmon Brook Historical Society Include name and phone number and send to:
Dave Laun 16 Hummingbird Granby, CT 06035
Any questions call: David Laun 860 653 3965 (leave message) or Todd Vibert 860 653 9506
Volunteers: Our Flea Markets are successful because of you! You are appreciated – and are needed again this spring. If you haven’t yet volunteered, but would like to, call Todd Vibert at 860 653 9605. Some jobs require only 2 hours of your time and are lots of fun. Shifts begin at 6 a.m. and the last one begins at 2 p.m. Also, we invite members to donate items for the Society’s tag sale – a big part of the Flea Market. . Clean your attics…Donations for tag sale always welcome. You can drop off the items at the Preservation Barn on Tuesday and Thursday mornings between 9 a.m. and noon. . . Or you can call Ruth Robinson at 860 653 3918. Please, no plastic toys or children’s clothes If you want to sell items yourself and need to buy a dealer space at the Flea Market, just talk to Dave Laun or Todd Vibert. Join the fun on May 18!
Chamber Event, Summer Tours In conjunction with the Granby Chamber of Commerce, The Salmon Brook Historical Society board, Center Spirits and Carmon Funeral Homes will host a Business After Hours mixer on May 21st. Chamber members host local business leaders six times a year in order to promote the Chamber and their partnership with Granby businesses. These events provide business and local leaders an opportunity to network and are among the most popular events on the calendar for the Chamber. The Salmon Brook Historical Society will be kicking off this year’s summer tours on Sunday, June 2. All Granby residents should stop in to tour the Society’s historic homes and large collections of Granby memorabilia. 5
What’s Happening In Textiles by Jean M. Potetz
I recently had the opportunity to read through the carbon copies of some early thank you letters written by Eva Dewey while she was curator at the Society. These thank you letters were filled not only with her thanks for the wonderful donations that were coming into the fledgling Society, but also with her passion and dreams for it. Her love for what she was doing still shines bright and strong from these tissue-thin pages. They are a history unto themselves.
Thankfully we continue to be the recipient of wonderful donations. Recent donations to Textiles include: Hand-crocheted tablecloth from Polly Hall. Signature quilt circa 1870 from Ruth Weston. Form for displaying blouses or shirts from Lisa Salonia. Crazy quilt made by Laura Holcomb, and a collection of clothing items including three gowns (one from the early 1870s) from Steve Hastings. Black beaded dress, black velvet clutch and brown velvet beaded jacket from the 1920s from Karen Antonucci. Clothing items including an apricot dress dating from 1918-1920s that belonged to the Maltbie family. If you’ve already read about our upcoming summer exhibit, The Downton Abbey Years — What Was Happening in Granby 1912-1928?, elsewhere in this newsletter, you’ll recognize that some of these newly donated items will fit into this summer’s exhibit perfectly. We hope to include them in our display this year. All of these items are welcome additions to our Textile Collection.
Recent Donations by Carol Laun, Archivist and Acting Curator
We were given a family Bible by Robert Loomis inscribed with Peck family genealogy information. The first Loomis to come to Granby, Harrison Loomis, was married to Charlotte Peck. Their sons started the Loomis Brothers Store. Doris Ahrens donated 16 family photos, her mother’s Girl Scout badges and the program from her mother’s (Rita Case) graduation from Simsbury High School in 1920. David Allen (Allen Shoe Shop family) sent a 1927 letter from Gerald Hayes to David’s father Charlie Allen. Gerald was in RI in a YMCA military camp. We were not the highest bidder for a 1839 Granby letter on Ebay, but I was able to buy a copy of the letter for our files. It was written by Wilson Dewey to his brother Willis, who was in Georgia. It is quite interesting and may appear in a future newsletter. Our daughter Sue gave us a Granby invented and manufactured Parabola Clock for Christmas. After Dave makes a few repairs, we will donate it to the Society. It was invented by Charles Stephens who lived on Cooley Road.
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Proposed Officers, Board Members At the April 23 Annual Meeting, Society members will vote on the following names proposed by the nominating committee to be officers and board members:
Officers: President: Bill Ross
2 Year Term
Vice President: Ken Kuhl
2 Year Term
Secretary: James Finnance
Discretion of the board
Treasurer: Roger Hayes
Discretion of the board
Archivist/Acting Curator: Carol Laun Discretion of the board Board Members: Bob Schrepf
3 Year Term
Todd Vibert
3 Year Term
Rich Zlotnick 2nd Grade Tour
Heather Tomasetti
3 Year Term 3 Year Term
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Salmon Brook Historical Society Annual Dinner Tuesday, April 23, 2013 at First Congregational Church. Social Hour: 6 p.m. Dinner: 6:45 p.m. Please reserve ____ places at the Annual Dinner at $20 per person. I am enclosing $___ Name:____________________________Phone:________ Address:________________________________________ Please make checks payable to Salmon Brook Historical Society Send to: Patty Sansone, 65-R Mountain Road, North Granby, CT. 06060 Phone: 860 653 3838 Deadline: April 14 7
Salmon Brook Historical Society 208 Salmon Brook Street Granby, Connecticut 06035 860-653-9713 Or go to: www.salmonbrookhistorical.org Hours: Tuesday 9:00 to Noon Genealogical & Archival Research
Thursday 9:00 to Noon Thursday Morning Group Follow us on:
Granby, Connecticut 06035 PO Box 840 The Salmon Brook Historical Society
Calendar of Events
Annual Meeting and Dinner – First Congregational Church Spring Flea Market ‘Business After Hours’ (with Chamber) Memorial Day Parade Sunday SBHS House Tours begin: SBHS Garden Tour Gas Engine Show Fall Flea Market Wassail Party
April 23 May 18 May 21 May 27 June 2 June 22 Oct. 5 Oct. 19 Dec. 1
March 2013 Issue •SBHS Newsletter Publishing Committee Leila Hawken and Bob Schrepf •Layout: Ken Kuhl •Photography: Peter Dinella