The Pickering house€¦ · an adult. Married five times. Recorded over 1,000 songs in her lifetime. Starred in countless movies for MGM and other studios. Died in London at age 47

Issue #24 18 Broad Street, Salem, MA 01970 September 2019

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S LETTER

Officers

PresidentTimothy Pickering, Jr.

Vice PresidentCarol Pickering

Executive DirectorLinda Dini Jenkins

TreasurersDeborah JacksonTim Jenkins

SecretaryMilicent Armstrong

Board of TrusteesEdith ArmstrongRichard Armstrong Nina Pickering CookCharles NewhallKatharine PickeringRichard PickeringJonathan ReardonRacket Shreve

DocentsJeff SwartzKeith Trickett

Administrative AssistantCarolyn McGuire

When Tim and I arrived at 18 Broad Street in the summer of 2013, we didn’t really know what to expect. We had lived in Salem previously (at the other Pickering house, on Essex Street and Botts Court) but had been away for eight long years. What we found was a big welcome and a blank slate.

As we begin our seventh year here, it’s a good time to look back. Thanks to board support, we have presented 21 Chowder Lectures, 6 Fireside Chats, 6 Picker-niks, 3 winter concerts, and 1 large-scale fundraiser. We have been fortunate to have Ambassador Emeritus Thomas R. Pickering come and speak to us not once, but twice. We continue our education mission by awarding the Sarah C. Pickering Scholarship every year at our annual meeting and have increased the amount of the award significantly in the last three years, which is totally board funded.

We have expanded our “store” (online and at the house) by offering high-quality branded baseball caps, coffee mugs, and Cat’s Meow reproduction houses (one of which is now at Harry’s Bar in Venice). We have updated our brand with a new logo and website, and have made our Facebook page a well-visited site for up-to-date news about events here and at other local historic organizations. And, thanks to Ancestry.com and a burgeoning “finding your roots” movement, we have welcomed Pickering family members from far and wide to the house for special tours.

We have painted the exterior of the house and barn, replaced compromised windows, fences, and woodworking, embarked on a years-long Historic Garden & Terrace Restoration Project, and have a solid plan for moving forward with maintenance of the buildings and grounds. All this makes the house more attractive to the event rental market, and we’ve had our share of showers, meetings, and off-sites in the past few years and have actually had to turn people away this year.

Summer tour attendance is greatly increased from prior years; membership is up by double digits since 2013; and gifts to the Foundation are growing. We received a grant from the Essex National Heritage Commission this year, as well as another Preservation Award from Historic Salem. And we sit on the Preservation Partners Committee of the City of Salem, which allows for a robust monthly exchange of ideas and opportunities for collaboration.

As you read through this year’s newsletter, I hope you’ll find much to be of interest — a lecture, a party, a concert — that you’ll want to attend. We’re also very excited about sharing the 225th Anniversary of the Pickering Treaty in Canandaigua, New York in November — perhaps you’ll want to come, too!

We could not do this without you, and I’m so grateful for your participation, enthusiasm, and membership. Let’s work together to make 2020 the best year yet!

Respectfully submitted,

Linda Dini Jenkins

The Pickering house

Pickering House Newsletter September 2019

JANUARYSecond Sunday Chowder LectureJanuary 12 @ 12:30Hale Bradt

The 75th Anniversary of S-Day,The American Invasion of Luzon in The Philippines.

On January 9, 1945, coded as S-Day, American troops landed on the beaches of Lingayen Gulf on Luzon, the main island of The Philippines. Luzon contains the capital Manila, near which the gallant resistance of Americans and Filipinos from Japanese invaders took place in 1942, at Bataan and Corregidor. The 1945 invasion was a massive undertaking, comparable in scope to that at Normandy seven months previously but, unlike the channel crossing in Europe, it was mounted from bases thousands of miles distant.

Letters written by Wilber Bradt, an artillery commander in the invasion force, bring alive the growing tension during the 14-day voyage as well as harrowing moments in the following combat. Hear the story with illustrations from Wilber’s son Hale, including how he tracked his father’s footsteps in his own visit to Luzon in 1983.

Hale Bradt, Professor of Physics, Emeritus, at MIT, resides in Salem with his wife Dorothy. His book, Wilber’s War: An American Family’s Journey through World War II (2017), is available at wilberswar.com and amazon.com

$ 20 members, $ 25 non-members

Fireside ChatJanuary 26 @ 3:00William Sano

The Judy Garland you never knew!

Here’s a tribute to the multi-talented Judy Garland — mother of three, wife of five — whom you never knew. She began her career at age 2 1/2 in vaudeville. Never wanted to sing “Over the Rainbow” as an adult. Married five times. Recorded over 1,000 songs in her lifetime. Starred in countless movies for MGM and other studios. Died in London at age 47 and one week of a possible overdose of barbiturates.

ANNOUNCING OUR BLOCKBUSTER 2020 LECTURE SERIES!

William Sano is a retired music educator from the Marblehead Public Schools. A resident of Salem for 33 years, Sano is also a choral director, pianist, organist, tuba player, and frequent lecturer. A lifelong enthusiast for the music of Judy Garland, he only regrets that he never met her in person.


FEBRUARYSecond Sunday Chowder LectureFebruary 9 @ 12:30Capt. Ray Bates

Shipwrecks of Essex County

In colorful detail, diver, lobsterman, and maritime historian, Capt. Raymond H. Bates, Jr. will be discussing the shipwrecks of Boston’s North shore.

He is the author of two shipwreck books documenting over 1200 wrecks from Winthrop to Cranes beach. He has also produced a chart detailing various wreck sites. Signed editions of both volumes — Salem Bay and Cape Ann — will be available at the event.


Fireside ChatFebruary 23 @ 3:00Victoria Sirianni

From the Veneto to Virginia—the Unlikely Beginnings of American Architecture

This is the story of a 16th century Italian architect’s profound influence on the development of American architecture and specifically that of Thomas Jefferson. The lecture will cover both Palladio and Jefferson’s work as well as provide some historical tidbits of the times.

Victoria Sirianni is a consultant to industry and universities. Having served in a variety of positions at MIT for over 30 years, her last position was as MIT’s Chief Facilities Officer, where she was responsible for the management of its physical campus and shepherding its $1.5B second major building program. Subsequently, she served as the Senior Vice President for Operations at Thomas Jefferson

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Reservations are a must! RSVP: [email protected]

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University in Philadelphia, where she had responsibility for planning and construction as well as all of the operating units of the University and Hospital, at that time a $2B enterprise. Since 2010, she has had a number of long-term consulting assignments, including American University, the University of New Haven, and the Massachusetts State College Building Authority.


MARCHSecond Sunday Chowder LectureMarch 8 @12:30Richard Pickering

Thus These Storms Were Blown Over

More than 400 Plymouth Colony wills and probate inventories provide information on the books, pamphlets and sermons owned by Mayflower passengers and the next two generations of colonists. For example, soldier Myles Standish owned a copy of The Iliad, Caesar’s Commentaries on the Wars in Gaul and Sir Walter Raleigh’s History of the World, and Samuel Fuller, the colony’s surgeon, owned “Phisicke Bookes.”

Many people might be surprised to learn that William Brewster, the Ruling Elder of the Pilgrims’ church, owned Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince and Governor Bradford owned Francesco Guicciardini’s History of Italy. In many ways early New England colonies resembled the city states of Renaissance Italy, with its civil commonwealths vying for economic and cultural resources. In responding to Plymouth’s internal and external crises, Brewster and Bradford might have been influenced by the political theory and sometimes ruthless experience of these two Italian thinkers. Bradford’s portrait of the years 1624 - 1625, years marked by civil revolt and sexual scandal, reveal possible tensions between Machiavellian actions and Christian virtues in their efforts to entrap, try, and banish men considered dangerous. Their actions almost shattered the colony and broke apart the company that funded Plymouth. It is political intrigue filled with surveillance, subterfuge, and role playing.

Richard Pickering is the Deputy Executive Director at Plimoth Plantation, the living history museum of 17th-century Plymouth Colony and the Wampanoag Homeland. He has been with the Museum for more than 30 years and has served as a historical role player, research associate, Director of Education, and Director of Special Projects. $ 20 members, $ 25 non-members

Fireside ChatMarch 29 @ 3:00Robert Booth

Salem and The Point, 1847: The Industrial Revolution Comes To Town

By the 1830s, Salem was nearly finished as an international trading port, and had taken up whaling. Its major overseas commercial markets had shrunk to Brazil and East Africa (Zanzibar), and many of its people had moved away, including some of the richest. Incorporated as a city in 1836, Salem looked to manufacturing as a way forward. The tanneries of Boston Street were thriving, but were not mechanized and so were limited in output. Without rivers offering falling-water hydropower, Salem seemed doomed to keep faltering. The Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company, an undercapitalized group who hoped to build a cotton mill in the city, was joined in 1845 by David Pingree, a brilliant merchant and capitalist who had investments in maritime trade, Maine timberland, and up-country water-powered factories and mills. Pingree brought vision and money to the Company, and within two years opened the largest steam-powered textile factory in the world, at the Point in Salem, and cleared the way to the city’s transformation as a manufacturing center for the rest of the 19th century. Robert Booth, curator emeritus of the Pickering House, is a historian and co-founder with Amy Kellett of Public History Services, Inc., a not-for-profit providing a wide range of public-education and history-related services to agencies, municipalities, institutions, and individuals. Bob and Amy have given presentations in Boston and Chicago about the manufacturing history of Salem and the role of The Point. Among other books, he is the author of Death of an Empire: The Rise and Murderous Fall of Salem, America’s Richest City, which was awarded the History Book of the Year Award in 2012 by the New England Society of the City of New York.


APRILFireside ChatApril 5 @ 3:00Jeff Swartz

A Brief History of Salem as a Naval Military Base

While many are aware of the exploits of Salem’s merchant captains and their ships that spanned the globe and brought back immense wealth, they might not know about another aspect of Salem’s maritime history; Salem’s

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importance naval military base. From the colony’s first proto-naval vessel, the Province Galley, to the frigate Essex, Salem was always more than just a safe port to our seaborne forces. Jeff ’s talk will feature the important contribution our city gave to the naval forces of the both the colonial period and early American republic. He will examine the stories of those Salem individuals who often reckoned with the open seas in commerce but in times of war felt obliged to apply their skills in naval combat. He’ll also talk about the most famous vessels which hailed from Salem and will conclude with the story of the construction, adventures, and eventual capture of Salem’s frigate Essex, which single-handedly crippled the British Pacific whaling fleet during the War of 1812.

Jeff Swartz is a graduate of Salem State and was the senior docent of the Pickering House for more than eight years. He was the night manager of the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, one of the Historic Hotels of America, and is currently Assistant Director of the Salem Chamber of Commerce.


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SAVE THE DATE!

Midsomer Madness: Spirits of SalemJoin us for a high-spirited night

of potables and noshes at the Pickering House

Thursday, August 20, 2020

6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Silent Auction plus a lecture by Salem’s own Jim McAllister: “Beelzebub Bottled”

$50 per person

Missing this would be downright

scary!

CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER . . .

To Milicent Armstrong and Brian Gault, on the birth of their gorgeous little girl, Edie, in June.

Edith Estabrook Gault Born 6/22/19 at 6:18 pm in Cambridge, Ma.

And to newlyweds Jeff and Ana Swartz, who tied the knot on Cape Cod on September 7.

SAVE THIS DATE, TOO!

Special LectureSunday, September 13, 2020

@ 3:00 pm

Northern Virginia Community College Professor Thomas Rushford

On the Salem Witch Trials


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FRIENDS OF THE PICKERING FOUNDATION*

*2019 members and donors as of August 30, 2019

Mr. & Mrs. Geoffrey K. AlexanderMr. & Mrs. Charles AllenMs. Gayle AllenMs. Jessica Brand AlvesMs. Charlotte AndersonMs. Virginia ArgerosMs. Amy ArmstrongMs. Edith Armstrong & Mr. Gary LehyMr. Jonathan & Ms. Janne ArmstrongMs. Milicent J. Armstrong & Mr. Brian GaultMr. Richard C. Armstrong & Ms. Cece MeadCol. & Mrs. Robert Arnell IIIMr. Carling AudetteMr. & Mrs. Mark AudetteMr. & Mrs. James A. BaileyMs. Mary E. BallouMr. W. Lewis Barlow IV & Ms. Connie B. BarlowMr. & Mrs. Randolph P. BartonMr. & Mrs. Donald V. BergerMr. Matt BeyesMr. & Mrs. Ian BigmoreMs. Nathalie S. BinneyMr. Robert Booth, Jr. & Ms. Amy KellettMr. & Mrs. Andrew BorggaardMs. Beth Anne BowerMs. Paula BoydMr. & Mrs. Hale V. BradtMr. Philip BrandtMs. Marie BresciaMr. & Mrs. Roger A. BurkeMs. Ellen Cabot & Mr. Matthew WatsonMs. Karen M. CadyMr. & Mrs. John W. CarpenterMr. John F. Casey III & Mr. Paul PintoMr. John H. Casey & Mr. Bruce E. GoddardMs. Jill ChristiansenHon. Stephen H. ClarkMr. & Mrs. Forrester A. Clark, Jr.Mr. Glenn Cook & Ms. Nina Pickering-CookDr. James J. CorbettMs. Mary A. CostelloMr. & Mrs. Rafael CrespoMr. Jim DaltonMr. & Mrs. Robert M. DavisMr. & Mrs. Brenton C. Dickson, Jr.Ms. Tory Dietel Hopps & Mr. Jonathan HoppsMr. & Mrs. Dominic J. DiSalvoMr. & Mrs. Gary EatonMr. & Mrs. Otis Edwards Ms. Susan ErsonMs. Patricia Ann FisherMr. Josiah FiskMr. & Mrs. David L. FitzgeraldMr. & Mrs. Steven FlemingMr. & Mrs. Donald FriaryMs. Lynn L. FrothinghamDr. & Mrs. Dale GephartMr. & Mrs. Thaddeus R. GillespieMr. Kenneth GloverMr. John GoffMr. Cyrus Gould

Ms. Esley HamiltonMr. David M. Hart & Ms. Barbara A. ClearyMs. Mary HayesMr. William Henning & Mr. Thomas MacDonaldMs. Jill T. HoffmanMrs. Margaret C. HoweMr. & Mrs. Llewellyn Howland IIIMr. John HugoMs. Shelby HypesMr. & Mrs. Timothy IngrahamMs. Deborah JacksonMs. Leila JahnckeMr. & Mrs. Richard S. JendrysikMr. & Mrs. Timothy JenkinsMrs. Patricia KarakashianMr. & Mrs. Jim KearneyMr. & Mrs. Wilmot H. Kidd IIIMrs. Judy KingMs. Anne P. KortlanderMs. Diana Kelsey KutasMr. & Mrs. Dean T. LahikainenDr. Janice A. LebelMr. & Mrs. Bob LevesqueMrs. Agnes W. LoringMs. Laura C. LuckeyMr. & Mrs. Timothy LuttsMs. Sharon S. MachroneMs. Judith McCarthyMr. & Mrs. Jeff McKeeMs. Kara McLaughlin & Mr. John KeenanMs. Darleen Melis & Dr. Irving Ingraham, Jr.Mr. & Mrs. Peter R. MerryMr. & Mrs. Robert T. Paine MetcalfMs. Frances K. MoonMs. Rebecca MooreMs. Stephanie NallMs. Carina NorengardMs. Beatrice ParkerMr. Foxhall A. ParkerMr. & Mrs. Stephen P. ParsonMs. Dona Baker PfunderMs. Barb PickeringBrooks & Kelsey PickeringMs. Carol Pickering & Mr. Sean DonahueMr. & Mrs. Charles A. PickeringMs. Christina Pickering & Mr. Matthew MarkiewiczMr. & Mrs. David M. PickeringMs. Dede PickeringMs. Emily B. Pickering & Mr. Zack RedlitzMr. Grant PickeringMrs. Marie-Louise P. Pickering GroseMr. John PickeringMs. Judith Pickering & Mr. Brian WormwoodMs. Judith PickeringMs. Katharine Pickering & Mr. Richard O’DwyerMr. & Mrs. Larry PickeringMs. Letitia PickeringMr. & Mrs. Michael A. PickeringMr. & Mrs. Nathan PickeringMr. & Mrs. Richard Pickering

Mr. & Mrs. Victor PickeringDr. Willa PickeringMr. & Mrs. William H. PickeringMr. & Mrs. John Pickering XIMr. & Mrs. H. Benson Pickering, Jr.Mr. Richard L. Pickering, Jr. & Dr. Meg PickeringMr. & Mrs. Timothy Pickering, Jr.Mr. & Mrs. Walt Pickering, Jr.Capt. Peter Pitman & Dr. Martha PitmanMs. Sandra S. PowerMs. Rebecca Putnam & Mr. Will PeckMr. & Mrs. Joseph PyfrinMr. Jonathan ReardonMr. & Mrs. Norval D. ReeceMr. & Mrs. Bill RiceMs. Georgina L. RopesMr. & Mrs. Jim RoseMrs. Anne M. RumpfMr. William C. SanoMr. & Mrs. Mario ScalziDr. & Mrs. Jeremy SchillerMr. & Mrs. Campbell B. SeamansMr. & Mrs. Robert C. Seamans IIIMs. Nikola SegovicMrs. Patricia SeldenMs. Margaret K. SerenyiMs. Leonora SheehyMr. Charles SherrillMr. & Mrs. Racket H. ShreveMs. Helen SidesMr. & Mrs. Louis SirianniMr.& Mrs. Derek SmithMr. & Mrs. Stanley M. SmithMr. & Mrs. Walter SouleMr. & Mrs. Augustine P. Sousa 3rdMs. Sarah StaatsMr. & Mrs. Charles E. StealeyMs. Dawn StewartMr. Marshall B. Strauss & Ms. Elaine GerdineMs. Ann SwartzelMs. Barbara Taylor & Mr. John HermanskiMs. Hope F. TaylorMs. Maria TheodorakakisMr. & Mrs. Bryant Tolles, Jr.Mr. & Mrs. Tom TownsendMr. Richard TraskMs. Courtney TravisMs. Margaret K.S. Twohey & Mr. Darrow A. LeboviciMrs. Mary UsoviczDr. & Mrs. Thomas Vander SalmMr. & Mrs. Henry WalkerMr. Walter W.J. WalkerMs. Joan Walther & Ms. Amy LaMarcheMs. Diana E. WarrenMr. & Mrs. William K. WeeseMr. & Mrs. Gerry W. WhiteheadMr. & Mrs. David WhitmoreMs. Mary WilbertMs. Patricia Zaido


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THE YEAR IN PICTURES


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OUR SARAH C. PICKERING AWARD HONOREE . . .The 2019 recipient of our Sarah C. Pickering Award went to Gwendolyn Robinson at our Annual Meeting & Garden Party in June. The daughter of John and Cynthia Robinson, Gwendolyn is a rising senior at Salem High School. She is a part of the varsity volleyball team along with the tennis team. Gwendolyn is a member of the National Honor Society at Salem High and has been on the honor roll for the entirety of her high school career, and has been the Vice President of her class since freshman year. She is additionally a participant on the college bowl team. When she isn’t doing school work or participating in extra-curricular activities, Gwen enjoys spending time in the out of doors. She hopes to pursue environmental studies in college and as a career.

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ESSEX NATIONAL HERITAGE GRANT

We are proud to announce that the Pickering House was awarded one of twelve Preservation Grants from Essex National Heritage Commission in 2020. The grant, in the amount of $2,000 will be used for the ongoing Historic Garden & Terrace project. Heartfelt thanks to Jon Reardon, Tim Jenkins, Racket Shreve, Campbell Seamans, and Florentine Renaissance Masonry for their hard work!

HISTORIC SALEM PRESERVATION AWARD

At Historic Salem Inc.’s 75th Anniversary bash at the Hawthorne Hotel in June, several organizations were honored for their continuing preservation work in the City of Salem. The Pickering Foundation was one of the recipients, and we are happy to be in such august company!

Gwen with Pickering House Treasurer Deb Jackson. Congratulations, Gwendolyn!

Former resident Nathaniel Goodhue chips in to help with the barn project on his way to Marine Boot Camp. Thanks Nate, and good luck!

YOU CAN TAKE THE BOY OUT OF THE

PICKERING HOUSE... JOIN US IN CANANDAIGUA

November 11, 2019To celebrate the 225th Anniversary of

the Pickering /Canandaigua Treaty

18 BROAD STREET • SALEM, MASS. 01970

The Pickering House strives to be a vital community

educational resource where history, preservation, and the Pickering family’s story come

to life, so that visitors can appreciate and connect with

their own American experience and the values of public service

and democracy.

MISSION

We now take for

www.pickeringhouse.org

www.pickeringhouse.org

IF YOU ARE NOT CURRENTLY A MEMBER,

please consider joining by choosing membership in one of the following categories:

p $500 Patron p $250 Sustaining p $100 Family p $50 Individual

Name(s)_________________________________________

Address _________________________________________

City ___________________ State ______ Zip __________

Email___________________________________________

Phone__________________________________________

donations and membership dues

SAVE THE DATE!

ANNUAL MEETING & GARDEN PARTY

SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2020

5:00 - 7:00 P.M.Send to: 18 Broad Street, Salem, Massachusetts, 01970

Documents

The Pickering house€¦ · an adult. Married five times. Recorded over 1,000 songs in her lifetime. Starred in countless movies for MGM and other studios. Died in London at age 47