Summer Changes!

Just as the seasons are changing from spring to summer there are quite a few changes happening here at the Natick Historical Society. As usual, our programming slows down a little bit in the summer months (though a big thank you to everyone who came on our literary and John Eliot district walking tours last weekend! It was great seeing you!) We have some extra time to focus on improving our current exhibits and creating new ones. This can mean little things like installing more shelves for our geology specimens or printing fresh labels for some of the projectile points but it also means some bigger changes too!

An Illustration from Stowe's
Book Old Town Folks 

Though the summer is just getting started we’re excited to report two new exhibits already! The first is here in the Natick Historical Society museum where our long-awaited literary Natick exhibit is here. “Natick and the New England Character” is a brand new exhibit focusing on the lives of thinkers, writers and activists from Natick, who not only shaped the course of American History but also shaped the way America thought of Natick

and New England. Figures highlighted here included acclaimed authors like Harriet Beecher Stowe, Alexander Wheelock Thayer and Horatio Alger Jr. as well as politicians and activists like Henry Wilson and Lydia Maria Child. Many of the objects in our new exhibit have never before been on display and we’re thrilled to have the chance for people to see them.

Henry Wilson's School House
Farmington NH

Our second new exhibit opened just this week at the Morse Institute Library. This smaller exhibit focuses on one of our favorite former Natickites, Henry Wilson. Entitled “The Education of Henry Wilson,” this exhibit explores the unconventional but deeply impactful way that learning, reading and writing changed the life and opinions of Henry Wilson. In this exhibit we tried to highlight not only Wilson’s classroom education and reading habits but also experiential learning experiences like his time in the Natick Debating Society or his travels. This exhibit will be on view in the first floor Morse Room of the Morse Institute Library through November of 2016.

Lastly, we have some sadder news to convey. Our beloved director Jane Hennedy will be leaving us at the end of June. While we will miss her terribly she is moving on to a new exciting opportunity with Historic New England and we wish her only the best.

Be sure to come by the museum sometime this summer and take a look at some of the changes we’ve already got underway. Thanks for reading and have a great Fourth of July! 

Early twentieth Century Fourth of July card from Natick

Harriet Wilson's Parasol

Harriet Wilson

One of the most prominent figures in Natick’s past was a Vice President of the United States, Henry Wilson. We’ve previously discussed Wilson on our blog and it’s more than likely he’ll come up again. Wilson was one of the most famous people to have ever lived in Natick and he spent the better part of his life here, really immersing himself in the community (Wilson was originally born in New Hampshire). This immersion included his marriage to Natick native Harriet Howe. Harriet and Henry met in 1837 and were married just a few years later in 1840.  Their wedding was attended by both families and was presided over by their good friend, the Congregationalist minister Samuel Hunt.

Henry and Harriet seemed to have had a very happy marriage; the couple had one son, Henry Hamilton Wilson, who was born in 1846. Harriet was a strong proponent of women’s suffrage and rights for women, views that influenced her husband, who would argue for greater rights for women in his political career and push legislation he thought would benefit women.  Mrs. Wilson suffered from ill health for much of her life which unfortunately limited the amount of time she could spend outside her home or on the campaign trail with her husband, sometimes remaining in Natick during his trips to Washington. Wilson remained an attentive husband throughout their marriage. He even retired from political life for years at a time to tend to Harriet’s health when needed. Sadly, Harriet Wilson passed away in 1870, just before Henry became Vice President.

Harriet Wilson's Silk Parasol

Our collections relating to the life of Henry Wilson contain a large variety of objects. While many of these are political pieces, like Henry Wilson’s writings against slavery, many are simple household objects. These kinds of pieces-- teapots, eyeglasses, pens etc.-- give us an idea of Wilson as a man, not just as a famous politician. Personal items owned by members of the Wilson family further humanize this important historical figure and put his personal relationships into a more human context and illuminate the lives of people who did not leave behind as much in documents.

One of these objects, which is currently on view as part of our exhibit on the life of Henry Wilson, is a parasol owned by Harriet Wilson. The parasol was donated to the Historical Society by Margaret Coolidge Sturtevant, who had purchased it from Harriet Wilson’s estate. Parasols were quite common among members of the upper classes in the mid-nineteenth century. Mrs. Wilson’s parasol is made of black lace, and while it wouldn’t do much in a rain storm, it would certainly help her stay out of the sun and maintain a fashionably pale complexion.  

Parasols were more than just a shield from the sun. They also served as fashion accessories and would have been a part of any society woman’s ensemble.  Women were generally expected to carry a number of accessories in the Victorian period including not just parasols, but also fans, gloves and a purse. Like fashion accessories today, these were expected to match the outfit in question. Harriet Wilson’s parasol’s black color may have meant it was used with a mourning outfit, possibly bought after her son Henry tragically passed away in 1866.  

Henry Wilson's Shoe Shop and a New Book!

Henry Wilson's Shoe Shop

In any town as full of history as Natick, there are bound to be a number of historic sites to see and visit. One of our more well-known historic landmarks is Henry Wilson’s shoe shop. Henry Wilson, the eighteenth Vice President of the United States, lived most of his life in Natick and earned his initial success here as a shoe maker. The shoe industry was hugely important to Natick’s economy in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Most of the shoes produced in Natick were brogans, a kind of heavy leather work shoe, often used for slaves in the American South.  Mills and factories grew exponentially in Natick, especially after the Boston/Albany Railroad came to town in 1834. For a period in the 1880s, Natick was one of the biggest producers of leather shoes in Massachusetts.

The growth of Natick’s industry did not go unnoticed outside the community. Waves of new immigrants moved into the Natick area, bringing diversity to the town. News of the opportunities afforded to young men brought in new Natickites from all over New England. One such enterprising young man was Jeremiah Colbath, who at the age of twenty-one walked just over a hundred miles from his home in Farmington, New Hampshire to seek his fortune making shoes in Natick. This humble Natick cobbler became a lot more well-known after he changed his name to Henry Wilson.

Henry Wilson entered the shoe business in the same way many young men did. He began operating his own business making shoes out of a small “ten-footer.” Ten-footers were small outbuildings used as a work spaces for a variety of purposes. They were previously relatively common throughout New England.  It was a small shoe shop like this one where Wilson learned to make leather shoes and where he paid rapt attention to his colleagues’ political discourse. Later in his life Henry Wilson would say that these early political debates were among the things that inspired him to become interested in politics and social reform.

Postcard Depicting the Wilson's Shoe Shop 

Wilson’s business and wealth grew over time. He expanded beyond his small shoe shop and eventually opened his own shoe business. This enterprise brought Wilson a comfortable level of prosperity which allowed him to formally enter politics. While the larger Wilson factory building no longer exists, Henry Wilson’s original ten-footer still does!  This building has been restored a number of times and can still be visited in Natick Center on Central Street. It has been a major point of interest in Natick since Wilson’s Vice Presidency. The interior of the building is not often open to the public, but it can be viewed from the outside year-round.  Maintenance and care of the Henry Wilson Shoe shop and the park where it is located is the responsibility the town of Natick.

To learn more about Henry Wilson’s Shoe shop and a number of other local places of interest be sure to check out the newest publication from Natick Historical Society, Have You Ever Wondered...? Natick Explained. This book explores the stories of notable people and places from around Natick. Full of vibrant photographs and wonderful pieces of history, Have You Ever Wondered...? is available now at select businesses around Natick, as online at the Historical Society’s website, and of course here in the Museum.

To purchase the book online, visit our website here. 

Hail to the Chief Elects Good Cheer

As part of our schedule of fall events, Natick Historical Society recently hosted a very special program titled "Hail to the Chief", partly funded by the Natick Cultural Council. This original musical play was put on by Boston-based theater group In Good Company. It  saluted presidential campaigns songs from throughout history by performing them with a very talented cast of twenty four actors and several musical accompanists. We were treated to a number of lively campaign songs including even the one for Ulysses S. Grant, Henry Wilson's running-mate. The performance was a lot of fun and we were glad to see so many members of our community come out and join us! For those of you who missed our program we've included some pictures from the event below.

To stay up to date on upcoming programs and events with Natick Historical Society, follow us on Facebook HERE or visit or website HERE

 

Sleep Tight, Mr. Vice President!

"Sleep tight; don’t let the bedbugs bite!” Everyone has heard this phrase today, but what exactly does it mean?  It’s often just a quaint way of saying goodnight but it was not that long ago that the phrase carried a very different meaning.  While bedbugs are unfortunately a memory that has not quite faded into the past, the idea of keeping one’s bed “tight” isn't something that most of us usually have to worry about.  For much of history however, keeping one’s bed tight was actually quite the concern.  Rope beds, which supported a mattress using a network of interconnected cords, were very common until the 1840s. Instead of being supported by a wire spring frame, as is more common today, the mattress would be supported by the web of cords that were stretched between pegs around the outside of the bed’s frame. The weight of the mattress and sleeper might eventually cause the ropes to slacken and slump. To ensure that the ropes remained taught and secure, a key like this one would need to be periodically be inserted between the ropes and frame and twisted to tighten the network of cords. This would keep the bed flat and the mattress comfortable.

Henry Wilson's Bed Key

This particular bed key happens to be more than just an exemplary artifact of furniture history. This key belonged to one of the most famous former residents of Natick: Vice President Henry Wilson. Originally born in Farmington New Hampshire, Wilson moved to Natick as a young man and became an apprentice to a local shoemaker. He would remain in Natick for most of the rest of his life and eventually set up his own business here, as a cobbler. His traditional “ten footer” shoe shop is still standing.  This was the bed key he used in his home here on West Central Street in Natick.

Vice President Henry Wilson

Wilson was eventually elected to the U.S. Senate in 1855 and would serve representing Massachusetts for eighteen years. Wilson also served in the United States Army and on the Senate Committee for Military Affairs. Throughout his political career Wilson was a staunch reformer, pushing for equal pay for African-Americans enlisted in the Union Military Forces and for the end of slavery in the United States. He led the Massachusetts 22^nd Regiment for a few campaigns early in the Civil War before returning to politics. Wilson’s views and his military accomplishments put him in favor with a number of leading Republicans at the time. He was eventually chosen by President Ulysses S. Grant to run with him for his second term in office as the Vice President in 1873. He would die in office only two years later.

 The bed key was donated to our collection by Margaret Coolidge Sturtevant. It is currently on display in the Natick Historical Society Museum as part of our exhibit on the life of Vice President Wilson, connecting us not only to a very important historical figure but also serving as an excellent example of how daily life has changed so much since the early 1800s.