Westport (Massachusetts) History

WESTPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY ANNUAL REPORT F0R 2004-2005

EVENTS The most significant event of the year has been our hiring of a new Director (part-time) of the Society. She is Jenny O’Neill, a graduate of Oxford University with an MA in Museum Studies from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Since 1998 she served as Curatorial Assistant at the MIT Museum, with responsibility for the Hart Nautical Collections as well as the MIT General Collections. She has also been Consultant to the Sippican Historical Society of Marion MA, and prior to that served museum internships at the Kendall Whaling Museum, and the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution. We are delighted to have Jenny, and look forward to her leading us into the next phase of our operation.
At the same time we are sorry to lose Sharon Wypych. Sharon has been our Administrative Assistant since 2002, and has been invaluable in her help and her cheerful presence at our meetings. She is engaged in writing a history of the Westport schools, and that work promises to be both valuable and interesting, as well as corrective of many errors and inaccuracies in previous views of school history. We wish Sharon well, and hope that she will have time in whatever she next undertakes to continue to serve the Society, this time as a member of the Board and its Secretary.
Last winter, thanks to the generosity of members of the Society, we were able to acquire the paintings Betsy MacDonald did for the Westport Harvest Festival between 1991 and 2003. Dora Millikin helped us both in preparing the paintings and seeing to their display at Lees Supermarket; they have been on display there, thanks to the Courtesy of Albert Lees III, since June. When taken down, they will form part of the Society’s permanent collection.
Our other major bit of news concerns our acquisition of an account of the voyage of the whaling vessel President that sailed from Westport in 1849 compiled by Albert Almy Gifford of Westport. We acquired this volume at auction for the monumental price of $16,000, and failed to get the logs of the Mexico on which we also bid – it went for $12,000. I hope to have more information on these matters at the Annual Meeting
On May 26 a group of pupils from the Paul Cuffee School in Providence came to visit, first at the Quaker Meeting House and the Cuffe grave, and then at the Bell School. Sharon introduced them to the Quakers and the grave. On June 3 pupils from the Westport Elementary School came to visit – in six installments! – and heard Nancy Burkholder speak of Westport history. They also received copies of the excellent booklet on Westport history prepared by Andrea Powning with illustrations by Karla Moran. They also received Johnny cakes and cider. On July 23 descendants of Paul Cuffe were in town visiting the Meeting House and grave, and then coming to the Bell School. It was wonderful to see them, and to share their enthusiasm for their great ancestor.
In late August Tim and Maryann Bryant opened their wonderful house at 212 Cornell Rd. to the general public; we did the publicity and managed the attendance, with fees to go to the Society. We enrolled some 20 new members, and came away with about $1000 on the day. The occasion was a joyful one as the Bryants welcomed people, Pete Baker explained details of the reconstruction, and David Allen displayed his wonderful photographs of the house and some of its contents.
The 2004 winner of our history award was Cukey Macomber, long-time resident of Westport with an inexhaustible supply of information and anecdote about the history of our town.
Our outreach has been vastly improved by the newly augmented and formatted Harbinger under the editorship of Jon Alden. See his report below.
I list here the talks delivered during the past year.
October 14 (Annual Meeting) Betty Slade and David Cole, “Birds of Westport Then and Now”
November 18 Dorothy Thayer, “General and Mrs. Tom Thumb”
February 2 Pete Baker, Jeff Majewski, Clifford Hancock, Liz Collins, an update on the destruction of the cemetery on Charlotte White Rd.
March 17 Keith Stavely & Kathleen Fitzgerald, “America’s Founding Foods: the Story of New England Cooking”
April 21 Howard Gifford, “An Armchair Discussion of the Ice Business and How it Fit into the Local Economy”
May 19 Loraine Kohorn, “100 Years of Botanizing Westport: Plants Tell of Changes to the Land”
June 8 Bruce White, “The Multicultural World of a Westport Whaler”
June 16 Michael Dyer, “An Introduction to the Business of Whaling 1819-1870”
July 14 Nicholas Niles, “Gun Making in the Westport Area 1620-1920”
August 18, Nathaniel Atwater, “Twelve Thousand Years on the Land’
September 15, Sanford Moss, “Old Tools – New Bedford Hardware Store Hand Saws 1870-1910”
We are grateful to these speakers for their excellent presentations, and to Nancy Burkholder and Tom Flynn for serving as a Program Committee. We are particularly grateful to Sue Smith of Noquochoke Orchards for providing superb refreshments at most of our programs. We urge members to suggest speakers for the coming year.

COLLECTIONS COMMITTEE It has been an exciting year for the people working on our collection. We have a fabulous collection, one that would be the pride of any historical collection. Suzanne Palmer, Carolyn Cody and Alice Macomber and I have put in many hours accessioning, cataloging, and conserving our collection. Many thanks go to these hard-working women as well as to Tom Flynn, Jon Alden, Roger Griswold and Sandy Moss for their help in moving around the heavier pieces.
The collection year began on the unusual note of deaccessioning something – a pair of Mrs. “Tom Thumb’s” shoes that we felt more properly belonged in the Middleborough Museum, where the little people lived. In exchange for the shoes Dorothy Thayer came from Middleborough and gave us an excellent talk on the life of General Tom Thumb.
Of the many important acquisitions this year I will mention only a few. First came the large tin-embossed tool chest from Lee Tripp. Next from the estate of Eleanor Tripp, came invaluable books and records of the Drs. Handy. The sea bag of Daniel Tripp great-great-grandfather of Hope and Ruth Atkinson was displayed for some time at the Town Hall. Most exciting perhaps was the ship’s log, recently sent to us by Mr. Howland of Oregon. It belonged to his great grandfather Captain Henry Brayton Gifford, and recorded two short but profitable whaling voyages out of New Bedford one by the Bark Russell and the other by the ship Winslow.
All told we accessioned over 120 items and groups of materials both newly acquired and from our backlog, which, by the way, is now much reduced. With the arrival of our new director, Jenny O’Neill, it is my hope that great progress will made on the collection both with regard to cataloging and conserving and perhaps by this time next year some of our really fine holdings will be displayed for all to see.
Respectfully submitted, Barbara Moss

MEMBERSHIP Membership for the fiscal year 2005 is 482. Membership Category numbers are:

Charter: 6
Life: 6
Sustaining: 15
Contributing: 98
Family: 196
Individual: 161
Frances LaMontagne

ORAL HISTORY We have had an opportunity to record the oral histories of many Portuguese-Americans in Westport this year through the auspices of Representative Michael Rodrigues and Tony Vieira of the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. The stories of the pioneer Portuguese families include the Martins, the Raposes and the Fernandes, the Gays, both the Costa families, the Perrys, the DosVais, the Souzas and the Vieiras. Maria de Glorias, a Professor of Portuguese Studies at UMD, is using this material as a foundation for a book on the history of Portuguese in Bristol County. The interviews have revealed the fact that Westport’s Portuguese-American families have saved many acres of farmland since the late 1800’s and many are continuing the tradition. These stories have been produced on Westport’s Cable Access Channel 17.
We have continued to record the WHS programs this year, and they have been shown regularly on Channel 17. A hearty thanks for help in taping goes to Carolyn Cody and Jon Alden, Board members, and Betty Slade for the taping when I could not. We have unfortunately missed some valuable programs, and are hoping that members of the Board or WHS members will be trained and will help videotape this important contribution to the Town and to WHS.
There is a powerful profusion of oral histories thanks to Norma Judson and her History Club, and also to Betty Slade, who has videotaped many, many old timers of Westport. We began to tape the early History Club meetings, and Betty Slade has continued to tape them with the help of Carolyn Cody and myself occasionally. All of these valuable and entertaining histories are regularly shown on Channel 17 also. Nancy Burkholder

BUILDING The mission of our committee continues to be maintenance and preservation of the Bell Schoolhouse. During the past year, all of the second floor windows have been repaired. This includes replacing broken glass, replacing putty, and painting. Any peeling or defective paint on the clapboards on the exterior was corrected and repainted.
The two front doors have been deemed unreparable. New replacement doors, identical to the original doors, are currently being constructed by Simon Newby and will be installed in the near future.
Future plans include updating and replacing the current heating system. Also, there are ongoing discussions for the best way to protect our collections; this hopefully will include installation of proper storm windows, control of humidity levels, and control of ultraviolet radiation. C. Edward Jackson

BOARD The new officers will be elected at the Annual Meeting, and their names are on the card mailed to all members. Tom Flynn, busily engaged with other activities, will be leaving the Board, and we are grateful for his help over the past few years. Unelected members of the Board are: Barbara Moss, immediate past President and Chair of the Collections Committee; Frances LaMontagne, Chair of the Membership Committee; Nancy Burkholder, Chair of the Program Committee and (with Paul Tamburello) the Oral History Committee. We are delighted that these people will continue their devoted service to the Society. Leaving the Board are chairs Burney Gifford, Finance Committee, and Ed Jackson, Building Committee. Both these men contributed mightily to the advancement of our work.

EDITOR OF HARBINGER To most of our members the Westport Historical Society activities are best known through its newsletter, The Harbinger. This past year has seen a format improvement that hopefully provided a more interesting and visual platform from which the WHS conveyed its accomplishments.
The purpose of The Harbinger is four-fold: Create an awareness of the WHS throughout our community; 2. present WHS positions on important historical events in town; 3. report on WHS events and happenings, and 4. recruit new members whose financial contributions keep the WHS productive and solvent. Some of the best moments of our year were captured in the Harbinger’s pages alongside current news events, WHS meeting reviews, reports on our growing collection, donation summaries from the community, and stories and events of historical importance.
Free point-of-purchase distribution of the Harbinger throughout several businesses and organizations in town has increased an understanding of our Society and has resulted in new memberships. Throughout 2006 we will continue to enhance its format, visually enliven its pages, and produce interesting and animated stories about the richness of Westport’s history. Jonathan Alden, Secretary

TREASURER We enjoyed another prosperous year last year. Dues were about the same as last year, although the reported figure is lower. That is because the dues for 2006 which were received in 2005 have been segregated and applied to the 2006 year, unlike previous practice. Our biggest expenditure during the year was $15,000 for the MacDonald paintings, for which a special appeal was successfully made.
We received three grants during the year. The Grimshaw-Gudewicz Foundation provided support for the Harbinger again, and contributed to the purchase of the paintings. The Howard Bayne Fund made a grant for research and education, and the Nichols Foundation gave us a grant for general purposes. They have been thanked by letter, but we wish to thank them again. Roger Griswold, Treasurer

PROP0SED BUDGET: In fiscal 2005 we took in $52977, and expended $50722, for a surplus of $2275. Major expenses were the MacDonald paintings, fire insurance, salaries, building repair. We are expecting this fiscal year to take in $49000, and expend $48967. Major expenses this eyar willl include the acquisition of the President log. Our dividend and investment income has been good, and we can expect some $14000 from this source. This sum represens about 5% of our endowment, and is thus in line with normal investment practise - we'd like to draw less from endowment. Figures in greater detail can be obtained from the written report, availabe at the Bell School.