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One Woman’s Boston Tea Party

1958.0003 Tea Caddy.
Gift of Children of Col. George Woodward Langdon.

In honor of Women's History Month, I'm taking a closer look at the oral tradition that surrounds this 18th century tea caddy. It belonged to the wealthy and powerful Cushing Family who lived on King Street (now State Street), just down the street from the Old State House. Thomas Cushing (1725-1788) was an influential moderate politician both before and after the Revolution. His wife Deborah (née Fletcher) (1727-1790) is said to have asked him to take the tea contained in this tea caddy and dump it into the harbor on the day after the Boston Tea Party. Cushing, being somewhat more staid than his wife, refused. Mrs. Cushing put on her bonnet, walked straight down King Street to Long Wharf, and dumped the two different types of tea contained in the tea caddy into the harbor.

We have no way of verifying if these events actually took place, but the story is so charming that I hope that it is. The idea of the respectable middle-aged wife of a politician marching down King Street in broad daylight to add her small amount of tea to the protest (not forgetting to put on her bonnet) speaks to her strength, agency, and bravery - she didn’t feel the need to conduct her protest in costume or under the cover of darkness!

We gain further insight into Mrs. Cushing’s character in this excerpt from a letter that Mr. Cushing wrote to her from Philadelphia in 1774:

“The Farmer says, if it were customary to choose women into the assembly, he should be heartily for choosing you Speaker of the House – they all wish to see you there”.

Whether or not the story of the tea caddy is apocryphal, it tells us something about how she was perceived. The sense that one gets from both this story and the letter is of an active, opinionated, politically savvy woman – although she isn’t included in the history books, because we care for her tea caddy, we help to keep her story alive.

By Sira Dooley Fairchild, Collections Manager

A new strike off an old plate: the 1970 version of Paul Revere's print

Paul Revere's engraving copperplate for The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street, Boston, March 5, 1770, by a party of the 29th Regiment is a treasure found in the collection of the Massachusetts State Archives. In 1970, the Imprint Society approached the Secretary of the Commonwealth and the Archivist of the Commonwealth with a request to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Boston Massacre by releasing restrikes taken from that original plate. After consulting with the Massachusetts Historical Commission it was determined that a limited number of restrikes could be produced without causing any damage to the plate. The Anderson-Lamb Company of Brooklyn pulled these restrikes by hand. The Imprint Society then published the restrikes in a beautiful book that included "An Account of a late Military Massacre at Boston, or the Consequences of Quartering Troops in a populous well-regulated Town, taken from The Boston Gazette, of March 12, 1770." The Society is thrilled that we have a copy of one of these limited edition books in our library collection.

Readers familiar with our blog will know that we hold one of Paul Revere's original prints in our archival collection. Click on the images below to see larger versions of the 1970 restrike and the colored-in version from 1770.  The 1970 black and white version truly highlights the detail that Revere included in his original engraving. By seeing the two versions together, we are able to note the liberties that were taken by those who colored it, and especially the details that they chose to emphasize. We are lucky to have both copies in our collection so that we have the rare opportunity to compare the two side-by-side.

1970 restrike from NE 539 .R5 B55 [OVER]

1883.0097, Gift of Miss Eliza Susan Quincy

One way that the 200th anniversary of the Boston Massacre was commemorated was by recreating a tangible piece of history. It leaves us to speculate about the ways that the 250th anniversary, which is just a few years away, will be marked.

To see the entire book, search your local library or special collections for a copy of The Bloody Massacre; perpetrated in King-Street, Boston, on March 5th, 1770, by a party of the 29th Regiment. Together with a print of the event taken from the plate engraved by Paul Revere, the report from the Boston gazette, and a note by Richard Hale (Barre, MA: 1970). If you are in the Boston area, you are always welcome to make an appointment to see the book and restrike in our library.

By Elizabeth Roscio, Library and Archives Manager

James Bowdoin and the Boston Massacre

Governor James Bowdoin (1947.0005) 

In honor of the upcoming 247th anniversary of the Boston Massacre, our staff have placed a portrait of James Bowdoin (1726-1790) on view in Representatives Hall. The Society’s painting is by James Carpenter after an eighteenth-century portrait of Bowdoin by Robert Feke, which is in the collection of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.

Bowdoin's role was pivotal in shaping public reaction to the shootings on March 5, 1770, but his participation in the events surrounding the Massacre is often overlooked. Born to a wealthy family of French Huguenot extraction, he quickly established himself as a leading Boston merchant and entered provincial politics at a young age. At 30, he was elected to a seat on the Massachusetts Provincial Council (the upper house of the colony’s legislature), where he developed a reputation as a reliable ally to Governors William Shirley and Thomas Pownall. Bowdoin’s politics shifted during the 1760s, however. The passage of the Stamp Act in 1765 and the ministry’s decision to send two regiments of the regular army to Boston in 1768 shook his faith in royal authority and caused Bowdoin to ally himself with leading whigs in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, including James Otis, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock. By 1770 Bowdoin had become an influential leader in the Council and a persistent thorn in the side of acting Governor Thomas Hutchinson.

It was thus not surprising that Boston’s town meeting chose Bowdoin, together with Joseph Warren and Samuel Pemberton, to author “a particular Account” of the events that led to “the Massacre in King-Street.” Bowdoin received his charge on March 12, just one week after the terrible events that had resulted in the deaths of five civilians. The committee set to work immediately, compiling a list of witnesses and deposing more than 100 of them in public during the ensuing week. Using these depositions, the committee produced a detailed written report on the events of March 5 and presented it the town meeting on March 19 as A short Narrative of the horrid Massacre in Boston . . . with some Observations on the State of Things prior to that Catastrophe (Boston, 1770). The report portrayed the tragic events of March 5 as a premeditated “massacre” in which the King’s soldiers had “deliberately” gunned down civilians in the streets of Boston, but the evidence it produced was selective. When Bowdoin’s Short Narrative was printed a few days later, it included as an appendix the text of 96 depositions. Opponents immediately pointed out that the report excluded eyewitness accounts that might support an alternative conclusion about the motives of the soldiers.

But by then it was too late. Copies of the Short Narrative were quickly sent off to leading whigs in Britain and elsewhere, each covered by a letter from Bowdoin’s committee stating flatly that the tragedy was the work of soldiers who had plotted “to take vengeance on the town.” Although royal officials worked to publicize competing evidence, Bowdoin’s report proved decisive in coloring public reaction to the events of March 5, 1770, as a massacre rather than a terrible accident.

For more about James Bowdoin, see Gordon Kershaw's James Bowdoin II: Patriot and Man of the Enlightenment.

By Nat Sheidley, Historian and Director of Public History

Honoring the Legacy of a Black Patriot: Jeffrey Hartwell's Plate

Hartwell Plate, 1895.0039.001. Gift of George P. Smith

In celebration of Black History Month, I am featuring one of three pewter plates belonging to Jeffrey Hartwell, a black man who was born into slavery c. 1751 and served at some of the most important battles of the Revolutionary War. Two of Hartwell’s pewter plates can be seen on display in Representative’s Hall and he is one of our Revolutionary Characters.

Hartwell fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill, having been sent to fill the place of his master. He later enlisted of his own accord in September of 1777 and was discharged in November of that same year. He then reenlisted in June of 1778 and is known to have been stationed at West Point, New York in December of 1778. He is believed to have served at the Battle of Saratoga, one of the turning points of the war.

Although it is not clear exactly how he became free, we know that Hartwell was free and living in Dracut, Massachusetts by March of 1779. He married a free woman named Maria, who had also been born into slavery and subsequently freed, and they were given two acres on which to live as a wedding present from Maria’s employer, John Varnum. Jeffrey and Maria had six children, four of whom lived to adulthood. He died in Dracut on 22 July, 1816 at the age of 75 and is buried in the Hamblett Cemetery in Lowell.

Detail of Hartwell Plate

More than 5,000 black patriots fought in the Revolutionary War and many enslaved and free black men joined the British Army. The three plates in our collection are amongst the very few items known to have belonged to a black soldier from the Revolutionary War, and we are honored to care for these important artifacts. Hartwell's well-worn pewter plate bears the scars of many meals. The maker’s mark is also stamped into the bottom of the plate. Please let us know in the comments if you recognize these marks and can help us identify the maker.

To learn more about Jeffrey Hartwell check out George Quintal Jr.'s Patriots of Color ‘A Particular Beauty and Merit’: African Americans and Native Americans at Battle Road & Bunker Hill.

By Sira Dooley Fairchild, Collections Manager

Winter Cleaning

MS0119/DC1563

We are so pleased that the Old State House welcomes over 100,000 visitors a year, but all that foot traffic can take its toll on a 300 year old building.  We want the building to be as beautiful and welcoming to its visitors in 2017 as it was to its past visitors, so we are closed February 6 through 10 as our staff cleans the Old State House from top to bottom.  We're busy this week polishing, painting, and scrubbing in anticipation of our upcoming busy season.

A 300 year old building like the Old State House requires a good deal of care, and in fact there are even records of its upkeep dating from the 1700s.  One of those records is a bill from July 1, 1773 from the Province of Massachusetts Bay to Thomas Dawes for repairs to the Old State House.  If you look closely, you can see an itemized list of numerous repairs, such as whitewashing the Council Chamber and Lobby. 

The ink on this document is faded and the paper is delicate, but the Society has preserved it by keeping it in dark storage, reinforcing the edges with Japanese paper, and encasing it in a Mylar sleeve. Records like these help to tell the story of the Old State House and how it has changed (and stayed the same!) throughout its long history. It's possible that in the future, the receipts and invoices from our annual cleaning week will give individuals an idea of the work that went into maintaining the Old State House in the 21st century!

We re-open to the public on Saturday, February 11 at 9:00 am.  Be sure to stop by and see our sparkling clean building!

By Elizabeth Roscio, Library and Archives Manager

Relics of the Revolution

1930.0008.002 a-f  Note reads, "Made of wood from Federal
Street Church. Gift, Feb. 1930 of Henry F Jenks."

The term relic is one that we often associate with medieval saints – it conjures images of beautiful reliquaries built to hold small pieces of wood or bone, imbued with miraculous healing powers. Some of the relics in our collection are religious in nature, such as the crosses carved from the wood of the pulpit and pews of the Federal Street Church, built in 1729 and replaced in 1859.  The collection at the Old State House also holds a large number of secular relics, including a root of the tree in Salem where the witches were said to have been hanged and a piece of the tree under which the Treaty of Santiago was signed in 1898.

Several of the secular relics in our collection commemorate Boston’s revolutionary past. Many of these secular relics are wooden, most often made from either the wood of a tree, or from the timbers of an important building. Some of them are unmodified – simply pieces of wood with cards attached explaining their relevance, such as this small piece of wood from the house of the colonial governor Thomas Hutchinson (1711-1780), with a card that reads "Chip from the Hutchinson House, Garden Court, built about 1710, sacked 1765, torn down 1832." We also hold a piece of a fence that surrounded the Joseph Warren monument on Bunker Hill in 1794, with a note affixed to it that reads, "Piece of a post from the fence which surrounds the Joseph Warren Monument on Bunker Hill / 1794 / From George W. Forristall."

1930.0008.003d Wooden cup
Gift of Henry F. Jenks

Other relics of the Revolutionary period were made into useful or decorative items, such as the cups made from parts of the Hancock House. The Hancock house was built for Thomas Hancock (John Hancock’s uncle) between 1734 and 1737 and demolished in 1863. Other parts of this famous mansion were made into thread boxes and other commemorative items that we hold in our collection.

Without the information included in our database, object files, and inscribed on the paper tags, many of these items would be seen as no more than pieces of wood. What is interesting about them comes not from their inherent value or aesthetic appeal, but from what we know (or think we know) about their origins.

By Sira Dooley Fairchild, Collections Manager

A New Lease for the Old State House

Bostonian Society President Executive Director Brian W J
LeMay at the lease signing with Gregory Rooney, Commissioner
of the City of Boston Property Management Department.

In a move that will help protect and advance the historic landmark and museum, the City of Boston and the Bostonian Society signed a new lease for the Old State House, located at 206 Washington Street in Boston. The 25-year lease entrusts the Bostonian Society with the preservation, maintenance, and interpretation of the oldest surviving public building in Boston.

Recognized as a National Historic Landmark and a part of the Boston National Historical Park, the Old State House originally served as the seat of Britain’s colonial government for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. During the years leading up to the American Revolution, it was at the center of events in Boston that produced the foundational American ideals of self-governance. Following the Revolution, the building became the first capitol of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and later, the first City Hall of the City of Boston.

“Part of what makes Boston so special is our rich history and ties to the earliest days of our nation's founding, which is recognized by the thousands of visitors who come to our City every year to visit historic sites such as the original Massachusetts State House," said Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh. "I am proud to continue our long-standing partnership with the Bostonian Society, who for the last century have been responsible for the preservation of and maintenance of the Old State House. In Boston, we are incredibly fortunate to live among some of the nation's oldest and most treasured landmarks, and we will continue to preserve them with the utmost care and attention.”

“We are exceptionally grateful to Mayor Walsh for his commitment to Boston’s historical and cultural institutions, and we are honored by the trust the City has placed in us for the stewardship of this remarkable old building,” said Bostonian Society President and Executive Director Brian W. J. LeMay. “There is still much to be done to return it to a condition worthy of its status as a national treasure, and to explain properly why it is one of the most historically significant places in the country.”

The non-profit Bostonian Society was established in 1881 to oversee the first restoration of the Old State House after a proposal had been made to demolish the building. The City of Boston and the Bostonian Society have long held joint responsibility for the building’s maintenance and repair. The relationship is a unique one in Boston’s historic district, giving ownership of the site to the City and care of the site to a private non-profit.

Michael Creasey, General Superintendent of the National Parks of Boston, said, “When Boston National Historical Park was established in 1974, it was a pioneer in its approach to public/private cooperation and sharing of authorities, responsibilities, and costs. The park includes the Old State House and seven other sites in Boston that let us reflect on the heroic acts that led to personal freedom, civil, and human rights.  Today what was pioneered in Boston has a name—partnering—and is exemplified by this new lease between the City of Boston and the Bostonian Society to protect the landmark, carry its historical significance into the future, and bring it a renewed sense of promise.”

The previous 20-year lease on the building ended in 2014 and was followed by a series of extensions. The new lease gives the Bostonian Society full responsibility and authority to insure and preserve the facility, and provides greater latitude for the Society to seek funding and support for its care and interpretation.

“We are proud to be a longstanding supporter of the Bostonian Society and its mission to preserve and celebrate Boston’s incredible history,” said Anita Walker, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council. “So we are delighted to learn that it has reached agreement with the city of Boston on the stewardship of the Old State House, ensuring this iconic building will be there for future generations to learn from and enjoy.”

Please direct all press inquiries to the Bostonian Society's Marketing and Communications Manager, Stephen Libby, at stephen@bostonhistory.org

By Stephen Libby, Marketing and Communications Manager

Coming soon: new special tours!

Here at the Bostonian Society, our educators are hard at work on new specialty tours that will debut in the Old State House over the next few weeks!

 Jennifer Guerin prepares for a new tour.

In addition to our daily talks about the history of the Old State House and the Boston Massacre, Education Associates (EAs) also present specialty tours and talks on various topics related to Boston in the 18th century.  Over the past few years, many of our EAs have written and produced their own tours on topics that are of particular interest to them, such as the Royal Governors of Massachusetts, Women in 18th century Boston, Colonial Food and more. Two new tours are in the works and will debut in the museum in the next few weeks:

Popular songs in the American Revolution
By Jennifer Guerin
A tour that will focus on three of the most popular songs from the American Revolutionary period: William Billings’ “Chester”,  John Dickinson’s “The Liberty Song” , and “Yankee Doodle”.  This tour will discuss the history behind these pieces of music and will take a look at why these songs became so popular.

LiberTEA
By Robin Donovan
A tour that will follow the history of tea in Boston and how tea influenced the outcomes and decisions in Boston during the American Revolution. This tour will include an up close look at three types of tea popular in 18th century Boston and tea-related pieces of our collection.



Our special tours are given daily at 3:00pm - keep an eye out for these new tours!

By Katie Drescher, Museum Education Manager

An Adams Family Autograph

New year, new document!  This week, I rotated out the document that is on display for patrons and visitors to our library. When trying to decide which item to feature, I went through boxes of materials in our Document Collection (MS0119) looking for inspiration to strike.  I repeatedly came across items that were either described as an autograph letter, or just as an autograph. From these, I selected a letter written by Abigail Adams to her son Thomas Boylston Adams and his wife Anne (Harrod) in 1806. At the time, all three were living south of Boston, in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Abigail Adams letter, MS0119/DC921.1806

Our holdings include just the last page of the letter, where Abigail comments on daily mundanities, such as washing for "Mr. Adams" and asking whether or not specific items need to be sent from one household to the other. The fondness that Abigail felt for her children is evident in the closing of her letter, as she writes, “my love to your sister, your affectionate, Mother Abigail Adams.”

As previously mentioned, this item is described in our catalog as an autograph letter. The term autograph refers not just to the signature of a famous person, but also to a document that was written entirely by the hand of the signer (rather than a document that has been type written or dictated and then signed).  In some instances, the full context of the letter is lost if only the page that included the signature was saved, as is the case with our letter from Abigail to her son and daughter-in-law.

Letter from Wightman to
Fogg (MS0119/DC921.1875)

Autograph collections of notable citizens are often found in historical societies and libraries. Abigail's partial letter is just one of many autographs in our collection; among others, we also have the signatures of Josiah Quincy, Jr., Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Dickens, and Edwin Booth. Sometimes these signatures are found on the last page of a letter, but they are also frequently found on a slip of paper that just includes the signature, and maybe a quote. Autograph collecting has its roots in Ancient Greece, and a resurgence of the hobby occurred among the leisure class in Europe in the the 1700s. The trend made its way to America in the early 1800s, where it grew in popularity throughout the century. We can speculate that many of the Society's earliest members were autograph collectors, and that is likely how some of these items came to our collection. To complement these autographs, our archives also includes a letter from 1875 where Joseph M. Wightman writes to Dr. John S.H. Fogg  to report on his efforts to acquire autographs for him. Click here to read a transcription of that letter.

I'll close with a reminder that if there is a notable figure that you're curious about, you can always search our catalog or send me an email to see if we have their autograph in our collection!

By Elizabeth Roscio, Library and Archives Manager