The Collections of Historic New England
William Sumner Appleton founded SPNEA, now known as Historic New England, in 1910 for
"the purpose of preserving for posterity buildings, places and
objects of historical and other interest." This mandate has given
Historic New England considerable freedom and has resulted in an extraordinarily
broad collection of objects of historical and aesthetic significance,
family heirlooms presented in their original context, and household
ephemera that might not otherwise have been saved.
Historic New England's holdings have grown dramatically. The accession records
for 1910 list 19 items. Today, the collection contains more than
100,000 objects, and is the largest assemblage of New England art and
artifacts in the country.
Many institutions have chosen to collect masterpieces. However,
Appleton also considered the mundane, the ordinary, and the trivial
worth preserving. Thus, Historic New England's collection reflects both the
necessities and the luxuries of New Englanders -- from a utilitarian
cake of soap with its late 18th-century Newburyport, Mass., label to
the spectacular Queen Anne style japanned high chest of drawers that
descended in the Quincy family.
In addition to its diversity, the Historic New England collection is remarkable
for its documentation. Ledgers, inventories, photographs and
histories of ownership have enabled Historic New England to identify many original
owners and makers.
The
collection is further distinguished by the fact that much of it is
displayed in its original context. The
Sayward-Wheeler House in York
Harbor, Maine, for example, still contains most of Jonathan Sayward's
furnishings, in some cases in the very locations he selected.
James Rundlet's possessions are
still largely in the house he built in Portsmouth, N.H., between 1807
and 1808. At the Codman Estate in
Lincoln, Mass., several "old master" paintings bought in Paris in the
1790s by Richard Codman and shipped to his brother John in Boston,
decorate the walls.
All too often, re-created period rooms are based on written or
pictorial evidence which cannot convey the distinctive imprint of the
original owner. The survival of furnishings in their original context
constitutes Historic New England's most valuable asset.
Discover more about the collections in the Historic New
England magazine archives:
Library and Archives
Open: By appointment, Wednesday through Friday
9:30a.m.-4:45p.m.
Call 617-994-5946
Fee is $5; students $3; Historic New England/SPNEA members free
The
Library and Archives is one of Historic New England's greatest resources. Every year
hundreds of researchers come to the Library and Archives to study the
more than one million items that document New England's architectural
and cultural history. The archival collections include photographs,
prints and engravings, architectural drawings, books, manuscripts,
and ephemera.
In abundance and variety, photographs outrank all other forms of
information. The more than 300,000 images are arranged by specific
medium, including extensive collections of daguerreotypes,
ambrotypes, cartes de visite, stereographic views, albums, postcards,
and standard prints. They record buildings, domestic interiors,
commercial interiors, streetscapes, landscapes, people at work,
people relaxing and at play, and modes of transportation. Many of New
England's leading 19th- and early 20th-century photographers are
represented.
Researchers interested in the history of New England architecture,
architectural styles, individual architects, specific buildings or
types, ornamental or construction details, garden design, and
interior decoration will delight in the collections of more than
20,000 architectural drawings and specifications, American builders'
guides, pattern books, and decorating manuals, and trade catalogues
and other advertising ephemera that provide useful information about
architectural ornament and building materials. The work of more than
450 architects working from c. 1800 until the 1960s is represented.
The
Library and Archives' collections of family papers and account books
provide significant information about New England's social, cultural,
economic, agricultural, and literary history. For example, the Codman
Family Papers include correspondence from Edith Wharton to Ogden
Codman, Jr.; important documents related to the completion of the
Washington Monument and the construction of the State, War, and Navy
Building and the Library of Congress are part of the Casey Family
Papers; the business papers of Harrison Gray Otis (member of Congress
1791-1801 and mayor of Boston 1829-1831) are an important source of
information about the development of Boston's Beacon Hill; and the
Jewett Family Papers contain correspondence between the noted New
England author Sarah Orne Jewett and members of her family.
The ephemera collection includes postcards, greeting cards,
clippings, programs, broadsides, advertisements, guidebooks, menus,
tickets, invitations, rewards of merit, product catalogues, and
illustrated invoices. These items are rich in information about
material culture, the history of advertising, the evolution of
graphic design, and the history of technology.
The Library and Archives also holds the institutional archives of
Historic New England, which are important as a source of information not only about
Historic New England's history and its founder, William Sumner Appleton, but also
about the history of the preservation movement in the United States.
Most of the collections in the Library and Archives have been
thoroughly indexed, with multiple points of access.
Exclusive archival quality reproductions from the collections and archives of
Historic New England are now available online at www.lookclickprint.com
Discover more about the Library and Archives in back issues of Historic
New England magazine:
