Harriet Upham Spofford
New Ipswich Historical Society
Harriet Upham Spofford (1857 -1935) taught piano in Brookline. In 1905 she directed Haydn's "Toy Symphony". In 1918 she organized a community chorus, she led the young people in a production of "Robin Hood" under the "Children's Oak".
This house was apparently built for Abel Shattuck circa 1811. Shattuck, a shoemaker, lived here until 1826. It was then occupied for a short time by Willard Jefts, a carpenter, prior to his building his house on Main Street (#75) closer to the Village Center. From 1836-1854 Silas Cragin lived here; he was a saddler whose shop was near the Barrett store. In 1875 the house was purchased by Joseph E. F. Marsh (1816- 1904), a farmer who remained here until his death. For the next 32 years, it belonged to Harriet Spofford, a music teacher from the Boston area who used it as a summer residence.
WWII Veterans
Hazel Moore compiled an album of New Ipswich WWII veterans for the New Ipswich Historical Society. As a prelude to our town’s Memorial Day celebration, we will feature a few photos each day.
On this day - April 28, 1908
James Roger diary entry
28th (Tuesday)
Cooler wind east. David fixing screen door and windows in morning, then went with Daniel and got some maple trees which he planted in afternoon. Also hung Dr. Hildreth’s father’s picture.
On this day - April 28, 1897
William Jurian Kaula diary - Salon du Champs Élysées
I visited the "Old Salon" or the in the Palais de l'Industrié. It is a tremendous exhibition of some three thousand paintings and much sculpture besides the other arts as architectural drawings, tapestries, decorations, and stained glass. Here is where the majority of the great painters of France expose their works, and the vast army of the Hors Concour* men who have received their medals and are exempt from passing before the jury. The collection is a varied mixture of all kinds of work from the rigid academic (which is entirely absent at the New Salon) to the most modern ideas of realism in color and technique. The work of this Salon as a whole impressed me more than the other as being much more serious in character and more interesting. There are lots of bad works by the older men who have seen their best days, and lots of the theatrical works of battle scenes, suicides, murders, sentimental and effete love subjects. There are also lots of semi-political pictures painted mainly for the hope that the government may purchase the work. There are countless representations of the recent visit of the Czar to Paris - and the various places he visited - and very much more of it than can be found in the New Salon.** Yet there is a larger number of good works and things of human interest - not mere performances that are apt to dazzle the subject by their brilliancy of execution, but good old solid painting that keeps a high level and above the rubbish of much of Impressionism and far away from the mud and blackness of the old school. The tendency of the New Salon is toward realism. The Old Salon is so raised that it has no particular tendency. If we were to judge this Salon by the works of many of the leading painters of France we might say it was a farce. It is simply extraordinary that they should be so poorly represented as a whole. Their strength is well known by their previous works and some of them seem to be on the verge of second childhood. This may seem rather harsh but I have heard no favorable comments in any quarter in reference to the works of the great Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant. Bougereau and Henner may be past their prime but these other two men are supposed to be in the height of their skill. One does not need be an artist or a critÃc to judge of the nature and truth that is lacking in the portraits exhibited by these men. Fortunately, the young men hold up the Salon and make it what it is.
*Â Hors Concours = standout
** William's footnote - Another amusing feature of the Old Salon are the vast numbers of "tableaux" representing the much abused subject of Notre Dame at sunset. Joan of Arc is always conspicuous in most every room and is almost as popular a subject as the "Holy Family" which still yields astonishing conceptions with modern ideas.
Gorgeous photo of Ms. Spofford at the piano! Beautiful lighting and contrast.
Thanks for including my Dad's Navy photo even though he didn't grow up in New Ipswich. He left Fitchburg High School before his senior year in 1944 to join the Navy, serving as an Electrician's Mate on a tanker in the Pacific, sailing as far a Ceylon and with journeys between Shanghai and Tokyo before his discharge in 1946. He returned Fitchburg High where he met my mother, Upon graduation he enrolled at Colgate under the GI Bill and joined the Air Force ROTC. Upon college graduation he served as a Lieutenant during the Korean War. His only overseas deployment was to an Air Force Base in the Azores.