A Universal Pastime

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!