SBHS November 2010 Newsletter

December, 2010

“Jim” Grouse – Guard Bird

By Dave Laun

This summer at the historical society, while the Thursday men volunteers were clearing some brush at the edge of the woods to make room for more spaces at the flea market, a grouse came out of the woods and spent the morning watching us work.

On Saturday when we picked up the brush for a trip to the dump, the grouse followed us around while we loaded the truck and then flew up and landed on the brush in the truck. This went on for several weeks until we finished clearing the brush. The grouse would also walk up to the driveway when people would stand there and talk.

When Dave Sprafke was cutting the grass near the woods, the grouse would come out and fly next to the lawn mower. The grouse hasn't been seen for the last six weeks, but we hope he (or she) has survived and is ready for winter. We decided to sign him up as an honorary Thursday “man” volunteer, and so we have named him “Jim”.

Holiday House Tour update: Rescheduled to 2011!

The Historical Society loves to give Granby a gift each December, a house tour of local families homes. Each year, the hardest part of the event is finding houses to open. This year we were unable to find the necessary 5 or 6 homes to do a tour. If you or if you know someone who has a special home, our House Tour Committee would love to look at it and help us plan for next year.

Please call or text Ken Kuhl @ 860-836-0881!

Details about Wassail Party on page 2!

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Archival and Curator Report

by Carol Laun

October was a busy month at the Society.

Besides the Engine Show and Flea Market, we had some visitors from Italy, guests of Mario DeiDolori (who translated) and several genealogy researchers from out of state. We also helped celebrate the reunion of the first four classes to graduate from Granby High School.

Marge Goslee arranged for their visit and she set up 48 panels of school photos in the Cooley School. After enjoying the pictures, the group toured the Tobacco Barn with guide Paul Dewey.

Two students who recently used our archival collection for their research have received honors for their work.

Last year, Kathleen Berggren of Granby wrote her senior dissertation on religion using Granby Church documents for her research. Her paper was called “On Earth as it is in Heaven” and her thesis contended that although present-day New England is not as religious as the rest of the country, the Puritan ideology is preserved in the socio-political institutions of the area.

Kathleen was awarded the Mary Catherine Mita Prize, which is presented annually for the best American Studies thesis at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. The prize winner is selected by the faculty and they were very impressed with the quality of the primary sources she found in Salmon Brook Historical Society archives. Kathleen gave the Society a copy of her dissertation.

The second researcher is a high school student from East Granby. G. Storm Butler attends University High School at the University of Hartford. Last spring he wrote a paper on Leonard Percy of Granby, a black soldier who was killed in the Civil War. Storm’s paper was chosen to be published (probably online) in the African American National Biography series. We will also receive a copy of Storm’s article for our files.

This is the reason we have a library and archive, not only to preserve these historical Granby documents, but to have them studied and used by researchers. At the present time, Karl Van Valkenburgh is using our archives to write a history of the Masonic Lodge in Granby.

We are planning a new permanent “hands on” exhibit for children next spring. So many ordinary items have become obsolete in our lifetime and are absolutely foreign to today’s children. So this will not be an exhibit with Early American items, but with strange objects such as a dial telephone, a Brownie camera, a combined keyboard and printer known as a manual typewriter, a clock with hands, a map and perhaps cursive writing to decipher. We are looking for donations of some of these items. We have a typewriter and a map, but need the other “ancient artifacts.” If you have any of them to donate or if you have other suggestions, call Carol Laun at 860-653-3965.

Here we go a-Wassailing Wassail – First Sunday in December!

Our busy Christmas elves are already hard at work cleaning and decorating the Salmon Brook Historical Society’s Rowe and Enders houses for the annual Wassail Party – to be held this year on Sunday, Dec. 5, from 3 to 5 p.m.

Soon they’ll be fixing delicious holiday treats for the traditional start-ofthe-holidays celebration, one of Granby’s most anticipated events. And the committee of senior elves is about to brew the society’s secret-recipe wassail and non-alcoholic punch a well.

The Wassail Party, first held in 1973, is for Society members and their guests. Contributions to cover expenses will be gratefully accepted.

Again, it’s Sunday, Dec. 5 from 3 to 5 p.m. Put the date and time on your holiday calendar. Come and see old friends. The Wassail Party is too much fun to miss!

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Recent Donations

by Carol Laun

Two donations came from the recent High School Reunion at the Cooley School. John Lawson brought in two aerial photos of Granby in the 1930s and Nancy Provencher donated a Hayes advertising item. Fred Wilhelm gave us a butter churn in excellent condition. The painted decoration and maker’s name are still bright and clear. It came from the Wallace Humphrey house across the street from the Wilhelm farm (now the home of Jim Oates).

John Emigh, a Shattuck descendant donated a large, framed, hand-colored photograph of Aaron Draper Shattuck, taken when he was in his forties. John also gave us 2 CDs, one a Shattuck genealogy and the other photos of many Shattuck paintings. The photo was water damaged, so Peter Dinella took a picture of it, removed the damage using Photo Shop and framed it. We will display it in the Rowe south parlor with our Shattuck paintings.

Another Shattuck descendant, Jerry Hutt, sent us more Shattuck and Stewart family items, including letters, and many tobacco-growing documents and photos. Fred Griffin donated a reprint of a 1907 Bannerman Military Catalog. Doris Ahrens gave us a Birthday Book that was also used as an autograph book. It has mostly Westfield and Southwick names, but many are related to Granby people. We also received many items for our Flea Market from the Beman family.

The Ayer family is donating many items from their home. While listing them, I found some treasures from the Civil War. Upon closer examination, I realized they belonged in Unionville. I discussed this with the family and they agreed to donate the items to the Unionville Museum in memory of the late Richard K. Ayer.

The artifacts all belonged to Cpl. Ezra Clark Ayer of Unionville, an ancestor of Dick’s.

Unionville will receive his leather trunk, the boots Ezra wore in the War, his canteen with his initials on the cloth cover, a brass GAR belt buckle, an Illustrated History of the Civil War, a booklet about the Regiment Ezra served in and a photo of Ezra C. Ayer in uniform.

Whenever we are given items that really belong in another town or another state, we try to return them to their original home. Our Society has also received Granby items from other museums and historical societies historical societies.

Nominating Committee Named Board of Directors member Bill Ross and Society members Jane Ann Pease and Ginny Wutka were named, subject to the board’s approval, to this year’s nominating committee by President Bob Schrepf.

The nominating committee will propose a slate of officers and board members for approval of the membership at the annual meeting next April.

Please contact a member of the nominating committee if you are interested in being considered for board membership.

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Our historical society is on: Follow SBHS on facebook to see “up to date” calendars, photos of events & people along with video and much, much more! http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Salmon-Brook-Historical-Society

Give the Holiday Gift of a Membership!

STUDENT $3.00 INDIVIDUAL $15.00 FAMILY/GROUP $20.00 SUSTAINING $30.00 LIFE MEMBERSHIP $300.00

Send your name and address, with a check made payable to: Salmon Brook Historical Society Granby, Connecticut 06035

In Memoriam Evie Tuffin - Long time member, active in all Society events, talented artist of Early American decorative arts, and an excellent cook (especially Swedish desserts). She loved finding treasures at tag sales.

Chris Riley - Former member of Board of Directors and volunteer guide. He was their favorite guide when the second graders visited the Society annually. Chris was the Schoolmaster in the Cooley School building on the Society’s grounds. He was a woodcarver, a linguist, and a supremely talented guide and storyteller at Newgate Prison.

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Fall Flea Market Some thirty-eight vendors, maybe a few fewer than usual, showed up on a brisk and windy Oct. 16 for the Society’s annual Fall Flea Market. Total proceeds show that the event was a success.

The take was enriched by the $250 the Society made for a Governor Winthrop fall-front desk rescued by Dave Laun as its owners were throwing it away!

Thanks go to Bill and Jane Ann Pease for organizing the Flea Markets this year. Bill also was up before dawn to make the Southwick donut run. Dave Laun had coffee ready for the vendors before 7 a.m.

Mike Flynn and Roger Hernsdorf helped with vendor parking. Mike knew most of the vendors and where each one wanted to be.

Ruth Robinson ran the Society’s tag sale, having started to set up three weeks ahead. Public parking was efficiently handled by the usual parking crew.

Chief Chef John Horr did most of the hot dog cooking at the food tent, where hot cider was a popular item because of the fall weather. John was helped by Bill Pease, Dick Martindale, Tiny Wilson, Whitey Johnson and Ken Kuhl.

Roger Hayes took in the cash, as did Heather Tomasetti.

Thanks to all the helpers – named and unnamed – whose work made this year’s Fall Flea Market another splendid and successful Society event.

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Fall Engine Show Antique Gas Engine and Tractor Show The show was held Saturday Oct 2, 2010. After a rainy Friday, the sun came out for a beautiful show day. The exhibitors showed up a little late because they couldn’t load their equipment Friday, but we eventually had 24 exhibitors. The new field arrangement worked out well after a few adjustments and presented a better view of the show to people driving by. It must have helped because we had a better than usual spectator turnout.

I want to thank Bill Pease and his volunteers for running the food booth and Jim Glenney, Jim Allen, Jim Rosano and John Horr for their help in setting up the field and the food tent on Thursday and helping on Saturday. Rich Zlotnik also came down Saturday morning to manage the parking of cars in the parking lot.

Many hours went into planning, preparation, running the show, and cleanup afterward for this event to be the success that it was. Thanks to all!

Dave Laun

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SBHS Textile Report

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What an exciting and fruitful year your SBHS textile committee has had. In January we met to set our work goals and objectives for the year. Our philosophy was “if we get stuck or stumped on something we would temporarily put that aside, work to solve the problem, but keep moving ahead with work that we knew how to do correctly”. In February we went to the Connecticut Historical Society-“listening to the textile experts” and asking many questions.

In one year’s time we have moved not only Polly’s quilts but also the Rowe House Collection into the new storage room for a total of close to 100 quilts vacuumed and properly stored. We’ve purchased many items needed for the storage and work rooms, we’ve held our first of many quilt airings and our committee is contemplating new ideas for 2011 along with our continued quilt research and our goal of moving the textiles from the attic into the storage room.

Many thanks to our textile committee: Jean Potetz, Lucille Ladden, Sally Markey, Bert Dinella, Cynthia Glenney, Betsy Henebry, and Ginny Wutka. Thanks to David Laun and his crew, and to Carol Laun for her help along the way. In January we’ll be back at our work-both fun and exciting. If you wish to join us please contact Ginny Wutka or Jean Potetz.

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The Salmon Brook Historical Society PO Box 840 Granby, Connecticut 06035

Salmon Brook Historical Society 208 Salmon Brook Street Granby, Connecticut 06035 860-653-9713 Or go to: www.salmonbrookhistorical.org

Calendar of Events

 Wassail Party: Sunday, Dec. 5, 3-5 p.m.

Hours:Tuesday 9:00 to Noon Genealogical & Archival Research Thursday 9:00 to Noon Thursday Morning Group

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December 2010 Issue •SBHS Newsletter Publishing Committee: Leila Hawken, Bob Schrepf •Layout: Ken Kuhl •Photography: Peter Dinella, Dave Laun