Puzzle Me This…It’s Lovely Weather for a Sleigh Ride Together with You
Fruit Street looking toward Fair Street with John N. Cushing (left) driving the family sleigh, circa 1850-1875. The little girl is either Elizabeth Johnson Cushing or Margaret Woodbridge Cushing.
From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
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Puzzle Me This...Tea for Two
Tea caddies (decorative containers used to store tea) were produced in myriad forms from small porcelain jars to small silver containers, rosewood and satinwood boxes, black lacquer boxes from China and fruitwood caddies in the shape of apples and pears.
The museum has several examples in its collections. The tea caddy pictured here dates from the late eighteenth century and is an example of Oriental export porcelain.
From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury. Image credit: Bob Watts
Puzzle Me This...New England Bank Note Co.
Vignette Proof Sheet
Boston, Massachusetts
(1833-1858)
In 1833 Abraham Perkins and his son Nathaniel formed a partnership with other investors under the name New England Bank Note Co. and moved the business from Newburyport to Boston.
The new company advertised having the most skillful artists for engraving, updated machinery with the latest improvements and secure vaults for storing bank plates and dies. This proof sheet provided customers with examples of scenic vignettes and portraiture offered by the company.
Elaborate vignettes became increasingly popular in bank note designs and other security documents. By 1858, the New England Bank Note Company became The American Bank Note Co. whose first president was Charles Toppan of Newburyport.
From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
Puzzle Me This...The Grammar School at the Bartlet Mall
Watercolor on paper
Cornelia Perrin Stone (1855-1940)
This brick schoolhouse was built at the eastern end of the Mall on town land near the Frog Pond. The one story schoolhouse was constructed in 1796 and enlarged in 1809. It served the town for nearly a century but was taken down in 1884 following its sale by auction.
Cornelia Stone, a Newburyport native, and a well recognized American artist, was popular in the early years of the 20th century.
From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
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Puzzle Me This, Indeed!
Box of Puzzles
Lacquered wood
China
Late 19th century
This puzzle box belonged to Sarah Elizabeth Stickney (1831-1916), Captain Frank W. Brown’s second cousin. According to a note inside, the box was given to Sarah by an unnamed ship captain. The captain, perhaps a member of the Brown family, took his wife on a voyage to China, and Sarah took care of their children while the couple was away.
The ivory game pieces inside are carved with intricate designs of dragons, flowers and people. The games include Tangrams, Nine Linked Rings and Interlocking Burr.
Spring has Sprung
"Yellow Pansies for Mrs. Bradlee" by Laura Coombs Hills is a pastel on board, 8 7/8" x 7 7/8" and signed in the upper left.
Screened Just for You
Detail from a four paneled folding screen with ivory that was made for the U.S. market in the late 19th century.
It is believed to have been exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. The screen was bequeathed to the museum in 1910 by Susan Parsons Brown Forbes of Fatherland Farm in Byfield.
From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
Family Register - "The Genealogy of Joseph Stanwood's Family"
Atkinson Stanwood (1801-1884), Newburyport, 1814; Watercolor and ink on paper, 14 3/4 x 12 inches
Undoubtedly influenced by geometric and decorative instruction he may have received in a public or private academy, thirteen-year-old Atkinson Stanwood embellished his family genealogy with demilune tablets, trailing vines, eggs and tassels. This colorful compass-drawn birth and death record depicts the family's history in a decorative way.
The coffins represent the first two wives of Joseph Stanwood and baby John Stanwood who died age two years. From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
Embroider Me This…
Bird & Butterfly embroidery silk thread on satin fabric. From the home of the late Edmund Bartlet, Esquire, of 3 Market Street. Donated by Miss Martha Atkinson.
From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
The Pillsbury Family
These portraits of Captain Oliver D. Pillsbury (1816-1852) and his wife, Adeline Pillsbury, and daughter, Addie Pillsbury, were painted by August Van der Borght in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1852. In the mid-19th century, it was not uncommon for a captain’s wife and children to accompany him at sea.
Captain Pillsbury left home for the high seas at age sixteen, attained the status of “master mariner” by age 29, and made his home in Newburyport after marrying Adeline Dole in 1845. The couple had two children, Addie, born in 1850, and Oliver, born in 1852.
Captain Pillsbury died in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1852, likely while commanding a ship sailing through that port. After his death, his wife and daughter were left to find their way home and to face how they would support themselves – a suitable case for the Newburyport Marine Society.
From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
A Pear-fect Picture
Porch of Bartlett House, a high-style Georgian built in 1782 and located at 32 Green Street, Newburyport. This 1915 watercolor is by Cornelia P. Stone.
From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
A Harbinger of Spring
Pastel of flowers in jug. Laura Coombs Hills, Stockbridge, Oct. 1904. From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
Now, That’s a Pin Cushion!
The MOON is home to numerous sewing notions, spanning more than two centuries. From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
Will you be my Valentine?
A postcard that reads, "To my Valentine. Oh, take these flowers I plucked for you, and with them my devotion too." Copyright 1884 by L. Prang & Co. Boston. From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
Memories and Mementos
Select treasures from Caleb Cushing's memento mori for his beloved wife Caroline Elizabeth Wilde Cushing (1802-1832).
Items featured include her calling card, hand-colored playing cards, a miniature portrait on ivory (featuring a dramatic tortoise shell hair comb) and the certificate of marriage. From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
Say “hello” to our biggest fan!
Ivory pierced and painted brisé fan with floral decoration, China, 19th century. The East India Company imported large numbers of plain and carved brisé fans in ivory and tortoiseshell well into the 19th century. From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
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You Can Bank on It!
Cast iron "Home Savings" still Bank with original green and red paint.
Toy banks such as this one were popular during the last quarter of the 19th century. Many were made by the J. & E. Stevens Company of Cromwell, CT, established in 1843 for making cast iron hardware, hammers and iron toys.
By the mid 1860s, the company focused almost exclusively on toy production.
In 1869, J. & E. Stevens produced their first cast iron mechanical bank and became nationally known for their innovative designs of mechanical and still banks.
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Hats and Shoes and Shoes and Hats
”Saying you don't look good in a hat is like saying you don't look good in shoes." –Anonymous
The Museum of Old Newbury holds broad collections of hats and shoes spanning the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Pictured here are some favorites from those collections.
Winter Sun-set Boy
In the 1880s, Laura Coombs Hills (1859-1952) was an illustrator for Louis Prang and Company, designing cards.
After the turn of the century, she illustrated children's books and designed costumes. Her fairy-like figures with their diaphanous outfits evoked an enchanted kingdom.
Image inscription: Winter Sun-set Boy. Orange tights. Bluish plum colored velveteen waist and long tabs. Orange satin sleeve flounces. Cloth of gold upper waist piece. Long gold fringe round neck. Cloth of gold cap with gold rays. Short yellow veil with long ends caught at the waist behind.
A Holiday Poem
Creator, open our hearts to peace
Creator, open our hearts
to peace and healing between all people.
Creator, open our hearts
to provide and protect for all children of the earth.
Creator, open our hearts
to respect for the earth, and all the gifts of the earth.
Creator, open our hearts
to end exclusion, violence, and fear among all.
Thank-you for the gifts of this day and every day.
By alycia longriver - native american - micmac - 1995. Shown: micmac quill work chair seat.
You “Canton” do that.
Canton ware was exported to the West and was popular in this country from the latter half of the 18th century to about the middle of the 19th century.
The traditional Canton design includes a tea house, bridge, river, mountains, boat and a willow tree creating a landscape intended to represent the harmony of nature. The sources for the images are found on early Chinese painted scrolls.
English potters in the 19th century, in an effort to popularize the blue willow design based on the original Canton ware, created a fable of star-crossed lovers.
The daughter of a wealthy mandarin was engaged to a prosperous merchant, but fell in love with a young man working for her father. On the eve of her wedding the lovers, Koong-se and Chang, escaped across a bridge to a secluded island where they lived happily until the jilted fiancé discovered their refuge and had them killed.
When getting hooked on something is a good thing.
Hooked and Braided Rug, probably Newburyport, late 19th century. This small, religiously inspired rug, by an unknown maker, is similar in design and color to other hooked rugs by the same maker in the museum's textile collections.
If you have the time, we have the puzzle!
Close-up of the hand painted face on a tall case clock, featuring movement by David Wood. The clock sports a paint grained pine case in imitation of mahogany veneer. It is perhaps the only one of its kind with a Wood movement.
Newburyport, 1810-1820. From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
Why did the chickens cross Hay Street?
These domesticated exotic fowl pose side by side for their portrait dwarfing the house and farm of Amos Little Leigh (1847-1921) on Leigh's Hill, Hay Street, Newbury, shown in middle distance.
About this image: Dominique Leghorns, oil on canvas, Newbury, signed and dated "C.S.P./1876"
We’re Ready for Our Long Shot
BIRDS EYE VIEWS celebrated civic pride and provided a panoramic vista of a town or city as if from above.
From the 1850s to the early 1900s, thousands of American communities posed for this new kind of urban/town portrait.
About this image: Bird’s Eye View of Newburyport, 1880, Drawn and pub. by J. C. Hazen & E. H. Bigelow, Boston. From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
Free Because of the Brave
During World War I and the years following, the American National Red Cross launched a series of fund-raising campaigns to support disabled veterans returning home.
A collection of so-called propaganda posters were produced to support these “War Fund” drives, the first of which was in June 1917. Their goal was to raise $100 million dollars to finance the organization's war relief efforts.
About this image: Production, Publication, Distribution, Manufacture, and Copyright Notice: New York : American Lithographic Co., [1921]
This Veteran's Day, please take a moment to remember our freedom is protected by the men and women of our Armed Services. We at the Museum of Old Newbury thank these brave soldiers both past and present.
Bayley the Beloved
Captain Charles March Bayley commanded and co-owned a number of ships in the mid-19th century, including the brig Cedric and barks Panchita and William Schroder. Bayley and his brother, Captain Robert Bayley, Jr., joined the Marine Society of Newburyport in 1849. Together with their father, the brothers operated Robert Bayley & Sons, a successful West Indies shipping firm based at a wharf near the foot of Fair Street.
Charles Bayley was a beloved Newburyport ship captain, and his obituary, dated March 14, 1892, read: “Captain Bayley was a man who was loved and respected by all who came in contact with him. He was of a genial disposition and was a great lover of children, many of whom will miss his pleasant smile and kind words they so often saw and heard.”
About Captain Charles March Bayley (1814-1892) - Watercolor on ivory, artist unknown, circa 1840. From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
