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Historic preservation is a broad concept that applies to both objects, such as collections items, and structures which need periodic maintenance and restoration. We can even see preservation in the historic landscape of 105 Brattle Street, where ever-changing nature is carefully maintained in ways that reflect historical intentions. History can also be preserved without physical items, through the stories that we tell, and how we choose to tell them.
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In the early 20th century, the Longfellow family began to actively preserve this house as a museum. Archivist Kate discusses the evolution of historic preservation at the site, from the Longfellow House Trust to the National Park Service. A Timeline of Preservation at Longfellow House-Washington's HeadquartersIn 1850, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow visited the decaying Mount Vernon, famous as the home of George Washington. After seeing the state of the once-great manor, Longfellow penned this in his personal journal,
In September of this same year, his daughter, Alice Longfellow, was born. Henry’s interest in preserving something of George Washington’s legacy would be passed down to Alice, as she grew up surrounded by heroic tales of the Revolutionary War, in the very rooms of George Washington’s Headquarters. Just years after Henry Wadsworth Longfellow remarked on the dilapidated appearance of Mt Vernon, another visitor was appalled by the worsening conditions, and wrote to tell her daughter of the state. The daughter, a 37 year old, self described, “Southern Matron” named Ann Pamela Cunningham, quickly rallied women across the country to aid her in purchasing and restoring the house to a manner befitting who her mother titled “America’s most respected hero”, George Washington. This preservation effort would become the Mt Vernon Ladies Association, the first national historic preservation organization in the United States.
The 1863 demolition of John Hancock’s house was a mistake that Boston was less willing to let happen twice. Built between 1734 and 1737, overlooking Boston Common, it was considered in its prime to be the finest house in the then-Province of Massachusetts Bay. The destruction of this landmark led to the preservation of many other nearby buildings, including the Old State House and the Old South Meetinghouse, both of which inspired preservationists and spurred the movement into the late 19th century. In 1880, a then 30-year-old Alice Longfellow became a Vice Regent for the Mt Vernon Ladies Association, by then a well established society. She had been involved with the Association for years prior, and would remain Vice Regent and representative of her state, Massachusetts, until her death in 1928. During her 48 years in the position, the longest that anyone has ever held a Vice Regency, she would become a preservationist and philanthropist in many roles outside of the Association as well. Her early work in the field would prepare her to preserve her father’s home in the later years of her life. In 1903, Alice Longfellow hired landscape architect Martha Brooks Hutchinson to restore the garden that had become dilapidated in the 22 years since Henry Longfellow’s death. Hutcheson reestablished the original boxwood parterres, then enclosed the garden with fences, gates, and a pergola to make an “outdoor room,” typical of the Colonial Revival style that had been captured through Henry’s 1847 design. In 1906, the United States passed the Antiquities Act. This was immensely important for the world of preservation, as this act provided the first general protections to cultural and natural resources, and developed the first national historic preservation policy. The act gave the President the authority to set aside for protection "...historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States..." greatly influencing the field of preservation going forward, which was once only a product of community or social effort, and was now becoming a national institution. In 1910, the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, known today as Historic New England, was founded by William Sumner Appleton Jr., a cousin and close friend of Alice Longfellow, who was a governing member of the society from 1910 until her death in 1928. Appleton was considered by many to be the driving force behind the preservation of historic homes in New England, and was responsible for designing the institutional model that most preservation groups would follow throughout the rest of the 20th century. In 1913, the surviving children of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - Ernest, Alice, Edith, and Anne Allegra - established the Longfellow House Trust, a mechanism meant to preserve their father’s home and legacy both through and beyond their own lifetimes. At the time that the trust was created, Alice had already been preserving the home for decades, and of the $45,000 that the siblings placed in the trust fund, Alice provided $25,000 in addition to the expenses of maintaining and restoring the home and property while she continued to live in it. At her death in 1928, Alice left an additional $50,000 to the trust, to ensure that descendants of Longfellow, such as Alice’s nephew, Harry Dana, could still live in the house if they desired. In 1915, the newspaper The Transcript wrote about the trust,
In 1916, US President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act, establishing the National Park Service. The act proposed to “conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein", further creating a potential layer of protections for historic structures, and adding to the institutional model of historic preservation that had been quickly growing since 1906. In 1917, Harry Dana, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s grandson through his daughter Edith, moved into the Longfellow House, where he would live intermittently alongside his Aunt Alice and act as a lifelong curator. During his time in the house, he collected objects, photos, and family correspondence in order to build a collection that told the story of his family’s legacy. He also led efforts to maintain the preservation of the property after his death, and was in contact with the National Park Service as early as the 1940s. Many items in the house's collections today are a result of Harry’s efforts to preserve and interpret the stories of the house. In 1924, Alice Longfellow hired landscape architect Ellen Biddle Shipman, to rejuvenate the work in the formal garden that had been done twenty years prior. Shipman planted the rectangular borders with heirloom roses and added evergreens and ornamental fruit trees to give the garden height. Shipman also made detailed planting diagrams and cultivar lists that were immensely helpful for future restoration projects, and allow for present day preservation of the grounds. In August of 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Preservation of Historic Sites Act into law, declaring, “It is a national policy to preserve for public use historic sites, buildings and objects of national significance for the inspiration and benefit of the people of the United States.” From this national acknowledgement of the historical significance of structures, historical significance would become increasingly more inclusive as time went on. The 1940s and the era of Harry Dana's contributions to the house brought conflict between various members of the Longfellow family, including Harry, and the Longfellow Trust. No longer with family residing as residents in the house, many could see the stability that the trust had in its founding, wavering. There was division amongst the family in searching for a solution. When a survey of Boston historic properties declared the Longfellow House to be of extreme significance, its potential as a future National Park site was already developing. However, tragedy struck when Harry passed in 1950, drawing the imminent collapse of the trust closer, and also breaking the point of contact with the National Park Service. The 1913 terms of the Longfellow House Trust stipulated that if it were to be terminated, the trust was directed to:
The Longfellow family had always intended the property to be used as a memorial, and to eventually become a museum when it could no longer be a residence. The National Park Service was capable of managing the home and resources within it to a greater scale, and reliably far into the future. On October 9, 1972, Congress authorized the establishment of Longfellow National Historic Site "to preserve in public ownership for the benefit and inspiration of the people of the United States, a site of national historical significance" (Public Law 92-475). The enabling legislation recognized the significance of the site for its colonial architecture and association as George Washington's headquarters and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's home. Find your inspiration50 Years |
Last updated: January 26, 2024