Gatsby Revisited

Cover illustration by "Skrenda"

Among the many thousands of newspaper clippings at the Archives, one caught our eye a few weeks ago—a book review from The New London News of November, 1933. The article said that Helen St. Bernard (1889–1970), author of Men Forget, had used New London as the central setting for her romance novel. It was first published as a serial but was soon issued as a book by Grosset & Dunlap of New York.

The review noted that "the library has received a copy for which the librarians have already received several requests." Curious, we looked for a copy. The timing was good, and we found one listed online in decent condition, signed by the author. (Apparently there is a market for first edition, Jazz- and Depression-era romances, but collectors often value the dust jacket artwork more than the text.)

The setting is undoubtedly based on the author's memories of the summer of 1930, when she stayed at the home of Mrs. Cressey. Some landmarks have been renamed; others have not. New London and Sutton are fictionalized as Powellville and Sutlow, but Kearsarge and Warner retain their names, perhaps because the author takes no license with them.

Powellville's fictional Valley Vista Farm advertised guest accommodations in the Boston papers, as did many of New London's hotels and inns at the time, and by chance Miss Jardine Emery selected it for her hasty country escape from city entanglements. The guest house seems to have been located on Main Street, not far from the old Post Office. In reality there were several. There was also an automobile repair shop, perhaps Little's or Kidder's. The town's nearby golf club may have been modeled after the Lake Sunapee Country Club, which opened in 1927. Sutlow, however, boasts the small hospital where Miss Emery finally choses between two keen suitors. The real New London Hospital, built on Main Street in 1923, would not serve the story because it was too close to Valley Vista Farm; automobiles figure prominently as conveyances of characters and plot—reminiscent of The Great Gatsby, published to little acclaim in 1925.

Title Page

Library patrons looking for themselves or neighbors may have been disappointed, as most of the story's characters are generic and unencumbered by description or backstory. One exception is Dr. Caleb Powell, who had served in France during World War I and returned to country doctoring—tending patients at home and in hospital. The character bears a resemblance to the real Dr. Bill Clough, Sr., who had served in France, doctored tirelessly by automobile, and had married a young woman from Boston.

In 1918, Helen St. Bernard of Detroit applied for a passport to join the Red Cross in France and England, so she may have tapped her own medical experience and imagination rather than anyone she had encountered in New London. On the 1920 Census she gave her occupation as "stenographer." Unwed at 30, she was living with her sister, Hildegarde, and widowed mother, Elvira. After her mother's death in 1926, Helen worked her way from Detroit through Richmond, Virginia, to St. Petersburg, Florida, by 1940. She died there in 1970.

Her writing was concentrated in the decade of her 40s, during which she produced at least nine published works—a mix of novels, serials, and short stories. The titles suggest she stuck with romance: Men Forget (1932), High Windows (1933), Mystery Girl (1935), Tomorrow Never Comes (1936), Wicked Woman (1937), Where the High Road Led (1938), 'Til We Meet Again (1939), After Tonight, What? (1939), and Heart Unafraid (1941).

A little known author, St. Bernard joins others of that era who found inspiration in the quiet presence of Mt. Kearsarge. Thornton Wilder studied the headstones of West Part Cemetery on his afternoon walks from Blodgett's Landing to Crockett's Dairy for ice cream. Harry Woods reportedly composed music for Kate Smith's "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain" by conjuring a view he knew from his year at New London's Colby Academy, where he was known as "Snooky." Those artists visited and left, but their characters remained among us.

Factory Village Tour

Selected slides from last Saturday's presentation on the Factory Village of New London have been posted on our exhibit gallery site. The talk was followed by a walking tour along the waterway from Pleasant Lake down past the former Tannery, Forge Shop, and Grind Shop Ponds.

Only current and historical images held at the Town of New London Archives have been posted. Slides showing other research materials gathered at the Rauner Special Collections and Baker Library at Dartmouth College (Tyler water wheel patents, published census data), the Cleveland-Colby-Colgate Archives at Colby-Sawyer College (some scythe company business records), and the New Hampshire State Archives (1773 Masonian map, original census returns) are excluded, as they may have restrictions on publication or online distribution.

We thank the Society for Industrial Archeology, Northern New England Chapter, for the invitation and the Masonic Lodge for hosting the morning event at the 1872 Mechanics' Hall Association building in Elkins.

Shepard's Barn

March 14 is called Pi Day for its numeric notation as 3.14 — a truncated version of the infinite but constant ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Here in New London this day marked the finite end of a truncated barn.

Shepard's Barn (original length)

The Shepard Barn has been a fixture on Main Street for 112 years, but its story begins 20 years earlier. The structure was built in 1881 by the New London Scythe Company. For the next six years it served as an axe-making factory located along the Blackwater River between Elkins and Wilmot Flat. After the scythe works closed in 1887, its assets were auctioned off and its buildings reused or recycled.

We do not know what happened at the 30' x 120' axe shop over the next decade, perhaps nothing, but in 1900 its frame was disassembled and hauled up New London hill to the former Sargent Homestead on Main Street. Charles E. Shepard had purchased the property in 1890 and was operating a carriage and livery business there. When the frame was reassembled, its roof was changed to a gambrel style in order to provide more storage volume for Shepard's hay and feed. Although gambrel barns are prevalent elsewhere, they are unusual in this area.

In 1947, James E. Shepard, II, removed over half of the barn. He took it down to Newport Road, where it became the New London Locker Plant, the modern version of his father's ice business. Within two years the venture failed, but it was soon reopened by Eliot Clemons, who sold groceries in addition to refrigeration services. That building, "a specially-designed and handsome structure" according to historian J. Duane Squires, was recently converted into the dental offices of Drs. Gutgsell & Phipps.

Wednesday, March 13 (4:50 PM)

Thursday, March 14 (9:15 AM)

Shepard's Riding School having closed, in 1947 the remaining portion of Shepard's Barn and 3 acres of land were purchased by Colby-Sawyer College for its maintenance department. Since that time the property has had several owners, none of whom found much use for the barn. Meanwhile, roof shingles started leaking. The foundation settled, bowing outward. The window frames racked and glass panes broke free of sashes. The trim and clapboards blew off in the wind. The barn had become a potential liability rather than the productive asset it once was.

Its days were numbered. Until today. Pi Day.

Badge of History

The Historical Society recently received a medallion depicting a four-horse coach running past a building, with the letters “NL” visible on a hanging sign. The coach is not exactly a Concord Coach, nor does the building look quite like any in town, so what is this artifact?

The sesquicentennial celebration, marking 150 years since New London’s incorporation, took place over three days, August 2–4, 1929, preempting Hospital Days that year. Scheduled events included three performances of an outdoor historical pageant (professionally written and produced, with 500 participants and 20 yoke of oxen), the dedication of four historical site markers (Colby homestead and sites of the first dwelling, schoolhouse, and meetinghouse), a golf tournament, baseball game, band concert, and a church service.

For an event logo, the stage coach was chosen as symbolic of the town’s development, and, in episode five, the pageant recreated a scene in which Colby Hill school students were excused from class to watch the first stage coach travel down Main Street in 1831. Future Governor Anthony Colby was credited with the securing the New London stop on the Lowell (MA) to Hanover (NH) route.

In 1929 the elected organizing committee of Emma Colby, Charles Shepard, and Stanley Spiller oversaw the work of 28 subcommittees. Taxpayers had appropriated $2,500 for the celebration, and of this amount, $575 was paid to the Whitehead & Hoag Co. of Newark, New Jersey, to furnish “badges” — cast medallions with ribbons and attached pins. The sale of badges, along with programs, postcards, and reserved-seat pageant tickets, raised over $4,000 to help meet expenses for the three-day observance.

So this coach-themed medallion played a fundraising role in one of the most ambitious historical celebrations the town has ever undertaken. You can learn more about New London’s sesquicentennial and read the pageant’s script in J. Duane Squires’ book, Mirror to America: A History of New London New Hampshire, 1900–1950.

A Wartime Christmas

Portraits of New London's service members in 
the grocery store window during World War II.

“We want you to know we are thinking of you, and that the home folks are keeping things going on about as you left them. Of course, some changes are bound to come along, like the arrival of a few faces in our midst and the loss of a few.”

The 5-page inaugural issue of Happenings at Home, from December 1, 1943, was produced by Rev. Harold Buker and others from New London’s First Baptist Church. (It replaced the earlier Flashes from the Hill-Top, first printed in October, 1942, by the local chapter of the American Red Cross.) The monthly newsletters included the latest stories from the town, schools, and organizations — along with updates on the sale of war bonds, blood drives, and the whereabouts of service members. For a little humor, the first issue of Happenings also listed some of the signs observed in buildings along Main Street:

• We see all, read all, and know all. —Post Office
• Closed for the duration. —New school
• Retired – no pension. —Old school
• Jitterbugging three nights a week. —Hospital
• Admission 10 cents. —Funeral Parlor
• Tires FREE – Sunday only. —Garage
• Red light district. —Smith’s rooms

A year later, the 12-page December issue (No. 13) carried a large “Season’s Greetings” banner, drawn by Miss Doris Phillips, and it described efforts to aid the “boys” during the holidays:

The New London Church and the New London Red Cross have once again joined together in a 50-50 arrangement to send you your Christmas gift box. ...It is truly a community gift.

Because of their early postal deadline, those stationed overseas received fruit cake, while those in the U.S. got homemade cookies; both received other unspecified items. Elsewhere in this issue we find that four "girls" from New London had joined the Army, and one had joined the Navy.

A summary of election results provides another glimpse of the town’s participation in the war. “Of a possible 63 ballots from voters in the armed services, 32 arrived. One was from England, one from Egypt, one from Puerto Rico, one from the Aleutians, two from Belgium, several from all over the Pacific front.” The article reported that New London voters chose Dewey over Roosevelt by a 4 to 1 margin.

When the service men and women returned after the war, they would bring experiences from all over the globe.  Meanwhile, Rev. Buker offered a concluding prayer for the New Year of 1945:

GOD GRANT YOU

Staunch courage in the present,

Abiding faith in the future,

Happiness today and always.

These homespun newsletters chronicled the town’s everyday life more intimately than any source before or since, and they represent a valuable resource for anyone interested in the wartime history of New London.

Qualified Voters

Campaign flyers (2012)

Grouped semi-alphabetically, the list stretches across three glued-up pages. There are over two hundred names. All are men. The mylar envelope in which they are preserved is labeled simply “Voter List, early 1800s.”

The impending elections loom large here in New Hampshire. Post office boxes overflow with campaign flyers launched from left, right and center. At the same time, the phase-in of new voter eligibility/identification laws may discourage some eligible voters and disenfranchise others.

At one time only property-owning, white males were permitted to vote. In 1792 New Hampshire became the first state to eliminate the property requirement. In order to monitor eligible voters, selectmen created a master list of “qualified inhabitants.” The list's existence here in New London was first noted in an 1831 entry made by the town clerk. The same entry is repeated, almost verbatim, at least once more, but it may have been a practice more common than the records suggest. In the 1870s, the official position of “Supervisor of the Check List” was filled, as it has been ever since.

By comparing our “Voter List, early 1800s” with cemetery records, we learned precisely when this collection of eligible voters lived. Furthermore, the clerk’s records confirm that such a list was compiled, publicly posted, and used to qualify voters for the 1844 presidential election.

Town of New London voter check list (1844)

Campaign issues included slavery, the annexation of Texas, and expansion into the Oregon Territory. On the ninth ballot, the Democratic Party finally nominated pro-expansion candidate James K. Polk. The Whig Party chose Henry Clay in one ballot despite his earlier failed presidential bids.

Among the third party candidates was Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saints and publisher of the Book of Mormon. Smith's candidacy ended on June 27th when he was killed by a mob that stormed the Illinois jailhouse where he had been detained. The party-less presidential incumbent, democrat John Tyler, had many supporters but withdrew from the race on August 24th rather than risk splitting the vote. Representing the anti-slavery Liberty Party, James Birney was an alternative choice for anti-slavery Whigs, while some voters were enticed to vote for Polk by his pledge to serve only one term. (He kept that pledge and died of cholera a few months after his term ended.)

The “inhabitants of the town of New London... qualified to vote” were “notified & warned” to meet at one o’clock in the afternoon, on Monday, November 4, 1844, in order to choose six electors for president of the United States. On this day, the slate of electors led by William Badger received 78 votes, while Joseph Low’s garnered 68 and Jesse Woodbury’s trailed with 55. None was identified by party affiliation but they represented the Democratic, Whig and Liberty parties respectively. After recording the tally, the town clerk included the following notation in his book:

“And the Moderator caused each voter’s name to be checked on a list for that purpose at the time his vote was received... “

There were two other items considered that day: 55 voted in favor of abolishing capital punishment with 106 opposed, and just 20 voted in favor of altering the state constitution with 86 opposed.

In New London the total number of votes cast for presidential electors was 201, for a participation rate of 95%; the nationwide turnout was 79%, which nearly matches the percentage of registered voters participating in our last (2008) presidential election. 

Although James Polk won the national contest, within New England he carried only New Hampshire and Maine. He also had the distinction of losing both his birth-state of North Carolina and Tennessee, where he had served as governor. In fact, Polk won the popular majority by just 1.4% in November, but he took 62% of the votes cast by presidential electors on December 4, 1844.

New London's 2012 checklist has been prepared for next Tuesday’s election, so make sure you can either prove your identity or sign a “challenged voter affidavit” — perhaps a relic for some future archivist to explore.

Resources:

• Presidential Campaigns  & Elections Reference: An American History Resource
• Voting Rights Timeline
• Town Clerk's Book, New London, New Hampshire

Another Walk

Last Saturday the Town Archives and the Historical Society once again produced a memorable walking tour for those interested in the history of New London. The tour resumed at the very spot we ended last year, near the Main Street offices of the Charter Trust Co. From there, guides escorted tour groups through time and place as our seven character actors related their roles and recollections of significant events. This year's tour ended at the New London Barn Playhouse.

If you have questions about anything you saw or heard, we would be happy to try to respond — just contact us through the Archives web site. You may also review many of the historic images from the tour at our online image gallery.

A tour group meets 'Ma' Barrett, proprietor of Maplewood Farm on Main Street.