Reconstructing history at the Athenaeum
Sometimes solving a mystery is as simple as seeing what's in front of you. Other times it involves some sleuthing.
Elizabeth R. Aykroyd discovered this when she was assembling the latest exhibit at the Portsmouth Athenaeum, "A Family Portrait Gallery: The Cushings of Little Harbor." She was cataloging the paintings in the first-floor Reading Room of the membership library and museum on Market Square when she noticed something.
"I kept seeing that one family gave a number of the paintings," she said.
That family owned what is now known as the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion between 1816 and 1886. Many have heard the story of the home's builder, Royal Governor Benning Wentworth, who created a storm of gossip when he married his young housekeeper, Martha Hilton, in 1760. And artist John Templeman Coolidge, who owned the house in the late 19th century and early 20th century, also had his share of fame.
But the Cushing-Sheafe family owned the house for 70 years, said Aykroyd, whose exhibit opens June 4.
"It's a long time and a lot of history," she said.
Reconstructing that history would have been far more difficult if not for the stereopticon views taken of the home by the Davis brothers in 1870s.
"With a little detective work, we could match the portraits we could see in the photographs with what's in the Athenaeum's collection," Aykroyd said.
Also helpful were the descriptions of journalist Charles Brewster, who visited the house in the late 1840s and early 1850s and described its paintings in his "Brewster's Rambles." Other 19th-century visitors also published descriptions of the house and its paintings.
The Cushings opened three rooms of the historic home to the public, at a time when "appreciation of our ancestors and their houses was just beginning to inspire historical tourism," Aykroyd said.
"John Albee's 1884 history of New Castle talks about the house," she said. "It cost 25 cents to visit."
The 40-room mansion was given to the state of New Hampshire in 1954.
State Architectural Historian James L. Garvin, who will give a guided tour of the house as part of the exhibit, describes it as "a rambling, somewhat incoherent mass of architecture."
"Apparently, Benning Wentworth moved a bunch of buildings to the site and put them together," Aykroyd said. "It's a very odd house."
Garvin's tour and history discussion will be July 27 at 4:30 p.m. Participants must call the Athenaeum to reserve a spot (431-2538) and are asked to meet at the house on Little Harbor Road.
Curator Aykroyd will give a guided gallery talk in the Athenaeum's Randall Room on June 26 at 11 a.m. Reservations are recommended.
The free exhibit's 5 to 8 p.m. opening on June 4 coincides with Art 'Round Town. The exhibit is open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m.
For information, call 431-2538 or visit www.portsmouthathenaeum.org.