The
Muse
Newsletter of the Slater Memorial Museum
Summer 2008
Norwich Celebrates Part II
The Second in a Series
By Vivian F. Zoë
Not to be outdone by the extravaganzas of the
Bicentennial and the 250th, and despite the depths
of the depression, Norwich townsfolk found
many ways to celebrate the 150th of incorporation
and the 275th of founding. For July 1934, another
four-day celebration was planned. It drew a great
deal from the earlier events, with exhibitions, a
parade, the notation of important sites and homes,
a huge pageant and medals and ribbons for
attendees and committee members. The Norwich
Sunday Record announced that “10,000” were
expected and that there would be “over 60 floats
by business firms, societies, individuals, etc., over
10 bands and a number of drum corps”.
A news article traced the parade route and
enumerated the dignitaries whose attendance
was anticipated. To be included were floats
by the Daughters of United Civil War Vets;
Image Parade for Front Page
Catholic Ladies of Columbus; United German
Societies; Ukrainian Society; and the United
Textile Workers. Music that day came from,
among others, the U. S. Coast Guard Academy
and Polish Society Bands. Marching were
members of the Sedwick Women’s Relief Corps;
the Columbian Commandery De Molay; the
Degree of Pocahontas; the Grand United order of
Odd Fellows; Buckingham Council of American
Mechanics and Children of the Playground
Association.
In addition to the Coast Guard, submariners from
Groton and New London were expected. William
R. Denison, captain of the 192nd field artillery,
C.N.G. was named Marshal and expected to do
a fine job lining up the disparate groups for their
march. Both judges and doctors were enlisted for
the event.
Slater Museum director Mrs. Ozias Dodge
pledged the “art Gallery” with student guides to
assist visitors; Charlotte Fuller Eastman pledged
the Converse Art Gallery and building to exhibit
artwork by Norwich Art School students. An
early plan to have the art students create plaster
figures representing the great events in Norwich
history must have fallen by the wayside. But
manufacturers were enlisted to place their wares
in empty storefronts to “enliven the streets” and
citizens were asked to decorate their homes. A
city-wide clean-up, touch-up campaign was
implemented.
(Continued on page 3)
A Message from the Director
As a late-spring rain finally hydrates our thirsty trees and new tomato plants,
I envision the summer ahead and the planned restoration work on our cast
collection. A recent trip abroad brought me to the University at Göttingen,
about 150 kilometres north of Frankfurt. There, I met with Dr. Daniel
Graepler, professor of archaeology. In addition, Dr. Graepler is overseer of the
university’s immense collection of plaster casts, its Sammlung Gipsabgusse.
The archaeology department sees these as primarily study casts, although,
the University’s art history department also has a small collection of cast
“reductions” with their original patinas. Interestingly, the archaeology
department has had, on staff since 2002, a professional conservator, Stefanie
Bauer, who has steadily improved the condition of their collection. She
now estimates that she is about a year away from finishing the treatment of
every piece in their collection of several hundred. Luckily, with Germany’s
socialist work environment, when she has finished the work, her job will still be guaranteed! The conservator
of the Göttingen collection has been cleaning the casts through a variety of methods and then painting them
with a white, semi-gloss latex paint. And do they sparkle! I’m not sure the treatment is right for us, but as
we progress through our restoration, we will turn our backs to no potential improvements.
Upcoming Exhibitions, Programs and Events
•
The Slater Museum regrets to announce that the Exhibition of the Connecticut Plein Aire Painters
Society, originally scheduled for Summer 2008 has been cancelled to accommodate planned
construction. It is hoped that the Slater will be able to re-schedule the exhibition.
The Muse is published up to four times yearly for the members of The Friends of the Slater Memorial Museum. The museum is located
at 108 Crescent Street, Norwich, CT 06360. It is part of The Norwich Free Academy, 305 Broadway, Norwich, CT 06360. Museum
main telephone number: (860) 887-2506. Visit us on the web at www.slatermuseum.org.
Museum Director – Vivian F. Zoë
Newsletter editor – Geoff Serra
Contributing authors: Vivian Zoë, Leigh Smead and Patricia Flahive
Photographers: Leigh Smead, Heather Brine, Vivian Zoë
The president of the Friends of the Slater Memorial Museum: Patricia Flahive
The Norwich Free Academy Board of Trustees:
Steven L. Bokoff ’72, Chair
Jeremy D. Booty ‘74
Richard DesRoches *
Abby I. Dolliver ‘71
Lee-Ann Gomes ‘82, Treasurer
Thomas M. Griffin ‘70, Secretary
Joseph A. Perry ’60
Dr. Mark E. Tramontozzi ’76
Theodore N. Phillips ’74
Robert A, Staley ‘68*
David A. Whitehead ’78, Vice Chair
*Museum sub-committee
The Norwich Free Academy does not discriminate in its educational programs, services or employment on the basis of race, religion,
gender, national origin, color, handicapping condition, age, marital status or sexual orientation. This is in accordance with Title VI, Title
VII, Title IX and other civil rights or discrimination issues; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended and the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1991.
2
(Continued from page 1)
Captain Louis Sable, Naval Attaché of the French
Embassy and official representative of France,
arrived on July 3 to place a bronze “tablet” on
the graves of unknown French soldiers of the
American Revolution.
Chelsea parade, then speak at the Elks recreation
field later in the day. A number of churches and
the Norwich Hebrew Institute held open houses
during the day.
The Norwich Bulletin reported that “Arriving
visitors found a welcome extended in banners
suspended over the highway on all the roads
leading into the city. … Buildings on streets in
the business section of the city were in festal array
in decorations of bunting in the national colors
and sidewalk flags will add to the gala effect.
Many homes in residence section have also been
attractively decorated for anniversary”.
During the 1934 celebration, the Norwich Fire
Department presented an exhibition of early fire
fighting equipment. Included were a horse drawn
pumper, its “Big Six”, and a hand-drawn hose
carriage. Twenty red-shirted firemen pulled the
Boy Scout Troupe, 1934
Boy Scout Troupe #12 paid tribute to First Norwich
Mayor, Benjamin Huntington by performing a
ceremony culminating in the laying of a wreath
upon his grave. The Clara Barton Tent #1,
Daughters of Union Veterans made a pilgrimage
to Governor William Buckingham’s grave
and laid a wreath. Buckingham had been both
mayor of Norwich and Governor of Connecticut
during the Civil War. The Girl Scouts created a
nature trail starting at the bottom of McKinley
Avenue behind NFA and named it “Sacojewa”, or
Sacajawea,-known as the Indian woman who led
Lewis and Clark on their expedition to find the
Pacific Ocean. Born about 1790 in what is now
the state of Idaho, she had no known connections
to Connecticut.
Early Hartford Fire Truck
latter in the parade, according to The Bulletin.
Reporting the next day, The Bulletin stated that
“The principal event of the Anniversary program
was the community meeting at the Broadway
Theatre in the evening (Sunday, July 1). Despite
the oppressive heat there was a large attendance
at the gathering, which opened at 8 o’clock
with Mayor Edward G. Moran presiding”. The
community meeting had religious overtones, with
scripture being read, and opened with the Norwich
Choral Society accompanied by Miss Annie L.
Taft on the piano singing America the Beautiful.
Miss H. Louise Fuller, sister of the Norwich Art
School director, Charlotte Fuller Eastman, had
composed Ode to Norwich especially for the
occasion to words written by W. Tyler Olcott.
The reviewing stand was, appropriately, at Chelsea
Parade.
Planners
had invited
Governor
Wilbur
L. Cross
who would
review
f r o m
Governor
Wilbur
Cross
3
Comdr., Sen.
Hiram Bingham,
Mayor Edward
Moran, Capt.
Sable
Rabbi Joseph N. Rosenberg.
attended the Republican National Convention
as Connecticut’s alternate and was chosen as an
elector on the Hughes-Fairbanks ticket. Hiram
served as an officer in various military roles,
eventually being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel
and serving as Commanding Officer at the
Aviation International Center in France. In the
summer of 1920, he was again an alternate for the
Republican National Convention and two years
later was elected Lieutenant Governor. Bingham
was a U.S. Senator for eight years but lost his seat
to Democrat Augustine Lonergan which ended
his political career. Today, most in the World
would not recognize the name Wilbur Cross,
but because of its inevitable connection to the
controversy surrounding Machu Picchu, millions
know the name of Hiram Bingham.
Following
the
featured speaker,
she played the
piece on the piano
while leading the
Norwich Choral
Society in singing
it. After violin
soloists and more
choral
music,
the
evening
was brought to
a close with a
benediction by
The Sporting Committee produced a sort of
Rodeo with horse races and trick riding at the
fairgrounds, where an evening dance was held in
the “Dance Hall.” In addition, a concert of 150
accordions, five vaudeville acts and a “grand and
spectacular display of Fire works such as has rarely
been seen in these parts”. The Bulletin reported
that Milo Light was given special permission by
the committee to add, free of charge, his own fire
works to the show. This was the spirit of the 1934
celebration … the community came forward, most
as volunteers
to
make
the
event
spectacular
in spite of
financial
woes.
Also attending was U. S. Senator for Connecticut,
Hiram Bingham a descendant of Deacon Thomas
Bingham, who had come to the American colonies
in 1650 and settled in Salem. He received his
B.A. degree from Yale in 1898 and later studied
history and political science at the University of
California and Harvard, attaining a Ph.D. He
spent years of travel, study and writing in South
America and in 1911, Bingham became Director
of the Peruvian Expedition when he located the
site of the last Inca capital Vitcos. He was the
first to ascend the 21,763 ft. Mt. Coropuma. The
following year Bingham made another discovery,
perhaps his most
important, the
discovery
of
Machu Picchu,
the “lost city.”
Spectacles,
tableaux and
historical
dramas were
not new to
Norwich, nor
had they been
exclusively
reserved for
As
World
War I began,
Bingham turned
to politics and
the military as a
way of life. He
Hiram Bingham
at Macchu
Picchu
Millicent in
the Rose
4
(Continued on page 7)
Slater Gates Examined
Conservator and Iron Consultant Barbara Mangum from
Cambridge, Massachusetts visited the Museum and NFA’s
storage facility at 90 Sachem Street, where the Slater building’s
elegant wrought iron gates have been stored since Spring 2007,
when masonry restoration began. Her job was to examine every
inch of the five medieval-style gates to make drawings and
photographs and take samples of coatings and rusted metal.
Ms. Mangum’s fee will be paid through a generous Technical
Assistance Grant from the Connecticut Trust for Historic
Preservation. She was identified through a recommendation
from stone expert Ivan Myjer who, since winter 2007, has been
advising the academy on brownstone restoration of the Slater
building.
During the past five years, the Slater has pursued a rigorous plan
of facilities improvement, ultimately to result in the installation
of the building’s first elevator and climate control system. To
date, approximately $3 million have been expended on project
planning, engineering and design, and on window, roof, and brick, mortar, and masonry restoration
and repair to ensure the integrity of the exterior building envelope before major internal work is
undertaken. Throughout the entire process, meticulous attention has been afforded to preserving the
historical accuracy and detail of the Romanesque Revival ornament of the brick, brownstone, and
granite structure designed in 1884 by Stephen C. Earle of Worcester, MA.
Ms. Mangum’s report will propose treatment to restore and preserve the iron gates and recommend
a craftsman. She described the gates as “very beautiful, well made and exhibiting expert
craftsmanship”. Her preliminary findings were that restoration would not be difficult nor need be
particularly expensive and that re-installation, with some cautions, would be more than possible.
Restoration Begins on Slater’s Casts
Sculptor, conservator and plaster cast expert Robert Shure of Giust
Caproni Studios in Woburn, Massachusetts was at work in midJune restoring “Funerary Stele of a Warrior” and the “Hermes of
Praxiteles”. The “Model of the West Pediment of the Parthenon”
and “Standing Youth” will be the focus of his attention when he
returns in July.
The Slater’s 120-year-old collection of plaster statuary created
from molds taken directly from the originals show the signs of their
age and fragility. A generous grant from the David T. Langrock
Foundation as well as funding from the Institute for Museum and
Library Services (IMLS), a federal program, are making the work
possible.
5
Friends of Slater Activities Notes from the President by Patricia Reardon Flahive
I am happy to announce that the Friends of Slater will be organizing another bus
trip for members and friends this October. This excursion will take us to Springfield, MA, where we will spend the day touring the Springfield Museums - a group
of four specialized institutions that offer something for every taste. Our last bus
trip to the Clark Institute in Williamstown, MA was hugely successful, due in part
to the inclusion of Friends of Otis Library. I am very pleased that we again invite
Otis members on the upcoming trip, and extend the invitation to Cragin Library
patrons. Please join us for this exciting trip and spend the day with Friends, both
old and new. Hope to see you in Springfield!
The Springfield Museums, located in the heart of downtown Springfield, Massachusetts, comprise
four world-class museums; the Museum of Fine Arts, the Springfield Science Museum, the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum and the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, where a collection of plaster casts was assembled in 1899 by the Slater Museum’s first curator and NFA alumnus, Henry Watson Kent. The Museums Association is proud to be home to the Dr. Seuss Sculpture
Garden honoring the birthplace of Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss.
Trip Details
The Springfield Museums
Saturday, October 4, 2008
The bus will have TWO departure locations:
8:15 am - Norwich: Commuter Parking Lot at Exit 80 off I-395
8:50 am - Colchester: Commuter Parking Lot at Exit 16 off Route 2
We plan to arrive in Sprinfield at 10:00 am and will depart promptly at 3:00 pm. The bus will deliver passengers to Colchester and Norwich by 4:00 pm and 4:30 pm, respectively.
RESERVATIONS MUST BE MADE NO LATER THAN SEPTEMBER 2, 2008
Yes! Please reserve my seat:
Number of Museum & Library Members:
________ x $40 per person = $_______________
Number of Non-Museum & Library Members: ________ x $50 per person = $_______________
Total Enclosed = $_______________
Fee includes transportation, admission to museums, and a box lunch.
I will meet the bus in: ___ Norwich ___ Colchester
Please indicate lunch preferences for each participant:
___ Turkey
___ Tuna
___ Vegetarian
NAME(s)________________________________________________________________________
ADDRESS_______________________________________________________________________
*For our records and to confirm the reservation, please list one address and contact phone number.
CITY___________________________________________________________________________
STATE/ZIP_________________________TELEPHONE: (DAY)_________________________
Detach completed form and mail to: Friends of Slater • 108 Crescent Street • Norwich, CT 06360
Please make checks payable to “Friends of Slater Museum”
6
(Continued from page 4)
anniversaries. On September 5, 1927, the John B.
Rogers Production Company staged An Historical
Pageant, Battle of the Great Plain, at the New
London County Agricultural Fair Grounds in
East Great Plain, Norwich. The Pageant included
a cast of literally hundreds, from the community
and an even greater number of “Reception
Committee” members from virtually every town
in Southeastern Connecticut. Arthur L. Peale,
author of Uncas and the Mohegan Pequot
She graduated from NFA in 1924, Emerson
College in 1928, and received her MA from
Columbia University. She returned to NFA to teach
English and was the founding faculty member
for Playshop from 1935 - 1942. Millicent was
also director of children’s radio programs, which
her daughter Kira Van Deusen characterizes as
“a big bust because they didn’t pay her and she
had to solicit advertising to pay herself. Then the
depression hit”. She worked for General Electric
Broadcasting in NYC; and was an instructor of
speech at University of Connecticut and State
Teacher’s College, Geneseo, NY. According to
Ms. Van Deusen, Millicent worked for a company
that provided a show script and music, costumes,
etc. She would arrive in a town with a big trunk
of that stuff and direct the musical with a cast of
locals. Three weeks in each place, start to finish.
She did that for about a year and a half and it
sounds like fun but she wound up completely
exhausted. Came home to rest. And that’s when
the shows in Norwich began and then teaching at
NFA”.
A “Pageant” orchestrated and directed by
Millicent Disco, attracted an audience of 6,000
to the fields behind Norton Gym at NFA. The
Norwich Bulletin of June 28, tantalized the
public with “The unique staging arrangement of
the pageant is on a grandiose style. The Central
scene depicts a huge rose characterizing the ‘Rose
of New England’. The rose is so constructed
that as the episode in the pageant develops, the
petals will open and out of it will arise the Spirit
of Norwich (impersonated by Miss Millicent
Disco) and give a dramatic interpretation of time
and events of the progress and achievement of
Norwich since 1784”. The pageant was to have
three “episodes” with Mayor Moran “portraying
Benjamin Huntington, first mayor of Norwich
and the directors of NFA acting out the dedication
of NFA in 1856”.
Nancy Dutton wrote her memories of Millicent
as her Playshop director for the NFA alumni
association. “Millicent Disco was the Faculty
Advisor and Director of the Playshop. Her office
was located in the vestibule of the Commercial
Building (Cranston).
The Bulletin of June 11 projected that “Millicent
Disco was to announce the parts of the pageant
during the evolution of Racial Groups, coming to
the U.S. and availing themselves of the liberty and
opportunities afforded by the country to all people,
irrespective of race, color or denomination”. Miss
Disco also brought in descendants of Mohegans,
300 French children, Irish “Lilt” dancers, “The
Negro Group” to sing spirituals, Costumes from
Poland, Swedish folk dance, Hebrew religious
music, a Greek ceremony and an Italian Orchestra.
In 1934, Buzby Berkeley’s career had reached its
zenith in 1934 and may have rubbed off on Miss
Disco.
She was very talented, dedicated and theatrical. Her
contagious enthusiasm and expertise motivated
her many students to succeed on the stage. Being
a member of
the Playshop
was
very
important to
so many of
us at NFA.
Friendships
were formed
and our love
of
drama
and
the
theatre has
Millicent Disco was a member of the Disco
Brothers Dry Goods Store Family. They had
commissioned and sold a plate 50 years earlier in
1909, commemorating the Quarter Millennium.
Millicent as a
young woman
75
Ms. Chase also loaned her highboy and
documented the historical exhibition.  In her
images, one sees objects now in collections
of museums and historic sites in Norwich,
including the Slater Museum.  Also evident is the
simplicity with which the Converse Art Gallery
had been built, with exposed pipes serving as heat
radiators.
An open house program included historic houses
and organizations like NFA and Backus Hospital.
As at the Quarter-Millennium, new signs and
accompanying text to denote historic sites were
issued.  Included in this group was a sign on the
Troy Laundry at 282 Franklin Street, indicating
that it had been the former home of Christopher
Crandall Brand’s Whaling Gun Factory.  After
the event, Allyn Morgan Brand, grandson of
the founder, noticed the sign deteriorating and
acquiring unsightly graffiti.  He removed it to
safe storage in his barn from which it disappeared.
By 1983, the sign reappeared in the collection of
Mystic Seaport, where it is safely archived today.
How the sign made its way from the barn to the
museum remains a mystery!
Pageant
continued through the years due to the inspiration
of Millicent Disco.” She died March 25, 2002 …
the anniversary of which is almost exactly today.
She had staged a musical at the new Masonic
Temple in January, 1934, just six months before
the 275th . William Berkeley Enos (1895–1976)
was known as one of the American cinema’s most
innovative choreographers, noted for his mobile
camerawork, dazzling kaleidoscopic routines and
seeming casts of thousand, including spectacular
multitudes of chorus girls. His work was seen
in Forty Second Street (1933), Gold Diggers
of 1933 (1934), and Dames (1934). Had Miss
Disco envisioned herself in the center of such a
production? The Bulletin projected that “Miss
Helena Crandall and Mrs. Florence Olson will
interpret a dance evocation, symbolizing the
wood nymphs, calling the spirits of Norwich”,
recalling the work of Isadora Duncan (18771927) earlier in the century who had established
a dance school and the primitivist style. Inspired
by the classics, especially Greek Mythology,
she rejected traditional ballet steps to stress
improvisation, emotion, and the natural human
form. She is known for her use of scarves and
diaphanous costumes that floated through the air
as she moved.
The performances in 1934 preceded and followed
a long address delivered by guest Justice Philip J.
McCook, a member of the family that gave name
to the Butler-McCook Homestead, McCook
Library at Trinity College and McCook Hospital,
all in Hartford.
The men of the family were
known as the
“Fighting
McCooks”
because they
served in every
armed conflict
in which the
U.S.
had
engaged.
Ada Chase, Chairman of the History Committee,
wrote a series of articles for The Norwich
Bulletin, and spoke at the Society of the Founders
of Norwich on Captain Robert Niles, a Norwich
native who carried the treaty from Stonington to
France that secured France’s support of the 13
Colonies’ quest for independence.
His speech was
transcribed in
its entirety in
Historical
Exhibition in
Converse
68
oldsters like to browse among the dusty papers and
furniture, or pause a moment beside a gravestone,
hoping it has not been too much neglected since
they last went by. The youngsters will follow the
band and the pageantry. All alike will feel some
(if also they simulate some) joy at the recreation
of old scenes and the return of the prodigal
from New York, Chicago, New Orleans, or San
Francisco. And as the heart swells to the music,
and the eyes dance with the flags, we can perhaps
spare a moment for the virtues of our forefathers,
loving them but the more for their limitations.
We know, or think we know, more about light
waves and sound waves and air currents, but are
we happier? We move faster than they, or think
we do, but where has our progress taken us? It
was but yesterday we thought , as the saying is,
we had the world by the tail, but were they not
richer in their quiet corner?? All of this before
the Second World War, Atomic Bombs, Nuclear
Power, computers and cell phones.
Brand sign
Courtesy of Mystic Seaport
The Norwich Bulletin the next day. In it, McCook
hits the highlights of “Norwich Worthies” along
with other men of .significance to Connecticut
history. In addition, however, he recounts his
discovery of the intertwined histories of the
European settlers with the indigenous people,
and especially, his familiarity with “Worthy”
members of the local tribes, most notably, Mercy
Ann Nonesuch (Nehantic) and “Matthews”
(Mohegan), whose children were later depicted in
the anthropological work of Frank G. Speck and
archived in the collections of the Smithsonian
Institution’s Museum of the American Indian.
He goes on to describe the relationship of
“whites” to the native peoples. “Now it is written
that the founders of Norwich paid real money to
the Indian owners for the land on which the
settlement
was
to rise. This, no
doubt, surprised
the
redskins
considerably”.
Daughter of Mercy
Nonesuch
Partial list of sources cited:
Hobsbawm, Eric, The Age of Revolution:
Europe 1789—1848 and The Age of Empire:
Europe 1875—1914, Praeger Publishers, New
York, 1962 and 1975 respectively
Peale, Arthur L., An Historical Pageant, Battle of
the Great Plain, Norwich, 1927
Peale, Arthur L., Uncas and the Mohegan
Pequot, Meador Publishing Company, Boston,
1939
Pencak, William, Riot and revelry in Early
America, Pennsylvania University press, University Park, 2002
Norwich Bulletin, January – July, 1934
Norwich Sunday Record, May, June, July, 1934
_________, Connecticut Circle, the Magazine
of the Constitution State, Vol. XXII, No. 5, New
London, 1959
As if out of
Thornton Wilder’s
Our Town, The
Bulletin reported
McCook’s final
words to the
gathering: “Well,
fortunately, one
can find something
for every taste in
an
anniversary
celebration. The
97
(Continued on page 10)
(Continued from page 9)
Numerous additional sources were consulted in researching this work. Printed programs and advertisements were consulted and interviews with the descendants of participants were carried out. A list will
be made available to inquirers. It may be more critical here to list those individuals who assisted with
this research, making it possible to paint the most accurate and interesting picture. Alphabetically, they
are Carol Connor, Nancy Dutton, Beryl Fishbone of the Founders of Norwich, Leffingwell Inn; Dorothy
Gravel, Ralph Lathrop, Mary-Anne Hall, George Lee, Diane Norman, Edward Rogalski, Elisha Sherman,
Leigh Smead, Kira VanDeusen, Linda Ververis, Glenn M. Watts.
Finally: A note about 1984: Research on this, the most recent past anniversary celebration (225th and
200th), is now being researched. If you have photographs, artifacts (such as memorabilia) or stories to
tell, please contact Vivian Zoë at 860-425-5560.
Slater Memorial Museum Hours: Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Closed to the public on Mondays and holidays
Visitors may park in designated visitor parking spaces or any empty parking place on campus. Parking is
difficult between 1:30 and 2:15 p.m. during school days due to the school buses.
The museum’s main telephone number is (860) 887-2506. A recording will provide information on current exhibitions,
days of operation, directions, admission fees and access to staff voice mailboxes. Our Webpage is linked to the NFA
Website.
www.norwichfreeacademy.com.