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The Village Broadside

The Blog of Historic Deerfield

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Deerfield River Valley Mysteries: How the Glacier Age and other geologic events shaped Historic Deerfield and Surroundings (Part 2)

Several miles downstream from Shelburne Falls, the Deerfield valley widens into the familiar Historic Deerfield landscape of terraces and floodplains. The Deerfield River is very strange in this area, it flows north, just opposite of what would be expected. As a tributary to the southerly flowing Connecticut River, the Deerfield should flow diagonally into it, not opposite of the master stream. What mysteries are here! Beside its unexpected flow direction, why is the valley so wide and how did all the various flat terrace levels come about?

Making and Keeping a Journal

Today’s Maker Mondays offering will be part one of a two-week activity. Today, we will show you how to make a journal. Next Monday we will explain some methods of journal writing and share samples of journals from Historic Deerfield’s archives. While you are making your journal this week, you can think about what you would like to put in your journal.

How (not) to Start a Revolution?

On a fateful spring morning on Lexington’s town green in 1775, members of the local minute company confronted a contingent of British regular infantry on their way to Concord to destroy militia military supplies. The British soldiers opened fire when a shot was fired from an unknown source; eight militiamen died.  Later that day, colonial militia and British forces opposed one another again, this time at Concord’s North Bridge

The Fear of Cholera in 19th Century Deerfield

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages across the world, it is important to remember that this is not the first pandemic the world has faced. Often the 1918 influenza is mentioned as the last great world-wide pandemic. While this is true, an earlier pandemic of cholera from the 19th century as documented by Epaphras Hoyt (1765-1850) of Deerfield, shows that our reactions to the disease are very similar to Hoyt’s.

Cleaning House

Cleaning museum collections in an historic house is a bit different from cleaning your own home. Collections Manager Kate Kearns takes us inside how Historic Deerfield’s staff carefully cleans the collections and historic houses each winter.

Wearable Gardens: Nature Embellishes the Human Figure

Eighteenth-century textiles worn for dress display some of the most elaborate and beautiful examples of flora, both real and stylized. Woven, embroidered, painted, and printed flowers depicted on clothing reveal the genre’s popularity. They delighted the eye, conjured faraway lands, and illustrated humankind’s attempts to harness fleeting beauty onto the human form. 

Black and White, and Widely Read

Broadsides – single sheets of varying sizes printed on one side only – have been produced since the beginnings of printing in the West, with papal Bulls among the earliest examples. The Oxford English Dictionary notes the first use of the term in England as occurring in 1575. Also referred to as broadsheets, or handbills in the case of small examples[1], this printing form typically appears on a lower grade of paper as befits its largely ephemeral nature. Not unlike small posters announcing concerts or meetings that we encounter on utility poles and bulletin boards, these items would be posted in taverns, in shop windows, on doors, and in other public locations.

Take the Deerfield Wreath Walk!

If you are visiting Historic Deerfield in December and the beginning of January, we encourage you to take the Deerfield Wreath Walk! Each year, we create a guide to all of the wreaths on each house, giving visitors the opportunity to explore the Street and learn about the wreaths, the unique materials, and the volunteers who made them.

A Native Missionary with Royal Pretensions

The 1704 raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, during Queen Anne’s War resulted in the death of 57 settlers and militia, the captivity of 112 more, and the destruction of nearly half of the frontier settlement. Yet beyond tragedy and havoc, the raid created lasting ties between the small village and Native communities in Canada and northern New England who participated in the attack.

Gaining a Foothold on the Shoe Collection

Shoes tell stories. They reflect the tastes of their owners, and reveal the wear and tear of daily life. Arguably, shoes receive more use than other items of clothing, offering challenges to their preservation in museums. This summer, I embarked on a project to rehouse Historic Deerfield’s shoe collection.

Chic Cuts: The Abercrombie Fabric Swatchbook

Clothing can often be a vessel for some of our most vivid memories. Garments can recall specific moments and important life events. Like the memories we cherish, saved clothing or its emblems preserves memory through tactile and visual senses. Martha Anna Abercrombie (1839-1923) of Lunenburg, Massachusetts, certainly tapped into this aspect of human nature when she assembled a swatch book of fabrics worn by her and her mother during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

Buyer Beware! English Earthenware Figures and Reproductions

Earthenware figures made by the Leeds Pottery in the 18th century are extremely rare today. Collectors of English earthenware figures would be naturally drawn to these scarce objects.  But buyer beware! Reproductions of these figures (along with a wide variety of tablewares) were made in creamware in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the Senior family. 

Benedict Arnold Arrives in Deerfield (Again)

Benedict Arnold, the infamous traitor of the Revolutionary War, came to Deerfield twice. The first time Arnold made an entrance, not as a traitor, but as an ambitious Connecticut patriot on his way to war. The second time Arnold arrived quietly, with his reputation preceding him.