CHS Briefs July 2023

The June Brief is also available at the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) blog. If you have questions, would like to volunteer with CHS, or have items for the CHS Cares Closet or Gloria’s Corner please e-mail margocaulfield@icloud.com or call 802-226-7807.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

July 29 (Saturday): Town Wide Tag Sale. The CHS) booth will be at the Gazebo on the Proctorsville Green. 9-2 pm

Sept.10 (Sunday): Annual Phineas Gage Walk & Talk, 2pm begins at the Museum with the talk. It’s about ¾ of a mile to the accident site. Please wear comfortable shoes.

 

We are scheduling two hikes-the Proctor Piper trail (see the remnants of the Conservation Corp work from the 1930s) and the Proctorsville Quarry. These will take place in July and August. Information on both will be posted in various locations, including the Cavendish Facebook page and print publication. Please contact us at the numbers above if you have questions.

 

The Museum is now open on Sundays from 2-4 pm and other times by appointment.

 

CELEBRATING GLORIA: One of the originals of the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS), Gloria Leven is turning 100 on July 11. As her husband Seymour would describe her, “she’s a lover,” and she certainly showed her love of CHS in many ways. 

 

She was particularly fascinated by clothing of the different eras and could spend hours with the various items donated, holding a fashion show one year and making sure there was a yearly new display.  Gloria insisted that specific outreach be offered to schools and a teacher be recruited from the Cavendish Town Elementary School (CTES) to be a board member. Jenn Harper joined the board and through her role with CHS, the Young Historian’s program was launched. One of our first projects was a club for students. Focusing on the 1930s that year, Gloria and her husband came in and demonstrated how to “Lindy.” 

 

Today the Young Historians has grown offering a wide array of programs, field trips, “Preserve and Serve” (community support) and more. We want to add another component in Gloria’s honor.

 

Gloria not only loves kids, but she's always making something. She's probably taken most of the classes at Fletcher Farm Craft School. Even now, if you visit, you'll find a sewing project on the table in her living room. 

 

The literature is extensive on how art and creating things supports both emotional and physical well-being. Maybe that’s Gloria’s secret to making it to 100. However, she grew up in an era where TV, AI, computers, social media, gaming systems etc. weren’t vying for our attention. 

 

To encourage our students to find the peace and comfort Gloria finds in being a “maker,” we’re creating "Gloria's Corner" for classrooms and the learning center at CTES. When students have a free moment, they can go to the "Corner" and pull out a project to work on. 

 

The items contained will have relevance to history. For example, when the students go to Coolidge, they see the quilt that the former president made when he was a boy-all hand sewn. To that end there would be odds and ends of fabric to make a quilt square. Many of our students were enthralled with the sock knitting machine at the Shaker Village in Enfield, so they'd might like to try their hand at using a “knitting Nancy,” pot holder loom, macrame etc. Some of the students were fascinated by writing the preamble to the Constitution with "quill" pens, so calligraphy sets will be available so they can learn more. 

 

If you are interested in helping with Gloria’s Corner, either through donations of volunteer time, items for the Corner or financial support, please contact us at the numbers above. At the moment, we’re collecting knitting nancies. 

 

CATALOGUING CHS'S FIBER COLLECTION: We are thrilled to announce that Karen “Ren” Antonowicz will start volunteering this week to help CHS better care and catalogue our collection of clothing and quilts. Ren operates “Spirits of Fashion,”  to feed her love of historic costumes. We’ve connected her with “Calvin” at the Coolidge Foundation and we hope this fall, when we take CTES students to visit the homestead, “Calvin” will be joined by his wife “Grace,” played by Ren. 

 

THANK YOU CENTURA CHURCHILL: In the style of her dad, Dan, Centura was kind enough to do readings as part of CHS’s Annual Ghost Walk, which because of our never ending rain, became a ghost talk. We’re happy to see that Centura has found a second home in the old Duttonsville School House and is making many renovations, while still keeping her Dad’s business going. The CHS archives are still housed there and can be accessed by contacting us at the numbers above.