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February 2023
History Matters
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Letter from the Director
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Dear Friends,
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During the Historical Society’s Winter Lecture Series this year, we’re featuring presentations about early trades and occupations in East Hampton. A huge thank you to Bob Hefner who spoke last month about millers and millwrights. During our next lecture on March 3, Ken Collum will talk about blacksmiths, including Charles Parsons, the “Edison of Springs” in the late 19th and early 20th century. Of course, blacksmithing has a much longer history in this community. For example, in the enumeration of occupations that was conducted when free white men were forced to take the oath of allegiance to King George III in 1778, we find there were three blacksmiths working in East Hampton. At the same time, there were over 60 weavers and among them was David Mulford, Jr. who lived at Mulford Farm.
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When access to English textile markets were restricted during the American Revolution, scholars at Colonial Williamsburg have argued that weaving became an act of American patriotism. And while the 1778 Loyalty Oath would suggest that only white men worked as weavers, weaving was done by African Americans, Native Americans, and white women. When describing African Americans’ essential role in American history, W.E.B. DuBois used weaving as the metaphor. “Actively we have woven ourselves with the very warp and woof of this nation.”
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To create fabric, weavers used a variety of tools including barn frame looms like the one currently on display in the kitchen at Mulford farm and tape looms like this one pictured from the Historical Society’s collection. Designed to be held between the legs, tape looms were used to make strips of fabric that could be utilitarian or ornamental.
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East Hampton’s history of weaving has helped inspire the Historical Society’s hands-on school programming, which you can read more about below in History Matters. Many of the student weaving projects will be on display through the Historical Society later this year.
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Sincerely,
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Stephen Long
Executive Director
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VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT
Olivia Brooks
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Olivia Brooks, who has volunteered with the Historical Society for years helping especially with our Education Committee. We wanted to speak with her about her volunteer experiences.
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Tell us about your connection to East Hampton
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I am a Bonacker! I was born in Southampton Hospital and was fortunate to have spent my entire childhood and most of my adult life in East Hampton. I considerate it my own “home sweet home”. I am married to James, a member of the Historical Society’s Board of Trustees, and have two adults children, Sarah Brooks Minardi and Casey T. Brooks, their spouses and three grandchildren. Over 32 years I had taught kindergarten, first and second grades, all but two years at John M. Marshall Elementary School.
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When did you start volunteering with the Historical Society?
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My career as an teacher was a natural bridge to working with the newly formed Education Committee at the Historical Society in the mid-1990s. My goal for being a member of the committee was to help initiate programs for children and their families to learn more about our town and in particular its significant history. How lucky are we to have so many incredible museums and landmarks filled with artifacts and documents that are preserved for today’s and future generations?
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You’ve led programs at all the Historical Society’s museums and sites. Do you have a favorite?
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I particularly enjoy being an educator at the Thomas Moran House. Art has always interested me and at the Moran House, I feel the essence and intensity of the Morans’ passion for beauty and their love for East Hampton. Strange as it may sound, the Moran House speaks to me.
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Do you donate your time to other organizations in our community?
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In addition to being a part of the Historical Society, I am involved in several other nonprofits and organizations. For 15 years I have been the LVIS Tree Chairperson and enjoy working with a great committee of women and with the Village of East Hampton in keeping our Village beautiful as per our mission written in 1896. I also serve on the LVIS Membership Committee. On Thursday mornings I am an “ambassador” at Southampton Hospital where I and other local volunteers help navigate and assist visitors to different destinations and appointments. Since 1987, I have been a member of The Ramblers, a longtime literary club of women, who meet monthly from September to June. I am also proud to be a member of the East Hampton Fire Department Ladies’ Auxiliary. Unfortunately Covid eliminated many of our charming little meetings but I am still proud to be a member of a local “button club” and hope that we can band together again soon.
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What inspires you to volunteer?
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I take great joy in helping and giving back to my East Hampton community. I feel extremely fortunate to live in this most beautiful and caring place that I call home.
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EDUCATION AT THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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In the Schools:
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Students at John Marshall Elementary School in East Hampton are in the final month of a new Cultural History and Social studies curriculum designed for the fourth grade. Developed and presented by Stacy Myers, the Historical Society’s Director of Education, the new curriculum introduces students to the first people that inhabited North America and leads the students through a discovery of how Algonquins and native tribes utilized the environment and natural resources to thrive and create advanced cultures and societies. The focus of this curriculum is to create hands-on labs and investigations at our sites, as well as workshops in the classroom for the children to learn about the past. The curriculum is integrated and has threads of science, archeology, literacy, art, cultural and natural history.
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The entire fourth grade at John Marshall, five classes in total are weaving and working to create a large textile. Weaving involves using a loom to interlace two sets of textiles or yarn at right angles to each other: the warp which runs longitudinally and the weft that crosses it. One warp thread is called an end and one weft thread is called a pick. The warp threads are held taut parallel to each other, in a loom. There are many types of looms that the students at John Marshall are using to master the skill.
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Children are strengthening fine motor skills and learning patterns, and the benefits have far exceeded Stacy’s expectations. After the Occupational Therapy staff at the School participated in our program, they integrated weaving and beading into their own work with the fourth graders who receive occupational therapy at the School. Weaving and beading increase the ability for children to use their muscles and eye hand coordination, which builds the fine motor skills that help them with writing.
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Some of our fourth grade weavers were so inspired that they built their own looms and are weaving at home. Stacy received a photo of a dedicated fourth grader weaving at home. Notice in the picture that she has built her loom out of recycled cardboard and taught herself how to string the loom. Way to go Lilly!
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Duck Decoy Exhibit at the Montauk Library!
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Stacy Myers, our Education Director, and Aimee Lusty the Archivist at the Montauk Library are collaborating for the first time! A few of our feathered friends from East Hampton Historical Society collection will be on display at the Montauk Library. In addition to the decoy display we will also be exhibiting our goose de-feathering basket and we have a behind the scenes interview with Aimee identifying some of the unique techniques and characteristics of the decoys on display. The exhibit will run the month of February and is free and open to the public.
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WINTER LECTURE SERIES 2023
Celebrating “East Hampton at Work”
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Looking back at who helped build East Hampton
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This Winter’s Lecture Series takes place at the East Hampton Library’s Baldwin Family Lecture Room and the Amagansett Life Saving Station Museum.
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Free to the Public
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Friday, March 3 at 7pm
Blacksmiths of East Hampton
Speaker: Ken Collum
East Hampton Library’s Baldwin Family Lecture Room
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Friday, March 31 at 7pm
Shore Whalers in Amagansett and East Hampton Town
Speaker: David Cataletto
Amagansett Life Saving Station Museum, 160 Atlantic Ave., Amagansett
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Friday, April 28 at 7pm
Architects, Builders, and Tools in the 19th and 20th Century
Speakers: Hugh King and Evan Thomas
East Hampton Library’s Baldwin Family Lecture Room
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For more information or to reserve a seat, please email or call 631.324.6850.
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In case you missed the Winter Lecture Series
Celebrating “East Hampton at Work“
January: Of Millers, Millwrights and other early trades in East Hampton
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While we are completing a comprehensive collections inventory at the Historical Society, we often come across fabulous and unique objects and at other times, discover everyday items that have gained historical value as time passes on. Ordinary domestic objects at first might seem less exciting than an artwork created by a renowned historical figure, but they have the unique ability to tell often-overlooked stories about how people lived in the past.
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Bedwarmers have a long history dating back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Europe. They are also referred to as warming pans, due to how folks used actual cooking pans to heat beds in a similar manner. Initially, these devices would be filled with hot stones that would have been heated up by the fire throughout the day, and later embers or coal from the fireplace were used. Once filled with the hot fuel, the pan would be quickly rushed to warm the bed before getting in. The small holes in the lid would allow oxygen to reach the embers or coal inside, which would extend the use of the warmer. One downside is that it would fill the room with unpleasant smells and dangerous fumes, and whoever was administering the warming would have to move the pan along the bed quickly and carefully, making sure not to burn the sheets in the process.
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And who were the ones filling these pans, rushing the hot contents to the bedside? To heat whose bed? Research shows that those who performed the function of bedwarmers were often immigrants or enslaved or free people of color. All ran the risk of burning themselves while creating comfortable sleeping accommodations for the master or mistress of the household. At Mulford Farm, for example, the bedwarmers on display help tell the story of the enslaved African Americans who lived in the farmhouse with Colonel David Mulford and his family. While history has often failed to record the names and actions of the enslaved and other marginalized people, it is important to realize how even ordinary domestic objects like a bedwarmer help visualize their presence.
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Interestingly, we have several bedwarmers in our collection, which reveals the previous collecting practices of the Historical Society. Does having several of these objects allow us to tell a more complex story, rather than simply having a few that may be more decorative or have a richer historical connection?
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The bedwarmer pictured (77.4.154) caught my eye the other day while observing the fireplace in the Thomas and Mary Nimmo Moran Home & Studio. While the Morans were primarily known as summer residents of East Hampton, they occasionally stayed in their home during the “shoulder seasons.” On a chilly September evening, it likely would have been one of their African American domestic workers, such as Mamie Queen or Frances Kill, who would have quickly (and carefully!) carried the pan from the fireplace to their bed. Such a device would more likely have been stored by the fireplace in their bedroom upstairs rather than the one located in the main Studio.
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When bedwarmers became unnecessary after central heating became widespread, they were frequently sought-after by decorative arts collectors who appreciated their design and connection to an imagined colonial past. The Historical Society primarily owes its large array of bedwarmers to William E. Wheelock, a renowned collector of furniture and decorative arts in East Hampton. This picture shows the interior of Wheelock’s cottage, “Bonak Acres” before the items were donated to the Historical Society by his son in 1978.
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A Shop Full of Unique Gifts Online!
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Use code FLASH for 50% off your order.
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East Hampton Historical Society
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