Westport (Massachusetts) History

WESTPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2002-2003

The year 2002-2003 has been an active one for the Society, and I present here some of the highlights of our activities. W. F. Wyatt

Events: The first, and most significant, event of the year is the on-going archaeological survey of Westport. The survey will examine and record information about Westport’s past, and will provide the basis in future for the preservation and development of historical resources. The project is well under way, and will be completed by the end of calendar 2003. We are very grateful to those in town who supported the undertaking with their contributions, and particularly to E. P. Charlton II, who generously got our fund drive started with a large contribution.
I now pass to other events of the year:
Our year began -- or ended -- with the Annual Meeting, at which Stuart Frank and Mary Malloy performed songs once sung on whalers out of Westport. Their presentation was informed and skillful, and very enjoyable.
In December, Bette DeVeuve and June Roche put on a Victorian Family Christmas on two weekends. The exhibit featured balloon animals with Mike Lynn, dolls and toys, a Victorian Christmas tree, and Christmas music provided by Sharon Wypych. The Westport Arts Council supported us in this endeavor.
In June Jean Walters, assisted by Sharon Wypych and others, staged a show of the works of Herb Hadfield, this in conjunction with the WRWA's River Day. The show, supported by a grant from the Helen E. Ellis Charitable Trust administered by Fleet National Bank, drew a sizable audience, and was attractive and informative. Hadfield was a major figure on the art and ecology scene here.
In July Holly Herbster of the Public Archaeology Laboratory of Pawtucket RI held a "Public Information Day"at which residents of the Town could -- and did -- bring information and questions concerning the history of Westport. A good deal was learned.
Bette and Jack DeVeuve, assisted in various ways by Hope Tarbox and Cukey Macomber, staged a wonderful exhibit of photos in September called "Images of Westport: Westport History through Photography from the Al Lees Collection". Al Lees collected the photographs over some forty years, and made them available to the Society for display to the public: we are grateful to Al for his generosity and consideration in this. Jack and Bette arranged and mounted the exhibit, using display panels generously lent us by the Westport Art Group, and some 250 people availed themselves of the opportunity to view the pictures. Brian Medeiros of Dartmouth Orchards made the hall more attractive with some of his flowers.

Talks: We also staged a full program of talks, and are grateful to Nancy Burkholder and Tom Flynn for their efforts in securing speakers. At our first event Elizabeth Meyer of the International Yacht Restoration School in Newport filled the Bell School in March with a talk on "Classic Yacht Restoration," a topic new to our lecture program.
In April Seth Mendell President of the Mattapoisett Historical Society spoke on "The Solar Salt Industry of Southeastern Massachusetts," an interesting and well-organized presentation.
Ray Edinger spoke to us in May on "The Arctic Adventures of Captain John Ross," a character whose exploits match or exceed those of other Arctic explorers.
In June our own Tom Kendig gave a talk on the history of the American flag: "'Show your colors' A History of American Flags."
In July Nick Niles and Jim Nelson again gave their presentation "Show and Tell: Old Guns." They provided some history of gun manufacture in the area, and encouraged people to bring their own guns for discussion. Many did, and we leaned much.
Also in July, this time at the Council on Aging, we presented a panel entitled "Westport History in Fact and Fiction." This panel was inspired by the publication of Dawn Clifton Tripp's 'Moon Tide," a work that draws on local history and tradition. Speakers were Dawn herself, Cukey Macomber, Al Lees, Norma Judson, Carmen Maiocco, Claude Ledoux. There was lively interest in the program, and some 100 people attended.
Kevin Baker conducted a well-received 'Stone Wall Building Workshop" in August, and J. Roger Sisson in September spoke amusingly and interestingly on "Radio Station WALE in the 1950's and 1960's." His cheerful remarks and presence concluded our year of talks.
Before passing to the next issue, I want here to record our profound thanks to Sue Smith of Noquochoke Orchards, who has over the years -- and this year is no exception -- provided refreshments after our talks. The food is excellent, and Sue wonderful to do this. I also record our thanks to Jean Walters and Sharon Wypych for their help on occasions when Sue was unable to be present.

Education: This past year we were for the first time able to see through a project with the Elementary School that we have long wanted. Andrea Powning visited classes at the Elementary School and introduced students to the history of Westport. Later, students came down the hill and to the Bell School, where Andrea and Barbara Moss showed them historical materials from our collection and offered them a little "historical" snack. We intend to continue this -- highly successful -- project in future.

Town Hall: The Board of Selectmen has allowed us to maintain a display case in Town Hall (second floor) in which we can show items from our collection. Barbara Moss has been in charge of this activity, and Roger Griswold produced a small plaque identifying the case as ours.

Library: We have donated to the Westport Free Public Library a computer work station and console to assist them in their cataloguing and organizing of the historical materials in their possession. The computer will permit scanning of materials, categorizing of information and archiving of video material. This new capability will greatly enhance the library's ability to perform needed historical archiving, as well as day-to-day activities. The cooperation of librarian Anita Barron was greatly appreciated. The cost of this computer and accompanying workstation was approximately $3300. There is a good deal of material at the Library, but it is difficult of access because librarians have not had the time or the resources to organize things. With the computer and scanner we hope they will be able to make historical material more readily available to the public. It will be a long and difficult process. Claude Ledoux was instrumental in seeing this project through.

Web Page: Through the energy, skill and initiative of Greg Stone our web page is now interesting and interactive. We shall be mounting most of the materials produced by the Society on that page, and we hope that members will routinely consult it for the latest developments. The page is interactive, and readers can respond to articles and notices on the page; we have already received a very helpful reference to a web site that is concerned with the Mission of the Holy Spirit.

Harbinger: We have altered the timing and the scope of the Harbinger: it now appears four times a year, and will contain more pages, including items of historical interest. It will continue to print news, but will be expanded, we hope to general satisfaction. Our Secretary, Peter Forrester, will be assuming the editorship of the Harbinger.

Future: We have accomplished a good deal this past year, and hope to be able to continue active and interesting. During the upcoming year we will be conducting a review of our activities with the goal of providing a long-range plan for the organization. There are, as always, many uncertainties, and planning can help to reduce these uncertainties. For instance, do we want a museum and acquire property for one? Or do we want to be more modest in our ambitions and do pretty much what we have done in the past? Are there publishing ventures on which we should embark? And so on. We seek thoughts and suggestions from members of the Society. W. F. Wyatt

Collections Committee

The Collections Committee continues to work on accessioning and making initial catalog entries for the large number of artifacts and documents that had been given in the past to the society. At this point I want to mention of the debt of gratitude we owe Mrs. Eleanor Tripp, recently deceased, for the vast amount of archival work she did on many of the items given to the Society in the 1960s and 1970s. Without her efforts much valuable information would have been lost. We continue to put her information into the computer.

Many thanks must also go to Mr. and Mrs. Roger Griswold for their immense efforts in providing and constructing the stage curtain that so greatly improves the appearance of the exhibit/ program hall.

We made 214 accession entries this year, roughly the same number as each of the preceding two years. An especially large number of these were video compact discs of Westport Matters programs and other events made available by the Society's Oral History Project.

Some of long-held items accessioned this year, indicating the variety of items the Society holds, included clothing ranging from an 18th century corset, to a child's parasol, to women's dresses from the 1950s; a publication of the Pegasus Club of Westport High School, 1932; two rare posters or broadsides of Abraham Lincoln and U.S. Grant dating from 1865 and 1866; wood carvings of Ezra Sanford; and two collections of paper dolls, one given to a little girl by President McKinley.
New donations included, again just a sample:
The book Saints and Sinners donated by Dr. and Mrs. Bruce Derbyshire,
Maps of Westport Harbor from Ms. Nancy Bennett
Live car from Mr. and Mrs. Carlton D. Macomber
Painting by Mary Hicks Brown given in memory of Richard Wayne Wertz and Dorothy Corbett Wertz.
Diary of Lizzie B. White, from Ms. Jane W. Finleon
Leather-bound Bible from Virginia Morrison and Beverly Glennon, in memory of Albert Kirby

This year we set up a display case on the second floor of the town hall. Exhibited items are changed two months or so. Some of Ezra Sanford’s unique woodcarvings will be on display at the time of the annual meeting.

Assisting me are committee members: Suzanne Palmer, Alice Macomber, Celeste Penney, Sally Wyatt, Helga Nichols, and Bette DeVeuve. Many other helping hands were extended when there was a need. To all of you I say: thank you.
Expenditures for document boxes came to $102.73.

Respectfully submitted,
Barbara Moss

Oral History Project

(Reference; Claude Ledoux Oral History Project report to Westport
Historical Society, dated October 7, 2002.)

Background Archiving of historically valuable video material has been
progressing successfully during the past year. The material is being archived on 's, and DVD media. The archiving is done in an unfiltered and unaltered
condition. This will allow future researchers to develop their own
interpretation of the contents.

Archiving Mr. Michael Davis of the high school Media Center has coordinated archiving materials furnished by the author. Primarily material from the public access television show Westport Matters. The high school is using the computer equipment which was purchased for them, last year, by the Historical Society. Archiving has also been done on a regular basis by the author, using an upgraded computer system personally purchased. Approximately 125 separate subjects have been archived to date. There are approximately 150 more subjects remaining. One disc of each subject is archived at the Westport Historical Society, another is archived at the Westport Public Library, and one disc is retained by the author.

Website Westport's Historical Society website maintains chronological as well as categorized subject listings of archived materials available for review. Subjects which are requested but not presently available on disc will be given priority upon request. Historical material from other sources is welcome and will be archived as scheduling permits.

Helen Ellis Grant: The author obtained a grant from this fund to help purchase materials to continue the archiving program. The funding of $1200 is
welcomed and the author wishes to acknowledge the Helen Elis fund trustees
for their recognition of the Project's importance. Future Town and area
historians will find it beneficial.

Future plans: At present completion of the oral history project should
occur by January 2005.

Special thanks to: The author wishes to call special attention to the
cooperation of Bill Wyatt President of the Society and Nancy Burkholder for her assistance in gathering needed material.

Claude A. Ledoux
Coordinator. Oral history project.

Membership Committee

The membership records are finally in some semblance of order, which has enabled us to work on attracting new members. Renewals came in well this year and thanks to active recruiting and many interesting and well-received programs we have 53 new members for a total of 390.

Respectfully submitted,
Joan Tewksbury

Treasurer's Report for 2003

Your Society had a very active year in the last fiscal year, and this shows up in the operating income and expenses. Grants received were more than twice those of the preceding year, but they included $10,000 from the Charlton Foundation towards the Archaeological Survey commissioned last spring. Gifts received were also higher, reflecting $16,000 designated for the Survey. In 2002, we published Westport Enters Its Fifth Century, which boosted sales considerably in that year, and 2003 sales were smaller but still significant as a result. Dues appear to be somewhat lower, due to timing differences, but in fact the trend is very good as shown in Joan Tewksbury’s report.
Total expenses were higher, again reflecting the half the costs of the Survey. In addition, our sole employee, Sharon Wypych, worked 12 months versus about 8 in the year before. This was balanced by the elimination of the costs of the Westport book.
In the coming year, we are budgeting lower expenses overall, without the remaining payments for the Archaeological Survey, for which we have earmarked funds.
The Society's asset position has strengthened during the year due primarily to the increase in the stock market. The large deposit at Westport Federal Savings will decline as the remaining costs of the Survey are paid. Our total assets as of 10/1/03 are $237,826.37, most of it invested with Advest, some at local banks. A projected budget is available at the Society's office.

Respectfully submitted,
Roger Griswold

Thanks. We thank the members of the Board, volunteers and donors for their support and help this past year. The Board consisted of:

William Wyatt, President
Roger Griswold, Treasurer
Peter Forrester, Secretary
Peggy Cornell, At Large
Tom Flynn, At Large
Paige Gibbs, At Large
Bette DeVeuve, At Large

Committee Chairs:
Claude Ledoux, Oral History
Nancy Burkholder, Program
Burney Gifford, Finance
Ed Jackson, Building
Sarah Jackson, Events
Barbara Moss, Collections
Joan Tewksbury, Membership
Jean Walters, Events

Many individuals supported us financially in our efforts this year, particularly in connection with the archaeological survey. We were supported also by:

The Howard Bayne Fund
Ida S. Charlton Charity Fund
Helen E. Ellis Charitable Trust
The Grimshaw-Gudewicz Foundation
The Nichols Foundation
Pfizer Corporation
Westport Arts Council
Wiley, Rein & Fielding LLP
Without the support of all Westporters we should be unable to continue preserving the history of this wonderful place. W. F. Wyatt