The Governor's Academy Archives

a History of Hockey at the Governor's Academy

2012-01-05T13:49:00.004-05:00

First Girls' Hockey Team, 1985

1950's Hockey Practice Without Ice

1922 Varsity Hockey

1885 Roller Polo

The recent cold spell has put winter on my mind, as well as winter sports, which have a fairly long history here at the Governor's Academy. While ice hockey began as a sport in Canada in the mid to late 1800's, we have no records of the sport being played here that early. The earliest signs of hockey on campus began in 1885, when the academy sponsored what was known as roller polo, the precursor to roller hockey. By the 1920's, when the NHL had its first games in the US, Governor Dummer had its first ice hockey teams, both varsity and junior teams. These boys' teams played for many years until finally, in 1985, 14 years after the first girls were admitted to the academy, the boys were joined by the first girls' ice hockey team.

Hockey has also changed venues several times during its history at the academy. Players have played on a pond near Parsons, a rink next to Ingham, an outdoor rink, later enclosed, behind Perkins, and their current luxurious accomodations in the Whiston-Bragdon arena. For those who are able, a display of photographs related to our school's hockey history, along with newspaper clipping and skates from 1950 alum Charles Bowen, are on display currenly in the Phillips Building display case in the Cobb Room. Please stop by and check them out. For those of you unable to pass by the Cobb Room display, a sampling of photos from the display are included above.

Holiday Greetings

2011-12-09T12:58:00.006-05:00

As Christmas draws near and many of us begin to address cards to friends and family, we find we share this task with many of the academy’s past headmasters and their families. The Governor’s Academy archives is fortunate to have some of these cards sent by headmasters Ingham (1907-1930), Eames(1930-1959), Wilkie(1959-1973), and Doggett(1999-2011) among its collection. Interestingly enough, while most of the cards sent were Christmas cards, the Eames family seemed to prefer sending New Year’s cards (perhaps as a way of giving themselves a little extra time to send their greetings.) Currently, many of these past greetings are on display in the Cobb Room in the Phillips Building and will remain there until after New Year’s. We encourage all who can do so to visit. For those who cannot, a small sampling of the items on display is included below.

Baccalaureate Welcoming Speech 2003

2011-05-07T13:11:00.000-04:00

As members of the Senior Class of 2011 wraps up their academic year and high school careers, Commencement Week traditions are once again on the horizon. As tribute, the following excerpt--sometimes humorous and thoroughly informative--was pulled from the Baccalaureate Welcoming Speech delivered by John Martin Doggett, Jr. (pictured above), in 2003:

"Over the past few years, I have used the occasion of Baccalaureate to speak about the origins of some of the customs, ceremonies, trappings and traditions surrounding graduation exercises. This has forced me to become a student again and engage in some research for my talks. One year, I investigated the origins of the Baccalaureate service. Two years ago, I looked into the genesis of the colors and style of academic regalia worn by faculty. Last year, I spoke about history of commencement ceremonies. I can already see a few eyes rolling back in heads of some members of my audience who may be legitimately wondering if they had mistakenly come into a bad version of the History channel. Others, hearing my topic, may be thinking that it is ironic that they would be invited into a house of worship only to be punished; they could probably have had the same experience in a dentist's chair undergoing a root canal procedure.

However, I ask that you briefly indulge a frustrated History teacher who rarely has an opportunity to get into the classroom. I thought it would be interesting to learn a big about two unique GDA graduation rituals: walking around the milestone and jumping over the Mansion House garden wall. Information provided by Judy Klein and books by Jack Ragle and Mary Elaine Gage have given me fresh insight into these traditions.

I had assumed that jumping over the Mansion House Wall was a practice that stretched back to [the] era of Master Moody in the early days of the Academy. Not so. It turns out that the present Mansion House garden wasn't even in existence until the 20th century. What was actually located in the area where the garden is now situated was a small wooden building that was used for "human convenience". To the uninitiated, this is 19th century code for outhouse. I would venture a guess that precious few people were broad jumping in that area in the 1900s.

Conversations with various older alumni have revealed that no one before 1950 can ever remember jumping over the Mansion House Wall. All of those alums questioned could remember every Latin declension they ever did at GDA; so I am reasonably certain that they would have at least a passing memory of such a watershed event. On the other hand, graduates of 1951 on all seem to have vivid recollections of taking the leap. 1951 happens to be the year of my birth. I know it is hard to believe; most of you are probably operating under the illusion that I was in my early thirties. In any event, the first thing that came into my mind was that this coincidence was indicative of some magical convergence of cosmic forces. Sadly, more thorough research suggests a very different explanation. Apparently, the then Headmaster Ted Eames was considered quite an exacting and controlling figure. Ramrod straight and taciturn, he probably didn't get his nickname "the Stick" by accident. He insisted that all official school functions be highly scripted and regimented. Apparently jumping over the wall was a spontaneous expression of disapproval by the graduates, to what they felt was the stodginess of Mr. Eames and perhaps his insistence that they sing a tuneless dirge of a song that he had brought from his days at Amherst College. With all due respect to my good friend Mr. Leavitt, this melody was probably the best you could expect from a junior college but I completely understand how the discerning GDA students would rise up in righteous indignation to such an indignity and literally vote with their feet. This 50's style student protest of sorts was not exactly the Berkeley Free Speech Movement of the Columbia riots, but it was certainly revolutionary for quaint Byfield. Apparently the wall-jumping practice was repeated in 1952 and so, in prep school terms, it became a tradition [see photo below of members of the Class of 1969 Jumping the Wall]. The former use of this patch of real estate has not deterred any jumpers for the last half century, thus probably explaining the term leap of faith.

Before Governor Dummer graduates jump over the Mansion House garden wall, they march around the Milestone, which is located in front of Lt. Governor Dummer's ancestral home. In the early 1700s, the old Bay Road ran north from Boston through Essex County all the way to the New Hampshire line and was set off with markers indicating the mileage to Boston and the towns along the route. Only 10 of these milestones remain; the oldest surviving stone is located in front of the Mansion House [see photo below from 1910]. It is dated 1708 (which predates the Mansion House by at least 5 years), and it gives the information 5N 33B--5 miles to Newburyport and 33 miles to Boston. It is made of simple fieldstone with a simple flat face. It was carved by John Hartshorn, the first gravestone carver in the area of Massachusetts.

Our friend Headmaster Eames, younger, but still anally retentive, instituted this practice of marching around the Milestone in 1931, at the start of his 29-year headmastership. Apparently that generation of students was more compliant. The senior class assembled on Sunset Rock adjacent to what is now the French Building in their caps and gowns. They eventually descended the hill (this was before the days of ambulance-chasing personal injury attorneys) and filed slowly around the historic marker to symbolize their reaching this important educational landmark. Give Mr. Eames some credit, some nice symbolism here. This practice became the culminating even in the GDA graduation exercise until jumping the wall was introduced twenty years later.

So much for the history lession..."

John Leslie Breck, Impressionist Painter

2011-04-29T12:45:00.001-04:00

Born in 1860 at sea on a clipper ship in the South Pacific, John Leslie Breck, son of a U.S. Navy Captain, was raised in the Boston area and attended Dummer Academy as a child. The Governor’s Academy archival records reveal that Breck was a student at the academy during the years 1868 and 1869. According to the academy’s records, Breck resided in Newton Lower Falls, a village of Newton, Massachusetts, through at least 1871. He would subsequently study in Munich, Germany, and in 1886, at the Academie Julian in Paris, France (1886).

One of the artists to settle in the famous impressionist art colony of Giverny, Breck would become one of the few Americans to enter the inner circle of Claude Monet. It has been reported that he was once viewed as Monet’s most promising artistic heir among Americans. The website of the City of Newton (http://www.ci.newton.ma.us/jackson/newton-artists/artists/john-breck.html) provides information about John Leslie Breck's life, and includes the following picture of Breck (seated) with Claude Monet's wife and stepdaughters, Monet himself (center, standing), Monet's son Jean, and Henry Fitch Taylor, another American painter.

In 1888, Breck began to paint by moonlight, a technique that he would later employ on canvases such as Santa Maria della Salute by Moonlight (see below).

After a failed romance with Monet’s stepdaughter, Blanche Hoschede-Monet, he returned to Boston in 1890 and continued to paint in the avant-garde style. Many of Breck’s canvases were created after his return from France, with several featuring scenes along the Massachusetts coast. Flower Garden at Annisquam (see below), painted in 1892, sold through Christie’s for $270,000 in 2000.

Breck’s U.S.-based works are some of the earliest fully realized impressionistic painting in this country. His many works include the following:

The River Epte, Giverny, 1887

Les Coquelicots, 1890

Grainstack, Giverny, 1891

Early Snow, 1894

Ipswich, 1894

New England Village, circa 1895

Guidecca Canal, Venice, 1897

Landscape, 1899

Breck’s well-known series of 15 paintings—Studies of an Autumn Day—feature hay mounds, farm buildings, a ridge, and trees as anchors while their colors, textures, and shadows, which are captured at various times during one day, evolve with the movement of the sun and changing atmospheric conditions. Canvases from this collection appear below.

The artist’s brother, Edward, penned the following poem in tribute to the content of the serial works:

“The Day”

By Edward Breck

She sleeps.

Soft pillowed on fair cloudland’s purple bank.

Sweet Nature sleeps, still guarded by the night,

And dreams, love-drunken, of her Lord, the Sun.

But see! She wakes! And waking thinks of him!

Across her limpid cheek warm blushes flame,

And all her form thrills with expectant joy!

And lo! From o’er the hills and purple fields

Behold the Lord of Day in splendor rise,

Flash far on high his blinding bolts of light,

And tip the harvest peaks with dazzling fire!

But ‘this not meet roe impious mortal’s gaze

To view the rapture of that first embrace,

When Nature’s form he clasps with ardent arms.

From fleeting night he tears the lustrous veil

To deck the blushes of his beauteous bride.

Once more he sweeps from earth the fairy film

And shoots his rays athwart the dew-decked field,

Turning each drop into a flashing gem!

With ruby, pearl and emerald bedight

Fair Nature wanders through the golden day,

Her lovely face turned upward to her Lord,

And smiling back his smile, until on high

He turns his chariot round the top of Heaven

And downward gallops toward the earth again.

At his return she laughs and clasps her hands!

She drinks the perfume of the oderous earth,

The melodies of sylvan symphonies.

The field, abashed at such magnificence,

And feeling with the lover’s instinct sure

The coming of the evening, blushes red,

With all his pulses swelling at the thought!

But see! The dusky maid, of waiting weary,

With lovely, slender arms outstretched,

Alas, how art thou tricked! Those arms are more

Than cooling—they are cold! Thy blushes die.

Thy thrill turns to a shudder as the eve,

Her lips on thine, locks thee in her embrace!

The jilted sunshine, laughing from the hills,

At thy poor plight, is off, the wanton wench,

To woo the cloudlets in the western sky.

Despair not yet, for the darkling vale

Uprises in transcendent loveliness

The Queen of Night, before whose majesty

In terror shrinks thy gloomy torturer.

Singing the sweet, yet unheard song of silence,

She hangs aloft her robe of blue and silver;

And Nature, hearing, seeing, sinks to rest,

O’ercome by beauty’s soothing anodyne.

She sleeps!

John Leslie Breck’s premature death came at the age of 39 in 1899.

Dummer Academy Alumni Involvement in the American Civil War, 1861-1865

2011-04-15T11:29:00.000-04:00

Information held in The Governor’s Academy’s Archives reveals that at least five alumni of the academy—then named Dummer Academy—fought in the American Civil War. All five men were Union Army officers, two of whom reached the level of Brigadier General, during the 1861-1865 war. One Dummer Academy alumnus was an aide to Major General George B. McClellan, while another ultimately served as private secretary to Andrew Johnson, who assumed the United States Presidency after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in 1865.

Of the five Dummer Academy alumni to fight in the Civil War, two died in battle and one died from complications of pneumonia while active in service. Arranged chronologically by year of Dummer Academy graduation, the men are as follows:

Frederick West Lander (see below), Brigadier General of Volunteers, Union Army, and Aide to General McClellan. Originally from Salem, Massachusetts, Lander graduated from Dummer Academy in 1838, and subsequently studied at Norwich Military Academy. Lander was also a transcontinental United States explorer and poet. In the former capacity, he was commissioned by the U.S. government to survey for a route for a Pacific railroad. He constructed the overland wagon route (“Lander Road”), a popular route between the Wyoming and Oregon Territories. During the American Civil War, he published a popular poem on the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, as well as other nationally recognized patriotic poems. Lander died of complications from pneumonia in February of 1862.

Reuben Delevan Mussey, Brigadier General, US Volunteers, and Private Secretary to President Andrew Johnson. “R.D.” Mussey graduated from Dummer Academy in 1846. He received a college degree in 1854 from Dartmouth College, where his father—also Reuben Mussey—was a professor in Dartmouth’s medical school and the fourth president of the American Medical Association. Mussey had campaigned for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. When the war started, he was appointed from Ohio to the regular army, assigned to the 19th U.S. Infantry as a captain in May of 1861. The 19th ultimately joined the Army of the Ohio and later the Army of the Cumberland. According to the Certificate of Records of Soldiers and Sailors Historical and Benevolent Society No. 180017, Mussey was said to have been the first regular army officer to see permission to raise Negro troops. In September 1863, he was sent to Nashville, Tennessee, to help organize Negro troops. He was made Colonel of the 100th U.S. Colored Infantry in June of 1864. Mussey was brevetted Brigadier General of U.S. Volunteers in 1865 for his recruitment and organization of Negro troops. Subsequently, he served as Andrew Johnson’s confidential secretary from when Johnson took office following Lincoln’s assassination until November 1865. Mussey then served as an adjunct instructor at Howard Law School. He established law office in Washington, DC, and involved his wife, Ellen Spencer Mussey, who became a social reformer, supporter of the women’s suffrage movement, lawyer, and founder of Washington College of Law.

Malcom W. Tewksbury, Company C, 104th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, enlisted as a 1st Lieutenant, Union. Originally from Chester, NH, Tewksbury graduated from Dummer Academy in 1854, and from Dartmouth College in 1858.

Goodwin A. Stone (see below), Captain 2d Cavalry, Company K. An 1856 graduate of Dummer Academy and an 1862 graduate of Harvard University, Stone was mortally wounded at the Battle of Aldie, part of the Gettysburg Campaign. He hailed from Newburyport, Massachusetts.

George P. Sylvester, 3rd Sergeant (non-commissioned officer), Ninth Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers. Originally from West Newbury, Massachusetts, Sylvester graduated from Dummer Academy in 1858. The Union officer was also mortally wounded in battle.

The Civil War Scrapbook of Captain William White Dorr

2011-03-21T10:32:00.001-04:00

The Governor’s Academy Archives house the Civil War-era scrapbook of Captain William White Dorr, a Union Army Commander in the 121^st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. Captain Dorr was born in Philadelphia on October 31, 1837, the son of the Reverend Benjamin Dorr, D.D., Rector of the Christ Church, Philadelphia, and Esther Kettell Odin, daughter of John Odin, Esq., of Boston. Dorr’s paternal ancestors were some of the earliest settlers of Boston’s Roxbury section and of Salisbury, Massachusetts (the local Dalton family). On his maternal side, Dorr was a descendant of the Chief Justices Lynde (father and son) of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; the Reverend Increase Mather; the Reverend John Eliot, the “Apostle to the Indians”; and the Reverend William Walter, Rector of Christ Church, Boston.

Educated in Philadelphia, Dorr entered the army at age 25 and served in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and at Spottsylvania Court House, where he was killed in action on May 10, 1864. His remains were taken to Salisbury Point, Massachusetts, and interred with other family members in a cemetery near the bank of the Merrimac River. A mural tablet was erected in Christ Church, Philadelphia, as tribute to his patriotism and virtues.

Captain Dorr’s scrapbook holds a number of letters from the battlefield, journal entries, newspaper clippings, sketches (see below, with caption), pressed flowers, and memorabilia from the Civil War era. Many of the sketches—soldiers’ camp sites, officers and enlisted men, and maps—were drawn by Captain Dorr’s men and, combined with notes on troop movements, capture a feel for the life of soldier in this mid-19^th century period.

This is one of the many military-related items in The Governor’s Academy’s archival collection. For more information, contact Laurie DiModica, Archivist, at ldimodica@govacademy.org.

Governor Dummer Academy Work Squad Efforts, Part 2

2011-02-11T10:20:00.000-05:00

The Fall 2004 issue of The Archon makes reference to the May 14, 1932 issue of this publication (see below, with related four photographs), in which the efforts of students engendered much-needed flood relief on campus:

“Senior Class Makes and Unusual Gift to School,” reports a headline in the May 14, 1932 issue of The Archon. Looking for a gift out of the ordinary, the class decided to volunteer its time to dig drainage in the southwest portion of the Morse Field to alleviate flooding problems. [The students] began digging on May 5 and finished the nine hundred foot system by the time the seniors graduated in June 1932. Several other projects followed over the next few years, including construction of a five-foot-high dam to form a hockey rink later referred to as Ingham Rink, and an outdoor board track made u of two 85-foot straightways connected by two semicircles banked at an angle of 20 degrees. In 1942, a new emphasis was placed on the work squad due to a serious shortage of labor in the vicinity of the school caused by wartime enlistments. Students were asked to do chores such as cleaning their dorm rooms, mopping their bathrooms, and picking up the classrooms.”

The academy's archives contain photographs and film of several other Work Squad projects, including the following:

-Cutting grass and raking leaves on the lawns and athletic fields.

-As previously noted, construction of a dam for the creation of Ingham Rink.

-Planting trees around the athletic field and other areas of campus.

-Building up of the embankment at the first base line on the baseball field.

-As previously noted, the construction of an outdoor wooden track.

-Filling 350 feet of ditch over a pipeline to one of the dorms.

-Picking 20 bushels of apples.

-Shoveling snow after heavy snowstorms.

Governor Dummer Academy Work Squad Efforts, Part 1

2011-01-04T12:26:00.001-05:00

In the 1930s, the student body of Governor Dummer Academy participated in several campus improvement and maintenance projects that brought an outdoor wooden running track, a new skating rink, enlarged playing fields, and other additions to the academy. The laboring boys of the academy’s “Work Squad” can be seen, smiling and industrious, in several of the academy’s archival 16 mm films, as well as in photographs and articles in issues of The Archon now three-quarters of a century old (see below).

The June 20, 1936 issue of The Archon features a photograph of Dummer boys constructing the wooden track, accompanied by a brief commentary on the value of hard work and selflessness. The commentary, entitled “More Than An Education,” was submitted by one of The Archon’s Co-Editors at the time, Robert V. McMenimen.

McMenimen was a cum laude graduate of the Class of 1936 who captained the football team his Senior year and was involved in many committees and clubs. McMenimen’s commentary states the following:

“This year as in previous years the students of Governor Dummer Academy have shown a remarkable willingness to do their share in bringing about the completion of any task beneficial to the school. In the past the student body has been the main factor in constructing a drainage system for the athletic field, a hockey rink, and a board track. This year the boys’ aid in clearing snow from the paths and roads accounted for the speed with which this task was accomplished.

We hope that this spirit of student cooperation will continue to be a part of Governor Dummer for the years to come. It is truly a fine trait, and one that an ordinary education cannot instill within its students. Here at school the boys learn so thoroughly the imprudence of shirking work that in late life the desire to do a job well and completely will become a habit which is certain to prove an invaluable part of each boy’s character. We are proud of this spirit at Governor Dummer, for we sense it within us and realize that here we have gained something which is a long step toward success in the future. A man, not only willing but desirous of doing more than his share of labor, is one who will advance step by step in life until he has reached the culmination of his ambition, whatever it may be.”

A Thanksgiving Proclamation by William Dummer

2010-11-19T11:41:00.000-05:00

While Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor, William Dummer issued three Thanksgiving Proclamations--the first in 1723--which is arguably the oldest proclamation to set the holiday on the fourth Thursday of November. Various sources indicate that Thanksgiving Proclamations had been issued prior to this date. Perhaps the most commonly cited example is that of the proclamation issued by the governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts on June 20, 1676. This Thanksgiving proclamation identified June 29, 1676 as a day of "Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to God for such his Goodness and Favour, many Particulars of which mercy might be Instanced, but we doubt not those who are sensible of God's Afflictions, have been as diligent to espy him returning to us; and that the Lod may behold us as a People offering Praise and thereby glorifying Him; the Council doth commend it to the Respective Ministers, Elders and people of this Jurisdiction; Solemnly and seriously to keep the same Beseeching that being perswaded [sic] by the mercies of God we may all, even this whole people offer up our bodies and soulds [sic] as a living and acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ."

Such proclamations, extoling the virtues of being thankful and praising God, were not uncommon through the 17th and 18th centuries, but the date of the first official proclamation to set the date as the last Thursday in November may in fact be the 1723 Thanksgiving Proclamation by William Dummer. The December 1939 issue of The Archon includes an image of this proclamation with the note that, "To ascertain the authenticity of the proclamation considerable research was done. With the aid of Mr. Charles Taylor, Jr., one of the Trustees of the Academy, the document was checked upon by the Archives Division of the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth and by the Massachusetts Historical Society. It was finally established that, not only is the document authentic, but that [Acting] Governor Dummer issued three others between 1723 and 1726."

The text of this proclamation can be read above, but the original document is housed in the Pilgrim Hall Museum at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Fencing at Governor Dummer Academy, 1932-1935

2010-10-25T12:47:00.000-04:00

In 1935, The Milestone reported on the arrival of the academy’ first season of Fencing, with its 20-member squad (plus manager) picking up their masks and epees under young teacher Joseph Dana Allen, Jr., a 1931 Harvard graduate and past member of the Harvard Fencing Team.

“At the beginning of the winter term, a new sport, fencing, was inaugurated under the guidance of Mr. Allen, one of this year’s new masters, who was a former member of the Harvard Fencing Team and, in the Intercollegiate Matches of 1930, finished third. Just prior to the beginning of the season, Mr. Allen arranged an exhibition for the students in which several of the outstanding fencers in New England participated. Among them were Rene Peroy, fencing coach at Harvard; Edward and Everett Lane, national champions in 1929 and now members of the Boston Athletic Club; Mr. James Parker, also of the B.A.A.; Captain Robert Lawson, Gilbert Kerlin, Thomas Moran, and John Hurd, all of the Harvard Fencing Team. During an intermission Mr. Everett Lane gave a brief account of fencing, explaining the types of instruments used and something concerning the rules. The result of this exhibition was a great increase in the interest in fencing; two days later the squad was the second largest at the academy.

Despite the fact that it is said to take three years to make a fencer, the boys developed rapidly and, with daily practice, made very satisfactory progress. Although they were almost all mere beginners, toward the end of the term they showed such an advance that Mr. Allen was confident enough to take a team of five to compete in an informal contest with the more experienced Andover team. The team was defeated, but it made a creditable showing, taking five of the fourteen bouts, the final score being 9-5 in Andover’s favor.

There was such an interest in the sport that Mr. Allen took a group of the best fencers into Boston to witness the finals in the Olympic Fencing Competition at the Boston Arena. The high-light [sic] of the evening, in the minds of most of the boys, was the exhibition saber bout in which the contestants pursued each other all over the floor, seeking to cut the plume from the top of their opponent’s helmet.

At the end of the season, a tournament was arranged to decide who were the best fencers. At first a ladder tournament was organized, with the men arranged according to their ability as Mr. Allen rated them. Any contestant was able to challenge any two entries above him, and in this manner many were able to rise higher. After four days of this, four strips were drawn up, each having four men. These fought a round robin with the others in their strip, and, in the end, the four strip-winners fought a final series of bouts. The four strip-winners were Dix Robbins, Hugo Poisson, Harmon Hall, and John Healy. Of these, Hall and Poisson received first and second places, respectively, in the finals.

On Monday evening, March 14^th, during the Athletic rally, the awards were distributed by Mr. Allen. These prizes, which were supplied through the kindness of the American Fencers League, were a pair of foils for the winner, and a single foil for the runner-up. –C.F.S [likely Colin Francis Soule of Passaic, New Jersey, and a member of the 1932 Fencing Squad]”

The Fencing Squad participated in tournaments in each of its four seasons, after which it appears to have been disbanded. Below are pictures of the first Fencing Squad in 1932, the last Fencing Squad (in 1935), and an action shot from the fencers of 1934-1935.

The Governor's Academy Archives Posts Digitized Items on the Digital Commonwealth

2010-09-27T10:49:00.000-04:00

The Archives of The Governor’s Academy has expanded access to some of its digitized historical materials through the Digital Commonwealth of Massachusetts (DCM). The DCM is a Web portal and repository service for online cultural materials held by Massachusetts libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives. The portal facilitates searching and browsing member institutions’ digital assets, including manuscripts, images, historical documents and sound recordings. The DCM site, www.digitalcommonwealth.org, currently houses more than 20,000 searchable records.

The Governor’s Academy Archives has posted digitized copies of two items of historical significance: The Will of Lieutenant Governor William Dummer, which provided for the establishment of the school, and the academy’s Incorporation Charter of 1782, signed by both John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Posting of these items to the DCM repository was made possible by a grant from the Wilson Foundation. These items can be found by searching the term “Dummer Academy” on the DCM’s homepage.

Inclusion of The Governor's Academy materials in the DCM repository will allow researchers beyond the academy community to access its historical documents, and it provides an avenue for increasing awareness of the school as it approaches its 250th anniversary. The Governor's Academy Archives continues to seek funding sources for additional digitization efforts. For more information on the academy's Archives, please contact Laurie DiModica at ldimodica@govsacademy.org or at 978-499-3347.

A Gift of Appreciation

2010-09-16T13:44:00.000-04:00

The Governor's Academy Archives recently received a donation from Duby McDowell, whose father, Edward Irvine McDowell, Jr., was a 1940 graduate of the academy and was involved in many activities while a student here.

Duby's gift--an envelope imprinted with a sketch of the Little Red School House--was mailed from South Byfield in 1938, the year in which the academy celebrated its 175th anniversary and in which the Little Red School House underwent restoration. While this imprint, as well as the 3¢ "Constitution Sesquicentennial" stamp that adorns the stamp's corner, make this gift interesting, equally valuable is the information contained in Duby's note that accompanied the envelope (below). This note reveals details of Edward McDowell's life that add color to the Archives' information on academy alumni: He was the grateful recipient of scholarship funds from the academy, went on to serve in World War II, and graduated from Yale University. He also shared "fond memories" of Governor Dummer Academy with his family.

We appreciate the effort made by alumni, their families, and friends, to bring these (and like items) to our attention!

Laurie DiModica
Manager of the Archives
1 Elm Street, Byfield, MA 01922
ldimodica@govsacademy.org
978-499-3347

The Governor Dummer Academy Rifle Club

2010-04-26T12:33:00.000-04:00

For many years, Governor Dummer Academy students were able to participate in the Rifle Club. Created at the tail end of World War II, the Rifle Club had 40 members in its inaugural year (the academic 1944-1945 year). The 1945 Milestone notes that the Rifle Club had “thrived beyond expectation,” and that the club’s shooting range “on the hill south of the hockey pond has been used steadily all the year in spite of the fact that the shelter did not survive the gales in January.” The club’s affiliation with the National Rifle Association (NRA) enabled it to purchase ammunition and to present awards to junior members. Over the course of the club’s first year, 135 awards were distributed and “some very skilled marksmen” had been developed. The club then turned toward the task of arranging matches with competing schools.

A preview of one upcoming Rifle Club season is published in the October 27, 1951 issue of The Archon:

Rifle Club Season Opens with a Bang!

This year the Governor Dummer Rifle Club promises keener, more active competition than ever before. With a roster of better than thirty-five members, eager for action on the range, the club is already making plans for upcoming activities. On the first school weekend some of the b

oys volunteered to help Mr. Christopher G. Stoneman, the master in charge of the rifle range, clear the weeds off the range in preparation for future use. At the first official meeting of the group as a club, an election of officers for the coming year was held. The result of this election established L. Franco Derba as president and Alexander A. Hose as secretary. There are reports of a good schedule in National Rifle Association competition with .22 calibre [sic] rifles, and all members of the club will have ample opportunities to shoot for N.R.A. ribbons.

The Rifle Club appears to have had a 20-year run, as evidenced by the fact that each Milestone from 1945 through 1964 had a page dedicated to club’s activities. No such entry appears from 1965 forward. Check out the some of the photographs of students and faculty during the Rifle Club’s existence, below.

Bravado on the Pages of The Milestone

2010-03-12T12:34:00.000-05:00

Bravado is a hallmark of The Milestone yearbooks from the 1920s. In student-written summaries of varsity sports teams’ seasons, the language conjures high drama, heroic efforts, and memorable results. The 1924 Milestone yearbook entry for the Fall 2003 Varsity Football season is particularly colorful:

“Dummer Academy has a right to be proud of her football team of 1923 [shown below]. The eleven, captained by Everit B. Terhune, Jr., and coached by Walter A. Comerford, will rank among the foremost Dummer Football teams of all time. The team after a disastrous start overcame many obstacles and handicaps and finished the season among a blaze of glory.”

Within seven games, the team—Terhune, Boyd, Whalen, Casgrain, Stone, Kenny, Osgood, MacLeod, Hinds, Albertson, Walkley, Ferdinand, Capron, and Forsberg—battled inexperience (only three were return varsity players), “incompetent officiating,” injury, and even the coach being “insulted and assaulted by a mob of mill workers” at one game to end the season with a respectable 5-2 record.

“November 10, 1923, is a date that will live long in the football annals of the school. On that day the team of 1923 came into its own. What happened on this memorable day? Dummer Academy defeated the much tooted Allen-Chalmers eleven, 7 to 0. During the week Walkley joined the cripples [Albertson and Ferdinand were injured in previous games], Horr substituting for him, and Whalen was shifted into left tackle position. This change wrought a wondrous change in the whole line. The guards and tackles which had been very weak suddenly became impregnable. The result was that Allen never got a yard beyond our forty-yard line throughout the game. In fact the heavier and more powerful Allen team was played to a standstill by our light team into which Coach Comerford had instilled such a wonderful spirit. MacLeod scored a touchdown in the first quarter, and Captain Terhune kicked the goal. The team had two other chances to score, but failed. The whole team played wonderfully, and there were no individual stars. Everyone gave his best.”

In the last game of the season—a 13 to 0 win for Dummer over Powder Point—Dummer made a 60-yard march for a touchdown. Included in the 1924 Milestone are the following sketches depicting the yardage gains (and losses) from the game’s first- and second-half periods. The sketches are signed “L.M.F.Jr 24” for Leonard Munn Fowle, Jr., ’24, The Milestone’s Athletics Editor for that year.

My School Days at Byfield, March 31, 1885

2010-03-02T13:13:00.000-05:00

The following is an article that appeared in the March 31, 1885 edition of the Daily Evening Herald of Newburyport, Massachusetts. (Full text for the article follows, below it.) The article's author--identified only as "W.C.C."--is presumably William Coombs Codman, a student of Dummer Academy's sixth headmaster, Nehemiah Cleaveland (1821-1840), during the 1830s. Codman came from Dorchester to attend the academy as a boarding student when he was a mere 11 years old. In his article, published some 50 years after he came to Byfield, Codman reminisces about traveling to and attending Dummer Academy.

"It is a little more than fifty years ago since my schoolmate, William Sherburne Withington, and myself asked a space in the Newburyport Herald for our combined efforts at a newspaper paragraph, and the Herald, much to our surprise, published it. I shall never forget how anxiously we watched the arrival of the postman’s chaise on a certain Monday morning, on its return from Newburyport, and how pleased we were to see the product of our brains in print. It was not so easy then to get into the newspapers, though it is not so difficult now-a-days. If we read that article “Review of Hayward’s Gazeteer”) once, we certainly read it a hundred times. It was the proudest day of our young lives. The glory has lasted the writer for half a century. Poor Withington! I wish he could have lived to share with me the pleasant recollection, but he died a few years after. I now ask, for the second time, a space for my reminiscences of my school days at Dummer Academy. All boarding school boys will remember—no matter if they lived to be centenarians—the terrible sense of lonliness which comes over them for the first time when they leave home. Seasickness is short, though terrific; but homesickness is infinitely more horrible. I was about eleven years of age, and my residence was Dorchester. Byfield was forty miles away; the Soudan [sic] seems nearer now. My trunk—my grandfather’s trunk, made of pine and covered with hair—was neatly packed by my mother, and pasted to the lid inside was a list of the contents; but the dear, good mother did not mention in the list, that stowed away between the folds of some jacket or shirt, were cookies and short gingerbread and cocoanut cakes and acidulated drops. They were to be discovered later; and, dear soul as she rightly supposed, they helped to relieve homesickness.

Did I cry when the leave-taking took place? I remember that the large family were well supplied with handkerchiefs; that they were first applied to the eyes, and that when I turned round for a last look the moist linen was waving from a dozen hands as a parting farewell. Yes, I did cry. My father accompanied me to the city, an hour’s ride. The Eastern stage house, from which the Newburyport and Portsmouth stage coaches started, was located on Ann Street, now North Street, Boston. It was besides a rendezvous for Newburyport merchants, and many a bargain was consummated in the building. Some of your older citizens will remember the “Knights of the Whip”—the brothers Annable, Mendum, Forbes and Holland. When the Eastern railroad was completed they all found occupations either as conductors or expressmen.

I think it was the hour of 1 p.m., when we wheeled out of the stable yard into the narrow street, still called North Centre Street. Then came the crack of Forbes’ long whip. It seemed to me that a dozen bunches of fire crackers were being exploded. I had a seat with the driver; my little glazed cap towered a few inches above the high boot. When we were fairly out of the city Mr. Forbes became communicative; he had carried a great many boys to Byfield, and I wondered if he had brought any back. He was so kind and sympathetic that I could not but think that he had been sent off when quite young to a boarding school. Oh! What stories he used to tell of the fun the boys had at Byfield, and the beautiful Parker River, which they could utilize for swimming, rowing and boat sailing on Saturdays, and he so pleasantly whiled away the time that the journey didn’t seem so very long, after all. We had passed Old Rowley and were on the now abandoned turnpike, when Mr. Forbes pointed out the Academy building with the remark, “That’s your prison, youngster.” We soon reached a cross street where a sign board indicated the road to Dummer Academy. Here the stage coach drew up. I jumped off and was received by Deacon Hale. In a few minutes the hair covered trunk and its juvenile owner were on their way to the boarding house, while the stage coach rumbled along on its way to Newburyport enveloped in clouds of dust. It was but a short drive to Deacon Hale’s.

Chilled, forlorn and homesick, I made my debut among the impudent boys, who scanned me from head to foot, while I gazed around, and by the kindly expression of his eye, picked out Joe T., (afterwards candidate for Governor of a neighboring state) as my chum. I expected to be hazed, and my wisdom tooth must have been cut, for I made a most judicious selection. Joe was kind-hearted and muscular. With him as my champion there was nothing to fear. The good deacon introduced me in this way: “B’yes,”—he never said boys—“this is Master William, and he’s going to be one o’ yer.”

The boys were gathered around an immense fireplace, and the peat, which was cut into blocks and piled one on top of the other, like the blocks composing the ice palace at Montreal, emitted some heat, but it was unlike the cheery cannel coal fire in the parlor grate at home! After a ravenous appetite had been satisfied, good Madam Hale put a tallow dip in my hand, and escorted me to my chamber where Joe and myself in once bed, and two boys in another, were to sleep. At five o’clock the next morning, Joe awoke me to prepare for “study hour,” (from six to seven). When our toilets were partially completed, Joe led the way to the wash room (no hot or cold water faucets then). Two or three huge, coarse crash towels were suspended from cleets—everything was tidy about the premises which Mrs. Hale presided over. No doubt the towels were immaculate in the very early morning, but what could be expected when the last of a dozen boys had done with them. I took my turn at the japanned tin basin, for if I remember right there were only two for all of us, and undoubtedly I added my quota to the dirt spots on the towel. Study hour over, a rush was made for the breakfast. The boys played their knives and forks vigorously. People are now complaining of hard times. O! so much harder than they used to be. If they would only realize how much it cost, fifty years ago, to board, clothe, and educate a boy! Our fathers had to pay one dollar per week for our board, and twenty-six dollars per annum, for tuition. I am safe in saying, that everything included, the expense for each lad, per annum did not exceed one hundred dollars. Fortunately, my father never failed in business, or I should have felt that my extravagance was the cause! I may be going out of the way a little, but my fancy leads me to describe our landlord. Deacon, alias Esquire Hale, was small of stature, dignified for his inches, intellectual looking enough for a Trustee of the Academy, and hard on the boys where they stole his pears and apples; yet on the whole a good natured man. Nothing could be more fitting than the toast given by Arthur Delavan Gilman at one of our reunions, “Old Squire Hale, for forty-five years he took the boys to board, and for forty-five years the boys unflinchingly bored him.” On Sundays a wonderful transition took place; the Squire was no longer of the world-wordly, but the most solemn looking man in all Byfield. I don’t think he smiled once from sunrise to sunset—I am sure he never laughed—he had complete control over his visible muscles. Lapse of time prevents my giving an accurate account of his unique costume. I can only refer the reader to the fashion plates of the period. I think he must have watched the sun going down with as much pleasure as the Mussulman during the Ramazan. Sunday was supposed to commence early Saturday evening, and end (for the boys) a trifle earlier on the following day. In the evening Mr. Moody, the chorister of the church (I beg pardon—meeting house) all the boys of course, and the neighbors, would assemble in the large “sitting room.” The deacon would give out the hymns, and start the tune with the aid of a horse shoe shaped instrument called a “tuning fork,” which he would strike vigorously on the edge of the table—then raise it to ear, and before the sound died away he had secured the pitch. When we had got fairly underway on some old tune, the rock we called Dublin, and all the adjacent hills, would seem to echo back, “Handel’s nobody—Haydn ain’t much—Bully for the Deacon.” But the 34^th Psalm tune was a special favorite with Deacon Hale, as sung to the words:

“Through all the changing scenes of life

In trouble or in joy

The praises of my God shall still

My heart and tongue employ.”

The first three lines went along smoothly enough, but all the musical science, all the force the deacon possessed, was to be expended on the word heart in the last line. Some gave the word four turns, thus har-ar-ar-ar-ar-art, but he would often add another, to the consternation of our musical party. I must now return to thing secular. After breakfast I heard the first ding-dong of the Academy bell. All the boys had green baize satchels, similar to those now carried by lawyers in our city streets. With boys the satchel has become obsolete, and the leather strap is much more convenient. I joined the procession to the Academy. A feeling of mortal terror came over me when I reached the threshold, but summoning up all the courage with which eleven long years had inspired me, opened the door, and was ushered into the august presence of the principal—Nehemiah Cleaveland, A.M. “Come up to the desk, young man,” was has salutation. I felt immensely flattered by being called a young man. I had only been called “whipper-snapper” before. On a platform raised about three feet above the school room floor Mr. Cleaveland was to receive the new pupil. After carefully wiping his gold-bowed spectacles, the critical moment for him to speak arrived. “Take your hands out of your breeches pockets, and hold your head up,” he said in a tone which was not assuring. After going through a sort of catechism as to my birthplace, age, etc., I was assigned a desk by Almory Holbrook, the monitor, but not until I had caught a glimpse of a ferrule on the Preceptor’s desk. I did not like its ugly look, and hoped I should never become familiar with it, but within the term, justly or unjustly, my acquaintance was to be revived. As soon as the edict had gone forth, I remembered that one of my Dorchester schoolmates had told that that if I would take two eye lashes, and place them crosswise in the palm of my hand, that a ferrule, even in made of lignumvitae, would, after one or two blows, break into infinitesimally small atoms. I had only time to get the eye lashes into position before the first clap. The prescribed dose was usually three, but mine being an aggravated case, it was extended to six. My curiosity was intense. I thought that the ferrule was weakening, and manfully held out my hand for a second, a third, and a fourth. At the fifth, I imagined the ferrule seemed cracking and would certainly collapse on the last blow, but I was disappointed, and returned to my desk with a very sore hand, and with the consciousness that I had been fooled. Years after, when I had thoughtfully reviewed the suggestion of my old schoolmate, I reached the conclusion that I had done him injustice. The inference I drew, was, that in such a case as mine, curiosity would be on the quivive, and that faith in the non-conducting and general smash-up qualities in those two little hairs, would be uppermost in the culprit’s mind and sustain him to the end. I had several whippings afterward, and will swear that they inflicted more pain, than the once I then received while expecting the ferrule to go to pieces like the “one horse shay.” I soon became accustomed to the school. I could handle an oar as well as any of my seniors—could remain under water, till somebody done for me expecting to bring up a corpse—dipped my hands in brine at night, so that I could punish any presumptuous boy if necessary. But it won’t do to brag. Perhaps Tom is living, and will tell how he made every bone in my little body ache, and kept me housed for two days at my boarding house. On one or more days in the week, all the boys were formed into a class, a spelling battalion, a regiment it seemed to me then. To vary the monotony, Mr. Cleaveland announced that each boy could select what seemed the most difficult word in the dictionary. When my turn came, I gave out escaloped. It passed perhaps a dozen boys before it was correctly spelt [sic], and so it went on until Taylor was reached, for we were arranged alphabetically. Taylor was a man, at least twenty-five. He could give us all points in mowing, planting potatoes, and general agriculture. He farmed it in summer, and attended the academy in winter, Taylor gave out the word “Mardamwazzle.” I give it as he gave it, and the sequel will show how nearly I am correct in the pronunciation. The head of the class commenced with mardamwazl, next mardamworzle, next mardamwazle, and so on to the end of the class. Taylor was in high glee. It was now Mr. Cleaveland’s turn. Taylor was jubilant; the boys were all excited. “Boys,” said the preceptor, “I have taught at this school for twenty-five years, and never have I been obliged to confess my ignorance before my scholars. I never met with the word before. Taylor, are you sure you found it in your dictionary? Bring it to me.” Taylor rapidly turned over the leaves, and then triumphantly pointed to the word. “There it is, sir,” said he. The master smiled; nay, more, he laughed outright—a very undignified thing for him to do, we thought, but excused him afterward when he said: “Boys, the word which has puzzled us all is ‘Mademoiselle’.” We never called that man Taylor again, he was only known as “Wazzle.” Byfield was not without its original characters. On the turnpike lived a Mr. Boynton, who in old stage coach times kept a tavern. One of his sons was born while Boynton was making an addition to his house; he was called “Adding.” A few years later another son was born. At that time Mr. Boynton was tearing down a part of the old tavern, and the youngster was named “Tearing.” So the young gentlemen were known in after years as the Messrs. Adding and Tearing Boynton.

I hold a schoolmate—now one of the most prominent lawyers in Essex County—responsible for the following: In the parish, near the meeting house, there lived a couple whose lives were varied with occasional spats, in which usually the wife came out first best. Mrs. S. had occasion one afternoon to visit Newburyport, and had told her husband that if she did not return by ten o’clock she need not be expected until the next day. Unfortunately for her, she did not reach home until nearly eleven. Mr. S. had bolted doors and windows and retired. All her rappings and shrieks were unavailing. The man slept soundly, and his wife had to stay outside the rest of the night. The following day she gave a neighbor an account of her adventure, winding up with “I declare, I don’t know what I should have done, had I not been sustained by those beautiful lines of Isaac Watts:

“Goosey goosey gander

Why did I wander?”

Among other originals at Byfield were “Old Kent” and “Dumb Fudger.” Possibly I may have occasion to refer to them again." – (signed) W.C.C.

Wentworth Cheswell, American Patriot and Dummer Academy Alumnus

2010-02-12T14:26:00.000-05:00

A recent research inquiry to the academy’s Archives prompted me to do some investigation into the issue of race integration throughout the school’s history. The research brought me back to the earliest years of the school, when Preceptor (Headmaster) Samuel Moody started his first lessons at the Little Red School House on March 1, 1763. Among the first class of 28 students under Moody was Wentworth Cheswell, a 16-year-old from Newmarket, New Hampshire.

While a formal education was a luxury in the 18th century, what is particularly notable about Wentworth Cheswell’s attendance is that he was accepted, and indeed thrived, at the academy with apparently little concern for his family being multiracial: Wentworth’s father was the famous housewright Hopestill Cheswell—himself the son of a freed black slave and a white woman—and Catherine (Keniston) Cheswell, who was also white. Hopestill’s father, Richard Cheswell, was a black slave in Exeter New Hampshire, who earned his freedom and, in October 1717, purchased 20 acres of land in what is today Newmarket. The transaction represents the earliest known deed in the State of New Hampshire showing ownership by a black man. Hopestill had his own significant achievements, having built several notable structures, including the John Paul Jones House, a National Historic Landmark which today houses the Portsmouth Historical Museum, and the Samuel Langdon House, which is now located at Sturbridge Village. Wentworth Cheswell’s education at Dummer Academy allowed him to achieve many professional successes himself.

After Wentworth Cheswell completed his studies at Dummer Academy, he returned to Newmarket to become a school teacher, but soon became embroiled in the American Revolutionary War. He was elected town messenger for the regional Committee of Safety, one of the many groups established in Colonial America to monitor events pertaining to public welfare. During the American Revolution, these committees communicated with Committees of Correspondence, which disseminated information along the militia units and provided intelligence on British activity. When Paul Revere rode to Portsmouth to alert defenders to the impending arrival of the British frigate Scarborough and the sloop of war Canseau, Wentworth Cheswell, as town messenger, rode on to Exeter to help communicate instructions on where militia men were to be sent. As an enlisted man, Cheswell served under Colonel John Langdon in the Company of Light Horse Volunteers at the Saratoga campaign.

Upon his return to Newmarket, Wentworth Cheswell settled into a long and prosperous life. He and his wife went on to have 13 children, and he remained an active and vibrant part of public life in New Hampshire. He was active in public office, holding positions as a school regulator and Justice of the Peace for Rockingham County.

The Governor's Academy Archives Wins a Wilson Foundation Grant

2010-01-21T13:16:00.000-05:00

The Governor's Academy (TGA) has been awarded a $1,000 Wilson Foundation Grant through the New England Library Information Network (NELINET, now part of LYRASIS) and the Digital Commonwealth of Massachusetts (DCM). The award is a matched-funds grant that will enable the school’s Archives Department to expand access to some of its items of historical significance, such as the will of Lieutenant Governor William Dummer and the Academy’s Incorporation Charter, signed by both John Hancock and Samuel Adams (see below).

The Wilson Foundation Grant provides funds for incorporating some of TGA's digitized items in a web-searchable repository, now located at www.digitalcommonwealth.org. Inclusion of TGA materials in this repository will allow researchers beyond the school community to access its historical documents, and it will increase awareness of the school as it approaches its 250^th anniversary in 2013.

The DCM provides a portal to cultural heritage information held in museums, historical societies, colleges, libraries, and other cultural repositories in Massachusetts. From the DCM site, viewers can search or browse the digital collections of member institutions. In conjunction with LYRASIS, DCM offers its web-searchable repository that hosts DCM members’ digital content. NELINET, a not-for-profit cooperative of academic, public, school, and special libraries and other information/cultural organizations in New England, was formed as a program of the New England Board of Higher Education in 1966 but joined with similar organizations in 2009 to form LYRASIS, the nation’s largest regional membership organization serving libraries and information professionals.

Early Cross-Cultural Exchange Programs

2009-12-04T17:30:00.000-05:00

The recently published Fall 2009 issue of The Archon includes a message from Headmaster John M. Doggett on the importance of preparing The Governor’s Academy students to thrive on the global level. In this message, Headmaster Doggett notes,

“We seek to prepare our students to act and lead on a global stage. Just as our students need to be technologically proficient to compete in the global marketplace, they must also be culturally and linguistically literate to be responsible world citizens. Our intention is to incorporate our uniquely American experience into a broader international context. We plan to do this not just from traditional book learning, but from capitalizing on new technologies, developing opportunities for travel and cross-cultural exchanges, language study and embedding global questions and globally focused activities in the curriculum.”

The academy currently participates in student exchanges with schools in Kenya, Honduras, China, Germany and Great Britain, and administrators hope to add exchanges with the Navajo Nation in Arizona and the African National Academy in South African in the 2010. Interestingly, the academy has fostered notable cross-cultural initiatives throughout its long history.

Representing an era of increasing technological sophistication, the 1920s expanded the opportunities for widespread travel and communication. It was in the 1920s that Charles A. Lindberg completed his pioneering flight across the Atlantic Ocean. This decade also saw mass production of the Ford Model T car, the spread of public radio stations, and the creation of movies with sound. Amidst this backdrop of technological advance, Dummer Academy students were able to travel abroad to live and study in Denmark. The attached article from the May 1927 issue of The Archon refers to an international cultural awareness program that was sponsored by Denmark’s Commissioner of Education and permitted boys from 50 leading U.S. boarding schools to travel to Denmark to live with “high class Danish families and absorb the traits of their life and customs.” The academy sent two students—William Page, a junior from Lynnfield, and James Tate, a freshman from New York—to experience cultural immersion in Denmark. The cost of this months-long program was $225.

Student Illustrations From the Earliest Milestone Yearbooks

2009-11-19T12:14:00.000-05:00

The earliest edition of The Milestone housed in The Governor’s Academy Archives was printed for the graduating class of 1923. Many of the earliest Milestones, including the 1923 issue, featured illustrations of various aspects of student life drawn by members of the student body.

In the early to mid-1920s, the student body was divided into a Senior Class, an “Upper Middle Class,” a “Lower Middle Class,” and “Juniors,” the latter of which appeared to comprise the newest students to the academy. Each of these classes composed a “history” for the annual Milestone yearbook—in essence a bragging rights installment that extolled the merits of each class—some to funny and charming effect. A healthy dose of sarcasm saturates some of the entries. In the 1924 Milestone, for instance, the Juniors’ entry claims:

“After one hundred and sixty years of trial Dummer has at last obtained the perfect class, according to each Freshman. The class entered school this fall and for the first few weeks was completely lost in the whirlpools of inexperience. Now we have recovered from the K.O.’s of the midyears and are approaching our Sophomore year when we hope to look down on all brats with sneering contempt.”

An entry in the 1924 Milestone from the Upper Middle Class notes that the yearbook’s senior editors “drafted into their service one member of our [1925] class, Roberto Andreani, who is busy helping furnish the Year Book with cartoons. Roberto Alvin Ormsby Andreani (photograph below) of Florence, Italy, was a 1925 graduate of Dummer Academy. He was at one time the Art Editor for The Milestone. Under his photograph in the yearbook, it says that “Andy came to us quite a mystery…Eventually we discovered that Andy could draw, and from that moment on he has not had a minute’s peace. Andy is an aeroplane fiend. His sole ambition is to build the wonder plane of the age, and it was no small shock to him to find from an authentic source that most of the aeroplanes he had so painstakingly drawn would be unlikely to fly. Most of us think that if Andy becomes an engineer, a good artist will be lost to the world.”

Andreani’s illustrations were often quite realistic, as you can see from the sketchings of 1923-1924 team captains Travis Ingham (Track), Everit "Terry" Terhune (Football), and John "Doc" Hinds (Baseball), and a photograph of the subjects, below.

The illustrations are a vibrant addition to the Milestones. For your enjoyment, additional Andreani sketches can be seen below.

The Legendary Jazz Clarinetist Edmund Hall Plays Governor Dummer Academy

2009-11-09T12:48:00.000-05:00

The following information can be found in Spring 1965 issue of The Archon:

"On Saturday evening, January 23 [1965], Mr. Joe Robertson (father of Joe, Jr. ’64) and his group of jazz musicians presented a Dixieland concert in the Thompson Auditorium. Enthusiastically received as always, the combo is composed of Boston area businessmen whose hobby is the playing of jazz. This year the group was augmented by Edmund Hall, an internationally renowned jazz clarinetist."

Edmund Hall, acclaimed clarinetist, was born in Louisiana in 1901. As a young man, Hall played in bands with legendary musicians such as cornetist Buddy Petit, trumpeter Charles Melvin “Cootie” Williams, and Jazz pianist Theodore “Teddy” Wilson in venues such as New Orleans’ Economy Hall, and New York City’s Savoy Ballroom and Carnegie Hall. In the latter part of his musical career, Edmund Hall joined Louis Armstrong’s band, The All Stars, which toured worldwide in the 1950s and appeared on nationally broadcast television shows such as the Ed Sullivan Show. The photographs below shall Hall and other muscians at a 1965 concert at The Governor's Academy.

At the time of Hall’s participation in the Governor Dummer Academy concert in early 1965, Hall and his wife were residents of Cambridge, MA, from which he traveled to play at events such as the Newport Jazz Festival. It appears he played multiple concerts at Governor Dummer, including a 1967 session with George Poor’s band and Bobby Hackett. The concert was recorded and is available on CD as “Edmund Hall’s Last Concert.” Hall died shortly after this event, in February 1967. He was 65.

A Universal Pastime

2009-10-23T13:50:00.000-04:00

This week, I have been busy with the inventory of antique books housed in The Governor’s Academy Archives. There are approximately 300 books, with the oldest dating to the 17th century. Many of the books—their handcrafted bindings and leather covers worn but resilient—can be traced to their use during the earliest years of the academy, when Headmaster Samuel Moody educated hundreds of boys during his 27-year tenure (1763-1790). So many of these boys went on to lead notable lives in government, military, business, and the ministry. It is possible to identify several of the antique books as belongings of specific students; inscribed with the handwritten “Dummer’s School,” the oldest of the books also list their owner’s name and date of ownership. Some of the books were handed down from student to student, traceable through chronological order.

While the signatures begin to personalize these items, a few books reveal a bit more. In R. Brookes’ The General Gazetteer: Or, Compendius Geographical Dictionary, a 1762 publication that was shared by William Williams of Salem and Samuel Moody of Newbury (students of the academy ca. 1783-1785), one can see, tucked on the inside front cover and initial page, an example of 18th century student doodling.

In the photographs below, doodles from the inside cover of The General Gazetteer can be seen, including an outline of two male figures, one much more detailed than the other, and labeled with “John Stoddard”. The page is ripped just next to this text, but it is likely that it read “Wanton” to reflect the name of another Dummer School student, John Wanton Stoddard of Newport, RI. Stoddard attended the academy during Headmaster Samuel Moody’s tenure. Is the Stoddard’s drawing of himself…or perhaps this is a caricature from a friend (Williams? Moody?).

Apparently, the contents of The General Gazetteer—descriptions of “all the empires, kingdoms, states, republics, provinces, cities, chief towns, forts, fortresses, castles, citadels, seas, harbours, bays, rivers, lakes, mountains, capes, and promontories in the known world; together with the government, policy, customs, manners, and religion of the inhabitants—was not enough to keep Dummer boys singularly focused!

18th Century Receipt of Funds Used to Construct the Little Red School House

2009-10-09T14:29:00.000-04:00

The Governor's Academy Archives houses several 18th century documents that detail the logistics behind the establishment of a grammar school, as laid out in the Last Will and Testament of William Dummer. The following image shows a handwritten receipt from 1762, signed by Moses Parsons, minister of Byfield Parish at the time and head of a special committee charged with establishing "Dumr Charity School" and securing a qualified headmaster, and by Joseph Gerrish, also committee member. The receipt shows the rent charged for the year prior to the school's formation--5 pounds 6 shillings plus "light pence"--that was used to construct the Little Red School House. Below the image is a transcription for ease of reading.

Byfield Dec. 31, 1762

Rec’d. Of Capt. Joseph Hale & Mr. Daniel Palmer the sum of Five Pounds Six Shillings & Light Pence for the hire or the great House & Farm, lately belonging to the Hon’ble William Dummer Esq-deceas’d not included in the Leases given of said Farm, the said sum being due for the Rent of said House & Land since the Tenth Day of October 1761 to the Tenth Day of October last past, which sum is rec’d by us in order to pay or Satisfy for, a Grammar School House, erected & built on said Farm, agreeable to the Direction of the last Will & Testament of the (s’d) deceased.

Moses Parsons
Joseph Gerrish

Cars on Campus

2009-10-02T14:09:00.000-04:00

During the past year, I have gathered many examples of cars found on the Governor's Academy campus. Here are a few of my favorites from various years.

Photograph 1: A driver identified as Dummer Academy staffer in the 1939 Milestone yearbook

Photograph 2: Cars parked for campus Event, 1951

Photograph 3: Driving school vehicle, 1978

Photograph 4: Volkswagon Rabbit hatchback, 1978

Photograph 5: Peter Bragdon with antique automobile, 1993

In addition to the many relevant photographs housed in the Archives, converted 16 mm films are available that show automobiles, buses, and maintenance vehicles from the 1930s on. If any car buffs can identify the vehicles, please let me know!

Pep Squads at Governor Dummer Academy

2009-05-14T10:22:00.000-04:00

Pep squads were an integral part of Governor Dummer academy (GDA) football seasons during the twentieth century. Photographs of organized GDA cheering squads appeared as early as 1940 in The Milestone yearbook, but a proliferation of pep squad images—both photographs and film—can be seen in the academy’s archival materials from the 1950s and 1960s. During the 1950s, a number of pep squad rallies, some with bonfires where opposing team dummies were burned in effigy, were captured in a series of emotionally charged photographs (show below).

Owing to GDA’s all-male status during this time, pep squads comprised boys selected from the student body. A cartoon that appeared in the October 27, 1951 Archon pokes fun at the boys-only nature of GDA’s cheerleaders, with boys lamenting their comparative inferiority to girls in attracting their counterparts’ attention.

Male pep squads were a mainstay of fall events through the 1960s (photo immediately following this paragraph), but the admission of female students to the GDA campus in 1971 changed the dynamic of the cheering squad from male to female, as shown in the last photograph, from 1973.

Governor Dummer Academy Homing Pigeons

2009-04-17T14:21:00.000-04:00

The March 14, 1959 issue of The Archon includes the following photograph of academy employee Paul Griffin and student Mark Johnson '62, the academy's "Keeper of the Bird." Griffin holds Suzie, a homing pigeon trained at the academy. An except with the photo says, "Mr. Paul Griffin instructs Mark Johnson, newly appointed Keeper of the Bird, in proper handling of homing pigeons. Suzie is being trained to bring back the scores of out-of-town baseball games. Coach [Buster] Navins will personally band and release her at the end of the ninth inning. Keeper Johnson will time her arrival and decode the message for transmittal to the metropolitan journals."

If readers have information on the homing pigeon program at the academy, let us know!

Electric Trolleys of the Early 1900s

2009-03-20T14:43:00.000-04:00

The first electric railway to service Governor Dummer Academy and its environs opened for business in 1900. The Georgetown, Rowley, and Ipswich electric railway, which switched by the Milestone, offered transportation for the campus community. Cars left the academy every half hour for Ipswich, Georgetown, and Newburyport. According to Governor Dummer History, 1763-1963, written by former academy headmaster John W. Ragle, "One popular feature of the innovation was that it brought to the Academy dances young ladies from as far as Rowley and Haverhill." A photograph of the electric railway switch near the Milestone can be seen below.

The route between Newburyport and Governor Dummer Academy crossed a trestle over Little River, paralleled the Newburyport Turnpike (to/from Boston), and diverged to Middle Street, where the track continued to the junction at the academy. From there, travelers could take the line to Georgetown (via Elm Street) or to Ipswich (via a continuation on Middle Road back to the turnpike road).

By the time the following advertisement for the Byfield Express was published in 1943, rail service had expanded considerably. The advertisement describes the scenery to be taken in while traveling from Newburyport to points south and west via Byfield, the "Cradle of Liberty and the Seat of Learning!" Notice the arrival and departure times at the conclusion of the advertisement: it took only 2.5 hours to get from Market Square in Newburyport to Haverhill, Massachusetts, a distance of approximately 15 miles.

A Famous American Mason (and Dummer Academy Alumnus): Rufus King

2009-02-06T06:31:00.000-05:00

Recently, The Governor’s Academy and one of its famous graduates, Rufus King, were featured in the Winter 2008 issue of Trowel, magazine of the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts. Accompanying the magazine article is an excerpt describing the academy and some of its notable graduates:

“Situated on a bucolic setting in Newbury’s Byfield parish is a red two-room schoolhouse built to house a free grammar school, the first boarding school in America, as envisioned and endowed by William Dummer who served as the Provincial Governor of Massachusetts from 1722 to 1728. Opening with 28 students in 1763 on the 300-acre farm of the former governor, the school was named 'Governor Dummer Academy' until 2005, when its name was changed to 'The Governor’s Academy.' Four years after the school opened, Rufus King journeyed from Scarborough, District of Maine, to attend the school. Signing the school’s 'document of incorporation' were Governor John Hancock and Senate President Samuel Adams, and some of the school’s early records were maintained by future president John Quincy Adams while he clerked for Theophilus Parsons, later Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, who was also a GDA graduate. The original school seal was designed by American patriot and Massachusetts Grand Master Paul Revere. The school continues as an institution of academic excellence, helping students pursue their personal greatness, just like Freemasonry.”

The Winter 2008 issue of Trowel was kindly donated to The Governor’s Academy Archives by Bruce Rogers, long-time employee of the academy’s Building and Grounds department, so our thanks go out to Bruce!

Arnold's Expeditionary Force

2009-01-20T10:43:00.000-05:00

On September 20, 1975, history came to life for Governor Dummer Academy (GDA) students who witnessed the 200th anniversary reenactment of General Benedict Arnold’s 1775 march to Quebec, Canada. Arnold, a general in the American Continental Army, had been dispatched with several hundred soldiers to Canada to counter British plans for staging troops. The march preceded Arnold’s infamous switch from American Continental Army General to British Empire Loyalist. The 1975 reenactment took participants through the GDA campus to Newburyport, where they were then able to sail to Canada. The 1976 Milestone recorded the event with photographs and expository text (seen below).

“On the afternoon of September 20, 1775, a force of about 400 soldiers under the command of General Benedict Arnold marched through land owned by Dummer Academy on their way to Quebec. Their mission was to help wrestle Canada from the British to prevent its use as a staging ground for the Redcoats. They started this venture in Cambridge. On September 20, 1975, the same venture was taken and the troops marched past the academy as they had done 200 years ago.

There were Indians as well as an important courier under capture. Although historically there were no Indians to interrupt the march, a few diehards decided to “ambush” the troops. There were shots exchanged and reloading was hurriedly carried out.

There were a few women as well as men in the march. They all marched past the Old Red School House which was standing 200 years ago and [they] saw the same things. After moving on into Newburyport, they embarked by ship to Kennebec. From there they marched to Quebec thereby completing the entire march as it occurred 200 years ago.”

The Archon, December 1908 Issue (Part 2)

2008-12-18T10:32:00.000-05:00

The last blog entry for The Governor’s Academy (TGA) Archives featured comments on the spirit of Christmas from The Archon editorial staff of 1908. This same century-old issue featured a story of romance and spontaneity—“The Unexpected Christmas Present”—offered by former academy student Beryl Howard Childs of Chicago, IL. I hope you enjoy reading it. On the eve of Winter Break here at the academy, I wish you a safe and happy holiday season.
—Laurie DiModica, Manager of the Archives

The Archon, December 1908 Holiday Issue

2008-12-09T13:28:00.000-05:00

A century ago, the editorial staff of The Archon, led by Editor-in-Chief Charles L. Robson ('09), published the following words concerning the celebration of Christmas. Although times have changed considerably and the diversity of students and celebrations has expanded in the 100 years since Dummer Academy students published these words, the sentiments of kindness and forgiveness remain timeless.

The First Thirty Years of Dummer Allies Fundraising

2008-11-21T11:57:00.000-05:00

The following document from 1945 provides a record of fruits of the Dummer Allies’ fundraising efforts for the first 30 years of the society’s existence: $3,428.76, of which more than half was used to provide scholarship aid for deserving boys chosen by a scholarship committee. Given the society’s annual dues being $0.50 per member, providing an annual $100 scholarship was no small endeavor. Indeed, a document that can be found in The Governor’s Academy Archives—Headmaster’s Notes on the 1945-1946 Budget—reveals that at the time, the average tuition per student was approximately $1,300, making a $100 scholarship quite a significant amount.

To provide context, the 1945-1946 budget includes line items for furnishings and equipment such as an electric stove ($75); total furnishings for a boy’s dorm room ($180), including a bed ($18.75), chest of drawers ($31.50), desk ($28), chair ($8.75), and lamp ($3.75); and a station wagon that the school was considering purchasing for travel ($1,800). A passage corresponding to this latter budget item indicates, “It is desired to make provision to purchase a new station wagon when and if available to replace the ’37 station wagon now in such bad condition that upkeep costs are prohibitive. If a new station wagon does become available, it will be used as a stand-by for the Packard, which is also no longer wholly reliable, and for more dignified school errands. The present ’41 station wagon will then be used for transportation of trunks, express, etc., and will be turned over to Dutchy Holland or his successor each evening for returning the help to Newburyport and for bringing them out on the following morning. Both station wagons will, of course, be used on occasion for athletic trips, etc.”

Today’s Allies have continued fundraising initiatives that started with the society’s 1910 founding. The society’s efforts support numerous enrichment activities such as the Speaker Series, the purchase of library books, and the provision of student necessities—refreshments, exam survival kids, and parties and other events.

The Movies at Dummer Academy

2008-11-06T11:17:00.000-05:00

Lantern slide projectors, first lit by oil lamp, and then by limelight, carbon arc lamp, and subsequently, by electric light, allowed for the projection of transparent slides on a wall or other surface. Some historians believe the invention of the first lantern projector occurred as early as the 1600s. The Magic Lantern or Sciopticon was a forerunner to the modern slide projector and an early form of moving picture. (It is said that the earliest shows using lanterns often featured goblins and devils, the rationale for the name “magic lantern.”) Glass plate positives were introduced in the 1850s, but they became widely available as magic lantern slides—many of which were animated—in the 1870s. By the time these “movies” made their way to Dummer Academy in 1914, they had been available for several decades.

A history of the development of lantern movies indicates that while magic lantern shows often featured a live showman and/or musician who provided a soundtrack, the audience would sometimes join in by creating sound effects, playing instruments, clapping, cheering, or booing. The scrapbook entry from a former Dummer Academy graduate, shown below in this blog, notes the accompaniment of a Professor Priest at the earliest one-cent slide shows. By 1919, these presentations had picked up steam with the inauguration of the “Dummer Movie Palace” and its first showing, Charlie Chaplin’s “Shoulder Arms,” a silent comedy released in 1918 and set in France during World War I. Several clips from the movie can be found on YouTube (e.g., at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4jaxohUGIc).

The short but telling scrapbook entries in this blog reveal the fascination and appreciation students had for these diversions nearly a century ago.

Arrested!

2008-10-24T13:10:00.000-04:00

The first volume of The Dummer News, a student-organized publication at Dummer Academy, was published in 1897. The Dummer News staff was able to secure advertising revenues from a considerable number of local advertisers to help the publication get off the ground. This paper covered noteworthy items of importance to the school, a round-up of the academy’s sporting events, and student commentaries. Often featured in the publication were colorful, tongue-in-cheek stories painting faculty, staff, and students in humorous, sometime comprising situations. One such story—a four-part tale of faculty members tangled up in on-campus whiskey distillery—appeared in the October 1902 to February 1903 issues, and featured a Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) spy, bumbling prosecution, and one decidedly sleepy juror. It makes for a great read (albeit with a rather abrupt ending embedded in the "Notes" section of February 1903). We hope you enjoy the story.

A Generous Donation of Century-Old Photographs

2008-10-17T09:28:00.000-04:00

Many of the items housed in The Governor’s Academy (TGA) Archives found their way to the school as generous donations of TGA alumni, their families, and friends of the academy. The photographs seen in this blog entry were graciously donated by William Cooney, grandson to Henry Frost Wood of Brighton, Massachusetts. Mr. Wood was a graduate and the valedictorian of the Dummer Academy Class of 1903. The first photograph shows a close-up of Mr. Wood, for easy identification in the other photographs. (He is in the back row of the first four group pictures.)

Mr. Wood came from Brighton, Massachusetts, and was involved in many activities while a student at the academy. The donated photos show Mr. Wood as part of Dummer Academy’s 1902 football team and 1903 baseball team, likely as a team manager for the latter. Additionally, he was on the staff of the monthly student-run publication, The Dummer News. The remaining photographs show Mr. Wood pictured with his dorm-mates and as part of the larger Dummer Academy student body more than a century ago.

Mr. Wood maintained ties to the school after his graduation, becoming a member of the Sons of Dummer Academy in 1905. This society was formed in 1822 to provide former Dummer Academy students with a venue for socialization and, according to archives records, a vehicle for promoting the “usefulness and reputation” of the academy. Interestingly, new members were accepted upon payment of $1.00. Mr. Wood also participated in the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the founding of Dummer Academy in 1913.

Our sincere thanks go out to William Cooney for this generous donation to TGA’s Archives. We will take the utmost care in maintaining these photographs in our climate-controlled facility on campus so that they may be enjoyed for years to come.

For our readers, we gladly accept donations large and small to the Archives. To make a donation, please contact Laurie DiModica, Manager of the Archives, at 978-499-3347 or via e-mail: ldimodica@govsacademy.org.

Donkey Basketball

2008-10-10T13:48:00.000-04:00

Of the many fundraisers conducted by The Governor’s Academy organizations, among the most original has to be donkey basketball. The first-ever donkey basketball event, which featured spirited competition between students from the Class of 1984 and faculty members, was held in the fall of 1983 as one of two fundraisers run by the Governor Dummer Academy (GDA) Ski Club. The December 15, 1983 edition of The Governor, with a short article about the fundraiser, is shown here. After a hiatus of a few years, donkey basketball events were again held in the Alumni Gymnasium. Enjoy the photos below!

Hockey at The Governor's Academy

2008-09-29T13:00:00.000-04:00

Team hockey has been a part of athletic life at The Governor’s Academy (TGA) since the first “ice polo” team was formed in 1895, but its level of sophistication has grown exponentially since the early years of pond skating at the academy. Early hockey play at the academy was predicated on favorable weather, leaving hockey squads to come up with creative dry-land practice drills when the temperature climbed. Even in freezing weather, skating facilities through the 1950s were decidedly low-tech.

With the construction of The Frank J. Frost Memorial Hockey Rink in 1960, TGA was the first in the Independent School Hockey League to have an outdoor artificial rink. Nearly 11 miles of welded and brine-infused pipe went into the construction of the Frost Rink. This technical advancement was lauded in Contact: New England Electric System magazine: “No longer will the skating and hockey enthusiasts have to depend on neighboring ponds and the fickleness of winter weather. The whole school’s athletic program may now be tightened up for the winter term without the confusion or disruption because of no ice. The once overtaxed gymnasium no more will be called upon to house frustrated hockey squads. And most important the rink will mean a significant upturn in the calibre [sic] of Academy hockey, allowing the school to become more competitive with other rivals in this sport, as it has been with much success in all others.”

In 1982, the Frost Rink was transformed into the Murphy-Frost arena with the addition of a protective enclosure. The new structure was named for A. Macdonald Murphy, longtime English instructor, hockey coach, and Athletic Director at the academy, and Morris Pratt Frost ’35, Trustee Emeritus for the academy and benefactor.

Hockey’s profile has been decidedly elevated with last year’s completion of the Whiston-Bragdon Arena, a state-of-the art skating facility. The new arena is named for former GDA headmaster Peter Bragdon and Mark Whiston, benefactor and Academy Trustee. Whiston played Byfield Youth Hockey as a child, moving on to the Kent School and Harvard University, where he was a starting goaltender for the hockey team. Mark follows in the footsteps of his father, Don, a goaltender for the Silver Medal-winning United States Olympic Hockey Team in 1952.

TGA’s boys and girls hockey teams will begin their 2008-2009 season in the Whiston-Bragdon Arena after Thanksgiving Break.

Refreshing History at The Governor’s Academy

2008-09-16T09:45:00.000-04:00

The Archives holds one of the earliest documents produced at the academy: A Catalog of Dummer School, a handwritten roster of the academy’s students between 1763 and 1830. Currently on display in the Pescosolido Library, A Catalog of Dummer School was begun by Joseph Mottey, a teacher at the academy between 1780 and 1783, and lists the names of numerous alumni who went on to significant achievement after leaving the Little Red School House. With a nod to the past and view toward posterity, Headmaster Marty Doggett and Dean of Freshmen Michael Delay recently summonsed members of the incoming Class of 2012 to the Little Red School House to document these students’ entry into the academy. Outside the Little Red School House, Mr. Doggett shared a bit of the history of the building and the academy with students (Images 1 and 2). Then, one by one, students entered the school house, shaking hands with the Headmaster and introducing themselves before sitting in the Reverend Samuel Moody’s chair to sign their names and hometowns in a leather-bound book (Images 3 and 4). Students then departed the school house, shaking hands with Mr. Delay (Image 5). The leather-bound book will be housed in The Governor’s Academy Archives. When the Class of 2012 graduates, its members will again pass, one by one, through the Little Red School House on their way around the Milestone to jump the wall. This ritual allows students to pay homage to the school’s long history, and importantly, to recognize their own contributions to it. It is hoped that this new practice will become an enduring Governor’s Academy tradition.

Carrie Dummer Receives Diploma After 60 Years

2008-06-17T08:36:00.000-04:00

On June 9, 1939, seventy-five year old Carrie Dummer received her Governor Dummer Academy diploma. According to the Boston Globe, "Three score years had passed since Miss Dummer, then a young girl in her teens, was forced by illness to forego her appearance at her 1879 graduation. Then co-educational, the Academy in the intervening years has become exclusively a boys' school so that conferring of the degree on Miss Dummer gave her the added distinction of being the last female graduate to receive the honor. In a ceremony that followed the presentation of diplomas to 79 graduates at commencement, James Duncan Phillips, President of the Trustees, handed over the belated award to the elderly woman whose beaming smile bespoke her pleasure."

Although I hope it doesn’t take 60 years to receive my diploma, this is my last posting to the Academy’s Archives blog as I will be leaving to return to school. I enjoyed the opportunity to share the unique 245 year history of The Governor’s Academy. I wish you a happy and safe summer. - Kate

100 Years Ago - Dummer Academy Commencement 1908

2008-05-22T12:49:00.000-04:00

This following newspaper article from the June 12, 1908 Newburyport Daily News describes the Academy’s 145th Commencement Activities. (*Click on images to enlarge)

Governor Dummer Sterling Silver Ad

2008-05-15T13:42:00.000-04:00

An undated advertisement for Governor Dummer Sterling Silver by the Watson Company.

1938 Commemorative Metal

2008-05-08T13:40:00.000-04:00

This commemorative brass metal was given to students, alumni and friends during the 1938 to celebration of the 175th anniversary of the founding of Dummer Academy. The image on the metal is of the newly restored Little Red School House. (See previous blog posting to learn more about the restoration of the Litte Red School House.)

1938 Little Red School House Restored

2008-05-01T14:57:00.000-04:00

In 1938, the Little Red Schoolhouse was restored to celebrate the 175th Anniversary of the founding of Governor Dummer Academy. Reverend Glenn Tilley Morse, a member of the Board of Trustees from 1913 to 1950, was instrumental in implementing the recontruction work on the building. The following article explaining his reason for his gift was written by Reverend Morse for the 1938 Milestone. (Click on images to enlarge)

Mason Cottage circa 1915

2008-04-24T14:53:00.000-04:00

In August 1912, a loan was made to the Academy of $6,000 by a friend, Miss Ida Mason. The money was used to build Mason Cottage which was built as a home for a master and his family. It was later used as a dormitory. The plans for the building were drawn by George Champney, a 1902 graduate of Dummer Academy, who also designed the old Byfield Parish Church in 1931.

Mason Cottage was torn down in 1997 to make room for the new Math and Science building. The photographs below were taken of Mason Cottage circa 1915. In one you will notice the roof of Peirce Hall to the left in the distance. The interior image is of the Mason Cottage living room.

Dummer Academy at the Turn-of-the-20th Century

2008-04-17T12:54:00.000-04:00

The following letter, written in 1939 by John W. Ferguson, describes his experience as a student at Dummer Academy at the turn-of-the-20th century. The photograph of the campus to the left was taken about the same time. Notice the rail fence mentioned in his description. (click on images to enlarge)

Dummer Coat of Arms

2008-04-09T13:54:00.000-04:00

John Hamilton Morse and the Morse Field

2008-04-03T12:06:00.000-04:00

John Hamilton Morse---A friend and benefactor of the school for many years passed away last August at the age of 91. John Hamilton Morse graduated from Governor Dummer in 1885, where he played on the Academy's first football team. He later attended Harvard and became a lawyer. He was a trustee and took a great interest in the development of Morse Field, which was named after him. He never let a year pass without making two or three visits from his North Andover home, to the school to see his field in use. In the fall his blue cape became a familiar sight at the football games. Source: Alumni Bulletin Spring 1954 (Above: 1885 Dummer Academy Football Team with John Hamilton Morse holding football labeled '85. Below: John Hamilton Morse wearing his familiar blue cape.)

Campus Horse Chestnut Trees in Bloom

2008-03-27T13:45:00.000-04:00

As I eagerly wait for the arrival of warmer weather, this photograph of the horse chestnut trees in bloom gives me a sense of hope. Planted in the mid-19th century, the trees still stand along old Middle Road next to the Mansion House. You will notice at the upper left of the photograph that electric railway wires are visible. Starting in 1900, cars from the Georgetown, Rowley and Ipswich electric railway traveled past the Milestone on a daily bases. The electric railway service to campus ended in the early 1920s.

Cleaveland's Centennial Discourse

2008-03-20T14:00:00.000-04:00

To celebrate the much anticipated 100th Anniversary of Dummer Academy, former Headmaster Nehemiah Cleaveland gave an historical discourse on August 12, 1863 on the grounds of the historic school . The following day the Newburyport newspaper reported that: "The Dummer Centennial passed off yesterday under the most favorable auspices. The day was delightful, as fine as any, we will venture to say, that has shone on the school for the century that has elapsed since its foundation. At an early hour the roads leding from the various railroad stations-Neburypot, Byfield, and Rowley, were thronged with carriages and foot passengers, hastening to participate in the festivities of the day. According to Cleaveland, "The immense tent of the Essex Agricultural Society kindly loaned for the occassion covered a large part of the open space in front of the Mansion House grounds. Above and around it waved flags and streamers. Within, every arrangement that judgement and taste could devise, had been made both for convenience and effect. A broad and elevated platform occupied the eastern end. The large space in front was filled with comfortable settees. Conspicuous at the western end was the portrait of Governor Dummer."

It was estimated that 1000 people were in attendance, the oldest being Jonathan Perley of Salem, a student under Master Moody. The program began with a procession of Trustees, Alumnie and invited quest accompanied by the Rowley band playing music written especially for the occasion. After dinner, served by a Boston caterer, guests listened while Nehemiah Cleaveland spoke for two hours delivering his address. Below are the first fifteen pages of Cleaveland's Historical Discourse published in 1865. (Click on images to enlarge)

1885 Dormitory Destroyed by Fire

2008-03-14T10:30:00.000-04:00

This photograph of “The Dormitory” was taken in 1893 by Frank Price shortly before the building was destroyed by fire in 1895. Dedicated in October 1885, the dormitory once stood where the Parson School House is located today.

Pride in Quality Education

2008-03-06T11:55:00.000-05:00

The following ad was created ca. 1975 as part of a series of ads by the Instutuion of Savings of Newburyport, MA. The artist was Richard Noyes, Class of 1954. (click on image to enlarge)

William Dummer's New England Family

2008-02-28T13:47:00.000-05:00

This article, third in a series relating to the Dummer Family, first appeared in the 1934 Milestone. As you read through the genealogy and family history of William Dummer, you will find the names of several early New England settlers. The article was written by Clavin Eldred, a friend of the Academy (***Click on each image to enlarge)

Plow horses in front of Frost Building

2008-02-21T13:24:00.000-05:00

This photograph of plow horses in front of the Frost Building in the June 7, 1958 copy of The Archon is both appealing and fasinationg as it truly captures the end of an era. Not only is it interesting to see the last pair of horses in Newbury, Massachusetts in the late 1950s, but also to note the man driving the team is Martin Burns. A graduate of Class of 1916, the photograph below is of Burns while a student at the Academy. **Click on photograph to enlarge

Put Flint Lacrosse Stick Donated to The Ragle Archives Room

2008-02-13T13:16:00.000-05:00

Pictured to the left is a member of the class of 2011 holding the recently donated lacrosse stick given by Putnam Flint of the class of 1937. “Put” Flint was a member of the first Lacrosse Squad to play the sport at the Academy in the spring of 1937. The donation is the first gift made to the newly named The Ragle Archives Room honoring the former Headmaster of the Governor’s Academy from 1972-1982.

The following information from the 1937 Milestone describes the excitement involved with organizing and playing a new sport.

“The coming of spring this year brought a new sport, lacrosse, to Governor Dummer. Lacrosse, as a sport in general, was played a great deal up until about ten years ago when, for some strange reason, its popularity faded. Apparently it is becoming very popular once again, and several of the leading New England preparatory schools have recently taken it up. Governor Dummer, recognizing this fact, has added the sport to its spring schedule. Mr. Murphy, head coach of this sport, wished for several years that he might organize a lacrosse squad here at school, but, because of several handicaps, he has been unable to do so until this year. Great enthusiasm was shown from the beginning and twenty-four boys turned out for the sport at the first of the season. There were only three or four members of the squad who had played the game before, and even none of these had ever played organized lacrosse. In spite of this the coaches felt that great progress was made by the entire squad from the start.

Russell Simons, who captained the team, was one of the most outstanding players throughout the season. He was extremely fast and always seemed to have excellent control over his stick. Gordon Ellis, too, was a great aid to the team since he never became tired, and since he always played a very fast and accurate game. Putnam Flint, who played goal, made many excellent saves considering his inexperience, and he deserves credit for his superior defense.

The team was at a disadvantage when it came up against other teams on strange fields, because the field space at home was limited to about half of the official field length. In spite of the handicaps there was never a sign of poor spirit shown by any member of the squad. The boys were always eager to pick up any information about the sport from either of the coaches.

Of the twenty-four candidates who were out for lacrosse this year there will be fifteen returning next year, and, because of this number, Mr. Murphy feels certain that he will have exceptionally fine material with which to work next season. – J.W.F ”

The 1937 Lacrosse Squad
Goalie Putnam Flint - second row - fourth from the left

Obituary of Rev. Isaac Smith, Headmaster 1790-1809

2008-02-07T13:48:00.000-05:00

Morse Flag Award 1916

2008-02-01T08:51:00.000-05:00

During the winter of 1968, Mrs. Gladys Fish, Secretary to the Director of Development and Editor of The Archon, began collecting the reminiscences of past Morse Flag prize winners. Established in 1913 by Rev. Glenn Tilley Morse, the Morse Flag Award is given each year “to that senior whose record in all respects has met with the highest approval of the faculty.” In her introductory letter, Mrs. Fish asks each prize holder “if you feel that the winning of the Flag influenced you in any way-what meaning it may have had for you over the years.” Thirty-five prize winners responded to Mrs. Fish’s request and their recollections appear together in an article entitled, The Morse Flag Award, in the summer 1968 issue of The Archon. Recently while glancing through the correspondences Mrs. Fish received, I came across the following five-page-typewritten memories of Fred H. Goodwin, Morse Flag Award winner of 1916. I think you will find his memories enjoyable to read.

The photograph to the right is of Fred H. Goodwin '16

*Click on each page to enlarge.

Fort Dummer Revisited

2008-01-23T15:23:00.000-05:00

The following information on Fort Dummer is from a series of articles first published in the Academy yearbook, Milestone, during the 1930s. The first article of the series entitled, The Father of William Dummer, appears in its entity in the archives blog dated December 13, 2007. The article appearing below entitled, Fort Dummer, from the 1933 Milestone was written by Calvin Eldred. (*Click on the photographs to enlarge the text. To view the photograph of a piece of Fort Dummer see the blog posting for March, 22, 2007.)

Scrapbook Memories

2008-01-08T11:50:00.000-05:00

If anyone were to ask me what my favorite item was in the Academy’s archives, I would have to say the scrapbook of Waldo Thorne Worcester. As a student at Dummer Academy from 1916 until his graduation in June 1920, Waldo pasted photographs, newspapers articles, wrote down names of friends and listed scores of athletic games helping to keep alive memories of his three years at the school. ( Waldo is the boy with the Dummer (D) sweater on in the photograph to the left.)

Accompanying the scrapbook is a letter written in 1993 by his son Waldo Thorne Worcester, Jr. in which he wrote:

“Dad always felt that G. D. was his home. He often spoke of athletics and scholarship at the same time. This always impressed me because I was not the student that he felt I should be. My children and grandchildren have experienced this album and feel as I do that it should be returned to G. D. Please feel free to discard anything not of interest to you. Again, thank you for an interest in an old man’s treasure.”

And what a treasure it is! The scrapbook captures the life of adolescent boy during the first-quarter-of-the-Twentieth Century. It clearly expresses what was important to him such as the Dummer Academy baseball and football teams whose members affectionately called him “The Brat.”

He was alert to the war raging in Europe and dedicated several pages to images of Generals and Field Marshals and pencil sketches of angry Germans. He also saved a receipt for a war savings stamp he purchased on June 14, 1918. He went to the movies to see Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks and he kept one copy of his report cards with all As and Bs.

While turning the fragile pages of the album for the first time, something metal fell out on to the table. Picking up the object I found it to be an old razor. Attached to one page was a white envelope on which Waldo wrote, “Razor inside with is the first razor with which I ever shaved myself.”

Waldo Thorne Worcester came as a student to Dummer Academy on January 8, 1916 at the age of 14 ½ and graduated on June 12, 1920, three weeks short of his 19th birthday. He graduated from Boston University in 1924 and passed away in the early 1990s.

***Scroll down to see more pages of the scrapbook.

Headmaster Edward Eames' First WWII Letter

2007-12-21T08:29:00.000-05:00

From the 1932 Milestone - Father of William Dummer

2007-12-13T11:40:00.000-05:00

*Click on the pages to enlarge.
*The portrait is of Governor William Dummer.

Gold in the Hills or the Dead Sister's Secret

2007-12-05T12:47:00.000-05:00

During the summer of 1931 the Dummer Allies, an association organized by female graduates and friends of the Academy in 1910, performed the play, Gold in the Hills or the Dead Sister's Secret. The production was held in the qymnasium of the school.

According to the playbill, "Gold in the Hills, or the Dead Sister's Secret" is warranted to run the gamut of emotions, wring the heart-strings, delight the eye, show you the brink of the abyss, and leave a good taste in the mouth. Young people may bring their mothers and fathers without dread of any harmful influence, and grandmother will wipe her glasses and ask for more."

The casting and production was a group effort and in the September 8, 1931 minutes of the Dummer Allies, it was voted "that a vote of thanks be extended to Miss Helen McG. Noyes [an Academy friend and benefactor] and the caste for the melodrama, "Gold in the Hills of the Dead Sister's Secret" which was given so acceptably at the Dummer Gymnasium...Special thanks to be given to Mrs. Eames [the wife of Headmaster Ted Eames] for providing lemonade at a very hot evening at one of the rehearsals. A vote of thanks be given Mr. William Dummer [the husband of the President of the Dummer Allies] for his kindness and help in giving on the wiring and lights."

*The photograph is of cast member Dorothy Dunn dressed as Nel Standley. Click on the above images to enlarge.

1913 Banquet Invitation

2007-11-29T14:10:00.000-05:00

This handmade invitation to the 1913 Annual Basketball Banquet was recently donated in the memory of the late, Dr. David W. Yesair, Class of 1950, by his wife, Ruth A Yesair. Tied with red and white ribbons and measuring five inches in circumference, the invitation is in the name of Capt. Yesair, David’s uncle, John Yesair, Class of 1914.

The banquet took place on March 11, 1913 to honor members of The Team - John Yesair, Captain, Harold Coleman, Manager, Marston D. Young, Ward Loud, Anthony Poto, Everett Trask and Edward Cummings, Mascot. The menu consisted of “Blue Points on the half shell Consommé au naturel, Roasted Vermont Turkey, Sage Dressing, Cranberry Sauce, Mashed Potatoes, Green Peas, Waldorf Salad, Hot Tea Rolls, Pineapple Ice Cream, Cake, Nuts, Raisins, Candy and Café Noir”

The 1912-1913 Dummer Academy Basketball Team had a good season winning 7 games and losing 4. They won against Newburyport Y.M.C.A 2d 32 to 12, West Newbury High 19 to 9 and 41 to 10, Salem High 38 to 21 Lynn Classical High 26 to 11, St. John’s Prep 27 to 24 and Melrose High 25 to 18. They lost to Haverhill High 14 to 35, there first match with Melrose 11 to 26, there second match with Lynn English High 12 to 26 and their first match with St. John’s Prep 13 to 14.

The back cover of the invitation is filled with twenty-six signatures of team and faculty members including Headmaster Charles S. Ingham with the largest signature being William G. Ramsden, Coach.

The photograph to the left is of the 1913-1914 Dummer Academy Basketball Team. Seated at the center of the front row, holding the basketball, is Captain John Yesair '14. To John’s right is his younger brother, Wayne Yesair, Class of 1915, the father of David W. Yesair '50.

Sword and Scabbard

2007-11-15T12:02:00.000-05:00

Here is another interesting curiosity from the archives collection. The following information appears on the tag hanging from the handle of the sword. "Sword and scabbard carried by one of the officers of the Dummer Guard, a military training unit at the Academy in the early 1880s. The sword and scabbard was given the Academy this past summer by Moses Bradstreet Perkins, a graduate of Governor Dummer and Dartmouth College. Son of John Wright Perkins, Headmaster of Governor Dummer from 1882-1894, and for whom Perkins Dormitory is named, Moses Perkins was for many years head of the English Department at the Clark School in Hanover, New Hampshire. He is at present retired and living in California. 8/1957"

Boston Residence of Governor Dummer?

2007-11-08T13:07:00.000-05:00

A typewritten memo was found with the pencil sketch shown to the left. The memo reads:

"December 11, 1946

Dear Mrs. Stone:

The attached sketch of Governor Dummer's house is a gift from Phil MacInnis' father, William J. MacInnis of Gloucester. Below are two paragraphs from his letter to Mr. Eames dated November 30, 1946:

"I want you to keep the sketch of Governor Dummer's house. It may not mean anything, on the other hand, perhaps it may turn out it is a copy of the house at Boston. I imagine it was pretty rural in Boston in those days.

I had some books from the house of Mary Allen, Summer Street, Gloucester, when she moved to New Hampshire. Among the books was an old leather-covered Bible dated 1858 and while I was going through it, I found this sketch. I wrote to Miss Allen and she said she had never seen the sketch. Evidently the old Bible had not been opened very much so I take it there is considerable age on the sketch. E. W. E"

***The memo was typewritten by Headmaster, Edward W. Eames. ***The handwriting in the decorative scroll area just below the sketch of the house reads, "The Residence of Governor Dummer". The drawing measures 7 1/2" x 7 3/8"

Ghost, Spectres, and Apparitions continued...

2007-11-01T12:00:00.000-04:00

***See the October 31 ,2007 blog post to find the beginning of this article written by former faculty member, Harold M. Curtiss. The article first appeared in the February 4, 1941 issue of The Archon***

The old Post Road which passes by Degen House has in past times borne spectral traffic. One to the apparitions has strong evidence in its favor, and with it goes an interesting story.
At the time of the persecution of the witches of Salem, the religious fanaticism connected with that dark episode in New England history spread over this entire countryside. In Ipswich a young girl was accused of practicing witchcraft and was seized and imprisoned. The girl had formerly worked on a farm in Byfield and during that time had become betrothed to a young man of the parish. The news of her seizure soon came to the ears of her swain, and he learned that she was held a prisoner pending trial in the attic of an Ipswich house. On the second night after her arrest the Byfield boy rode to the house and signaled to the girl, who managed to climb through a small dormer window and slide down the long sloping roof which came nearly to the ground. The boy threw his cloak about her shoulders assisted her up behind him on the horse, and off they rode into the night. The pair cut across to the Post Road heading northward, and it is said they eventually reached Canada, where they were married and lived for the rest of their lives.

In the years following their death several people reported having seen the ghost of the two riding upon a spectral horse down the hill and past Degen House. The horse was galloping at full speed with the boy bending low over his neck. The girl sat behind him with her hands clasped tightly about his waist. Her cloak streamed out behind, and now and again she would turn her head apprehensively as if fearful of pursuers. As they rushed past, not a sound was heard, and the horse’s hoofs seemed to skim the ground, for not a single imprint was left behind.

There are two ghost connected exclusively with the Mansion House, one, of course, being of Governor Dummer himself, who spent some of the happiest days of his life here on his country estate. It is one of these happy occasions that brings the spirit of the Governor back to his home. In 1715 at the house warming of the newly built mansion, the Governor fulfilled one of his cherished ambitions when he rode his favorite white charger through the enormous front door and up the broad staircase to the second floor before the eyes of his admiring guests.

Reliable reports state that to this very day when the month of August has two moons, on the night of the first full moon, Governor Dummer repeats the spectacular ride. The ghostly appearance occurs sometime between twelve midnight and five o’clock in the morning. The Governor, attired in a brilliant uniform, sits proudly upon his beautiful horse, whose richly ornamented trappings glow with a luminosity of their own, filling the entrance hall with a warm, subdues light.

The old kitchen was for many years haunted by the smiling ghost of a small child. The child was dressed in white and would appear always in the same doorway. It would open the door just a crack and then would slyly peep around the corner, disappearing as suddenly as it had come into view.

In recent years, unfortunately, the visitations from the past have become less frequent. It is because we have closed our minds and our eyes by skepticism that we are forbidden the pleasure of making the acquaintance of these figures. Let us hope not, for if our traditional ghosts and apparitions refuse to come back to us, one of our closest and most intimate links with the past is forever severed.

The End

Ghosts, Spectres and Apparitions

2007-10-31T15:03:00.000-04:00

The following article entitled, Ghosts, Spectres, and the Apparition, first appeared in the February 8, 1941 edition of The Archon. It was written by faculty member, Harold MarshallCurtis, Jr., who taught English and Latin at the Academy in the early 1940s. The unidentified photograph of gravestones is from the Academy’s collection.

Ghosts, Spectres, and Apparitions

by Harold M. Curtiss, Jr.

If, some evening, you should suddenly come upon a ghostly shape gliding softly across the Mansion House lawn or if you should spy shadowy figures riding past Degen House along the Old Post Road, do not be alarmed. You will not be the first to have such an experience. Some sunny afternoon you may even meet the Devil himself, for he has visited Byfield Parish before. Merely keep out of the way and watch the fun. The ghosts and apparitions of Byfield are not to be regarded as objects pf terror, rather we should welcome them, feeling fortunate that our forefathers loved this locality enough to wish to return occasionally and reenact scenes from their earthly lives.

In this old New England community we live close to the past. Old traditions and customs have a strong hold upon us. The settlers of this locality were people with strong wills and deep-seated convictions, and it is not to be expected that even in death they should lose interest in the town which they helped to establish. Nor should we of this generation question the authenticity of the stories connected with their reappearances. It is a matter which transcends scientific research and beyond the bounds of factual investigation. The stories must be taken and handed down from generation to generation for what they are worth; the proof must lie with those fortunate enough to be witnesses to the shadowy scenes.

The most famous of all the ghosts or apparitions of this locality is the Byfield Spectre. It made its appearance on Sunday afternoon, April 27, 1778, and was seen by a large number of natives. Several eyewitness accounts of the event have been preserved and are incorporated in Mr. John L. Ewell’s Story of Byfield. The spectre, as described by Deacon Coleman and Deacon Chute, two stalwart worthies of the Byfield Parish Church, and whose opinion, therefore, must be considered unimpeachable, was “a giant certainly not less and probably more than twenty feet tall.” It was clothed in a long robe of black material, which, unlike cloth, did not move with the motion of the figure, but remained perfectly still and undisturbed. The dreadful giant suddenly appeared by the Mansion House about 2 o’clock on this beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon. It was first seen by a number of Academy boys who fled in abject terror. The apparition strode from the Academy grounds towards the Byfield parish Church, stalking at a “good horse’s pace” through the air about two or three feet above the ground. As it went along, the spectre glided through walls and fences without disturbing them, and constantly screamed in terrifying fashion.
Proceeding towards the church, the figure met a Mr. Within who was driving a herd of cows towards his barn. When the animals beheld the phantom, they roared and bellowed, some ran off in all directions, while others dropped dead of fright.

Upon its arrival at the Byfield Parish Church the spectre circled the building twice, screaming more than ever, and then rushed with increased speed to the top of Hunslow Hill where it turned to face the parish, flung out its arms, and with one final, terrific, ear shattering cry vanished into thin air.

The church people of the parish were naturally much disturbed by this unusual incident. The Reverend Dr. Parsons, pastor of the Parish Church, proclaimed that it was the Devil taking a walk. Deacon Coleman agreed that it was the Devil all right, but thought that he was doing a little more than merely taking a Sunday stroll. In fact he laid the blame right at the door of the good Doctor, stating that the Devil had appeared as an omen of divine displeasure against Dr. Parsons because he kept slaves. Whether Dr. Parsons released his slaves as a result is not recorded.

The real center of the ghostly traditions of the community is the Mansion House and it immediate surroundings. Local history has it that the front lawn of the Governor’s house was once the site of a bitter duel between a French officer and an English officer of his Majesty’s forces. After a prolonged battle with swords the Frenchman was victorious, and the English soldier succumbed near the front door of the Mansion House as the result of his wounds. According to eyewitnesses the duel is reenacted on moonlight August evenings just as it occurred in pre-Revolutionary days. All the formalities and participants are there, and the now peaceful lawn becomes once again the scene of violence and bloodshed.

The English officer who was killed also occasionally appears alone on the lawn, and his visits are not restricted to merely one month but may take place at any time of year. He is usually seen walking slowly across the lawn from Commons towards the Milestone. He is in full uniform with a beautifully embroidered cloak hanging from his shoulders. By his side swings a long sword and on his braided, cocked hat is a powdered wig with a short queue. As he walks, he appears to be in deep meditation and he is not frightened into disappearance by a beholder of his nocturnal stroll. It is said that one brave native who happened upon him determined to accost him, but the ghost merely quickened its pace in order to keep six feet between itself and the intruder. When it reached the proximity of the Milestone, it vanished from sight, for it never proceeds farther than that point.

To be continued……..

Heralding Cherub!

2007-10-25T13:47:00.000-04:00

Does anyone remember seeing this chubby cherub on top of a building on the Academy's campus? If so, which building? The nearly three foot long weather vane has a beautiful coat of greenish grey patina from years of exposure to the elements. It sits on top of a seven foot metal rod and swirls gracefully in a circle with a slight touch of the hand. It could be heralding the beginning of a new day or cheering the Boston Red Sox on to victory! It all depends upon your perspective!

Student Artwork From The 1924 Milestone

2007-10-18T13:14:00.000-04:00

While looking through old copies of The Milestone, I noticed, scattered among the black and white photographs, pages of students art work dividing the yearbook into separate chapters. In the 1924 copy of The Milestone, the line drawings of one student in particular, all signed with the initials WTC, caught my eye. The initials stand for William Terhune Carpenter or "Carp", the student Art Editor of the yearbook. After graduating from Dummer Academy in 1924, Carpenter entered Cornell University. Upon graduating from the University in 1928, he entered the Boston Museum of Art School. Carpenter worked as an advertising executive until his retirement. Scroll down to view examples of his work.

***The photograph is of the 1924 Milestone Board. William Terhune Carpenter is standing in the back row fourth from the left.

The Archon, Dummer Academy, January 28, 1885

2007-10-11T14:17:00.000-04:00

This is the earliest copy of The Archon in the collection.

To enlarge, click on the individual pages.

Name this House

2007-10-04T12:31:00.000-04:00

This small oil painting is of the original Smith/Moody House. Including the pine wood frame it measures 10 ¼” x 12 ¼”. Given to the Academy by George N. Whipple, a member of Class of 1874, the painting was probably completed in the same year. According to the yellowed paper label glued to the back of the frame, the canvas was “Painted by his friend-Mrs. Chamberlain.”

In 1800, Isaac Smith, Headmaster of Dummer Academy 1790-1809, purchased the house and moved it to campus for use as his own residence. In December 1914, the Smith house accidentally caught fire and burned. It was quickly rebuilt on the same sight, in the same architectural style, and renamed Moody House. Eighty years later, during the summer of 1995, the building was lifted off its foundation and moved from old Elm Street, to its present day location on Middle Road.

A New Home For Perkins

2007-09-27T14:19:00.000-04:00

In the summer of 1956, to make room for the construction of the new Morris Pratt Frost Building, Perkins Dormitory was raised and moved to a new location on Middle Road. By October 12, 1956, when the photograph at the lower left was taken, Perkins appears at home under the beautiful elms trees lining the country road.

John W. Perkins, Headmaster 1882-1894

2007-09-20T13:00:00.000-04:00

John W. Perkins was the seventeenth Headmaster of Dummer Academy. A graduate of Harvard College in 1865, and again in 1871, Perkins began his career as Principal of Salem High School in Salem, Massachusetts. He came to Dummer Academy in 1882, approximately the same year the photograph at the far left was taken. Perkins remained at the Academy for twelve years until 1894 when he returned to Salem to assume the position of Superintendent of Schools. As mentioned in a previous posting, Perkins was respected and well liked by his students. During the dedication ceremony of Perkins Dormitory at the 1925 commencement, the portrait of Perkins, shown above, was presented to the Academy by his former students. John W. Perkins died on January 16, 1931 in Milton, Massachusetts at the age of ninety.

Dorm Room in Perkins 1931

2007-09-13T11:50:00.000-04:00

Here is a photograph of a student’s room in Perkins Dormitory taken in 1931. The neatly made bed and simple sheer curtains makes the room seem warm and comfortable. To the left is a scarf covered bureau on which rests a framed photograph of an older woman. Could this be the mother of the inhabitant of this room?

Perkins Gymnasium to Perkins Hall

2007-08-22T14:36:00.000-04:00

In 1924 Perkins Gymnasium was moved to the corner of Elm Street and Middle Road where it was remodeled as housing for twenty-two boys and one Master. At Commencement held on June 5, 1925, the building was renamed Perkins Hall and dedicated and to former Headmaster John (Jack) W. Perkins who attended the ceremony. “The arrival of the honored guests on the grounds”, wrote the Newburyport Daily News, “was hailed with great enthusiasm and as their car drove in on the grounds as a dozen old grads gave them a Dummer cheer-“D-u-m-m-e-r! Rah! Rah! Jack!” that made the old master smile at the greeting. Soon he and Mrs. Perkins were in the midst of the old boys they loved so well, greeted by the warm embraces of the joyous group of old school fellows. “Jack” Perkins certainly enjoyed it and “Mother” Perkins was hugged and kissed by her boys, now really old boys, many of them graduates of nearly 40 years ago.”

*The photograph to the left shows the beginning stages of the remodeling of Perkins Gymnasium into Perkins Hall. The photograph to the right is of Perkins Hall and was taken ca. 1932.

Tennis Anyone?

2007-08-07T12:59:00.000-04:00

Here is a photograph of the Dummer Academy tennis court taken in 1905. The earthen court was located behind the Perkins Gymnasium. In the background, looking to the right of the gymnasium is the Mansion House. Further to the right are open fields where the Morris P. Frost Building and the Carl A. Pescosolido Library stand today.

Perkins Gymnasium ca. 1905

2007-07-11T10:22:00.000-04:00

This photograph of Perkins Gymnasium is similar to the one in the previous posting. Built in 1887, the structure was named in honor of John W. Perkins, Headmaster of Dummer Academy from 1882 to 1894. At the time of completion, the building contained a 30 by 60 foot basketball floor, gym apparatus and a handball court. Originally located where the Phillips Building stands today, Perkins Gymnasium was moved and reconstructed into Perkins Hall in 1925.

*See the next posting for the continuing story of Perkins Hall!

What was the name of this Gymnasium?

2007-06-28T15:39:00.000-04:00

This building was constructed in 1887. Does anyone know what the building was named and where it was moved?

***See next posting for answer

Two Dogs in Front of Little Red School House

2007-06-21T08:18:00.000-04:00

Does anyone know the names of the two dogs in this photograph? The picture was taken in the early 1960s.

Dummer Academy Catalogue 1905-1907 (last pages)

2007-05-18T10:06:00.000-04:00

Dummer Academy Catalogue 1905-1907 (continued)

2007-05-10T12:23:00.000-04:00

The second installment of pages from the Dummer Academy Catalogue 1905-1907. Please look for the final installment of pages in my next posting. I hope you are enjoying traveling in time!

Dummer Academy Catalogue 1905-1907

2007-05-03T13:55:00.000-04:00

This series of images are from the Dummer Academy 1905-1907 catalogue. Please enjoy viewing the Academy as it was one-hundred-years ago! More images from the catalogue will be available in my next posting.

Headstone rubbing of Master Moody

2007-04-26T14:37:00.000-04:00

The grave rubbing shown in this photograph is that of the headstone of Samuel Moody, the first Preceptor of Dummer Charity School. Born in York, Maine in 1725, Moody received his education at Harvard College graduating in 1746. Upon the completion of his studies, Moody returned to York to teach at the local public grammar school. In 1756 he left the public grammar school to form his own school in the community. Moody’s reputation as a charismatic and energetic Latin and Greek scholar attracted the attention of the Trustees of the newly established Dummer Charity School. He was hired as Preceptor and on March 1, 1763, in the newly constructed Red School House, Moody began his first day of teaching at Dummer Charity School with twenty-eight students in attendance. The Red School House still stands today and is located at the entrance of the campus.

Master Moody influenced the lives of five hundred and twenty-six young men during his career at Dummer Charity School, the name changing to Dummer Academy after the school was incorporated in 1782. Many of his young scholars became leading citizens to the New Republic. He was instructor to Senator Rufus King, who was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and original signer of the Constitution. He taught Tobias Lear, who became private secretary to President George Washington as well as, Samuel Osgood, who was appointed as the first Postmaster General under Washington. Master Moody also instructed the naval hero, Commodore Edward Preble, Commander of the USS Constitution, and Samuel Phillips, the founder of Phillips Academy Andover in 1778.

Samuel Moody resigned his position at Dummer Academy 1790 and spent his remaining years traveling and visiting at the homes of friends and former students. Moody died on December 17, 1795 at the home of a former student, Dr. Samuel Tenney of Exeter, New Hampshire at the age of seventy. His was buried in York, Maine. The following is a transcription of his headstone inscription.

Integer vitae scelerisque purus
Here lies the remains
Of
SAMUEL MOODY, Esq
Preceptor of Dummer Academy
(The first Institution of the kind in Mass)
He left no child to mourn his sudden death
(for he died a Bachellor)
Yet his numerous Pupils in the U.S. will ever
retain a lively sense of the Sociability, Industry,
Integrity & Piety he possessed in an uncommon degree
as well as the disinterested, Zealous, faithful & useful
manner his discharged the duties of the Academy
for 30 years.
he died at Exeter 17 Dec 1795
AE 70

Underwood Standard Typewriter No. 5

2007-04-19T12:07:00.000-04:00

This Underwood Standard Typewriter No.5 dating from the late 1920s must weigh at least 25 lbs! It is very heavy! Upon examining the solid metal “instrument of efficiency” I became fascinated by its design and beauty. It seems to capture a time when society was more steady and mechanical. In our faster-than-the-speed-of-light digital generation it is difficult to comprehend what it must have been like before computers, word processing and the email revolution. How did typists managed to produce correspondences, college recommendations and fiscal reports without making a mistake? Try to imagine typing without a delete button or spell check!

Shh! If you listen carefully you can almost hear the steady tap, tap, tap of the striking metal keys! A once familiar sound has faded into infinity!

Dedication of 1936 Milestone to Mrs. Carrie G.K. Ambrose

2007-04-12T15:36:00.000-04:00

Two years before her death in 1938, the Academy honored Mrs. Carrie G. K Ambrose by dedicating the 1936 Milestone in her name. “Mrs. Ambrose has probably known more boys at the Academy than has any other person. She was herself a student here in the days when a limited number of girls from the vicinity were enrolled. Since her graduation sixty years ago she has reside continuously in the neighborhood and had never failed to attend commencement ceremonies; and it is for her that many returning alumni first inquire on those occasions. The increased contacts with the school resulting from her duties as postmistress of South Byfield and Landlady of Ambrose House have in late years served to deepen the affection with which she is regarded by us all.” (1936 Milestone) Mrs. Ambrose died at her homestead in Byfield on January 6, 1938. “When we heard that she had gone”, wrote the editor of The Archon, “it seemed for a moment as though nothing was left in Byfield but empty space, but it was only for a moment. For where she loved and gave so much, life flows on enriched, because of her. It was only the pause before the turn of the tide”. (The Archon, February 5, 1938)

The Diploma of Carrie G. Knight!

2007-04-11T13:54:00.000-04:00

This one hundred and twenty-one year old diploma was given to Carrie G. Knight upon graduating from Dummer Academy on June 21, 1876. Signed by Headmaster Ebenezer G. Parsons, and President of the Board of Trustees, Reverend John Pike, the document acknowledges that Carrie G. Knight “has completed the English and Latin Course of Study in Dummer Academy and has sustained an honorable rank for Scholarship and Deportment.” Displayed on a prominent wall in the archives reading room, the framed parchment is a testimony to the young woman’s hard work in completing her four years as one of the first girls to attend Dummer Academy.